this post was submitted on 16 Dec 2023

1074 points (97.4% liked)

linuxmemes

21378 readers

1566 users here now

Hint: :q!

Sister communities:

Community rules (click to expand)

1. Follow the site-wide rules

Instance-wide TOS: https://legal.lemmy.world/tos/
Lemmy code of conduct: https://join-lemmy.org/docs/code_of_conduct.html

2. Be civil

Understand the difference between a joke and an insult.

Do not harrass or attack members of the community for any reason.

Leave remarks of "peasantry" to the PCMR community. If you dislike an OS/service/application, attack the thing you dislike, not the individuals who use it. Some people may not have a choice.

Bigotry will not be tolerated.

These rules are somewhat loosened when the subject is a public figure. Still, do not attack their person or incite harrassment.

3. Post Linux-related content

Including Unix and BSD.

Non-Linux content is acceptable as long as it makes a reference to Linux. For example, the poorly made mockery of sudo in Windows.

No porn. Even if you watch it on a Linux machine.

4. No recent reposts

Everybody uses Arch btw, can't quit Vim, and wants to interject for a moment. You can stop now.

Please report posts and comments that break these rules!

Important: never execute code or follow advice that you don't understand or can't verify, especially here. The word of the day is credibility. This is a meme community -- even the most helpful comments might just be shitposts that can damage your system. Be aware, be smart, don't fork-bomb your computer.

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

poopsmith@lemmy.world

zephyr@lemmy.world

rtxn@lemmy.world

1074

Year of Linux on the Desktop (lemmy.world)

submitted 11 months ago by Limonene@lemmy.world to c/linuxmemes@lemmy.world

364 comments fedilink hide all child comments

2024 is the Year of Linux on the Desktop, at least for my boyfriend. He's running Windows 7 right now, so I'll be switching him to Ubuntu in a few days. Ubuntu was chosen because Proton is officially supported in Ubuntu.

top 50 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[–] EddyBot@feddit.de 267 points 11 months ago (18 children)

it is kinda wild that people abandon Windows 7 because of Steam and not because Microsoft stopped patching it several years ago

Ubuntu was chosen because Proton is officially supported in Ubuntu.

I don't think Steam actually recommends any distro since some time anymore

[–] Takios@feddit.de 192 points 11 months ago (8 children)

People don't care about security until they get hit. Source: working in IT for 10 years.

[–] hemko@lemmy.dbzer0.com 65 points 11 months ago (2 children)

And then suddenly they care a lot and do all the wrong things for wrong reasons because they know shit

[–] Oszilloraptor@feddit.de 55 points 11 months ago (2 children)

"I don't worry about missing security patches. I just have 5 anti-virus tools running simultaneously, they keep me safe."

[–] meekah@lemmy.world 37 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Or those people who actively avoid patches in general, because "they make my device slow"

[–] de_lancre@lemmy.world 21 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I mean, they do make your device slow. That why tools like InSpectre exists. For some old cpu's like my notebooks one it can be up to 20% performance impact, so if you not planning to use it with internet (or at least as main access point via browser) ever again, why not get yourself free performance?

load more comments (1 replies)

[–] moonburster@lemmy.world 24 points 11 months ago (5 children)

I see it more in: people won't switch for security reasons if it means giving up usability

[–] SapphironZA@lemmings.world 20 points 11 months ago (3 children)

I would support a law that requires software companies to open source software that they discontinue support on.

That way, companies that disappear don't have their customers at risk.

And software companies will support software for longer.

load more comments (3 replies)

load more comments (4 replies)

load more comments (6 replies)

[–] Lem453@lemmy.ca 24 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Nvidia gpu drivers wont even install on win 7 anymore. That by itself causes huge performance issues on new games that have driver optimizations.

Probably the same story for amd drivers

load more comments (1 replies)

[–] joneskind@lemmy.world 16 points 11 months ago (6 children)

Isn't SteamOS based on Arch? Did I miss something?

load more comments (6 replies)

load more comments (15 replies)

[–] Arthur_Leywin@lemmy.world 152 points 11 months ago (11 children)

All these people saying "use this or use that distro instead" is why Windows users don't go into Linux. Ubuntu is a solid choice for beginners because that's a distro with a lot of tutorials online if not the most.

