Question: What is Linux misinformation?

Spreading Linux misinformation is saying things about Linux that aren't true.

Examples:

These can be jokes or trolling like “You can save space by removing the system's pre-installed French language pack by running sudo rm -fr /” (disclaimer don't do this!)

Or misconceptions, such as “You probably don't have a virus even if you suspect it, due to Linux's nature viruses aren't possible” (you absolutely can)

99

"Arch is stable"

19
That's genius. Absolutely evil, but genius.

16
- All it's been doing for at least the past 15 years is throw an error message. Because there really isn't any reason you'd want to do that on purpose.
  
  8
I have seen that code block so many times, but never with the options switch around so it stands for french 😂 Thankfully in most cases these days you need to add --no-preserve-root for this command to run.

14
- but never with the options switch around
  
  Life pro tip: always put the force flag first on any command line you write (that has such a flag), to ensure that it's the first thing seen by everyone (including your future self) reading that command line.
  
  5

For example, when someone ask for a command to list files, and another one reply with a command that removes everything.

46

Or

curl -O https://software.download.prss.microsoft.com/dbazure/Win11_23H2_English_x64v2.iso?t=20e395a3-e609-4696-99fe-f6edcc14f54a&P1=1723809112&P2=601&P3=2&P4=YoihsrepRARlh%2faBo1mABEe7A0aL0yWPYOcR3dNAmlaFPDavFokSpv0oFQybmpuDhG%2f677UBlN%2fRIxY9B3EFVC5TFca%2bXI%2bA%2bQAxqraW1SGCgmpteLlZYntp2E21cpv4RIJ8aifL9z0ecBwNtgwBAY526haPg2RgKhb225RwnAER0EDGWMrDLookFFCm8th8akKETDwKQYQnVKZ%2bJUCTvlt06D42oCJ10fXcVv2D6du6Kuudtc8NgV3DSXPuB4ADK1l951o37bvijDkqAKn70aHyidA5HgdpO5O8K3PPvsre%2bNSVWLbgh7UkEeU1BNMO0INPFiGVqEIaeGorhYxS0w%3d%3d

19

Why stop there

curl $windows_iso_url | sudo dd of=/dev/sda bs=4M && sudo sync; sudo reboot

(Do not run this)
25

That you can "do everything that windows does". You can't. You can do similar things, you can do different things, you can do basic things, yes, but Linux can't do everything that windows does.

disclaimer: on linux since 2006

45

Could you give an example of something linux can't do?

Or are you alluding to windows software not running on linux even with wine etc?

29
- I built an entire theatre using Linux. Architect was on autocad, that was alright, but engineering was on vectorworks & there I had to ask for .dxf exports.
  
  Qlab (macos) is 100% a no-go, I actually own a macbook just for this piece of software.
  
  Isadora runs on wine, but video play is problematic. Isadora is a video mapper/VJ/mixing software.
  
  Of the big three of lighting console software, only Chamsys' MagicQ runs on Linux. Infuriating when you know Grand MA consoles are linux-based. ETC? Don't ask.
  
  It's niche (how about Enttec or DMXKing interfaces configurator?) but it's my niche. I survive doing things differently, and, yes, owning a dual-boot AsahiLinux/MacOS device.
  
  23
- Digitally sign a PDF with a couple of clicks.
  
  So far, I have spent about 6 hours (sporadically over the past 3 years) trying to set up a way to do this, yet ultimately it didn't ever work at all. And every time I end up using some online third party service just to get it over with.
  
  I did it on Windows once and the setup was a simple 5 step wizard. After which digitally signing a document just works with a couple of clicks.
  
  Bonus round:
  
  on Linux there is only one PDF viewer that implements tripple click for selecting a whole line AND can invert the colors of the document (which helps some partially blind users). That viewer is Atril and it has no way of even attempting to digitally sign a PDF. As soon as you want to do the signing, you lose those one of the two features and people with impairments can't do their work properly.
  
  the screen readers have voices from the 90s and setting up anything modern with them is above my skill grade - as again, I fucked with it for days and didn't manage to get a natural sounding voice to work. On Windows it is way simpler, including working well for mixed language documents - for example German text with technical terms in english or latin.
  
  8
- Run 3dsmax.
  
  5
- Software and hardware support definitely counts.
  
