new to linux and want to be able to customise/ make my own

[Ramke_99]

Okay, so I'm new to the whole Linux thing but I kind of understand how to go about the installation side of it.

 

But does anyone know which version of Linux would let me create my own interface and if there is a way to work it so that I can play with it inside windows 10 before making a dual boot item or do I install the basic Linux as dual boot and work from there??

 

any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks Ramke  

[MrKickkiller]

If you want to play around with it, maybe set up a small virtual machine on your windows machine via Virtualbox. Lots of free tutorials out there on how to install ubuntu/arch/centos/mint/WHATEVER FLAVOUR. Beware that you will not be able to install that virtual machine to your real machine when time comes. You'll need to redo your work if you want to physically dualboot.

 

About customising.. little experience in customising Linux'es. I just run with different flavours.

I've used Mint, CentOs, Ubuntu in virtual machines and i'm planning on installing either Arch or some Elementary OS (because it looks so sexy) to a new SSD together with my current windows install.

[losBaumos]

Sure u can Play around with ist in an vm I recommand you the free VMBox Software. But ich u are new to Linux i wouldn't recommand to build your own.

 

[SCHISCHKA]

they all let you create your own interface

[SCHISCHKA]

oh linux from scratch? http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/

[PCGeek]

My distro of choice is Debian.  Regardless of what you choose you have a choice of different Window Managers such as KDE, GNome, XFCE, etc.  There is a lot of customization with each of them as you can use tweak tools such as the GNOME Tweak Tool to tweak to your heart's content.

[Ramke_99]

okay so I should run a VM to work out what I want to do with it first, then install as a physical boot, then continue tweaking ??

 

[MrKickkiller]

3 minutes ago, Ramke_99 said:

okay so I should run a VM to work out what I want to do with it first, then install as a physical boot, then continue tweaking ??

 

Yup. A vm is a safe space. If you 'rm -rf /' in a VM, you're gonna fuck up that install, but it can never reach your Windows / Host machine. You can simply delete the virtual drive and make a new vm.

That's why most of the webservices are now virtualised. Unless you rent dedicated hardware, you're getting a virtual machine in a datacenter. Many X core and Y GB ram machines are running seperate containers for all of their clients. Instead of having to roll out physical hardware for each and every client. This increases power efficiency (by a lot) and makes for a VERY low hardware cost.

[Ramke_99]

ahh okay that makes sense. I should be able to find a crash couse type thing in youtube on how to get something started right??

 

[Ramke_99]

right, so far i have downloaded Linux Arch and created a VM with 1765 mb of ram and dynamic disk space. I'm about to install Arch onto the VM 

[Ramke_99]

54 minutes ago, MrKickkiller said:

A vm is a safe space.

My VM isnt booting, where should i put my disk image file??

 

[MrKickkiller]

6 minutes ago, Ramke_99 said:

My VM isnt booting, where should i put my disk image file??

 

Go into the settings and attach it to the Sata controller.

[Ramke_99]

4 minutes ago, MrKickkiller said:

Go into the settings and attach it to the Sata controller.

Is this how it should look like ??  with the disk image as drive G 

[MrKickkiller]

3 minutes ago, Ramke_99 said:

Is this how it should look like ??  with the disk image as drive G 

The disk image should be attached to the ide controller, if memory serves me correctly (It's been 2 months of hard work and study since I made a vm). Also: You can't hotswap virtual drives, for pretty obvious reasons. Especially those with boot media. You should have more options with the vm shut down

[Ramke_99]

that is where i have it now. It's currently running a command line interface....which im not entirely sure how to use... 

[MrKickkiller]

3 minutes ago, Ramke_99 said:

that is where i have it now. It's currently running a command line interface....which im not entirely sure how to use... 

Okay then, what do you wanna do? Have a gui? Well, you just picked THE flavour without standard GUI iirc.

 

Here is a list of all the desktop enviroments that are supported on Arch.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/desktop_environment

 

If you found one you like, follow it's install procedures and you should end up with a desktop that looks like any other pc

 

[Ramke_99]

7 minutes ago, MrKickkiller said:

what do you wanna do?

I think what I want to do is create a GUI which has keyboard shortcuts and a similar feel to that of the Deus ex interface.

 

that Profile GIF is probably starting to become relevant...

[Fourthdwarf]

Based on what you have said so far, I'd recommend the following.

 

Distro Options:

Ultra hard mode: Linux from scratch.

 

Hard mode: Gentoo

 

Intermediate: Arch Linux

 

Easy: Debian

 

Super Easy: Suse studio (pick and choose software in browser, but selection is more limited)

 

Recommended GUIs: 

 

Nvidia gpu - i3

Other GPU - sway (basically i3, but better transparency etc.)

 

OR

 

openbox, if tiling doesn't suit you.

 

 

[Ramke_99]

On 31/12/2016 at 9:28 AM, Fourthdwarf said:

Distro Options:

okay cool. so far I've managed to get Gnome 3 to run on a vm and used the inbuilt tweak tool to play with it a little bit. I'm going to look at the different GUI's tomorrow. I have Arch so I will probably go with that option 

[cazetofamo]

I personally prefer Mint, but Ubuntu is supposed to be very customizable (aesthetically of course).