After 24 hours using Linux; I have questions

[Chaosolous]

This thread is gonna be long, just a heads up. Like, long long. I'll do my best to format it so it's easily readable.

I recently installed Linux Mint Cinnamon onto my laptop as a way to familiarize myself with the Linux OS. My laptop is a garbage HP "from a boxstore for $180" kind of laptop. It came with Windows 11, like 4GB RAM and some integrated GPU that barely functions. It was very, very, very, slow to do anything. Especially the longer I owned it. Every system update just made it more and more sluggish.

Anyway.

After spending some time with Linux Mint over the last day-ish, I have a couple (a lot) of questions that I was wondering if some of the Linux veterans could try to help me with, in a "I'm sorta dumb to this" way. I'm really familiar with Windows and how to use it, but I know nothing about Linux, so if at any point you can make (even vaguely), analogous comparisons to Windows, it might help me understand.

When Installing:

• I was asked for the creation of a password for "authenticating" (?) somethings.
  
• I was also asked to make a User Account right after, which needed another password.

Please, correct or confirm this; my understanding is that this is the system asking for two things. One is like a "Master System Password" which is used for when you install/alter things on the system or OS.

The User Account is just, the login information for a specific account and isn't tied directly to the "authenticating" password I created, but will use that "master password" if I try to install/change something.

Specifically:

• Should these passwords be different?
  
• Is the "authenticating" password like the "I own this hardware" password and the User Account is the "I'm using this software." password, kind of stuff?
  
• What level of importance/security are each of these? Like, if you had someone who used your machine, would you give them access to the "authenticate" password or should that be something you take to the grave?

In Windows, there are only User Account passwords, you never enter any other kind of password to install things onto the OS. I'm just looking to understand how/why it is like this on Linux.

After Installation

Once that was out of the way, I began to mess around with the things that the initial "Welcome to Linux, here's a startup guide!" thing was showing me when I first started the system up. The OS seems to have a "First time here? Check this out!" feature, the following are my questions after going through that process.

During System Snapshots:

My understanding of this was that it's basically the "System Restore/Recovery" for Linux. I was brought to a screen that had the following at the top of the window:

• User
  
• Home
  
• Exclude All Files
  
• Include Only Hidden Files
  
• Include All Files

Underneath that there was two options called "Root" and "linuxminttest" (that's the account name I made). It had automatically selected both of those (as in, they were marked, or checked off or whatever). It had also automatically selected the option for "exclude all files", so I left that as the selection.

• Was this the "normal/standard" choice people use?
  
• What are the differences between the options?
  
• Why would you want to use either/or this/that one?

Beyond that, I had selected the "Weekly: Keep 2" option. I'm under the impression that this is me telling Linux to make a system recovery/backup, twice a week. Is this correct? If so: do these clear themselves out (overwrite themselves), or will they begin to stack up?

Once I had made my choices and clicked onto the next screen, a window popped up named "Timeshift-gtk" and the window was empty. I hit the "create" button and I believe that it made a "snapshot." How would someone go about recovering their PC if they needed to, using these "snapshots"?

The Driver Manager

I don't know if having a driver manager is normal or common on other Linux OS, but the Linux Mint that I'm using, came with one. I clicked on the prompt to check my system for drivers and it told me that I was all set and didn't need any. On my laptop that checks out because it's extremely basic and everything inside is like, cheap cheap.

My question is: When I install Linux onto my primary gaming PC, will this likely be the case as well or no? I'm aware this is kind of a super situational, unknowable question, but in general I guess, I'm curious. My PC specs would be as follows:

Motherboard: Proprietary "Acer Predator" Motherboard
CPU: Intel i5 11400f
GPU: Nvidia 3060 (Ventus 2x)
RAM: 32GB

Will this "Driver Manager" take care of my GPU drivers and etc once I've gotten around to using Linux on my gaming PC?

Firewall/Security

I turned on the firewall that the Linux Mint came with (the one that popped up when I clicked the settings "firewall" option that was shown to me. I believe that I have it setup properly but, my question is:

• Will I need more protection beyond this firewall?
  
• Does Linux come with, use or need an anti-virus?

I had been using McAffee for a long time on my PC until about a year ago when I dropped it and swapped entirely over to just allowed Windows Defender to take care of the security end of things for me. Personally, beyond needing an occasional file scanned, I don't really do much online that I would consider "high risk behavior" as far as opening myself up to virus' and stuff. So...

