this post was submitted on 19 Aug 2023
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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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TLDW of this video from ChatGPT

The video highlights the following main points about why Linux Mint is considered better than Windows 11:

  1. Start Menu and Customization: Linux Mint's menu is more organized and customizable than Windows 11's start menu. It offers three columns, resizable icons, and customizable labels.

  2. Taskbar (Panel) Features: Linux Mint's panel is more flexible, allowing repositioning, resizing, and creation of additional panels. Applets enhance functionality, offering features like quick desktop access and window behavior customization.

  3. Privacy and Telemetry: Linux Mint is privacy-focused, avoiding telemetry. Certain apps' telemetry can be manually disabled. Windows 11 is criticized for lacking privacy.

  4. Bloatware and Pre-installed Apps: Linux Mint has minimal bloatware, including useful tools or open-source alternatives. Windows 11 can have cluttered start menus with unwanted icons.

  5. Batch File Renaming and Management: Linux Mint's file management includes advanced batch renaming with insertion, removal, and case conversion. Windows 11 lacks similar features.

  6. Security (Future Topic): Security is mentioned as a potential future topic, with Linux Mint considered more privacy-oriented than Windows 11. Discussions about security are acknowledged.

The narrator encourages viewer engagement and discussion on the covered topics.

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[–] [email protected] 68 points 1 year ago (3 children)

"Objectively" 🤦🏻‍♂️

[–] torvusbogpod 41 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Objectively is the new Literally

[–] shotgun_crab 9 points 1 year ago

Canonically

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

Objectively, it is literally the new literally

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[–] tdawg 17 points 1 year ago

Everyday I get older that word losses more and more meaning

[–] Kbobabob 8 points 1 year ago

I was like cool, finally a comparison without someone's opinion..... Ah, fuck

[–] [email protected] 46 points 1 year ago (1 children)

"Objectively": Proceeds to give his opinion

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[–] tdawg 34 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (4 children)

I mean imo everything about Windows is terrible. But I don't think you're going to win (lol) anyone over with debates, at least no one who doesn't already complain about Windows. I think the main reasons people use Windows are:

  1. Ubiquity (they use it at work, at the library, and at home)
  2. Familiarity (it's what they grew up with)
  3. Barrier to entry (the average person doesn't have to install windows. And even if they do it's a lot less painful than installing a Linux distro)
  4. Gaming (this is sliding a little bit but many many people still install windows on a homebrew tower specifically for gaming)

Ubiquity will have a hard time changing as long as Microsoft continues to bastardize their own products for the sake of B2B relationships. Familiarity is a chance of history so that's kinda up to you to get your kids into what you like. Barrier to entry is a systemic issue with the Linux and FOSS communities at large and I genuinely don't see this changing anytime soon (and I'm not just speaking culturally although that's an issue too). And gaming, well we all know the Linux gaming community has been slowly but steadily growing for a while now, cue the steamdeck enjoyers

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago (1 children)

For a lot of normal people linux just doesnt offer any advantages they care about. If you tell them it can do everything windows can do, the question "so why should i go through the effort of switching" remains. There'd have to be something they really want, that they can't get from windows.
Though average users use mobile devices instead of desktops more and more, so I can see windows becoming mostly a thing that people use at work.

[–] tdawg 15 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Ya it's hard to sell it to someone when the conversation is basically "well if you spend several hours learning all of these tools then you can get it working the way your windows box works... Kinda"

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

I love Linux, but I do generally consider it a special-purpose OS. Servers, embedded stuff, etc, I will always go with some flavour of Linux.

But for a daily driver I do struggle imagining using anything other than Windows. Like sure, I could probably get all my games and CAD software working in a Linux OS. But I can easily grab Win10 LTSB and have everything just work. I have to make a living from my machine, and ultimately I just need it to work.

If I was doing just web and office work, then it would be no harder really, but I've finally accepted that not everything should be a project!

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[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 year ago (1 children)

TLDW of this video from ChatGPT

That's a lot of trust to blindly place in a GPT...

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I can confirm the results above. Nontheless, you are right.

[–] t0m5k1 24 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

But all 5 points can be said for all other distros running a DE.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago

I'm guessing this video is for people thinking about switching to Linux from Windows. Mint is probably the best distro for most of them.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Instead of actual Linux discussions, every day there's a new "windows bad" circlejerk post.

[–] nitefox 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

“I switched to Linux today, my life is completely different!”

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (10 children)

And every single one will be met with "I spend 80% of my pc time gaming, my games don't run in linux as good as windows, end of discussion".

Also, comparing stuff to windows 11 is quite the low bar, 2 of those points don't apply to win10 and the 5th can be done with powershell and wsl1.0 afaik pretty fast. the 5th can be done in windows by running a python script too, and let's be honest, what is the use case of batch file renaming if it's not for programming? it's not a common issue.

So basically, it's about privacy, bloatware and security. Bloatware can be uninstalled if you are a power user, and let's be honest normal users won't even dream about using linux.

So yeah. I love it for work but it's lacking for my entertainment pc.

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago (7 children)

Ok. Now, change the audio bit rate in the GUI? You can try any Linux you like.

The Lack of functions in the GUI to configure Hardware devices is a serious problem for Linux. You can't Configure anything on your AMD graphics card, set sleep timeout of you wireless game controller, or enable HDR.

I'm currently having a good time in Arch but I'm frustrated that GUI controls for basic stuff is still missing. Most of this stuff has been in Windows for decades.

Rather focusing on the how customisable the desktop environment is, they need to focus on making Hardware configuration easier.

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

Similar one, try to change mouse acceleration. The last couple distros I had tried were completely lacking any config option for that.

There are already comments about how a GUI isn't needed or something like that, but Linux will never become remotely mainstream as a consumer OS with that kind of attitude.

