Author Topic: Shift to Linux (Read 28100 times)

40hz · « **Reply #25 on:** June 01, 2013, 03:47 PM »

^Not an issue for me. Whatever works best for the user I always say. If Windows does the trick, go for it.

Note: don't read too much into Ubuntu's large number of versions. It was mostly a marketing move to differentiate themselves from Debian's glacial release schedule. A new version of Debian feels more like a second coming than an update.

Tinman57 · « **Reply #26 on:** June 01, 2013, 06:02 PM »

^Not an issue for me. Whatever works best for the user I always say. If Windows does the trick, go for it.

Note: don't read too much into Ubuntu's large number of versions. It was mostly a marketing move to differentiate themselves from Debian's glacial release schedule. A new version of Debian feels more like a second coming than an update.

-40hz (June 01, 2013, 03:47 PM)

Didn't Ubuntu just come out with some kind of new updater that took care of all the old issues?

Deozaan · « **Reply #27 on:** June 07, 2013, 04:56 PM »

I really like CrunchBang. But that's me saying it after trying it out on my netbook a couple of years ago and then again just using it in a VM for about half an hour the other day.

I've never used Linux on a daily, real world, get stuff done basis. But I like CrunchBang, and I think I'd try that one if I were going to attempt moving to Linux on a more serious/permanent basis.

40hz · « **Reply #28 on:** June 07, 2013, 07:44 PM »

@Deo - CrunchBang is my favorite go-to distro for laptops. Works very well with lower powered boxes too. Glad you found it. The interface is a little different if you're used to more traditional window managers like MSWindows or Gnome or KDE. But in may respects it's more flexible and configurable than most if you put a little time into learning about OpenBox and how to configure it.

It's also based on pure Debian so you can sidestep and not indirectly support Ubuntu's lack of etiquette in the FOSS community.

Looks pretty cool too IMHO. I always have somebody ask me what I'm using if I'm doing something on a CB laptop when I'm in a coffee shop, library or similar place.

pilgrim · « **Reply #29 on:** June 08, 2013, 05:55 AM »

@Deo - CrunchBang is my favorite go-to distro for laptops. Works very well with lower powered boxes too. Glad you found it. The interface is a little different if you're used to more traditional window managers like MSWindows or Gnome or KDE. But in may respects it's more flexible and configurable than most if you put a little time into learning about OpenBox and how to configure it.

It's also based on pure Debian so you can sidestep and not indirectly support Ubuntu's lack of etiquette in the FOSS community.

Looks pretty cool too IMHO. I always have somebody ask me what I'm using if I'm doing something on a CB laptop when I'm in a coffee shop, library or similar place.
-40hz (June 07, 2013, 07:44 PM)

I've never heard of that before. I've not got the time to go through their forum/site at the moment, can it be run as a live CD/USB do you know?

40hz · « **Reply #30 on:** June 08, 2013, 07:28 AM »

can it be run as a live CD/USB do you know?
-pilgrim (June 08, 2013, 05:55 AM)

It can. I have a copy on USB which I take with me everywhere "just in case."

(Note: I'm a big fan of live CDs and portable apps.)

pilgrim · « **Reply #31 on:** June 08, 2013, 08:20 AM »

Thanks, I'll have a closer look when I've got the time.
For some reason the live CD's I've already got have refused to run on my new PC, they boot OK and then throw up file system errors.
The drive is OK because amongst other things I've run backup and partition software with it, and the live CD's still run on my old PC.

40hz · « **Reply #32 on:** June 08, 2013, 10:19 AM »

For some reason the live CD's I've already got have refused to run on my new PC, they boot OK and then throw up file system errors.
-pilgrim (June 08, 2013, 08:20 AM)

Could be either a bad download or a problem with the drive that was used to burn the disks.

Anytime you download a very large file there's always the chance of some corruption Happens a lot with some slower DSL services where there's a significant number of lags and timeout/resumes during a download - which your DL manager usually won't tell you about.

99% of the time there's a file error it's because the ISO download got corrupted. First thing to do following a download is to verify the MD5 or SHA-1 checksum. If there's a mismatch, the download is corrupted and you'll have to download it again.

If you don't have a utility to verify checksums, I'd recommend grabbing a copy of Colony West Software's freebie digestIT.

