you can always try a puppy distro! they’re super barebones and you can get them really lightweight, shouldn’t really have any problems with running something like one of the slackware-based pups or maybe an older debian pup. you can check it out here! forum.puppylinux.com/puppy-linux-collection
Unfortunately until gaming companies see their base users move to Linux I doubt any changes will happen. But this could be a very good step in that direction if YouTubers start promoting Linux is the way to go for games and web browsers. Some people don’t use anything else.
I'm not a dev or into IT and I'm on Arch Linux playing games and working without any problems. My sister has more trouble getting some games to run on Windows than I do on Linux.
Only time I reinstalled Windows on a laptop was when I was trying to get an ODB2 over USB connector to work, and the program (FORSCAN) couldn’t automatically read the device in Wine. You had to run a series of commands to find the device and then create a symlink in that Wine prefix. I was not going to tinker around like that while sitting in a hot car upon the hope I get it right and don’t fuck up the instrument cluster.
But besides those weird edge cases, it’s been pretty easy for me too, and I still reinstalled Linux after that little project!
Now that I think about it, I wonder if a Windows VM would have worked…
A VM would normally work if USB passthrough is properly configured. That said, on operations just like that, I normally just boot to my small Windows partition that I keep around for just such an occasion.
So CAD is simple stuff huh. So does CFD, mathematical modeling of a complex control system, robotics… Man, if only mechatronics is so simple. I daily drive arch btw.
Except that it’s not a CAD, just an electric circuit modelling tool. I mean technically it can be called CAD, but you can’t do shit in it except for circuits.
CAD is “Computer Aided Design”. if you want to talk about parametric modeling, then fucking say that because it’s really a lot more niche than you think.
Really? I would say it has less simple stuff and more complicated stuff, although it obviously has a lot of both.
I guess you mean that a lot of proprietary ‘professional’ software doesn’t work out of the box? I guess that’s true, but I wouldn’t call all of the alternatives ‘simple’ lol
Lol, sheeeh, the ratio!! I’m a (sadly) Windows-focused sysadmin in higher education and I agree with this, Linux is amazing for servers but normal business users can’t do shit with it : (
The year of the linux desktop was when AMD open sourced their drivers around 5 years ago and Valve partnered with codeweavers to drop Proton. Its only been uphill from there.
Normal business users are fine if the Company hasn’t deep-throated Microsoft. Our Company does all the business work with no windows machine in the whole company.
Being locked-in on Microsoft Office is a thing and not the fault of linux
DankPods uses Linux on his gaming system, which I just found out recently. Seems like Linux is starting to gain traction in the content creator space now, which is neat.
That’s awesome, I remember him mentioning in much older videos that he wants to switch to Linux when its ready enough for him to game on. He also shits on Windows every chance he gets, so glad he got to switch.
Arch with LXQT, maybe? Then you can choose to install specifically what you want with minimal overhead. Another option is the minimal version of NixOS, but like Arch, you’d need to install a DE separately, and you’d need to learn how to use Nix.
But if it’s still struggling, might be best as an art piece or command line only, given that a Raspberry Pi 4 and 5 can be had for <$100 and neither struggles with lighter DEs or browsers.
Is gaming the main use case? If so, I think the distro won’t be the biggest performance factor.
If gaming is not the case, I would ask myself this question: Is a desktop environment a must? Because you’d be surprised by how much you’re still able to do without one.
In that case I’d go for something very barebone. Get a minimalistic debian up and running, and see how that works. There are plenty of lightweight desktop environments (to the extent some of them count as desktop environments), where TWM is an extreme example.
Well the only one who seemed to actually like Linux at LTT was Anthony(don’t know her new name) Emily. Once she went to the background after her gender transition, enthusiastic Linux coverage more or less disappeared
Linus mentioned that Emily (her new name) has been internally pushing for a Linux gaming revisit on a recent Wan Show, so hopefully something comes of that.
Also an upcoming tech upgrade video will be for someone who’s switching to Linux.
Hopefully the next Linux challenge goes well for them . From what I remember Linus somehow broke his fresh Linux install by just install steam lol . Can’t wait to see Elijah switch to Linux
I dont remember the specific details, but it was a bug in that install version that… Mint Pop_OS! (Thanks Joo)? I think it was? was slow to fix until the video came out or something?
Anyway, long story short, He did ignore a warning, but what happened shouldnt have happened regardless, and it was totally something a novice could do, especially since, as a novice myself, most internet searchable help for linux issues boils down to “run this command, it’ll fix it” with no real broader explanation.
That doesnt mean he isnt an ignorant cunt in a thousand other ways though.
Long story short, there was a bug with apt that Pop!_OS didn’t patch before the release. They did so after the latest version at the time was released. Had he updated his system before trying to install Steam, it’d never happened, that’s the worst part.
I would agree. If you watch the video, you’ll see that Linux Mint’s onboarding process walked Luke through using the Update Manager. Pop!_OS didn’t. Also apparently Pop!_Shop doesn’t or didn’t perform an apt update upon launch for reasons beyond my understanding. Anyone familiar enough with Pop!_OS to know if that was or still is the case?
I’ve done a whole NTSB breakdown on that incident before, but here’s what I hope is the short version:
He was using Pop!_OS. Pop!_OS’ desktop environment was at the time kind of a fork of Gnome. I think now it outright is a fork of Gnome.
It just so happened that a version of the Steam .deb package went out with a buggy set of prerequisite data such that if it encountered a “weird” desktop environment it would declare itself incompatible with this which would make APT uninstall the entire GUI stack, right on down to Xorg. It wouldn’t happen to distros using more mainstream desktops like Gnome or KDE or xfce, but it did effect weird things like Pop!_OS.
