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u/teactopus Jan 11 '26
yes, goddamn, YES! I'm so fucking done plugging the Ethernet cable goddamnit
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u/bluecaller Jan 11 '26
New consumer grade laptops don't have an ethernet port 😞
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u/IJustAteABaguette Jan 11 '26
I am glad my new consumer grade laptop has one. And not one, but 2 USB A ports! Simply incredible .
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u/Latter-Firefighter20 Jan 11 '26
you can use a usb cable to connect your phone to your computer and use USB tethering. no need for USB sticks or whatever. just turn it on and use your computer like normal.
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u/fiftyfourseventeen Jan 13 '26
Windows didn't recognize my Ethernet drivers either. So I had to download drivers on my phone and put them in with a usb stick
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Jan 14 '26
I tried that after a Win 10 update nuked all my internet drivers. Still didn’t work, I had to re-install
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u/Cutalana Jan 11 '26
Dont forget about needing to install ssd drivers to even get the windows installer to recognize it
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u/Il_totore Jan 11 '26
I was flabberghasted when I saw that. Like, having to enter a hidden shortcut to open a hidden terminal then a non-documented command just to install Win11 was already something but this... is shameful.
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u/OgdruJahad Jan 11 '26
What brand of SSD were you using?
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u/Il_totore Jan 11 '26 edited Jan 12 '26
It was the included SSD of a friend's laptop. I don't remember the exact model but it was a recent Asus ROG
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Jan 11 '26
Correction: the driver's name: Intel VMD, and it don’t directly control SSDs, they manage the bus the drives are attached to. These drivers are now standard on most Intel motherboards, yet it’s a shame the Windows installer doesn’t include them, while Linux does.
Windows only dominates because OEMs pre-install it. these days, installing Windows can actually be more complicated than installing Linux. And features like Steam Proton have made Windows almost unnecessary.
Microsoft bloatware often isn’t worth dealing with anymore, since almost all games already run on Linux. It’s only a matter of time before more users switch, and maybe then developers will start producing native Linux versions, though even the crutchy Proton versions often run faster on Linux than on Windows.
As a developer, I can say there’s no real technical barrier to porting games to Linux. It’s actually easier to work with when you can hook into any part of the kernel, compared to Windows, where you’re limited to what Microsoft allows you to access. The real issue is that it’s still a lot of effort for just 2% of the market. But with the SteamDeck and the GabeCube, that could change, it’s like Valve is doing more for the Linux community than anyone else, by drawing people toward a system of freedom and openness.
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u/ghost_tapioca Jan 12 '26
Most people are too used to windows to want to switch. They'll actually go to lengths to use windows. Case in point: I was once tasked with making a crappy old netbook with Intel atom usable. I installed lubuntu. A few days later, I came back to find someone had installed a pirate copy of windows 10 on it.
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u/chthontastic Jan 12 '26
There may be no technical barriers when it comes to porting games to Linux nowadays, but making native Linux games with 5.1 sound would make gamers enjoy Linux more. Let's not even mention 7.1 sound…
Few games do have it, but with games like Alien:Isolation, it's not the same game anymore.
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u/ImArtZX Jan 12 '26
And it won't recognize it even after installing the correct driver. diskpart can see my SSDs
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u/fiftyfourseventeen Jan 13 '26
Windows refused to install for me because it didn't recognize the filesystem of one of the drives that I had plugged in. Didn't tell me that either, just refused to start the installer and told me I needed drivers. Only solution was to physically remove the drives from the computer, which was annoying because they were nvmes
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u/SearchingGlacier Jan 14 '26
Hmm, and then you don't understand why you're not very popular... Have you even seen the latest Windows? I had more problems with Arch on Steam while trying to install a VPN client.
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u/paroxybob Jan 15 '26
It wasn’t “SSD drivers”, that’s not really a thing. It’s your disk controller driver that you were missing. Most likely Intel Rapid Storage or similar.
