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Easiest and closest would be manjaro.(gui installer, comes with steam preinstalled) https://manjaro.org/downloads/official/kde/
After that would be arch linux(you choose the packages, command line setup)
Install Manjaro, is the most used distro that is based on Arch and have an easy installer.
Select your favourite desktop environment (SteamOS is going to use KDE) and install it like a Windows.
Check any YouTube guide if you need help.
you don't have much to worry about if you have a GUI installer + prepackaged Software
https://manjaro.org/downloads/official/kde/
manjaro would be closest thing to steam os: same base distribution (arch), kde plasma, steam already installed.
The most jarring thing about linux is software is not installed (but it can be) like windows or macbwhere you go to a website and install it,no. You have a central repository and you download/install software via a package manager(gui or via terminal). It's kind of like the windows store on steroids.
Want to install firefox? Open terminal and run: sudo pacman -S firefox
Chrome? sudo pacman -S chromium
Manjaro also has a GUI for installing packages.
Users are contrained to their /home/[username here] directory by default. You need to elivate permissions to an administrative level(root) to do so. Remember I mentioned sudo? SUperuser DO. it prompts you for your user password to make sure it's you. Think of it as Windows UAC(user account controls, that little popup that says run as administrator?) on steroids
Yeah, KDE Plasma is confirmed as the Desktop environment
Manjaro + KDE will probably will be a good place to get your hands dirty, and what you learn there will likely translate rather well to Steam OS 3.0
The thing which I would recommend to you most is Manjaro KDE
I understand You won't happily consider something made from Arch, But beleive me, It is very stable..... It uses its own Repository cycle which is indeed quite stable
Plus it comes with the latest and the most beautiful version of KDE Plasma
And also the whole time using it, I never came across even a single dependency issue (a.k.a the greatest nightmare of every linux user ever)
You can always message me if ya need any help
:)
I've briefly used Elementary OS and haven't had any issues with stability.
Manjaro has a community release of Deepin that should solve any security/privacy concerns you have.
https://manjaro.org/community-editions/
Apparently Antergos also has a Deepin desktop environment you can choose at installation.
This is not a jab at the usual "Hur dur Kali". This is a friendly list of the best way to run Kali (in my opinion), and some reasons why.
1) Uninstall Kali as your daily driver. It was not intended to be used this way. It could be used this way in theory, but the defaults are really not great for a desktop distro. Like how everything defaults to root. This is a good way to, ironically, get yourself hacked, and in a real bad way.
2) Install Arch if you want to DIY your hacking setup or pick from the myriad of great pre-builts (I'd recommend Fedora, I've always felt their default packages were more dev centric or if you're feeling really adventurous, I run i3 Manjaro. It's like Arch but a lot of people with patience built most of it for you).
3) Burn Kali to some medium and use it the way that I feel it works best as: A Live OS.
Side note: i3 Manjaro has been my favorite linux experience to date. Shout out to those guys <3
I recommend Manjaro.
- Easy acess to AUR (Arch User Repository), Flatpaks and Snaps
- Good-looking (they have several DEs to choose)
- It ships with LTS kernel, but you can install the latest one if you want.
- I found it to be stable, and I didn't experienced any issues with it. But I can't be sure about that, because I've been using it for only 4 months.
- Don't have to use the terminal for almost nothing, everything can be done in programs already included.
​
>Deepin in another, which looks cool but is becoming annoying to deal with
Manjaro has the deepin DE, if you want to use it.
That is a bug that is fixed in 5.23,wait until arrives on Manjaro or if you want it already you can change branch from stable to testing.
Right now i'm on testing branch and only have a minor bug with the application launcher,the sound issue you posted is not here.
If you want a lightweight environment and dislike Gnome, then I suggest XFCE. Most distros support XFCE, Linux Mint and Xubuntu being 2 of the top ones. If you want to get away from debian/ubuntu-based distros there is also Manjaro XFCE which uses pacman instead of apt and is considered a rolling-release so all of your software is up-to-date (which comes with it's own drawbacks but is generally a good experience). XFCE is not as light as MATE but it certainly gives you a better out of the box look and experience.
Aside from XFCE, there is also KDE, but I'm not a huge advocate of KDE because it does a lot of things different (QT, theming, etc.) and has a ton of settings to configure and setup (which can also be useful if you are looking for that). I still like KDE for some of those reasons, but I think XFCE is a lighter and simpler version of KDE that will give you noticeable results for performance, and temperature levels compared to Gnome.
A few weeks to stable, It's already in "unstable" branch.
If you'd like to test, first make a backup.
sudo pacman-mirrors --api --set-branch unstable sudo pacman-mirrors --fasttrack 5 && sudo pacman -Syyu .
^Sources:
Switching branches is one way. Don't do this yet unless people have a better way.
You should give Linux a try even if on a VM beforehand, mostly so you'll know your way around it when needed. I recommend checking Manjaro KDE version https://manjaro.org/downloads/official/kde/ that should be relatively similar to the OS that will be running on the Deck (Arch based + KDE Plasma).
