New Linux user’s experiences
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I’ve some weeks ago moved my main computer from Windows 10 to Linux, specifically OpenSUSE Leap with the Plasma user environment, mainly because it doesn’t have the magic Windows 11 chip. I had never used Linux and have been a Windows user since I was six years old or somewhere around then (I’m in my late twenties now). I’d just like to share my likes and dislikes.
Things I like about Linux (my specific install, anyway):
- Not being a corporate environment. There aren’t any cheeky attempts at making money or advertisement anywhere, like the annoying fake widgets in Windows 11 and the half-filled start menu. I’ve gotten used to that on my laptop (which is running 11), but you do always have the feeling of ‘what are they trying now?’ That not being a thing is quite refreshing.
- In that veign, having actual widgets. I loved them in Windows 7; I’ve got a webpage widget on my second screen showing a Zoho sheet I made with an RSS feed. Just being able to be a bit creative like that is cool.
- The system seems quite a bit quicker than it was in Windows - though in all honesty this will also be because I’m still on a fairly fresh install.
- I’m positively surprised by how little I miss from Windows when it comes to programs. Steam having compatibility tools is great, for example. Otherwise there are often replacements for what I’m missing (I’ve found one to allow general settings for my Logitech mouse, for example).
- The general ability to change the way everything looks and feels. I feel technical people sometimes look down a bit on aesthetics, but I really care about the user interface I use day in day out looking and feeling nice. While I’m a fan of the Windows 11 look myself, I really like how much I’ve been able to get my UI to look how I want it to in Plasma. Though I’m a bit surprised that it’s so hard to change the appearance of the start menu and bottom panel. I’ve had to install a specific program to change their colouring.
- The little icon jumping next to your cursor when opening a program (I know, I’m easily amused).
Things I’ve found annoying:
- Not knowing where to find anything. Of course, coming from Windows I’m used to there being a program files folder with my programs’ folders, and a documents folder with (often) user settings for those programs. In Linux, everything just seems to be everywhere. What seems to be the ‘documents’ equivalent for the game Factorio is in my user folder in a hidden .factorio, but I’ve to no avail been trying to find out where my ‘documents’ for Workers and Resources are. I’ll find them eventually, I’m sure. In general, I’m looking around a lot, though.
- The lingering feeling of instability. This is my second install of OpenSUSE, after I messed up something leading to my computer having some files which it wanted to update, but using urls which didn’t exist. After this, I’ve been feeling a bit insecure and afraid of doing something that ruins my installation. I know there’s the saying that Linux ‘just works’, but I’ve never messed up a Windows installation...
- The capslock works differently, apparently. I’m used to writing every capital letter using the capslock key, meaning if I write a capital at the beginning of a word, I press capslock, then type the first letter, then quickly press capslock again and type the rest. In Linux, this often doesn’t work as it somehow takes a while for the capslock press to go into effect, so you often end up with ‘LInux’, for example. After lots of looking around, I have found some script that seems to fix this (‘Linux CapsLock Delay Fixer Master’), but it also randomly stops working and there are other ‘oddities’ I can’t really explain.
- Every once in a while, my desktop icons get rearranged. This seems to be a known issue, but it’s really annoying.
- It seems impossible to get Firefox to not restore sessions after shutting down the computer with it still open. I’ve tried several things, but I can’t get Firefox to just give me a fresh session on startup.
- The above all add to a bit of a general ‘stuck together with adhesive tape and love’ feeling.
- Not knowing how to install programs. This is more of a learning-curve thing, obviously. The software centre didn’t contain everything I could find online - for some programs, you could use ‘one click’ in OpenSUSE, but that seems to work more like a self-destruct button: I’ve tried those several times and have always had bad results >.>. I’ve found it’s easiest to install programs just using flatpaks.
All in all, I am quite happy. Though I am still afraid I’ll mess up my installation, and I’m now at a point where that’d hurt. I have installed Timeshift, but also with mixed results...
The caps lock thing hurts my feelings (ಥ_ʖಥ)
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Brilliant. Gonna use this idea myself
Config files for programs are in hidden folders in ~ (as you discovered) OR in ~/.config OR in ~/.local/share (yeah it's a bit of a mess)
Config files for flatpaks can be found under ~/.var/app (usually, some flatpaks have permissions to write outside that directory).
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I’ve some weeks ago moved my main computer from Windows 10 to Linux, specifically OpenSUSE Leap with the Plasma user environment, mainly because it doesn’t have the magic Windows 11 chip. I had never used Linux and have been a Windows user since I was six years old or somewhere around then (I’m in my late twenties now). I’d just like to share my likes and dislikes.
Things I like about Linux (my specific install, anyway):
- Not being a corporate environment. There aren’t any cheeky attempts at making money or advertisement anywhere, like the annoying fake widgets in Windows 11 and the half-filled start menu. I’ve gotten used to that on my laptop (which is running 11), but you do always have the feeling of ‘what are they trying now?’ That not being a thing is quite refreshing.
