Are these well supported apps in Manjaro?

hello
i’m about to switch to Manjaro after having a lot of trouble with ubuntu… and after they closed the forums… because i can’t really get help with the other support options of ubuntu…

anyway. i want to know if all of these are easy to install and use in manjaro?

  1. vera crypt gui
  2. proton vpn
  3. mullvad broswer
  4. keepassxc
  5. kdenlive
  6. brave browser
  7. signal
  8. cherrytree
  9. freefilesync
  10. shotwell
    thanks
    and love from israel!

Welcome to the forum! :vulcan_salute:

Most of those applications are available from the official Manjaro repositories, and the ones in your list that are not, are available from the AUR.

Alternatively, some of those will also be available as either Snaps or FlatPaks, and Manjaro also supports AppImages. :wink:

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Manjaro Wiki - Using pamac-cli

Locating and Installing Packages

To search for available packages you can use the command pamac search.
For example, to search the repos for packages containing the word smplayer:

pamac search smplayer

If you would like to search both the repos and AUR you add -a like this:

pamac search -a smplayer

Once you have identified the packages you wish to install, you can install them with command pamac install. For example, if we wanted to install smplayer and smplayer-themes we could use the command:

pamac install smplayer smplayer-themes

Displaying Detailed Package Information

To display detailed information on a package that is in the repos or installed on your system, use the command pamac info. Keeping with our example of SMPlayer :

pamac info smplayer

To build packages from AUR:

pamac build [packagename]
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thank you…
i think tomorrow will be the installation day…

  1. what does it means to “build” packages?
  2. is there a place that explains it for beginners?
  3. how can i know if an AUR package is relatively safe or not?
  4. Snaps or FlatPaks are very reliable?

i will have to make some research on snaps and flatpaks

:slight_smile:

BTW
i came after i saw Christopher Barnatt’s video on manjaro…
i wanted to post a link to the video on X. but i’m not allowed… yet.

Not only on those, but on all of the points above :slightly_smiling_face:

Have a looksee at this forum - there is a wiki section …

There is also the Arch wiki, which is very relevant in most aspects, because Manjaro is derived from Arch.

You shall find the answers to your questions.

this one?

https://youtu.be/sHbAxTxfRow

… you can post links, just not “active”, clickable links:
https://youtu.be/sHbAxTxfRow

the editor window where you write your posts, top row, there are symbols …
hover the mouse cursor over them and get an explanation what they do

the youtube link was formatted using this: </>

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Are thies well supported pps in Manjaro

No one can answer that question reliably.

As for easy install - most are in the repos - so look them up using Add/Remove Software app.

The applications are created by third party - so Manjaro as distribution makes no assumptions of usability or stability of those applications.

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The AUR is the Arch User Repository. Although the domain is managed by Arch, it is an unofficial repository, in the sense that all of the software titles available from there are submitted by Arch users, not by the Arch developers themselves.

The AUR itself does not contain any software, but instead it contains build scripts named PKGBUILD. Each PKGBUILD is a bash shell script that pulls in the source code for the pertinent software — and, if necessary, for its dependencies (if you do not already have those installed and they are not available from the repo) — and then compiles and links this source code on your local machine into an installable ALPM (“Arch Linux Package Manager”) package by way of makepkg.

Notes:

  • Not all of the software offered via the AUR needs to be compiled. In some cases, the AUR offers a precompiled package for the software you’re looking for — the name of the package will then typically end in “-bin”.

  • Some of the software offered via the AUR may be proprietary or may exist in a package format for a different kind of distribution — e.g. .rpm or .deb. In that case, the PKGBUILD will do the necessary work to turn the software into an ALPM-compatible package.

After building the package by way of pamac, yay or another AUR helper, the AUR helper will also install the package into your system and register it in the local package database with a proper install reason — e.g. “installed as a dependency” or “explicitly installed”.

Sure — look here: Arch User Repository - ArchWiki. :wink:

By looking at the PKGBUILD file. All AUR helpers give you that option, and as I wrote above, a PKGBUILD is merely a bash script, so it’s human-readable. You can see where it pulls in its sources from.

They are not without risk — it has already been abused in the past — but given that the format itself is containerized, there is somewhat of a smaller risk for damage to your system.

