There are rolling release distros like Arch Linux and Gentoo. They don't have big new releases, but get updated frequently.
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Linux Distro Noob thread of Linux noobs
- Thread starter Flying_Phoenix
- Start date
There are rolling release distros like Arch Linux and Gentoo. They don't have big new releases, but get updated frequently.
ComputerMKII
Banned
Unity is unstable as hell. Unity 2D seems to be good though.
Eaten By A Grue
Member
I put on Ubuntu on my laptop and I am having two issues with the trackpad. Mouse is very sluggish and freezes like every 2 minutes for 10 seconds then resumes like normal. I usually install Synaptic drivers when I use Windows. It appears there is a linux version maintained by a group of people. Anyone ever use it before?
I agree with this. Also, just the feeling of being in actual control of your computer and knowing exactly what's going on with it is reassuring. I'm in control of what I can or cannot do on my computer, what should or should not be running etc, not the OS. Ubuntu or other beginner distros might not give you this feeling in the beginning but as you get to learn how the distro does things and how things are connected, you understand your computer on a whole different level compared to other OSes.
I'll do that last sentence first. I don't really use office applications, but you could probably do most of the things you want in libreoffice. Dropbox has linux version. And google talk doesn't have a client, but most clients support google talk's protocol. I know empathy (which is Ubuntu's default now?) supports it.
As for why I prefer Linux, it's two things.
1) Software management: The registry in Windows is borderline retarded. I find the use of the package managers in Linux distros to be much easier and less prone to breaking.
2) Workflow. With the way I use to computers, just having one desktop is really really hard. On average, I have about 6 or so active workspaces. I never have to minimize anything.
GameplayWhore
Member
I have a rolling release, which basically means that it doesn't use version numbers -- you just install it once and then it upgrades as it goes.
However, I never, ever had to wipe my files for either a version update of a Linux distro or even a complete change between various Linux or BSD based operating systems. They recommend that you back up because you're supposed to back up your files normally, and because it's entirely possible to screw up you install via human error -- for example, accidentally clicking "Install" instead of "Upgrade".
GameplayWhore
Member
There's a vastly higher level of easy customization. For example:
My system panel is on the lower-left corner of my desktop, fattish and only reaching halfway up the screen because I put my IM program above it. My systray is set to be five icons wide, so it only takes a couple rows. I have a readout of remaining space in all my volumes embedded into the panel, and I set the time to display seconds, even though that should seem pretty annoying to most. The "taskbar" part of the panel is very small and only shows minimized apps. I almost never need or use it.
I group similar windows as tabs in the title bar, for apps that are semantically similar but either don't have tab support or can't display enough simultaneous tabs for my need. I have six desktops (three across, two down), and I move between them by (A) rolling the mouse wheel on the desktop, (B) holding down the Win key and pressing any of the Insert/Delete/Home/End/PageUp/Pagedown, (C) Win + Up/Down/Left/Right to move among them in a more spatial way, or (D) setting up a mouse pointer hotzone in the upper-left corner of my desktop which zooms out so you can see all the desktops and click into the one you want to visit. I also have something similar to the OS X Exposé in the two corners on the right side of the desktop -- one that shows all windows, the other that shows windows in the current desktop.
The desktop remembers all the apps that I had running when I logged off. Thi s is a killer app. It remembers which desktops I had the individual windows running in. That way, I have a specific hotkey that always drops me off to where my email program is, and another to my web browsers, and so forth.
I have it set to move windows by holding the Alt key and click-dragging anywhere in the window. This is because I'm incredibly lazy and don't want to hunt down the title bar if I happen to have one hand on the mouse and one hand on the keyboard. I also have the right mouse button (again, with the Alt key) mapped to "resize". I put my "close window" button on the left side of the titlebar, because I got used to that in the Windows 3.1 days, and because it seems really dumb to put the close button right next to the maximize button. I also have a button on the titlebar that toggles a window's "always on top" flag, as well as one that toggles its "on all desktops" flag. Those are also remembered when I log off.
