• thingsiplay@beehaw.org
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            21
            ·
            4 months ago

            A rare sighting of a Plan 9 user! You need to be protected at all cost! Your species is extremely rare and important for future studies.

            BTW for a moment I was upset, because I thought this is a screenshot of Reddit. I kinda like the old look of it.

          • antrosapien@lemmy.ml
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            5
            ·
            4 months ago

            What desktop environment is that? Or is it built in by default or doesn’t work quite similar to linux?

            • bubstance@lemmy.sdf.org
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              8
              ·
              edit-2
              4 months ago

              It is called rio(1) and it comes with Plan 9.

              There is a Unix/X11 port that contains most of the Plan 9 userspace—including a version of rio—called plan9port.

              It is not nearly as good as using the real thing.

              • t0mri@lemmy.ml
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                2
                arrow-down
                2
                ·
                4 months ago

                They got a DE built in and say GNU is bloated. Foolishness

            • bubstance@lemmy.sdf.org
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              8
              ·
              edit-2
              4 months ago

              I use it because it’s truly a “complete system” in a way that Linux and even the BSDs are not—every program is an example in itself and it comes with a ton of various scratch-built utilities that you don’t usually find as part of a typical Linux distro. Stuff like a basic torrent or IRC client just sort of fall out of the way Plan 9 is organized and implemented.

              It also provides me with a distraction-free environment and a set of tools that I enjoy using, even if some aspects of Plan 9 as, say, a laptop daily driver are inconvenient or awkward. It really is better suited for networked computing.

              I was pretty much sold from first contact because Plan 9 is the way that I feel best matches what I’ve always wanted from my machines: a simple grid of networked appliances where I can route the various resources and hardware in whatever way I require.

              • rhabarba@feddit.org
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                2
                ·
                4 months ago

                I wish someone would port Python and BorgBackup to it. Venti/Fossil are not quite as nice for multi-OS backups.

                • bubstance@lemmy.sdf.org
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  arrow-up
                  2
                  ·
                  edit-2
                  4 months ago

                  Python 2.5.1 was distributed as part of 9front back when it used hg, but it was ultimately removed from the base system once we switched over to git9. 9legacy still packages binaries, however; they’re up to 2.7.6 for Python and 2.9.2 for Mercurial.

                  I never bother with venti/fossil, honestly. I’m more of a cwfs kind of person, but Ori’s gefs has been attracting my attention lately.

            • bubstance@lemmy.sdf.org
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              2
              ·
              edit-2
              4 months ago

              In #cat-v? Not regularly. I mostly hang out in gridchat with a handful of the 9front people.

              • billgamesh@lemmy.ml
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                3
                ·
                4 months ago

                ah. I’ve been doing linux things, but maybe i’ll try out gridchat next time i’m on 9front

      • Laser@feddit.org
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        6
        ·
        4 months ago

        One of the few times I think where this is not only correct, but also most accurate

    • Eugenia@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      4 months ago

      The “unknown” is Windows. If you change the graph to see the whole range from 2008 to date, you will see that whenever there’s a big spike or dip on Unknown, it’s the exact opposite for Windows.

  • xavier666@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    119
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    4 months ago

    Sorry but Linux is becoming too mainstream for me now. Time to hop on to BSD

  • sparky@lemmy.federate.cc@lemmy.federate.cc
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    90
    ·
    edit-2
    4 months ago

    Windows 11 is a strong motivator. I suspect like many other people, the only reason I was keeping Windows around was gaming. But thanks to Proton and the Steam Deck, the number of games in my library that won’t run on Linux is vanishingly small. I deleted my Windows partition a few months ago and haven’t looked back.

    Install Linux or buy a Mac, fuck Windows.

    • fxdave@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      40
      arrow-down
      5
      ·
      4 months ago

      Don’t buy a Mac. That’s more limiting than a Windows. But yeah install linux.

      • boonhet@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        50
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        4 months ago

        More limited, but also less enshittified than Windows.

        If you want a good, well-polished experience for certain creative workloads, or even programming, MacOS is great and their Apple Silicon CPUs are excellent.

