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submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) by testman@lemmy.ml to c/linux@lemmy.ml

Would it be possible to lower barrier to entry that low?
To the point where installing some Linux distro would be as easy as installing a game on Steam or installing an application on a phone?
There is existing software for installing Linux from Windows.
For example, old WUBI for installing Ubuntu, and linixify-gui (fork of abandoned tunic) apparently does this as well.

So question is, should there be some effort put into making a modern installer of this kind? Something that even the person with the smoothest brain can use to get Linux on their PC?

Are there any existing projects that try to make this happen?

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Previously it was possible to boot from live disc, but install, non directly in, but from Windows. Actually I think maybe we did try it directly from the Windows OS now that I think about it. How long ago!

But yeah, just click in D drive and you go to live disc or installer. My memories are old though. I remember the the word Wubi but would need a refresher to exactly recall.

Basically, Microslop screwed up the boot loader at one point in an anticompetitive practice they were never penalized for. Afterwards you couldn't dual boot without having two drives. You also could no longer access full Linux in Windows. There was still Cygwin and WLS way later, but it wasn't as cool.

this post was submitted on 06 Jan 2026
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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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