this post was submitted on 07 May 2024
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linuxmemes

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I use Arch btw


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[–] [email protected] 15 points 6 months ago (1 children)

How is Windows user friendly?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago (3 children)

For starters, you don't need to enter a single command to get a fully functioning system.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 6 months ago (3 children)

Have you tried installing literally any debian based system recently? Works without a single command.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago (2 children)

welp, I still need to add myself to the sudo group and sudoers file, and that's something I need a root shell for. (unless I always miss some options during setup to make my user automatically a sudoer)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

You did. If you leave your root password blank it'll automatically add the user account you create in the following step to sudo and disable the root account.

If you want to have both a root account and a user account with sudo, you'll have to do that manually, but that's a pretty unusual setup.

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

oh wow, I did not know this

but that’s a pretty unusual setup

Nor this, but you are right if I think about it.

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

Yeah, general practice is to either elevate privelige by switching accounts, or by using sudo. Having both just increases your attack surface to no practical benefit (especially since you can technically still switch to a root account with "sudo - i" even if you're going the sudo route).

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

I used mostly Windows systems primarily and I guess I just adapted that habit of having an Administrator account for when shit goes down, and my own user account that has admin rights.

It's just convenient. I liked my Administrator account as clean as possible, and I do the same in Linux with root. There is its time and place where I need root.

But you are right, I should change my habits. I'm not even sure how sudo and rights and environments and sessions and god knows what works exactly behind the scenes, so probably, maybe, there are technical differences too in the way I use these and the way how I should... I don't know.

Anyway, thanks for the info.

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

Fair enough. Although technically the system works without that. Just not for long maybe?

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

I mean it's Debian, it's stable, it should work without ever updating your system :P

(though one could always log in as root in a separate session, too...)

[–] embed_me 2 points 6 months ago (3 children)

Yeah but last time I checked I couldn't play videos without enabling non-free repos

[–] brian 7 points 6 months ago (1 children)

is that not just a checkbox when you install though?

[–] embed_me 1 points 6 months ago

It is a checkbox in ubuntu. I don't remember it being there for debian although I used it a few years ago so it might be a new change

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

editing files in a root desktop session with a GUI editor does count as cheating in this case?

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

Yeah no. Thats not the case for everyone. Debian itself also is a little more tricky than say pop!os.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Many other Arch based too, even if it against Arch's philosophy. Just click "yes" and "next" a bunch of times and you are ready.

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

I think the purists need to accept that users are valid too. :) good that some distros seem to understand that.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

To install the current version of Windows on my PC, I need to enter command prompt from within the installer and type 2 commands to disable ethernet and the online install requirement.
Otherwise it won't let me install it without a Microsoft account.

Almost all major desktop Linux distros let you install them with "Click Next until Done" now.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Windows comes already I stalled on the HP laptop your mom bought. A lot of people have straight up never installed an operating system.

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

When my mom needed a new PC, she asked me, the family's computer guy. I asked her what she does on her PC, bought one, installed Debian with Cinnamon, activated automatic security updates without notifications, set up her printer and an ssh/vnc server for remote assistance. I haven't heard of any issues in 2 years.

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

Same for Ubuntu, no?