Hi…
- I don’t know what to say in the introduction, but in brief I have some questions about Linux, which were formed after trying some distributions on DistroSea and observing Linux communities on the Internet. Can you help with the answer?
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I liked Gnome DE interface very much, but whenever I look at the empty workspace after closing an app , I feel that something is missing (sorry, I have been using Windows for almost 15 years). Is there an add on - or any other way - to install some apps on workspace? Or do I have to get used to it as it is ?
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I read that Linux is more problematic on laptops than on personal computers, is this true? If so…what are the usual problems and is there a way to avoid them?
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Are there any distributions that come with the minimum pre-installed apps ? … I mean not even a video or music player
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If I want to delete a pre-installed app (let’s say the default browser), can this be done easily or does it require root, like Android?
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Does rooting invalidate the system from obtaining updates?
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I read that switching DEs is easy… but how exactly is it done? Something in the settings, or downloading the interface independently, or customizing it to be similar to the other, or something else?
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Lazy question : What are wayland and docker? I see a lot of people mentioning them
- Sorry for the many questions, and thanks in advance
My answer for #2 is I have never personally had a problem with Linux on a laptop. Everything works as intended. The only funny thing was when I switched to Arch Linux took a little bit of work to get games to use my Nvidia GPU instead of the integrated one in my CPU. But that was maybe 30 minutes of googling and installing stuff off the AUR. When I ran pop_os it worked right out of the box. I believe pop has all of the Nvidia stuff installed and on Arch I just had to figure out what I needed. That problem was just from lack of experience.
My answer for #3 is I don’t know but I’ve had fun testing different software out to find something that suits me. I want to say way back in the day Ubuntu had a bunch of stuff pre installed. But that was probably 2007 when I last used Ubuntu. On Arch you can just use the discover store to find stuff. If you can’t find it there it’s in the AUR.
#4 rooting on Linux isn’t like rooting on Android. Android is built off Linux so to have “root” access is just like having administrator access or whatever on Windows. Android phones are more locked down so it’s usually a pain to root (the manufacturer don’t really want you to do it). On your own Linux computer you just use root access. For example on Arch in the terminal to do a full system update you have to use root access so you type “sudo pacman -Syu” in the terminal then it asks you for the sudo password or root password that you yourself setup on install. Sudo is the command that says hey I want to do this no questions asked.
#5 it’s Linux you can do whatever you want. You can go through and destroy the entire os if you want.
I’m coming on a year being full time on Linux so that’s about the best I can do answering your questions. I’m sure other people will explain stuff better. Good luck!
Arch is about as minimal as you can get. You won’t even have a text editor if you don’t specifically install one. You won’t be able to connect to the internet to install that text editor if you don’t install the software to configure the network connection either. I made that mistake the first time I installed Arch.
Yeah It’s a pain when in newly installed system there is no Internet and you have to boot off of USB again!
I did a bunch of reading before jumping into Arch so I just used archinstall. Made it nice and easy.