ThatObviousUser
ὠαἴÏÏιÏÏÎ¿Ï Ïαá¿Ï εἶ
Be careful with Chromium OS, I've tried it on three (Dell) laptops and none of them had wireless working. Which is, uh, kinda important. 
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Linux Distro Noob thread of Linux noobs
- Thread starter Flying_Phoenix
- Start date
I tried the old Jupiter builds and those things sucked. Hard. The new Luna builds seem really promising based on the youtube videos that I've seen so far.
First time poster here. I'm currently running Windows 7 Starter Edition on my netbook and it's gotten to be really bad at doing heavy internet browsing or watching flash videos above 240p. I'm considering installing a distro of Linux onto it, but I'm not sure what'd be the easiest/fastest for my shitty netbook. I'd also like to keep Windows 7 SE on my netbook to sync with my Windows Phone if it's possible. I'm not sure if that would entail me creating a new partition or not, and I'm not sure how to go about doing that.
I'm such a noob at this. Can someone help?
I'm such a noob at this. Can someone help?
I'm no expert on lightweight stuff, but here's a few options:
Xubuntu runs XFCE which is a nice, friendly and light environment. I liked it a lot a few years ago. It uses Ubuntu as a base which means tons of packages and users which can help troubleshooting. Since the regular Ubuntu version might be too heavy for a netbook I'd recommend this.
http://xubuntu.org/
Then there's even lighter stuff like Lubuntu, running LXDE - I haven't used it but it's supposedly more advanced and might not be as friendly. Again, Ubuntu as a base.
http://lubuntu.net/
Moving away from Ubuntu-spins, I used Jolicloud on a crap netbook a few years ago, it worked fine but honestly I felt kind of limited in it's cloudy stuff. Might be worth checking out anyway.
http://www.jolicloud.com/
As for installing and partitioning, I believe all Ubuntu spinoffs can help you with that, you'll just need to pick the option to install it alongside Windows when it appears during the install. Then you can pick between the two on boot.
Edit: There's some more information on this here: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WindowsDualBoot Although, to be honest I'm not 100% it applies to the Xubuntu install as well, but you should notice that on install.
I would recommend Xubuntu for you because I don't think Lubuntu is an official Ubuntu distro. Actually maybe Xubuntu isn't anymore either, but at least it used to be. XFCE is a really nice DE which is lightweight and easy to use. I use LXDE on my netbook but as mentioned it's a little harder to use for a beginner, though not really. But start with XFCE and then you can just install LXDE on Xubuntu and select it on the login screen if you want to try it. LXDE is so small anyway that it won't add any bloat to install it.
If it's flash you're tired of though then I'm not sure how well Linux will serve you because the version of flash for linux kinda sucks. Even my C2D laptop can't play HD youtube videos smoothly most of the time. Especially in full screen.
But I'm sure it will allow your netbook to play videos larger than 240p. My atom netbook can easily play 480p videos mostly. Not so much HD videos but I'm sure you didn't expect that. Though it can play HD videos if I download them first and play them in MPlayer or VLC. But it's only a 1024x600 monitor anyway.
If it's flash you're tired of though then I'm not sure how well Linux will serve you because the version of flash for linux kinda sucks. Even my C2D laptop can't play HD youtube videos smoothly most of the time. Especially in full screen.
But I'm sure it will allow your netbook to play videos larger than 240p. My atom netbook can easily play 480p videos mostly. Not so much HD videos but I'm sure you didn't expect that. Though it can play HD videos if I download them first and play them in MPlayer or VLC. But it's only a 1024x600 monitor anyway.
Vanillalite
Ask me about the GAF Notebook
Still two thumbs up for the Ubuntu 12.10 beta from me!!
Hey guys I have an quite weird mission from my father:
My father wants me to extract a few graphs from PDF into an excel type program (libreoffice calc), however I have no idea how to do it. He knows its possible because a friend of his has done it a few years ago. However re-typing everything is out of the question because its way too much.
My father wants me to extract a few graphs from PDF into an excel type program (libreoffice calc), however I have no idea how to do it. He knows its possible because a friend of his has done it a few years ago. However re-typing everything is out of the question because its way too much.
archnemesis
Member
Extracting the graph images is easy. Either take a screenshot with the Print Scrn button or use the screenshot tool in Adobe Reader. On the other hand, I've never heard of a tool that allows you to extract the data points straight into a spreadsheet.
If you're talking about paragraphs you can simple highlight the text, right-click and select copy.
If you're talking about paragraphs you can simple highlight the text, right-click and select copy.
libreoffice has the ability to import PDFs with the use of an extension, though it comes pre-installed apparently. https://www.libreoffice.org/features/extensions/
If not, see if it's available from your distros package repositories.
If not, see if it's available from your distros package repositories.
