this post was submitted on 24 Apr 2024
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Linux

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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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[–] [email protected] 16 points 8 months ago (5 children)

I've broken my Nvidia driver 4x this week and I wouldn't have it any other way (not /s)

Nothing else compares to the flexibility of linux and if I need a kernel-level anti cheat I do it on a separate drive entirely (which can't see my linux BTFS drive at all)

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[–] [email protected] 72 points 8 months ago (2 children)

This is just based on my personal experience, so please take it with a grain of salt.

Rather than gaining ground from the wider population, I see the recent rise in Linux usage as coming from a pool of "interested users" who have in one way or the other, had some prior exposure and thus interest in Linux. These people have already been interested in making the jump, but have been held back in one way or the other.

This shouldn't be taken as discounting the recent advances amongst Linux distributions, however. Personally, the reason why I've made the jump is two-fold: dissatisfaction with Windows, and the advances in Linux itself that have made the jump far less intimidating than ever before. Not being a gamer, however, advances in Proton was only seen as a bonus, though a very welcome one.

Only one other person in my current friend group daily-drive Linux, and like me, they already have had experience with it beforehand. There are some other people I know of who have used Linux, but still, they all have had prior experience from school or work. For everyone else I‌ know of, if they've even heard of Linux, they think of it as "for advanced users" and as one contact put it "way above my pay grade". Unfortunately, in so far as personal experience goes, I don't have confidence Linux will be shedding that image anytime soon.

As for the Steam Deck, I am guessing it'd be similar (with a lot of caveats) to how people see Android. It'd be seen as a separate thing, and not occupy the same mental space as "desktop Linux". For one, it being a hand-held system will reinforce that difference, and people aren't as willing to tinker about with their handhelds as people are with their desktop systems. Steam Deck's OS might as well be BSD or even Temple OS as far as the ordinary user is concerned. I am hoping I am wrong here, however, as interoperability might make a difference here: if people can install and use their desktop programs to their Steam Decks in as much the same ease as installing an Android app in their phones, then perhaps the choice of OS here will make an impression on the users and not just the tinkerers.

Despite saying all that, however, I still think Linux is undergoing a renaissance. There's quite a lot of improvements going on even as we speak. Usability, in a very general sense, like being able to daily-drive Linux without being hampered by a lot of issues, is way better than it was when I first used a Linux machine in a school computer laboratory close to twenty years ago. Advances like this is starting to pull people who are curious, interested, and already leaning towards making the jump—and if this trend continues, will lead more people into using Linux, leading to more people contributing towards advances, and so on.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 8 months ago (3 children)

I jumped all in least December just to get away from Windows. I went Arch because I like a challenge and I thought it would fast track learning how to Linux. I work IT so I'm skilled with Windows and software in general. Once I got it setup, which took a while, I haven't had too many issues, or at least not many more than I had with Windows. Most of them have been related to hibernation, which I just disabled, and Wayland with Nvidia. It struggles remembering positions when I disable and re-enable monitors, since I use the same station for work. Other than that, it runs so much better than better, faster, and more efficient than Windows.

If you want to be a power user, the sky is the limit to what you can do, or go with a stable, user friendlier distro like Ubuntu or Mint, where the out of box experience is fairly intuitive. If Linux shipped stock on laptops, most people would assume Windows got different and be none the wiser. Not having native MS Office apps is also going to be a deal breaker for a lot of people.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 8 months ago (4 children)

I've switched to Linux as my daily driver sometime late 2019, and initially went with Manjaro (with XFCE, because I was using an ancient laptop back then) after it was recommended to me. The installation and set-up process was pretty quick and painless.

When I got my current desktop, I stayed with Manjaro. However, I got some problems with my NVIDIA video card's drivers. Proprietary support for it was dropped shortly after I got my system. Nouveau was decent. I can use my system at the very least, but gaming was a lot iffy. I didn't mind since I don't really do gaming, however. Since then, I've moved on to Arch, btw. Also since then, I've got an AMD‌ card. Neither of them gave me much problems. A lot of my problems with Arch deal with the changes I've made to my configuration.

This is basically my Linux experience: when it works, which is 90% of the time, it's excellent. When I do have some problems, 90% of the time (9% overall), I can get by with a few internet searches. That remaining 10% of the time (so, 1% overall), I feel that I'm just too smooth-brained to resolve it, and even attempting to resolve it seems to be a foolish errand.

While lot of help is out there online, I don't appreciate the elitist tone of some of the more Arch-specific fora—they're helpful, but I'll never want to put myself to the position of asking those people for help, not with how newbs are treated. That is basically why I said earlier that I have no confidence that Linux will soon be able to shed its "for advanced users" image. Newbs to Linux don't have the knowledge to "properly ask questions" required by a lot of those online fora. IMO, they only resort to asking questions online when they're knee-deep in shit and are desperate for an answer. Being faced with an "elitist RTFM attitude" when one's already desperate for help doesn't alleviate that "Linux is too hard for me" image.

So, yeah, there's that.

