The elephant in the room

[AlphaObeisance]

TLDR: Link to stupid 1.5 minute video

This post got me thinking about the all too common inquiries from new users about "what distro is best for X?" and how ridiculous this misconception really is. It's not a question of "better/worse" distros, but a question of convenience for whatever the intended purpose is for the machine. The Linux community is really bad about their Distro bias and so few times since joining the Linux crowd have I ever seen anyone actually call it like it is.

Yes, at an advanced level there are some noticeable differences between the different distro's; but to the general "desktop" user, they'll never know the difference regardless of distro so long as the distro is properly configured. At most they'll notice the difference syntax used to interact with the package manager via CLI (if they choose not to use the prepackaged GUI based package manager that likely comes with their DE of choice). But in reality, the average user won't know the difference between installing software on Arch VS Debian/Fedora based systems because well.... they're using GUI. They click install and put in a password; so they don't even know the difference between sudo pacman -Syu and sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade, and if they cant comprehend that, they certainly won't be able to tell the difference between repositories considering that most major repositories all have the same packages, they're just named differently (sometimes).

Anyway, figured I'd make a goofy little video to address not only my frustration with the topic, but to share some laughs about the reality of the fact Linux is just Linux and most "desktop" users really only ever see the DE.

Anyway, hope you get a laugh. If you get your feathers ruffled, I hope you find happiness in life lol. Sometimes, we need not take life so seriously namsayun?

This is also my subtle jab about how much I hate Distro reviews. They're all generic and dumb imho, but that's just me.

 

[MikeRocor]

Oh, -that- elephant in the room. I thought...

 

[MikeRocor]

I've come to the conclusion that "the best linux", "the best alternative linux", "the best linux for this, that or the other thing" is always going to be:

The distro into which the user invests enough time and effort to learn how how to use it, how it works, what it shares in common with other distros and what differentiates it from other distros.

Running a distro for ten minutes or an hour does not constitute "trying it out". Nor does running it for any length of time only in a VM. Unfortunately, this is almost always what has been done when someone writes a "review" for publication. The most useful takeaway from such a trial is likely to be, "Wow! Pachylinux comes with some really nice wallpaper images!"

 

[MikeRocor]

Oh, -that- elephant in the room. I thought...
View attachment 22169

FYI: I made that up, though I m kind of pleased with the little logo.

 

[AlphaObeisance]

I agree with you entirely. I've run Arch, Fedora, and Debian on my PC hardware. I settled with Arch and I honestly can't explain why. I guess I just find the work flow to be easier to use but I really don't know why EDIT: I do know why, because I spent more time on Arch in the beginning, I cut teeth on "DIY" with arch, so it's nostalgia mostly

There is one particular channel on youtube that I used to watch frequently as a new Linux user some years ago. But he's become an arrogant cocky youtuber and anymore I find all of his videos are essentially the same. Check out this new "distro", lets talk about the same desktop environments we've talked about for years and spend 30 minutes discussing this new basic feature that's been added. And then goes on these rants about how he doesn't watch any other Linux tubers out there because insert excuse here.

It seems a couple of the youtubers I used to highly respect that made Linux content have become arrogant and self righteous in their ways.

I want a youtube channel that talks about actual linux (not the DE's) and covers basics to advanced.

I've got Brodie for Linux news as I seem to mesh well with his personality.

People don't realize that just plopping a distro into a VM doesn't give you the "real" experience. Though in Proxomox defense, enabling VirtIO-GPU on a VM's display does make it run so much better, a thousand fold if you can GPU pass through, but I digress.

Linux on Youtube is just a really sour spot for me anymore as it used to be so enjoyable, but now that I actually understand Linux I find the content almost offensive to not only my intelligence but the intelligence of anyoone looking to get into linux. Why these people insist on talking almost exclusively about the DE's is beyond me and it makes my blood boil sometimes.

I post some.... passionate takes on Linux but it's intended to be taken as a satire look on Linux because people get SO worked up over the dumbest stuff. And I just want to post useful content when I do decide to post.

I must admit, posting a light hearted goofy take on Linux was a hugely refreshing change of pace lol. I've had a few folks reach out and thank me for the laugh so I suppose mission accomplished lol

 

[f33dm3bits]

People don't realize that just plopping a distro into a VM doesn't give you the "real" experience. Though in Proxomox defense, enabling VirtIO-GPU on a VM's display does make it run so much better, a thousand fold if you can GPU pass through, but I digress.

I have a few vm's I use to test something out if I want to help someone on forums, but I mostly don't care for helping someone with hardware problems because I'm not able to exactly replicate their situation anyways, I can only advise from previous experience but not test it out and I don't care for dual-booting multiple distributions.

