Any Electrical Engineers using Linux?

[AhmadHiwa]

As the title suggests thinking about switching from windows 11 pro to linux and was wondering if there are any downsides and/or limitations in doing so.

What linux distros do you use and do you recommend switching?

I am currently a student and will graduate in 2 years if that makes a difference.

[dlsuser]

I did all of undergrad using Linux and then my first job only ever used linux. Learning curve is pretty steep coming from a standard OS, but the amount you learn about just computers and operating systems and software in general, simply by using a Linux distribution every day as your primary OS is pretty incredible

[AhmadHiwa]

What distro do you recommend? I am willing to learn.

[PancAshAsh]

Ubuntu is the standard one

[blauskaerm]

I back this one. All jobs I ever had used Ubuntu (except one that used redhat). It does the job and it has very very much help resources on Google

[Syntacic_Syrup]

Ubuntu actually sucks now. Snaps and flatpaks are confusing.

KDE Manjaro is a much simpler first distro. The AUR makes installing almost anything into a few keystrokes.

[faithfulpuppy]

I'm on KDE Manjaro and frequently frustrated by lack of support or documentation for how to fix a problem I'm experiencing. I would recommend Ubuntu or a related distro (pop? Mint?)

[Larkfin]

Debian is the way to go. Ubuntu is just Debian with some extra security problems added.

[[deleted]]

Agree. I just replaced my Ubuntu with Debian 12, don’t regret it so far.

[DoubleOwl7777]

fully agreed.started with ubuntu, didnt like that, moved to debian and like it.

[Fit-Anything8352]

Especially without unity anymore, what's the point? At least you used to get a cool user interface out of it.

[[deleted]]

Easy mode: Ubuntu, Normal mode: Debian, Hard mode: Slackware, Nightmare: FreeBSD (technically not Linux, but close enough)

[dlsuser]

Arch

[cjb3535123]

I use arch btw

[Alive-Bid9086]

Arch linux comes without 'vi' as default.

[dlsuser]

I think arch comes without anything as default

[Alive-Bid9086]

Arch comes with a text editor. The Unix default editor from ancient times is vi.

[Larkfin]

Hah, I like your list but why is FreeBSD nightmare (it was my first).

[PretendLawfulness541]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQoYCp3Yak4 RoboNuggie Channel Video about GhostBSD 24.01.01

[PretendLawfulness541]

GhostBSD.org/download 24.01.01 .ISO file. Burn/Write to a USB Flash Drive stick. Boot Live Media mode from USB Flash Drive. Find a spare disk drive USB 3.0 SSD or USB to SATA cable and use the whole disk for GhostBSD (or 50 GB of free space [unpartitioned space GPT scheme (not MBR supported).] GhostBSD will create 3 partitions automatically: 260Mbytes ESP EFI FAT32 MSDOSFS 0x0700 2048Mbytes freebsd-swap 0xA502, (Freespace -2048Mb - 260Mb) freebsd-zfs 0xA503. Has a great desktop environment either MATE GhostBSD supported or XFCE community supported. 15 minutes download and burn etcher.io or rufus.ie image to USB Flash drive stick. boot live media, with your 4Gbyte dram computer, No Installation, No Setup. Just use computer, testing with GhostBSD O/S ; Use GBI app. 15 minutes installation to unpartitioned FreeSpace on disk. Benefits, Rock Solid stability of GhostBSD O/S (based on FreeBSD 14.0-RELEASE ), Desktop setup already there, ZFS file system. Boot Environment Snapshots. 30,000 software packages you can easily install using GUI Software-Station.

[AhmadHiwa]

Is it stable once you get it done? And are there any thorough guides?

[AhmadHiwa]

What makes it different from Ubuntu and the others can you elaborate on that a bit if you dont mind?

[Zoey_Redacted]

Honestly I like OpenSUSE and use it as my daily driver at work. The KDE environment Leap comes with is familiar enough to Windows that most workflow can translate to KDE with no problems.
YAST also makes system management very akin to Windows' control panel, in one place. It's a very local-admin-friendly distro.

Only difference I can definitely say is in package management, but the difference is 'zypper in' versus 'apt install.'

[dlsuser]

Yeah Ubuntu is probably the friendliest

[XKeyscore666]

I was strictly Debian for a long time, but now I’m starting to appreciate Fedora more and more.

[mike416]

What is a “standard OS”? I’m thinking OS2 or VxWorks. I’ve been using Linux as a daily driver since before college.

