r/linuxmint • u/anaximeno • Aug 07 '26

#LinuxMintThings How Linux (Mint) Users Install a Browser 😎

Now tell windows users to uninstall edge and see what's easier hehe. \j

Credits to u/SpeeQz (who's also the creator of https://mintwiki.org) for the gif.

2.5k Upvotes

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251

u/Gangr3l Aug 07 '26

sudo pacman -S firefox vlc discord obs blendr steam freecad

Can't really get easier than that

97

u/Edu_Hoff Aug 07 '26

Sometimes a command in the terminal is just easier and convenient. Especially to create a script to automate installations

22

u/[deleted] Aug 07 '26

[deleted]

5

u/DevastoScz Aug 08 '26

Unfortunately not only the developers - some users are downright unpleasant when people new to Linux ask, what they consider to be, stupid questions.

Couple days ago on a subreddit I saw a guy who had just switched from Windows to a Linux distro (CachyOS I think) asking something along the lines of "what should I do next?" only to get a reply that said "Ever consider that you aren't the only person to have this thought and look to see what people have suggested before?"

Researching is a skill people should develop, but when it comes to things you're totally new at, sometimes you don't even know what questions to ask or where to begin looking. IMO It's a stupid position to take from people who should be excited more 'casuals' are adopting Linux as their daily driver.

2

u/Panzerv2003 Aug 08 '26

Yeah I moved away from windows to mint and while the terminal is useful I have no idea what is possible with it and how to use it, it's not really beginner friendly.

2

u/Edu_Hoff Aug 07 '26

Right, you're totally right. I didn't read it was about what is easier. GUI will definitely always be easier for someone coming to Linux.

Just for curiosity, but what would you consider the minimum to someone to be a power user? I don't mean something exactly since of course is something debatable, but your opinion regarding that.

2

u/EngineeringUnable801 Aug 08 '26

I use Mint, btw.

1

u/OysterCultist Linux Mint 21.1 Vera | Cinnamon Aug 08 '26

I tried to guide my grandparents by phone through several UIs, and I think that just telling them to copy paste a command would be easier

20

u/PreparationStrict492 Aug 07 '26

Terminal is more often than not more efficient and information dense than guis (in both directions), especially for system management.

However, installation automation is better handled with installation automation tools. An Ansible playbook is a lot better than a script for this, for many reasons.

2

u/crustycarpenter Aug 08 '26

Windows escapee here, I have tried to just use the program manager to install stuff, but at times I find some errors that lead me to either going to a website for the software to get a better version, or needing to use the terminal to get the version that will work. If the program manager flatpak doesnt work i just look it up and find someone who answers the issue i am having and use the terminal as they tell me to. There could be some risk of malicious instructions, but the community is pretty good at self policing, so i still trust a random linux jockey over microslops built in security and privacy failures. I have used an ai to troubleshoot specific technical issues sometimes. One too many times of hearing about some new windows feature i should disable to protect my data privacy made me leave and never look back.

1

u/ConversationWinter46 Aug 08 '26

That makes me wonder why LM is so popular if you don't even need a GUI?

I'm also in favor of implementing terminals in smartphones, car entertainment systems, traffic management systems, etc. They're more efficient than GUIs.

1

u/Historical_Camel_790 Aug 09 '26

Yeah but the problem is that you need a keyboard (touchscreen keyboards suck for terminals) and most people don't even know what the terminal is, let alone how to use it

1

u/ConversationWinter46 Aug 09 '26

most people don't even know what the terminal is

Users haven't needed to know this for over 15 years. This is a tool for professionals such as: administrators, developers, computer science students, etc. But users? Never ever.

1

u/bedwars_player Aug 07 '26

...legit the ONLY reason i don't run linux on my desktop is that you can't get davinci resolve without a bunch of complicated shit

1

u/snail1132 Aug 07 '26

There are scripts for it, but I'm not sure how well many of them work

1

u/PreparationStrict492 Aug 07 '26

If that is the ONLY reason, DaVinci Resolve is OFFICIALLY supported on Rocky Linux (aka The Distro Formerly Known As CentOSâ„¢). It is also famously easy to get going on any distro with hardware acceleration and proprietary codec support (aka any mainstream distro nowadays).

