It’s different to work with than just about any Linux distro out there, but <doing anything then regretting it> works kinda well with NixOS. Sure it’s different than all the other Linux distros and prob has a steeper learning curve as well - but once you get into it you’ll never have to reinstall again, you can apply any config with 1 command, revert to earlier build-versions if a change would break the system. Great stuff!
Dumb question: What exactly is “ricing”? I’d also be curious to learn about the etymology of that term…
Incorrect, or dumb use of a term originating from modifying Japanese cat to street racing, also racist term.
Excessively modifying your system, most commonly in how it looks, spending dozens of hours making it look just right.
Not sure of etymology
The etymology is from a racist street racing term. In the street racing scene, the garishly over-done modifications (often combined with anime wraps) were popular in parts of Asia. So those styles of cars were referred to as “rice burners” when Asian drivers inevitably ended up at car meets. And modifying the car in such a way was called “ricing” it. As in, Asians eat a lot of rice, and it looks like an Asian modified that car.
That’s pretty much it. That’s the etymology. Some people will try to claim that “RICE” is actually an acronym. But that’s a common lie, to allow those people to continue using the racist term without feeling guilty. The term “rice burner” existed long before the backronym did. And somehow, the term eventually found its way into the Linux world. And Linux fanboys will screech about how it’s not a racist term, but it is.
you know the Fast and the Furious movies? at least the original 2 or 3, those cars were all tricked out with neon lights, decals, nitros, custom exhaust, all that? most of those cars were Japanese cars that were heavily modified. Basically it was a derogetory term for modifying a piece of shit car to look good, Especally if it was a Japanese car. you slap a body kit on it, neon lights, slap in some bucket seats, switch out the exhaust, but you dont’ touch the engine. that’s a “Ricer” it’s not a good thing in that specific car culture.
So for whatever reason someone at some point was modifying their Desktop Environment or Window Manager with neon borders and all that and decided to call it a Rice. You’re essentially modifying your OS without touching the “engine” so to speak. You’re just slapping a body kit, neon lights, some bucket seats etc onto your operating system.
Read the same in the past. If I remember correctly, someone added “Ricer” and “Rice” is racism, too.
yeah some consider it a racist term because it originally applied specifically to Japanese Cars. i.e. Asian cars, Asians like eating Rice, POS modified Car isn’t a “Racer” it’s a “Ricer”.
So what’s the American or European equivalent? Potatoing? Corning?
Fried rice?
As I understand it, ricing a machine is to excessively modify it to achieve more speed, users of Gentoo being the origina ricers in the Linux world.
The term itself has dubious and arguably racist origins, in the world of modification of Japanese cars for street racing.
Isn’t ricing when you make a car look fast when it’s actually just a piece of shit? That’s how I’ve always heard it used until linux nerds started applying it to their GUI systems.
I thought ricing was when asian street food vendors would make their small food carts all fancy looking?
CachyOS has been great if anyone is looking for an arch based distro that’s preconfigured for gaming out of the box.
Hey linuxmemes, I’ve got a question, can I straight up install linux on a windows computer and have access to all my files as they’ve been laid out by windows, or am I going to have to use an external backup to move my files ‘out of windows’ and ‘into linux’?
Like I’m getting sicker and sicker of windows pulling their whole attitude of " Weve got an update for you, give us all your data. Give it. What do you mean “right to privacy”? That’s only for companies and billionaires."
The answers might have confused you due to the unfortunate phrasing of the question. Let me clarify:
-Linux installation requires a separate partition. This can be your D:/ drive from Windows, a completely new physical drive, or a partition you free up on any drive using the Windows Disk Management. -This partition will be wiped upon installation. Back everything up from there. -All other partitions, including drive C:/, will be fully accessible from Linux. -Your Linux partition will not be visible from Windows. There are ways to interact with it from there, but they are neither convenient nor fully functional, and you probably shouldn’t rely on it.
Overall, it’s always a good strategy to back up everything important before installing a new system or reinstalling old one, but you probably know this already and this is not a strict technical requirement - just a peace of mind tip.
Many linux installers give you the option of using the free space in your Windows drive for a linux partition (Linux mint is one example). Then you would have what is called a dual boot setup. It means every time you start your computer, you can choose Linux or Windows.
