Hello, I’m thinking of switching from Windows to Linux. Right now, I’m using Windows 10 because Windows 11 doesn’t support my processor. I’ll be upgrading my hardware in a few days, but I still have concerns about Windows 11, especially with them increasingly incorporating AI features like recall. However, I also have concerns about Linux, particularly when it comes to drawing and painting software—currently, only Krita is available. Additionally, I use a Huion Kamvas 22 Plus tablet for drawing, and I’m unsure if it will work correctly with Linux. I’m a bit worried that Krita or Huion might not function properly on Linux, as I’ve seen videos of people encountering various issues with Krita on Linux. Do you think I should switch to Linux? What distro do you recommend for using Krita?
Hi
One advantage of Linux, you can create a bootable usb key and then test it on your hardware without need to install it.
Concerning the tablet I think Huion are supported by Linux (may not all tablet, but probably a lot: need to check your specific model).
Concerning the distro, that will depend.
If you’ve never used Linux, may be something like Ubuntu or an Ubuntu derivative (Mint, POP! Os, …) could be a good choice, it’s pretty simple to use and normally doesn’t require to you to use terminal and tweak settings and other fun stuff from terminal.
After which desktop to use… GNome, KDE, Mate, … It’s a matter of taste
(yes it doesn’t help a lot 
)
Grum999
Easier answer I can give you: get a cheap ssd with a cheap usb enclosure and use that to install linux on it. Test it, if you don’t like it, nothing is lost. If you like it, you can get familiarized with it without risking anything, and if you like it and decide to go full linux… you’ll only need to move your home partition and reinstall a few programs and you’ll be all set.
Broadly speaking: nobody can tell you if you should, you’ll have to try it for your use case, cause it all depends on what you do with your computer (I won’t talk further than this cause I think it’s something that people should try for themselves, the only thing I would advise you, since you’re coming from windows is use a distro that has KDE plasma as desktop environment).
I personally made the switch to full linux 4 years ago perfectly happy with it, I even recently tried running windows 11 on an external ssd just to keep up with the times and I quickly gave up on it, it’s how much better I like the experience of linux as a daily driver OS.
Is there any software you need to use that doesn’t run on Linux?
I used Mint for 6 months straight and loved it. It was an adjustment because Wacom doesn’t make a Linux driver so I needed xorg and a script for my tablet settings. Once I got that set up I really enjoyed Mint. Krita ran better on Linux than Windows (that laptop only had 4 GB of RAM and Windows was eating half of it).
I grudgingly went back to Windows because of software I needed that I couldn’t get to run on Linux (and the Windows updates kept messing with the dual boot).
That’s why I used an external SSD to install windows, that OS a STRANGE propensity to nuke bootloaders that aren’t his own. And I’m glad I did because that makes the erasing all the more easy and tbh… satisfying (after the awful experience it was)
I’m on Linux for about 15 years and it works great. My Wacom is perfectly compatible with it and Krita. I can’t say anything about your tablet. As others have mentioned, you can simply boot Linux from an USB drive and test drive it for some time before you commit to making the switch. For a former Windows user a distro with a KDE desktop is probably best, since this is where Microsoft is stealing from for years so you probably get used to it quickly since KDE is a better version of what Microsoft does. For Krita to work best, make sure you start the desktop session with X11 instead of Wayland.
I recommend using Kubuntu as they still use a version of KDE plasma more compatible so to speak with Krita, although I am using Krita in Plasma 6.
I considered it a few times as well (also being put off by the AI craze and the worsening invasiveness of Windows), but convenience won over and I stayed with Windows.
Don’t hate me, but to me Linux is either for the users who:
- are OK with how the system looks and works out of the box, and are lucky to not run into any problems, or
- are fine with tinkering and figuring out small annoying problems on their own.
If you’re nuking the current OS anyway, I encourage you to try one of the popular distros (like Ubuntu, Mint, Debian, etc.) and see if it works for you. I don’t have a Huion display, but I have regular Huion pen tablets and they work fine with the official Linux drivers. You install it just like you would on Windows and use the device normally.
If you are interested why I didn't switch to Linux...
I mean, I love Linux, it’s especially great for developers and power users. I use it very often at work, but for a home system, I just couldn’t be bothered with a subpar experience and various small issues. I was just testing a few distros a couple days ago. This is what happened:
- If I remember correctly, I tried Debian 12 KDE Plasma, but it was freezing on my system every few seconds. Couldn’t even get to the installer.
- Then tried Kubuntu. Got a black screen after the first reboot, fixed that. Then I realized I can’t scale my two monitors independently. Had to use xrandr on every boot…
- Tried Xubuntu on another system. Installer kept crashing by the time I got to the keyboard layout selection. Eventually, fixed that by using safe mode and managed to install it.
