So, I finally decided, after years of putting it off, to try out Linux, specifically Pop_OS. I was waiting for another SSD so it would live on its own hard drive on my computer. Today it arrives.

I first heard about it from Emily (I hope this doesn’t offend anyone, just adding for clarity in case some aren’t aware, but formerly Anthony before her transition) on Linus Tech Tips a long time ago. It seemed like an interesting OS, but being the hater of change I am (ironic that I just made a huge change dropping Reddit and love it so far), I kept telling myself, “Yeah yeah yeah, I will try Linux at some point.”

So, does anyone else using Pop_OS have any advice for setting it up that isn’t in the online docs?

  • @[email protected]English
    4•1 year ago

    To add to this, unlike windows if an app crashes it will give you a real error log. Taking that and googling to error will likely give you a fix in the first few google hits.

    I moved to Debian (then FreeBSD though that’s a different story) after about 30 seconds of using windows Vista. The OS has gotten much easier to install and use, really plug and play at this point and finding solutions to errors is way easier than windows nowadays. Most important is to ask if there’s questions, and provide what information you can.

    • @[email protected]English
      3•1 year ago

      To add even more, to get the real error log you often have to go to console (GNOME terminal) and run the program from here (command name + enter). It will crash and leave the message you can copy. Not that different from Powershell in windows.

      How to know the command name? In KDE you right click the program in the app menu (it’s called Activities in GNOME as far as I remember) and go to “Edit program”, where it is in the text field. For example to run Firefox, you run “firefox” from the console. People can correct me about how it works in GNOME and if there are easier ways. I’ve often tried to guess it, lol. Not only experts use Linux.