Ubuntu/Linux

[mattman91]

Who here uses Linux Mint or any other Ubuntu based OS? I think I'm going to make the switch. For whatever reason, after downloading Windows 10 on my laptop, the start menu will not work. I have tried every "fix" I could find on the net, but nothing works. I have since factory rest my pc and went back to Windows 8, which everyone knows is awful.

How is Ubuntu? Any major issues? Easy to install?

[FerryFor50]

Who here uses Linux Mint or any other Ubuntu based OS? I think I'm going to make the switch. For whatever reason, after downloading Windows 10 on my laptop, the start menu will not work. I have tried every "fix" I could find on the net, but nothing works. I have since factory rest my pc and went back to Windows 8, which everyone knows is awful.

How is Ubuntu? Any major issues? Easy to install?

Easy to install. But there is a learning curve on using it, even with the GUI.

I didn't hate Windows 8. I'd say stick with what you know, unless you want to learn a whole new OS.

[mattman91]

Easy to install. But there is a learning curve on using it, even with the GUI.

I didn't hate Windows 8. I'd say stick with what you know, unless you want to learn a whole new OS.

After researching, people seem to think Linux Mint is a lot like Windows 7 as far as functionality. That would be perfect for me. I abhor Windows 8.

[fidel]

If you are just looking to run a browser you may like it. Linux is wonderful for being free, but not the same amount of UI friendliness.

Give it a go.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

After researching, people seem to think Linux Mint is a lot like Windows 7 as far as functionality. That would be perfect for me. I abhor Windows 8.

I detest Windows 8 - far flung cry from the familiarity of the Windows interfaces we were familiar with. I've waxed philosophical on this board before about how if I wanted to use a tablet, I would use a tablet - NOT Windows 8.

I inherited a really nice Sony Vaio with Ubuntu on it a few years ago. I was pretty enthusiastic about it, as I like to think of myself as a rather tech savvy person, and cutting the Microsoft "cord" felt like relief.

I was kicking along pretty well by just google searching any questions I had about functionality, upgrades, plug-ins, etc for a good while. Then, one of the automatic updates I approved promptly disabled my network drivers, ending that nice little easy "I'll just google the answer" work around I had found. I tried hobbling along using my phone to look up a way to roll back my updates or re-enable my network drivers so I could get online, but after a few hours I gave up.

I went online and got a refurbished laptop with Windows 7 for less than $200, ending my misery.

Anyway, not sure what the moral of the story is, other than "some people aren't as tech savvy we we think we are."

[jdk]

After researching, people seem to think Linux Mint is a lot like Windows 7 as far as functionality. That would be perfect for me. I abhor Windows 8.

Please, do yourself a favor and do not install Linux Mint. The development team is very small, and they have a track record of HUGE security flaws.

Just two months ago, the Linux Mint website was hacked, and the install disks were infected with malware. The Mint team stated that the hack only affected their website for one weekend. The Mint website was hacked again, only five minutes after it was brought back online.

It was later revealed that the hackers had access to every username and password on the Linux Mint forums since December, and that the Mint developers had NO IDEA that their servers were compromised. There's really no way to know what kind of long-term damage was done.

Basically, the Mint team is incompetent at what they do. In 2013, they were called out for not providing ESSENTIAL security updates because they were too difficult for the Mint team to patch. It seems they have not learned.

Its a nice looking distro though, which is why it gets recommended often, but that's a very poor reason to choose a distribution. I would not trust them with my data.

Standard Ubuntu and its derivatives (Ubuntu MATE, Kubuntu, Xubuntu which is what I install for family / friends) is reasonably secure and has 3-5 years of support.

[fuse]

Mattman, jdk brings up some great points.

If you know what you are doing, Linux can be a great option.

CentOS or Fedora might be other considerations.

Price no object you can always check out the Mac ecosystem.

Depending on the level of content creation you need to do, pretty sure between a phone and a tablet you can cover most of what you need a laptop for.

I have a few friends who swear by their Surface/Surface Pros.

[CameronBornAndBred]

I use Ubuntu on my studio laptop. I figure at the very least, it's a deterrent to anyone thinking about stealing it, but I also really like it. The laptop was a donation from a friend, nothing wrong with it. I formatted the drive and loaded Ubuntu and have gone through a few upgrades without issue. The only one problem I had was a second upgrade took away my wifi, so I smoked it and put the most recent version on without doing an upgrade, and got the wifi adapter back.
I only use it for internet access, email and music, but it suits my needs perfectly.

[BLPOG]

I'd recommend a Debian distribution over Ubuntu, but it's largely a matter of personal preference.

You might want to consider downloading VirtualBox first and then try out a couple different distributions within a virtual machine.

[cspan37421]

Who here uses Linux Mint or any other Ubuntu based OS? I think I'm going to make the switch. For whatever reason, after downloading Windows 10 on my laptop, the start menu will not work. I have tried every "fix" I could find on the net, but nothing works. I have since factory rest my pc and went back to Windows 8, which everyone knows is awful.

How is Ubuntu? Any major issues? Easy to install?

3.5 years ago I snapped up a Dell Vostro 2420 laptop that came with Ubuntu (I didn't have to install it, though I have successfully installed Mint before on a desktop - it WAS easy. Not sure if it is STILL easy due to UEFI, having to disable secure boot, if possible, etc). I use this $300 laptop (really!) when I'm away from home; at home, I prefer my Win 7 desktop computer for both the type of work I do and my habit of tweaking components under the hood over time. Plus I hate trackpads, the feeling of dread while batteries run down, etc.

