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Linux is a bit shit sometimes,

There's your headline. I don't care whether you use linux or not; ten years ago that might have mattered, I might be trying to get more people to use it so that adobe or whoever would put more effort into supporting it, but that doesn't really matter anymore, these days everything either Just Works or there's a native equivalent that's better and I've no selfish reason to recommend linux anymore, so if you're happy with windows stick with windows.

If you're *not* happy with windows, here's the other half of that sentence at the top of this post:

Linux is a bit shit sometimes - but when it's a bit shit, it's a bit shit in the way of a cat who watches the mouse run across the living room floor, not in the way of a cat who suddenly decides to bite you for no reason. It's not *actively malicious,* it's just a bit shit sometimes, which these days is tbh pretty damn good compared with a lot of stuff.

Like, it's not bad because it's being hollowed out for investors, it's not bad because it's spying on you to make more money, it's not bad because its makers know you've gotta take it anyway, it's not bad because it knows it can get a lot worse before you look elsewhere, it's just... bad. But bad in like a normal way, like a bike with a wonky gear shifter and tyres that keep going soft, not like a bike that shows you adverts.

There's my linux recommendation.

LINUX: It's A Bit Shit Sometimes™

Your computer's always gonna be a bit shit, but if you'll just take my paw, I can show you how it can be shiiit in a different waayyyyy

If you want my *specific* linux recommendation, I've been happy with Ubuntu Mate because it's been the same old familiar shit for like fourteen years now

Specifically, it came about because Ubuntu changed from having a slightly shit interface to having a REALLY shit interface back in 2010, and so Mate came along as a continuation of the old GUI that was only a bit shit. It's been getting updates twice a year since then and instead of RADICALLY OVERHAULING THE INTERFACE they've just made it... slightly less shit

Like... if you look at Ubuntu Mate from 2010 and Ubuntu Mate from today, it uses a slightly easier-to-read font now? The colours are a bit nicer? The icons are better? But everything's still in the same place, I haven't had to re-learn anything.

Instead of spending ten years falling over themselves trying to Innovate and Revolutionize and Reinvent, they've just been slowly and carefully sanding off the rough bits, and hoo boy, you spend ten years sanding the same wood, it gets niiiiiice

@dynamic Aye, that it does

@ifixcoinops

Like, with up down arrows and everything? O_O

@dynamic huh, d'you know, since I got a trackball I've not actually looked at whether the scrollbars still have uppydownies or not. I just set a button on the ball to be the "scroll when I spin the ball" button and then I hold that button down and spin the ball.

@ifixcoinops

Damn.

Knew it was too good to be true.

(I still use a laptop for most things, don't want to have to carry a mouse around, and two-finger scroll is a bitch.)

@dynamic wild that laptops still don't have scroll wheels

@ifixcoinops

I think it's even more wild that every single GUI desktop decided to take away an interface option that had been working well for everyone for two or three decades.

@ifixcoinops

(I'm at work right now so had the opportunity to use my mouse's scroll wheel and even that doesn't really behave the way I want it to.)

@dynamic just asked my daughter and her scrollbars are present, although firefox specifically has those silly skinny auto-hide ones.

I'd get up and look at my own computer but I've got a cat on my lap.

@dynamic see

@ifixcoinops

It turns out there's a way of fixing scroll bars on Firefox: https://social.coop/@dynamic/111608520145132477

Still no up down arrow buttons though.