Welcome to /flt/, we are always open to users of all levels, including absolute beginners.
There are four ways to try GNU/Linux, you can:
0) Install a GNU/Linux OS on a VM (Virtual Machine/VirtualBox) for "safety purposes"
1) Use the Live ISO directly without installing anything, that way, you can get a "full GNU/Linux experience".
2) Dual-boot GNU/Linux with Windows/Mac (recommended if you want to learn more about GNU/Linux)
3) Go balls deep and overwrite everything with GNU/Linux
Before asking, please search for answers to your questions in resources.
Please be civil, notice the "Friendly" in every Friendly GNU/Linux Thread.
Understand that much of your software from Windows will be unavailable, although maybe WINE can make up for it.
Resources:
man <insert command here>
Your friendly neighborhood search engine (searx.me, ixquick, whatever)
https://wiki.archlinux.org/ (Most of the configurations and troubleshoots will literally work on various distros, including Debian)
https://wiki.installgentoo.com/index.php/Category:GNU/Linux
http://linuxcommand.org/tlcl.php
>Shell pasta:
The based GNU Bourne Again SHell:
https://www.gnu.org/software/bash/
The community driven BASH wiki:
http://wiki.bash-hackers.org/
The Grymoire - home for UNIX wizards:
http://www.grymoire.com/Unix/index.html
Greg's (also known as GreyCat's) wiki:
http://mywiki.wooledge.org/BashFAQ
http://mywiki.wooledge.org/BashGuide
http://mywiki.wooledge.org/BashPitfalls
SED and AWK; your new best friends:
http://www.pement.org/sed/sed1line.txt
http://www.pement.org/awk/awk1line.txt
Google's Shell Style Guide:
https://google.github.io/styleguide/shell.xml
The Linux Command Line - A Book By William Shotts:
http://linuxcommand.org/tlcl.php
Interesting, useful and dangerous one-liners:
http://www.commandlinefu.com/
Great online (and offline) linting tool:
http://www.shellcheck.net/
Know what you are doing:
http://explainshell.com/
Would you recommend Fedora for a new Linux user?
>>53586995
Sure, why not.
>>53586995
I'd say go for it. I would suggest installing the rpmfusion repos and Fedy before anything as a new user. You can look at the git repo for Fedy if you want to see what each option really does.
>>53586995
Depends on the person. If I know nothing about them, then probably not. I don't feel comfortable recommending something that requires a sizeable amount of post-install configuring unless I know they are OK with that.
Fedy like the other Anon mentions mitigates it somewhat, but I don't quite feel comfortable with Fedy itself. Maybe I'm just being silly.
I'd also want to know first if they're OK with individual releases being supported for a fairly short amount of time. At least the fedup process is improving, though.
I need a usb drive program( For linux) to wipe my usb drive clean and burn a new iso.
I have finally decided to ditch Windows 10 on both of my desktops.
I've been running Ubuntu in VirtualBox for a couple of weeks now and most of my programs exist for GNU/Linux aswell which is good. Photoshop would require a windows virtual machine though.
But there's one problem, I have lots of hard drives (both internal and external) and I'm not sure if the built in encryption setting at Ubuntu install can full disk encrypt all my drives?
I'm a total noob with the terminal (managed to install screenfetch after a while though). Is there a GUI program like TrueCrypt that can encrypt my hard drives?
Also, how do I delete programs again? I installed gnome 3 desktop environment via Ubuntu Software Center and now I cant uninstall it because it doesn't appear in the list of installed programs. Seems like a clusterfuck to have hundreds of packages just laying around everywhere
Yesterday I switched from windows.
What is the best video/audio player? I'm in ubuntu btw.
Thanks!
>>53587134
video, mpv
audio player just to play audio? sure use mpv
audio for like libraries and shit, mpd + ncmpcpp
>>53587115
>I'm a total noob with the terminal
theres your problem
uninstall your DE and don't reinstall it until you don't need it anymore
>>53587115
I wouldn't trust an auto-installer to even partition my drives, and definitely not encrypting them.
dm-crypt is the way to go for device encryption on linux, but you'll need to read up on how it works.
Thinking about installing GNUnix on a SSHD but only want it to use the SSD part since the mechanical is acting up the rafters, just wondering if there is some real trickery I have to pull off for the OS to just use the SSD part or if it's mostly all good out of the box, thanks!
>>53587148
I just tried it and I like it, thanks a lot!
>>53587280
Learn how it gets configured.
>>53587207
What's the point of using a drive with like 8GB or so of storage space in 2016?
I want to move from Mint to Ubuntu. Is there any super easy way to do this? I want to keep my files.
>>53587320
That's not the case, it's closer to 30 and the computer is mainly for coding and surfing the web, no need for massive HDD.
>>53587357
Mint and Ubuntu LTS are basically the same shit anyway.
>>53587372
Well, that could be usable, but I think you'd have to manipulate the drives firmware for it to work.
>>53587097
just use dd
dd=/path/to/iso of=/dev/diskname
>>53587417
I did that to a usb once and it fucked it up something bad. Nothing could read it. Painfully reformatted it eventually in Windows.
>>53587429
dd doesn't work in two situations:
1. You specified a block size without syncing afterward (common mistake people do)
2. The iso you are using is a special snowflake for some reason and is missing a vital part for it to work (Windows isos do this)
dd is fine. It works in both those situations.
