“Linux is not beginner-friendly” - a statement that is simply misunderstood?

[u/quakomako]

Hey!

Everyone is excited about the market growth Linux is experiencing after the end of support for Windows 10. Unlike many other beginners here, I didn't want to switch to Windows 11 and decided to go with Linux Mint instead. I tried it out for about four weeks before deciding to install something else. I liked the customization options and simplicity of Linux Mint, but when I looked at Reddit and saw many of these KDE desktops, my envy grew and I installed Arch (by the way) using the Archinstall script.

Both Linux Mint and Arch Linux were easy to install, and with the Archinstall script, I would say that installing Arch Linux is almost as easy as installing Linux Mint.

As I scrolled through Reddit (again), watched YouTube, and read comments on news sites, I came across a statement that prevails on social media regarding Linux: it's not beginner-friendly! And although I'm still very new to Linux, I wondered if that's really the case and if that statement might simply be wrong.

What exactly is not beginner-friendly when it comes to installing Linux? I don't think it's Linux itself, but rather that installing a new operating system in general is not beginner-friendly. You have to set up things that are not commonplace for a normal desktop user. Create a bootable USB stick with the operating system... Access the BIOS. Boot from the BIOS. Everything you have to do when installing a new Windows system. With a little experience, these steps sound ridiculous, but when installing Linux, I formatted my USB stick for the first time, dealt with partitions, and only occasionally entered my BIOS. So I was very nervous myself.

But after that, Linux (even Arch Linux) works like a charm. I would personally describe myself as an average desktop user. I play a few games, work in the office, develop and design games, but nothing really specific or anything that I would say, “That's crazy!” And for me, Linux works just like Windows, except that I have to enter some terminal commands that I Googled to install a few things.

I use the terminal all the time because I love it, I really love it, but it's not necessary because you can download everything you need via a GUI or the website.

So is the statement “Linux is not beginner-friendly” simply wrong, and it's actually about installing an operating system that has nothing to do with Linux or any other operating system? What is your opinion on this?

[u/maximebermond]

But after installing with Archinstall, how do you configure, complete and update Arch? With terminal? With Mint you can do this with GUI. I'm asking because I'm using Mint, but Arch intrigues me (maybe with Hyprland)

[u/quakomako → u/maximebermond]

So, like I said, I'm a casual desktop user :D So there were no real configuration for me beside of KDE which is obviously something you do in the system setting. Otherwise I didn't need to configure my system, it worked right away without any problems. Updating and Installing I do on terminal (yay or pacman -Syu) - thats it.

[u/bigusyous]

I think that a lot of people are just afraid of change. Also, there are so many choices when it comes to Linux that it can be intimidating to the uninitiated.

[u/The_Corvair → u/bigusyous]

Case in point: Yesterday, I had the opportunity to acquaint my aunt with Linux (I chose Mint Cinnamon) via a live boot stick.

I genuinely was not prepared for the kind of her hang-ups: The Firefox icon looked different, that was bad already. Then the scroll bar in Firefox was a bit smaller than she was used to, which made pulling it harder, and she refused to just use the scroll wheel of her mouse. Medium conniption over that. Then her mouse's batteries gave out, and she near started panicking. Had nothing to do with Linux at all, but she was losing it at that (but would not hear of a cable-bound mouse). Then we wanted to try out Thunderbird, but she could not remember the password to her mail account, and wanted to look through three actual real-life, paper folders with over 150 pages each, to see if she could find it somewhere.

To her credit, she persevered until the part where we tried to open a document in LibreWriter: She could not find it, and it dawned on me that she had no idea how the folder system even on Windows worked. She had simply memorized a click-path from her desktop to "her files" that she showed me later, and when that didn't show up in Mint, she was completely lost.

...I discovered later that the reason I could not find her files either was because she had them all saved on the external drive we had to unplug for the live stick; She had not been aware of that, either.

---

And that is, I think, how far away a lot of users are from even those posting here who view ourselves as "beginners on Linux"; but who actually have at least a grasp of the basics - like what a file system is, and that, no, you can't switch a system from Win to Linux, go from Outlook to Thunderbird, and all the mails are there, and the password gets ported over like magic: We know we need to ex- and import that shit, at the least.