- In that veign, having actual widgets. I loved them in Windows 7; I’ve got a webpage widget on my second screen showing a Zoho sheet I made with an RSS feed. Just being able to be a bit creative like that is cool.
- The system seems quite a bit quicker than it was in Windows - though in all honesty this will also be because I’m still on a fairly fresh install.
- I’m positively surprised by how little I miss from Windows when it comes to programs. Steam having compatibility tools is great, for example. Otherwise there are often replacements for what I’m missing (I’ve found one to allow general settings for my Logitech mouse, for example).
- The general ability to change the way everything looks and feels. I feel technical people sometimes look down a bit on aesthetics, but I really care about the user interface I use day in day out looking and feeling nice. While I’m a fan of the Windows 11 look myself, I really like how much I’ve been able to get my UI to look how I want it to in Plasma. Though I’m a bit surprised that it’s so hard to change the appearance of the start menu and bottom panel. I’ve had to install a specific program to change their colouring.
- The little icon jumping next to your cursor when opening a program (I know, I’m easily amused).
Things I’ve found annoying:
- Not knowing where to find anything. Of course, coming from Windows I’m used to there being a program files folder with my programs’ folders, and a documents folder with (often) user settings for those programs. In Linux, everything just seems to be everywhere. What seems to be the ‘documents’ equivalent for the game Factorio is in my user folder in a hidden .factorio, but I’ve to no avail been trying to find out where my ‘documents’ for Workers and Resources are. I’ll find them eventually, I’m sure. In general, I’m looking around a lot, though.
- The lingering feeling of instability. This is my second install of OpenSUSE, after I messed up something leading to my computer having some files which it wanted to update, but using urls which didn’t exist. After this, I’ve been feeling a bit insecure and afraid of doing something that ruins my installation. I know there’s the saying that Linux ‘just works’, but I’ve never messed up a Windows installation...
- The capslock works differently, apparently. I’m used to writing every capital letter using the capslock key, meaning if I write a capital at the beginning of a word, I press capslock, then type the first letter, then quickly press capslock again and type the rest. In Linux, this often doesn’t work as it somehow takes a while for the capslock press to go into effect, so you often end up with ‘LInux’, for example. After lots of looking around, I have found some script that seems to fix this (‘Linux CapsLock Delay Fixer Master’), but it also randomly stops working and there are other ‘oddities’ I can’t really explain.
- Every once in a while, my desktop icons get rearranged. This seems to be a known issue, but it’s really annoying.
- It seems impossible to get Firefox to not restore sessions after shutting down the computer with it still open. I’ve tried several things, but I can’t get Firefox to just give me a fresh session on startup.
- The above all add to a bit of a general ‘stuck together with adhesive tape and love’ feeling.
- Not knowing how to install programs. This is more of a learning-curve thing, obviously. The software centre didn’t contain everything I could find online - for some programs, you could use ‘one click’ in OpenSUSE, but that seems to work more like a self-destruct button: I’ve tried those several times and have always had bad results >.>. I’ve found it’s easiest to install programs just using flatpaks.
All in all, I am quite happy. Though I am still afraid I’ll mess up my installation, and I’m now at a point where that’d hurt. I have installed Timeshift, but also with mixed results...
For backing up my home folder, I just plug in my external drive and use rsync from the terminal, like so (change to your user name; mine is gecko. Double check the paths and edit as necessary)
rsync -av /home/gecko/ /media/gecko/media/emmahomebackup/ --delete --dry-run(test first, check for errors at the end of output, there shouldn't be any unless you messed up the paths)then,
rsync -av /home/gecko/ /media/gecko/media/emmahomebackup/ --deleteThis command will back up your home folder the first time you run it, and on subsequent runs will sync any changes that have occured since the last run.
To restore, reverse the paths.
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For backing up my home folder, I just plug in my external drive and use rsync from the terminal, like so (change to your user name; mine is gecko. Double check the paths and edit as necessary)
rsync -av /home/gecko/ /media/gecko/media/emmahomebackup/ --delete --dry-run(test first, check for errors at the end of output, there shouldn't be any unless you messed up the paths)then,
rsync -av /home/gecko/ /media/gecko/media/emmahomebackup/ --deleteThis command will back up your home folder the first time you run it, and on subsequent runs will sync any changes that have occured since the last run.
To restore, reverse the paths.
JBOD is nice, but if you're interested in backups, check out an actual NAS. They're very much worth the expense.
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Do you need Timeshift on an opensuse system? I haven’t used Leap, but had a Tumbleweed install for years which has Snapper pre installed.
To be honest, I just installed Timeshift because I first tried Mint and that had Timeshift pre-installed, so it’s the only program I knew for making backups.
