Embrace the windows approach:
Wait for the wizard to finish this time it'll totally do something click around in regedit,
reformat,
post "fixed it guys"
delete account.
this post was submitted on 03 Nov 2025
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Linux
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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I just go around looking for other people who post their problems, then aggressively tell them to read the wiki and report the thread so it gets closed.
I do the typical Arch troubleshooting, wait a few hours and then yay -Syu and pray they’ve released a patch.
Reminds me of an alias error in building a package on AUR. By 1am I was done looking for solutions. In the morning, lo and behold, an AUR update revealed a new package released at 3am prior to fix the alias error.
- Web search it
- Read a bunch of technical gibberish and terminal commands
- Type them in
- Some kind of generic error
- Go back to using my Mac
I once had a problem with an ASUS notebook. I think it was the touchpad. So I looked in dmesg and found something like:
“HID something something was configured with flag 1. If this is incorrect, try the command blah blah flag=0.”
Ran the command and it was fixed.
I've never seen such a beautiful error in Windows. And I really lost my respect when I tried to calibrate an external screen on a Mac because that felt like Linux from 2016.
Yeah that's great if you know what dmesg is and how to use it.
No one knew how to use computers at all until they learned. GUIs do not mean anything until you learn them, too.
Not true at all. Anyone can simply click and scroll around a GUI to find what they need. The terminal is a literal black box that can't do anything unless you know explicitly and exactly what to tell it.
Funny enough from experience having less GUI made it easier to learn.
I started really using computers when I was introduced to the revolutionary concept of the internet in 2020.
GUI did not seem much universal. Every app still has their own thing going on and I could not tell what are common to each.
As example I was never told you can right-click on stuff other than desktop files, so I just assumed you couldn't until I saw someone right click google's bookmarks space one day.
Also following a year old guide on programming felt outdated because youtube tutorial used the other visual studio and I assumed it was just the versions looking different while the "cc" command from a book written in 80s just worked on linux terminal.
The main problem I had was remembering the commands and options but even that clicked over time.
Most people do not know or care how computers work, nor should they. They only need to know how to use them as a tool to complete their tasks. Not having a GUI makes those tasks monumental in comparison. That's why the GUI was created, after the terminal, and why virtually everyone uses it by default.
Ultich, dont take this the wrong way, but thats how you are using systems and thats how you see them. It is your perspective, not everyones perspective.
Computers are not just one thing, one tool. They can be, they are, many times. But for many of us they are hobbies, a thing to tinker and experiment with, thats who you the the pretty UIs from.
I get that ignorance is bliss, but you can not paint the whole ecosystem with the same brush. People are different. Generally yeah, you are right, but it is also a very ignorant way to look at things.
I was very explicitly not talking about "everyone". I was talking about the vast majority of people. You know, the other 97% of computer users that elect to use something other than Linux.
tl;dr: ~~Skill~~ basic reading comprehension issue
I can read just fine. It's very much a skill issue, in that I don't know what any of the words mean and when I type them in they don't work. I am not a "skilled" Linux user, and I don't want to be. I just want a tool to use to complete the tasks I need done.
Erm, why are you in a Linux community?
Because I like Linux?