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Linux Distro Noob thread of Linux noobs

F

flowsnake

Member
Automatisch said:
Any reason why you'd need anything super new on a workstation? EL5 is pretty old but it should have most anything you'd need to get work done.
Click to expand...

I wanted to try out a tiling window manager, of which there seem to be none. It certainly isn't anything I need, but I'm just spoiled by having a full range of software available to me in other situations, I think.

Edit: I'm starting to get into vim lately, actually. Partly because of having to work over ssh a certain amount. It's a neat tool, but I've barely scratched the surface so far.
 
J

jvm

Gamasutra.
flowsnake said:
I wanted to try out a tiling window manager, of which there seem to be none. It certainly isn't anything I need, but I'm just spoiled by having a full range of software available to me in other situations, I think.

Edit: I'm starting to get into vim lately, actually. Partly because of having to work over ssh a certain amount. It's a neat tool, but I've barely scratched the surface so far.
Click to expand...
Once you start, you most likely will never be the same. I still hit Esc while trying to edit in word processors, Gmail, even these textareas on GAF...
 
C

ComputerMKII

Banned
I've just downgraded from Windows 8 to 7. Since it messed with my Linux partition and even boot-repair couldn't help, I've formatted it and I'm now installing Linux Mint 15 RC. Looks good so far!
 
T

ThatObviousUser

ὁ αἴσχιστος παῖς εἶ
Computer said:
I've just downgraded from Windows 8 to 7. Since it messed with my Linux partition and even boot-repair couldn't help, I've formatted it and I'm now installing Linux Mint 15 RC. Looks good so far!
Click to expand...

That's more like upgraded, lol.
 
A

ash_ag

Member
Mark Shuttleworth made a really good impression with this interview, I think. He always sounds like a bold (if stubborn) person, and I like seeing him living up to this reputation, at least as far as his words are concerned.

I'm looking forward to seeing Mir -- possibly also concerned about it, since I kind of doubt it will run well on my current hardware. Though this is very reassuring. My next PC will definitely rock a Haswell, and I don't think I'll get a separate video card. Hopefully the experience will be completely smooth with Iris.

By the way, is everyone following elementary's development? It's gaining quite the following, and even got its first (?) enthusiasts' site. I like where this is going! :)
 
L

Leucrota

Member
Hello,
Linux noob here. Not sure how to uninstall a program.

I installed it with these commands:
Code: 
$ tar  -xvzf  jUploadr-1.1.2-linuxGTK-i386.tar.gz 
$ cd jUploadr-1.1.2-linuxGTK-i386   #the extracted folder
$ ./jUploadr
 
A

ash_ag

Member
PatMcAtee said:
Hello,
Linux noob here. Not sure how to uninstall a program.

I installed it with these commands:
Code: 
$ tar  -xvzf  jUploadr-1.1.2-linuxGTK-i386.tar.gz 
$ cd jUploadr-1.1.2-linuxGTK-i386   #the extracted folder
$ ./jUploadr
Click to expand...

The first command extracts the tar archive -- it basically amounts to right clicking and extracting the archive into a new folder (in this case, a folder named jUploadr-1.1.2-linuxGTK-i386).
The second command enters said folder (cd means change directory), so, it's basically like entering the folder by double clicking it on a graphical environment.
The third command simply runs an executable file that is in said folder (in your case ./jUploadr), which from what I gather, directly opens the app.

So, basically you didn't really install it in the regular folder where packages are normally installed. All that is is where you extracted the archive (like, Downloads, or something). Delete the jUploadr-1.1.2-linuxGTK-i386 folder, and you're done.
 
L

Leucrota

Member
ash_ag said:
The first command extracts the tar archive -- it basically amounts to right clicking and extracting the archive into a new folder (in this case, a folder named jUploadr-1.1.2-linuxGTK-i386).
The second command enters said folder (cd means change directory), so, it's basically like entering the folder by double clicking it on a graphical environment.
The third command simply runs an executable file that is in said folder (in your case ./jUploadr), which from what I gather, directly opens the app.

So, basically you didn't really install it in the regular folder where packages are normally installed. All that is is where you extracted the archive (like, Downloads, or something). Delete the jUploadr-1.1.2-linuxGTK-i386 folder, and you're done.
Click to expand...

