Running Linux vs Other OS?

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MathWizard
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Re: Running Linux vs Other OS?

Post by MathWizard »

Windows 10 and install Ubuntu in WSL (PowerShell)
Install Xming for X applications.

Fire up Xming, and start xterms from your Ubuntu window.

Win 10 install VMware, and install a Linux distro as a virtual Machine

Install Linux, and use OVirt to install a Win10 VM. (Some low end GPUs detect they are running in a VM and will not work . It's a feature, not a bug :annoyed

Install Linux on a USB stick (at least 32 GB) and boot from that for Linux
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familythriftmd
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Re: Running Linux vs Other OS?

Post by familythriftmd »

sunny_socal wrote: Thu Sep 30, 2021 4:42 pm I've used linux - a lot. For a while I tried using it for my home computer but ongoing maintenance is a pain. Likely the best scenario is a host for a web browser, sort of like a Chrome book. Today I'd never use it for any serious work, there's way too much baby sitting.

Windows: Runs everything under the sun. Power hungry, it was never designed for laptops. Has become more Mac-like in stability over years.
Mac: Runs enough software for everyday use. Very power efficient. Stable.
Chrome: Even more power efficient, practical use is limited to a web browser
Linux: Will likely never be a good desktop OS. Excels at running server farms, engineering software etc.

Decide how much time you have and how you'd like to spend it.
Linux has been far less maintenance for me than for any other OS I've ever used. What distro had you been using?
roamingzebra
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Re: Running Linux vs Other OS?

Post by roamingzebra »

Marseille07 wrote: Thu Sep 30, 2021 5:48 pm I'm surprised by the popularity of Lubuntu. What's so good about it compared to Xubuntu or Ubuntu MATE? Personally I like MATE a lot, the GNOME2 desktop manager works for me.
Many Linux users dislike bloat. Or they're using old machines that can't handle bloat. Lubuntu fills the bill of a fast, bloat-free distro. However, it uses more resources now that it's switched from LXDE to LXqt. I personally like the former and dislike the latter, but others on this thread feel the exact opposite. Even though Lubuntu abandoned LXDE, LXDE is still supported (it doesn't need much support since it's a mature system) and can be used as a DE on other distros.
Marseille07
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Re: Running Linux vs Other OS?

Post by Marseille07 »

roamingzebra wrote: Thu Sep 30, 2021 8:43 pm
Marseille07 wrote: Thu Sep 30, 2021 5:48 pm I'm surprised by the popularity of Lubuntu. What's so good about it compared to Xubuntu or Ubuntu MATE? Personally I like MATE a lot, the GNOME2 desktop manager works for me.
Many Linux users dislike bloat. Or they're using old machines that can't handle bloat. Lubuntu fills the bill of a fast, bloat-free distro. However, it uses more resources now that it's switched from LXDE to LXqt. I personally like the former and dislike the latter, but others on this thread feel the exact opposite. Even though Lubuntu abandoned LXDE, LXDE is still supported (it doesn't need much support since it's a mature system) and can be used as a DE on other distros.
Yeah I don't like Qt-based desktops. I liked GNOME2 and this is why I'm on MATE, they're basically continuing GNOME2 as opposed to Cinnamon which uses GNOME3 but tries to make it feel like GNOME2.
Northern Flicker
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Re: Running Linux vs Other OS?

Post by Northern Flicker »

Running twm or mwm (or vtwm or fvwm) and right-clicking the X root window (screen background) to activate a menu I configured with an entry to open an xterm window is about the most GUI support I've ever found to be useful with a Unix machine.
Secondscount
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Re: Running Linux vs Other OS?

