- Microsoft removes guide on converting Microsoft accounts to Local, pushing for Microsoft sign-ins.
- Instructions once available, now missing - likely due to company’s preference for Microsoft accounts.
- People may resist switching to Microsoft accounts for privacy reasons, despite company’s stance.
It also feels like their insistence is doing nothing but hurting them. The average consumer who doesn’t know the difference between a local account and a Microsoft account won’t know or care about MS doing this.
But the users who do have a preference and do want a local account are just going to be irritated at it and give them bad press. They’ll eventually figure out how to make a local account anyway and it may be the push they need to migrate off of Windows.
The Microsoft cycle:
Microsoft does thing nobody likes -> people complain -> some people threaten to switch to Linux -> a few of those people do but most people don’t -> They make some excuse and claim that once Linux reaches some arbitrary milestone they’ll switch (Adobe support, better game support, better software support, etc) -> most of those people forget (they’re a minority, the vast majority of people never cared) -> Microsoft notices and they became even more emboldened to make their products worse -> repeat
If you want change then you need to break the cycle
The most important part of this is:
the vast majority of people never cared
We make our happy little bubble her to be outraged in. The world at large carries on without caring. Just in the past few years, there’s been the Reddit API change, the WhatsApp ToS change, the YouTube dislike button removal, etc etc. A small minority (like us) complains endlessly. The rest of the world shrugs and accepts enshitification.
People have accepted that they’ll never have privacy, that they dont own the products they purchase (physical or digital), that not only do they not control their technology but fundamentally their technology controls them, that every few years they’ll have to replace their devices or the manufacturer stops supporting them, people own nothing and are happy.
Accepted isn’t the right word. I think consumers “voting with their feet” just isn’t that relevant when it comes to these issues. This model of thinking works when it’s about the product offering. Bad product? Too expensive? Demand dwindles.
But the issue doesn’t directly impact the product offering, consumers won’t “vote with their feet” in significant numbers. Worker exploitation? People will still buy cheaper clothes. Oil money dictatorships? Cheap luxury airlines. Privacy invasion? But all my friends are on there. I could go on.
The self-correcting market model is flawed. For these issues, strong government intervention is needed. It’s possible that a competitor comes along and they’re able to capture the market, but that will only happen with a superior product offering. But not because of different TOS or whatever people don’t consider part of what they’re buying.
Finally, someone gets my point. Capitalism inherently makes products worse and more expensive, the flaw in your argument is you think it can ever be contained.
People don’t know and don’t care. Privacy isn’t an issue on anyone’s mind (just like climate wasn’t 20 years ago). People don’t know or care about digital media ownership issues.
Some of us manage to break the cycle, but despite how much I love Linux (ups and downs) I understand that it isn’t for everyone currently.
What most people want is a stable system they can just use without understanding much if anything about how the underlying systems work. They don’t care that wifi drivers can be fixed through a few terminal commands, they rail against the fact they have to do much of anything at all besides click [Next >]. And I can’t blame them; that’s what Microsoft has trained them for.
So many people with random toolbars and junk extensions in their browsers because the [Next >] button is how they get past whatever problem they have. The average user isn’t very tech savvy, and it takes someone with a desire to learn to truly thrive in a Linux environment.
I’ve converted my mom to Kubuntu, and she does well, but she’s also an outlier (she has an expired CCNA certification).
Linux suffers from a catch 22: there’s not enough users because there’s not a lot of commercial support because there’s not enough users because… And the people who are donating their time to make it better are saints as far as I’m concerned, but there’s only so much people can do for free. Things truly have gotten better, but until more typical user types can adopt Linux with little to no fuss, not much will change.
And that fact hurts my soul.
The problem is the average user won’t use Linux unless it comes included with their PC.
I was at the make excuses stage until late last year when my excuses were fixed. Booted my windows install maybe four times since then, and that was mostly to grab files from it haha.
Some people like you and I actually switch to Linux, but we’re the 4% and we need to remember that.
It used to be about 1%, so actually huge gains have been made
I did manage to switch to Linux. I can understand though why people are hesitant, there are still things that are tough in Linux, or near impossible in some cases. That’s despite having used Linux on and off for years.
