Pop_OS! Customization questions.

[Zicco2]

Hi! I saw Anthony's Linux video, and i thought to myself: "I don't like the way Microsoft is heading with Windows, il try this"

So i booted up Linux for the first time ever in my almost 30 years and am completely lost.

 

I saw Anthony's screenshot of how he has Pop_OS!  (This03) And i was wondering how to recreate it

 

I found this skin which looked kind of similar but not quite: This02

 

but when i downloaded the theme it did not look the same at all..
It was still the mac type dock and it still looked more Mac based than windows based if that makes sense?

 

I then did some research and found that i needed "Dash to Dock"  so i downloaded that and it still does not look the same, and i cant seem to make it look the same in the settings (This01)

 

 

and as i am typing this i see that Anthony does not use "Dash to Dock" but some other application to get the "Windows-esc" feel (Clock and everything at the taskbar (Dock)) no top bar etc...

 

So if you know how to recreate Anthony's Desktop i would appreciate it if you could nudge me in the right direction or if you have any tips at all i would greatly appreciate it!

 

Sorry for my bad English, English is not my first language.

[Guest]

I am pretty sure that's KDE Plasma on Manjaro. You wont get the same setup on Pop_OS! with GNOME.

You would either Need to pick a different Distro or Install the alternate Desktop Environment.

 

Personally I would recommend KDE Neon for new users, but many people prefer Manjaro KDE.

[Zicco2]

25 minutes ago, Nayr438 said:

I am pretty sure that's KDE Plasma on Manjaro. You wont get the same setup on Pop_OS! with GNOME.

You would either Need to pick a different Distro or Install the alternate Desktop Environment.

 

Personally I would recommend KDE Neon for new users, but many people prefer Manjaro KDE.

Thank you! il try downloading Manjaro KDE or Neon KDE What is the main differences?

 

[Guest]

18 minutes ago, Zicco2 said:

Thank you! il try downloading Manjaro KDE or Neon KDE What is the main differences?

 

KDE Neon is based on Ubuntu LTS but maintained by the KDE Team. You get a up to date KDE Experience on a outdated but well supported base. Older Packages and Drivers.

 

Manjaro is based on Arch which is a Rolling Release Distro built against upstream. Newer Packages and Drivers. Packages are built with minimal dependencies with the option for the user to install optional dependencies.

Edited August 2, 2021 by Nayr438

[Zicco2]

7 minutes ago, Nayr438 said:

KDE Neon is based on Ubuntu LTS but maintained by the KDE Team. You get a up to date KDE Experience on a outdated but well supported base. Older Packages and Drivers.

 

Manjaro is based on Arch which is a Rolling Release Distro built against upstream. Newer Packages and Drivers. Optional but sometimes necessary package dependencies are left up to the user.

Aha, i see is it hard to keep track of what package dependencies you need? I've loaded Manjaro on a VM and i've been trying it out installing Discord, steam etc and it seems to work alright

 

had some trouble getting it to full-screen and to change resolution, but found a fix for it.

 

Il give Neon a try as well before settling

 

but just for daily use to play games, watch movies/series/youtube listen to music both would work just as is?

[Guest]

Just now, Zicco2 said:

but just for daily use to play games, watch movies/series/youtube listen to music both would work just as is?

For Gaming Scenarios, Manjaro will probably have a compatibility and performance advantage thanks to it being more upstream. If you have a AMD GPU, the more updated driver implementation that Manjaro can offer will be a big advantage.

 

2 minutes ago, Zicco2 said:

Aha, i see is it hard to keep track of what package dependencies you need?

If you stick with Manjaro's built in Graphical Package Manager (Pamac) it will offer up the optional dependencies for you to select as well as a small description of what it's needed for.

[Zicco2]

2 minutes ago, Nayr438 said:

For Gaming Scenarios, Manjaro will probably have a compatibility and performance advantage thanks to it being more upstream. If you have a AMD GPU, the more updated driver implementation that Manjaro can offer will be a big advantage.

Im running Intel/Nvidia for now i might switch to AMD the next time i upgrade my PC, as parts have been scarce i haven't really given that much thought yet.

