• starman2112@sh.itjust.works
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    3 days ago

    Mint, judge me

    PS anyone have any favorite resources for absolute tech illiterate noobs? I’m trying, but without a baseline understanding of the subject, it’s hard to find the right guides

    • HStone32@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      you’re not using debian? that must mean you hate freedom.

      My advice is to get a hobby. Self-hosting, or home automation to name a few examples. When you have a specific goal for something you want to do, it’s a lot easier to learn.

    • LordPassionFruit@lemm.ee
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      2 days ago

      This may be shit advice, but it may help.

      I have a mint laptop and was also linux illiterate when I started. The way I did most of my learning was by googling (or duckduckgo-ing) “How do I [x] linux mint” and reading through stack overflow threads. If this doesn’t return results, (almost) any solution for Debian or Ubuntu will work on Mint.

      In general, I just assumed that if I thought the computer could do it, there would be a way to do it.

    • Dharma Curious (he/him)@slrpnk.net
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      3 days ago

      Depends on what you’re wanting to learn. I’m a fellow tech illiterate noob, but I’ve been off and on with Linux since like 2006. Finally switched full time a few years ago. Honestly, with Mint, Ubuntu, Fedora I’ve found you basically can just set it and forget it, depending on your use case. YouTube has been my best friend whenever I have a problem, normally I type my issue into that before even google. How long have you been using Linux? If you’re still in the distro hopping phase,I suggest trying to swap Desktop environments instead of distros, as it gives you a little experience with the terminal, is well documented on how to do it, and gives you a good idea of what kind of UI you want

      That’s all I got, though. I really am pretty illiterate at tech stuff haha

      • starman2112@sh.itjust.works
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        3 days ago

        That’s the thing, I don’t know enough to know what to even ask. So far I’ve been able to follow step-by-step instructions for installing Mint and downloading software, but I don’t know what I’m doing at all.

        One example of something I spent hours on is adding Cura to the panel. I finally got that done while I was writing this comment by following AndyMH’s answer here.

        Now, I can read

        I would move the appimage into a folder in PATH. If you create a folder /home/you/bin it is automatically added to PATH next time you boot.

        And I can do that. I have no idea what PATH is or why I want to do that, but I can do it. And I can look it up, and I’m sure I’ll eventually get to a point where all of this makes sense to me, but I feel kind of helpless when I have to look up multiple terms every time I want to do something as simple as adding an application to the panel

        • InternetCitizen2@lemmy.world
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          2 days ago

          That’s the thing, I don’t know enough to know what to even ask.

          Fair enough.

          I have no idea what PATH is or why I want to do that, but I can do it

          Its really only for non standard installs. That is outside of the package manager or flatpak. PATH is just where the computer will look for executables. Since you installed from source or some other side then it won’t be in the normal /bin. You’re just updating your PATH to include other places.

      • Strykker@programming.dev
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        3 days ago

        The only people who hate Linux users more than windows and Mac users are Linux users who think you chose the wrong distro

        • InternetCitizen2@lemmy.world
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          3 days ago

          I’ve always felt good about using Ubuntu and derivatives. I get their opinions and they have some good points, but I’m not sure why I’d let that change my flow.

          • I'm back on my BS 🤪@lemmy.autism.place
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            2 days ago

            Because Ubuntu sucks! 👎 Here’s a list of why:

            • Snaps = 👹

            • Ads in start menu (they did this before Winblows!)

            • Unity is sooo fucking slow and stupid. That dumbass bar of most used apps always present taking up screen space 🙉

            • Canonical doesn’t give a shit what users want🖕

            But the most important part is that I really don’t care. I don’t use your computer. You do. So use whatever the 🔥hell🔥 you want. Use a version of Winblows 🪟 themed to look like Arch 🤭, wallpaper and all👌, then post screenshots on the Internet about your superiority 💪.

            Live how you want! And if someone shames you for it, kick them out of you life 😎

      • SeventySeven@sh.itjust.works
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        3 days ago

        Because there’s always going to be someone who says the distro you liked the most is not the distro you should be using. (I use Arch btw)

  • dejected_warp_core@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    Put any distro in front of me and provided I don’t need to master it, I’m good. Ubuntu is fine. Debian is fine. RedHat is fine. Fedora is fine. I even have a tiny low-end system that is using Bohdi. Whatever. We’re all using mostly the same kernel anyway.