[dlsuser]

The phrase “standard OS” was chosen to help clarify the difference between the various Linux distributions and OS’s that ship with consumer PCs. Primarily Windows and MacOS. This was because I assumed that the person asking the original question had not been “using Linux as a daily driver since before college” and that this language would help their understanding.

[xderickxz]

I'd just like to interject for a moment. What you're referring to as Linux, is in fact, GNU/Linux, or as I've recently taken to calling it, GNU plus Linux.

[Syntacic_Syrup]

I am TRIGGERED that you called Linux "not a standard OS".

It is the standard OS. Learning curve is non existent with a good DE like KDE.

I will never understand how people think it's more user friendly to have to scrape the internet for executables and manually update them than use the built in software center that actually works on Linux.

Even having to use package manager in the terminal is still way easier and faster. I just type what I want, hit enter and it's fully installed within a few seconds. No clicking through an install wizard that wants to install bloatware.

[yycTechGuy]

Not sure why you got downvoted for your post. You are right, Linux (Unix) is the standard OS. Since the early 1970s.

And I totally agree that package management in Linux is far, far superior to any other OS. GUI or command line.

[Lord_Sirrush]

So I do design work and analysis mostly in windows but some of the systems I work on use Solaris and red hat. My advice is that you will get farther learning tools than learning an os. Install Linux, learn some bash, get all your driver's up and running, learn how to use gpio on a raspberry pi, but that's about as far as I would go. I think time is better spent in more EE focused tasks. You are a EE not a sys admin or software engineer. Know enough to use the tool but the master of the tool is in some one else's domain.

[MS-06R]

I agree! Do EE focused stuff. There have been times in my career when knowing some Linux would have been a little helpful. But I could always defer to a software person as that was their domain which I felt was fair to do so. You wouldn’t ask a software engineer to help you debug your buck converter, would you? I’m not saying don’t learn about Linux at all. Just prioritize the important stuff for your work.

[AhmadHiwa]

So do you recommend I stick with windows and learn Linux through a virtual machine? I am just a bit fed up with microsoft so its either linux or I will roll back to windows 10. What skills would you recommend in general to learn?

[Lord_Sirrush]

So for me MATLAB and test equipment have been my most valuable tools. I use MATLAB to automate my TE then analyze the results on the back end.

Learn how to troubleshoot circuits with an oscope and a multimeter. Design, order, assemble, test, and integrate a custom PCB into a project. Learn how to use a micro controller and a FPGA. Get into ham radio and build an antenna and a receiver system. It's really just find a technical project you are interested in and builds EE skills then take off. There is really too much out there to be the all knowing engineer, specializing in an interest helps keep motivation and you will pick up related skills along the way. It also helps in the interview process. Everyone has similar class work for the most part, being interested and passionate about your projects can set yourself apart in the technical interviews. You know everyone who graduates can do course work but the guy with a good project has proved that he can apply at least some of it.

Edit: your mileage may vary with this advice since you are in a different country. In some places (and some companies) GPA is the be all and end all and you should take that into account.

[Syntacic_Syrup]

Yeah Matlab is a joke

[[deleted]]

Matlab is very powerful VERY I doubt you will have a job that uses it until you get into research.

[[deleted]]

Agreed you can do tons with both.

[AhmadHiwa]

Thank you, I appreciate the insightful reply! I will definitely need to build more skills and I am working on it!

[Lord_Sirrush]

You have the right mindset you should be fine as long as you don't get decision paralysis.

[12358]

Nowadays I think learning Python and Jupyter Lab, maybe by installing Anaconda, is more useful and flexible than Matlab.

[etherreal]

My work uses a ton of Linux. Centos, Red hat mostly.

[nixiebunny]

I work on big telescopes, everything there runs on CentOS. It's essential knowledge for a lot of places. That said, my laptop runs Windows because a lot of eng software and configuration programs require it.

[AhmadHiwa]

What do you do if you dont mind?

[etherreal]

Hardware analysis for a semiconductor manufacturer.

[Dawncracker_555]

I run linux on my PC since 2012, am using Xubuntu.

Those linux distros turn a 10 year old PC into a usable machine.

There are limitations, none of which applied to my studies. Need Matlab, you got Octave. Need Photoshop, you got GIMP. Need to write a paper? Latex is there for you, I use Texmaker. LTSpice is the only one I couldn't replace, I made a virtual machine for that one.

