LINUX---Discussions in General

[big_teee]

If you are new to linux?
I would stick with Mint or Ubuntu.
They are by far the easiest to use, and load.
Mint is probably the best choice to start with for Linux Newbies.
I used Mint for a couple of years.
I now prefer the different flavors of Ubuntu.
There are several flavors of Ubuntu, and the difference is the desktop used.
Mint and Ubuntu have the best installer, and best hardware support.
There are many youtube vids on loading ubuntu, or mint.
Give it a try!
T

[Dave H]

Thanks, I'll do that. I tried Ubunto years ago when it was small enough to fit on a CD. I'll put it on a flash drive this time. Now I just have to remember how to access the BIOS to change the boot order.

[big_teee]

F2, at boot up, works on most computers.
Or try F12 at power up with usb drive plugged in, then choose boot from usb.
However they all have their own tricks.
This mint XFCE is a good choice if you like a XP, or Win98 looking desktop?
http://www.linuxmint.de/get/dc071404...492269245/1338
GL,
T

[Mark Lavelle]

If your PC hase 8GB, you should install VirtualBox and run Ubuntu inside that. Then you don't have to deal with the hassle of re-booting to switch. It's also easy to set up shared directories that both Windows and the VirtualBox can see.

[big_teee]

The only problem I see with running Ubuntu VB, is you're still stuck with slow Windoz as your main OS.
Maybe loading Ubuntu as main OS, and running Win XP, or Win7 as Virtual Machine would be a viable option.
I'll stick to multi-boot Linux only. YMMV
Below is my Hard drive, that shows 4 bootable linux Distros.
T

[big_teee]

I have just experimented with Virtualbox, and it works pretty slick.
Booted into Ubuntu, I installed Virtualbox, then installed Mint 18.1 into the VB.
Below is a screenshot of it.
The big screen is Ubuntu, the window in the middle is the Virtualbox with Mint 18.1 loaded in it.
You can do the same thing as mentioned, put VB linux on windows, or put VB windows on linux.

T

[Mark Lavelle]

The only problem I see with running Ubuntu VB, is you're still stuck with slow Windoz as your main OS.

I have a 3.4GHz Core i7 and 24GB of RAM, and you should too! ;-)

Seriously, any Win 10 machine with 4GB of RAM runs pretty well, IME. A low end Win10 laptop might be a less-than-exciting virtual machine host, but it works. And since you can't get much serious music production SW for Linux I'll be sticking with real Win10 & virtual Linux for the forseeable future.

[big_teee]

Since music is what you do that is great. I doubt there are many here with 24gb ram.
I have 12 gb on this lenovo, lap.
I have 3 fairly new laptops, and I couldn't get windoz off fast enough.
Linux does everything I need.
Also a reminder, this is a linux thread, not a Bill Gates thread!
GL,
T

[Mark Lavelle]

Also a reminder, this is a linux thread, not a Bill Gates thread!

Sorry about the distraction, but I do use Linux all the time - I just prefer doing it in a VM.

Changing the subject: Why do you use more than one distro? Is there something important that Ubuntu can't do?

[big_teee]

You're fine,
I'm retired, and I'm a distro hopper.
I've probably tried 30 different distros in recent years.
I used Mint for a while, cause I absolutely hate the Ubuntu Unity backwards desktop.
Now I load XFCE4 desktop on whatever linux platform I use.
On my Laptops, Ubuntu Mate is the best running platform I've found, but I load the XFCE4 desktop on them.

The reason IMO for the interest here with linux, is so many would love to leave their Win 8.1, or win 10 behind.
If you run linux VM, then you are stuck with all the Win software, AV, Spyware, Office dilemmas so many want to leave behind.
With VB VM, I spend too much switching, and donking with the computer, instead of using it.
Also file sharing has to be setup, to look between the OS, and the VB.
Which is all fine, just not for me.

I like to run multi-boot, cause it just gives more options.
I have Partition 2 setup with 16.10, I use it for stock, banking and other secure stuff, I leave this one alone mostly.
I use the other distros for everything else. I'm always busy adding different distros, and changing kernels.
That's what I like to do, and I like beating on Linux!
Oh Yea, It's free, and IMO it's fun!

I usually report here, everytime Ubuntu has an upgrade like the new release of 17.04
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/
T

[DrGonz78]

I used Mint for a while, cause I absolutely hate the Ubuntu Unity backwards desktop.

Seems to me that you were not alone there T. LOL
Why Ubuntu dumping Unity is a good thing | PCWorld

[big_teee]

Got all four laptops in the house updated from Ubuntu 16.10 to 17.04.
So far it seems to be great desktop software.
T

[big_teee]

Ubuntu 17.10 Beta 1 is now out, and available for download.
Beta 1 is a prelude to the Official version, that will be out in October.
Development Release: Kubuntu 17.10 Beta 1 (DistroWatch.com News)
It comes in many desktop flavors, and runs on the latest 4.12 Kernel. (the kernel, contains the latest hardware drivers)
I downloaded the 17.10 beta 1 Mate version.
Here's my desktop screenshot.
A very fast linux OS.
Give it a shot. It's FREEE.
T
**Edit
The screenshot is with a customized XFCE desktop, installed.

[Gnobuddy]

I downloaded the 17.10 beta 1 Mate version.

At home, I've been Linux-only since 2001. Sixteen years now. Currently using Xubuntu, which I was driven to because both KDE and Gnome became unusable as far as I was concerned.

I've never tried Mate, will have to test it out some day. Meantime, XFCE / Xubuntu does the job for me.

I have to use Windows at work, and, most of the time, it feels like taking a couple of steps backwards. Worst of all is the constant worry - will I get a worm? A virus? Ransomware?

-Gnobuddy

[DrGonz78]

At home, I've been Linux-only since 2001. Sixteen years now. Currently using Xubuntu, which I was driven to because both KDE and Gnome became unusable as far as I was concerned.

I've never tried Mate, will have to test it out some day. Meantime, XFCE / Xubuntu does the job for me.

I personally think that there could be a downward trend with the lighter weight legacy driver type available varieties of ubuntu or in my case linux mint XFCE. My point being that I have a computer in my work shop that has pretty dated hardware, 2003-2004, which was running Linux Mint XFCE without a hitch for about 2 years. Then there was this software update, about 3 months ago, that rendered the computer almost completely useless. So all of a sudden it cannot run software manager from GUI or command line and no internet etc... I installed it again and from the image file the installation works flawless. Then update some stuff and it all fooked up again. I installed 4 other versions of XFCE as well as others and it was as if the new updates did not like my hardware. I mean I ran a full memory test on RAM with no issues. I swapped out for 3 different hard drives with no change. I currently have Mint 17.1 XFCE installed on that computer and it works great if you just don't run the newest kernel update.

EDIT: Note that all the flavors of XFCE I tried were all tied in to Ubuntu kernels.