Amateur Linux Hour

[Susanna]

What distro should I get to revive a 2015 macbook? I'd like to put something gnome-based on it so i can make it more macos-like for the person in question.

I'm using fedora myself on an 2011 imac which is pretty much just a media server now, but I'm getting occasional graphical issues. I don't know if it's a hardware degradation issue or if fedora is just too bleeding edge for an older machine like that.

KDE is significantly more Mac-like than GNOME, it just takes a little bit of customisation. Pretty simple to set up though, you add one bar on the top where you put the background tasks, window title and window buttons for maximised windows, and global menu. Then you add another bar at the bottom, set it to float, and add the task view and menu button.
Here's a guide I found, you can probably skip a bunch of steps since they're specifically mimicking the appearance, rather than just the functionality. You can use scripts to duplicate how maximised windows each get their separate desktop, but it's overkill and in my experience not particularly smooth. Swipe up will do a Present All that makes it unnecessary anyway.

I use NixOS and KDE set up to resemble MacOS, it's very nice. It also runs smoothly on my 2013 Macbook Air, so you needn't worry about performance on a 2015.

 

[Dale Everdale]

Thanks for the guide @snov! I had no idea you could mess that much with KDE. To be fair I don't think I need to turn the system into a full-on macos clone, I just think some aesthetic and functional touches that evoke the previous OS will be enough for the person in question to be comfortable with linux.
Are you on wayland?

 

[Susanna]

Are you on wayland?

I am. KDE on Wayland is very solid as long as you have AMD or Intel graphics. 2015 Macbook has Intel graphics, so you're good there, it should work out of the box.

I just think some aesthetic and functional touches that evoke the previous OS will be enough for the person in question to be comfortable with linux.

That's basically my setup. I've moved the window controls to the left side where they belong, set up Global Menu with a mac-like bar at the top, and have a floating dock at the bottom. All of that is available in stock KDE. I've made my own theme by editing a ChromeOS theme and a macOS-like theme together to get the "traffic lights" look and I use Kvantum to get transparency in windows like dolphin (file manager). I also use a plugin to get window controls for maximised windows to slot into the top bar (window bar on fullscreen windows is hidden behind the top bar), it's pretty easy to set up (widget is called "Window Buttons").

 

[Betonhaus]

Alright i fucked up, i upgraded sonar from v3 to v4 and now my second instance doesn't work. after i set up the required authentication it keeps redirecting to a 127.0.0.1 url and refuses to connect, even when i enter the right url and port number. even after fixing the system script and deleting and reinstalling using this script https://github.com/Betonhaus/swizzin2/blob/main/arr2install.sh

also i have no idea how to translate my existing anime download profiles (made using TRasH guides) to the new anime download profiles (using TRaSH guides) as the reash guides don't explain how to do so, and the automated commandline tool doesn't work and the notifiarr method requires a pateron.

 

[DavidS877]

Alright i fucked up, i upgraded sonar from v3 to v4 and now my second instance doesn't work. after i set up the required authentication it keeps redirecting to a 127.0.0.1 url and refuses to connect, even when i enter the right url and port number. even after fixing the system script and deleting and reinstalling using this script https://github.com/Betonhaus/swizzin2/blob/main/arr2install.sh

I don't know sonarr. But usually this happens because the proxy is accepting connections to foo.website.com and sending them to the backend server but the backend server doesn't know it's foo.website.com so when it sends a redirect it sends you back to what it does know which is 127.0.0.1 The headers set should fix that, in theory.
In your case it looks like it might also be this: <UrlBase>${arrsysname}</UrlBase>
But is that really what you want, to be able to go to: http://foo.domain.com/$arrsysname(whatever that is)
If so, it might just need / in front, if not then maybe that option needs to be changed.

Reverse proxies, still sucking after all these years.

 

[Betonhaus]

I don't know sonarr. But usually this happens because the proxy is accepting connections to foo.website.com and sending them to the backend server but the backend server doesn't know it's foo.website.com so when it sends a redirect it sends you back to what it does know which is 127.0.0.1 The headers set should fix that, in theory.
In your case it looks like it might also be this: <UrlBase>${arrsysname}</UrlBase>
But is that really what you want, to be able to go to: http://foo.domain.com/$arrsysname(whatever that is)
If so, it might just need / in front, if not then maybe that option needs to be changed.

Reverse proxies, still sucking after all these years.

The weirdest thing is that on first setup i can go to /sonartv just fine, after which it prompts to set up authentication and a password. after that i can navigate around the app just fine, but if I open a new window after changing the authentication it will redirect to "https://127.0.0.1:8882/sonarrtv/login?returnUrl=%2Fsonarrtv%2F" and refuse to connect

 

[DavidS877]

The weirdest thing is that on first setup i can go to /sonartv just fine, after which it prompts to set up authentication and a password. after that i can navigate around the app just fine, but if I open a new window after changing the authentication it will redirect to "https://127.0.0.1:8882/sonarrtv/login?returnUrl=%2Fsonarrtv%2F" and refuse to connect

This seems similar, sadly the recommendation is to use retarded support channels.

https://github.com/Sonarr/Sonarr/issues/6581

Also I assume you've restarted after setting your initial password and it's still broken.
My only other suggestion is check the logs for anything obvious and put the message into google if there's anything odd.

