It is against the rules but but what is it exactly?
Spreading Linux misinformation is saying things about Linux that aren’t true.
Examples:
These can be jokes or trolling like “You can save space by removing the system’s pre-installed French language pack by running
sudo rm -fr /
” (disclaimer don’t do this!)Or misconceptions, such as “You probably don’t have a virus even if you suspect it, due to Linux’s nature viruses aren’t possible” (you absolutely can)
“Arch is stable”
That’s genius. Absolutely evil, but genius.
All it’s been doing for at least the past 15 years is throw an error message. Because there really isn’t any reason you’d want to do that on purpose.
To the disappointment of evil prankers everywhere. Reminds me of “format c:”
I have seen that code block so many times, but never with the options switch around so it stands for french 😂 Thankfully in most cases these days you need to add
--no-preserve-root
for this command to run.but never with the options switch around
Life pro tip: always put the force flag first on any command line you write (that has such a flag), to ensure that it’s the first thing seen by everyone (including your future self) reading that command line.
I don’t think these things are universal across software, but you can often put
-f
on its own, separate from other flags, or get in the habit of using the long--force
flag.As far as I’ve seen, single letter flags like
-f
can always be used by themselves, like-f -r
It’s actually not universal that they can be put together like
-fr
I don’t think these things are universal across software,
They are not.
In scripts or documents I try to use the long form of commands.
That you can “do everything that windows does”. You can’t. You can do similar things, you can do different things, you can do basic things, yes, but Linux can’t do everything that windows does.
disclaimer: on linux since 2006
Could you give an example of something linux can’t do?
Or are you alluding to windows software not running on linux even with wine etc?
I built an entire theatre using Linux. Architect was on autocad, that was alright, but engineering was on vectorworks & there I had to ask for .dxf exports.
Qlab (macos) is 100% a no-go, I actually own a macbook just for this piece of software.
Isadora runs on wine, but video play is problematic. Isadora is a video mapper/VJ/mixing software.
Of the big three of lighting console software, only Chamsys’ MagicQ runs on Linux. Infuriating when you know Grand MA consoles are linux-based. ETC? Don’t ask.
It’s niche (how about Enttec or DMXKing interfaces configurator?) but it’s my niche. I survive doing things differently, and, yes, owning a dual-boot AsahiLinux/MacOS device.
Not sure if when people say you can “do everything that windows does”, they should be interpreted to mean “every single piece of software/drivers ever written for windows was also written for linux”.
When you work in an industry where the entire collaborative workflow of everyone is based on software that doesn’t run on Linux, then not running that software is equal to not being able to work in that industry.
Yes, you can mix music on Linux PC’s. No, you can’t run a concert venue on Linux PC’s.
Believe me, my team and I have tried. And we yell “fuck this proprietary shit” on a regular basis. But we’re still forced to use it.But I run a summer festival on linux!
- Tech drawings on QCad
- Lights & previz on MagicQ
- Emails etc on firefox
Our media servers are W7 (!) but I access them with VNC. And lots of screens/beamers here are on PI computers.
…then of course we need a windows laptop for the wireless mics, for the FoH configuration, the videowall, stuff like that. Mails and docs are google anyway, remote access is teamviewer.
I can’t run it all on linux, even if I sit at a linux computer the most.
yeah same here.
Instead of VNC can I recommend running xRDP ?
VNC over SSH is secure, but VNC over network is inherently insecure and exposes plaintext passwords.
When you work in an industry where the entire collaborative workflow of everyone is based on software that doesn’t run on Linux, then not running that software is equal to not being able to work in that industry.
there’s no denying that’s true, though ofc it has alot to do with microsofts very agreessive and anti-competitive practices.
though its all a bit tangential, the main issue i think comes down to what someone means when they say “everything”. certainly if someone said “you can do everything”, i’d expect them to qualify what is (should be) obviously a slight exaggeration as parlance. they don’t literally mean “everything” they just mean most everyday things. i think its fairly common in everyday speech for someone to be able to work out thats what they meant.
in the few rare cases when someone literally means absolutely everything, then yes that silly statement would be incorrect. and if strictly intended with that meaning would certainly qualify as misinformation.
Currently there are three things that stop me from going Linux and two of those are purely software related (the third is that I don’t want to hate my work software anymore than I currently do). Is it vital software in the sense of it allowing me to work or bring me income? No. Is it something I wish to just use without fiddling after every update because I use them for fun? Absolutely yes.
This reminds me of that author who said Python 3 is not turing complete. People were taking the quote out of context but the post was still ridiculous so I don’t blame them for not cutting them slack.
Using this definition then Windows can’t do everything Linux does either, and MaOS can’t do everything Windows and Linux can do.
I don’t think people use that phrase to mean “all Windows software is compatible with Linux”.