Ye gods, all these little things. Some of it I can replicate in a Windows environment. Many of them require third-party apps to be hunted down. The stock install doesn't let you do very much. Also, none of the virtual desktop apps really work very well (or, at least, they didn't when I last tried, and I've been told that they're still pretty bad).
--
Also, I like X11 forwarding with SSH and easy setup of SOCKS proxies. Half the stuff I do at work is either going through my home computer or actually running on my home computer. I'm sure this part is available on Windows nowadays, though.
There are probably other things. Truth be told, I'd be fine with giving up Linux as long as another operating system allowed me to similarly customize my desktop. That's why I've run FreeBSD in the past. It's just a little wonky when it comes to video drivers and such, I've found.
edit: Also, because the "Unix" style environment is so highly programming oriented, than you can do wonders on the command line. Like the analysis script that created this data using the bourne-again shell.
ComputerMKII
Banned
Evernote doesn't work with Wine... 
Whenever I try to connect, it says 'Could not connect to server'.
Whenever I try to connect, it says 'Could not connect to server'.
Thanks for the reply.
I'm completely new to Linux, so I'm a little "scared"of all this control that I'm given over the OS.
I just installed Ubuntu 11 on my PC and ran it for a few minutes. It's definitely something new and in a way, I do like some things that if offers.
But, because I am dependent on a lot of Windows related stuff, would having Ubuntu installed (as dual-boot) be worth it?
I can't really think of a reason right now, but I still have an itch to have it there :S
Also, would all the customizations you mentioned be possible if I have no working knowledge of the system and code?
For some reason, everything was a little blurry at the native res for my TV :S
GameplayWhore
Member
Fortunately for you, Ubuntu is out of the box one of the less configurable distros, as I understand it. Something about them knowing what the user wants.
Yeah, sure. We're not looking for converts. If it's just a fun thing to play with every now and then, that's totally fine.
Nothing I wrote requires anything more than right-clicking on lots of stuff. In the case of the "showing how much space is free on the panel" thing, it's a specific text-based widget that I happen to like that sometimes requires craziness to install.
I should note that I'm using a desktop environment that was specifically made for obscene levels of customization. It is less popular than the one that oft hides customization options from you (but still -- finally -- looks pretty).
Is it actually running at the right resolution? I've found that a blurry screen is usually caused by running at a lower resolution, and then the TV/monitor upsizes it without telling you. Ubuntu people, tell this person how to check what their resolution is!
Flying_Phoenix
Banned
So is Ubuntu 12.04 snappier than 11.10 or slower?
I just installed Ubunto 12.04. After using for a couple of hours, I don't think I want it.
Unfortunately, I allocated a 100GB partition to it.
How do I go about deleting it? I read somewhere that I can remove it through W7, but I would need to fix my boot via W7 install disk/usb (which I both misplaced T____T).
Unfortunately, I allocated a 100GB partition to it.
How do I go about deleting it? I read somewhere that I can remove it through W7, but I would need to fix my boot via W7 install disk/usb (which I both misplaced T____T).
It feels a bit faster, but still slow as fuck compared to Windows.
Unregistered007
Banned
does anyone know what Linux/Unix is used within ISPs
and how hard is it to learn?
and how hard is it to learn?
Tribes of Trusty
Member
A 100GB partition ?
Why would you even do that ? You know now the NTFS drivers are good, so you could directly save your files/downloads directly in your Windows partition...in fact that's what I've been doing for a couple of years.
I like my LTS Ubuntu installation on my netbook, but they fucked everything up with their Unity whatever. GNOME was good enough, why doing that ?
Hey LinuxGAF, I may need a Linux-USB stick (I'm going overseas and I don't think I'll bring my netbook with me), what distro should I install ? A good ol' Kubuntu or Xubuntu ? Or should I opt for Ubuntu an lightweight environment like Openbox ?
Yeah in hindsight, I probably should have done that or done 10gb...
w00pdiw00p
Banned
Office can be easily emulated with playonlinux. Even gives you straight shortcuts to the office applications, so that you won't even know that it is being emulated.
As for dropbox, there's a linux version available which can be used on the same folder as the windows client. And you can login on the Gtalk network with messengers such as Empathy (standard in Ubuntu) or Pidgin.