Most people have problems when trying Linux because they try to do things the Windows ways, even some small familiarity with the system goes a long way in making you feel at home. I'm sure after the Deck comes out a lot of people will have tweaks/tips and having some passing familiarity with the system will go a long way into understand what these tweaks are about.
I found links in your comment that were not hyperlinked:
I did the honors for you.
^delete ^| ^information ^| ^<3
There's a lot of integration that can be done around i3 to make it a well-rounded experience. It can go way beyond just installing the "i3" package and lighting a cigarette. Sound, notifications, login manager, file manager, compositor... Check out all the things that Manjaro does in their i3 edition.
The least bloated OS would be something that uses only a Window Manager for the desktop environment, like i3. Manjaro has a good community spin of that.
Also, Bodhi Linux is very lightweight due to using the Enlightenment desktop.
But honestly, you really won't notice any difference at all in FPS compared to regular distros.
Lightweight distros are really only intended for old RAM starved computers (1 to 2GB or less), where a few hundred MB of RAM freed up can make a big difference. On a gaming rig with 8GB of ram or more? Not so much.
>Who told you to install Manjaro KDE as your first Linux distro.
Maybe the team responsible for Manjaro?
> Is an accessible, friendly, open-source operating system. Providing all the benefits of cutting-edge software combined with a focus on getting started quickly, automated tools to require less manual intervention, and help readily available when needed. Manjaro is suitable for both newcomers and experienced computer users. > >Source: https://manjaro.org
Manjaro repositories lag a couple days/weeks behind Arch repositories. If you want the absolute latest packages on Manjaro, use the <em>unstable</em> branch. You can compare the available package versions between branches with this tool.
I am currently using Manjaro (Arch-based) without any issues at all. You can also use the architect installer to customize your build.
How advanced linux user are you? I know about two options - i3 and dwm and I would not recommend to use any of these to beginner since you have to be fluent in the terminal to configure it.
i3 - for intermediate user. Instalation should be easy, configuration for just basic functionality too.
dwm - for experienced user. Requires manual compilation. The configuration is done directly in the code (to apply changes in the config, recompilation is required!)
Personally I prefer i3 since it is easier to setup, but go for the dwm if you like C. The usage is more fluent in my opinion.
Currentl I use manjaro i3 which provides extended i3 setup on top of manjaro linux (arch for noobs).
And there wouldn't be an issue if it was marketed as a bleeding edge distro.
> Manjaro is a professionally made operating system that is a suitable replacement for Windows or MacOS.
> Is an accessible, friendly, open-source operating system... help readily available when needed. Manjaro is suitable for both newcomers and experienced computer users.
> We have a polite, friendly and cheerful Forum, where everyone is welcoming and supportive.
The first issue with Linux on ARM is the lack of standardization. Unlike x86_64 where each distribution can have a single iso that boots everywhere, on ARM you need custom images for everything. Just look at the number of downloads in the ARM section of Manjaro: https://manjaro.org/download/
The second issue is that ARM is much more locked down. Just like Android phones, you won't be able to throw an alternative OS on your own machine if the manufacturer has decided to lock down the bootloader (unless you find an exploit of something like that). People with ARM laptops won't be able to "just try Linux" by booting off a USB drive.
The good news however is that Linux itself already supports ARM pretty well. The road has been paved by projects like the Raspberry Pi or the Pinebook Pro, and open-source driver support is coming along nicely. And for most open-source Linux applications, ARM support is often just a recompilation away. It's a different story for closed-source apps however.
I sincerely hope that we are not moving towards a future where the majority of laptops are ARM-based, locked down and unable to boot Linux. But even if that happens, we'll (probably) still have projects like the Pinebook Pro to count on.
The minimal window managers you're referencing usually require quite a bit of configuration to get right. They're aiming to be flexible and for you to design your optimal workflow, rather than general appeal.
That said, check out Manjaro i3 Edition from their community releases.
It's a good starting point to get into tiling or minimalist window managers, and there are tons of usable configs on Unixporn that can be adapted to get your own system just right.
> Why use an Arch-based distribution if you "don't look like r/archlinux"?
Because Manjaro literally promises to be Arch without most of the hassle? Just read the official "about" page before spouting condescending shit like you are. It literally says:
> However, Arch is also aimed at more experienced or technically-minded users. As such, it is generally considered to be beyond the reach of those who lack the technical expertise (or persistence) required to use it.
Developed in Austria, France, and Germany, Manjaro provides all the benefits of the Arch operating system combined with a focus on user-friendliness and accessibility.
And under features it even lists "Its own dedicated software repositories to ensure delivery of fully tested and stable software packages".
> Windows 10 is litterally THE WORST when it comes to privacy
Yes, that is absolutely true. Microsoft introduced a lot of new software that has a lot of privacy issues.
> And is Windows 7 any better?
Yes, but still has privacy issues
> And what is the best OS for privacy?
As others have said, Linux. I personally use Manjaro. KDE version would be best for someone coming from Windows, and it's beautiful. XFCE is great too. Works out of the box. I use it for everything, including gaming. I only get on Windows 10 for games that I can't play on Linux, which is not many.
