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Screw it, I’m installing Linux
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this post was submitted on 19 Nov 2025
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I don't see them as trolls. I've been on ZorinOS for about a year now. I hate it because I don't know how to do anything, but I'm not smart enough to learn terminal.
Flatpaks are the answer to installation. But any problem I have, I google, and every result starts the same way.
NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!
I have a 100% rate of those solutions not working for me. And the reason is simple. Those solutions assume you know how to use linux. So when you copy and paste their terminal commands, and your terminal responds with error: dependancies not found, YOU know how to fix that error and it works for you. But for most regular people, thats the end of that. Problem not solved. Problem remains a problem FOREVER.
No, seriously. I have a usb recovery stick that allows me to backup/restore my hard drive exactly how it is. Anytime I have to use terminal I ALWAYS make a backup of my hard drive first. Which takes 4 hours. And the reason for that is, when I inevitably fuck something up in terminal, and the whole OS crashes, and refuses to boot, I have a backup. It takes nearly 20 hours to restore the image, but it works. But whatever problem I was trying to solve remains.
Imagine if that were your linux experience. Windows spies on you. They have enshitification out the ass. But it works for the masses without technical knowledge.
The other issue is that businesses use windows. So most people are firmiliar with windows. So all the popular programs are on windows. Linux has a way to emulate windows programs, but its hard to get working, and sometimes just DOESN'T work.
If linux had every single program windows has, 100% as a flatpak, it would do wonders for install rate......for about a year.
Once people install the programs, they'll at some point run into an issue. On windows you solve the problem 99% of the time by restarting. On linux, that hasn't fixed any of my problems once.
These people aren't trolls. They just have a different opinion than you from a different perspective.
Next time you have an issue in linux, any issue, regardless of how small, I want you to turn off your computer for 4 hours. Then turn it back on for 5 minutes. Then off again for 20 hours. Don't solve the issue. I know YOU can solve the issue in 30 seconds, but don't. After the 24 hours no computer use, just live with the problem for the rest of your life.
Yeah, that doesn't sound fun, does it? Sounds like a reason to have a sour experience. Suddenly they don't seem like trolls.
That command terminal thing is so real. When it works, its magic. When it doesn't work, you just messed with forces you didn't understand and are already forced into chancing a repair and maybe make the problem worst or getting back to the original one! (Very discouraging if you are just trying to get work done, especially for non techies)
I think the problem with linux users is that they can't imagine that the appeal for most people who want to use an OS is to make something happen in the "real world" with a top level piece of software, like you want to draw a cute cat on the screen not learn how the compositor draws the pixels to multiple different screen resolutions WHEN the monitor model is a use case supported scenario.
The objective is to use the computer as a tool NOW for a SPECIFIC thing without diving into the inner guts of the machine for some people, and that's honestly fine.
Some of us are old enough to remember when "that command terminal thing" was computing. Now there's something about text on a black screen that seems to make people's eyes glaze over and their brains turn off today. You'd think they were being asked to decipher the Matrix. Too many generations removed I suppose.
The reality is I'm definitely not figuring out how my compositor works, almost never touching system files, infrequently scripting, and almost always using "a tool NOW for a SPECIFIC thing." I'm not a tech luddite. Modern computing is shiny and awesome. You want graphical tools for graphical tasks. But there are so many excellent specific-purpose CLI tools, typically included by default across nearly every distro, that make so much more sense to use over a GUI. Maybe not always but most of the time.
Simple example, damned if I'm gonna open a file browser, navigate to my downloads directory, right click - Cut (or Ctrl X), navigate to another directory, paste, then right click - Rename. Not when I can just open a terminal (realistically, I always have it open) and
mv ~/downloads/kewlwallpapers_abstract_dark_blah_blah.jpg ~/pics/wallpaper/abstract_003.jpgEspecially when tab completion means I just have to type a partial path or filename and slap Tab to fill in the rest. It's just so quick.