linux_desktop_setup
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| linux_desktop_setup [2024/02/02 20:07] – tkbletsc | linux_desktop_setup [2025/03/17 17:41] (current) – tkbletsc | ||
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| ====== Distro and desktop environment ====== | ====== Distro and desktop environment ====== | ||
| + | |||
| After an exhaustive and exhausting evaluation, here's the tested distros ranked: | After an exhaustive and exhausting evaluation, here's the tested distros ranked: | ||
| - | | + | |
| - | - **Manjaro with Cinnamon** is fine, but as neat as Arch-based distros are, I'd rather have something that third party vendors have actually heard of. Also, other Manjaros? See desktop environment list below. | + | |
| + | - **Manjaro with Cinnamon** | ||
| - **Xubuntu**: | - **Xubuntu**: | ||
| - **Ubuntu Cinnamon**: The right idea, but no reason for this to exist when Mint exists. | - **Ubuntu Cinnamon**: The right idea, but no reason for this to exist when Mint exists. | ||
| - **Debian**: Yay freedom, boo drivers not working. | - **Debian**: Yay freedom, boo drivers not working. | ||
| - **EndeavorOS**: | - **EndeavorOS**: | ||
| - | - **Ubuntu**: The desktop environment designed by a head injury victim whose only prior experience was hearing an Android 1.0 interface half-described to them over a walkie-talkie. Choked with anti-features like snaps (open source client/ | + | - **Ubuntu**: The desktop environment designed by a head injury victim whose only prior experience was hearing an Android 1.0 interface half-described to them over a walkie-talkie. Choked with anti-features like snaps (open source client/ |
| - | - **Arch**: No installer, no inbuilt GUI, and every operation is an inch-thick bomb defusal procedure. That said, decent if off-beat package manager, and it handles third party open source installs via its " | + | - **Arch**: No installer, no inbuilt GUI, and every operation is an inch-thick bomb defusal procedure. That said, decent if off-beat package manager, and it handles third party open source installs via its " |
| - | + | ||
| Connected to the above, here are the correct opinions on desktop environments: | Connected to the above, here are the correct opinions on desktop environments: | ||
| + | |||
| * Overall: Too damn many. Half these things should die so their developers can work on the survivors, because every single one has toddler-level bugs that you can stumble into within 3 minutes of first boot. | * Overall: Too damn many. Half these things should die so their developers can work on the survivors, because every single one has toddler-level bugs that you can stumble into within 3 minutes of first boot. | ||
| + | |||
| - **Cinnamon**: | - **Cinnamon**: | ||
| - **XFCE**: Not bad, but while it's fine to drop into as a tourist, it's too inflexible to be a daily driver. | - **XFCE**: Not bad, but while it's fine to drop into as a tourist, it's too inflexible to be a daily driver. | ||
| Line 21: | Line 23: | ||
| - **Budgie**: Trying to the same as Cinnamon, but from scratch and at pre-alpha quality. | - **Budgie**: Trying to the same as Cinnamon, but from scratch and at pre-alpha quality. | ||
| - **i3**: Insufferable nerd shit by people that never learned what UI discoverability is. The vim of desktops. | - **i3**: Insufferable nerd shit by people that never learned what UI discoverability is. The vim of desktops. | ||
| - | - **GNOME**: See " | + | - **GNOME**: See " |
| - | - **Enlightenment**: | + | - **Enlightenment**: |
| ====== Random setup tips ====== | ====== Random setup tips ====== | ||
| + | |||
| This is assuming you're on Linux Mint, per objective truths above. | This is assuming you're on Linux Mint, per objective truths above. | ||
| ===== Biggest new thing that makes Linux potentially livable ===== | ===== Biggest new thing that makes Linux potentially livable ===== | ||
| - | **ChatGPT**! You don't have to mine through loathsome Linux forums any more, because a robot has already been there to mine the facts and discard the bitter slapfights. | + | |
| + | **ChatGPT**! You don't have to mine through loathsome Linux forums any more, because a robot has already been there to mine the facts and discard the bitter slapfights. | ||
| It's perfect for finding which cryptic tool will help you achieve a given basic thing. It's made a tremendous difference to the morale of attempting to survive a desktop Linux. | It's perfect for finding which cryptic tool will help you achieve a given basic thing. It's made a tremendous difference to the morale of attempting to survive a desktop Linux. | ||
| - | |||
| ===== Mouse cursor offset bug ===== | ===== Mouse cursor offset bug ===== | ||
| - | I have multiple monitors, one of which is rotated 90 degrees. Attempting to input this into the display manager will mean that the mouse cursor' | ||
| - | Good news: **Just install the real nvidia drivers**, and it works. | + | I have multiple monitors, one of which is rotated 90 degrees. Attempting to input this into the display manager will mean that the mouse cursor' |
| + | |||
| + | Good news: **Just install the real nvidia drivers**, and it works. | ||
| ===== Installing stuff ===== | ===== Installing stuff ===== | ||
| + | |||
| Mint's Software Manager is pretty good and can handle most third party Linux supporting apps itself, including: | Mint's Software Manager is pretty good and can handle most third party Linux supporting apps itself, including: | ||
