• phx@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    Try command line?

    dpkg -i /path/to/package.deb

    That’s likely an app just not installed by default for GUI

    • LinuxSBC@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      Correct, but new users don’t want to need the command line for something as simple as installing packages.

      • Kusimulkku@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        New users probably shouldn’t be installing .debs, especially if they don’t know about terminal commands. I’ve seen so many fucked up systems from people treating Linux as Windows, as in installing everything by searching for stuff on their browser, downloading an installer and installing that.

        • setVeryLoud(true);@lemmy.ca
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          1 year ago

          Problem is a lot of closed source software still release their software as .deb or .rpm packages that installs their repos so you can install their software from the software centre.

          • Holzkohlen@feddit.de
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            1 year ago

            Tell them to install via flatpak. Spotify, Discord and so on should be available as flatpak via Gnome Software or the KDE software center. NOW on Ubuntu, this is anyone’s guess. I’m guessing there is no flatpak support by default. Ubuntu is doing the linux community a disservice.

          • Kusimulkku@lemm.ee
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            1 year ago

            I’m telling them that because it is a poor idea. But preferably the system should fix user mistake and behind the scenes just install Discord from repo or flatpak, with option to bypass this behaviour for those who know what they’re doing.

            Preferably these software vendors would know to guide users towards proper ways of installing stuff, but that’s not happening.

        • hiddengoat@kbin.social
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          1 year ago

          In other words, you’ve seen fucked up systems because people treat their Linux system like literally every non-Linux system they’ve used.

          Which is a Linux problem, not a user problem.

          • KISSmyOS@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            “not being exactly like Windows” isn’t a problem at all.
            Also, absolutely everyone is familiar with systems that use a central app repository instead of downloading executables with a browser, on their phone.

            • hiddengoat@kbin.social
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              1 year ago

              “Oh look, this software isn’t available in the selection that Fedora/Ubuntu/Mint/whatever decided I should have. I guess I can’t install it despite the fact that there are compatible packages for my distro.”

              Yeah right. Walled garden horseshit. Linux apologists do anything they can to move goalposts, to the point where using it is fucking impossible if you actually listen to every asshole’s personal opinion.

              If you can’t adapt to the user’s behavior YOU are in the wrong. End of fucking story.

              And seriously, you’re using an app store to illustrate why limiting user choice is good. What the actual fuck are you doing on a Linux sub anyway?

              • KISSmyOS@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                If you can’t adapt to the user’s behavior YOU are in the wrong.

                To avoid this issue, I use a distro that doesn’t give a flying fuck about what the user wants.
                That’s the original Linux way: Someone makes a distro in their free time for fun, or for themselves. If it’s useful to others, great. If not, they can go change it, make their own distro or fuck off.

                Repeat after me: FREE SOFTWARE ISN’T A PRODUCT. THERE IS NO PROFIT. MARKET SHARE IS IRRELEVANT.

                So keep using Windows. Nobody cares.

                • lonewalk@lemm.ee
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                  1 year ago

                  respectful counterpoint: marketshare is important, especially if we want to get more users to use ethical softwares instead of corporate controlled proprietary messes.

                  that doesn’t mean this particular issue needs to adapt to a Windows-style approach (and in fact it already can with flatpakref files, AppImages, etc.), but dismissing accessibility to people unfamiliar with Linux or dismissing having a goal of increasing Linux usage is harmful to the longevity of desktop Linux in society, and harmful to the goal of competing with the monopolistic, proprietary platforms that currently dominate.

                  • EuroNutellaMan@lemmy.world
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                    1 year ago

                    There’s distros aimed at newbies. Maybe these distros should ship with a small, quick, idiot-proof tutorial saying (with fancy images too) “hey don’t do this, do this instead” “if you need to do this you can do so like this” and some common troubleshooting but you’d still have some folks who refuse to listen and do something that breaks their system. And we as a community should only tell noobs to use one or two distros like Linux Mint, at most a few other options in case someone needs something more specific. But aside from these distros not every distro should aim for larger marketshares, in fact some are probably better left with low marketshares (for desktop users anyways).

                    Also, it is impossible to have a system that doesn’t have problems at some point and users shouldn’t expect to not run into issues and they should be willing to at least try and look up a solution, and this doesn’t go just for Linux. The closest to an unbreakable system that I can think of is Debian where the only thing someone uses is Firefox to navigate the safe sites, possibly with uBlock Origin on and the browser is in a flatpak or contained in some way. If someone doesn’t want to learn at least the basics of how to use a computer and how to try to fix your problems they probably shouldn’t be using computers honestly.

                    Of course there’s issues that aren’t easy to resolve and that’s what forums and IT technicians are for too.

                • hiddengoat@kbin.social
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                  1 year ago

                  UBUNTU IS A PRODUCT. IT MAKES PROFIT. MARKET SHARE IS HOW THEY MAKE MONEY FOR DEVELOPMENT.

