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My whole computer is like this. I use sway/i3. On my home computer I don't use a login manager so you have to type "sway" to get something graphical. At that point you probably don't know the key combos to open a shell, much less a web browser. And, yes, I do use emacs...

My girlfriend simply calls my computer "broken".

One time my brother was in my study and I needed to shut down my computer. After bashing on the keyboard for ten seconds or so he commented "THAT is how you shut down your computer?!" It honestly hadn't even occurred to me it might seem weird from the outside.

I wouldn't have it any other way, though. Sure it's nice if a machine "just works", but machines don't just work. They are layers upon layers of complexity and if I have to understand them then I might as well interact with those layers directly.

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Strongly disagree here on the "machines don't just work." 99% of the machines in my life just work for 99% of the tasks I throw at them. I spend an inordinate amount of time fixing/working-around the 1%, but directly interacting with the lowest layers is a massive waste of my very limited time.

My primary reason for not using Linux for my desktop is that when I connect a bluetooth device, headphones, a monitor, a keyboard or a mouse, when I want to run a GPU intensive application, or when I need to connect to a VPN and have my DNS requests correctly routed through the VPN it just works on Windows or MacOS.

I don't have the time or energy to work out those issues in a community supported environment where half the time the community support treats you like a half-witted imbecile for needing support and where the environment itself uses a CLI tool that my wife or kids can't use to manage the settings.

Ease of Use, Dev Tooling, or Cheap. Pick two. Linux is consistently harder to use. With WSL-2 I've found windows eases the dev tooling pain that existed a few years ago. A Mac is not cheap.

I'm not sure what you're disagreeing with. I work with Linux which, you admit, does not "just work". Your Windows/Mac systems just work because you pay someone to make it work for you (you don't skip the latest bug/security fixes do you?) That's the same as taking your car to the garage. I take my car to the garage too. But with Linux, I am the garage.

I’m responding to:

> Sure it's nice if a machine "just works", but machines don't just work.

I want Linux to be great as a desktop, but I’ve given up. I use Windows (with WSL2 for a Linux dev environment) because it is not my experience that “machines don’t just work.” It’s just that _Linux_ doesn’t ;)

Windows doesn't just work either. You've invested years upon years of learning to make it work. If you had instead used Linux full time exclusively for over a decade like me you'd be able to make it work too.

MacOS doesn't work by design. It's by far the worst choice there is.

Nope, I’m pretty ambivalent about my OS… Used Linux professionally for several years, Mac OS for several and only recently switched back to Windows with the advent of WSL 2.

Having spent multiple years on all three I promise you that my experience does not bear out your assertion. And to point it out: I am more than capable of making Linux do most of the things I want it to (tar flags be damned) I just prefer the UX on MacOS or windows

> After bashing on the keyboard for ten seconds or so he commented "THAT is how you shut down your computer?!"

This is exactly why I love to use my Linux machine. When I have a thought, I simply command it to the computer in written language and it immediately obeys.

I don't have to figure out where Johnny Ive hid the toggle switch in an attempt to make things more minimal. In fact, I don't have to figure out where anything is hidden at all because everything is right there at my fingertips. I shutdown the computer by saying "shutdown". I lock it by saying "lock". I open firefox by simply typing "firefox". It's a simple system, but I love it.

These posts are really funny because its people like us who love contraptions, and people going "wow linux doesn't work huh"

yet I typically run weird systems(xmonad, arch) and they're infinitely more reliable after the initial couple hours of setup than my windows install.

My thinkpad with a 7 year old Antergos install and i3wm "just works", but without a hint of irony. Literally the only issue with the laptop happens equally in windows and linux, and that's the USB ports going to sleep and never waking up until reboot.

The big thing about playing around deeper in the system, is you can fix it relatively easy. It's like a 90s honda civic where you can step into the engine bay vs doing any kind of maintenance on a modern audi or bmw. Sure you can see the guts but if a bolt loosens on both, which one would you rather have to fix?

I'm similar, but `startx` to get to GUI, and dwm instead of i3/sway. My girlfriend is somewhat used to it, I've added some convenience scripts for her in rofi to switch keyboard layout and setup the screens. She still asks me to remind her how to access her menu though.

Mod1+enter poweroff does not seem particularly arcane.

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