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Linux Distro Noob thread of Linux noobs

M

Massa

Member
synt4x said:
Well alright, but it's still a weird decision in my opinion. Almost as weird as moving theme and font settings out of the System Settings into a separate application that doesn't come with the default installation and can't be reached from the System Settings once installed. And alacarte didn't come with my Gnome 3 installation either. I'm on Arch, maybe other distros do include those applications. But even so they don't feel very integrated with the rest of the desktop. I love the general design of Gnome 3 and Gnome-Shell and how it works, but some small things just bug me a bit.

Edit: i'm still on gnome 3.6 though. Perhaps I should try Gnome 3.8 before saying too much.
Click to expand...

I don't know if Alacarte is part of a default setup or not, but I remember the thinking being that applications should ship correct .desktop files and if they were broken (like the case here) then they had to be fixed instead of pushing that responsibility to the user via a Nautilus dialog. The Linux desktop traditionally has a lot of "unbreak me" solutions and Gnome usually tries to get rid of those, even if it can cause some pain for users in the meantime where things remain broken. The support for .desktop files though has gotten significantly better over the last few years, there was a time when each Linux distribution had its own menu system!

As for themes I think there are a few quite valid reasons why it's not part of the System Settings anymore and is only exposed to advanced users. The theme in Gnome 3 is significantly more advanced than the themes in 2; there are always new widgets and the themes can define a lot more about how the UI than before, so it takes significantly more work to make sure a theme is polished and up to date. Actually one of the reasons Ubuntu is now 6 months behind Gnome is so they can keep their own theme up to date, as each new version of GTK+ breaks it one way or another.

The other argument is that they want a stronger visual identity for Gnome 3, see for example how every other major UI (Android, iOS, Mac OS X, Windows) exposes themes only through third party extensions and it's up to users to go tinker with it. Personally I've always been a user of the default theme, so the trade of a much more polished default theme was worth it for me.
 
A

ash_ag

Member
opticalmace said:
What do you not like about it? After using it for a while I've found it to be quite nice. At least, on a modern computer (my laptop doesn't play so well now that they've removed Unity 2d).
Click to expand...

Try enabling llvmpipe rendering. :)
My laptop wears an old dual core with integrated graphics and this increased performance (and battery life) dramatically.

By the way, indeed, what's wrong with Unity? I feel like people are blaming Compiz's inefficiency and general bugginess on Unity. Sure, the latter is not perfect yet, but I think it's on a good road and evolving rather well. Compiz is indeed very bulky and rough -- clumsy animations, unneeded features, you name it. It worked for its intended purpose so far in that in comparison to other Window Managers at the time, it was more "modern" and fit.

That said, we do know a new, completely integrated Window Manager will come with Mir and Unity Next.
 
C

ComputerMKII

Banned
Computer said:
I've had a bad day with Linux. I reinstalled my system and I don't know what to do anymore.

  • Unity: Doesn't load at all after installing the proprietary drivers, all I have is the wallpaper
  • Cinnamon: Screenshots don't work as intended and Steam always crashes. Also I had a couple freezes
  • MATE: I won't use it without Compiz but it's impossible to set it up without breaking the whole desktop
  • Gnome Classic: See MATE
  • Gnome Shell: What the hell is this. Even if it has no bugs I will never use that unintuitive piece of shit.
  • KDE: See Gnome Shell

Also, I don't like my desktop being slow and I want to play some games so sticking to the open-source drivers is not an option. I'm sick of wasting my time so I'm considering buying a Mac in the future and, for the time being, I'll stick Windows and running Linux Mint from VirtualBox. I don't mind spending more for something that just works.
Click to expand...
I finally know what went wrong!

You will need to install linux-headers-generic beforehand, or the Panel won't show up after the restart.
Click to expand...
http://wiki.cchtml.com/index.php/Ubuntu_Quantal_Installation_Guide

I'm now back on Ubuntu, no need for Linux Mint or Cinnamon anymore.
 