Oh cool, thanks.
 
T

ThatObviousUser

ὁ αἴσχιστος παῖς εἶ
Skype for Linux finally fixed the worst thing about itself: the awful low-res icon.

Now I don't have to swap it with a high res icon every time it updates. Huzzah! Low res icons totally kill Gnome Shell's innate beauty.
 
J

jvm

Gamasutra.
Massa said:
It's a bug in Unity. Just get "Ubuntu GNOME" and it'll work fine. :)
Click to expand...
Just following up on this.

I did move to Ubuntu GNOME 13.04 and it's quite nice. I'm still getting used to the keyboard accelerators for GNOME itself, but I'm doing fine so far. The thing I miss most is super+f to find files. I can use super and begin typing name to launch apps just fine. I also miss super+{1,2,3,etc.} to launch favored apps.

The GNOME docs I've seen were useless for finding out how to do those last two things, so tips would be appreciated.

Also, LibreOffice keyboard accelerators are perfect (yay) and they even have fixed the text weight bug for vertical labels on graphs (really yay!).

I still get things that randomly stop working (gnome-shell crashed once, also plymouthd whatever that is) but at least I'm not getting the kworker thread at 70-90% CPU like I was with vanilla Ubuntu 12..10.

Happy to have made the switch.
 
M

Massa

Member
jvm said:
Just following up on this.

I did move to Ubuntu GNOME 13.04 and it's quite nice. I'm still getting used to the keyboard accelerators for GNOME itself, but I'm doing fine so far. The thing I miss most is super+f to find files. I can use super and begin typing name to launch apps just fine. I also miss super+{1,2,3,etc.} to launch favored apps.

The GNOME docs I've seen were useless for finding out how to do those last two things, so tips would be appreciated.

Also, LibreOffice keyboard accelerators are perfect (yay) and they even have fixed the text weight bug for vertical labels on graphs (really yay!).

I still get things that randomly stop working (gnome-shell crashed once, also plymouthd whatever that is) but at least I'm not getting the kworker thread at 70-90% CPU like I was with vanilla Ubuntu 12..10.

Happy to have made the switch.
Click to expand...

Great news. :)

Improved search in the overview is one of the new features of GNOME 3.8. Ubuntu 13.04 shipped with 3.6, but you can easily upgrade using the GNOME 3 PPA. You don't need the 'staging' PPA, that's more for people that want to play with things, but the official GNOME3 ppa is enough for a stable and well supported Ubuntu + latest GNOME combo.

As for the keyboard shortcuts I don't think that GNOME creates Super + number automatically, but you can create custom shortcuts in the settings panel. So for example you can create Super + 1 for the 'firefox' command and it will have a similar effect.

Edit: btw you can read the release notes for GNOME 3.8 here.
 
J

jvm

Gamasutra.
Massa said:
Great news. :)
Click to expand...
Yep. I've been using GNOME in various ways since before Ximian was doing their own custom spin. (I still have a Ximian black t-shirt monkey from Thinkgeek...) Don't know if you remember those days, but man was it exciting! :)

Anyway, I'll put on that GNOME 3 PPA and see how it goes. Thanks again!
 
T

ThatObviousUser

ὁ αἴσχιστος παῖς εἶ
Gnome 3.8 really is worth the time spent upgrading to it (which isn't much, but still.) Super polished, great new features, more bits of cruft smoothed over. Two bits I don't like:

- Changed Alt+Tab/` behavior just when I was getting really efficient with the other way
- Slight stutter when going into Overview if it's the first time in a while, subsequent times are smooth
 
J

jvm

Gamasutra.
Andrex said:
Gnome 3.8 really is worth the time spent upgrading to it (which isn't much, but still.) Super polished, great new features, more bits of cruft smoothed over. Two bits I don't like:

- Changed Alt+Tab/` behavior just when I was getting really efficient with the other way
- Slight stutter when going into Overview if it's the first time in a while, subsequent times are smooth
Click to expand...
Just upgraded. Looks nice.

What changed? Alt+Tab and Alt+` are behaving (AFAICT) just like they were in 3.6. I like it better than Unity's method (from 12.10).
 
