Questions for my attempt to try Linux

[whm1974]

@tinpanalley Whatever Distro you choose, don't forget to enable the firewall:
https://itsfoss.com/set-up-firewall-gufw/

 

[tinpanalley]

@tinpanalley Whatever Distro you choose, don't forget to enable the firewall:
https://itsfoss.com/set-up-firewall-gufw/

Thanks, hadn't gotten that far ahead to learn about best practices, but I'll keep that in mind when I install.

 

[whm1974]

Thanks, hadn't gotten that far ahead to learn about best practices, but I'll keep that in mind when I install.

It is fairly common for new users to forget to turn that on. And it isn't unheard of for advanced users to forget either.

 

[whm1974]

@tinpanalley I might this interesting if you looking for writing applications.

 

[whm1974]

@tinpanalley Are you having fun with learning about Linux?

 

[JWade]

I have used/messed around with Zorin since Zorin5, its up to 12 now I think? I don't know a lot about Linux, use it mainly on old systems to turn them into jukeboxes

 

[whm1974]

I have used/messed around with Zorin since Zorin5, its up to 12 now I think? I don't know a lot about Linux, use it mainly on old systems to turn them into jukeboxes

Linux is great for such systems that are barely supported by Windows 10, it they can run that at all. Kiddos for putting old systems back in use.

 

[tinpanalley]

I have used/messed around with Zorin since Zorin5, its up to 12 now I think? I don't know a lot about Linux, use it mainly on old systems to turn them into jukeboxes

How so, turning them into jukeboxes?

 

[tinpanalley]

@tinpanalley Are you having fun with learning about Linux?

To be honest, I'm still debating on a distro. Every time I move one way, I find someone that says, "ok but 'X' doesn't work very well on that distro" or "hmm.. You might have driver trouble for your scanner on that one.." and it's made me afraid to pull the trigger on one specific one. I think support should be the priority, meaning the one that has a good community. I just don't want to go through all the trouble of seeing up distro only to find that it doesn't play will with my scanner or my GPU or a disc drive. And I don't want to just keep running live installs because they're cumbersome, slow, and generally ineffective at feeling out a distro.
Mint, Manjaro, and Zorin are the ones that seem to most appeal to my needs.

 

[whm1974]

To be honest, I'm still debating on a distro. Every time I move one way, I find someone that says, "ok but 'X' doesn't work very well on that distro" or "hmm.. You might have driver trouble for your scanner on that one.." and it's made me afraid to pull the trigger on one specific one. I think support should be the priority, meaning the one that has a good community. I just don't want to go through all the trouble of seeing up distro only to find that it doesn't play will with my scanner or my GPU or a disc drive. And I don't want to just keep running live installs because they're cumbersome, slow, and generally ineffective at feeling out a distro.
Mint, Manjaro, and Zorin are the ones that seem to most appeal to my needs.

This is one of the reasons I brought a refub notebook s few years so I can test other distros on bare hardware instead of LiveUSB or worse VMs.

If Mint, Manjaro, and Zorin sounds like what would meet your needs then go with those.

 

[mikeymikec]

One interesting thing I've found with Linux is how scanning software (ie. scan a picture/doc from paper to PC) seems to come in many different types that work in different ways. Simple-scan has worked best for my needs so far. Once or twice I've had to resort to Epson Scan via VM.

I've got three different bits of scanner software installed and another three bits of CD ripper software. I've settled on simple-scan and k3b for now.

 

[tinpanalley]

If Mint, Manjaro, and Zorin sounds like what would meet your needs then go with those.

Right, but which one would you guys say is going to allow me to more readily find forums and support? Or should I just go Ubuntu or Kubuntu even though I keep getting told Ubuntu really shouldn't be recommended to Linux novices.

 

[whm1974]

Right, but which one would you guys say is going to allow me to more readily find forums and support? Or should I just go Ubuntu or Kubuntu even though I keep getting told Ubuntu really shouldn't be recommended to Linux novices.

I did, and both Manjaro and Mint have really friendly to New to Linux users Forums.

 

[ultimatebob]

Actually that is highly recommend to do that if you have both Windows and Linux on the same system.

It's handy, but it's also the "path back to evil". Once you have the ability to easily run Windows applications, you'll find yourself booting into Windows more and spending less time looking for Linux alternatives.

I'd set up Virtualbox and run Windows in a VM instead. It's going to be a bit more sluggish, but that's actually a good thing because it will keep you motivated to find replacement software.

 

[whm1974]

It's handy, but it's also the "path back to evil". Once you have the ability to easily run Windows applications, you'll find yourself booting into Windows more and spending less time looking for Linux alternatives.

I'd set up Virtualbox and run Windows in a VM instead. It's going to be a bit more sluggish, but that's actually a good thing because it will keep you motivated to find replacement software.

Does dual booting still messes with the system time as it did in the past? I don't recall that happening with Windows 8.0, but I haven't dual booted since third quarter 2014.

 

[piokos]

To be honest, I'm still debating on a distro.

I think you're making a very common mistake, i.e. you concentrate way too much on the OS. It's just a program meant to run other things.
You'll get into a loop of choosing distros. And you'll never have time to do anything else.

At this point you don't know Linux and you have no way to evaluate what other people suggest.
You'll get tired by this whole "Linux adventure" before you open the terminal and then, maybe 2 days into using it, you'll decide it's not for you.

Get a major, easy to use distro. Start using it.

