this post was submitted on 28 Oct 2024
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Linux

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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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I'm getting sick every day at this Microsoft Windows slowness and bloat. I am trying to use as much Linux VMs as possible. I feel so unproductive on Windows. I also tried installing Linux on the office laptop. The problem is that Windows is officialy supported and the Linux is DYI. Once the IT departament changes it will sync up with Windows but Linux can be broken and you are no longer able to work. Next job I want to have full Linux laptop or at least Mac.

Besides:

  • Microsoft Office
  • Active Directory
  • Some proxy and VPN bullshit

Everything seems manageable and even better on Linux.

What is your experience?

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Right now I'm stuck on a Mac laptop. I hate it, but after our Network team could not manage to get Global Protect working on Linux, and my boss decided keeping them happy was easier than keeping me productive, I didn't have much choice (Mac or Windows). I've worked in environments before where I was able to run Linux on my laptop/workstation, so long as I was able to support myself and do the required work. I used remote desktop (Or a Windows VM) for my Windows work; my browser and Java for most everything else. Now even Office is a shitty webapp for the most part, and Teams "works" on Linux (As much as Teams works at all).

Even here, I have to wait until Helpdesk manages to build out support for new Mac OS releases, so I'm still on 14.6.

I told them prior that I would be leaving the company if they forced me to migrate to Mac. I'm currently looking for a better position elsewhere and will tell them exactly why when I turn in my notice. Not that it will change anything, it'll help me feel better.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Yes, I use Fedora and love to break the permissions of shared Office-Documents. /s

The only thing I have learned is not to go too deep into customisation. Because people watching me using hyprland are some kind of disgusted.

I just use KDE with dark breeze theme. That's enough and nobody gets hurt.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Can you elaborate? Why are people disgusted by Hyprland?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

"Disgusted" was a fast choice for wording. They look confused. Someone told me he get a headache by the fast movings through the workspaces.

For explanation I use 3 or 4 workspaces with full max. Windows and switch through them with super + tab. And had this wiggle animation running, too. As an user it is really fancy but if you are watching, it could hurt.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago

Trueee Just get the job done and that's all.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 days ago

After using WSL for 6 years to do 99% of my work, our IT finally started to support Linux, so I re-imaged my notebook immediately. It's not perfect and we do have some mandatory security and backup solutions that slow things down a bit, but the good news is that they allow us to re-nice them, so it's not that big of a deal. The biggest challenge is Libre Office versus MS Office, because things don't always convert the formatting correctly, but it's still worth the hasle to avoid Windows PITA issues.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago

all the windows shit runs in citrix, i run linux at work from home for the host system.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Previous job: Windows, because it was a company issued laptop. Plus a lot of the company was built around the MS ecosystem.

Current job: Linux, because I got to keep the perfectly decent Dell laptop when I left. I wanted to make sure I purged everything, so it's running LMDE now. Plus, there's not much outlook and teams stuff that I have to use.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 days ago

Great! However I think you are lucky one.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

I am a Windows admin but two of my colleagues who are Linux admins use Linux machines that are running Ubuntu+a few internal tweaks to make it better fit us. The Linux platform is developed primarily by one of the developers at the company and some others (primarily developers) also use Linux. The vast majority of the company uses Windows.

There are also a few hundred Macs.

I have been considering getting our flavour of Linux installed on a VM or maybe even dual booting for testing.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 days ago

My work laptop is windows sadly. It has to run a bunch of endpoint sec stuff. I get it, but still sucks. On occasion I do dual boot (separate drive) when some update breaks something and I have to have a PC to fix something asap.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 days ago (3 children)

I manage the few linux servers at my company. I use a windows laptop to ssh to my servers. Windows for me is fine, but I do very little on it outside of ssh or emails. However, I would never use windows outside of this.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 days ago

Not a sysadmin, but a programmer. My work machines have been:

  • 2003-2008 Windows 7
  • 2008-2011 Ubuntu
  • 2011-2019 Arch
  • 2019-2024 NixOS

Probably going to keep using NixOS. This is a very cool OS.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 days ago (3 children)

I'm currently more of an generic sysadmin than linux admin, as I do both. But the 'other stuff' at work runs around teams, office, outlook and things like that, so I'm running a win11 with WSL and it's good enough for what I need from a workstation. There's technically a policy in place that only windows workstations are supported, but I suppose I could run linux (and I have separate laptop for linux-only stuff). At the current environment it's just not worth the hassle, spesifically since I need to maintain windows servers too.

So, I have my terminals, firefox and whatever I need and I also have the mandated office-suite, malware protection/IDR/IDS by the book and in my mindset I'm using company tools for company jobs. If they take longer, could be more efficient or whatever, it's not my problem. I'll just browse my (personal) cellphone while the throbber spins on the screen and I get paid to do that.

If I switched to linux I'd need to personally take care of my system to meet specs and I wouldn't have any kind of helpdesk available should I ever need one. So it's just simpler to stick with what the company provides and if it's slow then it's not my headache and I've accepted that mindset.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 days ago (2 children)

I use office 360 in the browser.
I'm not a typical sysadmin but I use linux anyway. Somehow I always found some workarounds, but I am also not the only one using Linux in our company so the IT needs to work with us to some degree.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Using linux hardware, pretty much one of the requirements for my job, otherwise I look elsewhere. For RDP the only downside being wayland not working with it, so you have to stay with X11.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Most of our sysads use macOS. A few use linux but they have limited choices with distros and can only use fedora I think.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago

I'd use Linux for homelab if there was native Fusion, since I need that for school.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago (7 children)

Most tech people actually use macs, because corporations prefer them for their tech employees, while the normal employees usually use Windows. Very few corps support linux on the desktop for their admins -- even if their infrastructure is all on linux.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I used to have a Linux laptop at work. I was even allowed to install my chosen distro. Then the IT department said "we don't really know Puppet or how to manage Linux, but we know JAMF, so you're all getting Macs now."

My job satisfaction has gone down since then. However, in more positive news, they did end up giving away the old Linux laptops to the employees when they moved office.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago (1 children)

It is always interesting to me that companies can afford new Macs but not use old laptops for Linux.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 days ago

It’s a support question. It may cost $2k more for a Mac, but if it’s officially supported, auto patched, remote managed and they can prove it with security tools, force patching and restrict users, use standard well known tools for compliance and security monitoring/administration/etc, they will easily save thousands in corp licensing, training costs and legal costs. That $2k+ really becomes negligible.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago

You wish. Most tech companies will get you the cheapest laptop they can get away with.

I remember being denied a 64bit laptop when developing a 64bit only application lol.

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