this post was submitted on 08 Mar 2026
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Linux

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[–] Omega_Jimes@lemmy.ca 14 points 9 hours ago

I used to really dig Linus, i watched from NCIX up until a few years ago. I stopped watching for a bunch of reasons. I remember when he said one of the things he wanted to do when starting a company was ensure everyone that worked for him could "afford a house", then to see how he treated people and kept them at low wages was a bummer.

I mean, i guess when you grow that big that fast some things get left out, but i also feel like maybe exponential growth isn't always a necessity?

Also it seems like he's one of the only personalities online that has not increased in technical ability at all.

[–] mrmaplebar@fedia.io 28 points 15 hours ago (18 children)

The part of the video that's unspoken is that he spends most of his time trashing Pop!_OS while he is invested in a company that is competing against System 76.

I'm not saying that to dismiss the complaints against PopOS, many of which are totally valid. Cosmic is honestly not good enough yet to be shipping as the default DE on PopOS, and by doing so System76 are really undermining the reputation Cosmic, PopOS and their entire company. Own goal there by System76.

At the same time Linus is making questionable choices at best. Asking ChatGPT for distro advice may be the "normie" thing to do right now (although I'm not too sure about that), but it's not the smart thing to do and it did lead him down a bad path. On top of that installing his OS at a LAN party when people are waiting for him to play a game is just dumb and makes this entire the entire thing seem like a bad faith attempt.

With that said, Valve are to blame for not making sure their old games all work perfectly on Linux out of the box.

[–] EntropyPure@lemmy.world 11 points 13 hours ago (3 children)

They are going the way normies would, which includes asking the LLM of choice for a recommendation. But as they just regurgitate listicles inhaled from the web, that is what you get.

Bazzite and Cachy are the more sane choices, though Luke is by no means counting as a Linux noob

[–] paris@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 6 hours ago

I don't think it's the direction normies would go. I think they would see that video and have it guide their choices. Otherwise who is the video for?

[–] mrmaplebar@fedia.io 8 points 12 hours ago

I mean, I get it, but I kind of reject the premise. Normies don't install operating system, period. Not Windows and not Linux.

What's the point of Linux playing dumb here? What's the point of him always seeming to install Linux when he's pressed for time at a LAN party or before needing to leave? Has he ever done a video where he approaches using Windows as if he was a caveman who never witnessed electricity before?

It's really starting to feel like a bad faith attempt...

This is the self-proclaimed "tech tips" guy we're talking about. If you're knowledgeable enough to know what Linux is and why you might want to install it, you should be knowledgeable enough to not trust "listicles" (often produced by LLMs today) and LLMs (trained on outdated listicles from 10 years ago).

PopOS is a bad choice today. Granted, some of that is the fault of System76, as imho, Cosmic really isn't really for prime time. But I think most people with any reasonable knowledge of Linux would probably not recommend it right now. Like, if they had asked Wendel from LevelOneTechs, I seriously doubt he would have recommended it...

[–] melroy@kbin.melroy.org 1 points 7 hours ago

But Linus has a bug audience and he knows that. He should have done this better instead of trusting a random reddit post and continue from there.

People also listen to him and try to also copy him. Since now people might also try Linux and the first distro might now be pop os.

[–] kyub@discuss.tchncs.de 6 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago)

Agreed. Also, they did include their own mistakes in the video (first telling about problems but then later saying that it was their own fault). You could just not include that in the video since it's pointless info about Linux when you yourself did the mistake. I think all of this in combination is meant to subtly influence viewers for "Linux = expect problems". And since LTT is generally more on the entertainment side and less on the factual/trustworthy side, and still very well-known, it could also mean that they're being paid to spread a little bit of that FUD.

On the other hand, genuinely newbie Linux users can definitely reveal some bugs or problems which might not have occurred otherwise. It's like running a fuzzer that tests the ability of a program to deal with lots of random and nonsensical input. Because some of those Windows gamers sure have some questionable habits when interacting with their PC.

