I just want something as a proof of concept that this can be for me. I am aware I am the problem.
But everything is wildly difficult for me. I pulled back from docker after realising it was above my skillset, I just want to try home assisstant with a few lights but fair enough it is beyond me.
I opted to install a game, fail. Learn about wine and bottles. Start a bottle and get told I only have 8gb free in directory, I cannot for the life of me see where it is getting that from.
Please god someone tell me there is a step by step for the fucking imbeciles out there on where to start!?
Docker is annoying as fuck. Don’t blame yourself for not getting it to work.
Bottles is also annoying as fuck.
These two things aren’t really a sign of your skill. The first one (docker) is unfortunately super prevalent these days because of memes and bandwagoning. It has its use, but it’s also used in many places where it’s not needed without providing a comparable means to run software without docker. It sucks how newbies who are just trying to get a program to work all of a sudden have to learn a bunch of docker bullshit. Just another layer of crap to make things harder to learn while the creators jerk themselves off.
Running Windows games on Linux will always be a pain in the ass because you’re trying to run complicated, sometimes very old, software that straight up was not designed to be run on Linux! I’ve been doing it for years and it’s still a pain in the ass. Some games only work with Lutris, some require very specific settings. It’s all a mess and I don’t ever expect a Windows game to work unless I’ve gotten it to work recently and played it a bunch.
It’s not your fault. It’s not Linux’s fault. This is the price that we all collectively get to pay for not doing things right the first time.
In short, don’t lose hope. You’re doing fine.
I too am very cautious of getting stuck with Linux. I try to be sure I’m not doing things the hard way. I have found easy distros and easy ways to do most things in Linux despite many people suggesting I do it the IT pro way that they do. Usually because they haven’t investigated easy ways for non IT users. They mean well, but don’t know about usability or if there us an easy way.
A thing about Linux is that there’s usually like 10 different ways to accomplish something. If you hit a dead end in terms of your ability or tolerance for frustration… just go back to square one and find a different approach. For games, I recommend starting with Steam.
Don’t feel bad, I’ve used Linux since 1995 and don’t have enough skills to use Bottles.
I do however game a lot, using mainly Steam and Heroic. You can try to start there.
I did get the Heroic Flatpak on my first install but it wouldnt do wat I needed with emulators…cant remember what it was, I think pcsx2 related.
I used Lutris and it worked great but I am struggling on this install to get it back to where I had it.
Also do you rcommend flatpaks always or just for beginners? I have both firfox and firefox FlatPak installed and same for a few other softwares.
Why do you want to run emulators through Heroic? Most emulators run natively on Linux, most of them are available as flatpaks or native packages.
I feel like you’re trying to do too much at once. Installing Linux for the first time and immediately trying to use and understand containers and virtualization is like trying to fly a fighter jet after getting your first drivers license lesson. For example, Docker is useful in server contexts when you want independent, isolated servers running next to each other on the same physical machine, much less in desktop environments.
Take the time to understand the concepts first. Proton/Wine are translation layers that let you run Windows applications/games on Linux almost as native applications, Steam and Heroic are storefronts to download and install paid games, Docker/Podman are used to run containers, virtual machines are fake computers inside your real computer that can be easily managed with Gnome Boxes for example, etc.
My take:
For gaming:
- run emulators as native Linux executables
- use Steam + Proton to install and run most windows games (even non-steam ones)
- use Heroic exclusively to install games from Epic and GOG. Run them through Steam if you want.
- use Lutris as la last resort as it’s the least plug-and-play option out there
- avoid plain Wine
For Windows applications:
- install a windows virtual machine in Gnome Boxes, install and run those programs as usual in the VM. Performance will suck.
- only use Wine/Bottles when you understand how they work.
Yeah thats all fair, as for launchers for emulators - I was aiming for an all in one place to select games so I could put it to launch into big screen mode on my living room tv. My family less tech literate so I am simplifying…I thought
Good advices.
A bit of research goes a long way. If you get a solid understanding of the basics, you can then build on it.
…its discerning what is meant to be basic is the issue I think
I use Flatpaks for a lot of stuff (Steam, Firefox, and some other stuff that I feel should not have access to my tax returns in the Documents directory). It’s not just for beginners, Flatpaks are useful for other reasons.
