Installing OS, 10 years ago:

Windows: click a couple of buttons enter username and password

Linux: Terminal hacking, downloading shell scripts from github

Installing OS today:

Linux: click a couple of buttons, enter username and password

Windows: Terminal hacking, downloading shell scripts from github.

Link to video: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qKRmYW1D0S0

    • RupeThereItIs@lemmy.world
      211·
      4 months ago

      Even 20 years ago Linux was easier to install then Windows.

      Last time I recall Linux being tricky was like late 90s.

      • barsoap
        9·
        4 months ago

        Giving you, if you were lucky, VESA graphics and maybe a mouse pointer because XFree86 somehow insisted on being told whether you have a PS/2 or USB mouse. 3d acceleration only with nvidia and that required manual installation because nvidia never provided anything but blobs. IIRC ATI drivers were simply non-existent (didn’t have an ATI card back then), that only changed when AMD bought them. Whippensnappers won’t believe it but once upon the time, nvidia was actually the company to go with when running linux. And Epic didn’t hate Linux yet, UT2004 came with linux binaries on the dvd.

      • Schadrach@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
        6·
        4 months ago

        I once tried to install Linux around then, not long after ISA cards with Plug n Play became a thing.

        Linux: So now to even pretend to get the card to work you have to download and run a tool to generate a config file to feed to another tool so you can then install the driver and get basic functionality from the card (which is all that’s available on Linux). Except the first tool doesn’t generate a working config file - it generates a file containing every possible configuration your hardware supports hypothetically having and requires you to find and uncomment the one you want to actually use. Requiring you to manually configure the card and thus kinda defeating the point of Plug n Play (though I guess that configuration was in software, not by setting jumpers).

        Same card in Windows at the time: Install card, boot Windows. Card is automatically identified and given a valid configuration, built in drivers provide basic functionality. Can download software from manufacturer for more advanced functionality.

        That soured me on Linux for a long time. Might try it again sometime soon just to see what it’s like if nothing else. ProtonDB doesn’t have the most positive things to say about my Steam collection, and I imagine odds are worse for stuff not available on Steam.

        • mrvictory1@lemmy.worldOP
          11·
          4 months ago

          ProtonDB doesn’t have the most positive things to say about my Steam collection, and I imagine odds are worse for stuff not available on Steam.

          If you ask around or search, you can get answers easily. You can install games from Epic, Ubisoft etc. using other Linux applications.

          • SeekPie
            21·
            4 months ago

            You can install games from Epic, Ubisoft etc. using other Linux applications.

            Like Heroic for GOG And Epic, Lutris for everything else.

      • bitwaba@lemmy.world
        5·
        4 months ago

        Yeah, all my Linux installs after about 2003 were liveCDs. I used to carry my Gentoo CD around as my diagnostic tools for a while helping people fix their windows machines (or just backing up everything off it before reformatting).

        I think Knoppix was the first live CD I used. It was mind blowing. Now you can just carry around a whole personally configured system on a USB stick. Pretty cool.

    • luckystarr@feddit.orgDeutsch
      17·
      4 months ago

      That was the case even 19 years back. Ubuntu nailed it back then. You could install it without knowing anything about your computer. Before that, there were text based UIs which required deep understanding and lots of decisions.

    • azvasKvklenko@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      9·
      4 months ago

      It hasn’t change since mid-2000s if you only talk about the installation process itself. Usually you would have at least some piece of hardware that wouldn’t work out of box and it used to be a lot of work until getting everything in place

          • vaionko@sopuli.xyz
            2·
            4 months ago

            Nvidia has become pretty painless in the last few years. A year ago a guy told me to try wayland so I did and surprisingly I’ve been on wayland ever since on my desktop. The last time I don’t think I was even able to see my desktop. Now the 555 drivers made things even better.

          • TexasDrunk@lemmy.world
            1·
            4 months ago

            Modems in general were either entirely PnP or a total goddamn nightmare in my experience. There was no in between. I remember setting up Slackware in the late 90s and my serial modem just worked. Even after I changed it, it worked. Even after I installed an internal modem, it worked. A few years later I set up Debian or one of its kids (probably knoppix, but I won’t testify to it) and couldn’t get a modem to work to save my life. It was so bad that I just didn’t use any Linux until I got DSL.

            Edit: a couple of letters

    • jherazob@fedia.io
      8·
      4 months ago

      I remember the Slackware dozens of floppies install, things have gotten stupidly easy with time

    • aname@lemmy.one
      4·
      4 months ago

      I installed redhat on my machine in the beginning of 2000’s when I was 13 or so and it was pretty easy. English is not even my first language.