So I was asked to make a distro review of Fedora 37, by some brave soul in the YouTube comments, and I’m like, “Oh, there’s probably not enough different about this release.” And this isn’t because the guy said something on YouTube and isn’t because it’s being exploited by content creators because that’s what’s hip and popular of the algorithm and I’m a week late.
Many people have come to the association that I am a Linux channel just because I made a video where I said a lot of things about Linux. After all, I use Linux. That makes me a Linux channel, right?
I’m going to give my three paragraph piece as to why I don’t talk about just Linux or whatever that means, because there’s much more to it than that. If you stick with me and let my engagement numbers go up, please hear me out. Okay? and I’m just going to try to lay out three reasons as to why I came to the things that I have. Okay, all right. So,—
Why no distro review?
Reason number one, people say distro reviews are not exciting and personally, I am the one who falls into this camp. Now, I don’t hold anything against you if you make any of these reviews. Look, I get it. The Algorithm is The Algorithm. We need to get the monies. I understand.
But just for me, it’s just not exciting. I mean, like, you know, back to the comment, you know, the comment about Fedora 37. I mean, look, I’m using it right now. I’m in Dr. Seuss land! I mean, like, GNOME got better and NVIDIA and NVIDIA and broke when I installed Fedora 37. But, you know, when I re-installed it, it’ll work just fine. And, oh, and Eye of GNOME opens WebP images now. A welcome change. But when you actually use it, I first started using Linux almost, like, nine years ago now.
And that’s really, that’s such a weird thing to think about. And if you were, like, and I started, probably this is the wrong way to go, but this is just what I did. I started using Debian
But what if I told you that since Debian and Ubuntu and any distro based off of them move like molasses, not much has changed. What about Fedora? I mean, Fedora is all, you know, quasi-rolling release distribution. How are they doing? I’ve used Fedora since Fedora 27—which was back in, like, 2017. And honestly, like, not much has changed either.
And it’s, it’s like war, because war never changes. And when I mean war, I’m talking about the constant war of people clamoring over these Linux distros every time they get a new release! And look, I don’t want to, like, bash content creators that are doing it. Look, I get it. They see a clear, there’s like a clear need there or want to look at these things. And that’s why these distro reviews keep rolling in. Everyone starts making videos about these newly released Linux distros, and they all cover these things. And in reality, it’s created this almost cult-like mentality of people saying,
Well, this is why I use X Linux distro. It’s so great! And it’s the BEST distro ever created! And you should use it!!
And my favorite line every time I see this in like, you know, like those, like, hipster or like Linux coffee shop websites is,
New and experienced users will love it alike.
All right, it’s bad enough that people who don’t know any better already perceive Linux users as a cult. You know, meeting in the basement of the local Masonic Lodge, not in a coffee shop with all them hipster Apple users, and not in the office place dying of depression like everyone using Windows.
And people try it, and then everybody hates it, and just because they can’t do this one-thing, you know, whatever that one-thing might be. Just pick the thing that works for you. It can be Windows, Mac, Linux. Heck, if you’re an insane person who likes your freedom taken away, Android or iPhone.
Desktop Linux is VERY Strict
And I’m going to try to focus on Linux for this one, okay? Desktop Linux, okay? Desktop Linux, I’ve said this before, is set-in-stone for a long time. Server, totally different story. But the reality is desktop Linux is just much stricter for criteria than a server. And I’m just going to run through this like super duper rapid fire, okay?
1. Rolling Release
Number One: You need a rolling release, okay? Rolling release! I cannot tell you how many people are suffering and they don’t know it.
Stable Doesn’t Actually Work
Stable distributions work on servers, but it doesn’t work on desktop. Stable works on servers because people need something with lots of uptime and runtime for years and years and years. And they don’t want things changing because changing is more probability of something breaking, which leads to downtime and less reliability. When you use like these “stable” distributions on desktops, it’s just inherently flawed because you’re losing like bug fixes, security updates, years and years and years of progress done to improve how programs work.
Like, and I see this on like Linux YouTube all the time, I’m not going to name names of people saying, “I don’t want to install the new version. It’s going to break my stuff! I installed everything and I’m just not going to update it because I’m afraid, I don’t know, like OBS is going to break.” Like, guess what? And I want to, this is a hard truth that just happens for Windows, Mac and Linux users. Happens to everyone, okay? Breakage happens.
