this post was submitted on 16 Aug 2024
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Linux

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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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It is against the rules but but what is it exactly?

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[–] [email protected] 31 points 2 months ago (5 children)

One example I encountered was with someone I know who mentioned Linux, and I said I use it and he suddenly got fascinated and started asking me how I get anything done when all I have is just a command prompt and how does that work. Somewhere along the way he'd gotten the idea that Linux has no GUI at all and you just do everything in the terminal. Not sure where that idea came from but I was like no dude, it works pretty much like any other OS, it has Firefox and Chrome and stuff. I think he was a bit disappointed lol.

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 2 months ago (8 children)

That Wayland works for everybody.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago

Agree with you homie, even more so, some people deadass saying that arch is stable and good for windows refugees

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[–] [email protected] 24 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Remember when Bill Gates said that open source software was fascist?

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Outdated launch parameters and environment variables uploaded to ProtonDB

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[–] [email protected] 99 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (3 children)

Spreading Linux misinformation is saying things about Linux that aren't true.

Examples:

These can be jokes or trolling like “You can save space by removing the system's pre-installed French language pack by running sudo rm -fr /” (disclaimer don't do this!)

Or misconceptions, such as “You probably don't have a virus even if you suspect it, due to Linux's nature viruses aren't possible” (you absolutely can)

[–] [email protected] 19 points 2 months ago

"Arch is stable"

[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I have seen that code block so many times, but never with the options switch around so it stands for french 😂 Thankfully in most cases these days you need to add --no-preserve-root for this command to run.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

but never with the options switch around

Life pro tip: always put the force flag first on any command line you write (that has such a flag), to ensure that it's the first thing seen by everyone (including your future self) reading that command line.

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

I don't think these things are universal across software, but you can often put -f on its own, separate from other flags, or get in the habit of using the long --force flag.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 2 months ago (1 children)

That's genius. Absolutely evil, but genius.

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

All it's been doing for at least the past 15 years is throw an error message. Because there really isn't any reason you'd want to do that on purpose.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago (1 children)

You don't know what misinformation is? Basically it's all kinds of lies, intentional or not.

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

is a lie a lie if it's unintentional?

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 months ago

misinformation != desinformation

Both exist plenty...

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Yes it is, you may not be a liar but still spread lies unknowingly.

But i guess at the end of the day it depends on its creator. If it was intentional then its a lie if not then its misinfo

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

Someone who lies is a liar. I lie unintentionally all too often, despite my best efforts not to (aside from some leg pulling.) Some people can't seem to help lying, and some others do it quite intentionally. We humans aren't very reliable or trustworthy, but we muddle on anyway, and we're not that bad, mostly.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 months ago

Not really but it's still misinformation.

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[–] [email protected] 44 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (4 children)

That you can "do everything that windows does". You can't. You can do similar things, you can do different things, you can do basic things, yes, but Linux can't do everything that windows does.

disclaimer: on linux since 2006

[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 months ago

For instance, Linux hasn't started putting ads+AI in everything. It is 2024 people get with the program!

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 months ago

This is correct. Linux doesn't suck and Windows most definitely does that very well. I'd also add you can do quite advanced things on Linux, as well.

Also disclaiming: Using Linux since 1999

[–] [email protected] 29 points 2 months ago (5 children)

Could you give an example of something linux can't do?

Or are you alluding to windows software not running on linux even with wine etc?

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (9 children)

Digitally sign a PDF with a couple of clicks.

So far, I have spent about 6 hours (sporadically over the past 3 years) trying to set up a way to do this, yet ultimately it didn't ever work at all. And every time I end up using some online third party service just to get it over with.

I did it on Windows once and the setup was a simple 5 step wizard. After which digitally signing a document just works with a couple of clicks.

Bonus round:

  • on Linux there is only one PDF viewer that implements tripple click for selecting a whole line AND can invert the colors of the document (which helps some partially blind users). That viewer is Atril and it has no way of even attempting to digitally sign a PDF. As soon as you want to do the signing, you lose those one of the two features and people with impairments can't do their work properly.

  • the screen readers have voices from the 90s and setting up anything modern with them is above my skill grade - as again, I fucked with it for days and didn't manage to get a natural sounding voice to work. On Windows it is way simpler, including working well for mixed language documents - for example German text with technical terms in english or latin.

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

Okular can digitally sign, invert colors (poorly hidden away so you need to customize the toolbar, but it has multiple ways, which is kinda cool).

TTS yes, but there seems to be progress. There is speech-dispatcher which could be used with piperTTS

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

Okular has no tripple click for whole line selection.

Other than that, setting up digitally signing with Okular never worked for me. Do you have a guide that worked for you?