That’s because what people need to understand is that fundamentally Linux is not a drop in replacement for Windows, its not some open source copy. It’ll never have full software compatibility, it’ll never run the same, it’ll never look exactly the same, and it’ll never be the same. The sooner people accept that the sooner people understand what their options are. For me that’s an advantage, I like the UI on DEs like Cosmic, I love the Unix filesystem, I love the terminal and how powerful it is, I love package managers, and I love the customizability of it all.
I don’t think something needs to be identical to Windows to be a good replacement for it. I think there should be a replacement for Windows, and distributions like Linux Mint are that replacement for some people.
I also think that parts of the Linux ecosystem have major problems. Not necessarily problems with the kernel itself, but problems with the surrounding software like programs and user interfaces. Wider application support would be a start. Some distributions and parts of modern Linux systems can be unnecessarily complex or downright esoteric. Some features like HDR have very poor support, and are difficult to enable/setup where they are supported. It’s also difficult for developers to publish to Linux because of the wide variety of different Linux systems. Flatpaks and snaps help with this obviously but have divisive in the Linux community for one reason or another.
I don’t think something needs to be identical to Windows to be a good replacement for it.
I said drop in replacement
Wider application support would be a start.
No organization is willing to pay companies to support Linux
Some distributions and parts of modern Linux systems can be unnecessarily complex or downright esoteric. Some features like HDR have very poor support, and are difficult to enable/setup where they are supported.
That’s because organizations like the Linux foundation primarily serve enterprise and server customers, they only need a good enough UI so that’s what desktop users get. Nobody is paying money for Linux and few people donate.
It’s also difficult for developers to publish to Linux because of the wide variety of different Linux systems. Flatpaks and snaps help with this obviously but have divisive in the Linux community for one reason or another.
That’s because the current system allows distribution maintainers to decide if they want their distro to be bleeding edge or stable.
TLDR: Desktop Linux users get the scraps of enterprise and server Linux
No organization is willing to pay companies to support Linux
Well that’s a lie. Lots of companies use Linux servers, Linux embedded devices, even Linux desktops for programmers or engineers. Android devices are everywhere too.
That’s because organizations like the Linux foundation primarily serve enterprise and server customers, they only need a good enough UI so that’s what desktop users get. Nobody is paying money for Linux and few people donate.
One of the most common uses of Linux is smartphones. Chromebooks are also fairly popular. It’s more that the kind of people that use Linux desktops aren’t happy with smartphone like functionality and customisation.
The better question is why aren’t people supporting desktop Linux? We have increasing market share after all. My guess is a combination of fragmentation and the fact that the user base aren’t the kind of people they want to sell too. It’s hard to sell MS Office for Linux to your average Linux enthusiast who might even be an Open Source purist. They are also more likely to jailbreak or pirate your product.
Well that’s a lie. Lots of companies use Linux servers, Linux embedded devices
I mentioned that
even Linux desktops for programmers or engineers. Android devices are everywhere too. One of the most common uses of Linux is smartphones.
They make money because they’re proprietary, sell peoples info, and because of that they represent everything the free software movement fights against. I use Linux because it supports the free software movement, not the other way around.
The better question is why aren’t people supporting desktop Linux?
It’s a combination of a few factors, developers are pressured into not asking for donations (users need to actively find their website to donate), the vast majority of Linux software is free of price, and people don’t want to pay money for their operating system.
It’s a combination of a few factors, developers are pressured into not asking for donations (users need to actively find their website to donate), the vast majority of Linux software is free of price, and people don’t want to pay money for their operating system.
I am talking about businesses supporting the Linux desktop with software, not about the OS devs themselves.
They make money because they’re proprietary, sell peoples info, and because of that they represent everything the free software movement fights against. I use Linux because it supports the free software movement, not the other way around.
This is the reason why most businesses don’t want to support Linux.
It’s also difficult for developers to publish to Linux because of the wide variety of different Linux systems.
I disagree there. The issue is that in Windows people bring over their own version of libraries they compiled on (the millions of .dll files) and you can even look in your Uninstall Apps settings where there’s a bunch of MS specific runtime bundles to see that’s even an issue in the MS ecosystem.
In Linux, developers have relied on the library versions just being there. It is, I’d argue, the most compelling reason package managers basically had to come into existence. On the flip-side this can cause issues where there is some version on the system by the package manager that replaces another version. And something not a part of that package management system isn’t a part of those dependency checks and if they don’t put the libraries with the binaries…well it is just luck if you have them all or if other versions can support those library calls in the same way still.