If the checksum is ok, then there might be an alignment issue with the burning drive. Usually the problem occurs with higher R/W settings. So when in doubt, the old trick is to try burning the CD at a lower speed like 8X or 16X. Virtually any drive can read any disk duped at those speeds.

If you don't want to chance wasting a disk, you can always load a live distro image onto a bootable USB key and play with that. It's faster than loading from CD anyway.

pilgrim · « **Reply #33 on:** June 08, 2013, 10:51 AM »

One of the CD's is a genuine one that came with The Official Ubuntu Book.
The other was a download and I should still have the ISO itself which I can check, although as I said they both work on my old PC.

I learned about burning speeds the hard way although it's not always the answer, when I rebuilt my old PC a slipstreamed XP-SP3 CD that I had used before was rejected.
As my genuine ones are both SP2 I had to use one of them and then install the service pack, fortunately I always keep downloaded installers except for normal MS updates.

I get a File Hashes tab under Properties on all my computers: CRC32, MD2, MD4, MD5, SHA-1, SHA-256, SHA-512. There's 7 more that are hidden.
It also allows me to compare files.

I have a number of both CD and DVD RW discs, anything I am not sure about I put on one of those first.

40hz · « **Reply #34 on:** June 08, 2013, 01:25 PM »

^Out of curiosity - was your new machine preloaded with Windows and UEFI/Secure Boot enabled?

Because if it is, it won't boot Linux (or any other non-Windows OS) off a CD until some changes get made in the hardware setup to allow it.

sword · « **Reply #35 on:** June 08, 2013, 04:50 PM »

Re: [#31 pilgrim] live CD
For me, 'live' CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-R work with Puppy and Mint_12-32 bit, Mint_14-32 bit,
but do not consistently allow app additions. 'Live' DVD-RW works perfectly for Puppy
and Mint_12-32 bit and 14-64 bit but not 15-64 bit. USB drives work well for Puppy_5.4.3
and Mint and allow package/application additions. [dedicated Linux PC, AMD-64 bit, two
internal DVD drives failed to work but an external usb 'Buffalo' DVD drive works well.]

pilgrim · « **Reply #36 on:** June 09, 2013, 03:56 AM »

^Out of curiosity - was your new machine preloaded with Windows and UEFI/Secure Boot enabled?

Because if it is, it won't boot Linux (or any other non-Windows OS) off a CD until some changes get made in the hardware setup to allow it.
-40hz (June 08, 2013, 01:25 PM)

The new PC is all my own work so it wasn't preloaded with anything.

I thought that Secure Boot was only related to Windows 8 and that it was OS based.

Having read your post I have been looking into it. The first place I looked was the MB manual (I'm not on the PC at the moment), it does not mention it. Then I found a thread on the Windows 8 forums about disabling UEFI and one of the MB's mentioned is the same make but a different model to mine, having looked at the images it is probably the same BIOS.

Not knowing any better I strongly suspect that I have it enabled so when I get back to the PC I'll have a look.

sword,

I had an old copy of Puppy I'll have to see if I can find it.

EDIT:

I just checked the PC's BIOS and found no reference to Secure Boot or UEFI.

40hz · « **Reply #37 on:** June 09, 2013, 12:55 PM »

^ I'm glad sword brought up the point about the media type. I too have had weird problems with live CDs burned to RW media with certain machines. Never ran into it with standard non-R/W media however.

Possibly it's just the optical drive in your new machine that's being fussy?

That might be something worth looking into - or try the installation from a USB key assuming you're sure the image you downloaded is good.

pilgrim · « **Reply #38 on:** June 10, 2013, 03:52 AM »

Those that I have been trying are all CD-R, I only use the RW when I am making sure that I want to make a permanent copy.

I need to go through the files on my old PC and its external drive to find the ISO's or I might simply download the latest versions as all mine are several years out of date.

Looking around I found several cases, especially with Ubuntu, where people were complaining of issues with specific versions when previous ones had worked.

I'm not sure that this is a Linux versus Windows problem as a rescue CD that I tested booted successfully and that is Linux based.

