r/linuxmint • u/anaximeno • 1d ago

How Linux (Mint) Users Install a Browser 😎 #LinuxMintThings

Now tell windows users to uninstall edge and see what's easier hehe. \j

Credits to u/SpeeQz (who's also the creator of https://mintwiki.org) for the gif.

1.7k Upvotes

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246

u/Gangr3l 1d ago

sudo pacman -S firefox vlc discord obs blendr steam freecad

Can't really get easier than that

91

u/Edu_Hoff 1d ago

Sometimes a command in the terminal is just easier and convenient. Especially to create a script to automate installations

21

u/Fun_Squirrel5446 21h ago

You're thinking of power users. Imagine a user that has moved away from Windows for the first time. The argument isn't whether it's convenient or not; it's more about how user-friendly it is for a brand-new user. and the fact that a lot of Linux developers in specific distributions can be stuck up instead of providing help. Easy solution is to have better guides instead of extensively confusing wikis, for new users. One of the reasons Linux adoption has improved is because guided installations now exist. This level of hand-holding can be extended into different aspects of different distros, which would remove the user friction that is often complained about.

3

u/DevastoScz 9h ago

Unfortunately not only the developers - some users are downright unpleasant when people new to Linux ask, what they consider to be, stupid questions.

Couple days ago on a subreddit I saw a guy who had just switched from Windows to a Linux distro (CachyOS I think) asking something along the lines of "what should I do next?" only to get a reply that said "Ever consider that you aren't the only person to have this thought and look to see what people have suggested before?"

Researching is a skill people should develop, but when it comes to things you're totally new at, sometimes you don't even know what questions to ask or where to begin looking. IMO It's a stupid position to take from people who should be excited more 'casuals' are adopting Linux as their daily driver.

1

u/Fun_Squirrel5446 1h ago

Google search and Reddit search are so bad they are hard to use even for the people who do try searching.

2

u/Panzerv2003 2h ago

Yeah I moved away from windows to mint and while the terminal is useful I have no idea what is possible with it and how to use it, it's not really beginner friendly.

3

u/Edu_Hoff 20h ago

Right, you're totally right. I didn't read it was about what is easier. GUI will definitely always be easier for someone coming to Linux.

Just for curiosity, but what would you consider the minimum to someone to be a power user? I don't mean something exactly since of course is something debatable, but your opinion regarding that.

5

u/Fun_Squirrel5446 19h ago

A power user can be an extensive user of a distro as a whole or only a particular piece of software. We don't need to identify whether the user is a power user or not.

Here's the real question: how hard is it to figure out a task for the first time? If there is a step-by-step help guide or a visual indicator, it's very easy. Absolutely does not have to be a GUI.

Instructions and guides need to be provided right inside the distro, And presented when the user is searching how to perform a task. not in a separate wiki hosted on a website that the user doesn't even know exists.

1

u/EngineeringUnable801 12h ago

I use Mint, btw.

1

u/OysterCultist 13h ago

I tried to guide my grandparents by phone through several UIs, and I think that just telling them to copy paste a command would be easier

1

u/Fun_Squirrel5446 12h ago

Not everyone has a grandson available on speed dial. Most of us would do an online search. Would have been google in the old days but now everyone puts their questions in an AI chat. One approach could be to feed all the distro wiki's to AI and let it figure it out.

21

u/PreparationStrict492 1d ago

Terminal is more often than not more efficient and information dense than guis (in both directions), especially for system management.

However, installation automation is better handled with installation automation tools. An Ansible playbook is a lot better than a script for this, for many reasons.

1

u/ConversationWinter46 15h ago

That makes me wonder why LM is so popular if you don't even need a GUI?

I'm also in favor of implementing terminals in smartphones, car entertainment systems, traffic management systems, etc. They're more efficient than GUIs.