Jep, when I first switched form Ubuntu to Arch I had some problems too because of some things I wasn't used to setting up manually, like graphics drivers for example. So yeah, while I like the Arch kind oft installation now, I understand that, like I said, its not for everyone.
But if you want an Arch-based distro with the same features like the AUR and rolling release (I think?) but with an Ubuntu/Linux Mint like installer I highly recommend you check out Manjaro :)
I would not introduce new people to Arch with a GUI installer - anyone using Arch should be able to read and understand the Installation guide and if the cannot I do not think Arch is the right distro for them. In the same way, I do not advise you ever install Arch for anyone else.
Archs main benefit comes from having an understanding of how you have configured your system - something that quickly turns into a headake when you start encountering problems and you do not have this understanding. Seeking advice becomes harder as you have no clue how your system is configured and nor does anyone else as each Arch install is different. Unlike other distros where you can assume the way the installer has configured things.
If you want a rolling release distro with a GUI installer similar to Arch use Manjaro. If you want to introduce them to Arch show them the install guide.
There is Kgpg which is fairly easy to use and KDE now has built in 'encryption vaults' which are insanely easy to use (more for folders rather than files..)
https://linuxconfig.org/create-encrypted-folders-with-plasma-vault
I would recommend OpenSUSE (leap 15), Manjaro Linux or KDE Neon - wait until they release the Neon release based on 18.04 is out however.
Windows 10 has had a lot of privacy issues, including possibly sending everything you type to Microsoft by default.
You should never trust closed-source software to respect your privacy. You are not in control when using Windows 10.
I switched to Linux when Windows 10 was released, and I've loved it. If you want to try it out, I'd recommend Kubuntu or Manjaro KDE edition (these are easy to use for beginners). You can try it either from a live USB drive, or install it in a virtual machine (though Windows can still spy on you through a virtual machine).
You don't have to ditch Windows entirely if you want to install Linux. You can install Linux along with Windows by dual-booting, where you'll get the option of either Windows or Linux when you turn your computer on.
If you decide to dual-boot, you should encrypt your Linux install to prevent Windows 10 from looking at it.
I would never, ever suggest Arch for someone who describes themselves as a newbie, however brilliant and meticulous the Arch Linux wiki is. Unless OP is willing to take a baptism of fire and risk not having a usable laptop until someone knowledgeable can fix it, they should not use Arch.
However, I would recommend <strong>Manjaro</strong> as a user-friendly distro which is based on Arch, so it could eventually serve as a gateway drug if OP is so inclined.
^^^I ^^^use ^^^Arch ^^^btw
You don't need to change distro. You can have all the DE on manjaro you may possibly want. There are community managed DE for manjaro, and you can find budgie as well. At the end of the day, stick with what you're familiar with. And try different DE to see which one suits you the best.
https://manjaro.org/download/#Community
You can also try manjaro xfce if you are looking for lightweight DE.
It’s a version of Arch Linux with a more friendly user interface. Both are really light on using pc resources so old pc can gain a second life, as my mid 2011 nearly dead MacBook Air
I read an article suggesting Manjaro was actually surprisingly low-friction for gaming, even when compared to ubuntu and PopOS. Manjaro's own sell is here. There's even what seems to be an unofficial gaming "spin".
I personally have recently joined the XFCE train and so would recommend xubuntu if you end up doing a *buntu (and using the XFCE edition of manjaro if that's your choice) - it's much snappier than GNOME, and with a bit of fiddling looks perfectly nice. Kubuntu on the same machine was terribly unstable.
> This kind of hostility toward new users is part of why Linux will never catch on. Good job i3.
I3 is wholly unsuitable for new users who don't want to do some reading on the front end. If you don't read anything and start up i3 you might not be able to do anything including log out without power cycling your machine.
Its perfectly OK to make tools like this that only appeal to a subset of users. It's also OK for say manjaro to pre package a pretty looking i3
https://manjaro.org/2017/03/07/manjaro-i3-community-edition-17-0-released/
However some of the users apt to pick up such a thing that wouldn't have picked up i3 aren't going to be happy with an environment that requires them to have to do their own reading.
Purism, Entroware, StationX is a beauty. Also Dell XPS, Precision and others - you can get it with Ubuntu and then nuke and pave with whatever you want knowing that hardware will work.
You should be able to use any distro for your needs.
I personally use Manjaro, which is an arch-based distro. And I love it.
I also personally like using Manjaro Architect as my distro installer to be able to customize my installation.
The favicons for maui and manjaro from their websites.
- https://mauilinux.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/maui-logo-512x512.png (512px uhg gotta scale first)
- https://manjaro.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/favicon.ico (16px)
new spritesheet: https://i.imgur.com/RSkjVuX.png
.flair-maui { background-position: 0px -916px; } .flair-manjaro { background-position: 0px -932px; }
> Also, second question that has been in my mind for while. I have been looking about manjaro, but theres 2 websites?
> https://manjaro.org and https://manjaro.github.io Whats diffrence and where should i get my ISO ?
I would like to know why people chooses Manjaro and doesn't go with Arch?