Most currently used distros evolved from 4 base ones: Red Hat, Debian, Slackware and Arch, as seen here: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1b/Linux_Distribution_Timeline.svg
Choose a branch, because they're quite different and moving between them is difficult (but moving between different distros inside them is easy).

The best one for you is Debian, precisely Ubuntu. It's the most popular distro for home users. It's easy, stable and has the best support from consumer hardware manufacturers.
Two Ubuntu distros are recommended for beginners: plain Ubuntu and Mint. Look at screenshots - if one instantly seems nicer, take it. If not, flip a coin.

Keep in mind that while Ubuntu is based on Debian, it has some unique features and specific software/hardware support, so it can be considered a separate branch (i.e. not everything from Ubuntu can be easily moved to Debian).

Also, 2 useful hints:

1) When you use Linux, you'll be forced to do many things in terminal (a lot more compared to Windows).
The recommendation is: do everything this way. And save terminal logs.
You'll have more understanding of what's going on. You'll also end up with scripts that let you reset the OS or quickly move to another distro (setup, install software, config network and peripherals etc).
Terminal operation is almost universal inside a distro branch (same or very similar commands). Interface (button) operating varies from environment to environment and there are dozens of them.

2) If you decide to spend more time choosing distros, test them using Virtualbox.
If you don't know Virtualbox, learning it would be an additional benefit of this adventure.
It lets you run virtual machines, i.e. install Linux in "containers" inside your Windows system.
You'll be able to compare the interfaces, try the terminal etc.
However, you won't be able to learn whether they support all your hardware (since it's emulated by Virtualbox) or how quickly they run on the actual system (some Linux distros are less responsive in VMs).

 

[mikeymikec]

It's handy, but it's also the "path back to evil". Once you have the ability to easily run Windows applications, you'll find yourself booting into Windows more and spending less time looking for Linux alternatives.

That is if one doesn't have a good reason for changing in the first place, IMO.

Also, if you're concerned about Windows being a "path to evil", then surely a user who's got loads of apps running in a Windows VM all the time is just as "bad" as a user who keeps booting back into Windows?

Does dual booting still messes with the system time as it did in the past? I don't recall that happening with Windows 8.0, but I haven't dual booted since third quarter 2014.

I've been dual-booting Win10 and Lubuntu since June last year. I haven't had a feature update drop in Win10 yet which was one of my main concerns, but the biggest irritation I had was to stop clocks being auto-adjusted incorrectly every time I rebooted, that took a few attempts to correct.

 

[ultimatebob]

Does dual booting still messes with the system time as it did in the past? I don't recall that happening with Windows 8.0, but I haven't dual booted since third quarter 2014.

I know that I had time zone problems dual booting Windows 10 and CentOS 6 the last time I tried it. Perhaps CentOS 7 is better with that?

Anyway, running the other OS in a VM doesn't have that issue.

 

[tinpanalley]

Why would dual booting two separate hdds with two separate OSes cause time and date issues?

 

[ultimatebob]

Why would dual booting two separate hdds with two separate OSes cause time and date issues?

I think that it could, since Linux updates the clock at the BIOS level. You should be able to fix this stuff at the OS level by disabling NTPD in Linux or the Windows Time Service, though.

 

[mikeymikec]

Why would dual booting two separate hdds with two separate OSes cause time and date issues?

Because operating systems for ages have kept an eye on daylight savings time, and most modern operating systems will sync their clock with an Internet time server. I think there's an assumption that whatever the bios clock says should possibly be plus however many hours the timezone is in, whereas another OS might just be modifying the bios clock.

Since my migration to Linux I've been keeping notes of stuff I've learnt... except this though apparently

With whatever solution finally worked for me, I didn't have to disable auto time zone changing.

 

[tinpanalley]

So let me get this straight, what you're saying is that running Windows and Linux even on two different hdds could cause system clock problems?

 

[whm1974]

So let me get this straight, what you're saying is that running Windows and Linux even on two different hdds could cause system clock problems?

Yep. And this issue has given me many headaches when I was dual booting.

 

[tinpanalley]

Yep. And this issue has given me many headaches when I was dual booting.

Hmm... Ok well that has pretty seriously and significantly hampered my desire to continue this experiment. I will never be able to NOT also run Windows. There are certain things, even not just gaming, for which i have to use Windows, and also for servicing i WANT to use Windows. I have to have that as an accessible option.

If dual booting, which is the most hassle free option could cause something as important as the system clock to malfunction, then it's a risk I lose more than I gain from. I'm not gonna try Linux just to say I tried Linux. Like any choice of computer gear, tech, software, etc, there needs to be more valid of a reason than just because it might be intetesting'. And there certainly shouldn't be any major drawbacks. I have a friend who just tries anything, cellphone, tablet, computer gear, etc etc etc without thinking enough about it and 9 times out of 10 sells the stuff on Craigslist or eBay within a week, at a loss. I think that's nuts. It shocks me how many people say the undeniably best way to run Linux and Windows is on separate hdds without ever mentioning that the system clock, a pretty important part of an OS could get messed up. Not saying it's not true, I'm just surprised people haven't noticed that or that I've never read it in any site about dual booting amidst the warnings.

Anyway, for now I'll shelf this until I can read more about it, make a more informed decision.

 

[mikeymikec]

If I found a way to stop it from happening, then it can't require much techie chops on the Linux side of things On the Windows side I remember making some registry modifications according to suggestions I found on the Internet. I'm a bit annoyed with myself for not noting down the solution, but given that I tried several things it may have been a combination of those things that did the trick.