Using Manjaro for Windows users

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Remember when you installed your very first Windows, added bells and whistles and then couldn’t see the wood for the trees any more and had to re-install??? Well, you’re in the same situation now: You’re a N00b again! Embrace it! 😇

I know right now you’re thinking: Why is this so much more difficult than Windows? Whereas in 6 months time, you’ll be like: Why can't I make Windows jump through fiery hoops like I do with Linux???

Windows has drives, Linux has a hierarchical file system

So Windows:

• has drives
• The C:-drive generally contains Windows and sometimes data
• The D:-drive (if present) contains data and hardly ever contains Windows itself.
• The maximum number of drives is 26 (A-Z)
• All drives that contain a known file system are always mounted automatically.

On the other hand, Linux has one huge file system:

• with an unlimited number of partitions (not disks, not drives!) ¹
• you can mount any partition of a disk anywhere in the file system! (Repeating that you cannot mount a disk, only a partition under Linux!)
• you can find the official documentation on the Linux File System Hierarchy Standard (FHS) in HTML / PDF / Text format here: FHS Homework assignment #1: read that! 😁
• No, really: read it!
• OK, you didn't read it; here's the FHS summary 😜

Note

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Partitions are not automatically mounted in Linux!

Huh? That sounds dumb! Why doesn't Linux mount partitions automatically??? That's because the Manjaro installer will manually mount only the absolute minimum number of partitions to get your system up and running! I.E. It will manually mount:

• / (always)
• /home (if you created such a partition)
• /boot/efi (If you have an UEFI system instead of a BIOS system)

and it will leave any other partitions alone to ensure you don’t mess them up! I.E. If you have a dual-boot system, Manjaro will not mount your Windows D: drive automatically!

If you want to have any other partitions available at every boot, you should read about fstab.

Linux has multiple GUIs

Windows has only one Graphical User Interface (GUI) depending on its version whereas, Linux has different Desktop Environments (DE) :

• XFCE: Lightweight, simple, best for beginning users
• KDE: lots of bells and whistles, good for recent and powerful hardware and people who like to tinker! 🛠️
• Gnome: Simple, the default for lots of distributions
• Cinnamon: Gnome like it should be Beefed-up Gnome with more bells and whistles.
• LXDE: comparatively low resource requirements. This makes it especially suitable for use on older resource-constrained computers.
• I3: Great for power users that need non-overlapping titling windows.

And all of the above come with their own:

• File Manager
• System Settings (Known to you as "Control Panel")
• Partition Manager (except XFCE: they need one of the others to be installed)

Note

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The above is less important on modern computers and has become more a matter of taste than functionality

What you should remember is that mixing and matching DE's is not wise! More specifically:

• Don't install the Gnome Editor (`gedit`) on KDE but use `kate` instead because `gedit` will pull in a ton of libraries (and functionality) of Gnome which will bloat your system.
• Don't install 2 DEs for one user:
• You can have different DEs one a single computer
• Each user can have their own DE
• Having 2 DEs for one user is a recipe for disaster as one single configuration file might be used by 2 DEs for wildly different functionality and untangling this Gordian knot will be so complex that a reinstall is always easier.

Remember: You're a N00b again! You're going to re-install at least once! (Unless you're smarter than the authors of this article... 😁)

Other tips and tricks

user $ example command should be here COPY TO CLIPBOARD

Example codes should be here.

See Also

FHS The Official documentation by the Linux Foundation (Yeah: where Linus Torvalds lives) 😊