In Linux that is all those .so’s in /var/lib and stuff.
You don’t really see many proprietary things using package managers and those that do are packaged by someone else and are in some sort of repo that isn’t part of the vanilla install because of legal caution.
Companies that made their money on porting games to Linux prior to Proton basically causing them to shutter Linux porting would put their .so’s in with the game bundle themselves, just like you see happening in Windows when .dll’s are inside the actual program’s folders.
However, the more that this sort of dependency management has become abstracted by development suites that take care of this for the developers, the less they understand about it.
Flatpaks actually take care of this and it is one reason they are so popular. They figure out (well that’s a simplification) those library dependencies, sandbox the apps with those dependencies so the library paths don’t interfere with other flatpaks or the base system itself. People complain about this as a con because “the download is BIGGER” even though flatpak doesn’t install the same runtimes over and over again, so once they are there, the download may still be bigger but the installed storage isn’t.
Anyway, yes Linus Torvalds complained about the “Linux fragmentation” issue but it was about DE’s not the state of the development ecosystem itself as I recall, though the rant is very old, so maybe I don’t remember all of it.
Wider application support would be a start.
Sure, but that’s not a Linux problem, that’s a developer problem. Linux supports application development just fine. It is a kernel and the surrounding ecosystem is the operating system after all. It is developers that don’t support it. That isn’t really something Linux in and of itself can effectively solve. Users have to increase and developers supporting applications for Linux will also increase. The classic Linux Chicken and the Egg problem but it is capitalism and that’s just going to be how it has to work.
I just want Microsoft gone.
Same bro
I used to work in a Linux environment, I regret leaving that job all the time
Another reason to use Linux
Photoshop and 3dsmax on a small thinkcentre (no internet connection), the rest is soo smoth on my Mint.
Couldn’t you do that in a VM with GPU passthrough? I use that approach for all kinds of stuff, including Gaming (with Looking Glass and SSD passthrough)
Also, some Photoshop version from 2021 runs pretty well in Wine: https://github.com/LinSoftWin/Photoshop-CC2022-Linux
Can someone ELI5 why the us goverment is doing nothing against these anti consumer practises
You know how China has a strong centralized government and cooperates with their big companies? Government says jump, Huawei says how high?
We have a similar system. A strong centralized government that cooperates with the big companies. The primarily difference is that on the spectrum of
Government power <-----------> corporate power
The US leans more to the right.
Really what’s interesting is both the US and China are slowly converging onto a point in the middle. Zizek said something like this some years back… authoritarian capitalism is unfortunately the most effective form of capitalism.
Authoritarian capitalism is not the most effective form of capitalism. It is the most effective for those that are already on top, but for the market as a whole (and especially for the society around that market), it’s going to be worse in the long run.
Companies that are protected from competition by an authoritarian government will be able to extract higher profits in the short term, but their products and services will become worse in the long term, which not only harms their customers, but also the company’s chances of selling their products on actually competitive markets. The American car makers are a good example of this imo.
Companies that are protected from having to pay fair wages and/or providing good working conditions, will be faced with labor shortages if the workers have alternatives, or with a depressed consumer market because the people have less money/time to spend on consuming things.
It depends how you define effective. Of course the consumer would prefer a free market with competition and low barriers to entry. This is the most egalitarian system, where money (and therefore power) gets distributed almost democratically.
It’s a liberal democratic version of capitalism. It’s the version of capitalism that works. Not perfectly, but it rises people out of poverty and is more or less egalitarian, relative to the alternatives.
Authoritarian capitalism is where you still have the large private sector except you don’t have the political freedoms. Think China post 1970s, modern Russia, Singapore.
The government essentially rewards companies that support the power structure. They get privileges and a say at the table. It creates a sort of incestuous relationship between the government and large corporate entities.
The US is moving towards this system as wealth inequality and corporate influence rises (more strongly under Biden than Trump, might I add. Probably to do with pandemic). More $$$ = more power. More power, more influence within the government. Creates a cycle where it’s a “buy your policy” type of democracy.
Slowly our political freedoms are being eroded. Mass surveillance, the CIA and Pentagon are now allowed to spread propaganda on US soil (they were not allowed to before early 2000s), erosion of democratic institutions through populism. For example “fake elections” and events like Jan 6th. We are starting to censor and ban outside views (“misinformation” bans from Covid, the banning of TikTok, Google & Facebook & reddit & Twitter regularly manipulate the information people receive and cooperate with the government)
Only some crazy number like 20% of people approve of Congress in this country. The democracy is falling apart and some new system is forming.
