Linux Distro Noob thread of Linux noobs

Suitcase Test said:
Oh. Mine did the same, but I solved it with this: http://news.softpedia.com/news/How-...ly-Plymouth-Logo-in-Ubuntu-10-04-140810.shtml
Click to expand...
Wow thanks. I though only kms graphics drivers were able to use plymouyh on higher resolutions!

I thought you typed "sudo install "name of app"" or something?
Click to expand...

sudo aptitude install app

but that is for installing the binary. The instructions aré to compile from source code. Nowadays is almost non existant for desktop users, as everything is provided on packages ready ro install with a double click.

Last time i compiled something was libimobiledevice and i did it because i needed to backup my iPhone.
 
I just remembered something which might also come in handy for newbies to get a better understanding of the differences between Linux & Windows. So this could be useful for people who are trying out Linux and are still in a Windows mindset, maybe expecting it to be a free substitute for Windows:

Linux is not Windows
 
Brettison said:
Hey thanks for that! It didn't really bother me, but I finally checked the link as I wasn't understanding what plymouth logo meant. Yet I was like oh yeah I have that exact issue. Instructions were easy to follow and boom it is fixed!
Click to expand...
You're welcome. It's much nicer now huh. :)

Flying_Phoenix said:
I thought you typed "sudo install "name of app"" or something?
Click to expand...
Yeah, that's if it's in the repositories.

A) It's in the repositories -> either use the Software Center for a GUI, or type "sudo apt-get install [x]" in the Terminal for the CLI way. Either way, it's only one button press to install.

B) It's not there -> you'll need to either fetch a deb (easy), run the program yourself from an archive (medium) or compile it ("hard", but especially if it goes wrong).

Hope that clarifies.

//Edit: oh, just saw the reply on this last page. :)
 
I figure we should all show off our Linux desktops! I know we have a desktop pic thread, but we can show off our Linux stuff here as well as there! I'll start us off! :D

Brettison's Linux Desktop: Ubuntu 10.04 (Native 1080p resized to 720p in Gimp for easier posting)
Ndesktop720.png
 
Sure, I love showing off my desktop :lol Click to see in its full 1440x900 glory.



Dock at the bottom is Docky, I'm using the Nautilus-elementary mod, a very simplified gedit and Guake as the terminal at the top. Also, a severely stripped upper panel, since I like keeping things minimal :) I got the background from this month's GAF background thread, I think. Also, for the record, my Windows' install is called Calvin.
 
Cronos said:
I just remembered something which might also come in handy for newbies to get a better understanding of the differences between Linux & Windows. So this could be useful for people who are trying out Linux and are still in a Windows mindset, maybe expecting it to be a free substitute for Windows:

Linux is not Windows
Click to expand...


Pretty good read. Will forward to a lot of people :D

And will post my desktop tomorrow. I am on windows now as I have to connect tomorro via terminal server to download the last episode of Lost. And that brings me to the next question:
Is it possible to use vnc server on top of compiz? With Karmic I couldn't as it was a known bug, so my only option was to ssh the machine and do everything via terminal but I don't think I would like to browse eztv with links :lol

Fake edit: Duuurrrrrr hurrrrr I'm an idiot. Ssh to the machine and just wget the goddam torrent from a direct link and pass it to rtorrent. Duh. :lol
 
Brettison said:
Hey Fireblend any reason you went with Banshee over Rhythmbox?
Click to expand...
Not particularly. I used to manage my iPod with it since I found it easier (and rhythmbox couldn't manage to add songs with their album art), but these days I admit it's difficult to come up with a definite reason for going through the trouble of installing Banshee when Rhythmbox comes with Ubuntu by default, specially since I got rid of my iPod. I do think it looks better though, with the album browser it comes with.
 
If you want 100% control over what's on your harddrive, Slackware is the best choice. But it will cost you time and headaches until everything is set up as you want it.

For everyone else I recommend Ubuntu or Linux Mint and Ubuntu-tweak.


I have used almost all the popular distros and that's my conclusion.

