I can’t understand why there’s so many people suggesting newbies something really complicated distro, when all they need is to start with a something really user friendly, like Linux Mint. User can then move on to other distros if they want to when their skills improve.
I use Arch BTW.

Except the "big cats" are actually hyena and by "hunt deer" they mean that they fight over a carcass.

Bazzite is the best

Yeah I just booted my main PC first with Gnome Bazzite (oopsies) and then again with KDE version.. Works well, no notes. All my games, musics, discs, whatever, works. LMDE is great on my old-ass laptop tho.

It's never "how * like". It's "what * like" or just "how *"

"*" meaning feels in this case.

Tbf hyaenas do a lot of their own hunting. I believe I've read that lions more often pillage from hyaenas than vice versa.

Down with lion propaganda, I say!

because some people are assholes

How many lions and buffalo coexist? Surely it would be more likely to hunt an antelope or similar.

Trolls, who like to corrupt people's data, exist. A GUI procedure is almost always safer.

Entirely inaccurate, there wasn't near enough baseless insults and wild assumptions.

Bazzite really does "just work", it's so awesome.

man as a NixOS user i'm too busy perfecting my configuration to care about what other users are doing.

It. Is. Never. Perfect.

Nope.

Same, I had a lot of performance issues with Mint, for some reason. It was using tons of memory, and then freeze crashing (it is an old laptop), no matter what I tried. I switched to Zorin, and now I do not have many issues, the memory consumption is a lot less even with fancy interface grapchics. I feel like Zorin also runs Windows-stuff a lot easier, with Mint I had complicated (for a beginner) wine issues from the start. It really boils down to, what ends up working for you, and your machine, in the end.

I'm a beginner with linux but intermediate/advanced with windows and so far I've got limited experience with bazzite, cachyos, and linux mint. I think any of those 3 are easy enough for anyone to start with.

Ehh, having used all 3 Arch and Nix are about the same level of difficulty, Nix just doesn't have documentation (or at least didn't when I was using it). Flakes make it more complicated, but those are 100% optional, and I didn't use them

Gentoo is a notable step up. Shit actually breaks there, horrendously. Still love it tho.

HMLinux does, in fact, scare me. I'm debating doing LFS, but I don't think I could handle the difficulty that HML would offer

I did, for a while, subscribe to the RSS feed of a Linux forum to help people xD

I wish I had that experience, but I suppose it serves me right by being a complicated dude, I’m used to my stream deck software and I just got myself an xlr microphone, setting up all the broken out streams of audio was a bit of a mess and some of it I have to repeat every time, like Everytime I launch overwatch I have to replumb it to push audio to the game sink instead of system, while all other apps generally know their place on restart, then there was a bunch of work I put towards trying to read from my xlr stream using some plugin off of GitHub but the sandboxing is giving me nightmares because it needs hardware access to the audio stack. I just left that part alone for now because it already cost me an entire evening wrestling it when I was looking to have fun, I’ll get back to it eventually. Meanwhile my Gentoo server, my 2 Ubuntu servers, and my Linux mint machine(for my wife) all were fairly no muss no fuss.

I recently installed NixOS on my PC and this is so relatable. I'm thinking of installing NixOS on my servers too, to waste some more of my time.

Sorry to break it to you, but Gentoo is a penguin.

because it's pretty hard to recommend anything you don't use. Seeking advice on a distribution in geek forums, therefore, is a losing plan right from the start. It's smarter to install whatever you want and then come to the forums with your problems.

You fucker, we're all pingus

Personally when I stopped using Ubuntu (this was years ago), I hopped around different Ubuntu distros for a long time. Probably a good place to start, especially since Mint is based on Ubuntu.

After that I used Garuda (fairly user friendly, does require some terminal usage), then Arch, then NixOS, back to Arch, and now I'm pretty happy with Gentoo.

My main piece of advice when doing this: Set up the install to use a separate /home partition. It makes things way easier. You keep all of your configurations and such, just have a different OS under the hood.

Or it should be a cougar saying that.

Dude that's not how I was brought up in the Linux community. If you don't discourage the kids today how will they respect your authority tomorrow? No better to destroy their egos now so they won't be competition later. The LINUX community really died when we stopped being jerks to n00bs.

tl;dr - You're too dumb.

/S

I don't really want to be the tiger but what do you do on immutable distros when you want to e.g. compile a C program from source (say, an SDL game). I always thought being able to easily install popular libraries from package manager a huge advantage of Linux over windows and mac.

"I heard distro xyz is really beginner friendly, i didn't use it though so i can't give you much advice on that." is pretty simple.

Maybe adding "...i'm using distro C btw" at the end if you truly want to feels important.

