Hello
I'm here to ask a question. So, I've been using computer since I've been 5 or 6 years old, basicly just shooting games like [I]"ET, UT99, GTA"[/I] with Windows computer. We've had a [I]Win2000/XP/Vista/7/8[/I] computer from past the years. I've been thinking of moving to Ubuntu for about year or two, the reason for this is because: I don't need virus software that runs bunch of services and CPU. Linux uses less CPU/RAM/Services than Windows does, I don't like to have OS's like Windows 8 in future because it bothers me to log in to computer with my Email account and the layout looks horrible "I know, silly reasons but my opinon" Linux Hardware/Software support is getting bigger. I wouldn't been thinking of this if Microsoft announced OS like Windows 7.
I do know that Linux doesn't support every software in this world, but it doesn't mind me so much as long as Browser, couple steam games and maybe couple editing softwares works in it. I've visited our local library but our city is in so bad condition that the newest Linux book is about 2011 if I remember right and it doesn't even talk about using it, just what it is, like it was a child's story book about North Korea, you can hear about it but never visit it.
I'm used to use easy OS like Windows, barely use commandline to install/run/search anything. I tried twice making Minecraft server in Linux because I had more RAM to use in Linux, but I never got it working because the Java wasn't happy enough to run without errors and stuff. I even didn't manage to install wireless drivers to laptop with Ubuntu. But the question is, how did you manage to switch from Windows to Linux? What Linux did you use first - Linux Mint? Did you use any Guides? Do you still use Linux and do you like it? I'd like to give a new shot but seems like Microsoft doesn't allow me to. I have all I need to install but I have nothing to begin the use of linux.
I'd appreciate if you could help me,
Thanks
[I]
And yes i Google'd[/I]
Everyone has their own favorite distribution of linux.
My favorite is Xubuntu, since it's rather similar to Windows' interface, lightweight and sexy themed, but if you're gonna switch to linux the bottom line is that you better get used to some basic command-line.
Most linux problems can nowadays simply be solved by googling a specific problem and running some basic commands in the terminal because people often have the same problems you do.
Personally, I still run Windows 8 as a main OS though, because it's [I]good enough[/I] - the silly new interface isn't all that bad but if you think it is, you can just use Classic Shell to have the old Windows 7 interface (and you can use a local account so you don't need an email).
Try Linux Mint first. Mint feels really to a transitioning Windows user'
Also, why not dual boot?
[QUOTE=Laamapalmu;44836259]if Microsoft announced OS like Windows 7.[/QUOTE]
They did, it's called Windows 7. No one forces you to upgrade, and seeing how bad Windows 8 sales have been it's likely they will release another OS like Windows 7. Windows 7 will likely be supported for a very long time like XP was, I wouldn't worry
Here's my perspective, as someone whose Win7 install got hosed, then went to Mint 16 w/MATE.
I've gone back to Win7. After a couple of weeks using Mint the little things started getting more and more annoying. Now I know why, for most people, linux is not a suitable replacement for Windows.
Item one: The volume would always go back to 100% on every boot. If I set the volume to 5%, next time I boot it's back to 100%.
When I open a window, like the file manager, it opens in the upper left corner. When I move it, let's say to the lower right, then close it, the next time I open it the damn thing opens in the upper left corner again! It should open in the same size and place it was when I last used it.
The Software manager is a great idea. Type in what you want and install it, without having to go to the program's website to download it. Sadly, almost all the programs are outdated! If you go to the program's website you'll usually find the newest version while the repository has an old one. Who wants old crap?
Programs almost work right. For instance, Win7 has an image resizer you can download. You can set the resolution you want(eg 1080P) and you can them right click on images, select 'resize image' and it'll resize all the images you want as per your settings. Linus has Pimagizer, which was the best I could find. That one you have to manually enter 1080P EACH TIME you resize an image! Plus you can't drag a box around multiple image files and resize all of them at once, you have to do it one by one.
Linux is full of little problems like that. And you better love working in the terminal, because you'll be spending a lot of time there. I'm a person who believes in the modern age the mouse should be able to handle everything.
Do a search on resizing images in linux, the main answers you see are about using ImageMagick and typing shit like "convert example.png -resize 200×100 example.png". That's crazy when right clicking on a file and selecting 'resize image' is possible.
[QUOTE=cecilbdemodded;44842559]Here's my perspective, as someone whose Win7 install got hosed, then went to Mint 16 w/MATE.
