1. Lack of good mobile hardware. ThinkPads used to be good, but sadly more than a decade ago they switched to 16:9 screens. Macbooks were 16:10. This was and still is an absolute dealbreaker for me. Fortunately, ThinkPads started bringing 16:10 back (but see below). There were a few non-16:9 PC laptops on the market, like the Microsoft Surface or some Dell XPS models. Absolute junk.
2. Even though we started to have 16:10 ThinkPads again, it doesn't matter, because Linux doesn't support non-integer display scaling factors well and these new screens come with dumb resolutions that would require a non-integer scaling factor. And the screens are crap compared to macBook screens still.
3. AMD ThinkPads only have crappy screens compared to their Intel counterparts. There exist Intel ThinkPads with Intel (non-Nvidia) GPUs that I would consider for buying, but they are unobtainium. They are either only sold to select countries, or require some kind of commercial agreement to buy.
4. When I used unix systems in the 90s and early 2000s the unix GUIs were better than the commercial counterparts. Now this situation is reversed. Gnome 3 is 10 years old now and I still have no idea how it works.
5. I used to use unusual window managers like fvwm and windowmaker. As things have become more and more integrated with the GUI, and as "popular" distributions like Ubuntu have taken the responsability of integrating everything in the GUI, it has become unfeasible for me to do the integration myself, so I'm stuck with crap software like Gnome 3, which I do not want.
6. RawTherapee and Darktable are usability nightmares compared to Capture One. Plus, what would I do with my C1 sessions anyway?
7. I use an iPhone and make heavy use of the integration between iOS and macOS. Specifically things like iMessages, Photos.app and Facetime. I can't do any of that on Linux.
8. Ubuntu is doing things I don't want (e.g. Snap) while Debian refuses to package useful software. if you think that niche Linux distributions like NixOS solve anything you are part of the problem.
People like to talk about "year of the Linux desktop", but I've been using Linux on the desktop in the 90s, and let me tell you it's been only downhill since.
> KDE Plasma supports "non-integer scaling" perfectly, and for my money is vastly superior to any other GUI available, open or commercial.
Sorry, but no, this is simply not true. Unlike Gnome, it actually tries to support it, which is laudable, but only Qt programs work reasonably well, other programs "work", but you can tell they only work through a hack. Also, it all goes to hell once you connect an external display with a different PPI...
I will agree that KDE is light years better than Gnome in usability though.
> Thinkpads with nVidia GPUs also have Intel GPUs. You don't have to use the nVidia, it costs nothing to have.
No, the external HDMI port of the laptop is only connected to the nvidia GPU, you have to use it if you want to use external displays.
> There are other distros than Ubuntu and Debian. I use Void, which I find to be a perfectly stable rolling release distro with great package coverage.
I'm afraid that if you don't understand the problem with this "solution", Linux on desktop will continue to be a thing of the past. For me and most people at least. I'm glad that it works for you.
>only Qt programs work reasonably well, other programs "work", but you can tell they only work through a hack
How is that different from Windows? Native toolkits get scaled natively, non-native toolkits get image-based scaling.
>you have to use [nvidia] if you want to use external displays.
You are simply mistaken. I have a T480 with an nvidia GPU, which I never even load the kernel module for, and the HDMI works just fine. Photo proof: https://imgur.com/a/LgRpFMi
>you don't understand the problem with this "solution"
Yeah, I really don't. You're complaining about how two specific distros picked more or less at random don't suit your use case. What else am I supposed to say than "well use a different distro then"?
> How is that different from Windows? Native toolkits get scaled natively, non-native toolkits get image-based scaling.
It's not, Windows is just as bad as Linux, but I don't use Windows. On macOS this problem doesn't exist.
> I have a T480 with an nvidia GPU, which I never even load the kernel module for, and the HDMI works just fine.
Great that it works on your T480. It doesn't work on the ThinkPads I was interested in when I last looked, like the P-series or the X1E series. That said, a few years back it didn't work on any ThinkPad with nvidia GPU at all. So there's progress I guess.