Crunchbang was also good when it was a Ubuntu spinoff. Don't know about now.

Arch Linux with kdemod is also nice, however Arch is a pain nowadays. Always managing to break something... Slackware in it's core is a much better choice, especially properly setup with http://gnomeslackbuild.org/ or similar.
 
Barkley's Justice said:
I actually compiled my first Linux program last night (MPlayer) and I have

A) No idea if it worked and
B) Can not find "where" it went
Click to expand...
Did it give any errors when running sudo make install?

B)
sudo updatedb
locate mplayer

Or just lauch it with mplayer -v to show what version do you have. Normally it should be on /usr/local/bin but it depends on the flags passed to it when compiling

why did you compiled mplayer though ?
 
Barkley's Justice said:
I actually compiled my first Linux program last night (MPlayer) and I have

A) No idea if it worked and
B) Can not find "where" it went
Click to expand...
Try opening a terminal and type "mplayer". Unless it didn't install due to an error it should work.
 
itxaka said:
Did it give any errors when running sudo make install?

B)
sudo updatedb
locate mplayer

Or just lauch it with mplayer -v to show what version do you have. Normally it should be on /usr/local/bin but it depends on the flags passed to it when compiling

why did you compiled mplayer though ?
Click to expand...

I figured he just wanted to try and compile something just to get to know how to do it and chose mplayer. I could be totally wrong though.
 
Love the wallpaper. Not sure if I'm a fan of the top panel being so large, but cool desktop!

Also I'd recommend BUM or the Boot-Up Manager for people running Ubuntu 10.04. It's akin to something like msconfig in windows. It allows you to see all your start up services and what levels they are running and stuff. Really helpful program!

BUM!
 
Hey Flying Phoenix, do you have a source for that desktop? I love it!

My Linux desktop is incredibly boring, I set both panels to auto-hide and don't use docky or anything jazzy like that. I like to keep it clean :\

Here is the image on it though > Ubuntu Wallpaper pack. I use the one without Ubuntu written on it.
 
Brettison said:
I gotta admit I actually didn't mind the preinstalled wallpaper that came with 10.04 this time around!
Click to expand...

yeh it's pretty slick, the only reason I changed it was becuase the gradients were a bit funky on my display for whatever reason. I didn't mind the orange and brown bird from the old distro either really, can't remember which number, probably 8.04?
 
deadbeef said:
Anyone have any advice for me? I tried to install Ubuntu 10.04 64-bit edition as a Virtual Machine inside VMWare Workstation 7.0 but when I go to the log in screen, it won't accept any keystrokes. If I right-click the password field on the log in page, my Input Method is set as System (IBus (Intelligent Input Bus)).

Help?
Click to expand...

I figured it out, nevermind.
 
Dropped crunchbang for Meego on my netbook, 1.0 was released the other day. Very happy so far, boots insanely fast, huge step up from when I tried Moblin last year which crashed all the time.
 
Milpool said:
Dropped crunchbang for Meego on my netbook, 1.0 was released the other day. Very happy so far, boots insanely fast, huge step up from when I tried Moblin last year which crashed all the time.
Click to expand...

Is this that much better than say the netbook remix of Ubuntu? How will this stack up against the Chrome OS?
 
Brettison said:
Is this that much better than say the netbook remix of Ubuntu?
Click to expand...

It depends I guess, I usually only use my netbook to quickly check things online so the quick start up is essential for me. Boots to a fully usable state in 15 seconds on my AAO, no SSD. The usb image is live so it's worth trying since it won't alter your system.
 
Can't really show off my desktop since there's basically nothing to show. The taskbar stays hidden almost always and I use gnome-do for everything, almost. (or Konsole. almost never open Dolphin)
 
I'm definitely a complete n00b to Linux, and I just installed Ubuntu onto a usb flash drive (live version). Wow, this looks great. I used to play around with some LInux distros including Ubuntu just to see what it was all about really, and I'm really impressed with Ubuntu right now (using it as I post).
 
Ubuntu is nice and all but it just doesn't feel that fully featured and it lags and eat a lot of the CPU power on my laptop (it's a dual core AMD, though old).

