 Welcome to another edition of Haiti. Haiti is a series of videos I do where I respond to viewer questions and comments. These viewer questions and comments, they typically come from the comments on the videos that are posted on YouTube and Odyssey. Sometimes these viewer questions and comments come through messages on mastodon, Reddit, sometimes through email. And the very first question I want to respond to is, Haiti, looks like you're feeling much better. I hope you are doing well. Well, that's not really a question. It's more of a comment. And I've gotten literally thousands of these comments, these best wishes. Those of you wishing me luck and getting over the virus, those of you that have been following the channel know that about two weeks ago, I came down with the virus. I've been ill. And here in the last few days, though, I've seemed to have gotten over it. I'm back to a normal routine, a normal work routine, making videos. I've been back in the gym working out. I've got my strength back because there, the first few days I was down, I couldn't even get out of bed because of just lack of strength. I had no strength at all. I spent four or five days in bed with a fever, sweating, had chills, and it was just a nasty flu-like experience. But thankfully, it was a standard flu-like experience for me. Nothing serious. Didn't have to be hospitalized or anything like that. And as of today, I feel pretty much 100%. And I'm ready to hit the ground running here in 2022. I do want to thank all of you guys that sent good thoughts and good prayers. Again, thousands of you guys were wishing me well. And it really does mean a lot. Moving on to the next question. Hey, DT, you can use the count command in the fish shell to get the same result. For example, when you ran Pacman-QQ and piped it into WC-L, you could have done Pacman-QQ and piped it into count. Now, he is right. There is a fish shell function called count. The reason I didn't show it in that video the other day about how to get accurate line counts and terminal output is because it is a fish shell specific function. It's a function built into the fish shell, which I use the fish shell. But not everybody uses the fish shell. The fish shell is not a default shell on most Linux systems. Most Linux systems, the default shell is bash. So I didn't, on that video, everything I showed was a standard GNU Core U2 command. I didn't show anything that was off the beaten path. So I didn't show any specific functions with fish or with any other alternative shells. And I could count lines with a lot of different things. I'm sure I could write something in purl to count lines or in Python to count lines. But again, I was trying to stick with just the basic GNU Core Utils for the video the other day. But I do appreciate you guys sharing in the comments some of the alternative ways for those that are not familiar with the fish shell. The fish shell does have some nice extra functionality built into it, such as that count function. And the next comment I want to read is really a criticism that somebody had against me. He writes, Hey DT, I would like to point out a mistake you're making in your videos when addressing Windows users unless you're preaching to the choir. You really shouldn't use terms like distro desktop environment, etc. That's a mistake. Well, I totally disagree because on day one, if somebody is thinking about switching from Windows to Linux, they need to know what Linux is. And Linux, how are you going to tell somebody what Linux is if you don't mention Linux distributions? Because that's the whole point of Linux is freedom. It's free and open source software. Anybody can fork free and open source software, make their own versions of free and open source software, make their own custom Linux distros. And that's why we have hundreds of Linux distros out there. And people need to know this on day one is that there's hundreds of Linux distros, and they're going to have to pick one. I have to tell them that if I don't tell them that they are going to be confused as hell when they get here and decide, Hey, I'm going to install Linux. And then people say, Well, which Linux? Wait, there's more than one? Yeah, there's a whole bunch of Linux distros out there. And you're going to have to pick one. Same thing with desktop environments. I've got to tell them what a desktop environment is, because there's literally dozens of desktop environments and window managers on Linux available for you to choose from. And you have to choose one, right? It's not like you're just given one Linux distribution with one desktop environment. And that's all there is. You have choice when you switch to Linux. And the choice, the freedom is everything. It is entirely what the operating system is. It's freedom. So I have to talk about freedom as soon as I begin talking about Linux to the new user, because if I don't, then I'm not really telling them anything at all about this operating system, because they need to know that Linux is free and open source software, and they need to know what that means. They need to know the implications of that compared to windows being closed source proprietary software. They're two totally different things. And I can't pretend like Linux and Windows are the same thing, because they're not. It's like heads and tails of a coin, you know, two sides of a coin, right? Windows, closed source proprietary software is the tail side of the coin. Linux, for an open source software, you can think of it as the head side of the coin. When you flip a coin, it can't be both heads or tails, right? It can only be one or the other. I can't pretend like these