kuberoot

kuberoot , vor 3 Stunden

The responsibility to figure out the dependencies and packaging for distros, and then maintain those going forwards, should not be placed on the developer. If a developer wants to do that, then that's fine - but if a developer just wants to provide source with solid build instructions, and then provide a flatpak, maybe an appimage, then that's also perfectly fine.

In a sense, developers shouldn't even be trusted to manage packaging for distributions - it's usually not their area of expertise, maintainers of specific distributions will usually know better.

kuberoot , vor 18 Minuten

I think you're actually agreeing with me here. I was disputing the claim that software should be made available in "a native package format", and my counterpoint is that devs shouldn't be packaging things for distros, and instead providing source code with build instructions, alongside whatever builds they can comfortably provide - primarily flatpak and appimage, in my example.

I don't use flatpak, and I prefer to use packages with my distro's package manager, but I definitely can't expect every package to be available in that format. Flatpak and appimage, to my knowledge, are designed to be distro-agnostic and easily distributed by the software developer, so they're probably the best options - flatpak better for long-term use, appimage usable for quickly trying out software or one-off utilities.

As for tar.gz, these days software tends to be made available on GitHub and similar platforms, where you can fetch the source from git by commit, and releases also have autogenerated source downloads. Makefiles/automake isn't a reasonable expectation these days, with a plethora of languages and build toolchains, but good, clear instructions are definitely something to include.

kuberoot , vor 14 Tagen

And reinstalling the packages, moving over all the configs, setting up the partitions and moving the data over? (Not in this order, of course)

Cloning a drive would just require you to plug both the old and new to the same machine, boot up (probably from a live image to avoid issues), running a command and waiting until it finishes. Then maybe fixing up the fstab and reinstalling the bootloader, but those are things you need to do to install the system anyways.

I think the reason you'd want to reinstall is to save time, or get a clean slate without any past config mistakes you've already forgotten about, which I've done for that very reason, especially since it was still my first, and less experienced, install.

kuberoot , vor 27 Tagen

In addition to what was said by somebody else about atomic updates, even a simple update via package manager on a regular distro will do all the work up front, and not take extra time on next boot. Before you reboot, most things will continue working fine - and most of the remaining things that might not can be worked around.

kuberoot , vor einem Monat

Thankfully the AI use is very tame so far, used for stuff like offline alt text generation and offline translation. I'm personally still concerned about copyrights and ethics of the models used, but at least it's directed towards providing specific features, not a magic cure-all.

kuberoot , vor einem Monat

"Calling out" gnome for needing extensions for customization seems stupid when those extensions are easy to find, easy to use, and work really well. On the other hand, I have not been able to find a taskbar for plasma that would let me group windows from an application together while also letting me rearrange the windows inside of a group. I know I need to try implementing it myself someday, but I feel like gnome ends up having more options.

kuberoot , vor einem Monat

I think Arch is meant for people who want to learn the software - so that you can also choose, control, customize, diagnose, and fix the software!

That said, archwiki is still a great resource on other distros for when something does go wrong, or when it's not obvious how to do something, particularly when messing with experimental or server stuff.

kuberoot , vor 2 Monaten

Yes, do as I say!

kuberoot , vor 2 Monaten

That's the point of the fediverse and activitypub - posts from one platform are federated to other compatible platforms. I know this also includes kbin, but there's probably other platforms.

kuberoot , vor 2 Monaten

I will happily recommend Arch to a new user... If they're interested in learning Linux, and not dependent on it working reliably, while warning them of the risks and telling them about the advantages.

I wouldn't recommend it to somebody who wants something that just works, but for tech-inclined people looking for a system they are in control (and responsibility) of, willing to learn how to set it up, I think a manual installation is a good experience.

But they will be warned.

kuberoot , vor 2 Monaten

As others mentioned, archwiki is the information source if you want to use Arch, and a great source of information even if using other distributions.

For other distros, I've seen people mention Linux Journey.

All that said, you might not be able to drop Windows entirely - if we're talking CAD software, the Adobe suite, that kind of stuff, you might not be able to find suitable alternatives for Linux. That said, you can always dual boot, or you might even be able to work with a VM.

If you do want to try a dual boot, I strongly recommend setting up the Linux boot partition on a separate physical drive, to minimize the risk of Windows overwriting it... As well as you accidentally messing up your windows install. I'd also recommend using rEFInd as the bootloader, since it's very easy to set up and will automatically show a boot option for Windows.

Feel free to ask questions, I'm no expert, but I'll try to answer when I have time.