Daily driving linux (Fedora KDE) - My experiences after a week
I thought I would share my thoughts and experiences daily driving Linux (Fedora KDE Plasma) for the past week.
Why did I switch from Windows to Linux?
My plan was to switch to Linux once Windows 10 hit EoL in Fall 2025. This was due to my computer not supporting Windows 11. This past September, my computer broke (probably MoBo), and so I swapped out my CPU and MoBo, which probably can support Windows 11. However, this hardware swap unactivated my Windows, Microsoft support was not helpful, and I am not a fan of the direction Windows is heading in (removing local accounts, Recall, and a general vibe I get from Microsoft of removing control from end users). So, I decided to make the jump to Linux a year sooner than expected.
My Previous Experience with Linux
So I would say I am moderately experienced with Linux before this. Personally, I have setup a Proxmox server, in which I setup an openmediavault NAS, and played around with various desktop distros for personal curiosity. I also switched my old laptop over to Linux a few years back, but had very low requirements of the tasks that laptop had to perform. I also took a post secondary class on Linux, primarily covering system administration tasks like BASH/PERL scripting, Apache server admin, LDAP, and file sharing all using Ubuntu. So going into this I had a moderate amount of experience, all within Debian based distros. The bigger change with switching my desktop is that it is my primary computer, so the expectations of what it needed to run was higher.
Why I chose Fedora KDE Plasma
I did a post about a month ago asking for recommendations to look into: https://tildes.net/~tech/1ji6/switching_to_linux_looking_for_distro_recommendations
I settled on Fedora KDE Plasma for a few reasons:
- I appreciate the philosophy of not being rolling release like Arch, but also a quicker release cycle than Ubuntu and its forks. I felt this was a good middle ground where I get newer advances without dealing with stuff breaking frequently when there was a new update.
- It can handle most tasks graphically, without having to dig into the console often (more on this later).
- I appreciate the Windows-esque styling of KDE Plasma. I got used to Windows so didn't want a radical shake up. However, it feels to me like a better version of Windows (or maybe just not touch screen oriented and ad bloated).
Headaches/glitches
Some of these are ongoing, while others were issues that I have worked through
- FIXED: Installing nvidia drivers via RPM Fusion. Before installing drivers, the computer was unstable and frequently froze. I ended up just loading a command line only interface and manually typing in the commands to install RPM Fusion and the nvidia drivers. I was planning on installing it via command line anyway, so the main headache here was typing it out instead of copy and pasting the commands in. I also had an issue where I initially installed the wrong drivers.
- ONGOING/INFREQUENT: Occasionally when I wake the computer from sleep, at the lock screen, my mouse is responsive, but my keyboard is not. Also, selecting the virtual keyboard does not work, as the virtual keyboard does not load. I tried waiting for the computer to go back to sleep, and then wake it from sleep to see if it reloads things properly. The computer does not go to sleep normally, so the solution right now is to just shut down the computer and then it is solved.
- FIXED: Steam launched games not closing properly. Specifically Far Cry 5, which runs properly, when I exit the game, the process does not fully close down. From my perspective, it seems like it has, but Steam indicates that it is still running. The solution is to go into System Monitor and close down the Steam application with high resource usage, as that is actually the game still running in the background.
- ONGOING/INFREQUENT/PARTIALLY FIXED: When I wake the computer from sleep, and login, there is a large amount of visual glitches and artifacts on my desktop environment. It is both in applications and especially on the Panel. The current solution is to run the command
systemctl restart --user plasma-plasmashellwhich drastically improves the situation, but the glitches are still partially there. This has just started last night, so probably a computer restart may solve the problem, but I am trying to avoid having to constantly restart the computer. - FIXED: As Far Cry 5 was a brand new game, when launching it from Steam for the first time, Ubisoft's software wanted me to enter a CD Key, but Steam was not giving me one. Thinking this was a Linux related issue, I switched to my Windows install, and had the same issue. Turns out it is a Ubisoft bug in their software that also impacted Windows. I found a solution online on how to solve it for Windows, did that and authenticated the game. Then I switched over to Linux and the game ran well.
- FIXED: KDE Wallet Service was doing an excessive amount of prompts. I uninstalled the software, but the prompts continued. Turns out it needs to be disabled before being uninstalled, or the prompts continue. So I had to reinstall it, disable it, then uninstall it. Annoying but minor and it is fixed now.