I'm buying a new netbook for school and really want something as feature pack and intuitive as Windows 7 or OS X in terms of GUI. What's my best choice?
 
Flying_Phoenix said:
Ubuntu is nice and all but it just doesn't feel that fully featured and it lags and eat a lot of the CPU power on my laptop (it's a dual core AMD, though old).

I'm buying a new netbook for school and really want something as feature pack and intuitive as Windows 7 or OS X in terms of GUI. What's my best choice?
Click to expand...

Just get a netbook with Windows then. It's cool! I'd get a laptop for school instead though. The keyboard can be a killer on a netbook for a ton of use. :P

I do wonder if you were just having an issue though as ubuntu + gnome shouldn't be killing any even slightly modern cpu. Also what do you mean by "fully featured" ??
 
So, I'm really close to pulling the trigger and installing Ubuntu 10.04 on my desktop. This desktop is currently Vista 32-bit despite my CPU being 64-bit. It is also infected with a virus that causes memory errors whenever Chrome starts, and I can't start Firefox at all. IE and Opera (what I'm using now) run fine, though. I can't get rid of the virus, and it's a nasty kind that will snatch my FTP passwords whenever I try to update my sites. Obviously, this is very crippling to my biggest hobby, web development.

About two to three weeks ago I installed Ubuntu 10.04 on my nearly-four year-old laptop after the many, many positive reviews it got. I've been happy with it, but obviously, the experience is a little sluggish, and I'm working off limited RAM and HDD space. Also, Wi-Fi doesn't work (uses a Broadcom Wireless PCI-Express card.) Even still, I'm using it to dip my toes into the Linux world and I like what my wriggling little toes are feeling. I'm using this laptop to post this post (through Ethernet.)

Now, what I need advice on is this: About ten months ago I got a free copy of Windows 7 Professional 64-bit through my college. It's been sitting as an ISO on my desktop harddrive since then. I never installed it because I didn't have an external HDD to transfer my stuff. However, thanks to installing Dropbox two months ago, all my non-video files are now synced. I'm still trying to find a way to transfer a limited amount of my videos, any advice/tips would be appreciated.

So my conundrum is this: I've used and loved Windows my whole life, and 7 is the best version of it yet. I also have it for free when others have to pay for it, and I know it has compatibility with almost any program I could potentially want in the future, although that's not an issue right now.

On the other hand, you all on GAF know me as this big OSS freak. :lol And I do want to start browsing (and eventually, hopefully contributing) to the Chromium, Chromium OS, and Android source code projects, which are only possible on Linux, and smoothestly on Ubuntu. However, while I like what I've used on my laptop, there's always the voice that says the amount of programs on Linux won't support me. Then again, Valve announcing Linux support for Steam swayed me back again.

So, any advice? A way to backup some of my videos (10 GB would be enough, although my current collection is 55 GB) without resorting to buying more hardware would be great. Have any of you had any instances where the Linux community has a whole that Windows could have filled? I guess I need some stories of people transitioning from Windows to Linux like I want to.
 
Brettison said:
Just get a netbook with Windows then. It's cool! I'd get a laptop for school instead though. The keyboard can be a killer on a netbook for a ton of use. :P

I do wonder if you were just having an issue though as ubuntu + gnome shouldn't be killing any even slightly modern cpu. Also what do you mean by "fully featured" ??
Click to expand...

A laptop would be too expensive and I'm only going to use it for very lite use. Only word processing and online posting.

Keyboard size is important but a 92% sized one should be enough. I'm interested in the HP Mini series.
 
Andrex said:
Story.
Click to expand...
So, why don't you want to dual-boot? Is it a case of too little HDD space or something?

I've been dual-booting Windows 7 and Ubuntu for a while now. I still like Ubuntu better so that's where I often work. I boot Windows 7 for games and CS4.

