I think I'm moving to Linux...

[Kirby]

I recommend deleting this post, it's like you're trolling, but I assume you just don't know

I do not claim to be a Linux expert. Quite the contrary, I have often complained about what I don't know about it, including in this thread. If I am wrong, please feel free to correct me on the facts. I like facts and I have no problem being wrong. Being wrong (and admitting it) is the only time you learn something.

I recommend replacing (almost) every reference to "Linux" with "GNU/Linux", just so it's clear where the kernel ends and the shell starts.

But that's not going to happen either.

No, it's not, for a couple of reasons. First, I said it, I'm not going to edit it and pretend I didn't. Second, the "difference" between the two, as far as I can tell, is that one is Linux, the other is Linux plus some other stuff. I'm sure the difference is significant in some context, but whether Linux is command line based or not, for that it doesn't seem to matter. If I am wrong about that, please, feel free to point out how. I'm certainly not going to argue like I know what I'm talking about against someone who actually does.

While it may seem that I am doing that, I'm actually not. What I do know about is Googling a problem for Linux and finding a solution because I've done it recently for multiple problems, albeit just for Ubuntu, the most popular Linux distro. I could not find a solution to put an icon on the desktop that didn't involve the command line. When the screen was clipped I could not find a solution to change the resolution that didn't involve the command line. I admit that many, perhaps even most here know more about Linux than I do, and if I'm wrong I am happy to accept that and learn something new. But to convince me I'm wrong your answer has to be more than, "Nuh uh!" and can't be at odds with the instructions you find in a simple Google search.

And, to be clear, I am NOT saying Linux is a terrible OS. On the contrary, it's more stable and secure than Windows by a long shot. But on the flip side its less supported and much harder to learn and use. I wish I knew as much about Linux as some of you do. If I did I am absolutely certain I would love it, just as many of you do. What's not to love about an OS which you can open the hood and tinker with, and is free to boot? My opinion that it "sucks", which is purely subjective, is from a usability standpoint. Google any problem and you get a command line fix, no matter how stupid-simple the problem is. That is an issue for me and pretty much any other human being who isn't a Linux guru. The learning curve for Linux is much, much higher than it is for Mac OS or Windows.

And really, absolutely none of that is important. I gave my opinion on Linux and members of the First Church of Linux just could not help but take it as a personal insult. Frankly, that's not my problem. I'm not interested in arguments with fanboys, only facts.

 

[Kirby]

If you do a google search for problem X Linux, you're going to get command line answers because that interface is available on all Linux platforms.

If you do a google search for Ubuntu X, you're going to get command line AND GUI answers depending on the nature of the problem. Just like you do for Windows...

The OS is not its shell. There are a near infinite number of shells for *nix platforms. Windows has 1 shell, explorer.exe.

Can you link me to a GUI answer for putting an icon on the desktop for Ubuntu 16? And can you tell me how many search pages in that link was?

As for the part about the "shell", I'm not sure what you're saying there. If I exit Explorer, I get a blank GUI. I cannot exit the GUI by killing Explorer. There is no exiting the GUI. But if I exit the GUI in any Linux I get a command prompt. I admit, I may just not understand how it works, but that's exactly how it worked in Windows version before Windows 95. Windows ran on top of DOS. And that is exactly how the GUI in Linux at least used to work. Maybe that's not what's happening now. I honestly don't know, but it sure seems like the "under the hood" Linux command line is loading and then, on top of that, a GUI is running at startup, just like with my old Windows 3.1 386 computer.

 

[Sky-Knight]

Can you link me to a GUI answer for putting an icon on the desktop for Ubuntu 16? And can you tell me how many search pages in that link was?

Wait... you did a Google search for a right click operation? You put icons on the desktop of an Ubuntu station the same way you do on Win10... Drag / Drop, Copy / paste, right click place on desktop... they're ALL there in unity.

It sounds to me like you're over thinking it, you're so used to Linux being hard that you are gravitating to the hard solutions. I've been guilty of that myself...

 

[Kirby]

Wait... you did a Google search for a right click operation? You put icons on the desktop of an Ubuntu station the same way you do on Win10... Drag / Drop, Copy / paste, right click place on desktop... they're ALL there in unity.

It sounds to me like you're over thinking it, you're so used to Linux being hard that you are gravitating to the hard solutions. I've been guilty of that myself...

Google it. That's not true for a vanilla, off-the-shelf Ubuntu 16 install. In fact, I gave the Google search earlier. "Ubuntu icon on desktop". Google it yourself. Every answer is command line. Now, that command line does open the GUI to put an icon on the desktop, but it's still command line.