Yes I had heard people say to use them wherever they are available but I didnt understand the difference. If it is siloing them then great I’ll use all flatpaks so.
Docker won’t make much sense if you don’t understand the underlying Linux systems and/or applications.
It’s similar with Wine and Bottles. If you don’t get what’s in the bottle, then running the bottle won’t make sense.
Find tasks that run on the native OS. learn to manage Linux itself. skip containers, Snap, virtual machines, etc.
try running a web server using httpd or something.
Yeah I need a basic basic start, hello linux world type shit. Except more basic than that.
Have you tried using emulators? They’re a great start and can show you how to easily get some usage out of your computer.
If you have a controller, I recommend giving it a shot. There are plenty of emulators out there. Just pick a console you like and you can get games for free at vimm.net
Read into BASH, you may know it as the “Terminal” or “Console” people may also call it the “Shell” it’s essentially the heart of all modern Linux distribution’s and once you wrap your head around the command structure it’s pretty straight forward!
Key commands:
-
cd== Change Directory -
sudo== Root privileges -
mkdir== Make directory -
rm -f== Remove file/directory with force -
touch== Make a new file -
nano== Text/File editor -
cat== Read file contents and print to shell
Commands don’t need to be complicated! For example
nano /home/SomeUser/Downloads/SomeRandom.txtwill open the text editor to SomeRandom.txt in the/Downloadsdirectory of SomeUserEach Linux distribution will come with a package manager, Debian based distributions like Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Kali Linux have dpkg and APT as their package managers and Arch-based systems have Pacman,Fedora-based systems use DNF.
If you really can’t handle the complexity perhaps trying an immutable distro like Bazzite which is more locked down, less easy to break and geared towards folks like yourself.
-
Try opening a terminal an typing
echo 'Hello World!'My two cents: You can forget about Linux for a while. Using a terminal is more important. Here’s a classic guide: https://mywiki.wooledge.org/BashGuideLinux Journey will take you through the basics.
Portainer helped me get my head around docker images. And docker hub sometimes has the steps to configure the container, and sometimes not; many assume everyone knows how to pass bind or volume mounts and bridge or host network stuff.
I played with portainer a while to visually see what thing do.
Then it led to command line and yaml configs stuff after that. Its a learning process.
@Squizzy you’re not getting the full Linux experience if you can install everything on the first try, lol. sad but true
can we @neuralgh0st without the @wxw.moe ?
@neura ?
how does that work? @neuralgh0st@wxw.moe
that’s what i do ☞ @neuralgh0st@wxw.moe
your mentions appear without the instance and their format seems to be different ☞
[@neura](https://wxw.moe/@neuralgh0st)it was confusing at first, now i see why
which app are you using for lemmy? Or, are you an in browser lemming?
@merde I’m not using Lemmy, I’m using Mastadon with the Android client called Megalodon
ah, thanks, that explains
good day to you
@merde I don’t think so, here you need the username@instance
Hopefully I learn something
Hot take maybe but Linux isn’t for everyone, you gave it a fair shot and if it didn’t click with you then use Windows again.
If you want to keep trying then you already what you have to do: just be patient and try to learn how things work, watch videos etc
Don’t what that ? Then use Windows again. As a Linux user I appreciate that you tried, as most people don’t.
I opted to install a game, fail.
What game? Install how? Is it from an online platform?
I just want to try home assisstant with a few lights but fair enough it is beyond me.
The installation of home assistant, or its usage?
Mortal Kombat Fitgirl repack.
Literally just setting up docker to then install HA.
Mortal Kombat Fitgirl repack.
I’d use Lutris for that, it’s a rather automated process, you create a new entry, it asks for the installer, and usually recognises the correct executable for the game.
Literally just setting up docker to then install HA.
Personally, I prefer to run HA in a VM rather than Docker, especially if you’re experimenting, IIRC with docker installation it doesn’t support backup and restore of components and their settings. Virt-manager makes running VMs easy enough.
Not op but new to Linux myself. First I’m hearing of Lutris. If I understand correctly, Wine is used to install/run Windows programs in general, and Lutris does the same but with a specific focus on Windows games?
Dodi repacks tend to work better on Linux than fitgirl. Another option is to create a portable windows to go drive, use that to unpack the game then copy the files to your Linux drive.
Try Heroic. I wouldn’t use Bottles for games.