>>53587097
There's Unetbootin, although it seems to have a poor reputation.
If the iso you want on the drive is Fedora, use Fedora's own liveusb-creator. May have to install from source you're not running Fedora already - I really wish they would distribute binaries for Linux systems, it's pretty silly that it's a lot quicker to use their tool on Windows than on non-Fedora Linux systems.
I believe there are some other options as well if you don't want to use dd, but I'm not familiar with them.
>>53587477
>2. The iso you are using is a special snowflake for some reason and is missing a vital part for it to work
It was my Arch install ISO. I switched my laptop's bootflag to my grub partition without thinking that it wasn't a primary one and so the thing refused to boot, so I needed to boot the install iso asap. Was trying to do it on my desktop Arch but had never done a iso->usb in linux before, always used rufus.
Was not fun, ended up using another usb in windows to copy the iso and fixed the original usb the next day.
what is the latest Xfce version of Xubuntu 1404 after update
How do I change my xterm terminal titles so that my window manager actually shows the program open in the terminal and not just username@hostname:*diirectory* Is there a bashrc tweak for it?
>>53587598
Can't remember it off the top of my head, but searching for something like «linux terminal title show active process» or something similar in your search engine of choice should yield quick, satisfactory results.
>>53587409
I have popped in a live-rom now and it's seeing "both" drives so I suppose there would not be a problem just install on the SSD and all will be good yeah?
>>53587643
Sounds like a weird drive you have there.
I'm trying to get a VirtualBox running on a Windows 10 host machine. The virtual machine runs Linux Mint 17.3
I'm having problems with my mouse scrolling while inside the VM. It seems to only work sometimes, which makes me have to scroll more than I need to just to go down a page. I've also noticed the middle mouse button click doesn't provide me with the scrolling arrow I usually get in Windows. However, the common feature of pasting with the middle click does work, so I know the button itself is recognized.
I googled around and saw something about changing the pointing device to PS/2 Mouse and disabling Mouse Integration for the VM - however, disabling Mouse Integration gives me a perfectly working but invisible mouse in the VM.
What can I do to make my mouse behave the way I want it to while still being visible in the VM?
I about to dualboot Manjaro (with win7). How much space does it need?
>>53587667
Western Digital Scorpio Blue I believe
>>53587679
Don't bother, manjaro is fundamentally broken.
>>53587675
Well, Mint isn't Windows so it won't behave like Windows unless you go and change it until it does.
>>53587750
I understand it won't have the behavior of middle clicking giving me scrolling arrows.
I just really want to fix the extremely laggy scrolling.
I'm not new to Mint, it's what I use on my laptop
So what is the deal with debian testing? I've been looking at some of the packages and they don't seem too outdated but is that only because the testing snapshot is fairly recent? Do the packages generally not get updated unless there are security issues?
>>53587770
Could be due to it being in a vm.
>>53586995
Depends on the person. I'd rather recommend Korora as that would probably cover a wider variety of newbies.
In what cases would you recommend just getting a VM to run Linux alongside Windows 10, and in which cases would you recommend actually going through the pain of dual-booting and sharing libraries between OS's?
>>53587924
I would recommend ditching windows altogether in all cases.
>>53587939
This is not the question I asked, comrade. Although I forgive your pedantic tendencies
>>53587924
Why would you need to share libraries. If you plan to use linux at all for day to day use you're only going to end up using windows for games anyway.
>>53586995
No, Fedora is Red That's guinea pig and things will break on every update. You need to understand how to fix things yourself and be comfortable in the terminal first.
>>53587955
I don't enjoy the idea of being locked to doing only one activity while on one OS or the other
>>53587950
You said in which cases would I recommend dual booting compared to running a VM, I wouldn't recommend either case ever, that is an answer to your question.
>>53587970
>I love speaking from my ass
>>53587989
Well you're never really going to get smooth transitioning environments between OSs. Especially not Windows.
>>53587924
dualbooting is great for home users who can seperate tasks.
Eg you want to stop working and boot into windows to play a game.
The only cost for dualbooting is disk space.
If you want to switch between OS's quickly, a vm is a better choice.
You loose some performance, but you can run a lot of OS's at the same time, make backups, move it to other machines.
It is a great idea for servers.
Another reason to use it is to run an application.
This is often unnecessary.
Most applications can be compiled to work on all platforms.
And when they can't, it is usually a problem with dependencies that is compiled wrong.
There linux uses docker rather than a virtual machine.
I am not sure running a linux vm inside windows makes as much sense as a windows vm inside linux unless you are just testing stuff out.
>>53587924
Run Linux in a VM on Windows when:
1) Linux support on the relevant hardware is lacking to the point of being unusable.
2) it's unfeasible to run Windows in a VM on Linux and one has to do enough stuff in Windows to make a dual-boot setup a pain.
The ideal solution when having to use Windows for something is to do it in a VM, naturally with PCI passthrough if that something is gaming or similar.
Otherwise, I'm a proponent of the «hibernate → boot Windows → do Windows things → reboot to your old session as you left it» way of doing it, which has been the case for me. I find it largely mitigates the pain of dual-booting
Personally, the only use I've had for Windows is gaming, but the few games not available for Linux that interest me just aren't worth it any more, so I've finally gotten rid of my Windows partitions. I never did any sharing between the two, except occasionally mounting an NTFS partition in Linux to put something on it that I wanted to access in Windows.
