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Linux guide for power users (2022)

195 points by yarapavan 3y ago

user6723 3y ago
A "power user" is definitively someone not hacker minded.
ulkesh 3y ago
So it's a tutorial where the goal is to be able to take a screenshot, post to Reddit, and feel cool. There are a few pieces of good information, but it's for people learning Linux (how to install, run a package manager, etc), not power users, which I would define as someone who understands a lot of the OS and takes as much advantage of the system at hand. I feel as if I'd qualify as a power user, who has used Windows since the 3.1 days, who has used MacOS since the Tiger days, and who has been using various Linux distributions since 1999 -- I definitely wasn't the intended target audience of this article. With a title of "Linux Guide for Power Users," I was hoping for some interesting scripts or relatively unknown applications that might be fun to tinker with. I always love to learn something new that I didn't know before (an example: recently I discovered TimeShift which is really a fancy wrapper around rsync and BTRFS, but it's a pretty nice GUI to help create and restore snapshots that I wasn't aware of before).
- Given_47 3y ago
  > This guide is meant as a loose inspiration for a poweruser looking to switch to Linux. Yea the title and the intro sentence have a subtle, but very important difference. And I appreciate the effort but I’m ultimately still confused who the target audience is. I’ve only ever used macOS (like ~9 years computer experience) but currently setting up Gentoo, and being a “power user looking to switch to Linux” myself, I would’ve found it more helpful to summarize the Linux equivalents and added optionality to macOS “power user” things. Eg u use yabai on mac, well here’s i3 and [other options]. Desktop environment? You actually can choose and here’s an overview. Like it went from “eli5 what’s a distro” to vim keybindings so there was that inconsistent definition of “power user.” I’m obviously biased in terms of what I wanted to see but my larger point is the inconsistency
  - memefrog 3y ago
    Yeah, I don't really know what a 'poweruser looked to switch to Linux' even means. It doesn't compute. A poweruser is a highly proficient user. If you're looking to switch to Linux from Mac, you might be a Mac poweruser but you're not going to be a poweruser in Linux, because you're starting mostly from scratch. And if you're a Windows poweruser, then you're going to be starting entirely from scratch. So the generic 'poweruser looking to switch to Linux' really makes no sense to me. You can't just be a 'poweruser' in the abstract. A poweruser is a poweruser of something, the thing they are highly proficient at using.
- koito17 3y ago
  Your first paragraph is spot on. A quick look at the ToC made me think it's a "how to reproduce every r/unixporn screenshot ever" rather than teaching something interesting about Linux for people well-versed in administering or using other Unix-like systems (e.g. Mac OS, FreeBSD, ...). This may be oddly specific to myself, but I hate having to memorize internal IPs and like to address my computers with their hostnames. This article makes no attempt to tell me anything about hostnames, mDNS, DNS-SD, etc. on Linux. Is mDNS configured OOTB on most Linux distros like it is on Mac OS? If not, which implementations should I consider using? So on, so forth. I also find it a bit amusing NeoVim is automatically chosen for the reader. I'll stick with Emacs, and I know many others will stick with VS Code or just plain old Vim. :)
  - candiddevmike 3y ago
    mDNS does work out of the box mostly with systemd-resolve (and the right firewall rules if you only allow certain inbound traffic). You can add something like avahi and have Linux do more interesting things like reflection between interfaces/networks--critical for segregating your Chromecasts and other IoT devices.
  - sbuk 3y ago
    I get that some people want to switch from macOS to Linux, but why would they want to change from *BSD? In all likelihood, one uses a BSD precisely because it's not GNU.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
waithuh 3y ago
> for Power Users > Manjaro well, acceptable i guess... > (yes bloat, idc its a beginners guide) huh
renewiltord 3y ago
This appears to not be for an audience of software engineers. When I was young, I had a Compiz-enabled cube desktop (maybe with conky running) and it was super cool and stuff and I enjoyed it, so this is in that realm. Nice of author to share his setup, though. It's often the case that explicit instructions like these help me when I'm searching for something so I always support the writing of them. I don't think this should have been posted here, though.
vcg3rd 3y ago