GameplayWhore
Member
If it has a drive letter once you boot into Windows, then click on the drive letter will ask if you want to format it.
Otherwise, Disk Management is the tool that you use to reformat partitions.
What about the boot? Ubuntu replaced it with grub.
GameplayWhore
Member
Do you have the Windows install disc? If so, then The utility listed here apparently does it easily.
If not, then you might have the option of just telling grub to just load directly into Windows without any delay. That involves a little typiness, and you'll have to ask some of the Ubuntu people here whether or not ormatting that partition will destroy grub in any way. I don't think it should, but boot loaders always seemed like mystical magical things to me, so I don't trust them to work in any logical or consistent fashion aside from making my OS go.
The 4GB partition is probably Swap space. Delete it, then create a new NTFS partition from the combined Free Space (or if possible expand your C: to include it, but I'm not sure that actually works).I was able to delete the partition and recover my MBR. But I can't seem to be able to reclaim my free space.
I have no idea what the 3.93GB partition is. I also can't seem to recover the free space (red circle).
Help please?
This is why I recommend people who just want to try Ubuntu out to install it in Windows, it can then be removed as any other installed program, leaving the computer in the exact same state it was in before
The 4GB partition is probably Swap space. Delete it, then create a new NTFS partition from the combined Free Space (or if possible expand your C: to include it, but I'm not sure that actually works).
This is why I recommend people who just want to try Ubuntu out to install it in Windows, it can then be removed as any other installed program, leaving the computer in the exact same state it was in before
0
I liked it at first on the Live CD, but ended up regretting it after using it for 10 hours :lolSo, delete 4GB partition. Combine the two free spaces as NTFS and then extend C?
EDIT: YAY! I DEED IT!
Thanks for the help!
Haha, well that's life for you0
Try to expand the C: partition when the other partition is still Free Space - if that doesn't work, then you'll have to keep it as a separate NTFS partition I guess.
GameplayWhore
Member
Oh, regarding media streaming servers, something I only remembered after trying to set it up the other day:
One of the reasons why I use samba instead of mediatomb is that my media is on a USB drive. The drive is not always turned on when the computer is booted up. Mediatomb insists that there is nothing present on the drive even after it's powered up! This is using "inotify" to tell mediatomb when the filesystem changes, but I guess that doesn't apply to this situation. It would seem that changing it to "scan every N minutes" might work, but that'd be a pretty annoying resource drain.
Samba, in comparison, only checks a directory or file when you're browsing. It seems much more convenient and efficient from where I'm sitting. Downside is that it doesn't transcode, but my devices are compatible with nearly anything, so that's not much of an issue.
One of the reasons why I use samba instead of mediatomb is that my media is on a USB drive. The drive is not always turned on when the computer is booted up. Mediatomb insists that there is nothing present on the drive even after it's powered up! This is using "inotify" to tell mediatomb when the filesystem changes, but I guess that doesn't apply to this situation. It would seem that changing it to "scan every N minutes" might work, but that'd be a pretty annoying resource drain.
Samba, in comparison, only checks a directory or file when you're browsing. It seems much more convenient and efficient from where I'm sitting. Downside is that it doesn't transcode, but my devices are compatible with nearly anything, so that's not much of an issue.
So I was just thinking today, kind of a spit of two Ubuntu questions regarding one thing, the Global Menu Bar up top:
1.) How long do you think until the global menu bar is transparent like the Unity launcher? I mean like a standard built-in option, not through tweaking.
2.) Do you all think the global menu bar is even necessary still? I feel like it's just out of place, and I rarely use it for anything but shutting my computer down or like checking the sound. I feel like it's not that useful, for something that's taking up that much screen real-estate.
I know number 2 is probably blasphemous to a lot of people, but I'm still curious on what you all think.
1.) How long do you think until the global menu bar is transparent like the Unity launcher? I mean like a standard built-in option, not through tweaking.
2.) Do you all think the global menu bar is even necessary still? I feel like it's just out of place, and I rarely use it for anything but shutting my computer down or like checking the sound. I feel like it's not that useful, for something that's taking up that much screen real-estate.