Interesting point, but when people want to switch, and they hear Linux can do everything that windows can, they will think that everything they can do on windows can be done on Linux. To make everyone happy, Linux must be a superset. That’s a tough ask.
Another thing Linux can’t do: Run all hardware on many new computers.
Not that much of a problem, just buy different hardware or wait - they’ll address the works. But if someone just bought fancy new hardware, and wants to put Linux on it, there is a decent chance of running into sore spots, or of Linux not booting at all.
That said, it would be pretty clear to say “Linux can’t do everything windows can, and windows can’t do everything Linux can. But for most cases, there’s enough overlap that you’ll be happy on Linux.”
Edit: wording, additional stuff
Windows doesn’t support running on a Raspberry Pi Zero or an M3 mac. And can’t run a lot of the software that Linux runs. If you want to run Windows you just have to buy different hardware…
Usually the phrasing is something like “you can accomplish the same things on Linux that you can on Windows.” Meaning “yes, you can use a web browser, edit photos, use email, etc.” Many people have no idea what an operating system is and what it means to use a different one.
Are you telling someone what they need to do to get windows, converting from Linux?
I made it clear they support different things, even though there’s significant overlap - and that means some of what Windows supports, Linux doesn’t, which is critical info if you’re switching from Windows to Linux. If someone were asking he reverse, I would likely tell them the reverse (if, for example, they were used to running a pi).
Digitally sign a PDF with a couple of clicks.
So far, I have spent about 6 hours (sporadically over the past 3 years) trying to set up a way to do this, yet ultimately it didn’t ever work at all. And every time I end up using some online third party service just to get it over with.
I did it on Windows once and the setup was a simple 5 step wizard. After which digitally signing a document just works with a couple of clicks.
Bonus round:
-
on Linux there is only one PDF viewer that implements tripple click for selecting a whole line AND can invert the colors of the document (which helps some partially blind users). That viewer is Atril and it has no way of even attempting to digitally sign a PDF. As soon as you want to do the signing, you lose those one of the two features and people with impairments can’t do their work properly.
-
the screen readers have voices from the 90s and setting up anything modern with them is above my skill grade - as again, I fucked with it for days and didn’t manage to get a natural sounding voice to work. On Windows it is way simpler, including working well for mixed language documents - for example German text with technical terms in english or latin.
TBH the problem is the PDF format. It was created as proprietary trash. It’s just more adobe software so ofc it doesn’t support linux.
Yes, but still, it’ something that may be commonly required, and Linux can’t do it >!(according to the comment above, I never tried to do it so can’t comment on how hard or easy it is)!<
PDF was a proprietary format controlled by Adobe until it was released as an open standard on July 1, 2008, and published by the International Organization for Standardization as ISO 32000-1:2008, at which time control of the specification passed to an ISO Committee of volunteer industry experts.
Okular can digitally sign, invert colors (poorly hidden away so you need to customize the toolbar, but it has multiple ways, which is kinda cool).
TTS yes, but there seems to be progress. There is speech-dispatcher which could be used with piperTTS
Okular has no tripple click for whole line selection.
Other than that, setting up digitally signing with Okular never worked for me. Do you have a guide that worked for you?
Oh, read “select a word”
No idea how to setup digital signing.
I’ve setup okular signing and it worked, but I believe it was with a mime certificate tied to my email (and not pgp keys). If you want I can try to figure out exactly what I did to make it work.
Briefly off the top of my head, I believe it was
- Getting a mime certificate for my email from an authority that provides them. There’s one Italian company that will do this for any email for free.
- Converting the mime certificate to some other format
- Importing the certificate to Thunderbird’s (or maybe it was Firefox’s) certificate store (and as a sidequest setting up Thunderbird to sign email with that certificate
- Telling Okular to use the Thunderbird/Firefox certificate store as the place to find certificates
I can’t remember if there was a way to do this with pgp certificates easily
Then again, it’s not about Linux, it’s just about your-favorite-few-click-program not being available for Linux.
There’s nothing technically preventing Adobe from making Reader & Acrobat for Linux (they actually used to, around 2007 I even worked in a L10N company and we tested it.) It’s just a business decision.
Once you start asking questions of why eg. Photoshop is not on Linux while eg. Firefox, VLC or GIMP are on all platforms, you will learn stuff about the world, which has little to do with Linux per se.
Technically you are absolutely correct.
Practically, people need to get work done. And if they can’t do it on Linux, they will use another OS. No matter whose fault it actually is.
No one in the Linux community wants to force users onto Linux. If they do that, then they are morons and should not be listened to.
Windows is blatantly forced on users through monopolistic practices and underhanded dealings going back decades.
I know what I actively will choose. Also it is my choice. It doesnt have to be your choice or even the right choice. Choose what you want and what you need. No one in the Linux community can or will force you to switch to Linux.