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[–] jarredpickles87 5 points 1 year ago

How DARE you ask about GUI controls! But seriously I'd love to see more of it. It certainly would make on-boarding of windows users much easier. All the CLI functions scare most away. It seems like every time I ask about a GUI for something I get shot down hard. Like I understand why CLI is more prevalent, way easier to troubleshoot and instruct people across multiple distros. But if you want to grow the Linux community, ease of use to the broad public has to become priority, and I think GUIs is the best starting point for that.

And having things built in would be a major help as well, instead of having to see if the software center has it, and then searching GitHub when it doesn't. Again, I get that some distros might have that, but that would be a niche distro for certain things. A nice GUI tool to adjust GPU parameters would be super (using coolero at the moment), a better audio device manager, gamepad device manager as well, task manager that's a little more user friendly.

I'm rambling and I don't want to sound like I dislike Linux. I made Mint my only OS on my laptop and two PCs in my house. I love it. I keep W11 on my gaming PC as a dual boot strictly for VR. That's all that's holding me back. I'm fine with CLI tools but I'd reeeeeeally like it if GUI tools became more prevalent.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Agreed. Last time I used my Wacom tablet on a Linux station, I had to type a bunch of commands every start up to get it to work in the correct aspect ratio because there was no GUI tool for that. Surely there's a way to register that kind of stuff for start up, but why do I have to figure this out ? I just need to get work done. Wacom tablets have been around for 30 years and are used by most of the digital artists out there, it's not some exotic peripheral. It seems like it should be easier

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

https://github.com/simonepalmer/pipewire-controller https://github.com/wwmm/easyeffects https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/pipewire/helvum https://kx.studio/Applications:Catia https://github.com/cyber-sushi/pipewire-sample-rate-config https://github.com/rncbc/qpwgraph

The first looks like it does specifically what you mentioned. I haven't tried any of these except Helvum, and I don't remember if you can change the bitrate.

I don't have enough patience (or need) to use a GUI for stuff like this - wpctl is fairly comprehensive - but if it's something you need to do a lot I get the appeal.

And, I hear what you're saying about hardware config tools. I maintain a cross-platform monitoring tool, and frequently get requests to support graphics cards; it's the most troublesome and difficult chore, because these devices all have bespoke APIs, and it's a PITA to support them - moreso because it's impossible to test the support when you don't have access to all of the hardware.

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago

Literally none of those are actually"objective"...

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Security (Future Topic): Security is mentioned as a potential future topic, with Linux Mint considered more privacy-oriented than Windows 11. Discussions about security are acknowledged.

Is Wayland support finally actively worked on, or is it still postponed?

[–] kabe 12 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

According to a recent announcement by one of the devs:

We also want to spend time on studying the pros and cons of Wayland and to assess the work needed in its potential adoption.

In other words, they haven't even started yet.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Big yikes. In that case, I wouldn't recommend Mint to beginners at all. Alone, the whole Sandbox concept of Flatpak needs Wayland to work properly. Wayland is the future, regardless if you like it or not.

[–] kabe 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Agreed. I actually think Pop OS and Nobara are the best beginner distros right now. Mint is falling a bit behind the times.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I like the idea of Nobara but I'm scared of recommending it because of the Fedora telemetry stuff. Considering GE is a RedHat employee, I don't think he would disable Fedora's telemetry in Nobara.

[–] kabe 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (7 children)

This might not be the most popular take, but IMO the fuss about Fedora's (proposed) telemetry is way overblown. By all accounts, it seems intended to help the dev team improve OS performance and will still preserve user privacy.

People tend to lump all telemetry together but Fedora's implementation would be significantly less concerning than that which users of Android, Windows and Apple OSs currently put up with on a daily basis.

[–] Qvest 4 points 1 year ago

I agree. A lot of people went over the discussion to voice their opinions. And the proposers have adapted it since. They listen to their users, contrary to other for-profit operating systems (to reiterate, Fedora is NOT for-profit, and it never has been)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

While true, the fact that this was proposed by RedHat engineers combined with the fact that RH employs some of the upper echelons of Fedora members, thus having quite some control over Fedora as a project makes me distrust parts of it. Someone like Matthew Miller seems trustworthy, but you can never be sure. And I think thag if this is accepted, it should NOT be implemented in Nobara, because even from the pro-telemetry perspective, it is still harmful, as it skews analytics significantly.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)
  1. Start Menu and Customization

Not to mention the Cinnamenu applet

Example by way of my own Cinnamenu setup

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This is really nice. I've been using Mint for years and didn't know about it.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

99% of the usage of "objective" on the internet is objectively incorrect.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

hi op, how did u get chatgpt to do that? I tried a free version from element/riot which I think is chatgpt 3.5 but it doesnt work 🤷

[–] BearPear 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It doesn't work automatically.

Go to a youtube video There is an option to view the transcript of the video near to the description in three dot menu Copy the transcription and paste it into chatgpt.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (3 children)

What is this "minimal bloatware" of Mint exactly?

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/watch?v=5uY3u_xZDL0

Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.

I'm open-source, check me out at GitHub.

[–] cbarrick 6 points 1 year ago

Security is mentioned as a potential future topic, with Linux Mint considered more privacy-oriented than Windows 11.

Security and privacy are not the same thing!

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

I found it mildly funny reading this, I've not been using vanilla windows 10 for quite a while, but have resorted to sticking plasters to get the same effects as mint (start10, fences, and powertoys). It's very true, out the box all that's baked into mint, and with the privacy etc.

I heartily miss Mint/Xubuntu, but am cursed with my interests being in game development and audio. :) one of these years...

[–] randomperson 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I have tried lots of distros yet I am always going back to Windows.

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