this post was submitted on 20 Sep 2023
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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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Yes, do as I say!
"It's possible I did something wrong." 🤣
Like not read the warning that said that he was about to uninstall the desktop? Or to continue only if he knew what he was doing? He also earlier liked to talk about "red flags", but somehow needing to type in "Yes, do as I say!" wasn't one to him. I'm supposed to be getting Linux tips from this guy?
No, this is Linus Sex Tips not Linux Tech Tips!
No. You're supposed to see what kind of experience someone who didn't use Linux before would have.
How could someone who has never used Linux know that he was about to nuke his system, after typing in the command that the internet told him to type in to install Steam?
By reading the message and using basic comprehension. If you don't know what something is in an error message then google it!
Far be it from me to defend "I did what the internet told me to do!" but nothing in
sudo apt-get install steamwould lead you to believe you were about to nuke core system packages. That was a big fuckup for PopOS.There's also no reason to believe that
apt updatewould be a preemptive solution to that problem, when it hadn't even been reported to PopOS yet. Let alone expect newcomers to Linux, who are just following widely available tutorials, to know that command and what it does.What makes you think your average Windows user that is trying out Linux for the first time wouldn't have faced the same problem? I never understood why people criticized Linus for this video. After all, the video was supposed to see whether Linux is a viable alternative for Windows users (specifically gamers).
Yes. People have been trained to ignore warnings like this.
Android makes you jump through a hoop and tries to scare you when you want to install apps from outside the playstore.
Windows has some similarly serious-sounding warning messages.
People have got used to rolling their eyes at warnings when installing software. Like it or not, that's the way that it is. Users are used to seeing a scary warning when installing, and they're used to just powering through it without much thought.
Linus was following a tutorial on the PopOS website, followed the instructions, and borked his install.
I have problems with LTT in general, but the PopOS thing was entirely understandable, and people pretending that wasn't a usability problem in PopOS are delusional.
I agree with that other reply.
Linus knew just enough to be dangerous.
My experience with most Windows users and their first encounter with using a Linux terminal is every single warning/error they see no matter how mundane is a big deal.
Things like the boot text or a random
aptinstall on Linux will often display various warnings or even "errors" that are really of no concern but ime tend to freak out new users.Linus is in that narrow band where he doesn't really know shit but knows just enough to be falsely confident and ignore all the warnings/errors instead of just the irrelevant ones
He's at the bottom end of 'knows just enough to be dangerous', and people make fun of people in that range. The vast majority of gamers and Windows users fall well outside that narrow band. The average Windows user who is scared of the terminal wouldn't ignore several warnings and type in confirmation phrases. They wouldn't have even gotten to that point because to get there you need to copy/paste things from a website without understanding what it does.
yeah, quote a problematic video. surprised that he deleted everything, when is says it will break his system!
Surprised that it prompted him to delete his system, when he was trying to install Steam!
I didn't watch the full vid to see what he did to get there.
I was not happy with pop os when I gave it a 10 min trial. I am not surprised that it had some issues to getting steam to work.
Then you should.
Linus just wanted to install Steam and found a solution on the internet that told him to type the command "sudo apt-get install Steam".
I mean Linus did sth wrong when he wrote that yes do as I say without reading the error message.
On the other hand the Bug he was experiencing should not come to a stable Release build.
Anybody could have make that mistake. Or worse wonder for hours why it didn't work and suddenly it works. Especially if you are new to Linux and don't know what instead of the error message should pop up.
Does anybody know why it uninstalled his desktop? I have Steam on Linux, and it works fine and I didn't have to break my computer to get it.
It was a bug in that version of the distro IIRC, trying to install Steam would instead try to install the SteamOS desktop environment (or something along those lines). It has since been fixed to actually install the Steam client.
Obviously it was a bit silly he typed "Yes, do as I say" after seeing the message, but he was also literally following exactly what all the online guides said to do (other than the "Yes do as I say" part). Luckily it's fixed now but I do think it was a really good demonstration of what the video wanted to see: "What might the average non-techie gamer face using Linux?"
Apparently the issue was already fixed and he wouldn't have had the issue if he had done an
apt updateIt was extremely unfortunate timing. Pop_OS! had a bug for that week (or a few days?) where installing Steam would IIRC try to install the wrong version with the wrong dependencies. To support these alternate dependencies, it had to uninstall a bunch of the defaults, thus breaking the system. You can probably find a much better explanation by searching it up, Steam Pop_OS! i386 or whatever, but that's the jist. It was a crazy blip that Linus managed to be in the way of.
Not Linux's fault, not normal, but in my opinion not entirely Linus' fault either as who expects their desktop to be bricked by installing an everyday program?