There's been a huge amount of talk recently about switching to Linux for gaming, thanks to the challenge from Linus Tech Tips (YouTube) where two of their people tried the full-switch but it didn't go so well for Linus and Pop!_OS. Now, System76 are trying to improve.
It was pretty unfortunate that as Linus was going to install Steam, Pop's packaging had some sort of breakage that wasn't quite picked up and Linus ended up hosing the Pop desktop install. You can easily do some finger-pointing on where the real blame lies here from Pop not ensuring a major package like Steam works correctly before it's pushed to users, to Linus ignoring the (what should be) pretty-clear warning message:
Oh no, please, Linus — don't do it! Linus did it.
The point remains the same regardless, and throwing around pointy-fingers isn't really helpful. It shouldn't have happened, it's as simple as that. Loading up the Pop!_Shop GUI and telling it to install Steam should have been enough. Going by what System76 engineer Jeremy Soller said on Twitter, the cause was this:
"For some reason, an i386 version of a package was never published on Launchpad. Steam being an i386 package, when trying to install it, it had to downgrade that package to the Ubuntu version to resolve dependencies, which removed Pop!_OS packages.".
One thing System76 has now done to prevent such almighty breakage in future, is to patch APT (the package manager), in Pop to prevent users being able to see the "Yes, do as I say!" prompt by default. Unless, they add a special file to actually enable it. On top of that, another System76 developer Jacob Kauffmann mentioned on GitHub their plans to "make further improvements" to the Pop!_Shop GUI so that "users don't have to fall back to the terminal in the first place". Sounds like lessons learned, and hopefully smooth sailing for users in future.
Update: a new version of APT brings in its own improvements for this.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Quoting: sudoerMeanwhile everything seemed to work fine for him with Manjaro, which he should have chosen from the get-go, because of newest kernels, newest drivers, for newest hardware, taking a hint from Valve having chosen Arch for the same reason. Someone should tell him that GNU/Linux is NOT M$ Windoze, but a different beast (the car vs. motorcycle analogy) so he should change his approach and mindset, embracing the new (awesome) toy and reading its manual.
Also this is a perfect example of overrated and mindlessly promoted by casual youtubers (because of the same wrong mindset of "everything I used to do with Windoze, I expect to do with GNU/Linux") "user-friendly" vs. user-centric, there used to be a saying with FreeBSD/UNIX that I don't remember quite right but it did go somewhat along the line of "if a system is complex, don't hide it from the user". There's no other shortcut than a) reading fully the downstream distro's wiki b) reading fully the upstream d's wiki to master the OS, in his case, a) read the Manjaro wiki, b) read the Arch wiki, understand, appreciate, constantly improve your skills, be rewarded from the learning (and enlightning) experience.
I can understand the complaints for lack of doing things in UI. Many people just want to do things on their PC without having to know the ins and outs of how it works. I think many people know Linux is not Windows they are just looking for something better than Windows so let them try. However it's not their fault if they don't switch because they didn't understand the OS it's Linux fault for not making it easier to use. Some software alternatives just don't cut it for some of those in professional fields and gaming is still very much a hassle.
Quoting: phrogpilot73Had he updated Pop first - he would have likely had no problems.
Sadly not the case here. They admitted that a weird 32-bit library issue was inadvertently linked to the "default desktop" package which caused the issue. It would likely have been fixed within a day regardless of Linus stumbling into the issue, but the timing was just incredible and it tripped them up in this case.
My only frustration in Linus' approach here was the irony that he'd have had better luck sticking to the "Windows Way" and just downloading Steam from the SteamPowered website. But one of the core messages for new users of Linux is often "don't do that". Certainly true of drivers at least.
The whole thing is frustrating, tbh. Even if lessons were learned for PopOS, the sad fact is that Linus' viewers have already drawn their conclusions about Linux based on his experience. That video will live forever as a spectacular failure of Linux to engage with a "normal" person. Normal is in quotes there, of course, because a) There wasn't much normality about Linus' set up, and b) Linus is an entertainingly stubborn, impatient and highly critical person. Anyone trying Linux in good faith and with reasonable expectation would have a better experience.
As the error was meaningless, he turned to the command line, which was not the thing he should have been encouraged to do.
AussieEevee Nov 10, 2021
Perkeleen_Vittupää Nov 10, 2021
But when you go and use terminal, what led Linus to make the mistake is also a UI issue. Let me illustrate.
Following packages will be uninstalled:
Pop-os desktop
gnome-control-center
gnome-shell
You are about to do something potentially harmful. To Continue please type "Yes, do as I say"
Following packages will be uninstalled:
Pop-os desktop
gnome-control-center
gnome-shell
You are about to do something potentially harmful. Before continuing with uninstalling packages write down the command "sudo apt install Pop-os desktop", in the event you want to reverse the action
To Continue with uninstalling please type "Yes, do as I say"
Linux will continue to be largely dependt on terminal, because as I said UI takes more time to develop and there is no simple switch you can press where GUIs appear everywhere for everything. Making terminal more understandable and safer for beginners is more realistic.
Last edited by Linuxwarper on 10 November 2021 at 3:11 pm UTC
Mohandevir Nov 10, 2021
But it's Linux, it doesn't have that margin. It must be nothing less than perfect, accross the board, on all distributions simultaneously, to convince mainstream users.
Last edited by Mohandevir on 10 November 2021 at 3:10 pm UTC
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