And most distributions have the permissions structure of, well, 1980's Unix.
I know it's being worked on, but it's a little crazy to think that on most Linux systems you still don't get a permissions popup when your calculator app wants to turn on your microphone. You can't grant access to your contacts or email on an app-by-app basis.
I say most because it has been largely solved on Android, for example.
You can use Flatpaks to basically solve this issue. Most applications nowadays are already available as Flatpaks, the ones that aren't probably have been reviewed by your distribution. Stick to official repositories and there shouldn't be any worries really. Of course for the average user this kind of discipline might be impossible, but for power-users out there: https://firejail.wordpress.com/
You could also play a bit with writing SELinux or AppArmor policies, although I grant that most people don't give a fuck and just want to get their computing done.
Opting for a Wayland-compliant display server instead of XOrg will also provide you with similar benefits such as preventing applications from capturing your key-presses without you knowing or recording your screen without your permission.
edit: I have no idea how I forgot about this, but immutable file systems are a thing now and they work pretty well, you can go for something such as Fedora Kinoite [0], Fedora Silverblue [1][2], OpenSUSE MicroOS [3], or VanillaOS [4] where all applications you install will be Flatpaks.
Flatpaks support this through XDG Portals, and Flatpaks are cross-distribution. They aren't the native build artifact of most applications though, and are packaged by the community.
What's the best distribution to get "all your modern hardware works out of the box" alongside KDE (which I like a lot better than GNOME or Cinnamon)?
I used Linux Mint, added KDE, but had issues[0] that were showstoppers. Everyone blamed my Nvidia GPU, but that's what my laptop has and it would be very expensive to replace with a comparable all-AMD gaming laptop.
As a "non-expert" Linux user, deciphering the distribution decoder cards has been difficult. Maybe I want newer kernels for better hardware support, but rolling releases mean dealing with more bugs?
Are fonts still ugly as sin? That was the biggest drawback last time I tried linux as my main desktop. That and having to muck around in config files for every little thing.
The font situation is (in my opinion) fixed -- but this is more about the DE than Linux itself, so may depend on which DE you choose. And you haven't had to muck around in config files for a very long time (unless you're doing something exotic).
Depends on when you tried it and what you mean by them being ugly. I personally prefer fonts and font rendering in GNOME over Windows nowadays, specially in high-ish dpi displays. I haven't opened a single config file since installing Fedora on my machine last year (except for vimrc, emacs.d, etc.), although if you are a power user you might have to play with some CLI once in a while. Selection of distribution and desktop environment is everything, it makes or breaks your Linux experience so take a look around and maybe live boot one through a USB drive to see if ticks your fancies.
I wish I could find a screenshot of it, but I believe the default Arabic font in Ubuntu ~10 years ago was pretty horrendous, whereas Windows had a much more reasonable one.
I use linux mint and everything works like a charm. Fonts are cool too in KDE. You can download macos fonts as well from apple’s website. It really has come a long way. I am amazed by it.
Correct but thats not linux that’s the app vendors. There are web based alternatives for some and considering webgpu is becoming a thing there will more available in the browser soon.
The apps are the ecosystem. If people can't run the programs they need to actually do things with their computers, then all the technical benefits in the world are useless. It was the biggest problem 20 years ago with Linux, and is the biggest problem now.
Not ideal but my dual alienware setup looks stunning. A lot better than the ugly windows desktop i used to play games on and a lot more permissive than a mac.
They do. I use Linux exclusively recently and in the last year I played:
- Slime Rancher
- Stanley Parable
- Fallout 3, New Vegas, 4
- The Forest
- Counter Strike
- Heavily modded Minecraft
- Arma 3
- Insurgency
- Insurgency: Sandstorm
- Squad
- Red Dead Redemption 2
- The Witcher 3
- Kerbal Space Program
- Papers, Please
- DOOM
- My Summer Car
- Portal 2
- Others I don't remember
The number of games that don't work on Linux is shrinking every day, DXVK and Wine are getting way too good. Take a look at proton DB for reference on compatibility [0]. You can input your Steam profile and it will show you how many of your games are playable and in what state. Currently in the Top 100 played games on Steam 78% of them are rated either Platinum or Gold. In the top 1000 that drops a bit to 75%, with only 3% of them being unplayable.
Oh yeah and all the games I've listed I played on Wayland (except the competitive shooters) :)
I play on my desktop and laptop and all my steam games run well, battle.net too. EA is the only that sucks. Cyberpunk, and other demanding titles. Really, not a single issue. I wanted to try linux as a desktop a few times but now it’s finally rather stable.