• How much security/protection should I be concerning myself with as far as Linux goes?
  
• Will this built in firewall be sufficient for "standard" PC usage?
  
• Does it come with any "in built" systems like "Windows Defender"?

System Updates

There's a built in function for updates within the Linux Mint OS it seems. I was recommended to do some updates to the system, I did allow this and it did it automatically for the most part. I think that I understand how to use this for the most part. Correct me if I'm wrong but it also doesn't seem to be limited to just the OS specifically and also will update installed apps, yes?

My questions are:

• How important are these updates?
  
• How often do these updates come up?
  
• Should they be done immediately for security reasons or is it more if you want to?
  
• Are all updates "official releases" or more like "beta branches"?
  
• Are updates generally stable?

When I was updating things, the system was telling me something like "downloading" (or "updating", IDR which) something called a "package". What exactly is a package? I see this quite a lot when using the system and when I watch videos/read about Linux. Is there a comparison that can be made to something in Windows to help me understand what they are?

System Settings

The following is a collection of things I wasn't sure about when I was browsing the System Settings that was included with Linux Mint.

Actions

I don't understand any of this. There's 3 different tabs; "Manage", "Download" and "Layout".

Under "Manage"

This is just a list it looks like, with a bunch of stuff I can click on but that's it. Things like "Add Desklets", "Change Desktop Background", "Create a new launcher here...", and so on. They each have an icon of some kind next to them. I can also search with a search bar.

• What is this?
  
• Why does everything have a check mark to the left of it?
  
• Why does everything have a locked lock to the right of it?
  
• When I click on something, all it does is highlight/select it, why?
  
• What are these "+", "-", "X" and "<-" symbols representing at the bottom? (Looks like, add, remove, delete, go back?)

Under "Download"

There's a "Sort by" option for sorting the options I am seeing, but I don't know what this is. There's a search bar as well.

It looks like a list of things I can download? Things like "System Settings", "Create Desktop Shortcut Action", "Move Into a New Folder", "Send with KDE Connect", "Take Screenshot", and so on and so forth. Each thing listed seems to have a brief description underneath it explaining something about it. To the left of everything listed there's more detailed GUI icons (compared to the icons next to thing in the "manage" tab). To the right, there's two things; a star symbol with a number that is different for each thing listed, some say ⭐16, some say ⭐12, some say ⭐10, etc. There's also a down pointing arrow.

At the very bottom of the window there are some icons I don't understand, "a light bulb", "an X", "a gear looking thing with what looks like an up pointing arrow", and a "refresh symbol".

What is all this?

• Are these additional contextual functions for my desktop/system that I can download?
  
• What is the star with the number next to it? Is it some kind of review?
  
• What are the "light bulb" and "gear" looking icons at the bottom for?
  
• It's a long list, are these necessary/recommended/needed?

Under "Layouts"

I don't understand any of this either. There's something that says "Customize the layout and appearance of your actions in Nemo's menus". I don't know what this means. Underneath it there's a bunch of... stuff in list form. Things that say "Create a new launcher here...", "Make a bootable USB stick", "Format", "Verify", and so on and so forth. Each thing listed has a small icon to the left.

Underneath that there's a "+" & "-", a toggle for something that's 'toggled on' and then a "+" icon next to a thing that will repeat whatever is selected from the list above.

What is all this?

Applets

I know it's getting old but; I don't know what any of this is. It looks like possibly some form of "add/remove programs". When you click on it, there's two tabs "Manage" and "Download".

Under "Manage", there's things like "Accessibility", "Calendar", "Corner bar", "Display", "Expo", and so on. They each have icons to the left. Some also have a checkmark to the left of those icons. There's a locked lock to the right and some have another icon with 'two gears' in it, like an options menu for them it seems.

• Why are these locked?
  
• What am I looking at? An app manager?
  
• What is the checkmark that only some have to the left?
  
• There's also "+", "-", "X", "<-" "i" at the bottom, what for?

Under "Download", there's a bunch of things I haven't seen on my system but look like what could of been 'widgets' on Windows, or could be apps. Things like "Weather", "Cinnamenu", "QRedshift", "Spices Update", "Radio++", "CPU Temperature Indicator", and so on. To the right there are stars with numbers next to them, some are like ⭐247 or ⭐161. Along with a down pointing arrow to the right of those. The left of the things listed are icons.

