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--- linux_desktop_setup [2026/03/08 16:44] – tkbletsc
+++ linux_desktop_setup [2026/04/21 21:04] (current) – [Distro and desktop environment] tkbletsc
@@ Line 24: / Line 24: @@
   - **i3**: Insufferable nerd shit by people that never learned what UI discoverability is. The vim of desktops.
   - **GNOME**: See "Ubuntu" above – this UI needs to be put out of its misery. I would rather learn i3 than put up with this shit.
-  - **Enlightenment**: This is it, the most jibbering batshit insane environment tested. On first boot, a sequence of incredibly neurotic warnings pop up for things ranging from ACPI stepping revision of your motherboard to the notification that ethernet, in fact, still exists. The launcher icons violently explode continuously at you if you so much as hover over them. Right click menu includes an option ominously labeled "Run everything". I mentioned using it to a friend, and he replied "Oh, you don't know about the Enlightenment guy? He's nuts" and linked me [[https://discord.com/channels/@me/446467085317701662/1197371852696322078|this article]], which states, among many things, that every interaction is based on the casting of void* pointers. I never thought I could look at a GUI and //feel//  the pointer casting, but here, you can.
+  - **Enlightenment**: This is it, the most jibbering batshit insane environment tested. On first boot, a sequence of incredibly neurotic warnings pop up for things ranging from ACPI stepping revision of your motherboard to the notification that ethernet, in fact, still exists. The launcher icons violently explode continuously at you if you so much as hover over them. Right click menu includes an option ominously labeled "Run everything". I mentioned using it to a friend, and he replied "Oh, you don't know about the Enlightenment guy? He's nuts" and linked me [[https://web.archive.org/web/20250103001521/https://what.thedailywtf.com/topic/15001/enlightened|this article]], which states, among many things, that every interaction is based on the casting of void* pointers. I never thought I could look at a GUI and //feel//  the pointer casting, but here, you can.
 ====== Random setup tips ======
@@ Line 67: / Line 68: @@
   * **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's deb file.
 ===== Stuff to install =====
@@ Line 76: / Line 76: @@
   * XnView → XnView MP (commercial, [[https://www.xnview.com/en/xnview-mp/|available here]])
   * Paint.NET → LazPaint
-  * Notepad++ → xed? vscode? something else? (NOT "notepadqq", which crashes constantly)
+  * Notepad++ → See text editor shootout below. Answer: **xed**  (lightweight, included) or **kate**  (a bit thicker, nicer). \\ Note: //not//  "notepadqq", which crashes constantly.
   * Greenshot → (nothing, just hit shift+printscrn)
   * WizTree → QDirStat
@@ Line 84: / Line 84: @@
 Quick installation command:
-<code>sudo apt install meld vlc qdirstat</code>
+<code>
+sudo apt install meld vlc qdirstat
+</code>
 ===== AutoHotKey-type-stuff =====
@@ Line 92: / Line 96: @@
 For simple button mapping, use ''xbindkeys''  (to bind a key/button to a command) and ''xdotool''  (to simulate a keypress with a command).
 <code>
 sudo apt-get install xbindkeys xdotool
 xbindkeys --defaults> ~/.xbindkeysrc
 </code>
@@ Line 104: / Line 110: @@
 "xdotool key XF86AudioPlay"
   b:9
 </code>
@@ Line 110: / Line 117: @@
 <code>
 xev | grep -i button
 </code>
 To (re-)run the binder:
 <code>
 killall xbindkeys ; xbindkeys
 </code>
@@ Line 167: / Line 177: @@
 cp -r /usr/share/themes/Mint-Y-Dark-Aqua/ .
 mv Mint-Y-Dark-Aqua My-Dark-Aqua
 </code>
@@ Line 176: / Line 187: @@
   ...
   background-color: rgba(25, 25, 100, 0.99); /* tkb: taskbar color */
 </code>
@@ Line 184: / Line 196: @@
 fstab: ''[IPADDR]:[EXPORT] [MOUNTPOINT] nfs4 rw,_netdev,x-systemd.mount-timeout=500 0 1''
-====== Fedora nVidia driver procedure ======
+====== Text editor shootout ======
-(untested, from a random goon)
+I needed a primary GUI text editor for Linux. I'm not a vim or emacs person, so those and their derivitives are out. On Windows, I find Notepad++ to be fine. Required features:
-First:
+  * Visual: Good color theming, including good dark modes, syntax highlighting, current line highlighting, paren match highlighting, and selected token match highlighting.
+  * Sane tab behavior (keep indent on newline, select+tab & shift+tab, home key toggles true home and indented home
-<code>
+  * Tabbed documents with ease of making and closing a quick new file
-sudo dnf install https://mirrors.rpmfusion.org/free/fedora/rpmfusion-free-release-$(rpm -E %fedora).noarch.rpm https://mirrors.rpmfusion.org/nonfree/fedora/rpmfusion-nonfree-release-$(rpm -E %fedora).noarch.rpm
+  * Editor tools for case conversion, EOL detect and change, full regex support with grouping and backrefs
-</code>
+  * Ability to load/save files via SFTP (either natively or via common library support)
-Then go to [[https://rpmfusion.org/Howto/NVIDIA|https://rpmfusion.org/Howto/NVIDIA]] and copy/paste a few more commands.
+Findings, in descending order of quality:
+  - **Kate**: The IDE from KDE. Fairly lightweight despite its features. The Flatpak install is fine to dodge KDE dependencies. Has every desired feature. If you install Language Server Protocol tools (LSP), it can even understand code structure in various languages. Here are the LSPs for common languages:
+     * **C/C++**: ''clangd''
+     * **Python**: ''python3-pylsp''
+     * **Rust**: ''rust-analyzer''
+     * **Go**: ''gopls''
+     * **Java**: — ''jdtls''
+     * **Javascript, PHP, other web stuff**: various crap on npm, but npm is a dumpster
+  - **xed**: Comes with Mint. Fast and perfectly fine. Gaps: no matching symbol highlighting, and you can only set EOL during save with no facility to detect what EOL you've opened.
+  - **Pluma**: Clearly shares a common ancestor with xed, but it's more primitive. No reason for it to exist.
+  - **Sublime**: Fine, but commerical, and there's no need to be paying (or dodging paying) for an editor in current year.
+  - **Geany**: Dark mode is hilariously primitive – just an "invert colors" option. No SFTP support.
+  - **gedit**: Dogshit interface from the modern minimalist GNOME idiots. Enjoy guessing what the shapes mean.
+  - **Featherpad**: No themes, just manual selection of individual colors. Shameful.
+  - **SciTE**: No settings GUI at all, it will just open a mile-long config file for you to edit by hand. Super shameful.
+  - **VSCode**: Increasingly bloated, and here's the kicker: every time you use it to SSH into somewhere, it craps out a 150MB runtime without asking onto the server, and grows it by another 150MB with every update. Long-time deployments can lead to hidden server-side shitheaps of 1GB or more. Absolutely unconscionable.