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Topic: Does Artix have GUI admin tools for people allergic to terminal? (Read 5390 times) previous topic - next topic
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Does Artix have GUI admin tools for people allergic to terminal?

Hello, I am strongly considering distrohopping to Artix as it seems to be "easier arch" and because it will support X11 for the foreseeable future (don't really care about what init system is in use, as long as it works). However, as someone who is not fully confident in my ability to *NOT* render my system unbootable via a typo in a command or config file, does Artix come with some sort of GUI admin panel (think YaST and whatever OpenMandriva has of similar nature)?

Re: Does Artix have GUI admin tools for people allergic to terminal?

Reply #1 –
Quote from: darkhog – on
Hello, I am strongly considering distrohopping to Artix as it seems to be "easier arch" and because it will support X11 for the foreseeable future (don't really care about what init system is in use, as long as it works). However, as someone who is not fully confident in my ability to *NOT* render my system unbootable via a typo in a command or config file, does Artix come with some sort of GUI admin panel (think YaST and whatever OpenMandriva has of similar nature)?

Pretty much all the DE's (Gnome, KDE, Cinnamon, etc.) have a tool that allows for configuring your system assuming this is what you mean.

Re: Does Artix have GUI admin tools for people allergic to terminal?

Reply #2 –
Quote from: darkhog – on
Hello, I am strongly considering distrohopping to Artix as it seems to be "easier arch" and because it will support X11 for the foreseeable future (don't really care about what init system is in use, as long as it works). However, as someone who is not fully confident in my ability to *NOT* render my system unbootable via a typo in a command or config file, does Artix come with some sort of GUI admin panel (think YaST and whatever OpenMandriva has of similar nature)?

For what it's worth, you should indeed care about the init system you choose, probably for a number of very good reasons. Artix is not "Linux Mint" or "Ubuntu" where one can (mostly) install and then add software to taste.....  and much like learning to do anything, you have to at least think about it, do some research or, at the very least, install them all (one at a time of course) and spend a few days playing around to see which one resonates and does what you want in the way you want? For me, that is the dinit xfce version, but i installed both the openrc and runit versions many times before coming to this conclusion.

I will end by saying that if you do install (whether on bare metal or in a VM) and get to know the different init systems and how they work, things will probably break in some way, eventually (YMMV of course). But you will learn so many valuable things in the process, and it will (hopefully) help refine your ultimate choice. :)

Artix is refreshingly good and "Well worth the effort". Like anything in life, you get out what you put in.  Hope you have fun and please share your experiences along the way, if you feel so inclined. :)

XFCE (dinit) on home server, laptop and desktop!

Re: Does Artix have GUI admin tools for people allergic to terminal?

Reply #3 –
People spend a large amount of time on their computers and much of their social lives.  If you don't learn how to use it and how to control it, then the systems will control you.  This has been true for the last 30+ years.  There was a quote recently in the Sandman which Lucifer says something to the effect that tools are a funny thing.  While they give you new abilities your dependence on them can also enslave you.

Re: Does Artix have GUI admin tools for people allergic to terminal?

Reply #4 –
Welcome to Artix Linux!

XFCE comes with a graphical settings manager and numerous graphical configuration tools found in the Settings menu.
It's not as comprehensive as what MX Linux offers, but we're fine with what's included by default in XFCE.

What saved my life several times was knowing how to use artix-chroot:
https://forum.artixlinux.org/index.php/topic,103.0.html *

* Print this page :)

Re: Does Artix have GUI admin tools for people allergic to terminal?

Reply #5 –
If you are looking for a system that just works, I recommend LMDE.

I am now expressly warned of Ubuntu derivatives because Ubuntu makes too much crap for me: in my eyes, this is no longer a real Linux at all.

Since Artix does not use systemd, problems can occur again and again, especially with AUR, since more and more software systemd requires. If it should be an Arch derivative, EndeavourOS might be a better choice. I read a lot of good. - In contrast to Manjaro.

In 2020 I only looked at both briefly and then discovered Artix. Since Runit worked best for me, I'm using Artix-Xfce-Runit since then  and I can't imagine changing again.

Re: Does Artix have GUI admin tools for people allergic to terminal?

Reply #6 –
Endeavour is Xlibre-hostile so it isn't for me, lmao (edit: Also uses Discourse as its forum system. Yuck!). And yeah, I'm aware of desktop environment settings apps. I'm specifically asking for something that let me manage my SYSTEM graphically (manage services, configure firewall, add/remove users, install software, etc.) like YaST does in openSuSE.

Re: Does Artix have GUI admin tools for people allergic to terminal?

Reply #7 –
Seems that rebornos has what you requested.

I haven't tried rebornos myself though.

Re: Does Artix have GUI admin tools for people allergic to terminal?

Reply #8 –
I've not used YaST but from the description there probably isn't a single app which would do all that, although you could probably find a few that would do some of it - for example Pamac or Octopi as GUI package managers. I don't know of a GUI that would deal with OpenRC services or user accounts, but I have only ever had to configure a handful and they rarely need altering after initial system setup. Also, remember the terminal is just a graphical interface too, looking up some commands to enter isn't really more difficult than finding some menu procedure. Any new system is going to take a little while to get used to, going from RPM's to Pacman packages will require some adjustment time. While I haven't tried it myself, gufw is in the repos for GUI firewall management.
 Anything you mess up can almost always be fixed, just be sure to keep any important stuff backed up and perhaps run Artix on a separate testing partition for a while to try it out and see how you get on, and how it works for you in reality.

Re: Does Artix have GUI admin tools for people allergic to terminal?

Reply #9 –
Quote from: darkhog – on
I'm specifically asking for something that let me manage my SYSTEM graphically (manage services, configure firewall, add/remove users, install software, etc.) like YaST does in openSuSE.
There isn't anything that does all of that that I'm aware of.
There's a TUI
https://gitlab.com/Hitman_47/utilities.sh
https://forum.artixlinux.org/index.php/topic,4030.0.html
which may help with some of it.
I've never used it. Just know that it's there.

Learn to love the terminal.
Or you get into a vicious circle of being afraid to tinker in case you break something, so you never learn, and then when something breaks you have no idea where to start.
Make backup copies of config files before you edit them.
Ideally learn how to make backups of your entire rootfs so you can rollback to a previous version.
Have a separate almost identical rootfs on another partition you can boot into. Then if an system update won't boot into the Desktop you can at least boot into the other one and try and figure it out from there.

With a decent recovery strategy in place there is less need to fear breaking something.

Re: Does Artix have GUI admin tools for people allergic to terminal?

Reply #10 –
I suggest learning the terminal as well. While basic features may come with GUI options, others will not.

I also suggest keeping daily backups if you're afraid of something breaking like that. Timeshift can cover most bases for you.

For a distro like Arch (and its derivatives), knowing the terminal is necessary.

If you ever need help, you can always ask us. But do not fear the Terminal. It is your weapon/tool.
 

Re: Does Artix have GUI admin tools for people allergic to terminal?

Reply #11 –
Quote from: darkhog – on
Does Artix have GUI admin tools for people allergic to terminal?

Linux distributions derived from Arch are typically not recommended for individuals who are allergic to terminal.