Multi OS cheatsheet
edited 2025-05-21

Systems description
10 Linux operating systems are installed, each could be compared to a recent version of Ms-Windows or of Mac-OS. Linux OSes 'can' also run windows programs IF they have the VirtualBox program installed under which (when it's running) a windows environment CAN exist if so configured. However it is much safer for beginners to just install the windows of their choice on a separate disk and never have the Linux disks and that disk plugged-in at the same time to avoid windows upsetting things which it is said to often do. Room is still left on the booting disk to install versions of windows if so desired, perhaps at a later date.

The three major advantages of Linux are
The non-monetary price for this freedom is the necessity to study and learn more on an ongoing basis.

So called different linux distributions are developed and offered by thousands of benevolent volunteer programmers. They as well as the millions of expert users continuously watch packages because they can and they can because of open-source. Other mercantile OSes use closed-source code which only they know anything about. It is easy to hide malware in closed-source code but obviously nearly impossible to do so in open-source. This is a cardinal difference and it can be illustrated with so called links which consist of two parts: the text they show and the text they may hide if so desired.  Here are two example links to a child porno site or web page:

visible text (often blue)
the real web URL underneath the link
https://www.sunday-school.org  https://www.sunday-school.org 
https://www.sunday-school.org
http://www.child-porno,com

Computers are not for idiots who tend to click non-chalantly and neither is linux but linux at least makes it possible to see what goes on underneath and it isn't just in the example of the links above but throughout the operating systems AND the programs running under each!

Another attribute of closed-source OSes if their continuous attempt to isolate the user from the real world where s/he might have the affront to think. A disk is a physical storage entity often divided into partitions but they will call these partitions 'drives' which they are not. They will also herd users into linked directories calling them by every possible name except the real (i.e. fully qualified) path.  So a physical place on storage media like disk-A, partition-17, directory-X will just be presented to the user as the MyPictures folder with the user having no clue about where that might really be! This mushroom factory virtualization (keep them in the dark and feed them shit) is rampant in the closed-source realm in order to keep users ignorant and captive but mostly frowned upon in Linux.

The booting disk in this system is partitioned into 22 or more partitions and it's always a good idea to avoid confusion to be using partition numbers related to the desired OS number. It would be ideal to place our 1st OS on partition-1 but it doesn't work that way. Some booting code MUST be on the lower partitions so the next best thing is to place our 10 OSes on partitions #11 to #20. A swap partition can be anywhere but since this approach reserves the first 10 for non-OS material we put swap on #3 and then use tiny partitions ONLY to pad the stack up to 10, like so (the actual output of the fdisk or gdisk command):

Device 


Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: 7C6D4803-1636-43D4-8E61-243F99137C20

Device          Start        End    Sectors  Size Type
/dev/sda1        2048    2097152    2095105 1023M EFI System
/dev/sda2     2099200   52430847   50331648   24G Linux swap
/dev/sda3    52430848   94373887   41943040   20G Windows recovery environment
/dev/sda4    94373888  241174527  146800640   70G Microsoft basic data
/dev/sda5   241174528  408946687  167772160   80G Microsoft basic data
/dev/sda6   828377088 1247807487  419430400  200G Microsoft basic data
/dev/sda7  1247807488 1248831487    1024000  500M Microsoft reserved
/dev/sda8  1248831488 1249036287     204800  100M Linux filesystem
/dev/sda9  1249036288 1249241087     204800  100M Linux filesystem
/dev/sda10 1249241088 1417013247  167772160   80G Linux filesystem
/dev/sda11 1417013248 1584785407  167772160   80G Linux filesystem
/dev/sda12 1584785408 1752557567  167772160   80G Linux filesystem
/dev/sda13 1752557568 1920329727  167772160   80G Linux filesystem
/dev/sda14 1920329728 2088101887  167772160   80G Linux filesystem
/dev/sda15 2088101888 2255874047  167772160   80G Linux filesystem
/dev/sda16 2255874048 2423646207  167772160   80G Linux filesystem
/dev/sda17 2423646208 2591418367  167772160   80G Linux filesystem
/dev/sda18 2591418368 2759190527  167772160   80G Linux filesystem
/dev/sda19 2759190528 2926962687  167772160   80G Linux filesystem
/dev/sda20 2926962688 3094734847  167772160   80G Linux filesystem
/dev/sda21 3094734848 3262507007  167772160   80G Linux filesystem
/dev/sda22 3262507008 3430279167  167772160   80G Linux filesystem
/dev/sda23 3430279168 4059424767  629145600  300G Linux filesystem
/dev/sda24 4059424768 7814035455 3754610688  1.7T Microsoft basic data

Notice the dummy (jack) partitions 8 & 9. I usually reserve the top partition for data storage, a pure data partition (not executable code or OS) so that if any OS partition goes south no data gets lost. When and not if a disk fails everything on it is lost so everything on it should always be backed up to another disk or several other disks. Pure data disks are usually just a single partition like so

Device     Start        End    Sectors  Size Type
/dev/sdb1   2048 8001573518 8001571471  3.7T Linux filesystem

If you have EVERYTHING on one disk and it's a quality SSD then just having at least one CLONE of it will do for backup. Two clones for a total of 3 is better. If SSD in use is /dev/sda and clone being made is /dev/sdb then do

# dd if=/dev/sda of=/dev/sdb bs=1G status=progress

and take off for a couple of hours if they're 4tb SSD's.

