The guy who can't read when his computer tells him he's doing something stupid is gonna interview the guy who's infamous for yelling at people for being stupid? Awesome, I can't wait.
this post was submitted on 07 Sep 2025
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Linux
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Good opportunity for learning. I'm sure Linus will not sugarcoat anything and give it straight to the other Linus.
I'm looking forward to watching it.
As much as LTT deserves shit, and he really does, choosing to ignore a warning because its what the average user does, really shouldn't be one of them. Users absolutely pull stupids like that, and his job was to see what a regular user would experience.
These days there are enough "If we brick your computer, it's not our fault" caveats that are just basically EULA level nonsense...
He ran: sudo apt-get install steam (after having issues with the GUI)
He got a prompt that said You about to do something potentially harmful. To continue type in the phrase 'Yes, do as I say!'
Steam is a 3rd party app store (🙄)... I get the same kind of fearmongering messaging on my phone when I try to install apps. The warnings say "This could break your computer!"
So he didn't read the whole message. but asking a computer to install steam and then saying "yes really" when it double checks feels like a reasonable flow.
Should this has prompted him to go "Wait, this still says its removing pop-desktop, that can't be right?" Probably. But honestly he was doing everything by the book on how to install steam. If he didnt say yes, he was going to be blocked on not being able to install steam, and the video would have highlighted the bug in a different way.
He was using a distro with a MASSIVE bug in it and that was really the problem, not his lack of double checking things.
The part of that video that makes me empathize with his experience is the fact that Luke took on the same challenge, happened to choose Mint, and had no problem installing Steam. So you run into this catastrophic failure, and even your friend can only tell you "worked on my machine, I don't know what to tell ya." Then you search the internet and just keep finding the same instructions you just followed, to the letter. So you share your experience, and then half the Linux community blames you for "not heeding the warnings."
The bug was that he didn't update the OS first. I don't understand why OSs don't force this on installation. Some of the better ones do. It causes all kinds of problems.
I had issues with his trying out Linux series, but that is not one of them, and I'm tired of seeing him be shat on because of it.
Firstly, he was trying to install Steam via instructions he found on PopOS's website. Even if he did do something stupid (and I would argue he didn't really), it is not the fault of the end user that doing that can completely fuck your install. It should not be possible to do that, yet it was due to a PopOS packaging error.
Yes, he did receive a generic warning about how by proceeding to attempt this installation, he could cause damage. Hidden in a wall of text of hundreds of package names.
But do you know what else has scary messages like that? Android. Windows. MacOS. A whole host of smart devices. Any new user could easily think that message was normal and would appear any time you try to install something via the terminal.
End users are used to seeing scary messages like that, and they've become numb to them. Deflecting criticism of that PopOS bug by saying "well there was a warning, so actually it's the end users that are idiots and PopOS/Linux is actually perfect" doesn't help anybody.
Gosh I cannot stand LinusTechTips, but this very superficial idea makes sense for his channel.
Agreed at least Linus T gets a free computer out of it.
And more exposure for the Linux OS.
Can the universe handle two tech celebrity Linuses in the same room?
I live literally 5 minutes away from Linus Media. I'll let you know when it starts imploding and I have to start running away real quick
Why would Linus Torvalds want to be part of that shit show?
"That sounds fun" was his quote (approximately).
You could argue kernel mailing lists are more of a shit show.
Hehe, yeah, I give you that.
They could teach Torvalds how to install Debian.
It would be a fucking shame if they don't bring Emily. She would be over the moon, and I really miss her content.
~~They split badly, iirc. You should get over it and not post that comment. Sometimes friction drives people apart and some stranger telling you to mend the broken glass is not helpful. We should look forward,not backward.~~
Confused names. Thought you meant the rape accusation ex -ltt person. Emily is the Linux /Retro content person that left ltt after coming out as trans. The reason is not well publicized.
Yes indeed ! Would love to see her again!
Maybe Torvalds will make Sebastian understand that Linux is not a product, it's an ecosystem, and maybe finally make him review Linux properly without the "as an average tech consumer" approach he's been doing. It'll never be "ready" through that lens if always approached with a FOMO attitude.
One can't be free when sucking it up to big tech all the time because "you need the latest fancy half baked proprietary features".
I almost wish they went with the April Fools idea of having Torvalds replace Linus in a video lmao
I think he is to awkward for that to work
Do you mean Linus or Linus?
i really want them to do more linux-specific content (almost 100% of their platform content is windows). i hope this leads at least one person with some script-writing chops to write more linix content : D
The only reason they even tangentially touched Linux content was because of Emily. She left, so now they lack their most knowledgeable person on Linux. This interview might be a disaster, or completely inconsequential. Having seen a few podcast episodes, Sebastian is not very good at interviews. Maybe another host or Torvalds himself would be able to carry the interview, we'll see.
I'd like any source saying they only did Linux content because of Emily. They continue to talk about doing the next Linux challenge on the WAN show, they are working on a grapheneOS vod if I'm not mistaken, etc.
I agree most of their OS specific content is specific to Windows and I can entirely understand why but to suggest they're incapable or unwilling to do Linux content feels ungrounded.
I really like that because I watch Linus Tech Tips for entertainment purposes and that's what he really does. It's entertainment and it's low-level tech tips for avaerage user. I understand the critic about his use and choice for his Linux distro, but I don't really think it's valid. Because it's a vlog about his journey and his problems and he tries to underline what an average and low level tec person would find a problem.
This is exciting. The more Linux gets the spotlight the better and I generally love all open source, self hosting, of degoogling vids they do.
See, see, they like Linux now.