#I use linux mint btw

[systemdeez]

Bitches be like "Ubuntu sucks" and then install an Ubuntu derivative.

[msx-pocky]

"I can't read it but I like the vibe" as a casual Linux user I 100% get you lafier

[linuxmint-official]

What is a os

emacs

[cupofkale]

DONT LISTEN TO ALL THE FAKERS THE SECOND LINUX DISTRO I EVER USED WAS ARCH AND I USED IT FOR MONTHS

(until i lost my laptop charger and then physically couldn’t use it)

I DONT REGRET ANYTHING

[bisexual-engineer-guy]

I’ll never understand the mint haters

[catperson6]

I present to you: Linux greentext

> at funeral > someone walks up to you > "hey... I use Arch Linux btw" > WTF???????

> Crowdstrike > Windows crashes upon launch > try to get Linux > you need to have another OS to download it > install a very old OS > can't download the ISO > switch back to standard Windows > the Crowdstrike software still errors, (what did you expect?) > buy Windows 11 just to install Linux

> See someone saying "I use Arch Linux btw" > Install Arch Linux > Almost delete your entire hard drive > Not enough space anyway > Time wasted > Way later > Install Arch Linux > Use 10 tutorials and barely figure it out > Comment "I use Arch Linux btw" in the comments section of a video about Linux > the cycle repeats

also if anyone asks I don't use Arch Linux (I use Mint)

[orthogonal-slut]

what's ur favorite OS??

i use arch, btw

i started using ubuntu first over a decade ago, then mint. then i somehow fucked up mint (or rather, i was too lazy to fix it when i did something funky with the terminal) and began distro hopping...

manjaro i didn't like, but i liked the aur. then i went straight to arch, and been there ever since.

i have a rpi with endeavouros as well but that's only because arch doesn't officially support arm cpus (there is a fork that does, but i wanted something... idk, "official"). my laptop also runs on endeavouros because i use it for studying and want arch to run with minimal configuration

the reason why i use arch (btw) is simple. it lets me do what i want, and doesn't try to hide "the ugly parts" of operating systems either. i learned a lot through installing it, and it really converted linux from a 'normal' passion to an active special interest

[arch-official]

can i still say “I use arch btw” if I use manjaro?

manjaro is a branch of arch, in much the same way that linux mint is a branch of ubuntu.

all of this is to say, that it means nothing because you can do whatever you want to; lie on the internet. who cares

[mlembug]

In theory there could be an option E where no one upgrades to a new OS and we keep Microsoft hostage into keeping support (if I recall correctly, Microsoft released a patch for the security hole which was exploited by WannaCry ransomware after its support ended), but in practice this is essentially prisoner's dilemma, so I don't expect this to be exactly doable.

(also I tried to find the exact reason for why W11 has such high requirements and it seems to be something that could be just optional?)

I talked about the problem of Windows system requirements being too damn high before, and how the windows 10 to 11 jump is especially bad. Like the end of Windows 10 is coming october 2025, and it will be a massive problem. And this article gives us some concrete numbers for how many computers that can't update from win10 to 11.

And it's 240 million. damn. “If these were all folded laptops, stacked one on top of another, they would make a pile 600 km taller than the moon.” the tech analysis company quoted in the article explains.

So many functioning computers that will be wasted. And it's all because people don't wanna switch to a Linux distro with sane system requirements and instead buy a new computer.

Like if you own one of these 240 million windows 10 computers, Just be an environmentally responsible non-wasteful person and switch that computer to Linux instead of just scrapping it because Microsoft says it's not good enough.

Edit: as have been pointed out multiple times in the replies. It's really not "all because people don't wanna switch to a linux distro." It's really Microsoft's fault for this form of planned obsolescence.

My original post was lacking in perspective at best. And of course, people who use computers for work are often made reliant on Windows by their job and employers and can't switch. Or lack time, resources, and information to make the switch. Which is also due to systemic issues, such as lack of education, and the culture of obfuscation about tech that tech companies create.