Then you disable bitlocker in your windows partition, and you can access all the files there from linux.
You can access bitlocker drives from Linux too, it’s a bit of a pain but all you need is the recovery key.
If all of your partitions are in a single NTFS drive it probably wise to make a backup, if it in a separate drive you can access it in Linux (read only, if you want to write into it you need to install “ntfs-3g” package)
Contrary to other comments, it’s actually pretty common and easy to install Linux alongside Windows, if you have a harddrive big enough for both. If you want to have both installed, it is recommend to start with Windows because Linux boot loader can recognise Windows partition and integrate it with no problem. And Linux natively supports ntfs so you can seamlessly access all your files absolutely no problem. But if it’s your first time installing Linux it’s easy to mess up and kill the windows partition if you aren’t good with terminology yet, so backing up all your files is not just recommended but straight up required.
You’ll need to migrate your files somehow. Installing linux over windows generally entails reformatting, which will erase everything.
Much better to install Linux, install a virtual machine (GNOME Boxes) in which you run what you still need Windows for, and access files via a Samba service as shared files.
Or just switch to Linux, and copy your files. It is good for daily use.
Generally, no. You can’t install Linux onto a Windows filesystem (NTFS). What you can do is one of these things:
-
Back up the files you care about (Desktop, Documents, Downloads, whatever) in Google Drive, Dropbox, a thumb drive or anywhere else that you can access later. Then you can tell the Linux installer to wipe Windows and afterwards put your important files back.
-
If you have a spare SSD you can put Linux on that. Then you can access the Windows drive from Linux. You might have to install an NTFS driver first, and you will definitely need to configure Windows to shut down properly instead of secretly hibernating, because that leaves the filesystem in a weird state and Linux won’t be able to open it.
-
If you don’t have a spare SSD you can still do the same trick by shrinking the Windows/NTFS filesystem and installing Linux in the now-free space on the same drive. Among Sysadmins shrinking filesystems has a bad reputation because at least historically it could (rarely) fail and destroy all your data, so I would not recommend you do it but it is possible and in most cases it works without issues.
Each of these comes with some risk - You might forget to copy over important files onto your thumb drive, or you might make a mistake in the Linux installer and accidentally delete Windows when you didn’t mean to. That said you should already have a backup strategy, because your PC could also just spontaneously die and lose the data even if you do nothing. If you have backups and you’ve tested them to know that you really can restore all the files you care about, then even that first option stops looking very scary.
-
XFCE + Compiz was 100% worth the effort of doing it once and then being able to just copy to a new device.
Waiting for XFCE to complete their Wayland transition, and I’m gonna upgrade to Wayfire.
That being said, yeah I give KDE to basically everyone else new to Linux lol
I agree that KDE is better for newcomers. I’ll never understand why the newbie-friendly distros tend to favor GNOME.
While gnomes simplicity looks better for newcomers, it’s actually worse, I hated it, tried kde, loved it, later tried gnome again and swapped to it, had more appeal once I already was using linux and used to it. It’s not immediately obvious what extensions to use and where to get them or that they even are a thing you can do. You goto settings and get turned off by the lack of customizability you’ve been hearing about.
Yeah, and the GNOME team sees people using extensions, breaks them, and says “No, you WILL use it OUR way or else!”
Whenever I’ve tried GNOME, I’d say about 75% of the extensions I’ve seen recommended as recently as a year prior were now broken on the latest release. And apparently GNOME really hates the idea of a systray/AppIndicator even though most distros and users want it, other desktops have it, and Mac and Windows have it
It’s a lowest common denominator kinda issue, methinks. Gnome is chasing it’s own tail trying to create a single UI that will please everyone, plus have it simple to use and both similar enough yet distinct enough to/from Windows/Mac experiences. It’s a noble enough goal - but honestly strikes me as well impossible.
KDE gives you a barely updated Win95 era desktop and then becomes a tinkerer’s paradise - whenever there was two or more options, they focused on making each available, but neither becomes the default.
Before Ubuntu existed, most distros aimed at newcomers shipped with KDE as the default. I’m not sure why Ubuntu went with GNOME as the default, but since Ubuntu came out, everything shifted to GNOME.