It used to be pretty awkward, but now I use Dropbox to sync files, Weave to sync Firefox, many of the same apps on the two OS's (Firefox, VLC, GIMP, OOo and hopefully soon Steam) and a spare NTFS partition to store files used on both systems. All of these make dual-booting effortless. :)

If I were you, provided you have the HDD space, I'd use Ubuntu for all your main stuff (web development, etc). Then just install W7 next to it, for games and the possible Windows-only apps you really need (so basically the same as what I'm doing).

//Edit: wait, I read it again. So I guess your issue is that you don't know which OS to use as your "main" system? I'm afraid that only you can answer that one. For me personally, Ubuntu fits my workflow better I guess. But hell, these are two great OS's, so with most things either one would be a good choice. Whatever you prefer depends on the little things (for instance, having an Always On Top function and the ease of installing/updating apps sways me to Ubuntu).

I'm not sure about those video files. Could you explain it a little more?
 
Suitcase Test said:
So, why don't you want to dual-boot? Is it a case of too little HDD space or something?

I've been dual-booting Windows 7 and Ubuntu for a while now. I still like Ubuntu better so that's where I often work. I boot Windows 7 for games and CS4.

It used to be pretty awkward, but now I use Dropbox to sync files, Weave to sync Firefox, many of the same apps on the two OS's (Firefox, VLC, GIMP, OOo and hopefully soon Steam) and a spare NTFS partition to store files used on both systems. All of these make dual-booting effortless. :)

If I were you, provided you have the HDD space, I'd use Ubuntu for all your main stuff (web development, etc). Then just install W7 next to it, for games and the possible Windows-only apps you really need (so basically the same as what I'm doing).
Click to expand...

Dual booting is a good idea. And Dropbox has selective sync now so I could use that to sync settings between programs, etc. I don't *really* play that many PC games, but eventually I would like to finish Bioshock.

Can you speak about the quality of WINE?

Suitcase Test said:
//Edit: wait, I read it again. So I guess your issue is that you don't know which OS to use as your "main" system? I'm afraid that only you can answer that one. For me personally, Ubuntu fits my workflow better I guess. But hell, these are two great OS's, so with most things either one would be a good choice. Whatever you prefer depends on the little things (for instance, having an Always On Top function and the ease of installing/updating apps sways me to Ubuntu).
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's basically what I was asking. I've really just done a little bit of updating apps and you're right, it's tons easier. And the Ubuntu Software Center is really, really, good.

Though I installed a couple programs and can't find them through the Applications menu...

Suitcase Test said:
I'm not sure about those video files. Could you explain it a little more?
Click to expand...

Well, I have a couple videos I don't want lost when I install the OS's. I suppose I could just upgrade Dropbox.
 
Andrex said:
Can you speak about the quality of WINE?
Click to expand...
If it works, then it's great (even tray icons integrate nicely). But if it doesn't, you're usually out of luck. Check the WINE AppDB first to see how an app works in WINE.

They've made great strides the last years. Some app developers (like uTorrent, or Spotify) even recommend using WINE to install their non-Linux apps.

But games are usually harder to get working... I'd say: try and see how far you get.

Andrex said:
Yeah, that's basically what I was asking. I've really just done a little bit of updating apps and you're right, it's tons easier. And the Ubuntu Software Center is really, really, good.

Though I installed a couple programs and can't find them through the Applications menu...
Click to expand...
If you want, you could name them here. I know a few apps that behave awkwardly and put themselves in the System menu or whatnot. Or maybe they're command line apps without a GUI?

Andrex said:
Well, I have a couple videos I don't want lost when I install the OS's. I suppose I could just upgrade Dropbox.
Click to expand...
Yeah, either an external HDD/syncing service, or just installing 1 system -> moving videos to that OS -> installing second system.

As I said, I use a spare partition myself. Ubuntu can read from Windows easily, but Windows doesn't read Linux filesystems. Thus, I made a spare NTFS partition to store most of my files so I can access them from both sides.

//Edit: the easiest way to dual-boot if to install Windows first, then Ubuntu. This is because when Windows installs, it throws away the bootloader, so you can only boot Windows. Also, why the hell doesn't the Windows installer disc have basic partitioning software?! Sigh.
 
