this post was submitted on 24 Oct 2023
110 points (93.0% liked)
Linux
48012 readers
866 users here now
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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.
Rules
- Posts must be relevant to operating systems running the Linux kernel. GNU/Linux or otherwise.
- No misinformation
- No NSFW content
- No hate speech, bigotry, etc
Related Communities
Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0
founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
"... And if all else fails, you can always see the source code and fix it"
A lot of documentation suppose, you like to know what you doing and why.
But if u do an tldr, and focus on the command lines, its often working out of the box and its like following an tutorial with picture to tell you where to click. Supposing you reading the good tuto regarding your distribution.
I like the doc, I feel it like respect.
I feel it like, they don't suppose I'm an engineer but they suppose I have an brain an can learn new principles or acquire new vocabulary (one of the life's constant in a way) to understand what I do. And often theses principles can be applied elsewhere, even IRL sometimes.
I'm not an engineer XD.
I think they're trying to say that a lot of the time reading the documentation treats you as if you're an expert in that particular topic, but if you can find a good guide it will usually give you all the information and commands you need to accomplish what you wanted to do. They go on to say they prefer guides that respect the user's intelligence while not making things overly complex.
It doesn't necessarily mean you aren't intelligent but perhaps you're trying to do things you would do in Windows without having a foundational knowledge of Linux. Linux is not a drop-in replacement for Windows, it's a totally different operating system with different ways of doing things.
In this example situation you are talking about it's the equivalent of if I asked you to edit an image in Photoshop but you didn't have it installed. That's what "command not found" is trying to tell you. It's not found because it's not installed on the system.
Of course you need a foundational knowledge of Windows before you are able to accomplish certain tasks. You are not born with the knowledge of how to operate a computer. Even people who have not used computers before struggle with basic tasks. If I ask someone who is new to Windows to install Photoshop will they be able to accomplish it with no prior knowledge? You have to know you open the web browser, navigation to the proper website, download the installer, run the installer, find the menu shortcut, etc.
As for how to install programs on Linux it does depend on the distribution and the application you wish to install but let's take Ubuntu for example. If I want to install VLC I would type
sudo apt install vlc
. If I want to install Firefox I would typesudo apt install firefox
. Instructions should be available online with a quick search.I understand and that's definitely a valid criticism of Linux. It's not a drop in replacement for Windows and it's definitely not as user friendly or targeted towards a general audience. Due to the flexibility of customisation, and the sheer amount of different distributions it is hard to provide individual support without knowing all the details of your system. It's not like Windows where in general you're probably running one of two versions.
And while being a criticism to some, it is also a strength to others.
If you ever get stuck on something feel free to shoot me a message and if I can I will try and provide advice.
Linux people are passionate about Linux and will tell you all the reasons to switch. I'm here to tell you to stick to what you already know. There's no point changing your entire operating system if you don't have the time to invest in a totally new way of using your computer.
It does make me curious why you even decided to install Linux though. Something must have made you take that step.
You are speaking and acting like you can't have an BSOD with an unknown .exe downloaded somewhere,
Lmao,
Depending on the distro you don't actually need terminal, I certainly can't remember the last time I used it, it's a nice tool, but to many tutorials act as if it's the only way of doing everything
Also, it's been 30 years sense you started using windows, of course you don't remember what it was like to use it at the start, everyone has to learn to use a new system, same goes for someone who switched to windows from Linux
If that's the case I've done the impossible, good to know
Installed, used, and enjoyed linux without touching terminal
Sorry too,