Thoroughly Impressed with Garuda

[mdoverl]

I had distro hopped on Garuda a couple years ago before I switched my daily driver to Windows.

I'm very impressed with Garuda this time around. Everything works. This is the first "Out of Box" experience I've had with any Linux Distro to date. So many distro's claim to be "Out of Box", and this is the first actually experience of that. Having been a Linux user for 8 years, I'm expecting something to break.

But I'm refraining from making changes to this. I used to constantly mess around with Plasma and bits and pieces that would work for a while, but eventually seemed to break. This time I'm leaving that all alone. I'm not a Linux expert, but I know enough to cause damage. So, I've been saying to myself lately, "If I change this, do I know how to reverse this?" This has been saving me a lot of hassle. For example, I hate the Mac-like title bar. So, I'm just getting used to it and I'm no longer going to worry about it.

I decided to completely switch our Family laptop in our Kitchen to Garuda, and it's become an instant hit with my 9 year old son and 6 year old daughter. Their first question was "Does it play Roblox?", and somehow, I got it to work on Garuda, so they are super happy. You should have seen my son's reaction when he first saw Garuda, his mind was blown away with how beautiful the GUI looked.

I don't want to waste too much time here, but it's been wonderful using Garuda.

[sammiev]

If your son decides to spend to much time on the computer with Garuda, introduce him to Windows 11.

[RodneyCK]

@sammiev

…introduce him to Windows 11.

I think that would count as child cruelty.

[mdoverl]

My son was using windows 10 on that laptop before I switched it to Garuda and he stated himself that he doesn't like Windows after using Garuda. I'm raising a winner.

[Bro]

@mdoverl

I used to constantly mess around with Plasma and bits and pieces that would work for a while, but eventually seemed to break.

This is how we learn Linux. (As long as it’s not broken hardware. )

@mdoverl

So, I’ve been saying to myself lately, “If I change this, do I know how to reverse this?”

This is a lesson-learned.

You’re right where you need to be.

I’m 70. If I don’t use what I know, I lose what I know. Linux keeps me learning, even after all these years.

Keep on keepin’ on.

[mdoverl]

Seeing your name and many other familiar faces from Manjaro and EndeavourOS from a couple years ago is why I chose Garuda.

I always enjoyed your presence even when other people said you were the “grumpy old timer who didn’t get his coffee that morning.”

Sometimes we all need a coffee deprived grumpy elder statesman to set us straight.

Anyways, I’m truly glad you’re here.

[SGS]

We love him just the way he is.

Even if it is sometimes difficult.

[justmere]

Garuda is well worth any gripes that I've had.

[mdoverl]

Seeing your name was a delight also. Always loved your artwork

[Bro]

@SGS

Even if it is sometimes difficult.

My wife may be of the same opinion.

[tbg]

@mdoverl

I always enjoyed your presence even when other people said you were the “grumpy old timer who didn’t get his coffee that morning.”

Sometimes we all need a coffee deprived grumpy elder statesman to set us straight.

You think @Bro is grumpy now, you shoulda been here when he was trying to quit smoking, (tobacco that is).

[Bro]

@mdoverl

grumpy elder statesman to set us straight.

Sergeant Major Basil Plumley : If any of you sons of bitches calls me grandpa, I’ll kill you.

We Were Soldiers (2002) - IMDb

Ditto.

[mrvictory]

@mdoverl

So, I’ve been saying to myself lately, “If I change this, do I know how to reverse this?” This has been saving me a lot of hassle. For example, I hate the Mac-like title bar. So, I’m just getting used to it and I’m no longer going to worry about it.

Meanwhile I undid all Garuda visual customizations and survived. Everyone’s experience is for themselves I guess…

Screenshots | Garuda Linux preferred

There goes my desktop: [Screenshot_20220438] Everything is reverted from Sweetified to Breeze (except fonts), the wallpaper is Fedora 36 wallpaper, top dock is transparent and blurry, background blur is disabled, wobbliness is lowered etc. Also I made some other changes like moving launcher to bottom dock, (as seen in Windows 11) lowering margins between icons on bottom dock (icons are closer to each other) and changing some indicators to Win11Styled from Win10. I also uninstalled JamesDSP a…

[Bro]

There's also the Garuda KDE Lite/Barebones Edition, which is also very slick.

[JowivK]

Hey! I'm five years your senior and share the approach. An OS should not cost to much time in itself. It should facilitate the work we want to get done.
But then: You have to set up and fine tune your workbench before starting the job.
For me, the important switch was to KDE, because I find the 'Activities' fascinating.
I ended up here because I liked the looks and now I feel a bit worried because it seems that people use the command line a lot - which is not my favourite.

[JowivK]

Now it's my turn to say: Impressive! I just discovered the ' Setup Assistant ' and walking through it showed clearly that Garuda had in some magic way checked which apps I had installed on my previous (Linux Mint) installation (of which I have mounted the 'Home' partition when I installed Garuda. This made my life such a lot easier, great! I could just get them reinstalled with a click.