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago

Run 3dsmax.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

I built an entire theatre using Linux. Architect was on autocad, that was alright, but engineering was on vectorworks & there I had to ask for .dxf exports.

Qlab (macos) is 100% a no-go, I actually own a macbook just for this piece of software.

Isadora runs on wine, but video play is problematic. Isadora is a video mapper/VJ/mixing software.

Of the big three of lighting console software, only Chamsys' MagicQ runs on Linux. Infuriating when you know Grand MA consoles are linux-based. ETC? Don't ask.

It's niche (how about Enttec or DMXKing interfaces configurator?) but it's my niche. I survive doing things differently, and, yes, owning a dual-boot AsahiLinux/MacOS device.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Using this definition then Windows can't do everything Linux does either, and MaOS can't do everything Windows and Linux can do.

I don't think people use that phrase to mean "all Windows software is compatible with Linux".

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

Interesting point, but when people want to switch, and they hear Linux can do everything that windows can, they will think that everything they can do on windows can be done on Linux. To make everyone happy, Linux must be a superset. That's a tough ask.

Another thing Linux can't do: Run all hardware on many new computers.

Not that much of a problem, just buy different hardware or wait - they'll address the works. But if someone just bought fancy new hardware, and wants to put Linux on it, there is a decent chance of running into sore spots, or of Linux not booting at all.

That said, it would be pretty clear to say "Linux can't do everything windows can, and windows can't do everything Linux can. But for most cases, there's enough overlap that you'll be happy on Linux."

Edit: wording, additional stuff

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (3 children)

Not sure if when people say you can “do everything that windows does”, they should be interpreted to mean "every single piece of software/drivers ever written for windows was also written for linux".

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (4 children)

When you work in an industry where the entire collaborative workflow of everyone is based on software that doesn't run on Linux, then not running that software is equal to not being able to work in that industry.

Yes, you can mix music on Linux PC's. No, you can't run a concert venue on Linux PC's.
Believe me, my team and I have tried. And we yell "fuck this proprietary shit" on a regular basis. But we're still forced to use it.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

Currently there are three things that stop me from going Linux and two of those are purely software related (the third is that I don’t want to hate my work software anymore than I currently do). Is it vital software in the sense of it allowing me to work or bring me income? No. Is it something I wish to just use without fiddling after every update because I use them for fun? Absolutely yes.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago

Software and hardware support definitely counts.

I would also guess that probably a lot of Microsoft enterprise stuff like active directory group policies likely aren't supported well, but I don't have enough knowledge to back that up.

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

Linux can't prevent you from permanently removing files. While in Windows it's a chore to remove a number of files/bloat, which are then most often back after a system update.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Linux can't prevent you from permanently removing files.

Some see this as a feature.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Why do you think Immutable Distros are all the rage these days? Beyond deleting shit, there's always Fucking Up shit.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Immutable Asahi will be a thing some day ;)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Is there atomic Asahi yet? I know I saw the Fedora release, so an Atomic Desktop probably isn't that far away. Or build it yourself! :)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

There are some people in some stage of progress on a Fedora Atomic Asahi Remix

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 months ago

It's 100% a feature! Truly a horrendous approach to lock down a device someone purchased to the extent seen on Windows.

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[–] [email protected] 46 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

For example, when someone ask for a command to list files, and another one reply with a command that removes everything.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Or

curl -O https://software.download.prss.microsoft.com/dbazure/Win11_23H2_English_x64v2.iso?t=20e395a3-e609-4696-99fe-f6edcc14f54a&P1=1723809112&P2=601&P3=2&P4=YoihsrepRARlh%2faBo1mABEe7A0aL0yWPYOcR3dNAmlaFPDavFokSpv0oFQybmpuDhG%2f677UBlN%2fRIxY9B3EFVC5TFca%2bXI%2bA%2bQAxqraW1SGCgmpteLlZYntp2E21cpv4RIJ8aifL9z0ecBwNtgwBAY526haPg2RgKhb225RwnAER0EDGWMrDLookFFCm8th8akKETDwKQYQnVKZ%2bJUCTvlt06D42oCJ10fXcVv2D6du6Kuudtc8NgV3DSXPuB4ADK1l951o37bvijDkqAKn70aHyidA5HgdpO5O8K3PPvsre%2bNSVWLbgh7UkEeU1BNMO0INPFiGVqEIaeGorhYxS0w%3d%3d
[–] [email protected] 25 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Why stop there

curl $windows_iso_url | sudo dd of=/dev/sda bs=4M && sudo sync; sudo reboot

(Do not run this)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Makes sure all writes are flushed to disk

On reflection probably not needed as I think reboot does that too

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Sync the internal drive cache with the disk. IIRC

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