Vanillalite
Ask me about the GAF Notebook
We should have a show off your Linux Desktop picture thing again! I'll post mine later when I get back to it at the casa!
ThatObviousUser
ὠαἴÏÏιÏÏÎ¿Ï Ïαá¿Ï εἶ
ThatObviousUser
ὠαἴÏÏιÏÏÎ¿Ï Ïαá¿Ï εἶ
Is that Awesome?
i3. http://i3wm.org/
It's like awesome.
Configuration is just a plain text file, not a lua script.
It also behaves a bit differently when it comes to layout.
ThatObviousUser
ὠαἴÏÏιÏÏÎ¿Ï Ïαá¿Ï εἶ
Can you make it pretty? :3
Why does every tiling WM use the same ugly low-res monospace font? At least use Consolas or something.
Why does every tiling WM use the same ugly low-res monospace font? At least use Consolas or something.
You can choose your font in most of them.
I chose this font because I was having difficulty choosing one that supported Japanese characters.
i3 doesn't support ttf, which is what most of my Japanese capable fonts are.
ThatObviousUser
ὠαἴÏÏιÏÏÎ¿Ï Ïαá¿Ï εἶ
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/12/09/22/1319216/ubuntu-will-now-have-amazon-ads-pre-installed/
Welp, Ubuntu had a good run.
Come on Gnome OS!
Welp, Ubuntu had a good run.
Come on Gnome OS!
Going on year three of using awesome. Considering how weird it felt the first time I used it I'm surprised how attached I've grown to it.
It was only a matter of time. Replacing affiliate links was just the first sign that they'd be doing this sort of monetization in the future. I'm curious to see if the derivatives strip it by default or leave it in.
I'm sure Canonical has a contract for it across all.
Going on year three of using awesome. Considering how weird it felt the first time I used it I'm surprised how attached I've grown to it.
It was only a matter of time. Replacing affiliate links was just the first sign that they'd be doing this sort of monetization in the future. I'm curious to see if the derivatives strip it by default or leave it in.
wsoxfan1214
Banned
Be careful with Chromium OS, I've tried it on three (Dell) laptops and none of them had wireless working. Which is, uh, kinda important.
Runs fine for me. Just ran a build made elsewhere that Google's suggested before.
http://chromeos.hexxeh.net/
If those don't work, try their Lime builds. I noticed them from some Google developer complimenting their work.
Anyways, does anyone have a few interesting distros I can try that aren't very common? I'd like to fool around with a few more interesting distros, and I have a spare laptop to try them on now. Haven't tried much, but I've used Android-x86, JoliOS, Ubuntu and UltimateOS before, as well as Chromium. Going to try gnome soon too.
Any other suggestions?
Gentoo and Arch aren't that 'common', I guess. Things that you can definitely fool around with.
You could also try fooling around with LFS, as well. (if that counts)
wsoxfan1214
Banned
I'll look into them. Arch sounds... Like a learning experience? Haha.
LFS I'll look at.
Any other suggestions?
Just two monitors. TwinView which I believe is xrandr?
I'm trying to think of other obscure distros but I can't come up with anything good. Arch is definitely a good start though, even though it's not really obscure inside the linux community. Chances are you'll like it so much you'll keep on using it until the end of time.
I'd recommend Enlisy, but it's not really active anymore and tons of packages are probably broken and outdated at this point. It was/is an interesting distro that took some of the best ideas from everything and combined them with its own installer, package manager and the InitNG init system (though it started to transition to systemd later on), which at the time was a very interesting and promising init system. It especially borrowed a lot of ideas from Arch. It wasn't based on any existing distro though, not even LFS. Documentation was never very good though, so you'd have to know your way around a Linux system before trying it.
Oh have you tried Slackware? It's far from obscure but it's definitely one of those distros you simply just have to try. That one is the definitive learning experience.
I'd recommend Enlisy, but it's not really active anymore and tons of packages are probably broken and outdated at this point. It was/is an interesting distro that took some of the best ideas from everything and combined them with its own installer, package manager and the InitNG init system (though it started to transition to systemd later on), which at the time was a very interesting and promising init system. It especially borrowed a lot of ideas from Arch. It wasn't based on any existing distro though, not even LFS. Documentation was never very good though, so you'd have to know your way around a Linux system before trying it.
Oh have you tried Slackware? It's far from obscure but it's definitely one of those distros you simply just have to try. That one is the definitive learning experience.
wsoxfan1214
Banned
I'm trying a bunch with with a program I found. Has SOOO many built in. Nice for trying them out.
It's here.
I'll try the ones you mentioned.
It's here.
I'll try the ones you mentioned.
Vanillalite
Ask me about the GAF Notebook
Late on this since I was the one that asked, but here it goes....