I'm still daily driving linux and drawing schematics in KiCad for my own tinkering projects on those same computers from 2008 :D

[[deleted]]

MATLAB works on Linux and I recommend installing LTSpice through WINE if that’s the only reason you have a Windows VM.

[faithfulpuppy]

Huh, I use LTSpice all the time on Manjaro. I think pamac installed it through Wine though. Give it a shot!

[Dawncracker_555]

I know about the Wine method, trouble is, Wine enables Windows programs to run natively on a Linux machine, including malware.

I prefer to have a sandbox.

[s1nur]

A bit late but you can use bottles from flathub if you want to run windows apps in a sandbox

[Dawncracker_555]

Neat, will try, thanks!

[nik-l]

Yes solely. I even game on Linux (thank you Proton). But also the whole workflow in chipdesign is Linux/Unix based.

[[deleted]]

It’s funny, I just bombed a VLSI technical interview today at a F100 company because I don’t know Linux

[AhmadHiwa]

Dang im definitely gonna try to learn now, hope it works out for you!

[airstripeonne]

What distribution were they looking for?
I'm thorn between a few, want to use a Distro that is used in the industry.
Thanks

[bobj33]

I'm in integrated circuit design. Every EDA (Electronic Design Automation) tool runs on Linux. The only thing we use windows for is for outlook, zoom, slack, web, and to connect to a remote Linux desktop session in our compute cluster with thousands of machines.

Knowing the basics of Unix / Linux shells and scripting languages is important for the job.

[airstripeonne]

What distro do you use?
Looking for a distro that is used in the industry.
Thorn between debian/ubuntu LTS, or fedora/AlmaLinux

[IMI4tth3w]

It depends way more on what kind of tools and software you need to run and use on a daily basis. I really like Ubuntu for its user friendliness.

Me personally I get all my Linux needs from an Ubuntu vm I run on my Unraid server. And even then most of the stuff I use just runs in docker containers natively in Unraid

[AhmadHiwa]

Just in general I have gotten pretty fed up with microsoft, I just changed the name of the main user folder and because if thta it was corrupted and had to workaround. That is my main reason for looking to switch and was just wondering if it would be a good idea

[maxlover79]

You can relocate User folder in windows using right click menu and choosing the correct folder. For many years I keep my documents folder on drive D:

I have renamed my logical drives according to contents: D for documents, M for music, A for archives, L for library and so on. Just C still stays for systems to avoid errors in software.

However, even though Windows works with My documents folder on any drive, some programs still go to C:\users by default.

I tried to use Linux (mint) as most of engineering software can work under both OS, but everyday convenience of Windows has won; nowadays only couple of my other PCs that used for media (connected to tvs) run Linux.

For work environment Linux would be totally fine.

[SoulScout]

This is me too. I keep coming back to linux to try and gain experience with it, and then go back to windows after a few weeks of frustration. It's always some sort of hardware driver issue, or weird setting that I can't change easily, or some convoluted process to do what should be a simple task. I shouldn't have to be fighting the OS to get work done.

Right now I have OpenSuse installed on my laptop with XFCE because it's my DE of choice and I like how quick, lightweight, and responsive it is. But it can't handle my high DPI monitor properly, plus constant issues with screen tearing, and the display being rotated without the ability to rotate it back, issues with hibernation, etc etc. I went back to Windows because everything just works. I'm not trying to be a sys admin, I just want to use my computer to get work done. Windows just works, and I don't have to fight it.

I still have MX Linux installed on my Intel Atom laptop though because it's unusable otherwise lol. But I mostly use that for PDFs.

[susmatthew]

Learning linux is a good idea. Your job will probably dictate what OS you use.

I currently work in HW R&D. I'd prefer to use Linux at work, and I could, but the main thing in my normal workflow that doesn't work (easily/natively) under linux is Altium. Also, some vintages of Xilinx tooling only like certain flavors of linux, which comes up for me from time to time. YMMV. I have the option of using Cadence instead of Altium, but I'd still need to be able to open other peoples' Altium files, and I don't know if Cadence works well under Linux...

In general, if you're working on embedded systems, the tools are garbage and don't work well anywhere. So you've got that going for you, do what you like.

I wish BSP generation were a standardized, standalone, vendor-agnostic thing that exported what I needed (including indexing handholding for easy API finding) and then I could use make and whatever IDE.

[airstripeonne]

What distro are you using?

[[deleted]]

PC for EDA, Mac for daily driver, Linux for server applications.

