I'm a Linux newbie. An absolute newbie. I want an easy to use & learn Linux. If RPM is strictly Terminal, I'm not interested.

I also want drivers readily(easily?) available. I don't want to use the Terminal to compile the source code & then install the package.

Basically, I want Linux for dummies!

I installed Mint on an 10 inch HP mini laptop. I could hear the YouTube audio but not watch the video.

I'd love to build a small form factor desktop computer with Linux installed.

Maybe I'll switch from macOS to Linux!

One usually uses the Terminal to install, update & remove packages. I'm not having much luck online trying to find out if computers with RPM have a GUI. I read online something about X-Window & LVH or was it LVM.

I read online about using a package called Alien to "convert" RPM to DEB or was it the other way around.

My 1st choice is to use a GUI to install, update & remove packages. My 2nd choice is to use the Terminal.

I guess that Mint & Ubuntu & Debian packages can use a GUI. Is a GUI available for RPM-based Linuxes?

Is there any reason you prefer RPM based distributions over the others?

I would guess they all have some sort of GUI installer but the actual app name might depend on the particular distribution.

https://distrowatch.com/search.php?o...=Active#simple

For any particular program that is not part of the distribution's repository it's either the developer provides the package for the specific distribution/version or you install it from source which typically requires use of the command line.

alien will convert rpm and deb packages to the other in either direction. Many years ago I used alien to convert deb packages to rpm packages for a SuSE system. When you do the conversion you may end up with dependency problems when you try to install the converted package.
https://wiki.debian.org/Alien

Hi,
I think Mint is a decent choice if you want Linux for dummies.
Feel free to ask here when you have that sort of problem again.

Please don't use alien. If you think that you want to use alien to convert a package, please instead
post here explaining what you want to install, and we can help you find a better way.

Yes, there are GUIs for managing RPMs. Why do you want to use an RPM based Linux distro?

Cheers,

Evo2.

Mageia uses the *.rpm format (note that Mageia *.rpms are not necessarily compatible with other distros' *.rpms) and includes a graphical software manager.

I've been using Mageia since v. 3 and have become quite fond of it.

I think the better question is "Why not use an rpm based distro?"

All of us have our preferences and I think there is really little difference between rpm and deb based distros other than the package managers. Just about anything that can be found and run on one can also be found for and run on the other. If the OP selects an rpm based distro that is his choice.

I use both Fedora and Ubuntu.

I concur with the comment about avoiding 'alien'. It does work (mostly) but should be considered a last resort in how to find & install packages. With all the available packages that are available native for both deb and rpm based systems there is little need for alien or similar packages.

Hi,
I disagree. I'm not advocating against using an RPM based distro, I'm trying to understand the underlying motivation.
OP mentions alien, so it seems there is something that they want to install that they think is only available as an RPM.

Evo2.

I feel the same way about it so I understand why. Unfortunately you will get attacked with wiseguy questions and nasty attacks from the command line crowd which is what I despise the most about Linux. As for a G.U.I. package manger for RPM I recommend you use openSuse which uses Yast2 as a G.U.I. to install packages. You could also use Fedora as it is a G.U.I. package manager.

If you install a gui on a system they usually come with an app/service to install the relevant pkgs in which ever format.

As noted by frankbell, Mageia has a GUI tool for package management. So does Fedora, and openSUSE, and probably all other distros that use an rpm packaging foundation. Use distrowatch.com to learn which are rpm-based, which are deb-based, and which use less common package types. Note that using GUI package management is optional. Command line tools and GUI tools can both be used, though not simultaneously. When one is active, the other is locked out until the activity in the first stops.

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^ The discussion about which package management and GUI or not is all well and good, but:
GNU/Linux for dummies means Ubuntu. Full stop (keep in mind that Linux Mint is based on Ubuntu).
They have a hardware support list.
If your hardware is on that list, you're good.
If it isn't, then, well, it isn't for dummies anymore.

WOW! A lot of responses!

I'm not partial to RPM.

I know very little about Linux.

I think that I read online that some Linux installations are solely command-line based. That's not what I want. One of your replies was that openSuse & Fedora use a GUI package manager. I didn't know that. I'll have to check out Yast 2.

There would probably be times when I'd have to use the Terminal.

I want a user-friendly interface.

deleted

You can also try Linux distros without installing them by creating a Live USB drive like for example MX Linux which has a user friendly Graphical User Interface being that it has MX Tools and MX Tweak. https://mxlinux.org/mx-linux-blog/

You're an absolute newbie...who has been here for five years, and experimented with BSD, multiple desktop, and virtual box???
https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...se-4175601383/
https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...ve-4175601171/
https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...ps-4175601829/
https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...re-4175601928/
https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...sd-4175601069/

Pretty much any consumer-focused Linux distro has a GUI installer for packages. Yast for openSUSE, Software center for Fedora, and similar utilities for Mint and Ubuntu. You don't say what version of Mint you installed, or what desktop environment you tried, on what model of hardware so we can't tell you anything about why sound didn't work. And when you say something like, "If RPM is strictly Terminal, I'm not interested.", that would seem to indicate you're not too inclined to even try to learn anything new...if that's the case, why not stay with Mac OS?? Typing in a simple command like "dnf install" or "zypper install" just isn't that hard.

2 members found this post helpful.