Is it the installation process? One can use arch-anywhere, but you should really understand what's going on if you want Arch.
Also, Manjaro has a Cinnamon desktop variant built on Debian stable instead of Ubuntu. It's pretty great too. I do run Mint (17.3) though. Edit link: https://manjaro.org/category/community-editions/cinnamon/
I switched from Ubuntu to Manjaro a couple years ago and, for me, it's been the most stable setup I've ever had. Since you seem to have an interest in keyboard efficiency, have you tried the i3 version?
This is Ubuntu Cinnamon: https://ubuntucinnamon.org/ So yes he's running Ubuntu with the Cinnamon Desktop Environment.
Then there is Manjaro Cinnamon: https://manjaro.org/downloads/community/cinnamon/ Which would be Manjaro with the Cinnamon Desktop Environment.
Linux Mint is another distribution of Linux and it's most popular Desktop Environment is Cinnamon: https://linuxmint.com/download.php But there are the other Desktop Environments that Mint ships with and those being: MATE and Xfce.
Could also try a Linux distribution good for gaming. Probably a better choice than using Windows 7 today.
L4D2 is native and the others seem to work without problem by just using the steam build proton ("Steam Play" in steam options). So just press install and then play.
- Personal hardware expenses are not listed in "For what will my donations be used for?" on Manjaro donation site
- From that site: "The Community board is approving the use of donations to fund project-related expenses in coordination with the fiscal host. The company may advise, but will never interfere with decision-making by the community board." - in this case, the Company said: "hand me the money" and when Community treasurer refused, he was removed (not resigned).
- 2000€ for a developer's laptop is a bit much… it's totally understandable why the treasurer would want to have explained why the expense is needed, instead of just handing out the money.
> I also get where the lead developer is coming from.
I don't. Handling of this issue is shady; 2 days and no official statement.
I would prefer it as an overlay, personally, but it is a personal preference and the current implementation doesn't bother me at all. The find bar is a part of the interface, and the interface needs room to be displayed, so other content is moved out of the way. The same thing happens when you toggle the bookmarks bar, the address bar, the horizontal menu, the panel, and the status bar.
The find bar works the same way in ~~Firefox and~~ Opera.
Edit: Actually for Firefox it seems to vary. For example content on https://manjaro.org/ gets shifted up when the find bar is toggled in Firefox, but content on https://duckduckgo.com/ does not. I suspect this is due to elements on Manjaro's home page using vh values for adaptive height. But Opera's find bar does seem to behave the same way as Vivaldi's, albeit with a smooth transition. Another Olde-Opera-like browser that does this is Otter. And of course so did Olde-Opera itself, which probably explain's Vivaldi's current implementation. Various other much smaller browsers behave this way too, but notably Chrome and most Chromium-based browsers do not.
Shifting the web page content down ~30px to make room for a new interface element when the user toggles it doesn't break anything and makes complete sense.
Edit: phrasing, typos, and last sentence.
Kubuntu https://kubuntu.org/ or Manjaro KDE https://manjaro.org/ You can customize KDE a lot.
For games install Steam and enable steam play proton to play windows games on linux. Also install Lutris.
If you want something that works right out of the box I would recommend Linux Mint. But if you like Arch based system, go for Manjaro , but it will require you bit of a work to customise it. I do distro hop every 3 - 4 months just try out and use it as a daily but so far I have stuck to linux mint as my daily on my desktop and laptop.
- As long as you have your proper drivers (which most of the time Linux will take care of its self) you will have equivalent if not better battery life, because your laptop will not wake up randomly to install updates.
- You generally don't have to worry about malware / viruses while using a linux distro. Malware writers don't really write malware that targets linux desktops. You are definitely more at risk using a windows machine.
If you are still worried, you could grab a distro that has a rolling release schedule, such as a arch distro such as Manjero or Antergos. Arch distros pride theirselves on being on the cutting edge of things in the linux world. They can do this because of their ability to roll out a patch to the kernal without even requiring a system reboot. So you can continue on with your work uninterrupted while the arch guys are patching any kind of newly discovered vulnerabilities in the background.
- If you have a Microsoft office subscription you can access their products from the web now. If you need to access something off-line, libre-office is able to open Microsoft documents and save them back as an office document. I can't speak to the adobe products. They don't run natively on linux, they can run through WINE. But I have no experience with that, maybe someone with more experience with that can chime in.
Install Manjaro KDE. https://manjaro.org/ Much better than Windows 10 and no more spying and forced updates. Awesome OOTB customization by KDE.
Manjaro is rated #1 on Distrowatch. https://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=popularity
It looks like this guy was able to get it working on Ubuntu
https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=core-i3-8100&num=1
You may also try a rolling distro like Arch (use Manjoro for beginners https://manjaro.org/)
If you liked the idea of Arch, you could try Manjaro, a distro based on Arch designed to be an easier to set up and use alternative. They have a version developed by the community that has i3-gaps already set up for you here.
