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Turns out, as ChromeOS and Android has proven, and now the Deck the best way to increase linux usage is to not immediately drop someone into the hot mess that a

Turns out, as ChromeOS and Android has proven, and now the Deck the best way to increase linux usage is to not immediately drop someone into the hot mess that are mainstream DEs for linux.

Dalewyn 4y ago
The fact most Linux neckbeards fervently deny Android as a Linux distro points to the reasons why Linux has thus far never achieved mainstream acceptance outside of the aforementioned.
- Teever 4y ago
  I wonder how much disdain the community has for Android is based around the locked down hardware that it is almost exclusively found on,
  - cma 4y ago
    For a good while you couldn't even use the steamdeck touchpads in desktop mode without Google Play Servi... I mean the Steam client running.
    - hojjat12000 4y ago
      This comparison is pretty unfair! SteamDeck is as open as it gets! The last thing left for Valve to do finish mainlining the drivers (they have done a few in the past few months).
    - fendy3002 4y ago
      A classic case of "test case scenario not yet discovered"
- blibble 4y ago
  it's correct to say it's more of an appliance than a distro? it's not designed to be installed on generic hardware
  - Dalewyn 4y ago
    I have no idea if you're the kind of neckbeard I referred to per se, but I thank you for demonstrating my point anyway. :V
  - charcircuit 4y ago
    >it's correct to say it's more of an appliance than a distro? It's not an appliance, it's a full operating system. It's one of the best Linux based operating systems for consumers because the design of it actually cares about security and privacy compared to most other Linux based distros. For example on Arch you can download some random package from the AUR or just run something from a third party it can immediately start listening to your mic, steal your private keys / cookies / personal files, and add an alias for sudo to steal your root password. >it's not designed to be installed on generic hardware What do you mean by this? Android is built on Linux, so it can run on any hardware Linux has been ported to. It has an HAL to make it for different vendors to expose their drivers in the same way to higher levels of the system.
    - Dalewyn 4y ago
      >It's one of the best Linux based operating systems for consumers because the design of it actually cares about security and privacy compared to most other Linux based distros. No, consumers (read: most common users) quite literally don't know and don't care about security or privacy. Assuming you weren't doing neckbeard things and were just using an Android phone like a reasonable human being, when was the last time you had to dive into the terminal in Android? Probably never, not the least because there isn't even a terminal readily accessible anyway. Android is one of the best Linux distros for the common user because Android actually cares about usability and practicality. Android succeeded where the rest of the Linux world failed (and continues to fail) because, just like Windows and MacOS and iOS, it put the common users' needs front and center. Steam Deck is succeeding down the path Android took because, just like Android, it puts usability and practicality front and center. "Stop using Windows programs and use these Linux alternatives", you say? No, the common user wants Windows programs and Steam Deck is striving to answer that demand. Meanwhile, the rest of the Linux world continues to argue about X and Wayland and Flatpak and Snap and apt and dnf and Debian and Red Hat and systemd and PulseAudio and GNOME and KDE and vi and emacs and GNU and copyleft and libre and the Holy Divinity of the All-Mighty Terminal, and the world at large cannot and will not care less about any of it.
- encryptluks2 4y ago
  [dead]
- dmonitor 4y ago
  It’s hardly unreasonable. Android exists almost entirely within an ecosystem of its own. Maybe Stallman was right. It’s not Linux that people love, it’s GNU plus Linux.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
- pjmlp 4y ago
  The fact is it isn't a Linux distro, everything about the Linux kernel is considered private APIs and not available to anyone other than Google and Android OEMs. Only these APIs are allowed for NDK users, https://developer.android.com/ndk/guides/stable_apis https://developer.android.com/ndk/guides/stable_apis
pjmlp 4y ago
They also have proven that GNU userland is worthless for most folks, and the only thing about the Linux kernel that matters is using it as a free beer POSIX kernel.

Turns out, as ChromeOS and Android has proven, and now the Deck the best way to increase linux usage is to not immediately drop someone into the hot mess that are mainstream DEs for linux.

Dalewyn 4y ago

The fact most Linux neckbeards fervently deny Android as a Linux distro points to the reasons why Linux has thus far never achieved mainstream acceptance outside of the aforementioned.

Teever 4y ago
I wonder how much disdain the community has for Android is based around the locked down hardware that it is almost exclusively found on,
- cma 4y ago
  For a good while you couldn't even use the steamdeck touchpads in desktop mode without Google Play Servi... I mean the Steam client running.
  - hojjat12000 4y ago
    This comparison is pretty unfair! SteamDeck is as open as it gets! The last thing left for Valve to do finish mainlining the drivers (they have done a few in the past few months).
  - fendy3002 4y ago
    A classic case of "test case scenario not yet discovered"
blibble 4y ago
it's correct to say it's more of an appliance than a distro? it's not designed to be installed on generic hardware
- Dalewyn 4y ago
  I have no idea if you're the kind of neckbeard I referred to per se, but I thank you for demonstrating my point anyway. :V
- charcircuit 4y ago
  >it's correct to say it's more of an appliance than a distro? It's not an appliance, it's a full operating system. It's one of the best Linux based operating systems for consumers because the design of it actually cares about security and privacy compared to most other Linux based distros. For example on Arch you can download some random package from the AUR or just run something from a third party it can immediately start listening to your mic, steal your private keys / cookies / personal files, and add an alias for sudo to steal your root password. >it's not designed to be installed on generic hardware What do you mean by this? Android is built on Linux, so it can run on any hardware Linux has been ported to. It has an HAL to make it for different vendors to expose their drivers in the same way to higher levels of the system.
  - Dalewyn 4y ago
    >It's one of the best Linux based operating systems for consumers because the design of it actually cares about security and privacy compared to most other Linux based distros. No, consumers (read: most common users) quite literally don't know and don't care about security or privacy. Assuming you weren't doing neckbeard things and were just using an Android phone like a reasonable human being, when was the last time you had to dive into the terminal in Android? Probably never, not the least because there isn't even a terminal readily accessible anyway. Android is one of the best Linux distros for the common user because Android actually cares about usability and practicality. Android succeeded where the rest of the Linux world failed (and continues to fail) because, just like Windows and MacOS and iOS, it put the common users' needs front and center. Steam Deck is succeeding down the path Android took because, just like Android, it puts usability and practicality front and center. "Stop using Windows programs and use these Linux alternatives", you say? No, the common user wants Windows programs and Steam Deck is striving to answer that demand. Meanwhile, the rest of the Linux world continues to argue about X and Wayland and Flatpak and Snap and apt and dnf and Debian and Red Hat and systemd and PulseAudio and GNOME and KDE and vi and emacs and GNU and copyleft and libre and the Holy Divinity of the All-Mighty Terminal, and the world at large cannot and will not care less about any of it.
encryptluks2 4y ago
[dead]
dmonitor 4y ago
It’s hardly unreasonable. Android exists almost entirely within an ecosystem of its own. Maybe Stallman was right. It’s not Linux that people love, it’s GNU plus Linux.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
pjmlp 4y ago
The fact is it isn't a Linux distro, everything about the Linux kernel is considered private APIs and not available to anyone other than Google and Android OEMs. Only these APIs are allowed for NDK users, https://developer.android.com/ndk/guides/stable_apis https://developer.android.com/ndk/guides/stable_apis

pjmlp 4y ago

They also have proven that GNU userland is worthless for most folks, and the only thing about the Linux kernel that matters is using it as a free beer POSIX kernel.