My partner doesn’t do much on the computer except web browsing and writing. The Scrivener writing program had a Linux version at some point that was abandoned.
I wanted to see if anyone personally has used Scrivener with Wine and if it is fussy or not. How has your experience been?
I could set it up for them, but they’re not a tech person and will probably reject Linux if it breaks all the time and they have to get me to come fix it.
Extra irrelevant info: trying to decide on having them try Mint or Ubuntu. Fedora is my daily driver and I typically use a headless Debian install for servers, but I heard Mint and Ubuntu are pretty perfect and low fuss for Windows users.
I haven’t tried Scrinever. What follows is about trying to convert people to Linux, you can safely ignore the comment if you’re not interested.
If the will doesn’t come from him, he will certainly look for things he doesn’t like and that will confort him in staying on Windows.
I’d say keep him informed and let him make his decisions with the information he has.
That’s a good and sadly realistic point.
I read a forum post back in the day about a guy that forced his wife and kids to use FreeBSD and they hated it. It was pretty funny but I also don’t want to be that guy
Exactly. No one wants their autonomy removed regardless of whether it’s arguably in their interest or not. It sucks the joy out of it.
I mean, it’s just consent
If someone has the knowledge and examples that OP does, I’m sure they may come to the same conclusion
But jumping to the end without taking the other party on the journey results in forcing someone to do something that they might not want, or be ready for
My wife is basically tech illiterate and has 0 desire to ever use something that doesn’t just work out of the box. We’ve moved some of her software to foss (darktable over Lightroom due to their stupid subscription only model) but she’s really only comfortable on a MacBook and even then only after I’ve set the whole thing up and maintain software/os updates.
macOS also sucks for smb file shares so I have a FreeBSD jail that just does xrdp and ssh X-11 forwarding (better color matching for photos this way) and she runs a script disguised as a desktop shortcut to run her apps. The script launches an ssh session and pops up a simple program I wrote that just lists available apps like darkroom. Gives her native file speeds and 0 need to understand anything related to the OS. My rambling point here is unless you set it up so the SO doesn’t need to learn it’s likely to fail and in return you’ll be responsible for all of the maintenance. Unless you’re ok with that it’s probably not a good idea
In my experience, not pushing it makes them want to try it themselves at some point. I guess you need to take care of their computer frequently enough, and are probably annoyed by Windows shitting its pants every time again. Don’t make any drama out of it, just point out how ridiculous it is that Microsoft cannot manage to build something that allows running two simple programs without breaking or nagging the user so often. They know that you use something else with which you’re happy with, and at some point they will become curious and ask wheter they can have it too. At that point do not promise much, say that it works a lot better but is also a lot different and sometimes a bit quirky. Do not rush it now, let them simmer in their curiousity. At a fitting occasion tell them very briefly about foss and how it is not a closed thing pushed by a corporation onto individuals to funnel data. When they ask if they can try it, tell them they can but it takes a bit of getting used to. Buy a new SSD, and safely store the previous storage in a anti static bag, exclaiming that everything is on there and cannot get lost due to linux. Set everything up with a dead easy DE, give clear tour of how stuff works. With this tactic, they want to get it to work by themselves, and are prepared to learn that some things work differently. It becomes an adventure that is totally revertable if it doesn’t work out. In contrast to when you want to force the change and they use everything as a reason to be unhappy about it.
I’ll likely get downvoted for this.
It doesn’t seem like there’s any advantage for them in switching to Linux.
It’ll just make their experience harder for no real gains for them.
I wonder how much functionality of Scrivener you could get in Obsidian. I found an article about someone setting their Obsidian vault up to run a workflow similar to Scrivener.
Not sure there’s really much point in trying to push people to use Linux if they aren’t interested in computers.
Imagine if someone came up to you raving about switching to a new car brand that has a 5% higher top speed and 10% more fuel efficiency for your money but the handbrake is in on the roof, you change gears with buttons instead of a gear stick and you fill the tires with water instead of air
Most people don’t care about what software runs on their computer and just want the default because it works the same way everyone else’s does
Only way Linux gets into the mainstream is if consumer hardware with it preinstalled gets popular, the steam deck is a good start
Thats not really true though… I installed linux on computer-illeterate people so that they would avoid viruses and they were happy with it…
I always worry with those kinds of installations that I’m going to become permanent tech support because Linux problems are far less universal
Also if they need to run Photoshop or full fat Office they’re kinda screwed
Libreoffice is essentially full fat Office at this point. If you need any , more than what it offers, you’re more likely than not a computer savvy person already. Photoshop is hard to fully replace though. I ran it in wine for a long time, still haven’t found a good alternative.
It’s their partner. Maybe OP just wants to get rid of microsoft in their home network and the household, which is not an absurd thing I think.
I’m probably going to be unpopular for saying this but I think at some point you just have to settle. What practical difference does it actually make to your life if someone else has windows on your network
It has, I think.
A little different, but I hope you’ll see my point.
My family members use netflix on our smart TV. The netflix that says in it’s privacy policy that they’ll scan your network to know what devices you have.
I have never agreed to that outrageously unacceptable privacy policy, still, my devices are scanned by that garbage service, and by that they have insight on what devices I have, when am I around (at home), the network services that those devices run (any android app can run a network service in the background), and probably the OS along with it’s version that your device runs. These information can be quite telling about your personality, your life situation and other private matters.
It looks like it runs in wine. https://www.reddit.com/r/scrivener/comments/102pvtk/scrivener_on_linux_abandoned/
Mint is easiest for old windows users.
i think the most important part is that if they switch to linux, you are now their IT support, and they will rely on you. be patient and understanding with them, even if stuff is not necessarily broken.
