I recently installed Garuda and wanted to share my initial observations on it. For those who want some background on me and my system, please refer to the following link in the introductions topic.
Basically I installed Garuda Barebones KDE edition (210107) on a new Lenovo Thinkpad E14 Gen2 with AMD Ryzen 7 4700U with integrated Radeon Graphics, 16GB RAM and 2x 256GB SSDs. It's setup in dual boot fashion (Windows on one SSD and Garuda on the other SSD).
After installing Barebones KDE edition, I naturally started tweaking it for my own use and noticed a few minor issues with how barebones KDE is set up.
I believe breeze-gtk package should be included as vanilla KDE uses Breeze theme by default and without breeze-gtk package GTK apps like pamac has issues in window button decorations.
My laptop has Bluetooth (as most of the laptops nowadays) and I wanted to test it in Garuda. Even though Bluetooth support was set up (according to Garuda assistant), KDE system settings didn't have Bluetooth section under Hardware category. After some reading on the Arch Wiki, I realized that bluedevil package was missing. So, after installing it, I was able to enable/disable and configure Blueetooth via KDE system settings. So, I believe bluedevil package should also be included in the default Barebones KDE edition.
Lastly, I wanted to remove thermald package as it is only for machines with Intel CPU and I have an AMD system. (I removed all Intel specific packages as much as I am aware of, as I don't need them.) However, thermald is listed as a dependency for Garuda's performance-tweaks package and trying to remove thermald would also remove performance-tweaks package. If thermald is defined as an "optional" dependency for performance-tweaks, then it will be possible to remove it without effecting performance-tweaks package.
That's all for now. Thank you for reading and taking my observations into account. Hopefully these minor tweaks will further increase Garuda experience.
Thank you for your quick reply. I understand Barebones edition not having extras, but in my opinion those packages that I mentioned are an essential part of a basic KDE install. Anyways, it is your distro and your decision. Just thought you would appreciate this kind of feedback.
Regarding thermald, Arch wiki indicates that it is for Intel CPUs, though I see some mention of AMD CPU support on the net. However, when I check thermald service status on my setup, it aborts after boot with a "platform/CPU not supported" kind of message (don't remember the exact wording as I did disable it). In any case, I see no reason for thermald not being specified as an optional dependency for performance-tweaks package. Again, it is your distro and your decision.
I guess that will be the end of my feedbacks for Garuda.
I have been using Barebones KDE for close to 2 months without any issues. Loving it so far. @mksahin the issues you mentioned are minor, and you fixed them yourself. So now, Enjoy KDE Garuda without bloat.
It is not that feedback is not appreciated, but the barebones editions are only intended for advanced users. Obviously you are more than capable of handling your barebone install as your comments seem to indicate.
That is the purpose of the barebones versions. Only very experienced users should install those versions. Experienced users are expected to be able to manage their own system. Therefore, the user is responsible for system configuration not the distro in these cases.
Generally users become very offended when their suggestions are rebuffed on the Garuda forum. This is rather hard to understand because nowhere else in life can you expect that you can contact a product manufacturer directly, make a suggestion on tailoring the product directly to your liking and actually think that is going to be immediately implemented. Yet, almost everyone who has their suggestion turned down on the Garuda forum takes it as a personal insult and is highly offended.
Basically the Garuda Devs create the distro for there own personal enjoyment. If suggestions fit in with their vision for the distro and they have the time a suggestion may be integrated. Otherwise, it’s not.
It doesn’t really require justification. Either they like the idea and it may see the light of day, or they don’t and it never will. When you start up your own distro you’ll be the one to decide on how you like it. Until then, every distro on the planet is a compromise between the way you like things and the way the distro devs like things. That’s just the way Linux works.
Try making a suggestion to M$ or Apple about changing their product to suit your needs and see how well that goes for you.
Well in this case Id say its fine to include breeze-gtk it since some other “bare minimum” stuff is also included. Bluedevil however doesnt fit into that category for my terms of barebones since not everybody has a bluetooth capable device.
Hah, why should an ISO do more than boot you to a tty with network access? So very bloated....omg! (joking...teasing)..though umm that is the Arch way.
Of course, we can discuss what is essential and non-essential in a barebones edition. But, in my opinion, if a DE is included, essential components of that DE should be included as well, which leads us to "what are those essential packages for KDE?" question. My opinion is in my first post already.
Well, I don't really want to get into a long discussion here but clearly you misunderstood me. I am not offended because my suggestions were turned down, but I am disappointed by the kind of response ("live with it"). As I mentioned, it is your distro ("your" is plural here) and your decision to do whatever you please. But I would expect a nicer response to my well meaning comments. "nice" here doesn't mean "yes". Anyways, as I said, no need to extend this discussion any further. I have lived long enough and worked in many well known high tech companies to know a few things about development, product management and customer relations.
I think you have to take the fact that English is not the first language of many of the distros devs and support volunteers into consideration. Statements can often come off harsher than they were intended when language translation enters the conversation.
Hi @dr460nf1r3. Thank you for your response. For bluedevil, I would agree with you if bluetooth stack (bluez) was not included in the barebones edition. But, if bluez is included, why not include bluedevil to have a complete bluetooth experience in KDE? I am not trying to convince you or anything, but just trying to understand the reasoning. If you say, "that's just how I want it", that's fine. As I said in my other comments, it's your distro.
I agree with you and that's why I did not respond to that comment ("live with it") in the same tone. However, I think you are a native speaker (I am not) and you clearly understand me. But, trying to defend that kind of approach (referring to your first response to my post) is something that I do not agree with. My intention with this post was well meaning, I guess that's clear. Having a friendly forum doesn't mean accepting all user requests, but it would definitely increase participation. Just my humble advice.
Oh well, I think I found the issue. We recently made up another Packages-Desktop-Common to deduplicate stuff in Packages-Desktop. I guess this must have pulled in a lot of stuff. The actual barebones edition was never meant to have all this stuff
I can agree that the tone may not have been very receptive simply for the reason that requests for inclusions have become quite frequent with all the extra users that have joined the forum recently.
When the forum had far less volume, requests were implemented far more regularly. With the frequent requests and busy forum these days requests are far less likely to be implemented I'd say. I'd ascribe that partly to request "fatigue" and partly to the fact the devs have far more on their plate (with the rapid rise in users). I hope you can kind of understand why requests aren't quite as warmly received these days. Generally, like most things in life the more frequently you get asked the same question, the less likely you are to feel like being super tactful in your response I guess.
Not a genuine excuse, but I hope you can understand that explanation.
thanks for bringing this to my attention.