I’m a 20yo, Hella Autistic, ADHD-riddled spaz that likes to tinker with programs and software settings alot. I’m building a pc for the first time right now, and while I am tech savvy; or more tech savvy than most; coding, programming, tech engineering is complete and utter gibberish, and it seems like the only people that use Linux are HEAVILY experienced with those things I just listed… HOWEVER… I’m not. I just like digging around various program settings or messing with things, or personalizing them as much as I can.

The more I delve into tech or tech related spaces; whether its through building my pc or just- using this website; the more people wont stop yapping about “OOH LINUX, I LOOOVE LINUX.” and every time I ask about it and why I should use it, they make it out like its an absolute godsend piece of technology (im sure it is tbh… it does look nice)

But then looking into it myself, all I see is a bunch of technical word vomit that makes no god damn sense to me. and the more I ask for people to explain this to me, the worse my confusion becomes. now I’m learning there’s like 40 different “Distro’s”… Someone else told me about Linux Mint, which looks nice, but again- I DO NOT want to be forced to use a terminal just to get the most outta my operating system. I like having some kind of UI to use.

idk man… from everything they say I can do with it, ESPECIALLY in terms of customization, I’m so tempted to use it. But my mental understanding of whatever tf Linux is, is at best a toddler’s.

  • psycotica0@lemmy.ca
    3·
    2 months ago

    On most modern distros (like Mint) you can do basically as much with Linux GUIs as you can do in Windows or Mac. So normal users don’t need the terminal. But if you want to do more, if you want the secret sauce, the terminal is there for you.

    But fear not! Basically all of us have some level of autism or ADHD, and the best of us tend to be the most extreme. If anything the terminal was written by autistic nerds for themselves! If you’ll be okay being a bit of a n00b for a bit, I think you’ll find there’s a lot of depth here to obsess over / hyper fixate / hyper focus on.

    There’s a reason people have been “fighting” for, like, 40 years over which terminal text editor is the superior one… The flames of war can run pretty deep, and there’s a lot of opinions.

    • Kecessa@sh.itjust.works
      21·
      2 months ago

      On most modern distros (like Mint) you can do basically as much with Linux GUIs as you can do in Windows or Mac.

      Until you have an issue and then forget just downloading a file from a website, you go on searching and trust people saying “enter commands in terminal” even though you have no fucking idea what you’re doing

      • theunknownmuncher@lemmy.world
        11·
        2 months ago

        You also have no idea what that file you downloaded from a website is doing, too. And we have AppImage now, so you CAN still download a file from a website on Linux!

        • Kecessa@sh.itjust.works
          21·
          2 months ago

          I mean, if I download drivers from the manufacturer I’m pretty sure there’s nothing to worry about compared to downloading home made drivers on GitHub, right? Or are we going to pretend that stuff being open source prevents people from inserting bad shit in their code?

          • theunknownmuncher@lemmy.world
            11·
            2 months ago

            Are we going to pretend that stuff being closed source prevents people from inserting bad shit in their code?

            downloading home made drivers on GitHub

            🙄 lol wut. Who hurt you?

            Open source isn’t perfect, but it doesn’t have to be because it is better than it’s only alternative.

            There are literally only 2 options: open source or closed source. One option offers you and anyone the ability to see the code that you are running for yourself, the other option is “trust me bro, nothing bad is in here”. Which of those do you prefer? Which do you think ends up with more malware? You think computer viruses include a link to the code on GitHub? Lol

            • Kecessa@sh.itjust.works
              2·
              2 months ago

              That’s exactly what I had to do in order to make the wifi work properly on Mint, trust a guy who wrote a replacement driver, deactivate the one that’s in the kernel and I mean, it works, but who the fuck knows what I just installed? I know you guys like to make yourselves believe that open source means more secure because people can check the code, but it doesn’t change shit if no one does and I’m willing to bet a thousand that must open source project never get checked by anyone because who the fuck will bother going it if there’s no incentive?

              • theunknownmuncher@lemmy.world
                21·
                2 months ago

                “Who the fuck knows what I just installed?”

                This is honestly a great question; you’re on the right track here.

                With closed source, the person that wrote the program decided that it should be impossible for you to answer that question.

                With open source, the person that wrote the program wanted to make sure it is possible for you to answer that question.

                Which of those 2 options is better and safer? I’ll stick with open source, personally, but install whatever you like on your own machine.

    • theunknownmuncher@lemmy.world
      1·
      2 months ago

      There’s a reason people have been “fighting” for, like, 40 years over which terminal text editor is the superior one…

      There is no contest or fight. The best is vim, obviously! 😝