                  Or did you not even bother reading the fucking headline?

                  Or were you too busy moving the goalposts to even do that?

                  • EuroNutellaMan@lemmy.world
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                    1 year ago

                    Ubuntu maybe, but Linux ain’t a product. Most Linux distros aren’t there to make a profit, they’re there because someone thought they’d be useful. They don’t care about markets hare or anything like that.

                    If you put the faults of Ubuntu on all of Linux then you don’t know much about Linux at all.

                    If Ubuntu does stupid shit, let it fail who cares there’s a billions distros to choose that provide a better experience than Ubuntu, and certainly better than Windows and macOS

              • EuroNutellaMan@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                this software isn’t available in the selection that Fedora/Ubuntu/Mint/whatever

                My man, those repos are vast as shit. The only time you will run into this situation is either if you’re using obscure software (that most newbies won’t use, and then again if you can’t Google a few things you shouldn’t be using obscure software) or stuff that isn’t supported on linux at all.

                limiting user choice

                We aren’t limiting user’s choice. You can do literally everything you want on Linux, just need to know how. You need to know how to do stuff in other OSes too btw, but doesn’t mean they will let you do everything.

                • hiddengoat@kbin.social
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                  1 year ago

                  Those repos are nowhere near vast as shit. It’s trivial to find software that isn’t one or more of them, and quite often what is there isn’t remotely a recent version.

                  Removing the ability to install .debs is literally limiting user choice and walling things off so the user doesn’t hurt themselves, the same shit that every fucking Linux knob has been squealing about Windows and MacOS doing for decades.

                  • EuroNutellaMan@lemmy.world
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                    1 year ago

                    This shows to me that you either didn’t use Linux a lot or don’t understand it.

                    quite often what is there isn’t remotely a recent version.

                    That is cause you’re using a stable release distro. If you wanted up to date packages you wouldn’t use something based on Debian stable but either a rolling release or semi-rolling like Fedora. Or Flatpaks, appimages, and the many other options you have. Again, not hard stuff to figure out if you are willing to learn. User’s fault.

                    Removing the ability to install .debs

                    Nobody is doing that, except maybe Ubuntu, you just need to learn how to do it. And if your distro does it, well wouldn’t you know it there 100000 distros more you can choose. Again if you’re looking for .debs first of all you’re not getting something different than what you’re getting on the official repo, and secondly you’re almost certainly looking for software that is lesser known or has bad support for Linux. In 2023 almost everything someone needs is in the repos of distros like Mint and Debian. Certainly everything for the type of user that is too lazy to Google anything.

              • moomoomoo309@programming.dev
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                1 year ago

                I think you’re mixing up “You shouldn’t do this” with “you shouldn’t be able to do this”. The former is common in Linux, the latter is not. No one is advocating for the latter.

              • 0xD@infosec.pub
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                1 year ago

                I like finally seeing someone sane in a Linux sub. Am I dreaming? I love Linux but I hate how unapologetically elitist and blind the fanbase is regarding the egregious user-unfriendliness.

                “But it works for me!!” - Yeah, Bob, you just spent 25 hours troubleshooting your network drivers and recompiling their kernel module.

                “Just choose the distro you want!!!” - Yeah, Alice, you just spent 5 hours researching the various distributions available.

                “I never had any problems!!” - Yeah, Kaitleiynn, you have the exact hardware configuration and OS combo that works perfectly.

          • phx@lemmy.ca
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            1 year ago

            No, it’s a user problem on both OS’s. Installing random shit from untrustworthy sources is a much more likely source of infection that a zero-day, network-based exploit, etc

            Not every OS allows you to simply click on a random installer/eventually (maybe enter a password) and get owned. IOS on phones doesn’t. Android requires you enable untrusted sources.

            It sounds like not including a GUI app by default to click-install random packages (outside the package manager) is the extra step for various Linux distros. That’s not a problem, that’s a good idea.

              • Nik282000@lemmy.ca
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                1 year ago

                Github is untrustworthy, anyone can put anything on there. It is up to the end user to determine if a project is safe to use or not.

                The default repos for Debain on the other hand are filled only with software that has been checked by at least one competent person, making them inherently safe.

                • hiddengoat@kbin.social
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                  1 year ago

                  But I thought the open nature of open source meant it was safe because someone has checked all code everywhere!

                  This shit has become tedious.

                  • Nik282000@lemmy.ca
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                    1 year ago

                    This shit has become tedious

                    No kidding. Open source software is safe because it can come from a trusted source that can be checked by others. Not every open source project is checked but the default repos of Debian, for example, are checked and can be trusted.

                    All closed source software, on the other hand, is untrustworthy because it can never be checked. This goes for the iOS and Android ecosystems as well. Despite their walled gardens the software is not open and can not be checked, which is why malicious software keeps making it’s way onto phones.