The downsides of Snaps, FlatPaks and AppImages are that they consume a lot more disk space, and that they do not integrate well with the rest of the system. They also give you a more restricted access to the underlying filesystem(s).

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I made the same move recently. I had the benefit of a couple of machines for testing, and lots of time since I’m retired. Beyond trying various system install options, I tried nearly every possible permutation of app installs from purely the official repositories to purely flatpaks.

I use several of the apps on your list and have had no issues with any of them.

When it came to the final setup of my daily driver, I had settled on a hierarchy of 1) Official Repositories, 2) AUR, 3) Flatpak. I chose this not as a technical matter, but just in case suppport was needed here.

BTW, working from the terminal is a highly prized skill around here, And is usually the first advice given. But with dyslexia and dysgraphia, I have a really tough time typing accurately. So I use the GUI version of pamac (Add/Remove Software) which works a charm. A single search reveals all the installation choices for a given app. Just pick the one you want.

Something that wasn’t clear to me immediately, was that you can just iterate through multiple choices and selections, then apply them all in at once. Search, choose, search, choose, and so on, then click apply when done. There’s also a little greater-than button near the Apply button that switches you to a terminal-like view so you can monitor what’s going on. The progress bar in the GUI side appears to stall when building AURs, for example, where the terminal view shows that, no, something important is really happening.

You may also run into those who are of the opinion that the AUR is no place for beginners. As you’ve found in the posts above, others feel it’s appropriate given knowledge of how it goes beforehand and what to look for. I heeded the don’t go there advice about the AUR for a while, then found that for me, it made more sense than Flatpaks. And while there is potential for danger there, it’s really no greater than anywhere else, IMHO.

Had one issue with an AUR which hadn’t been maintained in a while. (The GUI version of pamac will show you the dates.) I just removed it and used a Flatpak.

I had one issue of a Flatpak that was buggy. I found out it was built for Qt5 and I am running Qt6. (I use KDE.) The AUR version builds for Qt6, and it’s worked just fine.

HTH!

Added: The Stable Branch is closest in concept to the stock Ubuntu PPAs, but updated somewhat more frequently. If you are used to using alternative PPAs for the freshest versions, then the Testing Branch might be a good choice. (That’s where I am.)

Start with Stable and run it while to see if it’s fresh enough. (It will be fresher than stock Ubuntu PPAs.) If you want fresher still, switching to Testing is straighforward and well documented here and in the Wiki.

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I am using the mullvad VPN client from AUR as it’s not in the official repo. There are two versions available. One to build by yourself, the other one named mullvad-vpn-bin is simply pulling the DEB package from the Mullvad repository and rebuild it from it to have it running on Arch/Manjaro

I can confirm that it works without issues.
Things i need which are not in the official repos i am getting from AUR. Never had a problem with that. I don’t like Snap packages and didn’t have a need for Flatpak so far.

KeepassXC is in the official repo, works from there without problems.

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The latest Flatpak client, which was released a couple of weeks ago, is working very well.

https://flathub.org/apps/com.protonvpn.www

I use these ones very regular if not daily without any issues:
*Veracrypt
*Proton vpn
*Mullvad vpn (I haven’t tested their browser but it always pops up on the flatpak install list when I install the vpn)
*keepassxc (works great by itself, you might need to install/start some additional daemon to get a hardware 2fa key working with it in my experience…but it does work after doing that)
*kdenlive (maybe put it on the update blacklist if it’s work essential, some updates have caused temporary issues for me due to nvidia stuff so give yourself time to make sure it’s all good before updating)
*brave browser
*signal (session also works fine)

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… whatever that trouble was - it’ll likely be the very same here

only the software versions are likely to be more current - which doesn’t mean they work better …

“They” did?

What do you mean by that?

They haven’t closed the forums. They’ve just shifted to Discourse. The old forum even has a message at the top of the page:

Hello, Unregistered. This is an update about the transition of the forums to Ubuntu Discourse.

The transition is complete and this forum is now closed to all new posts. Anyone needing support for Ubuntu or the official flavours should seek help at Ubuntu Discourse. If you have not already done so, you can log into Ubuntu Discourse using the same Ubuntu One SSO account that is used for logging into ubuntuforums. If you are new to Ubuntu Discourse please read this page first. Please be aware that after your first login you will not be able to post any topic in Ubuntu Discourse until you have spent some time exploring the site and reading some posts. The Support and Help section will be the first to be open to you for posting. Thereafter, as you gain trust, you will find other sections of Discourse open to you.

