I hear it every time: But Muh Windows is better, because you dont have to install Drivers!!!11!11elf
And every time I have to force myself to tell them that its even Easier to install drivers on Linux, because you dont even need to know if you have an AMD or an Nvidia Card, you just open the Software and click on the recommended install
Recently built a PC with an AMD GPU. Tried to figure out how to install AMD drivers, because Mint’s driver manager didn’t seem to offer anything like it would for nvidia… Turns out AMD drivers are just part of the Linux kernel and you don’t need to install them at all. Nice.
I did have one problem though - my hardware is too new and the kernel shipped with Mint doesn’t really support it yet. But it was surprisingly easy to install a newer kernel. And anyway for any PC that doesn’t use bleeding edge hardware, this would never be an issue.
<3 Mint and Linux
The only driver I have to install is None.
I legit have nothing in my PC that requires a driver which is not in the kernel with userspace tools/utility preinstalled on any normal distro (normal as in not Arch etc. I use Arch btw.)
Just run DDU bro.
Just run
scansfx /nowbro.Just run
oobe\bypassnrobro.Just run
Chris Titus Tech Toolbro.No Linux is too hard bro.
Just download this executable file from the Internet and run it as administrator.
Counterpoint: To install this program
curl ... | sudo bash
I play FF XIV on a gaming laptop with a n onboard Nvidia GPU. The only thing I had to install was the game, and the Flatpak, Proton, and XIV Launcher communities have made that trivial.
I use Debian stable.
The only driver I need is the proprietary NVidia drivers, but you need to do it on Windows as well so… Eh
I hear it every time: But Muh Windows is better, because you dont have to install Drivers!!!11!11elf
I come from a time when you (in Windows) had to hand pick the correct driver for the individual device from a very long list of options to make anything work, not just graphics. Not just “the nvidia driver”. Think “driver for the Sapphire RTX 12345.6.7-8 pro super max whatchamacallit RGB edition with anime waifu on the backplate, manufactured between May 21st and august 15th, quality controlled by Jeff and packaged by Tony”. If your card was packaged by Bertha instead it wouldn’t work. (Mine was always packaged by Bertha. Fuck Bertha.)
I feel so fucking old when I read complaints like this (yeah, I know, it’s because I am). Is clicking the highest version number behind the word “nvidia” considered complicated nowadays?
No, nowadays people expect computers to be skill-less intuitive devices, like toasters. And i kind of agree with them because you need one for everything nowadays, so it makes sense for them to be usable by everyone too. Though it seems schools are also dropping the ball massively on that front.
The problem is kind of exactly what you described
Normies are used to „run exe and it will work”, so when installing Linux most of the time they will either
- not install any driver
- try to run the exe
- install the Linux driver, but from the website instead of the repos
- or (as you described) try and install the driver, but fail at looking up which driver (nvidia has 4 of them for the rtx, gtx, and gt) they need to install
Funny though, I only had to install drivers manually on Windows for years now, but not on the various Linux systems I manage.
But fr fuck Nvidia. Two different distros (Ubuntu/fedora) and couldn’t use a Nvidia gpu as primary display.
Most problematic devices which not have firmware inside them to work so old printers before 2015 I guess and scanners is trash cause they use their own proprietary protocol ,WiFi adapters generally works but exception exist