D

dglavimans

Member
Thats quite nice. When i had ubuntu with amd 12.x i couldn"t play CSS on steam, now with 13.1 it runs perfect :D bright future for ubuntu amd steam i think. Really nice suprise
 
G

gokieks

Member
Apropos of nothing, but with the OS drive dying I moved my file server over to Ubuntu 12.04 LTS Server (now that ZFS on Linux has hit stable release), and by god, I'd forgotten just how much easier it is to do, well, basically anything on Ubuntu compared to FreeBSD (the need for ZFS support meant it was that or OpenSolaris). Initial configuration of OS+ SSH + ZFS + Samba + NFS, which takes about 40 minutes if that on Ubuntu, would be hours of updating/compiling ports on FreeBSD.

Trying to get NFS file sharing, especially with regards to permissions, to work properly across multiple OSes though is still infuriating. I eventually just used all_squash to map every client to the single user, which then broke rsync, which then caused me spend 6 hours trying to figure out how to fix it before giving up and just setting up an rsync server daemon on the file server for that purpose.
 
O

opticalmace

Member
ash_ag said:
Try enabling llvmpipe rendering. :)
My laptop wears an old dual core with integrated graphics and this increased performance (and battery life) dramatically.

By the way, indeed, what's wrong with Unity? I feel like people are blaming Compiz's inefficiency and general bugginess on Unity. Sure, the latter is not perfect yet, but I think it's on a good road and evolving rather well. Compiz is indeed very bulky and rough -- clumsy animations, unneeded features, you name it. It worked for its intended purpose so far in that in comparison to other Window Managers at the time, it was more "modern" and fit.

That said, we do know a new, completely integrated Window Manager will come with Mir and Unity Next.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip, I'll give it a shot!
 
M

Melhisedek

Member
Guys if I install latest daily build of Ubuntu, when the 13.04 hits... do I have to reinstall the whole thing or can it manage to update from daily build to full 13.04?
 
P

Polari

Member
Melhisedek said:
Guys if I install latest daily build of Ubuntu, when the 13.04 hits... do I have to reinstall the whole thing or can it manage to update from daily build to full 13.04?
Click to expand...

It should just update normally. You won't have to do anything but apply the updates when they pop-up.
 
V

Vanillalite

Ask me about the GAF Notebook
Melhisedek said:
Guys if I install latest daily build of Ubuntu, when the 13.04 hits... do I have to reinstall the whole thing or can it manage to update from daily build to full 13.04?
Click to expand...

Apply the daily updates and you'll always be on the latest daily as Polari said.
 
V

Vanillalite

Ask me about the GAF Notebook
Gnome 3 PPA just updated...

screenshotfrom2013-042ls40.png
Click to expand...

Now moved on from Gnome 3.7 RC to official Gnome 3.8 as you can see in the screenshot. It'll be interested to see as it was a rather big update if things are more stable for Ubuntu Gnome now.
 
K

KageZero

Member
Hello, have this weird problem with ubuntu. I posted it on ubuntu forum as well so i will just c/p it here, maybe someone had a similar problem.

Hello,
i just installed ubuntu 12.04 alongside my win 7 and i have big problems with it... Neither my mouse or touchpad are working. What i mean there is a mouse cursor at the login screen, but you can't move it and after it jumps to desktop even the cursor goes missing. I also tried it with other mouse but the effect is the same. Trackpad doesn't work... Tried disabling/enabling it but no effect. One more (maybe) important clue, my resolution is also somewhat lower (1024*768) i would say. On windows everything works fine.
Ah, and also when i boot ubuntu live (from usb key) everything is working fine, the mouse is fine just as it the resolution.
I googled for information but could't find anything and after that i even re-installed ubuntu but it's the same problems again.
My laptop is toshiba l850-18z(http://tech2.in.com/reviews/notebook...-review/318732)
Thanks in advance for help

EDIT:
eh just to add.... besides these problems everything else works fine. I can access terminal and all other application but i'm still a linux nooby so i just know the basic stuff with terminal and can't do too much with it...
Click to expand...
 
