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Why I switched my whole family to Linux (example.com)
423 points by distrohopper_dad 7 hours ago | hide | 8 comments
Good start but Ubuntu is corporate spyware now (snaps phone home). Put them on Arch. The Wiki is all the documentation a person needs. My kids learned pacman before they learned to read. When the bootloader breaks after an update — and it will — it's a wonderful father-son chroot bonding exercise.
tech_support_for_mom 6 hours ago | 17 points | parent | prev | next
putting your non-technical family on Arch is a war crime
btw_i_use_arch 6 hours ago | 160 points | parent | prev | next
It's empowerment. My wife now compiles her own kernel. She didn't ask to and says she 'just wanted to print a boarding pass,' but printing requires CUPS, CUPS required a kernel module, and now look at her — a sysadmin. You're welcome, honey.
tech_support_for_mom 5 hours ago | 170 points | parent | prev | next
did she get the boarding pass
btw_i_use_arch 5 hours ago | 147 points | parent | prev | next
She missed the flight but she understands the print spooler now, which is a far more durable asset than a vacation. We have not been on a vacation. We've been on a journey — to a working printer. We are not there yet. Day 1,400.
gnome_enjoyer 5 hours ago | 1 points | parent | prev | next
honestly modern Fedora/Mint 'just works' for non-technical users now, my parents are fine
btw_i_use_arch 5 hours ago | 36 points | parent | prev | next
'Just works' is how they get you. If it just works, you don't understand it, and if you don't understand it, you don't control it, and if you don't control it, are you even free? I have not 'just worked' anything since 2011. Everything I touch requires my intervention. That's how I know I'm free.
suckless_stan 4 hours ago | 113 points | parent | prev | next
If your window manager has a config file instead of requiring you to patch the C source and recompile to change anything, you've already lost. I run dwm. To change my wallpaper I edit config.h and rebuild. My family does not have wallpapers. My family does not have a GUI. My family has a tty and the love of a father who cares about their attack surface.

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