I love how lightweight lqxt is. however i want to be able to get access to more programs. when i look at discover it appears to have a very limited selection of applications. for example i would like a weather widget and close on my desktop. i tried my-weather-indicator but it did not appear after install.
some of the ubuntu desktops look too heavy or me… but i do want a good selection of apps.
discover is limited in the way it comes out of the box… what should i do?
could someone point me step by step to create backups for my system?
i tried installing software center and it did not work on lubuntu… is that what i want or do i just need more sources.
is there another desktop that is light like lqxt that is a better way to go? and not do the fred flintstone icons of unity . hahaha
You’ll have to wait for others to recommend weather widgets (I don’t have one, and haven’t considered one), however I’ll suggest muon package manager in looking for software. You’ll find it’s already installed and ready to go.
You didn’t give your release details, but I have Software (Ubuntu Software) installed on my system, so I know it’s possible (as well as Software Boutique** and others) All have their good features, but I still prefer package managers myself.
I’m not good with backups, I use rsync and scripts to backup (copy) my files…
Yes LXQt is very light, but any ‘light’ desktop can be made heavy in my opinion through software choices (ie. wasting resources esp. memory, by requiring multiple libraries to co-exist in memory at the same time, all doing the same thing), so choosing the right desktop without considering what you’re doing, and what you require I see as just pointless effort. Your question as stated makes little sense to me (unless you intend on running only the desktop and not any further applications)
** Software Boutique from the Ubuntu-MATE team used to run easily on any flavor, however that’s no longer the case. It requires a bit of effort in later releases, see https://ubuntu-mate.community/t/ubuntu-19-10-software-boutique-fail-to-run/20453 if you decide you want it; it’s not exhaustive but aims to contain the best of the best.
Discover is actually inherently limited. It doesn’t show you all the software you have installed or could install. It’s kind of like the beginner’s software store. Instead, use Muon as @guiverc said. Or just use apt on the command line.
Everyone’s got their own method. There are tons of them. You might want to consult the Ubuntu manual or just do some searches. You will probably want regularly scheduled incremental backups. You should also think about the media you are installing them on. Backups are only as good as the media you have them on. You may want to consider a cloud service of some kind (there’s several public NextCloud instances available, some examples here) since it should come with redundancy of its own to ensure your data integrity without you having to worry about it.
To be clear, which package did you try to install and how do you know it did not work?
You’ll note none of them have an “L” in their name. That’s because what it stands for, “lightweight,” has never been a design criteria for any of them. XFCE has been circumstantially lightweight but now that it’s ported to GTK3, that’s kind of been thrown out the window (you may or may not know attempts to port to GTK3 is what created LXQt since Qt was lighter than GTK3).
While you can do these, they are not recommended, as they are not supported by the Ubuntu community. That’s not to say that they won’t work or that you can’t find support, but you’d need to reach out to the developers for that support. In some cases (such as where the software also exists in Ubuntu repositories), the software may not be developed adequately for current versions of the whole Ubuntu ecosystem and they just may not work correctly as opposed to the software in the repositories. Ever notice the version numbers are something like x.y.z-MubuntuN? The x.y.z is the upstream version, but the M refers to a change made by Ubuntu’s direct upstream, Debian, and ubuntuN refers to a further change made by Ubuntu. These are to ensure the aforementioned compatibility. But it doesn’t mean that the upstream version has those changes. Also many upstream developers don’t provide Debian packages or PPAs.
YES that is true! However (now you got me all philosophical), newcomers to Linux should know that though you have almost anything you need after you install a distro, things will need to be tinkered with until you get a system that behaves according to your needs. As in this case, they will not find everything in software centers and they do need to dig a bit deeper. Some will be fine with this and learn and stick around, but the majority will just give up and they should be encouraged to try things out and give Linux a second, third or fourth chance.
Not will, but may. Again, some people just want to get things done and actually get frustrated at the concept of having to tinker to get what they want. Most people don’t build their own house, but they buy one. Same with cars and bicycles and computers and operating systems. They want a complete product, not something they have to cobble together themselves. There are certainly people that like that, as it sounds like how you are and how I certainly am, but I also recognize that this is the exception rather than the rule. Otherwise, we’d all be using Arch Linux or even better, Linux from Scratch.
I have found few people that are particular about things that don’t endeavor to get it the way they want at all costs.
I installed lubuntu. I love how fast it is. I have installed fb, messenger, my printer, my bible software, chrome.
I then wanted to see if I should branch out to gmome desktop on top of lubutuntu. i killed the performance on my machine. learned a ton. messed up my screen resolution which would not be resolved through settings/monitor.
no biggy just resinstalled lubunty and decided im sticking with no heavy desktops.
im being really picky with what i install on this installation.
i actually have had a blast. i am not afraid to get out and sudo apt install stuff.
anyway. i appreciate the discussion about tinkering. all in the discussion rest assured learning comes with failure and resinstalls at times.
i have a 23 inch led monitor not i have vertical position. absolutely having a blast. so freeing to get away from macos and windows folks.
while i still have my mac laptop. i am creating new worlds on cheap hardware.
i bought a 35 dollar 300 gig ssd and put it in a really old mac mini. flying!
with the little bit of help i am off and running.
thanks guys. be gentle on newbies like me and you get someone who stays… thanks for making computing fun again.