My kids got Win8 laptops and I was horrified by the interface. Every setting I'd want to change is ridiculously buried and finding it is un-intuitive.

Anyway, overall I like Ubuntu, but I don't love it. One thing I don't love is the media players on it. On my home desktop, I use MediaMonkey - and in the past have used iTunes - to organize music and podcasts. I have not found a good substitute for MediaMonkey, though it may exist. There is a video player one can install called VLC and that works OK.

I'm also not crazy about the default interface for Ubuntu (Unity). The general sense is that with Linux, everything is tweakable, so it's probably just a matter of me investing the time to figure out how to get to a desktop view that is more familiar and functional for me. For instance, program icons laid out on a screen rather than along some side ribbon that runs off the screen when you get too many. I do rely on alt-tab for switching between open programs; that is easier than the sometimes-jumpy trackpad.

Setting up wifi was easy; setting up wireless printing to my brother laser printer was VERY time consuming, but I found instructions online and followed them very carefully, and found success - after about an hour! Please note, that wasn't an hour of research and 5-10 minutes of clicking away and waiting. That's an hour of alternatively clicking away and waiting. There were times during the process I swore I had to have done something wrong - all kinds of line commands and results were scrolling like in the days of DOS when you hit dir c: /s on a really full drive. It was like that for 25 minutes at a time! But once done, it really worked, and I was proud as could be.

After 3.5 years with this laptop, the battery life is getting pretty bad. Dell wants quite a bit of $$ for a new one. Sadly, replacements for THIS laptop available at the river site seem to have few reviews, and what is there is not encouraging. A few say "worked for 2 weeks, then failed." etc. So I'm currently debating the wisdom of shelling out the $$ to Dell. AFAIK they don't make a new one except in a higher end model and this one has been perfectly adequate for my road needs. I use LibreOffice and Firefox. That's almost all I do when on the road.

Oh, and the speakers went out on the laptop. But that's not Ubuntu's fault. Earbud port still works, though.

Recommendation: see if you can't find instructions to make a LiveCD or USB stick so that you can try Ubuntu before committing to it on the machine of your choice.

http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/try-ubuntu-before-you-install

My experience with Mint was OK too, but short-lived. I did a dual-boot to a Win XP machine, and that worked fine for a bit. However, within a few months I had a monitor fail, and then the motherboard blew a capacitor. I pulled the hard drives and got an external mount thingy for them (SATA HDD mounting station by Plugable) and then recycled the rest that was inside the CPU tower. If I had any guts I'd go with Debian but I am concerned I'd have to invest a lot more time re-learning command line stuff in terminal.

Dell's Linux offerings have, in the time since I bought my cheapo Vostro 2420, been limited to higher-end developer editions of their XPS laptops. However, last summer there was some news that they resumed offering a couple consumer-grade models. I'm not sure they still do or not - it's NOT easy to navigate to the Linux stuff from Dell.com. I think some pages were left out there which the browsers can still find (say, links from a review article) but they're not navigable any longer. Dell seems to run hot and cold with their Linux efforts. There are other vendors (system76, cgallery.com, zareason) but I'm not sure you'll get the kind of pricing you can get at Dell.

My next computer purchase may depend on whether I can dual boot to Linux. I'll have to inquire with Dell about the ability to dual boot their products. Frankly I'd rather go full linux at home, but I am not ready to give up certain media functionality, audio & video editing, scanning, etc. If all that can be answered, great, but it's not obvious to me yet that it can. When traveling I can do without that stuff, or with lesser versions. That's fine - for a time.

Hope this helps.

[grad_devil]

You might want to consider downloading VirtualBox first and then try out a couple different distributions within a virtual machine.

I second this 1000%. Try it out in a virtual machine, and see what you think before making any wholesale switch.

I'm a Fedora guy (previously RedHat) for the past 17 years, and love it, but it's not for everyone.

Also, I'm in the Asheville-ish area, so if you decide to make the jump, let me know if you need help.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

I second this 1000%. Try it out in a virtual machine, and see what you think before making any wholesale switch.

I'm a Fedora guy (previously RedHat) for the past 17 years, and love it, but it's not for everyone.

Also, I'm in the Asheville-ish area, so if you decide to make the jump, let me know if you need help.

Didn't know there were more Ashevillains hiding around here!

[ricks68]

Didn't know there were more Ashevillains hiding around here!

It's Ashevillians, not Ashvillains, ya know. (Unless you are a UNCheater living here, of course.)😆

ricks

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

It's Ashevillians, not Ashvillains, ya know. (Unless you are a UNCheater living here, of course.)😆

ricks

It was an intentional nod to the Black IPA at APBC. :)

[grad_devil]

It was an intentional nod to the Black IPA at APBC. :)

Mmm...APBC sounds tasty about now; shouldn't have skipped lunch.

And you knew I was in the Asheville area! Don't you remember exchanging DBR messages with me in 2010??? How dare you not remember! :p

We have a critical mass; I call basketball viewing party some game next year for the Asheville DBRers. I'll let the rest of you handle the details.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

Mmm...APBC sounds tasty about now; shouldn't have skipped lunch.

And you knew I was in the Asheville area! Don't you remember exchanging DBR messages with me in 2010??? How dare you not remember! :p

We have a critical mass; I call basketball viewing party some game next year for the Asheville DBRers. I'll let the rest of you handle the details.

I posted that message from APBC!