this post was submitted on 06 Apr 2024
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[Outdated, please look at pinned post] Casual Conversation
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She probably hasn't had a complaint because her son is a techie, and because promoting Linux seemingly makes him happy...
I love Linux and all, and I don't want to take away from OP, but I think this is more of a sweet story rather than the example many commentators will use to cite that everyone can and should use Linux.
My mom also uses Linux, no complains from her, lot less support to be performed by me. Shit just work.a
I debated heavily about whether or not to install Linux on parent's computer(s) over the years. The thing that always made me decide to have them stick with windows was a couple of crappy software programs they used. Yeah, this does go back to when people bought software on discs instead of everything being web based. I honestly don't know if I made the correct decision or not.
My dad uses NixOS. My dad knows precisely nothing about computers; just ask him, he'll tell you. I figure, since he's gonna call me for free tech support no matter what operating system he has, anyway, I might as well make everything as reproducible as possible for my own sake. I tried putting Debian testing on his computer, and honestly, that was actually pretty good except that I had to update it for him at least once a week in order to keep everything running smoothly, lol.
Don't you have to update NixOS too?
Yes; the difference with NixOS is that you can go way longer than you ever should without updating it, and then do a full system upgrade, and then turn around and walk away without ever having to worry about anything breaking.
I installed Linux Mint on my dad's laptop. The laptop previously had Windows 10 installed on it and it took approximately 10 minutes to boot. Now it boots in like 1 minute. The only thing that he doesn't like is that he has to use LibreOffice instead of Microsoft Office and he has not get used to it yet.
My dad doesn't seem to know the difference between left and right clicking, but I installed Lubuntu to give new life to his old 2-in-1 laptop and he was pretty happy with it.
The only downside I've seen is that it doesn't do "tablet mode" anymore, and the touchscreen is much less functional.
I've noticed KDE seems to handle some of the tablet functions better on my old shitty ASUS transformer flip (originally installed xfce mint)
you can do almost everything in your browser, so why don't you just switch to linux, i asked myself this question, using linux since.
I feel like this gets so close to understanding why non-technical people don't use Linux. I had a class once in college I had to use Linux for so I have used it. It wouldn't be hard at all to use Linux for what I use my computer for everyday. So if my laptop come with Linux or someone else installed Linux on it I'd be fine. I might not even notice right away honestly.
The barrier isn't using Linux, the barrier is installing Linux in the first place. Windows also works fine for the random low level stuff I use my laptop to do, so why would I go out of my way to install Linux when it would improve my life 0% and be a huge boring hassle for me?
Sooner or later, a non-techy user is going to ask their techy friend for advice because their Windows PC is slow, full of spam, or they can't find anything after an automatic update.
At that point you might just offer to install Linux for them.
I have never had to ask someone for help with my laptop even after an update. As far as I can tell my PC isnt slow and Ive never noticed spam. I just don't use/push my laptop enough for that to have ever been a problem.
That said, if someone installed Linux for me and set it up? I'd use Linux. The operating system really doesn't impact my use of the laptop. The point I've been trying to make, and that seems to be largely being lost on the angry Linux bros on lemmy, is that using Linux isn't the barrier and most people would use Linux- if it came pre-installed. Installation is the barrier, not use. If you put it on family/friends computers they'll probably use it just fine. They just aren't gonna bother learning to install it themselves.
using Linux isn't the barrier and most people would use Linux- if it came pre-installed. Installation is the barrier, not use.
That's a very important and apt analysis. Thanks for sharing your perspective!
As for spam, I was actually referring to things that Windows decided to build into the interface that the user may not like: Low quality news, Cortana, Copilot, calls to create an online account.
Kinda shows you haven't actually installed Linux, if ever, in the last 10 years
Yeah, that's kinda my point. Why would I? If it came on laptops out of the box? I'd use it. But as someone whose job description lists excel as "a plus, not required" Why would I have installed Linux in the past 10 years?
Windows is trash
install process for Linux is easier imo. no bullshit licence agreements, just give it a disk to install onto, set your language, and it handles the rest
I buy a new laptop and I open it. It's running windows as soon as I turn it on. How is that easier than having to go find something to install? If I turned on a brand new laptop and it was running Linux then I'd just use Linux. I wouldn't bother going to find windows to download it either.
yeah I misunderstood. windows being preinstalled definetly makes it easier to use windows lol
I agree it's easy now. For non-technical people who aren't interested in tech, even that would be too much. They're not building their own computers, and prebuilts almost always come with Windows. Going out of their way at all and learning to switch from Windows, which works fine for their needs, to something else doesn't make sense to them.
going to use your title in lieu of "I use arch btw"
I've never used KDE before, how does it compare to Cinnamon?
I like the Wayland support from KDE Plasma for things like HDR and Freesync. If you don't need advanced stuff like that then it's preference really, Cinnamon would probably be my second choice.
Cinnamon is the only other desktop environment that I can really use besides KDE. To me they're equal in quality. Cinnamon does some things better than KDE, KDE does some things better than Cinnamon. It varies based on how each one is configured in your distro's repository more than anything. KDE on Arch is top notch. Cinnamon on Arch is hot garbage. Cinnamon on Ubuntu is usually really good, KDE on Ubuntu was barely usable last time I tried it.
If you know a lot about desktop environments you could fix either one yourself but I only use them based on which one works better after I download it and configure basic settings.
KDE on Ubuntu. Try Kubuntu specifically, it's quite nice.
KDE on Arch is top notch. Cinnamon on Arch is hot garbage. Cinnamon on Ubuntu is usually really good, KDE on Ubuntu was barely usable last time I tried it.
This sounds weird to me, why is there such a big difference?
Cinnamon is kinda like KDE with all the options removed.
KDE is whatever you want it to be. Out of the box it looks similar to Windows, but you can turn it into a tiling window manager, or a clone of Gnome, without touching the command line.
without touching the command line
This sounds extremely impressive to me, as customizing Cinnamon without using overly technical tools has been quite hit and miss for me.
Your mom's a thug
Mine too, since approx. 10 years already. No real complaints and overall tech-support work-load has been massively reduced. Only the nagging of Zoom to install an app has been a bit of a headache; it exists for Linux but isn't auto-updated from the repositories, and in general using Zoom in the browser works fine, but this option is quite hidden as a dark-pattern. Yeah, I wish her various online-conferences would use something else, but here we are...
One of these days I need to troubleshoot and fix why my flatpak version of Zoom can't install emojis.
She was sitting there, headphones on her head, sound coming through the speakers, watching her soaps like this is how it’s meant to be done.
So we have to never do this to be considered tech savvy? Asking for a friend...
Lol I'm a tech lead and I've done this on a train no less. Thought I had my headphones paired but it took me a few minutes to realize why the sound was muffled.
i have a friend with the same concern