I know number 2 is probably blasphemous to a lot of people, but I'm still curious on what you all think.
Flying_Phoenix
Banned
I don't like the fact that Ubuntu is no longer how do I say this "custom". Prior to 11.04 Ubuntu was bare bones but you had to customize it the way you want it to get the experience you want. It felt much more personal and attached. Now with Unity and the like it feels much more closed. Is it just me?
I find menu bars gret as they are very snappy. However I would be open to new experiences.
That said. I really hope they try to get 12.04 glitch free as possible.
I've been having so many problems with 11.10 such as laptop not slipping at times when lid is closed, disappearing menu bars, and super slow Dash load times.
I find menu bars gret as they are very snappy. However I would be open to new experiences.
That said. I really hope they try to get 12.04 glitch free as possible.
I've been having so many problems with 11.10 such as laptop not slipping at times when lid is closed, disappearing menu bars, and super slow Dash load times.
Canonical has taken a giant leap from being the community focus distro they once claimed to be. From the outside looking in it seems like a move to stregthen the brand and separate it from everything else by forcing things down its users throats. The other thing is probably UI design which these days it seems mostly to be about "We know what you want regardless of what you think you want."
Flying_Phoenix
Banned
Yeah. If I don't gel well with 12.04 I think I'll switch to Arch.
Or, you could join us and switch to Gentoo
But I think it's kind of weird, taht you feel that way.
Ubuntu never really felt that bare-bones to me. It always felt like it was full of stuff.
But it does feel more "close", even though Unity itself is open source: https://launchpad.net/unity
But I think it's kind of weird, taht you feel that way.
Ubuntu never really felt that bare-bones to me. It always felt like it was full of stuff.
But it does feel more "close", even though Unity itself is open source: https://launchpad.net/unity
GameplayWhore
Member
I'm not familiar with it, but can't you just shrink this bar so it takes up only part of the top of the screen? Or can't you add gadgets/widgets/applets or whatever they're calling them this week to the bar so that it has more utility to it?
These'd better be options. I mean, this is Linux. Whole point of it is being able to customize things.
Also, can somebody give me a quick tutorial on the difference between a "global menu bar" and a "panel", (which is how the desktop environment controls and such are handled in KDE/GNOME/XFCE/LXDE typically)? (edit: Is it like the thing set default in OS X and as an option in KDE 3, where the menu bar for apps is at the top edge of the screen, mixed in with system options?)
Flying_Phoenix
Banned
Or, you could join us and switch to Gentoo
But I think it's kind of weird, taht you feel that way.
Ubuntu never really felt that bare-bones to me. It always felt like it was full of stuff.
But it does feel more "close", even though Unity itself is open source: https://launchpad.net/unity
But Unity isn't that customizable is it?
I like unity, although it's kind of sucky. I understand why most people don't like it though.
I just wish had more features... like minimizing by clicking the lenses, feedback when clicking the lenses,being able to change the colour and transparency of the panel, etc...
And the god awful font.. jeebus...
I just wish had more features... like minimizing by clicking the lenses, feedback when clicking the lenses,being able to change the colour and transparency of the panel, etc...
And the god awful font.. jeebus...
Having not used a release version of Unity, I wouldn't know, but I would say it's all of a matter of perspective.
Some parts of Ubuntu itself always felt not very customizable to me, though maybe that's just my impression.
But my impression is that Canonical was always trying to streamline things with Ubuntu.
EDIT: What I'm trying to say is, I have no clue because how customizable something is usually not clearly described.
The font... I actually kind of like it >///< I downloaded it for my system...
Does Ubuntu no longer allow you to change the font?
pr0cs
Member
Managed to get Audiogalaxy installed with WINE on Ubuntu last night. Took a while to figure out what I was doing wrong but thankfully figured it out.
I was expecting the scanning of songs to work faster since all the music AND audiogalaxy were running on the same machine but it's probably just a side effect of the Audiogalaxy software.
I was hoping there would be something similar for linux but nothing I found worked as seamless with my Android device as Audiogalaxy.