Underneath that list there's a "lightbulb", "X", "gear with up pointing arrow, kind of", and "refresh"

What is all this?

Desklets

What is this? Maybe these are the 'widget' things? I haven't tested/tried any of this.

Extensions

What is this? Under "Manage" there's nothing but under "Download" there's a bunch of stuff like "Transparent panels", "gTile", "Cinnamon Maximus", "Desktop Cube", "Cinnamon Dynamic Wallpaper", and so on.

General

I didn't understand.

• Disable compositing for full-screen windows
  
• Enable timer when logging out or shutting down
  
• Memory Limit
  
• Restart Cinnamon
  
• Check frequency (seconds)

What is all this & why would I want to use it?

Panel

I understand this for the most part; it's my taskbar.

I was wondering if there's a way to move the panel to other parts of the screen. I have it setup to hide how I want, but I like to have it on my left side of the screen. On Windows 10 you can move it to the top, left, right, or bottom. This is gonna sound dumb but, my biggest issue with Windows 11 (there's a lot but my biggest pet peeve) is that I can't move the taskbar and it's stuck at the bottom of the screen. There's no way to move it, not even with third party software.

I would really, really, really like to move this to the left of my screen. Is it possible?

Prefered Applications

Any advice on what's best to use for default? Celluloid? Image Viewer?

Work Spaces

What is this?

General Questions

• Is there a built in or recommended unzipper for zipped files? (Are zipped files even a thing on Linux?)
  
  
• Is "Software Manager" the only way to get apps?
  
  
• Delete Vs. Move to Trash, these are different it seems? I deleted something and it didn't appear in the Trash when I had opened it to check.
  
  
• Is there a way to set it so the PC doesn't "remember" things? I prefer to keep my PC constantly 'clean' of cookies or remembered preferences. Yes, I know this is a major pain in the ass for myself, but IDC. I don't like it to remember recent windows, tabs, searches, etc. I want it all cleaned and cleared out like it never happened, every time. Essentially I want it to not remember anything, is this an option/possible? I like it to be clean and clear when I open up file explorer, etc.
  
  
• Webcam and stuff, is there a way to access this?
  
  
• What is a "Flatpak"?
  
• I saw a program I use on Windows has a Linux version, it comes with two Linux options to download it "x86_64 (flatpak)" and "Linux aarch64 (flatpak)". What are these are what is the difference?

Steam Proton/Wine Questions

When I enabled Proton on my Linux OS and downloaded a game (to test), Steam downloaded three things:

• Steam Linux Runtime 3.0 (sniper)
  
• Proton Hotfix
  
• [The Actual Game Itself]

"Steam Linux Runtime 3.0 (sniper)" and "Proton Hotfix" both have a Steam Icon on them and put themselves on my desktop. Do I need these on my desktop? Am I supposed to open the game itself or these apps? I tried running just a game, but it was shoddy (this could just be my laptop being trash though).

I have no used Wine yet, there are two in the "Software Manager" and I don't know which to download. One says it's specifically for Mint, but I don't know if this "Software Manager" is a trusted source or if it's like, scam central, the way some app stores are. How often do people make fake things and post them on the Software Manager to trick people? Is that a thing? Like the way fake apps are on "Google Play" or "Apple iStore"?

How do I use Wine? Do I download it and it's automatic? Do I need to download it and run it?

Alright that's it for now.

For now. If you know any video sources or anything as well that might be helpful for some of this, that'd be appreciated.

Thank you for your time to anyone who took the time to read this confession of my confusion, and even bigger thanks to anyone taking the time to help. I appreciate you.

[DevaVictrix]

I’ll answer the first one… you have a root account (I think windows you have an admin sccount?) and a user account. It’s very common for both to have the same password.

You’ll almost never need to login or switch (su) to the root account but sometimes you need some of its privileges, like when installing a package.

IMO, this is best done from the command line and in that case you’d add ‘sudo’ before the command… sudo apt-get install <package-name>. At that point you’ll get asked for the root password.

‘sudo’ itself is a package that elevates the user’s privileges, it doesn’t briefly switch to the root account. If it did the package would install to /root instead of /home/user.

You can (but don’t) add the user to the /etc/sudoers file. Depending on how you add that user to that file you can make it so the sudo command doesn’t need root’s password. It’s useful in the rare installs when the root account doesn’t have a password set.