I bet most newcomers wouldn't even know what that means

I usually see the opposite (on reddit of course):

"I want to run Kali on my phone, plz help".

"I am a Linux noob and went with Arch because I heard all the cool kids use it, now something bork".

"Which distro???" (same question was last asked 4 hours ago)

Because otherwise you don't have the "true linux experience", whatever that means.

I work in IT support, and you can't imagine how completely computer inept the average user is. Like, they start crying when a button has moved 2cm to the side.

These will never be able to use a command line, let alone install their own operating system.

Yet some of these Linux evangelicals think everyone was born with a UTP cable up their arse. So they recommend what they see as "easy", but don't understand that it only looks easy to them because of the decades of experience they already had.

As long as the Linux community can not decide what distro is the best for newbies, it will never be the year of the linux.

Are you asking an average user to compile programs?

If they can't be downloaded fully functionally from the internet, they do not exist to them.

Tell me how to gather this information from the GUI. Plasma for preference please.

>>> inxi -exzz                                                ±[●][master]
System:
  Kernel: 7.2.8-200.fc44.x86_64 arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc
    v: 16.2.1
  Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 6.7.5 Distro: Fedora Linux 44 (KDE Plasma
    Desktop Edition)
Machine:
  Type: Desktop System: Intel Client Systems product: NUC8i7BEH
    v: J72992-303 serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: Intel model: NUC8BEB v: J72688-303 serial: <superuser required>
    Firmware: UEFI vendor: Intel v: BECFL357.86A.0056.2018.1128.1717
    date: 11/28/2018
Battery:
  Device-1: hidpp_battery_1 model: Logitech Wireless Mouse MX Master 2S
    charge: 100% (should be ignored) status: discharging
CPU:
  Info: quad core model: Intel Core i7-8559U bits: 64 type: MT MCP
    arch: Coffee Lake rev: A cache: L1: 256 KiB L2: 1024 KiB L3: 8 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 1132 min/max: 400/2700 cores: 1: 1132 2: 1132
    3: 1132 4: 1132 5: 1132 6: 1132 7: 1132 8: 1132 bogomips: 43198
  Flags-basic: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3
    vmx
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel CoffeeLake-U GT3e [Iris Plus Graphics 655] driver: i915
    v: kernel arch: Gen-9.5 bus-ID: 00:02.0
  Display: wayland server: Xwayland v: 24.1.13 compositor: kwin_wayland
    driver: X: loaded: nvidia unloaded: modesetting gpu: i915 resolution:
    1: 2560x1440~60Hz 2: 2560x1440~60Hz
  API: EGL v: 1.5 drivers: iris,swrast platforms:
    active: gbm,wayland,x11,surfaceless,device inactive: N/A
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: intel mesa v: 26.0.3
    glx-v: 1.4 direct-render: yes renderer: Mesa Intel Iris Plus Graphics
    655 (CFL GT3)
  API: Vulkan v: 1.4.341 drivers: intel,llvmpipe surfaces: N/A
    devices: 2
  Info: Tools: api: clinfo, eglinfo, glxinfo, vulkaninfo
    de: kscreen-console,kscreen-doctor wl: wayland-info x11: xdriinfo,
    xdpyinfo, xprop, xrandr
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Cannon Point-LP High Definition Audio
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 00:1f.3
  API: ALSA v: k7.2.8-200.fc44.x86_64 status: kernel-api
  Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.6.9 status: active
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Cannon Point-LP CNVi [Wireless-AC] driver: iwlwifi
    v: kernel bus-ID: 00:14.3
  IF: wlp0s20f3 state: down mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Intel Ethernet I219-V driver: e1000e v: kernel port: N/A
    bus-ID: 00:1f.6
  IF: eno1 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Intel Bluetooth 9460/9560 Jefferson Peak (JfP) driver: btusb
    v: 0.8 type: USB bus-ID: 1-10:3
  Report: btmgmt ID: hci0 rfk-id: 0 state: up address: <filter>
    bt-v: 5.1 lmp-v: 10
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 2.81 TiB used: 920.76 GiB (32.0%)
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: A-Data model: SU800NS38 size: 119.24 GiB
  ID-2: /dev/sdb vendor: Toshiba model: Q300 size: 894.25 GiB
  ID-3: /dev/sdc vendor: Samsung model: ST2000LM003 HN-M201RAD
    size: 1.82 TiB type: USB
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 116.66 GiB used: 18.42 GiB (15.8%) fs: btrfs
    dev: /dev/sda3
  ID-2: /boot size: 1.9 GiB used: 442.1 MiB (22.7%) fs: ext4
    dev: /dev/sda2
  ID-3: /boot/efi size: 598.8 MiB used: 20.1 MiB (3.4%) fs: vfat
    dev: /dev/sda1
  ID-4: /home size: 893.82 GiB used: 246.53 GiB (27.6%) fs: xfs
    dev: /dev/sdb1
Swap:
  ID-1: swap-1 type: zram size: 8 GiB used: 827.8 MiB (10.1%)
    dev: /dev/zram0
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 43.0 C pch: 49.0 C mobo: N/A
  Fan Speeds (rpm): N/A
Info:
  Memory: total: 32 GiB available: 31.2 GiB used: 9.3 GiB (29.8%)
  Processes: 357 Uptime: 1d 3h 26m Init: systemd
  Packages: 7 note: see --rpm Compilers: clang: 22.1.8 gcc: 16.2.1
    Shell: Zsh v: 5.9 inxi: 3.3.41