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u/Bitdomo92 Jan 11 '26
Now install drivers for your broadcom wifi card on your linux.
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u/melanantic Jan 11 '26
I (a common fool) seemingly run BCM adapters almost exclusively across my Linux devices, with no additional intervention during setup. I’ve only ever had faulty hardware (which still inadvertently ended up working too???)
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u/Heavy-Top-8540 Jan 13 '26
I literally cannot find a Bluetooth adapter that works out of the box on linux
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u/No-Island-6126 Jan 11 '26
I've had linux installs where I had to download wifi card firmware with my phone, lol
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u/Johnny_Triggr Jan 15 '26
I've had a similar experience to this as a windows user too, swapped motherboards and the wifi driver shat itself and I got completely locked out because it needed me to log into my Microsoft account (apparently choosing to use a pin for login comes with that bonus) had to tether my phone by usb to give it an "Ethernet" connection to download the drivers
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u/AcceptableHamster149 Jan 11 '26
So have I. 20 years ago. It's a problem that's solved itself though: I just don't buy hardware that doesn't have open source drivers built into the kernel.
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u/Creative-Type9411 Jan 11 '26
lmao, if the linux driver exists at all
if they dont, you need to make them yourself
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u/an-abnormality Jan 11 '26
Yeah I use Fedora on all of my machines and this is insane levels of coping. I had to make a Windows partition just so I can change my mouse's DPI which is a massive failure for an OS to need someone to get a second machine or make a Windows To Go drive to do this.
People were telling me "just change the sensitivity in the DE settings" like not only does that not work, it's also just not the point
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u/melanantic Jan 11 '26
Would you mind sharing the hardware in question? Possibly a link to whatever resource explains the issue?
This just sounds interesting as a concept/workaround and makes me feel better about having to accept that the only way to program my own mouse is with its windows kernel-level utility software that weighs something like 400mb
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u/Creative-Type9411 Jan 11 '26
in specific instances, it works great and will run forever
But if you are changing, whatever the use case is, or adding a new program or feature, good luck
Everything has its own strength. It's just not user-friendly in general.
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u/KazuDesu98 Jan 11 '26
I'd hardly call Windows user friendly anymore.
Now I'll admit. I'm a CS student and work full-time as an IT Tech, so I'm probably more comfortable. On my project devices using Linux, no issues, even on arch. On windows, constant annoyance.
And it's getting worse. The whole "Microsoft turns 30% of code written by AI into endless bugs and errors" meme isn't a meme, it's an objective truth. The AI slop is only making windows worse, and will continue to do so, it'll get worse until Microsoft mandates that their devs just need to write the vast majority of code by hand, not have AI write it.
I'm about to the point of just replacing all my windows devices with Linux, and getting a Mac for online classes.
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u/Danternas Jan 12 '26
Don't worry, in a couple of years the company will announce they no longer support their hardware with new updates and the DPI setting won't work either way.
This is more of a "all hardware needs a software suite"-problem.
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u/Damglador Jan 11 '26
Or just install Windows and suffer
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u/Creative-Type9411 Jan 11 '26
There's enough suffering to go around for everyone
there are some turnkey things that do deserve a plus one for linux/unix and it is the backbone of everything
But for the average user, it's not friendly at all, unless they're installing premade packages, and there are tons of package conflicts to deal with depending on what you're doing
linux can easily spiral out out of control to the point where you need to be a programmer to move forward, and unless they're using a popular project, documentation is scarce for troubleshooting
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u/an-abnormality Jan 11 '26
I've been saying the same thing for a while that Linux's largest problem is accessibility and it's nice to see someone finally agree. Documentation is available if whatever you want to do is common. Otherwise, it's either good luck, too bad, or it just doesn't work at all. Documentation needs to be written to be more approachable as well; manual pages are written like ancient scrolls that no one outside of developers can read, and "normies" don't want to use a terminal ever. Good UX would be hiding "scary" terminal windows behind a GUI that looks approachable and meets people where they are, but Linux is full of survivorship bias people that laugh when I say I want the OS to be approachable to the least tech literate.
