Yeah, the Linux community has done a shitload of work to bring Linux up to as good as windows (in the technical sense) and better than windows (regarding the often hostile user experience).
Microsoft is now helping with the marketing by making the windows experience even worse, driving more people to “take the plunge” only for them to realize there isn’t a place where the floor suddenly drops away and you’re left helpless, and that that actually is a better description for using windows outside of the rails MS wants.
If you use an AMD gpu, there’s actually fewer steps to go from empty disk to playing a game, assuming that game isn’t trying to do things with the kernel or is one of the rare games that aren’t compatible for reasons other than anti-cheat (I’ve seen one game like that so far, forget the name of it but a logistics game that needed some dotnet library or something and I ended up giving up and refunding it rather than troubleshooting it until it worked, though others on protondb did say they got it working).
The days where windows gives an easier or better experience are gone, even ignoring all the next level enshitification of win 11. I’ve been on Linux for about a year now but wish I had switched sooner.
Been using linux exclusively for personal computing since 2019 and don’ miss windows either.
I’m not changing until they make a “Linus Proof” distro…
I really wish we stopped linking users to random niche distros, its just much more common to run into bugs due to less users.
Would be nice to be able to read the article. This hiding shit behind an account just guarantees I’ll never read it on your site.
I think this is a result of much site traffic being AI search agents or crawlers nowadays, which doesn’t generate any ad income for sites. So they don’t really have a choice
Here you go:
A lot of misinformation and people going about things wrong in the comments.
Do y’all not do research before buying a house, buying a car, or applying to a new job?
Y’all need to go back and learn critical thinking.
Enlightening
The only problem I’ve had so far on Linux was due to my RAM breaking. Same shit could’ve happened on Windows. As much as everyone talks about needing “manual intervention” in Arch, I had to do the same shit on Windows after a bad update pushed unsigned USB drivers (which I was unaware of, I only saw the blue screen) then once I did a system restore it just failed after wiping my hard drive despite only using tools from Windows itself. I ended up having to get a third party tool to fix it all, because the vhdx files Windows made assumed my computer was UEFI despite only supporting BIOS. It was a mess.
The moral of the story is: Windows still has these problems, people are just more used to solving them so it doesn’t feel like they’re solving a problem.
Mainly music devices
Step one: download bazzite Step two: install Step three: ??? Step four: Fuck windows
terms and conditions apply, your situation may vary with Nvidia hardware
I kinda get there’s some common meme about Nvidia being Linux’s kryptonite, but everything’s been okay for me on CachyOS. This after some issues earlier in the year on Mint and even Bazzite.
I would caution against fucking Windows - you’ll likely end up with a nasty virus
That’s why you use a firewall and open a port to insert your ramdisk
Hey, just because I preach harm reduction, doesn’t mean I’m gonna kink shame
To me it was like, oh, you made it different and that makes so much more sense, why are they not doing it like that in Windows? Or just during university; there is a tool for that format? And it is already installed? Nice.
paywalled
Here you go:
Disable javascript
My first night on Linux was rough. Getting all my apps installed and set up was exhausting, especially because I had no experience using the command line. For those who haven’t stared into the dark void of a Linux terminal before, it’s where most system management happens — installing apps, running updates, and the like. It’s an unavoidable part of the Linux experience
Bullshit. And fuck you for
propagatingperpetuating this notion, yet again.Edit: fixed to the correct word.
Oh for fucks sake, so much neckbeard energy here dismissing this guys personal experience.
When you’re a new user and don’t know what the hell the native app store application is, which doesn’t have all the programs a person would want to use and install there, and when a new user goes to find their old windows apps that have Linux install instructions, what’s the first thing that they have there? Guess. It’s always find your flavor of Linux and the first steps shown are always terminal commands with sudo apt get or sudo dnf.
That’s everyone first time with Linux until they learn more about it so get off your high horse and condescending gatekeeping attitude.
Gatekeeping, I hate that word. So useless. In this scenario the author is gate keeping saying all the linux system management is the command line. Its “exhausting”. Well bullshit. Let me say it again: BULLSHIT.
It is perpetuating a myth. This is not true. They are gatekeeping the users who don’t want to because they are saying it has to be this way.
Look, I like the command line, I get why sharing information is so much easier by providing a command rather than a wall of screen shots.
Yet at the same time, my travel laptop over here, two years in, has never had to have “system administration” and package installation from a command line. Depending on the distro it simply is not necessary.
The user has choice.