As China is opening up their private market to become more like us in terms of finance, big capital, corporate rights, etc. We are closing down our political system to become more like them in terms of the loss of political freedoms, censorship, etc.
Authoritarian capitalism is not the most effective form of capitalism. It is the most effective for those that are already on top, but for the market as a whole (and especially for the society around that market), it’s going to be worse in the long run.
Well, yeah, but screw those guys. They’re not the ones that are supposed to benefit from the system anyway.
That’s by design.
The US government isn’t gonna do anything like this unless it causes a huge fuss. The agencies responsible don’t get enough funding to properly regulate the stuff they’re supposed to, and they have to prioritize as a result.
I’m sure companies know this very well. Our rights as consumers have been slowly decaying for years, and we haven’t seen much government action until recently.
Money
three trillion dollars
UpperBroccoli really wants Microsoft gone after it pisses him off everyday for years
Can’t you just you powershell and create a local user that way???
Sure you can. You can also spend time disabling intrusive telemetry, you can also spend time reverting half the UI changes (not the other half though), you can also spend time removing integrated services you don’t use but are still running, you can (regularly) change back some settings that gets reverted every once in a while, you can also block some IP to prevent intrusive ads, you can toggle off part of the “user experience” that bloat the lockscreen…
Or you could, I don’t know, not have to do any of that and still have a working system that’s not trying to bend you over.
Can’t you just have an OS that doesn’t fight you constantly when you’re trying to use your computer the way you want?
NO!
Shareholders first
Not sure which shareholders benefit from this. I guess some must.
Presumably the ones that know how much MS gets for selling data.
On new install without logging in a Microsoft account?
Yes, you can. But a lot of Windows users dont even know what powershell is.
And personally i think you shouldnt have to jump through hoops for what i consider basic functionality. They also make it near impossible to install Windows 11 new without having to resort to all kind of tricks to create a local account. Its a shitshow.
In my humble opinion :)
a lot of windows users shit their pants when they have to open cmd prompt lmao
Isn’t the point of an OS so that users don’t have to use cmd prompt? That’s why we aren’t using DOS anymore.
Anyone who wants to switch to Linux we welcome you with open arms. Ask as many questions as you need. There are no stupid questions just bad answers. (You probably know the type)
If you can’t switch, that’s ok. Alot of us know what it’s like, especially us gamers, Nvidia card owners, and recovering adobe-holics. Life is tougher but a whole lot more rewarding. I moved from windows/Macos and I wouldn’t give it up for anything.
I’m a recovering Adobe-holic because their software is good at processing my drone photo DNG files
ArchWiki makes it so much easier these days.
It definitely helps you become a lot more independent as a Linux user. The tools you learn when you troubleshoot things are incredibly universal. Tools on Linux are intentionally designed to be intuitive and informative which is quite refreshing to obtuse tools like regedit.
I literally just went through an entire mental exercise of what do I “need” to run, and got stuck hard with my audio interface and DAW software. Cubase (by Steinberg) and IK Multimedia just do not provide support at all.
Reaper is Linux friendly and free for 60 days, I would give it a try. It’s free after the 60 days but will prompt you to pay. The audio interface, I’m not to sure about, I personally do not run Linux.
I use ardour as DAW, but only for recording on Linux. It’s also available for macOS and windows. So you can check if it fits your work flow.
I mostly only use Linux, but sometimes you just need a program with out support. In my case it’s sometimes qlab, Linux show player is great(and I have used it for many shows). But it’s not feature compatibel with qlab
This is the nicest way someone’s put it. I’ve tried to switch to Linux three or four times but until there is a distro that makes it plug and play like Windows or mac its going to be a tough sell. I consider myself tech savvy enough (I can google things, and for goodness sake at the bare minimum I can cut and paste into the terminal) but the barrier for getting Linux to work is too high right now for a very large part of the population.
I have W10 computer running the arrs and my plex server that I’m going to have to figure out as I can’t get W11 on it.
I want to do it so bad!.. but I think I’ll probably just end up getting a new, used computer that can run W11
Definitely give Linux Mint a shot!
Have you tried Linux Mint yet?
