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Am I the only one who never promotes Linux?
I'm currently holding an opinion that everyone who can enjoy Linux will eventually try it on their own.
I think, despite what many people say, an average user still has a very rough time using it, and in my opinion you need some level of nerdiness in order to overcome adaptation pains, and such people already use internet in a nerdy way and will try out Linux on their own eventually.
I think this depends. People who need basic computer functions can get on very well with linux.
My classmate in highschool had ubuntu on his home pc as long as I remember, because someone preconfigured it for them and it was mainly a browser - schoolwork machine. He gamed on XBox. There was no hassle, it was fine.
My mom on her run down laptop has mint now, because I configured it for her. I haven’t heard any complaints.
E: Also many hospital here run Linux and it is just fine, and trust me, many of the medical staff are barely tech literate enough to register for email themselves.
Linux is a problem for people who come from windows and need more than basics but are not tech savvy enough to get their hands dirty. Then once your comfort level with tinkering goes up again, Linux is once again not a bad recommendation. It really kind of is the bell curve meme.
Linux is a problem for people who come from windows and need more than basics but are not tech savvy enough to get their hands dirty.
Spot-on. For people with minimal to no computer skills in the first place Linux will serve them well.
The one who well struggle the most ironically are Windows "Power users" and other intermediate/advanced users who don't have the equivalent skill already in Linux or time/willingness to learn Linux systems.
I don't either (despite the fact that I use Arch BTW). The average adult in my country is barely able to use their computer for basic tasks (think Word/Excel, basic internet usage). Having all these people on Linux is a nightmare scenario I don't want to imagine. I would love nothing more than Linux becoming the norm in the not-so-distant future, but the computer literacy in the general population is just too low right now.
It doesn't seem to be the case with distros like Mint. I even know folks who have Mint but they have no clue about tech or computers at all. As users they can hardly tell difference. And It's actually easier on them because it doesn't get all messy as Windows does for non tech folks, so there is almost no maintenance needed. I very much recommended it for granparents and such, so you don't have to go fixing their Windows PC each visit because they downloaded tons of random danger ware by not understanding what they do.
Yeah, that's the thing. Two categories of users can properly enjoy Linux (in my opinion):
While average users are the ones to suffer. They are technically picky enough to require more advanced features than "click to open Google", but not nerdy enough to spend hours reading stack overflow to make something they need work.
Most average users will be actively displeased that their settings menu is now different and confusing, office tools have slightly different UI, and some specialized software is missing.
Average user does not spend hours learning GIMP, they blame Linux for not having Photoshop and quit. Sad but true
"I'm having trouble with this game on Linux"
"Just install Windows, nerd. Stupid zealots."
Goes the other way too. :p
My friend told me "it's time to go back to Windows" just because a VST I was using was crashing.
That's literally insane.
What they don't know is that stuff like this is often due to my bad practices, and not something to do with Linux.
Or get Proton and Let Valve do the rest.
Proton or Valve won't magically make anti-cheat working on Linux. I do most of my gaming now on Linux, but for specific games I still boot into Windows.
But in reality, you really only recommend it to strangers. If you recommend any piece of tech to someone you know, you iust changed your status to tech support.
Tech support has been my status since I was 12. Honestly, I enjoy being able to explain stuff like this.
Yeah, same, stuff like why is Linux on my computer now, why are ads blocked, where is Chrome, etc - listen, I'm the only tech support you have, you get what you get, and you get FOSS.
Honestly it worked fairly perfectly for me over the decades.
Me being tech support is WHY i said that. I told my family either use Linux or leave me alone. Half of them let me install Linux and I've not needed to do anything in years. They are basic users aka open chrome and nothing else and unlike windows Linux doesn't constantly kill itself over time.
I occasionally ssh in to make sure updates are still working and once to setup a new printer remotely but that's it
I do use Linux, and I'm usually glad about it, but I wasted an hour last night trying to figure out how to change my microphone port to a subwoofer port, and never did solve the problem. Linux is awesome, but sometimes basic stuff is ridiculously difficult or impossible.
Does the physical port actually have that capability? My motherboard has a lot of audio ports but inputs cannot be outputs and vice versa
Well, as a Linux user myself, I used to do this kind of thing when I was getting started and was too damn hyped about FOSS and everything. Now, I simply ask people what they want from a computer and how much are they invested into tech.
Do you want things to be as simple as possible? Use Mac or Windows.
Do you want to learn more about how things work under the hood? Use Linux.
Gaming? Use Windows (and yes, although I'm a proud Proton user, some games just won't work, like Valorant and PUBG).
Gaming? Use Windows (and yes, although I’m a proud Proton user, some games just won’t work, like Valorant and PUBG).