 

[Sky-Knight]

BTW, Google Search, "Ubuntu, how to make desktop shortcut"

Response 1: https://askubuntu.com/questions/854373/how-to-create-a-desktop-shortcut

Opens up with the manual create launcher process, which is identical in process to creating a shortcut in Windows. It's then followed by several procedures on the command line which are available as well, Windows and OSX have similar options. All of these are the hard way however.

Response 2:

While this lists as for Ubuntu 14, it works on 16. And it's identical to Win10, you search for the app you want, grab the icon and drop it on the desktop. MacOS works very similarly too with the finder.

Icon on desktop?!? This is a tech forum, you're supposed to be a tech... Use the proper technical terms in a search and you'll find the information you seek. I have Ubuntu 16 in my living room right now, my three year old uses it to play educational games.

 

[fencepost]

Fine, let's escalate this thread!

Emacs Sucks! Vim Forever!

 

[Kirby]

BTW, Google Search, "Ubuntu, how to make desktop shortcut"

Response 1: https://askubuntu.com/questions/854373/how-to-create-a-desktop-shortcut

Opens up with the manual create launcher process, which is identical in process to creating a shortcut in Windows. It's then followed by several procedures on the command line which are available as well, Windows and OSX have similar options. All of these are the hard way however.

Response 2:

While this lists as for Ubuntu 14, it works on 16. And it's identical to Win10, you search for the app you want, grab the icon and drop it on the desktop. MacOS works very similarly too with the finder.

Icon on desktop?!? This is a tech forum, you're supposed to be a tech... Use the proper technical terms in a search and you'll find the information you seek. I have Ubuntu 16 in my living room right now, my three year old uses it to play educational games.

First, no need to be a dick. I'm being polite to you. And you make yourself look stupid when the search I suggest and the search you suggest come up with the EXACT SAME RESULTS! The order is a little different. That's it!

Second, the first link you posted has 3 responses. The first and third are command line and the second creates a copy, not a shortcut.

Third, I generally skip over videos unless I am looking for something visual like disassembly or something. I don't have time to watch YouTube videos all day.

 

[Sky-Knight]

First, no need to be a dick. I'm being polite to you. And you make yourself look stupid when the search I suggest and the search you suggest come up with the EXACT SAME RESULTS! The order is a little different. That's it!

Second, the first link you posted has 3 responses. The first and third are command line and the second creates a copy, not a shortcut.

Third, I generally skip over videos unless I am looking for something visual like disassembly or something. I don't have time to watch YouTube videos all day.

So let me get this straight...

You had a user level 101 error with a graphical interface, you searched for instructions on how to solve said error, which amounts to a training problem. Then you get grumpy when the actual answer is in a video format wherein motion and words are efficiently delivered to illustrate what needs to happen, and no one bothered to write things out long form so you can read it because that's silly for this specific operation. And you think I'm insulting you, so you're incredibly defensive which only serves to further illustrate that your own voice is speaking against your foolishness now, and you're not angry with me, but you're angry with yourself because your entire premise just fell apart.

It's ok, it's the stupid stuff that eats us all whole from time to time. Relax, at least I know now you'll never forget how to make a desktop shortcut in ANY operating system ever again. Because now you know, they're ALL the same.

But none of that matters because Ubuntu on its best day is never going to feel as comfortable as Windows does, simply because most of us live and breath Windows all day ever day as we have for decades. It's just a function of time and practice, not quality or design of the software.

 

[Markverhyden]

I don't understand what the issue is.

Fine, let's escalate this thread!

Emacs Sucks! Vim Forever!

Try saying that to Richard Stallman's face. I did, politely of course. And the whole room got a 30 minute lecture into how stupid they were if they can't figure out how to make Emacs work like Word. Guess I'm still stupid. LOL!!!!

 

[Sky-Knight]

I don't understand what the issue is.


Try saying that to Richard Stallman's face. I did, politely of course. And the whole room got a 30 minute lecture into how stupid they were if they can't figure out how to make Emacs work like Word. Guess I'm still stupid. LOL!!!!

You guys forgot nano! You can't forget about poor little nano!

All kidding aside I use Notepad++ via WinSCP from my windows station to edit all things Linux these days. My crappy eyes need color coding.

 

[Kirby]

So let me get this straight...

You had a user level 101 error with a graphical interface, you searched for instructions on how to solve said error, which amounts to a training problem. Then you get grumpy when the actual answer is in a video format wherein motion and words are efficiently delivered to illustrate what needs to happen, and no one bothered to write things out long form so you can read it because that's silly for this specific operation. And you think I'm insulting you, so you're incredibly defensive which only serves to further illustrate that your own voice is speaking against your foolishness now, and you're not angry with me, but you're angry with yourself because your entire premise just fell apart.

