As someone who has fully transitioned to Linux myself recently:
You don’t need to know how to code. But I don’t know how you think you don’t need to use terminal. Linux is complex. You run into problems. You will need to learn to troubleshoot. You will inevitably have to use terminal at some point (even if that’s for copy/pasting commands, but you’ll still need a very basic understanding).
Trying to underplay the complexity or learning curve for Linux is disingenuous and problematic for new users.
Certainly true for a lot of use cases, but not all. Many folks, like my father, only need access to a web browser anymore. Got him in Linux Mint well over a year ago, and neither he nor I have had to touch the terminal.
For him, Linux is easy, Linux removed the problems Windows caused, troubleshooting has not been needed.
Linux can be all the things you said, but trying to over play the complexity of the learning curve can also be disingenuous and scare away new users.
I was watching YouTube videos on Fedora recently,and they were stuttering for some reason. A few google searches later, I did find a permanent solution, but it involved using the terminal to install some video or audio codecs.
Watching web videos is a pretty basic thing that most users will eventually do, so needing to install new codecs is kind of a big deal. I think many users would just accept it as a reality of the OS and switch back to Windows rather than looking up forums to find out which packages to install. Linux is full of little fixes like this in my experience. It’s not rocket science, but it’s far from a hassle free experience.
This is not to say that I’m not impressed with how good of an OS you can get completely free, but it’s a reality of using Linux that people should be aware of.
Iirc Mint comes with many of the codecs, which could explain that.
In any case, I agree, the terminal certainly can be necessary at any rate and even if it isn’t for a particular individual, it is powerful and good, and though daunting it is easier than it seems to become proficient enough if not a wizard. The angle shouldn’t be “you’ll never need it” but rather “it’s way easier than it looks and you’ll be fine. Here’s a few basic tuts to get you started.”
Tried mint ages ago following a guide. I failed at sudo apt-get update. Like, the command didn’t work. How the FUCK. Ended up somehow getting wine to try to install stuff. Don’t think I ever figured out tarballs. Just endless psychic damage trying to do stuff that isn’t a problem in windows.
You can play games on Linux now. One experience of one Linux variant from a decade and a half go really doesn’t mean much.
Also a tarball is just another type of archive like a zip file, you can use a GUI to extract it. You don’t have to use the tar command if you don’t want to.
You don’t need to code or use a terminal to use Linux
As someone who has fully transitioned to Linux myself recently:
You don’t need to know how to code. But I don’t know how you think you don’t need to use terminal. Linux is complex. You run into problems. You will need to learn to troubleshoot. You will inevitably have to use terminal at some point (even if that’s for copy/pasting commands, but you’ll still need a very basic understanding).
Trying to underplay the complexity or learning curve for Linux is disingenuous and problematic for new users.
Certainly true for a lot of use cases, but not all. Many folks, like my father, only need access to a web browser anymore. Got him in Linux Mint well over a year ago, and neither he nor I have had to touch the terminal.
For him, Linux is easy, Linux removed the problems Windows caused, troubleshooting has not been needed.
Linux can be all the things you said, but trying to over play the complexity of the learning curve can also be disingenuous and scare away new users.
I was watching YouTube videos on Fedora recently,and they were stuttering for some reason. A few google searches later, I did find a permanent solution, but it involved using the terminal to install some video or audio codecs.
Watching web videos is a pretty basic thing that most users will eventually do, so needing to install new codecs is kind of a big deal. I think many users would just accept it as a reality of the OS and switch back to Windows rather than looking up forums to find out which packages to install. Linux is full of little fixes like this in my experience. It’s not rocket science, but it’s far from a hassle free experience.
This is not to say that I’m not impressed with how good of an OS you can get completely free, but it’s a reality of using Linux that people should be aware of.
Iirc Mint comes with many of the codecs, which could explain that.
In any case, I agree, the terminal certainly can be necessary at any rate and even if it isn’t for a particular individual, it is powerful and good, and though daunting it is easier than it seems to become proficient enough if not a wizard. The angle shouldn’t be “you’ll never need it” but rather “it’s way easier than it looks and you’ll be fine. Here’s a few basic tuts to get you started.”
That’s not how you use anymore.
Tried mint ages ago following a guide. I failed at sudo apt-get update. Like, the command didn’t work. How the FUCK. Ended up somehow getting wine to try to install stuff. Don’t think I ever figured out tarballs. Just endless psychic damage trying to do stuff that isn’t a problem in windows.
How long ago is ages? I installed it almost a year ago and had no noteable issues that I can remember.
Uhh, 15 years maybe? I use my pc mostly for gaming so I won’t be trying Linux again any time soon. Too many horror stories.
You can play games on Linux now. One experience of one Linux variant from a decade and a half go really doesn’t mean much.
Also a tarball is just another type of archive like a zip file, you can use a GUI to extract it. You don’t have to use the tar command if you don’t want to.
Unless if you use Arch btw
To use Arch, you need to be able to copy and paste from the Wiki into the terminal.