Shani operating system

[DavidEdwinAston]

Don't suppose anyone has got the Plasma version of this downloaded and working?
If so, any tips would be welcome.
I keep getting this error message.

 

[DavidEdwinAston]

Replying to my own post, no luck with installing that distro up to now. However, it occurs to me that Linux distros are a very ASR type of thing.
Constant fiddling, and luckily no further expense, as long as one has a pc with some spare space.
Whaddya all think?

 

[respice finem]

I think it's not really necessary to have an "exotic" distro.

Some "mainstream" ones have a much smoother "user experience" than Windows (IMHO):
I got this one and recommend it.

Home - Linux Mint

Linux Mint is an elegant, easy to use, up to date and comfortable desktop operating system.

linuxmint.com

Even my mother (aged 88.) can use it.

 

[DavidEdwinAston]

I think it's not really necessary to have an "exotic" distro.

Some "mainstream" ones have a much smoother "user experience" than Windows (IMHO):
I got this one and recommend it.

Home - Linux Mint

Linux Mint is an elegant, easy to use, up to date and comfortable desktop operating system.

linuxmint.com

Even my mother (aged 88.) can use it.

Thanks respice. I have used and liked that one. In truth, Ubuntu has also been good enough. However!----------

 

[mhardy6647]

@DavidEdwinAston, did you try the two "suggestions" flagged by the installer in the error messages you shared in the OP?

 

[DavidEdwinAston]

In fact no, not up to now. Will certainly have another look at that, and report back. Thanks for pointing out the suggestions.

 

[JeffS7444]

Sounds like you've got a disk that's already been partitioned, and have specified a target that the installer doesn't like.

 

[anonyless]

ShaniOS uses Flatpak as the primary method for application management, while the base system remains immutable.

are you aware of that?

 

[DavidEdwinAston]

Thanks jeff. Will look into that.
Anonyless. I did see the term, but have no clue what it means. Possibly you could explain?

 

[DavidEdwinAston]

I am hoping to download an operating system to a 30 gig usb flash drive which surely is large enough. I can format it again, but don't know if it is important to make specific partitions .

 

[mlankton]

Solus was my favorite but then I got a machine it didn't like so I started using Elementary. Elementary is good and if they keep going at it will eventually be there, but as a Mac user it still feels like a third rate copy. This has been a non-issue for me since I switched to Apple silicon, which runs linux but badly. I just stay in Mac OS now.

 

[anonyless]

Thanks jeff. Will look into that.
Anonyless. I did see the term, but have no clue what it means. Possibly you could explain?

means it's not using a standardized package manager to install apps .
if you want to run the OS completely off USB drive, you need the lightest distribution out there, and that one is definitely not that.
the last time I installed KDE Plasma on Debian 12, i got tons of useless crap installed as default. so I would stay away from that .
are you looking into a lightweight Linux distribution that runs completely off USB drive?
I recall once messing around with Puppy Linux running off USB drive and it worked well - but that was ages ago. I would look into Vanilla Dpup stable release https://vanilla-dpup.github.io/ if that's the case.
personally i've been using Fedora Gnome on an old Dell Latitude laptop (but with 16gb RAM..) the last 7 years or so.
so many Linux options out there, but I would stay away from the "too exotic" type , if you want to do some troubleshooting in the future (support wise)

 

[DavidEdwinAston]

Thank you for your further help guys!
I loathe Apple for personal and utterly irrational reasons!
anonyless, will consider your suggestions. Thankyou

 

[anonyless]

Thank you for your further help guys!
I loathe Apple for personal and utterly irrational reasons!
anonyless, will consider your suggestions. Thankyou

if you could detail on the hardware you're going to install Linux on and what is it going to be used for, I could probably give you a much better recommendation (whatever you do, avoid Ubuntu desktop..)

 

[somebodyelse]

Anonyless. I did see the term, but have no clue what it means. Possibly you could explain?

It means it's a bit like Android as far as system updates go - there are 2 slots for the root filesystem. One is the currently running one, and the other is the previous one until it's time for an update, at which point the previous one gets overwritten with the new one. If all goes well you reboot, and the new one becomes the active one. If it fails then you fall back to the one you had before. They're read-only except for when the update is being written.

I said 'slots' as I think it's using btrfs subvolumes rather than separate partitions for this, which would be another viable way to do it. Further slots are used for configuration, applications and user data.

My guess about the error - were you trying to install the OS on the same USB stick you booted from? That would account for the backup GPT table not being at the end of the device, and for the disk being in use.

 

[Drengur]

I've been using Bazzite for the last few months. It's the first immutable distro I've tried. It's a bit difficult to un-learn all the ways of managing the operating system. I usually use Windows on my main system for those OK realeases (NT4/2000 - Windows 7 - Windows 10) but Linux inbetween. I've been using Fedora for my "other systems" for a few years and been really happy. I don't really have the time or drive to tweak my operating system these days and decided to see what those immutable systems have to offer.

Pros:
It's like your phone in that it just does it thing
Cons:
It's like your phone
Flatpaks are cool, but not as cool as people think
Updates happen in the background but the system sometimes has problems with unapplied updates, so I have to restart more often than I am used to

As a side note, Linux is much more sensitive to memory timings than Windows. (Or I should say, I know when issues are memory issues, but you never know what's really causing problems in Windows because usually it's borked upgrades). This means my "on the edge" tunings are not feasible in Linux. Which is fine since I the main reason for tweaking was the fun of it, not that it was really helpful.

I am happy with Bazzite insofar as, yeah it's cool n'all. But I will probably go back to standard Fedora in the future. My Arch btw. days are over until retirement.

 

[mhardy6647]

I loathe Apple for personal and utterly irrational reasons!

You are not alone.
(Just in case that confession burdens you with any sense of remorse.)

 

[DavidEdwinAston]

if you could detail on the hardware you're going to install Linux on and what is it going to be used for, I could probably give you a much better recommendation (whatever you do, avoid Ubuntu desktop..)

This usb drive appears to have room for operating system installs. But I can't work out how to use that space without overwriting the existing items. The second image is one of the two identical flashdrives I assumed would be straightforward receptacles for shani, etc. The third image is a disk image of the one that is only half full.
The actual ssd which contains the Windows 11 system purchased with this computer also may have room for another operating system. I hope this might be of help.
I would also like to thank you, and everyone else who has responded. You have all been great!

 

[somebodyelse]

I haven't tried their installer so it's not clear what the guided disk partition process is going to do, especially to a disk that's already partitioned. The Arch docs for systemd-boot note problems that can occur when using systemd-boot on the same drive as Windows, so that's a complication best avoided until you know a bit more about ShaniOS. Your best bet is probably to install to the unpartitioned 30GB stick, so long as you don't get confused about which drive is which. Installing to to other partitions on the USB stick you booted from will probably be problematic as it will probably refuse to repartition when one partition is mounted.

 

[DavidEdwinAston]

Thank you for that. I have just plugged in a new SanDisk 512 gigabyte flash drive.
Talk about overkill.
I will keep pegging away, and am grateful for input.