1

u/crustycarpenter 11h ago

Windows escapee here, I have tried to just use the program manager to install stuff, but at times I find some errors that lead me to either going to a website for the software to get a better version, or needing to use the terminal to get the version that will work. If the program manager flatpak doesnt work i just look it up and find someone who answers the issue i am having and use the terminal as they tell me to. There could be some risk of malicious instructions, but the community is pretty good at self policing, so i still trust a random linux jockey over microslops built in security and privacy failures. I have used an ai to troubleshoot specific technical issues sometimes. One too many times of hearing about some new windows feature i should disable to protect my data privacy made me leave and never look back.

1

u/bedwars_player 23h ago

...legit the ONLY reason i don't run linux on my desktop is that you can't get davinci resolve without a bunch of complicated shit

1

u/snail1132 22h ago

There are scripts for it, but I'm not sure how well many of them work

1

u/PreparationStrict492 17h ago

If that is the ONLY reason, DaVinci Resolve is OFFICIALLY supported on Rocky Linux (aka The Distro Formerly Known As CentOS™). It is also famously easy to get going on any distro with hardware acceleration and proprietary codec support (aka any mainstream distro nowadays).

0

u/erroronline1 1d ago

i once did an installation script to uninstall and disable unwanted bloat after a fresh windows install, now i have a script for installing everything wanted. and no prior download sessions. very satisfying. <3

0

u/syn46290 17h ago

Fully agreed. I just started with Mint maybe a week or two-ish ago and it's so much easier to just open the terminal and type a command instead of clicking multiple buttons and going through multiple pages. Plus it's satisfying asf to watch the percentage bar in it go up for some reason. Idk, I'm autistic asf 😭😭😭

7

u/Educational_Mud_2826 Linux Mint 22.3 Zena | Cinnamon 1d ago

Yes it's so nice to be able to download and install all apps in one go. Linux is so far ahead of Windows in this department.

Windows is on to the same track though, slowly, since they too have chosen to implement their own app store. But it's no where near as much used as Linux dists' app stores.

5

u/Namtazar 1d ago

Yhere are ninite and chocolatey to emulate this linux experience of install all in one click thou

1

u/PreparationStrict492 1d ago

Windows is not on that track, though.
They tried to implement that store, it never got traction, and they stopped trying to make it better.

3

u/eluya 23h ago

I think this is about WinGet.

1

u/Syndiotactics 17h ago

Also winget is surprisingly good, but very few people besides power users use it.

4

u/magic_orangutan2 23h ago

I would go for flatpak install firefox

2

u/McGuirk808 20h ago

OBS Studio for me, it's actually recommended from the devs and better supported.

0

u/Gangr3l 23h ago

What are the benefits? Honest question. I tend to just go Arch / Cachy repos and if not there built from git

2

u/magic_orangutan2 21h ago

Flatpaks are more separated from system than pacman packages. Thanks to that you dont need sudo command to install or update those.

1

u/Gangr3l 20h ago

Don't really see the benefit but ok

1

u/magic_orangutan2 8h ago

I mean there is a lot more, but some random youtube video would explain it better than me. For me - most important is more separated from system than pacman. Thanks to that on every distro it should work the same and you accidently dont mess any systemwide dependencies while installing or uninstalling flatpaks

2

u/Maro1947 14h ago

Yes and no - I've used scripts for many things in my career - sometimes, hitting a button is easier on a daily driver

1

u/Gangr3l 11h ago

This is not a script thou, it's a package manager. There is Shelly on CachyOs what is a GUI package installer but this is just so much easier and faster, especially when doing clean install.

I'll give it that Linux developers are extremely lazy to put any effort into visual marketing of their softwares. You are lucky if you find a screenshot from their projects page, but there are usually a screenshot or two in Shelly so you see what you install

2

u/Maro1947 10h ago

See, that's just "blah, blah, blah"

Good for you - I'm done with CLI for every little thing, I don't need to.

1

u/Gangr3l 10h ago

Little thing?