T

ThatObviousUser

ὁ αἴσχιστος παῖς εἶ
Hmm, for me, before there would be a separator between workspaces, and Alt+Tab'ing would prioritize those on the current workspace. Now, there are no separators and Alt+Tab'ing will always select your last used program, regardless of workspace.
 
J

jvm

Gamasutra.
Andrex said:
Hmm, for me, before there would be a separator between workspaces, and Alt+Tab'ing would prioritize those on the current workspace. Now, there are no separators and Alt+Tab'ing will always select your last used program, regardless of workspace.
Click to expand...
Ah! That may be true. Didn't get far enough to check that out yet.
 
P

peakish

Member
Andrex said:
Hmm, for me, before there would be a separator between workspaces, and Alt+Tab'ing would prioritize those on the current workspace. Now, there are no separators and Alt+Tab'ing will always select your last used program, regardless of workspace.
Click to expand...
Ya, I don't like this at all. Workspaces were better defined when their applications had priority. Only now starting to get used to this way, and it's a bit messy.

Sad thing is, they introduced Super+Tab/` as well - why not bind these different flows to Alt and Super instead of them being identical?
 
M

Massa

Member
jvm said:
Yep. I've been using GNOME in various ways since before Ximian was doing their own custom spin. (I still have a Ximian black t-shirt monkey from Thinkgeek...) Don't know if you remember those days, but man was it exciting! :)

Anyway, I'll put on that GNOME 3 PPA and see how it goes. Thanks again!
Click to expand...

Hah, I remember Ximian GNOME, they were the ones to introduce the two-panel mode that eventually became the default. I remember running their daily repositories on my Debian system. Those were the days. :)
 
Y

Young Magus

Junior Member
Hello first time posting in this thread,

I've been a user of Ubuntu for about 2 years now. I was think of going full Ubuntu as I've been dual-booting with my Windows 7 OS. Is there any way that I can keep my files (music, videos, work etc.) from being lost while erasing my Windows partition?

Thank You for your time.
 
H

Hieberrr

Member
MagusKen said:
Hello first time posting in this thread,

I've been a user of Ubuntu for about 2 years now. I was think of going full Ubuntu as I've been dual-booting with my Windows 7 OS. Is there any way that I can keep my files (music, videos, work etc.) from being lost while erasing my Windows partition?

Thank You for your time.
Click to expand...

If your files are on your Windows partition, then I'd think that you'd have to back every file that you want to keep up. Or, I guess you can do it manually straight through your Linux os by just copy and pasting it onto your linux partition.

-----------
I can't see myself going fully Ubuntu or any other os full-time unless there is a native Office suite.
 
A

ash_ag

Member
Yeah, just mount your Windows partition and copy/paste everything onto Ubuntu.

Hieberrr said:
I can't see myself going fully Ubuntu or any other os full-time unless there is a native Office suite.
Click to expand...

Office is indeed pretty much the only problem (if you don't play too many games, anyway). And not because there aren't alternative suites that can work quite well, but because most people don't know that DOC files and the like are supposed to be converted into PDF before being distributed. Personally, I've come to the point where I can do most (if not all) of my work via Google Drive -- mainly reports for uni; the only problem is not being able to properly read existing documents due to them being in MS Office formats.

Or rather, was. Skydrive's web apps are working like a charm -- they give the option of converting into PDF, so it only takes a few minutes to have most files looking as they should -- unless you have to edit them, you're good to go.

Now, that is for as far as standard use is concerned. There still is some shortage in efficient alternatives to several professional programs, especially for engineering and art. But the gap is narrowing and that's both thanks to the open-source community and big names adding Linux support. ;)
 
H

Hieberrr

Member
ash_ag said:
Yeah, just mount your Windows partition and copy/paste everything onto Ubuntu.



Office is indeed pretty much the only problem (if you don't play too many games, anyway). And not because there aren't alternative suites that can work quite well, but because most people don't know that DOC files and the like are supposed to be converted into PDF before being distributed. Personally, I've come to the point where I can do most (if not all) of my work via Google Drive -- mainly reports for uni; the only problem is not being able to properly read existing documents due to them being in MS Office formats.

