When you spent time tinkering on your linux box, at least you usually learn some piece of knowledge that can be applied later on.
When you tinker and debug something on windows, you usually have little idea of what went wrong and can derive very little from the experience. At least that was the case back when I still used windows, in the XP and vista days.
That’s just wrong! Your technique for reinstalling Windows can always improve.
And there is even more room to improve now, that you are officially denied the option of reinstalling it.
Wait, how is the option gone?
Most computers do not come with installation media nowadays. Just a resetting partition.
FYI, Microsoft offers its Media Creation Tool and ISOs of Windows install media on its website for free download. It’s easy to create your own USB install disk. Of course, I do not officially condone the despicable act of installing Windows, but sometimes ya gotta do what ya gotta do.
But you can always make a boot/install medium yourself. Up until XP I would just have a key and when I needed to reinstall, I’d get the CD from our local tech guy. Now you can just download that stuff from MS website.
Oh God, I remember the monthly format C and reinstall windows xp, followed by the dreaded service packs installation. That was how I fixed problems.
When you tinker and debug something on windows, you usually have little idea of what went wrong and can derive very little from the experience. At least that was the case back when I still used windows, in the XP and vista days.
I don’t think that is completely fair, I feel like the reason is more that on Linux no easy to follow “solutions” to as many problems as on Windows exist. When you have a problem on Linux you most of the time have to dive deeply into the technical details. On windows it’s often enough to search for a solution on the internet and follow the first tutorial (not the stupid SEO garbage sites). And once whatever problem you had is gone you don’t go and try to understand why the solution worked.
That also really annoyed me a lot when I had to fix Windows problems for work, because I really like to understand why something is working or not. And after some research I actually found Sysinternals which are tools that help you dig deeper into Windows inner workings. There are also some wonderful videos on how to use those tools available by the author of those tools. And there are also books available both on how to troubleshoot with the tools and on how Windows internally works.
Edit: fiexd tyops ;)
Thanks for the thoughtful reply and the links.
As someone who works on both daily
Linux
forcesallows you to go elbow deep in research and application of a fix to truly understand what change is being madeWindows (by default)
allowsforces you to apply some bandages and paint unless you have and know how to use the third party tools (for the purposes of this comparison I’m ignoring regedit, compmgmt, WMIC, others)
Basically, it’s only gotten worse now.
🤓 linux is only free if you don’t-
🔫 Shut the fuck up
I so disagree with the “linux is free if you dont value your time”-argument, it’s insane to me. Have you ever tried to really “learn” windows? I don’t mean just going to the settings to enable dark mode, I’m talking about the things you need to learn as a system administrator. Registry settings, group policies, powershell. Windows is a bloody mess. Linux at least makes sense if you start to understand it. Also: Bash > PowerShell.
100% agree. I do value my time, which is the reason I use Linux.
For a typical Linux issue, there’s almost always a sane reason why it wasn’t doing what you’re expecting and is relatively easy to find and fix. In the end, you’ve fixed the problem and have gained a bit of knowledge.
For a typical Windows issue, just reinstall, because it will be faster than figuring out what asinine thing has broken this time. You’ve learned nothing and wasted time, but it’s better than spending hours tracking down a potentially unfixable issue.
Get-Sad -Reason "Bash > PowerShell"
Yes, tremendous amount of time but there’s something fun about CLI debugging/troubleshooting and finally having a server doing your bidding. I’ve spent countless hours on my home server, but I also know everything I need to about LAMP stacks!
It is actually quite fathomable… I mean somebody had to come up with the ideas behind Linux, so…
Captain nitpick, away. Wee.
The thing I love about Linux is that you think you’re set until you find out about some cool program you never used before and then you go down a huge rabbit hole learning how to use it and customizing it to your liking.
Similar to the modded Terraria experience: you keep finding more crap to put on your character until the whole configuration bursts in flames and you make a new save.
This is not a joke. They handed me a paper bag of Linux on 3.5" floppies in high school. I got hooked. It’s like 30 years later and wtf yo, I did IT and science and a whole fkn Silicon Valley career and whaaaaat …?
Thanks Tux, the best deal ever.
You can also recieve unfathomable knowledge about any other obscure topic.
I was tinkering with the lxqt tray weather app (the site it connects to has limited its API) and as a result I found a program that creates synoptic charts from publically available data! I can now create cloud cover animations, temperature chart data for any region on the earth, and wind charts for 7 days ahead.
Nerd!! Tell us more.
The program is called xygrib and you can set it up with minimal tinkering.
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I know how to use Linux (my first distro was Slackware back in the late 90’s) and I like Linux for various things; I just don’t like it or want it for my daily use. All I really wanna do with my computer is play games. Maybe mod or make them. Every time I have tried gaming on Linux, I spend days doing all sorts of shit and in the end, I still can’t get what I was trying to work running.
If I was running servers for those games, on the other hand, I would want nothing but Linux. And I do so love being able to tweak and customize everything, which is why I try so very hard to get my normal gaming stuff working every once in a while on a Linux machine. I have yet to try Steam’s new ProtonOS that they use for the Deck (no SteamDeck). If I can put it on a desktop, I will have to try again.
You don’t need SteamOS, but you do need to enable Proton for all games.
Open Steam and click Steam on the menu bar (upper left corner) and click Settings.
1. Click Steam Play. 2. Check Enable Steam Play for supported titles. 3. Check Enable Steam Play for all other titles and select the Proton version you installed. 4. Press OK.protondb.com has a list of supported titles
Proton is available in many Linux distros, from what I understand, it’s essentially a translation layer that incorporates many tools like WINE. It works pretty well. I am using Manjaro and have it configured with the KDE Plasma desktop environment, which is the same one that’s on the Steam Deck. It’s pretty nifty and handles a good 60-70% of the games that I frequently play.