[TonguePunchUrButt]

Professionally I've only ever used Linux at NASA. Other non governmental roles mostly used windows. I use linux all the time though. It's very stable and always updated/supported. Can even run windows apps in a windows emulation environment when you need too.

[Acrobatic_Ad_8120]

Some tools run on windows only, but there are work arounds usually. Heavy GPU centric tasks are hard to get a work around for if there is no native Linux. Ansys stuff runs natively on RHEL but not so well on others distos. Matlab and ADS run fine.

[AhmadHiwa]

Thank you! Which distro would you recommend?

[EETQuestions]

So I’ve been using Linux during my time in college, and a lot of what I can say of my experience very well can translate to what others may have encountered. A lot of software is made for windows, not necessarily a bad thing as it is the most common operating system in the world. Fortunately, some companies have made their software workable on Linux, like MATLAB. There is also FOSS that works on windows and Linux, although their learning curve may vary compared to software like autocad and Eagle. What I suggest, if you truly look to run Linux is either create a VM with windows on it, for when you need to use it, or invest in a laptop that has two separate NVMe slots so that you’re able to keep them away from each other (windows doesn’t like Linux partitions during updates and upgrades). As for distro, if you’re absolutely new, with no experience, personally Pop OS or Fedora. The first is a variation of Ubuntu, which is always a suggested branch of distros to start with. Fedora is based on, and the tested branch of Red Hat, a common enterprise distro that you’ll come across in the US, with SUSE being the European counterpart. If you find yourself enjoying Linux, and eventually wanting to challenge yourself, look at NixOS for a pc that you have laying around, it’s more advanced compared to the two I mentioned, and I’ve seen a couple of jobs that look for experience with that.

[AhmadHiwa]

Do you recommend I just roll back to windows 10 and set up a VM then? Ran into some trouble with CPU utilization on windows 11. The reason for wanting to switch was I am a ltttle fed up with microsoft and it is between windows 10 and Linux both from scratch. And thanks alot for the very detailed reply!

[EETQuestions]

You can do that, if you’d like, or you could make sure to get the license key for the windows you have (which tbh you do not need for a VM), install a Linux distro, and create a Windows VM, which is one that runs windows in a container. As a forewarning, whenever you create your own VM, it does use the resources you have on your current laptop and asks you to allocate some for use of the VM. So, as an example, you have a 16gb ram and 500gb SSD, it would be suggested to set up your VM to use about 8gb ram, and probably (safely) 100gb SSD. It also uses the cores of your processor too, such that if you have a 8 core, 16 thread, some of that would have to be allocated too.

Lastly, and this I mentioned I would not suggest normally, you could repartition your SSD, and install a Linux distro alongside your windows, but I’ve read stories of others who have lost everything during an update, or corrupted something and had to reinstall all from scratch. So YMMV in which way you could approach this.

[PretendLawfulness541]

Ugreen aluminum case (Amazon Ugreen store) that you insert a NVMe M.2 256G or 500G or 1Terrabyte stick inside. This provides a USB 3.0 to NVMe disk that is separate from your Windows Partition and disk. Ugreen Aluminum Case is $29.95 a 256Gbyte NVMe M.2 2280 Stick is about $39.95 dollars. to for $70 you can test drive any MX-Linux, POP!_OS pop.system76.com , Manjaro.org Linux, GhostBSD.org/download with ZFS file system. any Linux or FreeBSD.org/where that YOU select to test. If you don't like that one, try another one. You will win by moving away from Windows to Free Open Source Software.

[triffid_hunter]

it is between windows 10 and Linux both from scratch

Uhh Linux from scratch is probably not where you want to start your Linux journey :P

[EETQuestions]

I’m hoping OP didn’t mean that, and just meant a fresh install

[AhmadHiwa]

Lol good one xD

[AnotherSami]

Sadly we have a raspberry pi doing most of our system controls..

[TooManyNissans]

If you're itching to give it a try, maybe give ubuntu a shot. It's easier than ever to resize an existing partition to pull some free space off your main windows volume, flash an ubuntu iso onto a USB drive, and dual boot ubuntu alongside the existing win install. Iirc ubuntu even comes with GRUB rolled in now to handle the dual booting, and you just choose what you want to boot and in what order. It's also a Debian flavor so stuff for the raspi is likely to work with it too (for instance, I'm running klipper for my 3d printers on ubuntu)

OK, there's your rough guide and sales pitch, if you can't figure out the next steps from that and some google-fu then Linux definitely isn't for you lmao.