Debian is the better option for stability, but I've found Manjaro to be impressively stable overall.
https://manjaro.org/features/usercases/gamers/
"Manjaro comes preinstalled with Steam, so there’s no need to go to a website and download it manually."
If your pc is on the way out you might as well try Linux to revive it. The case where it killed your hdd seems to have been a one off. I would suggest manjaro. Windows is super bloated so linux would make your computer seem faster.
I think the easiest way is to boot from a live USB-Stick: https://manjaro.org/support/firststeps/#making-a-live-system You download manjaro (I prefer the KDE version) as an iso file. Then you take an application to "burn" that iso file to a USB-Stick. Once that's finished you can tell your computer to boot from that USB-stick by pressing F2 during startup. Then you can navigate with your arrowkeys to a section called "boot" and select your USB stick. Then you can try the operating system on the stick without modifying your computer. If you have any trouble with this just ask.
I'm not on the Arch path yet, but I can't wait to get started. But that's something that will not only fail to convince most windows users but utterly terrify them, never to try Linux again. I switched to an easier distro from Manjaro because it was simply too customizable for me to be able to keep it useful until I spent some time with Linux first. It's a shift that can be too much.
Keep in mind, the more power you have to customise the more power you have to break it. And Windows realised that and removed the power to break things from the user almost entirely. that's why it just works for most people, especially those who don't really care about it.
I guess you want to look at Manjaro (who changed their website since i last looked at them, incidentally) and Garuba if you haven't yet, but even those probably won't work well for beginners.
Start off with https://pop.system76.com then make your way to an Arch based distro like https://manjaro.org and use that but be warned it’s kinda broken. Next, make use the final boss https://archlinux.org You will have escaped the Windows and you will have fully control of your computer. You can make it look nicer with r/unixporn or just look like a hacker by upgrading your system.
>Maybe I'm weird, but I wish we could go back to something more like Windows 7, or even XP, rather than the always connected BS that is 10 and probably even more so 11.
Manjaro XFCE. Your wish is my command.
Seriously though, this is part of the reason people like me love the Linux community.
New school windows style? Old school windows style? New Mac style? Old mac style? Tiling? Headless? (I'm glossing over things a bit here, sorry linux DE designers...)
The problem with Windows versions is that not everybody wants the same things from their computer. On Linux, you get to decide what you want your PC to be. It's in all PC users interest to at least support the idea of that.
More secure and games better than 7 or XP too. ;)
Even though I switched to KDE now (issues with my 165hz monitor on Gnome 40), I preferred the theme that Manjaro comes with (everything green!) even on KDE. That's my reason to switch to testing (and now unstable) branch to try Gnome 40.
You can check where the package has landed using https://manjaro.org/branch-compare/
I see it's already in the stable branch, maybe your mirror did not get updated yet (how does that happen?)
I would want you to try Manjaro KDE
It uses its own Repository cycle which is indeed quite stable
Plus it comes with the latest and the most beautiful version of KDE Plasma
And also the whole time using it, I never came across even a single dependency issue (a.k.a the greatest nightmare of every linux user ever)
Manjaro has Its own hardware detection tool namely MHWD which automatically takes care of any sort of driver you want
I personally had some shitty Broadcom network card on my laptop due to which I even had to uninstall OpenSuse once because I couldn't find the driver to make it work (Seriously). Manjaro had the driver auto installed during the install
Speaking of packages, Manjaro has Its own GUI named Pamac...... from that single place, you can install and update packages from the Official repositories, Flatpak, snap and AUR at the same time. (AUR is the arch user repository and possibly the single largest repository containing 98% of all packages made for linux)
I can safely say that it is more user friendly than Windows itself
Even still If you're not sure you can just fire up a VM and try manjaro live boot on it
:)
Hello there!
I'll point out the same thing can happen to your Linux system if you do not take care of what you install, same as on Windows. Your operating system is as secure as you let it be.
Without counting a VM you will be very limited in terms of games, look at this: protondb.com/
For VMs you will probably want to setup GPU passthrough, your OS will run off the iGPU and the VM with the dGPU, for more reading I recommend this: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/PCI_passthrough_via_OVMF#Isolating_the_GPU
On the DE question, DE is desktop environment such as Gnome (ew), KDE and XFCE and many others like Cinnamon. Manjaro offers the four I mentioned and many more: https://manjaro.org/
For distro avoid Ubuntu based distros. They have ancient kernels and drivers. To quote the person who made Linux gaming a thing, "Stable" in the Ubuntu LTS/Debian sense doesn't mean bug-free, it means that they don't change much. And that's good for some workloads, it absolutely isn't when you want to game on the thing since the infrastructure around it is in active development. And you're throwing all of that overboard when using 50 different PPAs anyway.
I wanna say this really isn't worth the effort, stick to Windows but just be careful of what you install, and if you were going to run said games, you will still be putting whatever personal data you put in the VM at "risk".
I recommend you to just be careful of what you install, but if you want to continue just stay away from Ubuntu and shit based off it, maybe try Manjaro but again, not worth it for what you're saying.
>hate Manjaro bloat on install
For the record, Manjaro has a version called "Architect" (scroll all the way down here), which you can use to install so called "minimal" versions of any normal Manjaro version.
