this post was submitted on 22 May 2024
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Linux

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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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It seems like the more interested I get in Linux, the less appealing it becomes. The community seems to have no fucking clue what they're talking about, because everyone is just constantly talking over each other and contradicting themselves! I have spent so much time reading about Linux and distros and such to prepare for my eventual switch, but after all that I'm starting to question if I even want to make the switch. Here's a few of the things I have read over and over, that confuse me to no end:

  • It doesn't matter what distro you use, but also you absolutely should not use that one!! Use that one it's much better trust me!
  • Gaming is good on Linux now, but also it's super shit and you should keep windows if you want to game
  • Sure you can use Nvidia cards, but also no you can't because nothing will work with them
  • Just dual boot if you're not sure, but also no don't dual boot because windows will erase your shit if you do
  • Trust me bro Linux is super easy to learn, also here's 14 different specific terms you'll have to Google, but even then you'll barely understand them
  • Everything will work out of the box, but also you can't use that thing with that other thing without configuring that other thing first but that'll break that thing which needed that thing [...]

I'm slightly exaggerating and I may get downvoted but I needed to vent. It honestly sometimes seems like Linux diehards are intentionally hiding some of its major pitfalls in order to "convert" more people to their side.

I know windows sucks and that's why I want to switch, but at least when you have a windows question there's a concrete answer, not a bunch of nerds yelling out incoherent technobabble-sounding answers that all contradict each other.

And for fucks sake please type the whole words when speaking to beginners. How am I supposed to know what a DE, a VM, a CLI, a WM, PM, or all that other stuff is?

Linux is the "least welcoming, yet most aggressively butthurt that no one is joining it" community I've seen in a while.

Alright rant over, you may yell at me now.

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[–] shadowintheday2 3 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

The real scenario lie between these extreme polar opposites of opinions

People new to a hobby (e.g switching to Linux) usually are more active and post more about their personal opinions and difficulties in the first months after getting into it. Then eventually the OS is just another thing working on their lifes, they move on to read and post about other things.

So what you read is usually the opinion of people who barely know what they are doing

If you want to switch, choose a way - any way is good enough - and follow through it. Choose any distro and desktop environment among the top discussed and you will be fine. Eventually you will understand that a "distro" is just a set of default configurations, and that the biggest differences are usually what package manager (the thing that installs/delete programs) and what Desktop Environment (the thing that display graphics and applications in a certain way) they use, and the same result may be achieved throughout most of them