You are lucky. Last night both Linus Torvalds and Bill Gates broke in my house and held me at gunpoint until I made my choice. (Tim Cook would have been there too, but apparently he was guided down the wrong street.)
I like the idea of ditching Windows because of all the telemetry but I just need a machine that’s going to do what I need it to do without a fucking battle. Everything on Linux is just so difficult, it’s like every time I give it a go I wind up spending hours trying to figure out how to do something that would take ten seconds on Windows. I wanted to make a desktop shortcut that would run a script with root privileges. On Windows that’s right click, drag, and select the option to make a shortcut. Takes a few seconds. Took me ages to figure it out in Ubuntu, mostly because it wasn’t working as it should. Yesterday I did an apt upgrade on another machine and it wiped out the WiFi. I’m still working on fixing that and now I’m looking into compiling my own drivers.
I felt the same when I started using Linux.
My whole computing experience was on Windows, and when I switched, I expected Linux to be working the same and being a 1:1 replacement.
Just don’t expect it to be the same.
Even if it sometimes looks like it (e.g. Mint oder KDE-based distros) it absolutely isn’t similar.
People don’t have the same expectations on MacOS, so why should we on Linux?
And if you really don’t like it at all, then stay on Windows. No shame at all. Use the right tool for the right task.
Interesting, I feel like this describes what windows itself does to a pc
It’s definitely not normal to lose wifi working drivers with an update. I would say it’s very rare in fact. As far as what you’re saying takes ten seconds on windows, no it doesn’t. You would still need to run as administrator and (I think) type your password, which probably takes longer than opening a terminal and typing sudo
Funny, for me it’s windows that I’m constantly battling.
Be it having to constantly restart and do updates that take forever.
Searching online and downloading then clicking through installers for software I want, rather than just going into an app store.
Having to manually remove ads from my start menu
Remove as much telemetry as I can (that of course accidentally gets reset by some updates)
I have dark mode set, yet so many programs (even first party MS stuff that’s part of the OS!) doesn’t respect it, so I get randomly blinded at night
Each individual app running their own updater services in the background
Having to remember to run disk cleanup every once in a while because temporary files and old update files hang around for ages, eventually slowing my system down and taking dozens of GB of space
There are some good things - Win11’s window tiling is genuinely excellent, for example. But man, overall, Windows is just difficult and tedious to use. The only reason people use it is because it’s the default. Not because it’s good or it’s easy.
Somehow unrelated to what this video proposes, Linux has taught and gave me so many possibilities that I would never, ever be able to if I (still) were using Windows to this very day. In other words… thanks to Linux, I can now operate and have fun in a under 3W device.
I just jumped ship completely (last was dealing with scanner & printer) with windows, where can I find replacements for the 5 people I “follow” on youtube (ukraine war reports & beginner chess)? I mean is there even an alternative?
Nobody has the attention span to read them - as proven by the declining buy-in on YouTube videos longer than a TikTok reel - let alone write them. Written media will continue to rapidly decline.
Not sure why you went on the defence, my generation is the reel addicted monkeys that stopped learning anything and instead started spouting off “knowledge” from doomscrolling. We’re the ones that are killing printed media, and we’re the ones either airing or producing worse and worse garbage on TV as well.
We’re killing our own attention span year by year and none of us want to be uncomfortable for a second by admitting it’s a problem.
I feel like a I’m an old dinosaur yelling at the clouds because I can’t stand most video content. There’s a time and place for it but an 8 paragraph op-ed would suffice for content like this.
For me it’s the bloody “video essay” format. Hyper narrated, spoken straight to the camera. Waste of traffic, waste of storage, waste of attention. People think the argument carries more weight, or is just more persuasive, when someone is speaking at you with some vaguely related visual in the background. But really a written piece could be pulled apart so much more quickly.
Unfortunately OpenAI’s Whisper doesn’t do written transcriptions fast enough on my workstation yet for me to use it full time.
Why bother with Windows? Mostly the same reasons moving from Windows to a Mac can be a pain, however on macOS you get better professional software support and less reasons to virtualize Windows from time to time. To be fair, what’s the point of using X operating system if some of the tools you need require a virtual machine or you’ve to use alternatives that are sub-par, will make you waste time and have a worse experience. Again even under macOS with Microsoft’s own MS Office for Mac things sometimes aren’t as compatible as they should be.
