I'm a hardcore Linux user (since 1991), and a command-line junkie. I've abandoned Linux as a desktop unless forced to use it. While great strides have been made, the Linux desktop is still painful to use, and doesn't provide a coherent user experience. I prefer MacOS or Windows as my primary desktop now, even though I do all of my development on Linux applications.
My current primary OS is Windows 10 Professional. For me, the best of both worlds is a Windows desktop accessing a Linux command line on either a remote machine or in a local VM.
I do most of my development by SSHing into a Digital Ocean VPS. All I typically have open on my desktop are a terminal window to a remote Linux tmux session, and a Chrome browser. When I need some other GUI, Windows usually offers better alternatives than Linux, and I don't have to jump through as many hoops; Windows just works. It works with all hardware, I never have to configure anything, etc. Same for MacOS. It just makes my life easier, and looks better.
If for whatever reason I want a local Linux, I run Ubuntu inside a Hyper-V VM. Hyper-V is built into Windows 10 Professional. It's fast, and I'm amazed at how good the driver support is. USB devices, audio, and video all just work (although video can be slow; I wouldn't do this if I needed a Linux GUI). I even have an old Ubuntu HD (ext3-formatted) mounted inside the VM as a pass-through device.
If you like Linux as a desktop OS, by all means use it, but it's no longer necessary, and even for a crusty old Linux geek like me, it's no longer even desirable to run Linux on bare metal.
Thanks for the feedback!
I wouldn't necessarily agree that it is just a basic setup guide, some of the tools are a little under the radar imo. I know this from personal experience with colleagues, friends, etc. Even myself, I wasn't properly educated on the advantages of Zsh over Bash until a couple of months ago.
I find your thoughts regarding Windows VS Linux very interesting. Especially that you prefer SSHing into a VPS, running Hyper-V etc over just running Linux.
Personally, I rarely have the feeling with Windows that it just works. I still use Windows for multimedia purposes (i.e. video games) and on professional occasions when I have to and I am often bothered by things that don't work properly. One issue for me is for example that there is still no official tab support in the file explorer.
Also, I think Linux gets some unwarranted hate regarding drivers and hardware support. I use all kinds of devices, such as thumb drives, external monitors, projectors and never have any trouble.
It's a good guide. I apologize for sounding dismissive. There's great stuff in there for Zsh and other command-line tools as well, which is all applicable to my use case.
I'm a hardcore Linux user (since 1991), and a command-line junkie. I've abandoned Linux as a desktop unless forced to use it. While great strides have been made, the Linux desktop is still painful to use, and doesn't provide a coherent user experience. I prefer MacOS or Windows as my primary desktop now, even though I do all of my development on Linux applications.
My current primary OS is Windows 10 Professional. For me, the best of both worlds is a Windows desktop accessing a Linux command line on either a remote machine or in a local VM.
I do most of my development by SSHing into a Digital Ocean VPS. All I typically have open on my desktop are a terminal window to a remote Linux tmux session, and a Chrome browser. When I need some other GUI, Windows usually offers better alternatives than Linux, and I don't have to jump through as many hoops; Windows just works. It works with all hardware, I never have to configure anything, etc. Same for MacOS. It just makes my life easier, and looks better.
If for whatever reason I want a local Linux, I run Ubuntu inside a Hyper-V VM. Hyper-V is built into Windows 10 Professional. It's fast, and I'm amazed at how good the driver support is. USB devices, audio, and video all just work (although video can be slow; I wouldn't do this if I needed a Linux GUI). I even have an old Ubuntu HD (ext3-formatted) mounted inside the VM as a pass-through device.
If you like Linux as a desktop OS, by all means use it, but it's no longer necessary, and even for a crusty old Linux geek like me, it's no longer even desirable to run Linux on bare metal.