[–] TheGreenGolem@lemm.ee 35 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (3 children)

I don't get what the fuck is the problem with Ubuntu anyway.

Edit: I mean I heard the reasons many times but they are completely non-issues for me.

[–] only0218@sh.itjust.works 58 points 11 months ago (2 children)

It's about Ubuntu behaving lightly like Microsoft with a closed source backend for the store, having had ads in the apps drawer, putting ads on the motd in cli with apt... It's small things like these

load more comments (2 replies)

[–] linearchaos@lemmy.world 33 points 11 months ago (12 children)

There's a lot of people out there that hate to hear this, but ubuntu is probably the best gateway to Linux we have at the moment. Go ahead, let them come in on the distro that's pretty well supported, preconfigured with everything on and newbie friendly, then once they've cut their teeth, let they have the option to move to something that's a little more tweaked.

load more comments (12 replies)

load more comments (9 replies)

[–] mlg@lemmy.world 104 points 11 months ago (1 children)

[–] olafurp@lemmy.world 48 points 11 months ago (4 children)

Don't hate on Ubuntu. It's a great starter distro for people who only know Win or Mac

[–] notTheCat@lemmy.fmhy.net 81 points 11 months ago (4 children)

It used to be, Snap ootb is remarkably horrible, I had a not-good internet plan and Snap drove me crazy with its updates, I could've settled fine if auto updates could be switched off, but nope, they're shoved down my throat, I'd say Mint is a better starter distro

[–] olafurp@lemmy.world 26 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Snap has really bad performance and licensing. I like that it's cross-platform and gives devs easier time to release software on Linux. (Flatpak is better, ofc)

I personally would recommend Kubuntu and Pop!OS if asked. However, think that people that think "I should probably install Ubuntu" should install it. There are a billion guides on how to do X on Ubuntu for non-tech people and people starting out on line might not know that everything Ubuntu based behaves more or less the same except for the KDE/Gnome/xfce. It's also supremely stable on top of that.

I think as a community we shouldn't judge people based on their choice of distro.

load more comments (1 replies)

load more comments (3 replies)

[–] Fal@yiffit.net 26 points 11 months ago (2 children)

False. KDE will feel much more familiar. And using a system with a modern kde version is way better than the ancient versions Ubuntu and all of its cousins use

load more comments (2 replies)

[–] Clbull@lemmy.world 101 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (32 children)

Windows 12 may end up being my transition to Linux, especially if they go for a subscription model. If you told me just a decade ago that Linux was a viable OS for gaming, I would have laughed at you.

Valve have outdone themselves with Proton. So have those who worked on DXVK and VKD3D.

[–] cRazi_man@lemm.ee 29 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I'll be the first to hope for the demise of Windows....but I thought the "subscription model" rumours were all discredited. Obviously anything could happen in the future I guess.

load more comments (1 replies)

load more comments (31 replies)

[–] tkk13909@sopuli.xyz 59 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (21 children)

There's a bit of controversy regarding Ubuntu that I don't need to get into but Fedora and Pop!_OS are also really good for Proton support. Ubuntu will work fine but I just prefer not to use it. Maybe you could let him try out the live environment for a couple distros to see what he might like in terms of UI.

[–] ultra@feddit.ro 33 points 11 months ago (1 children)

And Mint as well

load more comments (1 replies)

[–] SapphironZA@lemmings.world 16 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Mint is a really good distro for people coming from windows 7 UI wise.

They also ripped out Snaps, which is half the performance problems with Ubuntu

load more comments (2 replies)

load more comments (19 replies)

[–] randomaside@lemmy.dbzer0.com 56 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I'm pretty sure that this is because steam uses chromium as its backend and chromium new version doesn't run on windows 7. It's still not good because there are some games that won't run on newer systems and therefore 7 is required for preservation.

As many of you pointed out, yes I agree proton is the answer if possible. YMMV

[–] Octopus1348@lemy.lol 29 points 11 months ago

This is the actual reason. Steam officially said that: https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/4784-4F2B-1321-800A

This change is required as core features in Steam rely on an embedded version of Google Chrome, which no longer functions on older versions of Windows. In addition, future versions of Steam will require Windows feature and security updates only present in Windows 10 and above.

