Why Linux is Hard for Windows Users but Easy for Newbies
-
@black3dynamite said in Why Linux is Hard for Windows Users but Easy for Newbies:
@scottalanmiller
Besides Cinnamon, what other desktop environments do you recommend Windows users to try when they want to start using Linux?Mine are Cinnamon (Because of Linux Mint and Korora), Pantheon (Because of Elementary OS), Gnome and KDE.
Cinnamon is definitely where I normally recommend Windows converts look first because it is like what the future of Windows 7 would have been if it advanced far beyond Windows 10.
I like Budgie a lot, too. From the Solus project.
-
@black3dynamite said in Why Linux is Hard for Windows Users but Easy for Newbies:
@scottalanmiller
Besides Cinnamon, what other desktop environments do you recommend Windows users to try when they want to start using Linux?Mine are Cinnamon (Because of Linux Mint and Korora), Pantheon (Because of Elementary OS), Gnome and KDE.
Fedora would be a decent setup.
-
@DustinB3403 said in Why Linux is Hard for Windows Users but Easy for Newbies:
@black3dynamite said in Why Linux is Hard for Windows Users but Easy for Newbies:
@scottalanmiller
Besides Cinnamon, what other desktop environments do you recommend Windows users to try when they want to start using Linux?Mine are Cinnamon (Because of Linux Mint and Korora), Pantheon (Because of Elementary OS), Gnome and KDE.
Fedora would be a decent setup.
He's asking about actually desktop environments, not the distros.
-
I was exceptionally pleased with how Korora handled plugging in a TV via hdmi and played movies... And how easy it was to change the resolution and screens.
But then again, im using hardware it fully 100% supports with 0 issues.
Now if it was like that on on the same percentage of hardware that works well on Windows, it'd be a different world.
-
@Tim_G said in Why Linux is Hard for Windows Users but Easy for Newbies:
I was exceptionally pleased with how Korora handled plugging in a TV via hdmi and played movies... And how easy it was to change the resolution and screens.
But then again, im using hardware it fully 100% supports with 0 issues.
Now if it was like that on on the same percentage of hardware that works well on Windows, it'd be a different world.
Are you saying you bought hardware to run Linux (specifically Korora)?
-
@DustinB3403 said in Why Linux is Hard for Windows Users but Easy for Newbies:
@Tim_G said in Why Linux is Hard for Windows Users but Easy for Newbies:
I was exceptionally pleased with how Korora handled plugging in a TV via hdmi and played movies... And how easy it was to change the resolution and screens.
But then again, im using hardware it fully 100% supports with 0 issues.
Now if it was like that on on the same percentage of hardware that works well on Windows, it'd be a different world.
Are you saying you bought hardware to run Linux (specifically Korora)?
No, it's Windows hardware that I got lucky enough for Korora to work on without any issues at all.
-
@Tim_G Ah.
Good stuff. I've never had a hard time getting any Distro installed on any hardware I've had. Not sure why @scottalanmiller seems to have such a hard time.
-
@DustinB3403 said in Why Linux is Hard for Windows Users but Easy for Newbies:
@Tim_G Ah.
Good stuff. I've never had a hard time getting any Distro installed on any hardware I've had. Not sure why @scottalanmiller seems to have such a hard time.
No it's the other way around. Scott is the only one who gets Linux installed on all hardware with zero issues and 100% compatibility... and he has issues all the time with Windows. Not sure what he is doing different than the rest of the world, but I wish it was like that for me too!
-
@Tim_G said in Why Linux is Hard for Windows Users but Easy for Newbies:
@DustinB3403 said in Why Linux is Hard for Windows Users but Easy for Newbies:
@Tim_G Ah.
Good stuff. I've never had a hard time getting any Distro installed on any hardware I've had. Not sure why @scottalanmiller seems to have such a hard time.
No it's the other way around. Scott is the only one who gets Linux installed on all hardware with zero issues and 100% compatibility... and he has issues all the time with Windows. Not sure what he is doing different than the rest of the world, but I wish it was like that for me too!
He couldn't get any Distro besides Ubuntu installed onto his Asus ROG.
So that last bit was a jab I was throwing his way.
-
@DustinB3403 said in Why Linux is Hard for Windows Users but Easy for Newbies:
@Tim_G said in Why Linux is Hard for Windows Users but Easy for Newbies:
@DustinB3403 said in Why Linux is Hard for Windows Users but Easy for Newbies:
@Tim_G Ah.
