yes, I think the main thing is when the nonfree firmware was included (user can opt-out) as a default at install. So out of the box support for most common hardware became way better.
It was always pretty easy to add nonfree repositories, but having to manually sort out wifi firmware after an install was a pain.
dd
I think you might be missing the part where memes are not real. aur is useful. arch wiki is useful.
Just install it from AUR.
going to surpass ‘unknown’ any year now. it’s happening.
I love programs like freecad despite the really hard/unintuitive gui. 95% of all the modelling i need to do (as an amateur) can be done easily in a python script.
The finishing touches like adding filets and chamfers are the annoying part were gui is easier, due to the way edges are referenced.
Likewise at work, we have to produce a lot of regular reports in excel. All done via python / sql.
effectively
replace HDD with SSD, number one thing to do if possible.
lxde or lxqt are quite a bit lighter then xfce.
you could try tiny core linux. it really depends what programs you want to run.
OpenGNU/SE
something like raspi-config ( i know that’s console based GUI, but it’s gui to me), or even the endevourOS launcher screen?
laughs at people scared of choice and “mess” . . .
If they’re switcing to linux they should first come to know about open source forking around - arguably - one of the most important features of the whole thing.
If they don’t wan’t that choice and all that inevitable open source forkery, they probably should go for an apple mac or windows or something like that. And maybe they will have to pay for some software for the privilege because it takes work to do those things. They can of course try plain old ubuntu and do stuff the way canonical wants, that removes quite a bit of choice if it is otherwise too terrifying for them.
But in general, I don’t think its a good idea to to try to sell pig-carcasses to vegans by painting them the colours of broccoli.
the year of the unknown desktop!
what do you think about:. “you don’t need to choose one” and “you don’t need other people to choose for you” and “distro isn’t that important in many cases”
I can agree 100% on what distros I use for what types of computer. And I can agree 100% on what I’d have used now, if i were a beginner again.
But all i can recommend to a stranger is, backup all your stuff properly,
try a few out (v.m. or liveCD/Ventoy) and be prepared to change.
make sure to check application versions in the base software repository - for any programs where that matters to you.
and ease of updating - if that matters to you.
and check out some flatpak if you think that might be a useful way to get extra applications or in some cases up to date.
if in doubt, choose gentoo /s
it might’ve been ssh i can’t really remeber. The library catalog was maybe the telnet one. IIRC don’t think either service was accesible via the internet though.
not SunOS then ):
my whole university email server was accessed via telnet. So everyone used tty for email.
I think there may have been a gui or mail app that you coud point to it, but no one did. There was about a million(trillian?) gui’s people used for icq messaging though.
tldr Sudden Death card