LFS is actually a pretty good learning experience. But that depends on whether you're interested in topics like kernel configuration, filesystem organization, the boot components and boot sequence, init system, common app resources, compiling apps, and generally how a Linux system comes together. It gives you a solid grounding that's applicable to any Linux distro (not super-specific like Arch/Gentoo/Nix tend to be). But it's pretty dry stuff and you have to be really fascinated by Linux to dig into it.

On the cool side once you get through LFS you should be able to put together your own mini Linux distro and see how small you can make it and still boot and do something useful.

Well I can see a newcomer finding a program they want to run on github and there are instructions for compiling the program for e.g. Ubuntu which if they were Fedora user they would be able to adapt to themselves without much trouble. But since they are using a distro that decided that installing packages globally is bad for some reason they are very much on their own. Sure I think it's possible and there are methods documented somewhere (and maybe it's even better practice than installing dependencies from package manager), but it seems unlikely that anyone in the program's community can help unless they have experience with immutable distros.

I just wonder what are the benefits for which people are chosing distros that so deviate from what most other Linux users use.

Nah, adding “I use Arch BTW” is something you’re seeing in Reddit all the time.
I found it hilarious, didn’t realize how literally it was taken here.
I would add that actually I have used Mint for ages, but I don’t want to make you think that I want to feel important.

Yes, but at least they will understand the solution.

You can also just compile a script that they just have to execute, but they will understand even less and are way more likely to install malware.

It's too bad Ubuntu went to shit, because there is one thing that's nice about choosing it as your first distro: their version numbers are the date, which makes it really easy to remember exactly when you first started using Linux distros. April 2010 in my case.

But no, just go with Mint these days. Everything good about Ubuntu, none of the bad.

One "simple" command that could do anything including killing their entire PC vs detailed instructions of something they can follow and understand, especially if you include pictures.

If you want people in your community, treat them with respect.

I've been meaning to give PikaOS a try cause I'm generally a Debian preferrer, but one thing we really need is a Mint that's been given the Cachy-style treatment. Most new users right now are doing it for the games, so combining the most user-friendly distro with gaming optimizations would be pretty much ideal.

A quick search did not yield me a Hannah Montana penguin, I'm severely disappointed in this community.

And GUI feels like black magic too if the person doesn't know what's going on.

In the mailing list and usenet days, people would tell you to RTFM if your question was answered anywhere in the documentation, and Linux was a thousand times harder to install back then. Never mind DMAs and IRQs, you had to manually write config files specifying the geometry and refresh rate of your monitor.

I can help.

First, install it. This depends on your distribution and package manager. apt, pacman, you name it, just search for "yt-dlp". Epic tech tip: do not install from flatpak or snap, because if you ever run into an issue the maintainers will hate you for it, and because it will be annoying (slightly different) to use in the former case. Important to note that sometimes your distribution will put some technically-optional component (that you probably still want) into a different package like yt-dlp-ejs. Regardless, you will probably want to install ffmpeg, curl and curl-cffi (sometimes called curl-impersonate) for all of the features.

If your distribution allows using pip (most don't), you may do python3 -m pip install -U "yt-dlp[default]" to install it (do the same to upgrade later).

Navigate your shell to the directory you want to put your video in (some file managers have "Open in {some terminal emulator}" in the right click menu, which does as it sounds).

Now, yt-dlp --embed-metadata -- video_id some_other_video_id (--embed-metadata is optional, it's so that someone who downloads the video will be able to read the description). Note the --, it tells yt-dlp that your options have ended and IDs have started, to prevent it from thinking an ID is an option. In extremely rare cases, the video ID may have an exclamation mark or an ampersand, which will fuck everything up. In that case, put \ in front of the symbol, right in the ID (like "dwQ&smshIt" turns into "dwQ\&smshIt"). If you are downloading from a service other than YouTube, paste your URL (with the same precautions) instead.

