How To Install And Make Caja The Default File Manager On Gnome.

[@wittywilla]

First you get me hooked on MATE, now you're making me even more interested with this file manager! I had no idea that Caja was this cool!!

[@AndreaBorman]

Caja is a falk of Nautilus just like Nemo is. So it has most of the features of Nautilus 2. Nautilus used to have all of these features. You could change the folder color backgrounds and it had a toolbar at the top. But Gnome got rid of those features in later versions. If you look at 5.48 in the video at Old Nautilus. You will see that it had the same features as Caja has. That was when Ubuntu had Gnome 2. Caja and Nemo can be installed on other desktops and used as the default. The Debian version of the Budgie Desktop does not come with a file manager. So you can install any file manager such as Caja, Nemo or Nautilus if you want. I have chosen to install Caja on Budgie. Budgie is based on Gnome so has many features of the Gnome desktop.

[@rosiaevans6747]

Wow this was really interesting, I've always just used nautilus without questioning it, I didn't realise there were other ones worth using

[@AndreaBorman]

Yes you can use Caja or Nemo on Gnome. You cannot remove Nautilus because if you do it removes the desktop but you can run the other file manager alongside it. You can also set it as your default and it will open your home folder and manage all of your files. Caja and Nemo work well on Gnome because they are Gnome based. Both file managers are based on Nautilus and are a falk of it. That's why they work so well I think.

[@omegahunter9]

This is extremely helpful. Thank you!

[@Shadefreeze]

I'd love to see a video that covers a must-have / recommended "starter kit" for first-time Linux users, like how Caja could be used for file management. Just a thought!

[@AndreaBorman]

The desktop environments have most of the things you need. You can always install more from Synaptic Package Manager or from the Software Center. The file managers are pretty much the same as they are on Windows. Except that the Linux ones have more customisation options, as you can see with Caja, and also Nemo. There are other file managers you could try as well. Linux Mint and Ubuntu do have their own tools to help you update and look after your system. Other distros Sparky Linux and MX Linux also have their own update managers and software Centers but they are only available on Sparky or MX. They don't work on other distros and neither does the Mint Update Manager or Mint Software Center. You have to have Linux Mint to get those.

[@Shadefreeze]

@@AndreaBorman alright thank you for the advice! Is there any specific desktop environment you would recommend the most to start with? (Coming from windows)

[@AndreaBorman]

@@Shadefreeze So this is your first time on Linux? If you are new the best Linux distro to start with is Linux Mint and choose either the edition with the Cinnamon or Mate desktop. Mint gives you a full desktop with everything included so you won't need to install anything. If you do they have both synaptic Package Manager or the Software Manager. Both are very good. You can also install software from the terminal but as you a new you probably want to use the software center. Once you start using Linux you will get to know it and learn more on how to use it. which is not hard. I had a hard time when Microsoft bought out Windows 8 as I couldn't find anything with the Metro start menu. The 2 desktops i mentioned both look very much like Windows 7 so it's easy to find your way around. Linux Mint also has a help forum and there are other Linux forums as well. So if you get stuck with anything there is plenty of help. The best way to start is to download either the Linux Mint Cinnamon or Mate ISO from Mint's website and boot into the live USB or CD. What I always do is check the sound and the display with the up and down keys and screen brightness keys. If all of your wireless network and drivers are working and everything is working in live mode. That's good and you can go ahead and do the install. Good luck and let us know how you get on.

[@Shadefreeze]

@@AndreaBorman Thank you so much for the detailed response! I'm indeed new to Linux. I've been watching your videos to see what the platform looks like, and it's a lot more user friendly than I thought it would be! I'll definitely look into this and let you know how it's going once I get the hang of things. Thanks again!

[@AndreaBorman]

@@Shadefreeze Linux Mint do 3 desktops. Cinnamon, Mate and Xfce. All of them have the Windows 7 look and feel. The best thing to do is to try them out in live CD or live usn if using a usb drive. You can try out the software and use the desktop in live mode to test it out. Then if everything is working and you like it you can install it. Windows 11 is not user friendly at all. It's nothing like the old Windows used to be. I mean Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 which I loved. We cannot use it any more as those versions of Windows are end of life. That's why I changed to Linux because I didn't want to upgrade to Windows 10 or 11. Linux is a good option if you want to get away from Windows 11 as a lot of people do.