Linux desktop is great, I love it but I don’t sugar coat it nor I’m delusional like most posting about it. Here is a list of cases that aren’t easy to deal in Linux:
People who need the real MS Office because once you have to collaborate with others Open/Libre/OnlyOffice won’t cut it;
Designers who use Adobe apps that won’t run properly without having a dedicated GPU, passthrough and a some hacky way to get the image back into your main system that will cause noticeable delays;
People that run old software / games because not even those will run properly on Wine;
Electrical engineers: Circuit Design Suite (Multisim and Ultiboard) are primarily designed for Windows. Alternatives such as KiCad and EasyEDA may work in some cases but they aren’t great if you’ve to collaborate with others who use Circuit Design Suite;
Labs that require data acquisition from specialized hardware because companies making that hardware won’t make drivers and software for Linux;
Architects: AutoCAD isn’t available (not even the limited web version works) and Libre/FreeCAD don’t cut it if you’ve to collaborate with AutoCAD users;
Developers and sysadmins, because not everyone is using Docker and Github actions to deploy applications to some proprietary cloud solution. Finding a properly working FTP/SFTP/FTPS desktop client (similar WinSCP or Cyberduck) is an impossible task as the ones that exist fail even at basic tasks like dragging and dropping a file.
If one lives in a bubble and doesn’t to collaborate with others then native Linux apps might work and might even deliver a decent workflow. Once collaboration with Windows/Mac users is required then it’s game over – the “alternatives” aren’t just up to it.
Windows licenses are cheap and things work out of the box. Software runs fine, all vendors support whatever you’re trying to do and you’re productive from day zero. Sure, there are annoyances from time to time, but they’re way fewer and simpler to deal with than the hoops you’ve to go through to get a minimal and viable/productive Linux desktop experience. It all comes down to a question of how much time (days? months?) you want to spend fixing things on Linux that simply work out of the box under Windows for a minimal fee. Buy a Windows license and spend the time you would’ve spent dealing with Linux issues doing your actual job and you’ll, most likely, get a better ROI.
Also, the guys take on “what you go for it’s entirely your choice” when it comes to DE is total BS. What usually happens is that you’ll eventually find out while you can use any DE in fact GNOME will provide a better experience because most applications on Linux are design / depend on its components and installing them on KDE will simply give you small issues here and there, windows that don’t pick on your theme or simply create a frankenstein of a system composed by KDE + a bunch of GTK components.
Im curious about your WINE comment, because you can go into the dialog that selects which version of Windows it “emulates”. The drop down has what looks like every release of windows back to DOS.
As for can’t collaborate, that depends on the industry. Teamcenter PLM and Siemens NX CAD work on both RHEL and SUSE desktop. When W10 came out it made those programs less performant so I switched to OpenSUSE and installed the NX CAD to get performance back.
WINE comment, because you can go into the dialog that selects which version of Windows it “emulates”.
Until the emulation fails at some basic Window API feature like window tabs with multiple rows that any Windows version from 95 does just fine. Or… until you try to get MS Office 2016 working and it requires dozens of hacks to end up with something very slow to startup and have graphical glitches… or 2019 also not working, or not being able to install 2021. Or… until you find out that Wine is still unable to just tell applications the screen size fucking up everything that depends on it. Wine is far from perfect and it isn’t that good.
As for can’t collaborate, that depends on the industry
Yes, you are lucky you got NX CAD for Linux, because for most people that’s not the case. Adobe products are a no go, AutoCAD is a no go, same goes for Multisim / Ultiboard.
WINE doesn’t emulate it translates the code so that it can run natively, so any problem you have is because you haven’t installed the windows dependencies of the program you are trying to run which you can do trough winetricks. And wine comes with a configuration tool called winecfg, and on there you can edit the window scaling, wine can in fact tell apps to screensize up
It’s basically the same time I started using Linux somewhat more. I didn’t go Windows-free until 2007 though and then returned to Windows because I needed it for something with my Master’s thesis. I kind of shudder at the thought how my old setups looked under the hood. You learn a lot in 18 years… Probably copy-pasted a lot of shell commands back then. But UT2k4 in its OpenGL glory was worth it
It’s funny how conservative Windows is, it still has components from the NT.
