Installed kubuntu on a secondary drive cause plasma looked really slick. Booted it up after install to find that I couldn't connect to the internet—turns out the drivers for my extremely common (30k Amazon reviews) wifi adapter were not included. Couldn't get a hardwired connection (don't have access to router) so it seemed I was SOL. Then I found out I could use my phones hotspot if I plugged it in to my desktop—lucky I had a USBC to USBA cable.
Finally got connected and ran the terminal commands to grab drivers and updates, only the adapter still wasn't working. Ran some more suggested fixed online that didn't work. Looked into it more and apparently my (again, very common) model doesn't have native Linux drivers for whatever reason. Then I hopped through a few links to some random person's GitHub where they had taken the windows drivers and repurposed them for Linux. Installed those and finally got it working, albeit my download speeds seem a lot slower than on my windows install.
I don't want to harp on it that much because I like the idea of Linux and am hoping it gains more market share and becomes more user friendly, but the circlejerk of "It's so easy! I got my mom a Linux laptop and she's got no issues! Never need a terminal!" is very misleading in my experience. The minute your needs as a user diverge from the most basic things (or apparently when you're trying to get the internet to work, in my case) you're going to need to open up the terminal and copy cryptic inputs off some stackexchange post from 2015.
model doesn’t have native Linux drivers for whatever reason
That's not any Linux developer's fault. I think Linux fans should probably stick to telling people to buy a computer that is known Linux-compatible instead. Like a ThinkPad
Yeah I don't harbor any ill will about it, just more baffled than anything. I guess suggesting specific PC models is better for preventing compatibility issues, but then you're putting yourself in the position of "Hey check out this cool new OS, you just need to buy a new computer for it!" which is also not very welcoming to new users.
Installed kubuntu on a secondary drive cause plasma looked really slick. Booted it up after install to find that I couldn't connect to the internet—turns out the drivers for my extremely common (30k Amazon reviews) wifi adapter were not included. Couldn't get a hardwired connection (don't have access to router) so it seemed I was SOL. Then I found out I could use my phones hotspot if I plugged it in to my desktop—lucky I had a USBC to USBA cable.
Finally got connected and ran the terminal commands to grab drivers and updates, only the adapter still wasn't working. Ran some more suggested fixed online that didn't work. Looked into it more and apparently my (again, very common) model doesn't have native Linux drivers for whatever reason. Then I hopped through a few links to some random person's GitHub where they had taken the windows drivers and repurposed them for Linux. Installed those and finally got it working, albeit my download speeds seem a lot slower than on my windows install.
I don't want to harp on it that much because I like the idea of Linux and am hoping it gains more market share and becomes more user friendly, but the circlejerk of "It's so easy! I got my mom a Linux laptop and she's got no issues! Never need a terminal!" is very misleading in my experience. The minute your needs as a user diverge from the most basic things (or apparently when you're trying to get the internet to work, in my case) you're going to need to open up the terminal and copy cryptic inputs off some stackexchange post from 2015.
That's not any Linux developer's fault. I think Linux fans should probably stick to telling people to buy a computer that is known Linux-compatible instead. Like a ThinkPad
Yeah I don't harbor any ill will about it, just more baffled than anything. I guess suggesting specific PC models is better for preventing compatibility issues, but then you're putting yourself in the position of "Hey check out this cool new OS, you just need to buy a new computer for it!" which is also not very welcoming to new users.