[shinelikethunder]

computer/firefox anon, no questions this time. just my undying thanks! as tumblr users say, i am kissing you on the mouth etc etc. huge thank you to you and everyone else who added stuff in the replies or reblogs — i feel much more confident about this now<33. tldr: y’all are awesome, thanks a bunch!

happy to help! and i think i said this deep down under the read-more in the first response to your Linux ask, but it's worth highlighting--@compusever's advice to get a Windows 10 or 11 Home laptop and do what you can with the privacy settings is not AT ALL incompatible with trying Linux or eventually replacing Windows with it. once you've booted up the computer from an installation USB drive, most distros will offer a temporary "preview" version of the OS that runs from the USB drive without changing anything on the computer. you can try Ubuntu, mess around, see if you like it, wipe the USB drive, put Mint on it, and try that; if you go for the full install you can dual-boot and keep Windows around in hard-drive quarantine in case you need it.

in other words, you don't have to take the entire plunge all at once! but i suspect that if you don't have pre-existing desktop UI preferences, and you strongly prefer a device that won't pester/spy on/micromanage you, a beginner-friendly Linux will be easier to use than any of the current versions of Windows.

btw, here's the install guide for Mint: https://linuxmint-installation-guide.readthedocs.io/en/latest/ compared to the Ubuntu one, which goes out of its way to be friendly and dead simple, the Mint guide is... a lot closer to what you can expect from most Linux tutorials, lmao. i especially love that the very second step explains a bit about why it wants you to check that the file didn't get corrupted in the download process, immediately starts providing commands you can copy into a Linux terminal to generate cryptographic checksums, and only then adds a "how to do this on Windows" link... to a forum post with commands you can paste into a Windows terminal. (meanwhile, Ubuntu gives you a download link and then displays an unobtrusive "here's how to verify the file if you want" with a one-off command and a link to more info.) even the friendliest Linux tends to be built on the labor of absolute nerds who are into this stuff as a hobby, and they are very helpful, but be warned that they often have a wildly skewed frame of reference about what "normal computer use" consists of.

[millionsofplayers]

might say fuck it and try dualbooting linux + windows again

i used arch for a few months then i realized i might actually want to play games that have kernel level anticheat in them without having to use a console (and pay money to play online. why is that normal now) so i reinstalled windows but i'm now realizing i could've probably just done a windows partition for those games instead of reinstalling windows to be the only os on my computer

i'm going with linux mint this time btw. i haven't really used it on a good computer before so i want to see what that's like

[muzrik2003]

So, after a LOOOOOONG time not painting anything, while I was configuring my dualboot of highly customized windows 11 and mildly customized linux mint 22, and also finding which system handles my graphics tablet better (linux mint handled it better IMO) I finally drew a picture of my new imbalance protogen (but not fully protogen) OC in krita :3c

So, here it is, yes, it looks like a logo design, but hey! I haven't beed drawing for quite a while afterall, and I needed to test my skills, and also, found some artistic filters in krita I haven't been using ever, which helped me make the character's face a bit more digital (although I have some way to go with that one)

This character has a whole lore about them, and I say them, because the actual being that possesed this being is not something with sex or gender, it just choses a body for it, and goes like that

[Some Lore Of This Character]

The body it took in this case is a body of a dead fox woman, so it just took her body from her grave, shifted everyone's memory about her, or even erased, then fixed her body, added her a vysor (because vysor = cool), and now lives it's own life. Also these things, that can posses dead bodies and live a life like that are able to shift reality and immune when anything else tries to shift reality thag they are in, and also these beings can regenerate from thin air, even if the body they are in is completely erased from reality. And BTW, these beings are bound to the body they took, so they can't change the body, and they should take care of it, as destroying the body to inexistance one too many times can lead them to roam without bodies for centuries, until they die from draining (also, I have no picture of them made for now, but I will come up with their appearance too)

Welp, that's it for now, yes the post if very big, at least, I haven't been posting anything like this in here, though I had a story of even redesigning this character n all, but doesn't matter, I still work on her lore ^^"

[verdantmagus]

While this meme can be true, in a majority of distros you are unlikely to be forced to configure stuff.