It’s Not Just Linux
And it doesn’t matter what you’re using. It’s going to happen. It happens on Windows when Microsoft automates Windows Update and tries to do things like preventing people from setting certain default settings. It happens when, you know, like Apple crippling all of their users by deprecating OpenGL and all 32-bit libraries, essentially rendering all gaming worthless!
And it happens on Linux when, and I remember this one because it’s fresh in my mind, even though it’s like seven years ago now, Arch Linux deprecating Python 2 and moving everything to Python 3. And I vividly remember every application that I had that was using Python 2 break at the time, because I tried opening [Calibre] and it wouldn’t open. And it’s another thing that [Calibri is a Microsoft font, Calibre is a ebook reader.] happens on these stable distributions too! Breakage happens.
Like newer versions of LibreOffice that have, you know, objectively better Microsoft Office document support. And now you’d think, “Well, wouldn’t it be great for all of the LibreOffice users on Debian-based distros to have these things? I mean, it’s objectively better, right??” No, not allowed. Nope, can’t have it. And that’s the biggest difference between like the Windows, you know, the Mac and Arch and rolling release Linux user and the Debian user. The Debian user doesn’t know something’s wrong.
Cause imagine if Windows, okay, imagine Windows. Okay. Now imagine if Windows shipped like the same version of like Chrome or Microsoft Edge, like it’s the same version for like months and months and it doesn’t get any updates. And we know that like Google and Microsoft provide updates to their stuff every. Single. Month. That would be crazy, right? It leads to security vulnerabilities and bugs because who would do somethin–? Oh, oh.
2. Communities and Corporations
And this leads me into another thing. Okay. In reviewing programs for, you know, the channel, I’m asked, why do I review the programs that I do? And it’s, so some people might seem random and sometimes, sometimes it is random, but the reality is it’s because it’s random because they’re all practical things I can envision someone using. And not only are they practical, they have lots of eyes on them in open source projects.
There are so many programs that I’m seeing people recommend or like web browsers or I don’t know, like image viewers or terminal file things or whatever that are completely random programs that—let’s be honest of ourselves—that no one uses or no one is reviewing. Because if I’m going to use your Linux distro, I’m going to use your program. It needs to,
have at least corporate backing or a paid security team with people looking at it and making sure everything works and making sure there isn’t some sort of nasty backdoor supply chain thing that I don’t know about.
Needs to have substantial community support. And in these things it’s kind of an either/or, substantial community support with at least a couple thousand people minimum, who maintain it and would scream at the top of their lungs if something were to go wrong. And I’m sure you probably have a couple projects, community programs in-mind that this happens to.
But this, I don’t ask for much, okay. But when you go by these two criteria, it’s like, you know, we need to have eyes on a project. We need to have a rolling release and it needs to have corporate or community support. It’s like you understand that eliminates so many like things. Like it’s just, that’s why I do what I do.
The Top Dogs
But you’re probably like, why haven’t you talked about distro reviews yet? You’re like 10 minutes in, why haven’t you mentioned anything about distro reviews? Because the reality is, since Linux distributions are set-in-stone, I will give this again, okay?
These are the only Linux distros you should use if you’re on desktop, okay?
Fedora
Fedora, you’re a noob. Maybe you tried Ubuntu. Maybe you were tricked into using Ubuntu. Use Fedora. Fedora is everything Ubuntu wished it was, okay?
OpenSUSE Tumbleweed
You don’t like Fedora? You don’t like the fact that Fedora has to make you do an update pretty much every other year on a schedule? Use SUSE. I mean, there’s a package limitation with SUSE, but if you’re a more simple-minded user or you don’t ask for a lot, or you just want to like, you know, have a gaming machine or just your Reddit browsing machine, great! SUSE Tumbleweed is a fantastic choice. You even have a great software customization!
Arch Linux
Finally, and I’ve said this before, okay, I don’t endorse knowing people do this, because even though a lot of YouTubers like to endorse it. I really hate mentioning it, and I will say, Arch Linux, and I’m not one of the, yes, while I have used Arch Linux, [I-use-Arch-btw™] I need to clarify, only use Arch Linux if you know [what] you are doing.
If you aren’t, you need to know
- how to use full disk encryption AND install full disk encryption, whether it be through archinstall or something else.
- You need to install AppArmor because you need to have permissions management because it is not installed for you. You have to install it yourself.
- You need to install Audit daemon. You can track all sorts of permission violations in your machine.