I've gone back to Win7. After a couple of weeks using Mint the little things started getting more and more annoying. Now I know why, for most people, linux is not a suitable replacement for Windows.
Item one: The volume would always go back to 100% on every boot. If I set the volume to 5%, next time I boot it's back to 100%.
When I open a window, like the file manager, it opens in the upper left corner. When I move it, let's say to the lower right, then close it, the next time I open it the damn thing opens in the upper left corner again! It should open in the same size and place it was when I last used it.
The Software manager is a great idea. Type in what you want and install it, without having to go to the program's website to download it. Sadly, almost all the programs are outdated! If you go to the program's website you'll usually find the newest version while the repository has an old one. Who wants old crap?
Programs almost work right. For instance, Win7 has an image resizer you can download. You can set the resolution you want(eg 1080P) and you can them right click on images, select 'resize image' and it'll resize all the images you want as per your settings. Linus has Pimagizer, which was the best I could find. That one you have to manually enter 1080P EACH TIME you resize an image! Plus you can't drag a box around multiple image files and resize all of them at once, you have to do it one by one.
Linux is full of little problems like that. And you better love working in the terminal, because you'll be spending a lot of time there. I'm a person who believes in the modern age the mouse should be able to handle everything.
Do a search on resizing images in linux, the main answers you see are about using ImageMagick and typing shit like "convert example.png -resize 200×100 example.png". That's crazy when right clicking on a file and selecting 'resize image' is possible.[/QUOTE]
Many of these problems are due to the distro, rather than Linux. I only ever used Linux Mint once. The last distro I used was Elementary OS and it was great. As far as I remember the volume stayed the same, and windows didn't always open at the top left.
Elementary OS uses the Ubuntu software manager (same as Linux mint I think) and yeah the repo is outdated, it's a big problem that needs to be fixed. You can get round it by adding a new repository, but that shouldn't be needed.
Elementary OS comes with Shotwell, it can edit images, not fully sure about resizing, but there should definitely be software capable of that on Linux.
The terminal should be something you only need to get to when something needs fixing, I haven't gone in there that much apart from when I had errors with programs.
[QUOTE=cecilbdemodded;44842559]Item one: The volume would always go back to 100% on every boot. If I set the volume to 5%, next time I boot it's back to 100%.[/quote]
Your distro probably configured ALSA and/or Pulse badly - it's not saving mixer levels on shutdown like it's supposed to. You can probably fix it by changing a line in some file in /etc but you shouldn't have to.
[quote]When I open a window, like the file manager, it opens in the upper left corner. When I move it, let's say to the lower right, then close it, the next time I open it the damn thing opens in the upper left corner again! It should open in the same size and place it was when I last used it.[/quote]
This is probably also the distro's fault, but it could be that you accidentally set it that way when looking through all the options. I don't know MATE that well, but KDE for sure does what you want it to (remembers position), and for the exceptions where you absolutely NEED windows to open a certain way (regardless of how they were before) you can set window rules.
[quote]The Software manager is a great idea. Type in what you want and install it, without having to go to the program's website to download it. Sadly, almost all the programs are outdated! If you go to the program's website you'll usually find the newest version while the repository has an old one. Who wants old crap?[/quote]
Normally I'd tell you to switch distros, but all the distros that have "latest" packages are non-trivial to install (because the only ones that I know of are Gentoo, Arch and Debian Sid).
[quote]Programs almost work right. For instance, Win7 has an image resizer you can download. You can set the resolution you want(eg 1080P) and you can them right click on images, select 'resize image' and it'll resize all the images you want as per your settings. Linus has Pimagizer, which was the best I could find. That one you have to manually enter 1080P EACH TIME you resize an image! Plus you can't drag a box around multiple image files and resize all of them at once, you have to do it one by one.
Linux is full of little problems like that. And you better love working in the terminal, because you'll be spending a lot of time there. I'm a person who believes in the modern age the mouse should be able to handle everything.
Do a search on resizing images in linux, the main answers you see are about using ImageMagick and typing shit like "convert example.png -resize 200×100 example.png". That's crazy when right clicking on a file and selecting 'resize image' is possible.[/QUOTE]
Most file managers should have some way of adding custom entries to the right click menus. Then you can just install ImageMagick and put a right-click menu option in to use it automatically. It's not as easy as "run an install wizard" but needing to resize images to 1080p from a right click menu isn't exactly a common problem.