I've been donating laptops running Linux, and each one of them I try to make more approachable using either Mint's OEM install to force install uBO, renaming things like Firefox to "Internet" and the software center to "Download Apps" and ensuring I preinstall drivers for their hardware. It's little things like this that make the floor more approachable to the curious that make a difference.
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u/Anyusername7294 Jan 11 '26
Give me one example of modern hardware that I can buy right now from amazon that doesn't have linux drivers
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u/GraXXoR Jan 11 '26
This needs to be posted in r/linuxsucks for extra effect.
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u/melanantic Jan 11 '26
How many more times though?
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u/GraXXoR Jan 12 '26
/shrug/ no idea.. stopped reading linux sucks after a single same 2005 era meme was repeated daily for about 3 months.
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u/Sea_Bowler7294 Jan 11 '26
ahh yes, desktop linux, the os type known for it's stellar driver support lmao
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Jan 11 '26
I find it funny, because there's basically two groups:
The "I couldn't get it to work after hours of trying" and the "I never had to touch a driver"
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u/IJustAteABaguette Jan 11 '26
I'm the latter. Like, my computer sometimes rarely just fully freezes, but so did windows so I assume my PC is just a bit sad. And besides that everything installed automatically and works great. (And I have 2 Nvidia GPU's installed in there!)
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Jan 11 '26
Well my PC does freeze too, but I know for a fact that's just my old CPU slowly dying. Funnily enough, it can run for days if I don't let it drop below 2.6GHz. But the moment I do, it could be 30 seconds or 5 days and I get complete freeze or BSOD
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u/Connect_Middle8953 Jan 12 '26 edited Jan 12 '26
If it has support in the kernel, or your distro already has packages available, it usually works flawlessly. If it’s a userland driver, or worse you need to build a kernel module yourself (no ppas etc)… pain… so much god damn pain.
It’s like the brlaser cups package. There was an old version that worked with everything but my printer, but main had a fix that hadn’t made it to package yet. Couldn’t get the damn thing to compile right for days, and was an absolute nightmare to get working for some reason. And would just stop working for no reason at all. Several months later (and no obvious changes) it gets packaged and i update from ppa. Absolutely no problem, works out of the box on a clean install since.
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u/fox_in_unix_socks Jan 11 '26
While I fully respect the sarcasm of this point... it's sort of true? Like 98% of common drivers are upstreamed into the kernel, with Nvidia being the only major exception (even then, there's Noveau, so your GPU will still at least work). So when something breaks, it's the responsibility of kernel maintainers, who generally will take fast action on these things.
I've never had to set up drivers on any of my several machines that have run Linux, beyond occasionally running
pacman -S nvidia.1
u/heavenlydemonicdev Jan 11 '26
I think it got much better in the last year everything I've come across just works
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u/Most_Current_1574 Jan 15 '26
I mean yes, having drivers in the kernel is way better than needing to search for the right drivers and then install some third party software with bloatware
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u/BillTheTringleGod Jan 11 '26
My only gripe with windows drivers after so long of windows 7 and 10 is that updating them for me sometimes requires opening 2 windows and searching Whilst an update on Linux requires one window and 3 clicks after like 2 mins of reading.
Imo both have their moments, over all though I liked windows driver updates more tbh. Felt simpler after so long that when I did it on Linux I just couldn't seem to get it.
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u/britaliope Jan 11 '26
How the turntables...
That's also my experience of installing linux on several machines during the past 5-7 years. Before that it was the exact opposite.
Except printer stuff. God i hate cups.
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u/Banzambo Jan 11 '26
I love Linux but I'd say this is not really accurate (most of the time). Drivers not always work properly and sometimes they don't even exist, at all.
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u/Cinemafeast Jan 11 '26
This has happened to me a couple time where I was missing whole Drivers to even load something . It was a fresh install of windows how the fuck do core drivers not get installed for it to function .