I think your heart’s in the right place here, but it comes across as an over-generalization to say that no one in the Linux community will try to convert you. Whether they have any valid points or will be successful in doing so is a very different matter. I’d argue that much of the FSF’s official website is dedicated to exactly this, and even they can often come across as endorsing the attitude of moral superiority that Linux users are often mocked for IMO. (I’m a Linux user, but I believe this is a serious issue in our community that we need to take seriously.)
Evangelists exist in all communities. I was simply stating that people whose agenda to convert you to Linux may not always have other peoples best interests at heart. Clearly I don’t have that agenda. I would prefer people made their own decisions and choices based on their own needs. Not forced into an untenable situation.
I like how upvote/downvote does not matter on Lemmy.
Its about free speech as in beer. And not censorship. We can have our opinions without fear of being the unpopular opinion.
-
Software and hardware support definitely counts.
I would also guess that probably a lot of Microsoft enterprise stuff like active directory group policies likely aren’t supported well, but I don’t have enough knowledge to back that up.
Run 3dsmax.
Linux can’t prevent you from permanently removing files. While in Windows it’s a chore to remove a number of files/bloat, which are then most often back after a system update.
Linux can’t prevent you from permanently removing files.
Some see this as a feature.
It’s 100% a feature! Truly a horrendous approach to lock down a device someone purchased to the extent seen on Windows.
Why do you think Immutable Distros are all the rage these days? Beyond deleting shit, there’s always Fucking Up shit.
Immutable Asahi will be a thing some day ;)
Is there atomic Asahi yet? I know I saw the Fedora release, so an Atomic Desktop probably isn’t that far away. Or build it yourself! :)
There are some people in some stage of progress on a Fedora Atomic Asahi Remix
For instance, Linux hasn’t started putting ads+AI in everything. It is 2024 people get with the program!
This is correct. Linux doesn’t suck and Windows most definitely does that very well. I’d also add you can do quite advanced things on Linux, as well.
Also disclaiming: Using Linux since 1999
For me, it’s hardware support, i.e my laptops fingerprint sensor just isn’t supported, for the speakers to work I had to find a script that remapped the speakers, multiple desktops (especially with different resolutions) are a pain.
But the killer at the moment is a good solution to manage and post process my raw photos. Went from Lightroom to On1 Photo RAW…unfortunately DarkTable is still not there yet. Also still missing the affinity suite on Linux :-(
Also, sadly these tools also don’t run well in a VM
For example, when someone ask for a command to list files, and another one reply with a command that removes everything.
Or
curl -O https://software.download.prss.microsoft.com/dbazure/Win11_23H2_English_x64v2.iso?t=20e395a3-e609-4696-99fe-f6edcc14f54a&P1=1723809112&P2=601&P3=2&P4=YoihsrepRARlh%2faBo1mABEe7A0aL0yWPYOcR3dNAmlaFPDavFokSpv0oFQybmpuDhG%2f677UBlN%2fRIxY9B3EFVC5TFca%2bXI%2bA%2bQAxqraW1SGCgmpteLlZYntp2E21cpv4RIJ8aifL9z0ecBwNtgwBAY526haPg2RgKhb225RwnAER0EDGWMrDLookFFCm8th8akKETDwKQYQnVKZ%2bJUCTvlt06D42oCJ10fXcVv2D6du6Kuudtc8NgV3DSXPuB4ADK1l951o37bvijDkqAKn70aHyidA5HgdpO5O8K3PPvsre%2bNSVWLbgh7UkEeU1BNMO0INPFiGVqEIaeGorhYxS0w%3d%3d
Why stop there
curl $windows_iso_url | sudo dd of=/dev/sda bs=4M && sudo sync; sudo reboot
(Do not run this)
What does sync do?
Makes sure all writes are flushed to disk
On reflection probably not needed as I think reboot does that too
Ah sync from RAM to disk?
Sync the internal drive cache with the disk. IIRC
One example I encountered was with someone I know who mentioned Linux, and I said I use it and he suddenly got fascinated and started asking me how I get anything done when all I have is just a command prompt and how does that work. Somewhere along the way he’d gotten the idea that Linux has no GUI at all and you just do everything in the terminal. Not sure where that idea came from but I was like no dude, it works pretty much like any other OS, it has Firefox and Chrome and stuff. I think he was a bit disappointed lol.
A friend of mine believes similar except it’s that everything in Linux doesn’t actually work and you have to fix it constantly. It’s rather frustrating to deal with.
doesn’t help when you have “Arch BTW” types that like the mystique that myth gives them
TBH i used to alt-tab away from what ever non-work-related thing i was doing, to a terminal emulator when ever my boss walked in.
