I thought it was linux, but it was pebcak.
Posted by AliceCode@reddit | linux | View on Reddit | 33 comments
A while back I got into an argument on probably /r/LinuxSucks with someone that was complaining that Linux has a bunch of problems, so I said it was a skill issue because I don't have any problems, and if I do, they are easily fixed (but I can't even remember the last time I had an actual problem).
Anyway, not long after that argument, I noticed that my computer would freeze up every once in a while. I thought maybe it was electron apps eating my RAM, but I couldn't prove it. I also thought it might have been my mouse because I recently bought a new one.
But my mind kept echoing back to that conversation. Did I make a mistake by proclaiming a skill issue, and now I myself am having a seemingly unsolvable issue with Linux?
Well, last night I decided to boot up my Windows PC so I could get some files from it, and I noticed that I was getting the same exact freezing on my Windows machine. Weird.. Maybe it's the mouse? It is a new mouse, after all. So I looked at the support website for my mouse brand (no free advertising from me), and I was looking into getting my mouse replaced, when I had a bright idea. Why don't I just troubleshoot my problem a little bit and see if I can solve it one last time? So that's what I did. I tried switching to my old mouse, same problem, but they are the same mouse model, so maybe it was a problem with the model that I didn't know about. But I also had recently bought a USB dock, so maybe that's what it was. I plugged the mouse directly into my laptop. The problem persisted.
But then, something happened. I noticed something that eluded me before. I noticed that the stuttering only happened when the mouse was in specific places. No, not on the screen, but on my mouse pad.
To make a short story that I made long short, my mouse pad was sitting on top of a dividing line in my desk where two pieces joined together and were uneven. The uneven surface was creating a bump, and when the sensor was over the bump, it would get bad reads. The problem was my unwillingness to sit in a reasonable position where the mouse pad wouldn't be on top of the divider.
Anyway, sorry for boring you guys. I thought I would share. I love Linux!
SpeedDaemon1969@reddit
I have had constant issues like that with mice, which is why I've been using trackpads for many years. I do agree that skill is needed for most things in life. With so many people using Linux only because it's trendy and influencer-driven, we now have an influx of Karens who think they can play the same games with the Linux community that they got away with when they were customers of commercial products. My sympathy for that kind of self-entitlement is shrinking rapidly.
AliceCode@reddit (OP)
There's also just so many people that come to linux with a misunderstanding of its Philosophy. It's not meant to be a drop-in replacement for Windows, it's primarily for power-users. People that have outgrown the limitations of the Windows ecosystem. Or otherwise want more privacy, but I would argue that those people still fall under the power user category.
scandii@reddit
...like you, apparently? Linux is not a privacy-first power user-centric system, it is software to enable OS:es.
whatever that OS does dictates who it is for or how much it respects your privacy and in that sphere we find things for power users and things for point and click enthusiasts and anything in-between and even "Windows drop in replacements" like Linux Mint.
AliceCode@reddit (OP)
I'm not going to argue with someone the likes of yourself. I saw your comment before you edited it. If you came here to be rude, you can go elsewhere.
SpeedDaemon1969@reddit
I second that. It's a real shame that there are people in this world who try to argue against reality, and can't even be civil about it.
PcChip@reddit
I still don't understand how having an uneven desk surface was causing your computer to freeze
AliceCode@reddit (OP)
It's not. It was my mouse not moving because it was getting bad reads from the sensor.
jippiedoe@reddit
Why does the computer freeze up when the mouse sensor gets bad reads?
AliceCode@reddit (OP)
It doesn't, the mouse simply wasn't moving because it was getting bad reads.
lateralspin@reddit
Upvoted for the awareness of the level required to troubleshoot this problem.
Fragrant-Mixture-662@reddit
And the post has been removed for not belonging in this sub.
AliceCode@reddit (OP)
I've been a programmer for almost 2 decades, so troubleshooting is second nature to me. Just sometimes I can't be fucked to do it.
lateralspin@reddit
Troubleshooting sometimes requires not only thinking inside the box, but also thinking outside the box, and thatʼs what my username actually refers to.
AnnieBruce@reddit
And not getting sucked into interesting and dramatic theories that lead one to troubleshoot a display problem for thirty minutes when the fix is pushing the DP cable all the way in.
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edparadox@reddit
It most often is, and yet people try to say otherwise.
AnnieBruce@reddit
Even when the OS is actually broken, it's usually just the user made a mistake and it just took a little while to hit that part of the system again to trigger the problem(if they notice right away it should be an obvious PEBCAK).