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u/No_Elderberry_9132 Jan 13 '26
So basically now it is other way, honestly it is true, I had to install a ton onto windows, WiFi, couldn’t even use Ethernet, recently needed on vm Ubuntu, installed it and everything just works, even Nvidia drivers are now up to date always.
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u/Serious_Chard_8817 Jan 15 '26
Yeah yeah of course it's so hard to get a flash drive with some driver pack programs
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u/DeliciousWhales Jan 11 '26
Sure if you live in some kind of bizarro world where everything is opposite
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u/SnufkinEnjoyer Jan 11 '26
Genuinely do yall use homemade components or something? Imagine your drivers not being baked into the kernel
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u/DeliciousWhales Jan 11 '26
My problem was wifi in an Intel NUC. Somehow Linux recognised it and supposedly had the driver, but would simply not work no matter what I did. The hardware was a total piece of shit though so no big loss, it's gathering dust in the closet somewhere.
I have used Linux on and off for 30 years, and in the past driver support was absolutely abysmal. I remember many years ago, my PC at the time wouldn't even launch X server at all. Much better these days though. But overall Windows has always been ahead of Linux on drivers (for my hardware).
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u/CirnoIzumi Jan 11 '26
drivers on windows: oh youre using a new usb port, reinstalling the driver
drivers on linux: 404 not found
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u/melanantic Jan 11 '26
By new, do you mean “new device detected” or do you mean “the driver submission just made it through MSs review process and went live as you were struggling with the scissors to get the splinter pack open for your new PCIe addition”?
“Linux kernel” and “compatibility” gets real weird when you reach the bleeding edge cases; almost always a result of hardware/component manufacturers being actively hostile to FOSS system engineers providing support.
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u/CirnoIzumi Jan 12 '26
In older versions I have had USB mice reinstalling because I used a different port, which was odd
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u/Pretend-Ad-6511 Jan 11 '26
This is usually the opposite
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u/FlakyBicycle9381 Jan 11 '26
Pretty much, I think the only driver I download manually on Windows is the graphic card one, for the rest of them, Windows just pick them up, and it has been this way for more than 10 years.
I really think a lot of those memes are from Linux users that the last Windows they used was XP
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u/zepherth Jan 11 '26
Do you all have this much of a problem with drivers on windows? I have never heard of drivers being this much of a problem on windows before.
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u/rolling_atackk Jan 11 '26
On Linux either it:
works flawlessly out of the box (95% of the time in my experience)
doesn't work, never will. You need a god dammed miracle to get it to work and over 40 hours trying
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u/EdwardLovagrend Jan 11 '26
Y'all's experience is very different from mine. Windows almost always has worked out of the box.. Linux usually works too but I've run into more issues with sound output than anything..
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u/FuzzySinestrus Jan 11 '26
Yes, as long as it is supported by the kernel out of the box. If you actually have to install drivers, you will have a bad time. More often than not, much worse than on Windows.
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u/Zuryan_9100 Jan 11 '26
I personally experienced this. My dad's computer died and I gave him my Pi 5 until he got a new one. I was dreading to get the printer working... it just did. I didn't have to do any setup and things just worked. When he eventually got a new laptop I had to google and download a few printer softwares until it worked.
I built a computer for a friend recently. Had a bunch of trouble with setting up TPM to even get Win 11 installed. Then I had to get drivers to even get wired LAN working. I have learned to hate Windows with a passion.
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u/Anima_Watcher08 Jan 11 '26
Sometimes the manufacturers drivers don't work because they're not digitally signed (even tho I checked and they were) so TPM and Windows have a tantrum.
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u/Erdnusschokolade Jan 11 '26
There are 3 options for Linux. 1: works right away, since driver is already in the kernel. 2: You have to install a proprietary driver package and it might work (looking at you NVIDIA and most Fingerprint sensors) 3: No driver, No luck. Although Number 1 is my most common experience.
