this post was submitted on 01 Jan 2024
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Linux
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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That's even more confusing.
I just don't get why on windows and mac I can download the app from their site, install it and it just works but on Linux I have to do everything thru terminal. It's not that I can't get it done but it just seems insane to me that it has to be this difficult.
You don't have to do everything through terminal. You can use synaptic for example. What you have to do is to learn new concepts. If you want to do everything like in windows, use windows.
I'm giving Linux a chance because people here recommended that I do and now you're telling me to use Windows.
You should try Linux because you want to and find it interesting to learn. If you are doing it because other people told you to, you are going to have a bad time.
Linux isn't Windows with different branding. Things work differently, and if you take the time to understand why you'll usually see the logic eventually, even if you may not to agree with it. I think folks are bristling a bit at your implication that things are hard on purpose somehow. Many experienced users find the terminal easier to use and more efficient; it shouldn't shock anyone (including you) that it's going to feel awkward when you don't understand it yet.
Howtos tend to use the terminal because it's likely to work the same for everyone regardless of what other choices they've made with desktop environment, etc.
You can do nearly everything with a GUI if you choose.
I don't recommend using anything new to you unless you are ready to learn it. If you are, welcome aboard!
IF you want it to work like windows. It's up to you, people here are giving you the options to choose whichever suits you.
Welcome to the community. As you can see, there are some that are quite helpful and others that are ... less so.
I agree with you that there should be a better way to do that. It's been a while, but I'm pretty sure the Chrome deb file handled all of that for you. I've always been confused why every company that sets up their own PPA didn't do that.
I don't know about Mac, but on Windows the Mullvad app doesn't auto update. If you want to do it Windows style you can look for deb files (which are like installers) or AppImages (which are like standalone executables).
Most pieces of software give terminal instructions for Linux because different people might use different package manager frontends, but literally every Linux user has a terminal. It might seem daunting at first, but giving users commands to run in their terminal is a lot more simple than trying to walk them through repo management through the GUI, or just telling them to figure it out themselves.
That's what the instructions are guiding you to do.
If you hate the terminal then maybe Linux simply isn't for you? That's completely okay you know. Use the tool that's right for you.
One reason is that different distributions of linux do things slightly different. Would it be better if there was only one linux os? For some devs of third party software, probably, but diversity and freedom to fork software has been good to linux, and no one could decide what everyone else should use anyway.
So, each distribution takes the available software and package it to fit their distro specifics, and those packages go into their repositories. The benefit of using official repositories is that someone has gone through the trouble of making sure it will work on your system safely. There's accountability and hopefully a bug tracker etc. When you download from a random website you have to trust them instead. Then... you have companies working outside of this model, usually they provide a flatpak or their own third-party repositories. Then you get all these extra steps, but it's not how most distros prefer to handle software.
On Windows and Mac, you are doing a number of things implicitly that you don't realize.
When you download from their site, you are expected to verify the integrity and validity of the install file yourself. You also have to take ownership of installing any dependencies yourself.
With the instructions mulvad is providing you, you are connecting to a repo and apt does all that for you.
Some installs don't require dependencies, but some do. Long term, this style of install tends to be a lot simpler, you just have to learn it.
But more importantly and as others have stated. Linux is different. If you aren't interested in learning a new workflow, you should stick with something familiar. That's a choice you should make not because others said it but because you want it.
You can, it's up to the software vendor to make it simple.
Most of the software are FOSS and can be installed directly from your package manager. That works like the iOS app store/Android Play Store except it existed 10 years before mobile stores.
Google Chrome is an example of proprietary software (so not in distributions repos) that is as easy to install on Linux than Windows. Because Google managed to get a deb that will also update your repos.
Bottom line, most of the time it's way easier to install software on Linux than Windows (as easy as on iOS) but occasionally it's slightly more complex.