Penguinclaw🐧🎧💊☮️5h ago
Luzzy is bunnygirl

People still saying "Linux is only free if you don't value your time" should update their calendars.

This sentence was first used in 1998. That's about 28 years ago.

In all that time Linux has evolved way past the point of offering several user-friendly "batteries - included" distros that allow you to set up a working environment in just a few minutes.

It has graphical installers, desktop environments, window managers, software repositories with thousands of pre-compiled binaries. All the compiler pipelines you can think of are available. And most importantly: it is secure and free of big tech company spyware.

Sure, you might still find that one peculiar laptop that needs a few extra steps to get Wi-Fi to work, maybe even the audio.
But cmon! Do you have any idea how many people fail to install windows because they are missing the Intel Rapid Storage driver?

There is a point when it stops being a problem of "Linux not having the driver" and it starts being an issue of "this piece of shit private company decided to make the most shitty proprietary drivers for this thing on purpose".

#Linux

4:32pmWeb
Show threadMarta Threadbare5h ago

@meluzzy Windows is waaaaay easier*

*Said by people who never had to download, prepare and boot a windows install iso and drivers, and had someone else do that for them.

Show threadLuzzy is bunnygirl5h ago
@cygnathreadbare Specially now that you need to open regedit during installation to enable a bunch of flags so that you can install it on a computer without TPM, secure boot, less than 4GB of RAM and no internet connection.
And then you need to get some chipset drivers in if you want it to detect that flashy new NVMe.
And run a bunch of scripts afterwards if you want to kill Copilot, delete all the built-in app garbage, the telemetry services and other junk.
Show threadMarta Threadbare3h ago
@meluzzy never tried win11 and already thought having to remember to remove the ethernet cable before installing win10 was annoying enough...
Show threadSilly Fae Squiggles5h ago
@meluzzy my parents are using an Arch distro thanks to me stealing the laptop they were gonna throw away when it couldn't update to Windows 11. My mom is the kind of tech user who just wants to check her email and search things on the web. She calls "chrome" her email because its where her email is opened in. If she can handle it so can most people. (I did do the installation myself so that is a factor)
Show threadj-j-j-j-3h ago

@meluzzy out of the box it has a web browser, a file explorer, a media player, an mspaint knockoff, can play most video games (usually with just one small hoop to jump through)

seriously, a lack of adobe and fortnite is enough to discount that? oh yeah, and you need to go through the process of installing it which i figured out at the age of 11

Show threadj-j-j-j-3h ago
@meluzzy *this is glossing over a few issues, but still
Show threadEstarriol, Terrorist Dragon3h ago

@meluzzy

When I installed Linux, it took about a quarter the time my last windows did, as it did not connect to the net and do 3 hours worth of downloads, restarts and patches.....

Show threadRaymond Russell3h ago
@meluzzy
I put Linux Mint onto a really old 11" Laptop which came with Win7, upgraded to Win 8 :-( and then finally Win 10.
It has touchscreen and I was prepared to take the hit of possibly losing that with Linux, BUT everything worked 1st time with no extra effort. It has given the little machine a new lease of life for light 'puting tasks.
Show threadPatrick3h ago
@meluzzy for the most part these days it's about as time consuming for the average user as windows or mac. sure you can get deep in the woods, but you can on the others as well. For just doin your average surfing, office like work or of late even gaming, mostly it's just as seamless. Except it wont just do whatever it wants with updates, adding unasked for apps, and call home constantly. Exceptions I'm sure apply if you pick a more terminal centric or oddball special purpose distro.
Show threadTommieTum1h ago

@meluzzy I wanted to change the "open with..." Menu on Win 10 to only show the two media players I actually use and I ended up in the registry editor.... And it didn't actually work....

So yeah, Windows be jank af