    90% of what I do is in a container anyway so it almost doesn’t matter; half the time that means Alpine, but not really. That includes both consuming products from upstream as well as software development. I also practically live in the terminal, so I couldn’t care less what GUI subsystem is in play, even while I’m using it.

  • Skyline969@lemmy.ca
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    4 days ago

    Linux Mint. Cinnamon. With a Windows Vista theme. It confuses and/or irritates everyone who sees it.

  • fleton@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    Just curious does anyone actually care about what distro people use or more just a meme?

    • G0ne@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      In real life not at all, online though it ranges from friendiy banter to elitist peeps bickering about package managers, those guys can be ignored.

    • OR3X@lemm.ee
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      2 days ago

      There are a not insignificant number of people in the Linux community who feel that the more user friendly focused distros are for “beginners” and the distros that less so are for “experts” and there is a lot of elitism and gatekeeping that goes along with that sentiment. In reality they’re all running the Linux kernel so they’re all equally valid options. Use what works best for you and ignore the chuds who try to tell you otherwise.

    • dejected_warp_core@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      The only time I’ve encountered people that care a little too much about what distro is being used, is right after having transitioned to Linux; the sheer liberating potential of the thing can make you lose your head.

      I’ve come across a lot of professional bias about Linux distros, but that’s usually due to real-world experience with tough or bad projects. Some times, decisions are made that make a given distro the villain or even the hero of the story. In the end, you’ll hear a lot of praise and hate, but context absolutely matters.

      There’s also the very natural tendency to seek external validation for your actions/decisions. But some people just can’t self-actualize in a way that’s healthy. Sprinkle a little personal insecurity into the mix and presto: “someone is getting on great with that other Linux I don’t use, so Imma get big mad.”

    • miau@lemmy.sdf.org
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      2 days ago

      Definetely a meme at least among my friends and coworkers. Just a friendly banter akin to prefering console vs pc or supporting one sports team rather than the other

    • TheTechnician27@lemmy.world
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      4 days ago

      So going off the chalice in the movie, the distro that will save you from judgment is the plainest one – the one with the least bloat? That tracks.

      • Communist@lemmy.frozeninferno.xyz
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        4 days ago

        I highly recommend avoiding manjaro like the plague, their team is incredibly incompetent (see: https://manjarno.pages.dev/ ), I say this as someone who has given people manjaro for years and regretted it, I was also their it person, manjaro regularly broke every few months and gave people a very bad taste of linux

        for example, why are kernels given version numbers in packages? This caused 3 separate peoples computers to break multiple times. Everything good about manjaro comes from arch, everything bad about manjaro comes from the manjaro team.

        Y’know how it’s not rolling release because they delay packages by 2 weeks? They actually do no testing in this time. How do I know this? They pushed an update that caused steam to uninstall your desktop environment. Famously covered by linus tech tips… this is something that should have easily been caught, and yet the two week window did absolutely nothing.

        the truth is for manjaro there is no real usecase, there’s no set of desires that align with manjaro being the best choice for you. I am not asking you to switch away from manjaro, but I do not think we should ever recommend it to anyone, and on your next machine, I recommend trying the arch installer.

        But if what you’re looking for is an easy pre-setup arch, use endeavoros

        If you want something simple and up to date, use fedora kinoite

        If you’re a power user and want to configure every little thing about their system, use arch or nixos

        If you don’t care at all about updates and want the most rock solid system possible, debian.

        • Crismus@lemmy.world
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          22 hours ago

          I hear you. I was looking more for Arch with less of a hassle. Something similar to my Steamdeck. I guess I should just wipe this weekend for something else. I really want something for playing my steam and GOG games that works with my Nvidia 3080.

          Luckily for me I keep every game installed on different Steam Libraries so wiping my install drive to put something else in isn’t difficult.

          • Communist@lemmy.frozeninferno.xyz
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            20 hours ago

            What about arch is it that you want?

            I do a ton of distro research because I try to convert people to linux a lot so I might be able to help you with that.

            https://bazzite.gg/ this is probably what you want, make sure to install the nvidia version.

        • JackbyDev@programming.dev
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          4 days ago

          If openSUSE Slowroll wasn’t experimental I’d recommend it in place of Manjaro. It’s a rolling release with monthly releases.

          • Dojan@lemmy.world
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            3 days ago

            I really like Tumbleweed. Sure it updates a lot, but it doesn’t force updates so you can take it at your own pace.

            • Zaemz@lemmy.world
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              3 days ago

              SUSE’s Open Build Service absolutely rules, too. I use Fedora personally, but would switch to Tumbleweed any day. I’ve gone back and forth, eventually settling on Fedora only because of familiarity with Red Hat.