"This guide is meant as a loose inspiration for a poweruser looking to switch to Linux." It's your guide, but as a non-technical Linux power user of over 2 decades, I don't think I would recommend Windows or Mac power users make the immediate shift to the (Neo)vim and i3 "metaphors" (if that's the right way to express it). I'd recommend KDE for Windows PUs and Pop? Peppermint? (I forget which disto aspires to the MacOS look and feel. I started using Emacs for Org because I don't program, and I gradually added email, file management, irc, gopher, roam, and other "functionality" as I became more proficient. I finally switched any key binding I could anywhere to Emacs, but I would never suggest Emacs to a Windows or Mac PU unless they already used it, let alone modal editing if they never used it and didn't live in a text editor. When I started using Org there were not many decent open source plaintext information managers that could also do agendas, to-dos, etc. I mostly used Zim prior. Not all PUs live in text editors, program, or edit configuration files in a modal editor. Why would someone who uses a text editor primarily to edit configuration files do so in a modal editor unsteady of Gedit or Kate or even nano or micro? Today, I would likely recommend Joplin for a PU who wants open source plain text information management plus a multitude of plugins on any platform and any GUI text editor with good syntax highlighting and customization and a Desktop Manager. It would allow for more gradual transition because being a PU on Windows or Mac means making significant changes would actually be more difficult. But you can have my Emacs when you pry it from my cold, dead hands.
whalesalad 3y ago
If I wanted a rolling release I would use vanilla Arch or Tumbleweed. I would go with EndeavorOS over Manjaro. I am quite happy with Debian 12, though.
jasoneckert 3y ago
I really couldn't understand the information, purpose, or audience for this article until I read it in the voice that announces John Cena.
iueotnmunto 3y ago
My recent gripe is that I've used Linux for more than half my life and I'm well into my 30's. I feel like my ability to navigate a system has gone _backwards_, Debian no longer accepts 'init 0' as a command, ipconfig isn't a command anymore, systemd changed the whole subsystem from underneath me, ubuntu/snap decided not only to litter+bloat my filesystem with needless duplicates but also that not only would I prefer Firefox be a snap package (which broke my workflow), but that it would require me to go well out of my way to solve that, Gnome decided that I wanted a touchscreen layout (I custom compile gtk+ to remove the 'search on type' behavior in file>open dialogs, most major packages seem to default to nouveau which while a great movement seems to totally break critical path regularly. How the hell have we gotten to a point where Linux closely reflects the instability of the Windows ecosystem. I'm not afraid of change, but I feel like the large majority of changes that are made cause me problems to the point where I now fear upgrading my distro to latest.
- flusensieb 3y ago
  > I custom compile gtk+ to remove the 'search on type' behavior in file>open dialogs > I'm not afraid of change If that minor issue is a reason to recompile a whole ui-toolkit, then I guess you should just stop applying any os update at all...
  - pxc 3y ago
    unafraid of change ≠ happy with any particular change It's very much possible to be unafraid of change and still have strong preferences.
  - iueotnmunto 3y ago
    It's not actually that complicated, iirc, I have an ansible script to trigger the build based on a 2-line patch. The maintainers proposed a similar patch to Gnome/GTK as a hidden option in dconf, but iirc their dev team took the opinionated 'our way or the highway' approach, as they've done on many other occasions.
- Steltek 3y ago
  User facing tools have always been changing in Linux but that doesn't mean a regression in functionality, usually quite the opposite. ipchains became iptables which became netfilter. chroot and su evolved into namespaces and capabilities (yes, I know these existed since forever but no one cared back then). I would agree with you on Gnome. It aped+ the macOS UX poorly and as a result, it feels like several random efforts thrown together with no cohesion or plot. +: Subtle pun for old timers
textread 3y ago
> Roll a die and pick a random distro, it won’t really matter. This isnt good advice for power users.
29athrowaway 3y ago
