Also the average ‘advanced’ windows user: if you open regedit and add this DWORD entry to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Microsoft/application/windows/something, then you can stop Microsoft from screwing you, but it’ll revert after each update so you gotta keep fixing it
Lol. The ‘average’ advanced Gn*me user: I need to enable fractional scaling where is the UI for that. I know!!! if I just type this simple formula in my terminal gsettings set org.gnome.mutter experimental-features "['scale-monitor-framebuffer']" it might show up in the UI, or not. Do I need to reboot? But gurus told me Linux does not need this restart nonsense. I know, I’ll just distrohop and install Ubuntu it has those options enabled by default, maybe. Oh, right we hate Ubuntu now, but don’t despair there is always horribly outdated Linux Mint, or corpo testbed Fedora.
“We hope you’re enjoying Windows Annoyance Fixer Script 17! Continue to enjoy a less-annoying Windows by pulling out your credit card and selecting a subscription option below!”
This is what made me realize maybe I should try my luck with the command line.
I haven’t had to touch any advanced stuff to do non advanced stuff in a while. Windows has conditioned me badly. For example when my laptop had no mic during a meeting I instantly assumed it was drivers fucking up again ala windows, so I started finding new drivers. After reverting the change I discovered it was just firefox that had disabled the mic. Smoothest “y no audio” bugfix I’ve ever had compared to “ready for the home user” windows discord, zoom, teams, skype constantly shitting the bed randomly.
Something to remember is that even Linux’s GUI is essentially just “visual shortcuts” for shell commands. Having the terminal open doesn’t necessarily mean mucking about with the complex inner workings of your system. (But you can do that too!)
You can do really simple low-risk things like moving files around, making new text documents, renaming stuff, and starting simple script programs, in your home directory.
Heck, easiest way to make it less intimidating? Update your system with it.
sudo apt update
or
zypper dup or so on. (Depending on distro)
rm to remove stuff is the scary command that’s worth treating with great respect. Get in the habit now of double checking yourself before slamming enter. I usually move (mv) things I intend to delete to my /tmp/ directory so I have a chance to fix it, or else it just erases on next reboot.
Oh, and lastly, we’ve all done it and those who say “Well I never” are lying…but try to avoid copy pasting commands you don’t recognize from the internet into your terminal!
(Many forum replies are just like “try this long complicated one-liner to fix your issue!”)
Harmful commands can be hidden in text weirdly enough. There’s examples online but it blew my mind how that was possible. So at the very least, type it out yourself, and it couldn’t hurt doing a quick lookup to see what it’s supposed to do before committing to it.
The Linux community is often super helpful and lovely, but old posts could potentially be poisoned by bad actors and such, so keep your head up out there. :)
Linux user: Hey I made a PowerShell script for you that’ll change the entry so you don’t ha…
“advanced” Windows user: KEEP YOUR HACKER LOONIX AWAY FROM ME
The installation progress is absolutely insane if you think about it.
Oh, so I just go on the internet and download a random executable with the expectation of running it and giving it administrator access and I have to do this every single time I want to install a new piece of software?!
I can’t imagine what could go wrong with such a system…
The fact that I have to do combersome, confusing registry edits for simple changes on Windows sucks shit. I don’t think I’ve ever once intuitively known where to change something, or the way to do it once.
But it’s normalized for the people who have to go find the one fine site out of dozens that will steal your info because they’re afraid of learning something new in an era of ensuring no one learns new useful skills so it can be sold back to you.
Yeah. I’ve been spoiled by Linux for awhile, but sometime in the last few years, I realized I don’t reach for the terminal on Linux anymore to configure anything (other than crazy bullshit I compiled from source code… I am still me, after all.)
And Windows is still the usual level of pain, not amazing and not the worst… Well, I guess maybe now it really might be the worst, just because everything modern has gotten better.
The average ‘advanced’ window user: CLI is scary!