- ONGOING/INFREQUENT/PARTIALLY SOLVED: When waking from sleep, sometimes my background image on my primary display does not fully cover the desktop. This is most likely due to my primary display being 1920x1080, and my secondary display being 1600x900, so the image is not being scaled independently for both displays. The solution right now is to open the settings to change background, and load any image, but not save changes, as this causes my original image to be reloaded properly
Installing/Running Applications
I have been primarily using Flatpaks to install applications. Overall it has been a smooth process. One pain point I have is it seems that the Minecraft Official Launcher for non-Debian systems is kind of clunky requiring me to login to my Microsoft account every time I open the game. This will probably be solved by switching to a third party launcher in the near future. The one software that I haven't gotten around to installing yet is DaVinci Resolve.
What Surprised Me so Far?
There are a few things that have been a pleasant surprise:
- I use the console more than I expected going into it. For flatpaks, I tend to just copy and paste the commands into console. RPM Fusion also had a GUI based install option but I preferred the console option instead. I also have VIM installed, and use that as my digital notepad, just doing simple console commands of vi fileName in my home directory. I was not expecting to use the console as much as I have been, and I think that is partially due to now being more experienced with it, I gravitate towards using the console which I know how to use instead of learning how to do some tasks via a GUI..
- Most things are running better than expected. I haven't touched many games yet, but I haven't had an issue with it yet. It is worth noting that I do not play competitive shooters, so anti-cheat is not something I will have to fight with.
- Libre Office can open my .docx files. I was concerned I may have to convert my existing files to .odt before I can use them, but that does not appear to be the case. I will probably use .odt for new files going forward. It is also worth noting that I haven't worked extensively with my .docx files yet, so there may be some incompatibilities I have yet to encounter.
Overall Thoughts:
Overall I have quite enjoyed running Linux. It does require some tinkering as glitches appear, which currently I am fine with. If I had less free time to tinker and solve the issues, I would probably find Linux to be less viable and more frustrating. Also, most of my glitches can be solved by restarting the computer, although I am trying to find solutions that do not require that. I find it allows me to use the computer and change it to how I want it to be, which I have felt like Windows has gotten increasingly hostile towards the user. A good comparison on this is how the default applications that KDE has included are easy to remove, whereas Windows used to (not sure if it still does) reinstall Microsoft Teams when you uninstalled it.
Edits:
- Added the glitch with background image
- Added more information on my background with Linux, including using it on my laptop
As a desktop Linux user going on for just short of a decade, I can say that wake from sleep has always been an issue and will likely still be an issue for many more years to come. It's a lot better than it was but it still has problems (as you have detailed). Even Microsoft and all their trillions of dollars hasn't gotten it right (see windows laptop battery drain issue)
I am currently using KDE on Tumbleweed but I have that exact visual glitches/artifacts issue that you are experiencing on wake from sleep.
That makes sense, I did know about Window's battery issue in sleep, and just never connected the dots on how complex sleep is and how that is impacting my experience on Linux. If I end up figuring out a series of commands that helps things reload properly, I will probably write a simple BASH script to reload things. However, I am still in early troubleshooting stages so haven't found the right combination yet.
I honestly just turn the PC off when I am done for the night. My browser of choice, Vivaldi, doesn't lose my tabs on shut down which was really my only concern. Any distro I tried boots up in about 30 seconds (usually less) so it's not a big deal. One thing that took a while to get used to, coming from windows was the boot time consistency. Linux doesn't forcefully update itself at shutdown so I am no longer worried about Windows Updates randomly eating away at half of my morning because it decided that me having the latest version was more important than my time.
I can confirm the same sort of sleep shenanigans happen with Ubuntu varieties (unsurprisingly). Especially the keyboard/mouse not working is always a problem for me. In my case I've just disabled sleep. My linux machine is a mostly headless server now, so it hasn't been a problem. I do plan to make my next daily driver a linux PC though, so I guess I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.
ahh yeah... I switch between different monitor setups (and freerdp / NoMachine) throughout the day and I frequently need to restart plasma:
A bit annoying but other than that Linux pretty much stays out of the way and lets me be productive~!
I'm glad you went for it. I use Linux as my only OS aince around 2008 and it went a long way!
It is perfectly usable system for Average Joe that uses browser, some kind of media player and maybe do some documents.
It is also very good for gaming but sometimes there are rough edges especially with games that use thord party launchers (as you already discovered with Ubisoft) - I solve this by not buying such games. You may want o have a look at ProtonDB.com where you can check compatibility of the game and find some quirks and fixes other users have done to run it fine.
There may be trouble running some more specialized software - I wasn't able to run Fusion 360 for example and some 3D printing software doesn't run perfectly for me, but I'm able to model in FreeCAD and I can print fine.
I bought Far Cry 5 while planning this transition (it was on sale and I have been wanting to play it for a while), so I did check ProtonDB before buying it.