Edit: I should probably add that all Linux is is a huge collection of packages that work together to create your install, one of which is the Linux package. It’s the kernel. So whenever you want to install a new app or program you are just installing a package. Everything is a package and all are stored in your distros package repository. Personally, I stick to that method of installing packages. Snap and flatpak are sometimes needed and do have benefits but if you are learning Linux I’d stick to the traditional way first.

[DevaVictrix]

Another easy one I’ve just noticed.

Firewall - leave it be. It’s preconfigured well and won’t cause you any bother. You’ll forget it’s even there. macOS doesn’t even have one enabled by default.

Also, packages should almost never need to be run with sudo/root privileges. It’s one of the biggest reason not to use anti-virus software. They need root privileges to work properly, which is a huge security risk. They only ever throw out false positives anyway.

The best anti-virus is you, and will be best at your job by sticking to distro repositories. Don’t add random repos and you’ll be safe.

[Chaosolous]

Origineel geplaatst door DevaVictrix:

I’ll answer the first one…

Haha, yeah, I didn't expect everyone to answer all things, just, if/whatever they feel like making mention of. I had a lot of things I wasn't sure on, I just didn't want to make 200 posts so I compiled it all in one place.

I appreciate the insight, thank you. Linux does seem much better than Windows.

[DevaVictrix]

Origineel geplaatst door Chaosolous:

Linux does seem much better than Windows.

That’s a hot topic no matter which forums you read. Linux makes the OS half the fun of owning a computer. It becomes a hobby! I’ve learned so much about computers since taking up Linux. Trick is to ditch your old ms based software and stick with it. Don’t look back!

[Omega]

Please, correct or confirm this; my understanding is that this is the system asking for two things. One is like a "Master System Password" which is used for when you install/alter things on the system or OS.

The User Account is just, the login information for a specific account and isn't tied directly to the "authenticating" password I created, but will use that "master password" if I try to install/change something.

Specifically:

• Should these passwords be different?
  
• Is the "authenticating" password like the "I own this hardware" password and the User Account is the "I'm using this software." password, kind of stuff?
  
• What level of importance/security are each of these? Like, if you had someone who used your machine, would you give them access to the "authenticate" password or should that be something you take to the grave?

Yes, you have a normal user account, and an account called root. Root is the super administrator who is allowed to do effectively everything.

Most users set their personal account and root to the same password, it is just easier to work with. You will likely never directly log in as root, and instead elevate permissions temporarily using sudo.

sudo operates using your normal account password and allows you to temporarily elevate to the permissions of another user, by default root. There is a configuration file at /etc/sudoers and /etc/sudoers.d which defines exactly what and how you are allowed to elevate permissions, the default is everything and everyone.

The correct permissions for another secondary user will depend on how much you trust them and what they will need to get done. A normal user account without sudo will not be able to tamper with the system. You can give them sudo if they need to for example install software. As long as they have full sudo access they can get in to root even if they do not know the root password.

There are other mechanisms besides sudo which can elevate permissions, but lets not go in to that and keep it simple.

During System Snapshots:

My understanding of this was that it's basically the "System Restore/Recovery" for Linux. I was brought to a screen that had the following at the top of the window:

• User
  
• Home
  
• Exclude All Files
  
• Include Only Hidden Files
  
• Include All Files

Underneath that there was two options called "Root" and "linuxminttest" (that's the account name I made). It had automatically selected both of those (as in, they were marked, or checked off or whatever). It had also automatically selected the option for "exclude all files", so I left that as the selection.

• Was this the "normal/standard" choice people use?
  
• What are the differences between the options?
  
• Why would you want to use either/or this/that one?

Beyond that, I had selected the "Weekly: Keep 2" option. I'm under the impression that this is me telling Linux to make a system recovery/backup, twice a week. Is this correct? If so: do these clear themselves out (overwrite themselves), or will they begin to stack up?

Once I had made my choices and clicked onto the next screen, a window popped up named "Timeshift-gtk" and the window was empty. I hit the "create" button and I believe that it made a "snapshot." How would someone go about recovering their PC if they needed to, using these "snapshots"?

Linux Mint uses Timeshift for snapshots, I do not have extensive familiarity with it. How you use it really comes down to personal preferences. Many Linux users do not use any backup utility and simply manually copy their home directory whenever they move to another system or reinstall.

Home would be the most important one, this is where all your files and software configuration are stored.