Welp, this is the basic usage. You can stop reading if it already did what you want.

This may sometimes save to an MKV file when it's impossible for it to be WEBM, which is good for video editors. Most web browsers don't understand it, however. So, if you want to share it online, you may want to instead do: yt-dlp --remux-video mp4 -- video_id to forcefully shove it up a .mp4 file. If you have only noticed later, you can also do: ffmpeg -i "video.mkv" -c copy -movflags +faststart "video.mp4" (and delete the old one).

This picks and downloads the highest quality format it detects. You can see the available formats for a given upload with yt-dlp -F -- video_id. It is a table with format numbers, video resolutions (and if HDR is present or not), audio frequencies and so on. Note that most only have video OR audio, but some have both. For YouTube, the objectively best audio is 251, and is present in basically all videos (and music!) since 2014. Available video depends; apart from resolution there's also the video codec. My ranking from best quality per filesize to least resource heavy to decode (for old phone users...): AV1, VP9, VP8, H264.

Now, you can specify the formats you want to put into your video like: yt-dlp -f "251+699" -- video_id. That's it. If you want to download from YouTube Music without the pointless video tracks, you may also do: yt-dlp -f 251 --embed-metadata --remux-video opus -- your-amazing-id-here.

Downloading age and/or account gated content, and content from some picky sites, is a little more tricky. Login to the service from Firefox, default profile and no containers (it's possible to use other profiles and containers but the syntax is annoying and you will have to dig around directories). Now, do yt-dlp --embed-metadata --cookies-from-browser firefox -- id. This will download using your account. Although this may also make the site refuse some formats and give you a piece of shit video. If it's not doing anything still, try adding --impersonate firefox. If you are really desperate, you may try installing Chromium, then logging in there and using --cookies-from-browser chromium --impersonate chrome.

Bonus tech tip: there's some basic support for the Wayback Machine. Try: yt-dlp --embed-metadata -- https://web.archive.org/web/0/https://youtube.com/watch?v=wvsboPUjrGc https://web.archive.org/web/0/https://youtube.com/watch?v=_jZXbhe6-rg.

Gatekeeping is a big problem with anything - especially as it becomes easier.

Film photographers balked at people going digital and about color grading and retouching with lightroom and photoshop.

Car people talked shit about how using an automatic transmission wasn't really driving.

PC gamers got pissy at console gamers in the 90s and 2000s for just wanting a game to fucking work without having to chase down a conflict caused by a random printer driver that made their game crash in any map with water (my actual lived experience with Battefield 1942).

Lots of old-school 3D printing enthusiasts get upset when new users don't know when to adjust their pressure advance or can't read gcode.

Doctors who worked three 30-hour shifts a week in their residency think new doctors should go through the same rite of passage.

Football players who were taught to lead into a tackle using the top of their skull think new rules implemented to prevent neck injuries and TBIs make new players pansies.

We need to understand that part of making the world better is that the next generation of professionals, hobbyists, and people in general will have it easier than us, and that's a good thing.

I started with Slackware. I currently use Void. Do not follow my path. Use Ubuntu, Mint, or Fedora.

That's nice, right until you have to troubleshoot why the other person is having difficulty following the instructions. My not-entirely-but-still-mostly-strawman scenario (specifically with the RPi Imager) where that approach fails:

Run the application. If it asks for a password and then nothing happens, then you'll need to use pkexec to launch it with root privileges, run pkexec env $(env) DISPLAY=:1 /path/to/application. The main window will look like a wizard utility with the steps on the left and input fields on the right. Follow the instructions until step 4. Then complete step 4, but DO NOT click "next". A gear icon should appear.

No, not the gear icon on the top, the large gear icon on the bottom right. It didn't appear? Okay, go back to step 2 and make sure the "full" option is selected. Now go to step 4 and reenter everything. Still nothing? Send me a screenshot. Okay, the "hostname" field must not contain a hyphen, replace it with an underscore. Wait, which version of the app are you running? Go to the small gear menu, click on "About", and send me the version number... okay, nevermind, that version doesn't support this specific feature, you'll have to update.

I had to have this conversation with myself. Conducting it over an internet forum with a stranger of questionable technical skills is my definition of hell.

true linux experience

gatekeeping nonsense

Bazzite can provide a full user experience for 99% of the user base, who just want to get rid of Microsoft. Probably most of them would need to search the web to find out what it means to compile programs.

Later you had to uninstall pulse audio so sound worked. And recompile WIFI drivers with every Kernel update. Today though I can very much relate I don't want my OS to need more attention than maybe rebooting for updates once a month. That's what made macOS successful. Linux Desktop has become usable in that regard, now even vsync sometimes works.