Windows 2020 - Welcome to Linux 1999 where the distro has a package manager that has just about everything most users will ever need as options to install from the web.
Er, yes they do? I guess things could be spotty if you don't have drivers (which... is true of any OS), but IME that's rare. But I have to ask because I keep hearing variations of this: What exactly is wrong with */Linux handling of multi-monitor? The worst I think I've ever had with it is having to go to the relevant settings screen and tell it how my monitors are laid out and hitting apply.
>I guess things could be spotty if you don’t have drivers
Sure, and this unfortunately isn’t uncommon.
> What exactly is wrong with */Linux handling of multi-monitor?
X11’s support for multiple monitors that have mismatched resolutions/refresh rates is… wrong. Wayland improves upon this but doesn’t support g sync with nvidia cards (even in the proprietary drivers) You might say that’s not important to you and that’s fine, but it’s a deal breaker to me.
Maybe they're using a Desktop Environment that poorly expresses support for it?
I have limited a sample size, but xrandr on the command line and GUI tools in KDE Plasma and (not as recently) LXQt (it might have been lxde) work just fine in the laptop + TV or Projector case.
> I have limited a sample size, but xrandr on the command line and GUI tools in KDE Plasma and (not as recently) LXQt (it might have been lxde) work just fine in the laptop + TV or Projector case.
I'm fond of arandr; nice GUI, but also happily saves xrandr scripts once you've done the configuration.
Every OS has it's quirks, things you might not recall as friction points because they're expected.
I haven't found any notable issues with quality hardware, possibly with some need to verify support in the case of radio transmitter devices. You'd probably have the same issue for E.G. Mac OS X.
As consumers we'd have an easier time if: 1) The main chipset and 'device type ID' had to be printed on the box. 2) Model numbers had to change in a visible way for material changes to the Bill of Materials (any components with other specifications, including different primary chipset control methods). 3) Manufacturers at least tried one flavor of Linux, without non-GPL modules (common firmware blobs are OK) and gave a pass / fail on that.
I don’t think I am spreading FUD. Hardware issues with Linux on non well trodden paths is a well known issue. X11 (still widely used on many distros) has a myriad of problems with multi monitor setups - particularly when resolutions and refresh rates don’t match.
You’re right that the manufacturers could provide better support, but they don’t.