  I would also guess that probably a lot of Microsoft enterprise stuff like active directory group policies likely aren't supported well, but I don't have enough knowledge to back that up.
  
  5
- Linux can't prevent you from permanently removing files. While in Windows it's a chore to remove a number of files/bloat, which are then most often back after a system update.
  
  2
For instance, Linux hasn't started putting ads+AI in everything. It is 2024 people get with the program!

13
This is correct. Linux doesn't suck and Windows most definitely does that very well. I'd also add you can do quite advanced things on Linux, as well.

Also disclaiming: Using Linux since 1999

8
For me, it's hardware support, i.e my laptops fingerprint sensor just isn't supported, for the speakers to work I had to find a script that remapped the speakers, multiple desktops (especially with different resolutions) are a pain.

But the killer at the moment is a good solution to manage and post process my raw photos. Went from Lightroom to On1 Photo RAW...unfortunately DarkTable is still not there yet. Also still missing the affinity suite on Linux :-(

Also, sadly these tools also don't run well in a VM

2

One example I encountered was with someone I know who mentioned Linux, and I said I use it and he suddenly got fascinated and started asking me how I get anything done when all I have is just a command prompt and how does that work. Somewhere along the way he'd gotten the idea that Linux has no GUI at all and you just do everything in the terminal. Not sure where that idea came from but I was like no dude, it works pretty much like any other OS, it has Firefox and Chrome and stuff. I think he was a bit disappointed lol.

33

A friend of mine believes similar except it's that everything in Linux doesn't actually work and you have to fix it constantly. It's rather frustrating to deal with.

20
- doesn’t help when you have “Arch BTW” types that like the mystique that myth gives them
  
  9
I mean, there are many of us who live on the CLI and scripting world. Ask him what he wants to do and explain that for anything he wants to do, you can write a script and from that point forward you can do it by typing a word and pressing enter and sitting back and watching the computer do all the work

4

Remember when Bill Gates said that open source software was fascist?

24

*communist

But honesty they are the same in many respects

-12
- How are communism and fascism the same? What definitions are you using?
  
  AFAIK communism advocates for a stateless, classless, moneyless society, while fascism advocates for imperial nationalism and the violent class hierarchies of capitalism, racism, misogyny, xenophobia, etc.
  
  They seem much more like opposites under the standard definitions. I don't understand doublespeak.
  
  19

That Wayland works for everybody.

22

Yes, but "Wayland is trash and will never be better than X" is also misinformation.

33
- Agreed. Both are true.
  
  9
Agree with you homie, even more so, some people deadass saying that arch is stable and good for windows refugees

6
It's not the yet but it's getting pretty close these days

0
I usually just ask them to back that assertion up by running "pacman -Rcs xwayland" (or their package manager's equivalent).

None have taken me up on my request, and they immediately switch to blaming the apps for it, even though some literally cannot be ported.

-7

Linux killed my dog.

18

Linus bit my penguin

7
- Origin story of the manguin
  
  2
- A penguin once bit my sister. its true!
  
  1
Better to die in freedom!

1

Outdated launch parameters and environment variables uploaded to ProtonDB

10

This comment really hit me where it hurts.

4

That Linux is a single OS where OS means a distro. They end up thinking that there are 3 systems in the world, Windows, Mac and Linux.

They're pretty close, there are three types of kernels used my majority of modern computers but they since they aren't really into different OS software they equate it with "there only 3 types of OS GUIs".

6

But Linux consists of more than 1 GUI?

2
- Desktop environment to be specific.
  
  2

That arch is the best system. Everyone has their different use cases.

5

Yes I agree and arch can handle all of those use cases in the best way possible (jest)

1

You don't know what misinformation is? Basically it's all kinds of lies, intentional or not.

5

is a lie a lie if it's unintentional?

10
- Not really but it's still misinformation.
  
  11
- misinformation != desinformation
  
  Both exist plenty...
  
  8
- Yes it is, you may not be a liar but still spread lies unknowingly.
  
  But i guess at the end of the day it depends on its creator. If it was intentional then its a lie if not then its misinfo
  
  5
- Depends on context. All lies are misinformation. I wouldn't describe unintentional lies as lying though.
  
  1

Misinformation is the stuff you spread in c/privacy about GrapheneOS and Android in general

1