It seems when you have a terrible attitude of entitlement and no willingness to learn, you’ll never be happy with anything. Huh.
In that case, I’d rather have him stay unhappy on Windows and not make those videos anymore.
Linus is not a tech guy and it shows
He’s more of a salesman for shit people don’t need.
Give me a break from that clown
If I went to macbook, tried my windows knowledge of CTL+alt+del, and it fails. I don’t blame the macbook.
This is what bugs me every time I see LTT Linus talking about Linux. He spent decades learning Windows. He immersed himself in it. Now he’s older and doesn’t realize the small amount of researching and “RTFM” for Linux is nothing compared to the energy he spent learning Windows stuff.
On the positive side - seeing stuff like this in others has helped me realize when I start exhibiting the same negative thoughts and behaviors.
I’ve watched Linus some 10 years ago and it always seemed like he’s more of a face and a presenter and has others do research and tell him what to do. They give him some minimum info and let him go and make content. He knows more than the average person and apparently that’s enough to make content.
I wish he took it more seriously. He has a huge platform and can reach a lot of people and he often rather uses it for his own enrichment instead shining a light.LTT is the internet equivalent of those TV channels that were nothing but ads.
I do agree - years ago he was doing some good case reviews and I’d pick his videos to compare against others, but I do agree with other comments here that he’s getting click-baity and I tend to skip his vids now
Honestly, I think lots of people are hating on him just because. Pop is still highly recommended on a random Google search, and his reasons to pick it are legit. Plus he acknowledged that last time the issue was user error + unimaginable level of bad luck, and removing that there would be no reason for him not to use it. Also if you saw the WAN show he also installed Bazzite and Kubuntu on two other systems and got two other issues.
As much as I want to say he did something bad like last time, this time I don’t see it, his issues are legit and to dismiss them because he’s using an “unstable” (that is the default and recommended) DE or because he chose a distro that is in the top recommendations on every site out there is disingenuous.
If you’re going to get Windows users with limited technical knowledge to switch over Pop makes quite a bit of sense given they can go out and grab a System76 PC and not have to think about how to use Rufus to make a bootable USB.
On which website is Pop_OS! the top recommendation?
Tell me you didn’t even saw the video without telling me you didn’t even saw the video. But you want an extra one? This one, here’s the link to the pinned thread on this same community where the top 3 recommendations for beginner distros are Fedora, Mint and Pop: https://lemm.ee/post/37682729
Tell me you are a redditor without telling me you are a redditor
Is watching the video a requirement to participate with the comment I wrote?
Not really, but this is a reply to most comments here about the video so without seeing the video and reading some of the other comments you are missing a lot of context. In the video Linus shows several different sites that recommend Pop, he even looks for recent sites written by people specifically because he got some bad comments about using listacle articles before. He also asks chatGPT, and while that’s not exactly reliable it is based on average messages online so it’s not fully random. Also, like I pointed out, the community we’re using to discuss this also lists is as recommended, which goes to show it’s not a fluke of the sites he used but that it is generally recommend broadly.
The fact that he asks ChatGPT should tell you all you need to know about his professionalism.
Besides, all top 10 websites that are returned by i.e. Google Search list either Ubuntu or Linux Mint as the best choice for beginners.In rhe video, in case you did not watch it, he made the point to use the distro any user coming from wondows was likely to choose. So asking chatgpt was an explicit and natural process in the selection.
But go on concluding shit about the video and its professionalism without watching it, you are doing great mate.
He also looked at several sites before asking chatGPT to see what other options it would recommend, and he specifically says he asks it because that’s what a lay person would do, in those eyes I would say that a journalist that doesn’t ask chatGPT for this would be a bad one. Also, these are the first 3 links from my search:
Top comment says Pop.
https://www.linuxjournal.com/content/top-linux-gaming-distributions-2026-play-better-open-source
First item is SteamOS, the one after that is Pop.
https://www.interserver.net/tips/kb/6-best-linux-distros-for-gaming-and-playing-windows-games/
N°1 on the List is Pop
Even being generic about best distro for beginners without mentioning gaming at all
https://linuxblog.io/best-linux-distro/
All 3 of them list Pop, so it’s not surprising that someone looks at 6 different sites, sees multiple recommendations, one of which appears in all 6 of them and at the top for gaming specific ones and decides to use it.
You might not like it, you might have issues with it, but to say it’s not widely recommended is disingenuous.