A much simpler guide if you are not a terminal fiend 1. Install Xubuntu 2. Start your session 3. Run sudo apt update sudo apt install pocillo-icon-theme materia-icon-theme fonts-clear-sans 4. Go to the Appearance properties. Under style select "Materia-dark-compact", under Icons select "Pocillo", under Fonts select "Clear Sans". 5. Remove the default desktop wallpaper, use something else. 6. Edit the XFCE panels 6.1. Create a panel to use as a start menu/taskbar/clock. 6.2. Create a panel to use as a dock. Make the icon size larger and make it autohide. Add multiple "Launcher" items to it with the programs you regularly use. 7. Install more stuff # The most similar terminal to iTerm2 sudo apt install tilix # Similar to Alfred on macOS sudo apt install kupfer # Install a web browser sudo apt install firefox # Webcam software sudo apt install guvcview cheese # Flatpak sudo apt install flatpak 8. Go to https://flathub.org/ https://flathub.org/ and install other useful software. 9. Install an office suite (for example, https://www.freeoffice.com/en/ https://www.freeoffice.com/en/) For games, Lutris and Steam are your friends.
- 29athrowaway 3y ago
  For development: - You can install JetBrains Desktop, then install all the IDEs you need. Once you open your desired IDE, disable the unneeded plugins, and exclude the directories you don't want indexed. You can also disable feature you don't use like folding, code lens, breadcrumbs, etc. - Install Rust (https://rustup.rs/ https://rustup.rs/) then install useful Rust system tools such as ripgrep, fd-find, bat, hyperfine, helix editor, tokei, etc.
- memefrog 3y ago
  Why is installing your preferred font and theme included in this?
  - 29athrowaway 3y ago
    I personally use another font and theme. But if I had to pick a font, GTK theme and icon theme from the ones shipped with Ubuntu, I would pick that. I also assume most people would prefer those settings to the theme that is included with XFCE.
lemper 3y ago
i consider myself as a competent linux user, was a linux activist back in the uni days, even. but the article didn't sell me anything at all. if anything, this kind of article is what would drive me away from linux if i were not a linux user. consider my position, a 9-5 computer guy who lost almost all of my interest in operating system. i just want to get my job done, be it writing software for my employer or redeploy some containers on aws or what you have. in order to do that, i'd need a decent set of toolchains and other things. i wouldn't want to tinker with my graphic driver or any drivers if that matter either. if you want to convince me to use linux fulltime, you'd need to give me a guarantee that i can just sit down, install the damn os including drivers, and the dev. toolchains in less than an hour. but no! the article shows how to be "THAT LINUX GUY".
snvzz 3y ago
Nice article, except it promotes Manjaro, an awful distribution[0]. Author should have focused on Arch instead. Especially since they use Arch themselves. I am guessing they are not aware what Manjaro really is, and how it is run. 0. https://github.com/arindas/manjarno https://github.com/arindas/manjarno
ekianjo 3y ago
Manjaro? It could not have been a worse choice
al_be_back 3y ago
perhaps also include in the ToC "retro unixporn" - don't be shy, prudes don't play with arch linux, neovim and i3 window manager :P some good info/instructions - liked the virtualbox guide.
cumshitpiss 3y ago
[dead]
orliesaurus 3y ago
Why would you install Arch-based Manjaro? Why not just go with a flavor of Ubuntu to start becoming productive from like minute 5? And if you're really trying to become a super-user why not NixOS?
- PrimeMcFly 3y ago
  If you want to become a power user, then using something as relatively bloated and dumbed down/obscuring as Ubuntu is not a good pick.
- wetpaws 3y ago
  [dead]
- Adverblessly 3y ago
  Personally, if I'm recommending something for daily use (as in, you plan to do more than just work on this device) I could only recommend a rolling release where your software is always up to date. You'd usually want and expect software to be up to date (at least for software that isn't trying to screw you ;)) and if something you are using has a bug, waiting for the next Ubuntu release is unreasonable. Also, if your packages update regularly (and you update them regularly :)), it is much easier to debug when things go wrong since you can more easily keep track of recent changes. Similarly, I wouldn't recommend Ubuntu to beginners because the dist-upgrade process is very scary and unreliable (in fact, I don't think I've ever seen dist-upgrade succeed fully without errors or manual intervention), so I wouldn't want to have that unpleasent surprise waiting for them when they aren't ready for it. The situation around snap is also likely to leave a sour taste in their mouth ("Why am I being nagged to close Chrome 2 weeks from now? And why am I still nagged after I just closed and reopened it?!" not to mention "Why can't I open this file in Chrome?").
  - orliesaurus 3y ago
    What would you recommend instead of Ubuntu for beginners?
    - 3y ago
thatcherthorn 3y ago
As someone who switched from Windows to Linux in college, I have no regrets. All of the rough edges I've encountered (usually) have resulted in a better understanding of how software actually works.
- soraminazuki 3y ago