        If you want to do ANY gaming besides WoW (which surprisingly enough has always had great MacOS support) or you can’t stand the lack of configurability, Linux is immediately the superior choice by far.

        • Zetta@mander.xyz
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          9
          ·
          4 months ago

          I would like to add that if you want to do any real customization of your setup don’t get mac either.

        • Aceticon@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          9
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          edit-2
          4 months ago

          The whole business model of Apple is to force a hardware upgrade cycle on you and force all your devices to be in that same ecosystem.

          I mean, I can see the advantages of it on the short term, but on the longer term having stuff that keeps on working even as always even in older hardware (or you just install new hardware under it and it just recognizes it and keeps on working) is a massive benefit versus a $1500+ bill every two five years and having to migrate your stuff.

          • Rexios@lemm.ee
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            4 months ago

            It’s more like 6-7 years and the migration tool basically clones your drive in 15 minutes

        • pete_the_cat@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          7
          ·
          4 months ago

          Even though I do hate Apple as a company, they do make great products, they just charge out the ass for them

          • Fonzie!@ttrpg.network
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            4
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            4 months ago

            Nah, even their hardware consists out of laptops with screen protection falling off, phones bending themselves into breakage and cables with the sensitive connectors on the outside so they’ll break often.
            Their OS is surprisingly buggy, too.

            They’re actually just shit all around, in my experience.

    • sunbeam60@lemmy.one
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      21
      arrow-down
      4
      ·
      edit-2
      4 months ago

      Mac?! Christ no, that’s doing the opposite of liberating yourself and it has less gaming than Linux I’d say.

      • Xuderis@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        6
        ·
        4 months ago

        It does. Gaming on mac is a pain. Gaming on linux is a much better experience, and has much better support at this point. Apple really alienates developers.

      • sparky@lemmy.federate.cc@lemmy.federate.cc
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        4
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        4 months ago

        I didn’t mean for gaming specifically, probably should have used a transition statement. For creative and professional use cases, macOS is still far far better than Windows. For gaming yeah that’s not your platform, Linux is.

        • Fonzie!@ttrpg.network
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          6
          ·
          4 months ago
          • “I can’t choose when to update, anymore”
          • “I can’t uninstall all sorts of things, anymore”
          • “I can’t even use my perfectly fine laptop of 6 years old, anymore”

          It’s all about liberation, I’d say.

          • fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.dbzer0.com
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            2
            arrow-down
            2
            ·
            4 months ago

            “I can’t choose when to update, anymore”

            That changed with windows 8 12 years ago.

            “I can’t uninstall all sorts of things, anymore”

            Unless you installed the embedded versions of windows you’ve never been able to do that, best you could do was turn like 5 things off in the features screen.

            “I can’t even use my perfectly fine laptop of 6 years old, anymore”

            I wouldn’t call your computer not getting updates so you install a different OS “liberating” it.

            Also your computer not getting updates doesn’t magically turn it into a brick, you can still use it just fine. This is something I’ve never understood. As long as your web browser still gets updates that’s the biggest security vulnerability that I’d be afraid of. Chrome supported Windows 7 until 109 in 2023, and Firefox ESR is still going until September this year. 10th gen and older intel machines don’t get graphics updates anymore, are those machines ewaste? Shit some shitty laptops never get bios updates and there’s a whole host of vulnerabilities there.

    • pipsqueak1984@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      16
      ·
      4 months ago

      Gaming works pretty damn well as far as I’m concerned, the few that I can’t get to work are irrelevant.

      I’m keeping Windows around for work… fuck Autodesk and fuck Dassault. So I am trying to get a VM with GPU pass through to work (had it working once but then I screwed it up and now I can’t seem to get it working again).

      • Aceticon@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        14
        ·
        edit-2
        4 months ago

        Having done the transition some months ago, there is still some stupid shit one has to deal with (especially, but not only, for games NOT from Steam) at times, more than in Windows, but it’s all so much better than it was before and by now quite close to the Gaming experience in Windows.