[–] adaveinthelife@lemmy.ca 43 points 11 months ago (1 children)

my boyfriend. He's running Windows 7

You saint.

[–] Tangent5280@lemmy.world 24 points 11 months ago (1 children)

That man must be packing a monster dong

load more comments (1 replies)

[–] onlinepersona@programming.dev 41 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (3 children)

Lol 0.06% usage in November 2023

https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey

There are more linux users than windows7 users.

[–] sorrybookbroke@sh.itjust.works 24 points 11 months ago (2 children)

0.69% (nice) on windows 7 64bit. That's 0.75% total or 0.91% including windows 8 which is also dying. This is slightly under half of the linux user base according to these statistics

load more comments (2 replies)

[–] muhyb@programming.dev 34 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Like others already mentioned, I would suggest Linux Mint as well. It's better Ubuntu than Ubuntu and similarity to Windows UI would make his transition much better.

load more comments (1 replies)

[–] nossaquesapao@lemmy.eco.br 32 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (13 children)

To be fair, steam reports less than 1% of users using windows 7. It's not as big as we think.

load more comments (13 replies)

[–] Shady_Shiroe@lemmy.world 31 points 11 months ago (2 children)

If he wants something similar to windows, get Linux mint, it's the best parts of Debian/Ubuntu but made modern. If you can do it on Ubuntu, you can do it in mint (like online guides cuz mint is based on ubuntu if you couldn't tell).

load more comments (2 replies)

[–] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 29 points 11 months ago (19 children)

Why not Linux mint? It is way more use friendly.

Also why on earth is anyone using windows 7 in 2023. I stopped using it to move to Linux back in 2016

load more comments (19 replies)

[–] Kidplayer_666@lemm.ee 27 points 11 months ago (9 children)

Nah. It's more, year of the piracy comeback

load more comments (9 replies)

[–] iopq@lemmy.world 24 points 11 months ago (4 children)

I suggest an Ubuntu fork workout snaps, they are a headache to remove now

load more comments (4 replies)

[–] Aux@lemmy.world 23 points 11 months ago (6 children)

The year of Linux was supposed to be somewhere in mid 1990-s...

load more comments (6 replies)

[–] BananaTrifleViolin@lemmy.world 19 points 11 months ago

Lots of choices but I'd probably use Kubuntu if your boyfriend is new to Linux and you want this "official" Proton support (not sure that actually means much; Proton works very well on most distros). The plasma interface can be set fairly similar to windows for a newbie to feel comfortable.

It's all just personal preference of course; I just find the Ubuntu interface annoying as someone who uses Linux and windows a lot. Personally I use Mint; very nice distro, good and stable, nice for newbies, and the default cinnamon interface is very windows like too.

[–] ChojinDSL@discuss.tchncs.de 18 points 11 months ago

Proton works on any Linux distro, it comes with steam. As long as you can install steam, you should be golden.

[–] callyral@pawb.social 16 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

RIP Windows 7, long live Linux Mint Xfce

[–] vexikron@lemmy.zip 16 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (5 children)

Aha, just popping in here to suggest taking a look at PopOS!

Proton works extremely well on it, its compatible out of the box with everything Debian based (this includes Ubuntu) so it has a huge selection of free software, has great documentation for the PopOS! specific stuff and for all the debian/ubuntu stuff you can nearly always use older wikis on the internet if you run into a snag, and its got a custom DE that I personally find better than KDE and Ubuntu's latest rendition if GNOME.

Also, while Ubuntu is going hard into Snaps, which I hate, PopOS! is going into flatpaks, which are less bad than snaps, but still stupid imo.

If you care, its fairly easy to disable and/or remove flatpaks from PopOS. It doesnt come with any preloaded afaik, so all you have to do is go into the PopShop (the app store) settings and just remove the flatpak source.

Ive run Proton on Steam via debian sources on PopOS! for years, works fine.

Oh right! I am fairly sure that PopOS! nowadays just comes by default with graphics drivers pre-installed and preset to automatically update with the rest of your software when you run sudo apt update. All you have to do is pick the Nvidia ISO if youve got Nvidia, or the standard one if youve got AMD.

load more comments (5 replies)

load more comments