Linux for Leftists

I'm liking it a lot, it's very barebones which is something I was looking for, and the package manager's command to install stuff is kinda hard to remember but does its job well. This might be my new daily driver now.

Only issue is that since it's not as popular as other distros finding information specific to Void Linux might be inconvenient.

Did any of you look into Void Linux? Do you like it?

Hello Comrades,

Thanks for all your advice about setting up Linux. It was a success. The problem is that I’m now I’m intrigued and I’d like to play around a bit more.

I’m thinking of building a cheap-ish computer but I have a few questions. I’ll split them into separate posts to make things easier. Note: I won’t be installing anything that I can’t get to work on Linux.

Do I need a dedicated graphics card? I'd like to run an HD display as a minimum. (I don't have a 4k monitor at but I wouldn't mind upgrading later if I can save up for one.) Mostly, I'll be streaming or playing videos.

I wouldn't mind playing some games but is a dedicated GPU needed?

If I should look into a GPU (I can always add it in later), what should I look for? (I'm not really interested in the latest AAA games). I wouldn't mind playing HOI4 or Victoria 3 as I hear so much about them.

What are your thoughts on second-hand GPUs? This will obviously cut costs but is there anything to watch out for?

Hello Comrades,

Thanks for all your advice about setting up Linux. It was a success. The problem is that I’m now I’m intrigued and I’d like to play around a bit more.

I’m thinking of building a cheap-ish computer but I have a few questions. I’ll split them into separate posts to make things easier. Note: I won’t be installing anything that I can’t get to work on Linux.

Should I prioritise RAM or the processor? My budget is limited so I will have to make a choice between RAM and the processor. Would it be better to go for e.g. 32GB RAM and a slower processor, or 8GB RAM and a faster processor? Or is balance better? Say, 16GB RAM and a 'medium' processor (that's 'medium' between the 'slower' and the 'faster' option within my budget, not 'medium' for the market).

Intel or AMD?

Hello Comrades,

Thanks for all your advice about setting up Linux. It was a success. The problem is that I'm now I'm intrigued and I'd like to play around a bit more.

I'm thinking of building a cheap-ish computer but I have a few questions. I'll split them into separate posts to make things easier. Note: I won't be installing anything that I can't get to work on Linux.

Question about storage and swap memory.

I plan to install an SSD of maybe 128–256GB for the system files and a larger HDD for storage. I would partition the SSD so that I could install a few different distros without losing any installation. This way I can commit to some longer experiments before deciding which distro to use.

The question is: should I have the swap partition on the SSD (with the OS partition) or (separately) on the HDD?

And if I install multiple distros, do I need a different swap partition for each one? For example, if I install 16GB RAM, do I need a 16GB partition for, say, Mint, Debian, and Ubuntu? Or can I let them 'share' the swap partition?

Are there any additional security/privacy risks of installing more than one distro on the same SSD card?

xijinping

Hey there,

I've been doing a lot of typing lately on my shitty old Compaq keyboard (it has a good build quality, but keys require relatively much force to be pressed) and I experience some discomfort in my fingers.

Would anybody suggest any specific keyboard or keyboard type that would help me ease the strain? I know absolutely nothing about keyboards lol!

Hey,

I am unhappy with my current job and I seek the strategy to improve my life situation. It took me a long time to sort out my personal problems, so I am rather late to the party, but I finally feel ready and capable to try and learn something new.

I have basic knowledge of how GNU/Linux works and very limited knowledge in C++ programming. I enjoy spending my time on learning new things in that subject and I would like to use it as an advantage to earn money doing it. Yes, hobbies turned into work sometimes ruin it, but I have no better ideas at the moment.

I already figured out that costly professional courses may be a waste of time and money or at least that's what I've read online. The only truly good thing is that they sometimes offer help with finding job at the end of the training, which might make things easier. I am not sure what to think about it.

Is the perspective of choosing a job in the IT field and changing a job realistic at my age and without any formal education? If so, do you have any advice for me on how to even begin the journey?