        Then on top of that there are all the the longer term peace of mind things versus Windows: upgrading your Linux costs zero, changing your hardware won’t invalidate your Linux “OEM License” (plus it will probably just boot up as normal with if you just move your SSD to a whole new machine rather than throw you into driver nightmare), games that work in today’s Linux will keep on working in tomorrow’s and so on - this is actually massive advantage of Linux versus Windows which is seldom talked about: more often than not, hardware migration with Linux is to just move your SSD to a whole new machine, with all the stuff just the way you like it and all you files, and it just boots with and keeps on working.

        (PS: Especially relevant for gamers who have to upgrade due to the increasing demands on hardware from the gaming side of things even though the hardware is fine for everything else they do in that machine, and who would rather that all those other things they’ve installed and kept on using rather than uninstall after “finishing the game”, just carry on configured just the way they like it and working just the way they’ve always did, even when they do upgrade the hardware because of games. People who are fine with hardware dedicated to gaming and with replacing the whole thing - hardware and software - for newer games, just get XBoxes or similar consoles, not PCs)

        Linux not only saves you from enshittification, keeps control in your hands and preserves your privacy, it’s also a reliable and functional long term OS layer for your hardware that doesn’t force hardware upgrades on you.

      • OR3X@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        4 months ago

        I dicked around with the VM route for a while and could never really get it working 100% to my liking. There was always a trade-off. I ended up just getting a second PC and tucking it in a cabinet out of sight. When I need Windows I just use remote desktop to connect to it.

    • netvor@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      7
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      edit-2
      4 months ago

      the number of games in my library that won’t run on Linux is vanishingly small

      at this point, it’s pretty much only about Roblox.

      …which I don’t want to play, I’m not happy about my nephews playing, but that seems like the only big one which really continues to struggle on Windows.

      edit: that’s from my limited POV, as someone who loves gaming but i don’t follow or try out big new titles, I’m pretty much happy with my 30 favs, trying out like 5 new games a year, usually older or indie titles.

      • Omgpwnies@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        4 months ago

        Roblox is about the only reason why I can’t switch my kid’s computer to Linux, they play almost exclusively that and Minecraft. Once win10 goes EOL, I’ll probably start budgeting to replace my laptop with a new PC and give them the laptop. The old PC will then get Linux and handle 3d printer stuffs

        • netvor@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          edit-2
          4 months ago

          I might be out of date but for a long time my 2 nephews (10 and 13, cousins to each other) have been playing Blox Fruits, which I understand is pretty much a standard “grind” MMORPG. (Which I don’t necessarily find that bad; having to put a lot of work in a character and seeing it grow slowly and steadily can be a lesson.) I like how they are having fun trying to coordinate and take out a boss together (sometimes dying all the time), but I suppose other games can give that, perhaps even better-looking ones and certainly ones made by less shady companies. (Oh, and actually working on Linux/steam deck)

          So I was wondering if there are other games that I could introduce them to, if only to remind them that world outside Roblox exists. I never played any MMORPG’s (or pretty much anything multi-player, except Minecraft/Terraria/etc. with the kids) so I’m out of the picture. I’ve only tried few in my life and never stuck for long.

          Albion Online seemed child-like enough, albeit a little boring for my taste. One I really enjoyed recently is Path of Exile (and I it looks more than good enough to be hard to resist for a kid), but who knows – is that safe for 10 to 13 year olds…?

      • Fonzie!@ttrpg.network
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        4 months ago

        at this point, it’s pretty much only about Roblox.

        It’s Honkai: Star Rail for me.

        Petty as it may seem, I’ll begrudgingly dual boot Win10 until H:SR is playable on Linux.

    • thingsiplay@beehaw.org
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      4 months ago

      I’m Linux user since 2008 and as much as I want to agree with you, I can’t. Even if Mac is much closer to Linux with its BSD roots, I probably would choose Windows over Mac. Why? Because Windows is much more open and less restrictive than OS X. And there is the support and compatibility of Steam games (and games in general) in Windows. The hardware repair ability is terrible on Apple too.

      Yes, Microsoft is bad, Windows is bad; so is Apple and OS X. I personally can’t live with the restrictions Apple has.