The firefox thing seems just firefox behaviour to me. Does it not do that in Windows?
It really doesn’t. The first think I’ve been doing is getting everything to behave as much like I’ve been used to on Windows, and this Firefox behavior is really sticking out like a sore thumb. But I’ll fix it at some point, hopefully.
Thanks for all the helpful information
I think the Firefox thing might actually be KDE restoring your session and not Firefox. Try to check KDE settings to see if you can start with a blank session on login.
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As for it feeling quicker due to it being a fresh install, don’t really expect it to slow down. Windows always slows down over time because its Registry is clogged, the code gets more bloated over time with updates, and the filesystem is kind of trash.
Linux generally stays quite nimble and quick in the long-term. It’s why you can take a decade old computer and still accomplish quite a bit on it with Linux.
My single longest install of Linux was 6 years and only ended because I built a new PC. Windows I generally reinstalled at least every two years. I couldn't stand how slow it got.
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JBOD is nice, but if you're interested in backups, check out an actual NAS. They're very much worth the expense.
I'm happy with my routine. Simple, quick.
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Config files for programs are in hidden folders in ~ (as you discovered) OR in ~/.config OR in ~/.local/share (yeah it's a bit of a mess)
Config files for flatpaks can be found under ~/.var/app (usually, some flatpaks have permissions to write outside that directory).
Just want to point out that, while it's a mess in practice, there is a correct place for these files and the problem is that many applications ignore it. Configuration files should be written to an aptly named folder in ~/.config/ (or more precisely, in $XDG_CONFIG_HOME which is set to ~/.config/ in most systems). ~/.local/share/ (or $XDG_DATA_HOME, respectively) is for user data, which is different from config.
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I think the Firefox thing might actually be KDE restoring your session and not Firefox. Try to check KDE settings to see if you can start with a blank session on login.
I already had that turned on as I want to start with a completely new session everytime anyway.
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Yah, it sounds like a quirk. I kinda like it reopening my tabs, but I just tried it on the stock FF in a fresh Fedora KDE install and it works fine.
It seems to have done the trick, cheers! I do get the ‘Your Firefox session has closed unexpectedly, do you want to recover it?’ screen, but I read earlier that Firefox on Linux indeed thinks it has crashed when it’s not closed the ‘proper’ way, which is by closing it from the menu. It doesn’t do this on Windows, which is really odd. But I should be able to just turn off that screen in about:config. Perfect.
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I’ve some weeks ago moved my main computer from Windows 10 to Linux, specifically OpenSUSE Leap with the Plasma user environment, mainly because it doesn’t have the magic Windows 11 chip. I had never used Linux and have been a Windows user since I was six years old or somewhere around then (I’m in my late twenties now). I’d just like to share my likes and dislikes.
Things I like about Linux (my specific install, anyway):
- Not being a corporate environment. There aren’t any cheeky attempts at making money or advertisement anywhere, like the annoying fake widgets in Windows 11 and the half-filled start menu. I’ve gotten used to that on my laptop (which is running 11), but you do always have the feeling of ‘what are they trying now?’ That not being a thing is quite refreshing.
- In that veign, having actual widgets. I loved them in Windows 7; I’ve got a webpage widget on my second screen showing a Zoho sheet I made with an RSS feed. Just being able to be a bit creative like that is cool.
- The system seems quite a bit quicker than it was in Windows - though in all honesty this will also be because I’m still on a fairly fresh install.
- I’m positively surprised by how little I miss from Windows when it comes to programs. Steam having compatibility tools is great, for example. Otherwise there are often replacements for what I’m missing (I’ve found one to allow general settings for my Logitech mouse, for example).
- The general ability to change the way everything looks and feels. I feel technical people sometimes look down a bit on aesthetics, but I really care about the user interface I use day in day out looking and feeling nice. While I’m a fan of the Windows 11 look myself, I really like how much I’ve been able to get my UI to look how I want it to in Plasma. Though I’m a bit surprised that it’s so hard to change the appearance of the start menu and bottom panel. I’ve had to install a specific program to change their colouring.
- The little icon jumping next to your cursor when opening a program (I know, I’m easily amused).
Things I’ve found annoying:
- Not knowing where to find anything. Of course, coming from Windows I’m used to there being a program files folder with my programs’ folders, and a documents folder with (often) user settings for those programs. In Linux, everything just seems to be everywhere. What seems to be the ‘documents’ equivalent for the game Factorio is in my user folder in a hidden .factorio, but I’ve to no avail been trying to find out where my ‘documents’ for Workers and Resources are. I’ll find them eventually, I’m sure. In general, I’m looking around a lot, though.
- The lingering feeling of instability. This is my second install of OpenSUSE, after I messed up something leading to my computer having some files which it wanted to update, but using urls which didn’t exist. After this, I’ve been feeling a bit insecure and afraid of doing something that ruins my installation. I know there’s the saying that Linux ‘just works’, but I’ve never messed up a Windows installation...