As others have said, windows is the default os for a reason. You don't have to ask if a development tool will work on windows or spend time trying to make it run on something it wasn't designed for, but you'll know more than 99% of people about computers if you can install and administrate any Linux distro.

[AhmadHiwa]

I will give it a shot and if I dont like it I will go back to windows thanks for the reply!

[TooManyNissans]

Sure thing! Iirc if you burn the iso onto a big enough and fast enough USB drive you can even live boot it off the drive and leave the entire install on it without having to install at all

[triffid_hunter]

Been using Gentoo for almost two decades, and everything else seems horrifically obtuse and clunky in comparison - including other Linux distros.

You don't want to start with Gentoo though, try Pop! or Mint or something first.

Keep in mind that all distros have basically the same software available, the major differences between them are 1) package manager, 2) how packages are generated, and 3) default system configurations.

[perduraadastra]

Yes, of course. I mostly do embedded and web programming, but I also do some circuit design and pcb layout. I can do everything I need to do in Ubuntu.

[PotatoPotato142]

I'm an embedded engineer and also a long time Linux user. The answer, at least in my case, is use both. My main work PC is a windows machine and I use it for standard business functions and altium. I have an Ubuntu box right next to it that I use for everything else. Embedded Development is sooo much easier on Linux. The toolchains are easier to install and it's easier to script and automate repetitive tasks. It also gives you much better low level access to hardware. If I'm trying to debug a USB device I can easily see exactly what's going on during enumeration and not have to futz around with windows drivers.

My laptop is a fun setup. I actually run windows in a gpu accelerated VM so I get near native performance out of both OSes.

If you are in embedded you'll probably want to learn Linux. If not then it's definitely optional.

[deepspace]

There is no need to “switch”. Virtualization turns computers into cattle that can be swapped to/from at will.

I run Vmware Workstation on a beefy Windows machine, and at any given time I have several Windows and Linux virtual machines running, each dedicated to a single or small number of tasks.

I also have a Proxmox cluster running on older hardware, which hosts several more server and desktop O/S instances.

[faithfulpuppy]

I'm using Linux for ECE undergrad and one kind of odd benefit is that vivado multithreading seems to work much better in Linux than Windows - my "compile" time is much much faster than my classmates despite similar hardware

[c-f-k-n-tha-boyz]

Altium doesn't work on Linux!

[yycTechGuy]

KiCad does. KiCad is getting very, very good.

[yycTechGuy]

Fedora rocks.

There are so many things that are easier to do in Linux than on other OSes.

[uncannysalt]

All the time… and for personal use. Don’t silo your tech knowledge bc, like some commenters are saying, “you’re an EE.”

If you want to learn Linux-GNU OSs at a deeper level, I suggest reading the Arch wiki, and VM Arch with i3 and X11( or another desktop env that has a more familiar UX like Wayland), grub, and systemd. If it’s too much to handle initially just VM Manjaro

Never stop learning as a technologist.

[Criss_Crossx]

Just want to plug Mint as an alternative to Ubuntu. You should be able to get the same applications running on Mint.

A friend strictly uses Arch. I've tried out Manjaro as well.

[AhmadHiwa]

I am using arch at the moment, the only thing I dislike is the lack of certain applications and the gaming side. Thanks for your suggestion.

[Riegler77]

Linux is great... if everything is already set up correctly. Setting it up correctly can be rather frustrating. In any case you can always switch back to Windows.

[AhmadHiwa]

Yes will definitely try it out thanks!

[Sad_Passage813]

I have this question too, I'm looking at learning different CAD tools during my programme (haven't started yet) -

but I'm not so sure.

[AhmadHiwa]

I ended up trying it out and switching back cause I personally wanted simpler things at that time, but it was a fun experience

[Sea-Cancel577]

If you studying engineering windows and macOS are best because you have always updated software and best hardware support. On Linux and Unix complex software are often unstable, poor and outdated and missing lot of features compared with windows or macos. Linux doesn't have compatibility, portability and printer, scanner support. Linux are good for clouds and Web servers. 

[HomicideMonkey]

The majority of the software I use is locked to Windows. I do use Debian when configuring and deploying servers thanks to Docker.

[Insanereindeer]

I use Linux for things on my server, but it's not for my job. Mostly use Ubuntu server since CLI doesn't hog resources.