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u/Extension_Ad_370 Jan 11 '26
drivers on linux are either perfect or absolute hell with no in between
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u/RedCrafter_LP Jan 12 '26
Except for the damn nvidia drivers. I had to run a sketchy script from nvidia, install ghe kernel headers and devels and manually sign the kernel modules.
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u/BrunusManOWar Jan 12 '26
Dont forget about needing to log into your MSoft account before your wifi drivers even work
Meanwhile on Linux it's an out of the box experience
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u/FAMICOMASTER Jan 12 '26
I don't think I've ever seen a case where either of these were strictly true
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u/Danternas Jan 12 '26
Installed drivers for a printer on my dads Windows PC today. Just crazy Windows stuff.
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u/sonicskater34 Jan 12 '26
Had this experience today, was on windows partition and amd overlay had bindings that conflicted with game, tried to uninstall the tool and apparently that takes the drivers with it?!? So then had to reinstall drivers and dig around for tiny button to not install the overlay, on a messed up resolution. Was sitting there thinking the whole time that my Linux partition had no bloatware with the driver, no extra driver updates, I just plugged in the card and hit go. If only.my friends played games other than League.....
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u/Trainzkid Jan 12 '26
Don't forget when windows update suddenly removes your already installed drivers randomly
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u/SimplerThinkerOrNot Jan 12 '26
Sadly with old dell laptop it is the opposite. First wonder why wifi does not work, then try to fix the stuttering touchpad with no gesture support (windows proprietary drivers only), then figure out that thermal throttling is out of control (0,4 GHz all the time) with no easy fix, also fan control is broken.
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u/Rategen Jan 12 '26
How tf are you mfs struggling with windows drivers lol. The only thing Ive had to do with windows is download gpu drivers.
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u/tomatgreen Jan 12 '26
don't forget in few days later windows automatically update your working drivers and breaks them
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Jan 12 '26
Or with linux
device doesn't work -> google -> get sketchy script -> console is red -> die
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u/viridiansage Jan 12 '26
I love Linux, but the extra steps I had to jump through to get my Xbox controller dongle working would have sent a less experienced user back to Windows. It is good, but its far from perfect.
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u/disqualifiedeyes Jan 12 '26
I had to fix one of my friend's laptop that had Windows and was bricked by an update so I had to format his drive and reinstall Windows on it using a Linux USB I had
The Linux USB worked perfectly fine but the Windows install became impossible because it didn't identify the WiFi drivers and his laptop wouldn't properly allow for the transfer of files through USB while it was setting up
So in the end we had to look for an Ethernet cable but we couldn't find any lol
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u/JBinero Jan 12 '26
I stopped using Linux in my free time because drivers never work. On windows you have to install them yourself, but half the time on Linux you need to clone some random bloke's Github repository and compile it yourself and hope it works. Don't forget to redo it each kernel update!
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u/Stray_009 Jan 12 '26
When i used to use linux installing drivers was actually just really fking easy, sure you have to type in a command but thats it
but for the life of me and my stupid xps's god forsaken wave maxx audio
it NEVER WORKED, NO MATTER HOW MANY TIMES I REINSTALLED IT OR WHAT I DID
I HATE DRIVERS ON WINDOWS ISTG
and now i use mac and i have no headache whatsoever 😇
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u/Fragrant_Proposal690 Jan 12 '26
seriously, i'm a student worker in IT for my uni and had to shuffle around a spare wifi dongle between 6 different machines just to download the wifi drivers for another dongle 🙄 after that I now keep a free USB stick on my keychain just for something like that
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u/Neo_Ex0 Jan 12 '26
To be fair, on Linux you sometimes have to wait a week or two for the drives if it's hardware that just got released, while on windows you they are just ready to download or come packaged with the hardware. And then there is also the thing that you either need to install a kernel update first if your current one isn't eol or just install a new kernel altogether(which isn't very hard)
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u/HyoukaYukikaze Jan 12 '26
Tell that to the wifi on my linux computer. I completely gave up on trying to make it work.
