PopOS! A different Linux

[Joelist]

I think another reason PopOS! works so well is the installer:

They managed to write an installer that is clean, easy and even full featured. System76 worked with the team behind Elemental OS to build this. It even has a full featured version of Parted built into it so you can set up all your partitions right in setup. Add in its automatic updating and using the latest kernel and this is a plus.

 

[Shadow Mann]

Everything about PopOS! has won me over. It's my daily driver now, and I have lost only VR with it. I still have Windows 10 for that. There are some games I need to get working in it, but more than 70% of them run in Linux using Proton, and they run better in Linux than they do in Windows! The complaint about gaming being so bad in Linux no longer applies really. Same with Wine which has become a polished, mature system layer which runs most applications and also allows them access to the hardware. Most of all, it's so much FASTER. Linux does not degrade in performance over time like Windows does.

 

[Shadow Mann]

My experience with this OS has convinced me that the proprietary OS platforms are a grift beyond the imagination. Everything proprietary about them appears to be designed to either collect information, control operation, or to arbitrarily be incompatible with anything outside of their sphere of influence (to make more money). Linux had suffered for decades because arrangements with software companies shut them out. Not because the Linux kernels could not handle them, but because the intentional proprietary nature of the software. This is no longer the case!

 

[Joelist]

@Shadow Mann How are things going for you on PopOS! ?

 

[Shadow Mann]

@Shadow Mann How are things going for you on PopOS! ?

Funny you should ask! Sorry I haven't been around here much.

About PopOS, it's absolutely fantastic! I am gaming on it, using it for my daily driver and have found replacements for every paid program I used on Windows. Along with that, I found that programs like DaVinci Resolve, Unreal Engine and many other programs for Windows run without degradation in wine+Proton. I am still holding on to my Windows 10 install because I need it for my VR headset, but I have uninstalled everything on there, moved all my personal filed from it and it's basically stripped. I will admit, all Linux distros require a bit of fiddling and tweaking that might annoy people who need a "it just works" OS, but if you like doing it, then Linux is a forever OS in my opinion. On a bad note, installing Windows in VirtualBox results in a badly performing guest, even when given 4 CPUs and 8gb of RAM. There is no GPU passthrough, so I can't leverage my Nvidia card. It's still 5 stars!

Right now, trying to get my OBS plugins to work like they do in Windows...going rough!

 

[Joelist]

Hmmmm.

On the laptop I pushed it onto so far PopOS! has been a "just works" OS. I probably am not using a lot of outlier scenarios though.

 

[Shadow Mann]

Hmmmm.

On the laptop I pushed it onto so far PopOS! has been a "just works" OS. I probably am not using a lot of outlier scenarios though.

All the basics out of the box are "it just works", but I need my machine to play more than 200 different games, console emulators to play console games (ReDream, PCSX2), plus my Steam games which means installing Lutris, Protontricks, Winetricks and several libraries. There was needing Unreal Engine, Blender and OBS and DaVinci Resolve, the ability to record webcam video at 60FPS, handle 3 separate monitors....definitely not a basic setup! But so far, it's about 80% where I need it.

EDIT. This is all on my desktop machine. My laptop install of PopOS is fine and everything worked out of the box, including a few games. But, that's not my primary computer.

 

[Joelist]

I was just thinking about the irony that it took a hardware OEM to write a Linux distro that really works.