90% of the time, Linux works swimmingly fine. 9% of the time, some problems might arise, but an online search (Arch Wiki is very helpful in this regard) and digging around some fora would resolve it. 1% of the time is where you'd find yourself wondering if you're smart enough for Linux. Unfortunately, it only takes a handful of (second-hand) bad interactions (thread closed with no answers, being told to RTFM, being told that the query is too vague without any helpful nudge towards a refinement of the query, etc.) to sour a user's impression of Linux as a whole.

I must admit that newbs not knowing how to ask questions isn't a problem exclusive to Linux alone. However, Windows and even Mac have the luxury of larger user numbers, and more importantly, paid staff to address user queries. With Linux, as a rule, the ones answering user questions are but other users volunteering their time and effort to answer questions. It's understandable that facing the same malformed question again and again is infuriating. However, I think it takes time and effort to be rude. IMO, it's just better to walk away from a possible unpleasant interaction. Of course, this wouldn't help the user at all, but I'd rather see a thread with no replies than someone telling me to shut up and read the fucking manual. Perhaps there'd be someone more helpful who'd step in before the thread inevitably gets locked due to inactivity.

I don't want to be negative about Linux, but if the "year of the Linux desktop" is to happen, this is one crucial thing that we (and I count myself in being a Linux user myself) must address. Every Linux user is, whether we like it or not, an ambassador, and how we deal with newbs/noobs asking questions will shape their impression of not just us, but Linux as a whole. I think there are a lot of people who are still on the fence, not because of Linux's capabilities, but because of a pre-concieved notion of what a Linux user must be: tech-savvy and above all, willing to devote the time to learning about their machine and OS. A‌ lot of people aren't like that. Moreover, I think there are some people using Linux (even Arch, btw) who aren't like that, but ... yeah.

At any rate, I agree with you that a lot more people will be able to get by with a pre-installed Linux system. I think Linux is ready for being a mainstream daily driver.

Oh, yeah, I don't think not having native MS Office apps isn't that much of a deal-breaker. I personally use Libre Office, and despite some hiccups (their documentation do have a lot of problems IMO), it's got a decent amount of feature-parity with MS Office. For almost all of what I want to use an office suite, Libre Office would suffice. For the exceptions, I can usually find a workaround.

Overall, I'm happy with my Linux system—to the point I barely even touch Windows anymore (my SO installed Win10 on a separate SSD for me so that I can dual-boot), but I've got no reason to log on Windows. I might have had some problems (mostly of my own making), but with that small exception of times that made me wonder if I'm smart enough for Linux (or yeah, basically Arch), I'm more than content a huge majority of the time.

I'm sorry for the rambling wall of text, and I hope I've put my message across clearly.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago

With every update Windows becomes more annoying.

With every update Linux Mint (and every distro) becomes more refined.

There are still gaps; HDR isn't really there yet, never mind Dolby Vision... but if all you want is a PC that acts right and doesn't piss you off with ads and upsells... honestly, a default Linux Mint install is at least as good as Windows at this point.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 8 months ago (3 children)

Not yet. But it’s not moving away from it. It needs a few huge global companies to migrate over. Their demand for enterprise software will drive large software developers over.

I hate putting it like this, but when Adobe finally releases photoshop, it’s all over for windows, and Linux will skyrocket.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago

You are not wrong about Adobe. That is one of the main reasons I see given by many tech-minded people still running Windows or macOS.

Gaming is so very close to having no barrier to entry. With Steam (and Proton), Heroic, and others like them, the ecosystem and ease of discover -> install -> run have made it at least as simple as on Windows.

I know the NVidia woes will soon be a thing of the past (see all the work concerning explicit sync), but I would still recommend using an AMD video card to anyone getting a computer to specifically run Linux. I’m at my wits end dealing with my NVidia card and I’m about to shell out the cash for an AMD so I can run Hyprland and all the things without any graphical glitches (ideally).

[–] [email protected] 10 points 8 months ago (1 children)

All big companies run on Linux server. The German gov will try to move to Linux again. I think things are moving forward steadily now.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago

Can you imagine running any server on windows? lol

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago

Linux is amazing. It's hitting peak productivity with support for every driver, and highly optimized systems like Systems, Dbus, Wayland,and Pipewire. It's actually world class rn, both windows and Mac are jealous of what the core Linux is now. Linux now runs every server, most of the world's phones, most of the IoT devices, and some gaming stuff

But it's still a tiny percentage of desktop/laptop, so yeah idk it's all good

[–] [email protected] 39 points 8 months ago (4 children)

I hope so. I've been using Linux for 10 years for everything except gaming. And two years ago i went fulltime with proton and lutris (switched to heroic though).

And let me tell you, we're at a point where its multiple times more straight forward to just install something like Fedora KDE, and do almost anything windows can, than trying to deal with whatever the hell microsoft is up to these days.