For gaming? You need a distro that does stuff for you!
To elaborate, if you’re using wine bottles, you’ve gone waaay into the land of manual from-scratch configuration, when you should just use stuff from a community that spends thousands of man hours figuring it out and packaging it.
Try CachyOS or Bazzite! They have a bunch of packages like advanced versions of preconfigured Proton one install away.
For docker… yeah, it’s a crazy learning curve if you just want to try one small thing. It’s honestly annoying to go through all the setup and download like 100 gigabytes of files just to run a python script or whatever.
You can often set up the environment yourself without docker, though.
And to reiterate, I’m very much against the ethos of “you should learn how to do everything yourself!” I get the sentiment, but honestly, this results in suboptimal configurations for most people vs simply using the packages others have spent thousands of hours refining.
Try CachyOS or Bazzite!
Bazzite, sure, but it’s not gonna magically solve these kind of issues.
However, if one is struggling as a beginner with Linux, I would strongly advise against switching to an Arch-based distro (CachyOS). Arch is great, but this is not its target audience.
For docker… yeah, it’s a crazy learning curve if you just want to try one small thing. It’s honestly annoying to go through all the setup and download like 100 gigabytes of files just to run a python script or whatever.
Idk, when I started out I just copy/pasted commands (later compose files) and it worked
If that is actually what the difference in disros is then great, I looked at bazzite and did not get it I thought distros mainly differed in how desktop environment works.
Yeah docker was a stupid goal, I wanted to start automating downloads and such through rdarr. Seems less time consuming to trawl and click.
Yeah I do this to myself, pressure on to fully understand every facet.
Yeah. Distros are basically just preconfigured sets of Linux, with the communities focusing on what they are interested in.
Yeah it makes sense, I was just picturing the surface changes and everything else was default. Bazzite is probably the way to go so.
I strongly disagree with u/brucethemoose here. You wrote below that you’re currently using Linux Mint, which is a great distro for beginners. In my opinion, Bazzite offers nothing essential that is not available on Mint. IMHO, the easiest ways to play games are:
- Use Steam to play your Steam games (native or using Proton). This should just work (on both distros)
- Use Heroic Games Launcher to play games from GOG, Epic, or non-store games. The recommendation is to install the Flatpak version, which is available on both distros. Afterwards, the setup step is to install a Proton-GE version before you can play your games (https://github.com/Heroic-Games-Launcher/HeroicGamesLauncher/wiki/Linux-Quick-Start-Guide).
You can - of course - still switch to a different distro if you like, but this is not necessary or helpful to run games.
Bazzite offers a lot that Mint doesn’t for gaming, from dedicated images for nVidia/AMD drivers, to preinstalled steam, easy management of flatpaks (Bazaar blows Discover out of the water),
ujustscripts that perform many tasks for you with just a few prompts, a set of programs and utilities uselful for gaming and related tasks.
Sure, you can install Heroic and Steam on Mint, but that’s not all there is to it.Sure, Bazzite has some nice features. But, I would argue that apart from the Nvidia images (there is no AMD image) those are all minor things. And for Nvidia cards, the Mint Driver Manager is pretty good. I don’t think any of those differences play a role here.
In general, I think it’s really unhelpful to present “switch to my favorite distro” as the first step in troubleshooting an issue.
those are all minor things
The minor things together make a huge difference. Can you install all this stuff on other distros? Sure, but you need to know it exists, first.
In general, I think it’s really unhelpful to present “switch to my favorite distro” as the first step in troubleshooting an issue.
Well, you should use tools that are suited for the purpose. I’ve been a Fedora user for years, I think a decade, but after trying out Bazzite I realised how ideal it is for gamers switching over from Windows. I’ve never been one to suggest Linux to friends, as I don’t want the responsibilities that come with that, but nowadays when a gamer friend complains about Windows, I can dare suggesting an alternative.
I’ve been in OP’s shoes, although in my case the issues were getting my CRT monitor to show anything or my dial-up modem to work with ndiswrapper, and any help reaching some of your goals goes a long way in helping you persevere on the task.
I’m a massive fan of CachyOS, personally! Installed it years ago, kept the same image since then and haven’t even considered switching.
Different philosphies, I suppose. I suspect Bazzite may work better if you want stuff to just work, while Cachy is more tweaking focused and gets quite rapid updates, though is still quite set up out-of-the-box.