I know that I did not specify anything, but I'm trying to get an advice before I make any decisions and I will be happy to receive any suggestions.

Cheers!

Website: https://www.openkylin.top/index-en.html

Git repositories: https://gitee.com/openkylin

I haven't tried it myself yet but I might give it a spin since it has a unique Desktop environment.

Hello comrades!

I'd just like to inform you that I've finished a guide about securing your communications. It's in no way comprehensive, but I hope it will help you start out!

So you want to secure your communications?

Cheers!

EDIT: I hate the feeling of tiredness, I improved the guide according to community feedback but I can barely even consider this and improvement. More work is necessary.

Thank you to @[email protected], @[email protected] and @[email protected].

So I have now been planing for several months to reinstall my OS that I have run for a year or so. I have few reasons for this: Firstly there are some bugs that occur randomly, like file explorers taking a long time to open a directory (it has happened on every DE and file explorer that I have tried). There are also other minor bugs that are in the DE or deep in the system. Secondly I don't particularly like Pop! OS and Debian just sounds very appealing.

So is there easy way to switch or do I have to download my home folder and other config files from /etc and other locations to another disk and then move them back? That sure sounds like a lot to check and remember.

Info that you may need: The whole system is in one partition and it isn't encrypted.

Welcome to the Linux for Leftists community! We are here to spread not only information about Linux, but also about free software in general, privacy, security, free hardware as well as hardware capable of working with almost 100% free software. For this we have prepared guides, as to ease people into these topics, without them having to repeat questions or having them need to spend an afternoon looking for posts.

This list is never finished, however the guides should be helpful enough.

So you want to get into Linux?

So you'd like to be a (pragmatic) Free Software extremist?

So you want to secure your communications?

If you find the list lacks a guide the community could use, make one yourself, make a post about the creation of one, or DM an active mod. You can also open an issue on NotABug. We'll figure something out.

Everything just feels way more complicated than it needs to be.

I tried installing Openshot (a video editor) but I couldn't figure out how to fix the error it spits out when I try to emerge it.

I will now try out Arch and hope I don't need a master's degree to install packages.

Edit: Gentoo isn't the first distro I've tried, I've been daily driving Debian for more than a year and just wanted to try it out since I heard good things about it. And also I didn't really need to use Openshot, I just wanted some video editor and arbitrarily chose to install that one.

Also I guess I will just stick with Debian since apparently Arch is also complicated.

Hello,

Is there anyone using tiling window manager (i3 and similar)? I get easily distracted by stacking desktop environments and I found out that the minimalist approach works best for my ability to focus on learning and doing actual work with the computer. The less on the screen, the better and I don't mind memorizing some additional commands to get works done, if it reduces amount of information displayed at one time. It's not even about productivity - this approach just feels better and "cleaner", compared to bloated desktop environments like KDE.

Vimb is pretty good for that purpose (no menus, no tabs, no need for mouse usage most of the time), although it fails to load some websites and it can get buggy sometimes. Can you suggest any alternatives or ways to improve the experience with that browser?

I have become attrached to the idea of using a totally marxist set up for my writing.

The first two guides themes' are:

✅ "So you want to get into (pragmatic) Free Software extremism?"

It's finished! I hope it's good enough... You can find it here! However, there is an issue I'm trying to resolve with not being able to post it. I'm getting an invalid_body_field error, soooo you can access it through NotABug for now.

⏸️ "So you want to get into Linux?"

~~Didn't even start to work on it... However, there is a plan! The guide will introduce a singular Debian based distribution for several reasons. Simplicity, support, stability. Since Debian is one of the best supported Linux distributions it will be, or any other Debian based distribution, to begin explaining what Linux is, it's ecosystems and how to navigate them. There will also be a small introduction to the terminal, why it's useful and why you don't need to be a master at it nor remember everything to use it for what you need! It will be introduced along with the concept of a package manager. Only one distribution will be introduced as to not overwhelm anyone on what they should choose, or what is the best choice (which doesn't exist).~~

Yeah I've written some already, I'll work on finishing it later. I'm tired and hungry, here's the thing if you'd like to read it.