This blog post has a list of all the things you wont get by default if you choose a minimal version. (e.g. no Steam, JDK, VLC, GIMP, Firefox, ...)
Note that for some Manjaro versions there are also minimal installers readily available, so you don't necessarily need Manjaro Architect, but Manjaro Architect is a sure way for getting a minimal installation.
For the average user who want all their software available in their repository (think app store except always free and often even libre) as soon as it is produced, probably Manjaro.
Yes manjaro.org is down, the GitHub repo should be up. The forum of the website is still up so forum.manjaro.org, if we go by what the manjaro team posted on twitter, their host is moving manjaros server.
The official Manjaro site has some recommendations: https://manjaro.org/support/firststeps/
Alternately, this site has a lot of good, straightforward guides to things: https://itsfoss.com/create-live-usb-manjaro-linux/
Last, for any issues you run into there's the manjaro wiki: https://wiki.manjaro.org/index.php?title=Installation_Guides
and since manjaro is based on arch, there's the famously good Arch Wiki which usually also carries over (not really for the install process though).
The default desktop used in Solus, Budgie, is available elsewhere. Notably, on Ubuntu Budgie and Manjaro. Of course, Linux Mint has a minimal productive workspace in the same vein, called Cinnamon. Xfce is also a fairly lightweight alternative without looking too old-fashioned, and it's available in almost every distro in existence.
If you already use Manjaro, you might be interested in the XFCE version of Manjaro. XFCE is a lightweight desktop environment, much lighter than KDE or Gnome. It has a minimalist interface and supports plenty of customization. I use XFCE at home and I love it.
As a note, the 2 in 1 flip and touch screen support is generally on an operating system basis, not the desktop manager. I'm not sure what kind of support you should expect for your chosen model of laptop, maybe someone here knows what kind of driver support to expect. My experience with Manjaro is that most everything is supported out of the box, but YMMV.
CentOS 7 was released 4 years ago. The kernel is likely too old for your new hardware.
Try Manjaro in live mode and see if the wifi works. Manjaro has the latest kernel, 4.17.
> I will dual boot with Windows, because the games I play don't run on Linux. This will also create a separation from work and stuff I do in my free time
This is a huge pain in the ass from a productivity standpoint. You've got a modern, beefy system with pleny of RAM.
Consider native Linux options. Lots of games work well under Wine, especially when paired with DXVK. Running a virtual machine with PCI passthrough is also extremely useful. Both will be useful for running the (few) apps on your list that don't have Linux-native ports.
My recommendation would be Manjaro's i3 community release. (Note: Link is a torrent file. Other downloads options are here)
It's one of the better releases centered on i3 by virtue of i3 releases being extremely rare. It's got a good set of defaults, and the wallpaper gives a handy list of shortcuts by default, so it's actually usable on first boot.
I use Manjaro i3 (with PCI passthrough to Windows VMs for gaming). I love Manjaro. I will admit that 90% of the reason I keep picking it is to be able to use Arch Linux, but also have a full featured installer.
If you want to tip-toe the line a little further check out Manjaro Architect. It's a minimal Manjaro netinstall system that still does most of the dirty work for you, but let's you pick and customize from any of the official or community editions during the installation process.
Your new system is more than capable of running virtual machines. My strong suggestion would be to move the Windows install into a virtual machine and ditch the dual boot.
Windows doesn't play nice with multiple operating systems on the same physical hardware.
As to distro... if your new AMD APU is a 2200G or a 2400G, support for that is still very new. You'll need something with a 4.16 kernel and reasonably current linux-firmware as well. Without it, you won't get reliable video from the Vega video chipset.
Older integrated video should work find with the amdgpu open source driver, but many distros don't ship the needed raven_X.bin firmware. This might be related to your poor performance on Gnome since it uses hardware acceleration where possible. Even though Gnome is heavier than some alternatives, it's still lighter than Firefox and Chrome in most situations and a system with an SSD, 8GB of RAM, and working video should easily cope with a full Gnome install, plus browsers. With Firefox, Gnome 3, several extensions, and a couple Electron apps running in the background, I'm currently using 5.7GB of RAM. Your system should not be struggling with a similar workload, something's missing.
This pretty much means Arch-based or Fedora-based at the moment. Either direction will offer several lightweight desktop environments.
Fedora with LXDE or MATE for instance.
With the Arch-based route, you have even more minimal options. Several minimal window managers have nice default setups with Manjaro, like the Awesome or i3 spins.
Edits: Formatting links and stuffs
There is no easy way to remove systemd, no.
You could use Manjaro Architect in the past to setup another init system, but I'm not sure if it's possible now. Couldn't hurt to browse around the Manjaro forums to make sure.
I've made similar journey over Obarun, Void, Archlabs, ... to conclude on Arch in which I could use all that I had learned in the journey. I saw no reason not the use systemd in the end.
There's always http://without-systemd.org/wiki/index.php/Linux_distributions_without_systemd
Try Manjaro, it's based on Arch so you get more up to date drivers with fixes and it's very proprietary driver friendly, you basically don't need to add repositories for more software so is less of a headache.