- The capslock works differently, apparently. I’m used to writing every capital letter using the capslock key, meaning if I write a capital at the beginning of a word, I press capslock, then type the first letter, then quickly press capslock again and type the rest. In Linux, this often doesn’t work as it somehow takes a while for the capslock press to go into effect, so you often end up with ‘LInux’, for example. After lots of looking around, I have found some script that seems to fix this (‘Linux CapsLock Delay Fixer Master’), but it also randomly stops working and there are other ‘oddities’ I can’t really explain.
- Every once in a while, my desktop icons get rearranged. This seems to be a known issue, but it’s really annoying.
- It seems impossible to get Firefox to not restore sessions after shutting down the computer with it still open. I’ve tried several things, but I can’t get Firefox to just give me a fresh session on startup.
- The above all add to a bit of a general ‘stuck together with adhesive tape and love’ feeling.
- Not knowing how to install programs. This is more of a learning-curve thing, obviously. The software centre didn’t contain everything I could find online - for some programs, you could use ‘one click’ in OpenSUSE, but that seems to work more like a self-destruct button: I’ve tried those several times and have always had bad results >.>. I’ve found it’s easiest to install programs just using flatpaks.
All in all, I am quite happy. Though I am still afraid I’ll mess up my installation, and I’m now at a point where that’d hurt. I have installed Timeshift, but also with mixed results...
I will answer to your annoyances from my context:
I use Bazzite on my gaming rig and Aurora on my work laptop.-
I only use Flatpaks for GUI apps and Homebrew for CLI apps, things are stored in their respective folders.
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My chosen distros are atomic / immutable, only user files can be changed, the system is shielded from breakage. You just can't brick it unless you really want to.
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Caps lock works the same as windows.
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Desktop shortcuts rearranging, didn't happen to me / haven't noticed.
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Firefox restoring session no matter what: I'll try that and get back to you.
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Bazzite & Aurora are very polished.
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Flatpaks are the best, for CLI apps I use homebrew.
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Bazzite / Aurora have automatically generated rollback images.
Honestly, if you want something that works for you and not the other way around, I suggest you use an Universal Blue distro.
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I will answer to your annoyances from my context:
I use Bazzite on my gaming rig and Aurora on my work laptop.-
I only use Flatpaks for GUI apps and Homebrew for CLI apps, things are stored in their respective folders.
-
My chosen distros are atomic / immutable, only user files can be changed, the system is shielded from breakage. You just can't brick it unless you really want to.
-
Caps lock works the same as windows.
-
Desktop shortcuts rearranging, didn't happen to me / haven't noticed.
-
Firefox restoring session no matter what: I'll try that and get back to you.
-
Bazzite & Aurora are very polished.
-
Flatpaks are the best, for CLI apps I use homebrew.
-
Bazzite / Aurora have automatically generated rollback images.
Honestly, if you want something that works for you and not the other way around, I suggest you use an Universal Blue distro.
Caps lock works the same as windows.
Capslock definitely doesn’t work the same as in Windows. If it did, I wouldn’t need to run a weird script to get it to behave like how I’m used to after more than twenty years of using Windows. I’m not the only one with this problem either (this is actually exactly the reason why someone went and made said script), nor is it only present in OpenSUSE. I’ve read it’s a general Linux thing, and I can at least say it’s on Mint as well. Interestingly (though unrelatedly) on Samsung Dex as well.
Another difference in behavior I’ve noticed is that in Windows, if you press capslock to turn it off, it does so upon pressing the key. In Linux, it does so only after releasing the key. Pretty weird.
Firefox restoring session no matter what: I’ll try that and get back to you.
No need, [email protected] suggested deinstalling the default Firefox installation and then installing it as a flatpak; this fixed the issue.
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Caps lock works the same as windows.
Capslock definitely doesn’t work the same as in Windows. If it did, I wouldn’t need to run a weird script to get it to behave like how I’m used to after more than twenty years of using Windows. I’m not the only one with this problem either (this is actually exactly the reason why someone went and made said script), nor is it only present in OpenSUSE. I’ve read it’s a general Linux thing, and I can at least say it’s on Mint as well. Interestingly (though unrelatedly) on Samsung Dex as well.
Another difference in behavior I’ve noticed is that in Windows, if you press capslock to turn it off, it does so upon pressing the key. In Linux, it does so only after releasing the key. Pretty weird.
Firefox restoring session no matter what: I’ll try that and get back to you.
No need, [email protected] suggested deinstalling the default Firefox installation and then installing it as a flatpak; this fixed the issue.