  Can't agree more, looking at what Windows has become from Windows 8 and onwards. It used to be that Windows users chose Windows over Linux because they saw it as the OS that "just lets them get their work done." No one can possibly say that about the Windows of today, the OS that gets in the way at every turn and corner to squeeze profits out of users who already paid.
- Paul-Craft 3y ago
  I get what you're saying, but I have to say, other than "read the Arch wiki, stupid," I don't feel like I learn very much the nth time my sound stops working or my wifi just decides not to connect, even though other devices have no trouble. And, I'm saying this as someone who's typing this comment on a Linux machine right now.
- frfl 3y ago
  I feel exactly the same. Not going down this route around the same time I probably would've gone Windows 7 -> Windows 10 -> Windows 11 and had to deal with all that brings with it. Instead going fully Linux had its pain points, but the learning, exposure to everything and the experience was well worth it. Looking back, so many of the issue I ran into ~10 years ago barely exist today - at least I rarely run into those kind of hurdles either due to more experience or the ecosystem just being quite stable and mature now.
  - Daneel_ 3y ago
    Windows 10 almost killed windows for me, and windows 11 has been the final nail in the coffin (tested 11, but I haven’t moved to 11). It’s too dumbed down. Settings don’t exist or are buried. The interface has gone backwards. Cloud and internet spam embedded everywhere.. The only reason I was still on windows was for gaming, and even that is mostly a solved problem on Linux these days. My next main install is old faithful ubuntu server.
nektro 3y ago
> Manjaro is not superior or inferior to any other Linux distribution quite the contrary, https://github.com/arindas/manjarno https://github.com/arindas/manjarno
31b3r3t7 3y ago
Power users use Gentoo.
- PrimeMcFly 3y ago
  No, masochists use Gentoo.
  - HybridCurve 3y ago
    We use gentoo because a linux system without problems is boring.
- seanw444 3y ago
  Meh, I'll stick to binaries for 95% of my stuff.
- nateb2022 3y ago
  Not if they don't want to spend a third of their time maintaining their system.
  - BillyTheMage 3y ago
    That's a bunch of propaganda. Sure it takes longer for the initial setup, there's no "click this button to install Gentoo" menu, but once you've got it setup it's easier to maintain.
    - memefrog 3y ago
      Nah I totally disagree. This is true of Arch, but Gentoo makes it incredibly easy to screw up your system. You never really truly break things, of course, not in a way you can't fix. But if you start adding USE flags all over the place it's pretty easy to get to the point that you can't update anymore because of endless blockers and other weird stuff.
    - nateb2022 3y ago
      It's easier to maintain a very fine-level of control, but only if users are prepared to invest the time and effort to keep themselves up to date on the software that makes up their system. Sure, that is probably assumed to some degree as part of being a power user, however alternatives like Arch and nixOS are capable of providing similar levels of configuration with a little more ease, at least in certain places. > but once you've got it setup it's easier to maintain. In general, this is not the case compared to more out-of-the-box distros like Debian, where upgrading is simply a matter of "apt update && apt upgrade".
frantathefranta 3y ago
> As said before, in this tutorial we will be using Manjaro due to it: > * containing a fully configured system (yes bloat, idc its a beginners tutorial) So is it for beginners or power users? Or can that be the same person? Choice of Manjaro is also curious, considering its history.
- dingnuts 3y ago
  it's for power users of proprietary OSes who are beginners to Linux
- artisanspam 3y ago
  > considering its history Can you elaborate?
  - tenacious_tuna 3y ago
    I don't know everything, but I do know they've let their HTTPS cert expire a few times [1], and they apparently delay package updates from upstream for like 1wk for "stability" reasons... which doesn't really add any stability, and just slows down releases. [1]: https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/wr2dps/manjaro_let_their_ssl_cert_expire_again/ https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/wr2dps/manjaro_let_t...
    - RealStickman_ 3y ago
      The package delays also apply to security updates btw. There's no procedure to get them in faster. Ironically, on mobile Manjaro has shipped unstable and WIP patches, leading to issues and annoyed maintainers [0] 0. https://dont-ship.it/ https://dont-ship.it/
  - heavyset_go 3y ago
    It's amateur hour over at Manjaro. They've pushed breaking updates, insecure settings, etc. Their infrastructure is poor, as well.
  - firen777 3y ago