Also the average ‘advanced’ windows user: if you open regedit and add this DWORD entry to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Microsoft/application/windows/something, then you can stop Microsoft from screwing you, but it’ll revert after each update so you gotta keep fixing it
Lol. The ‘average’ advanced Gn*me user: I need to enable fractional scaling where is the UI for that. I know!!! if I just type this simple formula in my terminal
gsettings set org.gnome.mutter experimental-features "['scale-monitor-framebuffer']"it might show up in the UI, or not. Do I need to reboot? But gurus told me Linux does not need this restart nonsense. I know, I’ll just distrohop and install Ubuntu it has those options enabled by default, maybe. Oh, right we hate Ubuntu now, but don’t despair there is always horribly outdated Linux Mint, or corpo testbed Fedora.Are you alright?
Excellent, thank you for your concern.
Seriously. Regardless of platform, when you have to do something advanced you just Google it and follow the instructions or ask AI.
They would rather download and run a foreign binary from a sketchy website than open any kind of terminal
You mean like when linux users download AppImages from some random website? lol
“We hope you’re enjoying Windows Annoyance Fixer Script 17! Continue to enjoy a less-annoying Windows by pulling out your credit card and selecting a subscription option below!”
This is what made me realize maybe I should try my luck with the command line. I haven’t had to touch any advanced stuff to do non advanced stuff in a while. Windows has conditioned me badly. For example when my laptop had no mic during a meeting I instantly assumed it was drivers fucking up again ala windows, so I started finding new drivers. After reverting the change I discovered it was just firefox that had disabled the mic. Smoothest “y no audio” bugfix I’ve ever had compared to “ready for the home user” windows discord, zoom, teams, skype constantly shitting the bed randomly.
Today’s your lucky day! :D Here’s a really simple (and fun) way to start trying it out.
https://linuxjourney.com/lesson/the-shell
Such a lovely site.
Something to remember is that even Linux’s GUI is essentially just “visual shortcuts” for shell commands. Having the terminal open doesn’t necessarily mean mucking about with the complex inner workings of your system. (But you can do that too!)
You can do really simple low-risk things like moving files around, making new text documents, renaming stuff, and starting simple script programs, in your home directory.
Heck, easiest way to make it less intimidating? Update your system with it.
sudo apt updateor
zypper dupor so on. (Depending on distro)rmto remove stuff is the scary command that’s worth treating with great respect. Get in the habit now of double checking yourself before slamming enter. I usually move (mv) things I intend to delete to my/tmp/directory so I have a chance to fix it, or else it just erases on next reboot.Oh, and lastly, we’ve all done it and those who say “Well I never” are lying…but try to avoid copy pasting commands you don’t recognize from the internet into your terminal! (Many forum replies are just like “try this long complicated one-liner to fix your issue!”)
Harmful commands can be hidden in text weirdly enough. There’s examples online but it blew my mind how that was possible. So at the very least, type it out yourself, and it couldn’t hurt doing a quick lookup to see what it’s supposed to do before committing to it.
The Linux community is often super helpful and lovely, but old posts could potentially be poisoned by bad actors and such, so keep your head up out there. :)
Linux user: Hey I made a PowerShell script for you that’ll change the entry so you don’t ha… “advanced” Windows user: KEEP YOUR HACKER LOONIX AWAY FROM ME
But downloading a .reg file from some rando website is a-okay.
The installation progress is absolutely insane if you think about it.
Oh, so I just go on the internet and download a random executable with the expectation of running it and giving it administrator access and I have to do this every single time I want to install a new piece of software?!
I can’t imagine what could go wrong with such a system…
The fact that I have to do combersome, confusing registry edits for simple changes on Windows sucks shit. I don’t think I’ve ever once intuitively known where to change something, or the way to do it once.
But it’s normalized for the people who have to go find the one fine site out of dozens that will steal your info because they’re afraid of learning something new in an era of ensuring no one learns new useful skills so it can be sold back to you.
Yeah. I’ve been spoiled by Linux for awhile, but sometime in the last few years, I realized I don’t reach for the terminal on Linux anymore to configure anything (other than crazy bullshit I compiled from source code… I am still me, after all.)
And Windows is still the usual level of pain, not amazing and not the worst… Well, I guess maybe now it really might be the worst, just because everything modern has gotten better.