All of this ricing looks amazing, I am just overwhelmed by the sheer number of everything. Where is it recommended that I start? Right now I have GNOME on Debian 12 (I hate it)
Ricing Gnome is both easier and harder than what you see here.
Gnome is very limiting in terms of customization - compared to other DE / WM atleast. That means lesser people actually make cool projects / designs for GNOME, that limits your selection.
But then GNOME is actually quite straight forward when you find something. You can just google GTK4 themes and you should find something on https://www.gnome-look.org/browse?cat=135
Other than that you might start to browse all the extensions. There are many that will alter your layout, give you additional bar, widgets
Oh Im hoping to get rid of GNOME, I hate everything about it.
try out KDE :-)
Thanks I’ll check it out. Are there applications to help customization, or do I need to use terminal??
there are a few applications out there, don’t know their names. Just google GTK4 theming. Look into youtube aswell.
Terminal is not needed here, no
You can do most of the customization in the default KDE settings. It’s fairly easy.
A lot of people upload their dotfiles when it comes to WMs. Just look up dotfiles on github or usually github dotfiles are posted on unixporn, here’s mine for example: https://github.com/Maniacsan/dotfiles
So I can use this dotfiles with most WM’s?
Be more specific.
There are many options from Awesome and i3, through Sway or Wayfire, via XFCE or E17 all the way to KDE or Gnome.
What do you actually want?
Don’t overthink it, it’s a natural long term process, you don’t need to create a complete rice in one go.
Personally I’d recommend Arch since it’s a good way to “disillusion” yourself from what your system comprises of, because you have to consciously choose many components at installation, especially if you choose a simple WM instead of a full DE.
It’s easy to be overwhelmed but you shouldn’t, it’s very enjoyable to just tweak things now and then and keep improving everything over time.
I dont understand exactly how WM’s work with things like browsers. Does it all work fine?
It does, and depending on your workflow it might be easier. For example, I often need to be able to look at 2 tabs simultaneously, so I can just “pull” one of them out to make it a separate window and they automatically arrange themselves to each take up half the screen. That’s a very specific example, but it’s convenient for me. Other than that, yes, they work fine. My suggestion is to install the one you want to try out in parallel to your existing DE, so you can continue using your computer when you actually need to be productive, and work on ricing the TWM in your free time when you feel like tinkering. Eventually, you should reach a point where it is usable and actually preferableto use the TWM. Good luck :)
Thank you for the advice! Before I start (because I only have this one computer) what commands will I need to know? Will an install of arch linux also come with drivers for things such as wifi, or will I need to get those separately?
It depends on what chipset your wifi uses. If you have access to ethernet I would do that for the install, then test to see if wifi works. If it doesn’t , having the ethernet will make finding drivers not included in the base install much easier.
As for other device drivers, it really depends on what you have. Mostly though other than wifi you should be fine.
A great resource is the arch wiki, and their installation guide is what I use every time.
I get the feeling you’re a bit new, so maybe a good idea is to first try it out in a virtual machine, see how it goes, get comfortable with the process, play around with it without the fear of borking your system, etc…
Also, you’re encouraged to ask question. Here is an example of a good sublem where you could ask Arch specific questions if that is the route you end up going: https://lemmy.ml/c/archlinux
I’m just using an HP Probook from like 7 years ago, I dont really know what wifi chipset it would have. Unfortunately I dont have access to my router (shared internet, I’m in a boarding school).
With virtual machines, what program am I best off using? I’ve used virtualbox for windows XP and whatnot in the past.
Also thank you for the link (what do they call the lemmy equivalents of subreddits? Communities?)!
It is just best of you plan to learn as you go. There is no single set of commands that will assuredly help you beyond basic Linux 101 commands. Try DDG for indicators (or your search engine of choice)
https://www.google.com/search?q=linux ricing guides
(N.B.: Stay away from Reddit these days… too much is in turmoil there, so say I).
I’d think about it at a high level and then get more granular. What are your favorite riced screenshots? What parts of them particularly appeal to you? On the other hand, are there things about your setup that bother you? Then, take what you like and don’t like and let that guide you in customization.
I am pretty opinionated, so I care about changing little things. Examples of little things I tweaked when installing KDE recently:
- made the digital clock display on one line instead of two
- removed blur from lockscreen
- hid user info + switch user options from lockscreen
For me the rest of the visual adjustments came from picking color schemes, fonts, icons, and wallpapers I like.
I dont know if my reasoning for wanting to use linux is common, I just want the customization aspect
I started of just wanting customization but eventually I just liked using package managers, cli and a more minimal setup
FWIW, I wrote the following about 3 years ago. You might find it helpful.