This bugged version was apparently the latest version published when the Pop!_OS install image Linus used was made, so that was the version in the apt cache on Linus’ Pop!_OS machine.
In the time between the creation of that install media and the filming of the episode, the bug had been reported and an updated version pushed to the repo.
At no point during the install-first boot process, or while launching the Pop!_Shop did Pop!_OS update the apt cache.
Linus tried to install Steam via the Pop!_Shop’s GUI. behind the scenes it saw the error about incompatibility with the desktop and threw a dialog box that said “Failed to install Steam.” The system was not harmed or altered in any way and continued working correctly.
Instead of googling “popos failed to install steam” to see if there’s a way to fix it, he instead threw a small bitch fit about how Linux doesn’t work and you have to use the terminal for everything. He googled for “how to install steam with the terminal” or similar, and found the command “sudo apt install steam.” Most guides online for installing things using APT tell you to run an update and probably an upgrade command first, I do not know if Linus found instructions that omitted that or if he skimmed too aggressively.
Running the command “sudo apt install steam” printed a lot of STDIO to the terminal including a large list of things it was preparing to uninstall, followed by a plaintext warning in bold text that read (paraphrasing) **WARNING! This operation is very likely to seriously damage your computer. You should not do this unless you REALLY know what you are doing. To continue, type “Yes do as I say.”
It is my belief that Windows trained Linus to ignore such warnings, because Windows constantly throws errors about “this may harm your computer” basically every time it asks for administrator privileges. Linux does not do this; Linux usually accepts a ‘y’ or even just hitting the enter key with no input to mean “yes proceed,” sometimes when it wants you to really stop and think it’ll make you type the whole word “yes.” Having to type that whole sentence feels almost like “update your last will and testament to continue.” I think a lot of users learned it would do that from Linus’ video.
He did so, the computer dutifully uninstalled the entire GUI stack and dropped him into a terminal.
A think to note is that it was completely salvageable. I believe it’d be just a matter of running sudo apt-get install pop-desktop and he’d be back on track. Meanwhile, on windows, download a sound card driver from manufacturers site, click “install”, and your OS won’t ever boot again, not in safe mode, not in recovery from live usb, not anyhow, because it always tries to load all drivers, including broken ones for some reason.
I honestly hope they don’t do another dumb Linux challenge. Linus and Luke both have pre-prepared excuses why a conversion to Linux will fail, for them personally. Stuff like “we can’t run Photoshop” level shit. Dumb “no shit Sherlock” type nonsense.
That means they won’t actually try, they’ll just “do it for the content” and give up again after a month or whatever. The videos will be well done but will ultimately conclude that “Linux still isn’t ready for us” and they’ll leave a bitter taste in any real Linux user’s mouth, because their excuses will be pathetic and the efforts put in will be demonstrably minimal.
The part you are missing is that they are making content that aligns with the majority of their audience. Most people will put in a similar level of effort. Most people don’t care, they just want it to work with the least effort possible.
There were a couple episodes where they had iJustine on as a guest. I think they built a server for her? Anyway one episode they did was they set up a Mac and a Windows PC next to each other, and had Justine use Windows and Linus use MacOS for a series of routine computer tasks. Both found stumbling blocks. Both of them, when hearing what the task is, said to the other “Oh you’re going to struggle with that.” I remember specifically Justine saying that of taking a screenshot on MacOS because apparently the key combination isn’t intuitive, it’s something like Cmd+6 or something?
Why didn’t WIndows and MacOS both get declared unfit for use by normies the way Linux did? They did a similar “here are some tasks to complete” challenge which wasn’t well thought out; how would most people “sign a PDF?” Why would “enjoy HDR content” be on there other than “lol it doesn’t support this.”
I also recall another older episode where (do we retroactively call her Emily for appearances in older videos?) walked James through the process of installing and running games in Linux. Which I think would be a more valuable series of videos than “some guys who fully intend to go back to windows at the end of a month try to slog through Linux unaided I guess.” Do a 30-day Learning Linux challenge, where some newbies who genuinely have a goal of switching platforms do so under the guidance of a veteran user.
I’ll even put my keyboard where my mouth is. I’ve used Linux full time for 10 years now for work and play, I do not currently own any working Windows systems. I’ll volunteer to be that mentor character on camera.
IIRC, it’s cmd+shift+a number between one and four depending on what kind of screenshot you want to take (full screen, window, etc.). Definitely not intuitive.
I only have any idea because I’m required to use a Mac at work. Just went and tested; cmd+shift+4 starts a “select an area to screenshot” process.
Well, to each their own. Also, I can’t say whether this applies to you, but it seems likely that one might evolve a key shortcut preference from one’s early exposure. Mine was Windows and, eventually, Linux.
I like shortcuts involving the Print Screen button because the label is clear to me and because I can take a screenshot with a maximum of two buttons rather than three, none of which clearly express “screenshot” to me.
Regardless of the reasoning, I doubt we’ll come to an accord, but I respect your preference.
I really miss Emily, hope she comes back soon, but I understand her wanting to be on her own for a while, but honestly her videos were the best ones always.
Emily has always been a delight in everything she’s done.
But even as she’s appeared in videos a lot less, It’s nice to know she’s still advocating for FOSS at LTT. Hopefully that will again result in more coverage of the kind of stuff she used to host before her transition.
Jake prefers Linux, too. He rolls his eyes all the time at Linus’ insistence on running Windows servers, and he’s the guy that maintains a lot of that side of the business.
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