Desktop:
CR-48
HTC One X
Desktop:
CR-48
HTC One X
ThatObviousUser
ὠαἴÏÏιÏÏÎ¿Ï Ïαá¿Ï εἶ
Is that One X shot of the lock screen...? What's with the half circle?
Vanillalite
Ask me about the GAF Notebook
Lock screen. Pull up to open or pull an icon down into the circle to open directly to that app.
wsoxfan1214
Banned
Out of curiosity, does anyone use a DE or a window manager with a high DPI display.
For example, this laptop: http://techreport.com/review/23631/how-windows-8-scaling-fails-on-high-ppi-displays
Does any DE/window manager handle high DPI displays well?
Does that Xorg DPI setting handle things well? (I haven't actually set this variable in a long time, so I don't even remember what X uses it for.)
By "handle things well", I mean mostly things like scaling text, but not scaling other things. (Not even sure if that's always a good idea, either.)
For example, this laptop: http://techreport.com/review/23631/how-windows-8-scaling-fails-on-high-ppi-displays
Does any DE/window manager handle high DPI displays well?
Does that Xorg DPI setting handle things well? (I haven't actually set this variable in a long time, so I don't even remember what X uses it for.)
By "handle things well", I mean mostly things like scaling text, but not scaling other things. (Not even sure if that's always a good idea, either.)
wsoxfan1214
Banned
Alright. Question, and bare with my newness to this stuff. I currently have Windows 8 with nothing on it. I'm planning on just installing Linux over it, then installing other distros on partitions.
The questions I have are this, as I'm currently just booting from USB drives:
1) Which distro is best to start with? Fedora? Ubuntu?
2) How do I install to partitions? Whenever I end up getting to the custom install thing, it shows my partitions, but then I just get completely lost on what to do next.
3) When I do end up figuring out the partition thing, will GRUB handle the boot menu to choose the distro I want to boot to for me, or will I need to do something for them to all show up as options (a la the boot menu in Windows)?
If you guys have relevant links, that would work too.
Thanks!
The questions I have are this, as I'm currently just booting from USB drives:
1) Which distro is best to start with? Fedora? Ubuntu?
2) How do I install to partitions? Whenever I end up getting to the custom install thing, it shows my partitions, but then I just get completely lost on what to do next.
3) When I do end up figuring out the partition thing, will GRUB handle the boot menu to choose the distro I want to boot to for me, or will I need to do something for them to all show up as options (a la the boot menu in Windows)?
If you guys have relevant links, that would work too.
Thanks!
Some of this depends on your install media.
For partition-ing stuff, this will work with every media (through the terminal.)
http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/handbook-x86.xml?chap=4&part=1
I'm not sure if your computer uses UEFI or BIOS.
If it uses UEFI, you might want to look farther down that article for the section about parted instead of fidsk.
For the GRUB question, I think it depends on the distro. I think the ubuntu one, when you install GRUB, it runs something that actually looks for other OSs. Haven't used Ubuntu in a long time. (I'm guessing it uses os-prober)
Otherwise, you have to manually add the other OSs yourself.
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GRUB2#Dual-booting
Vanillalite
Ask me about the GAF Notebook
So I have a grub driver issue. I use a wireless mouse and keyboard combo from logitech on my dekstop, and I can't use my setup in grub. I can use it during bios boot up as well as once Ubuntu loads, but not in grub. It hasn't been an issue so far though.
Elfforkusu
Member
I've been on 1920x1200/1080 on 15 inch monitors with Xubuntu (experimenting with other WMs/distros) for the last 4 years, and in my experience high DPI on linux comes down to basically 3 things:
1) ability to easily change the system font sizes
2) ability to find/change to large window decorations so you can actually minimize/close/etc
3) a global zoom setting in your web browser
I never touch Xorg's DPI settings.
I think most of the mainstream WMs can handle that (obviously #3 isn't a WM thing, but it's vital so I throw it in anyway), though the Gnome 3 comments in this thread create some doubts about that one. Can't edit fonts? wtf?
You can edit your font size pretty easily in Gnome 3, it's basic functionality that's always been part of the control center.
If you want to tweak the actual font that's used you can also do that, but you do it using a program called gnome-tweak-tool. That's also pretty easy. People complain because they want that specific setting in the basic control center, while Gnome follows the example of Windows, Android, iOS and Mac and uses a standard font (while still making it pretty easy to use that setting in the tweak tool).
If you want to tweak the actual font that's used you can also do that, but you do it using a program called gnome-tweak-tool. That's also pretty easy. People complain because they want that specific setting in the basic control center, while Gnome follows the example of Windows, Android, iOS and Mac and uses a standard font (while still making it pretty easy to use that setting in the tweak tool).
wsoxfan1214
Banned
This is how I did it.