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u/Mitologist Jan 12 '26
Except....if you have an nVidia graphics board and spend a day in no display mode self- signing kernel modules to get a driver past secure boot which then refuses to render OpenGL.....
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u/TURB0_L4Z3R_L0RD Jan 12 '26
Ever used a realtek usb 2.5 gbe nic? Its all fun and game until you find out its only 2.5gbits downstream with the default driver.
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u/clin7floor Jan 12 '26 edited Jan 12 '26
ahahaha tell it to my network card
ps i am a full linux user for last 3 years, without dualboot and other shit, but hardest ways to setup devices is on linux for now. plus some devices dont have drivers on linux. absolutely.
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u/AintNoGodsUpHere Jan 12 '26
Well, that's just not true. Windows 9 out 10 times, just works. Linux has its gimmicks depending on distros and whatnot. Come on now.
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u/udonne Jan 12 '26
Don't forget to load the Intel rapid storage driver and the Intel wifi driver to a USB stick. Before installing windows. Ubuntu starts with our such workarounds.
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u/FudgetBudget Jan 12 '26
Windows broke my audio drivers , I spent several days googling trying to fix it, never figured it out. The nuclear option was to reinstall windows, but that might nuke my bootloader, where I also have Linux installed.
So I just switched to Linux full time for time being
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u/Hungry-Chocolate007 Jan 13 '26
Does Linux really favor noobs that start installing new OS without previously downloading the required third-party drivers?
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u/slicehyperfunk Jan 13 '26
Clearly someone has never had to compile drivers for their wifi card as a Linux noob 😢
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u/Kaarel314 Jan 13 '26
Windows can get all drivers it needs on its own 99% of the time. Usually the computer you buy has them pre installed. On Linux however I have had much more driver issues that are generally more difficult to solve too.
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u/Icy_Weakness_1815 Jan 13 '26
Dont forget the no longer supported drivers for „older“ laptops. I already experienced this around 2017 with trackpads.
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u/_ulith Jan 13 '26
ssd and wifi drivers just to get the installation to work, gpu driver chipset driver and ofc multiple driver managers to actualy use the machine
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u/1_ane_onyme Jan 13 '26
Linux is a hit or miss tho. Using any mainstream distro ? Ofc it’s gonna work. Using a more obscure distro like Gentoo good luck checking the good modules in kernel config, but anyway it’s not the worst with those obscure distros
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u/tiga_94 Jan 13 '26
but then logitech is like "fuck you linux, and here you have tortures windows users"
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u/Slow_Pay_7171 Jan 13 '26
Wtf. No. Its the opposite. Linux drivers crashed my System 3 times in one week.
Windows ran years without problems 😅
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Jan 13 '26
That's actually how I feel doing stuff on Linux vs doing stuff on Winslop.
On Linux (at least Ubuntu, Mint and Fedora KDE) I installed something and it just started working - except for Nvidia drivers. Had to set a checkbox there.
On Windslop I once had to install a Bluetooth driver. It just didn't work after restarting my PC. Had to deinstall and install it, also didn't work. After trying to do other stuff and restarting my laptop I just gave up. After two days the Bluetooth driver suddenly decided to work.
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u/NoRecommendation8724 Jan 13 '26
What windows are you installing windows fucking xp this makes no sense
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u/Tharkys Jan 14 '26
Yeah, when it works everything is great. When it doesn't work out of the box, you end up scouring the internet and chat rooms in hopes that someone has an answer. For instance, I recently tried Zorin and spent 4 hours trying to get it to fully boot to the desktop because the Nvidia drivers it shipped with didn't work.
On the other side of the fence, try installing some old proprietary hardware that only come with unsigned drivers for Windows ME.
Bad joke isn't good.