WhoLovesDonuts@reddit
Telling people who are having issues with linux, it's a skill issue is pretty unhelpful. Ignoring trolls, many people vent because they want to like something and were frustrated by it. To somehow claim that linux has no issues is to ignore the large amount of bugs that exist in software in general. I myself have just been having hard freezes with resuming on NVidia https://github.com/NVIDIA/open-gpu-kernel-modules/issues/1117#issuecomment-4322425251
Others appear to have the same issue. Are we all unskilled on pressing a button to resume it while it sleeps? Windows wakes up just fine. Is windows better though? One could argue with NVidia issues over the years the answer is yes. Sure we made the choice to buy nvidia and later tried to get linux working with it.
KDE is constantly fixing issues. Every release you can read through a number of bug fixes. New features introduce new bugs. If someone is affected by one that breaks their workflow, they're going to be upset. I also got frustrated with a few KDE issues and ended up switching to gnome which has been a less glitchy experience. I accept that there are people who have no issues with KDE, doesn't mean though that there aren't people out there who run into irritating bugs. Just because you don't have problems doesn't mean others don't. Some can be their fault, some can be their distro's fault, some can be the DE's fault etc. "Works for me, dude" is a pretty unhelpful comment in general.
GladCheetah6048@reddit
Yeah I mean it's a common experience for people to install Linux and some piece of their hardware to just not work. When I installed mint my audio didn't work properly and I had to remove pipewire and install pulse. Noobs wouldn't know about that, they'd just think "this sucks".
It's because hardware manufacturers don't usually test their hardware on Linux, and if they do they'll probably only test one distribution. Loads of drivers are reverse engineered by the community.
KnowZeroX@reddit
I am guessing you didn't actually read their entire post carefully, the sub they were on was "linuxsucks", that isn't a place to have a productive conversation to begin with. Nobody is there is trying to get help, it's a troll zone. A better advice is just to stay away from there to begin with.
WhoLovesDonuts@reddit
I'm aware. But he's posting this here in r/linux proud of his accomplishment of telling someone that their frustration with linux was a skill issue since he had no problems so therefore there are no problems. The moral of his story? When he did have a problem, it was his fault, not linux'. I promise I'm not taking this that seriously. I do think it's helpful to acknowledge that there are genuine problems with linux that people encounter, bugs (at times serious bugs), and it ain't smooth sailing for everyone.
AliceCode@reddit (OP)
I was really just busting their balls, lmao.
pfp-disciple@reddit
PEBMAD
Problem Exists Between Mouse And Desk
RealUlli@reddit
.. Bad mousepad?
PJBonoVox@reddit
PICNIC is better.
EarlMarshal@reddit
Bro is debugging his wooden desk top.
psyblade42@reddit
A hard mouse pad might help. I use a QcK Hard and it's decent.
theclawisback@reddit
Quirks is said lightly in the conversation, but an update once removed the swap from my fstab file and so the machine would seem ok but then memory would fill up and freeze. Those are not quirks, those are bugs and really bad ones. To be honest, I've used Linux for 20 years so I'm biased in terms of liking and knowing the OS; if I were to be taken to Windows, I probably would have a hard time getting around. Now, I put myself in the shoes of a lawyer trying to do a write up quickly in an unfamiliar desktop that doesn't have Office, yikes. I mean, to me lawyers aren't the sharpest tools in the shed, but I do have to agree with them that they don't have the skills nor patience to troubleshoot to fix a problem not in their field, that's an example wherein comes the biggest problem for Linux: regular people don't want to learn a new way of doing things, atop this new tool being not in their field or profession.
aloobhujiyaay@reddit
This is painfully relatable lol I’ve had moments where I was convinced something deep in the system was broken, everything felt perfectly runable one minute and completely unusable the next, and it turned out to be something stupidly physical
SystemAxis@reddit
Classic PEBCAK moment 😄 happens to everyone at some point. Funny part is it reproduced on both OS, so it actually ruled out Linux right away
PJBonoVox@reddit
PICNIC is a much better version.
TarqSuperbus@reddit
Cat hair is what got mine
siodhe@reddit
LoL. That's great, and I applaud you improving our days by posting. I loved that PEBMAD someone posted, too :-)
The bigger picture is that users of any system tend to work around the quirks until they forget about them, and then when introduced to a new system are totally distracted by an entirely new set of quirks they aren't adapted to yet. Your quirk, at least, is multiplatform… err… multidesk :-)