>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.
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"?