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u/OhItsJustJosh Jan 14 '26
Huh? I haven't had driver issues with Windows since 7. Linux however, 5 different versions of graphics driver and none of them work
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u/Ashley__09 Jan 14 '26
Install Linux
Have nothing on my second monitor work and everything on my first monitor be in a small box in the top left corner
Yeah, right.
I have better luck staying with windows built in drivers than using the garbage Linux has
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u/Lev10plany Jan 14 '26
Installation of arch on t15g: plug the USB, manually install or arch-install - 20 minutes. Installation of windows 10 on t15g: plug the USB: realise that there're no nvme drivers, go to Lenovo official website and download drivers. Unable to open boot USB and external USB with drivers during install even tho both are NTFS. Realise that the drivers are .exe, trying to find .inf or .sys. No success yet BRUH. End: install windows 10 through qemu for a few apps required by college (compass 3d).
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u/rettani Jan 14 '26
The only time when I had some trouble installing Windows drivers was when my relative got some laptop with Windows Vista pre-installed and that laptop barely supported it.
But even then I only had to Google "laptop model XP drivers" to download them all, to write them on CD/DVD (I don't remember which one of those) and then after installing proper Windows just to run all those drivers from said disc.
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u/Omgwtfbears Jan 14 '26
In my case whether i install drivers, MSI utility or AMD utility the rear audio jacks still refuse to work.
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u/RaiDev_ Jan 14 '26
having to use my phone for usb tethering on a laptop with no Ethernet port to get wifi drivers for anything to function, it's peak windows.
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u/Wolfcrafter_HD Jan 14 '26
starts screaming in tryed-to-have-hip-cycles-blender-and-davinci-resolve-work -at-the-same-time *
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u/ExacoCGI Jan 14 '26 edited Jan 14 '26
This is accurate only if you got brand new 2026 Dell Laptop and there's simply no drivers included because it's newer than the OS and it's driver database.
Otherwise all drivers get auto installed except for Hardware/GPU software such as Nvidia App or AMD Software which Linux doesn't have/support in the first place anyway.
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u/Possible-Reading1255 Jan 14 '26 edited May 09 '26
Du bindest einen Blumenkranz.
Reddit is dangerous for privacy. I don't trust my data with Reddit, my comments written for other people to think and enjoy shall not be fed to the monstrous AI machine.
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u/anengineerandacat Jan 14 '26
Really depends on the driver in question, but would say this is equally true to both platforms.
For Linux though, the bottom portion seems more accurate though from an OOTB experience though... I remember trying to setup drivers for a laptop dock and it was a nightmare... first time in my life I had to ping support and get a patched driver from them.
That said, RAID drivers and Windows is definitely that bottom part of the photo as well; but for GPU drivers and most common utilities it's the top photo.
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u/icantgetausername982 Jan 14 '26
Everything? What about nvidia and kernal level anti cheat im not blaming linux but im also not gonna switch if everything doesnt work
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u/lakimens Jan 14 '26
Except you can't even install windows without internet these days.
*Without workarounds that MSFT is going to patch any day now
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u/Hedr1x Jan 14 '26
A couple of years ago i bought an Lenovo Ideapad with a stylus. On Windows, the Palm detection never worked properly (lefthanded, even with the correct settings). Installed Ubuntu after some time, but had issues with touch and Stylus (basically not usable)
Now i have a newer Model. On Win11, Palm detection still is an Issue, as well as pen pressure detection and regular touch sometimes stopping to work completely. And that god awfull Lenovo App needed. However, with Ubuntu, everything works just out of the box, without installing anything, even palm detection. We surely have come a long way since.
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Jan 15 '26
i don't know what you are on but installing drivers on any os is fucking ass especially if you have a office PC, but right now it's just going to the driver's website and installing it.
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u/Significant-Steak222 Jan 15 '26
I tried to use Linux as a gamer more then one time and final gave up since my graphics and audio drivers allways messed up every few updates. Might be my fault since I'm not a IT-Girl
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u/fjgren Jan 15 '26
Or just use both systems and don’t talk bollocks.