Linus is a tool. I’ve been saying this for a long time. The guy is good at marketing, but he’s very far from what I consider a tech guy. I personally have no idea why his channel has the following it does, and I’ve no idea why some of my friends enjoy his content…which always staggered me because they know more about tech than he does. Hard R, amirite?!../s
I watch some of the videos from the main channel as well as Short Circuit and honestly I’m more there for the other hosts, even in this video Linus is the most negative of the three. Luke actively uses Linux after the last challenge even if it’s not for every device.
I watch Jake’s channel now that he left and he’s got more interesting things going on. Same with Alex.
Thanks for the insight
What I would like to see is a Windows challenge, where they try to achieve privacy as close to out of the box linux as they can get. That would probably genuinely be entertaining.
This seals it for me, Linus picks bad distros on purpose for views. Wtf, why would you pick pop os again? Distro is in a huge transition right now.
I have two different views and explanation what could have happened. Choose one. :D
The only benefit of doubt I can give Linus with this choice is, because its praised and recommended a lot. And that Linus is tackling this from a end user perspective who is searching the web and ChatGPT recommendation, coming of fresh from Windows without Linux experience. We all know Linus has Linux experience, but he might go the unexperienced route as a guide. And none of the websites doing these recommendations talk about the transitional phase PopOS is in right now.
But if I assume “bad” intentions, then he very well have made a risky choice by choice. Because he knows the other two will have good experience and then almost nothing controversial would happen = boring video, no interactions in the comment. He might have chose PopOS to boos his channel, not because he really really want to try PopOS again after he got burned so hard last time…
I think he’s a sleazy little shit who loves money more than anything. There is absolutely no good intentions about this. Even your “average user” knows where to go and whom to ask. The fact that a person goes out of their way to think about replacing an operating system already puts them in a higher bracket on the intelligence scale. Those who don’t know, won’t even have a problem with windows and will never even know what Linux is. I dislike Linus even more after this video.
The video is 3 different people not just Linus. PopOS is not an uncommon choice, go into any beginner linux space and you’ll find people installing it all the time. All the issues were from System76 this time and last time.
And a new user trying to pick a distro would know and understand that … how? Because that’s the experience he’s trying to emulate.
I frequently see pop os recommended on lemmy too, so please don’t act like it’s obviously some outrageously silly choice.
Because an average user would do that. Hell, I use Linux full-time and I didn’t know that PopOS in a huge transition. A user wants a gaming-focused distro an picks one. It should just work if we want all those Windows users to transition. He can’t do it right either, there will always be someone complaining about his choice. People here seem to think they’re an average user, when they’re really way above average in terms of technical knowledge. Even if Linus should maybe know better, it’s better that he does some dumb stuff because that’s what many people would do.
Yes, but he could disclose that Popos is in this state. It’s ok to show the experience but he did not go the extra step expected from a tech youtuber. What’s the difference between watching him struggle with popos or having my mother do the same? Isn’t he supposed to be techy and informative? And he did it in a lan party instead of his super expensive and professional whatever lab he built. It feels deliberate to not show the full picture. Linux is incredible for gaming and all he does is ‘let’s ask chatgpt’ and ‘it fails on my machine’. Very good tech tips.
What’s the difference between watching him struggle with popos or having my mother do the same?
I can’t watch your mom on youtube? Average windows users will want to know if they can make the switch with their average windows user knowledge and approach, that’s valuable information to them.
If he used all these special resources he has, that would be akin to those “I built this super awesome table from scrap wood I found behind my local supermarket” videos that fail to mention they also used the 100.000 bucks worth of tools in their professional woodworking shop. And people would then rightfully complain about that.
You clearly misunderstood me. I don’t think there’s much value for someone looking for an easy way into Linux watching someone who already knows the drill. Linus whole motive is helping non tech savvy people with tech things, and I think he could have done a lot better about communicating the state of Linux after installing popos (something you couldn’t watch my mother do even if I livestreamed it to you). He also did not show the troubleshooting afterwards or even testing another distro which can be done very quickly, and declared that Linux still isn’t a good out of the box experience after just one test. To be fair, I also encounter some bugs now and then, but so does every OS. The message I think his video is lacking is that everyone can figure out Linux for general purpose usage. What’s the tech tip otherwise? Stay on Windows because it is a good out of the box experience? From what I remember after tinkering many years before switching to Linux, setting up Windows is a slow, data recollecting riddled, expensive miserable experience. Linux is literally free, he should encourage people to try it.
I think the purpose of the video is to review who you can just tell to switch to linux and have them be able to do it unassisted in a short time frame. I think it does a pretty good job of showing that, the type of person linus was emulating represents a pretty large group of people and they generally can’t switch without either a large amount of frustration or a helpful friend. Also keep in mind this is the first in a series not a single video.
