Linux needs to grow. Stop telling people it’s ‘tech-y’ or acting like you’re more advanced for using it, you are scaring away people. Linux Mint can be used by a senile person perfectly.
Explain shortly the benefits, ‘faster, more secure, easier to use, main choices of professionals and free’. Ask questions that let you know if they need to dual boot, ‘do you use Adobe, anti-cheat games, or Microsoft Office’, ‘how new is your computer’, ‘do you use a Mac’.
And most importantly, offer to help them install.
They don’t understand the concept of distros, just suggest Linux Mint LTS Cinnamon unless they’re curious.
That’s it, spread Linux to as many people as possible. The larger the marketshare, the better support we ALL get. We can fight enshittification. Take the time to spread it but don’t force it on anyone.
AND STOP SCARING PEOPLE AWAY. Linux has no advertising money, it’s up to us.
Offer family members or friends your help or copy and paste the below
how to install linux: 1) copy down your windows product key 2) backup your files to a harddrive 3) install the linux mint cinnamon iso from the linux mint website 4) use etcher (download from its website) to put the iso on a usb flash drive 5) go into bios 6) boot from the usb 7) erase the storage and install 8) press update all in the update manager 9) celebrate. it takes 15 minutes.
edit: LET ME RE-STATE, DO NOT FORCE IT ON ANYONE.
and if someone is at the level of ignorance (not in a derogatory fashion) that they dont know what a file even is genuinely dont bother unless theyre your parents cause youll be tech support for their ‘how do i install the internet’ questions.
No, it’s better to be honest. The average user isn’t ready for Linux, because Linux is not ready for the average user. I’d never try and get someone to use it if they’re not already interested. I hate that it is this way, but it is. Linux is only really for people who already want to use it. Because if you’re not interested in using it, you’re not going to put forth the time investment to gain the benefits from it. No matter what angle I look at it from Linux is not for the average person.
Your second paragraph says it all. Find out if the user needs to dual boot? The answer is obviously “No” because no matter what they’re using the computer for, Linux is unneeded for them, since they have Windows. There are tangible benefits to using Windows, since it runs their software, meanwhile, you failed to list any real benefits to using Linux for the average user. It’s faster? No, not really, since they’ll be learning how to use it, and even ignoring that, it’s not so much faster that they’ll perceive it anyway. It’s more secure? Not really, Windows is the better choice for the average user in that respect, since it’ll automatically force them to restart the machine every week to install security updates. Main choice of professionals? That’s not entirely true, and even if it were, it’s not relevant, the average user is not a professional. And for anyone who already owns a computer already running Windows, Windows was ‘free’ too.
The only time to have this discussion is if the user is having a PC built, and then the answer is also “No” to Linux, because they’re going to buy Windows anyway, since it’s better for gaming, and that’s the primary reason for someone to build a PC, unless they’re doing a specialized task like video editing, and if they are invested enough into the task to want a PC just for that, they have specialized software that almost always runs only on Windows, and even if it were able to run on either, it’s not my place to alter their workflow.
The real elitist attitude is thinking people need to use Linux in the first place. For me and (maybe) you, it might get the job done, but for my family and friends. It’s better that they use what they’re comfortable with. The main point of a computer is to accomplish tasks, and giving them Linux is a hindrance to that.
Linux is great, but it’s not for everyone, and it may never be.
That’s plain wrong. That’s not honest, that’s elitist at best.
No user ever installed windows. So the whole installation and driver thing is a dishonest question.
Even for gaming on a custom PC, just take an amd card and games on steam, it’ll run smoothly.
Browsing Internet and desktop? Works fine on Linux. Fuck office, you don’t need it.
If you need a computer for a specific software, that’s a different matter. But presenting it like everyone is concerned is dishonest.
The security paragraph is complete nonsense. And obnoxiously rebooting is a major hindrance for most people, and it’s not avoidable without the professional licence.
It’s not 2010 anymore.
“Fuck office, you don’t need it.” <- the audacity to assume someone doesn’t need something.
No one needs office unless the company forces it.