Or rather, was. Skydrive's web apps are working like a charm -- they give the option of converting into PDF, so it only takes a few minutes to have most files looking as they should -- unless you have to edit them, you're good to go.
Click to expand...

Yeah, editing MS Office files is a huge part of my job and I really need everything to work across the board. Hopefully one day.
 
J

jvm

Gamasutra.
So does Empathy not support Twitter? I don't see an option for adding a Twitter account, which seems weird. :|
 
T

Treechopper

Member
So what's the general consensus for the latest Ubuntu release? I'm about to convert my home computer to a Win 7/Linux machine. I'm up for Fedora or any other distro though.
 
V

Vanillalite

Ask me about the GAF Notebook
The Treechopper said:
So what's the general consensus for the latest Ubuntu release? I'm about to convert my home computer to a Win 7/Linux machine. I'm up for Fedora or any other distro though.
Click to expand...

It's nothing special feature wise, but people seem to really like the performance and stability.

I'd look at these distros and then pick one keeping in mind if you like a different window manager many of these have alternative spins like Ubuntu Gnome edition or Mint KDE edition

Ubuntu
Mint
Debian
Arch
 
T

Treechopper

Member
Brettison said:
It's nothing special feature wise, but people seem to really like the performance and stability.

I'd look at these distros and then pick one keeping in mind if you like a different window manager many of these have alternative spins like Ubuntu Gnome edition or Mint KDE edition

Ubuntu
Mint
Debian
Arch
Click to expand...

If I went back I'd probably want something that I can use Gnome (or Gnome like) with. Also, the OS would be running on my gaming rig/HTPC so I'm not really worried about performance. Does Arch have a steep learning curve?
 
S

Slavik81

Member
The Treechopper said:
So what's the general consensus for the latest Ubuntu release? I'm about to convert my home computer to a Win 7/Linux machine. I'm up for Fedora or any other distro though.
Click to expand...

For what it's worth, I haven't had NVIDIA driver issues in Ubuntu 13.04. I'm much happier with the most recent release of Ubuntu than I was with 12.10.

I've also been liking CentOS 6 (based on RHEL6, which is based on Fedora 12/13). My only major complaint is that its packages are so old. I think it's time for me to check out Fedora 18...
 
F

freddy

Banned
The Treechopper said:
So what's the general consensus for the latest Ubuntu release? I'm about to convert my home computer to a Win 7/Linux machine. I'm up for Fedora or any other distro though.
Click to expand...

If you install Arch alone make sure you have some means to look up the Arch wiki and forums. All you need to run the system is there. You can also look at Manjaro for a good OS that uses Arch as a base.

Gnome Ubuntu and Fedora have great Gnome 3 environments out of the box. Ubuntu is more user friendly.

Ubuntu 13.04 will be supported until January 2014
Ubuntu 12.10 will be supported until April 2014
Ubuntu 12.04 LTS will be supported until April 2017


This is because Canonical shortened the cycle of support non-LTS releases.

With the average user and Linux the main thing you need to decide on is which Desktop Environment(Unity, Xfce, Kde, etc) you like best. If you decide which one you like that makes the decision about which distro to use a lot easier.
 
F

freddy

Banned
Also for anyone else who isn't sure about what to install how about trying Virtual Box and installing a few different distros and desktops first?
 
T

ThatObviousUser

ὁ αἴσχιστος παῖς εἶ
I don't really consider Twitter a chat service though, which is what Empathy is targeted towards. It's more of a social network, which is what Gwibber is geared at.
 
J

jvm

Gamasutra.
Andrex said:
I don't really consider Twitter a chat service though, which is what Empathy is targeted towards. It's more of a social network, which is what Gwibber is geared at.
Click to expand...
Fair enough!

I still think "Online Accounts" is an appropriate place to put these kinds of credentials for authorized apps to find them... :)

I'll see what Gwibber's like. Last time I used it (4-5 years ago?) it was crap. :p
 
T

Treechopper

Member
freddy said:
If you install Arch alone make sure you have some means to look up the Arch wiki and forums. All you need to run the system is there. You can also look at Manjaro for a good OS that uses Arch as a base.