Buddy, they literally do not know that choice exists, and you’re getting angry and calling them a liar instead of growing the community by teaching.
The Linux community has a reputation for being filled with condescending dickheads, and that’s part of the reason why people are turned off from even trying.
Buddy, they literally do not know that choice exists
Yeah, because people like this author keep repeating it.
The Linux community has a reputation for being filled with condescending dickheads
Yet another annoying myth. Look, I am saying it with a bit of vitrol here, but its basically to the universe as the author (as far as I know) isn’t here.
Could I be a bit nicer? I suppose, but they were so wrong, and using strong words like “exhausting” to describe a practice they don’t even have to do is annoying. Read what they wrote, they said all admin tasks are command line. Nonsense of course. If they had said, I started out this way, or it was what I had learned, with just a tiny bit of journalistic effort they would know there are a variety of ways.
I have gone back and read forums, from 10 to 15 years ago, just because I keep hearing: linux is so condescending and rude, and it wasn’t the way I remembered it, so I went to see. And guess what? Nothing but nice and friendly people trying to help each other.
It gets old fast.
Na sorry, hes right.
For someone who doesn’t spend every moment on their pc, its daunting and takes energy to learn and remember all of this just to make your pc run.
Keep in mind that changes are coming even if you stay on Windows or Mac or Android or iOS. AI in particular is going to require everyone to relearn everything in non-deterministic ways, so you end up begging the system to do what you want in new creative ways. Also, the UI will be radically reworked over and over. There’s really no way to avoid learning new ways to do things on an invention that’s less than 50 years old.
Yes, it’s work that we don’t usually have the energy for, especially now, but the best we can do is look for a community to support each other through it all.
That is true and a large part of why I do love how linux mostly has stayed the same for 20 years in its basic form. I was able to apply a lot of the things I had remembered from years ago when I used it briefly.
I ran Fedora Silverblue for a year with the terminal uninstalled.
You dont have to. But honestly its worth the time to get over the fear of the terminal. Understanding how they work and being comfortable using them has many advantages. So many things do not require a bloated GUI application. Like again its not necessary but its a bandaid that I think is worth it to rip off.
I really take issue with the author suggesting that you need to. You do not need to, and it is a myth that needs to go away. Particularly when they said it was “exhausting” installing applications. Linux is miles ahead on that front: you look through a list of what you like, or search for them, and click on the ones you want.
Also for system management, there is no need for the terminal either and the author says “It’s an unavoidable part of the Linux experience”. That one in particular really doesn’t sit well with me.
Now can you? Yes. Should you? Also yes, because it is the easiest way to convey and execute an idea. But you do not have to.
And they fail to mention that windows does this too, for almost every task for system maintenance is done this way: press run+r, now type “whatever -command”.
Anyways a moderately mainstream article and they are going to scare people away over something they did not need to do. Which after a year you would think they would have figured that out.
The one I’m on has a very functional “search and install” app, but I still find myself habitually opening up terminal for installation out of “fastness”. Maybe it’s a poor impulse I should correct.
Probably the biggest thing driving terminal use is opening and configuring system files. You can do that with the file explorer and an elevated text editor, but a lot of guides aiming for conciseness will give you some command to wget a long file online, then insert content into a text file by path in one line.
I agree for the most part. It depends a lot on what distro youre using, what DE, so on. But you can easily get by on gnome without having to use the terminal much if at all.
KDE as well. It is astounding how easy it is to use a modern KDE distro: everything has tips and hints get you to the setting you want. Even mounting shares is just click and mount.
Personally I enjoy typing stuff in the konsole
I came across this the other day but haven’t had a chance to use it. Hopefully this saves someone a lot of time installing programs.
Awesome!
Huh ninite for Linux. That’s neat
Depends on your distro. Maybe on Ubuntu or Mint, sure. I’m running EndeavourOS, and it’s terminal or nothing. I’m fine with that, but YMMV.
I am running EndeavourOS and it’s possible to function without terminal. I use it because I love it but no need at least not for app installing having Discover.
Anyway can’t compare an arch based distro to Fedora or Ubuntu
Anyway can’t compare an arch based distro to Fedora or Ubuntu
Why not?
Because Fedora and Ubuntu (Debian) have been around for forever? In my experience Arch also feels more like a your on your own kind of Distro which I liked back in the day (build one myself with an online guide), but now I just want my machine to run and function unattended besides the updates.
I did the same but I cannot replace it. Half of my devices are not working.