Regarding Caps Lock, the user named "warmaster" only relayed their own experiences. FWIW, I can relate to their experience. Ever since my switch from Windows to Fedora Silverblue, I haven't experienced any difference in Caps Lock functionality; it's literally the same as I was used to on Windows. And thus the very same said you liked. My repertoire of distros ain't as impressive as some notorious distro-hoppers. However, I don't recall this to be different on Arch, EndeavourOS, Nobara or other images within the Fedora Atomic ecosystem.
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Regarding Caps Lock, the user named "warmaster" only relayed their own experiences. FWIW, I can relate to their experience. Ever since my switch from Windows to Fedora Silverblue, I haven't experienced any difference in Caps Lock functionality; it's literally the same as I was used to on Windows. And thus the very same said you liked. My repertoire of distros ain't as impressive as some notorious distro-hoppers. However, I don't recall this to be different on Arch, EndeavourOS, Nobara or other images within the Fedora Atomic ecosystem.
Fair enough.
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I’ve some weeks ago moved my main computer from Windows 10 to Linux, specifically OpenSUSE Leap with the Plasma user environment, mainly because it doesn’t have the magic Windows 11 chip. I had never used Linux and have been a Windows user since I was six years old or somewhere around then (I’m in my late twenties now). I’d just like to share my likes and dislikes.
Things I like about Linux (my specific install, anyway):
- Not being a corporate environment. There aren’t any cheeky attempts at making money or advertisement anywhere, like the annoying fake widgets in Windows 11 and the half-filled start menu. I’ve gotten used to that on my laptop (which is running 11), but you do always have the feeling of ‘what are they trying now?’ That not being a thing is quite refreshing.
- In that veign, having actual widgets. I loved them in Windows 7; I’ve got a webpage widget on my second screen showing a Zoho sheet I made with an RSS feed. Just being able to be a bit creative like that is cool.
- The system seems quite a bit quicker than it was in Windows - though in all honesty this will also be because I’m still on a fairly fresh install.
- I’m positively surprised by how little I miss from Windows when it comes to programs. Steam having compatibility tools is great, for example. Otherwise there are often replacements for what I’m missing (I’ve found one to allow general settings for my Logitech mouse, for example).
- The general ability to change the way everything looks and feels. I feel technical people sometimes look down a bit on aesthetics, but I really care about the user interface I use day in day out looking and feeling nice. While I’m a fan of the Windows 11 look myself, I really like how much I’ve been able to get my UI to look how I want it to in Plasma. Though I’m a bit surprised that it’s so hard to change the appearance of the start menu and bottom panel. I’ve had to install a specific program to change their colouring.
- The little icon jumping next to your cursor when opening a program (I know, I’m easily amused).
Things I’ve found annoying:
- Not knowing where to find anything. Of course, coming from Windows I’m used to there being a program files folder with my programs’ folders, and a documents folder with (often) user settings for those programs. In Linux, everything just seems to be everywhere. What seems to be the ‘documents’ equivalent for the game Factorio is in my user folder in a hidden .factorio, but I’ve to no avail been trying to find out where my ‘documents’ for Workers and Resources are. I’ll find them eventually, I’m sure. In general, I’m looking around a lot, though.
- The lingering feeling of instability. This is my second install of OpenSUSE, after I messed up something leading to my computer having some files which it wanted to update, but using urls which didn’t exist. After this, I’ve been feeling a bit insecure and afraid of doing something that ruins my installation. I know there’s the saying that Linux ‘just works’, but I’ve never messed up a Windows installation...
- The capslock works differently, apparently. I’m used to writing every capital letter using the capslock key, meaning if I write a capital at the beginning of a word, I press capslock, then type the first letter, then quickly press capslock again and type the rest. In Linux, this often doesn’t work as it somehow takes a while for the capslock press to go into effect, so you often end up with ‘LInux’, for example. After lots of looking around, I have found some script that seems to fix this (‘Linux CapsLock Delay Fixer Master’), but it also randomly stops working and there are other ‘oddities’ I can’t really explain.
- Every once in a while, my desktop icons get rearranged. This seems to be a known issue, but it’s really annoying.
- It seems impossible to get Firefox to not restore sessions after shutting down the computer with it still open. I’ve tried several things, but I can’t get Firefox to just give me a fresh session on startup.
- The above all add to a bit of a general ‘stuck together with adhesive tape and love’ feeling.
- Not knowing how to install programs. This is more of a learning-curve thing, obviously. The software centre didn’t contain everything I could find online - for some programs, you could use ‘one click’ in OpenSUSE, but that seems to work more like a self-destruct button: I’ve tried those several times and have always had bad results >.>. I’ve found it’s easiest to install programs just using flatpaks.
All in all, I am quite happy. Though I am still afraid I’ll mess up my installation, and I’m now at a point where that’d hurt. I have installed Timeshift, but also with mixed results...
First and foremost, welcome to Linux!