| + | |||
| * Discord | * Discord | ||
| * Spotify | * Spotify | ||
| Line 48: | Line 53: | ||
| Here's what you should *NOT* use it for: | Here's what you should *NOT* use it for: | ||
| - | * **Zoom**. If you install flatpak via Software Manager, then the authorization click-through to login from the browser won't work. Just google "zoom install linux" and get the company' | ||
| + | * **Zoom**. If you install flatpak via Software Manager, then the authorization click-through to login from the browser won't work. Just google "zoom install linux" and get the company' | ||
| ===== Stuff to install ===== | ===== Stuff to install ===== | ||
| + | |||
| Windows migrations (not all figured out yet): | Windows migrations (not all figured out yet): | ||
| - | | + | |
| - | * VLC -> VLC | + | |
| - | * Notepad++ | + | * VLC → VLC |
| - | * Greenshot | + | * Notepad++ |
| - | * WizTree | + | * Greenshot |
| + | * WizTree | ||
| Quick installation command: | Quick installation command: | ||
| - | | + | < |
| + | |||
| + | sudo apt install meld vlc | ||
| + | |||
| + | </ | ||
| ===== AutoHotKey-type-stuff ===== | ===== AutoHotKey-type-stuff ===== | ||
| - | On Windows I use a bunch of [[AutoHotKey recipes]]. I haven' | ||
| - | For simple button mapping, use '' | + | On Windows I use a bunch of [[: |
| - | sudo apt-get install xbindkeys xdotool | + | |
| - | xbindkeys --defaults > ~/ | + | For simple button mapping, use '' |
| + | < | ||
| + | |||
| + | sudo apt-get install xbindkeys xdotool | ||
| + | xbindkeys --defaults> | ||
| + | |||
| + | </ | ||
| Then edit ~/ | Then edit ~/ | ||
| - | | + | |
| - | b:8 | + | < |
| - | + | " | |
| - | " | + | b:8 |
| - | b:9 | + | |
| + | " | ||
| + | b:9 | ||
| + | |||
| + | </ | ||
| This maps the mouse side buttons to the next song and play/pause media buttons. If your side button has a different identifier, you can find out by running the following command and clicking around: | This maps the mouse side buttons to the next song and play/pause media buttons. If your side button has a different identifier, you can find out by running the following command and clicking around: | ||
| - | | + | |
| + | < | ||
| + | xev | grep -i button | ||
| + | |||
| + | </ | ||
| To (re-)run the binder: | To (re-)run the binder: | ||
| - | | + | < |
| - | + | ||
| - | To ensure it starts on login, run the " | + | killall xbindkeys ; xbindkeys |
| + | |||
| + | </ | ||
| + | |||
| + | To ensure it starts on login, run the " | ||
| ===== Font rendering fix ===== | ===== Font rendering fix ===== | ||
| - | I imported some Windows fonts, but some of them (especially Calibri) rendered really awful -- no smoothing, or worse, smoothing only on ligatures like " | ||
| - | Turns out these fonts have pixel fonts mixed in, which Linux uses badly. Solution is to not use the embedded pixel fonts, which means a dive into the gross world of Linux font options. Some people even collect and trade cryptic font config files...how shameful. [[https:// | + | I imported some Windows fonts, but some of them (especially Calibri) rendered really awful – no smoothing, or worse, smoothing only on ligatures like " |
| + | |||
| + | Turns out these fonts have pixel fonts mixed in, which Linux uses badly. Solution is to not use the embedded pixel fonts, which means a dive into the gross world of Linux font options. Some people even collect and trade cryptic font config files…how shameful. [[https:// | ||
| To fix, make / | To fix, make / | ||
| < | < | ||
| + | |||
| <?xml version=" | <?xml version=" | ||
| < | < | ||
| - | < | + | < |
| <!-- Prevent Gnome from using embedded bitmaps in fonts like Calibri --> | <!-- Prevent Gnome from using embedded bitmaps in fonts like Calibri --> | ||
| <match target=" | <match target=" | ||
| Line 112: | Line 142: | ||
| </ | </ | ||
| - | |||
| ===== Editing the style ===== | ===== Editing the style ===== | ||
| - | Weirdly, Cinnamon has lots of themes which work well, but very little ability to do finer-grain edits. I wanted my taskbar to be blue, because otherwise it's a grey overload, so I went on a bit of a walkabout. | + | |
| + | Weirdly, Cinnamon has lots of themes which work well, but very little ability to do finer-grain edits. I wanted my taskbar to be blue, because otherwise it's a grey overload, so I went on a bit of a walkabout. | ||
| Conclusion: | Conclusion: | ||
| + | |||
| * First, pick your favorite theme to edit, mine was Mint-Y-Dark-Aqua | * First, pick your favorite theme to edit, mine was Mint-Y-Dark-Aqua | ||
| * Copy to ~/.themes and rename | * Copy to ~/.themes and rename | ||
| - | | + | < |
| - | cd ~/.themes | + | mkdir ~/.themes |
| - | cp -r / | + | cd ~/.themes |
| - | mv Mint-Y-Dark-Aqua My-Dark-Aqua | + | cp -r / |
| + | mv Mint-Y-Dark-Aqua My-Dark-Aqua | ||
| + | |||
| + | </ | ||
| * Edit My-Dark-Aqua/ | * Edit My-Dark-Aqua/ | ||
| * Edit My-Dark-Aqua/ | * Edit My-Dark-Aqua/ | ||
| - | | + | < |
| - | ... | + | .panel-top, .panel-bottom, |
| - | background-color: | + | ... |
| + | background-color: | ||
| + | |||
| + | </ | ||
| + | ====== Fedora nVidia driver procedure ====== | ||
| + | |||
| + | (untested, from a random goon) | ||
| + | |||
| + | First: | ||
| + | |||
| + | < | ||
| + | |||
| + | </ | ||
| + | Then go to [[https:// | ||
linux_desktop_setup.txt · Last modified: 2025/03/17 17:41 by tkbletsc