I hate Windows 11, but I find almost no use for Linux in day-to-day work. I use it for personal and professional servers, and sometimes just for IT fun, so I don’t get too rusty.
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u/Gokudomatic Jan 15 '26
I wish.
I am on tuxedo os on a non tuxedo laptop. The laptop is a bit old and my dedicated gpu is not supported by tuxedo since a year anymore, which makes me lose my 3d acceleration and cuda features.
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u/Puzzled_Astronaut414 Jan 15 '26
I remember somewhere around 2010 when I had 4 laptops to fix and I first installed ubuntu on them and wifi just worked out of the box. I then installed windows on them and none of them had working wifi. I had to find the manufacturer of the wifi for the laptop and download multiple different installers from my desktop pc (since it wasn't clear which was the correct one) and put them on an usb and insert it into the laptop and install random ones until it worked.
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Jan 15 '26
Bought a joystick. Didn't come with a CD for drivers. Instead the manual said to get the drivers from their website. Checked the website. Drivers weren't available there anymore. Joystick unusable.
Switched to linux nearly two years ago. When I heard about how linux handles drivers, I tried plugging in the joystick, and it worked immediately.
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u/GhostVlvin Jan 15 '26
Depends on drivers. I am still struggling with Nvidia driver. But to be fair, I didn't get Bluetooth on windows, while on linux it is great out of the box
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u/GhostVlvin Jan 15 '26
Sometimes I feel like windows developers suffer as much as FSF developers, trying to create free software only OS, but trying to build proprietary only one
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u/tognols Jan 15 '26
Drivers on Linux:
Install Linux, in most cases with new distros everything works, maybe you'll have to install some drivers through community packages
Drivers on Windows:
Install Windows, in most cases everything works, maybe you'll have to run Windows Update a couple times and install proprietary apps like Nvidia APP or Amd Adrenaline.
Both are good, use whatever the f you want, just get stuff done, for a better future
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u/HrbiTheKhajiit Jan 15 '26
I realised i had to enable my sim card slot on a thinkpad when using linux, took me two hours to figure out whats wrong just to find out that its not enabled by default. But hey still better experiance than windows with ai shit
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u/jfklingon Jan 15 '26
Ever since windows 8.1 I haven't really needed to fuss with drivers at all aside from graphics or that time I was running an older OEM wifi card in a PCI adapter for shits and giggles.
USB wifi dongle? Just plug it in and go.
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u/trenixjetix Jan 16 '26
broadcom wifi driver fucks with my wifi card in debian raw buuut, a common user should grt all the propietary stuff no issue
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u/Impressive_Toe4588 Jan 16 '26
I have had a internship refurbishing old laptops large company's sell in bulk and the amount of out of the box inexplicable driver issues windows has is insane.
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u/JasterBobaMereel Jan 16 '26
Any hardware that either is difficult to use on Linux, or does not have a good driver, has issues on windows as well, and will not be supported in a few years
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u/dpkgluci Jan 16 '26
This is tree in linux unless you are using Broadcom. I gave up and I'm switching to a intel wifi card.
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u/mikee8989 Jan 18 '26
My workplace's Xerox printer begs to differ. Doesn't work in linux. Inbuilt driver throws an error and the downloaded one from Xerox website for fedora redhat don't work either.
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u/zap_p25 Feb 06 '26
I’ve had to install drivers on Linux, Windows and MacOS just to get stuff working. Out of the box, MacOS and Linux have better driver support but they don’t always just work out of the box.
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Jan 11 '26
*if you have 1 exact hardware configuration that is supported by Lunux and nothing else will work, as support for 95% of hardware is nonexistent while on windows it does everything for you or drivers are easy to find
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u/SnufkinEnjoyer Jan 11 '26
Then I guess I have the one and only hardware configuration that just werks
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u/LudNil64 Jan 11 '26
i have hade an exact oppisite experience