Hi @bellgamin , When you get the time you might have a read through this thread I created here. Linux for beginners Enjoy your learning experience.
Typically inconsistent too. Devuan for instance will prompt for missing firmware during the install and load same when you feed it from an external source. No doubt other distros will do the same. TTOS on the other hand does not so you need a cable connection after install to connect and load the WiFi drivers. For me the simplest solution is to have a cheap D-Link USB adapter that works with pretty much everything. I use this at install and to download the updates after which the integrated card usually kicks in. Saves messing with cable connections since my router is on the other side of the house.
Devuan and Debian does not contain non-free firmware, even if firmware's license allows for it to be redistributable, but it is rare among Gnu/Linux distros. Usually if Wifi does not work in i.e. Ubuntu and it isn't newest gen hardware then it's probably some unsupported by mainline Linux kernel Wifi card. Historically MediaTek Wifi were unsupported or there were out-of-tree module on MediaTek website that only worked with specific kernel version meaning that you were stuck at specific version of Gnu/Linux distribution and couldn't upgrade even if reached end-of-life/end-of-support status. The best way to deal with it were to replace Wifi card by some actually supported Wifi card.
When I installed Debian 10 some months ago, my wifi was broken. I had to google to find and install the drivers required to get it to work. It was a bit of a painful process but it worked out in the end. So yes, the drivers weren't available in the updated repositories, but they were available elsewhere.
Whenever I installed Debian I always used the netinstall iso and just downloaded the latest iwlwifi.deb and placed that in the firmware folder on the install thumb drive. Worked great for my purposes....
Thanks Kerodo for the info. I seem to remember it found drivers for my adapter, but they didn't work. It was a long time ago, so I can't remember how the ordeal exactly unfolded. Anyway, I don't want to take over bellgamin's thread
It probably wasn't whole driver missing - just a non-free firmware. Debian has quite a strict stance on licenses in main repository. Sometimes it is much worse as it is the case with many MediaTek's chipset based Wifi cards.
I'm running Cinnamon and enjoying the learning experience so far. Only two related things concern me at this stage: 1- What is a good Linux Password Manager? (On windows I use KeePass & like it a lot) 2- What is the best/easiest way to move all of my passwords from Windows to Linux? (I have ~200 PWs, all of them 15 or more characters & random-generated by KeePass.) Any suggestions &/or comments will be greatly appreciated. Thanks, mate! I perused that excellent thread BEFORE I started this one. In fact, that thread was one of a just a few factors that got me interested in Linux.
I also use KeePass and love it. I am a Slackware user. KeePass requires that mono be installed on Linux. You distribution should fill that dependency when you install it. I am running the latest KeePass 2.46. I never paid attention to the number entries I have in KeePass until now. I have 208. One of the best things I like about KeePass is the ability to save password profiles. A must have feature in my opinion. On my Samsung phone I use Keepass2Android Password Safe
If you don't want to use Mono, you can try KeePassXC. There is also a Windows version. Later edit: I don't use any advanced facilities in KeePass, so it is a good idea to see if any of them that you want is missing in KeePassXC.
KeePassXC is the perfect choice for you as it can be run on Linux, Windows, and macOS - which are the three OS's you seem to be running. I'm glad you found Linux Mint Cinnamon as this is one of the best transitional distros to use.
==>QUESTION: Is there a Linux equivalent of Macrium Reflect? (I am persuaded that imaging software is THE most important security program. The absolute best protection against ransomeware or any other nasty stuff is to restore a clean image.) ==>QUESTION: Once I have downloaded a Distro & put it onto a USB stick, can that stick later be re-formatted & used again for something else? ==>Comment: The book I am using ("Linux in Easy Steps" by Mike McGrath, 2018, ISBN-10: 1840788089) is based on Linux Mint. It is grrrreat!!! I have noticed that there are lot of Linux tutorials online & some of them are excellent. A number of those tutorials (such as Linux Journey) purport to be for "beginners" yet they instead seem to be designed to quickly discourage beginners from using Linux at all. Namely, they all quickly launch into a detailed discussion of Linux commands & the terminal. As a result, the "beginner's" tutorial reads like a tutorial from back in the days of MS-DOS. A "home user beginner" wants to use Linux mostly to surf the net, to keep track of bills and money, & to write letters home to Aunt Fanny. Linux Journey (for example) seems written for a beginner, yes, but it's for a beginner who wants to become a system admin or IT or programmer -- NOT a simple, everyday home user. The book I am studying doesn't mention the terminal & commands until chapter 9, which is just right. Many of the online "beginner's tutorials" go into that stuff almost right from the first chapter. IMO, that approach is a major deterrent to many potential users of Linux. Thus far (from what I have experienced with Mint Cinnamon) many home users would never need the terminal at all. IMO, Cinnamon's GUI opens the gates to just about everything that many home users want from an OS. Am I missing something? @chrisretusn & @Nebulus & @longshots -- many thanks for the added info re KeePass. I'll probably opt for the XC version. By the way -- I now have to find out what computer "Mono" is. I always thought Mono was short for the kissing disease: mononucleosis.
@bellgamin I use Image for Windows to image Linux partions, and it works superbly for both imaging and restores. I have IFW installed on a USB drive, so I boot off that for Linux and even Windows imaging or restore purposes. I've never used Macrium Reflect, so I can't say if IFW is similar to it. Yes, you could re-format the USB drive later to use for other purposes. Edit I didn't bother mentioning free Clonezilla because it's not really a beginner-friendly imaging option, and of course it lacks features as mentioned in below post. Edit 2 Timeshift might be a viable option too, though it's for creating and restoring Linux snaphots, as opposed to a disk imaging option. https://linuxhint.com/timeshift_linux_mint_19_usb/
Yes, it's Clonezilla. It's reliable but limited in options: it only runs from live CD/USB no schedules no incremental/differential text based UI as far as I know it's the only imaging software for Linux.
TeraByte's IFL (Image for Linux) can be installed into Mint Cinnamon (and other distros). I'm using IFL in Mint 20. You can also copy an IFL UFD to an empty FAT32 HD partition and boot it from the BIOS Boot Menu. You don't necessarily need to use it from a UFD. Also, as wat0114 mentioned, you can use IFW from TBWinRE/PE boot media. Or you can also copy a TBWinRE/PE UFD to an empty FAT32 HD partition and boot it from the BIOS Boot Menu. You don't necessarily need to use it from a UFD.
Wow! The full picture. Thanks muchly to @wat0114 & @Joxx. Per Brian's comment, I shall go with IFL. In days of yore I used IFW -- & liked it -- but switched to R-Drive Image to try something new. I only cited Macrium Reflect as an example because it's the one most folks are familiar with.
I had a look at Keepass2 and KeepassXC. During the install, Keepass2 wants to download 7.7 MB of extra files and says 27.6 MB more disk space will be used. During the install, KeepassXC wants to download 780 MB of extra files and says 2.6 GB more disk space will be used. I like to keep my OS partition lean and mean. 2.6 GB more disk space? I've lost interest.
bellgamin, You can also use IFD or IFU with Linux systems depending on whether you have a MBR or UEFI system. But these apps are slower than IFL. IFL is the fastest imaging app.
These are mostly dependencies on other libraries such as QT. On Gnu/Linux these dependencies are shared across different programs, so installing KeePassXC on Gnu/Linux system that already have QT installed means download of circa 20 MB.