I bought a laptop yesterday, it came pre-installed with Windows 11. I hate win 11 so I switched it down to Windows 10, but then started considering using Linux for total control over the laptop, but here’s the thing: I keep seeing memes about how complicated or fucky wucky Linux is to install and run. I love the idea of open source software and an operating system without any of the bullshit that comes with Windows, but most of the open source stuff I have is on my android and fairly easy to install. Installing and using Linux just feels like it’ll be a whole different beast that’ll eat up most of my time and I’m kind of intimidated by it.

TL;DR Linux scawy, how does a barely computer literate scrub like me who’s used nothing but windows since the dawn of their life get started with Linux?

  • teawrecks@sopuli.xyz
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    6 months ago

    If someone is leaving windows for privacy reasons, it doesn’t make sense to go to Ubuntu.

    • Croquette@sh.itjust.works
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      6 months ago

      Ubuntu is a great gateway distro to Linux. It ressemble Windows a lot, stable and straight forward to install and use.

      So a new user is not too lost when switching over.

      And, yeah, privacy is not that great, but having installed windows 11 on a new PC, Ubuntu is a lot better than windows

      • teawrecks@sopuli.xyz
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        6 months ago

        I admit, everything I know about Ubuntu is heresay as I don’t use it myself. But I was under the impression that there was a lot of telemetry that they send back, and ads/bloatware they ship with to subsidize their development.

        • refalo@programming.dev
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          6 months ago

          everything I know about Ubuntu is heresay

          Then why did you act like you knew what you were talking about?

            • refalo@programming.dev
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              6 months ago

              I don’t. I ask because confidently wrong people are one of the biggest reasons why the internet sucks IMO, and I want to understand why people do it.

              • teawrecks@sopuli.xyz
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                6 months ago

                I don’t.

                Oof, fair enough.

                The only part I think I was wrong about was the level of consent requested from the user. I was under the impression that they were kinda like Firefox, opting the user into telemetry sharing by default, making the refusal of data sharing more obtuse or hidden than it should be. But my impression that ubuntu still serves ads and still feels like someone else letting you use their system sounds accurate.

                It sounds like you use Ubuntu, so you could probably let me know where I’m wrong.

        • lemmyreader@lemmy.ml
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          6 months ago

          There is a lot of Ubuntu hate and it is easy to go with that and repeat.

            1. The Amazon button on the Ubuntu desktop (I believe it was not in the Ubuntu flavors) was removed after criticism.
          • Ads in the terminal. I’ve only seen those when using ssh to a server. Ads like the k8 server options of Ubuntu. No flashy jumpy colorful big ads but just small text.

          Telling people that there is no difference between installing Ubuntu and Windows is kind of cruel imho. A fresh Ubuntu installation allows the new Linux user to learn Linux and after some time they can decide to go for Arch Linux, Debian (The install is not that easy as with Ubuntu for a beginner Linux user), MX Linux or whatever they prefer.

          • teawrecks@sopuli.xyz
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            6 months ago

            Oh yeah, totally agree it’s not the same as windows. I said if their concern about windows was privacy, Ubuntu won’t feel different. It’ll feel like they’re letting you use their PC. I still get that sense from all descriptions I hear. I forgot about the ads in the terminal, that’s wild.

      • refalo@programming.dev
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        6 months ago

        Why is asking for feedback a bad thing? IMO it’s better than just being on by default, and still gives the developers an opportunity to at least get SOME useful feedback instead of all the people that screech about how telemetry should be banned entirely. I would bet money none of those people are professional developers.

        • lemmyreader@lemmy.ml
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          6 months ago

          Why is asking for feedback a bad thing? IMO it’s better than just being on by default, and still gives the developers an opportunity to at least get SOME useful feedback instead of all the people that screech about how telemetry should be banned entirely. I would bet money none of those people are professional developers.

          Indeed. Programmers really love feedback to improve their applications. I bet that everyone who installs apps for iOS or Android from the Google Play Store will have lots of apps that have crash-a-lytics, or whatever it is called, installed.