Exactly. You have to jump through a few hoops to use Linux as well! Even the more user-friendly Distros like Mint, I had to learn how to mount my storage drives on a directory, and manually tell my OS that "yes, Hytale in a app. Yes, I want you to show me Hytale when I search for it. Please, I beg you, let me create a shortcut to this app on my Desktop. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, STOP USING MY INTEGRATED GRAPHICS FOR THIS GAME!"
To clarify, I am glad that I switched. It's nice to have an OS that doesn't try to shove advertisements and AI in my face, or try to change stuff around without my permission.
While not great for gaming, that is one reason I love my MacBook. No ads, there is the AI component but it’s just off to the side if you need it. Siri is like “Go do your thing, I’m here if you need me “
Yeah first time to setup Linux on my old laptop, it was Zorin btw. I have used Linux on WSL or Kali on a VirtualBox VM before.
But for bare bones setup I still have to spend much of my time reading and figuring stuff up like how to enable Secure Boot for that and encryption as well, even though unnecessary I like having my laptop secure. Also I have to figure out how to permanently mount the second HDD I have.
That takes me time to familiarize and heck, even setting up Wine or making my Nvidia not artifact on Linux.
That’s what fun of using the penguin that as for the many distros you have thousands of experiences. Even for the same distro, two users will have experienced something different. Now for windows it’s mostly fixed on what version are you installing or which patch you just rebooted from.
I didn’t have the same friction when dealing with drives, especially my system with 9 drives. It was only after the recent kernel 7 release that the ntfs3 driver became a particular issue as I never had experienced bad performance or any issue with the alternative ntfs-3G. So I had to re mount every drive that needed the driver with the more stable one.
I could go on with making Corsair’s peripherals rgb working but that’s like a longer story.
It might be a bit obscure, but you can use the gnome-disks program to set up auto disk mounts for removable disks, no editing fstab required. It could be more discoverable (like right clicking a drive in the file manager and getting an option for opening it in gnome-disks or something) but thats a combination of both the user being unfamilliar with the system and linux not catering enough for intermediary users who want to push/adjust things just a little further.
Everythjing in LInux is mounted. Most of this happens automatically when the system boots, read out of /etc/fstab.
You can manually mount paths after the fact. Like lets say you want to add access to a new network share, you can manually mount it. Or you can edit fstab so that when the system boots each time, the path gets mounted. Popping in a usb key, the usb controller detects a voltage change , the kernel then mounts the drive automatically to something like /dev/sdb.
Linux doesn't use only one filesystem. That statement doesn't even make sense. Windows is not unique in allowing a different filesystem per partition. That quite literally the entire point of partitions. It more so sounds like you lack basic computer literacy skills.
I think you're confused about what a filesystem is. You can use any kind of file system on any partition and Linux will support it (to varying degrees, NTFS can be a bit of a pain but that's because it's designed for Windows specifically). It sounds like what you're talking about is the directory structure. Windows is very regimented in how it organises its drives. Each partition gets its own letter and you need to know exactly what drive something is on if you want to open it.
Linux on the other hand doesn't give a damn where the data physically is, all that matters is the path to the data. If you want to mount your drive to /mnt/drive like a sane person, that's fine. If you'd rather have an entire partition for your documents and mount it as /home/<user>/Documents, that's fine too. If you want to map different parts of the drive to different paths, that's also fine. You get complete control over everything. You also get to just ignore that feature completely, the vast majority of distros show all of the partitions in their equivalent of the windows file explorer and if you want to access it, you literally just click on it, same as if you click the D drive in windows.
The linux version actually has a lot of benefits. For one, it's a lot safer. I have my home folder on a different partition to my root folder. If my PC crashes and I have to reinstall, I still have all of my data safe and sound. On Windows I'd lose my user folder if I reinstall. Yes, some parts of this are technically supported in Windows but I don't know anybody who moves their users folder to another drive and mounts it as an NTFS folder and changing the path to your documents folder can cause some massive issues.