Thank you. Windows is plain better for the average user, and that’s a hard pill for many to swallow. Heck, I force myself to use Linux time to time but I always go back because the Affinity suite and my fingerprint reader only works on Windows. I have no reason to stay on Linux, it’s too limited outside niche cases.
If you’re actually expecting people to transition without asking for help on a regular basis, you don’t know people.
You just made yourself their IT guy for life.
And I think there isn’t a good solution to this. Ideally you would enable people to make good choices for themselves, know how to handle the tools they use…
Interesingly enough they come to me to fix their printer and antivirus anyways, and I have no idea of what I’m doing since I haven’t used Windows in like 15 years, except for updating my GPS and filling out time-sheets for work and stuff like that. And in the meantime Microsoft switches things around every few years and bolts on a new interface onto their office suite and then moves it to the cloud. I don’t think it would make any difference if my relatives were using Linux in the first place. They would still need to ask someone to fix their printer drivers and handle big version upgrades. And if it was me at the other end, it would be way more convenient to me to help them.
I stopped advertising Linux to people who didn’t ask me to… I’ll tell them I use different things on my computer and why this software is way better. If they pick up on that and want to try out of their own motivation, I’ll gladly help.
This
deleted by creator
id really like to use linux, but not before this is working. i dont understand how you linux people can live witout ahk.
Anything you can do with AHK you can do with Python. No need for ahk on Linux tbh.
Auto Hot Key, that’s something I haven’t heard of in a while. Probably because it’s not as essential in a Linux environment when you can more easily accomplish most of what you’d accomplish using AHK in a shell script. What problem are you trying to solve using AHK? Someone might be able to tell you how to solve it.
mostly just abbreviations like
:*:ty-::Thank you very muchI know its possible in linux. but on windows in ahk it takes me seconds to add/remove/deactivate/activate them. and on a good working day do that maybe 20 to 50 times. and they are all in one single file.
i also use it for simple shortcuts or things like
:R*?:ddd:: FormatTime, CurrentDateTime,, dd.MM.yy SendInput %CurrentDateTime% returnor stuff like search selected text in search engine X or Y; but if selected in program A, then use search engine Z or open program B and enter it there. but those are the most complicated ones i use and dont need quick changing.
Check out
keyd, might be what you are looking for. I used it to customize dead keys.
???
Here’s your step-by-step plan from a regular old user, as I’ve learned to know them:
-
Windows keys are tied to hardware and accounts these days.
-
This presumes the availability of an external hard drive. Also knowing how to make a backup. Or what you mean by “files”.
-
What’s an ISO? How does one install it? Double clicking it opens a weird folder.
-
I just put the ISO on my external drive and now my backup is gone what happened?
-
What in the world is a bios?
-
All I see is a screen called “Lenovo”. My mouse acts funny. What buttons do I click?
-
What the heck, my backup is gone again!
-
The installer for Photoshop won’t run and I can’t seem to get Onedrive to install either. How do I download the internet? All I see is Firefox but I use Google for the internet. Hang on, I can’t log into my email now, it’s asking me for a password. What’s my password?
-
I turned it off but I can’t get Windows to come back. How do I make Windows come back? Are my emails gone?
That said, there is actually a very nice Linux distro out there with step-by-step instructions and a video guide, it’s called ChromeOS Flex and it’ll work wonderfully to speed up old laptops.
reminds me of !windows_help@iusearchlinux.fyi
Don’t support anything Google touches.
Google is the fifth contributor to the Linux kernel, both in terms of change sets and lines changed, doing about 6-7% of the work. It’s very hard not to use anything Google touches, though I suppose you could use macOS, Windows, and one of the *BSDs unless they contribute to that as well.
I would love for a ChromeOS Flex competitor to show up, but it’s the only Linux distro I would put on someone else’s PC if I’m not available for tech support 24/7.
I work in a decent-sized computer repair shop and this is a very accurate representation of what the average user knows.
Just in case anyone thinks this is over the top.
To be fair to some of them, I did assume users knew where to look for their backups on an external drive, which is already a bridge too far for most. I included backups because of the steps mentioned in the opening post, but realistically, “backups” means “Microsoft Onedrive”.
And I haven’t even mentioned the scary, confusing breed of people that store their most important files in the Recycling Bin. These people exist, are important business people, responsible for millions, and will blame you if their files are magically gone one day.