My 2011 MacBook Pro had similar issues and massive GPU/CPU throttling on Debian and Ubuntu, meanwhile, Manjaro, and I guess Arch also, run almost native like on this machine.
Try running Manjaro XFCE, it has a very lightweight environment and is the primary distribution of the Developers so it means even less bugs.
>When I tried it, it felt super barebones and unpolished.
Just out of curiosity, what distro did you try it on? ex Fedora has absolutely barebones/default out of the box with XFCE (aside from wallpaper, big woop). Others, ex Manjaro, have a pretty well tweaked setup out of the box. Here's a sample of it: https://manjaro.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/manjaro-xfce.png
I'm sure you wanna say Manjaro given OP is not very familiar with Linux yet. BTW, for devs, there's no difference. And if you have around 5 packages in several distros (Ubuntu, Arch including) the line gets blurred. You end up installing multiple distros on VMs.
While we are at it, did anyone try Voyager Linux?
You should try playing with Manjaro Architect Installer :P
I tried it for the first time yesterday and it was so much fun to use.
Give Manjaro Linux a shot. It offers more configurability than Ubuntu and it's based on Arch so you get the Arch User Repository (AUR) so it makes it pretty easy to find just about anything you could want or need even if it requires a build environment. It did come with Steam installed at one point, not 100% sure it does now but it's worth a shot.
They forgot the Gnome version. The website isn't fully updated yet, but Gnome became officially supported with 17.0 instead of just a community spin.
>GNOME being a powerful, userfriendly, easy to use, customizable and fully accesible GTK3+ desktop environment, the Manjaro team has decided to offer the GNOME edition as a third official flavour with the 17.0 release.
Source: https://manjaro.org/2017/03/07/manjaro-gnome-17-0-released/
Then they're presumably gonna receive distro specifing information. An example query of
install program manjaro
Gives the first result of: https://manjaro.org/support/commonproblems/howtoinstallsoftware/
If they were to type for example
how to install programs linux
Then all the first results explain that you use a package manager of your specific distribution.
So, what is the problem again?
So, aside from privacy (and avoid Chrome of course for that), if you're new to Linux, the main thing that's going to matter to you for day to day driving is the desktop environment (the KDE part of Kubuntu). Since you're familiar with macOS, you may actually prefer GNOME to KDE (feels a little more macOS).
I'd recommended Fedora or Manjaro if you want to give a GNOME desktop a try. Despite the recent drama, I've had good experiences on Pop! too.
KDE is great, but I'd give it a try first. You may prefer XFCE, LXQT, MATE, who knows. You can always swap the desktop environment out if you wanted to, also. Best thing you can do is spin up a virtual machine (look for VirtualBox tutorials online) and try out some distros. Get behind the actual installation of a distro. I've used variations of Linux since around 2007 and I bounce between distros and desktop environments constantly. That's part of what's so great about the freedom of it all, I'm not tied to anything and can pick a new experience whenever I feel like it.
Thank you, but thats for the Manjaro unstable branch, not kde-unstable. For example, look on the Manjaro branch compare website https://manjaro.org/branch-compare/?query=plasma you can see there is a separate repo labeled "kde-unstable". Do you know how to add this repo to an existing Manjaro installation?
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH YES, this is probably where the issue lies. OK, so there are significantly different Window Managers with Linux, that's what drew me to it. The 3 big ones that Manjaro uses are XFCE, KDE, and GNOME. You probably picked the first one at the top of the website, correct?
Yeah, I wouldn't recommend installing SteamOS 2 onto anything at this point - it's really old and you likely can't upgrade to SteamOS 3 (v3 is based on an entirely different linux base). You're better learning on something like Manjaro Cinnamon or Manjaro KDE (the latter uses the same desktop interface as that the Steam Deck has) or waiting until there are official downloads for v3.
Recomendo usar alguma distribuição com xfce. O Ubuntu por padrão usa Gnome, que é mais pesado que o xfce, que é um Desktop Environment (DE) mais leve.
Pesquise sobre xubuntu, que é basicamente ubuntu com xfce.
Ou dê uma olhada no Manjaro, que é uma distribuição bastante amigável também. https://manjaro.org/download/
If the Steam deck requires linux experience to "get prepared" for the release... then I think it's fair to say it will have failed as a product. You should just be able to pick one up and use it with no problems, like a console. The familiarity with linux should only come into play if you want to do more exotic stuff like install emulators or use it as a regular desktop or whatever else.
That being said... Manjaro+KDE is the way to go. Arch if you're feeling particularly spicy, but again it's not necessary.
I had a classmate that used RedHat (before enterprise, the ony you installed from a floppy). I was already interested. Then a friend of mine started using Solaris and got me hooked on that. He gave me a copy and I installed it on a secondary system. It was great. Then we both went to Debian. That got me hooked. I had Debian installed on my main system when everyone was fearing for the Y2K bug. I witnessed the birth of Ubuntu, went to physical release parties of it. It was great.
