I do not think there will be a year of the Linux Desktop. Linux usage will slowly climb up over time. At some point people will realize that Linux is the dominant desktop system. But it won't be a discrete point in time.
Sure, sure. But its definitely going to be this year.
The AUR really does make Arch-based distros feel complete compared to other options. That massive package ecosystem covers most needs without hunting around random websites, though occasional build failures still happen. Have you tried any of the AUR helpers to manage updates and orphan packages?
Just gonna leave this here
Nix what the...
If you use nixos, you basically have to know/learn/use day-to-day the nix language.
nixpkgs are written using nix the language, using concepts mostly familiar from just using nixos.
Basically everyone using nixos is capable of contributing packages.
Yep. NixOS inspired me to write my very first package manager package. I distro hopped to Arch Linux and wrote a PKGBUILD for that.
I'm back on NixOS
I've been using yay and cachy-update, which seem to handle basic package management well for me so far. Do you have a favorite?
Cachy uses paru by default
OctoPi is included by default for a GUI app, iirc.
Good for you. Unfortunately the year of the Linux desktop will come no earlier than 2050.
Thats great to here. Ive been using cachyos for a few weeks now and its been great so far as well, the aur is just amazing.
Congratz on liberating your computer and yourself.
Just a little advice on using the AUR: It is an user driven repository of software, meaning anyone can upload stuff to it. Usually you are adviced to read the AUR script before installing it (most don't, especially newcomers). So you should be very careful and only install from trusted AUR scripts. Maybe install from Flatpak instead from AUR if you can, but that depends on many factors.
Do you know FreeCAD yet?
I've tried it briefly, I found a lot of friction with trying to adjust to its UI. Maybe it was the order I did things in but when attempting a parametric design - following the same steps as my F360 timeline - FreeCAD just threw errors.
I still need to give it another try and learn the quirks and layout a little better. I haven't needed to design things lately but when I do I'll spend some more time with it.
I'm currently evaluating freecad Vs solidedge Vs solidworks. The fact freecad work on Linux might make it the default winner. I'm trying to avoid vendor lock in, I don't mind paying for software, however the other options would lock me in to windows. And I'm not prepared to run paid for software in wine
I bit the bullet when I got a 3D printer. 0 experience in any CAD or 3D modeling software. Took me a while to understand the basic concepts of a parametric CAD, but it has been well worth it.
There's also In shape, which has it's down sides (some go away with money), but also runs anywhere bring browser based. One of the more obvious down sides is that it's by definition cloud based.
I put Linux Mint on a laptop last year that was running Windows 10 (dual boot) as MS said they were no longer supporting or providing security updates for Windows 10. Mint has worked well (although it does seem to want updates every day). I opened up Windows last week and MS said that they would actually continue to provide security updates for Windows 10 if I logged on with a MS account - so I guess they are actually noticing the migration away from their OS.
Mint has worked well (~~although~~ because it ~~does seem to want~~ gets updates every day).
FTFY. It's how you keep your machine secure.
so I guess they are actually noticing the migration away from their OS
Not really. It's only for another year and then they'll pull the plug (but they've now got you hooked on a Microsoft account). If things work for you on Linux: kill that Win10 partition for good and add it to your storage.
Thanks for the update fix! - I didn’t sign in to MS - as I only use it very occasionally - a program on an old usb drive only reliably works on Windows 10 (and not 11)
Have you tried running it through Wine? Bottles is a nice UI for Wine with sensible default settings. I got a lot of older Windows apps working decently well through that. And especially older not anymore fully supported Windows programms often run more reliable through Wine than through Windows' own compatibility layers.
Thanks I’ll try that.
Try this! Fusion360 for Linux - project by Cryinkfly. I've seen it work for some people but I havent gotten it to work well for me.
That's excellent - I'll be using this to help bridge my gap over to FreeCAD
There's also a dedicated recipe in "bottles", which I think is based on it at least in part. As I'm trying to move away from fusion, I haven't tried it yet though. Apparently it can work, but can also randomly break with updates...
I've gotten it to "work" but it's fragile and updates tend to break it. I ended up switching to FreeCAD, it's come a long way and version 1.1 is pretty great.
Glad you've enjoyed the switch. In late 2023 I saw the writing on the wall as well, what with Windows 10 ending support in late 2025, and I made the switch in early 2024. I thought for sure that 2026 would be the year of Linux as well, because why would anyone stick with Windows even when it was just forcing users to throw out computers without the right version of TPM, but also following with all the AI nonsense and recall and whatnot.
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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