I’m fortnightly* helping some friends upgrade from win7 to more modern windows. They’re smart people, one’s an accountant, the other a school librarian. But since neither of their professions nor their hobbies are computer technical they need help
They’re currently at the step “ring Microsoft to troubleshoot the licence”
*They host the d&d game
shared XKCD about experts overestimating laypeople’s knowledge of their field
Double clicking it opens a weird folder.
I just put the ISO on my external drive and now my backup is gone what happened?Proceeds to assume laypeople have backups
Every step, I’m discounting the users that gave up the step before.
Obviously, most normal users just say “no” to the suggestion of Linux because they don’t know what a Linux is and have no interest in buying anything else.
haha right! Most people don’t even understand that MacOS is a thing on it’s own, they just think it’s a Mac. They have never needed to make the distinction between software and hardware. If you were to suggest they “change to Linux”, they won’t have any frame of reference for what this means. Heck, most people still call Android phones “droids”, or if they know anything, “Pixels” and “Samsungs” without knowing that “Android” is it’s own thing. Macbooks have USB-C now but few users know that you can use an Apple charger to charge anything USB-C. It’s like back in the 90s you would frequently hear people not making the distinction between “monitor” and “computer”.
Don’t get me wrong, I think consumer education is the only plausible way out of this proprietary mess, but the further society moves away from PCs having discrete interchangeable components the harder concepts like “operating system” are going to be to understand for anyone not specifically seeking out that knowledge.
education is so important
Absolutely right. And it blows my mind that at this point people are getting less technologically literate, not more. Job security for us IT guys, I guess.
It’s not all that bad. I’m sure there are as many youth keen to learn computers and they have easy access to all the tools they need to develop knowledge and skill
It’s just as we have become more knowledgeable, more capable, the difference between us and the normal people seems incredible.
But put us in an area needing different specialist knowledge and we’ll struggle like they do with computer technical stuff
We speak jargon. They don’t know the words, or if they do they use them wrong.
Also it sucks for us in IT work; when you are in an agile team and the manager two levels up doesn’t understand agile they do things like break up high performing teams (mine had been a team for four years - from the day the organisation decided to test agile) to share the people around so they can teach the others how to be high performing
Had they read anything about agile, they would know that longevity of a team is a good predictor for performances — but they wouldn’t read about agile, it’s an IT technical thing
I mean, two whole generations are growing up without using regular computers until they enter the workforce or go to college. When I was in highschool, I was told that the generations after me would mostly be more technologically literate than anyone was at the time, but with smartphones and ChromeOS it seems that the time to learn how to use a personal computer now begins far later than it was for us millennials.
There are so many basic things about using a computer that it is no longer to expect a high school graduate to know, such as how to use a printer (or what a printer even is), how to reboot a computer, what a browser is, etc.
i was called into one office where they bought a backup external, like someone told them to previously. they took it out of the box, set it on the tower. and i guess, that was that. the magic box would now have backups of everything they did.
five years later, i got to tell them that there’s nothing on it.
the pc was never configured to run a backup of any kind. hell, the drive was never connected to the pc.
so no backups of their documents, their spreadsheets, their mailing lists, their email, or their quickbooks (that part, they at least ran manual backups of, when prompted by the software, to a flash drive).
I bet that company hires lawyers for law technical stuff.
step 2 of this process involves making a backup. whether they understand how they did so or not.
Honestly these people shouldn’t use computers if they can’t be bothered to learn the bare minimum ngl.
Or we need to improve IT classes and courses
The bare minimum is “I need to be able to send out a CV, file my taxes, and look up the weather”. It used to be “configure DMA and IRQ channels so your sound card and hard drive don’t conflict” but thank fuck we’re past that stage.
I’m not teaching my parents the intermediate steps of installing Linux because none of those skills are valuable to them and what they use their computers for. I’ll answer their questions if they ask, but normal people don’t go into BIOSes, don’t deal with ISO files, and these days I doubt most still use physical backups now that OneDrive and iCloud have been integrated so well.
I was thinking more “navigate to a file” type stuff. Understanding what admin privileges are, copying and pasting, stuff like this.
