The latest Windows 11 preview build in the Beta Channel delivers a rather odd change to the Start menu. For some reason, the "Sign out" button is hidden behind a Microsoft 365 ad and other banners.
It told me to verify my download. It gave me instructions on how to do it. I needed command line. The instructions were actually more confusing than they should have been, too. I searched for an easier way to verify. There was a verifying program. The instructions for that told me to use command line to verify the verifying program, so I said “eff it, I’m not verifying”.
Then it turned out I couldn’t make a bootable of Linux because my flash drive was too big. I had to find a 32gb one instead. Then it turned out I couldn’t make the bootable because it was the wrong format. And Windows couldn’t create that format. I had to use a third tool. Then the media creator somehow turned that flash drive into smaller and smaller partitions and Windows couldn’t fix it, either. I don’t remember how I solved that one. I also almost bricked my flash drive due to the formatting pop-up that Windows created when I was creating the Linux install media, but luckily the media tool could fix it when Windows couldn’t. I had to do research to discover and fix all these things, and none of it was stuff I knew about.
The guide didn’t tell me the difference between GRUB and the other bootloader. I tried to research it. I found nothing. I wanted a bootloader that looked nice, and GRUB wasn’t it. But I didn’t know if the other one was it either. Furthermore, the Multi-Boot page for Mint installation guide only had two topics: Install Windows first, and what to do if Windows overrides your bootloader. Nothing else. So I had no idea what to do, and I wasn’t going to break it. I was done attempting to install Linux. Windows installation works, no bullshit.
If you want to say “well duh, you should have done this”, then eff off. Because you’re not allowed to lord your non-obvious knowledge over people who don’t have that knowledge even after attempting research, and then say “it’s so easy, so it’s the year of Linux on the desktop”!
And you know what happened last time I had Linux on one of my machines? It was Ubuntu, on my mainstream hardware, and I had it for weeks. I literally could never get sound working, at all. Not a peep. Eff off, mate. Yeah?
Verification is optional, but recommended. This is true for all OSs. Don’t do it if you can’t.
Note that I said to buy a USB or DVD with Linux. Burning your own is easy on Linux, but Windows puts up a lot of roadblocks. (One wonders why.)
GRUB works fine, but again, you only have to deal with it if you want to dual-boot.
Some sound cards used to not have first-party Linux drivers, so you’d have to find some third-party workaround. This is the only real problem among the ones you listed, but even this is pretty rare nowadays.
That’s all fair advice. It doesn’t change that installation instructions should have been a lot more thorough though.
Once I get a third (or bigger primary) SSD, I’ll dual-boot Mint. I still want to try it. Regardless of my issues with it, I do know Linux is getting better. And we can see how ready I am for it now (and that’s partially up to the software).
Fair. I guess asking users to verify the ISO is just to avoid lawsuits. Buying USBs is more beginner-friendly than burning your own, but it would be very difficult to maintain an up to date list of sellers. They definitely need to explain GRUB and dual-booting better, as well as make it easier to repair / avoid the Windows overwriting GRUB issue.
Like, who are you trying to lie to? All the people who’ve installed Windows?
No, actually, you’re trying to say this doesn’t exist: https://linuxmint-installation-guide.readthedocs.io/en/latest/
It told me to verify my download. It gave me instructions on how to do it. I needed command line. The instructions were actually more confusing than they should have been, too. I searched for an easier way to verify. There was a verifying program. The instructions for that told me to use command line to verify the verifying program, so I said “eff it, I’m not verifying”.
Then it turned out I couldn’t make a bootable of Linux because my flash drive was too big. I had to find a 32gb one instead. Then it turned out I couldn’t make the bootable because it was the wrong format. And Windows couldn’t create that format. I had to use a third tool. Then the media creator somehow turned that flash drive into smaller and smaller partitions and Windows couldn’t fix it, either. I don’t remember how I solved that one. I also almost bricked my flash drive due to the formatting pop-up that Windows created when I was creating the Linux install media, but luckily the media tool could fix it when Windows couldn’t. I had to do research to discover and fix all these things, and none of it was stuff I knew about.
The guide didn’t tell me the difference between GRUB and the other bootloader. I tried to research it. I found nothing. I wanted a bootloader that looked nice, and GRUB wasn’t it. But I didn’t know if the other one was it either. Furthermore, the Multi-Boot page for Mint installation guide only had two topics: Install Windows first, and what to do if Windows overrides your bootloader. Nothing else. So I had no idea what to do, and I wasn’t going to break it. I was done attempting to install Linux. Windows installation works, no bullshit.
If you want to say “well duh, you should have done this”, then eff off. Because you’re not allowed to lord your non-obvious knowledge over people who don’t have that knowledge even after attempting research, and then say “it’s so easy, so it’s the year of Linux on the desktop”!
And you know what happened last time I had Linux on one of my machines? It was Ubuntu, on my mainstream hardware, and I had it for weeks. I literally could never get sound working, at all. Not a peep. Eff off, mate. Yeah?
Verification is optional, but recommended. This is true for all OSs. Don’t do it if you can’t.
Note that I said to buy a USB or DVD with Linux. Burning your own is easy on Linux, but Windows puts up a lot of roadblocks. (One wonders why.)
GRUB works fine, but again, you only have to deal with it if you want to dual-boot.
Some sound cards used to not have first-party Linux drivers, so you’d have to find some third-party workaround. This is the only real problem among the ones you listed, but even this is pretty rare nowadays.
That’s all fair advice. It doesn’t change that installation instructions should have been a lot more thorough though. Once I get a third (or bigger primary) SSD, I’ll dual-boot Mint. I still want to try it. Regardless of my issues with it, I do know Linux is getting better. And we can see how ready I am for it now (and that’s partially up to the software).
Fair. I guess asking users to verify the ISO is just to avoid lawsuits. Buying USBs is more beginner-friendly than burning your own, but it would be very difficult to maintain an up to date list of sellers. They definitely need to explain GRUB and dual-booting better, as well as make it easier to repair / avoid the Windows overwriting GRUB issue.
Burning an iso with stuff like rufus is so stupid easy it should be illegal.