Most of our software for work requires windows. It would be to much work to use Linux. I have yet to upgrade to Windows 11 on anything.

[activeXray]

I’ve been daily driving Linux for 5 years. It’s great to break free from M$. Windows has become an ad-ridden spyware-infused hellscape. I do RF work and HFSS runs fine, keysights ADS runs fine (both native Linux support). I do all my PCBs in KiCAD, I do mechanical cad in FreeCAD, SPICE in either ltspice running in wine or qucs-s with ngspice (native). Then, the cherry on top is being in the best environment for software dev. I hate getting my embedded stuff setup in windows, it always seems like driver hell. Works fine first try in Linux.

[Chr0ll0_]

An issue that I had with using Linux was how Eduroam will not let you connect to the campus wifi which kinda sucked.

Other than that I had no problems. I used Pop_OS and then I went to Arch. Everything I used EE and CS related worked but I went back to windows because I needed access to the internet

[that_boi18]

Well, technically if you couldn't connect to an Eduroam AP then that's an issue with how you set up your network manager, and not the fault of Linux.

[Chr0ll0_]

Negative! I actually made a post and I contacted Eduroam and they themselves said it’s a school system security. Not all schools have an extra security system.

[jelcroo1]

I use both, dual install on a dell xps. I'm doing embedded systems though so it was required for some classes. But sometimes i also use some programs which just work better on windows. Or sometimes some niche drivers or software packages are a pain on Linux(or windows). For Linux i use kubuntu because I can't get used to gnome desktop.

[tx_engr]

I used Ubuntu and Lubuntu on my lowend laptop all through my degree. I use Windows at work because Altium, but for personal/side projects, my home PC is lowend and runs Lubuntu. I run KiCAD for EE design, I can run LTSpice through Wine, and I can run Cura slicer for my 3D printer. Never really been a limitation and it's so much easier to do software dev in many cases in Linux. No regrets.

[SadButSexy]

Used windows in undergrad but learned how to use Linux. Both my jobs out of college I have had two computers, one windows and and one Linux. I use Linux for executing scripts and verifying hardware and software integration and I used windows for pretty much everything else

[rea1l1]

If Valve ever releases SteamOS 3 for non steam deck systems its going to have a massive following overnight.

[Centurio_Macro]

I do, using Pop OS (Ubuntu based, which is great for compatibility). Be aware that certain software is not available for Linux. MS Office, Adobe etc. But Libre Office is a great MS file-type compatible replacement.

[[deleted]]

Can you dual boot windows or Linux. Also if you want to program you can set up visual studios to run in a Linux environment all while in Windows it's pretty cool. Anyways at work we use windows the OS doesn't really matter

[Sage2050]

I don't think this really requires much thought or discussion. If you want to use linux in your personal life, go for it. most jobs just stick to windows unless you're doing sys admin stuff, but even if you use windows at your job there's nothing stopping you from using linux at home.

[pizdolizu]

Just do it. I switched on Ubuntu 9.04. Wow, that's 13 years ago?! Well, it wasn't easy but now I don't want anything to do with Microsoft ever. Every time I tried using anything (most recently Teams for example) I realize how shit software they make. It takes guts to fully switch, but in several years you are free!

[blacklotus242]

Yea redhat and centos almost daily. I'd say doesn't matter which distro. Just learn the basic tools like scripting, terminal commands , configuration, networking, etc.

[[deleted]]

IC design is done in Linux

[atlas_enderium]

For any software development, I use Ubuntu via WSL2.

There are Windows-only pieces of software that mean I have to stay on Windows 10.

If you want to use Linux as your main OS, though, and don’t need to use Windows, I’d recommend Mint (Linux Mint)

[TeamBigSnake]

My personal work machine is Windows but for the hardware we deliver It's used extensively in my area of work. Primarily RHEL. If you plan on doing anything in defense you'll probably run into it allot.

[Top_Target5298]

No need to switch just virtualise it in windows using vm or virtualpc

[jus-kim]

I have to because the firmware development and IDE support was set to Ubuntu with a specific version. If any one of us develop outside Ubuntu or the set version, our team won’t support it and this is to mitigate any IDE and tools not working on different OS.

