I’ve been using various distros for the past 6 months trying to find the right fit for my work. I do remote desktop support of many windows based enterprises.
I use Linux desktop every single day for 8 hours. I also play games of all sorts.
KDE neon was what I had when I started out and it was great. Zero problems. There’s no reason you’d ever need CLI in plasma desktop that I can see.
Fedora/plasma is a no go. Too complex with selinux and you really do need to know what you’re doing. Still quite usable for 90% of day to day
For the past month I’ve been on mint 21 and have had zero issues and zero CLI time.
Been enjoying baldurs gate 3 out of the box, using outlook, teams, various browsers and whatnot. Not going to give a comprehensive list here, but everything works perfectly and almost everything has been installed straight from the software manager.
GUI alternatives are constantly improving and becoming more visually pleasing throughout distros, and besides, there’s real scenarios where normal people HAVE to use Powershell or CMD to get stuff done on Windows. This is becoming less and less of a hurdle.
I think you’re right. For the average desktop user, it’s more about being able to use the software they need, without a terminal.
I think that desktop in linux has advanced a lot in the last few years, and now I’m running my games on a KDE desktop, too! But I keep having to go to the terminal to do stuff I took for granted on other systems, like OS security updates.
I’ve installed ZorinOS on a non tech savvy friends computer so she could get more life out of her old laptop and she was fine without using any terminal
What? Nautilus (ubuntu default file browser) finds drives wherever they are mounted and lists as their own location, as if it was windows. That includes the default mount point. Even if it wasn’t detected, it can still get to the mount point by browsing through the file system normally.
Installing software can be done via a software manager (included in ubuntu and most other distros). Software not in the manager is usually distributed as a portable binary (also common on windows) or an app image (even easier to use than an installer). Once installed, that software is the same as on windows.
Besides basic file manipulation, installing/running software, and web browsing, what else does the average user even do? All of it can be done on linux, with or without CLI.
Agreed. Also from a Tech support POV, there is no “standard” OS and troubleshooting the vast different environments would be a pain. With Windows, you have a standard layout, with couple different versions - Home / Pro / Enterprise. With linux, you have different syntax, differnt DE’s, etc. Still use Linux at home / work but i am interested in it. Got to have that motivation to do so.
Same thing with moving to Lemmy, gotta have that motivation to make the change.
People without much OS knowledge use windows because that’s what’s installed on the PC when they buy it. If best buy sold a PC with a just works distro installed they’d use it and not really know or care
I don’t know… Debian 12 or latest Fedora (ugh) are pretty darn idiot proof. CLI doesn’t really enter into the picture on those if you don’t want it to. And, your computer won’t have to be tossed out for another 10 years.
I’m personally just getting back into Linux after a 20-year hiatus, and configuring/compiling Gentoo from the ground up has definitely given me a different perspective on computers.
In general, almost all Linux distros stem from 3 primary distributions: Debian, Arch and Fedora. (The outliers would be things like Void, Gentoo and Slackware.) All of these other distros that “just work” are, for the most part, skins of those primary 3 with different apps pre-installed.
Kali? It’s Debian. Ubuntu? It’s Debian. Mint? It’s either Ubuntu (which itself is Debian) or now Linux Mint Debian Edition. The “look and feel” of a distro has nothing inherently to do with that distro.
What they all have in common is that the eye-candy Desktop Environment is there to provide a “friendlier” interface than a CLI - but there is nothing a DE can do that the native terminal can’t.
I’ve also found it’s just faster/easier to install things via terminal than browse through an artificial “app store.”
Maybe I’m moving away from the idea of a desktop environment in general, in favor of a Window Manager that just handles putting programs in floating windows in a black space.
Yall miss the point. Im guessing willfully. No average desktop user wants to be forced to use command line to do anything.
Linux will never see mainstream desktop usage.
I’ve been using various distros for the past 6 months trying to find the right fit for my work. I do remote desktop support of many windows based enterprises.
I use Linux desktop every single day for 8 hours. I also play games of all sorts.
