this post was submitted on 12 Sep 2023
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Linux

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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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[–] [email protected] 98 points 1 year ago (6 children)

I think most people (including myself) prefer a minimal desktop by default, and then proceed to install only the software they need. Nevertheless, it always surprises me when I log in to a system that doesn't have vim.

[–] [email protected] 67 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

For almost all users, especially beginners, nano is just simpler faster and better. A lot of distributions are bundling it, and I am finding indeed systems without vim at all.

[–] [email protected] 41 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Although most of the times while vim is not installed vi is. Even often together with nano.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 year ago

Man I tried to use vi once because I started with vim and wanted to see what all it was before, and holy shit vim really is IMPROVED

[–] [email protected] 27 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Especially for beginners, micro would be even better.

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[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I disagree. Don't get me wrong, vim is amazing and all that, but I think nano is easier for new users to grok out of the box, making it a better choice most of the time. What it lacks in features it makes up for in transparency.

100% agree about the minimal set of desktop apps, though. That drives me crazy.

Just my 0.02$.

Edit: silly mistakes and clarification

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[–] [email protected] 55 points 1 year ago (5 children)

less, I don't remember what distro it was, but there wasn't less. There was more though.

[–] [email protected] 35 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (5 children)
[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

There's a LESS_IS_MORE env var for less which makes it behave like more. Or something like that. Check the manpage

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[–] [email protected] 51 points 1 year ago (2 children)

git not installed in ubuntu based distro was the shock for me.

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[–] [email protected] 46 points 1 year ago

Git. I feel like that is a pretty important part of any linux os nowadays

[–] [email protected] 43 points 1 year ago (3 children)
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[–] [email protected] 42 points 1 year ago

KDE Connect on KDE distros, just feels part of the KDE experience

[–] [email protected] 36 points 1 year ago

git really should be installed by default these days

[–] [email protected] 35 points 1 year ago

A Doom-clone. I mean, come on.

Seriously tho, Gparted for how useful it is.

[–] [email protected] 34 points 1 year ago (1 children)

git isn't in Arch's base-devel

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[–] [email protected] 28 points 1 year ago (5 children)

Nano (or pico). I had to use vi one time 😭

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago (5 children)

Which distro doesn't ship nano? I've only ever seen this in embedded or docker contexts.

Condolences for your vile experiences, though.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago

🤕 <-- he was forced to use vi

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[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 year ago (11 children)

I am surprised that vi is often available, but not vim. It's really annoying on many RHEL based distros, because I am so used to typing vim. Otherwise there is just git I deem essential.

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[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 year ago (4 children)
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[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 year ago (2 children)
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[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 year ago (4 children)

netstat is mostly deprecated and superseded by the ss command.

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[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 year ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 year ago (3 children)

IMO nothing. As long as it can detect network I can install whatever tools I need.

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[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 year ago (8 children)
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[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago (6 children)

useradd - I just wanted to give a friend my notebook for a python lecture and thought I could just add him as a new user. Apparently not by default.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago

openssh-server, how can you connect to your PC from elsewhere without sshd ?!?

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago (16 children)
  • Multimedia/ h264 codecs ??
  • KDE/GSconnect
  • Something like Arch's downgrade package + an archive of package versions
  • Hardware video acceleration support is sorely lacking
  • Picture-in-picture in Gnome's Wayland (bug that a gnome-shell extension fixes!)
[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago (11 children)

Multimedia codecs have a different license agreement than the OS so they aren't bundled by default for a reason

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago

ncdu for analyzing disk space usage in TUI.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago

First installs for me are always vim and tmux.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (4 children)

I'm always shocked that other distros haven't made their own version of Yast from opensuse

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Let's try the other way around: what default apps are pre installed that really don't need or should not be?

I get that most distros try to give a good out of the box desktop for the average user, while also saving time for who is (trying to) providing services or building machines to sell but it can get annoying booting into a fresh install, take a look at the defaults and go "nah, that's going away, and that, that and the other".

I'm not advocating for LFS but sometimes I wish we could get an option to install just what is necessary to make the hardware run and a chosen desktop or window manager and from there install whatever we may need.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago (4 children)
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[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

htop, distrobox and in some cases Flatpak!

Edit: after reading the comments I want to add curl and git, seriously, why aren't those a default?!

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (10 children)

Debian, sudo, at least when ever I install it without a desktop.

edit: I'm dumb af, it tells you right in the installer, I just never read it

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