    • NutWrench@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      4 months ago

      Same here. If I could get Vortex Mod Manager to work under Wine/Proton, I wouldn’t use Windows at all.

      • WilfordGrimley@linux.community
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        4 months ago

        Nexus Mods is working on an AppImage version of their mod manager that works perfectly in my testing.

        Currently it only supports Stardew Valley and Cyberpunk i think.

        I’m excited for it to have parity with Windows Vortex.

      • Luke@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        4 months ago

        Give it a shot again, something changed recently in Proton (I assume) that made Vortex “just work” for me on my Steam Deck. I didn’t even need to do any fiddling, I just ran the installer exe from desktop mode using Lutris and whatever Proton was latest, and it installed perfectly. Vortex now runs entirely as expected, even from game mode.

      • pete_the_cat@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        4 months ago

        Vortex should be easy to get working, it probably just needs the Dot Net and Visual C libraries installed, which I think you can get via Wine Tricks.

      • solberg@lemmy.blahaj.zone
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        4 months ago

        What games are you using it for? I’ve used Mod Organizer 2 for Skyrim SE and it’s worked great on the deck

        • pete_the_cat@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          edit-2
          4 months ago

          Really? The last few times I’ve tried (granted it was a year or more ago) I got like 15 FPS on a heavy modlist running on my desktop, which had a GTX 2080 and was running Arch, btw. Trying to get MO2 to launch the Linux version of Skyrim running via Steam/Proton and not the Windows version of Steam running through WINE was a fun mess to deal with. Once all that was handled, then half of the modding programs (xEdit, Nemesis, BodySlide, etc…) didn’t work with MO2s virtual FS. It was just way too many layers of abstraction to deal with 🤯

          • solberg@lemmy.blahaj.zone
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            4 months ago

            Yes, really haha. I don’t think I would consider the mod list I used heavy, at least not graphically. I didn’t use any of those programs you mentioned.

            Trying to get MO2 to launch the Linux version of Skyrim running via Steam/Proton and not the Windows version of Steam running through WINE was a fun mess to deal with

            I recall using some sort of script that installed MO2 and handled all of this (at least for the Steam Deck).

            Either way, I hope their new cross-platform launcher works out well.

            • pete_the_cat@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              2
              ·
              4 months ago

              Nice, thanks I’ll give it a try again because Windows 10 is really pissing me off regarding how practically anything that you used to be able to easily disable now requires one or multiple registry hacks that may or may not work anymore.

              I totally understand you not giving all that a try because while it is a handheld Linux PC, it’s probably more of a pain in the ass to use on that screen and with the standard input (obviously docking it would solve these issues) than it’s worth. I just keep Windows on my Desktop to play a few games, my home server is my workhorse and I have a Linux laptop that work gave me (literally, they laid me off and never asked for it back).

        • NutWrench@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          4 months ago

          I checked out Mod Organizer 2 recently, but it didn’t support Subnautica the last time I tried it. I only use mods for a few games, line Stardew Valley and the Fallout games.

    • pete_the_cat@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      4 months ago

      Literally the only reason I keep Windows around is because modding Skyrim (using MO2, not Vortex) is a nightmare. I use Wabbajack as well, so the idea of installing 500+ mods manually in Vortex doesn’t sound ideal, also since Vortex’s conflict management is an absolute nightmare compared to MO2’s.

    • Possibly linux@lemmy.zip
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      4 months ago

      BSD is dying

      It is sad but we build up Linux so we have a libre privacy and freedom alternative

  • Nikki@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    60
    ·
    edit-2
    4 months ago

    im doing my part 💪

    swiched to arch a week or so ago, absolutely loving it

      • pete_the_cat@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        6
        ·
        4 months ago

        The only real reason to switch to another distro nowadays is because you want to get updates faster (rolling release [like Arch] vs steady releases) and/or you want the ability to customize the OS more easily. Also, if you wanna be that person that wants to remove SystemD from Linux or have a version controlled OS.

        • Fonzie!@ttrpg.network
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          4
          ·
          4 months ago

          Or if you’re sold on the hype of atomic distros (such as Fedora Kionite)

          Or if you’re sold on reproducable OS configuration (Nix)

          Or if you simply like the defaults of another distro better and don’t want to have to deviate from standards.