Often times when I needed to help a non-tech savvy person solve an issue on any OS it is some really dumb problem like them not knowing how to run some program as admin (no idea why they want to run a graph software that needs admin privileges to this day), opening the file manager, navigating to a folder to paste a file to it, or simply reading the popup instead of panicking.
At no point have I said going into a BIOS is basic knowledge. But if the people you’re dealing with struggle with the most basic shit ever then you’re not even gonna get to the BIOS part, and if they aren’t willing to learn how to use a computer then they probably shouldn’t use a computer.
Honestly these people shouldn’t use computers if they can’t be bothered to learn the bare minimum ngl.
You need a license to drive a car, and to get the license you have to pass a test to prove you know the basics of motor vehicle operation and the “rules of the road.”
I really don’t see why we couldn’t/shouldn’t apply the same logic to computer hardware.
I do agree, to some extent, and the EU has had their EU digital drivers’ license program for ages now. If you finish the courses and score well on the test, you get a certificate that says you can do all the required parts of normal computer operation. That includes creating folders, managing files, doing basic word processing/spreadsheets/email, and a few basic concepts such as “what is a task bar”. How much you need to know depends on the level of skill you’re trying to prove, but I can tell you that none of them involve installing Linux.
Unfortunately, in offices “being bad at computers” is a funny character quirk and not a reason to send someone on training, but in theory there is exactly such a piece of paper.
I really don’t see why we couldn’t/shouldn’t apply the same logic to computer hardware.
Uh because innocent people don’t die if a user doesn’t know how to install an OS?
Tell that to the guy whose son was so influenced by grifters online that he cut off his dad’s head.
Oh wait you can’t because he’s dead.
No, using the internet while being an idiot has literally lead to murder.
He just needed the TV to turn this way, should were require a college degree to be allowed to have a TV?
Should require a license to go outside or read a book too, they might meet a dangerous group of people or read something that influences them.
In some contexts having people who don’t know what files are, what a folder is, and some other basics, do lead to people dying or lots of damage done.
Of course you’d expect people in these contexts to be trained but that’s not always the case.
Also having no idea what a file is and not knowing the bare minimum of how a computer works in this day and age is unacceptable. It should be taught properly in schools (instead of teaching some very specific stuff everyone will forget, like what a bus is, and then jump to what excel is and how to use it, like they did in my IT class back in high school)
You realise there are people that are over 80 that only have a computer so they can check pictures of their grandkids on Facebook and that’s it?
yes, I do, but that’s not representative of the majority of the population.
So it’s unacceptable for them to have a computer?
Don’t get me wrong I’m very pro-tech literacy and education, especially with the tablet generation users that are becoming more abstracted from the system plumbing… but requiring licenses to use a computer?? Lol. If it’s that important to the job, employer should provide training just like any other piece of equipment.
I’m not going to expect doctors to know how to get into a bios or cleanup a corrupted file system, they specialized in human biology - keep them focused on that, and I’ll handle the OS management.
I don’t expect anyone to know how to install an OS either, that’s not the basics. But I do expect everyone to know what a file is, what file extensions are and what a directory/folder is.
Why? Those are just abstractions. Why do you get to decide at which level of abstraction is the baseline for a person to use a computer?
Especially considering most computer users are operating at a higher level of abstraction (i.e. phones/tablets).
You are not the average computer user anymore.
gosh
-
Stop being elitist about Linux, the amount of times I’ve had to explain that none of my software runs great on Linux just to have to hear how with trouble shooting it will. My work depends on the use of my software, it’s collaborative. If I have to trouble shoot every time adobe or Ableton updates it’s a bad use of my time and is actively taking time away from projects. Only I use VSTs for music production, they all work perfectly in windows and MacOS. Linux? Hit or miss.
Maybe I’m convinced. Now I gotta find the right one, set it up. Get all my software working, learn a new UI, hope that it doesn’t break collaboration. All in all, not worth the little I would save.
deleted by creator
The Adobe photography plan costs me $120 a year, and honestly includes more useful updates than not. Their AI masking upgrades the last couple years are saving me hours to days of editing time per photo session.
