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Any Linux users out there? (Pt 2) - Linux on the desktop in 2025 is actually good with Arch/CachyOS!

Trev
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I've finally moved my main desktop from macOS to Arch (CachyOS). Survived a few months and have zero desire or reason to go back. I'm using it for development/updates to Omega Forums and Tag Heuer Forums. Zed editor vs hundreds of spaghetti-Xenforo PHP templates. Zed is a modern GPU-accelerated editor with VIM mode, comes ready to use with everything already configured out-of-box. I use Neovim + LazyVim still, but find myself gravitating towards Zed for large projects. I'm primarily using a trimmed down minimal KDE desktop, or sometimes Hyprland when I'm in the mood. For KDE, I installed packages manually, trimmed out some extra services, then modified colors and changed default fonts.

As a reliable Instagram-husband, Davinci Resolve is my go-to editing reels for my wife's calligraphy business. Resolve is awesome on Linux, probably since that's where it came from. Of course I do some light gaming with my son, which is now more stable and reliable than Windows 11.

Instead of bumping our 2020 Linux thread, I though it best to start fresh because there's been a lot of momentum in the Linux world, especially in the desktop space (Proton is great + better Nvidia drivers + Wayland, etc).

How is everyone coming along? What distros are you on? Maybe we need custom member profile *nix badges 😎

1757113576669.webp
 
Waltesefalcon
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I run a dual boot on my computer, Mint with Cinnamon desktop and Windows 10. For work and gaming I use Windows, for everything else I use Linux.
 
Tony C.
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What are the basic advantages over MacOS?
 
Trev
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Tony C. Tony C.
What are the basic advantages over MacOS?
Depends a lot on your personal use-case, but mostly freedom from Apple's ecosystem. Far more bang-for-buck since Linux can run on any hardware, but also not stuck running Windows 11. High performance, customization. It's mostly developers/etc that would see the most benefit, but even gamers can have a nicer experience on Linux now. Drastically better game support than macOS.
 
Tony C.
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Trev Trev
Depends a lot on your personal use-case, but mostly freedom from Apple's ecosystem. Far more bang-for-buck since Linux can run on any hardware, but also not stuck running Windows 11. High performance, customization. It's mostly developers/etc that would see the most benefit, but even gamers can have a nicer experience on Linux now. Drastically better game support than macOS.
Thanks Trev. Is there any reason to worry that either or both of the Goliaths (Apple and Microsoft) might attempt to squash, of impair the further growth and development of Linux, or is that practically impossible?
 
smb88
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Trev Trev
I've finally moved my main desktop from macOS to Arch (CachyOS). Survived a few months and have zero desire or reason to go back. I'm using it for development/updates to Omega Forums and Tag Heuer Forums. Zed editor vs hundreds of spaghetti-Xenforo PHP templates. Zed is a modern GPU-accelerated editor with VIM mode, comes ready to use with everything already configured out-of-box. I use Neovim + LazyVim still, but find myself gravitating towards Zed for large projects. I'm primarily using a trimmed down minimal KDE desktop, or sometimes Hyprland when I'm in the mood. For KDE, I installed packages manually, trimmed out some extra services, then modified colors and changed default fonts.

As a reliable Instagram-husband, Davinci Resolve is my go-to editing reels for my wife's calligraphy business. Resolve is awesome on Linux, probably since that's where it came from. Of course I do some light gaming with my son, which is now more stable and reliable than Windows 11.

Instead of bumping our 2020 Linux thread, I though it best to start fresh because there's been a lot of momentum in the Linux world, especially in the desktop space (Proton is great + better Nvidia drivers + Wayland, etc).

How is everyone coming along? What distros are you on? Maybe we need custom member profile *nix badges 😎

1757113576669.webp
I started with Slackware in the late 90s! Eventually moved on to using CentOS for my home server(s) and Fedora for desktop.

It's incredible how much it's changed over this time, and what great value!

I'm also using the Raspberry pi Debian based OS for my various pis dotted about the place.

I see you're using various iterations of vim @Trev, any nice macros/add ons/themes you use frequently?
 
ErichKeane
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I've been running Arch + i3 on my home computers for years! About 2 years ago I swapped employers who have an Ubuntu spin that I have for my work laptop (which has its... frustrating moments), but still i3. Though, I spend most of my day GNU-Screen'ed into a RHEL machine 😀
 
amikoyan
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I use Slackware on my home laptop, KDE on the desktop. Slackware -current is actually very stable, Pat Volkerding knows what he's doing.


