this post was submitted on 24 Dec 2024
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hey nerds, I'm getting myself a new personal laptop as a treat, but I very much do not want windows 11 shitting it up. Is there a linux distro with caveman-compatible instructions for installation and use? I want to think about my OS as little as possible while actually using it.

I've got one friend who uses mint, but I've also seen memes dunking on it so who knows. I actually really only know what I've seen from you all shitposting in other communities

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[–] chunkystyles@sopuli.xyz 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Universal Blue OSs (Bazzite, Bluefin, and Aurora) are actually way easier than immutable is made out to be.

For one thing, there is no such thing as keeping the system and packages up to date. That all happens automatically as long as you restart your computer every now and then.

It is true that if someone is looking up how to install something online it could be confusing. But anything in Flathub is obviously dead simple.

I think if there were better demos and tutorials, it would seem a lot easier.

For instance, if you can't find something in Flathub, and the only instructions you can find are for installing in Ubuntu, all you have to do is use Boxbuddy/Distrobox and use an Ubuntu container and install it there using the instructions.

It really is the best of almost all worlds. Granted, this setup doesn't work for 100% of software. But it works for the vast majority.

[–] gnuhaut@lemmy.ml -1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Listen to yourself. What's a distrobox? Boxbuddy? I'm already annoyed about someone expecting me to learn about this and I've used Linux exclusively for 25 years. I actually did Linux from Scratch and used that for 6 months for actual stuff. Telling a noob who wants to do normal things that work on a normal Linux distros that because of the (recommended by you) immutable distro they have, they need a container which has an actual normal linux distro inside it to run the thing they want to run, they'll want to run away and probably never speak to you again.

And about flatpak: I had so many bugs that somehow only happen when you get the flatpak. And you can't install command line tools over flatpak, you can't install servers or drivers. Regular users (especially windows power user types) are likely to run into these things and curse you for recommending the one distro where you can't just apt install theclitoolineed.

[–] chunkystyles@sopuli.xyz 4 points 2 days ago

And you sound like the entrenched Windows user who doesn't realize all of the little things they've internalized to keep their system working the way they want to. I should know, I was one of those Windows users until recently.

Regarding other tools, they really aren't necessary for most users. I don't even use Distrobox. Flathub for UI apps, and Homebrew for CLI apps serves all of my needs.

I believe that Jorge Castro is right about the Linux desktop. It has failed, and it needs to be rebuilt from the ground up. And that's what they're doing. Universal Blue is a completely different mindset from traditional distros, and I think it's the future.

And that's the great thing about Linux. You can continue to use the old methods you're used to and have built up 25 years of muscle memory around.