GNOME is definitely not going for a single UI that will please everyone. They’re going for a UI that you WILL use THEIR way, or else. And they WILL break any extensions you use within the next release or two. Which is an odd design philosophy for a desktop for an OS aimed at people who like to tweak.
Ubuntu was originally the Linux for people who can’t tweak
Ubuntu originally came out because Debian Sarge took much longer than usual to get released, and everything in Debian Woody was woefully out of date in 2004. KDE 3 and GNOME 2 had been out for a while but the latest Debian was shipping KDE 2.2.2 and GNOME 1.4. Ubuntu’s philosophy was to provide a more up-to-date distro for regular people.
I’ve been using Linux long enough that I used Debian Woody.
I used to be like that, nowadays I just choose a distro that comes with a DE I like out of the box, switch to dark mode, set a wallpaper and call it a day.
there’s accent colors too now
You set a wallpaper?
I don’t know when I last saw my wallpaper xD
Same. Changed my wallpaper to just the color black for that reason.
tiling window manager moment
I do the same but I also make sure the panel’s on the top edge of the screen
And autohide!
right or left edge for me, gotta maximize that vertical space
I’ve already got browser tabs on the side most of the time
Based
I spend 3 days ricing my desktop and I did not finish. I’ve now been sitting with the ugliest half riced desktop for 6 months. I decided to go with a light theme in beige and its… not good.
I grabbed like 3 apps to apply themes and icons on gnome and got confused trying to pick the best option
GNOME theming discussions are weird. A lot of people will peddle cargo culted bad (broken) approaches when asked about it, but honestly it’s not that complicated¹, just restrictive:
-
Use
gsettings [get|set] org.gnome.desktop.interface gtk-theme [new value]to set the theme that GTK3 apps will load. Libadwaita apps will ignore this setting. -
Use
gsettings [get|set] org.gnome.desktop.interface color-scheme [prefer-light|prefer-dark|default]to control whether Libadwaita apps (and GNOME shell) will display in dark mode. GTK3 apps will ignore this setting.prefer-lightmakes everything light mode.prefer-darkmakes everything dark mode.defaultmakes apps light mode but the panel will stay dark.
-
If you insist on theming Libadwaita apps, put the theme in
~/.config/gtk-4.0/gtk.css. You can also have add an@importdirective there to import a theme. Note that this file is only loaded at startup, so using this feature means that GTK4 apps can no longer respond to the dark mode toggle.²
All of the applications that promise to help in theming GTK/GNOME (regardless of whether you’re talking about Tweaks, Refine, the theming settings of other DEs, Gradience, etc.) just flip some combination of these settings, mostly the first two.³
¹ It might seem complicated based on the length of this comment, but trust me that Qt is worse.
² The newest GTK version has media selectors, so if all of your applications are already updated to use the new GTK and your theme is updated to use media selectors then dark mode toggles should actually work now. Mine unfortunately haven’t.
³ A handful (mostly random scripts from GitHub, but also more reputable stuff like
home-manager) will also try some wrong ways:-
Setting the
GTK_THEMEenvironment variable will prevent applications from loading the default Adwaita stylesheet completely, which will break all kinds of things. -
You can also put a theme at
~/.config/gtk-3.0/gtk.css, but this does nothing you can’t do withgsettingsexcept preventing you from changing the theme without restarting all your apps.
The issue is that the GNOME devs have made it VERY clear that they don’t want you doing this.
Yes, that is true. Curiously Qt kind of has the opposite problem of trying to be too flexible, and we have like four theming engines of which only one actually works (and it’s the one that’s tied to the Plasma desktop). GTK4 + Libadwaita is at least consistent in that it supports basically nothing.
-
You made your bed, and have been laying in it. A man of virtue.
I keep telling myself I’m gonna rice out my setup. That plasma is just a placeholder. But as months have become years I have started to question the value in it.
I started with gnome and a handful of plugins to make it more like how I was used to, but over the years I pretty much just use stock, because once I got used to it it is just good by itself. Except for GTile. I still like to install GTile.
I used to skin Windows XP and loved custom icon packs for OS X. Today I run Gnome with the bare minimum quality of life extensions.
