@Linux_in_a_Bit@infosec.exchange · yesterday

What's the most common complaint I've heard about Linux?

Not the installation process.
Not finding a distro.
Not getting programs to work.
Not troubleshooting.
Not hardware compatibility.

The most common complaint about Linux I've seen is this:
For a normal computer user, asking for help is just about impossible.

They ask a simple question and:
People respond "Did you Google it?"
People respond "RTFM"
People get mad??? at them for making an easy mistake.

We can't expect people to know to, or even know how to deal with any of that stuff.

Search engines these days are awful, manuals are hard to read for most people (especially stuff like ArchWiki), and normal people make mistakes we think are easily avoidable.

The solution to making Linux more popular is not ruthless promotion. The solution is to actually help the people who are trying to use it.

#Linux

Linux in a Bit

@Linux_in_a_Bit@infosec.exchange · yesterday

What's the most common complaint I've heard about Linux?

Not the installation process.
Not finding a distro.
Not getting programs to work.
Not troubleshooting.
Not hardware compatibility.

The most common complaint about Linux I've seen is this:
For a normal computer user, asking for help is just about impossible.

They ask a simple question and:
People respond "Did you Google it?"
People respond "RTFM"
People get mad??? at them for making an easy mistake.

We can't expect people to know to, or even know how to deal with any of that stuff.

Search engines these days are awful, manuals are hard to read for most people (especially stuff like ArchWiki), and normal people make mistakes we think are easily avoidable.

The solution to making Linux more popular is not ruthless promotion. The solution is to actually help the people who are trying to use it.

#Linux

David Revoy

@davidrevoy@framapiaf.org · 2 days ago

New blog post: "The RAM Nightmare: How I Lost My Sanity (and Almost My Deadline)": https://www.davidrevoy.com/article1117/the-ram-nightmare-how-i-lost-my-sanity-and-almost-my-deadline

#ram #hardware #linux

David Revoy

The RAM Nightmare: How I Lost My Sanity (and Almost My Deadline)

A photo of my workstation: but the PC tower is open on my desk while testing the RAM. My red cat is looking at the camera, not understanding the situation of why is human puts the PC this way on the desk.

Music Channel boosted

Archie

@archesofscratch73@zirk.us · 2 days ago

Hello #music friends.

I just released four new music videos that all use #publicdomain footage I found on @internetarchive. Here's my favourite, using footage taken from a 60's anti-drug PSA. Groove out brothers and sisters:

https://youtu.be/MVXynGMIXXY

Recorded in #reaper, edited in #kdenlive. #linux for the win.

#instrumental #psychedelic #rock #indiemusic #internetarchive

Archie

@archesofscratch73@zirk.us · 2 days ago

Hello #music friends.

https://youtu.be/MVXynGMIXXY

Recorded in #reaper, edited in #kdenlive. #linux for the win.

#instrumental #psychedelic #rock #indiemusic #internetarchive

Mastodon Migration boosted

Jon S. von Tetzchner

@jon@social.vivaldi.net · 2 days ago

New Vivaldi release for Windows, Mac & Linux. We got some cool stuff for you and we avoided AI, so enjoy!

#Windows #Macos #Linux #Browser #Vivaldi #Computer #AI

https://vivaldi.com/blog/vivaldi-7-8-launches-with-message-to-big-tech-humans-dont-need-ai-babysitters/

Vivaldi Browser

Vivaldi 7.8 launches with message to Big Tech: humans don’t need AI babysitters | Vivaldi Browser

While other browsers race to add AI features nobody asked for, Vivaldi ships the most advanced tab multitasking system ever built for a browser…

⁂

More from

Team Vivaldi

R. P. Scott

@i47i@hachyderm.io · 3 days ago

2/3

THE PROVEN TRACK RECORD:

France isn't experimenting—they've been doing this successfully for 20 years. The French Gendarmerie (national police, 100,000+ employees) pioneered this approach:

TIMELINE:
• 2005: Migrated from MS Office to OpenOffice
• 2008: Started Ubuntu desktop deployment (GendBuntu)
• 2014: Majority migration complete
• 2024: 97% of workstations running Linux (103,164 computers!)

FINANCIAL IMPACT:
• €2 million/year in licensing cost savings
• Additional savings from eliminating 4,500 servers
• Total 2004-2008: ~€50 million saved

STRATEGIC INVESTMENT:
In October 2025, France became the FIRST national government to officially partner with the Matrix Foundation—not just using it, but funding its development and participating in strategic decisions. This ensures the protocol evolves to meet European government needs.