two different operating systems can be anything alike. Windows can never be like Linux. Linux can never be like Windows, just fundamentally based on the fact that one's free and open source software, one's proprietary software, and I have to talk about some of these terms. And honestly, if a new to Linux user can't spend 30 seconds doing a Google search on terms like distro, desktop environment, window manager, package manager, then they shouldn't be running Linux. And that's not me being negative or toxic or divisive or trying to keep Linux as this elitist club. No, I think anybody can run Linux. But I do think you do have to have the right mindset and not everybody has the right mindset. Not everybody actually wants to learn about computers or learn about their operating system. Many people don't want to dive under the hood at all. They don't want to know about kernels and desktop environments and package managers and things like that. And if you're one of those people, that's fine. Stay on Windows and that closed source proprietary walled garden of Windows where you don't have to know any of the different stuff. You don't have to know about the kernel or the desktop environment or any of that stuff because you don't have any choice in the matter anyway. Windows gives you Windows and that's all you get. You can't really change anything. Where in Linux you have the freedom to swap out every different aspect of the operating system. So you actually do need to know what these terms mean. And again, if you can't do a 30 second Google search, then honestly you don't deserve to be a Linux user. Moving on to the next question. Hey, DT, I often watch your videos while cooking or something like a podcast. And I think it would be useful to add a short sound every time you make a correction to know that I have to look at the screen. So what this person is talking about is, you know, many people will listen to YouTube videos, not just mine, but you know, many people be at the gym and they'll put on some headphones to listen to a YouTube video. They're not watching it. They're just listening or that they play it in the car or in this person, they're cooking at the house and they probably got it playing on a Bluetooth speaker. And you know, on YouTube videos, I make a lot of mistakes. Actually, pretty much everybody makes mistakes doing videos. It's not people making mistakes for lack of effort. It's just many times when you turn on a camera and you have to talk for a while, you're going to misspeak. Many times you misspeak without even knowing. You're thinking you're saying one thing, but you actually say something else and you don't catch it. And you'll catch it in post. When I go to edit the video, I'll realize I said this particular word, but I was actually thinking this other particular word, and I'll make an annotation on the screen to let you guys know, hey, I misspoke here. This is really what I meant. And of course, if you're only doing audio only, you don't see the little correction, the little annotation where I said something wrong and then corrected it on screen. But I don't know that I could actually fix this because it's one of those things. Again, when you turn on a camera, you're going to misspeak a lot on video. And if every time I made a mistake and made a minor correction and I had like a beeping sound, it would be so annoying that I understand for those of you only listening to the audio, but you have to understand I actually am making video content. And that's kind of what I have to cater to. I'm trying to make the best video content. So if you're only doing audio only, just know, yes, you're going to miss some stuff. But I don't think it matters too much because most, I mean, when we're talking about mistakes in videos or correcting things, adding annotations, typically it's very minor stuff. I will say nine times out of 10 when I misspeak, you know, say something wrong. You guys watching the videos, you immediately know, oh, I know DT actually didn't mean to say that. He meant to say, you know, because, because I get this when I watch other people's content, and I see them obviously, they didn't mean to say what they just said. And I pick up on that. And I think even on the audio only versions, you guys would probably pick up on it most of the time. So no, I'm not going to add any annoying beeps or sounds or anything to my videos when I make a mistake. I think that would put way more people off than it would actually help. And moving on to the next question. Hey, DT, what Linux version do you recommend? So this is obviously a potential new to Linux user. This is one of the many Windows users probably that are thinking about coming over to Linux. But of course, it's that problem. There's so many distros. What do you recommend? I can't tell just the entire world what distribution they should run, because not every distribution is the same. Not every distribution is appropriate for every situation and for every single person. There's no one size fits all. There's no one size fits all anything as far as software, including your Linux operating systems. So first of all, I would say if you're a brand new to Linux user, just pick something that's somewhat popular that you see a lot of other new to Linux users try. So some common choices would include things like Linux Mint, Ubuntu, MX Linux, Manjaro, elementary, Zoran, just to name a few right off the top of my head. Those are all great beginner Linux distributions. Try one of them out. It may work for you. It may not work for you. You may install one of these and you know what? I don't really like how they do this in this distribution. I