I’m a life-long Windows user who nowdays has a MacBook as a daily driver and a gaming PC running Linux. I consider myself somewhat tech savvy but holy fuck Linux just makes me want to tear my head off. I just spent 45 minutes trying to install Standard Notes “the right way” and in the end I just gave up and downloaded it from the Ubuntu store instead. Error, you need to add this repository. Error, you need to enable this feature. Error, you need to install this tool first which you can use to install another tool and that tool helps you fix the issue preventing you to solve the first issue etc. I honestly can’t even imagine how you could make this any more difficult.
I guess Linux is like welding; it’s great when someone sets the welder up for you and you just press the trigger and start welding but you’re up for some absolute misery trying to figure that out on your own.
Also, a huge credit to chatGPT. I can just take picture of my terminal window and it gives me step-by-step instructions on how to troubleshoot most issues I’ve had. I’d be at complete loss without it.
It’s 2005 and Grandma just got a new computer. She doesn’t know what it’s for but needs to tell the neighborhood all about it.
I recall having issues like that when I tried to do things the wrong way. The forum posts just tell you wow to do something, but they rarely question if it’s the sensible thing to do in the first place. If Standard Notes isn’t in my repositories or if I can’t find a flatpack for it, I would just ditch the whole idea and switch to whatever note app is easily available. If something is not easily available, I just ignore those apps completely. Going through hours of trickery and hackery to build a wobbly tower that will collapse next week is not worth it.
Standard notes is available as appimage from their website, as a snap on ubuntu and also as flatpak on flathub. How did you install or run it? Also, please don’t equate ubuntu with linux, unless you had troubles installing it on other distros as well. It scares away other people trying to move to good gnu+linux distros (like linux mint, fedora, etc).
First Windows install/run:
- Protracted install with DRM.
- Download NIC drivers on another PC and put them in a flash drive.
- Install NIC drivers on the new PC.
- Install most other drivers with Windows Update.
- Hunt down other missing drivers from manufacturer websites, some don’t have installers and need to be installed via device manager.
- Change Windows settings so that the OS isn’t constantly nagging you with ads for Microsoft products and services.
- Download software you use individually from different websites and install them one at a time, each with their own unique installer. Force the OS to respect your defaults as best you can.
- Never fully have control over your own computer, because Daddy Microsoft says so.
First Linux install/run:
- Express install.
- Hardware just works.
- Run updater.
- Install software quickly from store(s) - with a script if you want to.
- The computer is yours.
I installed Manjaro to test a year or so ago. Only issue I had was my USB wifi adapter, that took some time to get working. Otherwise the OS install was very smooth.
Yeah the OS itself was easy to install. No issues with that.
Maybe instead of expecting everything else to always get dumbed down, people should try to step up just a little and learn something?
The thing about the “race to the bottom” of making things idiot proof/accessible is that the universe is more than happy to keep providing better idiots.
I don’t necessarily disagree but that is why it will never become more widespread.
Ignorance isn’t a opinion and Linux is more plug and play than windows for 99%of things.
True
I have the opposite experience. Last time I tried Linux for daily desktop use was ten years ago and it was so fickle and cumbersome that I went back to Windows and terminals and x-server on virtual machines for my dev needs. A few weeks ago I got a new convertible laptop, hated Windows 11 with passion enough to do the plunge again, prepared to be cursing that shit ain’t up to shit. But… It just worked. Hardware support out of the box. Some quirks obviously but nothing deal breaking. I’m used to containerization on servers and I’ll be damned but Flatpaks are effing awesome. Even Windows games run perfectly. It. Just. Works. I’m almost expecting the entire thing to literally blow up in my face with shards of hope and OLED panel because, you know, Linux desktop experiences of the past. Fingers crossed. Maybe this is the future after all.
Edit: Fedora KDE on a HP Envy x360 15"
I understoon 30% of the terms used in this comment. May explain why your experience with Linux differs from mine.
Short version is that I expected nerd skills to be required but I was surprised that shit just worked, even my network printer. I even preferred the graphical tools to configure the system and install software instead of the command line. Desktop on Linux has come a really long way.
“Look, I don’t know what an engine is, or a transmission for that matter, but it’s the manufacturer’s fault I don’t know how to drive this car”
Somehow Minecraft runs better on a (well, not so-)crappy government provided laptop I have linux installed on, vs a £1k+ laptop with an RTX 2060
I just spent 45 minutes trying to install Standard Notes “the right way”
I’m curious what you mean by the “right” way, from a website? Linux does things differently at a fundamental level, that I won’t deny. But I’ll also say, if you’re interested in Linux, you have to be willing to learn.
I’m not an expert, but as I understand it most Linux distributions rely on repositories, and expect you to install most of your software from there for both security and compatibility reasons. Those errors were telling you what additional things needed to be downloaded before what you selected would work. And I guess I’m confused on that point. You said it pointed you to what you needed, did things not work after the downloads completed? I know Linux Mint does this, and it’s considered to be very user friendly. To use your analogy, if you turn the welder on and it says you need fuel, “please download this exact type” that should resolve the issue.
I know it’s hard expecting everything in Linux to function exactly like Windows, but that’s not how it works and that’s by design. Regardless, as Windows adopts more spyware, ads, and anti-user features into their products I think Linux is the far better (free and open-source) choice and it’s definitely worth learning… Good luck!
This isn’t an unpopular opinion, just ignorance. You’re used to other systems. Different systems are different, even among the various Linux distributions. Having used mostly Linux and Windows, I too briefly had some culture shock using OSX. Complaining here is like rocking in a rocking chair, it may feel good but it’s not going to get you anywhere.