The reason people are afraid of change is, at least in good part, because they don't actually understand their current system, and just have taught themselves the exact steps to do what they need to do, but not one iota further: "I klick that red-blue fox icon for my internet, but now it's just red, on lower left instead of top left. I am confused and frightened already": They aren't even comfortable with their current solution, and getting comfy with a new one where they have to re-learn everything while being unwilling to learn in context, which makes it much harder and unnecessarily more complicated... That'll be a hard nut to crack.

[u/Witty_Discipline5502 → u/bigusyous]

This is probably one of the biggest hold backs from more wide spread adoption.

[u/Evol_Etah → u/bigusyous]

My first intro to Linux.

What the hell is a "flavour"

[u/TooManyPenalties]

It’s more so majority of the public knows 0 about computers. Unless Linux starts getting preinstalls and more software support comes, really the only people switching will be gamers and tech savvy people.

[u/[deleted]]

linux is very easy to use. its just different from windows

[u/WeinerBarf420]

That's definitely the bulk of it; most people don't even think about the concept of installing an operating system, it's not something the average person has ever encountered. But also I'll say, I've never had a problem on windows I couldn't fix with enough time, it's designed to be much more idiot-proof. I've definitely had stuff I tried to get working on linux where I eventually just gave up.

[u/DoubleOwl7777 → u/WeinerBarf420]

same for me but the reverse, i have tried to install nasm on windows. took me three hours before i gave up and just used linux. windows is easy when it works, but when it doesnt, the experience becomes incredibly frustrating.

[u/indvs3]

If the average windows user had to deal with doing clean installs, they'd complain just as much.

A friend of mine, who used to be very opposed to linux because of the install procedure that was "too hard for normal people", pretty much got a reality check when his ssd died.

He didn't have windows install media at the ready, I swooped in with my trusty usb multi-boot, then he found that standard windows didn't have the right drivers for his storage controller, which I luckily had a collection of on my multi-boot's windows partition from years of dealing with windows installs.

Then he saw that besides the look of the interface, the knowledge required to install windows is just about the same as for linux. At that point he realised that most of his daily used software already was open-source and his most important reasons to stick with windows had just evaporated.

[u/Alchemix-16]

I think the statement is perhaps misunderstood. Linux is requiring a user to make decisions, and take responsibility for their systems. The so called beginner friendly distributions are fairly low maintenance, but not free of it. To be honest neither is Windows, but windows is so often forcing the user to attend to the necessary steps, that it feels intrusive.

I think anybody deciding to use Linux, can easily take to it. But just throwing it on people without, an active interest on their computer this might be harder.

Strictly anecdotal evidence, my 77 year old mum decided to install Ubuntu on her own and was successful with it, but didn’t like that she had nuked the windows part of her installation. So I now have set her up with a dual boot windows and Manjaro. Making the executive choice, that if I’m her main tech support, we run the same distribution.

I don’t expect her to run into any problems, and if there is an update issue, I will have experienced it as well.

[u/Wa-a-melyn]

Well, Linux is extremely beginner friendly when it works. But how long have you been using Linux, and what kind of graphics card/WiFi card do you have? There are certain things in Linux that are not easy to troubleshoot unless you’re a little more advanced, and Linux doesn’t hold your hand like Windows does.

That aside, the vast majority of people who say Linux is harder are just stubborn

[u/MinusBear]

Linux is beginner friendly right up until you hit a snag. And then, forget beginner friendly, it's not even intermediate friendly. Also people tend to (and I'm new to this group, sort could be different here) explain things in a way that often presupposes certain Linux knowledge.

If you just have a weird hardware conflict you'll struggle to actually work it out, but it's possible to just have a system that is fundamentally incompatible. I have one laptop that Linux (several distros now) refuses to acknowledge its AMD dGPU, so gaming is basically impossible on it. Works fine for productivity.

Even just stuff like, I grew up in the DOS era, so I'm used to hitting up command prompt to solve problems occasionally, but terminal is very different and essentially none of my knowledge is that transferable.

But if you luck out and have a very compatible system, then Linux can be amazing for beginners. No problem at all.

