If I could get all my games to work on Linux, I’d nuke my dual-boot in a second. But I’m 99% linux at least.
(And yeah, I’ve tried the compatibility tools.)
Comment on Google criticizes Europe's plan to adopt free software
Lembot_0006@programming.dev 10 hours ago
Of course Google hates open-source. They can’t compete with it. Same shit with Microsoft: people are just afraid of trying Linux, but those who do, rarely look back at Windows.
If I could get all my games to work on Linux, I’d nuke my dual-boot in a second. But I’m 99% linux at least.
(And yeah, I’ve tried the compatibility tools.)
Out of interest, when’s the last time you tried? So many games now seem to have Linux compatibility because of Valve’s push for the Steam Deck (and Machine). I’m in the same boat as you though, still haven’t taken the plunge.
The last barrier, anti-cheats.
*the companies that refuse to use Linux compatible anti-cheats
Maybe the answer is having a PC only for those games. As a console. Like some people bought the N64 just to play Zelda and nothing else.
The problem with linux is the rough edges. It’s SLOWLY getting better.
2026 linux I find to be BARELY usable as a daily driver.
2006 linux was just trash.
In both cases, power users may have a different experience.
I tried installing a program called “hardinfo”. My ZorinOS software store didn’t find it through flathub.
So I googled it, found a .deb file, which my Zorin store loaded up to install.
Then I hit install, and it spits out a message like “Software was not installed. Requires these three dependancies, which will not be installed”.
Didn’t tell me why they didn’t install. Just said “Hardinfo needs these programs. Good luck figuring it out asshole!”
Ok, it may not have said it in those EXACT words…but you get the idea.
That being said, I recently booted up my old Windows 7 machine, and…I have no idea if the OS was always this slow, or if it’s gotten slower due to being SO out of date. It felt sluggish. And it theoretically SHOULD be faster. I have 16GB of ram now instead of 8GB. And it’s running off of SSD instead of a 5400rpm HDD. Theoretically it should have a huge speed boost.
Maybe I’m just used to a lighter OS after using it for this many years.
I don’t know how many times I had to deal with missing VCRUNTIME140.dll or MSVCP140.dll or other crap on Windows. This is not a Linux exclusive problem.
Reading through the comment thread I can’t help but think that your whole situation is self imposed.
Dependency problems are universal and there are tools to deal with it. It just seems that you’re refusing to use those tools (even Windows has winget now instead of relying on every installer bundling / linking its dependencies).
Now, it’s fair to not want to deal with CLI, but your cited experience is an outlier. It is not normal to break your system with just apt update && apt upgrade -y. As a matter of fact apt will not upgrade if there are conflicting dependencies, you sort of have to force it to break your system.
There are wrappers that provide a GUI for apt (and even dpkg, which is usually invoked when double clicking a .deb file) so why not using them?
In Windows dependency issues are often offloaded to the provider of the software, but they are still just as present. In Linux this problem was solved[^1] a different way — via package managers. I don’t want to be the “skill issue” guy, but refusing to use the platform intended tool to solve a problem is kind of a “skill issue”. At some point you are responsible for knowing how to use an OS, just as you are responsible for knowing how to drive a car if you want to drive a car.
[^1]: dependency hell is still an issue so take the word with a grain of salt.
Okay, so:
I tried installing a program called “hardinfo”. My ZorinOS software store didn’t find it through flathub.
That’s fair. Fragmentation is a real thing on Linux, and it seems like Ultimate Systems didn’ put their software on Flathub.
So I googled it, found a .deb file, which my Zorin store loaded up to install.
So instead of just using apt – like every introductory tutorial to Ubuntu and its derivatives leads off with – you chose to do it (effectively) the Windows way that you’re familiar with where you go hunt and peck around the Internet for an install file. It’s an understandable mistake, but the blame from this point on lies squarely on you.
Then I hit install, and it spits out a message like “Software was not installed. Requires these three dependancies, which will not be installed”. Didn’t tell me why they didn’t install. Just said "Hardinfo needs these programs. Good luck figuring it out asshole.
You didn’t have the dependencies, and it told you which ones to install. Why does it need to tell you why it needs them? Nice to have, I guess, but if it’s mandatory, it’s mandatory. No amount of explanation is going to get you around the fact that this software will not function without them. Dependencies aren’t a Linux thing; they’re a reality of modern programming. And I imagine apt would’ve automatically resolved this and asked you to also install the deps.
So instead of just using apt – like every introductory tutorial to Ubuntu and its derivatives leads off with – you chose to do it (effectively) the Windows way that you’re familiar with where you hunt and peck around the Internet for an install file.
