GNU / Linux / Free Software

[Cyber_Cyan]

I've been messing around with Arch Linux for a week now, but since I'm a complete beginner I've been struggling with dual boot. I have to Enable/Disable secure boot if I want to change the OS :')

I think of going full Linux but I'm still hesitant since my studies rely a lot on my PC and the use of specific softwares that may not be available on Linux. I'm still doing some research before I make any decision.

[candycanearter07]

qmmp or Audacious are hence your best shots if you want to emulate the look&feel of Winamp :).

They literally support winamp skin files, so you can use 90's theme files on it. It's a very useful feature for getting a cool astetic

[ThunderPerfectWitchcraft]

I think of going full Linux but I'm still hesitant since my studies rely a lot on my PC and the use of specific softwares that may not be available on Linux. I'm still doing some research before I make any decision.

Consider to use another Distribution for the start. Both OpenSuse and Fedora (among others) can boot with secure boot enabled. Using only Arch on a computer that you are dependent of is too much of a single point of failure, if you don't have at least a bit experience with Linux systems, if you ask me.

[klungus]

I think of going full Linux but I'm still hesitant since my studies rely a lot on my PC and the use of specific softwares that may not be available on Linux. I'm still doing some research before I make any decision.

First ever post here so hello!

I had the same reservations before I switched fully over to Linux (Bazzite on my desktop and Kubuntu on my laptop). I obviously have no idea what you study but there's a lot more software compatibility than you might expect! Things have changed a lot in the past few years when it comes to running Windows apps on Linux. Bottles is pretty handy software; it's basically mini virtual machines for each piece of software you use. I've run FL Studio which has no native linux release on it with only minor (skill related ;) ) issues. Other than that, you can do a lot with Wine and other more niche projects like Winboat. Of course there's some stuff that just will never work like Adobe, Office and other stuff. There's usually a half decent alternative to those, although learning from scratch is annoying.

Arch Linux has always seemed fun to mess around with, but I've always been too afraid to ever run it seriously as my main OS. I'm stuck in my ways with Fedora (which Bazzite is a fork of) anyways. Perfect blend between usability and cutting edge packages for me. Arch does win for ricing though! There's a fun youtube channel called diinki that makes really high quality vids on linux ricing. 

[Cyber_Cyan]

Consider to use another Distribution for the start. Both OpenSuse and Fedora (among others) can boot with secure boot enabled. Using only Arch on a computer that you are dependent of is too much of a single point of failure, if you don't have at least a bit experience with Linux systems, if you ask me.

Yeah makes sense. I've tried ubuntu but it didn't quite match with what I wanted to do. Guess I'll just hop around for a bit and find what suits me and is beginner friendly !

Of course there's some stuff that just will never work like Adobe, Office and other stuff. There's usually a half decent alternative to those, although learning from scratch is annoying.

Arch Linux has always seemed fun to mess around with, but I've always been too afraid to ever run it seriously as my main OS. I'm stuck in my ways with Fedora (which Bazzite is a fork of) anyways. Perfect blend between usability and cutting edge packages for me. Arch does win for ricing though! There's a fun youtube channel called diinki that makes really high quality vids on linux ricing. 

That's their channel that made me want to try Arch because I just drooled over what you could do in terms of customization, but I think I may be too novice for that for now lmao. I think I'll five Fedora a try and see how it goes. I've been lurking about the subreddit r/moedesktop, which doesn't help, I want a desktop like that !! But I guess that's achievable through other means than Arch. I'll try !

[klungus]

I've been lurking about the subreddit r/moedesktop, which doesn't help, I want a desktop like that !! But I guess that's achievable through other means than Arch. I'll try !

Never heard of that subreddit I'll give it a look! I do love that old windows 7 look and at one point had a NixOS (which I absolutely do NOT recommend) rice that looked quite good. If you would like the link here it is: It's pretty well documented and will work on basically any distro you choose.

https://github.com/grassmunk/Chicago95
(adding a note that this isn't my project, when I first posted it kinda read like I had made this. I don't have that much talent :) ).

At the end of the day, I think the secret is that it doesn't matter what you choose for your distro only that you enjoy using it :). All of that desktop customization fun can be done on any OS if you try hard enough. People mainly choose Arch because it's a blank slate out of the box; no need to uninstall or tweak the preinstalled theming.

[arcus]

I've been lurking about the subreddit r/moedesktop, which doesn't help, I want a desktop like that !! But I guess that's achievable through other means than Arch. I'll try !

Window managers and desktop environments are what effect the appearance of windows and task bars. Arch itself doesn't come with a desktop environment or window manager. Other Linux distros tend to come with a few options out of the box, but you can always install another one (exception being if you choose an immutable distro like Bazzite.)

Post some examples of desktops you like. If you're looking to emulate Windows themes, KDE Plasma and Cinnamon have good clones.