C

ComputerMKII

Banned
I ran into another problem: I realized Ubuntu was really laggy even after I'd installed the proprietary graphics drivers. It lagged so much it reminded me of my now dead netbook so something was definitely wrong.

I launched System Monitor and saw that I had constant 100% CPU usage. I spent a few minutes wondering how that could happen, then noticed only ONE FUCKING CORE was recognized by the OS.

I had to google 'Ubuntu AMD Phenom one core' to find a fix (disabling some power-saving feature in a Grub config file, then reboot). Now the OS finally works as intended.

I hope there will be a day when Linux 'just works'. For now, five minutes of using Linux is the best advertisement Apple could hope for.
 
M

Massa

Member
Computer said:
I ran into another problem: I realized Ubuntu was really laggy even after I'd installed the proprietary graphics drivers. It lagged so much it reminded me of my now dead netbook so something was definitely wrong.

I launched System Monitor and saw that I had constant 100% CPU usage. I spent a few minutes wondering how that could happen, then noticed only ONE FUCKING CORE was recognized by the OS.

I had to google 'Ubuntu AMD Phenom one core' to find a fix (disabling some power-saving feature in a Grub config file, then reboot). Now the OS finally works as intended.

I hope there will be a day when Linux 'just works'. For now, five minutes of using Linux is the best advertisement Apple could hope for.
Click to expand...

You wouldn't get past the boot screen with an Apple OS on that Phenom. Unfortunately if you want any OS to run well on your computer it needs to support your computer well.
 
V

Vanillalite

Ask me about the GAF Notebook
So I did my annual Windows reinstall this week. I keep it installed as a dual boot mainly for games or just in case. Man I swear installing Linux and getting a box fully up and running is so much easier than Windows, and I actually like Windows 7. Man though I feel like I get shit done way faster in Linux to get my setup the way I want it program wise.
 
A

Aleph

Member
Started using Fuduntu 2013.1 on my laptop. It's the first time I've used a non-Debian based distribution, but as it uses GNOME 2 it was quite easy to get used to. I always seem to have the same problem though: the FN brightness keys never work correctly (even on Ubuntu)
 
P

PandaL

Member
Brettison said:
So I did my annual Windows reinstall this week. I keep it installed as a dual boot mainly for games or just in case. Man I swear installing Linux and getting a box fully up and running is so much easier than Windows, and I actually like Windows 7. Man though I feel like I get shit done way faster in Linux to get my setup the way I want it program wise.
Click to expand...

Yes, I also used to think the same. The stuffs to do after installing windows takes plenty of time whereas, after installing a Linux distro, we just run the update manager and start using the OS.



Aleph said:
Started using Fuduntu 2013.1 on my laptop. It's the first time I've used a non-Debian based distribution, but as it uses GNOME 2 it was quite easy to get used to. I always seem to have the same problem though: the FN brightness keys never work correctly (even on Ubuntu)
Click to expand...

Hows fuduntu compared to ubuntu?



zoku88 said:
I think my neckbeard just grew a little. I am now using Mutt :-/
Click to expand...

lol
 
A

archnemesis

Member
I'm experiencing a barely audible static noise in my headphones. I'm pretty sure it's not a hardware related issue and I've checked all the common settings, like deactivating the microphone. I suspect it some issue with a driver. Has anyone else here experienced similar issues? Should I just try reinstalling all the audio related packages and see if that helps?

I'm using Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, GNOME Shell 3.4.1, the build-in audio on the HP 3048h motherboard, and a pair of AKG K240S headphones.
 