Also, it shows that genuine newbies maybe need more guidance from their distro to break certain Windows habits. For example, how to install drivers (you don't because they should be there already) and applications (you shouldn't download them from the manufacturer's websites as a 1st priority). Somehow, these Windows-user friendly distributions never really include hints like that, even though that's a completely different paradigm of using the OS.

[–] fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 points 14 hours ago (4 children)

At the same time Linus is making questionable choices at best. Asking ChatGPT for distro advice may be the "normie" thing to do right now (although I'm not too sure about that), but it's not the smart thing to do and it did lead him down a bad path.

I mean that’s kinda the point. They’re noobs, they don’t know what’s right from wrong. People who don’t know right from wrong are likely to go down the wrong path.

IMO Linux’s biggest issue with normal people uptake is choice. Normal people don’t want 7000 options. It also makes diagnosing problems all the more harder.

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[–] marighost@piefed.social 52 points 17 hours ago (17 children)

Is Linus getting paid by Microsoft to dissuade people from using Linux? Obviously he's not, but every time he does one of these videos he just acts like a bumbling fool not being able to figure out the most basic of things. He's trying to use Pop!_OS with COSMIC, which I understand is still full of issues. Meanwhile the other guy is trying to install a game that requires kernel AC and TPM secure boot (PUBG). It's like he keeps engaging with Linux in bad faith.

[–] bus_factor@lemmy.world 35 points 17 hours ago (2 children)

I challenge you to find any Linus video where he doesn't act like a bumbling fool. It's his whole thing.

[–] hperrin@lemmy.ca 19 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

That’s cause it’s not an act.

[–] ZoteTheMighty@lemmy.zip 6 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago) (1 children)

It is an act. He's not just a guy on YouTube, he has a team planning his videos. They know exactly how to approach his content for maximum views from the moment they start filming. He goes into videos with basically a fully finished script.

[–] hperrin@lemmy.ca 2 points 5 hours ago

After watching him type “yes, do as I say” into a window telling him he’s about to destroy his system, and then watching his surprise as his system is destroyed, there’s no possible way you can convince me that this guy isn’t a bumbling fool.

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[–] artyom@piefed.social 5 points 12 hours ago

he just acts like a bumbling fool not being able to figure out the most basic of things

Yeah, most people can't figure them out. That's the entire point.

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[–] Die4Ever@retrolemmy.com 47 points 17 hours ago (3 children)

Not gonna watch this video, but I see the clickbait thumbnail says "LAST CHANCE" which is just dumb. Linux will outlive him and me and you. There's no reason to not give it another chance within the next 20 or so years. In fact, they'll almost certainly release another video about Linux.

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[–] realitaetsverlust@piefed.zip 28 points 16 hours ago

Imagine still watching LTT when he almost ruined a startup because he didn't want to spend 400 bucks worth of employees time for testing the product properly.

Literally a fucking trash human that doesn't give a single flying fuck about other people.

[–] Hond@piefed.social 34 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago) (5 children)

Its a wild video tbh. Switching your OS on your own LAN which you organize? This is already a high stress situation and then he expect it to just work out of the box with barely any time or patience to give it a fair try. If a Linux veteran would do this for shits and giggles as just a guest things still could have gone wrong but he probably would have atleast the experience to fix things.

But this isnt even a Linux issue. Imagine installing Win11 for the very first time without decades of Windows experience because you are eg a Mac user. The chances are pretty high that something goes wrong and you wouldnt have any clue how to fix them in like half an hour.

Normalizing the use of ChatGPT for decisions doesnt sit with me well in general. But especially for Linux stuff its such a bad choice. I may be a luddite and AI hater. But i actually have tried those damn chatbots and they fucking suck for Linux questions. Their answers are more often than not atleast missleading, outright wrong and sometimes just outdated.

I could shit on linux all day for all the real issues it has. But at some point i just skipped every Linus segment because it was unbearable to watch his antics.

The segments with Luke and the helmet guy were pretty good tough.

[–] Wizard_Pope@lemmy.world 1 points 13 minutes ago

Yeah chatbots are usually pretty useless for linux but I will admit I have had one or two issues that they fixed almost instantly after I spent 40+ minutes searching the web and could not find anything regarding the issue and my specific distro so I reluctantly asked them.