[u/rmxwell]

The "linux is not beginner-friendly" cliché is actually very false. It is very friendly to beginners, just not just as straightforward to a beginner who's used to windows.

My mother in law (he was 65 at the time) did a "introduction to computers for mid age" course, in windows. But right after she finished the course I bought her a laptop with linux and she adapted to it easily and even said "this linux windows is much nicer".

But it is hard to ask someone who's not inclined to learn more about computers and software to learn something new after they've become even a little accustomed to windows.

[u/pss395]

Counter argument: regular people don't even know what you're talking about, and if you know about "Bios" and "bootable USB" you're certainly not as beginner as you thought.

Let's put it this way: regular people thought Android is overly complicated and switching from iOS to Android is a monumental task. They buy a device, expected to press the power button to turn it on and log into their wifi and online account and start using the device. That's it.

The steam deck (and rumored steam box) is the right step to solve this problem. On desktop, if more pc/laptop are available with Linux preinstalled and ready to go people would be more inclined to try them.

[u/GODLOVESALL32]

There is more to using your OS than installing it and using firefox. It will be easy until you hit the inevitable situation where some windows software doesn't work and then you either have to find an alternative or try to set up some compatibility solution for it. That's where it stops being beginner friendly and into territory a lot of people who are on windows/mac don't care to deal with. Yes getting most things running with wine/lutris/proton/etc. is not that difficult but plenty of people would rather just hit an installer and be done with it.

[u/Wa-a-melyn → u/GODLOVESALL32]

I’m very confused with how mac always gets a “get out of jail free card” with this, because it’s also unix-based, and also can’t run windows programs

[u/Requires-Coffee-247]

I am a school IT director and have worked in schools for over 30 years. Despite being dependent on technology, my teachers don't really have a concept of what an operating system is. They just want to be able to log in, use their browser and apps, and print.

I think tech enthusiasts tend to grossly overestimate how much the average Joe gives a crap about these things. I have Mint and Zorin running on a couple of older machines in our buildings, and no one has ever asked me about them. They just click on the Chrome icon and do their thing.

Like someone else said, most people buy a computer like they buy a TV. They use whatever came with it.

[u/10yearsnoaccount]

you'd be right, until you're 2 weeks in and struggling to get google drive working on KDE without editing obscure config files.....

[u/sabudum]

The opinion that linux is not ****-friendly is outdated, linux has come a long way.

[u/sdgengineer]

I find Linux beginner friendly as well. As you said people don't normally have to install an OS. But having to install windows many times as well as Linux there is little difference between installing the two.

[u/CalicoCatRobot]

Specific distros of Linux may well be as user friendly as Windows to install, but as you say the vast majority of people would struggle to install Windows - they buy a machine with it on and work with it until it dies, or upgrade in place.

However, "Linux" as a concept is simply never going to be "beginner friendly", just because there is so much choice.

That's generally a pro to Linux users of course, and also people interested in the subject, but most people won't want to watch 10 videos and get 11 different recommendations for what to install. They also are not wanting their OS to become a hobby, so won't be interested in changing once they install, or hopping between flavours as the mood takes them or when something doesn't work well in their first choice, especially since they often won't have proper back ups, or if they do they will be through something like Onedrive that doesn't seamlessly move across.

Then there is the whole package manager "choice", which gets even more confusing for someone from Windows who just wants to download a program, click it and install. Now they may have to choose between 3 different deb files, an AppImage, a flatpack, a Snap, or type random characters into a terminal from the software website and hope that it works.

But I get the idea that if Linux became mainstream, it would inherently lose a lot of the things that make it so popular for those who currently use it, so I'm not sure it's ever going to change.

Until there are laptops or desktops on sale in big stores with Linux preinstalled, it's always going to be an OS for hobbyists and people willing to learn.

[u/Evol_Etah]

Sir. People don't know how to install an app.

More people don't know how to shut down a laptop properly (blames windows's "fast start-up" feature)

[u/Thepuppeteer777777]

Switched to mint from win and it was very easy and mind wven had a list of drivers that I just downloaded. I am still getting use to file structure but so far im very pleased