I wanted to try linux by dual-boot and fucked up somewhere, now I only have debian 8 and have to reinstall W7 to play gmae, 1to of data lost.
That speed tho
>>53588351
Why the fuck didn't you back up your data before you did this.
>>53588236
>>53588117
>>53587995
Okay, thanks guys
Between Kubuntu and Ubuntu GNOME, which do you prefer and why?
Is infinality and fontconfig-ultimate available in debian?
>>53588409
kubuntu seems more involved with kde than ubuntu gnome does with gnome.
Kde has better applications but gnomes seems to be more integrated.
I think it depends on what DE you want.
>>53588398
You mean everything ?
(Because I'm a fucking dumbass)
>>53588409
I used Kubuntu in 2013 and found it quite unimpressive. It had a lot of cosmetic issues I couldn't easily fix, such as poorly aligned clock in the taskbar and mouse cursor that would do the loading animation for up to a minute when clicking a link outside of Firefox. That was in 2013 with the last generation of KDE, mind, so I don't expect much of my experiences to be relevant today, but I don't have a lot of faith in its quality.
I haven't used Ubuntu GNOME but a friend of mine does, and he likes it. Personally I do use and enjoy GNOME on Fedora. I really dislike the defaults of GNOME but have found that customising it to make it really nice doesn't take a lot of time at all.
>>53588351
how is this even possible to fuck something like that up?
dualboot is the default option, all you have to do is make sure you have free space, you can even setup the partitioning from within windows.
>>53588557
That's what I did before installing linux but I may have do something retarded during the setup because it seemingky wiped the partition where Win was singe I can't boot in it anymore
>>53587924
It is unfortunate that you want to use nonfree software on your computer.
You need to defenestrate it (which means, either throw Windows out of the computer, or throw the computer out of the window).
Anyone know how to fix IceCat not playing nice with GNOME's dark theme setting? Searching up gives me responses from people just telling me to manually make a CSS for every theme change, which is a tad bit extreme
>>53588716
if you can install it, this might match
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/dark-blue/
>>53588716
GTK settings?
Also I don't understand why you would attempt to tile your windows and not just use i3.
>>53587417
Don't forget bs=4M
>>53588716
You can run application with different themes, sadly I forgot how. Please use your favorite search engine. It's something like env GTK_THEME icecat.
>>53588761
Kill yourself, tripfag.
>>53587924
If this is about gaymen, then have two computers. You should not have Windows 10 on your personal computer.
>>53587924
>>53588818
This. GNU/Linux next to Windows makes 0% security improvement. It should be a different machine or disc.
>>53588818
>>53588838
or as secured VM? (is there a friendly guide?)
>>53588838
Security about what ?
>>53588818
>Windows 10 sniffing your linux disks which it doesn't even support to mount by intention
>>53588861
Dont tell me a user doesnt want to use the same filesystem or at least share files between both OS'.
>>53588877
If you're using Windows just to gaym why would you not have only 1 disk as NTFS and everything else something else?
>>53588818
>>53588861
>>53588886
Wiping windows is an ethical act telling Microsoft and the NSA: "Sorry, but your're not allowed to do my wife with your mandingo. Take your bait games and shove them up your asses."
>>53588971
But then how will I play gayms?
>>53588988
are you 12?
>>53589015
Of course.
>>53588971
>ethical act telling Microsoft and the NSA
As if they'd care
>>53589029
They'd care if enough people would care.
The only Linux distro I've tried so far has been Mint. I've been using it for about 6 months now, I'm happy with it.
However I've been itching to try out something else. I've narrowed it down to these. I was hoping you guys could pitch in with your experience with some of these.
>Debian
>Kubuntu
>Ubuntu GNOME
>Lubuntu
>Xubuntu
>elementaryOS
>openSUSE
>Fedora
Keep in mind my Linux experience is sort of limited. I haven't really delved deep into it. I feel relatively comfortable with the Terminal already though
I'd add Ubuntu to the list but the whole deal with Amazon and Unity looking really unappealing scared me off of it
>>53588988
There are many games, not made to jail you to a specific OS. There are also nonfree games, wich are basically bad, but the better choice compared to games developed especially to bait users, such M$ licensed so caled "AAA+" games.
>>53589052
These are all the same but with different desktop environments, so makes no difference except your preference.
>Kubuntu
>Ubuntu GNOME
>Lubuntu
>Xubuntu
>>53589063
It's not AAA games I'm worried about, it's generally older games. A handful of new games too.
I love gnome
>>53589052
Reminder that Linux is just an interchangeable Kernel; the addon, added to the GNU operating system. All the so called Linux distros are really GNU/Linux distros.
>>53589086
>GNU operating system.
lel in your dreams
>>53589073
(WINE)
>>53589077
gud4u
>>53589071
Okay, then that narrows down my list to
>Debian
>Several Ubuntu flavors
>elementaryOS
>openSUSE
>Fedora
>>53589086
Your input is duly noted
>>53589052
Ubuntu Gnome is a better Fedora. It's really great, you should try it.
