So, I finally decided, after years of putting it off, to try out Linux, specifically Pop_OS. I was waiting for another SSD so it would live on its own hard drive on my computer. Today it arrives.
I first heard about it from Emily (I hope this doesn’t offend anyone, just adding for clarity in case some aren’t aware, but formerly Anthony before her transition) on Linus Tech Tips a long time ago. It seemed like an interesting OS, but being the hater of change I am (ironic that I just made a huge change dropping Reddit and love it so far), I kept telling myself, “Yeah yeah yeah, I will try Linux at some point.”
So, does anyone else using Pop_OS have any advice for setting it up that isn’t in the online docs?
Just enjoy, Pop os and the Gnome desktop environnement are very intuitive, simple and fun to use, just like a smartphone.
I used PopOS for quite a while and really liked it. It’s a functional and stable system, although their custom theme has bugs sometimes.
No special advice, just good luck amd have fun.
I hadn’t heard about Emily. Good for her.
Her videos are my favorites on LTT.
My biggest piece of advice would be to research flatpaks and/or snaps if you use proprietary things like Steam, Spotify, Discord, etc. You don’t have to use flatpaks/snaps, but they’ll fix any issues like the famous LTT Linux challenge where dependency issues with steam nuked his desktop. They’ll also get you the latest and greatest if you need the bleeding edge of any particular piece of software.
Secondly, Pop is based on Ubuntu, so if you can’t info you need then searching about the info for Ubuntu might answer your question.
Also, just like Power shell or Cmd Prompt on Windows with admin settings, when you’re in the terminal as root (including w/ Sudo or Doas) there’s no safeties. Distructive commands will run if you tell them to.
Last, if you got the time, try to figure out all the functionality you want out of your device before you need it. Simple things you want such as a screenshot tool are nice to have when you need it, as apposed to going on a mini adventure to find one when you need it.
Good luck!
Learning the specific program you’re looking to troubleshoot will help a ton.
Searching “how to make a bookmark” might show you how to make a bookmark on your browser of choice, but it might also show you how to make a bookmark on a browser you’re not using, or you might even get a tutorial on how to make a real bookmark.
Searching “how to adjust mouse sensitivity in Linux” won’t get you very far. It would be best to search for the desktop environment you’re using.
PopOS uses the gnome desktop environment. A desktop environment is in charge of most settings you’ll want to modify initially. Toolbar, resolution, shortcuts, etc.
Searching for things along those lines, ending the search term with “in gnome” or “in PopOS” will direct you to better results.
Thanks! That does make sense. I consider myself fairly tech savvy-ish, and use several programming languages for work, so this totally makes sense (all day long with the “how to ___ in R/Python/SQL” lol). However, I am sure without this bit of advice I probably would have done exactly that then followed by getting frustrated after the 10th tab I opened didn’t give me the right answer yet.
Might sound dumb but it’s also ok to take it slow and just focus on the gui for a bit too. For general desktop usage you really won’t need the cli at all.
When you get to a point where you want the customization/run into something that really does require it try to look at how each command works. It will help quite a bit to know how those work for future errors or customization. Or you can go somewhat nuts like I did and just start doing everything from cli “because it’s totally faster”