 

 

14 minutes ago, Nayr438 said:

If you stick with Manjaro's built in Graphical Package Manager (Pamac) it will offer up the optional dependencies for you to select as well as a small description of what it's needed for.

ah ok, so there really isnt a problem running either.

 

For example if i want to install spotify i found this: https://wiki.manjaro.org/index.php/Spotify it does not work, would i be better of just running it through Wine or try a different method of installing it?

[Guest]

25 minutes ago, Zicco2 said:

For example if i want to install spotify i found this: https://wiki.manjaro.org/index.php/Spotify it does not work, would i be better of just running it through Wine or try a different method of installing it?

For Arch based distros, the preferred method is to grab it from the AUR. For Spotify this is available at https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/spotify/

For AUR packages you have 2 options

 

Use Makepkg

• git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/spotify.git
• cd spotify
• makepkg -si

or you can use a AUR helper such as yay

• yay -Sy spotify

There are however some things to note.

• The Arch User Repository is maintained by Communiity Members and not Arch or Manjaro, anyone can upload anything to it. Be aware of what your installing.
• Manjaro tends to stay 2 weeks behind Arch with some packages being even further behind. While these packages are usually fine, they may occasionally break when updating due to being based around newer libraries that have not yet landed in Manjaro.
• AUR packages need to be updated using a AUR helper or by building a new Package with makepkg.

 

For Spotify, this is a package that should be unaffected by this hold back.

 

The alternate option is Flatpak, which can be installed with

• pamac install flatpak

With Flatpak installed, spotify can be installed with

• flatpak install spotify

 

There are however some things to note.

• Flatpak's are containerized packages. They may not always work with your system theme, they may not honor user permissions, they are shipped built on a base other than Arch or Manjaro. For the most part they work fine, but just be aware that they do not always.

Flatpaks biggest advantage is that it ships its own runtime, it should install and work on any distro regardless of versioning.

[Zicco2]

13 minutes ago, Nayr438 said:

For Arch based distros, the preferred method is to grab it from the AUR. For Spotify this is available at https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/spotify/

For AUR packages you have 2 options

 

Use Makepkg

• git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/spotify.git
• cd spotify
• makepkg -si

or you can use a AUR helper such as yay

• yay -Sy spotify

There are however some things to note.

• The Arch User Repository is maintained by Communiity Members and not Arch or Manjaro, anyone can upload anything to it. Be aware of what your installing.
• Manjaro tends to stay 2 weeks behind Arch with some packages being even further behind. While these packages are usually fine, they may occasionally break when updating due to being based around newer libraries that have not yet landed in Manjaro.

 

For Spotify, this is a package that should be unaffected by this hold back.

 

The alternate option is Flatpak, which can be installed with

• pamac install flatpak

With pamac installed, spotify can be installed with

• flatpak install spotify

 

There are however some things to note.

• Flatpak's are containerized packages. They may not always work with your system theme, they may not honor user permissions, they are shipped built on a base other than Arch or Manjaro. For the most part they work fine, but just be aware that they do not always.

I see, thank you very much for your help!

 

Sorry if these were very basic questions, i've never touched Linux before. There is a bit to wrap my head around. Last thing if you don't mind, how easy is it to accidentally download/install malware/viruses on Linux? I do understand that you should be careful but how easy is it to get rid of it if you do get it? Is it the same as on Windows where you can just get Malwarebytes/Hitman pro/etc

[Guest]

Malware is far less common on Linux, but it does exist.

 

Anything in the Official Repos should be safe, anything from anywhere else you just need be aware of what your installing/running and where it came from.

 

As far as Anti-Malware, we have a few options, but for the most part they are fairly useless outside of specific server instances.

 

[Guest]

15 minutes ago, Zicco2 said:

I do understand that you should be careful but how easy is it to get rid of it if you do get it?

It's so easy to wreck havoc on a system and so hard to find whats been modified, that it's usually a safer bet to re-install.

[Zicco2]

4 minutes ago, Nayr438 said:

It's so easy to wreck havoc on a system and so hard to find whats been modified, that it's usually a safer bet to re-install.

That makes sense, Thank you for your help! it's been extremely informative!

 

Il have to get a laptop and try to daily that for a while before I make my decision.

 

again Thank you very much!