~~They will be posted when both are finished! Stay tuned!~~ I'm posting the first to check for problems. There are problems 💀, I've asked @[email protected] . for help so we'll see how it goes

If you have any suggestions please leave them here! Don't DM me! Let the whole community take part!

I think it could be very convenient. I can make the post if you want, just comment here what you think the post should have and I'll try to put something together.

Edit: It seems that @[email protected] is already working on one so this won't be necessary lmao

I've wanted to go over to Linux for a long time but I have no idea how to go about it. I hear about incompatibility problems with hardware and all the different options for different Linux OS's and that's it, I forget about it for a while to avoid the headache.

So where do I start? I don't even know how to choose hardware or what to look for. The number of options with Linux makes things a little confusing.

And although others here have answered the question before, I'm unsure what I have to do to stay 'safe' on Linux. Are there extra steps or is it just the standard, don't open dodgy links and turn off Java script in the PDF viewer kind of thing? Does Linux come with a trustworthy firewall/antivirus/malware detection? Is there a chance of Linux e.g. sending my passwords, etc, to someone or just letting someone into my harddrive? I hear that 'open source' means people can check the code but how do I know if someone has checked the code—I wouldn't know what to look for myself.

I followed the Linux subreddit but the users the can be rather… enthusiastic, which is great, but I need something far more basic to get started lol.

Is there a good step-by-step guide somewhere? Or can anyone give me some pointers/tips/advice?

I mainly browse, type, and read pdfs and other text files. No gaming, although I wouldn't be opposed to it. No need to be mobile; laptops are terrible for my back so I always use an external monitor, anyway, so I won't be using it 'on the go'.

Edit: Thanks for all the advice. I got a machine up and running from a bootable USB.

Any others who read the comments here because they're interested in trying out Linux – if you have Windows installed and want to keep it on your HDD/SSD, partition your drive within Windows. Then boot from the USB. You can partition your drive (and keep Windows) from the bootable USB but it's a bit more complicated and it makes it harder to create a swap partition and a storage partition. I had to go back and forth a few times to figure this out.

I think that a Marxist society should allow for 0 proprietary software, and instead support for everything in free and open source decentralized technology.

Linux is a branch of development of the old unix class of systems. Unix is not necessarily open and free. FOSS is what is classified as open and free software. Unix since its inception was deeply linked to specific industrial private interests, let's not forget all this while we examine the use of linux by left minded activists. FOSS is nice and cool, but it is nearly 99.99% run on non-open and non-free hardware. A-political proposals of crowd-funding and diy construction attempts have led to ultra-expensive idealist solutions reserved for the very few and the eccentric affluent experimenters

Linux vs Windows is cool and trendy, is it? Really is it alone containing any political content? If there is such what is it? So let's examine it from the base.

FOSS, People, as small teams or individuals "producing as much as they can and want" offering what they produced to be shared, used, and modified by anyone, or "as much as they need". This is as much of a communist system of production and consumption as we have experienced in the entirety of modern history. No exchange what so ever, collective production according to ability and collective consumption according to need.

BUT we have corporations, some of them mega-corps, multinationals who nearly monopolize sectors of computing markets, creating R&D departments specifically to produce and offer open and free code (or conditionally free). Why? Firstly because other idiots will join their projects and offer further development (labor), contribute to their projects, for "free", but they still retain the leadership and ownership of the project. Somehow, using their code, without asking why they were willing to offer it in the first place, it is cool to use it as long as we can say we are anti/against/ms-win free.

Like false class consciousness we have fan-boys of IBM, Google, Facebook, Oracle, Qt, HP, Intel, AMD, ... products against MS.

Back when unix would only run on enterprise ultra-expensive large scale systems and expensive workstations (remember Dec, Sun, Sgi, .. workstations that were priced similarly to 2 brand new fast sportscars each) and the PC market was restricted to MS or the alternative Apple crap, people tried and tried to port forms of unix into a PC. Some really gifted hacking experts were able to achieve such marvels, but it was so specific to hardware that the examples couldn't be generalized and utilized massively.