I liked it from the beginning. I'm sure there are people that know way more about Linux than me, but right now. I've been working as a Linux engineer for a large company and I enjoy it.
I had LPIC training but right after I had that, I had some personal issues and didn't took the exam, which I should have. I've done loads of other smaller courses with certificates as well. I really should go after the LPI certificates as they are the most requested certificates in my area. After that maybe SuSe certificates and retake CISCO that expired years ago. But to be honest, I'm quite busy all the time and studying isn't my hobby.
If you want to know what to go for, go to linkedin/indeed/whatever, and look for Linux jobs. See what they ask. If they ask for LPI certificates, go for that, if they ask for RedHat, go for that.
Regarding Window managers, I can recommend to go to the manjaro website and download their i3wm based distro. Put it on a stick and boot from it to play with it. That way you don't need to set it up. For me, their default settings are pretty sane.
https://manjaro.org/downloads/community/i3/
i3 usually requires you to setup what you want, which can take some time, especially if you don't know what you want yet. Because of their settings, it's a great way to see what it can actually do.
Ok if you have a Hardrive it's very likely that the clicking noise is just your harddrive parking it's read / write heads but if you want to make sure that it's your hardrive you can boot from a Linux USB stick (A good Linux distro) go to Dolphin (file manager) do some stuff on your HDD and then right click and select "unmount" and listen to the sound your PC makes when you press it.
I'm not sure the details of how it works but you can make a Windows installation drive with a USB stick directly from Microsoft: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/create-installation-media-for-windows-99a58364-8c02-206f-aa6f-40c3b507420d
Even though it'll ask for a Product Key, I don't have one and it lets me continue with Windows 10 Home Edition. I did take the free upgrade to Windows 10 however and I haven't tried installing it on a computer that hasn't had Windows on it as some point so I'm not sure if that's why it works or not, but it's worth a shot either way.
Or, you can try Linux which will only cost you the price of a cheap 16GB USB stick, which I'm sure everybody has lying around somewhere. Ubuntu is the obvious choice for first timers: https://canonical.com/
You can try Manjaro: https://manjaro.org/ which isn't difficult but might require reading some guides and using the support forums more often than you would with Windows.
If you want to buy a used laptop, I have a Dell XPS 9560 I'm considering selling. It's not a new model, but it's still a good laptop. Message me if you're interested, maybe look up some reviews on YouTube or Google.
> * potential security restrictions,
Hm, like what?
> * how easy it is for the average user to customize and add 18+ patches,
I don't see why it should be easier or harder than on any other Linux PC. Meaning, it depends on the game. If more's required than just copying a few files over, the average user will probably require a tutorial.
> * how easy it is to startup a VN through SD card,
The Steam client already supports multiple libraries, so my bet is on one library on the internal storage, one on the SD. All that's missing is the ability to format an SD card through the Big Picture GUI.
> * and most importantly is does the device actually run well without bugs (these days so many companies basically release public beta tests)
Valve tend to fiddle with their stuff a lot, but overall their track record is pretty good. We'll see.
If I were you, I'd fire up a Linux VM, get familiar with running VNs on Linux.
Perhaps using
Manjaro KDE, because that's also based on Arch and uses KDE Plasma for the desktop, like the Deck; otherwise
Pop! OS, an Ubuntu-derivative whose OOTB gaming support is said to be quite good, or plain good old
Ubuntu itself ^([which is what I use, 'cause I'm boring]). The latter two use GNOME for the GUI; stick to the LTS versions.
The point is, the Deck will have very few problems running VNs that are new problems, or specific to it -- if you know how to setup any Linux system to play VNs, with or without Steam, the same thing will work on the Deck. Depending on the aces Valve have up their sleeves the experience may end up a lot better, but certainly not worse.
I'll happily write a few HOWTOs when the thing arrives, but I don't do videos, don't even watch them, so that's your job. :-p
I would say manjaro (https://manjaro.org). It is very simple to install, has great hardware support, and it is based on arch Linux, so you have access to the Arch User Repository, from which you can install basically all software, including any hacking tools you might want.
You can,go to the AUR page of wine-staging 6.11 and click on "Download from mirror",then you can double click on them to install it or via terminal
sudo pacman -U [name of the file]
​
Also,you can check where are the version by branch here
That's not the only other option.
Granted, Linux has a lot not to like about it too (sometimes doesn't Just Work(tm) like the other two do) but I still find it far superior to either Windows or Mac.
Based on what you just told me, I recommend going the i3 route: https://manjaro.org/download/#i3
You are not stuck with the environment that came on your installation media, and i3 is the smallest. Plasma will just give you the most for its weight, I imagine.
Manjaro Architect isn't what I'd recommend if you're new!
Smooth installation sounds like Ubuntu (Kubuntu, Xubuntu, whatever) or Manjaro. I like pacman, but setting up Arch Linux is such a pain in the ass. Manjaro however, super easy.
I personally use KDE, but all three are good.
Did you follow the wiki https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/KDE#Installation
If you are not an expert give Manjaro KDE (preferably Minimal ISO) a try, it's Arch plus KDE with easy graphical install process.