I was going to say I don’t have time to mess around with that shit, and then remembered I have spent a bunch of time curating my dotfiles and the actual OS I run is a Bootc image I build nightly on my self hosted Forgejo instance. I may actually have too much time on my hands 😅
My PC at the time couldn’t handle the skins in XP. I was sad.
It really didn’t like KDE. I never got on with gnome. Don’t ask me why, it was 20+ years ago!
I changed the font size in Linux Mint. Does that count?
Are you the hacker we keep reading about in the newspaper?
Yes. My name is 4chan.
You guys set a different wallpaper?
That wallpaper comes with Plasma
Honestly, usually the only thing I HAVE to change. Idk why all the default distro wallpapers suck
They do don’t they.
It’s my biggest complaint about Linux, and on-boarding new users.
The last thing a new user should see is some janky ass looking wallpaper.
I think ElementaryOS and maybe Zorin were the only two that had clean looking OOTB theme and wallpaper.
Does setting it to a solid color counts?
Most solid color wallpapers are included as default on DEs, so no.
all 16 777 216 colors, actually
Some times it isn’t about the destination, but about the journey itself.
5 hours? … You have much to learn, padawan.
rookie number i know but I don’t wanna waste anymore time than I already did, gotta spend those time for DE/WM hopping :P
What does ricing mean in this context?
RICE is a post-hoc acronym (backronym) meaning Race Inspired Cosmetic Enhancement. Its from car communities.
It used to be a racist term referring to the modification of JDM vehicles, hence the post-hoc change to the definition. Its a word that came into common parlance without folks completely knowing it was racist.
Fun fact! It’s still racist.
It also means to break something up into tiny parts for cooking through a ricer. Which can also be applied to ricing your computer by tweaking all the little parts
It’s a racist term people used to refer to Japanese cars that have been “souped up”
Customizing the appearance of the desktop, for example with custom themes, widgets that show various stats etc etc
Not just desktop. Basically configuring any program or set of programs for aesthetics.
Ah, thank you! I was thinking like a potato ricer? Making it smooth?
I think its based off customizing cars in japan.
The term also confuses me. What does customising a desktop have to do with rice? Is it like beads to decorate stuff? Maybe “beading” would have a bad interpretation, but rice is just confusing.
Uhmmmm, pretty sure it’s worse than that. My understanding of the term is that it comes from cars, where cheaper Asian cars were entering the American market and were called “rice burners” (racistly), and I’m pretty sure from there the concept of decking out a cheap car with spoilers and ground kits and a wild paint job and stuff was called “ricing” because it was a thing in the Asian communities. As in “ricing a car” is “doing what an Asian would do to that car, and you know how they’re all about rice”
I’d be happy to be wrong here… but I think that’s the history on that word.
Makes sense! So, it’s a pejorative and we probably shouldn’t use it?
I am old enough that the term would make me uncomfortable to use, yeah. Imagine my surprise when all the Linux vids use it.
Im old. It used to be derogatory against imported cars to North America. Rice Racers meant Japanese imports that were modified.
But the meaning or rather the connotation has changed. It now is more related to the cooking term of ricing, where you pass a vegetable through a ricer to break it into rice sized pieces. You rice your PC by tuning all the pieces and making minute tweaks.
As another commentor added the RICE term for cars is now a backcronym of Race Inspired Cosmetic Enhancements
Your 100% correct. I just point to early Fast and Furious movies.
I believe ricing roots from the derogatory word for Asian mod cars, known as ricers. Customizing or modding them was the deal.
It is an extension/evolution of the idea of ricing cars. Originally it was something like Race Inspired Cosmetic Enhancements. Basically stuff that makes your car look “racier”/faster, but does nothing for performance.
Edit to add - That is probably backronym to cover up for the mostly racist origination of that term. I can’t be sure.
100% a backronym. Ricer came from rice burner, a pejorative term for Asian cars.
But its use has changed a lot in the decades since.
Originally it was something like Race Inspired Cosmetic Enhancements.
I think this is a bit of a backronym, as it refers more to “import” vehicles from Japan.
I believe it refers to a similar concept in the car modding scene.
Sounds vaguely racist
That’s because the origin of the word mildly is.