195 points by yarapavan 3y ago

A "power user" is definitively someone not hacker minded.

So it's a tutorial where the goal is to be able to take a screenshot, post to Reddit, and feel cool. There are a few pieces of good information, but it's for people learning Linux (how to install, run a package manager, etc), not power users, which I would define as someone who understands a lot of the OS and takes as much advantage of the system at hand. I feel as if I'd qualify as a power user, who has used Windows since the 3.1 days, who has used MacOS since the Tiger days, and who has been using various Linux distributions since 1999 -- I definitely wasn't the intended target audience of this article. With a title of "Linux Guide for Power Users," I was hoping for some interesting scripts or relatively unknown applications that might be fun to tinker with. I always love to learn something new that I didn't know before (an example: recently I discovered TimeShift which is really a fancy wrapper around rsync and BTRFS, but it's a pretty nice GUI to help create and restore snapshots that I wasn't aware of before).

Given_47 3y ago
> This guide is meant as a loose inspiration for a poweruser looking to switch to Linux. Yea the title and the intro sentence have a subtle, but very important difference. And I appreciate the effort but I’m ultimately still confused who the target audience is. I’ve only ever used macOS (like ~9 years computer experience) but currently setting up Gentoo, and being a “power user looking to switch to Linux” myself, I would’ve found it more helpful to summarize the Linux equivalents and added optionality to macOS “power user” things. Eg u use yabai on mac, well here’s i3 and [other options]. Desktop environment? You actually can choose and here’s an overview. Like it went from “eli5 what’s a distro” to vim keybindings so there was that inconsistent definition of “power user.” I’m obviously biased in terms of what I wanted to see but my larger point is the inconsistency
- memefrog 3y ago
  Yeah, I don't really know what a 'poweruser looked to switch to Linux' even means. It doesn't compute. A poweruser is a highly proficient user. If you're looking to switch to Linux from Mac, you might be a Mac poweruser but you're not going to be a poweruser in Linux, because you're starting mostly from scratch. And if you're a Windows poweruser, then you're going to be starting entirely from scratch. So the generic 'poweruser looking to switch to Linux' really makes no sense to me. You can't just be a 'poweruser' in the abstract. A poweruser is a poweruser of something, the thing they are highly proficient at using.
koito17 3y ago
Your first paragraph is spot on. A quick look at the ToC made me think it's a "how to reproduce every r/unixporn screenshot ever" rather than teaching something interesting about Linux for people well-versed in administering or using other Unix-like systems (e.g. Mac OS, FreeBSD, ...). This may be oddly specific to myself, but I hate having to memorize internal IPs and like to address my computers with their hostnames. This article makes no attempt to tell me anything about hostnames, mDNS, DNS-SD, etc. on Linux. Is mDNS configured OOTB on most Linux distros like it is on Mac OS? If not, which implementations should I consider using? So on, so forth. I also find it a bit amusing NeoVim is automatically chosen for the reader. I'll stick with Emacs, and I know many others will stick with VS Code or just plain old Vim. :)
- candiddevmike 3y ago
  mDNS does work out of the box mostly with systemd-resolve (and the right firewall rules if you only allow certain inbound traffic). You can add something like avahi and have Linux do more interesting things like reflection between interfaces/networks--critical for segregating your Chromecasts and other IoT devices.
- sbuk 3y ago
  I get that some people want to switch from macOS to Linux, but why would they want to change from *BSD? In all likelihood, one uses a BSD precisely because it's not GNU.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

waithuh 3y ago

> for Power Users > Manjaro well, acceptable i guess... > (yes bloat, idc its a beginners guide) huh

renewiltord 3y ago

This appears to not be for an audience of software engineers. When I was young, I had a Compiz-enabled cube desktop (maybe with conky running) and it was super cool and stuff and I enjoyed it, so this is in that realm. Nice of author to share his setup, though. It's often the case that explicit instructions like these help me when I'm searching for something so I always support the writing of them. I don't think this should have been posted here, though.