D

dglavimans

Member
Brettison said:
So I did my annual Windows reinstall this week. I keep it installed as a dual boot mainly for games or just in case. Man I swear installing Linux and getting a box fully up and running is so much easier than Windows, and I actually like Windows 7. Man though I feel like I get shit done way faster in Linux to get my setup the way I want it program wise.
Click to expand...
It is faster for sure. In my case it was:

- installing windows (30 minutes)
- installing drivers (20 minutes)
- installing updates (10 minutes)
Restart
-installing updates(what the fuck i just installed a bunch of updates..)
Restart again..
-installing your programs

Where ubuntu is:

-installing ubuntu (15 minutes tops, it really is fast)
- run update manager (10 minutes tops)
- installing amd newest driver (5 minutes really..)
- restart
- installing your programs

I just love how people say ubuntu is the more difficult OS of the two but ubuntu pick my hardware already in the installation process! I only want to update my graphics driver but that is not nessassary(spelled that wrong ?) too,
It just works out of the box.

Am i the only one who likes to see the commands when you update or install something? Feels like your beeing in controll of your os, lol
 
G

grumpy

Member
dglavimans said:
I just love how people say ubuntu is the more difficult OS of the two but ubuntu pick my hardware already in the installation process! I only want to update my graphics driver but that is not nessassary(spelled that wrong ?) too,
It just works out of the box.

Am i the only one who likes to see the commands when you update or install something? Feels like your beeing in controll of your os, lol
Click to expand...

I have installed Ubuntu on a number of different computers, each with a different type of processor/graphics chip/chipset and it always amazes me how a vanilla installation just works.

And yes, seeing the log when you install or update something makes you feel like an uber hacker or something :p
 
D

dglavimans

Member
grumpy said:
I have installed Ubuntu on a number of different computers, each with a different type of processor/graphics chip/chipset and it always amazes me how a vanilla installation just works.

And yes, seeing the log when you install or update something makes you feel like an uber hacker or something :p
Click to expand...
exactly haha!

It really is something that my say what.. 10 year old laptop got a second life since it runs xubuntu. Xp was too heavy for it and since my dad(who uses the laptop now) just browse around the web and opens a pdf every now and then it is perfect. The funny thing is the guy is not a geek, the complete opposite he is. Just got his first touchscreen phone and it was quite hard for him to learn.

But i started xubuntu and he just understands it, okay i do the updates for him but the browsing was just a click and go for him.
And that simplicity is quite rare in a free and open package. It is that windows is so well known over the years and comes with every pc made, but i think it isn"t the better os of the 2.

Another example. Someone i know got a windows laptop, their wifi card didn"t show up anymore. So she took it to me and after a hour i decided a new windows would help. It worked again but took me a good 2 hours. With ubuntu i never got a wifi card which randomly decides it is time to stop working.

A last example! Someone in my family passed away a year ago and he had a lot of photos on his pc. Ofcourse he had a password on his windows 7 machine. So the family tells me if i don"t get it back it is okay. I grabbed a ubuntu live cd and booted it up and there where his files and photos, it was so easy. (As a thank you the computer he had they gave to me and it now services as my main computer, with ubuntu ofcourse ;) )

And thats why i expect great things from ubuntu and i keep coming back to it, this time i hope to stay with it.
 
Q

qizah

Unconfirmed Member
Anyone know how to compile a program within Ubuntu? I used to know but I can't for the life of me remember and Google isn't helping. I used to code C++.
 
Z

zoku88

Member
you usually don't need sudo for calling make, unless you're compiling a kernel (which the code is usually in /usr/src/linux)

But anyway, assuming you have all of the dependencies, you usually need to do something like this:

Code: 
./configure
make [add -jN for parallel compilation]

But there's usually a README included with the source, though. So just read that.
 