It was usually showing my latest package upgrade.
I spent the better part of my day debugging an
python librarynoIDE issueno flathub issue causing certain shell commands to not run in the IDE’s integrated terminal and confusing the living heck out of me. And I use Arch BTW so don’t you go around spreading linux misinformation
I mean, there are many of us who live on the CLI and scripting world. Ask him what he wants to do and explain that for anything he wants to do, you can write a script and from that point forward you can do it by typing a word and pressing enter and sitting back and watching the computer do all the work
Remember when Bill Gates said that open source software was fascist?
*communist
How are communism and fascism the same? What definitions are you using?
AFAIK communism advocates for a stateless, classless, moneyless society, while fascism advocates for imperial nationalism and the violent class hierarchies of capitalism, racism, misogyny, xenophobia, etc.
They seem much more like opposites under the standard definitions. I don’t understand doublespeak.
as a Russian who has studied the history of the USSR, i can say that Stalin’s regime might seem like a kind of fascism now, but by no means am I saying that Stalin’s communism was anything like Marx’s or Lenin’s.
How communism was implemented historically is similar to fascism
When things get extreme they get similar. (Strong authoritarian government)
When things get extreme they get similar.
‘Extreme’ is a vague word, but when you’re talking about communism and fascism (or more generally ‘far-left’ and ‘far-right’ ideology), that’s a false generalization known as ‘horseshoe theory’.
There are many clear counter-examples when talking about communism, like the entire school of anacho-communist ideologies and the existing societies stemming from them (including the Zapatista territory in Mexico with a population of around 360,000, or the FEJUVE federation in Bolivia, or the many anarchist communes around the world).
As for the more authoritarian versions (Stalinist, Maoist and related ideologies), despite their strong one-party systems, they are still extremely different to fascist ideologies in their goals and how they use their strong state to achieve them. To say ‘they are the same in many respects’ would apply just as equally to liberal capitalist states like the USA and allies, with their infamously militarized police, constant wars and imperial militarism, strong cult of nationalism (for the US, it’s centered on the Founding Fathers), mass imprisonment and state interference in bodily autonomy.
That Wayland works for everybody.
Yes, but “Wayland is trash and will never be better than X” is also misinformation.
Agreed. Both are true.
For some of us, X11/Xorg is better , way way better than using Wayland.
Linux means we should have a choice without sacrificing our freedom. So if I want to use X11/Xorg or Wayland, I SHOULD MAKE THAT DECISION.
Looking at the garbage trash fire that is systemd.
Only way I can get SysVInit back is if I use Slackware, Devuan , so a complete switch of distro and tools. No choice no freedom.
Dilettante here. How hard or easy is it to switch back and forth between X11 and Wayland?
No idea as I have Wayland disabled from install. Wayland packages based on distros are probably compatible with X11/Xorg packages installed side-by-side. Choose whichever suits your needs. If you like Wayland or X it will be your choice.
Agree with you homie, even more so, some people deadass saying that arch is stable and good for windows refugees
It’s not the yet but it’s getting pretty close these days
I usually just ask them to back that assertion up by running “pacman -Rcs xwayland” (or their package manager’s equivalent).
None have taken me up on my request, and they immediately switch to blaming the apps for it, even though some literally cannot be ported.
Linux killed my dog.
Linus bit my penguin
Origin story of the manguin
A penguin once bit my sister. its true!
Better to die in freedom!
Outdated launch parameters and environment variables uploaded to ProtonDB
This comment really hit me where it hurts.
That Linux is a single OS where OS means a distro. They end up thinking that there are 3 systems in the world, Windows, Mac and Linux.
They’re pretty close, there are three types of kernels used my majority of modern computers but they since they aren’t really into different OS software they equate it with “there only 3 types of OS GUIs”.
But Linux consists of more than 1 GUI?
Desktop environment to be specific.
That arch is the best system. Everyone has their different use cases.
Yes I agree and arch can handle all of those use cases in the best way possible (jest)
You don’t know what misinformation is? Basically it’s all kinds of lies, intentional or not.
is a lie a lie if it’s unintentional?
Not really but it’s still misinformation.
misinformation != desinformation
Both exist plenty…
Yes it is, you may not be a liar but still spread lies unknowingly.
But i guess at the end of the day it depends on its creator. If it was intentional then its a lie if not then its misinfo
Someone who lies is a liar. I lie unintentionally all too often, despite my best efforts not to (aside from some leg pulling.) Some people can’t seem to help lying, and some others do it quite intentionally. We humans aren’t very reliable or trustworthy, but we muddle on anyway, and we’re not that bad, mostly.
Depends on context. All lies are misinformation. I wouldn’t describe unintentional lies as lying though.
Misinformation is the stuff you spread in c/privacy about GrapheneOS and Android in general