Linux

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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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My friend didn't have a great experience with Linux (feddit.nl)

submitted 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I have been daily driving Linux for over two years now and I have switched distros many times. So, when my friend bought a new laptop, I convinced him to install Linux Mint on it. I asked him if he wanted to dual boot, he said no because it would fill up all his storage. We installed Linux Mint. The other day, he wanted to play FIFA 17 on his computer. After 5 whole hours of troubleshooting we were able to get FIFA running smoothly with some issues. Next, he wanted to play Roblox. I guided him through the process of installing Waydroid and libhoudini, only to discover that Roblox would run at 10 FPS. With Minecraft, it wasn't any better. It took us 1 hour to get it working (not skill issue, he wanted to play cracked through Prism Launcher). Now, he wants to go back to Windows 10. I have already told him about dual boot, but he has only 256GB of storage and he wants to play a lot of games. What should I do? Install Windows to his laptop, install some other Linux distro, or try to convince him more about dual boot? Thanks in advance and sorry for the essay.

UPDATE: Of course I will help him install Windows on his computer if he wants so, I don't want to force him to use Linux after all. I just wanted him to give it a try, and maybe daily drive it, if he can.

EDIT: Because for some reason it was misunderstood, let me clarify it here. Roblox ran with poor performance on Waydroid, not Minecraft. I just said that the installation of Prism Launcher cracked was difficult. After that, Minecraft ran smoothly without any problems.

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[–] [email protected] 74 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

Sounds like your friend is absolutely not the target audience for a linux-based operating system. If he wants to play Windows games and use software designed for Windows, then he should be using a Windows OS. Anything else would be providing a suboptimal experience for him.

Personally, I've been using various Linux-based systems since 2004, as a software developer I use a lot of command-line utilities, and many tools and applications designed for Linux. If I were using predominantly tools and applications designed for Windows, then I would be using Windows. No need to make life more difficult for yourself and others.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 5 months ago (2 children)

This right here. I know lemmy is all "LINUX IS FOR EVERYONE!" But it isn't.

I know this would go against Google's self interest but they are best poised to make Linux mainstream. Chrome OS can play android games natively. But it's all close source.

It wouldn't take much to make the ecosystem for general Linux. I don't know if the other android-based OSes are working on this but anything we can do to push gaming into Linux would help it to become a better everyday OS

[–] [email protected] 9 points 5 months ago

anything we can do to push gaming into Linux would help it to become a better everyday OS

I feel like the SteamDeck and SteamOS have already done more for Linux gaming than ChromeOS ever had the potential for.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago (1 children)

You know what makes my Linux distribution perfect? My windows partition that I can switch to quickly.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Lol, nice. And accurate.

People keep pushing Linux everything.

I run Linux as Proxmox, VM's, containers, etc. Great stuff.

I have Mint on a laptop... What an awful experience. It's tremendously better than it was in 2000, but holy cow the issues and incompatibilities.

Right up front two major issues with Linux:

No standard UI - it's different on every system
No standard tools - you can't rely on the same tools being on every machine

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

Right up front two major issues with Linux:

No standard UI - it's different on every system

No standard tools - you can't rely on the same tools being on every machine

These seem like pretty fundamental traits, since Linux is only the kernel. I think a better way to compare other OSs to Linux would be comparing them to specific Linux distros, since those often do have standardized installs.

But there’s not really a great answer for which distro or distros should be used to represent the whole linux ecosystem… and that fragmentation has both pros and cons.

Like, I really love my Arch desktop, but it took lots of time to learn and configure. And it often breaks with updates— it’s not something most users would want. However, I get cutting-edge updates and features, and I have specialized my entire OS to best work for my workflows.