Well it would be nice to see some discussion around Linux’s drawbacks and what can be done to overcome the barriers to adoption aside from the usual dismissive tone responses that are similar to those found on places like Stackoverflow.

Sure. However, the posts in this community are not that at all, they're childish and wrong at best, and slanderous and inflammatory at worse.

Yep! Okular is amazing, and it's available on Windows too. Install it for someone and they'll never bother you again about PDFs or EPUB documents, it's performant and everything works: printing, resizing, selecting text, searching, signing, adding comments. Never worry about paid PDF software or shady slow apps that keep trying to gatekeep features.

There's a "Linux Sucks" community on Reddit, it's 40% Linux users memeing and 60% Windows users that tried to install Ubuntu, broke something when messing with external repositories, and immediately went to Reddit to rant about Linux.

I'm assuming this person is trying to recreate this around here, but choosing Lemmy for such a community is bizarre considering the smaller number of total users and the way higher than average proportion of Linux users.

Honestly, there isn't much to it when setting up Linux for elderly people - in fact, I find it less troublesome than setting it up for a teenager.

Most often the issues regular users face with Linux are related to installing packages from external sources or broken updates. Elderly people tend to not do that.

Set up a stable distro like Debian, Linux Mint or Ubuntu LTS with KDE Plasma or Cinnamon, install LibreOffice, Okular and a browser with strong ad blocking, and any other applications you think they might need. Enable a simple firewall, hide the root / folder from the file browser's sidebar, and you're done. Perhaps set up scaling to make everything bigger on their monitors, disable mouse acceleration and set the speed slightly slower than usual.

I wouldn't bother with immutable distros, Flatpaks are nice and all until permissions turn using a simple app a confusing chore with broken interactions.

The Coca-Cola thing is just a widespread myth. Red was already used for Santa and Christmas in general before Coca-Cola's ads.

Ah yes, so we went from "no DRM whatsoeverr!" to "there's DRM but on a DLC I don't care about!"

I see. Sound logic, great argument. Sounds like GOG is amazing then, they're probably doing great with their current business model! No, wait...

Usually the Redditors wear the fedora without knowing how to pair it correctly with the rest of their outfits, so don't worry, if you wear a nice attire and a fedora people won't get you confused with the guy wearing an ahegao t-shirt two sizes too small and cargo shorts.

you value Steam's honesty

Both are multi-millionaire if not billionaire companies. There's no way to attribute virtues like "honesty" to corporate entities.

But GOG is a much worse store than Steam, lacking features Steam had a decade ago and, most importantly, being loudly indifferent to how the games work on platforms other than Windows. Any gaming thread gets flooded by GOG fans talking about how we should support them anyway, because they're great and anti-DRM... Except I'm telling you they aren't, if their own games are at risk of being pirated they add DRM, if somebody wants to publish games protected by DRM on their platform they allow it. That's not anti-DRM.

Steam's DRM is disabled by default, and Valve is aware it's trivially easy to bypass and said multiple times they don't care. That's just as "anti-DRM" as GOG if we go by their actions, rather than their marketing claims.

Don't fall for marketing claims when they themselves are using DRM, it's ridiculous.

anti-DRM policy

What anti-DRM policy? They included DRM into their own game, what kind of policy is that?

"I have a strict, non negotiable anti-beer policy! Except every weekend when I drink a 12 pack! And sometimes in social events! And at night to take the edge off! Sometimes on Wednesdays too!"

Did I ever claim Steam is a "strongly DRM free platform"? Did Steam ever sell itself as the non evil alternative due to a quoted "lack of DRM?"

If you're trying to follow my argument, you're not doing a good job.

strong DRM stance

They have allowed content protected by DRM into their store four times already, which is not surprising, given GOG is owned by CD Projekt Red who included DRM into their own DLC for Cyberpunk, including on GOG. That's not "strong" in any sense of the word.

So in other words, they sell you the "feel good" anti-DRM narrative but quickly look the other way when it's good for business. At that point, might as well purchase on Steam, where DRM is common but optional and Valve actually cares about making the games platform-agnostic, easy to backup, easy to share, etc.

EDIT: cool downvotes, doesn't change the fact that GOG provides software protected by DRM on their "strongly anti-DRM platform". There is no amount of downvotes in this world that can change this reality.

The N64 is got objectively better graphics - being able to do perspective correction, having actual awareness of the fact that 3D objects have depth (z-buffer) and floating point precision. It's just extremely harmed by the low storage of the cartridges.

The PS1 can barely do 3D, being forced to calculate polygons but having no idea what to do with them, with warping geometry and textures deeply distorted.

Even though the myth is quite prevalent, the red and white color scheme for Santa is not related to Coca-Cola.

A massive amount of this world's plastic waste is related to Coca-Cola, though.

I use it as a "laptop" a lot, using a case with a stand and Logitech's mini Bluetooth keyboard and mouse. I like it.

I don't disagree, but it's pretty weird that Americans always try shifting the blame or motivation around rather than admitting their own questionable behavior.

US being authoritarian? "Must be related to them Russians!"

Cats and kidney disease is a combination that unfortunately is way too common. I'm happy to hear he had a loving caring owner and lived many years, sorry to hear about his passing but I'm sure he had a great life.

I like sharing this little nugget recipe around just because it's very cheap, and healthy for children, pets and to be fair us adults too, I like nuggets haha.

I don't think the US threatening to take over other countries is somehow related to Russian imperialism.

It's quite literally the same old US imperialism that has always existed, only less sugar coated.

Cooked chicken breasts with a little bit of egg whites on a food processor or blender (use water if needed) will result in a paste that can be nugget-shaped and cooked.

Muuuuuch healthier for your cats, and for you too. For the cat, include some source of fat to make it more appealing.

2 completely different things that have the same name.

That's how grouping works, yes. You and I are clearly different, yet we are both called "human". In fact, you and a giant panda are both "mammals" despite being radically different.

I'm not the one who decided to create a post in a science fiction community claiming a huge portion of science fiction isn't "true science fiction" based on my own tastes.

Of course the point is semantic, do you want me to base it on what? Your favorite novels?