Lots of pics in this last post of the series. Part 4 is going to cover installing Firefox, LibreOffice and GIMP – *PLUS* – another Hat Tip to the extremely friendly ‘n helpful Porteus Forum.

  • The Porteus Forum is the most helpful Forum I have ever seen…of any type of forum! Replies to my questions have been answered within an hour, and the suggested solution has been accurate every time for me. Just an amazing Linux Forum…which is another reason I am recommending Porteus CINNAMON v5.Orc3 to Windows 11 & 10 users as an *EXCELLENT* ‘Companion OS‘ for Windows 11 & 10.

Let’s roll…

Installing Firefox

I covered this in the March 31, 2022 Porteus 5.0-rc3 post ‘n will reuse some of those pics whilst adding others to this post. That March 31, 2022 post shows how Firefox was installed in KDE Plasma using just a Fat32 32GB USB. This is my 19th day of using ‘n testing *Porteus Linux*, so you can see how much I have learned about it in less than 3-weeks. Small ‘n lightweight Linux Distro that is made for ‘Portability‘ & speed. “IT IS MODULAR” – something that I am still in the process of learning about. Firefox, LibreOffice and GIMP all end up in the Porteus “modules” folder.

The following pic opens the Menu > then click on Internet:

Then click on “Browser Selection and Update Tool” option. That opens:

The “Porteus Browser Tool” and I have only tested installing the Firefox choice. Selecting Firefox takes you here:

I’ve only tested the “porteus server version” so enter y for the premade module from their server.

That takes you here after it finishes:

That’s telling you where the downloaded Firefox file is, and that you need to move it to the Porteus “modules” folder.

Open the /tmp folder (type in /tmp if you can’t find it) – AND – also open the “modules” folder in a new window (type in /mnt/sda2/porteus/modules if you can’t find it):

Move the Firefox module to the “modules” folder.

Then click on the Firefox module in “modules” folder to activate it:

Now you can reboot! 😉

That finishes installing Firefox.

Installing LibreOffice

I have Win 11 Pro installed on my main computer (‘Apevia‘) & 5 other desktop computers. I purchased Windows 10 Pro OEM licenses from VIP-URcdkey (formerly URcdkey) for between $11-19, and upgraded them all to Win11 Pro when it came out. ‘Antec Jr.‘ & ‘Rose‘ & ‘CM130‘ are my main Linux testing computers. Have a fairly new Dell XPS13 wid Win11 Pro. All those PCs have LibreOffice on them because I got tired of Microsoft giving me problems when I built a new computer & moved one of the 4 or 5 Office licenses I had legally from an old one to a new one. Support had also ran out on them, and I didn’t like the prices for their newer Suites. With all these computers, LibreOffice was the obvious move for me after some intensive Office Suites ‘n Word Processors testing.

Some of the following pics are from the April 10, 2022 Porteus 5.0-rc3 post using a Fat32 32GB USB.

Open the Terminal:

Type in: update-libreoffice

My language en-US:

So I typed in: update-libreoffice en-US

It starts “Downloading” the live script, then the libreoffice file and then asks “Do you want to build LibreOffice 7.3.2 xzm module? [y/n]” – enter: y

Then it finishes:

That’s telling you where the downloaded LibreOffice file is, and that you need to move it to the Porteus “modules” folder.

Open the /tmp folder (type in /tmp if you can’t find it) – AND – also open the “modules” folder in a new window (type in /mnt/sda2/porteus/modules if you can’t find it):

Move the LibreOffice module to the “modules” folder.

Then click on the LibreOffice module in “modules” folder to activate it:

Reboot the computer.

After rebooting open the Menu:

LibreOffice 7.3.2 is now installed wid all the suite apps.

  • NOTE: if any downloads seem very slow or if you ISP is very slow at the time, then wait until their mirrors ‘n your ISP is faster.

Installing GIMP

GIMP was easy once I asked the Porteus Forum for HELP.

Downloaded the gimp-2.10.28-x86_64-1_bundle2.xzm file:

It was a “.xzm” file, which is the main Module file extension used by Porteus, and ends up as a premade module after downloading, i.e., no converting needed wid them.

After downloaded…open the “Downloads” folder, and in a new window open the “modules” folder (type in /mnt/sda2/porteus/modules if you can’t find it):

Move the GIMP xzm module from Downloads folder to the “modules” folder.

Next:

Click to activate in the “modules” folder.

Reboot.

Back on the Porteus desktop after rebooting…open Menu:

Clicking on Graphics opens to GNU Image Manipulation Program (AKA “GIMP” for short). GIMP is another open source software that I install on all my Win11 Pro OSes. Don’t really use it much in any Linux Distro, but like to have it there.

Conclusion

That’s the Cinnamon DE after Firefox, LibreOffice and GIMP are installed. I place their app icons onto the Panel…Windows calls it the Taskbar.

As mentioned earlier, all OSes have a learning curve, but I have picked up Porteus Linux fairly quick, thanks to the Porteus Forum ‘n years of Linux experience. Windows 11 or 10 is your primary OS, so a helpful ‘Companion OS‘ as your secondary OS is just a ‘Bonus‘…so to speak. It also ‘Opens the Door‘ to lots of free open source software.

  • Remember, if it ever boots into a TTY console first, perhaps after some changes were made, then remember to type in root (for login username) wid a toor password. Then, at the root prompt type: startx

This will conclude this Four Part series. If you found it too difficult then give Puppy Linux 9.5 a try ‘n more info on the Puppy Linux (‘is that a Puppy in your pocket or are you just glad to see me?‘ – old Puppy Joke) page.

LINUX IS LIKE A BOX OF CHOCOLATES – you never know what you’re gonna get!

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