I’ve found Lemmy’s Linux community to be extremely helpful I hope it stays this way
It’s one of the things that I like the most about lemmy over reddit. The reddit linux community was toxic, insular and gatekeepy, even as a moderately experienced linux user I had difficulty getting help.
“Learn how to Google noob!”
Fuck sakes, I just spent several hours deep diving forums and Web search results looking for an answer to my question, and the only thing I could find that was exactly my problem was concluded by OP editing their post to say “Ah, never mind, figured it out.” And not including the solution…
I installed Linux on my gfs (now wife) old laptop years ago when the beginner distros was way less user friendly. When I asked on a forum for help it was just the sound of crickets. When she made her first post starting with “my boyfriend installed Linux and I don’t understand how to…” They fucking fell out trees to answer her questions
lol bunch of thirsty incels.
Is your wife single?
Let us know if she still needs help
No. But she loved the the reply :)
Unhelpful Linux User Archetypes:
The Configurator: All problems are configuration problems. The fact that a user has a problem means they configured their machine incorrectly. All help requests are an opportunity to lecture others about configuration files.
The lumberjack: Insists on logs no matter how simple or basic the question. “How do I get the working directory in the terminal?” -Sorry, I can’t help you unless you post your log. “What does the -r flag do?” -You need to post a log for me to answer that question. “Is there a way to make this service start at boot?” -We have no way of knowing unless you post your log. When a user posts their log, the lumberjack’s work is done. No need to reply to the thread any further.
The Anacdata Troubleshooter: Failed to develop a theory of mind during childhood. Thinks their machine is representative of all machines. If they don’t have an issue, the user is lying about the issue.
The Jargon Master: Uses as much jargon as possible in forum posts. If a user doesn’t know each and every term, that’s on them. If you did not commit to mastering every aspect of a piece of software before asking for help, were you even trying to solve the problem?
The Hobby Horse Jockey: All problems are caused by whatever thing the contributor does not like. Graphics driver issue? Snaps. Computer won’t post? Obviously, Snaps. Machine getting too hot? Snaps. Command ‘flatpack’ not found? Oh you better believe snaps did that.
The Pedantfile: Gets mad because everyone asks their questions the wrong way. Writes a message letting the user know they asked their question wrong. Message usually appears within a minute or two of someone providing a solution to the user.
The Repeatophobic: If a question vaguely reminds them of a previously posted question, they become enraged and insist the new thread be locked.
It’s infuriating how many times I’ve seen a locked thread with no answer linking to a similar yet different problem that doesn’t solve my issue.
These types exist for most any technical problem. The last one is the whiny one who also slams someone with a solution they don’t approve of. Even if the solution satisfies the person asking for help or perhaps because it satisfies them.
X is deprecated, you should have moved into systemd-Y
You should change to Arch, I don’t use X but Arch is better.
Oh fuck you… take your upvote and know that you have hurt my soul and I love you for it.
X is deprecated, you should move to Wayland.
This kind of behavior mystifies me. I get that it can be frustrating to deal with lazy folks, but especially with how shit google/ddg are nowadays, when people are looking for help and are met with this kind of treatment it’s pretty discouraging! I’ve been an Arch user for about a decade, and sometimes I run into problems that should be googleable but aren’t.
It’s especially concerning, considering how tech illiterate the next generation is. They’re very used to walled gardens, and if they can barely manage a MacBook, they’re going to really struggle starting with things like the command line.
Lighting a candle leaves you with two lit candles. There’s no reason to gatekeep knowledge.
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One way or another I’m moving to Linux for my next PC. but damn I finally think I understand enough to decide Debian would be a good ‘it just works’ distro and then Linux users out the woodwork telling me its actually a pain in the ass and to use XYZ (all disagreeing) distros instead. I’m like 90% sure its going to be Debian, Ubuntu or Mint but beyond that its more uncertain than the inside of a black hole.
I know this is just adding to your problem, but I wanna add to the majority and say go with Mint. It’s based on Ubuntu, which in turn is based on Debian, so most anything you can do on Debian, you can do on Mint. This is handy to know whenever you see a “.deb” file.
One of the things that makes it an easier transition from windows is that it’s a lot less strict about including proprietary drivers and codecs (though apparently Debian now includes a few by default). It also includes a few more GUI tools by default, like the package update manager.
I also have found Mint’s Cinnamon desktop environment to be the easiest transition from a Windows environment. KDE is also a good choice in that regard and it’s what I use now, but its plethora of options can be overwhelming for new users.
The distro wars can be pretty overwhelming, but I’d say pick whatever appeals most and go with it. If you get to a point where you can’t do something that you want to do, you can always come back and ask for advice and maybe switch up a different OS.