Nothing in Linux is above your skill level, you just have not found the community speaking your way of seeing it yet.
You are not the problem; the problem always is community finding is a hard unsolved problem in the Linux space.
Implicit details embedded in code can easily produce your frustration. But as I don’t know what your goals are and what you feel comfortable with, it will be hard to help
This is a lovely thought, I hope you are right. To be fair I use a lot of my stupid questions on AI because its quick and basic like what commands and what responses mean. Doesnt help build a community, but I cant be annoying people with issues constantly either. Only when I am about to lose my mind apparently.
In contrast, and I say this as someone who has used various types of Unix and Linux for a long time, I think this is an excellent use for AI, just be sure to use it to teach you things not just to solve your problems for you.
What I mean by this is I have found (mostly Claude) to be great at explaining concepts, especially if you use it to make analogies to something you know. It is absolutely not right every single time but I have had great luck with questions like “explain to me how to X in Y tool, I know how to have the same outcome by doing A in B tool” or “explain to me how docker works using a rocket as a metaphor” or things like that. Also I use it a lot for new subjects where I don’t know what to search for quite yet and I can just give it a long rambling explanation and example and ask it for 3 suggestions to research further or things to check. It is kind of useful as an expensive search engine but if you use it like a research engineer to get you started it can be really helpful in my experience.
As others have said though, I have been doing it forever both personally and professionally and I am definitely still learning. Linux knowledge is more of a skill to develop over time not something that is easy to master because it continually changes. Learning how to find or figure out the answers is the most valuable skill though, it’s impossible to remember everything. That and often there is no single right or correct answer for every situation but there are a lot of options and opinions and often more of the latter than the former. That said though usually the best answer is the one that I forget about because it functions forever and doesn’t blow up in my face hah.
Anyway, hope at least some of that is helpful, best of luck!
:wq
I would suggest not using AI for answering your Linux questions, it provides a bunch of bad advice.
If no one teaches you, why would anyone expect you to know anything?
So it is ok to ask people questions but I do suggest finding a local Linux Users Group (or a local solarpunk group as they usually have a person or two who can help)
Reading wikis (like Arch or Gentoo) will help you solve your common problems and they also have forums where you can get great help as long as you are polite, kind and understand that they will ask clarifying questions and you should do the same but be respectful of them and their time
Learning Linux can be difficult man. Even after using Linux as my daily driver for a couple years, I still feel like I know nothing man.
Real talk, start with dead simple stuff and go from there. Install a package from a package manager, update your system, make a file with terminal.
You dont have to be a wizzard man, docker shit is still over my head.
I feel your pain… I recently tried very diligently to install Immich with docker after reading and watching several tutorials that claim it takea 5 minutes and its super easy… Failed… Like 5 times…
For some advice, I use heroic game launcher to install non steam games. Bottles kind of sucks IMO.
It really takes 5min tops ! But only if you know what you are doing. Immich is not an easy compose stack for beginners. There’s also all the other stuff you have to take care off (backup? Behind proxy? Share with people outside your lan? …).
Having the compose stack up and running is just the first step ^^ but once you get the hang off, it’s fun and really cool stuff floating arround (navidrome, pihole, home assistant, newpipe, vaultwarden, jellyfin…)
It takes some time to get comfortable but don’t give up, it’s worth it !
Some distros and technologies can be more complex.
For Home Assistant, consider using Yunohost. It doesn’t require Docker skills. You can find step-by-step guides on their website.
I guess gaming with Linux has always been tricky, you can check ProtonDB to see which games are easily compatible with Linux.
Yunohost is great, Portainer is also useful.
which distro and hardware config? Can’t speak to docker as I don’t use that any more, I’ve yet to get stuck into homeassistant, but games are just click and run on most distros with steam?
I am running the most recent mint on a Dell 7060
I7 8700 processor. 480gb nvme SSD. 1tb HDD 16gb 2666 MHz DDR4 ram Intel UHD graphics 630
How is þat working for you as a desktop? Are you only encountering issues when you try to do someþing more technical?
If you want to run games, install Steam and get your games and run þem from þere. It’s þe easiest way to do it; going straight to Wine and Bottles is jumping in þe deep end.