The Driver Manager

I don't know if having a driver manager is normal or common on other Linux OS, but the Linux Mint that I'm using, came with one. I clicked on the prompt to check my system for drivers and it told me that I was all set and didn't need any. On my laptop that checks out because it's extremely basic and everything inside is like, cheap cheap.

My question is: When I install Linux onto my primary gaming PC, will this likely be the case as well or no? I'm aware this is kind of a super situational, unknowable question, but in general I guess, I'm curious. My PC specs would be as follows:

Motherboard: Proprietary "Acer Predator" Motherboard
CPU: Intel i5 11400f
GPU: Nvidia 3060 (Ventus 2x)
RAM: 32GB

Will this "Driver Manager" take care of my GPU drivers and etc once I've gotten around to using Linux on my gaming PC?

Your Nvidia GPU will need drivers before it will work properly, everything else is likely to just work. Nvidia GPUs are the primary exception when it comes to drivers on Linux, almost all other devices are supported by drivers included in the kernel.

[Omega]

Firewall/Security

I turned on the firewall that the Linux Mint came with (the one that popped up when I clicked the settings "firewall" option that was shown to me. I believe that I have it setup properly but, my question is:

• Will I need more protection beyond this firewall?
  
• Does Linux come with, use or need an anti-virus?

I had been using McAffee for a long time on my PC until about a year ago when I dropped it and swapped entirely over to just allowed Windows Defender to take care of the security end of things for me. Personally, beyond needing an occasional file scanned, I don't really do much online that I would consider "high risk behavior" as far as opening myself up to virus' and stuff. So...

• How much security/protection should I be concerning myself with as far as Linux goes?
  
• Will this built in firewall be sufficient for "standard" PC usage?
  
• Does it come with any "in built" systems like "Windows Defender"?

The firewall is nice to have but not required, the average Linux system is not listening with a bunch of services on the network constantly, unlike Windows. So any incoming connection will already by dropped by the kernel's firewall, since there is nothing listening.

The ideal Linux home firewall just blocks nearly everything excluding icmp and related/established connections.

You do not require anti-virus. Do not download programs or scripts from the internet, do not run random commands you find online unless you know what they do, do not add untrusted software sources to your package manager, do this and the chance for malware infection is effectively zero. For all your software use the build-in app store or APT on the command line.

System Updates

There's a built in function for updates within the Linux Mint OS it seems. I was recommended to do some updates to the system, I did allow this and it did it automatically for the most part. I think that I understand how to use this for the most part. Correct me if I'm wrong but it also doesn't seem to be limited to just the OS specifically and also will update installed apps, yes?

My questions are:

• How important are these updates?
  
• How often do these updates come up?
  
• Should they be done immediately for security reasons or is it more if you want to?
  
• Are all updates "official releases" or more like "beta branches"?
  
• Are updates generally stable?

When I was updating things, the system was telling me something like "downloading" (or "updating", IDR which) something called a "package". What exactly is a package? I see this quite a lot when using the system and when I watch videos/read about Linux. Is there a comparison that can be made to something in Windows to help me understand what they are?

These updates will update EVERYTHING on your system. Or more specifically, anything which was installed through APT or Flatpak, which are the default software sources on Linux Mint.

So it updates your drivers, your web browser, office suite, kernel, etc..

Updates will come in almost daily.

Updates are not always high priority, but it is good to keep the system somewhat up-to-date. You can set it to automatically update and not worry about it.

By default you are on the stable branch and only receive tested updates.

A package is a method of software distribution. A simplistic overview is that a package is like a zip-file, it is file containing more files. Typically it contains package information (version, name etc..)
and the actual files it will install. The package manager (On Mint this is APT) will download and extract this file to perform updates.

General Questions

• Is there a built in or recommended unzipper for zipped files? (Are zipped files even a thing on Linux?)
  
  
• Is "Software Manager" the only way to get apps?
  
  
• Delete Vs. Move to Trash, these are different it seems? I deleted something and it didn't appear in the Trash when I had opened it to check.
  
  
• Is there a way to set it so the PC doesn't "remember" things? I prefer to keep my PC constantly 'clean' of cookies or remembered preferences. Yes, I know this is a major pain in the ass for myself, but IDC. I don't like it to remember recent windows, tabs, searches, etc. I want it all cleaned and cleared out like it never happened, every time. Essentially I want it to not remember anything, is this an option/possible? I like it to be clean and clear when I open up file explorer, etc.
  
  
• Webcam and stuff, is there a way to access this?
  