So when we say France is "building bundles," they're really packaging, hardening, and supporting mature upstream FOSS (Linux, PostgreSQL, Matrix, etc.) with French hosting, governance, and integration—not reinventing everything from scratch.

GendBuntu: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GendBuntu

Gendarmerie case study: https://canonical.com/blog/la-gendarmerie-nationale-upgrades-85000-pcs-to-ubuntu-desktop-edition

#Matrix
(2/3)

GendBuntu - Wikipedia

R. P. Scott

@i47i@hachyderm.io replied · 3 days ago

3/3

HOW EASY IS IT TO MOVE FROM MICROSOFT?

TECHNICALLY: Very feasible. Strong FOSS alternatives exist for everything:
Windows → Linux (Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora)

Office → OnlyOffice, LibreOffice

Exchange/Teams → Matrix/Element, Nextcloud

SQL Server → PostgreSQL, MariaDB

Benefits: No per-seat licenses, data sovereignty, transparent security, longer hardware life, no forced obsolescence.

THE REAL CHALLENGE: Organizational, not technical

Legacy Windows-only apps & VBA macros (need rewriting or VMs)

User retraining & change management (people lose muscle memory)

Political will & leadership commitment (critical!)

External partner expectations (.docx, Outlook, Teams)

SUCCESS FACTORS (proven by Lyon & Gendarmerie):
• Strong political backing at highest levels
• Adequate budget & realistic timeline
• Comprehensive training programs
• Willingness to maintain hybrid systems during transition
• Local/regional procurement (Lyon: 100% French contractors)

CURRENT MOMENTUM:
Denmark, Germany (Schleswig-Holstein), Netherlands, Italy, and Slovenia are all pursuing similar digital sovereignty initiatives through FOSS

Bottom line: #France proves that digital sovereignty through open source works at massive scale (103K+ workstations). They're not reinventing wheels—they're making smart use of mature, proven technology with European hosting and governance.

Lyon Register article: https://www.theregister.com/2025/06/26/lyon_leaving_microsoft/

#OpenSource #DigitalSovereignty #Linux #FOSS #France #Lyon #PublicSector #Ubuntu #Matrix #GendBuntu #Europe #Microsoft

(3/3)

French city of Lyon ditching Microsoft for FOSS

: Ingredients of future software salade Lyonnaise will include Linux, PostgreSQL, and OnlyOffice

Tommi @ FOSDEM 🤯 boosted

Tommi @ FOSDEM 🤯

@tommi@pan.rent · 4 days ago

💾 The File Count Challenge 🔎

Have you ever wondered how many PDFs, images, videos, or particular kind of files you have on your device? It is the time to find out.

I am hereby proud to officially launch a Fedi-wide file count challenge, in exclusive partnership with the 2025-27 class of @xpub 👾

💁 How to participate

Go to your main device (not mobile)
Open the terminal
Run find . | grep '.pdf$' -c (on Windows: gci -r | where Name -match '\.pdf$')
Repeat the previous command, replacing “pdf” with any file format you are interested in sharing. We suggest: jpg, mp3, and png. 🔆 Bonus: html, js, ttf, odt, svg
Take a screenshot of the output
Share the screenshot on the Fediverse, using the #fileCountChallenge hashtag (please, copy-paste the actual text from the terminal in the image description/alt text)
Add your (user)name and results to the scoreboard
🆒 Bonus: share the story explaining why you have so many/little files for one format.

🏆 Awards

There is a secret prize for the three people who have the most PDFs, JPEGs, and HTMLs. More info to follow.

Boost, share, fork… Do whatever you want, but please have fun while doing it.

I willl keep writing updates. Yaaaaaaay ⌨️⌨️⌨️⌨️⌨️⌨️⌨️⌨️⌨️⌨️⌨️⌨️⌨️⌨️⌨️⌨️⌨️

#fileCountChallenge #fileCount #XPUB #challenge #terminal #Linux #cmd #CLI #find #grep #filesystem #file #files

find | grep '.pdf$' -c
2676

find | grep '.html$' -c
7292

find | grep '.md$' -c
8093

find | grep '.mp4$' -c
1386

find | grep '.jpg$' -c
20561

find | grep '.jxl$' -c
35

find | grep '.ttf$' -c
427 — find | grep '.pdf$' -c 2676 find | grep '.html$' -c 7292 find | grep '.md$' -c 8093 find | grep '.mp4$' -c 1386 find | grep '.jpg$' -c 20561 find | grep '.jxl$' -c 35 find | grep '.ttf$' -c 427

find | grep '.ttf$' -c
427

find | grep '.odt$' -c
637

find | grep '.svg$' -c
3737

find | grep '.mp3$' -c
150

find | grep '.js$' -c
38819

find | grep '.png$' -c
19199 — find | grep '.ttf$' -c 427 find | grep '.odt$' -c 637 find | grep '.svg$' -c 3737 find | grep '.mp3$' -c 150 find | grep '.js$' -c 38819 find | grep '.png$' -c 19199