 

[AlphaObeisance]

That's exactly how I feel about it. I have a "Sandbox" pool dedicated exclusively to just dinking around with distro's and more or less familiarizing myself with syntax and repository package availability. I use it occasionally when trying to help someone and I don't recall something particular about a system; but like you said it's hard to really replicate someone's issue sometimes (not to mention they almost never include logs).

It's a nice pool to have for convenience sakes that shrinks and grows as needed ofc, but at this point I really use it more for spoon feeding than anything lol .

People are starting to get offended by my video and I find it a bit funny. I've actually had a few people take the video so seriously that they felt obligated to break it down for me as to how each distro is "different" lol. I even deliberately made it a point to state in the video itself that "the General User" will never know the difference outside of the Desktop Environment.

I'm unsure how it eluded them, but at ont point I have like 9 terminals up with various distributions and if one pays attention you can see how I'm displaying the SUBTLE differences between installing the appropriate drivers on any given machine; and how it can be done 100% identically to that of the parent distro (making them all "the same").

The point was to try and ease the tension for new users by conveying the fact that pretty much every fork distro out there can utilize the parent distro's syntax if they choose to dabble in the CLI

I'm looking at you Ubuntu with your apt-get..... wut.... why? apt works just fine? Maybe I'm missing something...

But this point has seemingly eluded 25% of the "experts" out there.

I just have to shake my head and leave a troll response to those kinds of people lol. If one cannot comprehend satire then I figure it best I not engage in conversation wit em if I can help it.

To me, the first green/red flag I seek out in an "expert" Linux "power user" is whether or not he can comprehend the statement "All mainstream distro's are the same to the general user" without taking it literally.

The general user is not a developer, nor a tech junkie, they just use their PC to browse the web, play some games and write up some documents/power points or something. They don't care about repositories, syntax, kernel modules and drivers. They just see the difference in eye candy and call it "Linux". To me, an expert will understand this concept and chuckle a little at a stupid video.

The other guy breaking down the differences, has clearly forgotten that the general population hardly knows how to push the power button lol

Oh well. I'll let the "experts" keep getting salty about it while the other 75% of us laugh a lil xP

 

[f33dm3bits]

I'm looking at you Ubuntu with your apt-get..... wut.... why? apt works just fine? Maybe I'm missing something...

apt-get and related commands existed before apt, apt is just a wrapper for those original used commands, you can still use them on Debian-based distributions because apt uses them but it's just easier to do everything with the one command now, apt.

DESCRIPTION
apt provides a high-level commandline interface for the package management system. It is intended as an end user interface and enables some options better suited for interactive
usage by default compared to more specialized APT tools like apt-get(8) and apt-cache(8).

Difference Between apt and apt-get Commands [Explained]

This article explains the difference between apt and apt-get commands of Linux. It also lists some of the most commonly used apt commands that replace the older apt-get commands.

itsfoss.com

 

[AlphaObeisance]

Oh right on, I didn't know that about the apt-get. I figured since debian uses apt it just came first lol. I've always used apt but I'm just a wee linux baby compared to some ya'll lol. Makes sense though now that jah dun learnt me some hist'ry!

 

[Aristarchus]

the real experience VM is hypervisor type I VM. That is in hypervisor type I VM client has direct access to the hardware. Good hypervisor type I can control how much VM client enjoys freedom of course. Hypervisor type II VM are easier to handle so these are most popular.

There are distros better suited for server or desktop/workstation or for novices ..or the one user is familiar with (which make it easy to help novices). Better in terms of pre-config and tools readily available and professional support.

While I don't personally care about installation routine and text vs GUI tools choice I understand the question (if reasonable) from the post OP linked.

 

[AlphaObeisance]

the real experience VM is hypervisor type I VM. That is in hypervisor type I VM client has direct access to the hardware. Good hypervisor type I can control how much VM client enjoys freedom of course. Hypervisor type II VM are easier to handle so these are most popular.

There are distros better suited for server or desktop/workstation or for novices ..or the one user is familiar with (which make it easy to help novices). Better in terms of pre-config and tools readily available and professional support.

While I don't personally care about installation routine and text vs GUI tools choice I understand the question (if reasonable) from the post OP linked.

I speak both ESXi and Proxmox. I used to be able to play video games off of a VM with emulated GPU. Used to let my daughter remote play Hotwheels Unleashed 2 allllll the time from an old laptop. I'd just install it the game onto the VM through steam and she'd remote play from her crappy PC. You can do a lot with VM's, even without direct hardware access if you know what you're doin. More power too you if you passthrough hardware access. The more the marrier!