Suddenly this genious Finn and his friends devised a kernel that could make most PC hardware available work and unix with a linux kernel could boot and run.

IBM saw eventually a way back into the PC market it lost by handing dos out to the subcontractors (MS), and saw an opportunity to take over and steer this "project" by promoting RedHat. After 2 decades of behind the scenes guidance since the projected outcome was successful in cornering the market, IBM appeared to have bought RH.

Are we all still anti-MS and pro-IBM,google,Oracle,FB,Intel/AMD?

The bait thrown to dumb fish was an automated desktop that looked and behaved just like the latest MS-win edition.

What is the resistance?

Linus Trovalds and a few others who sign the kernel today make 6figure salaries ALL paid by a handful of computing giants that by offering millions to the foundation control what it does. Traps like rust, telemetry, .. and other "options" are shoved daily into the kernel to satisfy the paying clients' demands and wishes.

And we, in the left are fans of a multimilioner's "team" against a "trilioner's" team. This is not football or cricket, or F1. This is your data in the hands of multinationals and their fellow customer/agencies. Don't forget which welfare system maintains the hierarchy of those industries whether the market is rosy or gray. Do I need to spell out the connection?

Beware of multinationals bearing gifts.

Yes there are healthier alternatives requiring a little more work and study to employ, the quick and easy has a "cost" even when it is FOSS.

.

Hello

In my free time I like to translate Marxist educational materials to my native language by adding subtitles to lectures, translating infographics and the like. Even though there are not many people who interact with it, It is my preferred way of "bypassing" attention problems and I learn a lot in the process.

I used to host them on YouTube with links to original materials and share them on Reddit, but I think about moving to other platforms. I think it would be good to have my own small website - I have some limited experience with GNU/Linux, HTML, CSS and Javascript, so I don't think that I would need any additional software to make it all from scratch. I think it's a good opportunity to learn some web development and share some notes with recommendations to make it easier to access other authors and resources.

There are few questions that I'd like to ask before I even consider this project. I do not expect answer to all my questions, but any suggestion is welcome.

1. What resources would be useful in learning on how to host a website properly? Could you recommend any services that don't break the bank and let host a small site without ads? Is there some Linux software that you like to use personally to manage that?

2. Is it better to host videos directly to the website or use some other services? If so, what alternatives to YouTube could you recommend?

3. I don't touch books or mainstream materials to avoid copyright claims - all I do, I do with respect for the creators and I provide all original resources. Should I be aware of any potential problems with coprygith claims? If so, it would be a bummer, as I enjoy doing this and I think that knowledge should be shared, but I am ready to reconsider this undertaking and find another way to work for the community.

Cheers

Although its just another OS, linux does have a major learning curve for the common GUI enjoyer like me.

When you all were first learning linux, did you have a specific resource you learned from? Was it more like doing projects and learning on the way through forums?

Chimera is an interesting new Linux distro with no systemd, BSD utils instead of gnu, and other unique design choices.

Reading about it on lobste.rs, the developer (or one of them) commented:

"

why does every other linux distribution exist? most of them provide far less added value compared to the others, yet nobody questions their existence, perhaps because they are fundamentally uninteresting

it’s always a combination of many smaller factors

i just wanted to make a well-rounded and somewhat opinionated system without cruft or sketchy parts, but still featureful and generally usable (no suckless junk), with a low-maintenance but high-correctness package build system and infrastructure, no systemd but taking service management and everything around it seriously (there are exactly 0 other non-systemd distros that do that), easy to bootstrap, architecture-agnostic, and hardened (as much as possible without introducing visible breakage or significant performance loss; the only “linux distro” that really takes this seriously is android, and that’s not general-purpose)

none of the individual choices like userland base or libc or whatever are goals in themselves, they are a means to an end or just the most obvious thing given the circumstances"