Linux

[native pepper]

There has been some discussion regarding computer systems and lots of misinformation surrounding linux/unix systems, so thought I'd start a thread which covered linux and also explain some things about it. Know a bit about linux having used it for over 10 years, so am happy to answer any questions, although believe there are others here that use linux so they may have some answers I don't and maybe better explanations.

Firstly, linux is not windows and nothing like it in any way. To compare linux with windows or apple, is like comparing a Ferrari to a rock, there is no comparison whatsoever. Of course windows has the majority if home computing, primitive minded governments and business.

Different linux systems are called distro's, which is short for distribution and there are hundreds of them. Some are for general use and some are designed and built for specific purposes, like science, multi media, spaces exploration, military, construction and business.

Distro's can come in what are called flavours, which means they have different desktop configurations and abilities. As an example, Ubuntu is probably the favorite distro and it comes in a number of what is called flavours, so you can choose what you like best to use for your desktop. Then we have debian and fedora, as well as some others and they come in different settings as well.

There are some flavours which emulate windows on the desktop, so windows users can switch easier and some which use more resources and use newer computers. There are some which are great for old computers with small footprints and old technology, so there is a great deal of choice. A fork of Ubuntu is Mint and mint comes in different flavours, but is different to ubuntu and there are many forks of Ubuntu, as well as debian and others.

I use Mint mate on my over 10 year old laptop and cinnamon on my new 64bit laptop, along with ubuntu studio and have kali linux on a usb stick, which is a hacking security system. Also have a very old laptop running a minimal linux system called puppy, which runs completely in Ram so uses very little of the system and will run on just about anything.

Linux is the most stable, secure, safe and state of the art computing system there is and it is used in more than 90% of all computing on the planet and 100% off the planet. It's all free, along with tens of thousands of software choices covering every aspect of life and business that comes with your distro and tens of thousands of software freely available online.

[El Gringo]

I have tried Linux a few times over the years, with mixed results.
I do find it amazing that these later distro's install with all the drivers needed for all the devices in the PC, attached printers etc and all.
Probably the one thing that stopped me changing over is that up until recently i needed to use a CAD program for roof modeling that would only run in Windows.
Now I know I could have tried WINE (A windows environment in Linux) but I needed absolute reliability, so never had the confidence to go there.

But with the weather being it's usual miserable SA winter, work out side is not where I want to be, so I thought I might give it another try.
So I have downloaded Linux Mint 18.2 with the Mate desktop with the intention of dual booting my lappy.
However I wondered if any on here might have suggestions for other distro's etc.

I know NP has been using Linux for some time and I would be happy to hear her comments, any other brave souls out there?

Anyway, aside from recommendations and such, maybe some might be interested in my experience?

Cheers,

[El Gringo]

Looks like NP and I had the same idea... Happy for you Bruce to combine them before we get totally mixed up...

[TassyJim]

Over the weekend I converted a laptop/netbook over to Linux.
It was struggling with Windows and I needed to test some software on Linux.
I didn't bother with dual boot, I have enough Windows PCs to play with.
I went with bog standard Ubuntu 16.04 which has Gnome.
The are a few things I did to make it more to my liking and I was impressed with the install process - everything seems to work.

Most I my time with Linux has been command line only and it is rare for me to have a GUI

You can try a number of different flavours of Linux until you find one that you are comfortable with.

That is good but it also means that no-one has the same version as you when you go looking for help.

Jim

[BruceS]

OK, I'll try merging them and see what happens?
The posts will auto sort in chronological order. (by time/date for Wendy!)
Ouch!!!!

[BruceS]

Please note that a lot of more modern laptops now come with what they refer to as UEFI.
The Windows license is built into THAT laptop for life & a lot of the hardware (BIOS) is also tied to it.
To run another operating system on it you'll need to navigate into the BIOS & disable UEFI security.
My terms might be wrong but you get the idea.
https://www.google.com.au/search?q=uefi ... PDXtCrhLAJ

[El Gringo]

I don't think that it locks it to a particular license, but from Windows 8 onwards it requires a UEFI boot.Very easy to unlock, just enable legacy boot and your right.
I do it to lots of PC's because I refuse to use anything after Windows 7 with doesn't support it.

Cheers,

[native pepper]

Thanks Bruce, great decision.. It's really easy to disable secure boot UEFI in the bios, there are instructions online for doing it simply. I did it to my latest computer, until then couldn't get the Mint usb to be recognised as boot, then Mint wiped windows and installed Mint 17.3 without problems.

Bernie I'm a bloke, it's probably because I have all these women round me all the time and love it. You could have also ran windows in a virtual box and not worry about wine. I use a virtual box to test out distros, and suspect origin software, before putting them on my computer.

Mint is a pretty good place to start for most, the mate desktop is easy to get round. You can also try a KDE flavour and one of the best at the moment is opensuse, mint and think ubuntu have KDE versions. KDE is very graphic and striking, it's widgets are a draw card. Used it a few times but except for my new laptop every other computer we have isn't capable of giving a really good KDE experience, but it is nice to look at.

Have a look at distrowatch for some interesting reading and reviews of all new linux distro's and software, if you have a specific interest or hobby, there is probably a linux distro out there for that.

https://distrowatch.com/

[El Gringo]

Bernie I'm a bloke

Bugga, I'm going to have to stop assuming things...
Sorry about that...

Thanx for the other info too BTW..

Cheers,

[homeless]

Linux has come a long way from the early days.
Spent the last 20 years of my working life using UNIX servers as the data base server and they were very reliable but it was all script base and even though it never fell over like windows to do any changes such as installing software etc took ages.
UNIX server just kept working where as I had to reboot the Windows servers every weekend or they would fall over with pipe lockup about Tuesday as one of my bosses found out after I left. He said I was not needed as the system ran on its own. When I handed in my resignation he said that it would save them money and did not like it when I told him that I did not expect him to get through the next week. System locked up on Tuesday as I left on Friday so no Windows server reboot. 2 days production at nearly $1 mill a day plus they could not meet their orders etc. I refused to go in so they had to wait till someone flew down from Brisbane to reboot the computer. Revenge is sweet at times.
Have considered Linux as where I am staying at the moment he uses Linux on his radio server and all the software etc is here but to me computers are just for basic use don't want to play anymore.