vcg3rd 3y ago

"This guide is meant as a loose inspiration for a poweruser looking to switch to Linux." It's your guide, but as a non-technical Linux power user of over 2 decades, I don't think I would recommend Windows or Mac power users make the immediate shift to the (Neo)vim and i3 "metaphors" (if that's the right way to express it). I'd recommend KDE for Windows PUs and Pop? Peppermint? (I forget which disto aspires to the MacOS look and feel. I started using Emacs for Org because I don't program, and I gradually added email, file management, irc, gopher, roam, and other "functionality" as I became more proficient. I finally switched any key binding I could anywhere to Emacs, but I would never suggest Emacs to a Windows or Mac PU unless they already used it, let alone modal editing if they never used it and didn't live in a text editor. When I started using Org there were not many decent open source plaintext information managers that could also do agendas, to-dos, etc. I mostly used Zim prior. Not all PUs live in text editors, program, or edit configuration files in a modal editor. Why would someone who uses a text editor primarily to edit configuration files do so in a modal editor unsteady of Gedit or Kate or even nano or micro? Today, I would likely recommend Joplin for a PU who wants open source plain text information management plus a multitude of plugins on any platform and any GUI text editor with good syntax highlighting and customization and a Desktop Manager. It would allow for more gradual transition because being a PU on Windows or Mac means making significant changes would actually be more difficult. But you can have my Emacs when you pry it from my cold, dead hands.

whalesalad 3y ago

If I wanted a rolling release I would use vanilla Arch or Tumbleweed. I would go with EndeavorOS over Manjaro. I am quite happy with Debian 12, though.

jasoneckert 3y ago

I really couldn't understand the information, purpose, or audience for this article until I read it in the voice that announces John Cena.

iueotnmunto 3y ago

My recent gripe is that I've used Linux for more than half my life and I'm well into my 30's. I feel like my ability to navigate a system has gone _backwards_, Debian no longer accepts 'init 0' as a command, ipconfig isn't a command anymore, systemd changed the whole subsystem from underneath me, ubuntu/snap decided not only to litter+bloat my filesystem with needless duplicates but also that not only would I prefer Firefox be a snap package (which broke my workflow), but that it would require me to go well out of my way to solve that, Gnome decided that I wanted a touchscreen layout (I custom compile gtk+ to remove the 'search on type' behavior in file>open dialogs, most major packages seem to default to nouveau which while a great movement seems to totally break critical path regularly. How the hell have we gotten to a point where Linux closely reflects the instability of the Windows ecosystem. I'm not afraid of change, but I feel like the large majority of changes that are made cause me problems to the point where I now fear upgrading my distro to latest.

flusensieb 3y ago
> I custom compile gtk+ to remove the 'search on type' behavior in file>open dialogs > I'm not afraid of change If that minor issue is a reason to recompile a whole ui-toolkit, then I guess you should just stop applying any os update at all...
- pxc 3y ago
  unafraid of change ≠ happy with any particular change It's very much possible to be unafraid of change and still have strong preferences.
- iueotnmunto 3y ago
  It's not actually that complicated, iirc, I have an ansible script to trigger the build based on a 2-line patch. The maintainers proposed a similar patch to Gnome/GTK as a hidden option in dconf, but iirc their dev team took the opinionated 'our way or the highway' approach, as they've done on many other occasions.
Steltek 3y ago
User facing tools have always been changing in Linux but that doesn't mean a regression in functionality, usually quite the opposite. ipchains became iptables which became netfilter. chroot and su evolved into namespaces and capabilities (yes, I know these existed since forever but no one cared back then). I would agree with you on Gnome. It aped+ the macOS UX poorly and as a result, it feels like several random efforts thrown together with no cohesion or plot. +: Subtle pun for old timers

textread 3y ago

> Roll a die and pick a random distro, it won’t really matter. This isnt good advice for power users.

29athrowaway 3y ago

A much simpler guide if you are not a terminal fiend 1. Install Xubuntu 2. Start your session 3. Run sudo apt update sudo apt install pocillo-icon-theme materia-icon-theme fonts-clear-sans 4. Go to the Appearance properties. Under style select "Materia-dark-compact", under Icons select "Pocillo", under Fonts select "Clear Sans". 5. Remove the default desktop wallpaper, use something else. 6. Edit the XFCE panels 6.1. Create a panel to use as a start menu/taskbar/clock. 6.2. Create a panel to use as a dock. Make the icon size larger and make it autohide. Add multiple "Launcher" items to it with the programs you regularly use. 7. Install more stuff # The most similar terminal to iTerm2 sudo apt install tilix # Similar to Alfred on macOS sudo apt install kupfer # Install a web browser sudo apt install firefox # Webcam software sudo apt install guvcview cheese # Flatpak sudo apt install flatpak 8. Go to https://flathub.org/ https://flathub.org/ and install other useful software. 9. Install an office suite (for example, https://www.freeoffice.com/en/ https://www.freeoffice.com/en/) For games, Lutris and Steam are your friends.

