I installed a few different distros, landed on Cinnamon Mint. I’m not a tech dummy, but I feel I’m in over my head.

I installed Docker in the terminal (two things I’m not familiar with) but I can’t find it anywhere. Googled some stuff, tried to run stuff, and… I dunno.

I’m TRYING to learn docker so I can set up audiobookshelf and Sonarr with Sabnzbd.

Once it’s installed in the terminal, how the hell do I find docker so I can start playing with it?

Is there a Linux for people who are deeply entrenched in how Windows works? I’m not above googling command lines that I can copy and paste but I’ve spent HOURS trying to figure this out and have gotten no where…

Thanks! Sorry if this is the wrong place for this

EDIT : holy moly. I posted this and went to bed. Didn’t quite realize the hornets nest I was going to kick. THANK YOU to everyone who has and is about to comment. It tells you how much traction I usually get because I usually answer every response on lemmy and the former. For this one I don’t think I’ll be able to do it.

I’ve got a few little ones so time to sit and work on this is tough (thus 5h last night after they were in bed) but I’m going to start picking at all your suggestions (and anyone else who contributes as well)

Thank you so much everyone! I think windows has taught me to be very visually reliant and yelling into the abyss that is the terminal is a whole different beast - but I’m willing to give it a go!

    • Para_lyzed@lemmy.world
      82·
      9 months ago

      This is a discussion about Docker, which is a complex terminal-based containerization system. This is not a program that is typically used by the average user. Docker’s complexity does not imply that Linux requires this kind of set up to use as a normal desktop. This is usually server software. Docker is also available on Windows and MacOS, and is partnered with Microsoft (you know, the company that makes Windows? The desktop OS with the highest market share?). Are you going to complain about how Windows will never reach mass adoption because users are able to install complex tools that require a steep learning curve to use? You can install Docker on Windows and use the same commands and configs, so do you believe that Windows suffers this same problem?

      Before you point out the start of that comment with the “Linux mentality” stuff, while some of that is certainly true, you can now do everything an average user needs to do in an intuitive GUI, just like Windows (better in many cases, actually). Half the listed commands (making directories and files) can be done in the file manager just like Windows, normal apps can be managed in app stores, and the rest of it is docker specific, which is (again), server-oriented software. I’m not a fan of their mentality about how things work in Linux, because it’s very much an old mentality that doesn’t account for the immense amount of change that has happened in the past decade to make Linux more accessible.

      I don’t understand why people come to the Linux communities to complain that Linux is “too hard” or “too complex” to be usable. If you don’t have an actual interest in Linux, find another community. If you want a simple experience, use a simple distro that’s meant to be easy to use, and use software that is easy to use.

    • Nibodhika@lemmy.world
      3·
      9 months ago

      Getting this setup on Windows would be even harder because it would involve installing docker manually or setting up WSL and following these steps. What OP is trying to do is a complex thing that most people don’t need, that would be the same as saying Windows is hard because setting up a VM with hardware passthrough is difficult on Windows, completely missing the point that that is a complex thing to do and that it’s complex on any other OS as well.

      • Kecessa@sh.itjust.works
        23·
        9 months ago

        Yeah but the difference is that even for simple things, Linux instructions look like what was posted by the person I replied to.

        • Nibodhika@lemmy.world
          3·
          9 months ago

          Being a person who replies to lots of new users questions I strongly disagree. 99% of the questions come from a Windows mindset, so it requires some deconstruction of the way the person is thinking, have you noticed how very few Mac users ask beginner questions on Linux forums?

          There’s a big difference between something is different and someone is used to doing the things differently, driving on the left or right is just as difficult, bit if you’ve driven all of your life one way switching up can be difficult. Just like that a lot of Linux concepts are different from what people are used to if they come from a Windows background, but the same is true the other way around. As someone who’s been using Linux for decades I find windows weird and convoluted, but I know that this is just my perception, and that someone who’s using it daily is used to that.

          Edit: if you’re going to reply to this, mind providing an example of something you think is easy on Windows but hard on Linux?

    • StrawberryPigtails@lemmy.sdf.org
      31·
      9 months ago

      It’s not as difficult as the length of my comment implies, and doing it in the terminal simplifies the explanation quite a bit.

      The average user though might never need to use the terminal. Most of what they want can be done in the browser.

      As for Linux mass adoption, that happened years ago. Just nobody noticed. Android, Chromebook, Steam Deck are all Linux based and MacOS (BSD derived) is a close relative. And Microsoft has even made it possible to run linux command line programs in Windows, with some caveats, using WSL. And that’s not counting the majority of servers, networking gear and space craft running linux or unix.

      • Kecessa@sh.itjust.works
        13·
        9 months ago

        “They’re all close relatives”

        on which the experience has been tuned to make them as user friendly as possible to the point where they have nothing in common with desktop Linux from an average user perspective.