I recently installed it on a Dell laptop (work) to dual boot, and it seemed pretty much as simple as installing windows.
I’m a daily Linux user and had been using other distros in VMs, but I still wanted to try it.
the barrier for getting Linux to work is too high right now for a very large part of the population
My elderly (late 80s) parents have Windows on their laptops and it would be impossible for them to use it without my regular intervention. I might as well take the plunge and set them up with Linux.
My mother asked me to switch her over and she loves it. I love it too because she isn’t always asking me for help all the time. I was playing around with windows games on Linux and while I was testing her game because it was fast to download, she was impressed and she wanted to switch right there.
I don’t remember when it started but every other update to windows home popped up an advertisement for the Microsoft account (she had a local account) and an advertisement for office 365. She would literally call me every time it popped up saying it looked important so she didn’t touch it. Libre office is close enough to excel that all the time I spent teaching her Excel didn’t go to waist and I could finally cancel my office 365 subscription.
I’m thinking of recommending it to my aunt because her PC is slow and won’t be supported by windows 11. If she’s interested I’ll let her play with it on an old laptop for a while before verifying she wants to switch over. The same thing I did with my mother.
Even if something like proxmox or a Debian install with docker is more customizable. It’s a steep learning curve.
But isn’t something like truenas scale a option? I run Emby(as my media Server) and the arr’s on it. All the apps are already in the “software store” including plex. And setup of the arr’s is just the same as normal. All installs are basically automatic.
I easy passthrough my intel gpu in the config page on the webportaal, but don’t how easy it is for Nvidia or amd. Especially with Nvidia due to drivers. But maybe someone here knows?
Also stuck on Windows but for specific software (Adobe & Revit). Zorin has looked like a promising distro for a little while now, at least coming from Windows.
Both my PCs have nvidia cards, a 3080ti and a 970, and not run just fine with games and Linux. I dont quite understand the hate for nvidia cards. AMD cards must poop glitter or something too.
NVIDIA spent many many years doing a very very poor job of providing drivers for Linux.
Many people have not forgiven them for that.
That’s understandable but its still inaccurate to say that those with Nvidia cards will have trouble with Linux. I understand people have biases but that’s not a helpful one.
You will have terrible with nvidia, if you choose a the wrong distro and you are not knowing about vulcan and mesa drivers and that there are lib32 versions of those needed for steam if steam is not installed as flatpak (I not recommend that, because you have to give it access to mounted iso/disks and maybe other stuff using flatseal) , I guess.
So don’t choose the wrong distro? All the most recommended for first time users are no problem.
So, it is no Problem with arch? /s,btw
There needs to be a yearly execution of the worst distros or something I swear! Start with arch!
It still happens more than it should. It took me 4 tries to get the nVidia driver to take on my “gaming” laptop with Fedora 40, (it wouldn’t accept the public keys for some reason). And I had to wait for some updates that took 2 weeks to show up. But, the onboard Intel chipset ran Nouveau just fine with no waiting and tinkering. I think people are still having some issues with nVidea and Wayland yet. I know I still have some minor ghosting issues with a couple of AppImages I really need to use that would prefer straight X11 over X-Wayland.
Now that didn’t bother me because I’ve been using various distros since buying my first boxed set CDs with RedHat 5 from Walmart of all places for $25US. (I still suffer from PTSD thanks to rpm hell). But I can see how a stumbling block like that can turn newcomers to Linux distros off.
Maybe I wasn’t clear, I’m an Nvidia user too. I got on at the ground floor of Nvidia just beginning to support Wayland and it was rough. To be honest my desktop would straight up refuse to boot most distro installers, hints why my first real experience with Linux was archlinux.
I understand X11 is perfectly usable but I just didn’t want to use a system with constant screen tearing, I also just ran into weird issues with x11 when it came to running anything more than basic apps. It’s always fun when your screen locks but can’t capture inputs because you had a game running.
Probably the biggest reason I champion Wayland and I’m very excited for the upcoming explicit sync driver update. When wayland reaches maturity we’ll have a smooth experience on par with windows or Macos and more secure/private than both.
This is the first comment about switching to Linux that makes me feel positively about the idea
There are no stupid questions just bad answers.
I prefer saying:
There’s no stupid questions, just stupid answers once in awhile.I do like that saying a little better. Most people are just trying to help and yeah, any amount of help is appreciated.