What kind of exotic hardware do you have? Pretty much any of the old and new hardware I keep throwing at it has worked, do you have specialized equipment?
Some pen display, graphic tablets, and audio pheriperials are not always fully supported on Linux. Even new hardware does not guarantee a full support.
Hell, even common stuff like the Elgato Stream Deck either doesnt work, works very poorly, or can’t replicate all of the functionality.
My partner has a bog standard Weseary headset and the knobs don’t work on Linux. Setting up his gaming mouse from Logitech was also a nightmare. Linux needs to work on it’s plug and play for normiea, as much as I love it.
If it is a wireless one Solaar has been my go to program to manage Logitech mouses, so maybe that will also help you?
IMO that’s not the fault of Linux per se but of the manifacturers that only provide drivers/software for Windows and then let the community figure out the rest. The end result is the same just due to a different cause.
Sadly most manufacturers still don’t care about linux support. If you are lucky sometimes there’s a community alternative. But even then some of the advanced features may not work.
What you can do is check on their website which drivers they have available, and avoid buying stuff that doesn’t have Linux support when possible.
With more adoption I hope that it becomes increasingly available, although in practice I’ve seen several products drop their Linux support due to low users. 😢
It’s because Linux isn’t used widely enough. Nobody is gonna put in effort for the sake of 3 random customers. Which yields a catch 22: Linux isn’t appealing to a lot of people becsuse it lacks features/functions/ease of use, and nobody will add those features/functions/ease of use because not a lot of people use it already.
I really hope the Steam suite pushes the tide.
Only problem I have with Linux is it not working on my hardware. Windows of course works fine. So many stories of a Thinkpad T480 and Linux being such a dream, until you try it and it doesn’t work.
OH! And the constant nagging for a password, literally to do anything at all. Open a browser, enter password. Install an app, enter a password. Uninstall an app, enter a password. Wake from sleep, enter a password. I thought windows was bad, I had no idea how much better it was until I tried Linux.
Wait, does it not work on your hardware, or are you using it frequently enough to be bothered by passwords?
It mostly works. I have it set to dual boot and spend more time in Linux than in windows, forcing myself to use it. I also have a desktop that I use for windows on.
You are definitely doing something wrong. Does it really ask for a password to open a browser? Windows always asks for a password for all that other stuff if you’re not using an administrative account, which is supposed to happen. Unless you’re fine with anyone that happens to get access to your computer being able to install/uninstall stuff.
Yes it does. I’ve never had to enter a password to uninstall anything from Windows before.
Chromium has done that to me before when I didn’t setup its keyring properly. I would just hit ESC three times to get past its dialog. Now I make sure to use an empty password for its keyring because I only use Chomium when something doesn’t work in Firefox.
KDE Plasma has also asked me many times for opening its keyring and that has pissed me off. I don’t use KDE Plasma other than on one server though.
Some of the other password requests you can disable in the graphical system settings (like asking for password coming out of suspend).
For the rest, those are just the same as Windows UAC which asks whether you want to give something adminstrator privileges. There’s probably a way to set up that experience if you’d rather click ‘yes’ in a popup than type your password.
It could be the browser’s password manager triggering the system keyring to unlock.
In contrast, Linux won’t stop you if you try to use a command that deletes every file on your PC (“sudo rm -rf /”).
Actually AFAIK it will stop that specific command nowadays. I don’t have a VM handy to test, but without the “–no-preserve-root” flag it should give an error.
(Don’t actually run that command on a machine you care about, I’m only 80% confident.)
Nope, it absolutely won’t let you
Goddamn this mf really did hold the gun up to his own head and pulled the trigger just to prove it would go click.
Maybe he did it in a vm
Nope, I’m on bare metal :)
You are ice cold metal, my friend 🤘
Gotta test the guardrails sometimes…
could this be based on the distro?
or is it built into the kernel?
It was made default for rm command in 2006.
The trick is to learn to absolutely despise Windows before doing the switch, then everytime something breaks on Linux you reminisce about the olden days and decide that typing two or three commands in the terminal isn’t so bad afterall.
The trick is to
dump your personal files into a seperate, non OS hard drive so that if shit hits the bricks, you have a parachute.
Ask me how I know.
Or you can do like I did and simply put an extra hard drive in, load Linux on it. Then use your old Windows hard drive as a storage drive. For the first couple of weeks it was a nice safety blanket to have.
Oh, and if your PC doesn’t have the room inside for an extra hard drive. Make it an external.
Backups are a good idea.
Also one backup is no backup, ask me how I know :,)