>>53589071
Arguably Mint and Debian are the same too
>>53589096
You say that like it's some magic that magically works on everything. It doesn't.
>>53589106
>Arguably Mint and Debian are the same too
That is not arguable nor are they the same at all.
>>53589108
But it does. I also enjoy sometimes some gayming, in case something doesn't work out of the box, I check winehq and follow the suggested fixes and it works.
I am upgrading Debian Wheezy to Jessie. Now it says: "Users who should be able to run wicd clients need to be added to the group \"netdev\"" (added slashes because that way the quote makes sense), listing users I created for SFTP. Should I just add all the users?
>>53589138
If you want users to use wicd clients then add them to the group. What's the confusion?
>>53589073
Check Steam. Lots of games are now on Linux. Including the old baldur's gate series, civilization 5, borderlands 2 (if you have an nvidia card only). and much more. About 50 of my 100 steam games work on Linux. I wish I could get a refund for those extra 50 but valve obviously told me no.
>>53589166
I know the situation is getting better. But don't act like Linux can now play all games no problem, you don't need Windows. It's just not true.
Also in general drivers work better in Windows so it's far nicer regardless.
>>53589158
I have never heard of wicd and I don't know why it is asking me this.
Reminder to try the cube engine [Open Source FPS, Hacker friendly ingame world editor (incl. C and Lua)].
http://sauerbraten.org/
http://redeclipse.net/
http://tesseract.gg/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqOtc2vSvWM
>>53589166
Most of Steams Linux library are cheap and shitty Indie titles.
>>53589166
https://github.com/valvesoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/3671
How come fstab doesn't want to mount to a directory with spaces in the name? I used backslashes but it said it couldn't find the mount point, when I took out the spaces and backslashes it worked fine. Both the directories had already been created with mkdir so that's not the problem.
>>53589238
>>53589258
If you like CRPGS, you're covered, though.
You can't be happy about anything can you?
>>53589258
> rm -rf "$STEAMROOT/"*
>>53589258
http://store.steampowered.com/news/15512/
Fixed within a week
But by all means, keep the memes up, son
Should I just upgrade when the LTS is released, or fresh install of ubuntu? I remember years ago upgrading to a distro release caused a lot of breakage, is it still that way?
What version of qbittorrent is available in debian stable with backports enabled?
>>53589258
Yeah that was fucking horrible. What the fuck. And this is Valve, the people we are expecting to help make Linux a game free free zone.
>>53589298
It is always advised to fresh install
Just back your shit up and do it senpai, better safe than sorry
>>53589106
Why do you prefer Ubuntu Gnome over Kubuntu or Ubuntu MATE?
>>53589273
CRPGs are pretty much dead, what are you referring to?
>>53589288
>>53589326
I hate KDE and it's not 2003.
Not everyone likes gnome, but try it and see for yourself.
>>53589356
Baldurs gate enhanced edition 1&2, Divine Divinity, Wasteland 2, Pillars of Eternity are all Linux native. All of the other old D&D rpgs are all platinum on wine.
>>53589293
Different Anon here. Honestly, the bigger issue is that this is an indication of the quality of the developers writing the code we're executing on our system. The fact that someone put in the comment "scary!" above >>53589288 means the implications were known, yet they didn't do anything about it! It makes one wonder what else slips by.
>>53589293
>>53589409
Adding to that, since I'm a dumbo and forgot to mention it, "fixed within a week" is quite the stretch as it was obviously known before the issue was reported.
>GNU
stop.
>>53589421
What exactly are you trying to defend?
>we are always open to users of all levels, including absolute beginners.
okay
what linux distro should I get? I have an old pc with windows, and I want to wipe out this and learn the ways of linux
>>53589390
What's the point of replaying them?
>>53589437
What? I'm accusing Valve developers questionable practices, I'm not defending anything.
>>53589441
xubuntu
>>53589429
This thread is non neo /g/ land, tech illiterate.
>>53589441
If it's an old PC, you might want to try something user friendly and light.
You could take a look at
>Xubuntu
>Lubuntu
>Mint
You could also try
>Kubuntu
>Ubuntu GNOME
I haven't updated my debian sid in a couple months and
now when i try to update with aptitude it wants to remove things like gnome-core, gdm3, aptitude, and other fun things i need lol
what do i do please?
>>53589052
Ubuntu gnome with gnome shell extensions of you choice is great.
>>53589480
Did you use apt for installing things?
>>53589489
Do you figure it would perform well on a T420? Or should I roll with one of the lighter distros?
If it's better ran on desktops, I could also try it on my desktop
>>53589480
>I haven't updated my debian sid in a couple months
Why are you running sid then?
what the heck?
I'm just running an rsync backup and it's copying my whole music collection over again even though I'm pretty sure there's not much or any difference. Can I set it to ignore modification times or something? What else could it be?
What do you guys think of Zorin OS?
Is it decent or absolute meme-tier?
>>53589464
>>53589477
I'll have a look at xubuntu then, thanks lads
>>53589509
I'm using Gnome on an X200, which runs without issue, provided animations are turned off. Can't imagine a Sandy Bridge generation laptop would have any sorts of issues.
>>53589502
Nope, i use aptitude only except when i installed debian , i used apt-get dist-upgrade twice
>>53589531
Sure, just make sure you backup your data to some external hard drive before you take the plunge. It's nearly impossible to fuck up the installation, but you know, better safe than sorry
>>53589509
I5 with 4gb ram is enough for pretty comfortable use, I guess.