Some people could try a little harder to understand that we all started out knowing nothing and we all need a little help from time to time. It’s awesome to see so many people trying to be understanding here though.
The thing is, not all answers are satisfactory, or easy without further information. That said, learning is a journey, and if you don’t get stupid answers once in awhile, you’re not asking enough questions.
I’m actually gaming on nvidia! Didn’t take any tinkering either. I got the Nvidia version of Nobara, which many steam games “just work” on.
That’s not to say I didn’t start tinkering anyway, but new games I install and just run work fine.
It’s amazing how fast we got here though isn’t it. There were a ton of talented people, most of them working without pay just to make it happen.
I love the sense of community from something like that even if all I could do is be a beta tester, request potential improvements, and donate to my favorite projects.
I asked a legit Linux question in Rizon - Linux and got banned.
I don’t know what rizon - Linux is is but I guess that’s just the internet. I don’t know what to say other than I hope you have better luck next time.
It’s a game.
edit: no, that’s Ryzom.
It always amazes me to see an actively supported native Linux game. I’ve only tried native AAA games and the support for Linux is typically abysmal. I think hollow knight is the only one that worked flawlessly out of the box, I didn’t even realize proton wasn’t enabled.
It’s IRC
As opposed to gitter.im? I found the gitter communities to be very helpful.
I’m surprised that’s still around. Is the average age still 14 on these networks?
People will switch once developers do. So far no luck on the music industry
It sucks man, I feel you. There are a lot of free options out there you might want to check out!
I’m not experienced in this field but prosonus is working on a Linux version of their studio one app. I think they are trying to make VST extensions work at least on their software.
I’m probably not the best person to answer that question but maybe it helps. Most proprietary stuff is typically designed for Ubuntu or redhat so Ubuntu based or fedora is probably your best bet.
I need a PC that runs with no monitor and gets interfaced with through remote desktop only. I just installed Linux on that machine. It currently must have a keyboard and monitor because if it gets rebooted, it comes to the login screen. The login screen cannot be brought up via remote desktop (RDP through Remmina). I also have so far been unable to find a way to force it to automatically sign in “passwordless” like it used to do with Windows.
This box runs Plex as well as whatever game server I want to run for friends and I at the moment. (Currently Minecraft, which is having trouble since th switchover with server lag, but that is far less important than being able to reboot the screenless server box and have it work with no further input )
Get a virtual hdmi dummy plug. A very cheap and easy fix. Because the machine now thinks a screen is attached it will create a desktop environment you can remote in to.
Configuring automatic login shouldn’t be difficult. Here are instructions on Ubuntu (should work on any GNOME system), and here’s how to do it with pretty much any KDE system. This is a feature of desktop managers (like gdm or sddm), not desktop environments (like GNOME or KDE), so if neither works for you, you’re probably using a different one. If that’s the case, reply with your distro and as much info as you can provide.
That said, what exactly is the problem you’re trying to solve? It’s usually a lot easier to login remotely using SSH instead of remote desktop, and then use console commands to do whatever you need. To login with SSH:
ssh <user>@<IP address>So if your username is tux and your IP is 1.2.3.4:
ssh tux@1.2.3.4And then if you want to reboot:
sudo rebootAnd if you want to shutdown:
sudo shutdown -h nowI use an app on my phone to login, so I can get it done while sitting on the toilet in like 10s (I use it to unlock my computer so my kids can use it). If you’re accessing from your computer and just need to run a single command, provide it after the command in quotes (note, sudo commands won’t prompt for a password and will just fail).
Adding to this if you rub Plex from Docker, and you tell systemd to start docker on machine start you can also have the Plex container start automatically.
Then you dont even have to worry about logging in.
Or if you don’t use Docker, you can run it through systemd. That’s what I do with minidlna to stream movies to my TV.
I think the first thing is actually recommend is enabling a daemon that launches Plex at boot without login.
sudo systemctl enable plexmediaserverFor something like a Minecraft server I’d recommend reading up on the setup process. (It’s a fair bit to summarize)If the application doesn’t come with a systemd service I’d recommend making a cron. They’re scary looking but actually pretty easy to use, I use it for automating maintenance on my server.
It may feel counter intuitive but Linux servers don’t really need a desktop to manage them so most the tools don’t really come with graphical apps. If you want an interface to check on things I’d recommend installing and using cockpit web based graphical interface.