Few pointers to hopefully help the process :
- "Not knowing where to find anything." indeed, it's disorienting but it will come. You can find actual "maps" but honestly, just as you would do in other operating system, use the search function. If it's not obvious this way, search online. The first few times it will be weird then each time it does become easier until it actually makes sense!
- "The lingering feeling of instability." have a /home directory (not "folder", that's funnily enough a Windows term as they tried to be different, going from the unanimously used
/to their ownC:\things) so that you can actually go "nuts" with your installation, actually messing things up but without the fear of losing your precious data! Each new install is an occasion to learn. That being said, Linux is very VERY stable. I've been running the same installation for years, on desktop and servers alike. If something goes wrong it can usually be fixed and it's, again, an occasion to learn. That being said, having a dedicated/homedirectory on its own partition or even disk gives you the opportunity for a low effort low risk blank slate. - "The capslock works differently" ... well this one is quick, you're looking for the SHIFT key if you only want to type few characters in uppercase
- "Every once in a while, my desktop icons get rearranged." yet another occasion to learn. What's the bug from? Is there an issue open? Is it being worked on? By whom? How? Why? You might even be able to fix it!
- "It seems impossible to get Firefox to not restore sessions after shutting down the computer with it still open." it's in the Firefox preference : Settings -> Startup -> untick "Open previous windows and tabs", literally the first option.
- "The above all add to a bit of a general ‘stuck together with adhesive tape and love’ feeling." nice, and that's just the surface, it's now YOUR system so you can do whatever you want, even if everybody else disagree.
- "Not knowing how to install programs." well that loops back to all the learning opportunities above and the last remark, it's YOUR system so you can use whatever you prefer, both in terms of apps, settings or even how to install (or not! Check e.g. Nix) apps. There are even "weirder" things like https://github.com/ivan-hc/AM but the point is, you decide, again, always!
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First and foremost, welcome to Linux!
Few pointers to hopefully help the process :
- "Not knowing where to find anything." indeed, it's disorienting but it will come. You can find actual "maps" but honestly, just as you would do in other operating system, use the search function. If it's not obvious this way, search online. The first few times it will be weird then each time it does become easier until it actually makes sense!
- "The lingering feeling of instability." have a /home directory (not "folder", that's funnily enough a Windows term as they tried to be different, going from the unanimously used
/to their ownC:\things) so that you can actually go "nuts" with your installation, actually messing things up but without the fear of losing your precious data! Each new install is an occasion to learn. That being said, Linux is very VERY stable. I've been running the same installation for years, on desktop and servers alike. If something goes wrong it can usually be fixed and it's, again, an occasion to learn. That being said, having a dedicated/homedirectory on its own partition or even disk gives you the opportunity for a low effort low risk blank slate. - "The capslock works differently" ... well this one is quick, you're looking for the SHIFT key if you only want to type few characters in uppercase
- "Every once in a while, my desktop icons get rearranged." yet another occasion to learn. What's the bug from? Is there an issue open? Is it being worked on? By whom? How? Why? You might even be able to fix it!
- "It seems impossible to get Firefox to not restore sessions after shutting down the computer with it still open." it's in the Firefox preference : Settings -> Startup -> untick "Open previous windows and tabs", literally the first option.
- "The above all add to a bit of a general ‘stuck together with adhesive tape and love’ feeling." nice, and that's just the surface, it's now YOUR system so you can do whatever you want, even if everybody else disagree.
- "Not knowing how to install programs." well that loops back to all the learning opportunities above and the last remark, it's YOUR system so you can use whatever you prefer, both in terms of apps, settings or even how to install (or not! Check e.g. Nix) apps. There are even "weirder" things like https://github.com/ivan-hc/AM but the point is, you decide, again, always!
To clarify, I've been using Linux for decades... and I still take notes! For example https://fabien.benetou.fr/Tools/Shell or https://fabien.benetou.fr/Tools/Ffmpeg so please, pretty please, do NOT keep it all in your head! There are myriads of way to record your learning so don't be shy about it.
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I’ve some weeks ago moved my main computer from Windows 10 to Linux, specifically OpenSUSE Leap with the Plasma user environment, mainly because it doesn’t have the magic Windows 11 chip. I had never used Linux and have been a Windows user since I was six years old or somewhere around then (I’m in my late twenties now). I’d just like to share my likes and dislikes.
Things I like about Linux (my specific install, anyway):
- Not being a corporate environment. There aren’t any cheeky attempts at making money or advertisement anywhere, like the annoying fake widgets in Windows 11 and the half-filled start menu. I’ve gotten used to that on my laptop (which is running 11), but you do always have the feeling of ‘what are they trying now?’ That not being a thing is quite refreshing.
- In that veign, having actual widgets. I loved them in Windows 7; I’ve got a webpage widget on my second screen showing a Zoho sheet I made with an RSS feed. Just being able to be a bit creative like that is cool.