Good stuff. I've never had a hard time getting any Distro installed on any hardware I've had. Not sure why @scottalanmiller seems to have such a hard time.
No it's the other way around. Scott is the only one who gets Linux installed on all hardware with zero issues and 100% compatibility... and he has issues all the time with Windows. Not sure what he is doing different than the rest of the world, but I wish it was like that for me too!
He couldn't get any Distro besides Ubuntu installed onto his Asus ROG.
So that last bit was a jab I was throwing his way.
Ah yeah, same with me. The only thing I could get usable on mine was Fedora 26.
Edit: Note that I said usable... I'm not implying there were no issues.
-
@Tim_G said in Why Linux is Hard for Windows Users but Easy for Newbies:
@DustinB3403 said in Why Linux is Hard for Windows Users but Easy for Newbies:
@Tim_G Ah.
Good stuff. I've never had a hard time getting any Distro installed on any hardware I've had. Not sure why @scottalanmiller seems to have such a hard time.
No it's the other way around. Scott is the only one who gets Linux installed on all hardware with zero issues and 100% compatibility... and he has issues all the time with Windows. Not sure what he is doing different than the rest of the world, but I wish it was like that for me too!
It's not just me. It's everyone I'm around. Not sure how people here are running into issues. Maybe you plug in lots of weird things. Most people I know don't plug in new hardware with any frequency. That's not how normal people use computers. Sure, they do it once every few years. But once a machine is installed, regularly getting and plugging in new stuff isn't common for normal users.
-
@scottalanmiller said in Why Linux is Hard for Windows Users but Easy for Newbies:
@Tim_G said in Why Linux is Hard for Windows Users but Easy for Newbies:
@DustinB3403 said in Why Linux is Hard for Windows Users but Easy for Newbies:
@Tim_G Ah.
Good stuff. I've never had a hard time getting any Distro installed on any hardware I've had. Not sure why @scottalanmiller seems to have such a hard time.
No it's the other way around. Scott is the only one who gets Linux installed on all hardware with zero issues and 100% compatibility... and he has issues all the time with Windows. Not sure what he is doing different than the rest of the world, but I wish it was like that for me too!
It's not just me. It's everyone I'm around. Not sure how people here are running into issues. Maybe you plug in lots of weird things. Most people I know don't plug in new hardware with any frequency. That's not how normal people use computers. Sure, they do it once every few years. But once a machine is installed, regularly getting and plugging in new stuff isn't common for normal users.
I'm not plugging anything at all into the computer. The issues are with internal hardware components. There's always something that doesn't quite work right... maybe the fans always spin at full speed, maybe the thing gets stuck shutting down and rebooting, maybe the built-in card reader doesn't work, maybe the internal wNIC doesn't work, maybe it's the video card having issues, the touchpad, sometimes Bluetooth, etc etc etc etc etc....
That's my point.
And good luck trying to find the right drivers and getting it to work... grandma definitely won't be able to do that.
I've never gone to a manufacturers website and was able to just download and click to install a driver and have it working on Linux... not ever. There's always a ton of voodoo and wizardry involved, if it's even doable.
On Windows, if something doesn't work, it's super easy to resolve... If Windows doesn't come with a working driver built in, it's almost effortless to get the driver and have it working quickly.
-
@Tim_G said in Why Linux is Hard for Windows Users but Easy for Newbies:
That's my point.
And good luck trying to find the right drivers and getting it to work... grandma definitely won't be able to do that.
Grandma doesn't install Windows, Linux or anything else. That's not a task applicable to end users. So does not apply.
-
With Linux, there are two paths with hardware:
- You install Linux distro XYZ, and it just works. Great!
- You install Linux distro XYZ, and something doesn't work right... there's no hope so don't even try unless you want to waste weeks of your time. Hopefully it's usable and nothing too annoying, and you can live with it.
-
@Tim_G said in Why Linux is Hard for Windows Users but Easy for Newbies:
I've never gone to a manufacturers website and was able to just download and click to install a driver and have it working on Linux... not ever. There's always a ton of voodoo and wizardry involved, if it's even doable.
That's a Windowsism and part of the point of the article. With Windows, drivers come from websites that you go to to download them. In the Linux world, you really don't do that. It's an option, but it's not how the ecosystem works. Doing so will cause lots of problems in most cases, hence the point of the original article that weird complexities from Windows backgrounds tends to make Linux harder.
That I didn't come from Windows and don't have these issues and that people coming from Windows have these issues... is the actually thing we are discussing. This is what we are saying we expect.