What do people use for backups on linux? I was thinking of trying out Back in Time: http://backintime.le-web.org/
I was expecting the scanning of songs to work faster since all the music AND audiogalaxy were running on the same machine but it's probably just a side effect of the Audiogalaxy software.
I was hoping there would be something similar for linux but nothing I found worked as seamless with my Android device as Audiogalaxy.
What do people use for backups on linux? I was thinking of trying out Back in Time: http://backintime.le-web.org/
GameplayWhore
Member
Dude up in Genetics has a newish Ubuntu install. I like the general interface (they stole all the right features of KDE, who stole all the right features of OS X), but I can tell that after a couple days of usage, I'd be frustrated as all get out with the inability to get things to work in a comfortable way.
crontab -e
Code:
0 21 * * * rsync -a --del /home/ /mnt/backup/home/rsync is a remote backing up tool built pretty much into all Linux, BSD and similar operating systems. It backs up everything the first time, and after that it backs up only the changes so that the subsequent backups happen faster. It doesn't do complex things like allowing you to check for things that were backed up X days ago but were deleted X-1 days ago, but most backup needs don't include that requirement, really.
edit: Oh, Back In Time is a front end to rsync.
You ever see the Roboto font in Unity? I rather liked it. In terms of shells, GNOME 3 is really the way to go.
I basically use a modified version of this:
http://www.mikerubel.org/computers/rsync_snapshots/#Extensions
It uses rsync to make rolling backups.
I just put it in etc/cron.d/cron.daily and make anacron run it daily.
I think I should use fcron though (seems to be a combination of anacron and vixie-cron?)
http://www.mikerubel.org/computers/rsync_snapshots/#Extensions
It uses rsync to make rolling backups.
I just put it in etc/cron.d/cron.daily and make anacron run it daily.
I think I should use fcron though (seems to be a combination of anacron and vixie-cron?)
GameplayWhore
Member
The only desktop environment that regularly goes out of its way to prevent users from customizing its interface to suit their needs is "the way to go"?
Hogwash. There's a reason why there are a bunch of DEs and WMs. None of them fit your description, because all of them cater to different use cases.
Haha, I was actually going to say something about that, but since I've already spent a page about how the Gnome developers seemed to hate options, I had decided to keep quiet XD
Why would someone need to customize GNOME 3? It's perfect!
To be fair though that is just my bias. Unity (like GNOME) seems to be a very polarized topic since 11.x was released.
GameplayWhore
Member
Why would someone need to customize GNOME 3? It's perfect!
To be fair though that is just my bias. Unity (like GNOME) seems to be a very polarized topic since 11.x was released.
Heh, my biases are strong and unpopular, so I always make a point of trying to let folk make up their own minds. I would not complain if they chose ratpoison, though. That takes spirit!
ThatObviousUser
ὠαἴÏÏιÏÏÎ¿Ï Ïαá¿Ï εἶ
Why would someone need to customize GNOME 3? It's perfect!
<3
ThatObviousUser
ὠαἴÏÏιÏÏÎ¿Ï Ïαá¿Ï εἶ
Yup, baked into the shell. Just Ctrl+Shift+Alt+R anywhere and when you're done a nice little WebM video will be waiting in your home directory. I'm 95% sure it does record audio too.
Only potential downside is it's locked at 15fps right now, but that isn't a big deal if you're not screencasting videos or games.
GameplayWhore
Member
But if you decided that there's another desktop recording app you prefer, they let you reassign the hotkey to use that, right?
ThatObviousUser
ὠαἴÏÏιÏÏÎ¿Ï Ïαá¿Ï εἶ
No idea, but there's nothing stopping you from using another screen recorder as normal.
You can assign custom keyboard shortcuts in GNOME, of course.
GameplayWhore
Member
I'm exceedingly happy to hear that. From the way some people talk about it, I was getting worried that things had changed more in the direction of the dev knowing what the user wants more than the user.
Well they've "removed" a lot of options that have been standard in most DE's since ever. "Removed" as in from the default control panel, everything can be changed through gconf and various frontends have appeared. Plus they have extension support and even a website set up to automatically install and uninstall them from web browsers. It's quite customisable if you want to. But in a standard set up, they are very much pushing their idea of a desktop environment.