this post was submitted on 20 Oct 2025
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libre
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Welcome to libre
A comm dedicated to the fight for free software with an anti-capitalist perspective.
The struggle for libre computing cannot be disentangled from other forms of socialist reform. One must be willing to reject proprietary software as fiercely as they would reject capitalism. Luckily, we are not alone.
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- Free Software, Free Society provides an excellent primer in the origins and theory around free software and the GNU Project, the pioneers of the Free Software Movement.
- Switch to GNU/Linux! If you're still using Windows in
$CURRENT_YEAR, take Linux Mint for a spin. If you're ready to take the plunge, flock to Fedora! If you're a computer hobbyist and love DIY, use Arch, NixOS or the many, many other offerings out there.
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- Avoid being confrontational: People are in different stages of liberating their computing, focus on informing rather than accusing. Debatebro nonsense is not tolerated.
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Edit: OK I'm gonna do baby's first Linux step by creating a virtual machine with Mint on it and trying to install all the stuff I use normally. If it all works out then I might just nuke Windows out of my life!!!
I want to switch to Linux but I absolutely refuse to spend my free time troubleshooting cryptic error messages in a terminal or looking through StackOverflow to accomplish basic tasks that I can already do effortlessly on Windows or Mac, even though Windows and Mac are shittier in a philosophical way. I use the computer for a variety of activities but I am not and will never be a Computer Guy. I need to be allowed to be an idiot on my computer and not have it confront me on that constantly, and I have no patience for jargon-filled documentation that assumes I have been programming since conception.
Am I doomed, or is there a place in the Linux ecosystem for me? It has always felt very exclusive of know-nothings, technologically complex and intimidating, and like a giant pain in the ass. I would love to be wrong tho bc fuck major software corporations.
I guess I can just install it to a USB drive and run it from there and fuck around and see if it works for my needs? and then if so then install it to my laptop's hard drive?
(before you tell me the error messages are not that bad: the following sentence appears in this thread, of which I know none of the words and I do not ever want to:)
The only way to learn is to give it a try. There was a time when you didn't know how to use Windows or MacOS and had to look things up for those--e.g. where certain files are stored. Like you said, boot from USB and mess around with it. It's the same point-and-click, drag-and-drop type of setup as Windows and Mac. I use Ubuntu and don't really have any more problems than I did with Windows. I also hear Mint and PopOS get recommended, but I haven't ever messed around with them.
"The Apple developers have also criticized Microsoft for mixing iOS apps with Windows apps, creating FrankenOS." They're just names of operating systems. You don't really need specialized knowledge. Most applications you probably need are a one-click install in an app store.
You might have to Google "where is x setting", "where is x folder", but you only know that for your current OS because you've been using it for awhile.
I've been very encouraged by the replies and I am going to do exactly that. My perception of Linux has always been that it requires exceptional specialized knowledge and that the community around it has no patience for those who do not already have it, but it seems that that perception is obsolete.
But yeah "Frankendebian" is definitely exactly the kind of nerdery I want to avoid lmao couldn't help but poke fun at it
The goal of Linux Mint is to specifically not be difficult for new users coming from windows and macos.
In fact, the design of the system calls back to the old windows 7 days when computers were not ad slop where the users became the QA testers like it is now. The people at Mint want a no bullshit experience, you are not going to be a beta tester.
If you like computers that will work for you, I highly recommend just doing what you said and trying it out.
It also seems like you have a perception of linux that dates back a decade ago, most of that geeky nerd stuff is gone now. I promise you that you can use Linux mint without ever going into a terminal and typing bespoke incantations.
Also the last part you mentioned is just political discourse, feel free to ignore that. Required reading for that is free software free society on the community sidebar.
I think you're right about this part and it's a relief to hear that this viewpoint is outdated. I will give it a try and if I can get it up and running smoothly I will be right back here in this comm telling people that even a dumbass can do it lol. Thank you!
I’ve had Linux Mint for a few years now. I’ve never once gotten an error message from the system (can’t say the same for my Windows work computer) and I don’t recall if I’ve ever had to use the terminal, if I did it’s been incredibly rare. Admittedly my Mint laptop is mainly just an internet box but also I’m not a computer person by any stretch and it’s been great.
this is the biggest thing i needed to hear thank you
I was going to write a list of every minor issue I've had on Linux Mint since I made the big switch 22 days ago, but honestly I don't want to scare you off it. Just rest assured that I'm a know-nothing and my experience with Linux Mint has been that most things work out of the box, and most issues are minor and have easy solutions, or if nothing else they have decent workarounds until you can be bothered to figure them out properly.
The tales of cryptic bugs and stuff are mostly from power-users running Arch or other "advanced" distros, And Arch being continuously updated to always be on the bleeding edge and everything being completely under control of the user means updates (or the user) are gonna break stuff sometimes. But not every distro is that complicated.
Depending on your distro and hardware, the linux experience can range from everything works out of the box and you never have to touch the terminal to you need to enter a series of commends to have basic desktop environement.
My go to is EndeavourOS. Takes a little work to install and setup, especially if you partition it manually like I did, but once it's done you basically (almost) never have you touch the terminal ever again. Almost never had to do any troubleshooting.
Other beginner friendly distros that work out of the box include (non exhaustive list):
Mint. Very windows-like so good for new users comming from windows.
ZorinOS. Also windows-like. Lightweight, there is a version designed to to run on very low spec hardware, if you have any 5-10+ years old machine that are struggling with windows you can give them a new life with this distro.
POP!_os. A "MacOS-like" distro.
Brazzite. A gaming oriented distro. Very easy to install, can run most games out of the box, including old PC games no longer supported by windows.
This is so helpful thank you!
You were very accusatory with your comment; sorry if you can't recognize that. It wasn't "no-nonsense" it was aptly identified as hostile.
This tone can be read as hostile; that's how I read it when I looked at the mod log. I'm just telling you, it reads as hostile, even if you didn't intend it that way.
Huh? I don't even know you.
Edit: OH yes we were actually, LOL.
All I'm saying is I get enough of this elsewhere in life that I don't need more of it to troubleshoot something that already currently works for me, I think that's probably a pretty common viewpoint among people who have not yet made the switch to Linux. I'm Linux-curious despite that fact, but I need help being won over, which is why I came here. And the replies have been very encouraging!