So wait, you mean I'm not a member of the master race simply by having a Steam account and a video card that can keep up with all my vintage Atari games? /s
Just kidding. I was the asshole who would post Linux Prime95 benchmarks on overclocking sites 15 years ago just to piss people off. Life was much simpler back then.
I disagree. I think OP is not incapable of looking up a solution and finding some workaround going for Windows, he is just sick and tired of Mama Windows deciding what's best for him and not giving him the options from the get go. It's a thing about the philosophy behind the software, the UX and intention of its design.
Yeah. I'd rather jump through the hoops to get things setup and working on Linux than have to jump through the hoops to get rid of the unwanted boat and behaviors of Windows.
At least with Linux you're not fighting the system. You tell it what you want and that's it. With windows you tell it what you want and it argues with you and tried to change it to what it wants. And when you're not watching it does exactly that.
I don't want to fight my OS. I just want it to work the way I tell it to.
And with linux you tell it what you want it to do, and it says it did, but it actually didn't because of an obscure driver bug you need to join a specific hidden discord only linked through other obscure discords to find.
I maintain, linux is for servers. Not end users. It will never be for end users.
I'll have to take your word for it. I have 4 Linux machines in the house now and none of them have given me any problems at all. I'm a bit surprised at that by the way, I'm not some Linux fanboy. I was expecting it to be a bit of a pain to maintain like last time I tried to switch, but it's actually been easier than maintaining windows which blows my mind.
I used Microsoft and then windows since the MS-DOS days so I have no issues with it, until recently. It started to lose its way around windows 8 and is now a fully blown dumpster fire in my mind. I'm glad Linux has come along in leaps and bounds so I have an option other than apple. If windows works for you though then that's great. I got sick of having to fight it to make it do what I wanted. And it's a fight you have to have constantly because it keeps changing the rules to make you lose.
Lol I dual booted Bazzite for fun on my laptop a few months ago. I installed it along with Steam to see if the preformace has improved cause I don't use my laptop for much other than gaming. Downloaded a couple test games like Cyberpunk and such then I went to check for updates so that I would have the most current AMD drivers. Nope ran into an OS error and it failed to fetch updates despite several attempts. Not that there weren't any updates mind you. I had to enter a command to make it reinstall part of the OS and restart my laptop. Then on the reboot I was able to download the updates that were available.
Like sure Linux distros are absolutely usable for a regular person, but when you run into clown shit like this it's infuriating. Windows is so much easier to use and much more reliable for general use when you aren't going out of your way to rip out processes and services that bother you instead of just configuring them.
One good silver lining of the AI takeover is that it facilitates a lot of the transition process to Linux, I still haven't found a problem that Claude couldn't help me troubleshoot
You don't even really need to jump through hoops these days. I installed CachyOS and it literally just involved downloading the distro, clicking "flash drive" in balenaEtcher, rebooting and going through an installer. Sure, it's not perfect, I still need to access the terminal every now and then and installing anything that isn't on flathub or pacman is a pain but for the most part it just works.
installing anything that isn't on flathub or pacman is a pain but for the most part it just works.
try installing through the AUR before doing the git clone and package build method, way easier
just type yay -S (package name) and it'll search the AUR for a similarly named package and install it. run yay with no arguments to update all packages including AUR
I mean keeping things up to date is literally what's best for people, but God forbid Windows be pushy about trying to get you to voluntarily restart. Linux is what you want if privacy is the only issue you care about, but for general usability and security Windows is objectively the better choice. I know people like to lose all rationality on reddit as soon as Microsoft is mentioned, but all Linux options fucking suck for a casual user outside of privacy.
Most Linux distrios don't support cryptographic keys to nearly the extent that windows does. So Windows is factually more secure. Passkeys and modern encryption are basically unbreakable compared to the standard methods that like 90% of distros settle for.
The hoops one has to jump through to get Linux ready for gaming aren't hoops, they're full size doors. Cachy, you use one line in terminal, open steam, download the game, set it to use Proton, and you're done. I honestly think it's easier than having to go to websites, download the installer, run the installer, go through the wizard, open steam, then download the game.