On the specialized software, I have noticed that slightly. I have three devices that require drivers that are not released on Linux (a USB audio mixer, Logitech G502, and Logitech MX Master 3). For the audio mixer luckily someone created the driver on their own, which came in clutch and for the Logitech devices I am just runniing Solaar for now.
Has the G502 caused you any issues? That's the mouse I use and I was planning to switch to Mint soon and my mouse not being supported is an issue hadn't even considered. I haven't heard of Solaar, but I just looked it up. Does that seem to do the job?
No major issues. So I was able to easily switch the RGB colors and I believe the DPI via Solaar. I haven't played around with it much, but at first glance the side thumb button cannot be programmed. I did not look too much into it though. The thumb back and forward buttons do work though. It is also an extremely popular mouse so you should be able to find support on it. Also, it appears that it has onboard profiles, so it may be able to be configured on Windows and then saved to the mouse, but I have not looked into that yet.
The thumb side button on your Logitech MX Master 3 can be programmed through Solaar, but its annoying as the UI isn't very intuitive (in my opinion). I used the config file to send up workspace switching with the thumb button at work. I'll post it tomorrow since its I don't have it at home. Some of the more complex features like dynamically changing the buttons based on what app you're focused in will not work though.
Another thing you could do is save your config to the mouse onboard profile. It will then work across any computer without Logitech software (or Solaar) installed. The caveat is what you can configure is significantly more limited but if don't need any fancy then I would suggest trying it. I did this for my G502 LS at home.
It's been my experience too that terminal usage is a frequently necessary thing, especially on machines that aren't entirely within the pool of well-supported hardware and configurations. Not an issue for me personally (though it is sometimes irritating), but it's a major hurdle for mass adoption — it's a nonstarter if non-technical users need to open a terminal to do anything.
Displays are also a common pain point. A single "normal" DPI monitor will work well, but as soon as you add multiple monitors, a HiDPI monitor, etc things get measurably more wonky. This is most likely a product of devs simply not using these configurations and thus not encountering the edge cases they bring, but it's frustrating nonetheless when macOS and Windows generally handle them fine.
The primary thing stopping mass adoption is it not being the default OS when you buy from an OEM.
That solves 99.9% of 'get up and going' issues. For the average person, the OEM experience is the OS experience.
I generally agree but I think it's important that it's large OEMs, preferably those that serve as their own ODM, that are shipping machines with Linux. As great as companies like system76 and Framework are, at the end of the day there's limits to how well they can support Linux when they're not fully in control of designing, sourcing parts for, and building the machines. They're at the mercy of the suppliers that will work with them.
Essentially, there needs to be at least one "Mac" of the Linux world, but no such thing exists and the odds that one will ever come to exist are low.
Oh yes. I meant Dell/Lenovo/HP. Most everybody else is a niche at best.
I am more surprised at how willing I am to go into the terminal than I was expecting I would. I know how to use the terminal, but was thinking before switching that I would never want to open it, but I am just finding it convenient to use for some things (some tasks I do default to using a GUI though). I will agree that terminal usage does prevent mass adoption, but I feel like it not being on a device by default is a bigger hurdle (very few people change things from defaults unless they are experienced with other options or have a pain point that is bigger than the pain of switching).
Yeah I'd never argue for a terminal app to not ship with an OS, but a more macOS-like experience where the vast majority of the time it's only power users who need or care to open it is what's most conducive to mass adoption.
I've been running Linux as my primary/only desktop OS for about 18 months, and bounced between several of the main distros during that time. I ran Fedora 40 for a long while and generally like it, but ran into almost all of the issues you mention. Like you, most of them I was able to resolve (RPM Fusion, NVIDIA drivers, multiple displays, etc) but there were still small, nagging issues that just made F40WS feel kind of rough around the edges. Honestly what made me finally look for an alternative was the same thing that originally drew me--and you--to it: the semi-rolling release distributed so many updates when I was using it that I had to restart my computer several times a day or all of my work apps would break until I did. I couldn't afford to keep doing that and risk my stuff breaking and dropping me in the middle of an important work call.
Eventually after multiple distros I settled on Pop_OS and found it really stable--everything works (for me, YMMV) and required little setup. And no time in the terminal unless I just preferred to. However, yesterday I went back to the distro that originally convinced me to switch from Windows back in July 2023, Zorin. Zorin seems to get a mixed reaction but the most recent version was completely painless to set up, flies in a way that Pop_OS doesn't seem to, and is just a clean experience. I moved away from Zorin to Fedora last year due to the previous version (Z16) being based on an Ubuntu LTS version that was simply too old for my hardware. Z17 updated this--and I also switched to a pretty kickass and better-supported AMD-based miniPC this summer--so the hardware issues I had with my previous HP Pavilion gaming rig have entirely disappeared. I have this computer fully set up for daily driving since installing yesterday evening and I literally didn't need to touch the terminal once. I also need to note here for the record that I'm not a knowledgeable Linux guy at all, I had virtually no experience with Linux beyond occasionally spinning up a distro in a VM just for fun before I finally switched.
