Fedora 38 Silverblue, cont
Changing to X11 on the host did nothing to get me a menu. I haven't checked yet to see whether it had any effect on the problem with flatpak that's keeping me from getting any software installed. This is the second distro I've tried to work with where I couldn't access a menu, so I want to rule out the possibility that it's a VM issue. Since both of my Latitude laptops have far more SSD space that I could ever use for Solus, I've left about half of it as unallocated. So it's rather convenient to install other interesting distros on that half, and I'm tempted to do that with Silverblue if it turns out that I'm forced to abandon this VM.
I'd only have access to one OS or the other that way, either Solus or Silverblue. It wouldn't be anywhere near as convenient as using a VM for the second OS. I wouldn't be able to continue writing this thread until Silverblue is installed and configured enough for me to join the Solus forum again, and it would be a lot harder to get some types of screen captures.
So, I'm going to keep working here in Solus until I'm absolutely forced to stop because I can do nothing more. The next task is to create some more fixed workspaces and adjust some settings. Then I'll check to see if having the host machine on X11 has made it possible for me to fetch the packages I need via flatpak. First the workspaces. One nice thing about GNOME is that it provides dynamic workspaces by default, unlike most other DEs, but I'm a fan of a given number of fixed ones. That's been part of my customary workflow for years. I might even say decades by now. GNOME lets me have it my way in the Multitasking dialog of the System Settings application.
While I'm in the settings dialog, I make a few changes. I choose a dark theme, and turn off the options that keep locking the screen while I'm away from the VM typing this stuff. I suppose it shouldn't be a surprise to find out that the VM is also on Wayland, so I can rule out a window manager mismatch between host and VM for causing the problems I haven't yet solved. I have a feeling I'll be installing this OS on that unallocated 214 GB in this laptop sooner, rather than later.
Maybe I can launch applications from the terminal, and move them to their workspaces, rather than starting them from a menu. But before I can do that, I need to be able to install them. I'll try doing that now. As before, I'm able to determine that Thunderbird and my three solitaire games are indeed available.
But the result is the same as before.
That pretty much seals this VM's fate, as with no menu and without the ability to install any flatpaks, I'm now useless here. I'll have to settle for running Silverblue from the SSD. Since I've already documented the installation on the VM, I can skip that in the next part of this thread, since it will be the same there. If it turns out that I actually can get Silverblue installed and fully working on the SSD, I'll probably keep it there much longer than I would keep a VM that's past its usefulness. I know, it's GNOME. But I do like Fedora, and it's version 38, so it's current. And when it's no longer useful, deleting a partition on the SSD is about as easy as deleting a VM.
I'll catch up with you in the next part. I hope I can make this work after I install it "on the metal." I can't believe Silverblue got to be a popular immutable OS if nobody could use a menu or install flatpaks on it. At the very least, I'll be able to use Firefox to return to the forum and let you know that happens, even if I have no better luck with this next part of the adventure.
STILL HERE
I deleted the Silverblue VM, burned a USB disk with the ISO, and decided to create just a 50 GB partition in the unallocated space on this SSD, saving the rest for other distros I might want to install later. I shut down the laptop and started it again, using F12 to select the USB drive with the Silverblue ISO on it. I started to install it, selected English as a language, set the locale to Los Angeles, and continued from there. But when it came to setting the installation destination, the process was so complicated I couldn't find any way to select the new 50 GB partition I had created.
I was afraid I was perilously close to replacing Solus on this SSD. I do have Solus installed and fully updated on my other Latitude, so that wouldn't be a complete disaster, but I thought I'd add this bit of content to the thread, while it's still convenient to do so. I'm going to try installing Silverblue again, this time selecting the SSD in this laptop as the installation destination, and hoping that I'll be able to choose that unformatted partition on the next page of the installer. I think it might be possible to do it there, where I should have a choice to install it beside Solus, rather than replacing it with Silverblue. Hopefully that will enable me to continue with it, else I'll need to bail out again. Here goes nothing ...