          Or…

          Nah, there’s still a lot of variety to Linux systems.

      • amazing_stories@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        6
        ·
        4 months ago

        I can’t think of time where I needed anything more than Mint for a desktop. It’s been on at least one device in my house since 2010.

  • Beaver [she/her]@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    51
    ·
    4 months ago

    Time to speak to our representatives to switch to Linux Systems as Switzerland did for cyber security and for fiscal responsibility.

    We must not fall behind that smart country once again.

    • imsodin@infosec.pub
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      12
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      edit-2
      4 months ago

      What?! All that noise about Switzerland mandating usage of open sourced software in gov (there was a great step, but it’s far from mandating anything) was already weird, now we are switching to linux? And caring about security and fiscal responsibility? There has to be another country called Switzerland than the one I live in.

      • boonhet@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        10
        ·
        4 months ago

        You’re right, I believe the only thing Switzerland mandated (or wants to mandate?) is for projects built FOR the government to be open sourced - and even then, there are exemptions.

        Of course, unlike you, I don’t live in Switzerland, so I’m probably not as informed.

  • secretlyaddictedtolinux@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    33
    ·
    4 months ago

    I’m so happy.

    But also liked when linux felt like a secret.

    Microsoft finally did something right: they made their shitty product shitty enough for people to realize it.

    • andrewth09@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      34
      ·
      edit-2
      4 months ago

      But also liked when linux felt like a secret.

      Don’t worry. You can still tap into that sweet sweet Linux elitism by running an Arch based system or a tiling window manager.

        • Zetta@mander.xyz
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          9
          ·
          4 months ago

          Instead of having your windows float around, they perfectly snap and fill the space of the monitor depending on how many windows you have open. A new DE in alpha right now called Cosmic has both floating windows and tiling, you can change with just a toggle.

          Cosmic is great so far, I run it on Fedora.

          • elucubra@sopuli.xyz
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            edit-2
            4 months ago

            I want my windows anywhere I want them, and in Cinnamon I can snap windows to corners, o top, or bottom… Being forced to work tiled is backwards.

            If as someone mentioned in Cosmic you can toggle it off and on ( and the toggle is esasily accesible, not buried in settings) I’m fine with that

            • coldy@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              4
              arrow-down
              1
              ·
              4 months ago

              “Being forced to work tiled” that’s the main feature of a tiling wm though…

              If you tried it for a while, you’d realize just how annoying floating windows really are. All that manual positioning, focus issues, getting them stuck or hidden behind other windows, etc. For big monitors, I would say tiling is just flat superior to floating windows managers.

            • andrewth09@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              4
              ·
              edit-2
              4 months ago

              The big common ones are i3, Hyprland, or Awesome. However, there are tons out there and there is no right answers.

      • secretlyaddictedtolinux@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        4 months ago

        I’m sorry, can you clarify what you wrote? I read it but then got distracted by my cursor moving on its own while I was reading an article about xzutils. Perhaps I should read it again since it made no sense the first time.

      • nexussapphire@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        4 months ago

        I think Gentoo with no binaries should be the new archlinux. I’ve literally used archlinux virtually unchanged outside of updates for years now. It’s been trouble free outside of some minor bugs and I change my settings in the kde settings panel 90% of the time.

  • thingsiplay@beehaw.org
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    34
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    4 months ago

    Is someone kind enough to post a screenshot of the stats? I can’t access it, because its a known tracking site and get blocked by the plugins.

        • thingsiplay@beehaw.org
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          6
          ·
          4 months ago

          I didn’t think of it, because I always think or archive.org as older pages/versions. The problem is, is it updated to current? It’s a big site, so probably it will be. Good idea, I’ll check that next time through archive.org.

          • ReversalHatchery@beehaw.org
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            3
            ·
            edit-2
            4 months ago

            You can always* request a new archive of a website. If you log in (warning: it has to load google code at least when registering) you can also request a screenshot (which I don’t know how you find later on, but right after you get a link) and recursive archiving with a depth of 1.
            Interactive elements remain interactive nowadays, but it has limitations.

