Linux Users?

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Wrencher

Wrencher

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Anyone running Linux on any of their machines?

I just installed Linux Mint on an old laptop. Its an old Acer Aspire 5516 that I upgraded the RAM and CPU in. It was running Windows 7 Ultimate pretty well, but I had a desire to learn something new, so I installed earlier tonight.

After installing the updates, I am bouncing around trying to learn what I can. So far, so good. I like it pretty well so far. I am still getting acclimated to the environment but I think I am going to stick with it for a while.

Observations so far;

- While it does use less resources than Windows, the difference is not as great as I suspected. I wasnt having performance issues to start with, so its of no consequence to me.

- It does seem to be very snappy. Boots fast, install was child mild, and even on my older hardware, I didnt have to look for a single hardware driver.

- I was pleasantly surprised to find that my favorite remote desktop software, TeamViewer, is fully compatible with linux

- My printer that is hooked up to my Windows7 machine and shared via Windows. Linux picked it up and installed drivers no problem.

- I run custom firmware on my router with NAS attached. No problems finding and accessing from linux.


So to those of you running Linux, which Distro are you running? Any advice on what apps I need to download? All evidence I find suggests that anti virus is completely unnecessary, do you guys run it?
 
I started in 2008 with Ubuntu...but after they change to the Unity desktop..I switched to Mint 16.....

Use Mint on all the computers in house except one is a dual boot...windows 7 and Mint 16
 
I was really torn between Ubuntu and Mint 16. I wound up going with Mint only because I read more than a few times that the Ubuntu guys seem to break **** with updates while Mint has remained relatively stable. I also like Mint's U.I. is more Windows like so it is a little less jarring. Plus it comes with all the multimedia codecs and a lot of compatibility programs already installed.

Have you had to learn to live without or settle on anything on Mint?
 
I started with Suse way back 98? or so, switched to Ubuntu for quite a while, and left only because I hated the switch to the "Unity" desktop. Last several years has been Mint!!! for me. I use the "long term support" version. I'm currently using "Maya" (13? I think) and "Mate" desktop. It "just works."

Only time I use windows is when I'm forced to, something that does not work in Linux, like programming the Holley EFI, etc.

The great thing about Linux, is that it "sees" the Windows partition, so if I run across some file I want to transfer, I can stick it "over there" for later.

Both Mint and Ubuntu, now, have split off with some different desktop versions. There are so many Linux versions you can really get lost in them

I've been experimenting with different setups on USB

The desktop you choose will affect resources, and just like windows, there are things you can turn and and off to save background BS. It's not nearly so bad as windows with that. Experiment with the free stuff available, but be aware of pitfalls. Not everything always downloads and installs correctly. Some of it is "version sensitive." I've had VERY little luck getting Google Earth to install and run. But Google Maps does most of what I need so no big.

For office, there's OpenOffice and Libre, and for photos there's GIMP. I actually do not use ANY "in computer" email program. Instead, my three email accounts are all done "by web"
 
On my dual boot machine...I have a separate partition which is formated as ntfs which windows see...and Linux sees ...so i store pictures..documents in that partition so i can get them from either operation system.
 
There sure is a lot of hate for Unity. Several posts of folks who gave up on ubuntu because of the change. What is Unity though, is it a kernal that the operating system is built on? or is it a GUI thing like cinnamon or Mate (does cinnamon/mate even a reference to the GUI).

As a whole, I am still not up to speed on the way things are laid out with all the different options. As I understand it, Debian came first, Ubuntu is derived from Debian, and Mint is Derived from Ubuntu. How cinnamon and mate figure in is a bit of a mystery.
 
As I understand it, Unity is a desktop. But Ubuntu tried to force "us" to use it just as Winhozed hate has tried to force people to use the "new" style eight. There are alternatives. I cannot name them all, now, but at the very least, there's KDE, Cinnamon, Mate and I'm sure others. The thing is, this affects software and software installation. You have to have certain (many) software add-ons matched to the desktop style you are using.

That is, in my opinion what is WRONG with Linux, in general. Too many egos. Too many directions. This is, in part, what happens when state laws in the U.S. are allowed to get "too far afield" from some standardization. What would happen, if you were driving in Idaho, went to WA, and suddenly found you were supposed to drive on the left side of the road? And then got to OR and found that they don't go my "Kliks or mph, but because there's a big "Klingon" population in OR, they have pestered the govt down there to put up speed signs in farthings per fortnight 'er some damn thing.

Linux "can be" nearly as bad. If you Google some of these offbeat distros, there are HUNDREDS that none of us have ever heard of.....and probably don't want to!!!! Some of them use browsers that are so different from Exploder or Firefox as to be nearly unrecognizable in their menus.

This kind of thing is NOT good for the overall development.

My understanding, example, is that there was a big rift in the developers of Open Office and that's why Libre has now "come up" in the world.
 
70aarcuda said:
On my dual boot machine...I have a separate partition which is formated as ntfs which windows see...and Linux sees ...so i store pictures..documents in that partition so i can get them from either operation system.
Click to expand...

I had the understanding.........,maybe incorrect? that using conventional Linux partions is what helped keep it secure when using Windows?
 
Have been using Mint on an old Netbook....Not very impressed with it. Not very smooth. May very well be the Netbook itself...
 
Don't know what to tell ya Doug. I have it on some fairly old Thinkpads. One is a 1ghz processor, only about 400mb I think ram. Works well.
 
67Dart273 said:
Don't know what to tell ya Doug. I have it on some fairly old Thinkpads. One is a 1ghz processor, only about 400mb I think ram. Works well.
Click to expand...

Del...I have not spent that much time with it. Pretty much only use it when Ernie "borrows" my laptop to play card games. Did try it on a usb stick with an older desktop, was nowhere near as jerky as it is on my netbook....but again have not spent much time on it. Fought with it on my netbook to get a printer to work....got the printer working only to have that printer take a dump....for the life of me can not remember how in the hell I got the printer drivers installed..
 
I still run Gentoo mostly because it let's me customize the kernel.
 
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