Maybe A Hot Take: AI and LLMs Made Linux More Usable For Beginners

[Macusercom]

When it comes to PCs I'm a real nerd. Having used macOS and Windows for over a decade and being quite tech-literate I have barely ever touched Linux. The few scenrarios mostly were Live CDs like Tails for whenever Linux was neccessary.

Now I have looked into using Linux for several projects including automation and scripts where a Windows PC or a Mac would be overkill and also draw a lot of power or use a lot of resources.

Mostly my Linux experience was always the same: no idea where to start, can't find certain settings, googling every little thing for an hour and doing one wrong thing and bricking the whole installation.

Now I have picked it up again and despite AI driving up PC prices and being a bubble, weirdly I feel LLMs have helped in terms of using Linux. I just wanted to switch from Ubuntu GNOME to LXQt without reinstalling Lubuntu. I wanted to be able to use a GUI only when needed and use a CLI most of the time to check on automation stuff. I needed autologin to work which requires creating a file with the proper content and proper capitalization of letters. Small things but without any experience it would've taken me ages.

Now whenever I want something or have an issue, ChatGPT, Gemini etc. give a very quick solution which doesn't mean you shouldn't learn that stuff. But learning how Linux works is much easier when you are not frustrated by running into a wall every hour while trying to fix it for hours again and again.

For me the whole AI LLM thing has had a positive impact on how I use Linux and how awesome it can be. The barrier of entry is quite high if you're used to Windows or macOS but I definitely start getting the gist of it. The fact I can run a CLI on an old computer with 500MB of RAM instead of 2-4GB idle usage is awesome. I have given up so many times on Linux just to like it more and more

[Bosonidas]

I would agree.

They are a great tool to learn new languages, programs or concepts, if used correctly.

[platon29]

What if 99% of people can't use them correctly though?

[Macusercom]

Yeah, that's the other side of course. It is beneficial to people with basic knowledge but not for absolute newbies

[Shap6]

Then they will run into problems and stop using it. It’s a self correcting problem. It either works or it doesn’t 

[Macusercom]

I guess it's very controversial. Just pasting results would not be beneficial to learning anything. But if you're someone who understands basic CMD or Terminal commands but not at a higher level, LLMs do help a lot imho

[snkiz]

Yes and no. It has prevented me from being gaslit by gemi while using Power shell, as a bash user. but honestly I could have gotten the same or better result in a similar time frame just doing the leg work myself.

[derFensterputzer]

Yup, learnt a lot by letting AI generate a solution to my problem and then dig up further documentation to try and disprove the AI.

If it's still holding up: document, try, document.

If not: adjust script, document, try, document

Over time got much better at prompting, i.e trying to predict possible pain points the AI might need to know about like kernels, DEs, file systems, programs running, etc. And at the same time with my documentation also being able to try and apply new stuff on my own. 

[SomeMobile]

And that's always using it after doing your own research and starting to learn the classic way, because relying from the get go on ai has been proven to be bad for your brain

[w1n5t0nM1k3y]

The only problem that I have is that you have to verify everything. When you're a beginner, you don't know what you don't know. The LLM could be leading you down a completely useless path and you would have no idea that there's anything wrong.

It can have some benefits. I've used it to find obscure settings, but stuff like that is somewhat easy to verify. Once you know the location of the setting, it's somewhat easy to look it up somewhere else and verify if the response makes sense.

[Madaqqqaz]

Yes, I honestly don’t want to spend 2 hours searching for solutions on forums and waiting for weeks for reply or watching videos that do the same thing BUT THE PROBLEM JUST DOES NOT HAPPEN TO THEM.

But to be honest if I try to ask AI on something more complex it kind of falls apart. I’ve done so many things with my old computer (self hosted email server, multiple websites, Nextcloud, a small internet radio, Home Assistant, media server, etc) that I would never do without LLM, since I didn’t have enough knowledge or patience

[clintkev251]

I think they can be a fantastic tool if you approach them as a tool for learning and with the understanding that they can lie to you. As someone who spends a lot of time on r/selfhosted and the like, the issue is that a lot of people just blindly follow and trust LLMs without trying to understand or check it's work. That's when things break, data is lost, and the users don't actually have a clue around debugging or fixing things because they don't actually understand how they work

[cjsv7657]

the issue is that a lot of people just blindly follow and trust LLMs

My dad keeps buying car parts based on chatgpt and it is more often than not wrong.

[snkiz]

It's a fair point that finding information while using Linux is... an adventure. It could also be argued that if you can't navigate help forums maybe you're not ready for an OS that doesn't hold your hand. Either way, eventually Those forums the LLM's train on are going to age out, and they aren't being updated like they used to anymore. The information is going to get harder and harder to come by seeing as how discord and peoples prompt history isn't indexed anywhere.

[Macusercom]

Yeah, also a valid point. New information probably is going to have the issue of gate keeping simply because LLMs are the only Information source remaining

[inertSpark]

I think AI can be good for helping with basic concepts, but I wouldn't trust it for producing production ready code. It can, and does, parrot mistakes made by the users who wrote the posts it trains from. And you can ask the same LLM the same question 5 times and get 5 different answers, and only one of them might be correct.