$120 a year is worth maybe one hour of my free time. Even just migrating to Darktable would take me weeks or months of dedicated time to migrate my existing catalog.
I wrote it here some time ago. Tried Linux Mint with the intention of finally switching from windows on my notebook. Bricked one partition that I forgot I had set to dynamic, Headphone jacks didn’t work even after fiddling around with arcane parameters in the cli. If you mainly need the command line to set your system up and stuff doesn’t work out of the box people don’t have the nerve to switch and learn all that. Love Linux, great on steamdeck, have a couple of Virtual Machines to play around with on my old Poweredge server but it’s not ready for me, the average user. That and I’ve to use windows for my cad work at my job anyways. I’ll take the downvotes but you’ll have to realize you are tech savvy people who have fun learning all that. Most people don’t.
I think Mint is better out of the box than it used to be. I was on it maybe 5 or 6 years ago and had to troubleshoot a few issues, but I just came back to it a few months ago and everything worked flawlessly out of the box.
wait did you install linux mint regular or edge??
The average user doesn’t install windows. I used to get paid when I was a kid to install windows in my village.
Headline: “Person new to and overly excited about Thing, starts telling other more experienced people about how to approach and think about Thing”
:(
This is the attitude the OP is talking about.
Being snobbish helps noone, we’ve all been noobs at some point.
Linux is the most widely deployed OS on the planet. I’m not sure OP is actually talking about aside from desktop usage. It’s in your headphones, home appliances, routers, competing OS’s, datacenters that run the world…what do you imagine is missed?
Sorry, but it is tech-y. Not out of reach by anybody who is interested in learning, but ask the average person to self sign their drivers (required for any Nvidea card if you want to game and don’t turn on legacy bios). Or maybe you want the latest version of Spotify on Mint and therefore need to add flathub using the terminal. With help or research, sure, not hard concepts to grasp. Without help though, it’d probably be a dealbrealer.
And once you’ce done both of those I’d consider you ‘tech-y’
Isn’t flathub configured out of the box in Mint nowadays?
I also don’t think you need to manually sign drivers? Or at least, I’ve never seen anyone mentioning needing to do it. If you do though, I imagine turning off Secure Boot is probably easier.
I try to preach GNU/Linux to anyone who will listen. GNU/Linux & GPG.
Only had one success on the former. My wife. Technically there is another but every time I see that guy I fix petty easy stuff that’s obvious. Sure, I’ve been doing it a decade and a half but…WHY DOES NO ONE LISTEN? IT’LL BE THE END OF THE FUCKING WORLD IF YOU DON’T START NOW!
FUCK.
Convenience and pop-whores … it is what capitalism prescribes. Add games, bookmarks on Edge, saved passwords, that people don’t want to change … and this is the disability they develop. Then win gets all borked BSOD and all, and they start the only way they know how, disk, format, new install.
They buy their own prison cells and the camera that monitors them like they live in a reality show.
What did you expect, a social revolution?
Once I learned the truth, I decided to figure out how to teach people how to save the world. Not a single individual has listened to the obvious let alone bothered to learn a single bit. Even my father, a fucking career programmer won’t fucking listen or learn.
gpg?
RMS’s FOSS flip of PGP.
Pretty Good Privacy
GNU Privacy Guard
deleted by creator
I just think that if we include the name of GNU/Linux into FOSS we could call it IA! FGLOSS! And summon a Cthulhu we know and understand.
Stop being elitist.
Use linux mint.
Why linux mint?
It’s like ubuntu but no snaps.
What’s ubuntu?
It’s like debian but not as stable. You’ll get more recent apps in ubuntu, test them, and when they are tested companies use the apps in debian.
Ok, What are snaps?
You can install packages with snap, but it’s proprietary.
Ok, that’s bad?
Yes. Foss apps are great and better than proprietary garbage.
Ok, foss good, proprietary garbage.
Why debian and not fedora?
Because all apps are build for it.
So it’s like aur?
No. Aur is made by users for users. Builds on debian are mostly official.
So the package manager is better on debian?
Yes, kind of.
I heard of distrobox. I could use the package manager on any distro.
