I just use Arch
You have only yourself to blame then. You’ve chosen a distribution which expects users to learn how the system works and it’s on you to figure out how to suspend the system.
I think the laptop bios battery is dying
This is unlikely. If the battery was dying, you’d be loosing BIOS/UEFI settings including time. Once the computer starts up, the battery is unused.
Those who are frustrated with everything M$, including the apps, will be glad to see that alternatives exist. So, that’s just a kickstarter.
If someone is frustrated with Edge, pointing out that after installing GNU/Linux they’ll have Firefox or Chromium available instead. There is no reason to further introduce another step of installing a different web browser.
Why would I do that? If people made up their mind about a distro, they can just go to the distros’ website that have their own documentation and most of them are good enough.
But people did not make up their mind about a distro. They have no idea what a distro is. They dislike Windows, they’ve heard about Linux and now they’re looking up instruction how to use it. One of the popular complains is that just choosing distribution is a huge burden to new users. This is where people who know GNU/Linux should come in and steer people into specific distribution which has highest chance to be good enough for most number of new users. And then you can write a comprehensive guide how to get that distribution working and how to transition from Windows workflows to workflows on that distribution.
Seriously? Installing a browser is hard for regular computer users now?
Yes. Yes it is. If they embark on installing a new operating system, every unnecessary step makes it so much more difficult.
Switch from what? Are we talking about MacOS or OpenBSD? Did I say switch from Safari?
At this point I don’t know if you’re arguing in good faith. First sentence of your post (emphasis mine):
I’ve been seeing a lot of people wanting to switch to GNU/Linux(shortly just Linux) recently, owing to various reasons including Windows 10 EOL, forced integration of AI tools, screenshot spying, bloatware, etc. and I thought I’d make a comprehensive guide based on my experience.
Later you’re discuss switching from Edge and not Safari.
You seem to be vehemently butthurt over the fact that I just didn’t leave it at the native Firefox/Chromium that a distro might provide.
No. You’re missing the point (and also you seem to be the one butthurt that people may think there’s nothing wrong about Firefox). The point is to not overwhelm people with unnecessary information. If you want to write comprehensive guide about switching to GNU/Linux, write a comprehensive guide about a single distribution aimed at new users.
I’ve installed Librewolf on some really old, non-technical people’s systems and they’ve not complained.
You have installed. They didn’t have to do anything. Now you’re writing a guide about a complicated process of installing a new operating system and include unnecessary steps for them to do.
Why would I want to decide who’s going to be reading this?
Because that makes the text coherent. If you don’t decide who your target audience is, the text becomes useless for anyone. This is true of any text. If you write text for someone maximally patient, someone minimally patient won’t read it.
Someone already rebutted you on this on how people will get frustrated with their installation if they didn’t know that HDR/VRR don’t get supported on X11. And I’ve also been talking about gaming. So, yeah. A lot of them care about GSync/FreeSync and 10-bit colour.
Then pick openSUSE and recommend that if you’re so concerned about Wayland. Don’t bombard people with jargon they don’t care about.
More lost data? How so?
Through the process of failing to make a proper backup of the data.
A non-ignorable number of them will care about stuff like HDR or multi-monitor setups where different refresh rates don’t stutter and VRR works
I’m honestly not sure how much people care. Lemmy and Reddit will have one believe X11 is unusable, and yet I’m still using it on two monitors and I don’t feel any disadvantage at not having HDR or different refresh rates. However, I don’t really want to argue on that part.
My concern is that when newbies search ‘how do I install Linux,’ most sources give them a consistent answer, rather than every website having it’s own ‘top 10 distributions’ list or long articles full of technical jargon. Linux Mint is not a terrible distribution and it seems to be common recommendation which is why I’m recommending it as well. I believe it’s better we give people clear message and lose a handful who care about HDR or VRR, than lose a score intimidated by the choices and perceived difficulty.
I said this was my experience and there is a reason why I started using/recommending these apps. A lot of people would just simply disagree with you claiming that Firefox or Chromium have nothing wrong.
You’re writing a guide how to switch to GNU/Linux. If you want to discuss browsers, do it in another guide. If someone wants to switch operating systems, confusing them with browser choices isn’t helping.
Again, this has been my experience. And the title does say ‘comprehensive’ guide. Not a quick guide.
You’re also saying the guide is for people who recently got interested in switching to Linux. Those people don’t need to hear about Arch. They don’t need to understand what immutable distribution is. A comprehensive guide for that target audience should focus on comprehensively describing one or two distributions targeted at that target audience.