With the average user and Linux the main thing you need to decide on is which Desktop Environment(Unity, Xfce, Kde, etc) you like best. If you decide which one you like that makes the decision about which distro to use a lot easier.
Click to expand...

I did look on the Arch Linux page and I have to say I was highly impressed at how well organized and laid out their information was.

I'm currently using Crunchbang on my laptop so just having a window manager (Openbox) has been a lot better than I thought. I just prefer minimalism which is why I used Gnome before when I was running Ubuntu. Might try Xfce as a DE though since I hear it's pretty customizable and minimal.
jvm said:
So not through Empathy? Really?

I'm just kind of floored that it doesn't show up in any of the configuration screens for online accounts. It's in neither the GNOME-specific one nor the Ubuntu one. :p
Click to expand...


I used Gwibber in Ubuntu 12.10 and both my twitter and Facebook feeds would display on it. Isn't Empathy more of an IM program?
 
N

NotBacon

Member
Okay there have got to be some posters in this thread with high-res screens(1920x1080 and up) right? My asus zenbook prime is running ubuntu gnome and while I can scale the text, my chrome tabs are still tiny, window buttons are tiny, etc. I don't really see this issue being raised anywhere so am I missing something?
 
P

PandaL

Member
The Treechopper said:
So what's the general consensus for the latest Ubuntu release? I'm about to convert my home computer to a Win 7/Linux machine. I'm up for Fedora or any other distro though.
Click to expand...

If you are comfortable with a few basic commands then try Manjaro Linux.



NotBacon said:
Okay there have got to be some posters in this thread with high-res screens(1920x1080 and up) right? My asus zenbook prime is running ubuntu gnome and while I can scale the text, my chrome tabs are still tiny, window buttons are tiny, etc. I don't really see this issue being raised anywhere so am I missing something?
Click to expand...

Did you install "ubuntu restricted extras" from the software center?
 
Z

zoku88

Member
NotBacon said:
I thought that was just for extra codecs and formats and stuff? I installed it anyways, and yeah it's the same.
Click to expand...

Gnome ignores xorg.conf dpi settings, AFAIK, so I would guess the default dpi it uses (which is 96, I believe) is probably way off for you.*

http://askubuntu.com/questions/60044/how-do-i-change-the-font-dpi-settings



*They should really change this behavior, sometime, given how a lot of people use laptops nowadays and the same form factor can have a wide variance in screen resolution, unlike desktop monitors where the resolution for a given size is pretty much the same...
 
N

NotBacon

Member
Agh, well as much as I don't want to, i'll have to switch back to windows then until they sort that out. Between that and the iffy trackpad it drives me nuts sometimes.
 
C

ComputerMKII

Banned
Should there be a dedicated thread for the release of Linux Mint 15?

Linux Mint 15 “Olivia” released!
Written by Clem on Wednesday, May 29th, 2013 @ 1:15 pm

The team is proud to announce the release of Linux Mint 15 “Olivia”.

cinnamon.png



Linux Mint 15 is the most ambitious release since the start of the project. MATE 1.6 is greatly improved and Cinnamon 1.8 offers a ton of new features, including a screensaver and a unified control center. The login screen can now be themed in HTML5 and two new tools, “Software Sources” and “Driver Manager”, make their first appearance in Linux Mint.

New features at a glance:


For a complete overview and to see screenshots of the new features, visit: “What’s new in Linux Mint 15“.

Important info:

  • PAE required for 32-bit ISOs
  • EFI support
  • HDMI Sound Output
  • Mint4win
  • GnomePPP and local repository
  • Make sure to read the “Release Notes” to be aware of important info or known issues related to this release.

System requirements:

  • x86 processor (Linux Mint 64-bit requires a 64-bit processor. Linux Mint 32-bit works on both 32-bit and 64-bit processors).
  • 512 MB RAM (1GB recommended for a comfortable usage).
  • 5 GB of disk space
  • Graphics card capable of 800×600 resolution
  • CD/DVD drive or USB port

Upgrade instructions:

  • To upgrade from a previous version of Linux Mint follow these instructions.
  • To upgrade from the RC release, simply apply any level 1 and 2 updates (if any) available in the Update Manager.
Click to expand...
http://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=2366
 
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