Alexandriteia
New Member
My Linux Experience:
For over a decade (because my father adopted Linux), I've been using Kubuntu, and on my 8-year-old gaming laptop held together with duct tape (I actually do gaming with my Nintendo Switch; I'd recently bought a new 2-in-1 laptop, but for usage as a supplementary device), it's started to break; in fact, I can't use Kubuntu 24.04 because the audio doesn't work, not even a year after it's initial release when I'd first brought the issue up on an Ubuntu-specific website. This prompted me to learn more about my options; not just with Linux distributions, but other aspects of Linux as well.
I have some experience using Linux: as I said, I've used it for over a decade. My proudest achievement is having some years ago ran RStudio on the latest version before it was officially supported and anyone had shared a solution online, but that was a hellish troubleshooting experience; since then, I'd waited until RStudio was officially supported before upgrading to a newer version, and only LTS versions. But as I'd mentioned earlier, Ubuntu (or so I assume, using Kubuntu: it might be flavour-specific, but I doubt it) now has a deal-breaking audio issue for me.
Choosing Distribution & Desktop Environment:
After having done some research, I've decided on moving to Debian for my distribution: I've heard good things about its stability, so I'm expecting it to work better than Ubuntu. I'd found a customised version of Ubuntu that I liked, but of course, vanilla Ubuntu uses GNOME (as opposed to KDE); in the end, I decided not to take anything GNOME-based from this customised version of Ubuntu, but by then, I'd seen enough of GNOME to be willing to try it out, so I will. I know a convenience of installing Debian is that it allows one to install any of 7 different desktop environments.
Customising Plymouth:
Nevertheless, I'd been inspired by Moebuntu to further customise my computer. I've made my own Plymouth theme based on TOY's Moe-Moe Spinner (in turn evidently based on Ubuntu's Spinner): I replaced the watermark with a custom logo using the Debinyan icon from UwUFetch; the background image with lens-blurred high-definition artwork of Renne; and the spinning logo frames with sprites of Renne from Trails to Azure. I dub it Kitty Spinner (if you know, you know). Since Kubuntu uses Plymouth, I tested it; until I delete my recording of it, you can see it here.
Customising GNOME:
I also modified zayronXIO's Zafiro Nord Dark icon themes to be more purplish, and created a custom audio theme using Herta sounds sourced from the Honkai: Star Rail wiki; I neither play nor watch playthroughs of HSR, but having seen this fan-made video of Herta, I knew her voice-overs would be best for a custom audio theme, and went so far as to create both English and Japanese versions (although, I couldn't be bothered making Chinese and Korean versions). I also plan on using the Miku Cursor (I'm personally not a Miku fan, but it's cute) and Marble Purple shell theme.
Choosing Package Format:
Of course, with the exception of my custom Plymouth theme, it's all just theoretical until I've actually installed Debian with GNOME, and I need to finish working on some stuff before before I mess around with installing new stuff. Speaking of installing stuff, I've heard a lot of conflicting things about the different package formats. Should I adopt Snaps? Flatpaks? Something else? Or just stick with the good old regular packages? As I said, I've heard a lot of conflicting things; it seems I'll have to rely on personal experience to make a decision about this.
My Snap Experience:
Using Kubuntu, I've already had a bit of exposure to Snaps. Initially, I hated Ubuntu's move to install Firefox as a Snap by default, because it kept bugging out with the automatic updates, and then I ended up having both regular Firefox and Snap Firefox despite uninstalling the latter, which was annoying. I also assume Ubuntu switching from PulseAudio to PipeWire was the cause of my audio issues with Kubuntu 24.04, which certainly doesn't help my recent perception of Ubuntu and its flavours being increasingly buggy and unreliable.
