• Mechanismatic@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    “Okay, I switched to Linux, now I’m getting this error message: _______.”

    “Install ______.”

    “It gives me this error now: ______.”

    “You have to update the _____ library first.”

    “It won’t let me.”

    “You have to use sudo.”

    “It tells me to clone the git via the command line, but git says verifying login from command line isn’t supported any more.”

    “You’re following seven year old instructions.”

    “They’re the only instructions I can find.”

    “You should switch to this other flavor of Linux.”

    • I do not prefer apt-based systems, but I’ve installed variations of Ubuntu (e.g. Mint) on systems for geriatric (grand)parents in the past 5 years and have not yet needed to drop into shell to fix something.

      If the needs are basic (browsing, email, printing, documents), Linux hasn’t needed wizardry for years. This is mostly thanks to Gnome and KDE’s hard work on GUI admin tools, but if someone is going directly from Windows to i3, they’ve chosen a steep hill to climb.

  • Holyginz@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Switch to Linux and spend way more time making sure everything is updated and having to jump through hoops installing things.

    • Dnn@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      No idea what you mean. I just quickly wanted to update before calling it a night, got a grub update and now it neither boots the default nor the fallback image. I use Arch BTW.

    • Whisper06@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      1 year ago

      Yeah I’m not sure the last time you used Linux but it’s nothing like that these days. As long as you stick with a well established distribution you’ll be fine. I haven’t had to go in a “fix” an update in a while, even in some of the beta updates they’re fairly stable.

    • nexussapphire@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      Mostly just when you initially install like most OSes ; browsers, office suits, game launchers, etc… My mother doesn’t even notice fedora automatically installing updates when she turns her PC off. (I enabled automatic updates for her)

      Even with my arch Linux install with Hyprland, most of the time I just update before I turn it off. With a terminal command but even that is just paru and my password or flatpak update. If I had kde or gnome desktop, I could set it up to auto update too.

      Sometimes I don’t even bother and use the computer without updating it for a couple of months or it automatically updates when I install new software.

      • Holyginz@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Lol, I’m not hating. I’ve had Linux before but it took more time then I had at that point learning and I mainly use my personal computers for gaming. Which is less of a headache on windows. That’s just me though.

        • Digester@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          I’m on windows 10, use my PC for work and gaming. The thing with windows is that it works right out of the box, all major softwares are developed for windows in mind. When shit stops working is when you start messing with stuff that isn’t your typical “start the PC -> download program -> install -> run the program -> shut off” which is what most users do. Updating the os, softwares and GPU drivers are easy tasks.

          It’s when you start messing with python or softwares that aren’t too mainstream and require a bit more effort that things have the potential to break. Even then, the os itself won’t break on you unless you really try. I broke windows a few times in 15 years but it’s worth mentioning that I was manually and willingly changing registry keys and messing with a lot of other stuff. Even then most of the time I was able to fix it.

          With Linux is different. If you just use the OS for basic stuff like browsing the internet and editing documents you should be fine for the most part (if you choose a user friendly and stable distro like Ubuntu or Mint). The moment you try getting to run niche softwares or something that requires you to manually open the command prompt to change things in order to accomodate what you’re trying to achieve, that’s where it gets tough for most people. That’s how Linux works, it’s the user’s fault though not the machine’s.

          • Holyginz@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            I never claimed it wasn’t user error. This was almost 15 years ago and I was just a dumb impatient kid messing around with CentOS.

            • phar@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              Might want to try again if you haven’t updated your opinion for 15 years. Updating is so much easier and faster on Linux than windows nowadays. You don’t really need the terminal unless you want to on the easier distros. Everytime I see that Windows update screen at work I remember one of the main reasons I abandoned it at home. The software centers make life so much easier than windows. The software updates on its own so you don’t click on a program and then have to update it. Life, imo, is just better with Linux.

  • RCKLSSBNDN@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I remember I had a date with a girl back in the’10s. We hit it off and got back to her place. Wanted to show her a funny Internet video.

    She brought out an ancient laptop that refused to boot and said her Ex had tried to fix it with Linux.

    I got it pointed at the right dependencies, she fellated me as it updated.

    I think this is my only sexy story that includes Linux.

    Well, I guess there was this one time I loaned a lonely neighbor DOS 6 disks.

    But, that does not include Linux.

  • AnonymousLlama@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    About the same when you ask for a good GUI replacement for X and someone replies “just use the command line”, like cheers for that men, not what I’m asking for.

    • littlecolt@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      AMEN! I asked recently if there was a good Linux alternative to this program I used in Windows called “Bulk Rename Utility” and i was flooded by people telling me how easy it was to set up a script to do what I want.