But it doesn't matter anyway, I don't want to give nvidia any money, and I certainly don't want to give Lenovo any money if they don't want to sell me the SKU I want (the one without nvidia). I vote with my money and buy from someone who actually wants to sell me stuff.
> Yeah, I really don't. You're complaining about how two specific distros picked more or less at random don't suit your use case. What else am I supposed to say than "well use a different distro then"?
No, they are not picked more or less at random. They are by far the two most common Linux distributions, and certainly the most common distributions used as Linux desktops. Trying to make the proprietary software for the government-issued USB dongle so I can pay my taxes on Linux is bad enough, trying to do the same on NicheOS instead of Ubuntu is a different level of pain. Not to mention other kind of commercial software that do in fact support Linux, like various CADs or Mathematica. These used to require RHEL, fortunately most of them support Ubuntu now. Try getting tech support to help you even install the damn thing.
Or, you know, try to file a Chrome bug report and get it accepted instead of being sent back with "try on Ubuntu please". I know because I use FreeBSD and OpenBSD. Hell, they don't even accept patches to build Chrome on these systems, that's why the BSDs have to maintain a lot of patches.
Doing anything outside the mainstream carries a cost. When I was young and I had all the time in the world I could afford that cost, because my time was worth nothing. Now my time is worth something (and I don't have enough of it!) and I can't affort any of this stuff.
Linux is not universally more expensive, for example, homebrew on macOS more closely resembles a disease than a package manager. I have to build GCC myself. If I need a GUI unix program that doesn't run on macOS I have to deal with the embarrassment of XQuartz, etc, etc. That is why I even entertain the idea of a Linux alternative. But as bad as macOS is, it's still significantly cheaper than Linux for me. And I feel that if we ever come to the point of Linux being cheaper to operate than macOS, it will be because macOS got worse and worse (which it does), and not because Linux got better.
It's great that you can afford this cost, but the Linux community pretends this cost doesn't exist. That's why there hasn't yet been the year of the Linux desktop.
1. Lack of good mobile hardware. ThinkPads used to be good, but sadly more than a decade ago they switched to 16:9 screens. Macbooks were 16:10. This was and still is an absolute dealbreaker for me. Fortunately, ThinkPads started bringing 16:10 back (but see below). There were a few non-16:9 PC laptops on the market, like the Microsoft Surface or some Dell XPS models. Absolute junk.
2. Even though we started to have 16:10 ThinkPads again, it doesn't matter, because Linux doesn't support non-integer display scaling factors well and these new screens come with dumb resolutions that would require a non-integer scaling factor. And the screens are crap compared to macBook screens still.
3. AMD ThinkPads only have crappy screens compared to their Intel counterparts. There exist Intel ThinkPads with Intel (non-Nvidia) GPUs that I would consider for buying, but they are unobtainium. They are either only sold to select countries, or require some kind of commercial agreement to buy.
4. When I used unix systems in the 90s and early 2000s the unix GUIs were better than the commercial counterparts. Now this situation is reversed. Gnome 3 is 10 years old now and I still have no idea how it works.
5. I used to use unusual window managers like fvwm and windowmaker. As things have become more and more integrated with the GUI, and as "popular" distributions like Ubuntu have taken the responsability of integrating everything in the GUI, it has become unfeasible for me to do the integration myself, so I'm stuck with crap software like Gnome 3, which I do not want.
6. RawTherapee and Darktable are usability nightmares compared to Capture One. Plus, what would I do with my C1 sessions anyway?
7. I use an iPhone and make heavy use of the integration between iOS and macOS. Specifically things like iMessages, Photos.app and Facetime. I can't do any of that on Linux.
8. Ubuntu is doing things I don't want (e.g. Snap) while Debian refuses to package useful software. if you think that niche Linux distributions like NixOS solve anything you are part of the problem.
People like to talk about "year of the Linux desktop", but I've been using Linux on the desktop in the 90s, and let me tell you it's been only downhill since.