OK, so I admit that I have been a Microsoft user since DOS 2. I still think DOS 3.3 was the best ever OS. I'm on Windows 10 at the moment and I'm quite happy with it. Most of my applications only come for Windows, and some for Mac, but I can get everything I need for my development work via Windows with little issue. Linux, when used as a server platform, is a different kettle of fish, and as far as I know, it excels at that. This is really about the home or work desktop experience — and only my experience so far.
At the moment I am setting up the Nvidia Jetson TX1 development board to have a play with GPU programming, along with IoT and robotics. I have a long way to go on these subjects, but I'm looking forward to it.
However, the development environment for the Jetson TX1 and its flashing utility is Linux-based (Ubuntu, to be specific), and this is forcing me down that route.
My first thought was: "I'll run Ubuntu in Hyper-V" — mainly so that I have access to all my other Windows-based apps at the same time. As it turns out, though, Hyper-V cannot do USB pass-through, which rendered it useless for this purpose. A bit of Googling later and it seems Oracle's VirtualBox can do USB pass-through. Great.
I had to uninstall Hyper-V because VirtualBox and Hyper-V won't play ball together. I don't know much about how VMs work, but I'd guess the underlying architecture can only deal with one virtual machine engine at a time — I'm OK with that.
Having installed VirtualBox and once again installed Ubuntu (along with the Nvidia JetPack install), I tried to run the installation software. It detected the passed-through USB device for the Jetson — good news... but it just kept failing at different points during the flashing. On to the Nvidia developers forum to ask. The response I got was: "Nvidia does not support virtual machines for JetPack and device flashing."
This meant I had to go for a dual-boot setup on my desktop, which initially was straightforward. Once Ubuntu was installed, the JetPack software for the Jetson TX1 worked perfectly. I was a happy man... for a bit.
The problem with Linux — other than having to get to know a very different system — is that it can be hard to get things working. This is where Microsoft and Apple have done so well. There are no Nvidia graphics drivers for my GTX 8010 graphics card, so while it runs my monitors, it's not doing so with the full drivers. There's no driver for my Sound Blaster Z either, so I can't get that working at all.
Then when it comes to installing software, it's not as simple as downloading a package and double-clicking. Sometimes you need to use APT-GET, sometimes DPKG. Half the time it fails because there are other dependencies required, which you then have to hunt down and install separately.
And I think that is the main reason why Linux frustrates me — it's not easy to get things going unless you have a very standard machine and don't require much in the way of software. I'll learn the system and get used to it — and who knows, perhaps even enjoy it. But until it becomes easy to install, operate, and has drivers for even basic hardware like Nvidia graphics cards, it simply won't be adopted by the general public. It has a long way to go.
Ubuntu is free, so one can't complain too much — but still...
I am amused that while it's Nvidia that's pushing me towards Linux, they don't have a Linux driver for their own graphics card!
I'm going to install Ubuntu on my laptop and try the whole experience on that — along with free word processors and the like.
I do hope that soon I can write another post titled 'I'm in Love with Linux'.