            In some cases archive.today is worth a try too. It has workarounds for e.g. facebook, or at least in the past it had a fake account to be able to save facebook content.
            But this one loads whatever code from yandex, so if that’s problematic for you be sure to block it. uMatrix is best for that task, probably uBO can do it too, the Firefox version I mean.

            These sites are basically my “remote browser”, and often it’ll be even useful for others that I requested an archive. Quite often I’m requesting the first one.

            * mostly, but you can’t if the site was very recently archived, like in 30 minutes. Then there are some sites that are blacklisted for some reason but not much.

        • thingsiplay@beehaw.org
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          4
          ·
          4 months ago

          It does not mean that something happened with MacOS / OS X. If it stays the same and everyone else gets bigger, then the same gets smaller relatively speaking. Look at the dip for OS X in Nov 2023. Looks like almost the same amount of up for Windows. Also Chrome OS went a bit down and Unknown went up, only Linux stays the same.

          So either something in their software changed or it was really a phase of people buying new computers and changing their OS. For a fact, I also build my PC in Nov 2023 (but stayed on Linux). Maybe that was a time of new hardware or lower prices, don’t remember exactly.

    • Fonzie!@ttrpg.network
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      4 months ago

      If only MS Office worked well on Linux, due to her muscle memory, my wife would’ve switched to Fedora for her laptop. Aside from light gaming (Sims 4, mostly), she’s not a tech-person at all, so that’s saying something in my book!

      • rand_alpha19@moist.catsweat.com
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        4 months ago

        She might adjust to LibreOffice, it borrows heavily from the MS Office UI. I think it’s also available on Windows if she wants to try it before switching. Sims 4 works great on Linux too.

    • Aermis@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      4 months ago

      Call me naive, I know I am. But how can Linux be a moderated product to sell for desktop? I know phones run Linux, and many other products like streaming pucks run Linux (or is called unix?), but what would it take for an operating linux system to be centralized into a package to toss into a lenova laptop you’re staring at in best buy?

      • rudyharrelson@lemmy.radio
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        9
        ·
        edit-2
        4 months ago

        how can Linux be a moderated product to sell for desktop

        It kinda depends on each individuals’ use case; there’s lots of different Linux distributions that are better (or worse) for specific workloads.

        Any given laptop I’m staring at in a store will probably work perfectly fine as a general-use machine with Linux Mint installed. This is my go-to distro when repurposing a machine because it works great out of the box. If I were running a computer store and wanted to sell consumer laptops with Linux on them, I’d default to Mint.

        If someone is looking to turn their PC into something more specialized for gaming, they can look at something like Bazzite or Batocera. These will generally require some tinkering.

        If an individual or company is looking to build an office with many workstations and user accounts, they might consider Red Hat Enterprise Linux so they can benefit from official support channels if something needs troubleshooting. Many computer labs at NCSU used RHEL when I attended many years ago.

        Want a stable server environment? Debian is a standard pick.

        Want a barebones system with no bells and whistles (but great battery life)? Alpine oughta work.

        So Linux has many options for end users to pick from, which can be seen as a good thing (more options is generally good), but also a bad thing (many end users might consider the plethora of options to be overwhelming if they’ve never used Linux before).

        Linux (or is called unix?)

        Linux (Or GNU/Linux) operating systems are a modern implementation of an old research OS that was called “Unix”. Spiritual successors to Unix like Linux and BSD try to bring a lot of the design philosophies of Unix into modern OSes (I believe this is generally called the “POSIX” standard. e.g.: macOS is a POSIX compliant OS, iirc).

        If I’ve gotten any of this information incorrect, please don’t tell Richard Stallman.

        • Chris L@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          5
          ·
          4 months ago

          This is the greatness of Linux. Instead of having to change your workflow to be compatible with your OS, you can change your OS to be compatible with your workflow.

        • Aermis@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          4 months ago

          So if you did open a computer shop and are selling this plethora of Linux options, doesn’t that leave you liable if there are issues with the operating system?

          If I buy a laptop and my windows is running poorly don’t I have windows support taking care of my windows problems?