29athrowaway 3y ago
For development: - You can install JetBrains Desktop, then install all the IDEs you need. Once you open your desired IDE, disable the unneeded plugins, and exclude the directories you don't want indexed. You can also disable feature you don't use like folding, code lens, breadcrumbs, etc. - Install Rust (https://rustup.rs/ https://rustup.rs/) then install useful Rust system tools such as ripgrep, fd-find, bat, hyperfine, helix editor, tokei, etc.
memefrog 3y ago
Why is installing your preferred font and theme included in this?
- 29athrowaway 3y ago
  I personally use another font and theme. But if I had to pick a font, GTK theme and icon theme from the ones shipped with Ubuntu, I would pick that. I also assume most people would prefer those settings to the theme that is included with XFCE.

lemper 3y ago

i consider myself as a competent linux user, was a linux activist back in the uni days, even. but the article didn't sell me anything at all. if anything, this kind of article is what would drive me away from linux if i were not a linux user. consider my position, a 9-5 computer guy who lost almost all of my interest in operating system. i just want to get my job done, be it writing software for my employer or redeploy some containers on aws or what you have. in order to do that, i'd need a decent set of toolchains and other things. i wouldn't want to tinker with my graphic driver or any drivers if that matter either. if you want to convince me to use linux fulltime, you'd need to give me a guarantee that i can just sit down, install the damn os including drivers, and the dev. toolchains in less than an hour. but no! the article shows how to be "THAT LINUX GUY".

snvzz 3y ago

Nice article, except it promotes Manjaro, an awful distribution[0]. Author should have focused on Arch instead. Especially since they use Arch themselves. I am guessing they are not aware what Manjaro really is, and how it is run. 0. https://github.com/arindas/manjarno https://github.com/arindas/manjarno

ekianjo 3y ago

Manjaro? It could not have been a worse choice

al_be_back 3y ago

perhaps also include in the ToC "retro unixporn" - don't be shy, prudes don't play with arch linux, neovim and i3 window manager :P some good info/instructions - liked the virtualbox guide.

cumshitpiss 3y ago

[dead]

orliesaurus 3y ago

Why would you install Arch-based Manjaro? Why not just go with a flavor of Ubuntu to start becoming productive from like minute 5? And if you're really trying to become a super-user why not NixOS?

PrimeMcFly 3y ago
If you want to become a power user, then using something as relatively bloated and dumbed down/obscuring as Ubuntu is not a good pick.
wetpaws 3y ago
[dead]
Adverblessly 3y ago
Personally, if I'm recommending something for daily use (as in, you plan to do more than just work on this device) I could only recommend a rolling release where your software is always up to date. You'd usually want and expect software to be up to date (at least for software that isn't trying to screw you ;)) and if something you are using has a bug, waiting for the next Ubuntu release is unreasonable. Also, if your packages update regularly (and you update them regularly :)), it is much easier to debug when things go wrong since you can more easily keep track of recent changes. Similarly, I wouldn't recommend Ubuntu to beginners because the dist-upgrade process is very scary and unreliable (in fact, I don't think I've ever seen dist-upgrade succeed fully without errors or manual intervention), so I wouldn't want to have that unpleasent surprise waiting for them when they aren't ready for it. The situation around snap is also likely to leave a sour taste in their mouth ("Why am I being nagged to close Chrome 2 weeks from now? And why am I still nagged after I just closed and reopened it?!" not to mention "Why can't I open this file in Chrome?").
- orliesaurus 3y ago
  What would you recommend instead of Ubuntu for beginners?
  - 3y ago

thatcherthorn 3y ago

As someone who switched from Windows to Linux in college, I have no regrets. All of the rough edges I've encountered (usually) have resulted in a better understanding of how software actually works.

