Linux HATES Me – Daily Driver Challenge Pt.1

Then you have more faith in humanity, or casuals, than I do. :D I mean, this was three years ago, but I don’t think much has changed. ▶ this video Why would anyone want to bother with a terminal just for gaming, a little bit of browsing, casually installing mods, using Photoshop, etc.? I mean, just watch the video, and this is coming from a guy who at least knows one or two things about computers. Plus, don’t forget, Linux also has its quirks, just like Windows, only in different areas. Like not so awesome Nvidia drivers :P

> Everything just works under Linux If you mean a Linux desktop PC, then no. I have been using a Linux desktop for many years, but not exclusively. I have tried, but I always have had at least a dual-boot with Windows. Yes, you have more control under Linux, but the reason I still use Windows sometimes is that many things just don't work properly. Just look at here for a list: link Or, from a less technical perspective, look at the LinusTechTips video series where he tries to use Linux as a daily driver: ▶ this video And I love linux, I have a Linux desktop at home, which is pretty minimal by the way (Debian mini.iso), and that that it doesn't do weird things behind my back is appreciable. But it absolutely doesn't "just work".

>Huh? I have no idea what you're talking about here. ▶ this video >Get a new sd card and reload from the last backup. 1. How do you do backups? Is it built into home assistant? Do you think the average person knows or will remember to make backups? 2. "restore from backups" works if the sdcard just dies. If it's silently corrupting your install and causing weird behavior you won't even know it's sd card's fault unless you go through troubleshooting.

On the contrary, Linus of LTT managed to uninstall the GUI of his PopOS install within an hour while attempting to install Steam only last year. ▶ this video

It's because I've expanded on my issues with linux over and over and over again. And there's always some laundry list of "well did you try..." followed by the kind of forum hunting for answers and CLI inputs that I haven't had to do on any other machine since the 2010's. And that's if people are being reasonable. I've had plenty of insanely nasty interactions (not that it's unique to linux, but the ratio sure is higher) and it's the only time I've ever been told "well why don't you just write your own driver". Hell the most simple, concrete, easily documented example in recent times was Linus' attempt to use linux as a gaming platform, where when trying to debug a basic issue, he nuked the machine. ▶ this video This entire series is an extremely well documented example of what many "mid level" users experience is going to be, and 10 minutes into that video, in attempting to install steam on PopOS, a distro designed for gaming, he uninstalls his desktop. This is SUCH a red flag for anyone who's ever worked UI/UX. Seriously, look in detail at what he did about 10 min in. 1. Installs PopOS for gaming. 2. Trys to install steam, it fails with a complicated error that is of very little help. 3. Some amount of time spent on offscreen research. 4. Comes up with sudo apt-get install steam as an answer. And if you're moderately techy at all, that seems like a perfectly reasonable answer (still not the "just use the installer that was SUPPOSED to work but it doesn't seem malicious). Sudo for

> No warnings, nothing that stopped you. I'm not sure I follow why this is a good thing. Having the option is good, but some sort of a sanity check and a warning dialog just seems like looking out for your users. For example, I recently used Linux on the desktop as my daily driver and wrote about my experiences [1]. At one point, I considered that the system was perhaps a bit of a mess in regards to the installed packages and, not wanting to do a clean reinstall, I figured that I'd just reinstall Python in particular. There's nothing mystifying about running an apt remove command, nor is there anything outrageous about the idea of removing some software and then later reinstalling it. However, as it turns out, this would probably break certain parts of the system, so I got a helpful warning instead: After this operation, 1 244 MB disk space will be freed. You are about to do something potentially harmful. To continue type in the phrase 'Yes, do as I say!' By that time I had already entered "y" and pressed enter, not bothering to read the message, since the rest of the prompt looked like it normally would, so instead I got this output: Abort. And nothing broke. I think systems should look out more for the users like that, which would give the OS less of a bad reputation. Of course, it won't always save you, like Linus from LTT still ignored such a warning and ruined his install somewhat [2]. [1] link [2] ▶ this video

Not a good alternative for the big middle distribution of computer skills of the computer user base. Web browser only? Great. Highly skilled? Great. Everyone else? It can be a nightmare. Linus' Linux Challenge videos ( ▶ this video ) provide excellent insight into the typical user experience for anyone beyond web browser only requirements and beneath administrator level. If you find yourself saying "what an idiot, how did he not know that "do as I say" would mangle his OS," you're definitively in the highly skilled camp. Linux UX convention relies on the terminal as a matter of course. Almost everything not in the package manager requires use of the terminal. Even many of the package managed applications require tweaks and configuration via terminal. It's an open secret that package managers are largely inferior to the terminal anyway, in every distribution. The almost universal response to "I am having an issue with the package manager" is "use terminal." Bottom line: terminal is far less user friendly than an object oriented environment, and is often much slower. Until a flavour of Linux exists which never ever, for any reason ever, requires the use of the terminal, Linux will remain in the low single digits in terms of consumer market share. I don't think this will change, because if you ask the average Linux developer what they think of the terminal convention, they love it, and they think users just need to stop sucking so much.

The recent Linux Challenge [0] on Linus Tech Tips has helped raise Linux's profile for gaming. Linus Sebastian's enthusiasm for the upcoming Steam Deck has really raised the channel's appetite for Linux Content and as such is exposing it much more to its audience. We also have Anthony Young to thank for laying the groundwork for Linux Content on LTT, and in turn we have Linux content on LTT to thank for a greater awareness, acceptance and adoption of Linux among gamers (helped, of course, by the advancements being done by Valve with Proton, Steam Play, the Steam Deck, SteamOS 3.0, Steam Input, DXVK and all the rest). [0] ▶ this video

Its an idiom ( link ) My point is that I can make stuff up too! If you need evidence that linux is just not ready for non-technical user prime time just take a look at the ltt video from yesterday: ▶ this video

▶ this video Linus Tech Tips wanted to try Linux and see how user friendly it was. Somehow the PopOS steam package decided to uninstall the whole DE. Say what you want about the warnings he ignored,why is this even possible on a PopOS type system? Linus has pointed out that without understanding the terminology and packages, you would have no idea what the error message means. I think user friendly distros are much better but have quite a ways to go. Also as Linus points out, even picking the right distro is tough if you don't already know a lot of the Linux terminology.

This is in response to Linus (tech tips) trying to install Steam in his Linux daily driver challenge. ▶ this video