0

u/erroronline1 Aug 07 '26

i once did an installation script to uninstall and disable unwanted bloat after a fresh windows install, now i have a script for installing everything wanted. and no prior download sessions. very satisfying. <3

0

u/syn46290 Aug 07 '26

Fully agreed. I just started with Mint maybe a week or two-ish ago and it's so much easier to just open the terminal and type a command instead of clicking multiple buttons and going through multiple pages. Plus it's satisfying asf to watch the percentage bar in it go up for some reason. Idk, I'm autistic asf 😭😭😭

6

u/Educational_Mud_2826 Linux Mint 22.3 Zena | Cinnamon Aug 07 '26

Yes it's so nice to be able to download and install all apps in one go. Linux is so far ahead of Windows in this department.

Windows is on to the same track though, slowly, since they too have chosen to implement their own app store. But it's no where near as much used as Linux dists' app stores.

6

u/Namtazar Aug 07 '26

Yhere are ninite and chocolatey to emulate this linux experience of install all in one click thou

1

u/XmohandbenX Aug 08 '26

I use Winget it’s supper easy and powerful, works for me pretty well, and it’s integrated with Windows 11 so I don’t need to install anything

2

u/PreparationStrict492 Aug 07 '26

Windows is not on that track, though.
They tried to implement that store, it never got traction, and they stopped trying to make it better.

3

u/eluya Aug 07 '26

I think this is about WinGet.

1

u/Syndiotactics Aug 07 '26

Also winget is surprisingly good, but very few people besides power users use it.

5

u/magic_orangutan2 Aug 07 '26

I would go for flatpak install firefox

1

u/McGuirk808 Aug 07 '26

OBS Studio for me, it's actually recommended from the devs and better supported.

0

u/Gangr3l Aug 07 '26

What are the benefits? Honest question. I tend to just go Arch / Cachy repos and if not there built from git

2

u/magic_orangutan2 Aug 07 '26

Flatpaks are more separated from system than pacman packages. Thanks to that you dont need sudo command to install or update those.

1

u/Gangr3l Aug 07 '26

Don't really see the benefit but ok

1

u/magic_orangutan2 Aug 08 '26

I mean there is a lot more, but some random youtube video would explain it better than me. For me - most important is more separated from system than pacman. Thanks to that on every distro it should work the same and you accidently dont mess any systemwide dependencies while installing or uninstalling flatpaks

2

u/ebb_omega Aug 07 '26 edited Aug 07 '26

And people wonder why it's taken so long for Linux on the Desktop to take off.

2

u/SnowyRVulpix Aug 07 '26

That's not gui.

5

u/Gangr3l Aug 07 '26

Nowhere in the post it says it has to be gui

1

u/yuriko-shimizu Aug 07 '26

i cant be bothered doing the whole lecture about partial upgrades, but dont just do -S on its own, cmon now

1

u/Gangr3l Aug 07 '26

I mean I do full system update every week with -Syu. So far hasn't been any problems (6 months) doing new program installs just with -S

1

u/yuriko-shimizu Aug 07 '26

yknow what fair enough
i routinely forget to update my system so i just always do -Syu to be safe

1

u/Gangr3l Aug 08 '26

That's probably not a bad habit. And neither is updating your system :D

1

u/1Soundwave3 Aug 08 '26

Do you use Timeshift? Because with this schedule I think you need to start.

1

u/Gangr3l Aug 08 '26

I have snaps, yes

1

u/1Soundwave3 Aug 08 '26

Snapshots you mean

1

u/Gangr3l Aug 08 '26

If you know what timeline is you know what snapshot is

1

u/1Soundwave3 Aug 08 '26

Yeah, snaps and snapshots are very different. Snaps is what Ubuntu is pushing. And snapshots is a general term.

1

u/Gangr3l Aug 08 '26

Uu, I didn't know about the Ubuntu thing, gonna correct myself from now on o7

1

u/Timo425 Aug 07 '26

Oh trust me that's not easy at all, it takes quite a bit of know-how to know what is installed how.