I guess my point here, assuming I have one, is that even with all this bouncing back and forth and researching and solving various issues, I've been super-happy switching to Linux from W11 last year. All my work apps function just fine with Outlook and Teams via PWAs that work better than the Windows native versions anyway. OnlyOffice works great as a replacement for O365 apps. All my games work, since like you I don't play competitive online games. Any issues I've had with various distros, and they do happen, were still WAY less of a headache than the constant troubleshooting I had to do with W11 before finally giving up on it. It's been pretty great.
Oh, and my other point is don't be afraid to test out other distros...F41 is great but the issues you mention are pretty common to Fedora and wouldn't necessarily be a universal experience across distros.
Sounds like it's going relatively smoothly.
Regarding the visual glitches: Ensure your video drivers, firmware, etc. are up to date. Experiment with flipping from X to Wayland, or the other direction. I've used KDE for many years, and don't get visual glitches like you're describing, but I have always used ATI, never nvidia.
re: wake from sleep issues: Have you considered just not turning off the computer? Me, I just turn off my monitors. An idle desktop might use 30-100 watts; a laptop even less. You can know for sure by buying an electricity usage meter.
Startup times are so low anymore I just shutdown instead of sleeping.
Kids these days need to experience a 5 minute boot time, 10 minutes of usability, then a system halting crash.
I would shut down if I could get everything back exactly the same. It's the main reason why I don't shutdown or restart if I can help it.
I haven't tried to do a sleep or hibernate on desktop in forever. Maybe it just works, and I should try it.
Hah, I wish I was organized enough to be able to keep using whatever I had running when I put my device to sleep. I prefer shutdowns so my computer is a blank slate again whenever I boot it up again.
Hibernate does tend to, as that is literally writing your RAM to disk then turning off.
As far as shutdown, firefox recovering my tabs solves my biggest pain points, and KDE opening the windows in the correct locations every time takes care of the rest. Of course, I'm also rolling so I have to restart periodically anyway for kernel patches.
Full shutdown or restart won't meet my needs, as I often have processes staying alive doing things or listening on ports. If hibernate or sleep can keep things the same, but reduce wattage to a minimum, I could work with that. Will try again some time.
Then your best bet is just turning on various power-saving methods (which is out of scope at the moment). Sleep will not work as it will suspend the relevant networking processes.
The drivers should be up to date, but it is worth a double check.
As for why you do not get visual glitches, I think some of it may be due to ATI over nvidia, but also as you mentioned you don't put your computer to sleep (which tends to be when my glitches occur). I am not a fan of the idea of always leaving my desktop on. It feels a bit wasteful to me to do even if it is a small amount of electricity.
I mean, I'm a little surprised that you went with Fedora as a begginner. In my experience it is not really meant for that demographic. I'm pretty sure you would have had a better time with something like Kubuntu, and the non-bleeding-edge packages are really not a big deal. But hey, it's great that you're doing well with Fedora!
I feel like I undersold my experience with Linux, so I will go back and edit that section. It isn't that I am unfamiliar with Linux, more so that I have not daily driven it on my main device. I have had a laptop that was struggling with Windows so I swapped it over to Linux a few years ago. It is more that in switching my desktop over to Linux, I had higher expectations on what it had to achieve whereas on my old laptop I really only needed it for basic web browsing occasionally.
I've been trying for the past week. It seems that no distro works correctly with my audio hardware. Fedora, Manjaro, Ubuntu. None seem to be able play audio from the sound chip, they either don't work at all or use HDMI to my monitor.
Depending on your audio hardware, it may either not be supported hardware, require configuration in audio settings, or require a driver to be installed. I have a bit of a complex audio setup. Normal use I run a Schiit Modi DAC and that runs via USB and worked right out of the box. It is worth noting that for the Schiit Modi, it did not require a driver on Windows either, and is a plug and play device, so on both Windows and Linux all it required was switching it to the selected device in audio settings. For when I need to use a mic, I switch over to running my audio through a Soundcraft Notepad 12FX. On Windows this required a driver to setup, but did not have an offical one for Linux. Luckily, there is a third party driver that I could install, and then it worked as expected.
Well, I just tested it again. It will see the headphones if plug them into the front jack, but it doesn't recognize the line out on the back.
By sound chip, do you mean you've got a dedicated sound card or do you mean the audio off the motherboard?
On the board. I got it working, when I plugged into a different line out it worked. I need to double check windows now.