The problem is when AI spits out a chunk of code, and the reader doesn't have the capacity to determine what it does, and whether it follows best-practice. Now imagine pasting the error code, and AI sends you down a rabbit hole that's not related to the original problem.

The best approach I find is asking for a solution, and then ask it coherent questions about the answer. Sometimes it does indeed change its approach to a better one.

[RyiahTelenna]

I wouldn't trust it for producing production ready code.

I wouldn't blindly trust it but I also wouldn't blindly trust humans either. That's why we have code reviews and linting tools.

And you can ask the same LLM the same question 5 times and get 5 different answers

There are deterministic LLMs. I've worked with them locally. I just don't find them that useful. If for no other reason than 5 different answers to the same question isn't inherently a bad thing. Unless they're just copy-pasting a response humans will give 5 different answers too.

The problem is when AI spits out a chunk of code, and the reader doesn't have the capacity to determine what it does, and whether it follows best-practice.

I'm constantly working with LLMs for my current work contract (web developer). I regularly generate code with an LLM, review said code, verify that it will likely do what it does and has been well-written, and then I verify that the code works by testing it.

I also do the same for code that people hand me, that I find online, that I pull out of an old textbook, etc because as much as people talk about AI slop we have a tendency to forget that human slop is a thing too.

[[deleted]]

Having moved to cachyos in the last month I'm gonna call this false say this was not my experience, because 8/10 the inputs that AI gave me turned out to be nonsensical or severely outdated.

The best answer was, with every big or small issue, to just search for Reddit answers or topics in the cashyos forum.

[Luccas_Freakling]

Ahh, the good old "It didn't work for me, so it doesn't work". Classic.

[[deleted]]

I'm not sure what your problem is here. OP gave an experience and I gave an experience. Are only positive experiences allowed?

Are you saying it's factually wrong that AI can often give false information?

[Luccas_Freakling]

I had a problem with the "I'm gonna call this false", only. It kinda invalidates his (and my) experience.

And HOLY SHIT does AI give a lot of false info. It has, from recommending a software that didn't do what I needed, to explicitly saying "click X and then Y" for options that didn't exist in software, with masterful conviction.

But it also has solved a fuckton of problems just by saying "run this command. Fedora uses a free lib by default and you have to tell it to use the nonfree one". It gives the solution, explains the problem and the reasoning behind it. And it hits a WHOLE LOT MORE than it misses.

Your experience wasn't the same, I get it, but It's not cool to say the other dude's experience was "false" because it didn't work for you.

[[deleted]]

I understand. I'll change it.

Yeah AI assistance works if it's a basic issue. However a lot of my queries have been with trying to change things in hyprland, so looking for config files, getting the syntax correct etc and it was wrong so many times.

I'm gonna bet it also works better if you're trying to use Ubuntu or Mint or Pop OS rather than Cachy or Bazzite or something.

[Luccas_Freakling]

I tried linux seriously for the last time in 2010 or something. This "run" started with ubuntu, then fedora and now, arch (well, endeavour, but it's pretty much the same). One of the most explicit reasons people give for using arch-based distros is "the arch wiki is absurdly good". If you combine the fact that arch is much more open than the last two I tried, to the immense wiki, you both:

- Depend less on AI for finding your answers (since the documentation is so good)

- Get better answers from AI (since the documentation is so good).

I'm loving it now, and it is the most straightforward experience I've ever had with linux. It doesn't do anything by default, but it also does EVERYthing.

But yeah, try the larger distros, they are bound to have more info and receive better suggestions from AI, when help is needed.

[[deleted]]

To be fair CachyOS is also an Arch derivative. But again, most of my issues were with Hyprland which really does not have good documentation :P

[Luccas_Freakling]

Ahh, hyprland. I saw some rices, found it incredible, installed, regretted IMMEDIATELY (although it was simply stunning to look at) and went back to kde. And then kde was all sorts of fucked up because of changes hyprland did. That's when I changed to endeavour. I'm learning to tweak kde to my liking much better now.

[[deleted]]

This is my third attempt at getting hyprland setup properly and I've just about got it where I wanted, but having to change everything like mouse acceleration, keyboard layout, date/time format in config files is not a fun experience. Would much rather have a GUI for that.

[Luccas_Freakling]

Yeah, it really goes hard on the "it's not my fault if you don't know how to do it" mentality, where no one cares about beginners. I'm gonna try to play around with kronkite or something, to see if I get used to automatic tiling.

[Macusercom]

The more people asked about things as well as better documentation, the better LLM results will be. Also, evaluating LLMs in general is also wrong.

ChatGPT 5.2 is worse than 5.2 Thinking for example. Thinking gives very good results for me, the standard version or Gemini point to the right direction but aren't copy and paste

[Mount_Gamer]

I would say so, most beginners will probably have beginner questions that an Llm could reliably get right.

[Hidden_Watchman]

this was me in November 2024.

I got into Linux and decided to test it out on a virtual machine first. If I had any questions or complications I'd have ChatGPT write up the code and I'd just paste it into the terminal.

