Thanks!

I’m coming back to Linux after a hiatus. I’ve spent most of my time with the Debian flavors. Not afraid of the command line, but not an expert either.

I’m trying out Bluefin right now, semi-immutable atomic os based on silverblue, based on Fedora.

On normal installs, I usually change and install enough stuff, that when it comes time to upgrade to the next os version, I’m sometimes not able to without introducing instability or it outright falling. The former more common than the latter.

Let’s just say I got used to reinstalling and starting from scratch, especially if I experimented too hard and broke something big like my DE or drivers.

So with bluefin I’m hoping to leave everything that’s core, alone. I’m trying to rely on flatpaks, app images, and distrobox for everything else.

So far so successful. I’ve only got a couple minor gripes, some limitations of flatpaks. But I’ve also only been at it for like a week, so we’ll see.

I guess my point is, flatpaks have a place 🤷‍♂️

Just the other day, I was trying to run a CLI program, one I won’t name.

I’m trying out a new immutable distro, and couldn’t install it, so I said hey these new flatpaks are supposed to be all a guy could ever need.

So I downloaded an app that uses this unnamed CLI program as its core. It was a GUI app. And while it worked just fine, I also had very little control over what exactly was gonna happen and how it would happen. I wanted to do some specific things I knew the core program could do, but there was no way to do it.

Eventually I dug deeper and realized I’m an idiot and the CLI program can run without installing it or any dependencies, so it was fine to use natively. I was able to accomplish my task quickly and efficiently after that, happy as a clam.

CLI and GUI both have their place. I prefer GUI most the time, honestly. But having some CLI chops can be extremely useful at times.

Exactly. I’d love to use jellyfin, but it’s just not feasible