>>53589523
the packages are more up to date but are not needed to be" bleeding edge" up to date
>>53587897
There's a wiki page on testing. Read it.
>>53589569
Just use testing then
>>53589529
its was decent a few years ago, last i heard it crashed when ever you would run a program
>>53589589
i might need the more up to date package
In setting up apparmor for some applications and I noticed that some of them (like qbittorrent, ppsspp and others) tries to access /sys/class and /sys/bus but seems able to run normally even if I deny the access.
What should I do? From my (limited) knowledge those folders doesn't really contain any valuable information (the permission will be read-only anyway)
>>53589543
Never use apt and aptitude at the same time. This leads to serious conflicts, since both work different: aptitude keeps track of everything via logs and reads from there, means, when you do something with apt, for aptitude nothing happend and it will act like it.
Always use only one.
>>53588657
Have you tried reconfiguring grub?
>>53588451
Yeah, but why not just use the config file on the debian wiki? It's pretty good.
>>53589603
>I haven't updated my debian sid in a couple months
Proves you don't
>>53589630
i haven't need the new packages for a couple months
this is a pointless arguement?
>>53589640
You're not using your Debian correctly and I'm here to tell you that testing (obviously upgraded more often) would be way better for your use-case since that would give you security patches, unlike your months-old untested sid.
>>53589103
Strike elementary from your list as well. It's shit. Try the rest though.
Is testing generally ok to use or is stable/backports more of a recommended option?
>>53589681
would debian testing's aptitude never offer to remove gnome-core and other required components ?
>>53589681
see you included the key phrase "(obviously upgraded more often)" which implies the same problem would happen.
>>53589640
Good gods, Anon, you are affected by all kinds of vulnerabilities. Please keep your system up to date.
Google just reminded me that I bought something on amazon and steam. What the fuck. It doesn't help that chrome is the only browser on gnu/linux that supports everything.
>>53589689
Testing>backports. For home use testing and unstable are fine but for servers stable is important.
>>53589715
security patches won't magically find their way to your system, this isn't fucking Windows
>>53589724
i could have easily just not have turned the pc on for 2 months and here i am
why is aptitude offering to remove core system components?
>>53589726
Which features fo you need that wouldn't work on iceweasel aurora or chromium?
How do I convince my parents to use something that's not skype?
>>53587178
This is supposed to a friendly thread you retard.
>>53589740
Probably because you used both apt-get and aptitude, didn't update before dist-upgrading, are too inexperienced to use apt-listbugs or because you fucked up somewhere else.
>>53587509
>go to ubuntu packages website
>search internet for ubuntu codenames
>enter xfce package and select the release you found in the previous step
>done
>>53589773
Show them prism-break, refuse to use skype and tell them what malicious kind of software skype is.
>>53589740
Nothing that is marked as explicitly installed depends on them, I guess? I've never actually used aptitude. Stuff like that usually implies some manner of PEBKAC but I suppose it could also be Sid putting some weight into the whole "unstable" thing.
Please keep your system up to date.
>>53589773
Show them something better. If you can't, why should they stop using skype?
>>53589773
You convince their friends.
I'm about to install debian, is there anything I need to do to make sure my /home/ partition doesn't get overwritten? (other than backing it up just in case)
>>53589773
By showing them how much easier it is to use Firefox Hello.
Dead serious.
>>53589798
PEBKAC really? well that's disappointing if so
>>53589847
No, the partitioning during install should be easy enough.
>>53589873
>Firefox Hello.
Are you implying that includes voice over ip?
>>53589906
Oh. Oooh. I haven't used it much (keeping voip to friends on Mumble) and hadn't seen that it's changed like this. Well, that's a bummer, it was really neat and super-smooth before.
I'm already familiar with linux desktops, but i'm in dire need of a laptop and hatched the plan of getting some shitty second hand laptop for dirt cheap and slapping linux on it.
However I need to know how weak of a machine can I get and expect reasonable performance in basic tasks - browsing, running a mysql workbench, normal documents stuff.
Just give me some lower barrier below which you'd consider the machine unusable. Maybe give me a brand name (besides thinkpad) to look out for.
Also can I expect better battery performance under linux?
I'm a massive laptop noobie.
Is it possible to take another distro's repository once an LFS system is built and usable? I want to dive into GNU/Linux, understand how everything works, and get that feeling of having my own clean distro built from scratch, but it would be way too much of a pain to maintain if I have to keep compiling everything.
>>53589997
Just install your LFS for the experience and then install another distro.
So why does the /g/ hivemind hate on Mint all of a sudden? I seem to have missed the memo.
>>53589993
>Also can I expect better battery performance under linux?
Probably not. But with some help (like tlp, powertop) you should be able to get something comparable, depending on what kind of desktop environment you use.
>>53589906
>>53589956
It does seem to still include voip (by the looks of it) for what that's worth, but the whole focus on tab sharing lessens its worth as a simple communication tool that anyone could be comfortable with. The tab sharing is neat, but I wish it wasn't thrust in your face like this.
At least my eyes have been opened to it.
>>53590024
Should I outright avoid toshiba and Dell?