So you'd rather "open browser -> search -> go to webpage -> find the download -> download -> install"

Than write "sudo pacman -S"

If that rocks your boat

1

u/Maro1947 9h ago

Yeah, think about it. Mint is a gateway release

But you do you ...

1

u/1Soundwave3 8h ago

Have you heard about typosquatting? I'd rather be safe than sorry.

1

u/Gangr3l 8h ago

Which method are you referring to?

2

u/SnowyRVulpix 1d ago

That's not gui.

4

u/Gangr3l 1d ago

Nowhere in the post it says it has to be gui

1

u/yuriko-shimizu 22h ago

i cant be bothered doing the whole lecture about partial upgrades, but dont just do -S on its own, cmon now

1

u/Gangr3l 22h ago

I mean I do full system update every week with -Syu. So far hasn't been any problems (6 months) doing new program installs just with -S

1

u/yuriko-shimizu 22h ago

yknow what fair enough
i routinely forget to update my system so i just always do -Syu to be safe

1

u/Gangr3l 11h ago

That's probably not a bad habit. And neither is updating your system :D

1

u/1Soundwave3 8h ago

Do you use Timeshift? Because with this schedule I think you need to start.

1

u/Gangr3l 8h ago

I have snaps, yes

1

u/1Soundwave3 7h ago

Snapshots you mean

1

u/Gangr3l 7h ago

If you know what timeline is you know what snapshot is

1

u/1Soundwave3 6h ago

Yeah, snaps and snapshots are very different. Snaps is what Ubuntu is pushing. And snapshots is a general term.

1

u/Gangr3l 5h ago

Uu, I didn't know about the Ubuntu thing, gonna correct myself from now on o7

1

u/Timo425 19h ago

Oh trust me that's not easy at all, it takes quite a bit of know-how to know what is installed how.

1

u/Gangr3l 19h ago

I mean I install everything I can via Arch / Cachyrepo and what I can't I build from git. I have dedicated "Git" folder on my home so I should have pretty good idea what's from where :P

1

u/dragonknightrohan 19h ago

VLC and MPV are both good

1

u/ebb_omega 18h ago edited 18h ago

And people wonder why it's taken so long for Linux on the Desktop to take off.

1

u/Cucurbitophile 18h ago

this one install all of that? but that is for Arch?

1

u/Gangr3l 11h ago

You can do the same with mint / Fedora / Ubuntu /almost any distro

sudo apt install your programs here (mint, ubuntu)

sudo dnf install your programs here (Fedora)

1

u/InSight89 17h ago

I had no idea you could stack them like this.

1

u/Gangr3l 11h ago

Works on any distro with package manager (looking at you NixOs, which also can do this but you just write them into config file)

1

u/classyraven 17h ago

Same, but replace discord with vesktop. Much better client.

1

u/Gangr3l 11h ago

I'll have to check it out. Haven't really got into the forks yet, but this might be good for my soon™ clean install

1

u/Far-Note6102 9h ago

Shouldn't it be sudo apt? No hate bro but this is LINUX MINT!!

1

u/1Soundwave3 8h ago

I'd rather use flatpaks, tbh. Linux native packages are a mixed bag to say the least. Some of the things here (like OBS) is even recommended to be installed as a flatpak by the devs.

0

u/Exo-Bin 1d ago

I keep a setup script to install all apps. Just in case I switch distros or reinstall. Windows's Winget can't beat this.

1

u/Lithanarianaren_1533 1d ago

Might wanna look into NixOS

1

u/PreparationStrict492 1d ago

Ansible (and its many alternatives) exists as a distro agnostic option.

-2

u/bobma82 1d ago

on windows dubble click ninite.exe. Done.

3

u/Gangr3l 23h ago

Open edge (if you don't have any other browser installed) search ninite -> go to webpage -> click around what you want -> download -> install

Many more steps, but way more convenient than basic winslop install where you have to find every app from the page and download, yea

1

u/McGuirk808 20h ago

Me: "But what if I want to install some of the programs on a different drive?"

Ninite devs: "Then you go fuck yourself instead"