But not everyone will be looking for X11 support and therefore Mint.
Someone who just started looking into switching to Linux is looking for neither X11 nor Wayland support.
And wrt Bazzite, not everyone will want to use an atomic distro.
That’s why I wrote ‘if your entire focus is gaming.’ People who just want to play games, don’t care. They just want their stuff to work.
I see you want to simply stuff and just ask people to resort to one or two things. But that’s not going to stop people. They’re going to experiment different things.
Of course. But the way I see it, that’s not the target audience. Someone who so far had been using exclusively Windows, does not need to be front-loaded with all that information. Describe Mint in detail, especially pointing out differences they can face between Mint and Windows, and mention that other distributions also exist if they want to try them in the future.
You say this is a comprehensive guide, but it’s comprehensive in the sense that it touches on a lot of different topics. It goes broad with its scope, but for a new user going in more detail with typical Mint installation would be more useful.
For those who are only on Linux, I’ve been told that running fsck(file system consistency check) on a corrupted NTFS drive may not go well. Hence the reason I asked them to convert it to ext4.
I reckon converting would lead to more lost data than just using NTFS partition. This also locks users into using the drive under Linux. I just don’t think this is a useful recommendation for someone who is just switching from Windows.
If you’re targeting this at Windows users who just heard about GNU/Linux and consider switching, this is a terrible guide.
Edge → LibreWolf, Ungoogled-chromium/Trivalent.
No. When someone wants to switch to GNU/Linux, don’t also shove your other opinions onto them. There’s nothing wrong with Firefox or Chromium, which often come preinstalled.
Picking a distribution. There are a lot to pick from.
This whole section is way too long. Here’s what it should say:
Use Linux Mint Cinnamon Edition.
If you want to say more:
Use Linux Mint Cinnamon Edition. Or if your entire focus is gaming, use Bazzite.
No new user gives a fuck what Linux distribution is. They don’t care what atomic distribution is. And talking to them about Arch can only lead to disaster.
SteamOS, also Arch-based, is typically not recommended for Desktop systems, I think.
No. Do not recommend unsupported distribution which doesn’t work with the most popular GPU brand to any new users.
Picking a Desktop Environment
This section unnecessary since the previous section should already direct the new user to either Mint or Bazzite.
Avoid Balena Etcher. I’ve seen people have issues with it.
And you think Rufus with magnitude of options and Ventoy will leave users with fewer problems?
If you’re using auto-partitioning,
There should be no ‘if’. A new user should not do manual partitioning. If they are interested in doing it, they’re already way too advanced to read your tutorial.
→ For those who ditched Windows completely, make sure to back up your data and convert your external drives’ Filesystem to ext4 too for Linux-only use.
Uh? Why? Let them use NTFS if the drive is in NTFS.
With a non-numeric prefix ARG, create a new session.
So just call eat as (eat whatever t) I guess.
As the saying goes, don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.
You’re the one doing that. It was your choice to bring up an article which is full of manipulative language to make your point. It was your choice to bring up irrelevant facts about Canonical employees in your post.
Since the article was published on March 19, I wonder if much of it, revolving around what the author saw as indications of authoritarianism, came from heavy disquiet in the face of authoritarianism’s recent gaining hold of the White house.
How is that an excuse for making shit up?
AFAIK, Rust is mainly funded by the Rust Foundation, which not only includes Microsoft, but also includes comrades from Huawei and alike.
So does Linux Foundation. What’s your point?
You are completely missing the point here. You replied to OPs comment about licensing with a comment about incompatibilities in code. My comment was about licensing.
But the post is about an article by Sami Tikkanen/Roy Schestowitz (not really sure who the author is) and my answer is in context of that post. Like I’ve said, if you want to discuss licensing policies and how uutils affects future of FOSS, don’t use manipulative trash articles as starting point. Write a coherent post where you present factual information and than we can talk.
If wanting to keep FOSS as FOSS is disgusting to you why are you in this community in the first place?
It isn’t. But author of the article and OP are lying and using manipulative language to discredit people they disagree with. That’s what I find disgusting. I criticise the article because I don’t want such people representing copyleft licenses.
The CMOS battery does nothing from the moment computer is turned on. If you’re saying booting takes longer, that’s not battery’s fault.
That’s not how CMOS battery work. It’s even good enough or you’re loosing the clock.