>>53589993
>Just give me some lower barrier below which you'd consider the machine unusable.
If it's a consumer-tier garbage that's older than 5 years - don't bother.
What you absolutely want for a linux laptop is
>Intel CPU
>intel integrated GPU
Forget about dedicated GPUs and switchable GPUs, on linux those will only give you headaches.
intel iGPUs have great linux support and drivers for them are included with the kernel, no need to install anything.
>Also can I expect better battery performance under linux?
No, not really. With proper hardware configuration (mostly intel stuff) you could theoretically expect similar results to Windows, but since no hardware companies bother with proper linux supports save for a few like intel and most companies do not comply with ACPI standards, battery life is poor to say the least.
But with some tweaking you might achieve good result.
I managed to squeeze additional 15 minutes compared to Vista. But I got lucky and tlp daemon has a lot of useful features Windows powersaving utilities don't, like turning off network interfaces when another one is connected.
>>53590083
No, I have a 6 year old dell here, still runs well. Only issue is that it has a broadcom wireless device which needs non free firmware but it's not that much of a problem at all.
>>53590022
Mint devs turned out to be incompetent amateurs.
https://securelist.com/blog/incidents/73893/beware-of-backdoored-linux-mint-isos/
Not to mention Mint despite being based on Ubuntu LTS always had a dumbed down security.
>>53590022
It started with the botnet thing. yeah, it was an internet issue, not a Linux issue, but people started noticing that Mint was run by incompetent people. It's not a very professional distro, with the lack of security, outdated code and sketchy inclusion of unlicensed proprietary codecs and such.
>>53590100
sorry, I mean 7 year old dell
>>53590024
>depending on what kind of desktop environment you use.
[citation needed]
Show me numbers which compare different desktop environment power usage. I even read an article from the guy working on KDE where he mentions that turning off fancy effects and such worsens the battery life.
>>53588409
Kubuntu is over. Wait for KDE Neon
>>53590137
You really think running gnome or kde uses no more power than using i3?
>>53590148
What do you mean it's over?
>>53590084
>If it's a consumer-tier garbage that's older than 5 years - don't bother.
Are 'work' laptops (hp for exmaple) in this category, some guy is reselling office equipment in one of the adds, ancient HP laptops
http://www.engadget.com/products/hp/compaq/nc6220/specs/
I was hoping to get something real cheap, but I guess I may as well spend more to get something I can actually use.
>>53590137
>I even read an article from the guy working on KDE where he mentions that turning off fancy effects and such worsens the battery life.
That's absolutely possible on certain hardware configurations.
It's the same as difference between dwm and classic shell on windows 7.
When using "fancy effects", the GPU is tasked with drawing the desktop.
When you turn off those "fancy effects", KDE/Windows was told to assume you have a shit GPU and therefore offloads drawing the desktop to the CPU.
In return this keeps the CPU tasked all day long which yields in worse battery life.
A lot of software does this.
Iirc even valve's source engine pulls a similar thing. On a high-end PC setting everything to minimum will give you less performance than having everything ramped up to the max. limit.
>>53590154
I doubt it uses significantly or practically relevant more power. Why would it use more power? Why does GNOME's window manager use more CPU or wake it more than i3 doing the same thing?
>>53589793
Pretty cool website. Thanks for sharing. Maybe add a link to the OP?
(https://prism-break.org/en/categories/gnu-linux/) :)
>>53590186
Dell Inspiron 1545
Intel Core2 Duo T6600
500gb hard drive
4gb ram
made in 2009
Works well still, I do audio production on it. I could do with more CPU of course but it's fine overall.
What's the best way to fix debian installation when aptitude suggests to remove core components? lol..........
>>53590224
use the included dependency resolver.
>>53590186
That's a business class laptop, my dad uses one of those and it's a very fine machine.
However since it's a windows-xp era laptop (and the cpu is garbage) it doesn't do very well even on windows 7.
For LXDE/XFCE - maybe. If you intended to run ubuntu unity, kde or gnome3, you will be dissapointed
>>53590203
>categories/gnu-linux/
Very nice.
>>53589052
You can resize your mint partition to make room for a partition that you can use to try out other distros, I've had this setup for about 2 years now.
Using just about all of the distros you're interested in (I haven't tried lubuntu or elementary), I have to say that Mint has worked better for me than all of them and you should probably just stick with that since it works for you.
But if you're still inclined, give OpenSUSE a shot.
>>53590238
which dependency resolver?
aptitude suggests to remove core components
>>53590186
What's your budget?
>>53590259
Just stop fucking around with the joke called "aptitude" and use based apt. 5 years using it, never a problem that wasn't solvable instantly via install -f.
>>53590259
yeah you mentioned that like three times already, if you use aptitude upgrade there will be the suggestion to remove a few packages, you you select no instead of yes it will give you another way to resolve the dependency issue.
https://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/aptitude/ch02s03s03.en.html
here's some guide that was the first result on searx.me
>>53590295
the only options are to remove core components or not upgrade the package
>>53589773
that font is disgusting
>>53587134
VLC for video, Clementine for audio.
>>53590302
then you probably used a mix and match between apt-get and aptitude before didn't you?
try force installing gnome-core.
>>53590203
good idea, will do.
What's a Distro that just werks (tm) like OSX?