  
• What is a "Flatpak"?
  
• I saw a program I use on Windows has a Linux version, it comes with two Linux options to download it "x86_64 (flatpak)" and "Linux aarch64 (flatpak)". What are these are what is the difference?

- Your file manager application should have the option to compress/decompress files in the right click context menu.
- The software manager is not the only way, but it is the recommended way. Avoid downloading files from the web, that is how you can malware and break your system. The packages made available by Linux Mint are tested to work with it, packages and installers on the web are not.
- Delete is a permanent delete, the file will be gone forever.
- https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?t=431474 Here people are talking about disabling recent files in the Nemo file manager. There is no explicit option for it, but there are workarounds. For the web browser you can configure it to by default remove browser data and history, which will make effectively run it permanently incognito.
- Webcams will mostly just work. Install the Cheese program to test them.
- Flatpaks are containerized software installations. Them running inside of a container makes it so that they will work almost everywhere irrelevant of the operating system.
- They are CPU architectures. x86_64 are normal Intel and AMD PCs. aarch64 is ARM, these are devices using the same type processor as your mobile phone. You will want the x86_64 one.

Steam Proton/Wine Questions

When I enabled Proton on my Linux OS and downloaded a game (to test), Steam downloaded three things:

• Steam Linux Runtime 3.0 (sniper)
  
• Proton Hotfix
  
• [The Actual Game Itself]

"Steam Linux Runtime 3.0 (sniper)" and "Proton Hotfix" both have a Steam Icon on them and put themselves on my desktop. Do I need these on my desktop? Am I supposed to open the game itself or these apps? I tried running just a game, but it was shoddy (this could just be my laptop being trash though).

I have no used Wine yet, there are two in the "Software Manager" and I don't know which to download. One says it's specifically for Mint, but I don't know if this "Software Manager" is a trusted source or if it's like, scam central, the way some app stores are. How often do people make fake things and post them on the Software Manager to trick people? Is that a thing? Like the way fake apps are on "Google Play" or "Apple iStore"?

How do I use Wine? Do I download it and it's automatic? Do I need to download it and run it?

I think Steam Linux Runtime and Proton putting icons on the desktop is a bug, you can remove those.

Proton is a version of WINE, Steam uses it to launch Windows games.

All software in the software manager is trusted, these packages are all maintained by Linux Mint itself. The only exception are Flatpak packages, but Linux Mint has started to only show validated Flatpaks to improve this.

The easiest way to use WINE is to install an application called Bottles, it will preconfigure WINE prefixes for you and optimize them for specific tasks such as gaming. If you instead run vanilla WINE you'd still have to install DXVK for it to actually game properly.

[emoticorpse]

Origineel geplaatst door Omega:

The firewall is nice to have but not required, the average Linux system is not listening with a bunch of services on the network constantly, unlike Windows. So any incoming connection will already by dropped by the kernel's firewall, since there is nothing listening

If you don't have a firewall, then what happens when a program DOES run and listen? Is it automatically allowed the connection? Otherwise how would Linux know to "drop" (block?) the connection or not?

If you do have the firewall enabled and a program opens up and runs to listen, how does the firewall know whether or not to allow it to connect without a user's interaction? or does it prompt you? Or everything is blocked by default and you have to go into the firewall to allow it when you notice it isn't getting a connection?

[A&A]

Origineel geplaatst door Chaosolous:

System Updates

There's a built in function for updates within the Linux Mint OS it seems. I was recommended to do some updates to the system, I did allow this and it did it automatically for the most part. I think that I understand how to use this for the most part. Correct me if I'm wrong but it also doesn't seem to be limited to just the OS specifically and also will update installed apps, yes?

My questions are:

• How important are these updates?
  
• How often do these updates come up?
  
• Should they be done immediately for security reasons or is it more if you want to?
  
• Are all updates "official releases" or more like "beta branches"?
  
• Are updates generally stable?

When I was updating things, the system was telling me something like "downloading" (or "updating", IDR which) something called a "package". What exactly is a package? I see this quite a lot when using the system and when I watch videos/read about Linux. Is there a comparison that can be made to something in Windows to help me understand what they are?

-That's right, these updates are not just for the OS, but for all packages installed via software manager or apt (probably flatpack too, but I'm not so sure).
- Updates can range from bug fixes to security vulnerability fixes and/or new features.
-Updates that fix bugs or vulnerabilities pop up daily or low, meanwhile talking about new features, they are very rare unless a new version of Debian comes out.
-They are "official releases"
- They are stable because the Debian and Mint repositories (the places you download the software) test the software before release, which is one of the reasons why it is also a bit older at the same time.