          If I buy a laptop from you with mint installed and am having problems I can’t contact Linux for support, I’ll have to contact you the shop owner.

          Won’t this liability discourage shop owners from selling laptops/desktops with Linux?

          • rudyharrelson@lemmy.radio
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            edit-2
            4 months ago

            I’m no legal expert; I assume support can be either offered or completely avoided depending on the shop owner’s preference. Most Linux distributions come with a “this software is free (as in freedom) and comes with no warranty or guaranteed functionality” disclaimer.

            If I wanted to engage more with my clients and build more trust, I might offer some degree of troubleshooting/support for the Linux machines I sold. But I don’t think I’d be under any legal obligation to offer that service just for selling the laptops.

            Whether or not the computer shop offers support might affect whether or not a customer wants to shop at my store. Maybe I can sell my laptops cheaper if I don’t offer support, or maybe my laptops cost a bit more because I do offer aftermarket support.

      • Celnert@discuss.tchncs.de
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        4 months ago

        Some laptop manufacturers (and at least one of the larger ones) already offer Linux (Ubuntu) as a pre-installed OS. I suspect this will become more common if/when Linux becomes more popular as a mainstream desktop OS. Most likely it will still be 1 or 2 pre-selected distros though even then.

        • Aermis@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          4 months ago

          That’s really cool I didn’t know that was an option already. How does Ubuntu and windows compare for operating system support if I have a problem with the laptop? Is the manufacturer liable for the smooth running of the operating system? Or is the owner of the operating system liable?

          • Celnert@discuss.tchncs.de
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            4 months ago

            It’s a good question but I honestly have no idea how that works even today with windows actually because I have not owned a laptop in 15 years. In my mind, the laptop manufacturer has to guarantee compatibility with any OS it provides but even then, some support from the OS side may be needed. The best way to handle that would be if the manufacturer started contributing to the Linux kernel and provide full driver support because then everybody wins in the long run.

      • pete_the_cat@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        edit-2
        4 months ago

        It’s a tough sell because there is no monetary incentive to get Linux on laptops and desktops. Dell has a few computers that ship with Ubuntu, and Lenovo with Fedora, and there’s System76. The problem is that the big manufacturers (namely Dell) get push-back from Microsoft if they start to sell other OSes with their products, so they no longer have 100% domination. Microsoft will say “Oh you’re selling a few products that come with Linux? Well, we won’t offer you the ability to sell Windows anymore…” which would obviously be a huge impact to their business. They have gotten around this, but their offerings are still really slim. The market just isn’t there compared to Windows based computers. Shelf space is expensive so they go with what sells: Windows based products.

        • Aermis@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          4 months ago

          Is it because Microsoft is the big dog with money and Linux is no dog because there is no company backing Linux? Windows sells solely because Windows can push the product?

          Would it be benificial (albeit this will be extremely frowned upon by this community I believe) for a Linux distro to be backed and monetized via a corporation with a legal team to help push a Linux product on the shelves? In the short run it’s a bad idea, but in the long run it’ll familiarize the public, and push software developers for compatability. The incentive being that there’s money now involved and it won’t be a project for people.

          Because right now to use Linux for the majority of user case operations you’d need at least computer science 101 to start installing a distro, partitions, manual software installation, to get running. Or am I wrong on this part?

          • Avatar_of_Self@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            edit-2
            4 months ago

            There are a couple of OEMs like System76 and Starlabs that sell laptops with Linux on them, provide tech support for customers and so on.

            And no, installing most distros aren’t hard. You just click the buttons to proceed and fill out the username and password box, select your time zone and select your wi-fi network if you’re using wifi.

            You can do manual partitioning but why would you if you don’t know what you’re doing?

            Installing software in the GUI is as easy as installing software from the Microsoft Store. Just search or look around and when you see something you want, just click the Install button.

      • Zer0_F0x@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        4 months ago

        One way to do it is for each company to develop their own flavor to ship with their laptop, in much the same way phone manufacturers just modify Android and ship it.

        As an example, check out System76 and their laptops featuring their Pop!_OS distro, which is very user friendly and stable in my experience.