It's been years since I've messed around with Linux.. Probably about 7ish years. But my recent BF is kind of a linux elitist and has been bugging me that I should try it again so thanks to this thread, used wubi to install Ubuntu. Not too bad so far but I need to sit down and get things working on it how I like before I try using it a little more regularly.
 
Suitcase Test said:
If it works, then it's great (even tray icons integrate nicely). But if it doesn't, you're usually out of luck. Check the WINE AppDB first to see how an app works in WINE.

They've made great strides the last years. Some app developers (like uTorrent, or Spotify) even recommend using WINE to install their non-Linux apps.

But games are usually harder to get working... I'd say: try and see how far you get.
Click to expand...

Coolio.

Suitcase Test said:
If you want, you could name them here. I know a few apps that behave awkwardly and put themselves in the System menu or whatnot. Or maybe they're command line apps without a GUI?
Click to expand...

Nah, they were GUI programs. Give me a bit to find them/remember.

Suitcase Test said:
Yeah, either an external HDD/syncing service, or just installing 1 system -> moving videos to that OS -> installing second system.

As I said, I use a spare partition myself. Ubuntu can read from Windows easily, but Windows doesn't read Linux filesystems. Thus, I made a spare NTFS partition to store most of my files so I can access them from both sides.

//Edit: the easiest way to dual-boot if to install Windows first, then Ubuntu. This is because when Windows installs, it throws away the bootloader, so you can only boot Windows. Also, why the hell doesn't the Windows installer disc have basic partitioning software?! Sigh.
Click to expand...

I'd like to have as few partitions as possible.

Why install Windows first? Wouldn't it throwing away the bootloader be a bad thing? Also, how would I create a second partition for Ubuntu when (I believe) Windows takes over a whole one for itself? A very simplified overview of how to do the two would be appreciated.
 
Andrex said:
I'd like to have as few partitions as possible.
Click to expand...
In that case, you could make a big Windows partition to store both the OS and all of your data/files. Then make a smaller Ubuntu partition, just for Ubuntu. That way you can still read your data from both OS's.

Andrex said:
Why install Windows first? Wouldn't it throwing away the bootloader be a bad thing? Also, how would I create a second partition for Ubuntu when (I believe) Windows takes over a whole one for itself? A very simplified overview of how to do the two would be appreciated.
Click to expand...
Well, by throwing away the bootloader I meant that it sort of resets it, not showing any of the other OS's on your PC. Instead, it boots straight to Windows. An Ubuntu install will install GRUB and configure it to show all the OS's. So if it finds Windows, it creates a Windows option.

So if you install Windows first, it makes a bootloader for itself and uses an entire partition. Then, you install Ubuntu, which adds both itself and Windows to the bootloader and also configures the partition to take as much space for Ubuntu as you wanted it to.

If you would do it the other way around, you'd have to make a new partition first, then install Windows in that empty partition, then edit the bootloader to also show Ubuntu.

In short, Ubuntu configures everything for you, so you should install that one the last and let it do the hard work. :)
 
Oh cool. I'll try that then. Not gonna use WUBI though, that gave me some CHKDSK errors a while back.
 
So I must have had selective blindness a few weeks ago, because I swore GIMP was the program that was giving me a hard time finding it in Applications. But I found it now! :lol

As for my videos situation, I've made the Video folder on shared to my Vista PC and I just copied all the video files I wanted there. :D It's in the process, now, gonna take a couple of hours since that PC is on Wi-Fi (and this one is on Ethernet.)

Anyways, thanks for all the advice. Will probably jump into Ubuntu fully tomorrow. :D
 
Andrex said:
So I must have had selective blindness a few weeks ago, because I swore GIMP was the program that was giving me a hard time finding it in Applications. But I found it now! :lol

As for my videos situation, I've made the Video folder on shared to my Vista PC and I just copied all the video files I wanted there. :D It's in the process, now, gonna take a couple of hours since that PC is on Wi-Fi (and this one is on Ethernet.)

Anyways, thanks for all the advice. Will probably jump into Ubuntu fully tomorrow. :D
Click to expand...
Nice.