      Turns out the best alternative is running BRU in Wine.

      • oatscoop@midwest.social
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        1 year ago

        There almost always powerful existing utilities that can do what you want in linux.

        But you have to find them and they have a learning curve. Sometimes that “curve” is a cliff.

      • hellishharlot@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        This makes me wonder how powerful a repo platform like gitlab would be if it allowed people to suggest software ideas and have people make them. In this instance a simple GUI wrapper for bulk rename command line would be sufficient but I would bet there’s millions of things like that, not world changing software just nice qol stuff

      • moomoomoo309@programming.dev
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        1 year ago

        I’d have recommended KRename personally. It uses some programming-esque stuff (format specifiers for stuff), but it’s not exactly difficult to do advanced stuff with it.

    • Whisper06@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      1 year ago

      I do have to vouch for sometimes the command line is easier, not with everything but sometimes. Like my VPN sometimes it’s a little slow on the uptake and finding a server all that nonsense but I can also just have a few taps away at the command line and bing bang boom it’s done.

    • sucksatusernames@discuss.tchncs.de
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      1 year ago

      “Why even use a DE? Try a WM like openbox”

      Well, because a lot of things are simplified with DE functionality, and not everyone has the same preferences…

    • dustojnikhummer@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I still don’t understand why there isn’t a terminal-gui (you know, those text but graphical utilities) for basic stuff like mounting a network share. Why do I still need to manually edit fstab?!?

  • ColPanic@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    No, you don’t say “switch to Linux”. This is an opportunity to be free from the shackles of being the go-to IT support person! If they say they are having computer problems, ask “Is it Linux? No? Sorry, can’t help you”

  • Rentlar@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    50% of the time the Microsoft forum help solution for any Windows problem is “Have you tried Re-installing Windows?”

    • source, my ass
  • ttmrichter@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    A non-technical end-user once had a problem with Windows. A technical friend said “SWITCH TO LINUX”. Now they have thousands of problems.

    I’ve been a non-stop user of Linux as my primary OS since before Ubuntu was a thing. I do not recommend Linux systems to my non-technical friends.

    • Aggravationstation@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      My Aunt bought a new laptop to run her eBay/Facebook selling business on. She’s not particularly techy but has used Windows machines for admin work for prob 20 years or so. Laptop had no office apps installed and she tracks everything in a spreadsheet. Original plan was to install Libreoffice but it was running some budget version of Windows 10 you can’t install anything on, can’t remember what it’s called. So I installed Fedora. Chromium and Libreoffice Calc open on login, her ancient HP printer works, she’s able to access her camera as USB mass storage when she lists items and unattended upgrades are enabled. That was 2 years ago, no problems since.

      • ttmrichter@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Cool story, bro. And for every such cool story you can bring up I can bring you a hundred, probably, of people who got set up on Linux and returned to Windows because it was a horror show from their perspective.

        Let me give you the clue: “The Year of the Linux Desktop” has been declared with monotonous regularity since the 1990s. It still hasn’t arrived. There’s a reason for this, and the quicker Linux (and other F/OSS) advocates grasp why this is, the quicker will the year actually arrive.

        Until then, Linux is a fringe OS for techies. (And there it excels. As I said, I’ve been a non-stop user of it for ages.)

  • dustyData@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    The ones that make me laugh uncontrollably are those Windows disk encryption issues for which the solution is…wait for it… run Linux from a LiveISO, fix the disk with Linux, then reinstall Windows. Because Windows is incapable of fixing its own issues that it itself caused.

  • Wahots@pawb.social
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    1 year ago

    Every time I try Linux on my own, it’s fine. But God forbid I ever use any device that comes with Linux pre-installed, and I’m cursed. I’m on my third steam deck after it software bricked itself, and our university Linux server is so unstable that it disconnects my session with vim every 30 minutes or so. Pain. At least there’s a method to the madness: trust nobody but myself :P

    • ojmcelderry@lemmy.one
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      1 year ago

      Screen and tmux are your friends in this situation. They can keep your vim session alive when your SSH connection drops, so you can reconnect and continue where you left off.

    • NOPper@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Holy hell, three Decks? How did they get bricked? I’ve had mine since the second shipment batch and beyond some very early software issues it’s been pretty solid.

  • nyternic@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    As someone who has had been around Linux-based people and whenever I have had a single gripe about Windows - it’s this.

    I don’t have a hate boner with Linux, I just feel like Linux is a little too much for the average casual user. Everything is fine until they run into a single issue with Linux, if the bewilderment of not having their familiar easy to run programs that they had on Windows wasn’t a turn off for them from the get-go.