[@Mittwoch_75]

Thanks a lot for what u are doing ❤

[@darkking6732]

Thanks Andrea

[@artiommatevosyan9822]

Hey Andrea, hope you are having a wonderful day! Did you ever try out programming? You seem very knowledgeable with Linux and various quirks of operating systems, so just wondered!

[@Jaminsongunner]

You ever play video game Andrea?

[@AndreaBorman]

No I don't do gaming on Linux. There are many Linux games. There is even a version of Solitaire in the KDE and Gnome games package. It's the Linux version of course but it's very much like the Windows 7 version. So is KMines and Gnome Mines and there are many others. You can also install Dos Box on Linux to play Dos Games and can also install Steam but I have not tried this. I did use Dos Box on Windows when I used to use it. The Windows Games such as Chips Challenge also has music and I liked Purble Place. The Linux games do not have those features but they are still good. I think you can run some of the Windows games on Linux through Wine but I am not sure as I have never tried it.

[@LukeHoneyball]

​@@AndreaBormanYou should try starting a AndreaGames channel

[@AndreaBorman]

@@LukeHoneyball I don't do gaming on Linux. I didn't on Windows though I did try Dos Box when I had Windows 8 and it worked. There is a Steam for Linux and some people install and use it. But I don't. I do have the little games which are the Gnome Solitaire and KPatience the KDE version. Both are very much like the Windows version.

[@LukeHoneyball]

​@@AndreaBorman if your primary goal of your KZbin channel is to bring people towards Linux, then you would most certainly receive a huge audience from a games channel. Even if you just play built in games like solitaire and minesweeper, or play other simple games from the app libraries. It would be really cool...

[@AndreaBorman]

@@LukeHoneyball I don't really know enough about it. If you want games on Linux you can install them and also install some Windows games with Wine. Ubuntu comes with some games installed with their desktops. So does Debian if you install the full desktop environments. I don't. I just have Gnome Core which installs some Gnome apps and all of the things needed to run Gnome. I can install games if I want and they work on all desktops.

[@danilodistefanis5990]

Great video Andrea

[@betaandalphafootages-ek9tf]

hello andrea, i also run the same gnome version as yours, i run Gnome 43.9 surprising to see a gnome 43.9 user here! :D

[@AndreaBorman]

Are you running Debian? Gnome 43 is what comes with Debian 12 Bookworm. When I was on Linux Mint I had Gnome 42 which is the version Ubuntu Jammy Jellyfish runs from which Linux Mint 21.2 is based on. I know there is a Gnome 45 and 46 but I don't think Ubuntu has that yet neither does Debian. The new version of Ubuntu which is Ubuntu Noble may have Gnome 44 but I don't know because I have not got the new version. Gnome 42 and 43 are still supported so I don't think it matters that it's not the latest version. I think only Arch and Fedora have Gnome 45 as it was only released a few months ago. Ubuntu and Debian tend to stick with the older versions. That is they don't update to the new versions right away. It's the same with KDE, Kubuntu does not have Plasma 6 it is using 5.27 and so is Debian.

[@Astronaut79]

I would like to install debian 12 with the gnome desktop: once I tried, but when I installed it from scratch it also installed useless games an app. I know you advice to install it after the installation of debian by "sudo apt install gnome core", i tried but it tells me that something is missing. Can you write all the command lines to install gnome core only, or the thing I have to deselect in synaptic? Thank you.

[@AndreaBorman]