KDE neon was what I had when I started out and it was great. Zero problems. There’s no reason you’d ever need CLI in plasma desktop that I can see. Fedora/plasma is a no go. Too complex with selinux and you really do need to know what you’re doing. Still quite usable for 90% of day to day
For the past month I’ve been on mint 21 and have had zero issues and zero CLI time. Been enjoying baldurs gate 3 out of the box, using outlook, teams, various browsers and whatnot. Not going to give a comprehensive list here, but everything works perfectly and almost everything has been installed straight from the software manager.
GUI alternatives are constantly improving and becoming more visually pleasing throughout distros, and besides, there’s real scenarios where normal people HAVE to use Powershell or CMD to get stuff done on Windows. This is becoming less and less of a hurdle.
I think you’re right. For the average desktop user, it’s more about being able to use the software they need, without a terminal.
I think that desktop in linux has advanced a lot in the last few years, and now I’m running my games on a KDE desktop, too! But I keep having to go to the terminal to do stuff I took for granted on other systems, like OS security updates.
I’ve installed ZorinOS on a non tech savvy friends computer so she could get more life out of her old laptop and she was fine without using any terminal
You can use Ubuntu and Zorin just fine without the terminal.
You can do this with many distros today. It must have been many years since this person tried Linux.
Yeah, it’s painfully obvious that’s the case.
Until you try to use a flash drive and nothing can see the default mount point. You can web browse and that’s about all
What? Nautilus (ubuntu default file browser) finds drives wherever they are mounted and lists as their own location, as if it was windows. That includes the default mount point. Even if it wasn’t detected, it can still get to the mount point by browsing through the file system normally.
Installing software can be done via a software manager (included in ubuntu and most other distros). Software not in the manager is usually distributed as a portable binary (also common on windows) or an app image (even easier to use than an installer). Once installed, that software is the same as on windows.
Besides basic file manipulation, installing/running software, and web browsing, what else does the average user even do? All of it can be done on linux, with or without CLI.
Agreed. Also from a Tech support POV, there is no “standard” OS and troubleshooting the vast different environments would be a pain. With Windows, you have a standard layout, with couple different versions - Home / Pro / Enterprise. With linux, you have different syntax, differnt DE’s, etc. Still use Linux at home / work but i am interested in it. Got to have that motivation to do so.
Same thing with moving to Lemmy, gotta have that motivation to make the change.
Linux doesn’t force you to use the command line for anything. It’s optional.
As soon as a distro has a control panel equivalent that has stuff like a driver manager and event log it’s all over
They do
You might be surprised to learn that multiple distros have control panel equivalent of driver managers and event logs.
I know Ubuntu has had that for a while, which means that others probably have as well.
People without much OS knowledge use windows because that’s what’s installed on the PC when they buy it. If best buy sold a PC with a just works distro installed they’d use it and not really know or care
I don’t know… Debian 12 or latest Fedora (ugh) are pretty darn idiot proof. CLI doesn’t really enter into the picture on those if you don’t want it to. And, your computer won’t have to be tossed out for another 10 years.
I’m personally just getting back into Linux after a 20-year hiatus, and configuring/compiling Gentoo from the ground up has definitely given me a different perspective on computers.
In general, almost all Linux distros stem from 3 primary distributions: Debian, Arch and Fedora. (The outliers would be things like Void, Gentoo and Slackware.) All of these other distros that “just work” are, for the most part, skins of those primary 3 with different apps pre-installed.
Kali? It’s Debian. Ubuntu? It’s Debian. Mint? It’s either Ubuntu (which itself is Debian) or now Linux Mint Debian Edition. The “look and feel” of a distro has nothing inherently to do with that distro.
What they all have in common is that the eye-candy Desktop Environment is there to provide a “friendlier” interface than a CLI - but there is nothing a DE can do that the native terminal can’t.
I’ve also found it’s just faster/easier to install things via terminal than browse through an artificial “app store.”
Maybe I’m moving away from the idea of a desktop environment in general, in favor of a Window Manager that just handles putting programs in floating windows in a black space.
I could see ChromeOS killing off Windows somehow. It’s already huge.