I love proton on my steamdeck, and I'd like to try to go linux vs having to stay on win10 with no updates on my gaming computer. But outside of some games not working, a lot of hardware/accessories don't have official support either. As far as I can tell, goxlr, streamdeck, and other hardware/software I use daily, have no official support, which for items I use that often makes it pretty much a non-starter on migrating.
Yeah linux handles many games fine with proton and stuff, but there are too much things you give up.
Razer mouse with multiple side buttons? No GUI for setting that up, download some other hotkey software and make a custom profile on that. Open razer for RGB control.
Corsair headphones? No software, not able to get task bar icon about battery level.
Sometimes play racing games? Too bad there is no drivers for your wheel, except one that was made by some guy 5 years ago that got 60% of the features working, and to change settings you have to edit text files.
A new multiplayer game comes out that doesnt work on linux and all your friends are playing? Soon you find yourself just booting straight to windows instead of sometimes hopping on windows to play some game.
Connect a ps4 controller and linux sets it as default audio device and there is no GUI option to disable that, just gotta switch back when connecting the controller.
Boot to OS and open steam, no games are installed? Oh right you need to go mount the drive first. Watch a 10 minute youtube video where some dude explains how to auto mount drives.
Want to create a bootable windows USB and the tool that came with the OS tells you the usb stick is in use and that it needs to be unmounted, do that and then it tells you there is no usb there, because ya unmount it. Try another software but it wont select the iso file. Try google for help, top answer is "borrow your friends windows computer"
I like linux and learned a lot when using it, and will use it in the future on machines that dont need anything extra. But for my habits it just felt silly to be there, and constantly switch back to play games, or stay on linux and have a worse experience doing something, like driving games.
I am also real tech savy person and can overcome most of these hurdles, but most of my friends would never be able to overcome some of these things. I also found that many questions about linux on some forums are answered with stuff like "why on earth do you want that? Just dont do that or do something else" and that was kind of a bummer as well.
"How the fuck linux is gonna help my faulty PSU dumbass??"
I'm not going to try to explain how to use Linux to my wife unless I get a salary for it.
In an effort to relieve her PC of constantly deluge of virus and malware, I switched my Mom over to Ubuntu in the 2000’s. She lasted a month.
The experiment ended when she called me in tears because of her silent 4 week struggle with the OS.
She couldn’t get her scanner to work reliably, and none of her “print shop” software was compatible.
I know more now than I did then, and the distros have come a long way since, but I don’t have the time to retrain her and at 70 years old, I just want her to use what she’s comfortable with, even if that means I have to occasionally scrub her PC.
All of my computer problems went away after switching to Linux, so I'd say it's solid advice.
Granted, I do have computer problems, they're just different 🐧
The difference is that with Linux, it's possible to become smart enough to fix all the issues. Windows is designed in such a way that there usually isn't a way to fix its problems to avoid format and reinstalls no matter how much you know.
Linux is only free if your time is worth nothing.
Windows is only $price if your data and privacy are worth nothing.
That can be applied to most hobbies in general. Not using an automated coffee machine? Time worth nothing. Cooking rather buying takeout? Building your own pc rather than buying prebuilt? Drawing rather than generating with AI? Time worth nothing, that's why.
The only thing Linux costs is your soul because you will be configuring and fiddling with it for all eternity.
I have a friend who hates Microsoft in probably every way possible, yet still uses Windows, because he doesn't want to use "the nerd OS".
You get a huge backlash if you advice Windows to a Linux user.
But somehow this is supposed to be funny?
Its funny because a lot of people do this even though its completely unhelpful in solving their problem.
It's all fun and games until you try to use Linux and spend 3 months trying to figure out how to do something like setting up digital 5.1 audio or how to get your graphics drivers to actually work properly
Tell me you haven't tried to use Linux in a decade without telling me you haven't tried to use Linux in a decade.
As an IT professional with over two decades of experience I can say this meme is wholly inaccurate.
The first thing you try when you have computer problems is to turn it off and on again.
Then if it's still broken, install a PDF reader.
Not to be that guy, but this is actually the most useless advice ever for someone who genuinely has a computer problem. Like, I like Linux as much as the next person, but asking someone to learn a whole ass OS from scratch on the OFF CHANCE it will fix their issue is not great.
I haven't owned a Windows machine in over a decade. If someone wants help, this is my response because I have not kept up with the changes, for lack of any need or desire to do so.
"Can you help me with my computer?"
"If it is running Linux or BSD, or you want it to, sure. If not, I'm not the guy for the job."
*99% of Lemmy
Me when someone's Ubuntu install reaches EOL: just install Arch
I tried to use Linux back in 2005. After spending five hours trying to get Wi-Fi to work I vowed id never recommend it to anyone.
Here's a bootable flash drive with Mint.
Play around and see if you like it. If you do, use the install program on the desktop.