How did you install Debian? Was it with the Netinstall or the Debian Gnome ISO? A lot of people when they use the Netinstall they don't choose any desktop environment. Then they log into the TTY and install the desktop. But I found that if you do it that way it doesn't install the network drivers. So what I always do is during the Netinstall I select one of the desktop environments which is Gnome Flashback. Because it is lighter than the others and easy to uninstall if you want say Xfce or another desktop. It is Tasksel which Debian uses to install the desktop. But I remove that using the terminal then just reinstall the Gnome Flashback with the Apt command. Then to install Gnome desktop I just typed "sudo apt install gnome-core"(without the quotes) then "sudo apt install gnome-shell-extensions gnome-tweaks" (without the quotes)and it installed everything I needed. If you do "sudo apt install Gnome" you will get the full Gnome desktop and absolutely everything. But if you install Gnome Core you will get the Gnome desktop with the essential components needed to run the desktop. Such as Nautilus, Gnome Panels and extensions and also some other software. Which is Gnome Software Center, Gnome Terminal, Gnome Text Editor, Eye Of Gnome Image Viewer, Totem, Media Player, Gnome Contacts, Nautilus, Gnome Session and GDM3 the display manager. Although you can still install and use Lightdm as long as you don't uninstall GDM3. This is the software that comes with Gnome Core which you cannot remove but it's still better than the full Gnome Desktop which installs all of the Gnome apps, LibreOffice, the lot, most of which you cannot remove. I also install Lightdm Gtk Greeter, for Lightdm Greeter. Just make sure that Lightdm GTK Greeter Settings is also installed. You can also use the Slick Greeter but you shouldn't remove Gnome Flashback as that is part of Gnome Shell Extensions which also installs Gnome Classic Desktop along with Gnome Flashback. All part of Gnome. Like the Openbox log in session is part of LXDE desktop. You don't get any games at all with Gnome Core unless you choose to install some. With the full Gnome desktop you get all of the games and everything else in the Gnome desktop. Most of it is probably what most people don't need or use. So if you want Gnome but want to install your own software that you choose, then Gnome Core is the one you want.

[@Astronaut79]

@@AndreaBorman thank you so much for your detailed and clear explanation. Yes the problem was that I installed debian using the iso gnome. I will try by using netinstall. Greetings from sicily

[@AndreaBorman]

@@Astronaut79 The ISO install is different from the Netinstall because you get the full Gnome desktop. So it is difficult to remove the things you don't want. With the Netinstall it's different and if you do that install the Gnome Flashback desktop first. When it asks you during the Netinstall which desktop you want untick where it says Debian and Gnome if those are ticked and tick Gnome Flashback. Then do what I explained in my first reply and you should be able to install Gnome Core. Let us know how you get on.

[@Astronaut79]

@@AndreaBorman ciao andrea. I've followed your instructions and tried to install debian by using the netinstall on virtual machine. After installing gnome flashback I uninstalled tasksel and used "sudo apt install gnome-core" and everyting worked fine. Thank you again. Cheerio

[@AndreaBorman]

@@Astronaut79 I am glad you have solved the problem and Gnome is now working for you. Thanks for letting us know.

[@itsnony77]

I think Gnome should reconsider their choice of File Manager. I don't think anyone would prefer Nautilus over Caja or Nemo once they were able to compare them.

[@AndreaBorman]

I agree with you. Nautilus used to have a lot of features but they were removed in later versions. Caja I think is based on the old version of Nautilus 2. It has most of the features the old Nautilus had. Caja is also the only file manager that has the option to change the folder background color and add wallpaper to the folder background. These are all of the features that old Nautilus 2 used to have.

[@Nikolai508]

Yeah, if someone told me the designers for Windows 8 started working on Gnome after Gnome 2 I'd believe them...

[@AndreaBorman]

@@Nikolai508I don't think they did. A lot of people don't like Gnome because it has the app menu spread all over the screen instead of the traditional start menu. It does look like Windows 8 at first glance and when I first saw Gnome i didn't like it. Then when I started using it I soon found it was nothing like Windows 8. Although Gnome does have the app menu it is easy to use and find things. Unlike Windows 8 and Windows 10 where the settings and everything is all over the place. Also Windows 8 was slow and crashed a lot. There is not this problem with Gnome. You can also add the Arc Menu which gives you the Linux Mint style start menu. If you see my other video about Gnome there are ways to customise it and make it look like Cinnamon or Mate. The only thing is that Gnome depends on extensions and if they crash or are not working that is a problem. Though it never happens with the extensions that come with Gnome when you install it. You can also use Gnome Flashback which is based on Gnome 2. That has all of the old features of Gnome before Gnome 3. I do think they need to make Nautilus the file manager more like Nemo or Caja. I like to have a toolbar and also other options to customise which you don't have in Nautilus. I also did a video on how you can customise Gnome and have put the link to it above.

