When Windows 10 support ends I was planning on transitioning to Linux on my desktop. I just tried CachyOS KDE Plasma and immediately ran into two serious issues:
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I could not figure out how to get audio to come out of my headphones. Everything is connected, and sound totally works on Windows 10 with my Audioengine D3 USB DAC, but not in CachyOS. I messed with all the system audio settings, profiles, and mute control, and nothing worked. No audio at all, not from test sound, not from browser.
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Apparently Wayland is the name of the default/best video compositor for Linux, but it doesn’t seem to support ycbcr subsampling modes. In Windows 10, I use the Nvidia-provided 4:2:0 subsampling mode with my RTX 2060 Super to get 4K120 support over HDMI to my LG C1 (genuinely hard to see the difference unless you’re running a test pattern). It seems you have to use the X11 compositor in Linux to get that feature, but I’ve read that X11 provides a poor experience compared to Wayland.
Not to mention, my first CachyOS install attempt bugged midway through (installing from DVD disc) and I spent a lot of time unsuccessfully trying to restart the install process not realizing something was borked in that session that was preventing partitions from being formatted for the installer. So I rebooted and manually set to load the installer into RAM, and finally was able to get it to install.
Seeing my experience hasn’t improved since the last time I tried Linux (Mint, a few years ago - really bad audio stuttering), now the plan has switched to sticking to W10 until software inevitably stops supporting it (Nvidia is already ending W10 game ready support this year), and then switching to W11. I’ll just have to use mods to improve the usability, specifically for start menu and right click menu.
I would like to use Linux but it really disappointed me seeing all the hype on LTT’s channel, only to see that it’s still user experience hell. It’s either “works but evil” (Windows) or “doesn’t work but not evil” (Linux) and that’s unfortunate.
In Kubuntu, I was able to get my HT Omega Fenix sound card to work (switching profile to the correct spdif output), but the Audioengine D3 only works at 100% volume. This is the kind of thing that it’s like cool if it’s a one time thing. But you just know if it can’t work out of the box for something like a USB DAC, it’s not gonna be all fun down the line for other more specialized hardware I try to use.
I also tried getting 4:2:0 subsampling to work in an X11 session in Kubuntu. I was able to get there editing xorg.conf (which is annoying having to edit a config file - no option for it in the Nvidia X Server settings). 4K120 over HDMI works in principle, but then Night Light’s hue becomes green instead of red.
Additionally, Kubuntu (KDE Plasma) was the best looking and functional desktop I found when browsing various ones (it has the taskbar customization settings I want built in), but it still just feels kind of cheap to me. The early 2000s looking pngs everywhere, the transparency and jiggling in window dragging, very basic looking UI icons. It feels more cute and amateurish rather than serious, visuals and design wise.
The need for editing configs to get to basic functions I expect in Windows really went against my expectations this time around trying Linux. I really bought into the LTT Linux hype. But it genuinely surprised me just how sketchy the experience was for my needs.
I understand it’s free software which is awesome, and that Linux is necessary for the world and a solid backup against Windows, but all of this is not working for me. Gonna stop my search for now after trying CachyOS and Kubuntu. Maybe when SteamOS is in full wide-release mode I will try that.
Thank you everyone.