 

A system admin in linux is usually called the root user, to keep things simple initially ALL the linux systems in this collection have root user with password root, user u0 with password u0 and user u1 with password u1 (user id's and passwords can be changed at will but by root only).   

Mounting in linux means to make a storage device or partition (temporarily) usable. A mount point is the handle under which it will be visible while mounted. In the case of the above data disk the partition to mount is /dev/sdb1 and we can make any mount point we like, such as satadisk-b-part1. We could also make it just mydata but that would border on the virtualization disease outlined earlier. Nor is it necessary to use long mountpoint names IF we have rational mountpoints that actually say something. To such ends I create a 0 directory on each system as a place for all my mount points so that inside the zero directory we have






 
 
01-Login & start GUI

01-Login, start GUI, revert to cLi (command line interface)
partition

OS (DE)

11
copy2file-pending Artix (kde)
12
copy2file & reinstall Devuan (xfce)
13
reinstall for gpu Slackware (xfce) no DM, log in then do startx
14 to 21

Tumbleweed (kde) choice of DM (Desktop Managers): sddm..
15

Void (xfce)
16

MxLinux (xfce)
17

Leap (kde) choice of DM (Desktop Managers): sddm..
18

Manjaro (cinnamon)
19

PcLinux (kde)
20

Debian (kde)




Init system, Desktop-Manager, admin filemanager & basic editor,
partition
OS (DE)
init
DM
Resolution
Su-FM
11
Artix (kde)
openrc+

can set 1920x1080
# dolphin
12
Devuan (xfce)
openrc+

720x480
# thunar
13
Slackware (xfce)
sysvinit
"startx"
can set 1920x1080
14
Tumbleweed (kde)
systemd
sddm +
can set 1920x1080 menu: FM superuser
15
Void (xfce)
runit

can set 1920x1080
# thunar
16
MxLinux (xfce)
sysvinit/sd-shim
lightdm
can set 1920x1080
# thunar & featherpad
17
Leap (kde)
systemd
ssdm +
can set 1920x1080 menu: FM superuser
18
Manjaro (cinnamon)
systemd
+
seems 1920x1080
# nemo
19
PcLinux (kde) no#1 DE
sysv

can set 1920x1080
20
Debian (kde)
systemd+
sddm
can set 1920x1080
# dolphin



Software updates
# apt search to find missing packages?
partition
OS
Package-list
command line
11
Artix

pacman -S packagename, pacman -Qe > mypaxfile.txt, pacman -S $(awk '{print $1}' mypaxfile.txt), pacman -Sy (repo update), pacman -Su    (syst. update), pacman -R package (removal), pacman -F package  (file find?)
insert into /etc/pacman.conf  
######### user added lines ######
# as per https://wiki.artixlinux.org/Main/Repositories
[universe]
Server = https://universe.artixlinux.org/$arch
Server = https://mirror1.artixlinux.org/universe/$arch
Server = https://mirror.pascalpuffke.de/artix-universe/$arch
Server = https://artixlinux.qontinuum.space:4443/universe/os/$arch
Server = https://mirror.alphvino.com/artix-universe/$arch
#############################

https://wiki.artixlinux.org/Main/Repositories#Universe
install artix-archlinux-support
GUI: pamac..  many problems, doesn't specify whose password it wants, when given doesn't accept any password but locks account!
12
Devuan
apt list > packlist-2024-08-16.txt apt install /path/google-earth-pro-stable_current_amd64.deb
GUI: Synaptic OK
13
Slackware

slpkg -F package (find), slpkg -s sbo yoshimi, slpkg -i yoshimi (install), slpkg -r yoshimi,(remove), slpkg health, --silent (healthcheck print only errors)
installpkg (distro-packs, offline, needs full pkg name), removepkg, upgradepkg
pkgtool (distro-packs)
slackpkg distro packs, online:
(installed w. installpkg, requires 1 repo uncommented in
/etc/slackpkg/mirrors
slackpkg update (update infos), slackpkg upgrade-all (release 'patches'),slackpkg install binutils
sbotools
GUI: sbopkg is 1/2 gui (curses, NO depends!)
download, then do: #installpkg sbopkg-version-noarch-1.tg(z?) 
14
Tumbleweed
export/import
by yast
#zypper dup  ...to upgrade rolling system
GUI:
Yast provides GUI based repo as well as package  managment among many other services. It can export {save out} the package list or import {load} any package list.
15
Void
https://docs.voidlinux.org/xbps/index.html
xbps-query -m > ~/list_manual

xbps-query -l > ~/list_all

install list:
xbps-install -S $(cat yourlist)
update:   # xbps-install -Su
instyall:   # xbps-install librewolf
remove:   # xbps-remove gftp
16
MxLinux