Yes, but it’s easier at the beginning to stick to one distro and package manager to get used to it.
Why not arch?
It’s too unstable.
Ok, no arch distro. I heard manjaro is good.
No, it holds back packages for no reason.
Ok. What about fedora?
It doesn’t have as many packages.
But it has the copr, aren’t there a lot of apps?
Yes, but it’s like aur, it’s build by users. Debian builds are good, stable and widely used.
Ok. What about nix? I heared it’s the new arch and there are even more packages.
Yes, but It’s not for newbies.
What is an immutable system? I heared that’s the next big thing.
It’s like android an image based operating system where you can’t brick your system by accident with rm -rf /
What’s rm -rf /?
Just test it in a terminal, it’s fun.
How can I play games?
You install steam.
Do I have to configure anything?
Hopefully not
Can I only use linux mint?
No you can use any distro, they are all linux. You can choose whatever you want. Just choose mint.
Why mint?
It has no snaps.
What do I use instead?
Flatpaks
If I use flatpaks, why does the package manager matter so much?
Because not all apps are available as flatpacks, especially command line tools. Snaps has cli but it’s proprietary.
Can’t I just use any distro and use a debian distrobox for those packages I need from debian?
Yes, use linux mint, it’s easy to use.
Do I actually need all those packages? I only use word and steam.
No, probably not.
Why not using ubuntu and install flatpaks?
Because ubuntu sucks.
But isn’t mint based on ubuntu?
Yes, but it has no snaps.
Can’t I just use debian?
Yes, but it doesn’t have the latest packages.
How do I install word?
You can’t. You can use the online version.
That’s a lot to understand. Can’t I just windows? I only open steam anyway.
Yes, but it’s proprietary.
Steam is also proprietary.
Yes, but you xan play games with it on linux.
But if steam is proprietary, and windows is proprietary, and I mainly use steam anyway, does it even matter?
What’s a DE?
Linux mint uses cinnamon, it’s cool!
I saw some KDE screemshots. It looks cool and everyone talks about it. There’s a big release coming in a few weeks. how do I install it?
You usually don’t mix DEs unless you know what you do.
I don’t.
Then don’t mix it.
But I want to use KDE. Which distro should I use? Kubuntu?
No, it uses snaps like ubuntu.
…
Going for that “who’s on first base” vibe?
Thanks for the laugh 😀
Someone prefers mint.
most ‘newbies’, who just need something to launch a browser these days, wouldn’t go past line 2.
No it doesn’t. If you don’t care and just want anything that runs Steam, don’t bother. Just pick anything, it runs fine on most Linux distributions, Windows and probably Mac. You’re fine with tossing a coin. I’d choose Linux in that case since it’s cheaper.
A proper conversation would be like this:
What shall I use?
Depends… What do you want to do with your computer?
Play games with Steam.
Alright, then use XY. Wanna know more?
No.
Fine.
How do I install word? https://yt.artemislena.eu/watch?v=LH-6tp-KBuQ
What’s rm -rf /?
Just` test it in a terminal, it’s fun.
💀
All I want is to be able to post a question in a forum and get an answer besides "Until you read these 3 texts and 20 MAN entries I don’t want you to even stain this forum’s pages with your ignorant drivel’.
I’ve been trying to go linux for 20 years now and every fuckdamn time a problem I cannot solve or find an answer for online leads to the above and I’m done.
You guys may have cleaned up your community now but I don’t have the energy or patience to try it again.
Full Disclosure: IT admin with 3 decades of experience including supporting linux servers. If I have a hard time with it, think about what your average ‘raised on a smartphone’ newbie is going to think.
Linux sysadmin here too. I run Windows on my main workstation now because I have no patience for issues like sound not working when I join a video call and shit like that. Your post perfectly describes my gripe with Linux.
Windows sucks but 99 percent of problems are solved by simply rebooting the motherfucker.
Every word you speak is truth.
Something in my heart feels that if instead of spreading out a huge topheavy ecosystem of near identical distros that change their hippy dippy naming structures on a regular basis and instead on GETTING F$@KING PERIPHERALS TO WORK CONSISTENTLY then it would be a mainstream option.
I think the current massive distro ecosystem is actually cointelpro by the OS big boys to cripple competition.