It's ok, it's the stupid stuff that eats us all whole from time to time. Relax, at least I know now you'll never forget how to make a desktop shortcut in ANY operating system ever again. Because now you know, they're ALL the same.

But none of that matters because Ubuntu on its best day is never going to feel as comfortable as Windows does, simply because most of us live and breath Windows all day ever day as we have for decades. It's just a function of time and practice, not quality or design of the software.

Okay, if you want to continue to a petty, passive aggressive dick, twisting what I say and pretending to know what I think while simply ignoring the things you got wrong, you have fun with that, slugger. Life is too short for me to respond to every fanboy troll who takes an opinion personally and, frankly, I've spent far too much of my life doing it already.

P.S - The video isn't to create "a shortcut" on the Desktop, it's to create "an application shortcut" on the Desktop. The instructions are pretty much the same for Windows, so obviously that isn't what I was trying to do. I mean, I do know that I'm a terrible tech who doesn't know how to "properly form" a Google search to take me to exactly the same results as my improperly formed search term, but even I, a worse tech then your 3 year old who knows how to follow simple instructions to click on icons, could figure out how to copy and paste exactly as I do in Windows.

 

[Sky-Knight]

Right, I'm the passive aggressive dick for pointing out that you were calling Linux junk because you didn't know how to drag and drop an icon on the desktop, and instead decided to google search for a basic UI operation and whined all the results came back from Google as instructions on the command line...

The last time I checked, most of us spent a ton of actual money on real training to get good at Windows, why you'd expect to do anything less with another OS is beyond me. The world doesn't just hand you skills, you have to develop them.

 

[Kirby]

Right, I'm the passive aggressive dick for pointing out that you were calling Linux junk because you didn't know how to drag and drop an icon on the desktop, and instead decided to google search for a basic UI operation and whined all the results came back from Google as instructions on the command line...

The last time I checked, most of us spent a ton of actual money on real training to get good at Windows, why you'd expect to do anything less with another OS is beyond me. The world doesn't just hand you skills, you have to develop them.

Google "passive aggressive" and then explain to me how "My 3 year old can do it" doesn't match that definition.

Then chill. I said I didn't like Linux, fanboy. I wasn't insulting your mom.

 

[Krynn72]

 

[Sky-Knight]

My three year old is scary because he plays on an Ubuntu station with the gCompris educational suite?

And yes, he makes shortcuts all over his desktop ALL the time and I have to go clean them up.

So I suppose that could be interpreted as a passive aggressive statement, but you should know that I was making it as a statement of fact. Because it happens... frequently. That's a child on a computer for you.

 

[LordIntruder]

* German pronouns, I'm looking at you. And at the end of the sentence the verb putting?

And I am staring back. Do you want to know why we are doing that? Because we can! (scnr)

 

[Alexey]

Phrases weird make I may some, still understand you hope me.

 

[NJW]

All kidding aside I use Notepad++ via WinSCP from my windows station to edit all things Linux these days. My crappy eyes need color coding.

Clearly FUD – nano ships with syntax highlighting.

 

[LordIntruder]

nano ships with syntax highlighting

So does vim.

 

[Kirby]

My three year old is scary because he plays on an Ubuntu station with the gCompris educational suite?

And yes, he makes shortcuts all over his desktop ALL the time and I have to go clean them up.

So I suppose that could be interpreted as a passive aggressive statement, but you should know that I was making it as a statement of fact. Because it happens... frequently. That's a child on a computer for you.

Thank you for an absolutely decent response. I am so sick of forums where so many people are only interested in an argument. I'm not here to argue with people, I'm here to have interesting conversations, and this post piqued my interest.

I am well aware that kids can do things to computers which shouldn't be possible, at least in our heads. Many years ago, when I was running Linux full-time, my toddler was sitting on my lap banging on the keyboard. I thought to myself, "It's not logged in. What can he do?" The answer to that was "lock it up tight", apparently. No idea how he managed it, but it took a physical reset.

Now, if you would indulge me a question without restarting the nastiness, are you sure you don't have a package installed which allows shortcuts to be created more easily? I believe someone here mentioned such a package in the last thread in which I mentioned Linux. Or I saw it somewhere in my search. And let's be honest, Linux takes a lot of tweaking after install to get it working the way you want. More so than Windows if only because the only people who would use Linux are, by nature, "tweakers". Generally speaking, we go to Linux because we're tired of Apple and Microsoft telling us what we want out of an OS instead of asking us. And it would be nearly impossible to remember every change you made on a system you had going for a couple of years.