17
Leap
export/import
by yast
GUI: Yast provides GUI based repo as well as package  managment among many other services. It can export {save out} the package list or import {load} any package list.
18
Manjaro

GUI:  'package manager'   update causes grub to run withOUT foreign-OS probing!!!
19
PcLinux
Single-repo setup
Synaptic
remember to RELOAD!

20
Debian (kde)

apt install /path/google-earth-pro-stable_current_amd64.deb
GUI:
Synaptic?




User management {try to use identical numbers for shared-OS user permissions}
partition
OS
GUI
/etc/group
/etc/passwd
11
Artix

users:x:984:u0,u1 
vboxusers:x:440:u0,u1
root:x:0:root
u0:x:1000:
u1:x:1001:
root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash
u0:x:1000:1000:,,,:/home/u0:/bin/bash
u1:x:1001:1001:,,,:/home/u1:/bin/bash

12
Devuan

root:x:0:
users:x:100:u0,u1
u0:x:1000:
u1:x:1001:
root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash
u0:x:1000:1000:u0:/home/u0:/bin/bash
u1:x:1001:1001:u1:/home/u1:/bin/bash
13
Slackware

root:x:0:root
users:x:100:u0,u1
u0:x:1000:
u1:x:1001:
root:x:0:0::/root:/bin/bash
u0:x:1000:1000::/home/u0:/bin/bash
u1:x:1001:1001::/home/u1:/bin/bash
14
Tumbleweed
Yast
root:x:0:brltty
users:x:100:u0,u1
vboxusers:x:442:u0,u1
Suse does NOT use groups
based on each user by default

root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash
u0:x:1000:1999::/home/u0:/bin/bash
u1:x:1001:1999::/home/u1:/bin/bash
brltty:x:449:449:Braille Device Daemon:/var/lib/brltty:/usr/sbin/nologin
15
Void

root:x:0:
users:x:100:u0,u1
u0:x:1000:
u1:x:1001:
root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash
u0:x:1000:1000:u0:/home/u0:/bin/bash
u1:x:1001:1001:u1:/home/u1:/bin/bash
16
MxLinux

root:x:0:
users:x:100:u0,u1
u0:x:1000:
u1:x:1001:
root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash
u0:x:1000:1000::/home/u0:/bin/bash
u1:x:1001:1001::/home/u1:/bin/bash
17
Leap
Yast
root:x:0:brltty
users:x:100:u0,u1
vboxusers:x:442:u0,u1
Suse does NOT use groups
based on each user by default
root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash
u0:x:1000:1999::/home/u0:/bin/bash
u1:x:1001:1999::/home/u1:/bin/bash
brltty:x:449:449:Braille Device Daemon:/var/lib/brltty:/usr/sbin/nologin
18
Manjaro

root:x:0:root
users:x:984:u0,u1 
u0:x:1000:
u1:x:1001:
root:x:0:0::/root:/usr/bin/bash
u0:x:1000:1000::/home/u0:/bin/bash
u1:x:1001:1001::/home/u1:/bin/bash
19
PcLinux
ControlCenter
root:x:0:
users:x:100:u0,u1
u0:x:1000:
u1:x:1001:
root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash
u0:x:1000:1000::/home/u0:/bin/bash
u1:x:1001:1001::/home/u1:/bin/bash
20
Debian

root:x:0:root
users:x:100:u0,u1
u0:x:1000:
u1:x:1001:
root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash
u0:x:1000:1000::/home/u0:/bin/bash
u1:x:1001:1001::/home/u1:/bin/bash


 



Outstanding issues 
partition
OS (DE)


MANY or all DISTROS!
Avoid unnecessarily formatting swap partitions, it changes their UUID.
11
Artix (kde)
"insecure use of root"? copy mirrorsd from m4?
search=https://packages.artixlinux.org/packages
12
Devuan (xfce)

13
Slackware (xfce)

14
Tumbleweed (kde)

15
Void (xfce)

16
MxLinux (xfce)

17
Leap (kde)

18
Manjaro (cinnamon)

19
PcLinux (kde)
problems w. cLi-created users, use GUI.
20
Debian (kde)
sdddm?