That calling: ensuring things are compatible with old software and not fucking your users over. Just for fun I tried to install Photoshop 6 from 2000 on Windows 11 and it works just fine. Same goes for MS Office 2003.
In the cold and desolation; the mad wizard had been eeking out his existence letting the wild know about the horrors that awaited them in Redmondland.
But few listened
Then slowly the kings of Redmondland began to become more crazed in their power; wanting more and more from their subjects. Until a few, a small band of subjects took off their blinders and released the kingdom had spread so far that the mad wizard Linus was in their midst.
They stopped and listened to him
They grew tired of telling the king about everything they did and needing his permission to do anything in their own lives.
The mad wizard wasn’t crazy… he was just upset; it was the king who’d gone mad wanting to control his kingdom…
Funny enough this thing will likely be more useful for playing actual backups than piracy.
The telemetry on the Switch is crazy, and since all carts have certificates, Nintendo will know if your game is a pirated copy and they’ll ban your console.
And we know the Switch keeps logs like crazy, so even if you’re offline while using this thing it won’t help… unless you stay permanently offline, but at that point you might as well just mod your Switch anyway.
The video said as much. Although this depends on how the card works with certificates. Right now the only thing we have is a promise by the creators. It will be interesting to track the development and discussion of this on GBAtemp.
Personally, though, I don’t actually need this. I got a Steam Deck. It handles Switch games much better than I expected when the Deck was first announced and I can play online with friends who also use emulation.
Steam Deck. It handles Switch games much better than I expected
Oh that’s nice to hear. I have not been keeping up with Switch emulation at all because my CPU was weak for it. Maybe I should try again and see if it has gotten easier to run.
I’ve been playing Breath of the Wild, Mariokart 8, and Super Mario Wonder.
Breath of the Wild has the same framerate issues as the Switch, Mariokart 8 runs super smooth, Super Mario Wonder has the occasional stutter, but given how new the game is om confident that’ll be resolved with a few updates.
Do not play Breath of the Wild via Switch Emulation, play it via Wii U emulation instead with Cemu.
You get the exact same game but Wii U emulation is easier to run, more well developed and has more options for adjusting framerate and graphics.
You can convert your Switch save to work with the Wii U version.
unless you stay permanently offline, but at that point you might as well just mod your Switch anyway.
I feel like that’s the point of this cart. Hard modding is near impossible for most people. The choice is sending your switch to random person to be modded, which I doubt it’ll be cheap. Or just get a flash cart.
This card has two drawbacks as far as I can see. Firstly, there’s no loader to swap between games.
Secondly, it only supports its own format when you back up your own games. The games you download from the net aren’t compatible but it’s assumed the pirates would ‘repack’ their past releases to be compatible.
Here’s a question, would the Switch be oblivious to how the game is stored and download any updates? Do pirated games come complete with the latest available updates?
This is a newb talking so take it with a grain of salt but
From initial videos it looks like when you pull out then put the cart back in, it seems to swap between games. So guess is that for the switch it looks like a normal game, not an initial boot interface to swap between, but what boots depends on which one the cart is chosen in the loop.
You’re right it would be their own type, and likely a converter between them assuming the team doesn’t put some sort of proprietary stopper
Likely the switch itself won’t know the difference, but Nintendo has dealt with this problem in the past with the 3ds. They add a unique code to every game, so when you pirate it and try to download and update Nintendo can see 1000s of downloads of the same game with unique key, then they can just ban the console. Same if you try to play online (then later patching happened where you can change the key yourself). Downloadable updates where available then afaik
It looks like each game cartridge has an unique serial number. Nintendo could easily blacklist everything that touched a specific serial, because they can see from the telemetry something like 500 consoles ran the same cartridge in a day, immediately raising red flags
Considering the non-security of the Wii u (“ah, you say you have a ticket for a game? Sure, feel free to download from the servers, I trust you, don’t need to verify that”), I’d assume that until a serial isn’t blacklisted, the console would automatically download updates as if it was original
Seems like multiple games are swapped by removing the cartridge and reinserting it, would swap to the next title. So, 3-4 titles max or it will be annoying
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