Comment on FBI warnings are true—fake file converters do push malware
cyberwolfie@lemmy.ml 4 weeks agoThe terminal? Your post history suggests you are quite familiar with Linux. But I agree that those who are most prone to use random file conversion sites because they need something as PDF for work will be very confused by those instructions.
Ulrich@feddit.org 4 weeks ago
I am familiar with Linux but I avoid it whenever possible. I dailyed it for a couple of years but I’ve unfortunately moved on to Mac due to their deep dependency on terminal. If I have a problem and go and look up support, 99% of the time the advice is to open the terminal and start running commands, which is almost never the case for Windows or Mac. Even where there’s a perfectly suitable GUI solution, they’ll send you into the terminal anyway. Linux is made by and for devs and it is and will remain that way until the mentality of it’s creators change. And I am not a dev.
I can follow instructions. The problem is #1 I’m told “don’t type commands you don’t understand” and #2 no one ever explains what any of these commands do, so I never learn anything, and #3 the commands don’t work, and they return a generic error with zero diagnostic information, or sometimes just nothing at all happens. I don’t have time for that. I just want something that works.
dreadbeef@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 weeks ago
I understand that you may not know the commands you are told by strangers, but many of these are tools are meant for professionals and have that level of documentation, these are often not consumer-level software. They often have documentation to tell you what they do, though
There’s a manual for ffmpeg for example: ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg.html
Here’s imgemagick’s documentation: imagemagick.org/script/magick.php
I think handbrake is a gui wrapper on top of ffmpeg, but I never used it, I just memorized the ffmpeg commands and can type so much faster than i can click.
Ulrich@feddit.org 4 weeks ago
Then stop recommending them to random people.
How many times do I need to repeat “I don’t have time for this” before you people will stop pestering me with this?
dreadbeef@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 weeks ago
Im recommending them to anyone who wants free software and is willing to invest their time into understanding how to do things for free and without concern over their data. If you aren’t willing to invest the necessary time it isn’t for you and that’s why I said it.
I mentioned the manual because you claimed you didn’t know what the commands do. If you read and take the time to learn the manual like you said you can do, you will, in fact, understand how the commands work. Additionally, this is public forum, my post may have been a reply to you but I understand other people may read my comment. Other people may have your frustrations but are not aware of the manuals that tell them exactly how the commands work. It only takes a bit of elbow grease.