- You need to install the Linux-hardened kernel, because the Linux-hardened kernel is needed to block like certain parameters that legitimately most desktop users will never ever touch in their lives
- and then the worst one of all, you need to be prepared to read patch notes, follow the RSS feed and security advisories when Arch Linux says, “Hey, we are doing a thing like repackaging QEMU or Grub! Here it is. We’re not going to help you with it. Good luck. lol”
But if you can get through like, you know, doing like SUSE or Fedora, which literally require like no interaction whatsoever, at least to keep themselves going, that’s it. You’re a desktop Linux user, no matter what you do, whether it be like writing, programming, art, gaming, whatever, it’ll work on one of them. And like, you know, that’s my point. You know, like one Star Wars complete saga and 12 movies later, that’s it.
FOSS Content Creation
But enough saucy Linux though, okay? There’s actually a third reason, and I, this is probably going to be more clinical. Anyone who has seen videos on the channel, go ahead and give me some engagement. You’ll see that I tried the whole distro review thing like a year ago, probably like at least a year ago now, when I swore off making good videos.
PAST MATT: If you enjoyed my tutorial, I am going to do some more low effort content because no one watches good content. I’m done making good videos!
CURRENT MATT: And while many people say, “YouTube values, quantity over quality,” or “just vomit your thoughts out,”
I’ve heard that one before. Heck, even the other voice in my videos, Winward, told me to stop making good videos. I mean, I’ll be honest, okay? Like the first year of my channel was about like finding my direction and like, man, I tried everything! like Twitch streams, YouTube live streams, highlights of said live streams, bad videos. I even got a strike and warning.
Video Editing
But the videos that always resonated with me are the ones that I actually concentrated a decent amount of editing effort into. And clearly like just going by my view count, like those are the videos that resonated with people the most. I noticed in the bandwidth of consciousness that is free software YouTube. No one edits their videos. I mean, I don’t want to like diminish people because, okay, people edit their videos, but it’s often very clinical. You know, they just go through and click through like installation buttons or in buttons on programs. Yes, I’m guilty of this too. Or, you know, my favorite, people just sitting in front of Firefox or Chrome or something and just like talking over like a web browser window.
Everything I do is about the same effort everyone else is realistically putting in it’s just in for one video, not like two or three videos a week, because I have a life. I have limited time and I can’t compete with the rest of the FOSS YouTube, because I can’t upload every single day and I can’t upload three videos a week.
Doing a distro review is something difficult for me to find like something funny, if I don’t say something funny, because there’s not a good way for me to be inspired. There’s clearly a need for people to have good video editing.
It’s not the distro reviews because clearly there’s a number of people who want distro reviews and I’m sure and there’s a lot of people who are like, “Well, I don’t want to see you just open programs and just review stuff!”, because clearly that’s not enough.
But what I think is really missing is people just want good video editing. And even if it’s something they don’t immediately recognize; like video editing is equal much a part of content as it is to what you say and how you say it.
Video Editing on Linux Is Pain…
Because good video editing is a gateway drug… and it’s time to get the kids hooked on the new gateway drug that is good video editing, especially when I feel like there’s an audience, especially on FOSS YouTube, who, let’s remind everyone, doesn’t readily have access to good video editing software, because you can say Windows and Mac users have access to some great programs like, you know, DaVinci Resolve and Premiere. And yes, I use DaVinci Resolve on Linux. Linux users are in general just deprived of good video editing software because even using DaVinci Resolve on Linux requires certain, like, compromises you need to take.
And also Kdenlive has like the worst playback known to man, but somehow is better than like, you know, things like Shotcut and like, I don’t know, like Olive and like all those other like video editors. Look, I understand, I get the pain. Okay, I tried using Kdenlive for a year. Really, I did. Okay, but the reality is during the week when I’m like in my life, I actually use Premiere, like Adobe Premiere.
Vtubing
And also there’s like the subset of people who like follow my videos because they’re like, “Wow, you have you’re an anime!”
FILTHY FRANK: “Weeaboos!”
MATT: Every other Linux Vtuber is like a cat, a bird, or a furry. And yes, I know there’s like at least a few people out there who are not cats, furries, or birds.
Outro
Like this video if you like this scene editing contest between all of FOSS YouTube and subscribe for, uh, no distro reviews?? Nah, you should just subscribe anyway, make the number get bigger. Alright, see you all later.