[@itsnony77]

@@AndreaBorman I think the GNOME devs have been focusing on other features than the File Manager. It's their right to prioritize what they want I guess. I just think the File Manager is a crucial feature of a Desktop Environment, especially for users coming over from Windows the default File Manager should be the centrepiece. But for more experienced users it's not that difficult to change the default as Andrea demonstrated. On WIndows when a feature is bad you're often stuck with it forever. That's what I like about Linux and open source in general.

[@AndreaBorman]

@@itsnony77 Nemo or Caja are a better choice than Nautilus because they have all of the same features as Windows Explorer. With the toolbar at the top and it's easier to view and open files than what it is in Nautilus. Unfortunately you cannot uninstall Nautilus if you are using Gnome because it removes the whole desktop. It's the same thing if you are using Gnome Flashback as Nautilus is the core part of those desktops. But you can install Nemo or Caja and set that as default and use that instead. Yes it can be done.

[@CWM030]

5:41 God I miss Ubuntu when it use to look like that.

[@AndreaBorman]

Yeah the old Nautilus was much better than the new one. By removing all of those features they made it a crippled file manager compared to Nemo and Caja. You can still get the old Gnome 2 style desktop of Ubuntu by installing Gnome Flashback which the old Ubuntu was based on. I am running Gnome Flashback as my only desktop without Gnome 43 on Debian on my other laptop. It works great and does not need the GDM display manager it works with Lightdm. Gnome Flashback also works in Linux Mint and Ubuntu. I am using Caja as the default file manager on Gnome Flashback as well but you can also use Nemo if you prefer.

[@CWM030]

@@AndreaBorman Yes it was, I thought FlashBack had gotten killed off, some years ago. I am kind of tempted to try the new Unity project because I use to live Unity back in the day.

[@CWM030]

@@AndreaBorman I just googled screenshots of Flashback, Gnome Flashback is basically a watered down version of MATE. I am curious, why not just use MATE instead?

[@AndreaBorman]

@@CWM030 No Gnome Flashback is Gnome and is based on Gnome 2 but is actually a shell of Gnome 3. So it has all of the components of modern Gnome and can run all the modern hardware.Yet it can run without GDM3 and only needs the Lightdm display manager. Where as Main Gnome 3 or Gnome 43 needs GDM3 to run. Mate is based on Gnome and has all of the features of Gnome 2 as well as modern ones such as the Mint and Brisk Menu and runs GTK3 and 4 apps. Cinnamon and Budgie are also alternative versions of Gnome and are all based on it. The difference is they all have the traditional desktops and start menus, where as Main Gnome doesn't. Main Gnome depends on extensions for many of the features but the other desktops don't. You can install the Unity desktop on Linux Mint and also on Ubuntu. I have done it and it works. Unity is yet another version of Gnome but it cannot be installed on Debian since Unity is Ubuntu based. Here is some more info on Gnome Flashback: wiki.archlinux.org/title/GNOME/Flashback

[@CWM030]

@@AndreaBorman Ah! Thanks!

[@PriyanshuSingh-sd2dc]

you know i dont use linux , I don't even subscribed you till now but I always came here to see you , how are you doing I really just want to see you🙃😑

[@anipan845]

Cool

[@manonamission2000]

🩶🩶🩶🔥

[@darkking6732]

++

[@CWM030]

CAJA is pronounced " CA HAH", NOT " CA JA" it means "Box" in Spanish. Put the word CAJA into Google Translate, and it might pronounce the English pronunciation better than I explained it, lol.

[@hiYouareaclown]

debian is a nearly perfect system, the only regret is systemd

[@Nikolai508]

Do you use OpenRC ? I've been using SystemD for so long, I'd struggle to move. I've been using Arch for a while now and it's very much Systemd-centric, though Artix does exist, I don't like using offshoots of distributions. I've been thinking about trying Gentoo out at some point and if I do, I'll give OpenRC a try.

[@itsnony77]

I'm using LMDE6 on a laptop and love the disro. I never had issues with systemd. Have you? Or is it just the bad rep it has online?

[@CliffhangerProduction]

That's what devuan is for