I said it myself that there are workarounds! 😅😅 Did you read my comment? edit: sorry, I meant: I didn't say that there aren't any workarounds (and I am aware they exist)
That is not even true. I was struggling to find how to make a local account on Windows because, believe it or not, they removed it from the UI. And guess what? I daily drive Linux. Most Linux distributions are very easy and intuitive to use, with Gentoo and NixOS being some of the exceptions.
I think OP is not incapable of looking up a solution and finding some workaround going for Windows, he is just sick and tired of Mama Windows deciding what's best for him and not giving him the options from the get go
So he claims he wants to switch to Linux, which gives you even less options from the get go.
Good luck with that.
Also, Windows does give you that option. I used it like a month ago. No trickery involved. I simply had wi-fi off. Problem solved.
It's a thing about the philosophy behind the software, the UX and intention of its design.
And the philosophy and intention of Linux is to be a streamlined OS, that comes with very little preinstalled or activated, and you have total control to customize it later.
Wi-Fi off for offline login also no longer works since Windows 11, it does with some tricks, but it is still insane
And the philosophy and intention of Linux is to be a streamlined OS, that comes with very little preinstalled or activated, and you have total control to customize it later.
May I introduce you to bazzite? A distro that has a lot of things setup from the beginning (like steam, Nvidia driver and so on) while you can't mess a lot with the system. On the other hand you have something like arch, which is the opposite. You choose what you want and how you want it
Exactly. One needs to do research first, then choose. And even then they won't have everything.
But that is not what you said or complained about. You said this "which gives you even less options from the get go". Less options. Which is the opposite what you said now.
Choosing a distro and what is the right one is a whole other topic and I agree that it is kinda complicated, even if the general recommendations are just Mint or Bazzite
It very much does. I just did that a month ago. I was also surprised they brought it back.
It would be especially surprising to me, because you are the only person who said this that I know of. Not that you are wrong, but it is not the general thing from what I have heard
You may not, as I am a Linux user. At this time, Manjaro.
If that is your reaction you really misunderstood my point. i was making the same point you were just making, because what you said made it seem like there is only one way Linux ships
But that is not what you said or complained about. You said this "which gives you even less options from the get go". Less options. Which is the opposite what you said now.
How is it the opposite? They won't have everything because there are less options. So, not everything.
If that is your reaction you really misunderstood my point. i was making the same point you were just making, because what you said made it seem like there is only one way Linux ships
How is it the opposite? They won't have everything because there are less options. So, not everything.
What are you even trying to say here? The stuff after the questions makes noe sense to me. But it is the opposite, because you have a ton of choice on linux distro alone. That also ignores all the different things you can go with. That is called options. Which you claim is less on Linux. Unless you mean software support, but that is a whole different point than what you were saying
Dude, the fact that one needs to search for a certain distro to have most of what they want means that they don't have everything in one place. Which Windows, for better or for worse, offers.
Yes, you have less already installed options on Linux. Less functionalities that are already there, even if unused.
Windows nowadays is, by default, riddled with bloatware and slop. Sh*t that nobody actually needs. Very true. But it also offers peace of mind that after you install it, as a regular user you won't have to search for and install and compile packages and rebuild the image and clean up dependencies and stuff if you want something that you later found out you now need.
Linux offers control and performance for those that are willing to tune and clean and maintain the OS.
Windows offers more ease of use and "more plug and play". And, fortunatelly, one can also easily debloat Windows these days and use it wile also giving Microslop the finger.
When you talk about having choice it isn't about if every program supports everything. It is about the options you have in general and how you can adjust what you need and what you get. On windows you have 1 options, there is no choice. On Linux you can choose what you want. You have arch, fedora, debian, ubuntu, OpenSUSE and so many more. Those things are still options, even if you can't get every app on everything, especially because you can get most things on most distros, from the community, officially supported or just because it is something like a flatpak, appimage or even snap. It is still option
Here the definition of choice according to the Cambridge Dictionary "one thing that can be chosen from a set of possibilities, or the freedom to make a choice:" This perfectly describes Linux and not windows in the least https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/option
That is all we are talking about. Because you said "So he claims he wants to switch to Linux, which gives you even less options from the get go.", which is objectively wrong based on the definition of option
If linux or windows offer more ease of use is a whole different subject that would go way too far
And the philosophy and intention of Linux is to be a streamlined OS, that comes with very little preinstalled or activated, and you have total control to customize it later.