soraminazuki 3y ago
Can't agree more, looking at what Windows has become from Windows 8 and onwards. It used to be that Windows users chose Windows over Linux because they saw it as the OS that "just lets them get their work done." No one can possibly say that about the Windows of today, the OS that gets in the way at every turn and corner to squeeze profits out of users who already paid.
Paul-Craft 3y ago
I get what you're saying, but I have to say, other than "read the Arch wiki, stupid," I don't feel like I learn very much the nth time my sound stops working or my wifi just decides not to connect, even though other devices have no trouble. And, I'm saying this as someone who's typing this comment on a Linux machine right now.
frfl 3y ago
I feel exactly the same. Not going down this route around the same time I probably would've gone Windows 7 -> Windows 10 -> Windows 11 and had to deal with all that brings with it. Instead going fully Linux had its pain points, but the learning, exposure to everything and the experience was well worth it. Looking back, so many of the issue I ran into ~10 years ago barely exist today - at least I rarely run into those kind of hurdles either due to more experience or the ecosystem just being quite stable and mature now.
- Daneel_ 3y ago
  Windows 10 almost killed windows for me, and windows 11 has been the final nail in the coffin (tested 11, but I haven’t moved to 11). It’s too dumbed down. Settings don’t exist or are buried. The interface has gone backwards. Cloud and internet spam embedded everywhere.. The only reason I was still on windows was for gaming, and even that is mostly a solved problem on Linux these days. My next main install is old faithful ubuntu server.

nektro 3y ago

> Manjaro is not superior or inferior to any other Linux distribution quite the contrary, https://github.com/arindas/manjarno https://github.com/arindas/manjarno

31b3r3t7 3y ago

Power users use Gentoo.

PrimeMcFly 3y ago
No, masochists use Gentoo.
- HybridCurve 3y ago
  We use gentoo because a linux system without problems is boring.
seanw444 3y ago
Meh, I'll stick to binaries for 95% of my stuff.
nateb2022 3y ago
Not if they don't want to spend a third of their time maintaining their system.
- BillyTheMage 3y ago
  That's a bunch of propaganda. Sure it takes longer for the initial setup, there's no "click this button to install Gentoo" menu, but once you've got it setup it's easier to maintain.
  - memefrog 3y ago
    Nah I totally disagree. This is true of Arch, but Gentoo makes it incredibly easy to screw up your system. You never really truly break things, of course, not in a way you can't fix. But if you start adding USE flags all over the place it's pretty easy to get to the point that you can't update anymore because of endless blockers and other weird stuff.
  - nateb2022 3y ago
    It's easier to maintain a very fine-level of control, but only if users are prepared to invest the time and effort to keep themselves up to date on the software that makes up their system. Sure, that is probably assumed to some degree as part of being a power user, however alternatives like Arch and nixOS are capable of providing similar levels of configuration with a little more ease, at least in certain places. > but once you've got it setup it's easier to maintain. In general, this is not the case compared to more out-of-the-box distros like Debian, where upgrading is simply a matter of "apt update && apt upgrade".

frantathefranta 3y ago

> As said before, in this tutorial we will be using Manjaro due to it: > * containing a fully configured system (yes bloat, idc its a beginners tutorial) So is it for beginners or power users? Or can that be the same person? Choice of Manjaro is also curious, considering its history.

dingnuts 3y ago
it's for power users of proprietary OSes who are beginners to Linux
artisanspam 3y ago
> considering its history Can you elaborate?
- tenacious_tuna 3y ago
  I don't know everything, but I do know they've let their HTTPS cert expire a few times [1], and they apparently delay package updates from upstream for like 1wk for "stability" reasons... which doesn't really add any stability, and just slows down releases. [1]: https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/wr2dps/manjaro_let_their_ssl_cert_expire_again/ https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/wr2dps/manjaro_let_t...
  - RealStickman_ 3y ago
    The package delays also apply to security updates btw. There's no procedure to get them in faster. Ironically, on mobile Manjaro has shipped unstable and WIP patches, leading to issues and annoyed maintainers [0] 0. https://dont-ship.it/ https://dont-ship.it/
- heavyset_go 3y ago
  It's amateur hour over at Manjaro. They've pushed breaking updates, insecure settings, etc. Their infrastructure is poor, as well.
- firen777 3y ago