I’ve seen a couple of posts in here about sound. It’s wild that I’ve been through dozens of distros since the start of high school (12 years ago), installed them on at least 10 machines over that time, and can’t remember one issue with sound that took more than 15 seconds to fix (e.g discord choosing the wrong sound device because I have 6 things plugged in that can technically output sound, which also happens to my friends who use Windows).
Maybe I’m just lucky. The only issues I recall having in the last decade are essentially graphics related. Either game compatibility (though proton/wine is much better than it was in 2015) or desktop environments being finicky (freezing on sleep for example), but the latter afaict was entirely due to proprietary nvidia drivers. There are proper, high-performance open source drivers in the works, so nvidia might be on par with amd in 2-3 years on Linux (which is to say literally no issues for the vast majority of people, probably far more stable than Windows).
In the same time I’ve had lots of people come to me with problems that we’ve specifically troubleshooted and found Windows to be the issue even when it seemed like hardware problems. Like monitor flickering/black screening, and plugging in a different monitor the issue goes away. On the surface it seems like a hardware problem, but both monitors worked flawlessly on Linux for literally months. Full reinstalling Windows did not fix the issue. Upgrading from Windows 10 -> 11 did not fix the issue.
Same thing with another friend’s external SSD. For some reason it wasn’t being detected on his Windows 7 install. We installed Linux and the drive was picked up. Maybe Windows 10 would’ve also picked up the drive in this circumstance, but a lot of people hated the idea of Windows 10 at the time (this was just after Windows 10 was released, when Windows 7 still had a similar market share).
There’s likely a huge percentage of problems people attribute to hardware that are actually Windows being a shitty O.S, but nobody actually checks if Windows is the problem.
Similarly, maybe just luck, but I’ve not really had a problem with windows since windows 10/server 2019. Yeah it’s resource heavy but I can’t even recall anything I’ve specifically had to delve into forums to troubleshoot. That said I haven’t had to do any windows desktop support since windows 7, thank the gods.
I deployed several server 2022 vms at work due to special circumstance and its actually good out of box, I only disabled some print services and my gold image was ready. Those have been running for a year and I’ve only rebooted them due to patching. Very different than the windows I adminned back in the 2000s.
I really don’t understand why so many advocate for Linux, FOSS, and an overall open web while actively making Linux and other free software as complicated and “tech-y” as possible.
If Linux isn’t growing, what’s the point? If it remains stagnant, its getting closer to fading away. We’ve seen the impact of Linux becoming more mainstream and known to the general public through the Steam Deck, and it has done wonders for the platform. Why do people actively not want it to grow?
Helping it grow doesn’t mean being annoying like Edge pop-ups, simply throwing out suggestions to try easy-to-use distros here and there. And let’s be honest, the average internet user can use an easy distro like Ubuntu or Mint proficiently after 20-30 minutes of playing around with it. We need to make it seem accessible so that more people will actually be interested in the first place.
Really happy to see a post being made about this.
I’ve been using Linux for 30 years now, certified to teach it and everything… Here’s your problem:
“Stop telling people it’s ‘tech-y’”
Compared to Windows or MacOS, yes, it is very techy.
“offer to help them install.” - If they need your help to install it they absolutely have no business running Linux.
“They don’t understand the concept of distros” - If they have no understanding of distros, they have no business running Linux.
Think of it like this… if they can’t wrap their head around a distro, what’s going to happen when you try explaining a package manager?
I get the evangelism, but Linux simply is not for everyone, that’s why Apple invented iPads.
Compared to Windows or MacOS, yes, it is very techy.
Distros that have so much graphics like ubuntu and their linux mint isn’t (much) :)
there’s a guy even claimed “Linux is almost identical to Windows”. That guy is a “masturbing monkey” that cannot care about anything other than privacy.
but Linux simply is not for everyone
correct. I think Torvalds would agree.
Many people have no concept of a computer, offer them running linux is destroying their business and render them jobless
And these guys are so hilarious: switching to linux but want to use windows app with wine !
Switching to linux only to decorate the desktop and neofetch!
They want to switch but never want to learn what a kernel is.