However, I did say 'initially': having reinstalled Kubuntu 22.04 earlier this year (because of the aforementioned audio issue when I tried out Kubuntu 24.04 again), Snap Firefox works perfectly fine for me now. But of course, Snaps aren't the only non-regular package format, and I hear a lot of hate towards it online in favour of Flatpaks; I'm sure at least some of these people just had a similar experience as myself, and haven't given Snaps another chance because they initially had a bad experience with it like I did.
That said, Firefox no longer shows up in the Plasma System Monitor; this hasn't inconvenienced me, but it might if I need to quit an unresponsive application (which I've sometimes needed to do). Regular MuseScore is 6 years old now (version 3.2); Snap MuseScore is 3 years old (version 3.6), while Flatpak MuseScore is up-to-date at version 4.5... For that reason alone, I'll try out Flatpaks, but much like GNOME, whether I continue using it or not will depend on my experience with it when I try it.
Closing Remarks:
Apologies for the lengthy and perhaps controversial introduction. I had initially intended to ask anyone who had recently been using Snap or Flatpak about what their experience had been to help me decide on whether I should adopt one or the other (or something else, or neither), but thinking about MuseScore helped me decide on trying out Flatpak: I was interested in these non-regular package formats for offering more up-to-date software than regular packages, and Snap evidently isn't the package format for that (for some software).
Well, I now have an account here and already wrote most of this post, so I may as well post it and stick around; then, I won't need to create a new account each time I encounter a Linux problem or question I'm convinced I can't find a solution to. Not that I imagine I'll have problems with a distribution renowned for its stability, but who knows? Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me three times, and I really should just keep a permanent account with a website such as this in case I run into more problems, have any further questions, etc.
Maybe I could even help others with their Linux problems or questions. I was wondering why I was getting this error message, and spent hours trying to troubleshoot it: 'W: plymouth module (/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/plymouth//.so) missing, skipping that theme'. Turns out I'd just forgotten to correctly rename the ImageDir location... So, I don't believe I'd be helpful with the coding side of things, but if it's help with audio or visual customisation you're looking for, I think I can help with that (just don't expect more than what I've shown or implied I'm capable of here).
For over a decade (because my father adopted Linux), I've been using Kubuntu, and on my 8-year-old gaming laptop held together with duct tape (I actually do gaming with my Nintendo Switch; I'd recently bought a new 2-in-1 laptop, but for usage as a supplementary device), it's started to break; in fact, I can't use Kubuntu 24.04 because the audio doesn't work, not even a year after it's initial release when I'd first brought the issue up on an Ubuntu-specific website. This prompted me to learn more about my options; not just with Linux distributions, but other aspects of Linux as well.
I have some experience using Linux: as I said, I've used it for over a decade. My proudest achievement is having some years ago ran RStudio on the latest version before it was officially supported and anyone had shared a solution online, but that was a hellish troubleshooting experience; since then, I'd waited until RStudio was officially supported before upgrading to a newer version, and only LTS versions. But as I'd mentioned earlier, Ubuntu (or so I assume, using Kubuntu: it might be flavour-specific, but I doubt it) now has a deal-breaking audio issue for me.
Choosing Distribution & Desktop Environment:
After having done some research, I've decided on moving to Debian for my distribution: I've heard good things about its stability, so I'm expecting it to work better than Ubuntu. I'd found a customised version of Ubuntu that I liked, but of course, vanilla Ubuntu uses GNOME (as opposed to KDE); in the end, I decided not to take anything GNOME-based from this customised version of Ubuntu, but by then, I'd seen enough of GNOME to be willing to try it out, so I will. I know a convenience of installing Debian is that it allows one to install any of 7 different desktop environments.
Customising Plymouth:
Nevertheless, I'd been inspired by Moebuntu to further customise my computer. I've made my own Plymouth theme based on TOY's Moe-Moe Spinner (in turn evidently based on Ubuntu's Spinner): I replaced the watermark with a custom logo using the Debinyan icon from UwUFetch; the background image with lens-blurred high-definition artwork of Renne; and the spinning logo frames with sprites of Renne from Trails to Azure. I dub it Kitty Spinner (if you know, you know). Since Kubuntu uses Plymouth, I tested it; until I delete my recording of it, you can see it here.