You really should be comfortable in þe shell, and feel reasonably confident wiþ working wiþ Linux, before you do anyþing wiþ Docker or Podman.
If you want Home Assistant, even þe HA project recommends running þeir bespoke distribution wiþ HA already installed and ready to go. HA on any oþer distribution is þe hard way.
Linux can be easy to learn; it sounds as if you’re trying to take really big bites, and approaching projects in þe most difficult way. Which is fine! But it’s going to be harder, and require more patience.
Yeah I agree with all of this. It sounds like maybe you’re trying to learn too many different things at once. I’d pick one thing and stick with it until you’re comfortable.
What games are you trying to play? 99% of the time I’m able to just install a game in Steam and use Proton and be done with it. For any non-Steam games I just use Heroic Games Launcher.
Bazzite is a pretty good distro for gaming since it comes with some of these things pre installed or as an option to install them.
Tbh they are repacks of games I own on ps5, I want to see if I can make the switch so think like GoW and Mortal Kombat. Both of which I wont be paying for a second time. Is proton like a “runner” or extension I need for steam?
No Proton is a compatibility layer for running Windows games on Linux. I’m not at my computer ATM but in the Steam settings somewhere you just flip the toggle on that says something like Enable Steam Play for all games. I think it’s in Compatibility or something like that.
Then any games you own on Steam you can just install and play and Steam will automatically choose the best Proton version for you. You can override it too if you need. ProtonDB is a good resource for looking up how well a game runs on Linux via Proton. Keep in mind it’s limited to games that have Steam releases though.
If you’re talking about playing PS5 games you’ve dumped from a disc with an emulator, which it sounds like maybe you are, Proton and Steam won’t do much for you here. If you’re talking about PC versions of these games that you’ve “acquired” then Steam may help there. You could add the game to your library as a “non-Steam” game and then just run it with Proton that way. HGL may work here too but I’ve only used HGL for games I own on GOG or Epic.
Brilliant thanks for the proton info, toggle on.
I have acquired the pc versions, mind you I own them legally as is for ps5, but I am having trouble installing them which is how I ended up using bottles and getting frustrated. I used fitgirl repacks and the setup doesnt work, presumable it is windows orientated so I moved to bottles to install which is where the drive volume issue arose
Ah I see. I’ve not used bottles so have no suggestions there, but you may be able to use Proton to run the installer. I’ve done that for other types of Windows apps like the Battlenet launcher or Origin/EA App. You add the installer itself as a non-Steam game, run it, go through the install process. Then you add the installed exe as a non-Steam game.
I think the installed files would be in the same location as the installer itself but they may also get their own app ID in your Steam folder. I can’t recall exactly.
Proton’s a compatibility layer to translate between games that want to speak to windows and a Linux system. Steam downloads it for you if you turn it on as a setting, and most of the time you shouldn’t have to worry about it past that.
For pirated games: if you have the game as a folder with a game exe rather than an installer, you can still add it to steam pretty easily as a non-steam game and then just enable proton. If it has an installer this can still work, but it’s more of a pain cuz you have to add the installer to steam, run it with proton, and then switch the steam entry’s file location to the newly installed game. I honestly don’t recommend doing it that second way, I’m chronically allergic to bloat (arch btw) and even for me this is a dumb hacky work around.
You are right to call þem “pirated”, because technically. But I hate it. Þe creators of þe DMCA should be lined up against a wall, and shot. It should not be illegal to make copies of media you already paid for, for þe purpose of using it on a different platform.
Yeah absolutely I need to find the right pathway in, im not entirely tech illiterate but I have zero code knowledge or anything. I can understand highlevel stuff but the weeds are particularly weedy.
Im trying to see if Linux gaming is a possible alternative to ps5 and switch so I went with emulators and repacks to run some games I already have and it just opened a can of worms I was not prepared for.
You might want to check out Bazzite. It aims to smooth out the gaming experience significantly.
I don’t even play on Linux these days but I use Bazzite (Developer Experience) because the immutable base gives me peace of mind and all the gaming support helps when I have to use something like bottles.
Depending on what you want to do, it may require you to get comfortable with docker (or podman, but practically the same), but because this is part of the OS’s paradigm they give you all the tools to make it easy.
Bazzite’s an excellent recommendation for OP if þeir main objective is gaming.