Post by Secondscount »

Marseille07 wrote: Thu Sep 30, 2021 10:35 pm
roamingzebra wrote: Thu Sep 30, 2021 8:43 pm
Marseille07 wrote: Thu Sep 30, 2021 5:48 pm I'm surprised by the popularity of Lubuntu. What's so good about it compared to Xubuntu or Ubuntu MATE? Personally I like MATE a lot, the GNOME2 desktop manager works for me.
Many Linux users dislike bloat. Or they're using old machines that can't handle bloat. Lubuntu fills the bill of a fast, bloat-free distro. However, it uses more resources now that it's switched from LXDE to LXqt. I personally like the former and dislike the latter, but others on this thread feel the exact opposite. Even though Lubuntu abandoned LXDE, LXDE is still supported (it doesn't need much support since it's a mature system) and can be used as a DE on other distros.
Yeah I don't like Qt-based desktops. I liked GNOME2 and this is why I'm on MATE, they're basically continuing GNOME2 as opposed to Cinnamon which uses GNOME3 but tries to make it feel like GNOME2.
Interesting. I ran Kubuntu for a long time and got along well with it. 2007ish era, my former wife was running an Win XP box, using it for email, Facebook, and the web. She kept getting viruses so I installed Kubuntu on it and she never had another issue with it.
Whakamole
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Re: Running Linux vs Other OS?

Post by Whakamole »

LadyGeek wrote: Sat Sep 25, 2021 9:58 am I also have a Brother printer, model HL-2240D, that I had shared on my network.* It was locally connected to my Linux PC (Ubuntu) via samba. It was indeed difficult to coerce Win 10 to connect to samba, but I eventually got it working. I was also sharing files via samba.

My Linux PC was configured as a server and had a static IP address assigned. So, it always had a static IP address for the printer.

* I currently have the printer connected locally to my Win 10 PC because the 2nd (Linux) PC broke and will be replaced at some point. My Win 10 PC is dual-boot so I can go into Linux at any time.
I have a Brother printer as well. All I needed to do was download the driver install from the website, and get the IP address of my printer (easy to get by logging into your router.) The test print worked the first time, and I've done two scans today. All this with Kubuntu.

The biggest issue I've had is with a Synology NAS.

I have a Windows VM running if I need to run legacy software.
Second Round
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Re: Running Linux vs Other OS?

Post by Second Round »

sunny_socal wrote: Thu Sep 30, 2021 4:42 pm I've used linux - a lot. For a while I tried using it for my home computer but ongoing maintenance is a pain. Likely the best scenario is a host for a web browser, sort of like a Chrome book. Today I'd never use it for any serious work, there's way too much baby sitting.

Windows: Runs everything under the sun. Power hungry, it was never designed for laptops. Has become more Mac-like in stability over years.
Mac: Runs enough software for everyday use. Very power efficient. Stable.
Chrome: Even more power efficient, practical use is limited to a web browser
Linux: Will likely never be a good desktop OS. Excels at running server farms, engineering software etc.

Decide how much time you have and how you'd like to spend it.
How has it been since you tried a Linux distro on your home computer, and what distro was it? Ongoing maintenance is just not a thing at all in my experience. I had vastly more of it under Windows (7, the last one I had). I've run Linux Mint virtually full-time since Jan 2020, and it has been great. I've run 2 other Linux distros alongside Windows since 2013, and both have proven to be low-maintenance and a reliable desktop OS. But I will concede, I never liked the Ubuntu UI. I prefer the Win7 layout and ways of finding programs and settings; Mint is really good at that.
jebmke
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Re: Running Linux vs Other OS?

Post by jebmke »

I booted an old laptop with a USB distro called Zorin. Very fast boot and seemed reasonably quick for this old hardware.
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lostdog
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Re: Running Linux vs Other OS?

Post by lostdog »

There is now a stable version of Microsoft Edge for Linux.

I'm running it and so for I'm impressed.

https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2021/10/mic ... now-stable

http://packages.microsoft.com/repos/edge/pool/main/m/
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RANkiDEr
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Re: Running Linux vs Other OS?

Post by RANkiDEr »

My household stopped using Windows for home computers about 10 years ago. I use Linux for my daily computer needs and my wife uses Mac.
I wish I could use Linux on my work computer, but stuck using Windows. I can do most everything that I need to using Linux and more. There's lots of different distributions, just find one that works for you and go with it.