I started out with (K)Ubuntu 8.04 a couple of years ago and used it for a bit before going back to Windows again. I continued using Linux as an server OS though. The reason I switched back then was because of the bad software support, and I felt that desktop Linux just was not mature enough yet.
Recently I figured I'd give Linux a second try on my desktop, mainly because I was getting tired of the Windows-way of doing things. At first I must say I didn't like it, mainly because I was used to Windows and all it's quirks, but later on the feelings switched.
My reunion with Linux started with Linux Mint, which I quite enjoyed and my opinion is that it was a quite capable Windows replacement which had more or less all the big features that Windows had. The problem I found was with the little stuff, small features I missed and annoyances which grew on me. I then switched to Kubuntu (KDE), which I found had none of those annoyances, and it even had tons of other features which made me feel about Windows the way I'd felt about Linux before. Now I'm unable to use Windows without being annoyed of all the features I miss.
I'd recommend you to just try it, but as with every change in life you will probleary find lots of small annoyances and such, but if you stick with it a while I'll bet that you would find it a pleasant experience. As you say that you like things simple I'd recommend Ubuntu, Kubuntu or Linux Mint. Ubuntu is the odd one out there, with an UI thats quite different from Windows, some people love it and others hate it, but I'd recommend you to try it out. I would say that the UI which has the most feature-parity with Windows is Kubuntu, but the simplest of the bunch is probleary Linux Mint.
As with the guides I'd recommend you to just jump into it and learn as you go. All the three "distros" I mentioned earlier is based upon Ubuntu, so solutions to every error or question could be found by prefixing your search with "Ubuntu".
Here's the extreme version of Linux annoyance.
I run an Ubuntu server...remotely (I live in Toronto, I'm working in California right now).
I built the server on site, took me 2 days to get Ubuntu to install (partition, boot and motherboard issues).
Took me 2 more days to get drivers working. (Again, motherboard issue)
Took another 3 days to get mdadm and Samba working. (both via command line)
Took another 2 days to get SSH/SCP, and FTP working. (Gave up the command line attempts after being unable to find the library it needed to compile... ended up using gadmin proFTPd)
Took another 2 days to get transmission to work (command line compilation library issues at first, also a bit of DDNS and port forwarding for webgui)
Spent 2 days trying to get a PPTP VPN server setup, but after "unknown error" when trying to compile, I gave up.
Room mate then spent a week installing webmin, couchpotato, utorrent, plex...
It works great now, since I access it mostly via web based GUI or FTP/Samba, but the setup was incredibly painful.
Would not recommend to the average/above average PC user.
[QUOTE=Laamapalmu;44836259]like it was a child's story book about North Korea, you can hear about it but never visit it.[/QUOTE]
can i just say that is a really good way of describing library books about linux, i really really dig that analogy
But yeah, when researching about different distros wikipedia and distrowatch are your friends.
When I started screwing 'round with fedora core 4 back in the dark ages you basically went into that shit blind. (well yeah there were messageboards and probably some irc channels but I wasn't sociable enough to get into them back then.) If you got something wrong in the install process then you borked your boot partition (which I did) and you couldn't boot into any of the operating systems on your computer. I was 14 years old and dude I freaked the fuck out.
Luckily these days it is easy enough for even secondary school kids to set up a dual booting system providing Windows was installed first. If you don't want to do that straight away you can also install a linux distro on a thing called a virtual machine. It's not even a real computer so you don't need to worry if you fuck it up, it is like having a dream where you are driving your dad's car really fast and not caring if you crash it because you know it is a dream.
These days I don't even care about dual booting that much because I use opensuse for basically everything. When I use any other operating system it just feels kind of grotty like I wearing somebody else's underpants. So yeah, when you find your ideal operating system it should feel as comfortable as your own underpants. Good luck duders!
[QUOTE=Angus725;44845000]Here's the extreme version of Linux annoyance.
I run an Ubuntu server...remotely (I live in Toronto, I'm working in California right now).
I built the server on site, took me 2 days to get Ubuntu to install (partition, boot and motherboard issues).
Took me 2 more days to get drivers working. (Again, motherboard issue)
Took another 3 days to get mdadm and Samba working. (both via command line)
Took another 2 days to get SSH/SCP, and FTP working. (Gave up the command line attempts after being unable to find the library it needed to compile... ended up using gadmin proFTPd)
Took another 2 days to get transmission to work (command line compilation library issues at first, also a bit of DDNS and port forwarding for webgui)
Spent 2 days trying to get a PPTP VPN server setup, but after "unknown error" when trying to compile, I gave up.
