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New to Linux - Some beginner questions about Bazzite (lemmy.ca)

submitted 4 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Hey guys, so I installed Bazzite on my 2nd SSD last weekend and I've installed some games and searched through the OS to familiarize myself with it, but I still have a few questions about Bazzite and Linux in general that I'd like some help with! I've used Ubuntu and Linux mint in the past (2014ish) just to mess around with but never fully switched. I'm having no problems with gaming, all the games I've tested work fine and I have the latest Proton GE installed already.

I consider myself to be quite computer-savvy and tech-savvy in general, but Linux is making me question just how good I am with computers 😅 But it's honestly a lot of fun to be new to an OS and having to learn things again, feels like being a kid again and exploring everything about my old Windows 98 pc. I'm still using Windows 11 on my primary drive, but the goal is to eventually get comfortable enough to completely switch away from Windows since I don't have any games that require it.

My first question is, how do I install programs from outside the "discover store"? I can get the Plex app through the built in app store, but the Plex media server app isn't on there so I have to download it from the website, which gives me a .rpm file. I'm probably being dumb, but double clicking it just brings up an error message in the discover store saying it couldn't open the file.

I think I'm supposed to use the boxbuddy app to install it? I'm not sure. I'm not scared of using the terminal if I have to, and I'd actually like to get more comfortable with that anyways. Switching to Jellyfin isn't an option because my mom and brother use Plex through an xbox so I'm sticking with Plex for now.

Also, outside of the built in discover store, what's the best way to install programs? I know that Bazzite is built off of Fedora Atomic which is an "immuteable" distro so I can't directly install apps to the system without using rpm-ostree and that's apparently not recommended unless absolutely necessary according to what I've read.

I have a Logitech G502x plus mouse but piper won't recognize it, solaar works fine though. I can still configure my mouse in Windows when needed but I'd like to be able to do it in Linux as well, any ideas why piper won't recognize my mouse? I also have a Razer blackwidow v3 and I'm not sure what software to use to configure it in Linux.

Another small but annoying issue I'm having is with Firefox granting the RES (reddit enhancement suite) extension permissions, when I try to use it to expand a v.reddit link for example, it pops up a window asking me to "request permissions" but when I click that it simply brings me to this link without actually giving me the option to grant the permissions. On Windows I get a little popup near the extensions in the top right corner and I can simply grant the required permissions, but it's not doing that for me in Bazzite.

What are some cool programs in general to check out? My main use case is gaming, I don't program or do any work on my PC but I'd like to explore just for the sake of exploring! Also, what's a good way to familiarize myself with using the terminal? I've used the terminal on Windows quite a bit in the past, but only for basic things like unlocking a bootloader on Android and sending a ROM to it, back when I cared enough to root my phones. How would I, for example, pull a program off of github and compile it myself if needed? There's a program on github called gHub GUI by ysph that I'd like to check out, would be nice to be able to configure my mouse since piper doesn't seem to recognize my mouse.

What are some general best practices that differ from Windows? I don't really know how to narrow this question down, apologies for it being so vague.

Thanks in advance to anyone that can offer me some advice!

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (3 children)

how do I install programs from outside the "discover store"? I can get the Plex app through the built in app store, but the Plex media server app isn't on there so I have to download it from the website, which gives me a .rpm file.

Installing from Discover (or to be more precise, your distribution's software repositories, for which Discover is a frontend) is usually best practice. Programs you find online are less likely to work on your distro (especially something as technologically unusual as Bazzite). That said, from what I could find online the command to install an RPM file on that distro is sudo rpm-ostree install <path/to/package.rpm>. I have never used boxbuddy or any kind of distro container, but I imagine it would as simple as opening the terminal for one of your distros and entering the appropriate command for that distro to install your package.

Also, outside of the built in discover store, what's the best way to install programs?

Generally, Flatpak packages are safe to install, and any Flatpak repos you enable will show up in Discover. Flathub contains the majority of Flatpak packages in existence, though it might be enabled by default on Bazzite.

What are some cool programs in general to check out? My main use case is gaming, I don't program or do any work on my PC but I'd like to explore just for the sake of exploring!