I think you are grossly overestimating people’s capabilities if you think anyone can switch to linux with no interactive help. https://xkcd.com/2501/ . “Setting up windows” for most people means swiping the credit card and pressing the power button. They do not care about data collection, and if its slow then they think they should buy the upgraded model.
I also think its funny how many of the people in this thread see this as a negative video, when I think it actually shows things in a very positive light, just a realistic one. I have already had someone switch to linux because of this video.
He also did not show the troubleshooting afterwards or even testing another distro which can be done very quickly, and declared that Linux still isn’t a good out of the box experience after just one test.
Because he had people waiting for him in a game lobby (that’s the thing I’d actually give him shit for, trying out a new OS at a LAN) and decided to fall back to a known working OS to be able to get on with his day. And that’s exactly what many average users would do in a similar situation (not necessarily sitting at a LAN but maybe urgently needing to get on with productive task x y or z instead of troubleshooting).
He also did not declare “that Linux still isn’t a good out of the box experience after just one test.”, this is a multi part series and he already said he tried different distros afterwards.
I mean, he does answer why. You can disagree about the reason but he answers your question.
I hate LTT with a passion, but pop os is my fist linux distro in a decade with very limited knowledge, and it works really well. I haven’t booted up windows in like 4 months, so i’m not really sure what the fuck he’s even doing.
Jesus Christ this place is toxic as hell
He really can’t find pop os on a good day huh?
It’s hilarious how he wants it to work. I think it’s the pre-installed Nvidia drivers he wants to take advantage of (even though installing drivers on most distros is simply using the package manager) which I don’t understand why he fears driver installation, even windows doesn’t come with Nvidia drivers pre-installed. I don’t get why everyone is hating so much, it’s not like he simply made a video about only his experience.
Elijah and Luke are actually good view of what the average user might encounter (minus multi screen configuration).
Also wtf is chimera os? The only 2 times I’ve heard of it are in their videos.
ChimeraOS is a ghetto reimplementation of SteamOS but for regular PCs.
ChimeraOS predates the current Arch based iteration of SteamOS by several years. The first release on GitHub is dated 2019 (then called GamerOS).
Windows laptops absolutelly come pre-installed with the drivers compatible with that system.
Also while hit or miss windows update will install graphics drivers (on a slower cadence than direct from.nvidia/amd) even in a fresh windows install. It’s a common pain point for windows update to mistakenly downgrade your drivers.
ffs stop using popos
Put Fedora gnome workstation and be done with it. Heck, put Linux Mint XFCE and I guarantee he wont even need to reinstall the OS unless the hardware breaks
I also don’t get it. How many people realistically only use their desktop PC for gaming and what’s the benefit of using a “gaming” distro if the same can be achieved with minimal amount on a more versatile distro?
I’m not sure if CachyOS counts as a “gaming” distro or not, but I use that on my desktop/work machine. I’m pretty familiar with Arch (BTW) and I can do a manual setup from scratch if I need to (that’s what my laptop runs) but Cachy just seemed like a way to use Arch with a simple setup and a bunch of default optimizations. So tl;dr laziness I guess lol.
I am using bazzite cause its the first distro that I didnt have to use hours of my time to fix stuff and fine tune. I normally dont switch my distro often so I never remember how all the small fixes worked
How many people realistically only uses their desktop PC for gaming […].
The majority? Not everyone can or wants to afford 10 gaming gadgets just to play the same games on different devices.
what’s the benefit of using a “gaming” distro
There are some benefits. (I haven’t and don’t plan on watching the video, so I don’t know which they used.) CachyOS has some optimized kernels that help squeeze out more performance out of latency sensitive games. It is not earth-shattering, but there are measurable differences. One personal example was CS2. It ran fine on Fedora 42, but on Cachy there was noticeable less stutter when there was a lot of action.
I guess then we agree? Not many people can afford dedicate devices for just one use case, so a PC, in most instances will also be used for other use cases than gaming.
Thanks for the reasons for dedicated gaming distros, I wasn’t aware of those.
I have misread the meaning of
onlyin your sentence. Only for gaming and nothing else, almost 0%.
Far and away, business is the primary use case for PCs, education second, art and design art likely third, and gaming (while always growing) is still niche use case for PCs worldwide.
At best, gaming has over taken media consumption as a PC task but I think that has more to do with media becoming primarily, a mobile device activity in the last decade.
Why shouldn’t we use popos? Just curious…
You can realistically use whatever you want. But if you want a stable out of the box experience, choosing an OS that is in a beta testing phase of a new desktop environment, might lead to a less than optimal experience.