So yeah, if you don’t mind having to resolve problems like that initially and then maybe periodically, then it’s worth trying. If you want to use non-open graphics drivers then it may be a recurring hassle. If you want to play games, then probably the latest and greatest won’t work. Games with anti-cheat or with DRM will probably won’t work either.
Of course, these things may not be a big factor for others, or it may be a personal preference to use Free Software. I just can’t say as of today that you would get as seamless experience as on Windows. To me it really was about the basics. I just wanted a good looking, smooth, and robust desktop environment. And even that can be difficult with Linux, depending on your hardware and the expectations 
I don’t want to derail this thread but I’ll note one thing: you didn’t try linux.
You tried debian (and its spawns).
I’ve never been satisfied with a debian based distro (including ubuntu flavours). I found a distro that worked with an arch base (before moving to a pure arch install a few years later).
Sure I fit the second category (I don’t mind working through issues if I can get exactly what I want in the end)… but strangely every time I saw someone say linux didn’t work for them, they used a debian based distro. On the other end I’ve seen 3 people in my entourage, moving completely away from windows, some with very little technical knowledge, with an arch based distro and a quick initial rundown.
Food for thoughts, to each their own and all that. Just my experience.
Also I absolutely play the latest games on linux, with the exception of competitive online shooters which I’m not interested in and probably won’t work indeed with anti-cheats, the rest: all good.
Yes, noted. I definitely have a bias for Debian-based distros, as I’m just the most familiar with them. Maybe I got lazy with age and just don’t want to tinker too much (at least at home).
I did use Arch a bit in the past, but I really got fed up with the rolling model. Like, I wanted to install some packages, but it replaced like 50% of my system 
Nowadays, I just want something rock-solid, that makes use of the hardware I have, and can run my monitors at high refresh rate and intended scale/resolution. Maybe I’m too greedy 
Rolling release is a trade off, you may be updating very regularly, but you also get the latest updates, drivers, kernels and graphical stack which may be crucial to running the latest games well (for instance).
I’d say I update maybe once or twice a month and that’s not an issue to me (I was updating constantly on windows with a very low bandwidth and it was an absolute nightmare, I couldn’t even use my browser, tbh the reason I switched to linux in the first place).
As for expecting your hardware to be used at max capacity: absolutely fair. Linux is not at parity on some aspects, what you describe though: absolutely achievable without too much fuss on the right distro. I’m running 3 4K display some at 60hz and some at 165hz without problems and the performance overall in non native apps is pretty much on par with windows.
I agree all obstacles can be removed and the problems fixed. It’s just how much effort you’re willing to put in.
My case was a bit worse, I have one vertical 1440p display (at 100% scale) and one 4K horizontal (at 150% scale). That was problematic to set up in Xorg, at least.
And you don’t need anything else 
If you’re not a power user and not tech savvy probably not. If you just want to draw and paint Windows offers the most seamless experience.
I assure you, corporations know everything about us, after all, I doubt you’re using de-googled android with only open source apps in your smartphone, so it’s not a big deal if one more corporation joins the feast. My personal opinion of course.
for me both linux and windows have worked great. gone are the days when windows used to be unstable and linux would just chug along. Now the problem is how Microsoft is shoving AI. Linux does zero spying.
I use arch derivative which gives latest and greatest all the time and installation is breeze but the problem is occasionally the update breaks the system and user must be ready to get their hands dirty.
Thus a beginner friendly distro (probably based on Debian or fedora) would do.
Hardware compatibility can be easily tested on a USB drive live distro so that the best part of Linux.
Your tablet should work fine using Linux, the support requests we had could usually be solved by changing the version of Krita from repository to AppImage.
And do not try Arch Linux, it has the most issues with Krita.
@YRH: You should try SUSE, that was the best experience I had so far when it comes to a distro’s configuration, it is even far better than Mint, because for me absolutely anything ran out of the box. Installed and began working.
Michelist
Depends on the Arch flavor, my Manjaro has no issues at all with Krita on my end, using the AppImage and KDE as desktop.
I don’t doubt that, and I think that you will quickly resolve minor problems yourself without considering them as such. But go and count through the support-requests Linux users had in the last 18 month, and you’ll see an “unrivaled leading winner” named Arch Linux.
Michelist
My Manjaro has no customization at all and just works, most people with Arch problems are actually having Wayland issues (thanks Fedora), have installed Krita from the native repo which uses a different Qt or the maintainer screwed up, or using the Flatpak which has weird sandbox issues especially with steam, same thing can happen just as well on any non-Arch distro. I’m not saying that I perhaps have a divine hardware setup for some reason where things just work but I doubt it (the oposite was usually the case, that’s why I switched to Manjaro (and away from NVIDIA for non Krita reasons though)). People just so rarely come to the forum and “complain” that everything works great.
I am on endeavour os and have zero issues with krita native package.
I am however on nvidia proprietary drivers which could possibly explain the stability. plus I am still hanging on to X11
I will give openSUSE a try. I don’t think I have ever used this one.