Just look around in Discover and you'll find lots of gems. As a retro gamer, I've found RetroArch indispensable, as a frontend for all my emulators and then some. Lutris is nice if you want all of your games to be centralized under one launcher. There are lots of fun time-wasting open-source games too.

Also, what's a good way to familiarize myself with using the terminal? I've used the terminal on Windows quite a bit in the past, but only for basic things like unlocking a bootloader on Android and sending a ROM to it, back when I cared enough to root my phones. How would I, for example, pull a program off of github and compile it myself if needed? There's a program on github called gHub GUI by ysph that I'd like to check out, would be nice to be able to configure my mouse since piper doesn't seem to recognize my mouse.

You can just ease into it, or read any number of Linux courses online. Following tutorials on Linux will be as easy as following tutorials on Windows. You can learn about programs with either man <command>, info <command>, or <command> --help.

Most projects include README files instructing you on how to compile and/or install them; the exact process depends on the program. But generally, if you see files named "configure" and "Makefile", the process is to install dependencies, then cd into the source code folder and run ./configure; make; sudo make install.

What are some general best practices that differ from Windows? I don't really know how to narrow this question down, apologies for it being so vague.

Discover should be the first place you go to install programs. Don't install programs from random websites unless you absolutely have to. They probably won't work.

A lot of the programs you are used to from Windows will not be available for Linux. They might be compatible with Wine or Proton, but try to find alternatives to them before you try that. There is a KDE app and a GNOME app for most of the basic uses, and https://alternativeto.net/ is a decent resource for finding Linux-friendly alternatives to just about anything.

You probably don't need an antivirus - there are viruses for Linux, but they are extremely rare, and the anti-malware programs that are available for Linux will only detect and remove Windows viruses.

Don't have any comments on your other issues, because I don't have experience with the software you're using (I rarely if ever buy "gaming" hardware).

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 months ago (2 children)

In terms of installing and managing apps in Bazzite there is an official guide for this, https://universal-blue.discourse.group/t/installing-and-managing-software-on-bazzite/35.

It's best not to "layer" packages as you described with 'sudo rpm-ostree', as that will add to the reboot time of the PC. At least as far as I know. Anyway, there are a couple of different ways of installing packages, best explained in the link attached.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

They never read the Docs 🥹

You can also use some ujust commands to spin up a pre-configured Distrobox as well and simply install it in one of those and then export it to your Host/Desktop 🙂.

For playing in GameMode/GameScope, you can even install Waydroid as a non-steam app and install Firefox inside that......and have browser back/available inside GameMode/GameScope session. 🤯

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

Absolute rookie mistake by me to not go to the source for information first, that's my bad. Thanks for the link!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Thanks for the link, I should've browsed there before asking my questions, lots of good info there.

Thank you!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

Hey that's all good dude, don't knock yourself down for it. I also used to ask questions before looking around as it felt easier at the time. Fortunately Bazzite actually has some really nice and well documented pages, not always super intuitive to find them, but they are there. Feel free to ask about more if u have further questions 😊

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago

For building from scratch, which you will sometimes need to do for obscure programs that cant be handled by your standard package managers, I find chatGPT is actually a really helpful tool, despite the hate for it.

If you dump your error logs into it, it will very quickly point out simple things like missing flags or incompatible library versions which might take a long time to resolve yourself if you're not familiar with linux.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

Thank you very much for the detailed response, it's very helpful! Browsing through the discover store is actually fun, like the good old days of checking out random programs on windows before everything went to shit.

Thanks again, it's much appreciated!

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

Regarding your issue with RES, I had the same problem. I think what fixed it for me was copying the link of the popup that requests the permission and opening it in the main Firefox window.

I definitely found my solution through google, so if what I said didn't work, try googling for "Linux Firefox res permissions" or something.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

That's very useful information, I'll try that when I'm back at my pc. Thank you!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)

For your mouse: piper is a graphical front end for a command line package called ratbag. You need .17 of ratbag to have support for the g502x and therefore have piper “see” it.

here’s some information from a year and a half ago, don’t go making the custome device identifier file at the end of that thread unless you can’t get .17 of ratbag normally.