I don't mean one dumbed down excessively, but one where shit rarely randomly breaks and day-to-day usability is good for someone highly used to Windows. (Actually, I prefer most windows UI quirks, etc. "Enter = Rename file" instead of = Open file for example on OSX is pretty infuriating.
I'd rather not burn the money on Apple (tm!) everything and GNU/Linux just generally seems cooler.
I'm probably asking for something that doesn't strictly exist, since I've already played with mint and xubuntu and while they both seem nice, they're missing "something", but being ubuntu based they've probably got the best "just werx" for applications anyway.
I'll probably play with mint/xubuntu more anyway, but if you've got any advice, shoot.
>>53590239
yea, I figured the CPU would screw me, I'm uping my price range and I'm seeing some better machines
>>53590263
it's flexible, I'm not keen on spending much because I want to built a desktop in a year or so. I'm alos from eastern Europe and the second hand market may be different from what you have whereever you live.
I'm willing to spend up to the equivalent 150USD otherwise I'd rather fuck it and just use pen and paper with my e-book reader.
>>53590333
Linux Mint is a good choice, imo.
>>53590333
>just werks
>coming from mac OS
literally ubuntu with default DE.
>>53590328
mpv for both, deadbeef if you prefer GUI, mpd+ncmpcpp for TUI ignore this guy >>53590328
>>53590383
>ignore this guy
lol, dude
>>53590333
For someone used to Windows, Linux is probably saner than OSX
>>53590333
Ubuntu GNOME
I hate Ubuntu's default DE (Unity) but that's just me
>>53590399
I'd just like to interject for a moment. What you're referring to as Linux,
is in fact, GNU/Linux, or as I've recently taken to calling it, GNU plus Linux.
Linux is not an operating system unto itself, but rather another free component
of a fully functioning GNU system made useful by the GNU corelibs, shell
utilities and vital system components comprising a full OS as defined by POSIX.
Many computer users run a modified version of the GNU system every day,
without realizing it. Through a peculiar turn of events, the version of GNU
which is widely used today is often called "Linux", and many of its users are
not aware that it is basically the GNU system, developed by the GNU Project.
There really is a Linux, and these people are using it, but it is just a
part of the system they use. Linux is the kernel: the program in the system
that allocates the machine's resources to the other programs that you run.
The kernel is an essential part of an operating system, but useless by itself;
it can only function in the context of a complete operating system. Linux is
normally used in combination with the GNU operating system: the whole system
is basically GNU with Linux added, or GNU/Linux. All the so-called "Linux"
distributions are really distributions of GNU/Linux.
>>53590415
No, Richard, it's 'Linux', not 'GNU/Linux'. The most important contributions that the FSF made to Linux were the creation of the GPL and the GCC compiler. Those are fine and inspired products. GCC is a monumental achievement and has earned you, RMS, and the Free Software Foundation countless kudos and much appreciation.
Following are some reasons for you to mull over, including some already answered in your FAQ.
One guy, Linus Torvalds, used GCC to make his operating system (yes, Linux is an OS -- more on this later). He named it 'Linux' with a little help from his friends. Why doesn't he call it GNU/Linux? Because he wrote it, with more help from his friends, not you. You named your stuff, I named my stuff -- including the software I wrote using GCC -- and Linus named his stuff. The proper name is Linux because Linus Torvalds says so. Linus has spoken. Accept his authority. To do otherwise is to become a nag. You don't want to be known as a nag, do you?
(An operating system) != (a distribution). Linux is an operating system. By my definition, an operating system is that software which provides and limits access to hardware resources on a computer. That definition applies whereever you see Linux in use. However, Linux is usually distributed with a collection of utilities and applications to make it easily configurable as a desktop system, a server, a development box, or a graphics workstation, or whatever the user needs. In such a configuration, we have a Linux (based) distribution. Therein lies your strongest argument for the unwieldy title 'GNU/Linux' (when said bundled software is largely from the FSF). Go bug the distribution makers on that one. Take your beef to Red Hat, Mandrake, and Slackware. At least there you have an argument. Linux alone is an operating system that can be used in various applications without any GNU software whatsoever. Embedded applications come to mind as an obvious example.
Thanks for listening.
>>53590415
>>53590435
Samefaq
Is it overkill to use 4 cores on a VirtualBox along with 128 MB of VRAM and 4GB RAM, or is it okay?
I just read somewhere that you can get undesired results if you use more than one core of CPU.
>>53590415
>GNUUU
So adorable.
How do you break out of the lock screen/screensaver with a mouse? Right now I can only get back to my DM with keyboard.
>>53590280
>apt
>based
in your fucking dreams maybe
it's mind boggling how huge chunk of garbage dpkg/apt is.
works as long as you install new software.
>want to remove anything?
fuck youuuuuuuuu
>>53590435
I'd just like to interject for another moment. The person you're referring
as Linus has, in fact, done just a kernel for the GNU operating system,
or as I've recently taken to calling it, nothing. Linus is not a programmer
unto himself, but rather another leech in a fully functioning software team
made useful by GNU developers.
Many computer users run his lackluster version of the GNU system every day,
without realizing it. Through a peculiar turn of events, the finnish reject
who is widely popular today is often called a "programmer", and many of
his followers are not aware that he stole his ideas from the GNU system,
developed by the GNU project.
