I'm getting tired of Linus Tech Tips here...
Posted: Mon Jan 06, 2025 12:31 am
Recently LTT released a new Linux video after a while.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdR-bxvQKN8
Don't get me wrong. More Linux publicity is good, but I'm finding myself raising my eyebrows more and more when it comes to Linus' decisions and takes, and this video really just takes the cake.
Before the video even (properly) starts we get an ad for Amazon Luna. A ridiculously huge and greedy company that Linus KNOWS has been ripping off both their employees AND their customers. And Linus doesn't even have the excuse either of being a small creator. He can get sponsors from anywhere now since he has enough pull, and he's accepting sponsorships from Amazon? But what makes this especially tone-deaf is that it's in a video supporting a FOSS project.
"In spite of what your local friendly neighborhood neckbeard may claim, most Linux distros still involve a LOT of manual faffing about to get things working."
Do they, Linus? Do they really? It's not 2005 anymore. And hey, you know what, I'll make things easier for you and pretend MX Linux magically doesn't exist at all. Even with that, the most popular distros like Linux Mint, Fedora, and Ubuntu (or at least, so they claim) are both targeted to novice Linux users. Now, I have my own problems with these distros, it's very true, but one thing I CAN say is that they definitely require less faffing about than trying to wrestle a fresh Windows 11 install down to the ground.
"If Linux gaming is tricky for me..."
It's not tricky. You literally just install Steam, check an option for Steam Play, and you're pretty much ready to go. In the past, you did sort of have to find out which version of Proton to use depending on the game, but I THINK that problem has pretty much been solved now with the latest Proton releases. The only real problems I see for "Little Joey" is getting modern Skyrim/Fallout mods to work (as they often use Windows-only mod managers as a backend) and getting past asinine anticheat solutions. (Little Joey probably shouldn't be playing those kinds of games anyway.)
"When regular people make the great penguin migration, it's going to be on a Steam-powered train."
Look, I'm not going to pretend like Valve hasn't driven a lot of the increase in Linux marketshare recently here. They definitely have. But it's ALSO because Windows is now basically killing itself off and people are now already jumping ship to Linux in ever increasing amounts. No Steam-powered train necessary, although the train is certainly helping a ton, I'll give you that for sure.
"Let's see what the setup process is like."
You can't see what the setup process is like yet because hasn't officially released SteamOS for other devices yet. >_> It's like me asking the MX devs right now what the MX 25 setup process is going to look like exactly.
"I wanna PLAY my games, and my favorite games include Anno 1800 and Tape to Tape, not GRUB boot entry simulator."
... Well, that's fantastic! Because most of the most popular Linux distros don't want that either, Linus! :) Welcome to 2024. Although you certainly can get the full CLI experience with other distros if you want it.
"To Valve's credit, at least it links to the page for the Steam Deck Recovery Image, so... I think we can figure it out."
Wait... So you were just talking about how you don't want to play GRUB boot entry simulator, but you're now okay with going through a somewhat convoluted setup process? To see a Linux distro that is still in testing and development and not ready for public release yet? What?
"We used Rufus to image it to a USB drive."
Just use Ventoy... Why do people keep recommending Rufus nowadays?
"Here's what I'd say is on Valve's to-do list. They need a simple installer... "
Already covered. See above.
"They need out-of-the-box support for a LOT more hardware."
Like... MX Linux/Linux Mint/etc. has?
"And just... One or two more passes of spit and polish."
See above. Already exists.
"Also printer support."
See above about hardware.
"I do believe that they're going to get there though. ESPECIALLY if Microsoft decides they wanna risk their marketshare by forcing their store everyone."
Alright, but as said before, Valve is FAR from the only player in the distro space. I'm sure SteamOS will be a really fun distro to put onto CERTAIN PCs, but it's not going to be a full phat Windows replacement. If anything else, the Arch Linux base of (modern) SteamOS and the fact that it's an immutable distro will make it worse than many other distros for actual hybrid gaming and productivity use or especially just plain old productivity use, period.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdR-bxvQKN8
Don't get me wrong. More Linux publicity is good, but I'm finding myself raising my eyebrows more and more when it comes to Linus' decisions and takes, and this video really just takes the cake.