The biggest problem still is software discoverability. It is our duty to guide newcomers where they want to go instead of gatekeeping.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago (1 children)

And let me tell you, we’re at a point where its multiple times more straight forward to just install something like Fedora KDE, and do almost anything windows can, than trying to deal with whatever the hell microsoft is up to these days.

Yep that was my turning point.

Only I have to disagree with Fedora as first Linux, it requires manual fiddling with repositories just to install codecs that any average unskilled user would expect to work out of the box

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago (2 children)

The codec thing really is a bummer. But thats really one of the few things you would have to do on Fedora while theres plenty of other pitfalls with other distros too. Like an older kernel or having to manually configure drivers for some hardware with Debian, or having to deal with canonicals shenanigans on Ubuntu.

Maybe one of the more niche distros is a better guess for some, like Nobara or Bazzite for gaming.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 8 months ago

Flatpak just fixed their cleaning up of old versions which was a deterrent for a lot of people. There are a few technical things people complain about. I think the main real complain comes from its syntax since it doesnt work with shell or is POSIX.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago

Every one of the last 25 years has been the year of Linux, the Steam Deck is definitely moving the needle but not enough to actually overtake anything, at least at the moment.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

For gaming, sure - proton has gone a really long way toward making most Windows games playable on Linux without too much effort.

For non technical users? Not so much, ChromeOS is putting in more work there.

Linux implies an IT burden that I don't see most non technical users carrying without someone there to provide IT support. My mom, for example, won't ever touch Linux because I'm damned well not going to provide on call support for that. ChromeOS though? That's set and forget enough for the non technical crowd.

/2¢

[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago (2 children)

I put my mom on Ubuntu with KDE 10 years ago. I had far less problems with her on Linux than I ever did with Vista and 7. It got to the point she was calling me multiple times a week.

I didn't have to but I did one Ubuntu reinstall in that entire time only because I made /boot the default partition size at installation and years later it filled up constantly. I got sick of going over there to clean it up and it coincided with her getting a new computer.

My mom installed printer drivers, and Cisco VPN software from run packages instead of apt and set up multi- monitors on her own after I taught her how to use the terminal, so it's possible for the elderly.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago

I 100% salute your mom but raw capability isn't even really the point. Realistically, your average person, let alone older person has absolutely zero interest in needing to touch a terminal. They want to live as close to auto-magic as they possibly can. I hate Apple but the idea that it "just works" is one of their primary selling points, right along side the whole status symbol thing. It's not a right or wrong, just people being people.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago

Unfortunately that's a level of technical aptitude that a lot of non technical people don't have. I'd love it if my mom could manage installing software but she's the sort of person who gets nervous when things like UI button locations change, she's not someone who's going to install their own printer drivers or packages or manage a dist upgrade herself. It would be nice if she would spend the time to learn enough to take care of her own devices but anything more complicated than managing phone updates isn't likely.

[–] [email protected] 50 points 8 months ago (3 children)

In my own case I’d put it down to Flatpak etc. finally resolving the software installation problem.

Installing most Linux OSes has been easy enough for decades, but a program not in your distro’s repos could be a nightmare to get working.

[–] [email protected] 64 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (2 children)

"./configure"

"error: libblahblah1.0.0-2 not found"

downloads tarball

"tar –xvzf libblahblah1.0.0-2.tar.gz"

"./configure"

"error: libblahblah1.0.0-2 depends on libgofuckyourself.2.0.0"

downloads tarball

"tar -xvzf libgofuckyourself.2.0.0.tar.gz"

"./configure"

"error: libblahblah1.0.0-2 not found"

🤯😡🤬

Can you imagine we did this shit over dialup too? I was there. In the dark times.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 8 months ago

I was there in darker times, with a modem that had no Linux driver, so no connection at all, learning from printouts from the library.

I may have PTSD from it.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 8 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 14 points 8 months ago

And on top of that, to even get linux installed, there was lilo..

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

I wonder what will happen when those window machines go out of updates. The majority of people don't need window programs.

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[–] [email protected] 34 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

I think so. Installing Linux was a hurdle for a lot of people but having it by default on the Steam Deck was a bit of a game changer. Installing Windows on it versus figuring out how to use something Lutris probably takes a similar amount of effort for average casual user.

I feel like it also helps that Windows isn't very controller friendly, in my experience, and an increasing amount of people are looking for that for couch gaming and viewing media.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Should have went with L I U X

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago
[–] [email protected] 19 points 8 months ago (2 children)

I guess it's the year of the Linux desktop!

[–] [email protected] 7 points 8 months ago

This could actually happen soon. Outside of office use most casual users in younger generations are using laptops. Desktops are getting to be more niche and associated with computer builders and power users. As Windows gets shittier, Linux gets easier to use and customize, and desktop use shrinks to just enthusiasts, we could very well see Linux on the majority of desktops.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago

I think PlayStation’s OS is a FreeBSD derivative, Switch is proprietary but uses parts of FreeBSD and Android, and Steam Deck runs straight Linux so maybe it’s more “The decade of the *nix console” rather than “the year of the Linux desktop”?

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