Room mate then spent a week installing webmin, couchpotato, utorrent, plex...
It works great now, since I access it mostly via web based GUI or FTP/Samba, but the setup was incredibly painful.
Would not recommend to the average/above average PC user.[/QUOTE]
Well, first of all he is installing desktop Linux and not server, so he should not even need to touch the commandline. And it seems like you were extremely unlucky with your experience, as an Ubuntu Server install should not take more than 15 min from booting to being installed. In almost all cases then drivers is also an non-issue, as all drivers are either included in the kernel, or automaticly fetched.
Also, ssh and ftp is just an "sudo apt-get install openssh-server vsftpd" away, no compilation is even neccesary. Same goes with transmission-cli, pptpd and webmin. Couchpotato is made with Python, and you only need to download and run it with python. uTorrent has an deb package, so you only need to download and install it (On desktop this is just as in Windows, doubleclick and accept, on server you only need to "sudo dpkg --install utorrent.deb". Plex you have to enable some thirdparty application sources for, but that is only one linechange in Server and some clicks in the controlpanel for Desktop.
It seems to me that you did not even search after your issues. Seriously, every application you listed is either in the repository (Which is as simple as the app stores on iOS and Android), or have very few steps needed to get running, aswell as having tons of good guides on the net.
As long as you use a mainstream distro like Mint or Ubuntu, desktop setup should be relatively simple provided you don't have strange hardware or your network drivers are proprietary (which is annoying to get working).
As for switching, I would dual boot both until you are completely confident you don't need Windows anymore. Either that or use a Linux distro in a VM to get a feel for it.
Personally, I still use Windows 7/8.1 on my desktop systems (primarily for games). My 8 year old laptop runs Arch, and my servers run Debian, however, both are a little more advanced for the entry level Linux user (they are very bare-bones, especially Arch).
[QUOTE=Angus725;44845000]Here's the extreme version of Linux annoyance.
I run an Ubuntu server...remotely (I live in Toronto, I'm working in California right now).
I built the server on site, took me 2 days to get Ubuntu to install (partition, boot and motherboard issues).
Took me 2 more days to get drivers working. (Again, motherboard issue)
Took another 3 days to get mdadm and Samba working. (both via command line)
Took another 2 days to get SSH/SCP, and FTP working. (Gave up the command line attempts after being unable to find the library it needed to compile... ended up using gadmin proFTPd)
Took another 2 days to get transmission to work (command line compilation library issues at first, also a bit of DDNS and port forwarding for webgui)
Spent 2 days trying to get a PPTP VPN server setup, but after "unknown error" when trying to compile, I gave up.
Room mate then spent a week installing webmin, couchpotato, utorrent, plex...
It works great now, since I access it mostly via web based GUI or FTP/Samba, but the setup was incredibly painful.
Would not recommend to the average/above average PC user.[/QUOTE]
I don't know what you did, but every service you mentioned does have a configuration that does work out of the box, and has always for me on countless of different types of hardware.
Also, Why are you trying to compile from source? Why don't you get the software from the repositories?
[QUOTE=lavacano;44843362]This is probably also the distro's fault, but it could be that you accidentally set it that way when looking through all the options. I don't know MATE that well, but KDE for sure does what you want it to (remembers position), and for the exceptions where you absolutely NEED windows to open a certain way (regardless of how they were before) you can set window rules.[/QUOTE]
MATE is a relatively new DE which was forked off the final version of Gnome 2.x. That being said, it inherited all of the bugs and problems from GNOME 2, plus all of the new problems that stemmed from being ported forward to sit on top of new dependencies.
It's no surprise it's misbehaving, I wouldn't call it anything other than beta quality software at this point.
If anyone wants a GNOME 2 like experience, I'd recommend XFCE or LXDE. They're far more mature alternatives that have been around considerably longer than MATE and the other GNOME 2 forks.
[QUOTE=kaukassus;44866689]I don't know what you did, but every service you mentioned does have a configuration that does work out of the box, and has always for me on countless of different types of hardware.
Also, Why are you trying to compile from source? Why don't you get the software from the repositories?[/QUOTE]
I was apparently following some obscure tutorials. >.>
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