              There are things I miss, big one being Zypper. It’s slow as balls but it’s usability and ability to dig through packages is unmatched, in my opinion.

    • TheRedSpade@lemmy.world
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      4 days ago

      Steam Deck is weird. I mean, I love it, but coming from vanilla Arch it can be frustrating at times. Discover is terrible. Luckily, Distrobox is a thing.

      • Zaemz@lemmy.world
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        3 days ago

        I putz with Discover sometimes. Though I have no idea how it resolves package updates under the hood, as it often will produce a different manifest than running dnf itself.

        What would you like to see improved?

        • TheRedSpade@lemmy.world
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          3 days ago

          I usually can’t find what I’m looking for, so a larger catalogue would go a long way. I also had problems with some software versions. The one that comes to mind is that Firefox had behavior with the save dialogue that I don’t like. It’s a minor issue, but one that I don’t have with the build in the Arch repo. I have a vague memory of something just not working, but I couldn’t tell you what at this point.

          • Zaemz@lemmy.world
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            3 days ago

            Ah, I see! Yeah, a bigger catalog would be nice. You can add more repositories to it, enable Flathub, which provide more options, but something about it does feel hamstrung.

            The Firefox thing is something I know about! You can set a config option in the about:config page to tell Firefox to use your desktop’s standard dialogue. It has to do with XDG Desktop specifications, I think

            • TheRedSpade@lemmy.world
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              3 days ago

              It uses the system dialogue, but it starts from the same directory each time. If I’m saving files it’s usually multiple files in succession, so I want the dialogue to start off pointed at the last directory I saved to. The Arch build does that.

              • Zaemz@lemmy.world
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                3 days ago

                Ooohh! Interesting. You’ve got me curious about that now. I’ll have to look into it.

  • finkrat@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    This is dumb because it’s making it out to seem like there are Super Distro Wars and not just folks calling out bad decision makers like Ubuntu and Manjaro, and non-free-as-in-beer distros like Zorin and Elementary

    I’m pretty sure outside of those two categories nobody really cares

  • Captain Aggravated@sh.itjust.works
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    3 days ago

    The one that does what I need it to do on the device I’m running it on. I’ve currently got four different Linux distros on x86 PCs around my house at this moment.

  • tslnox@reddthat.com
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    2 days ago

    I’ve been a Windows… Let’s say a power-user, no expert but I could install it, find a way to troubleshoot most problems. Then at high school a friend lent me a bit outdated Knoppix CD. I never managed to make ppp work on that so no internet, but I loved the old KDE. Somewhat later, when we had a normal DSL line with a proper router, I got Fedora. Then Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Debian for a while…

    Finally I found Gentoo. And there I am, some 10 years later, still on that. After a bit of a bumpy road of the first install (no automation, but the handbook is very helpful if you know the basic Linux and HW terms) it was almost flawless. I remember two problems, and both of them were my own fault. The first one was some testing kernel version that had a bug where small files on ext3 filesystem would get randomly corrupted. The second was when I was trying to remove some hidden files, mangled the command and ran basically rm -rf /* (seriously, don’t do that, it will delete everything on your system). I reinstalled the system (I had data on a different drive that either wasn’t mounted atm or it didn’t reach them before I Ctrl-c’d that command.) and all was well.

    Finally I did last clean install when I bought new (used) Ryzen build to replace my old i5-2500k, I would’ve had to recompile world anyway and I had pretty much dependency hell of my own making at that point (I was testing tons of unstable stuff, new Plasma 5 from testing repo and so on).

    Now I’m running mostly stable system with only bunch of packages unmasked from testing and there are no problems with that. I never had that with any other distro. No matter if Deb based, rpm based, sooner or later I inevitably ran into some variant of “I need a package that’s not in basic repo, and the package I found requires a version of some library that’s not available as well” or something like that. In Gentoo, the packages either compile against the version you have installed, or if not possible, you can have more versions installed at the same time in different slots. Also if you need something that’s not available in repo, you can just write a text file that downloads and compiles the version you need and it integrates in the package manager automatically, no need to create whole Deb/rpm package.

  • AWildMimicAppears@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    2 days ago

    Nobara! switched 2 days ago, deleted my Windows partition 3 hours ago because it’s smooth sailing and quite the different experience compared to bashing my head against debian jessie ages ago.

    Edit: the final nail in the coffin were the fking backported ads in the start menu. seriously, wtf.