T

ThatObviousUser

ὁ αἴσχιστος παῖς εἶ
Inline menu controls and close button coming to Gnome Shell apps.

music-albums-inline-x.png


sound-recorder_hi_res_recording.png


That second screenshot is of a new Gnome application, "Recorder." Here's another shot:

sound-recorder_hi_res_selected_track.png


Objectives

  • Simplify and modernize the interface.
  • Provide a straight-forward way to record and play previous records from the interface.
  • Handle the saving process automatically. No need to worry about accidentally discarding the previous recording
Click to expand...

So it's basically babby's first Audacity but still crucial functionality that should be there out of the box for most people.
 
P

Polari

Member
Looks funky as all hell. I guess the box there might be for touch users, but they should get rid and just have the icon.
 
T

ThatObviousUser

ὁ αἴσχιστος παῖς εἶ
Polari said:
Looks funky as all hell. I guess the box there might be for touch users, but they should get rid and just have the icon.
Click to expand...

Agreed, it does look funky. Thankfully these seem to just be mockups at this point.

Also, even though it might be a bit odd looking, I think it does solve a problem of "full screen/titlebar-less" Gnome apps (which don't have a close button at all when maximized right now.)
 
M

Massa

Member
GTK+ 3.10 will have client side decorations which means they can finally get rid of titlebars. This will be great.
 
T

ThatObviousUser

ὁ αἴσχιστος παῖς εἶ
Massa said:
GTK+ 3.10 will have client side decorations which means they can finally get rid of titlebars. This will be great.
Click to expand...

They've definitely been moving in that direction (maximized apps not having title bars.)
 
C

celebi23

Member
So, Linux-GAF, I need some help. I've been trying to install Ubuntu 12.04 LTS on a 2TB external USB HD and then boot my 2010 MacBook Pro from that. My external HD is formatted as a GUID partition table. I was able to install Ubuntu correctly, by connecting it to a VMWare virtual machine, and selecting the USB HD from the install process. I properly partitioned the drive: a swap partition of 8GB, then a 4MB partition for the GRUB and the rest for the main OS partition. I burned reEFIt (as a bootable cd), booted from the CD and the menu sees my external hd. I selected that and I get thrown into my Windows 8 partition. I'm all out of ideas as to why I can't boot from the external HD. Any help would be amazing. Thanks!
 
G

GameplayWhore

Member
HCG said:
So I wrote a guide on the list of apps for Linux. Feedback will be appreciated. Thanks.

http://linuxpanda.wordpress.com/201...ime-best-top-must-have-apps-for-ubuntu-linux/
Click to expand...

I guess it's not in big demand anymore, but "pan" is one of my killer apps for usenet binary downloading.

Additionally, I'm a little behind on evince -- it's apparently supposed to be at 3.8, but the version I just installed was only 3.4, so maybe it's substantially different now -- but I use okular and it has a few decidedly important features that I find incredibly helpful (in increasing order of interestingness to me)…
- You can directly type in zoom levels
- Keyboard shortcuts are configurable for nearly every action
- It seems to support more formats
- It supports iPad-style panning with the mouse
- Files can be opened directly over network protocols (like sftp and http)
- You can select a rectangular area then choose to copy into the clipboard either text or image data limited to that area
- It has a table selection tool that you can use to take a table in a document and easily convert it into a spreadsheet object in the clipboard (holy crap, just discovered this one)

Kudos for including pidgin. Back in the '90s, my holy grail of messaging was pretty much what this program eventually offered me (notably plain text logs and tabbed conversations).



If I think of anything else, I'll pass it along. :)
 
D

DrSlek

Member
Finally got around to installing Linux on my work PC. This being my first proper foray into Linux, I went with Ubuntu dual booting with Win7. I love that there's plenty of info out there for learners. Made changing the GRUB2 config to make Win7 the default OS was a breeze.

Also; loving the look of the Ubuntu phone OS.
 
S

sca2511

Member
Installed Fuduntu on my netbook, works great and detected all of the hardware on first install. Had detecting hardware problems with Mint and Puppy, so it's a relief to find something lightweight and just works.
 
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