I like the idea of a *nix badge
 
smb88
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amikoyan amikoyan
I use Slackware on my home laptop, KDE on the desktop. Slackware -current is actually very stable, Pat Volkerding knows what he's doing.


I like the idea of a *nix badge
Maybe it's time for a revisit!
 
amikoyan
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smb88 smb88
Maybe it's time for a revisit!
The best way to try 15.0 stable or -current is to download the live image https://download.liveslak.org/ , try it out from a USB and if you like it, opt for install to disk. The Linux Questions Slackware forum https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/slackware-14/ is the official user support site. Slackware will feel the same as it did decades ago, which is either a good thing or a deal breaker, depending on your tastes.
Edited:
 
josiahg52
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Waltesefalcon Waltesefalcon
I run a dual boot on my computer, Mint with Cinnamon desktop and Windows 10. For work and gaming I use Windows, for everything else I use Linux.
I'm finishing up putting my desktop back together after many years and am considering doing the same. Windows 10 definitely and I think it's time to try Linux.
 
Trev
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Tony C. Tony C.
Thanks Trev. Is there any reason to worry that either or both of the Goliaths (Apple and Microsoft) might attempt to squash, of impair the further growth and development of Linux, or is that practically impossible?
Impossible, but they're probably not too concerned. Apple might lose some developers/designers/academics to Linux.

Most of Microsoft's Azure server business is powered by Linux, they maintain their own Linux distro for Azure, and have their Linux subsystem on Windows too. Windows desktop licensing is a far smaller piece of revenue stream these days for Microsoft. I do think they'll lose some customers, especially gamers when Windows 10 updates stop this year. Many Windows games perform the same on Linux, some slightly better. Linux can be more reliable for running Windows games than Windows itself, too. I have games that are about 10 years old and they crash on Windows 11, while Linux + Proton is rock solid. Windows has always been the king for gaming, but I think they're losing that with Windows 11 being such a horrible release and Steam/Proton progress on Linux.

ErichKeane ErichKeane
I've been running Arch + i3 on my home computers for years! About 2 years ago I swapped employers who have an Ubuntu spin that I have for my work laptop (which has its... frustrating moments), but still i3. Though, I spend most of my day GNU-Screen'ed into a RHEL machine 😀
Arch is awesome, I really like it. I'm using Limine and Snapper snapshots so I can mess around with stuff but easily roll-back if something breaks. interesting that your work has their own Ubuntu spin!

smb88 smb88
I started with Slackware in the late 90s! Eventually moved on to using CentOS for my home server(s) and Fedora for desktop.

It's incredible how much it's changed over this time, and what great value!

I'm also using the Raspberry pi Debian based OS for my various pis dotted about the place.

I see you're using various iterations of vim @Trev, any nice macros/add ons/themes you use frequently?
I started with Slackware as a teen. It came as floppies attached to a Linux magazine. Nothing special in Neovim here: close to stock LazyVim + ZenBones theme or Rose Pine, but with most colored backgrounds removed. I tend to use Neovim as the system editor and Zed for large projects. Our home NAS is powered by Unraid, which is still based on Slackware.

smb88 smb88
Maybe it's time for a revisit!
Highly recommend Arch or an Arch-based derivative for easier start: CachyOS is great. Omarchy is a perfect opinionated setup for developers and others.

josiahg52 josiahg52
I'm finishing up putting my desktop back together after many years and am considering doing the same. Windows 10 definitely and I think it's time to try Linux.
That's the way to go. Win10 + Linux on separate drives so you can get used to the Linux side of things but have a safety net.
 
cuonglm
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As a long-time Linux user, I've used various distros for both work and personal projects. While I've tried many, I've stuck with Ubuntu LTS for several years, mainly because the support period is now much longer.

What are the basic advantages over MacOS?

IMHO, the most advantage: Linux is fully Open-source, why MacOS is not. You’re free to learn the inner working of the system, as much as you want. And due to the nature of Open-sources, everyone can look at the code, auditing, improving and make it works better.
 
Waltesefalcon
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josiahg52 josiahg52
I'm finishing up putting my desktop back together after many years and am considering doing the same. Windows 10 definitely and I think it's time to try Linux.
If you're just now dipping your toe into the Linux end of the pool, I recommend Mint. The desktop is very intuitive for Windows users. That is one reason I stick with it on my desktop. It makes for a very smooth transition since I jump back and forth between Windows and Linux.
 
cuonglm
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Tony C. Tony C.
Thanks Trev. Is there any reason to worry that either or both of the Goliaths (Apple and Microsoft) might attempt to squash, of impair the further growth and development of Linux, or is that practically impossible?

