I always figure it out, but Linux is not user friendly. The last issue I had was trying to get my vpn to work. It took me a few minutes to realize my vpn provider doesn’t support a gui on there.
This is the issue with Linux. It needs better support and adaptation. If it got that focus from third parties, I’d gladly make it my daily driver.
Here’s to hoping the attempts from companies like steam are only the beginning of a new thriving trend!
I have about as many tech issues with Windows as with Linux – It comes with me enjoying tinkering as a hobby I think?
BUT, and this is important, when shit breaks on Linux, there is always output on the terminal, or a log file, or something else you can check, and even when I don’t know what to do about it, a simple copypaste of the error on internet search usually gets me some answers.
When shit breaks on Windows? HOLY FUCKING SHIT. It just sorta dies and leaves you in the dark with nothing to go on for troubleshooting. Windows wants to make computers into magic boxes that “just werk”, but it never really gets there, and instead what you get is something that breaks just as often, but is a lot more opaque.
That BSOD with an emoticon lives rent-free in my head. Like who the fuck thought it was a good idea?
Also, even when you actually get an error message (which you probably had to dig through the awful mess that is the event viewer… Seriously, the only update they’ve made to it in the last twenty years was to split a bunch of things into a ton of individual logs that are more than painful to dig through), it’s cryptic (if it tells you anything at all) and pasting it into search gives you nothing relevant, and quoting it gives you nothing at all (even the part that’s obviously the generic part of the error), or if it does, it’s a couple hits with people asking for help and either getting no replies, unhelpful replies that misunderstand the issue, or tells them they’re asking in the wrong Microsoft support forum
Like… Come on, Microsoft. You clearly coded this error in the operating system. Put at least one page in documents online with at least something useful about it…
The few times I had to use the Windows Event Viewer I left having learned - Uh - Nothing except a newfound hatred for Microsoft. It’s weird to navigate, and the logs are close to useless.
I don’t feel very supported by their killing off CentOS and cutting promised support down from many years to the end of the year rather suddenly… Forgive me if I don’t trust them with much of anything after that
It shouldn’t be though. A command line interface is not user friendly for entry-level users, and until Linux UX designers realise this, Linux will never gain a greater market share. And we have seen this with Ubuntu, Mint, and other “user friendly” distros gaining popularity. I’m not saying that we should necessarily aim for broad-scale adoption of Linux as an end in itself, but more users means more support for Linux which means a better experience for all.
If Linux wants to ever have adoption outside tech people then it can’t be. If a normide has to open up a terminal then that’s already one less Linux user.
I have used Linux for my main PC for a very long time but I have also worked in tech support and your average user will never ever use an OS where using the terminal is mandatory.
I my opinion there should be some hobbyist distros where the terminal is your daily experience like Arch or Gentoo but the main focus should be accessibility for the average user if adoptability is a goal.
If you don’t like using the Terminal use Mint, but even this one require some basics terminal skills that everybody could learn fast. Linux is made this way.
Oh, there are tons of distros where you don’t need to use the terminal for anything, even Manjaro, an arch based distro, doesn’t need you to ever open the terminal. I was just saying that if adoption is the goal then using the terminal can’t be a requirement for a normal user experience.
What I mean is that using the terminal isn’t mandatory in Manjaro while Arch and Arch based distros all require it. So for that it’s an excellent example.
As for stability it’s a bit more stable than Arch itself from my experience but I still has issues. The most stable distro I have used was Pop OS, I didn’t have a single issue there for like 3 years straight, I only switched because of a hardware change and Pop OS’s Mesa version was unstable on the new hardware.
My central point is still that you will never in a million years get the average computer user to use a terminal.
Lol, I relate with this a lot.
I always figure it out, but Linux is not user friendly. The last issue I had was trying to get my vpn to work. It took me a few minutes to realize my vpn provider doesn’t support a gui on there.
This is the issue with Linux. It needs better support and adaptation. If it got that focus from third parties, I’d gladly make it my daily driver.
