I finally decided to start the switch over to Linux about 2 months ago with Ubuntu gnome. Decided to start with my gaming desktop, before doing my laptop. It was going pretty well, I was curious about switching to a KDE desktop environment instead though.
One day, the computer crashed due to my stupidity… I toggled off the power supply while the computer was sleep. Turned it back on the next day, a purple screen came up. I could boot into a prior kernel version, but that’s as far as I got. Learned my lesson.
Went ahead and used the opportunity to install Fedora KDE. So far, I like it. I was absolutely shocked that I got a video output straight of the gate. There was a fear with a Nvidia GPU and a non-integrated graphics am4 CPU that I would get stuck in a black screen. None of that. I did install third party repos, and got the Nvidia drivers installed. I’m used to using the command line for work, so I don’t mind not having a GUI for these things.
I love the integration for KDE Connect, super simple to setup and it just works. Bluetooth so far, has been remarkably stable. I don’t use a ton of applications, but most of what I run has no issues on Fedora as long as you enable the third party repos. OneDrive, was one of the exceptions, but I was going to ditch it anyway. I have a NextCloud VM running in a recycled Datto Siris 4 that I installed Proxmox on. It has handled the synchronization of the Joplin perfectly across multiple devices, including the Fedora system.
Gaming wise, I downloaded the demo Final Fantasy 14 and aside from audio cutting in/out it was pretty stable. The audio issue was fixed when I ran some updates to my audio drivers. New World, also runs though not great. It has some shuttering issues that were not an issue on Windows.
Best of all, was the realization of how much Windows has truly become a horrible operating system and abrasive towards its paying users. When I use my personal or work laptop, I hate the experience. Hover over the wrong side of the task bar, get a huge pop up for the news. Search to see if an app installed in search, shows me web results. Even though, Windows is more “user-friendly”, I seriously question how much people will take before seeking alternatives rather it be a Linux distro, or macOS.
Compared to the KDE plasma “start” menu, which shows me what I care about. My applications. If I want to search, I can search without random ads or results in the web. Its clean and respects me.
If you are on the fence about trying Linux, just do it. I can’t say you won’t have to do any troubleshooting, but its eye-opening to see how bad Microsoft has (further) messed up Windows.