this post was submitted on 16 Jul 2023
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Linux

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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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Don't get me wrong. I love Linux and FOSS. I have been using and installing distros on my own since I was 12. Now that I'm working in tech-related positions, after the Reddit migration happened, etc. I recovered my interest in all the Linux environment. I use Ubuntu as my main operating system in my Desktop, but I always end up feeling very limited. There's always software I can't use properly (and not just Windows stuff), some stuff badly configured with weird error messages... last time I was not able to even use the apt command. Sometimes I lack time and energy for troubleshooting and sometimes I just fail at it.

I usually end up in need of redoing a fresh install until it breaks up again. Maybe Linux is not good for beginners working full time? Maybe we should do something like that Cisco course that teaches you the basic commands?

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[–] [email protected] 108 points 1 year ago (6 children)

It's the same way Mastodon and the Fediverse is so damn frustrating to many people. They don't want to have to think and just want shit to work.

[–] [email protected] 52 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I can't say I blame them when it comes to going with what's comfortable.

I used Windows and Linux while in school so it's what I got used to. Whenever I use MacOS I feel incredibly lost

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

I'm fine with Linux and techy stuff for my personal life.

My work stuff has to work. Always. Enterprise solutions are the only way I can get that without a personal army of IT guys.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

macOS and iOS both have their own feel that just isnt intuitive for me.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

I’ve been a windows user forever and ever (well, DOS before that…) but iOS feels intuitive as fuck to me. I was an immediate Android adopter (HTC Dream/G1, then the successor G2 immediately when it was released) and when my partner got an iPhone, I played around with it for like five minutes before I was like “holy shit this is smooth.” I’ll never go back to Android (well, I couldn’t now anyway since I don’t touch Google services or products)

Next weekend I set up my first linux box since 2008, though, and I’m nervous. But excited.

[–] [email protected] 32 points 1 year ago (2 children)

This is oft repeated but is short sighted, it is NOT that people do not want to think, it is that they don’t have the time and energy to constantly fight their devices to perform simple tasks.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

it is that they don’t have the time and energy to constantly fight their devices to perform simple tasks.

Nobody wants to constantly fight their devices to perform simple tasks, but that's exactly the reason why I almost exclusively use linux and get incredibly annoyed when I have to use windows (for business reasons)..

Sure, linux based systems often take up more time until you find the right system for your needs and for your hardware, you will have some effort to find alternatives to some software that you might be used to and depending on what software you need, linux just won't be an option for you, but once that everything is set up, at least in my personal experience, things run a lot more consistently and expectedly in my personal experience.

Maybe it's just me, maybe I'm just lucky, but I have been using linux exclusively for about 3 years now on a desktop, multiple laptops and obviously servers. Have I experienced any issues? Yes, there were small issues from time to time, but nothing that I would not have with windows. But in terms of day to day operations and performing basic tasks, linux has been the superior user experience for me without a doubt.

I used to believe that linux is great for servers, and sucks for desktops and laptops, but ever since I made the switch, I have completely changed my mind. I still use windows because I have to, but the most annoying part of switching to linux was that windows has become even more annoying to use.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago (2 children)

This. I get a wild hair every couple years to daily drive Linux and there's always something small but crucial that breaks within a day or so and there's no way for me, a relative novice, to fix it.

Example: I picked up a old ThinkPad on ebay last year. I put Ubuntu on it and after a day or two the wifi just stops working. No error messages. Nothing. I tried digging into the settings via ui with no luck. Googling didn't help because I couldn't tell what was helpful, unhelpful, or would have been helpful but is five years out of date.

After a few days of trying to make it work, I just threw on windows and haven't had any issues since.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I've always had the opposite experience, especially with hardware like older thinkpads. Trying to use windows, everything runs so slowly, I have to try to find the right wifi and sound drivers from the manufacturers website, and make sure you get the right driver version that works with Windows 10. Then windows update runs and overwrites your drivers with Microsoft drivers that don't work.

Installing Ubuntu, everything works straight out of the box, don't need to go hunting all over the internet for installer packages.

[–] [email protected] -3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I have to try to find the right wifi and sound drivers from the manufacturers website, and make sure you get the right driver version that works with Windows 10.

Meanwhile these drivers don't even exist for Linux

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I'm pretty sure every thinkpad uses network adapters with linux drivers.

[–] [email protected] -3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Sure, and ThinkPads make up like 1% of computing devices.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Fair, but the person above you was talking about ThinkPads... Laptops with network adapters that have no Linux drivers are very rare. In the large majority of cases network adapters have drivers in the kernel, and almost all of the rest have drivers that need to be installed after. I used to work at a PC shop where I would very often use a Linux live CD to test hardware if Windows was having issues that seemed to be driver related. 90% of the hardware we worked on were laptops, so I booted Linux on a lot of them. There was never a laptop that didn't work out of the box on Linux. They certainly exist, but they are not as common as you think they are.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Whenever I've used an old Thinkpad with windows on it, it has been slow to the point of being unusable. Linux is much better in this regard, let alone after a few years of use.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Except can't trust corporate clowns to keep shit working... Once they they obtain market share, they start doing weird things, recent example win11 where they make it less useable just because fuck plebs.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Yeah but everyone has a different line of what's too far. Just like reddit, many knew things were getting bad but didn't actually leave until recently. No doubt Microsoft will eventually piss me off enough to switch but for now I barely use my pc as is so it's not worth the hassle.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I've resorted to just creating accounts for other people for them, updating the avatar and profile, following people and hashtags that might interest them, and then just handing them the login info.