Alex, the Hearth Fire and 1 other boosted

Sos Sosowski

@sos@mastodon.gamedev.place · 4 days ago

I have put together a short video that might help you switch from Windows to Linux as a game developer.

Check it out and send it to fellow gamedevs!

I'm not a youtuber so I hope I'm making sense here. Let me know if you have any questions or need help! Cheers!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKtNIHdNUH8

#linux #windows #linuxgaming #gamedev #indiedev

How to switch to Linux as a game developer?

Tommi @ FOSDEM 🤯

@tommi@pan.rent · 4 days ago

💾 The File Count Challenge 🔎

Have you ever wondered how many PDFs, images, videos, or particular kind of files you have on your device? It is the time to find out.

I am hereby proud to officially launch a Fedi-wide file count challenge, in exclusive partnership with the 2025-27 class of @xpub 👾

💁 How to participate

Go to your main device (not mobile)
Open the terminal
Run find . | grep '.pdf$' -c (on Windows: gci -r | where Name -match '\.pdf$')
Repeat the previous command, replacing “pdf” with any file format you are interested in sharing. We suggest: jpg, mp3, and png. 🔆 Bonus: html, js, ttf, odt, svg
Take a screenshot of the output
Share the screenshot on the Fediverse, using the #fileCountChallenge hashtag (please, copy-paste the actual text from the terminal in the image description/alt text)
Add your (user)name and results to the scoreboard
🆒 Bonus: share the story explaining why you have so many/little files for one format.

🏆 Awards

There is a secret prize for the three people who have the most PDFs, JPEGs, and HTMLs. More info to follow.

Boost, share, fork… Do whatever you want, but please have fun while doing it.

I willl keep writing updates. Yaaaaaaay ⌨️⌨️⌨️⌨️⌨️⌨️⌨️⌨️⌨️⌨️⌨️⌨️⌨️⌨️⌨️⌨️⌨️

#fileCountChallenge #fileCount #XPUB #challenge #terminal #Linux #cmd #CLI #find #grep #filesystem #file #files

Sos Sosowski

@sos@mastodon.gamedev.place · 4 days ago

I have put together a short video that might help you switch from Windows to Linux as a game developer.

Check it out and send it to fellow gamedevs!

I'm not a youtuber so I hope I'm making sense here. Let me know if you have any questions or need help! Cheers!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKtNIHdNUH8

#linux #windows #linuxgaming #gamedev #indiedev

GhostOnTheHalfShell boosted

CathyBikesBook

@CathyBikesBook@mstdn.plus · 6 days ago

So I guess it's time for an #introduction. Well, I'm a 30 something #Black #queer woman. I love to read #books. I love the #NYKnicks. I like #bicycles even though, it's not my primary mode of transportation. I like refurbishing and upgrading old electronics, specifically #iPods and #laptops. #TV and music have kept me going more than anything else. I'm branching into #Linux and getting more familiar with #FOSS. I am a #blogger and I have linked my blog in my bio.

Em :official_verified: boosted

Sebin Nyshkim

@SebinNyshkim@meow.social · 5 days ago

More people in my circles have expressed interest in switching to #Linux and asking me if it's okay to ask me for help, which of course is a resounding yes

And while I'm personally delighted people are considering the switch, I feel especially honored they're choosing me to be their guide 🥰

Sebin Nyshkim

@SebinNyshkim@meow.social · 5 days ago

More people in my circles have expressed interest in switching to #Linux and asking me if it's okay to ask me for help, which of course is a resounding yes

And while I'm personally delighted people are considering the switch, I feel especially honored they're choosing me to be their guide 🥰

Pablosaur

@kednar@fosstodon.org · 5 days ago

Hey folks if you're fed up with Microsoft and are curious about running Linux but need a little push, hit me up!
Best advice I ever got was to replace your software first. Start by using the software that you'll find on Linux in your current OS so that when you swap, there's less to learn.
#boycottmicrosoft #Linux