Don't generally make a habit of running down a Linux distro, but my experiences with Bodhi in the last 24hrs does not bode well...
Have an old laptop (x86), and went looking for a suitable distro to install on same. Came across a recommendation for Bodhi Legacy, so thought I would give it a go.
Ran the ISO, started up the live option (as there wasn't an "Install"), and up came the desktop - that's good! But... how do I install? No desktop icons (the standard??), and nothing easily findable in the menus. After searching for a while eventually found the install option. But, could not even search the 'net, as there was no wifi. Searched on another machine for howto wifi config, and found that this is easy, from the "shelf"? But there is no icon in mine... Went looking in menus, and there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING in there for any derivative of network/wifi/connect/whatever....
And where is a link to either RUN anything, open a terminal, or otherwise being able to run anything manually....
Ok, so let's just install.. Maybe the live version just hadn't run properly.. And, click install, and all of a sudden, had wifi!
Did the install, and... nope, no different. Eventually managed to google on another machine, and find the trick for running the Wifi app...
Anyway, will have a play, but the "1st Impressions" were not good.
Thanks.

install is in the menu i believe

network manager may also be in the menu - once installed it sows up in the bar/system tray list

Yes it is. Not obvious where, and most distros have an icon on the desktop... After all, it IS an install disk...
Most distros also have an option in the boot menu...

Thanks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LnEoNyWfYE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zp_IhXiGxyw

how to install Bodhi

Edit: Never mind.

Hello there

Yes, no icon to install distro on the shelf is a little annoyance which will be solved in release 5.1 this year. Try to install distro as soon as possible and let's believe your 2nd experience will be better

Stefan

Not having the installer be more obvious was a mistake, but I think maybe the reason nm-applet doesn't start by default is because not everyone needs it running, and bodhi is trying to be minimal and use as little resources as necessary, allowing people to add what they want on top. I never needed it all when using wired LAN, and even with wifi, iirc once wifi was configured I didn't need it on reboot, so there was no need to have it in startup (or in my system tray which is on the shelf). If you only have half a gig of memory, every byte matters, and that's what I started with on my first legacy machine, and bodhi runs great on it, probably cuz of them being careful with stuff like this... and if I recall nm-applet was taking some cpu too...

Yes, but if you HAVEN'T had experience with Bodhi, but you have Linux in general, you would be used to AT LEAST wireless connecting automatically, which it didn't in my case. Wireless is becoming much more common, and if you can't connect with cable, it's a must.... Even if there is just a message come up initially to do with how to get wirelss up and running....???

Thanks.

yeah not being able to find the, Install me, rather easily, meaning you had/have to go look for it in the menu, well that is no different then a lot of apps one needs to find so they can execute them. Even within a Windows OS, or MAC whatever they are calling it this year, OS. It is the nature of the beast. it is not actually using the OS to see what it is capable of doing or not doing.

So agree, it is not actually a valid first experience using the distro, as a few other distros too do not have the icon on the desktop and one has to go look for it within the menu system. Oh they're out there. I know, I've installed lot of distros over the years. I'd not make that a qualification to not use same said distro.

IE. VOID linux does not nor does Slackware have a click install program. it is cli driven. That is no reason not to use them, and even with Arch Linux, one needs a dedicate line to install it from "scratch".

1 members found this post helpful.

If you click the quick launcher option and start typing "install" it lists the installer - probably after the second letter you type.

Bodhi isn't intended to be a beginner distro. We don't hold your hand and we don't claim to at any point. This probably isn't the release for you if you aren't someone willing to ask a question or look around a little bit for what you need.

I'd recommend Linux Mint or some other project that claims to be beginner friendly if you aren't looking to learn.

2 members found this post helpful.

whoa! That's a bit harsh. maybe having a bad day.

1 members found this post helpful.

n/m

I chuckled when I read Jeff's reply And again at Hemlock. Cuz I agree and understand both!

Often when I read reviews of bodhi, it does mention it's not beginner friendly. I personally never* ran any distro longer than a week other than Bodhi, and have stuck with it over a year. So there are rare "beginners" who can adapt, and Jeff often answers beginners questions in discord, the kinds of questions I would have thought he might be tired of answering.


*I did once set up opensuse years ago for a coworker to run a database server on, and once briefly had a roommate in '94 who ran slackware, but it had always been dos/os2/windows on my pcs for many years.

2 members found this post helpful.

Yes, I can confirm Bodhi is not for beginners. I was that kind of person who struggled a lot. Mainly because I switched from Win to Linux world. Anyway as far as installation is concerned I highly recommend follow our wiki section. I checked what was recommended in the part of installing from the live session:

1) Initialize Installer: From the Bodhi Live Environment, locate and click the Install Bodhi Linux icon.

https://www.bodhilinux.com/w/installation-instructions/

So the user should locate installation icon. I know there was the installation icon in the past. I was also looking for it in BL 5 but I found it very fast in the menu. My result is, we should stick with the wiki to avoid misunderstanding.

Stefan

1 members found this post helpful.

Thanks for all the replies...
BTW, the major problem for the new user is not the icon to install, (yes, a problem nonetheless), but the lack of wifi, and lack of icon to start a console to troubleshoot the lack of wifi.....
Never mind....

1 members found this post helpful.