The number of individuals switching to Linux is not specified in the current context.
The number of individuals switching to Linux is not specified in the current context.
Beyond gaming, I've tried using it for photography, though the built-in features fall far short of what’s available on Windows or Mac. However, the hardware situation has improved enough that running it in a virtual machine is now practical, and I have several systems set up on Ubuntu. Don’t overlook Windows 9—this is the version I switched to, and the switch was smooth.
Everything is working smoothly here with the 1080Ti and 980M. I moved to Linux a few months back for video editing. That's exactly what I mentioned. Running Davinci Resolve Studio on Manjaro Linux Gnome (with performance patches) is performing well. It runs smoother and more reliably than on Windows 10 across my two machines. On Windows, I frequently encountered the "Full GPU Memory" warning even with 11GB of VRAM while grading 4K timelines. This problem is virtually nonexistent on Linux. Rendering speeds are also noticeably better.
I completely changed my setup three years ago after building a custom PC. Since then, I’ve had to reinstall Windows 10 multiple times. The first time was due to a drive error that made Windows stop recognizing my second hard drive. The second incident happened when an unexpected program was installed without my permission—something like a random update helper or Skype. In the third case, the Windows OEM key didn’t activate after installation, which I found odd. I bought it from G2A, so I thought Microsoft might revoke it. When I contacted support and showed proof of purchase, they gave me a full retail license, though I never used it. By then, I moved to college and brought a laptop, wiped Windows 10, and installed Linux Mint. Now I’m taking computer classes that require using lab machines with enterprise Red Hat Linux, so I’m trying to learn independently. After a year on my Linux machine, I returned to my desktop and removed Windows too.
I've been using Linux from the age of 13 and still rely on it for serious tasks on my school laptop. For everyday use, I switch to Windows on my desktop unless Nvidia updates their drivers.
I'm still confused about the issues with NVIDIA drivers, but everything seems to be working well here—including 2D hardware acceleration in Gnome (with v3.32 performance patches). Editing in Resolve Studio is faster and more stable than on Windows 10. Handling 4K or even 8K footage isn't a problem either. Games using Vulkan are running smoothly in 4K resolution. I'll try freesync soon.
All problems revolve around NVIDIA Linux drivers. There are frequent random freezes and lockups due to driver issues, often visible in dmesg logs, causing system instability even with sysrq keys. EGLstream isn’t supported, which means no Wayland access soon. VSync doesn’t work across multiple monitors. Several compositor problems persist since 2015, making recovery from sleep glitches difficult. The drivers are proprietary, so reporting bugs is tough—especially when reaching out to NVIDIA. NVIDIA Prime on Ubuntu has severe tearing in Optimus laptops. Every kernel update forces a recompilation of this module due to DKMS usage. Some video cards behave badly under the proprietary driver, leaving only Nouveau as a viable option there. A small issue exists: video decoding is only available with VDP-AU, and many programs don’t run well with the VA-PAPI wrapper. Overall performance is decent but stability is questionable, particularly for gaming compared to newer Mesa stacks and AMD drivers that also have bugs but are rapidly fixed. I’m currently limited to using Nouveau because of these constraints. Edited February 18, 2019 by Guest
1) never experienced any lockup and I'm doing lots of GPU- and CPU intensive work (editing, cgi, compositing, colorgrading etc) 2) Wayland is pretty much beta still - things may change, but Xorg honestly works really well here 3) Kwin sucks - even using Intel hardware Chrome/Firefox scroll slower and with more lag than even using mutter (which I'm using a pre 3.32 version of), desktop animations seem smoother though. No glitches after sleep either - even Resolve Studio keeps running 4) They have forums with active developers at nvidia. 5) Using Prime on my Laptop on Manjaro and it has been tearing-free so far, but again on Kwin it's a mess though sadly. 6) My distribution handles that. Have been using Manjaro for a few months and never had any issues after updating. 7) My GPUs are running fine so far (1080 Ti and 980M GT), but that would be bad for sure. The AMD Vega VII looks exciting though. 16GB of insanely fast vram should speed up Davinci Resolve Studio a lot. Still waiting for Linux/Davinci Resolve Studio benchmarks though.
manjaro avoids prime support for nvidia proprietary drivers. It relies on bumblebee which currently lacks vulkan compatibility. Primus_vk remains in early alpha, so I wouldn't choose it for a laptop—though nvidia-prime exists only on Ubuntu and needs a restart each time. Still, it offers a GUI, whereas bumblebee-ui has been removed. I've kept the source code, hoping someone will enhance stability. Desktop freezes have been frequent since I began gaming on Linux with dxvk and native apps; they worked well until then. Random screen lockups occurred, especially during gaming, though scrolling remains sluggish in KDE compared to GNOME even at 144Hz. I switched to a different desktop after my second monitor because it couldn't handle the dual display setup. VSync fails, X.org limits performance, and I've reached out to desktop developers. Wayland performs better than Windows in this case. Occasionally, games run smoothly at 60Hz across various desktops, but not consistently. I'm frustrated with Linux desktops overall after years of reporting these issues, particularly with high refresh rates. There are still other problems with fullscreen games in KWin, and I haven't received any updates from Nvidia developers on their forum.
I returned when the W10 beta launched and it seemed MS was favoring version 10 in a direction I wasn't comfortable with. I moved from using Linux on a side laptop to having it on all my main systems. I still manage some tasks in a Qemu/KVM PCIe passthrough VM (the same technology Unraid uses, which you can learn for free if you're willing to set it up). When I need software or drivers that Linux doesn't support well, I technically keep using Windows. But it's limited where it can't cause problems or access what I don't want. After learning Linux and still working with Windows regularly for work, I now strongly prefer Linux. The Unix philosophy—everything is a file in the filesystem, somewhere—feels much more intuitive than Windows' reliance on GUIs, obscure keys, or complex commands. Windows often feels like you're battling against it to achieve your goals, whereas Linux responds smoothly with the right instructions. The terminal and bash are also impressive; I regret not having a natural command-line comfort like some users have with Windows Command Prompt. Regarding NVIDIA, aside from occasional graphics stack crashes (rare, usually fixable without rebooting), I've experienced no problems with my multi-monitor rig using Maxwell cards and proprietary drivers. I'm hopeful the x.org desktop replacement will support AMD before NVIDIA, which would help eliminate screen tearing. At the moment, running tear-free VSync or video under Linux with x.org/X11 isn't possible for me, though I'm optimistic once it stabilizes. Also, I didn't encounter any issues with NVIDIA drivers in my Windows VMs, despite many claims of restrictions. I'm not sure why I never faced that problem—maybe luck played a role. I also didn't need to disable any "enhancements" I might have had. In short, Linux has proven to be a solid choice for me, and I still use Windows occasionally for practical work needs.
I already tried it, sadly when something like the nvidia kernel crashes like this Neither SSH access can solve it, X.org won't run unless you reboot everything and the kernel module cannot be unloaded in every way, neither the tty works, seem to break KMS and there found no way to recover from it, and I remember this to be a KMS issue having no way to recover from breakages Depends on how you configured KVM and could be also the nvidia card version I think It's more a matter of a driver, actually wayland supports every video card except nvidia with proprietary drivers because they did not implement EGLstreams in their driver It happened for me only when I got games opened, and also did some multitasking activity