I am thinking of switching from Linux Mint to Fedora. I have always liked Fedora, but have been bitten by some BS like NVIDIA drivers not working and some programs only available as a .deb file (I know about alien… or do I?)
I love GNOME DE, has that modern “I work on a spaceship” feel.
I mostly do music production and some gaming, so pipewire seems intriguing.
Here is the real question: Should I got Silverblue? I just learned about distrobox, so maybe that is my solution for programs I cannot get through flatpak?
You can install silverblue, and then rebase to ublue ( https://universal-blue.org/ ). Specifically to the “silverblue-nvidia” variant, and you should get a nice silverblue experience without any of the nvidia struggles, as people at the ublue project take care of that stuff for you.
And yes, distrobox is the goto solution to run stuff that is basically ubuntu-only, or by extension bound to any distro variant / version and not flatpak. This includes graphical applications. Distrobox works great, I do all my work in it.
Oh, I totally misunderstood the OS. I was under the impression that using os-tree should be totally avoided for anything other than necessary system programs, and all other software should be installed with flatpaks or containers.
I now understand that using os-tree for some programs is inevitable, and I should embrace it, though still catiously to maintain as clean of an OS as possible for maximum longevity.
I was under the impression that using os-tree should be totally avoided for anything other than necessary system programs
Interaction with ostree directly shouldn’t occur that often; with sudo ostree admin pin *number* (and its -u option) probably being the commands your average Joe should interact with. You probably meant rpm-ostree.
and all other software should be installed with flatpaks or containers.
It’s indeed true that initially Fedora intended flatpaks should be preferred. If the software isn’t available there, then Toolbx(/Distrobox) is used to access it through a container. And if all else fails, then it’s layered through the rpm-ostree command.
I now understand that using os-tree for some programs is inevitable, and I should embrace it, though still catiously to maintain as clean of an OS as possible for maximum longevity.
You’re getting the drill! Though, I wonder why you weren’t able to rebase to uBlue and had to resort to installing the Nvidia drivers through RPM Fusion instead. It’s fine as long as it works, but I imagine that some issues might arise eventually. So consider sharing the steps you took so that the community might help out; perhaps even over at uBlue Discord. You could also just share it here if you will.
I think the key is restarting at every step it asks you to, and maybe after anything that seems major or is a prerequisite for another set of program installs. I mean, I got a black screen the first time, but after a hard reset, it just worked.
No doubt UBlue is probably a lot easier. I did not realize I could have just downloaded the ISO instead of trying to rebase, but I like what I am running.
Anyways, doing it the hard way is helping me learn the intricacies of an immutable system, so I am having fun.
Indeed, in your case acquiring uBlue through its ISO was probably the best option; but I’m glad to hear that it worked out in the end!
Anyways, doing it the hard way is helping me learn the intricacies of an immutable system, so I am having fun.
Well said!
Just in case; consider the following:
Pin your current working deployment with the aforementioned sudo ostree admin pin 0 command. After which it remains accessible regardless unless you unpin it later on. This should allow you a working deployment if all else fails and thus a safe haven to rely on.
I am thinking of switching from Linux Mint to Fedora. I have always liked Fedora, but have been bitten by some BS like NVIDIA drivers not working and some programs only available as a .deb file (I know about alien… or do I?)
I love GNOME DE, has that modern “I work on a spaceship” feel.
I mostly do music production and some gaming, so pipewire seems intriguing.
Here is the real question: Should I got Silverblue? I just learned about distrobox, so maybe that is my solution for programs I cannot get through flatpak?
You can install silverblue, and then rebase to ublue ( https://universal-blue.org/ ). Specifically to the “silverblue-nvidia” variant, and you should get a nice silverblue experience without any of the nvidia struggles, as people at the ublue project take care of that stuff for you.
And yes, distrobox is the goto solution to run stuff that is basically ubuntu-only, or by extension bound to any distro variant / version and not flatpak. This includes graphical applications. Distrobox works great, I do all my work in it.
Nice! Looks like I have a fun night ahead of me!
Thank you for showing me uBlue! I want to avoid os-tree if I can, since that seems to defeat the purpose.
How so?
Oh, I totally misunderstood the OS. I was under the impression that using os-tree should be totally avoided for anything other than necessary system programs, and all other software should be installed with flatpaks or containers.
I now understand that using os-tree for some programs is inevitable, and I should embrace it, though still catiously to maintain as clean of an OS as possible for maximum longevity.
Interaction with
ostree
directly shouldn’t occur that often; withsudo ostree admin pin *number*
(and its-u
option) probably being the commands your average Joe should interact with. You probably meantrpm-ostree
.It’s indeed true that initially Fedora intended flatpaks should be preferred. If the software isn’t available there, then Toolbx(/Distrobox) is used to access it through a container. And if all else fails, then it’s layered through the
rpm-ostree
command.You’re getting the drill! Though, I wonder why you weren’t able to rebase to uBlue and had to resort to installing the Nvidia drivers through RPM Fusion instead. It’s fine as long as it works, but I imagine that some issues might arise eventually. So consider sharing the steps you took so that the community might help out; perhaps even over at uBlue Discord. You could also just share it here if you will.
Honestly, I just followed the steps here: https://rpmfusion.org/Howto/NVIDIA#OSTree_.28Silverblue.2FKinoite.2Fetc.29
I was diligent about following the configuration guide first: https://rpmfusion.org/Configuration
I think the key is restarting at every step it asks you to, and maybe after anything that seems major or is a prerequisite for another set of program installs. I mean, I got a black screen the first time, but after a hard reset, it just worked.
No doubt UBlue is probably a lot easier. I did not realize I could have just downloaded the ISO instead of trying to rebase, but I like what I am running.
Anyways, doing it the hard way is helping me learn the intricacies of an immutable system, so I am having fun.
Ah, I got it now thanks for the explanation!
Indeed, in your case acquiring uBlue through its ISO was probably the best option; but I’m glad to hear that it worked out in the end!
Well said!
Just in case; consider the following:
sudo ostree admin pin 0
command. After which it remains accessible regardless unless you unpin it later on. This should allow you a working deployment if all else fails and thus a safe haven to rely on.Oh nice! I will do that. I see this as save scumming for real life!
Speaking of, save scumming is a habit I need to rid myself of. I need to allow myself to fail in Baldur’s Gate and other games.