I recently set up Bazzite on my friend’s system after switching from Linux Mint due to some Nvidia driver issues. Although the hardware problems are not there anymore, the distro is now facing problems installing certain programs for software development that they had no problem installing in the previous distro. I think there are issues related to the immutability of the distro, though I am not sure since I am new to Linux too. Additionally, my friend is worried about higher storage consumption and slower performance in certain applications.

I realise the distro is primarily meant for gamers and my friend is not much of a gamer themselves, however they told me they appreciate its friendlier KDE interface so I wish to avoid switching from this distro again if possible. However I fear that they may encounter more errors in the future and that I may not be available to help them out whenever needed, so I am in a bit of a conundrum.

Thus I intend to ask here if it is possible to arrange something for easing development related tasks e.g. VM, distrobox etc. or whether it is easier to simply switch to some other compatible distro.

  • rozodru@pie.andmc.caEnglish
    3·
    2 months ago

    I…I don’t understand. Why would you use Bazzite for software development and not gaming when user is not a gamer but just likes KDE?

    you can literally put KDE on anything. Bazzite isn’t friendly to installing anything that isn’t a flatpak or whatever.

    Just use a different distro. you don’t need Bazzite. Switch them to like Fedora KDE or something.

    And to people in this thread trying to push a camel through a pin hole…why? you’re talking about setting up VMs and Distroboxs or just using flatpaks on Bazzite when the most painless solution is to just switch distros.

    You picked the wrong distro, just switch them to something more appropriate for what they want to do.

      • Kyden Fumofly@lemmy.world
        0·
        2 months ago

        Yeah, I found out the hard way as a new user. Maybe it would be better to move to Fedora and set up everything myself. Bazzite might be perfect for consoles, but for desktop use it limits you a lot, even for normal usage, not just for software development.

        • Damage@feddit.it
          0·
          2 months ago

          but for desktop use it limits you a lot

          For example? Because I’ve read this repeated a lot by people who don’t understand immutable distros. Of course you can’t “dnf install clang”, but you can use distrobox for that, ends up fairly similar.

          • Kyden Fumofly@lemmy.world
            1·
            2 months ago

            Well, maybe i used a wrong phrase. When i said it limits you, i mean you (as a new user) must learn how to use the system. Any solutions you find from others in the internet do not apply to you. For a power user who frequently tinkers things feels like a limitation (it feels more like i am using my android phone rather than a desktop computer).

            The distro as I said, it is perfect for a Console (or simple users like my parents), but for users who want more freedom its a bad choice. The mistake was mine as i did not know what the Atomic system is. First time i learned about them was after 2 days of having Bazzite installed 😅

            • Damage@feddit.it
              1·
              2 months ago

              Well I disagree. I tried Bazzite on my desktop and then installed it on my laptop, even though I seldom play games on it. I’m a long-time Linux user and a tinkerer, and so far I haven’t found anything I wanted to do and I couldn’t.

              I can compile software with compilers from distrobox, I can design and slice 3d parts and send them to my printers, manage my servers, customize my system… Sure you can’t easily change your DE, although I guess it would be somewhat possible with rpm-ostree, but other than that I don’t see many limitations.

              The main difference is that you should refer to Bazzite’s docs FIRST, because if you just search the web for your issue/goal, you’re going to find instructions that may not be compatible with an immutable distro.

              • Kyden Fumofly@lemmy.world
                2·
                2 months ago

                Well i am new user. Now I’m learning how to use this distrobox, so i can install something that would be a copy paste from a git-hub page. Maybe this tool is the solution to my problems.

  • Nindelofocho@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    2 months ago

    You probably are having issues due to it being immutable. Its not impossible to get around but in your circumstance you might not want an immutable distro. Firstly the is Bazzite DX which is the development centric version of Bazzite. Id use that if you do development firstly and gaming secondly. Also look into the docs about installing non flatpak software, if you MUST install non flatpak software: https://docs.bazzite.gg/Installing_and_Managing_Software/

  • GenderNeutralBro@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
    1·
    2 months ago

    On bazzite, your search order for apps/packages should be something like:

    1. Flathub
    2. ujust. This is more for general configs than specific apps, but take a look at what it offers.
    3. Homebrew
    4. Distrobox
    5. Podman/Docker images
    6. rpm-ostree

    rpm-ostree is a last resort because it compromises the “atomic” principle of the system, but in a pinch it will give you access to anything you could get with dnf on a regular Fedora install.

    Don’t sleep on Distrobox. I have a Debian box so I can run Signal from its official repo and install Geany with both GUI and CLI support. Once you export applications from distrobox they behave like first-class citizens within your desktop.

    I strongly recommend trying Distrobox. If you instead hop distros, you’re going to find yourself in a similar situation eventually, where something is unreasonably difficult. That’s why Distrobox exists; so you can get the best of all worlds.

  • chickenf622@sh.itjust.works
    0·
    2 months ago

    I’m sorry to say this, but switching distros would be the better option. Bazzite locks down a lot of parts to ensure it works for games. There’s ways around it, but the effort is so much more compared to any other popular distro. Plenty of distros either come with KDE or have a version that has KDE.

    • Telorand@reddthat.com
      1·
      2 months ago

      Bazzite locks down a lot of parts to ensure it works for games.

      This is not entirely correct. It’s a feature of atomic distros in general. Bazzite doesn’t lock anything down any more than its upstream Silverblue and Kinoite parents do, it’s just that most of the system files have been set to be immutable to ensure repeatable and standardized deployments.

      This is great for scalability and ensuring the most uptime. Not so great if you want to do a lot of system tinkering.

      The other issue is that a lot of existing software needlessly installs itself globally, rather than making use of the user’s local access. It’s a paradigm that needs to change, since most software doesn’t need access to most of the system directories to function.

        • Telorand@reddthat.com
          2·
          2 months ago

          We all have different knowledge bases. You were close, I was just providing a little more clarity. No snark meant or intended!

          Have a nice day!

        • Damage@feddit.it
          1·
          2 months ago

          Don’t take this wrong, but you should refrain from commenting on what you don’t know. Immutable distros have to fight a lot of disinformation already.