Been using debian for more than a decade and “it just works” has become truer every year. It’s a good distro, if you have no principle objections against systemd (which I do, but am too lazy to do anything about).
The one thing I am not happy about: Audio drivers on a Desktop computer
- works out of the box, but then messes up when selecting input devices from:
- line in
- headphones in
- USB camera microphone
- Audio in “sinks” - I believe those are channels allowing for active noise cancelling / preventing Audio feedback loops I had a whole lot of trouble with pulseaudio selecting the correct source when trying to use my mic in the browser.
On a Laptop, I’ve never experienced such issues, as all devices are integrated (apart from the headphones jack, I guess).
Just when I got familiar enough with pulseaudio, they replaced it with “pipewire”, which fucked up output devices:
- works on boot
- when I plug in headphones: it messes up the Audio output to HDMI and I have to manually re-select (on desktop environment) the headphones
- when I then touch the volume control (GUI), the output goes silent again and I have to select the “Port” headphones for the “Built-in Audio Analog Stereo” under “Output Devices”
drives me crazy since the last update - but it’s only an issue when using headphones, so for now I am living with it.
Im on openSuse Leap 15.5 and I moved to Pipewire back when I had 15.3 I believe. I had that issue where all output devices/input devices got smashed together. I stuck with it for couple of months and I believe the later versions fixed that. Now I am painfree and never bother with audio ever again. I used to have frequent pulseaudio crashes which is why I switched over to pipewire.
I use an external usb dac/amp to handle all my audio switching and has been working flawlessly on debian. Could that be an option for you?
That seems like an ugly workaround - using external hardware to pretend that internally there’s only 1 device. Not my preferred method, to be honest.
I mainly use the external hardware as a workaround for unwanted noise from the pc. It bothers me to no end to hear the mouse cursor scream into my headphone/speakers.
Ouch - I have heard that symptom before - luckily not an issue on my hardware…
Debian does just work and is a good choice. I think people typically have good experiences on Mint also. Ubuntu is becoming like the Windows of Linux distros, I used to use it on everything but I won’t be installing it on another machine because of Snaps.
If you plan on using Linux to do gaming you might want a more up-to-date distro tho.
i know what you are going through, i am going to install linux on my current pc (when i worked up enough bravery… well at least i already created the boot media). I have already experience selfhosting services with Debian (in the time before Docker), but since gaming is what this PC is built for and i have a NVidia card that´s a pretty poor choice from what i gathered here.
Over the last few months i was thinking about going with Pop_OS (“i really really didn’t like Gnome the last time i had to deal with it”), then Arch (“Do i really want to shoot myself in the foot? There’s archinstall, but i really don’t want to tinker too much on this machine…”), and now i settled for Nobara (the “gaming” Fedora so to speak, using KDE per default).
I’m now 99% sure that it should be the right one for me, but the thought of doing it makes me quite nervous.
i’m still looking for alternatives for a few windows programs; the main one i will miss dearly is Playnite. There seems to be nothing that offers the integration of all my libraries, my ROMs and emulators, automatic downloading of metadata and boxart, achievements, start scripts for games … i could go on forever :-(
The trick is to say “Linux sucks! It can’t even X!” Where X is what your issue is preventing. You’ll get the answer, to prove you wrong.
Or find a thread where someone else asked the same question, and give the wrong answer/solution.
I think we’re past this era honestly and moved into the “ask Chatgpt”
There should be an AI trained just on linux questions.
What does he mean by X, x11 or xorg ?
damn if this isnt an amazing format
I’m thinking of using my second SSD to install Linux, is Arch actually good or just a meme?
You can start with Endeavor OS KDE… it’s an arch system with Endeavor OS package managment added on top. So the Arch experience is the same… without the pain of installation.
Plus it has some cool wallpapers.
Rtfm noob
Use something easier to get started with like Ubuntu or Debian. Arch isn’t that great. I’ve installed it a few times as a VM but to me it brings nothing new to the mix. I kinda view Arch fanatics like apple fan bois or beer snobs. Kinda fun to laugh at for being so pretentious. After a while though you wish they would quit hot boxing their own hubris.
yeah I felt this. I’m having a specific issue with my mint install that I can’t figure out for the life of me and no one has any answers (or bothered to leave any comments on the forum…)
Could try the approach of posting a rant that mint can’t even do what you’re trying to do with it, therefore it sucks and anyone that likes it is wrong and a bad person and it’s easier to just deal with Windows.
holy shit that might actually work
This meme does deathbulge guy so dirty
I like that RTFM can also stand for Read The Fucking Manpage.
True Patriots run Gentoo. CHOMP
Just learn to search for the proper Terminal/ Konsole command to copy and paste what you want just like the rest of us.
That’s how you Linux… Right? My dudes? Right?
No better way to learn how something works than to be forced to repair it from a broken state 😎