Customising GNOME:
I also modified zayronXIO's Zafiro Nord Dark icon themes to be more purplish, and created a custom audio theme using Herta sounds sourced from the Honkai: Star Rail wiki; I neither play nor watch playthroughs of HSR, but having seen this fan-made video of Herta, I knew her voice-overs would be best for a custom audio theme, and went so far as to create both English and Japanese versions (although, I couldn't be bothered making Chinese and Korean versions). I also plan on using the Miku Cursor (I'm personally not a Miku fan, but it's cute) and Marble Purple shell theme.
Choosing Package Format:
Of course, with the exception of my custom Plymouth theme, it's all just theoretical until I've actually installed Debian with GNOME, and I need to finish working on some stuff before before I mess around with installing new stuff. Speaking of installing stuff, I've heard a lot of conflicting things about the different package formats. Should I adopt Snaps? Flatpaks? Something else? Or just stick with the good old regular packages? As I said, I've heard a lot of conflicting things; it seems I'll have to rely on personal experience to make a decision about this.
My Snap Experience:
Using Kubuntu, I've already had a bit of exposure to Snaps. Initially, I hated Ubuntu's move to install Firefox as a Snap by default, because it kept bugging out with the automatic updates, and then I ended up having both regular Firefox and Snap Firefox despite uninstalling the latter, which was annoying. I also assume Ubuntu switching from PulseAudio to PipeWire was the cause of my audio issues with Kubuntu 24.04, which certainly doesn't help my recent perception of Ubuntu and its flavours being increasingly buggy and unreliable.
However, I did say 'initially': having reinstalled Kubuntu 22.04 earlier this year (because of the aforementioned audio issue when I tried out Kubuntu 24.04 again), Snap Firefox works perfectly fine for me now. But of course, Snaps aren't the only non-regular package format, and I hear a lot of hate towards it online in favour of Flatpaks; I'm sure at least some of these people just had a similar experience as myself, and haven't given Snaps another chance because they initially had a bad experience with it like I did.
That said, Firefox no longer shows up in the Plasma System Monitor; this hasn't inconvenienced me, but it might if I need to quit an unresponsive application (which I've sometimes needed to do). Regular MuseScore is 6 years old now (version 3.2); Snap MuseScore is 3 years old (version 3.6), while Flatpak MuseScore is up-to-date at version 4.5... For that reason alone, I'll try out Flatpaks, but much like GNOME, whether I continue using it or not will depend on my experience with it when I try it.
Closing Remarks:
Apologies for the lengthy and perhaps controversial introduction. I had initially intended to ask anyone who had recently been using Snap or Flatpak about what their experience had been to help me decide on whether I should adopt one or the other (or something else, or neither), but thinking about MuseScore helped me decide on trying out Flatpak: I was interested in these non-regular package formats for offering more up-to-date software than regular packages, and Snap evidently isn't the package format for that (for some software).
Well, I now have an account here and already wrote most of this post, so I may as well post it and stick around; then, I won't need to create a new account each time I encounter a Linux problem or question I'm convinced I can't find a solution to. Not that I imagine I'll have problems with a distribution renowned for its stability, but who knows? Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me three times, and I really should just keep a permanent account with a website such as this in case I run into more problems, have any further questions, etc.
Maybe I could even help others with their Linux problems or questions. I was wondering why I was getting this error message, and spent hours trying to troubleshoot it: 'W: plymouth module (/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/plymouth//.so) missing, skipping that theme'. Turns out I'd just forgotten to correctly rename the ImageDir location... So, I don't believe I'd be helpful with the coding side of things, but if it's help with audio or visual customisation you're looking for, I think I can help with that (just don't expect more than what I've shown or implied I'm capable of here).