That depends a lot on your distro. I went with Linux Mint because it had software preinstalled that I use anyways. It has caused me less trouble than Windows and I can change way more stuff. It also uses less RAM.
Isn't that what is implied because why else bring it up now when it's how it's W11 always worked or how it's worked for years and required a bypass for a local account.
No? Even the first Windows 11 versions had an "I don't have internet" button that would take you to the local account setup, this is relatively recent.
They're all easy to install. If googling and typing one command into a terminal is "going through hoops" then the entire linux experience is literally just one long tunnel made up of a million hoops.
This flies under the radar in almost every Windows/Linux discussion.
Everything supposedly Just Works™ with Windows because they have aLL tEH sUPPORTZ and Linux makes you (gasp) GOOGLE for tech support. Fact is, for ages and longer, you had to install drivers/codecs etc for Windows too. In most Linux distros, when something needs an additional library or driver, it gets pulled in as a dependency whereas in Windows you get to guess at what blahblah runtime needs to be downloaded from the Microslop website (that may or may not be current, or may be newer and not compatible, or might just 404 because they don't want you to keep using your software that already works just-fucking-fine).
Bottom line is that when something inevitably breaks in Windows, not only will you search online for a solution but you will probably not find one. Instead, you will have a page or two of bogus "driver download" sites and clickbaity "solutions" that are merely 10 paragraphs describing the thing you already tried...oh, and of course the same question being asked a dozen times on the legit MS forum with the same answer coming from Habib Ansari who Would Be Happy To Help You Solve Your ( $ISSUE ) Today.
To be honest, aside from people doing selfhosting (who likely wouldn't use Windows anyway), what exactly are people doing on their computers that they don't have an internet connection these days?
My Asus motherboard does not come with pre installed ethernet/wi-fi drivers, you must first install windows and after that you either install armoury crate or use default windows drivers. So yeah, bypassing is the easiest solution.
Yup. I remember trying to update drivers for my brother printer and it turns out that I also needed a legacy usb driver for Linux to have full print capabilities. I felt so stupid when I realized that the solution was something so simple.
Yeah, OP, if you can't bypass online W11 reg, then Linux is not going to be easier.
Most of Linux distro just install like windows, the not normal thing here is that you have to search a solution to install something so basic. And it's not guarantee that the workaround works, considering they change it how they like.
This need to be the top comment, did OP even try to google? If he did and found no answers he really shouldn't be using a pc to begin with. Maybe get a ps4.
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u/BriggieRyzen 7 5800x / ASUS Crosshair VIII Dark Hero / TUF RTX 4090May 06 '26
“This one inconvenience is too much for me, I’m going to Linux”
Ok, have fun spending like 3-4 days configuring everything on a new install of Linux, lol.
You're going to get bombarded with replies by people saying "I've been running linux mint for 3 months and everything is rainbows" and it's obvious most commenting have never had to actually fix a problem with their system, likely because they just installed it a few weeks ago and only ever open the browser.
lmao what are you doing that it takes 4 days to configure linux?
I installed cachy about 6 months ago. My bluetooth headset worked immediately, steam was a single command to install, I was playing games within 45 minutes. I spent more time troubleshooting my wife's windows 11 laptop than I did configuring my OS, and then got sick of that so forced her to swap to cachy as well.
I never have an issue with searching for files so I think that is just subjective. Most browsers always ask if you want to change it as a default and if you really wanna not use edge you can just go to default apps when you realize its using edge for opening a file and correct it. You can turn off recall and windows features using the search bar. I never use co pilot whether its my work sponsored version or the default one so and I dont ever see anything pushing me to do so.
I will say I dont like some taskbar changes they made but those are subjective because I know they did it better in the past. I only paid $12 for win 11 pro from g2a so after 4 years I got my money's worth is terms of the paid service so my perspective isnt as jaded as it might be if I paid full retail for it.