- The system seems quite a bit quicker than it was in Windows - though in all honesty this will also be because I’m still on a fairly fresh install.
- I’m positively surprised by how little I miss from Windows when it comes to programs. Steam having compatibility tools is great, for example. Otherwise there are often replacements for what I’m missing (I’ve found one to allow general settings for my Logitech mouse, for example).
- The general ability to change the way everything looks and feels. I feel technical people sometimes look down a bit on aesthetics, but I really care about the user interface I use day in day out looking and feeling nice. While I’m a fan of the Windows 11 look myself, I really like how much I’ve been able to get my UI to look how I want it to in Plasma. Though I’m a bit surprised that it’s so hard to change the appearance of the start menu and bottom panel. I’ve had to install a specific program to change their colouring.
- The little icon jumping next to your cursor when opening a program (I know, I’m easily amused).
Things I’ve found annoying:
- Not knowing where to find anything. Of course, coming from Windows I’m used to there being a program files folder with my programs’ folders, and a documents folder with (often) user settings for those programs. In Linux, everything just seems to be everywhere. What seems to be the ‘documents’ equivalent for the game Factorio is in my user folder in a hidden .factorio, but I’ve to no avail been trying to find out where my ‘documents’ for Workers and Resources are. I’ll find them eventually, I’m sure. In general, I’m looking around a lot, though.
- The lingering feeling of instability. This is my second install of OpenSUSE, after I messed up something leading to my computer having some files which it wanted to update, but using urls which didn’t exist. After this, I’ve been feeling a bit insecure and afraid of doing something that ruins my installation. I know there’s the saying that Linux ‘just works’, but I’ve never messed up a Windows installation...
- The capslock works differently, apparently. I’m used to writing every capital letter using the capslock key, meaning if I write a capital at the beginning of a word, I press capslock, then type the first letter, then quickly press capslock again and type the rest. In Linux, this often doesn’t work as it somehow takes a while for the capslock press to go into effect, so you often end up with ‘LInux’, for example. After lots of looking around, I have found some script that seems to fix this (‘Linux CapsLock Delay Fixer Master’), but it also randomly stops working and there are other ‘oddities’ I can’t really explain.
- Every once in a while, my desktop icons get rearranged. This seems to be a known issue, but it’s really annoying.
- It seems impossible to get Firefox to not restore sessions after shutting down the computer with it still open. I’ve tried several things, but I can’t get Firefox to just give me a fresh session on startup.
- The above all add to a bit of a general ‘stuck together with adhesive tape and love’ feeling.
- Not knowing how to install programs. This is more of a learning-curve thing, obviously. The software centre didn’t contain everything I could find online - for some programs, you could use ‘one click’ in OpenSUSE, but that seems to work more like a self-destruct button: I’ve tried those several times and have always had bad results >.>. I’ve found it’s easiest to install programs just using flatpaks.
All in all, I am quite happy. Though I am still afraid I’ll mess up my installation, and I’m now at a point where that’d hurt. I have installed Timeshift, but also with mixed results...
I'm here, l'll help you solve your issue.
mostly everything will be downloaded in your /home folder and apps that ask for where to save files you can tell where to save.
wait for some time ask for help don't fresh install just because you run into some issue, ik you wanna get your work done asap but it happens to the best of us, btw you'll learn to fix issues.
Never knew until you told me that capslock works different on linux.
try removing the panel and add new one, and if happenes again then it's definitely a bug.
check ff settings that you've enabled restore previous session or open previous windows or tabs something like that and checkout firefox/tweaks
I'm not against flatpaks at all but if you have the same program/app in official repos then use package manager cuz if u use flatpaks then you've to mess with permission or you've to theme them and you'll need apps like flatseal or warehouse to manage flatpaks.
also checkout Open Build Service (OBS) it's for opensuse
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I agree, but it's more common than you'd think.
I used to work at an organization that used Chromebooks, which replaces the caps lock key with a search key (same shape, different behaviour). I was surprised at the number of people who struggled with their passwords because they would hit the "search" key, enter a single letter, and then hit "search" again. It took me a little while to figure it out because... Who does that?
That's still insane though... I will sometimes hit caps lock once or twice on a password screen to make sure it's not on.
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Zypper (openSUSE's package manager) is what I use for installing programs and its relatively easy. Find the package name on openSUSE.org, then put "sudo zypper in [package-name]" into the terminal.
YaST Software Management is also very useful. sometimes it's easier to work with that, especially when you're browsing packages and their descriptions, or you want to see/switch available versions of a package
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I’ve some weeks ago moved my main computer from Windows 10 to Linux, specifically OpenSUSE Leap with the Plasma user environment, mainly because it doesn’t have the magic Windows 11 chip. I had never used Linux and have been a Windows user since I was six years old or somewhere around then (I’m in my late twenties now). I’d just like to share my likes and dislikes.
