Confused about linux as always (lemmy.world)

submitted 2 months ago by Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world to c/linux@programming.dev

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So, I was told you can take any distro, pair it with any desktop environment, and badda bing, badda boom, unique linux in the room!

And a few years ago I tried getting into linux, and it didn't work. I didn't like ubuntu. I want something that's basically like Windows 98.

Closest thing I found was TwisterOS. Well, I had some issue with one program, and I'm an idiot on linux. Have no clue what I'm doing. So the guides tell me to update the thing. So I do that, and the fan in my case stops working. Aye-yi-yi!

I never got it to start working again, and I just said screw it, I'm not dealing with this. Put it in a drawer, and haven't touched it in about a year.

Well, now I'm think I'll just start fresh. Install a new distro, and since Ubuntu seems to be the one with the most support, I'll use that. Then I find out that LXDE visually is more in line with what I want.

So I figure I'll slap on ubuntu, slap on LXDE, and then install retropie. And hopefully the fan will work again. So I start researching this LXDE, and the home page wants you to download the desktop environment already baked into a DIFFERENT distro! Wait, hold on. Am I wrong in thinging you can just download a desktop environment, and slap it on any distro? Because it might be me. I have no clue what I'm doing. And even though this is lemmy, when I searched for "Ubuntu Help", there's no community named that. There's also no community named "Linux help". Which I find very very odd. Lemmy of all places you'd think would have a linux help community! This place loves linux. Does everyone just always know what they're doing at all all times? Or am I just going crazy? I feel like I'm walking blind into a forest and bear traps line the ground. I have no idea how to even start this process....

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[-] boredsquirrel@slrpnk.net 27 points 2 months ago

You dont download software from Websites
Use Lubuntu or other variants with LXQt or LXDE, dont do it yourself. They already have done the configs for you

[-] magikmw@lemm.ee 5 points 2 months ago

As for 1. yea you download software from websites if it's unavailable in your system repository, but most common software is available.

It's like Microsoft Store or Google Play store, except everything is free (as in beer) and most of the time it works (it works, but bugs happen like everywhere else).

[-] boredsquirrel@slrpnk.net 4 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

You shouldnt do that. If they dont have instructions on how to securely add a repo, their software will not update which is insecure.

[-] FizzyOrange@programming.dev 2 points 2 months ago

Only a Linux user's answer to "how do I install software that's not packaged for my distro" would be "don't".

[-] boredsquirrel@slrpnk.net 6 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Hahaha no that was not my point.

Dont install random software from .deb packages etc.

You can use

OS repos
3rd party OS repos
3rd party repos
developer repos (like COPR, AUR, PPA, OBS)
Flatpak
homebrew
Distrobox with a distro that has it as a package

So many options. There is an issue with 3rd party packaging, but at least for common software it is often better to use those, than a not updated official binary.

[-] smb@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 months ago

You can use

also there is:

./configure && make && make install

just to mention ;-)

[-] boredsquirrel@slrpnk.net 2 points 2 months ago

That only works on mutable distributions, it installs random binaries to the system that are not visible to the package manager and not removable (afaik?) And it also doesnt resolve dependencies (afaik).

So while source code is cool, it has all the above disadvantages