When I get any further I'll post again.

zridling · « **Reply #39 on:** June 11, 2013, 04:27 PM »

First, welcome Tosim, to Linux. You're going to love it. Made the switch myself almost 7 years ago(!) and have blissfully side-stepped all the weeping and gnashing of teeth that a life lived among Microsoft products brings. Every once in a while I'll visit that dinosaur site called ZDNet and see all the thunder and fury guys like Ed Bott scream while trying to [still] accept what Microsoft gives them before the next VP who was in charge of the update dashes for the exit door (Sinofsky).

My advice follows that of 40hz. And for those still on the fence, I suggest you simply load distros onto your old machine and use it for your daily tasks. Immerse yourself. And no, don't expect it to be a gaming machine for your Windows games or run Photoshop. But now that Photoshop is a cloud subscription, you no longer can use that excuse.

I use openSUSE because it's very liberal when it comes to software choice and it's uber-stable. Try Mint if your machine can handle it and you'll see all the endless things a Linux distro can really do. Good luck.

wraith808 · « **Reply #40 on:** June 11, 2013, 04:54 PM »

Whatever works best for the user I always say.
-40hz (June 01, 2013, 03:47 PM)

This, I can get on board with. The OS is a tool, not a religion.

40hz · « **Reply #41 on:** June 11, 2013, 05:01 PM »

I use openSUSE because it's very liberal when it comes to software choice and it's uber-stable.
-zridling (June 11, 2013, 04:27 PM)

Another superb choice.

I still have earlier versions that I paid money to buy disk sets for back when it was still available in retail computer stores - back when there still were retail computer stores and not just PC sections in big box outlets.

The real "old guard" distros (Slack and Debian) are exceptionally stable and pretty well worked out. You may lose a few of the fancier out-of-box bells & whistles (until you install them yourself

) by not going with some of the newer releases like Mint or Mageia. But that shouldn't stop you.

Check out the Distrowatch website for a fairly comprehensive list of what's currently available.

40hz · « **Reply #42 on:** June 11, 2013, 05:10 PM »

Whatever works best for the user I always say.
-40hz (June 01, 2013, 03:47 PM)

This, I can get on board with. The OS is a tool, not a religion.
-wraith808 (June 11, 2013, 04:54 PM)

Seriously!

What is the BFD about which brand of computer or software you use? Who cares?

You share what you know about the "good stuff," offer help and suggestions when you can, and move on your merry way.

I don't get evangelism. But that's probably because I was once very interested in religious belief systems and put a fair amount of study into learning as much as I could starting with Albigencian and ending somewhere around Zoroasterianism. Mostly because I didn't get it. At all.

Still don't really.

Feel much the same way about software, makes of cars, and sports teams.

It's all a big "so what?" to me.

kilele · « **Reply #43 on:** June 11, 2013, 07:39 PM »

When using Linux don't you feel like crippled deep down a dungeon? is Linux a good platform to allow a software developer make a living ? Also I didn't find any desktop manager which allowed searching within a combobox

40hz · « **Reply #44 on:** June 11, 2013, 08:06 PM »

When using Linux don't you feel like crippled deep down a dungeon?
-kilele (June 11, 2013, 07:39 PM)

Not for a minute. As the matter of a fact, lately I feel like I'm wearing handcuffs every time I need to work within Windows.

is Linux a good platform to allow a software developer make a living ?

Redhat, Suse, Canonical, HP, IBM. Hollywood and a bunch of other people who write software seem to think so. Even Steam feels there's a future for paid games - and they're doing ok with it last I heard.

Also I didn't find any desktop manager which allowed searching within a combobox

Not quite sure what you mean by "searching within a combobox"...but ok. Maybe you can elaborate a bit more on that one? Searching isn't something a desktop manager would do. Do you mean doing a file search within a GUI interface like so:

Screenshot from 2013-06-11 21:05:24.png

That would be a function more likely found in a file manager.

kilele · « **Reply #45 on:** June 12, 2013, 04:43 AM »

@40hz

I was kidding but I feel a bit that way knowing the entire possibilities that can be done in Windows. Actually I plan to make an installation of SolusOS on some old pcs.

You mentioned a few companies that have a business model based on technical support for their distributions, this is something that could work for small stores providing service for Mint equipped machines. I was referring more to freelance and software developers, aside from the small market it seems that many developers are not appealed by inconsistencies on packages among different distributions regarding software and hardware stability.

I was not able to find the proper way to hit a letter or two and make the selection jump to the 1st item starting with those letters.