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> Linux has been making progress but still isn't a good alternative for the common user For non tech savvy people, Linux can cause problems, but only if they d

> Linux has been making progress but still isn't a good alternative for the common user For non tech savvy people, Linux can cause problems, but only if they do something weird to their system. Linux, specifically Ubuntu or Mint, untouched, and unaltered is a great out-of-the-box experience. The key (if turning someone on to Linux for the first time) is to stress that the command line is for power users who want full control of every bit on the system. It's best to gradually introduce the command line once they're familiar with using the system and are comfortable doing their first (command line) update/upgrade ritual.

jeroenhd 5y ago
I agree, but when you Google "Ubuntu 21 sound not working" you end up here https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SoundTroubleshootingProcedure https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SoundTroubleshootingProced... and the first thing you see is tons of shell commands and very outdated GUI controls. This is the vendor documentation, not even a StackExchange forum. When you Google for "Windows 11 sound not working" the first result I get is https://www.makeuseof.com/fix-no-audio-windows-11/ https://www.makeuseof.com/fix-no-audio-windows-11/ which is much more user friendly. The system itself is one part of the problem, and that's the part that has been improving for years. The community providing technical help is another; Linux help forums are often full of technical users advising technical users whereas Windows help threads are usually novice users asking help and getting it in simple terms.
- AshamedCaptain 5y ago
  This is actually a good observation. Yes, the Windows results are full of what I would call useless crap (e.g. "make sure you did not mute the speaker!"), but for real newbies that is likely to be useful advice, and much more likely to solve their problem than say digging into alsa.cfg internals (which is highly unlikely to be the source of the problem).

jeroenhd 5y ago

I agree, but when you Google "Ubuntu 21 sound not working" you end up here https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SoundTroubleshootingProcedure https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SoundTroubleshootingProced... and the first thing you see is tons of shell commands and very outdated GUI controls. This is the vendor documentation, not even a StackExchange forum. When you Google for "Windows 11 sound not working" the first result I get is https://www.makeuseof.com/fix-no-audio-windows-11/ https://www.makeuseof.com/fix-no-audio-windows-11/ which is much more user friendly. The system itself is one part of the problem, and that's the part that has been improving for years. The community providing technical help is another; Linux help forums are often full of technical users advising technical users whereas Windows help threads are usually novice users asking help and getting it in simple terms.

AshamedCaptain 5y ago
This is actually a good observation. Yes, the Windows results are full of what I would call useless crap (e.g. "make sure you did not mute the speaker!"), but for real newbies that is likely to be useful advice, and much more likely to solve their problem than say digging into alsa.cfg internals (which is highly unlikely to be the source of the problem).