Things I like about Linux (my specific install, anyway):
- Not being a corporate environment. There aren’t any cheeky attempts at making money or advertisement anywhere, like the annoying fake widgets in Windows 11 and the half-filled start menu. I’ve gotten used to that on my laptop (which is running 11), but you do always have the feeling of ‘what are they trying now?’ That not being a thing is quite refreshing.
- In that veign, having actual widgets. I loved them in Windows 7; I’ve got a webpage widget on my second screen showing a Zoho sheet I made with an RSS feed. Just being able to be a bit creative like that is cool.
- The system seems quite a bit quicker than it was in Windows - though in all honesty this will also be because I’m still on a fairly fresh install.
- I’m positively surprised by how little I miss from Windows when it comes to programs. Steam having compatibility tools is great, for example. Otherwise there are often replacements for what I’m missing (I’ve found one to allow general settings for my Logitech mouse, for example).
- The general ability to change the way everything looks and feels. I feel technical people sometimes look down a bit on aesthetics, but I really care about the user interface I use day in day out looking and feeling nice. While I’m a fan of the Windows 11 look myself, I really like how much I’ve been able to get my UI to look how I want it to in Plasma. Though I’m a bit surprised that it’s so hard to change the appearance of the start menu and bottom panel. I’ve had to install a specific program to change their colouring.
- The little icon jumping next to your cursor when opening a program (I know, I’m easily amused).
Things I’ve found annoying:
- Not knowing where to find anything. Of course, coming from Windows I’m used to there being a program files folder with my programs’ folders, and a documents folder with (often) user settings for those programs. In Linux, everything just seems to be everywhere. What seems to be the ‘documents’ equivalent for the game Factorio is in my user folder in a hidden .factorio, but I’ve to no avail been trying to find out where my ‘documents’ for Workers and Resources are. I’ll find them eventually, I’m sure. In general, I’m looking around a lot, though.
- The lingering feeling of instability. This is my second install of OpenSUSE, after I messed up something leading to my computer having some files which it wanted to update, but using urls which didn’t exist. After this, I’ve been feeling a bit insecure and afraid of doing something that ruins my installation. I know there’s the saying that Linux ‘just works’, but I’ve never messed up a Windows installation...
- The capslock works differently, apparently. I’m used to writing every capital letter using the capslock key, meaning if I write a capital at the beginning of a word, I press capslock, then type the first letter, then quickly press capslock again and type the rest. In Linux, this often doesn’t work as it somehow takes a while for the capslock press to go into effect, so you often end up with ‘LInux’, for example. After lots of looking around, I have found some script that seems to fix this (‘Linux CapsLock Delay Fixer Master’), but it also randomly stops working and there are other ‘oddities’ I can’t really explain.
- Every once in a while, my desktop icons get rearranged. This seems to be a known issue, but it’s really annoying.
- It seems impossible to get Firefox to not restore sessions after shutting down the computer with it still open. I’ve tried several things, but I can’t get Firefox to just give me a fresh session on startup.
- The above all add to a bit of a general ‘stuck together with adhesive tape and love’ feeling.
- Not knowing how to install programs. This is more of a learning-curve thing, obviously. The software centre didn’t contain everything I could find online - for some programs, you could use ‘one click’ in OpenSUSE, but that seems to work more like a self-destruct button: I’ve tried those several times and have always had bad results >.>. I’ve found it’s easiest to install programs just using flatpaks.
All in all, I am quite happy. Though I am still afraid I’ll mess up my installation, and I’m now at a point where that’d hurt. I have installed Timeshift, but also with mixed results...
That Caps lock thing is a bug. It is not supposed to happen. Something is wrong in your system
That firefox not restoring session is also a bug, it does not happen in most cases
You could add the following
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Pinch to zoom in laptop touchpad is not a thing
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Some programs will not play nicely with themes, like title bar and menu bar following dark mode, most apps not following dark mode followed by the bottom most part of UI in dark mode. Its honestly frustrating
Not wanting to break your system is quiet a common wish of most people. Good news is, you are on OpenSUSE and that thing is supposed to be stable. Bad news is, you are new to linux and will inevitably break things. Here are few tips from my side to help you not break things
1: When you are asked to modify system file by deleting some other file, do not delete the old file, rather, rename it to something else, change its extension or move it outside
2: Try to find fix that is least complicated, often times you will have many solutions with different pros and cons. If you can help yourself, try the change that is easiest to revert
3: Always take notes, if you had a problem and you did some things, note what you did and why/how you did it. What was in your mind when you did it.
4: Understand why a setting is the way it is before changing. I see alot of guides that teach you to make your system fast or make it lightweight, etc by changing some default settings. Before changing them, ask why they were the way they were. Somone at OpenSUSE probably decided to set it that way for a reason. Try to understand why and what are the consequences of changing them.