don't like the desktop environment it ships with. I don't like the package manager. Things are confusing. Their software center looks weird, yada, yada, yada. Hey, you know what chances are you're not going to stay on the same Linux distribution forever. Very, very, very, very few Linux users install their very first Linux distribution and then that's the only Linux distribution they ever run for the rest of their life. That doesn't happen. Like most Linux users have literally run dozens of different Linux distributions. We're constantly trying out new Linux distributions with new desktop environments and that's kind of the nature of it. Don't think that you have to decide on one right now and you're married to that thing. That's the only distribution you're ever going to run because I promise you there's almost no chance you're going to install this Linux distribution and never try a different distribution at some point. Just pick one and because under the hood, all Linux distributions are the same, especially once you get down to the command line, down to the shell, the shell utilities and things like that, once you start learning some of the under the hood stuff, it's all the same. So it really doesn't matter what you pick. Install any Linux distribution that's appropriate for a new user because not all of them are appropriate. Some of them are much more advanced but pick a new user friendly distribution. It doesn't matter what it is and just start using it. And the next question is, hey, DT, is there any way to add a music player like in the Archcraft? I couldn't find it anywhere. And this was a comment from an older video I did a couple of years ago, but I just got the comment here in the last few days. It was a video about i3, me building a i3 window manager, building a desktop environment with i3. And this person apparently is new to how you go about building your desktop environment on a minimal distribution where you have to install virtually anything. He's like, how do I add the music player? Well, you just pick a music player, any music player, there's literally hundreds in your Linux distributions, repositories, and install one. For example, Rhythmbox, one of the most popular audio players on Linux. If it was a Debian or an Ubuntu system, you would sudo apt install Rhythmbox. If you were on an Archbase system, you would sudo pacman dash capital S Rhythmbox. And Rhythmbox would be installed on your system. And at that point, if you were running a traditional desktop environment that had a menu system, open the menu and just start searching for Rhythmbox, it'll be in there. If you're running a window manager, like a tiling window manager like i3, of course, you're not going to have a traditional menu system of any kind. What you would do is you would launch a run launcher of some kind, like D menu or Rofi, and just type Rhythmbox, and then hit enter and Rhythmbox will launch. And of course, that's just an example. It doesn't have to be Rhythmbox. It could be, Clementine, Lollipop, Dead Beef, or one of the hundreds of other audio players that are out there on Linux. You pick the one that's right for you and you can try them out, right? You can install one of them. If it doesn't work for you, uninstall it, install a different one. Again, it's not like you're married to the software. Just pick one, try it out. If it works for you, great. If it doesn't try a different one. If you're not sure of the various music players that are available on Linux, the ArchWiki has a great page and it doesn't matter if you're using Arch or an ArchBase distribution. It doesn't matter. Go to the ArchWiki and there is a list of programs available on Linux, popular programs available on Linux, and they categorize it. You know, it'll tell you the popular audio players, video players, office suites, and things like that. It is a fantastic resource, especially for new to Linux users that just don't know the names of the programs. And the next comment I want to read is, hey DT, glad you're getting better, praying for a quick and full healing for you. Want to say thanks for inspiring me to start my own YouTube channel. You are a huge inspiration. I really appreciate that. This is one of those comments I've gotten from hundreds of people. I've had hundreds of different content creators contact me and say, hey, you were a big inspiration. You were a big help. I see you making all this content, you know, on Linux, free and open source software. In a lot of cases, you're saying a lot of the same things I wanted to say and you were a big inspiration for me to finally get out there and say, you know, start spreading that message too. And of course, it's not just Linux and free and open source software. I've had people contact me, you know, that finally started a YouTube channel about things that have nothing to do with Linux or technology or anything. They just, you know, were watching me see all the videos I make, all the mistakes I've made over the years, all the improvements I've made over the years and, you know, when they see some of the stuff I've done with audio and video, you know, it really helps get these people up to speed, maybe a little quicker than how it worked out for me. You know, I've been at this a little over four years now. And one of the great things about YouTube Linux is all the great Linux channels on YouTube, you know, it was a much smaller community four years ago. We didn't have nearly as many Linux YouTube channels four years ago. It was such a bigger space now because, again, I get hundreds of these comments. Hey, I just started this YouTube channel. Most of them that contact me are actually