Before the video even (properly) starts we get an ad for Amazon Luna. A ridiculously huge and greedy company that Linus KNOWS has been ripping off both their employees AND their customers. And Linus doesn't even have the excuse either of being a small creator. He can get sponsors from anywhere now since he has enough pull, and he's accepting sponsorships from Amazon? But what makes this especially tone-deaf is that it's in a video supporting a FOSS project.
"In spite of what your local friendly neighborhood neckbeard may claim, most Linux distros still involve a LOT of manual faffing about to get things working."
Do they, Linus? Do they really? It's not 2005 anymore. And hey, you know what, I'll make things easier for you and pretend MX Linux magically doesn't exist at all. Even with that, the most popular distros like Linux Mint, Fedora, and Ubuntu (or at least, so they claim) are both targeted to novice Linux users. Now, I have my own problems with these distros, it's very true, but one thing I CAN say is that they definitely require less faffing about than trying to wrestle a fresh Windows 11 install down to the ground.
"If Linux gaming is tricky for me..."
It's not tricky. You literally just install Steam, check an option for Steam Play, and you're pretty much ready to go. In the past, you did sort of have to find out which version of Proton to use depending on the game, but I THINK that problem has pretty much been solved now with the latest Proton releases. The only real problems I see for "Little Joey" is getting modern Skyrim/Fallout mods to work (as they often use Windows-only mod managers as a backend) and getting past asinine anticheat solutions. (Little Joey probably shouldn't be playing those kinds of games anyway.)
"When regular people make the great penguin migration, it's going to be on a Steam-powered train."
Look, I'm not going to pretend like Valve hasn't driven a lot of the increase in Linux marketshare recently here. They definitely have. But it's ALSO because Windows is now basically killing itself off and people are now already jumping ship to Linux in ever increasing amounts. No Steam-powered train necessary, although the train is certainly helping a ton, I'll give you that for sure.
"Let's see what the setup process is like."
You can't see what the setup process is like yet because hasn't officially released SteamOS for other devices yet. >_> It's like me asking the MX devs right now what the MX 25 setup process is going to look like exactly.
"I wanna PLAY my games, and my favorite games include Anno 1800 and Tape to Tape, not GRUB boot entry simulator."
... Well, that's fantastic! Because most of the most popular Linux distros don't want that either, Linus! :) Welcome to 2024. Although you certainly can get the full CLI experience with other distros if you want it.
"To Valve's credit, at least it links to the page for the Steam Deck Recovery Image, so... I think we can figure it out."
Wait... So you were just talking about how you don't want to play GRUB boot entry simulator, but you're now okay with going through a somewhat convoluted setup process? To see a Linux distro that is still in testing and development and not ready for public release yet? What?
"We used Rufus to image it to a USB drive."
Just use Ventoy... Why do people keep recommending Rufus nowadays?
"Here's what I'd say is on Valve's to-do list. They need a simple installer... "
Already covered. See above.
"They need out-of-the-box support for a LOT more hardware."
Like... MX Linux/Linux Mint/etc. has?
"And just... One or two more passes of spit and polish."
See above. Already exists.
"Also printer support."
See above about hardware.
"I do believe that they're going to get there though. ESPECIALLY if Microsoft decides they wanna risk their marketshare by forcing their store everyone."
Alright, but as said before, Valve is FAR from the only player in the distro space. I'm sure SteamOS will be a really fun distro to put onto CERTAIN PCs, but it's not going to be a full phat Windows replacement. If anything else, the Arch Linux base of (modern) SteamOS and the fact that it's an immutable distro will make it worse than many other distros for actual hybrid gaming and productivity use or especially just plain old productivity use, period.