For plex: are you trying to install plex as a media server on this computer you just put Linux on?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Thank you, I'll look into that and see if that works for me!

Yes I'm trying to install the Plex media server app so that I don't have to boot back into windows whenever I or my family wants to use Plex. I don't have a dedicated server so I just install it on my main pc. Still haven't figured out how to get it installed tbh, any help on that front would be much appreciated!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

You’re gonna have to learn and understand a bunch of shit. Like actually learn and understand, not cut and paste commands. If you’re not down for that then It’s best to switch to a normal distribution or set up a separate server.

The reason I say that is: you basically have to “break” or depending on how you see it, “extend” bazzite in order to be able to do what you want.

If you’re still stuck when I get back to a computer I’ll start explaining.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

I'm perfectly fine with that, in fact I'd like to learn more about how to use the terminal in detail cause I find it fun. Part of why I switched to Linux is because I'm bored of Windows, among many other issues it has these days. Learning a new OS is fun, I'm enjoying my time with Linux so far.

You're the 2nd person to bring up my choice of Bazzite, I don't have much installed yet so I'm open to switching to another distro if that'll make things easier for what I want my system to do. I almost installed Endeavour OS but ended up going with Bazzite because I've heard that Arch distros can be a pain to keep up, but I'm speaking out of ignorance, I still know barely anything about Linux.

Basically I want something at least somewhat stable for a Linux noob, but I don't want something like Ubuntu or Linux mint, I'd prefer a more "intermediate" distro over a beginner one like the previously mentioned distros. Building Arch from scratch is a bit much for me for example, but I don't want it overly simplified either. What would you recommend for a distro?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

if you like bazzite there's nothing wrong with sticking to it, youre gonna have to learn what youre trying to do and how to manage it pretty quick though.

bazzite doesn't have a native package for plex media server. that's why youre here. you can either fuck everything up by layering your install with rpm-ostree and using the rpm packages for plex or you can learn how to deal with containers and all their bullshit.

everyone chooses containers because they're already learning linux anyway whats one more thing.

there's two things people are suggesting in this thread at the moment when they talk about containers: Boxbuddy and Distrobox. they're actually the same thing except one (boxbuddy) is a gui wrapper for the other (distrobox) and therefore doesn't work. maybe it does work. I don't know.

the basic idea is that you'll set up a container using distrobox that has a different distributions environment running inside it, preferably one that plex supports, and install and configure plex there.

This video gives an overview of how to do it.

see if that doesn't get you going.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

I'm kinda mixed on it so far, I feel like I should've gone with something like Endeavour OS or something similar. Using a more commonly used distro would simplify troubleshooting and provide a bigger user base to siphon information from. I don't have any problems with Bazzite but I'm kinda feeling like I'm missing out by not using something a bit more complex tbh.

I've read about rpm-ostree and my impression is I'd rather not use it to install anything if I can avoid it, which also feeds into my desire to use a different distro.

Bazzite comes pre-installed with distrobox and boxbuddy, I'll need to put more effort into learning how to use it. I've read up on the basics of it but I haven't yet put in the effort to fully understand that program.

I'll check out that video, thank you for the link. I also wanted to say that you've been a massive help and I greatly appreciate all of your help that you've provided me! Thank you!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

Don’t worry about picking something more complicated. Eventually that will happen and you’ll get to listen to all those drum and bass records while typing into a terminal emulator.

See if you think it’s complicated enough after setting up a container in distrobox and installing and configuring plex.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Layering with rpm-ostree isn't a big deal, it's designed to be used. Flatpak -> ujust -> rpm-ostree, for looking for programs. It also has a manager for .appimage, so those are easy to use as well.

For your Razer, there's a ujust for it. I personally prefer chromatic or whatever its called. But both use openrazer for backend, which is a layered package.

My favorite cool app is cavalier (flatpak), and before that just cava. A nice visualizer for my sound on my second monitor. I'm a bit of an audiophile, and seeing the live bars bounce based on frequency is always so cool to me.