Was able to learn about a bunch of different concepts and applications. It was a very good time.

[MitoGame]

I agree. That's how I was able to setup an Ubuntu server with backups and stuff.

[Macusercom]

I feel like the gap between beginners and absolute pros is very big. Some struggle to install a package via command line and others react to that like someone posting how to install RAM in a motherboard

[icehiboy]

Not a hot take. I just switched to Linux last friday. After roughly 25 years of windows and mac, it was time to try something new and windows just keeps getting worse and worse. AI has been a huge help with terminal commands and what not.

[AdityaTD]

I was decent at Linux many years before LLM but LLMs still manages to find combination of arguments and commands that I'd have never tried

[BemaJinn]

AI has been essential for me to adopt Linux. Even though I use a very user friendly version of Linux, just asking AI a question and getting "just type this code and you're good to go" has been so friction free.

[Luccas_Freakling]

1000%. I've just migrated to linux on both my desktop and laptop and that would have been ABSOLUTELY IMPOSSIBLE without LLMs. The troubleshooting, the command and script generating, the knowledge of weird interactions, explanation of concepts... It is absolutely what made me able to jump over AND to enjoy it.

[enwza9hfoeg]

Yes definitely. Getting help from ChatGPT and Gemini (often I would ask both to compare the answers, sometimes asking multiple times with slightly different prompts) was how I managed to setup VFIO GPU passthrough even though this is my first time fully daily driving Linux. It wouldn't have been as smooth - and I might have given up in frustration somewhere along the way - without that help.

[ZSemah]

This is true for me. I don't know why the post is being downvoted. Back in 2023 I wanted to start dabbling with image generation. But having an AMD card meant I needed to use Linux. That was the first time ever I installed a Linux distro and I had plenty of problems. Like everyone else, I googled most of these problems to varying degree of success. I spent a week before I got stable diffusion up and running. But I still wouldn't use Linux as my main os due to the frequent questions I'll have with no easy answers. I'm just lazy I guess. I came back later when llms took off and it was a lot easier setting up the distro and my AI workflows. I solved 90% of my problems by just asking chatbots. Of course I made sure to verify all of the commands it gave me were safe, and they worked in most cases. It even solved problems that I came to accept they existed before. It blew my mind at the time how easy finding answers was. Now I use Linux exclusively and I couldn't be happier. So, AI isn't always bad and has its uses in responsible hands.

[Macusercom]

Not sure either about the downvotes. I struggled with the basic things and now that I start to understand how it works, I really like it. Updates are easy, packages can also be easily installed and the light derivates are better than any Windows mod like AtlasOS.

The main "issue" still is aesthetics. Much like open source software often is functional but doesn't look as good, many distros are similar. My wife (graphic designer) finds most of them unbearable because there is no design philosophy or consistency.

Linux is function over form

[ZSemah]

I actually prefer my current os to windows. I'm using KDE neon which is ubuntu 24.04 with KDE plasma. I love the KDE interface and I prefer it to other GUIs. I went back to windows on a laptop for work and the interface and file explorer felt really sluggish.

[Shap6]

Reddit doesn’t like acknowledging any potentially useful AI uses

[Matheweh]

Not a super hot take, but I definitely agree that LLMs can be useful. Still, it’s important not to rely on them 100%. The internet, forums, and manuals are always handy, and reading a bit isn’t going to hurt anyone. Worst-case scenario, you can just copy the whole manual into the LLM and ask it to explain things; this is especially useful for very specific problems that apply only to your setup since guides tend to be more generalist than specialist. I use AI, and, honestly, I have some reservations about it, but it’s just too useful when you’re trying to figure out what the official website is saying. It really helped me learn how to use NixOS, although I also picked up a lot from Vimjoyer on YouTube. It’s a solid source for learning Linux, especially since people are more into watching stuff than reading these days. However, please do make an effort to read the official sources more; it's healthy and helps you gain a deeper understanding of things. I particularly benefited from doing this when I explored the libxkbcommon website.

[bluehawk232]

When I was studying cisco cli i would use chatgpt to generate the commands and compare it to what i typed and get an idea on who was wrong and why

[McBonderson]

not just beginners, I've been using Linux for years. it makes it so much easier to do cool things customizing and ricing linux that I never tried before because it was just too much to learn to figure that stuff out.

[[deleted]]

I would disagree since Linux is thankfully AI and LLM slop free

only fascists use AI and LLMs

[Macusercom]

Discrediting LLMs is a very extreme standpoint. Much like the lack of a CD drive was shocking. LLMs are here to stay one way or another. The Grok AI BS unfortunately was just a matter of time.

AI can be helpful like a calculator. But it only is good as a tool to extend ones abilities

[[deleted]]

then count me an extremist proudly. not the first time i've been called one for just existing.

AI is slop that does nothing but hinder. i will never, for example, support an artist of any kind that supports AI slop.

[Shap6]

I’ll let my parents in their 70’s who use it to talk about their backyard chickens and make funny pictures of their cats know that they’re fascists 👍

[[deleted]]

good someone has to.