 

[Betonhaus]

This seems similar, sadly the recommendation is to use retarded support channels.

https://github.com/Sonarr/Sonarr/issues/6581

Also I assume you've restarted after setting your initial password and it's still broken.
My only other suggestion is check the logs for anything obvious and put the message into google if there's anything odd.

i ended up setting authentication to basic (browser popup) instead of the recommended forms (login page) and it now works fine. I spent three hours on this. Nothing is app breakingly wrong on my end, there's a bug in their login page form.

 

[jONALD]

Whatever you do don't install Slackware at 9pm. I made that mistake and suddenly I didn't have any time at all to troubleshoot my noob problems before bedtime. The boot time was pretty damn fast...

 

[Kiwi & Cow]

Alright i fucked up, i upgraded sonar from v3 to v4 and now my second instance doesn't work. after i set up the required authentication it keeps redirecting to a 127.0.0.1 url and refuses to connect, even when i enter the right url and port number. even after fixing the system script and deleting and reinstalling using this script https://github.com/Betonhaus/swizzin2/blob/main/arr2install.sh

also i have no idea how to translate my existing anime download profiles (made using TRasH guides) to the new anime download profiles (using TRaSH guides) as the reash guides don't explain how to do so, and the automated commandline tool doesn't work and the notifiarr method requires a pateron.

Whatever you do don't install Slackware at 9pm. I made that mistake and suddenly I didn't have any time at all to troubleshoot my noob problems before bedtime. The boot time was pretty damn fast...

This may be an issue regarding just Linux Mint:

Is there a reason why I can't simply paste a shortcut to desktop? I'm trying to setup a dance game for my wife and the instructions to make a desktop link are almost 'make your own shortcut lol'.

lmao

Ok, I know like to shit on linux to piss off purists and all that jazz, esp cuz Linux is still not ready for the PC market despite retards saying the opposite, but forreal if you want to get into Linux you install Debian with GNOME.

Debian has no fancy bullshit other than lacking tools to make full use of the GUI, used it since a few years ago and still does a good enough job for a Linux distro. I'm on Bullseye BTW, but you can install Bookworm if you'd prefer using the latest version available.

https://www.debian.org/releases/

No guarantees you don't end up getting into bullshit, because debian is still Linux and Linux is still a far cry from Windows.

 

[Belisarius Cawl]

No guarantees you don't end up getting into bullshit, because debian is still Linux and Linux is still a far cry from Windows.

Windows has its fair share of bullshit too

 

[Kiwi2Shoes]

get into Linux you install Debian with GNOME.

Linux Mint with XFCE works better for me.

 

[Creative Username]

Windows has its fair share of bullshit too

It's a choice between being annoyed every 5 days and your PC being broken every 5 months.

There's no such thing as a "best distro", a good thing to do is test a bunch on LiveUSB/VM and figure out which one you like the best, confirm all your software works / can be swapped for other software that works, and then you can use it on your bare hardware.

 

[Belisarius Cawl]

It's a choice between being annoyed every 5 days and your PC being broken every 5 months.

There's no such thing as a "best distro", a good thing to do is test a bunch on LiveUSB/VM and figure out which one you like the best, confirm all your software works / can be swapped for other software that works, and then you can use it on your bare hardware.

A few years ago the only one that would boot properly from an external DVD drive was Mint and I've been using it ever since. I'm not at all dogmatic about Linux distros but it really does seem to be the best all-around for desktop use.

 

[Car Won't Crank]

It's a choice between being annoyed every 5 days and your PC being broken every 5 months.

There's no such thing as a "best distro", a good thing to do is test a bunch on LiveUSB/VM and figure out which one you like the best, confirm all your software works / can be swapped for other software that works, and then you can use it on your bare hardware.

I've been using my Mint install for a few years now with no issues. When 22.04 reaches EOL, I'll simply do a fresh install of the next LTS version of Mint.

 

[Aljam]

A lot of self checkout machines run openSUSE. McDonald's, drugstores, menu boards. All openSUSE

 

[Kiwi2Shoes]

A lot of self checkout machines run openSUSE. McDonald's, drugstores, menu boards. All openSUSE

How do you know though?

 

[Aljam]

How do you know though?

I literally watched the terminal boot up at a local shoppers drug mart. I've seen the increasing error logs on menu boards at McDonald's and Tim Hortons. The funniest part is I've seen such errors for days without a single technician fixing it. That's what you get for hiring niggers and filth

 

[Kiwi & Cow]

A lot of self checkout machines run openSUSE. McDonald's, drugstores, menu boards. All openSUSE

Not sure about that one mang. I've seen Windows running some of these things in McDoanald's.

But yeah, Linux does hyperfocused tasks like self checkout better than Windows that's one of the rare advantages it has over Windows and why it's far more popular with devs and corpo people than normal people.

 

[jeff7989]

Not sure about that one mang. I've seen Windows running some of these things in McDoanald's.

But yeah, Linux does hyperfocused tasks like self checkout better than Windows that's one of the rare advantages it has over Windows and why it's far more popular with devs and corpo people than normal people.

You can slap Linux on RPi with and SD card and let it rip. Probably not a thing on Windows.