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Comment by ScottFree | Hacker News Reader

I booted Ubuntu on my Lenovo about a week ago. The first thing I tried to do was adjust the acceleration on the trackpad. There is no GUI for this like in other operating systems, so I spent a good hour fiddling with config files before I gave up and switched back to my Macbook Pro.

I use my mouse considerably more often than I change my WiFi mac address.

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KDE provides extensive configuration options for the track pad, see https://userbase.kde.org/System_Settings/Touchpad. Maybe try Kubuntu next time. Linux does not necessarily mean Ubuntu/GNOME.

Ah yes, the Linux experience.

Step 1. Find guide on where to find guides for linux distro

Step 2. Read guide on how to find guide for X Linux distro

Step 3. Read guide on X Linux distro

Step 4. Install X Linux Distro

Step 5. ???

Step 6. Find out Linux distro doesn't have Y feature

Step 7. Repeat 1 to 6 indefinitely through the universe of NIH syndrome filled Linux

Or just install ubuntu LTS

Have you ever used Linux? What kind of features do some distros have that others don’t? You can run anything you want to.

Step 4b. Realize that the distro doesn't matter at all and actually read the guide instead of blindly copy&pasting.

I wanted to paint the walls of my apartment but could only find a guide for other apartments, so I torched the whole place and moved into another building with the right colored walls, but now my nice kitchen is gone.

I've been using linux on and off since 1999. Which guide am I supposed to read? The one that's only 1 year out of date, but no longer applies to Ubuntu? Or a guide clearly meant for a different distro with a different mix of pre-installed packages?

Why should I waste my time on any of it when there are two other perfectly good operating systems that can do this out of the box and don't require me to faf around for hours.

Take any you like, they all work.

> different mix of pre-installed packages

Like it matters.

> Why should I waste my time on any of it when there are two other perfectly good operating systems that can do this out of the box

Same argument for why I don't like to use windows. It comes with basically nothing out of the box, still has no proper package management and basic things like proper keyboard layouts, ctrlcaps, installing latex, browsers, email clients, text editors etc. take hours of faffing around. And then when things invariably don't quite work, troubleshooting is really annoyingly opaque. Why would I waste my time on that?

Simply restating my argument and pretending it applies to Windows equally doesn't fly with me. But thanks for re-affirming that the Linux community isn't worth dealing with.

Misrepresenting what I said and then hurling insults. Yeah, I think this discussion is over.

I do agree that trackpad support on Linux isn't the greatest, but you could have used the GNOME Tweaks settings application (GUI) to change your mouse acceleration profile. Maybe next time :)

This is a great example of what has always bugged me about Tweaks, the discoverability is horrible. People look through the Settings app, don't find what they want to change, and then assume there is no easy way to change it. How the hell is the average user supposed to know that GNOME Tweaks even exists?

I agree the Linux desktop has a come a LONG way in recent years and it is soooo close. It is stupid stuff like this that holds it back - the last little small tweaks that make like easier. Tweaks should just be part of Gnome - period. Put it in Settings - at minimum put it under and "Advanced" settings.

> I agree the Linux desktop has a come a LONG way in recent years and it is soooo close.

I've been hearing that since the late 90s. The uncomfortable truth is that Linux will never be a suitable Desktop environment because the Linux community doesn't care about the Desktop market. Ubuntu, Red Hat and various open source funds have more than enough money to hire top notch UX designers. But, they don't.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Mouse_acceleration

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