-
@Tim_G said in Why Linux is Hard for Windows Users but Easy for Newbies:
- You install Linux distro XYZ, and something doesn't work right... there's no hope so don't even try unless you want to waste weeks of your time. Hopefully it's usable and nothing too annoying, and you can live with it.
Same as Windows.
-
@Tim_G said in Why Linux is Hard for Windows Users but Easy for Newbies:
On Windows, if something doesn't work, it's super easy to resolve... If Windows doesn't come with a working driver built in, it's almost effortless to get the driver and have it working quickly.
In my experience, this is less commonly true than it is in Linux. Once you have an OS that works with your hardware, I don't find these issues commonly on Linux.
I think you are equating initial OS compatibility with working with hardware. You try Linux distros in ways you'd never try Windows. Hence my Raspberry Pi example. Windows doesn't run on the world's most popular platform. Nor does it run on phones. Not on millions of different SBCs. Nor on Power or Sparc hardware. Linux runs on them all. You just rule all of that stuff out because you know Windows will never work. You are holding Linux to a totally different standard. If we flipped the approach Windows would work so much less often.
-
@scottalanmiller said in Why Linux is Hard for Windows Users but Easy for Newbies:
@Tim_G said in Why Linux is Hard for Windows Users but Easy for Newbies:
I've never gone to a manufacturers website and was able to just download and click to install a driver and have it working on Linux... not ever. There's always a ton of voodoo and wizardry involved, if it's even doable.
That's a Windowsism and part of the point of the article. With Windows, drivers come from websites that you go to to download them. In the Linux world, you really don't do that. It's an option, but it's not how the ecosystem works. Doing so will cause lots of problems in most cases, hence the point of the original article that weird complexities from Windows backgrounds tends to make Linux harder.
That I didn't come from Windows and don't have these issues and that people coming from Windows have these issues... is the actually thing we are discussing. This is what we are saying we expect.
Yeah I guess you'd get it from the Repo that's for your Distro... I don't know, probably something like:
sudo dnf search yourHardware*or something like that... install it maybe, and hope and pray your system is still usable afterwards. Or some other method that wastes a ton of time, again, if it's even possible.
On servers and enterprise hardware, it's easy... Dell provides for you what you need for supported OSs. I have no issues there. I'm strictly talking personal use.
IMO, it's faster and easier to go to a website, find what you need for the OS you are using, install it, and it just works. No guessing CLI and hoping and praying.
-
@Tim_G said in Why Linux is Hard for Windows Users but Easy for Newbies:
@scottalanmiller said in Why Linux is Hard for Windows Users but Easy for Newbies:
@Tim_G said in Why Linux is Hard for Windows Users but Easy for Newbies:
I've never gone to a manufacturers website and was able to just download and click to install a driver and have it working on Linux... not ever. There's always a ton of voodoo and wizardry involved, if it's even doable.
That's a Windowsism and part of the point of the article. With Windows, drivers come from websites that you go to to download them. In the Linux world, you really don't do that. It's an option, but it's not how the ecosystem works. Doing so will cause lots of problems in most cases, hence the point of the original article that weird complexities from Windows backgrounds tends to make Linux harder.
That I didn't come from Windows and don't have these issues and that people coming from Windows have these issues... is the actually thing we are discussing. This is what we are saying we expect.
Yeah I guess you'd get it from the Repo that's for your Distro... I don't know, probably something like:
sudo dnf search yourHardware*or something like that... install it maybe, and hope and pray your system is still usable afterwards. Or some other method that wastes a ton of time, again, if it's even possible.
On servers and enterprise hardware, it's easy... Dell provides for you what you need for supported OSs. I have no issues there. I'm strictly talking personal use.
IMO, it's faster and easier to go to a website, find what you need for the OS you are using, install it, and it just works. No guessing CLI and hoping and praying.
Or you could just click on the desktop button that says "Install proprietary drivers" as found in almost every mainstream desktop distro.
Literally a 2 second job.
-
@scottalanmiller said in Why Linux is Hard for Windows Users but Easy for Newbies:
@Tim_G said in Why Linux is Hard for Windows Users but Easy for Newbies:
On Windows, if something doesn't work, it's super easy to resolve... If Windows doesn't come with a working driver built in, it's almost effortless to get the driver and have it working quickly.
In my experience, this is less commonly true than it is in Linux. Once you have an OS that works with your hardware, I don't find these issues commonly on Linux.
Yeah, once you have an OS that works with all your hardware... there are no issues at all. Agree with you there!
