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I actually don't share your experience. My Linux machines are all more reliable than the best smartphones I've had. Flagship Android phones have been the worst

by usrn 5y ago

I actually don't share your experience. My Linux machines are all more reliable than the best smartphones I've had. Flagship Android phones have been the worst in my experience, most can't make it a week without crashing, not to mention the awful battery life. Maybe it's because I know to be picky about PC hardware and don't run things like Chrome. >I don't want a browser that's described as just "usable". I have to wonder what exactly you do want then, maybe a parade? I get it though. You don't want the responsibility of configuring your device. That's fine, most people don't. This next thing you said really gets me though: > I've never been in a position where trying to fix the underlying OS was required nor could I picture it being something worth time I'd have to trade away from my family. You've been conditioned to feel helpless here. You've been told you can't fix things so you accept that they're broken and don't think about it. That's one reaction and in this situation it's probably healthier. For me it's like living in a house with crooked picture frames and the police showing up if you try to straiten them. It's a little upsetting for people to act like that's reasonable or ok.

noirbot 5y ago
I've been daily-drivering on Linux for Desktop and Laptop for months and Linux across 4 different distros has made me feel more helpless than Windows ever did. Sure, the Windows "police" would come in and straighten my update settings (which is ultimately why I abandoned Windows), but Linux you get the helplessness of sometimes having something break and the only answer you can find after spending half of your weekend searching for solutions is just "idk, give up and reset your entire OS" or "Yea, that bit of hardware just doesn't work with the Linux kernel and never will because some BDFL hates someone who worked at that company". I'm currently living with SO MANY "crooked picture frames" on all my devices that I've just given up on fixing after spending tens of hours on them and burning my free time on it. I still prefer Linux in general for a lot of the reasons you like it, but just doing basic "I want to install a program to take screenshots" has send me down hours of reading about how window compositing systems work, and why Snap is the devil even though everyone seems to be using it now. If I wasn't single and had better hobbies other than tinkering with config files, I'd have given up months ago.
- usrn 5y ago
  The trick to not having crooked picture frames on Linux is to throw out components that refuse to be straightened (and you'll run into many of these, especially if you're on a distro pushing snap on you.) If you pull out everything complex and thoroughly understand what's left you won't run into the "idk just reset the whole OS" situation. Something Windows/OSX users coming to Linux might not realize is that almost nothing in the userspace is actually necessary because the kernel does almost everything. Especially if you don't want graphics but even if you consider those components necisary then all you need are: The kernel (one file plus some modules), a device manager (the thing that creates nodes in /dev when you plug stuff in, if you use kdrive you don't even need this), a display manager (Xorg, kdrive or Wayland) and some kind of shell and VTE (bash and Xterm for example.) Literally everything else can be thrown out if you don't want to deal with it. Don't like configuring systemd? I've used just script in the past at /linuxrc. Don't like what Gnome is doing or maybe it's crashing on you? Get rid of it, for the most part it's just aesthetic and the functionality can be replaced by eg fluxbox and PCFMan (and maybe wpa_gui if you like using a GUI to configure your wireless card.) Did the package manager get confused? You can actually get away with removing the database and starting over (although this will replace all the binaries it previously installed and potentially overwrite configs.) Don't be afraid to nuke things.
  - scarface74 5y ago
    > Especially if you don't want graphics Who in 2022 doesn’t “want graphics”?
    - usrn 5y ago
      People who don't want to redo their Xorg config.
      - noirbot 5y ago
        I don't WANT to redo my Xorg config, but I don't have much choice if I want Linux to behave like an OS from this century.
IanCal 5y ago
> Maybe it's because I know to be picky about PC hardware I have had home built pcs, custom built ones and have just bought that laptop from a common Linux only supplier. My Dell was much worse. If it takes more effort than I have spent finding either support, components or experts then it's a bad sign. Maybe you should just be ever so slightly picker about your Android phones? > I have to wonder what exactly you do want then, maybe a parade? Well this just unnecessarily rude, and frankly silly. What I want is a browser that works "well" not that just meets the bare minimum of "yeah it's possible to use". > You've been conditioned to feel helpless here. You've been told you can't fix things so you accept that they're broken and don't think about it No. I have told you exactly why. 1. I haven't come across this on my phone 2. I have on other devices and I would much rather spend time with my family now I have gone through years of tinkering and adjusting xorg config files, wrangling with mythtv, all that kind of thing. It's no longer a trade-off I want to make. > It's a little upsetting for people to act like that's reasonable or ok. I think you have invented a false image of me in your head then are feeling upset about that character.