Good luck and happy computing....
Marseille07
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Re: Running Linux vs Other OS?

Post by Marseille07 »

lostdog wrote: Mon Dec 06, 2021 10:17 am There is now a stable version of Microsoft Edge for Linux.

I'm running it and so for I'm impressed.

https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2021/10/mic ... now-stable

http://packages.microsoft.com/repos/edge/pool/main/m/
But why? Isn't Edge some Microsoft-flavored Chromium?
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Re: Running Linux vs Other OS?

Post by jebmke »

I think Brave has a release for some Linux distros but I have not tried it. FF works fine on Linux for me.
Stay hydrated; don't sweat the small stuff
lostdog
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Re: Running Linux vs Other OS?

Post by lostdog »

Marseille07 wrote: Mon Dec 06, 2021 10:51 am
lostdog wrote: Mon Dec 06, 2021 10:17 am There is now a stable version of Microsoft Edge for Linux.

I'm running it and so for I'm impressed.

https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2021/10/mic ... now-stable

http://packages.microsoft.com/repos/edge/pool/main/m/
But why? Isn't Edge some Microsoft-flavored Chromium?
Yes, it's Microsoft's version of Chromium.
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Random Musings
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Re: Running Linux vs Other OS?

Post by Random Musings »

roamingzebra wrote: Sat Sep 25, 2021 1:22 pm
nisiprius wrote: Sat Sep 25, 2021 6:17 am None of this is the "fault" of the open source developers, but the fact remains that you will experience some irritation and inconvenience if you are using open-source software within a commercial-software culture.
One of the nice things about retiring is that you likely will never need Microsoft Office. I mainly use a text editor for text and Gnumeric for spreadsheets. I'll occasionally fire up Libre Writer to add formating like bold or use Calc for a spreadsheet, but it's rare. In the odd case of incompatibility with a professional like a lawyer, one can often just scan a document and send it as a pdf.

I personally have never cared for commercial or otherwise bloated software even when I used Windows. So it's probably been an easier transition for me. My main complaint these days is that some open-source developers seem to be trying to rival commercial software in their incorporation of bloat. I'm talking about the transition of the graphical toolkit from GTK-2 to GTK-3 and 4. GTK-2 apps were lean and mean and looked like old-style Windows (which I love). The later GTK toolkits are looking more modern and are getting more bloated and I dislike them personally. The mindset of these GTK developers is also disappointing: "Our way or the highway".
Just bought my fourth home computer since 1992. Dell with Windows 11 Pro. Removed all the gunkware, including McAffee. Using Windows Defender/Malwarebytes. Use Firefox, but kept Edge which I use for a few things. I installed Libre which is perfectly fine for home use; with the caveat that if you really need your system to frequently prepare presentations, I would go with MS Office as PowerPoint is the application that most stands out against freeware.

RM
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twh
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Re: Running Linux vs Other OS?

Post by twh »

Just get a Mac. It will be easy and it is well supported and there are plenty of programs. Even an older Mac which is maxed out with RAM and has an SSD is completely fine. And, if you want to develop something or use some command line utility, it is all there using Terminal.

Linux is too much work unless you are using it for development purposes.
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Re: Running Linux vs Other OS?

Post by chris319 »

I'm using Google Sheets to do what "ticker" appears to do. Google Sheets is very configurable; I've got it tricked out just the way I want it.
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pseudoiterative
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Re: Running Linux vs Other OS?

Post by pseudoiterative »

lostdog wrote: Thu Sep 30, 2021 5:57 pm I also play World of Tanks Blitz and the latest Doom release. Steam is supporting a lot more games on linux. Steam's own hand held gaming system will be running Linux. Linux has come a long way.
Yeah. 15 years ago every time you upgraded Ubuntu it'd break your GPU drivers, and you'd need to spend hours fixing it.

