So, to gloss over the increasingly shit state of the world... Ukraine's in ever-more-dire straits due to Russia's invasion (and Republican obstructionism here in the US isn't helping), Israel's not done with Gaza yet... and decided that attacking an Iranian embassy in another country would be a good move while they're already distracted, which Iran (reasonably) took issue with, and decided to respond with drone attacks on Israel last night. Looks like things are heating up over there, here's hoping we all live through any further escalations.
While that's all going on, I (as usual) am focused closer to home. In particular, Windows 10 is going away next year, and Windows 11 is a product I don't want in my day-to-day life (outside of work, of course, can't escape it there just yet). Looking over all the software I use routinely, the only thing that Windows really brings to the table is the ability to use all of my Steam library - you know, that pile of games I've acquired over the years where I've tried things out briefly, then promptly set them aside to come back to some other day, which never comes. Even cutting that down in half, I've got more games in there than I'm likely to ever come back to, and, courtesy of Steam's Steam Deck efforts, more and more of them can be played in Linux without major issue. With that in mind, I've assembled a new "daily driver" for home that's just getting a Linux install - if I ever have a burning need for Windows, I can buy it then.
Mind you, that's a lovely idea in abstract, but how well that turns out depends greatly on the state of the Linux ecosystem these days. With that in mind, I decided to go with Ubuntu... but I've also got some rather new hardware involved (AMD 8700G APU, woohoo!), so I thought going with the recently-released Ubuntu 24.04 Beta would be a good idea. Long story short, no - this is a "true beta", not a marketing exercise, and it only took a couple of reinstalls for me to decide to move on.
Well, if the bleeding edge is out, then stability is the name of the game... so, Ubuntu 22.04 LTS it is. The end result is... better, but nowhere near consumer-grade. Just to call out the issues I've run into so far: I had to install a terminal-based program to get my audio working properly (I've got a 5.1 sound system that I've used for decades); AMD's graphics hardware drivers involve installing a package using Ubuntu's built in tools... followed by a script in a terminal; Ubuntu's Steam package reacts badly to maximizing its window on the desktop (as in, nothing displays outside of the menu bar, even if you revert screen size); and my personal favorite, their preferred update method resides in their "store" app, which, when I try to update it, won't update because it's in use, and there's no method there to schedule updates for, say, the next restart cycle or anything like that. All in all, it's easy to miss the (relative) polish the Windows experience provides these days... but it's not enough to make me switch back to Windows just yet.
It's the start of a new Linux adventure here. Much as I like to keep things simple, especially when it comes to computer gear and the like, I have to admit to being a little excited to see how things go.