making Linux content, free and open source software content. And it's great. We're just a much bigger community now than we were four years ago. Literally, you have thousands of people on YouTube now making Linux content. And when you look at the videos being produced, you look at the views, people are actually watching this content, the communities built around these channels, many cases, very large communities. And it's an obvious sign, right? It's a metric we can point to to actually confirm what I believe. And that is that Linux is growing and not just growing, it's exploding in popularity. I really believe that, again, all you have to do is look at what's going on on YouTube and the Linux community. And I think it'll confirm that for you. And as far as this gentleman that contacted me saying I was a huge inspiration for his channel, I think his name was Jake Linux. I could be wrong. I didn't write the name down in the show notes. I do apologize, but I appreciate the kind words. And if this person or any of you guys that are starting a YouTube channel on any topic, if you're having any issues or you got any kind of questions, if I can help out in any way, feel free to ask. And the next question is, hey, DT, I've been using Qtile for a while now. Thanks to you. How did you get those animations when you're moving windows? So what he's talking about here is in some of my older videos, when I was using Qtile, Xmonad, awesome window manager, when I would move windows around or close windows or open windows, they'd have fancy animations, really fancy animations. And I had rounded corners on my windows and some of my tiling window managers. And that was achieved by using a fork of PyCom. PyCom is the standard compositor that most people use with their standalone window managers. Well, there is a fork of PyCom that I was using called PyCom-jonaberg. And it's available on the Arch user repository. Those of you that use Arch, you can probably get PyCom-jonaberg installed on other distributions. Maybe you'll find it in the repos. If not, I'm sure you could probably build it from source. But it's just a fancy version of PyCom that adds some fancy animations and rounded corners and whizbang effects. If you do a search on my YouTube channel for PyCom, look for a video, I believe the thumbnail had the text on it. It said, fancy effects for your window managers. Look for that video and it will explain all about PyCom-jonaberg. And it'll show you exactly how I achieved those effects that you saw on that video. And the final question I want to read is, hey, DT, I'm always confused about all the packages and package managers out there. Could you make a video explaining them? And I will go ahead and say I probably will not make a video trying to explain everything about packages and various package managers because there's literally dozens of ways to package things for Linux. You can install packages through your distributions, standard package manager, for example, apt and Debian and Ubuntu or Pacman on Arch or Emerge on Gen2 or DNF on Fedora. You've got your standard package managers for your distribution. But then you've got a million different third-party packaging systems that you can use. Some obvious examples would be snaps, flat packs, app images. You have your various programming language specific package managers like NPM and PIP and Cabal and Stack and Jim and Cargo and all this other stuff that there's no way I would try to explain all of that on one video. To be honest, when it comes to packages that are available and your package manager, it's really your distribution and it's one of those things when I talked to earlier, you know, you need to do a quick 30-second Google search. This is the deal. If you're new to Linux and you just installed XYZ Linux distribution, do a search for XYZ Linux package manager and hopefully Google will tell you exactly what the package manager for that distribution is. And once you know what the package manager is, read the man page. So open a terminal and type man, name of package manager. For example, on Debian or Ubuntu do man apt and it will tell you all the commands for that package manager or man pack man on Arch. It will tell you again all the commands for the pack man package manager. And if you want, you know, easier to digest, you know, simpler explanation, typically these distributions are going to have a wiki page about their package managers and they will actually give you examples of the most standard commands which are typically updating your system, installing software and removing software. Really want you to know that you pretty much know most everything you need to know about your package manager on your system. Now before I go, I need to thank a few special people. I need to thank Devon Gabe James Matt, Michael Mitchell, Paul Scott, Wes Akami, Allen Lennox, Ninja Chuck, Commander Angry, Kurt Diokai, David Dillon, Gregory Heiko, Casca, Lee, Max and Mike Nitrix, Erjan, Alexander, Peace, Arch, and Fator, Polytech, Raver, Red Prophet, Steven, and Willie. These guys, they're my highest tiered patrons over on Patreon without these guys. This episode of Haiti would not have been possible. The show is also brought to you by each and every one of these fine ladies and gentlemen as well. All these names you're seeing on the screen, these are all my supporters over on Patreon because I don't have any corporate sponsors. I'm just sponsored by you guys, the community. If you like the work I do and you want to see more great content about Lennox and free and open source software, please consider subscribing to DistroTube over on Patreon. All right guys, peace.