by usrn 5y ago

noirbot 5y ago

I've been daily-drivering on Linux for Desktop and Laptop for months and Linux across 4 different distros has made me feel more helpless than Windows ever did. Sure, the Windows "police" would come in and straighten my update settings (which is ultimately why I abandoned Windows), but Linux you get the helplessness of sometimes having something break and the only answer you can find after spending half of your weekend searching for solutions is just "idk, give up and reset your entire OS" or "Yea, that bit of hardware just doesn't work with the Linux kernel and never will because some BDFL hates someone who worked at that company". I'm currently living with SO MANY "crooked picture frames" on all my devices that I've just given up on fixing after spending tens of hours on them and burning my free time on it. I still prefer Linux in general for a lot of the reasons you like it, but just doing basic "I want to install a program to take screenshots" has send me down hours of reading about how window compositing systems work, and why Snap is the devil even though everyone seems to be using it now. If I wasn't single and had better hobbies other than tinkering with config files, I'd have given up months ago.

usrn 5y ago
The trick to not having crooked picture frames on Linux is to throw out components that refuse to be straightened (and you'll run into many of these, especially if you're on a distro pushing snap on you.) If you pull out everything complex and thoroughly understand what's left you won't run into the "idk just reset the whole OS" situation. Something Windows/OSX users coming to Linux might not realize is that almost nothing in the userspace is actually necessary because the kernel does almost everything. Especially if you don't want graphics but even if you consider those components necisary then all you need are: The kernel (one file plus some modules), a device manager (the thing that creates nodes in /dev when you plug stuff in, if you use kdrive you don't even need this), a display manager (Xorg, kdrive or Wayland) and some kind of shell and VTE (bash and Xterm for example.) Literally everything else can be thrown out if you don't want to deal with it. Don't like configuring systemd? I've used just script in the past at /linuxrc. Don't like what Gnome is doing or maybe it's crashing on you? Get rid of it, for the most part it's just aesthetic and the functionality can be replaced by eg fluxbox and PCFMan (and maybe wpa_gui if you like using a GUI to configure your wireless card.) Did the package manager get confused? You can actually get away with removing the database and starting over (although this will replace all the binaries it previously installed and potentially overwrite configs.) Don't be afraid to nuke things.
- scarface74 5y ago
  > Especially if you don't want graphics Who in 2022 doesn’t “want graphics”?
  - usrn 5y ago
    People who don't want to redo their Xorg config.
    - noirbot 5y ago
      I don't WANT to redo my Xorg config, but I don't have much choice if I want Linux to behave like an OS from this century.

IanCal 5y ago

> Maybe it's because I know to be picky about PC hardware I have had home built pcs, custom built ones and have just bought that laptop from a common Linux only supplier. My Dell was much worse. If it takes more effort than I have spent finding either support, components or experts then it's a bad sign. Maybe you should just be ever so slightly picker about your Android phones? > I have to wonder what exactly you do want then, maybe a parade? Well this just unnecessarily rude, and frankly silly. What I want is a browser that works "well" not that just meets the bare minimum of "yeah it's possible to use". > You've been conditioned to feel helpless here. You've been told you can't fix things so you accept that they're broken and don't think about it No. I have told you exactly why. 1. I haven't come across this on my phone 2. I have on other devices and I would much rather spend time with my family now I have gone through years of tinkering and adjusting xorg config files, wrangling with mythtv, all that kind of thing. It's no longer a trade-off I want to make. > It's a little upsetting for people to act like that's reasonable or ok. I think you have invented a false image of me in your head then are feeling upset about that character.