There really is a Linus Torvalds, and these people are worshiping him,
but he is just another attention whore in the software world. Linus is an
egotist: someone who wastes resources to develop his knockoff kernel that
you run. Linus is not an essential person in the project and is useless by
himself; he can only function in the shadow of a complete software team.
>>53590471
what i don't get is how aptitude is a "frontend" to apt-get but you still aren't suppose to mix both
>>53590471
>I can't read manpages.
>>53590478
dont you have some shit from your foot to eat?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rhj8sh1uiDY
>>53590415
Stop. Repeating the same jokes over and over again isn't funny. Why does /g/ completely fail at memes? It's like people on /g/ fundamentally don't understand the concept of memes or jokes. I'm dead serious, /g/ is one of the only boards I've noticed this on. /g/ memes are worse than baneposting, autists just spam Stallman copypastas and "install gentoo" over and over again out of some disturbing sense of obligation rather than humor. It's like the people who post here are fundamentally broken, or perhaps it's some AI coded by an autist that spams copypasta. It's like /g/ doesn't understand why people use memes in the first place and this board is some kind of 4chan cargo cult.
>>53590504
Fuck off Linus, first learn what an operating system actually is, then we can talk.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHGTs1NSB1s
>>53590498
>i have to read manpages to use my computer for operations as basic as software management.
linux is just windows for poor people
>>53590532
You don't understand; it's not a joke.
>>53589775
>>53587178
both are bad advice
install a good terminal emulator, get a nice font, just use it more
no need to ditch your DE unless you're just switching to a minimal WM or something
>>53590542
Exactly. If you refuse to read manpages, go back to windows
>>53590435
>Accept his authority
The community, not he, ultimately decides naming conventions. It's called "Linux" because people decide to use that name and if tomorrow they decided to call it "Free Windows" in practical terms that would for all intents and purposes become the name.
This is true for .gif and it is true for Linux. So long as the intention is clear, getting pedantic about the name (for either side) is pretty pathetic, but ultimately the Anti-Gahnoo folks are even less tolerable than the muh-gahnoo folks.
>Linux alone is an operating system that can be used in various applications without any GNU software whatsoever
When stallman did his copypasta, the context clearly wasn't embedded systems.
>>53590335
The only two lines I'd consider would be Thinkpads or Dell's Latitudes. You can probably get a T400 or Latitude E6400 for that money. I'm from Eastern Europe too and an used E6400 can be found for 170$. My sibling has that Latitude and Linux support is superb. It has a Penryn C2D CPU which is still decent for casual usage. The Thinkpad T400 should be even cheaper while having the same specs and it runs great with Linux.
>>53590555
Trips confirmed.
The problem is, newfags read this and think it's some kind of navy seals meme/joke and continue calling it "Linux".
>>53590555
The joke is that there is no joke
>>53590647
lol
>>53590573
when did debian users become archfag-tier cancerous acolytes?
apt/get as a package manager fails to do the only task it was meant to do - manage packages.
it was the last mainstream package manager to have package signing, a CRUCIAL security feature.
The last one to get it was pacman. But arch devs never claimed their distribution is in any way secure or security oriented.
debian devs are bunch of incompetent fucks.
and considering the fact that debian now uses systemd, the only thing this distribution is good at is running on obscure hardware configurations due to it's very good support for architectures other than x86.
on desktop/server you're much better off running something like centos
secure, 10 years of support.
and a package manager that actually fucking works.
>>53590600
Quantity != Quality.
If 900 people out of 1000 call dogshit horseshit, it's actually still dogshit.
>>53590602
I'm mostly seeing thinkpads, T60 and Z61t are the ones I'm currently eyeing for 75 and 100 euro respectively. I may look for more expensive models of Thinkpads but I'm paranoid about wasting money since second hand stuff is always a risky investment. So I rather spend less.
I'll look out for latitudes too.
>>53590673
No idea what you are talking about. I've never had problems with apt and I'm using it since many years. It does it's job very good.
>>53590673
is this true
i want something to blame for my apt-mistakes --misunderstandings
i suspected debian being bad when they chose gnome as default
>>53590717
>gnome is bad
stop
>>53590739
filepicker
>>53590689
Make sure to buy from those verified sellers who usually refurbish them. Those are "business" laptops, which get discarded by companies and they're usually in great shape. A T60 is nice too.
Anyway, if you decide to get one of them, you don't have to worry about driver troubles.
>>53590404
Seconded.
>>53590673
>it was the last mainstream package manager to have package signing
You make it sound like there are dozens of those.
What's the problem with unity except amazon lens?
>>53590761
Just found a T400 for 140 euro, but it's someones personal laptop and he offers no verification - hand to hand exchange, but it looks legit.
>>53590776
No, that would be pacman.
>>53590679
>actually
depends on the definition of "actually"
dogshit and horseshit remains the same thing, but naming conventions have changed.
too many people fail to realize the versatility of language.
>>53589077
>GNOME
>>53590673
>yum
>not being a pain to use
>>53590897
KDE makes me want to vomit.
>>53590942
It's a rough transition to a superior DE
Soon you'll learn how to configure your desktop
>>53590923
yum was a pain to use because of it's poor performance.
actions really did take a lot of time to finish compared to apt which is quick af.
not a problem since dnf though.
