Linux for beginners

Discussion in 'all things UNIX' started by Krusty, Jul 2, 2016.

  1. Amanda

    Amanda Registered Member

    Joined:
    Aug 8, 2013
    Posts:
    2,115
    Location:
    Brasil
    LTS is a good option if the user wants real stability and security, with minimal effort. I'm kinda getting tired of re-compiling the same programs multiple times per week on Arch :argh: The Kernel, Xorg, Mesa, Steam.... I just want to patch them once, and run the system for at least 6 months (with the exception of the Kernel re-compilations, these I don't mind).

    Debian Jessie, openSUSE Leap, Ubuntu 16.04, Mint 18.... I'm looking right at ya! Come to papa ;)
     
  2. NormanF

    NormanF Registered Member

    Joined:
    Feb 20, 2009
    Posts:
    2,872
    I'm running a Linux Mint derivative I've never heard of - feren OS. It has the most beautiful Cinnamon desktop I've ever seen.

    IN VB, it runs without issue with 3D acceleration turned off. I can't even log in with 3D enabled because of xsession errors that keep the desktop from initializing.
     
  3. NormanF

    NormanF Registered Member

    Joined:
    Feb 20, 2009
    Posts:
    2,872
    In my opinion, go with a stable over a rolling distro. Fewer packages break and bugs eventually get fixed. Mrk doesn't like the regressions that come with Xenial, Sarah and Leap - but they do get fixed and the desktop settles in over time.

    You should upgrade from a stable to a stable release - meaning only from LTS to LTS.
     
  4. Amanda

    Amanda Registered Member

    Joined:
    Aug 8, 2013
    Posts:
    2,115
    Location:
    Brasil
    That's actually not what I experience. For example, the two bugs I need constant correction are in Linux/Xorg for quite some time now, and never got fixed.
    In addition, I've experienced far less issues running Arch for 3 years than running Debian Sid for 2 months :p Or Ubuntu LTS for 10 minutes. IMO, the ~36 Arch developers make a much better OS than thousands of Debian or Ubuntu developers ever will, the thing just will not break (and always has more up-to-date software than, say, Debian Sid). In fact, of the 5 bugs I encountered on Arch over these years, none were serious, and almost all of them were fixed on the same day. On Debian Jessie, however, there was a problem with an OpenCL library that prevented me from using my GPU to render scenes in Blender, and the package maintainer took two months to fix it, a problem that he introduced and didn't happen on Arch/openSUSE/Ubuntu. And when he finally fixed the OpenCL problem, he introduced another problem: he uploaded mismatched versions of fglrx-libgl (or whatever libgl Catalyst uses) and thus Steam couldn't be launched, and I used Steam to run Blender because it's always on the latest version (which not even Debian Sid has).

    Bug 1, making me re-compile the Kernel every 2 weeks: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/amarildojr/AMDGPU-Radeon-DPM/master/dpm.patch
    Bug 2, introduced in xorg-server several years ago and they never fixed: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/amarildojr/xorg/master/fix.patch

    Both exist in Debian Jessie, both were reported upstream, none was fixed. I think reporting bugs is kinda of a lotery: if you come first, your personal issue is fixed. But if the fix for your issue screws everybody else, they can't do anything.

    What I really like in Arch is that I just need to edit the PKGBUILD to add my patches and run "makepkg -s". It's really easy to create/edit/re-compile packages for it and it doesn't require too much thinking, only a few lines edited. I have custom packages for the Kernel, Mesa, Steam, even for the freaking linux-4.9 which won't be released in 4 months :p All by editing simple PKGBUILDS. If you see my Github repositories, the PKGBUILD's are almost exactly the same as the ones used in Arch, which shows how easy it is.
     
  5. summerheat

    summerheat Registered Member

    Joined:
    May 16, 2015
    Posts:
    2,199
    Why do you do that? Have you modified the PKGBUILDs?
     
