• HolyDuckTurtle@kbin.social
    0·
    6 months ago

    I started with Ubuntu and slowly tried getting used to Gnome over the course of a few months (mainly using windows, every now and then hopping into Ubuntu when not gaming). I learned of KDE, tried it in Kubuntu, and it all instantly clicked for me. I switched over in about a week and haven’t had much reason to boot Windows since.

    It turned out that front-facing experience was incredibly important to me.

  • Shirasho@lemmings.world
    0·
    6 months ago

    Not a hot take at all. Asking someone to go from a GUI heavy operating system to a command line heavy one and be just as productive is lunacy. Like all major changes it is important to ween off the old thing.

    My biggest hurdle with the switch has been permission related issues, and you can’t deal with those cleanly with a UI, and every help thread under the sun throws out a bunch of command line commands giving a solution without explaining why those changes are needed. It may seem like Unix 101 to experienced Linux users, but it is really cryptic to newcomers coming from operating systems that are…cough more lenient with their permissions.

    There is also a mentality that UIs are much more idiot proof than command line. UIs are written by people who actually know the OS so we can’t accidentally delete our home folder because of a typo. It is a very legitimate concern.

    • Holzkohlen@feddit.de
      0·
      6 months ago

      I agree, BUT that is only because the average windows user never even had to bother with permission. I find permissions on Linux A LOT easier to handle than on Windows. Basically the way Windows does permissions is garbage, so they made it so that people can just do whatever so they won’t complain about permissions. That is… one way of doing things, I guess.

    • tryptaminev 🇵🇸 🇺🇦 🇪🇺@feddit.de
      0·
      6 months ago

      Yesterday morning i installed Mint xfce on an old laptop.

      I wanted to install synaptics drivers for the touchpad because i use the trackball as mouse but need the touchpad for clicking. Something that isnt configureable in the default driver.

      When i copied an example config file and added my line, i rebooted the computer.

      The GUI broke because in the example config file, there were “…” To indicate writing further options, but xorg couldnt interpret or ignore it, so i had to figure out how to edit textfiles in the command line.

      No fun times, and definetely a risk for new users.

  • CaptainBasculin@lemmy.ml
    0·
    6 months ago

    on a related note, help I’m too used to my i3wm config and now I cant switch to wayland at all, what do I do when xorg gets fully depreciated

    • rescue_toaster@lemm.ee
      0·
      6 months ago

      Sway is basically the wayland version of i3. I’ve switched to wayland on my new laptop and learning sway after using i3 for years has been relatively easy.

      • z3rOR0ne@lemmy.ml
        0·
        6 months ago

        Yeah, the config syntax is exactly the same. The major difference is the wayland version of various programs can be hard to figure out with out some decent google-fu.

        I’m on BSPWM on X, but have been trying river wm and that is a much less friendly conversion than i3 to sway. I’d convert entirely were it not for certain applications still not quite working on wayland without considerable configuration (wacom tablet drivers don’t work, screenshottung and eyedropper tools are available but still need more work to be feature comparable with equivalent tools on X11).

        And I’m using proprietary NVIDIA drivers which are currently stuttering real bad on the wlroots protocol (sway/river both stutter bad whenever lots of movement on the screen).

        So…just gonna wait for app, wayland, nvidia devs to eventually make the migrate worth while.

    • NotSteve_@lemmy.ca
      0·
      6 months ago

      I’ve heard sway is a drop in replacement of i3 for wayland. Only going off what I’ve heard though since I haven’t tried it myself

    • umbrella@lemmy.ml
      0·
      6 months ago

      i would recommend it to gamers but they still dont support it officially outside the steam deck…

      • 𝒍𝒆𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒏@lemmy.dbzer0.com
        0·
        6 months ago

        I don’t think they will officially support it outside of the deck IMO, having used one in the flesh they have hardware optimization down to a tee - which to me really rounds off the deck experience.

        The rapid sleep/wake and some options in the quick access menu would likely need some ironing out on other hardware configs, not sure how nvidia card support would work too…

    • UNWILLING_PARTICIPANT@sh.itjust.works
      0·
      6 months ago

      Perfect gateway for Windows migrants. This and Mint are excellent starter distros.

      I mean you don’t ever have to switch but many people do, if only to explore their options

  • Mikina@programming.dev
    0·
    6 months ago

    I 100% agree! Am a pretty new user of Nobara as a daily driver, switched like a month ago (I did have extensive CLI experience with Linux servers, along with Kali VM for work), and I’ve only realized what DE actually is only a week ago, because no one mentioned how important choice it is - it was usually just a note, that wasn’t given enough importance.

    So please, if you’re ever recommending any linux distro to somenone who’s asking, please include a short paragraph about what DE is and how importnant choice it actually is, and that they should not ignore it. I hated Gnome, and KDE feels so much better (only found about it when reinstalling broken first Fedora install to Nobara), but I didn’t know I can switch or that there was that choice in the first place - I though KDE vs Gome is a back-end thing, similar to X11 vs Wayland. It’s not, but people don’t usually explain it when recommending distributions.

  • Gakomi@lemmy.world
    0·
    6 months ago

    For windows users that go to Linux I always recommend KDE as it looks like windows and it’s easy for them to understand and use it!

      • stratosfear@lemmy.sdf.org
        0·
        6 months ago

        As a power user of windows I’ve lost faith in Ubuntu, though. Their DNS implementation alone is a disaster. So I’ve switched to Debian and KDE, but then I saw there is a Mint Debian Edition (LMDE) so that’s probably what I would recommend if anyone asked me. I personally haven’t used it yet tho as I’m enjoying KDE.

  • SquishyPandaDev@yiffit.net
    0·
    6 months ago

    Too a certain point. I’ll give you that this applies to the Debian and Ubuntu distro. Gentoo, on the other hand, is a completely different animal and will have a far greater impact on user experience than the DE.

  • Vaniljkram@lemmy.world
    0·
    6 months ago

    And for new users choosing a distro with big user base (thus having a better support system) should be a top priority. Instead newbies are often advised to use an obscure distro that in theory might be a good fit, but isn’t. Probably those who do the recommendations are Linux testers (using VZ) rather than Linux users and mostly evaluate a distro based on install process and out of the box usage.

    Configuring a big distro to your needs is much better than choosing a nishe distro.

  • ZephrC@lemm.ee
    0·
    6 months ago

    For new Linux users choosing a distro IS choosing a desktop environment. Installing a new DE that’s different from the default is not a day one Linux task, so the default for the distro is what matters. Yes. the DE is the most important factor in choosing a distro, but saying that means the distro doesn’t matter is just fundamentally incorrect and unhelpful.

  • max@lemmy.blahaj.zone
    0·
    6 months ago

    Nowadays they’re so many options, GNOME and Plasma are nice, but heavy, same for DDE(Deepin) and others fancy DEs I know why it’s heavy, but xfce and lxqt looks better on my PC, xfce you can make looks beauty and fast too

    For the WM guys: I’ll try some day, for now only DEs :3