If you want to do it proper on a systemd system make a systemd.service it’s not as easy to learn but you get extra tools to manage it.
I’ve heard there’s a lot of work that has been done in kde and gnome to get rdp (remote desktop protocol) with remote login.
I hope this helps! If not, almost everything can be done through the terminal and ssh(secure shell) makes that process really easy. I installed and setup my Linux laptop and my server that way.
If you just want to transfer files there is sshfs(secure shell file system) and the ability to go to your file browser and type in an sftp(secure file transfer protocol) address. In kde dolphin for example you select network and type in the bar sftp://(IP address or hostname)@(user):(working directory). Make sure you have sshfs installed on both machines and sshd enabled on at least the system you want to access.
I have a pi5 at work (upgraded this year) that I use to administer my work network from home. I use ubutnu mate with xrdp for the desktop. Works great, even the sound works. No monitor and even if you hooked one up it would just show a login prompt.
Yeah I also haven’t found a good alternative for a windows management host for RDP. I use my last remaining windows box as an “admin host” and the Linux alternative to this would be vnc or xrdp, both of which have their issues (no dynamic resize, clipboard issues, session restore issues)… I’ve also tried x2go recently which is closer but still not as slick/simple as a windows RDP session.
I haven’t tried it myself but Ubuntu desktop 24 has remote desktop built in. You could try it out on a VM?
What about SSHing into it?
I’m just not sure how comfortable I am with no gui yet.
I have three ideas: First, you could switch the desktop environment to one of the ones that has a GUI settings tool to set passwordless automatic sign in. I think Gnome 3 on Ubuntu, and Mate Desktop on Linux Mint have that feature. There are probably others.
Second, you could switch your display manager to “nodm”. The display manager is the thing that runs the X server or Wayland, and it starts the greeter (the greeter is the program that shows the login screen). nodm is a special display manager that doesn’t use a greeter or ask for a password. It immediately starts the session using the username and desktop environment specified in its configuration file.
I use nodm for my HTPC and it works very well. The only downside is that you have to edit its configuration file, /etc/default/nodm , using a text editor. I’m not aware of any GUI configuration tool for it. However, it’s pretty easy to configure.
Third, you could abandon all display managers, and start the session manually, either from a shell script, or over SSH. This is a little more complex. You will probably want to get comfortable with SSH before trying this (SSH is the command-line analog of remote desktop).
Fantastic information. Thank you for all of it.
The triumphant return of the NETWORK COMPUTER!!! On your screen… sorry, OUR screen if you install or upgrade to Win-dows 11.
We have more local computing power than ever, but getting more and more chained to online services. Ah, the irony
Back in my day you could turn on the computer and operate it without anyone knowing. Our “internet connection” was demonic screeching from hell on the telephone and you didn’t need it to play solitaire.
I miss those early days.
Computers were weird magic boxes with all kinds of zany and crazy shit you could put in them.
Games were just graphically impressive enough to lose yourself in, while not needing a super computer to run them.
The internet was a curiousity for nerds and not a corprotized information hoover adpocalypse hellscape for the exploitation of the masses.
Linux exists. Made for you, not money. For Microsoft user experience is just a side effect in getting profit. It can well be replaced with marketing, as Microsoft has demonstrated.
There isn’t a soul on lemmy that doesn’t know Linux exists
What about the people that don’t have a soul
I sold mine to Odin and even I know about it. Now if youll excuse me I need to throw axes at people who dont like poetry or flyting.
Even gingers use Linux.
Can confirm, I’m ginger.
How can you use the internet then? The internet is like a mirror, you have to have a soul to use it.
whose soul do you have and how did you steal it from them?!
Yeah, the weekly sacrifices I have to do, are taking a toll on me
What is this lie-nucks you speak of?
Microsoft world have done it back then if internet was more prevalent and computers were just a little faster.
the better to farm your information to advertise too you and try to tie you in to more subscriptions.
Here’s an updated way to bypass it. This Youtuber is a little cheerful-cheesy, but the info is good.
No. This does not need a 13-minute video.
- Don’t plug in ethernet if you’re using one.
- At the wifi setup stage press
shift-F10 - Type
oobe\bypassnro - Reboot. Proceed as normal.
There, saved you 13 minutes
Oh cool, Cunningham’s Law in action.
I just want a consistent name for my home dir
Boooo Microsoft Windows