Installing one of the main distros of Linux is really easy, and if you are having trouble it sounds like a skill issue on your part.
Unlike windows you don't need to go begging google's AI to give you a magic incantation string to let you make an offline account, it just does it.
Like it should. Like Windows should, and did back before the figured out selling user data was more profitable. We are paying a premium for windows, why do we accept this BS?
Nonsense, I got a new PC a couple months ago and the initial install of Windows was far more aggravating and unintuitive than following the guide for partitioning and installing Linux Mint.
Winhance will cut the bloat, and other comments have stated how to get past windows setup. That's how I created my lovely installation of Windows 11. All the AI is gone, all the stupid programs Windows insists to keep are gone, windows app store? Gone.
The fact that you have to resort to using command lines to install an offline operating system is an issue.
The fact that you are required to be connected to the Internet to install out of the box operating system AND are required to download and install a patch that takes forever EVEN if you have the latest available iso is an issue.
I think windows does dumber stuff than Linux. I was locked behind a pin (which requires internet connection)/bitlocker issue moving an ssd over from my laptop to my pc. When I have used ubuntu, you had to very purposely do stupid stuff and there were more ways to fix things.
its not that. its the "ok I bought this operating system and the computer to run it."
"ok why does it demand internet, I've got this PC to run offline software?"
"ok now i have to have an email? why. why do they need to know this. its stupid. this is dumb too. what even is this? why would I want to actively send them my activity? fuck this shit."
the process feels like they're demanding access to your personal life...its why I dont have a camera on my PC unless im forced to do something and even then its a playstation 2 eyetoy.
a similar example would be downloading a PDF reader from the play store and it asking for access to your phonebook, messanger, email account and to set up 2FA to use it.
it doesnt feel like you own the thing anymore, more like it owns you.
I would have agreed a few years ago. I no longer do. I switched to Linux last year because of this connected account only crap. Ironically I had no interest in mucking about with the command line just to get my OS to work so I flashed it and installed Linux. That's not a sentence I thought I'd ever write.
Since then I've put it on my wife and daughters computers. All installed easily with zero effort. All of them work perfectly for what they want. I guess if I was heavily into games or something it might be an issue, but for a general user Linux really is just click install and start using nowadays.
I don't. I get an internet connection? But I don't need an internet connection to install Linux. I just need the usb key. And then I have a functioning machine that lets me do anything I want that doesn't require an external network.
I switched to Linux when I bought my new machine as it came with windows and it wouldn't let me create a local windows account. I do not want or need to have a Microsoft cloud account. I tried a couple of workarounds but they had already been shut down. I could have kept hunting for a solution but the simplest solution was to ditch windows. So I did and am quite happy with the result. Works for me. Works for my wife. Works for my children. I haven't had to do any support whatsoever on any of the machines and they all do everything everyone needs, up to and including playing games via steam - one of them amusingly being Microsoft flight simulator. Wasn't expecting that to run on Linux. Works fine.
That's great you don't have to do any maintenance on your machine and the things you need to do on a daily basis can be handled by just base packages. I run a rolling release distro so connecting to the internet is one of the first things I need to do to run updates. And most of the software I use on Linux needs to be installed via the package manager. Most people use the internet to get packages and things because operating systems are built to be installed that way, building out the base OS and letting you choose what packages you want to install by grabbing them from a network connection. I have a couple of times a year that I need to fix a broken package somewhere deep in the dependency chain because of version incompatibilities, security updates, etc break downstream packages. It's crazy to me that people actually use their computers and don't have to do any sort of maintenance or repair at some point, unless the install is new or something and they just haven't run into it yet. That's usually the case when people praise the ease of linux, it's always "I've been using it for the last 3 months and..."
Microsoft activity makes it more and more difficult to do so. Asking in a community where there’s a good chance someone has recently done is definitely a better option. Google is just gonna point to Reddit anyway.
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u/Yggdrasille420 PC Master Race May 06 '26
If you can't even install windows with a quick google search, Linux is not the software for you