Installing OS, 10 years ago:

Windows: click a couple of buttons enter username and password

Linux: Terminal hacking, downloading shell scripts from github

Installing OS today:

Linux: click a couple of buttons, enter username and password

Windows: Terminal hacking, downloading shell scripts from github.

Link to video: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qKRmYW1D0S0

  • @[email protected]
    21•4 months ago

    Even 20 years ago Linux was easier to install then Windows.

    Last time I recall Linux being tricky was like late 90s.

    • @[email protected]
      9•4 months ago

      Giving you, if you were lucky, VESA graphics and maybe a mouse pointer because XFree86 somehow insisted on being told whether you have a PS/2 or USB mouse. 3d acceleration only with nvidia and that required manual installation because nvidia never provided anything but blobs. IIRC ATI drivers were simply non-existent (didn’t have an ATI card back then), that only changed when AMD bought them. Whippensnappers won’t believe it but once upon the time, nvidia was actually the company to go with when running linux. And Epic didn’t hate Linux yet, UT2004 came with linux binaries on the dvd.

    • SchadrachEnglish
      6•4 months ago

      I once tried to install Linux around then, not long after ISA cards with Plug n Play became a thing.

      Linux: So now to even pretend to get the card to work you have to download and run a tool to generate a config file to feed to another tool so you can then install the driver and get basic functionality from the card (which is all that’s available on Linux). Except the first tool doesn’t generate a working config file - it generates a file containing every possible configuration your hardware supports hypothetically having and requires you to find and uncomment the one you want to actually use. Requiring you to manually configure the card and thus kinda defeating the point of Plug n Play (though I guess that configuration was in software, not by setting jumpers).

      Same card in Windows at the time: Install card, boot Windows. Card is automatically identified and given a valid configuration, built in drivers provide basic functionality. Can download software from manufacturer for more advanced functionality.

      That soured me on Linux for a long time. Might try it again sometime soon just to see what it’s like if nothing else. ProtonDB doesn’t have the most positive things to say about my Steam collection, and I imagine odds are worse for stuff not available on Steam.

      • @[email protected]OP
        1•4 months ago

        ProtonDB doesn’t have the most positive things to say about my Steam collection, and I imagine odds are worse for stuff not available on Steam.

        If you ask around or search, you can get answers easily. You can install games from Epic, Ubisoft etc. using other Linux applications.

        • SeekPie
          2•4 months ago

          You can install games from Epic, Ubisoft etc. using other Linux applications.

          Like Heroic for GOG And Epic, Lutris for everything else.

    • @[email protected]
      5•4 months ago

      Yeah, all my Linux installs after about 2003 were liveCDs. I used to carry my Gentoo CD around as my diagnostic tools for a while helping people fix their windows machines (or just backing up everything off it before reformatting).

      I think Knoppix was the first live CD I used. It was mind blowing. Now you can just carry around a whole personally configured system on a USB stick. Pretty cool.