From Windows to Linux
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This is a continuation of some posts in Ruarí's blog post: [url=https://vivaldi.net/en-US/teamblog/80-alternative-install-options-for-vivaldi-on-linux]Alternative install options for Vivaldi on Linux[/url] I'll quote for context: [quote] [b]ugly[/b] Yeah, the basic stuff is easy. It's great when there's a package to install. Maybe I think too much like a Windows user. A lot of things are easy. But usually when I try to do something a little more complicated, I run into roadblocks. [quote] [b]jp10558[/b] Yea - I recently switched from Windows 7 to Scientific Linux 7.1. Many times I get tripped up thinking like a Windows user - the concepts don't always map 1 to 1. This isn't exactly the place to discuss this at length, but maybe a forum or PM or something. Anyway, you certainly can choose to install from a tarball, but usually I find that just getting an appropriate repo saves me a lot of effort vs compiling myself. And there are a lot of repos out there if you're more interested in software than stability (though I haven't found any stability problems either - in an enterprise you wouldn't add the Vivaldi or AshoK repos for instance). So if you're just using the default repos, then you won't find A LOT of software. One of the hardest thing is indeed installing to different locations. However, why are you usually doing this? For me it's disk space, but then Linux has symlinks that let you fool the software into thinking the install is in /usr/local/bin/mysoft when you've got that pointing to /mnt/exthd/mysoft for instance. So that's a work-around. As to doing something complicated - you can do it on Linux, you just need to figure out how. Different things are complicated compared to Windows - but believe me, Windows isn't actually simpler, just more familiar.[/quote][/quote] Installing to different locations comes from my Windows habits. I never liked using the 'Program Files' folders. I like to keep the OS on a small partition with nothing else on it. I move my user (Pictures, Documents, etc.) folders to another drive. And then I like to keep my programs an another drive. I like to keep everything separate so I have to do less if Windows gets messed up and I need to re-install, or a hard drive inevitably dies. Even better, I like to use portable programs, when available. That way you don't need to really re-install any programs. It let's me get up and running faster. I can pretty quickly pull from a backup. My setup might not even save myself a significant amount of time, but it's the way I've been doing things for a while and just mentally, that's where I know everything is organized. So when I try Linux I feel a bit lost. I'm thinking I need to find the .exe file or something.
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For several years, I had separate partitions for /boot, /home and of course /, where /boot has the system kernel and boot menu, /home has all the user files, and then / has everything else. Once you set up the system, the rest is transparent. Since everything appears to the system to be directories on / no software cares what actual partition it or its data is on.
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Well, I thought this topic was for people coming to Linux to Windows, for the first, you know. I recently shunned Windows for elementaryOS. First, it seemed a nightmare but only in 3 days I feel really comfortable. On Windows, I used install most games on a different partition and, keep the os install partition small. On Linux, it is all in one place. And now, I do use the videos, music, etc. folders. Something, I used to ignore on Windows.
Also, if someone wants to import their Vivaldi settings from one OS to another, copy the vivaldi settings folder. On Windows, it is in the Users->{Your Username}->AppData->Local->vivaldi. On Linux, to find the folder, simply run the browser after install. Go to File->Import. This opens a dialog box. Select 'vivaldi' under "From:". You will see a file path. That's the path to the Vivaldi folder on Linux. Copy the folder on the system whose settings you wish to retain. After installing Vivaldi on your new machine, replace the common folders and files. This way you will get your settings, bookmarks, notes, web panels, download list, and everything. The two things that won't work are saved passwords and extensions.
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As to doing something complicated - you can do it on Linux, you just need to figure out how. Different things are complicated compared to Windows - but believe me, Windows isn't actually simpler, just more familiar.
Installing to different locations comes from my Windows habits. I never liked using the 'Program Files' folders. I like to keep the OS on a small partition with nothing else on it. I move my user (Pictures, Documents, etc.) folders to another drive. And then I like to keep my programs an another drive.I like to keep everything separate so I have to do less if Windows gets messed up and I need to re-install, or a hard drive inevitably dies. Even better, I like to use portable programs, when available. That way you don't need to really re-install any programs. It let's me get up and running faster. I can pretty quickly pull from a backup.
My setup might not even save myself a significant amount of time, but it's the way I've been doing things for a while and just mentally, that's where I know everything is organized. So when I try Linux I feel a bit lost. I'm thinking I need to find the .exe file or something.
what youre describing for partitions seems simple. i used to do it. when you install, manually configure partitions. configure a seperate partition for /home where user files are stored. you have the option to encrypt or format the partition during install. if you dont do either, you can save user files between installations. simpler still, you can have a non-system fat32 partition. i use one to transfer files between windows and linux on my dual-boot system. if you want, you can encrypt the non-system partition with a mutually supported tool like veracrypt.
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