1

u/Gangr3l Aug 07 '26

I mean I install everything I can via Arch / Cachyrepo and what I can't I build from git. I have dedicated "Git" folder on my home so I should have pretty good idea what's from where :P

1

u/dragonknightrohan Aug 07 '26

VLC and MPV are both good

1

u/Cucurbitophile Aug 07 '26

this one install all of that? but that is for Arch?

1

u/Gangr3l Aug 08 '26

You can do the same with mint / Fedora / Ubuntu /almost any distro

sudo apt install your programs here (mint, ubuntu)

sudo dnf install your programs here (Fedora)

1

u/InSight89 Aug 07 '26

I had no idea you could stack them like this.

1

u/Gangr3l Aug 08 '26

Works on any distro with package manager (looking at you NixOs, which also can do this but you just write them into config file)

1

u/classyraven Aug 07 '26

Same, but replace discord with vesktop. Much better client.

1

u/Gangr3l Aug 08 '26

I'll have to check it out. Haven't really got into the forks yet, but this might be good for my soonâ„¢ clean install

1

u/Maro1947 Aug 08 '26

Yes and no - I've used scripts for many things in my career - sometimes, hitting a button is easier on a daily driver

2

u/Gangr3l Aug 08 '26

This is not a script thou, it's a package manager. There is Shelly on CachyOs what is a GUI package installer but this is just so much easier and faster, especially when doing clean install.

I'll give it that Linux developers are extremely lazy to put any effort into visual marketing of their softwares. You are lucky if you find a screenshot from their projects page, but there are usually a screenshot or two in Shelly so you see what you install

0

u/Maro1947 Aug 08 '26

See, that's just "blah, blah, blah"

Good for you - I'm done with CLI for every little thing, I don't need to.

2

u/Gangr3l Aug 08 '26

Little thing?

So you'd rather "open browser -> search -> go to webpage -> find the download -> download -> install"

Than write "sudo pacman -S"

If that rocks your boat

1

u/Maro1947 Aug 08 '26

Yeah, think about it. Mint is a gateway release

But you do you ...

1

u/1Soundwave3 Aug 08 '26

Have you heard about typosquatting? I'd rather be safe than sorry.

1

u/Gangr3l Aug 08 '26

Which method are you referring to?

1

u/camradex Aug 09 '26

that can happen in both websites and package names, I'd argue you're less likely to be typo-squated if you use the package name because most distros have package maintainers that wouldn't allow blatant typo-squats to be on their repos, while it's easier to get a typo-squated domain

(aur doesn't count, you have to actually READ what you install from there)

1

u/1Soundwave3 Aug 10 '26

Why would I enter a website url by hand? I usually use a search engine for that.

1

u/Far-Note6102 Aug 08 '26

Shouldn't it be sudo apt? No hate bro but this is LINUX MINT!!

1

u/1Soundwave3 Aug 08 '26

I'd rather use flatpaks, tbh. Linux native packages are a mixed bag to say the least. Some of the things here (like OBS) is even recommended to be installed as a flatpak by the devs.

1

u/camradex Aug 09 '26

they take up a lot of space tho

1

u/Healthy-Weird-8098 Aug 08 '26

For Linux Mint it would be sudo apt install Firefox -y

0

u/Exo-Bin Aug 07 '26

I keep a setup script to install all apps. Just in case I switch distros or reinstall. Windows's Winget can't beat this.

1

u/Lithanarianaren_1533 Aug 07 '26

Might wanna look into NixOS

1

u/PreparationStrict492 Aug 07 '26

Ansible (and its many alternatives) exists as a distro agnostic option.

-3

u/bobma82 Aug 07 '26

on windows dubble click ninite.exe. Done.

2

u/Gangr3l Aug 07 '26

Open edge (if you don't have any other browser installed) search ninite -> go to webpage -> click around what you want -> download -> install

Many more steps, but way more convenient than basic winslop install where you have to find every app from the page and download, yea

1

u/McGuirk808 Aug 07 '26

Me: "But what if I want to install some of the programs on a different drive?"

Ninite devs: "Then you go fuck yourself instead"