Because in 20+ years of off and on using linux, I’ve never once gotten apt to install anything. I have however fucked up my whole system by doing sudo apt update/sudo apt upgrade.
I avoid terminal like the plauge.
You didn’t have the dependencies, and it told you which ones to install. Why does it need to tell you why it needs them?
I didn’t say I want to know why it needs them. I’m upset it tells me that it tells me it needs them, and then says “they won’t be installed”, but won’t tell me WHY they won’t be installed. If the program needs those dependancies, just install them. Instead it juat says “we know you need the dependancies, but we’re not going to do that”.
Because in 20+ years of off and on using linux, I’ve never once gotten apt to install anything. I have however fucked up my whole system by doing sudo apt update/sudo apt upgrade.
Sorry but that’s really not typical, you must have been doing something out of the ordinary or been very unlucky.
I didn’t say I want to know why it needs them. I’m upset it tells me that it tells me it needs them, and then says “they won’t be installed”, but won’t tell me WHY they won’t be installed. If the program needs those dependancies, just install them. Instead it juat says “we know you need the dependancies, but we’re not going to do that”.
It’s the package manager that handles dependencies, not the program you’re trying to install. Random programs shouldn’t be able to just install things on your computer. Did you try installing the dependencies?
I wasn’t necessarily suggesting apt in the CLI; just the APT repository generally, which ZorinOS’ built-in package manager has. If sudo apt install hardinfo will find it, I have to imagine the GUI frontend will. Granted I don’t use Ubuntu because it and its derivatives are terrible, so I can’t say for sure, but this sure doesn’t seem like their fault.
Do dependencies work somehow differently under Windows? If a win program lacks some library it would say just the same: “I need an additional library. Install it.”
In Windows, every program is usually packaged with all of its dependencies (except really basic ones that are part of the OS, or very common extra ones like the Java or .NET libraries). They don’t get installed separately, you just get a fuckton of extra copies, of various assorted versions, because every program you install has its own.
In windows, any decent program will say “this program needs these dependancies. Would you like to install them?” And I hit yes.
In linux it says “This program won’t install because it needs these dependancies first. We won’t help you install them. You figure it out.”
In Linux, the package manager will ask you if you want to install the dependencies. You don’t have to install them manually unless you’re compiling the program from source.
Username checks out.
This is a Zorin/Ubuntu issue. I installed it from the AUR on my Arch system and it just worked. Don’t buy into the memes. Arch isn’t any harder. It’s just different.
Yeah… don’t recommend arch to a person that refuses understand the workflow on linux, please.
It doesn’t work exactly as on Windows, well, fuck you. I have enough trouble supporting my AUR packages due to people on derivative distributions. I don’t have time to deal with self-entitled assholes.
I’ve read that just installing arch is a whole ordeal in itself.
You’re talking to a guy who won’t touch terminal because on 6 different occasions I’ve bricked a whole hard drive just by using sudo apt update/ sudo apt upgrade incorrectly.
And you expect me to understand ARCH???
Are you high?
Arch has an install script built in. If you want a gui installer then CachyOS and endeavourOS is Arch with the same gui installer Zorin has. I promise it’s not difficult if you installed and used Zorin.
BillyClark@piefed.social 9 hours ago
I never worked for Google, so I can’t say for sure, but I have this weird suspicion that they use a shitload of open source software, and I’m not just talking about their Android OS or Chromebooks, but for their most core businesses.
It wouldn’t be odd to think that Google might not exist except for their being able to use the open-source software that people had made before they founded their company.
The alternative is that they were complete idiots who paid for all sorts of retail software.
Again, it’s all just supposition, but I’d bet that they can’t compete without it, either.
For any major tech company, apart from ones that are absolutely dedicated to proprietary software starting from firmware up through the OS and on to applications, like Microsoft and Apple, it’s going to be deeply hypocritical to hate open-source.
grue@lemmy.world 8 hours ago
“Open source for me, but not for thee.”
That’s also why they bait-and-switched us with AOSP.
Lembot_0006@programming.dev 9 hours ago
I meant “They can’t compete against it.” Interlanguage translation nuances :)
BillyClark@piefed.social 8 hours ago
You were using the phrase correctly.
I was playing off of the normal meaning of your statement to make a turn of phrase. In other words, I am intentionally using weird phrasing, and placing it next to your normal phrasing for humor and impact.
P1nkman@lemmy.world 2 hours ago
Now don’t you come here and be intellectual, you… Intellectual!
bufalo1973@piefed.social 6 hours ago
It’s the “pull the ladder” mentality.