I swear, that has happened to me too. There's something going on with GNOME's Application menu. I've had instances (although not in the last 2 releases) where I installed a program and it didn't appear until I did right-click -> edit menu and checked the checkbox again.

Really weird issue, so it may not have been your eyes. ;)
 
Nah, it was probably my eyes since I didn't need to do anything (except log back in?) :P
 
Update on my adventure in Linux-land...

So I took the advice and installed Windows 7 Pro 64-bit on my desktop PC. Then, I installed Ubuntu, however it was 32-bit as I had forgot it was the same disc I had used on my laptop. It was also given a criminally small partition, about 5 GB was available to me. This is because I had not foreseen that even in doing a "fresh install," Windows 7 migrated all my files and program files to "Windows.old."

Now, even though this was all fine, and dual-booted quite well, 5 GB was just not enough for me on Ubuntu. Even if I accepted that I was to use Windows 7 for my media from then on, 5 GB is just not enough to compile the source code of the projects I want to participate in.

So I go back. My hope was to expand the Ubuntu 32-bit partition after I had deleted most of Windows.old stuff, then install Ubuntu 64-bit over it. However, this was a bit too idealistic. I'm a bit inexperienced with partitions, so even after trying a few things, I decided to just wipe everything and install just Ubuntu 64-bit.

However, now it doesn't boot. The splash BIOS screen shows, then the screen flashes between being black and being off/power-saver. An underscore cursor can be seen in the upper left sometimes. After a while, it reverts to being on, but still completely black. Doesn't seem like my keyboard works, either.

Help? Should I just stick with the 32-bit version? The CD was running well enough....

Edit - Decided to wipe again and just install 32-bit. Works great, I only have 1 GB of RAM anyways but I was thinking about adding more soon, hence my fretting over the 64-bit version.

Anyways, it's been great so far, moving all my stuff over, Dropbox and whatnot, then tomorrow I'll set up Git and finally jump into that.

Tip to those migrating from Windows to Ubuntu: Install Microsoft TrueType core fonts from the repositories/Software Center, makes NeoGAF MUCH easier to read. :D
 
We need a separate list/categorization for Netbooks.

MeeGo
Jolicloud
Ubuntu Netbook Remix
Easy Peasy
Chrome OS
 
So Linux crew. What are your thoughts on Gnome 3? Supposedly they are getting rid of the taskbar and going with this crazy group idea.
 
claviertekky said:
We need a separate list/categorization for Netbooks.

MeeGo
Jolicloud
Ubuntu Netbook Remix
Easy Peasy
Chrome OS
Click to expand...

Hoping to buy a Chrome OS device later this year. Doesn't matter to me if it's a tablet or netbook, just hoping it has optional 3G.
 
I'm still not sold on Chrome OS, but only because I feel like even if it's just a netbook there are programs I'll want that won't just be web apps persay.
 
Brettison said:
I'm still not sold on Chrome OS, but only because I feel like even if it's just a netbook there are programs I'll want that won't just be web apps persay.
Click to expand...

I kinda feel the same, way, but in moving to Ubuntu I realized there are very few desktop apps I use anyways. I mean, I do need some desktop programs (IDEs, FTP client, audio editor) but I'll run them on my desktop PC when I need to use them.

The benefits of Chrome OS outweigh the losses for me personally. I've been stuck on a slow, old laptop for a while and even using Linux on it, it's still slow when all I have done on it for the past two years is browse the web. Chrome's security and super-fast boot time cancel out the limited use of non-browser programs in my view. Throw 3G into the hardware and I'm set to go for a long, long time - I don't foresee Chrome OS devices breaking down easily (if ever, software-wise.) I mean, you never need to worry about updates, or security, or cleaning out your programs, etc. It's practically perfect for parents and grandparents. :lol And that simplicity of just providing an open portal to the web is very attractive for me.

Just having the web is a two-edged sword, that does have a downside, but also an upside that a lot of people seem to miss, I think.

But every one is different and should get the OS that suits their own needs.
 
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