Switching to linux and claim about “free”, “open source” but they hide their proprietary games
I’ve been using Linux for 30 years now, certified to teach it and everything
I’m curious what have you learn and certified to teach? I want to learn all of them :)
I don’t know that you can learn “all of them”, there are new ones popping up all the time.
I started with Unix in 1988 because I wanted to play on the Internet and back then you either learned Unix or you didn’t go.
Unix is interesting because when Bell labs came up with it, they were told “Look, you can have a monopoly in the telecommunications industry, or you can have a monopoly in the computer industry, PICK ONE.”
So they picked the telecom industry, but at the same time they went “Hey, here’s this computer OS, see what you all can do with it!”
So you ended up with Unix System V, HP-UX, Irix, BSD Unix, and so on and so on. They were all Unix but all also a little bit different.
Roll forward to the early 90s and Linus Torvalds going “Hey! Imma make my own Unix!” and then THAT splintered into all the Linux variants we have today.
When the early days of Linux happened, my reaction was “Well, I already learned Unix, how hard could this be?” :)
The problem was, there was no easy way to collect everything you needed for an install, so I waited until someone put out a CD with all the files I needed, I think that was 1993? 1994? Something like that.
Anyway, my first was Slackware. Since then, I can’t tell you how many I’ve used. Different situations call for different things. I was a Redhat admin for awhile. I installed YellowDog on a PS3 for fun. MacOS X is not Linux, but it’s underpinnings are based on BSD Unix so it’s kind of a kissing cousin. Apple does a lot of goofy shit, but it’s not insurrmountable if you know Unix.
My certifications were done around 2000/2001 through a company called SAIR and I’m not even sure they exist anymore. They got absorbed into Thomson Learning in 2002.
It was a great experience though. Wouldn’t trade it for anything. I made some good money administering Avaya Definity and Intuity phone systems running Unix.
I don’t know that you can learn “all of them”, there are new ones popping up all the time.
The core remains the same. And if I’m not stupid, everything I learned in Linux (yeah, kernel things) can be easily adapted to OpenBSD which I’m using.
My dad always urge me to learn things “around assembly” (binary math, how the kernel operate). I wanted to know how to get started with these :)
The core is the same, the shells are each a little different. I remember juggling 3 different installs and having to keep a cheat sheet to keep them all straight. :)
Do you know how can I get started with things around the kernel?
So when it comes to kernel modifications, I’m old school…
“If it’s not broken, don’t fix it.” :)
https://www.redhat.com/en/blog/balancing-if-it-aint-broke-dont-fix-it-vs-release-early-and-often
Unless there’s some VERY specific need, some security hole that needs patching, some critical flaw that is failing, in general, DO NOT mess with the kernel.
That being said, there are tons of good guides you can find just by googling “linux kernel modifications”, but also specific guides for your installations. RedHat makes it dead simple to do stuff like this.
But before you do it:
-
Make sure you have a specific need you’re addressing.
-
Make sure you have all the necessary backups you require.
-
Have a roll back process in case something goes wrong.
-
Have a diagnostic testing plan.
-
I agree with this but we also need the average user to become tech literate.
There’s little reason to introduce linux to someone who doesn’t understand basic concepts like “I can save this file in this folder and find it there in the future instead of putting everything on the desktop” and doesn’t even want to learn.
This goes for everything not just Linux. Maybe instead of dumbing everything down completely (not saying things shouldn’t be made simple enough but there’s a point where you need to get people to get up their asses and actually learn something) maybe we should be teaching people the basics at school, in my IT class back in HS they taught about buses, drivers, some other shit even I can’t remember, and then immediately jumped to how to use excel specifically. None of the information in the first part was at all useful to anyone in that class (none of us was even studying IT, we were mixed classes to become chemical and architecture (?) technicians) and in fact promptly forgotten as soon as IT lessons ended, if not earlier. What would have been useful is the basics of how to use it and how the part users actually interact with works.
Then, once the population is tech literate enough to not panic as soon as they see a sudden popup and mindlessly click “ok” without reading, that’s when Linux (and honestly Windows and Mac too because the OS is irrelevant if the user is a moron) will be truly ready for everyone