For example, Linux Mint is a really popular distro which is specifically tailored to make the switch from Windows as easy and effortless as possible. Everything you need is there out of the box, no terminals needed. This is the experience you can expect from a lot of popular distributions.

You are never forced to configure anything unless you make the deliberate choice to force it upon yourself by picking distros like Arch or NixOS.

[vvatchword]

Okay: speaking of the Drama of the World's Stupidest Netbook: often the problem is me, actually!

Remember how I complained that my ISO flash drives didn't work? There was a reason for that.

I only figured this out today, when I grew so angry about not being able to job hunt that I started scouring Public Surplus, Craigslist, eBay, and Facebook Marketplace for used laptops. My RAM threshold was 8 GB and I wanted an AMD CPU.

This town is a great place to look for electronics. There's money here. So within an hour I find a perfectly suitable ASUS laptop (Intel, though. Boooo) under $100. I jumped on it, I didn't give a single fuck.

I bring back my prize. Start it up. Windows immediately loads. I stare in deep revulsion at the opening screen. Every load screen is worse than the last. Think of all the privacy failures, the AI, the unintuitive GUI, the fascism, the monopoly. Decide I'm going to fucking do it, I'm going to fucking make this a devoted Linux machine. I will run Scrivener on Wine.

Machine refuses to boot from USB.

Re-read to-do list.

You have to flash the fucking flash drive. I feel that this is offensive and an unnecessary extra step.

Downloaded Balena, which refused to flash anything. Looked up the error message. The solution was to not use Balena. The querent asking about my error message was snootily reprimanded about using "gimmicky packages" in one of the most Linuxy sentences ever recorded. Ventoy was suggested. Am sure that the developers of Balena would be confused to hear their program described as "gimmicky."

Linuxy user proved instantly right. Ventoy is fucking elegant. You can load multiple ISOs on a single flash drive. Cool as fuck!!! Guess who has a devoted ISO flashdrive now.

The process of looking all of this up was a fucking nightmare. I used Edge because I wasn't intending on using Windows at all. Jesus fucking Christ! Some of the websites were borderline unusable. Pop-ups and embedded ads covered the text and the only reason I could follow the article at all was because I could suss out the width of the margins. There were ads everywhere, some in text mirroring the formatting of the article, and they broke up the margins and covered paragraphs. Half of the pop-ups were from Microsoft itself using my own fucking operating system and I must stress that they were advertisements.

On a list of advice about installing an operating system.

Oh my god. That just made me angrier.

Anyway. I have Linux Mint, Cinnamon edition, on a computer I have named "zip." Time to set up Scrivener!

btw the dogs are going to wake me up tomorrow at 5 am so this is going to be great

[linuxmint-official]

only half-committed to the bit (i use both nixos and linux mint (btw))

[window-to-the-void]

Any foolproof Linux distros? I might try it

there's a few good options they just look kinda different/have different uis

these first few are pretty windows-like

this is linux mint (it comes with it's own desktop enviroment called cinnamon) and is based on ubuntu (this is useful to know since if you have to google something results for ubuntu will probably also work):

it's a pretty traditional desktop, decent option if you like windows.

this is kde (another desktop environment), specifically fedora's kde plasma edition (fedora isn't based on anything, it's its own thing):

similar experience to mint, imo it looks much nicer but is a little glitchier (although it's gotten much better lately). it's also super customizable, you can make it look basically however you want. for example:

btw you can get kde on other distros too! kubuntu is also pretty popular but i'd recommend fedora from personal experience.

pop!_os (also based on ubuntu) uses a modified version of gnome that looks kinda nice imo:

finally, fedora's main version (called workstation) uses unmodified gnome which behaves a lot like macOS:

i should probably add if you use an nvidia graphics card you should probably just go with pop!_os, since nvidia can be a pain in the ass on linux and pop handles it automatically. personally i mostly use gnome cos i was raised on macOS and it's what i'm used too :3