Here’s some reason in addition to what others said above.

Microsoft made their technical products open-sources in recent years, with the ability for running on Linux: .NET, SQL Server, WSL, … They competed with Linux in the past, but now they deeply integrate Linux to their ecosystem (and they are also one of the biggest contributors to the Linux kernel).

Apple does not compete with Linux, since their macOS is built on a Unix based platforms. Many Linux developers also use Macbook as their developing environment. Linux also does not affect their main business: selling hardware.
 
Foo2rama
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@Trev why arch?

I’m a pretty does in the wool Debian guy. It just works. From Ubuntu on Pi’s to Kali Linux in remote containers, and parrot for a pentesting rig. If I still daily drove *mix I’d most likely use Mint.

Arch just seems not as widely supported to me.
 
Trev
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Foo2rama Foo2rama
@Trev why arch?

I’m a pretty does in the wool Debian guy. It just works. From Ubuntu on Pi’s to Kali Linux in remote containers, and parrot for a pentesting rig. If I still daily drove *mix I’d most likely use Mint.

Arch just seems not as widely supported to me.
Arch is quite widely supported now, far more than a few years ago. I ended up quite liking the package manager more than other distros. Everything in Arch feels lean, clean, fast. Nice defaults. It's minimal but functional.

Valve's SteamOS for their handheld gaming systems are based on Arch now too, so it's good at gaming related platforms and valve's tweaks. CachyOS as an Arch derivative brings further optimizations from SteamOS + performance tools OOB. AUR is pretty awesome, way better than COPR and other equivalents (though I do read everything in each package config before installing). For example, there's an AUR helper to easily install Davinci Resolve. On other platforms it's tedious manual process extracting + linking libs for compatibility. On Fedora you'd need to hunt down a handful of old library RPM's to deal with, hand-on.

Also, on an Nvidia desktop I much prefer the cutting edge Arch rolling release schedule combined with automated bootable BTRFS snapshots. I tested the latest Fedora release on this desktop, but it was much more effort and actually had more quirks/issues to fix vs Arch. Fedora's installer barely functions because Nouveau doesn't work on newer cards and they still don't bundle the newer Nvida drivers, despite legal issues being cleared up. 1024x768 framebuffer running at like 2FPS. They don't even provide any clues about what's wrong or a prompt to install the drivers. Imagine normal people trying to figure this stuff out.

Debian 13 seems pretty nice, I'm using it for a Minecraft server on the LAN with my son.
 
cuonglm
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Foo2rama Foo2rama
@Trev why arch?

I’m a pretty does in the wool Debian guy. It just works. From Ubuntu on Pi’s to Kali Linux in remote containers, and parrot for a pentesting rig. If I still daily drove *mix I’d most likely use Mint.

Arch just seems not as widely supported to me.

I dont think it not widely supported. In contrast, it’s preferred by developers and one wants to learn Linux, because of DIY philosophy.

Using Arch forces you to learn how components are placed together to build the system, deepen your knowledge about how Linux, and OS in general, works.

Last but not least, Arch have very excellent documentation among Linux distros.
 
ErichKeane
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cuonglm cuonglm
I dont think it not widely supported. In contrast, it’s preferred by developers and one wants to learn Linux, because of DIY philosophy.

Using Arch forces you to learn how components are placed together to build the system, deepen your knowledge about how Linux, and OS in general, works.

Last but not least, Arch have very excellent documentation among Linux distros.
For me, the rolling release solved a TON of the complaints I had about other distros, which was my big selling point.

The absurdly good documentation was a big selling point (over a lot of less popular distros), as well as the 'customizationability'. Obviously I can get the window manager/etc that I want with ANY of the distros, but not starting with one leads to most of the configs ways of doing things to have less of a 'blessed official' way.

For example, my Ubuntu at work (where I use i3wm instead of Gnome/etc), everything I end up needing to do has me having to work around the fact that I'm a second class citizen for docs.
 
Trev
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I can't believe I forgot to mention the Arch docs and Wiki. Yeah, best around.

Even the upcoming official "KDE Linux" distro release has switched to an immutable Arch-based setup.
 
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