1) Reinstall windows. This creates a System and a Windows partition.
2) Created a 100 GB partition for sharing.
3) Created a 2 GB partition for swap space (this creates an extended partition)
4) Created 5 50GB paritions for the distros
5) Ran ubuntu from a bootable USB and clicked the Other option when installing. Installed GRUB to sda and then picked the 2 GB as my swap space and picked the partition for the system files.
6) Installed the others
7) went into ubuntu and ran sudo update-grub in the terminal
This installed all of them and put all of them plus windows in the GRUB menu.
Yea, I guess ubuntu has something to detect other OS's automatically.
Regardless, I'd be surprised if high-DPI settings aren't in the pipeline for Gnome. Just hope they show up sooner rather than later.
And speaking of Gnome, 3.6 is here. I'm waiting for the next Arch install media to arrive before bringing it onto my MBA, the newest kernels supposedly fix compatibility. Can't wait, workspace management in osx is crap.
Very inflexible, hehe. Well the basics are simple, go into an overview and create new desktops by clicking a button. But:
- Only single row.
- Non-dynamic creation.
- Can only move windows from active workspace. Also, no real keyboard shortcuts.
- Can rearrange desktops, although #1 is static - why?
- Some strange issues if running dual screens, can't remember specifics atm.
I guess they're quite small issues really, but coming from the very fluid management found in Linux managers with features like Expo, or Gnome Shell and whatnot it feels quite archaic. Like, apart from easier creation of workspaces I think whatever Gnome version was in Ubuntu 6.06 had better management if only thanks to keyboard shortcuts, but that might be my mind playing tricks.
Edit: One thing that is dynamic is that full-screen apps automatically get new and separate spaces, destroyed when going back. That works fine, the surroundings don't.
Edit 2: Honestly though I'm a bit nervous about the installation - it's a work laptop which although not crucial would be a bit of a deal to break. Gonna research restoration options and whatnot beforehand in case the bootloader breaks something serious somehow. Anybody have experience using the restoration partition to remove changes? Ie. is it a pre-bootloader thing that doesn't go away after installing GRUB2? Googling seems to say that and if so everything should be fine.
ThatObviousUser
ὠαἴÏÏιÏÏÎ¿Ï Ïαá¿Ï εἶ
Man, Gnome 3. Man.
I WANT 3.6 DAMNIT!
When will it be updated on Ubuntu Software Center, anyone know?
I WANT 3.6 DAMNIT!
When will it be updated on Ubuntu Software Center, anyone know?
ThatObviousUser
ὠαἴÏÏιÏÏÎ¿Ï Ïαá¿Ï εἶ
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH SNAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP
Adwaita Dark is INCLUDED BY DEFAULT in Gnome 3.6!
And it finally properly works with the Software Center! (and other things)
This has fricking made my day. I need 3.6 in my veins NOW. Hacking Adwaita Dark into 3.4 made things so pretty but was, obviously, a hack and didn't work right 100% of the time. But those screenshots in that link... OH MAN. Gnome 3 has finally arrived IMO. 3.6 is going to blow everyone's balls off.
Also, great overview vid of the improvements in Gnome 3.6 here.
Adwaita Dark is INCLUDED BY DEFAULT in Gnome 3.6!
And it finally properly works with the Software Center! (and other things)
This has fricking made my day. I need 3.6 in my veins NOW. Hacking Adwaita Dark into 3.4 made things so pretty but was, obviously, a hack and didn't work right 100% of the time. But those screenshots in that link... OH MAN. Gnome 3 has finally arrived IMO. 3.6 is going to blow everyone's balls off.
Also, great overview vid of the improvements in Gnome 3.6 here.
Vanillalite
Ask me about the GAF Notebook
You people and your dark themes. Dark theme for your desktop, your phone, your GAF browsing etc...
Light colored themes 4 Life!
Light colored themes 4 Life!
Man, Gnome 3. Man.
I WANT 3.6 DAMNIT!
When will it be updated on Ubuntu Software Center, anyone know?
It won't. You'll have to install "Ubuntu GNOME 12.10", also known as the ad-free version of Ubuntu.
ThatObviousUser
ὠαἴÏÏιÏÏÎ¿Ï Ïαá¿Ï εἶ
I wasn't always a dark theme fan, but I've come to believe it looks slightly classier. Before, I was a big fan of a white, spartan aesthetic (Google, hey-oh!) and dark themes didn't charm me much (mostly because most of them were terrible and/or "grungy/edgy"), but a well-done dark theme just looks a little more elegant IMO.
And blue on black is better than blue on white.
Tron taught me this.
It won't. You'll have to install "Ubuntu GNOME 12.10", also known as the ad-free version of Ubuntu.
Well 3.4 is there now, I just wonder how long it'll be til they update it.