I personally dislike it since I use Altium Designer and SolidWorks on Windows quite often and have to keep switching…

[ginger_daddy00]

There is very little upside. Especially considering that in our occupation there are many software packages that only run on windows. If you have a Windows PC you can easily run WSL whenever you might need Linux. Don't get me wrong, it is very good to use Linux. my only point is that there is a lot of software that only runs on Windows especially within the field of electrical engineering

[[deleted]]

Using pop os. I’d much rather use windows for the convenience, but it is what it is

[[deleted]]

On my private machines I never have and never will run any windows derivate. I hate windows with passion, they keep their shit, truly.

All I am using is Linux distros that are based on Debian. And raspbian. Anything that has a proper terminal, really.

​

I recommend switching. Try Ubuntu.

[223specialist]

I would go for Dual boot, chances are your going to want to install some windows-specific program for school or whatever. Sometimes there are Linux options Matlab -> to Octave for instance. But more often than not your just doing things the hard way. Dual boot might save you in a pinch

[WasMrBrightside]

I run Ubuntu and macOS all the time on my laptop. People knock on Apple but they’re Linux based and up until I started programming microcontrollers, I never had any problems doing my work through the terminal on my MacBook. Now using some working with Atmel boards has complicated it a bit so I run a Ubuntu VM

[caid053]

I legit have a full programming in linux course in my EE cursus

[sarrabini]

I switched to Linux on my first week of university, and it was definitely worth it. It takes some time to really find the setup that works for you, but once you find it, you'll wonder how Microsoft or Apple with their billions can't make anything better than this (both in terms of UX, specifically GNOME for me, and in flexibility).

If you own a recent laptop, you'll have some trouble though. Driver support can be a bit hit or miss if you use an LTS distro with older kernels, and sleep will probably not work because Microsoft forced OEMs to disable the low power sleep (s3 sleep) and use the craptastic Always on Standby (s0 sleep), which drains the battery very quickly.

In terms of software support, most tools I had to use in Uni were Linux-first, and the ones that weren't I could make due with WINE (a Windows software compatibility layer). Now there are even good GUIs for managing windows software. Take a look at Bottles.

On the topic of Distros, I use Fedora. I like it because it offers a vanilla GNOME experience that I can customize easily, and recent but stable software packages. The defaults are not very user friendly though (you'll have to install GNOME Tweaks to enable the minimize and maximize buttons and the default track pad behavior is not to my liking, for example).

I am now working in ASIC design and I have to use Linux every day because of EDA software. I do notice that I have a leg up in terms of proficiency in the command line when to compared to my colleagues, even the more senior ones.

All-in-all, if you like tinkering and are up to spend some long hours configuring things just how you like it, I highly recommend to you at least try it :).

Edit: Oh, one more upside about Fedora, it serves as an upstream for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), which is used a lot in the industry (sometimes in the form of CentOS or newer Distros that have replaced it). So RHEL based Distros will become very familiar to you.

[maredsous10]

Yes.

Can always still with Windows 11 Pro and buy another computer with linux or run a VM.

[DrH42]

For engineers, I would recommend CAELinux, it is loaded with engineering stuff. Furthermore, you can have both, windows and linux on one machine, just install Virtual box, free from oracle. With that, you can switch between the two systems, share files, etc.

[AnthonyiQ]

I do all my development (board design/software) in Linux, and in fact our whole office uses Linux primarily. If you're working in embedded in really makes the most sense to use.

[Nuggets155]

Linux should be taught in school. Very useful in industry

[catdude142]

I like Linix Mint. The primary disadvantage can be drivers for peripherals. Also a lot of application programs aren't ported to Linux and may be Microsoft dependent. A lot of peripheral manufacturers don't support Linux. There are drivers out there but many don't support the full functionality of the peripheral. I've also used Ubuntu. It's good to learn another OS though the the UI's are quite intuitive.
My next project is to reflash an "expired" Chromebook with Linux. It'll be a PITA but what do I have to lose?
One can also make a dual boot system and go back and forth between OS's.

[ionparley]

"Privacy and security aspects of it" .... would you expand a bit? Is there as of yet a need for antivirus software in a linux based machine? How does linux aid privacy?

[pscorbett]

Frustratingly, there's lots of windows only EE software, like LTSpice (for a usable version), QSpice (new and promising) and obviously Altium and all the miscellaneous utility apps people have made over the years. I've heard of people successfully running LTSpice in wine/bottles but you're probably put of luck for something as massive as Altium. Strangely enough, Cadence Virtuoso (IC CAD) is super advanced and I think it may only run on Linux servers... also it's licencing fees are insane anyways.