These days, many windows-only games "just work" on Linux through Steam's proton compatibility layer.
lostdog
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Re: Running Linux vs Other OS?

Post by lostdog »

pseudoiterative wrote: Mon Dec 06, 2021 11:12 pm
lostdog wrote: Thu Sep 30, 2021 5:57 pm I also play World of Tanks Blitz and the latest Doom release. Steam is supporting a lot more games on linux. Steam's own hand held gaming system will be running Linux. Linux has come a long way.
Yeah. 15 years ago every time you upgraded Ubuntu it'd break your GPU drivers, and you'd need to spend hours fixing it.

These days, many windows-only games "just work" on Linux through Steam's proton compatibility layer.
:beer

Lutris also.
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cbeck
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Re: Running Linux vs Other OS?

Post by cbeck »

I think the optimal setup, if you need to runs Windows which I do, is to run linux on the bare metal. Then download the free Oracle VirtualBox hypervisor which will let you setup up one or more windows vms. Managing Windows as a vm has a lot of advantages. For instance, whenever doing anything risk such as updating software, you just take a snapshot in the VirtualBox manager before doing so. Then, if the update is worse than the previous version you just revert to the snapshot. Reverting to a snapshot has saved me from file system corruption due to a crash on more than one occasion, although that is not guaranteed to work.

It's also easy to backup and restore a Windows vm on linux, since the files are just a bunch of linux files for which there are many tools to sync to a backup location, such as rsync.

If there are apps that won't run well in a Windows vm, you can install windows onto the machine and boot into it as needed.
tvubpwcisla
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Re: Running Linux vs Other OS?

Post by tvubpwcisla »

I like to wear dual boots this time of year. Keeps my feet warm.
chuckb84
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Re: Running Linux vs Other OS?

Post by chuckb84 »

If you want a hobby, Linux will certainly soak up a lot of time. I've never been clear on what makes it a desirable OS, particularly since macOS is BSD Unix underneath all the GUI stuff, and you can easily run any Linux distro via Parallels, at least if you have an Intel Mac. Come to that, the very limited availability of Linux on Apple Silicon is a big strike against it, at least for a while.

You might want to look at this, and these are real geeks grappling with some pretty simple tasks in Linux.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtsglXhbxno&t=826s
Marseille07
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Re: Running Linux vs Other OS?

Post by Marseille07 »

chuckb84 wrote: Fri Dec 10, 2021 10:24 am If you want a hobby, Linux will certainly soak up a lot of time. I've never been clear on what makes it a desirable OS, particularly since macOS is BSD Unix underneath all the GUI stuff, and you can easily run any Linux distro via Parallels, at least if you have an Intel Mac. Come to that, the very limited availability of Linux on Apple Silicon is a big strike against it, at least for a while.

You might want to look at this, and these are real geeks grappling with some pretty simple tasks in Linux.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtsglXhbxno&t=826s
They're doing something wrong. "Uploads taking a while" "10 minutes to copy a file" are not OS specific.
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Ice-9
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Re: Running Linux vs Other OS?

Post by Ice-9 »

iMac = My main computer, used for telework as well as computer hobbies like Photoshop

Chromebook = my quick stuff computer, for doing quick things downstairs like writing, online shopping, or viewing a video without having to head upstairs to the iMac

On the iMac, I often use a Debian virtual machine via Parallels (can also be done with free Virtual Box), which OP could similarly test to see how (s)he likes Linux. Apparently MX Linux is a very popular distro these days and billed as simple to use, though I've never used it myself.

Linux is good (1) for folks willing to accept some learning curve and Googling/entering terminal commands every once in a while and (2) for purposes that you don't need the mainstream software from Adobe and Microsoft but get by with free, open source software.

Several years ago, I had a different flavor of Linux on an old laptop a friend was about to throw away that I used much the same way I use the Chromebook today. The Chromebook is so inexpensive and good for the same purposes, another Linux machine is not on my radar these days.
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