Package are like the installer in Windows, bundling all necessary files for software installation, removal or updates.

[A&A]

Some other questions in System Settings with their answers:

Take an example with the Desklets (the same as Windows Widgets) in Manage you have already installed ones.
With "+" you place one in the desktop, "-" remove it, "x" no idea what it does, "←" restore to default and "the star icon" is for information. Via the second tab you can download widgets, it is again from the software manager. The third one is more settings about their arrangement.
The same way is with some other settings as well. Applets (the icons on the task bar) are in the same way too.

“Create a new launcher here” is “Create a new shortcut” in Windows.

To move the task bar from the bottom to left for example you have to right click on it and there should be a button move and click on the top.

Memory limit + Frequancy check + Restart Cinnamon is probably to make the desktop environment / shell to undo memory leaks if they happen I guess?

Work spaces is the virtual desktops (not virtual machines), if you haven't used it yet, you can try the shortcut in Windows "Windows + Ctrl + D". I don't know the short cut on Linux mint, it has to be checked on keyboard shortcuts tab.

[r.linder]

+1 to everything that Omega said, nobody really knows more about Linux on these forums than they do.

Omega runs their own custom OS based on Arch IIRC, they're more advanced than the average Linux user and will usually have the right answers for any questions or problems straight away, helped me before when I was starting out and had issues with a bug.

[TheTrippyHippie]

Welcome to Linux,

Mint was the distro of Linux I found easy to use when I start looking at different OS's from Windows years back just because I bored and wanted to try something else lol

But I always ended back on Windows until now and find Bazzite even better, but that is subjective everyone will have their own flavour of Linux they prefer

Mine is Bazzite mainly because of gaming and you don't have to configure or add install anything game related to start playing games

all the packages are preinstalled and set-up ready to use

which suited me just fine and have not gone back to windows since, basically I'm happy with Bazzite because it just works for what I need my PC for, web,email and playing games.

Good to see someone willing to try something different, enjoy the time learning your way around mint, maybe one day take a look at Bazzite you might even be impressed with it
I know I was (ease of use).

I'm looking forward to reading your progress and your opinions.

Oh and sorry about the interruption of your post I just find very informative and interesting.

[Thermal Lance]

That's not what I had in mind when I suggested you take it slow. XD

But, anyway, Mint is not all that complicated so you will surely get your bearings pretty quick. At least for basic operation. You'll be fine.

Good Luck!

[Chaosolous]

Origineel geplaatst door Thermal Lance:

That's not what I had in mind when I suggested you take it slow. XD

But, anyway, Mint is not all that complicated so you will surely get your bearings pretty quick. At least for basic operation. You'll be fine.

Good Luck!

lmao, that's fair. Hahaha.

Everyone here has been really helpful either way.

I'm learning a lot.

[SHAZBOT]

that really was too long but since i had my heart set on saying something....


any distro any linux anything anything i touch, the first second and third thing i do is get in the terminal and sudo su passwd exit passwd exit.

you should make your keyring passwords despite what mint documentation says.


this buys you time while you decide your security needs at least.



second, make sure your repositores (windows update) servers are pointed in the right direction. worst thing you can do is actually start downloading the wrong updates from a corrupted repo from a corrupted iso when youd be better off not downloading any updates at all. which is why linux is secure.



that was random theres so much. id use a different distro for learning, opensuse. mint is like a mcdonalds kiosk its setup nice, but it only does 3 things.




and never surrender. back in the day, a lot of troubleshooting documentation stated this... if all else fails, download a new ISO, verify it, and install again (windows fresh wipe). it works better than any backup you will use. youre allowed to do fresh wipes. when i do an install that doesnt go like i planned, i treat it like a concrete layer. i start all over from the beginning with a new iso. im corrupting my OS with troubleshooting when there is a brand new one waiting to be sdownloaded.

[SHAZBOT]

i lied, the first thing i do with every linux distro

sudo bash -c "echo blacklist nouveau > /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-nvidia-nouveau.conf"
sudo bash -c "echo options nouveau modeset=0 >> /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-nvidia-nouveau.conf"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash modprobe.blacklist=nouveau"



thats why i hate linux. sometimes even the developers dont know what theyre doing.