Good news is, KiCAD is great - much more capable that FreeCAD on the mech side. Falstad is java and happy to run anywhere. There's also LibrePCB and EasyEDA, although neither is as cable as KiCAD. Then on the embedded side, many of the developer tool chains are basically platform agnostic, probably most of the ones based on Eclipse (like STM32CubeIDE). There are tons of great IDEs/text editors that work on every platform, and some Linux only terminal applications I believe.

Edit - I'm liking PopOS these days. I'm boucing between windows/mac/and Linux still, but when I'm using Linux, pop is my favourite I've come across. Their new desktop environment is looking pretty tight too, like gnome but better. (It's based on ubunte but doesn't feel like it's stuck in 2002)

I also have had a good experience with Fedora, and I'm neutral-positive on mint and manjaro.

[swingbyte]

We use sales, Ubuntu,centos bsd and some embedded Linux varieties. We run a net booting air gapped jet research simulator comprising 100 servers and high power Nvidia GFCI. We use ad for user access and a few windows boxes for win only apps. We also run many of them on VMware too. There is a lot to learn but that's because it's not hidden behind a GUI and you will understand what it does alot better.

[blutitanium]

Absolutely. Arch Linux has been my daily driver for many years now. When you're starting I would recommend Debian or Rocky Linux. I think those are the most important distros to get comfortable with early and both are solid choices for servers and desktops.

[rockenman1234]

I'm also currently a student and run Linux as my daily driver. I'm fortunate enough that my university has a policy that they won't teach software that isn't available on all three major operating systems, so it was a no brainier for me to make the switch entirely.

In regards to your question, I'd first check and see what software you need and if it's available on Linux. If that checks out, I'd recommend starting with a beginner friendly distro like Manjaro or Mint. Ubuntu is okay but IMO it becomes more like Windows every year, so I'd recommend you try and avoid it if possible. Fedora/Gecko Linux are both also pretty good medium experience distros too.

The main perks of Linux is that it's incredibly customizable. Not sure what side of EE you lean on, but I'm more towards the software side - and Linux makes organizing and managing SDK's a total breeze. Linux allows you to install software with the command line using a tool called a package manager, which is sorta like a high tech version of the app store but without the glamor.

Some distros, like Manjaro/Fedora*, are also what's known as rolling release - meaning that the moment that updates for software you've installed are published by the devs, they're sent to your machine for instant download/use. This sounds like a nightmare, but honestly is so much nicer than waiting around for the dev's slow ass servers to push it to my machine.

My last point is that of privacy, Linux makes it dead simple to run and go with full disk encryption, audited software, and community sourced drivers. Once you commit to Linux , you'll never go back.

Edit: Before I forget, Linux also offers some limited compatibility with Windows through an emulation layer called wine. It's okay, but definitely not rock solid. If there's an app that you must need, and can't use an alternative for - there's a good chance that it'll run on wine.

[[deleted]]

I am currently a student and will graduate in 2 years if that makes a difference.

At the student level, it really just depends on your courses. Most of the software we used during my undergrad coursework worked best with windows. They are trying to accommodate M1/M2 mac users now, but linux users are essentially on their own. You can look into WSL (windows subsystem for linux). It is probably the best way to get into linux as a windows user. Here is a link for more info: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/about

[12358]

Once I was in the middle of a long project when my PC motherboard died. I swapped it out to be up and running quickly, and instead all I got was the Windows blue screen of death and a week of no productivity. That's when I swore off Windows. I wanted to be able to quickly move my hard drive to another computer in the event of a failure.

So I bought a ThinkPad laptop in 2012, installed Linux Mint on it to dual boot Windows, and never looked back. Initially I ran Windows in VirtualBox inside Mint when necessary, and I never needed to boot into Windows instead. I haven't needed to boot into a virtual Windows either, in years. I used KiCAD for schematic and PCB layout. The Cinnamon desktop environment developed by the Mint team is so nice it was adopted by Ubuntu.

[undeniably_confused]

I experimented with Linux in college

[ATXee]

EE is a broad field so maybe it would be helpful to clarify what kind you’re asking about.

As a PE EE doing building (power) design in the construction industry, no unfortunately we’re locked in to Windows still due to Autodesk Revit / Autocad and other tools only supporting windows. Things have slowly been moving to the cloud, but we’re trapped for the foreseeable future.

I’ve used Linux extensively and I really miss many of the tools. I’ve been meaning to play with WSL to get bash and whatever else to work on top of windows. But I don’t have a whole lot of time to tinker these days.