  6. Amanda

    Amanda Registered Member

    Joined:
    Aug 8, 2013
    Posts:
    2,115
    Location:
    Brasil
    Yes, see my Github repository.

    I have/had to patch the Kernel because AMD developers put my card into the "quirk" list which makes my screen flicker.
    I have/had to patch Xorg because it's developers introduced a bug where the mouse wheel stops working with GoldSrc games.
    I have/had to modify Steam's PKGBUILD because it pulls Zenity by default, and it also pulls WEBKIT2GTK, which contains geoclue2.
    I was trying out patches for Mesa, because there's a very serious bug in OSS Linux drivers where TF2 causes a GPU lockup.

    Right now I'm back to Windows 10 Pro, the only Windows which supports my 16 GB of RAM. I also have a license for 7 Home Basic but I can only use 8 GB with it, so it's impractical for me.
     
  7. Krusty

    Krusty Registered Member

    Joined:
    Feb 3, 2012
    Posts:
    10,209
    Location:
    Among the gum trees
    I'm almost ready to revisit this on the same machine.

    #4129

    Preferably, I'm looking for a low resource distros for a low specced machine for someone used to Windows.

    What would be the best 2018 options?

    Thanks.
     
  8. zapjb

    zapjb Registered Member

    Joined:
    Nov 15, 2005
    Posts:
    5,554
    Location:
    USA still the best. But barely.
    I say go to Distrowatch use the search for a distro feature. Try a few distros you're cheating yourself if you only try one or two distros. Get used to burning, booting & setting up different distros. Don't let others decide for you.
     
  9. Krusty

    Krusty Registered Member

    Joined:
    Feb 3, 2012
    Posts:
    10,209
    Location:
    Among the gum trees
    Hmm, I'm lazy and that sounds like a lot of work. I get your point though. That does makes sense.
     
  10. The Seeker

    The Seeker Registered Member

    Joined:
    Oct 24, 2005
    Posts:
    1,338
    Location:
    Adelaide
    Kubuntu. The Plasma desktop is very nice and surprisingly light.

    Screenshot_20180601_213359.png
     
  11. Krusty

    Krusty Registered Member

    Joined:
    Feb 3, 2012
    Posts:
    10,209
    Location:
    Among the gum trees
    Thanks Mr (?) Seeker. Will check that one out too.
     
  12. SnowWalker

    SnowWalker Registered Member

    Joined:
    Apr 2, 2012
    Posts:
    287
    Location:
    USA
    Coming from Windows, I found Mint and MX Linux to be great. Mint, especially the Cinnamon that I used, is considered heavier. Still seemed extremely light compared to Windows. MX Linux is the distro I've settled on (at least for now I see no reason to look further), is lighter than Mint although they call it a "midweight" OS. I would guess you'd have to have somewhat less than 2Gb RAM for an even lighter distro to make any noticeable difference. But I'm new to Linux myself and no expert, but I think if you're using Windows 10 now, the heaviest Linux distro is probably going to seem like lightning. And, unless you only have 512 Mb Ram or something, you may want to compromise between the lightest and something that may be easier to get the feel of coming from Windows.
     
  13. ronald739

    ronald739 Registered Member

    Joined:
    Nov 9, 2011
    Posts:
    130
    Location:
    Australia
    @Krusty

    Coming from Windows myself and also thinking about trying Linux I'm trying RoboLinux in a VM just to get a feel for it. They used to ask for a donation before but I believe everything is for free now.