                    Have you ever heard of malicious code in the Debian repos?

                  • Helix 🧬@feddit.de
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                    1 year ago

                    This shit has become tedious.

                    It always was tedious to use computers, people just get a lot of stuff abstracted away by millions of hours of manpower.

          • grue@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            It’s hardly a Linux problem that other OSs have done things in an inferior way.

            • hiddengoat@kbin.social
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              1 year ago

              The “inferior way” being precisely the kind of walled garden Linux apologist types typically shit their pants and smear in on their faces about. But it’s fine because it’s UBUNTU’s walled garden! Can’t be using anything Ubuntu doesn’t allow!

              A dozen incompatible distribution standards, with shit not even compiled for most of them, relying on the distro for updates that can run several versions behind because the newest version isn’t compatible with THEIR ecosystem…

              But App Store bad. Windows Store bad. Play Store bad.

              Piss on that hypocrisy.

              • voodooattack@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                A walled garden doesn’t offer you the freedom to leave it. If you’re unhappy with Ubuntu, you can use a bajillion other distros and get the same software elsewhere. If you preserve your home directory and distro hop then nothing changes for you and your preferences/dot files carry over. I jumped between three distros at some point and my custom GNOME setup (extensions and all) survived through it with minor changes. Heck. Even Thunderbird kept my profile active and I never had to re-add all my email credentials from scratch.

                Can you do that with Windows or MacOS?

                • hiddengoat@kbin.social
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                  1 year ago

                  Can you do that with Windows or MacOS?

                  Yes, I can in fact download programs that aren’t on the Windows or Mac app stores. Are you even paying attention here?

                  • EuroNutellaMan@lemmy.world
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                    1 year ago

                    But you can’t completely switch your system with a different version managed by different people while preserving your home folder.

                    You can’t choose the windows you get, Microsoft chooses for you

              • KISSmyOS@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                You sound like Slackware is the distro for you. There’s no walled garden. In fact there isn’t a garden at all, you go out into the wilderness and forage, but first you have to learn how to make the plants edible.

              • Kusimulkku@lemm.ee
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                1 year ago

                The issue was that those users didn’t understand what they were doing and managed to mess up their systems. If you know what you’re doing then installing debs like regular could be totally fine.

              • Kusimulkku@lemm.ee
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                1 year ago

                You mean their decision to allow GUI installs of debs or what do you mean? The problem was the easy install and since they can’t control what is installed, the people I mentioned just installed whatever random shit not even made for the distro in question. It was a mess.

          • t0m5k1@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            No it is not a system issue. User made an assumption and got a slap as this is not windows.

            • hiddengoat@kbin.social
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              1 year ago

              Something that worked last week now does not work.

              System issue. Suck less shit at systems and maybe people in general would give a shit about Linux.

              • EuroNutellaMan@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                You act like problems don’t happen on windows and macOS. But they do happen, and they’re harder to fix than on linux most of the time.

                Then again, with immutable distros, Debian, Linux Mint, and others, most of the time if something doesn’t work it is because the user did something to break their system and in those cases put effort into it.

                If you are a user that only uses the computer to browse the web, maybe play some games on steam, then you’re unlikely to encounter any issues provided you chose the right distro (Mint would be my recommendation but I hear Fedora Silverblue works nicely). If you’re the kind of user to tinker a lot then you’re likely not a noob and you have no excuse for not looking up what you’re doing.

                If you aren’t willing to learn at least the basics of how to do the stuff you want to do then probably you shouldn’t do that stuff, not blame the system for doing what you told it to do.

                • hiddengoat@kbin.social
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                  1 year ago

                  “Provided you choose the right distro.”

                  Yeah. Windows or MacOS if you actually want to do shit.

                  EDIT
                  Just wanted to mention, I’ve never had an issue with Windows or MacOS that wasn’t directly caused by my own personal fuckery. Somehow though, I’ve had multiple Linux distro installs decide to hose themselves because they didn’t update through the precious fucking package manager properly. You know, the thing that everyone is now shitting on users for not using?

                  The most fun one was whenever a Debian update decided that the right thing to do was move my primary drive into a subfolder in /etc. Yeah. That fucking happened.

                  • EuroNutellaMan@lemmy.world
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                    1 year ago

                    So you’re complaining that your system breaks because you’re trying to use it as something that it isn’t, without looking up what you’re doing, and somehow that’s not your fault?

                    If you try to use a fork as an outlet cleaner don’t complain that the outlet sucks when you’re getting electrocuted.

          • Pantherina@feddit.de
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            1 year ago

            Thats also possible with appstream. But unless the repos go and people just install flatpaks, stuff like this will happen.

    • Pantherina@feddit.de
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      1 year ago

      Add a GUI desktop entry for that, assign .deb file mimetype to it, bam. A usable experience.