Here’s to hoping the attempts from companies like steam are only the beginning of a new thriving trend!
On my end, like –
I have about as many tech issues with Windows as with Linux – It comes with me enjoying tinkering as a hobby I think?
BUT, and this is important, when shit breaks on Linux, there is always output on the terminal, or a log file, or something else you can check, and even when I don’t know what to do about it, a simple copypaste of the error on internet search usually gets me some answers.
When shit breaks on Windows? HOLY FUCKING SHIT. It just sorta dies and leaves you in the dark with nothing to go on for troubleshooting. Windows wants to make computers into magic boxes that “just werk”, but it never really gets there, and instead what you get is something that breaks just as often, but is a lot more opaque.
That BSOD with an emoticon lives rent-free in my head. Like who the fuck thought it was a good idea?
Also, even when you actually get an error message (which you probably had to dig through the awful mess that is the event viewer… Seriously, the only update they’ve made to it in the last twenty years was to split a bunch of things into a ton of individual logs that are more than painful to dig through), it’s cryptic (if it tells you anything at all) and pasting it into search gives you nothing relevant, and quoting it gives you nothing at all (even the part that’s obviously the generic part of the error), or if it does, it’s a couple hits with people asking for help and either getting no replies, unhelpful replies that misunderstand the issue, or tells them they’re asking in the wrong Microsoft support forum
Like… Come on, Microsoft. You clearly coded this error in the operating system. Put at least one page in documents online with at least something useful about it…
The few times I had to use the Windows Event Viewer I left having learned - Uh - Nothing except a newfound hatred for Microsoft. It’s weird to navigate, and the logs are close to useless.
Application terminated due to internal error
I point you towards Fedora. Its indirectly backed by IBM.
From the article…
For me, being backed by IBM isn’t exactly a selling point… Not as bad as backed by Oracle, mind you
Granted, corporate shenanigans are never fun to deal with. But say what you may, they know how to support what they sell, hardware and software.
I don’t feel very supported by their killing off CentOS and cutting promised support down from many years to the end of the year rather suddenly… Forgive me if I don’t trust them with much of anything after that
The terminal is not an accessory like on Windows, it’s apart of the daily Linux experience
It shouldn’t be though. A command line interface is not user friendly for entry-level users, and until Linux UX designers realise this, Linux will never gain a greater market share. And we have seen this with Ubuntu, Mint, and other “user friendly” distros gaining popularity. I’m not saying that we should necessarily aim for broad-scale adoption of Linux as an end in itself, but more users means more support for Linux which means a better experience for all.
If Linux wants to ever have adoption outside tech people then it can’t be. If a normide has to open up a terminal then that’s already one less Linux user.
I have used Linux for my main PC for a very long time but I have also worked in tech support and your average user will never ever use an OS where using the terminal is mandatory.
I my opinion there should be some hobbyist distros where the terminal is your daily experience like Arch or Gentoo but the main focus should be accessibility for the average user if adoptability is a goal.
If you don’t like using the Terminal use Mint, but even this one require some basics terminal skills that everybody could learn fast. Linux is made this way.
Oh, there are tons of distros where you don’t need to use the terminal for anything, even Manjaro, an arch based distro, doesn’t need you to ever open the terminal. I was just saying that if adoption is the goal then using the terminal can’t be a requirement for a normal user experience.
Wrong example, Manjaro is probably the less stables distro i’ve tried, and thoses issues seems to be common when you look at the forum
What I mean is that using the terminal isn’t mandatory in Manjaro while Arch and Arch based distros all require it. So for that it’s an excellent example.
As for stability it’s a bit more stable than Arch itself from my experience but I still has issues. The most stable distro I have used was Pop OS, I didn’t have a single issue there for like 3 years straight, I only switched because of a hardware change and Pop OS’s Mesa version was unstable on the new hardware.
My central point is still that you will never in a million years get the average computer user to use a terminal.
We used to back in the 20th century, when computer didn’t had GUI