[–] ikidd@lemmy.world 28 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago) (4 children)

He does it this way in order to make Linux look bad. It's happened so many times this way, I don't know why people don't see it. He either approaches it like a complete noob and deliberately makes mistakes that anyone that's used a computer for as long as he has wouldn't think of making, or he has some "disaster" that he blames on Linux.

Then he does his "more in sorrow than anger" schpiel where he pats the Linux devs on the head and thanks them for trying but too bad they failed miserably, he was really hoping they'd do better this time. Oh, well, back to Windows I guess. Just wait for the cheque from Satya to show up in the post.

Downvote away, you LTT bumboys. At this point, between the way he runs his business and his examples of blatant theivery, if you're still a fan of this chucklefuck, I don't know if you're worth saving.

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[–] hperrin@lemmy.ca 14 points 15 hours ago (16 children)

Every time he does this it’s just an astounding admission that Linus actually doesn’t understand computers at all. He’s good at Windows.

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[–] Brkdncr@lemmy.world 21 points 17 hours ago (2 children)

LTT is garbage. Remember when they made news by not backing up their stuff and lost it all on some homemade nas?

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[–] riskable@programming.dev 9 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago) (3 children)

I didn't watch the video but... Why TF did he choose Pop! OS with Cosmic Desktop‽ That's not something a non-technical user would choose. That's like... Beta software (Cosmic) running on a Linux distro made and tested for very specific hardware sold by System76.

That's like trying to put wheels made for a truck on a random sedan. Like, yeah you can do that with a bit of effort but why? It makes no sense.

If you're going to put a Linux distro on random hardware pick something universal and stable that was made to run on random hardware like Kubuntu/Ubuntu. Especially if you're new to Linux.

Also, if you're going to do something ridiculous like this why not just start with Gentoo? Don't use the GUI installer either! Go the LFS+ route and take care picking your file systems and compile flags 😁

BTW: Out of all the random people I've ever known to "try Linux", the ones who had the best first-time experience all used KDE (Plasma) as their desktop. That means Kubuntu, Bazzite, or SteamOS. For newbies, always go with KDE. Seriously: Its interface for settings and the launcher are familiar enough to both Windows and Mac users that they don't have a hard time while also being different enough that they don't make bad assumptions about how things work (which is a problem for Gnome).

[–] lobo@lemmy.world 1 points 6 hours ago

spoilers from WAN show, he tried Bazzite and Kubuntu next and had problems with both of them lol

[–] BlackLaZoR@lemmy.world 7 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

Why TF did he choose Pop! OS with Cosmic Desktop‽

Because he emulated an average user and asked ChatGPT. And everyone hates him for trying to look at things from non expert perspective now.

[–] hperrin@lemmy.ca 5 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

He didn’t emulate an average user. He emulated an absolute moron. (But I suspect that’s because he is one. Every time he makes one of these videos, he convinces me further.)

[–] BlackLaZoR@lemmy.world 3 points 11 hours ago (5 children)

He emulated an absolute moron

So average user.

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[–] cRazi_man@europe.pub 8 points 14 hours ago (2 children)

I have sympathy for the point he was making to say it is really difficult to choose correctly and that guides can point people in confusing directions. And veterans who advocate taking the difficult path can make it more confusing.

But he needs to stop acting like a noob and be the tech guru he claims to be. He needs to contribute to the conversation by saying "it can be difficult to choose as a beginner.....but here are 3 good options.... Mint, Bazzite, etc etc". He can even cover the common pitfalls for beginners and oddities of Linux misbehaving with certain hardware and how one can go about resolving the issues.

I wasn't outraged at his first video as many others were years ago. But running a tech media company, having truckloads of expertise in house, supposedly wanting to support self-hosting and framework laptops, etc......and then doing this shit.....come on man.

[–] Fizz@lemmy.nz 1 points 3 hours ago

He didnt need to. The other two had no issues and talked positively about bazzite and cachy

[–] cRazi_man@europe.pub 8 points 11 hours ago

At this point Pewdiepie has done more for Linux than LTT has.

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