For the time being forum members will be able to log in here for such tasks as accessing pm’s, or for forum searches, etc.

The new forum:

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As others have mentioned, the majority (if not all) of your list of applications are installable on Manjaro.

There are several methods available including the official Manjaro repositories (preferred), AppImage, Flatpak, Snap and even the Arch User Repository (AUR) albeit not officially supported.

Are they “easy to install?” – that really depends on whether you’re willing to learn the methods needed – plenty of documentation is available in both the Arch and Manjaro wikis for most things.

In Manjaro you would mainly use the pacman and/or pamac package managers; the latter has a GUI:

The AUR should never be used blindly;


A question you might better ask (of yourself) is:

“Am I fully prepared and comfortable with diving into an unfamiliar rolling release distribution such as Manjaro?”

It seems to me that;

a comparitively easier and ‘newb-friendly’ distribution

that, you might have even more trouble with Manjaro.


Manjaro does require a greater hands-on approach than is often acknowledged; an understanding of terminal commands and how to troubleshoot your own issues is generally recommended; or at least the ability to provide enough accurate and useful information for others to assist you via the forum.

Kudos, if you’re already prepared for all that (and more). :slight_smile:

That being the case all that remains is:


Welcome to the Manjaro community

As a new or infrequent forum user, please take some time to familiarise yourself with Forum requirements; in particular, the many ways to use the forum to your benefit:


Required Reading:

Resources:


Update Announcements:

The Update Announcements contain update related information and a Known Issues and Solutions section that should generally be checked before posting a request for support.


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Be prepared to provide more information and outputs from other commands when asked.


Regards.

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Whilst it is always a good idea to do your research, some experience is also valuable - because the answer can vary wildly for any given example.

Ask about KDEnlive, the official answer is always (now) Appimage… but with Manjaro, Repo and Flatpak are probably fine (and repo is my preference).

Ask about Plex-HTPC, the answer is (today only) AUR, but 3 months ago it was not available via AUR, the packager moved over to Flatpak, and last year it was available via SNAP, and installable via AUR.

For that specific case, the effectiveness of the Flatpak, or AUR install, depended entirely upon that package maintainer (and not upon Flatpak or AUR).

I honestly would not approve of this - with X being what it is now, and certainly with very few current Manjaro users wishing to sign up/log in to X for any reason (with Elon now becoming an ‘Ardent Fan’ - if you remember the reference from Silence of the Lambs - of Maga, which also now supports organisations like the Proud Boys in the USA).

For sure not the answer you wanted.

I still don’t understand too much about what I read - but I do now make it a habit to always read through the pkgbuild and take a few minutes to try to figure out WTF it’s doing to my machine before giving it AUTHORITY over my domain.

As always, it’s probably best just to have a go, and you’ll find out the easy way or the hard way. Snapshots can roll you back, and backups I would say are also essential pre-requisites for anyone who doesn’t want to risk losing everything.

With these in place, you could be up for the most reliable installation of your life - suck it and see!

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thank you…
ive a question… i want i to install but when tried to boot from the manjaro installation media on my msi b760m-a pro motherboard i get this…

“prohibited by secure boot policy… entering resque mode”
does my mother board problemaic or can i just fix it with something called secure boot?
please let me know if it can be fixed…

Turn off secure boot in BIOS.

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i succeeded with disabling secure boot

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thank you all… i haven’t read all comments yet because i find it very hard to read a lot.

about kdenlive… is it simple to downgrade it’s version? the latest two versions caused my kdenlive some subtitles issues that are not resolved yet… so i want to see if downgrading will help…

by the way… i’ve tried to install my hp printer but it does not prints the test page or any other page. i followed the recommended choice that was suggested to me but nothing is printing yet… [hp laserjet m110w]

i will later try to further research how to install the proton vpn flatpak suggested… from what i understand it won’t get updated by it self?

keepassxc works ok… i don’t need 2fa… i have aegis on android for that…

too much to research and solve i guess… i will do it slowly.

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downgrading on Arch/Manjaro is possible in principle

but not in actuality
because everything is interconnected and dependent on each other

For some things it might work - for most things it will probably not.

… it leaves you and your system in a partial update state

not good
it might work, it might not

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