    Robolinux is very pleased to announce its newly upgraded Cinnamon & Mate 3D 9.2 LTE 2021 versions release. The main focus on this significant upgrade was to improve speed, security and stability. Both of the new Robolinux 9.2 Versions have newer Linux kernels that run much faster as well as fixes for the recent x86 and x64 Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities. Users should be aware that since January 1st 2018 all 18 Robolinux Operating systems come with FREE expert Tech Support. It should also be noted that both of the Robolinux 9.2 versions provide optional UEFI support and have the newest VirtualBox version 5.2.10, the newest Firefox version 59.0.2, the newest Thunderbird version 52.7.0 and quite a significant number of very important upstream security and application updates. The new Robolinux 9.2 versions also include several more automated driver installers to support newer hardware and as usual come with Free Stealth VM, Free C Drive to VM & Free Apps installers, and much much more. Existing Robolinux Cinnamon & Mate 3D 9.1 Users can upgrade with ease to the new 9.2 version in just one click by using the built in Robolinux "Auto Upgrade" menu option.

    https://www.robolinux.org/

    Also I believe you can import a existing windows install (don't know about your system specs) to a Roblolinux VM (Have not tried so I do not know if this works as I'm only trying in a VM).

    Old link below.

    https://liliputing.com/2014/05/robolinux-turns-c-drive-virtual-windows-machine-can-run-linux.html
     
  14. Krusty

    Krusty Registered Member

    Joined:
    Feb 3, 2012
    Posts:
    10,209
    Location:
    Among the gum trees
    Thanks guys for the advice. :thumb:
    This one looks pretty good from what I've been reading. Can I run it from a live DVD just to try it?

    I know with Mint I had to disable Secure Boot. Is that required for most distros?
     
  15. Krusty

    Krusty Registered Member

    Joined:
    Feb 3, 2012
    Posts:
    10,209
    Location:
    Among the gum trees
    I couldn't get that to download in FF or Chrome. Maybe one of my extensions, or possibly one of my installed security programs was blocking the download.
     
  16. Krusty

    Krusty Registered Member

    Joined:
    Feb 3, 2012
    Posts:
    10,209
    Location:
    Among the gum trees
    FYI, this machine has a tiny Intel Celeron CPU, but I have upgraded the RAM to 8GB and replaced the HDD with a SSD. Last time I installed Mint Cinnamon the machine was extremely slow compared to Win10.
     
  17. roger_m

    roger_m Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jan 25, 2009
    Posts:
    8,627
    Mint MATE, should run a lot better.
     
  18. fblais

    fblais Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jul 31, 2008
    Posts:
    1,340
    Location:
    Québec, Canada
    Yep, and Mint XFCE even more.
     
  19. Krusty

    Krusty Registered Member

    Joined:
    Feb 3, 2012
    Posts:
    10,209
    Location:
    Among the gum trees
    Thanks guys. I will try Mate next.
     
  20. Krusty

    Krusty Registered Member

    Joined:
    Feb 3, 2012
    Posts:
    10,209
    Location:
    Among the gum trees
    I'm running Mate on that machine from a live dvd and so far I like it. :thumb:

    It should run much quicker once installed, right?

    If and more likely when I do install, what's the first thing to do? I assume updates?
     
  21. Krusty

    Krusty Registered Member

    Joined:
    Feb 3, 2012
    Posts:
    10,209
    Location:
    Among the gum trees
    I don't mean to swear or offend anyone but antivirus?

    [He ducks and runs for cover]
     
  22. Krusty

    Krusty Registered Member

    Joined:
    Feb 3, 2012
    Posts:
    10,209
    Location:
    Among the gum trees
    I may (or may not) live to regret it but I'm installing Mate now - wish me luck! *puppy*
     
  23. Krusty

    Krusty Registered Member

    Joined:
    Feb 3, 2012
    Posts:
    10,209
    Location:
    Among the gum trees
    Well, that didn't go well. :(
     
  24. roger_m

    roger_m Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jan 25, 2009
    Posts:
    8,627
    What happened?
     
  25. Krusty

    Krusty Registered Member

    Joined:
    Feb 3, 2012
    Posts:
    10,209
    Location:
    Among the gum trees
    Well, I didn't disable EUFI and mistakenly ASS-U-MEd that the install of Mint would handle it.... Nope! After install it suggested a restart but my "Security settings" prevented "Ubuntu" from starting.

    So...

    After confirming I could restore an image of Windows in Macrium Reflect I manually changed the BIOS to Legacy and am trying another install.... More to come.
     
  1. This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.