Yeah, I agree. Popos` new DE is bad…
The LTS releases should not have that DE just yet, right?
Yes but he didn’t choose that.
Isn’t popos just Ubuntu with more eyecandy?
And preinstalled nvidea drivers (if you get that version)
It used to be, and is still based on Ubuntu the same way as Mint is. Their Cosmic DE used to be a tweaked Gnome, but the current Cosmic iteration is a ground up developed DE done in Rust. It has a lot of promise, but their v1 is basically still beta quality with lots of bugs.
Not as i’m aware of it. It’s clearly an Ubuntu branch, but they did other things to it. I don’t an expert 😅
And imo popos is still better than Microslop.
Well that ain’t hard to achieve :)
absolutely :)
Can he not. He’s a moron.
We need to agree on a better way to get new users to easily chose a new Distro without having horrible choice paralysis. Asking AI doesn’t work, asking reddit or lemmy just starts a massive debate and gets the person asking nowhere.
Perhaps just refer everyone to nicks latest tier list although that is really for his use case, I mean he doesn’t even have bazzite on the list when it’s a good choice for a lot of people. Maybe there is a website that asks questions and recommends a distro based on that, or maybe I saw a cool flow chart photo that seamed good, but it’s an image so it won’t update itself when people come back to it later and the recomendations change.
This gives me an idea.
Sort of a questionnaire that kinda walks you through the kind of things you’ll use your machine for, what kinda hardware you have,… and then eventually gives you say 3 to four choices at the end. (So the average user can look at a few screenshots and make a choice based on that. Because let’s be honest we all choose our Linux partially with our eyes just like we listen to music).
Well fuck, another project my adhd wants to tackle but probably can’t.
Something like this? https://distrochooser.de/
got popOS from this so its still just as cooked.
Now you have to install it it’s the law
That’s awesome. Now to find some opportunities to share this with people.
I feel like Ubuntu used to be the sort of default “new user” distro, but they keep going off on these weird tangents so that doesn’t really work anymore. Then it felt like PopOS might have been the new one, but now they’re mid-way between transitioning to COSMIC so that’s not really a good fit either. I think maybe Mint is the default one now, but also Cinnamon is kind of it’s own thing so it doesn’t set a new user up well for becoming familiar with the more universally used DE’s like Gnome or Plasma.
I think Fedora and Debian are also a decent fit for new users, but that’s also not a very exciting answer so that’s probably why it doesn’t come up as much lol.
I dont think we can agree on one distro, there are too many compromises. But we should agree on one resource. Not sure what though.
Unfortunately there isn’t a silver-bullet for picking a distro. It’s a hurdle to get over for sure, and one that is likely to hinder general purpose adoption of Linux for a long time to come, but it is also part of what is awesome about Linux if people are willing to understand it.
Trying a bunch of different distros is really the only way to find out what is going to work for “you”. Scrounge up 4 or 10 flash drives at least 4GB each. Flash them with the ISOs for every distro that remotely tickles your fancy, and boot them up and see how it goes. Figure out your top couple of choices, and install one. If things go well, great, enjoy your new OS. If something is broken or breaks right away, then go install choice number 2 and see if it is still broken. Reasonable chance it isn’t and then you can enjoy your new OS.
Manjaro was the go-to distro for laymen, but manchildren got upset it wasn’t “their” distro being recommended by parties like Valve so they berated anyone who suggested it.
People berate Manjaro because it’s objectively bad. If you use it and like it, more power to you, but please stop recommending it to people new to Linux as it is likely to push people away from Linux when it inevitably breaks. Everyone that recommends Manjaro does so as an “easy to use” and “beginner friendly” distro, but it isn’t. So when it breaks for some arcane and obtuse reason, new users tend to just resign themselves as “not smart enough” for Linux and they go back to Windows. Meanwhile, there are people daily driving Mint, Ubuntu, and Fedora that barely know which way around to hold a mouse.
I don’t have the patience to argue with you, but you are wrong.
That literally is arguing…
There is no requirement for you to reply if you don’t want to take part in the discussion on this social platform, but I feel I took great care in my original reply to not attack or berate anyone, you included. Sorry that your favorite distro isn’t the “go-to” recommendation anymore, I guess.
I wish that wasn’t a video, but a website with everything explained on one page. We used to host things damnit! /end rant
WHY. IS HE. ON POPOS. AGAIN???
Next it will be Omarchy
People using that distro gives me second hand embarrassment
did you know POPOS means turds in spanish?
It’s not much better in German
i had to look, is it vagina or just bottom?
Plural of “butt”
If you add a couple O’s it means turds in English too
