Let's talk Linux

Other things linux related to check out are:
- PiHole - whole network ad blocking - Doesn't have to run on a raspberry pi
- HomeAssistant - home automation, i'm using it with Apple HomeKit
- FreeNAS/TrueNAS - network storage OS, very full featured


Programs I use:
- speedcrunch - calculator
- firefox - browser
- leafpad/mousepad/featherpad/kwrite - basic text editors
- vim - advanced text editor
- thunderbird - email
- password safe - password storage (I sync over dropbox - can access on iphone and other pcs)
- Viking - GPS data storage system, like a poor mans GIS but great for organizing waypoints
- Geeqie - Image viewer
- Inkscape - vector graphics drawing
- Krita - regular drawing
- GIMP - image editing
- Audacity - audio editor
- Ardour - multi track audio recording
- cryfs - an encrypted filesystem that you can store in a folder (and sync over dropbox)
- VLC - media player
- Clementine - audio player
- EasyTag - MP3 tag editor
- rsync - command line file sync
- rclone - command line cloud storage sync (can even copy between services)
- digiKam - photo management
- darktable - RAW photo editing
- calibre - ebook storage (I use it for storing PDF datasheets - although it doesn't care what kind of file you store in it)
- Kile - Latex authoring


Theres probably more, but thats all i'm seeing in my menu.

My biggest gripe with linux is HiDPI scaling and touchscreens. They need a lot more work. That said, I use the pen on my laptop to play Thimbleweed Park on the airplane in Steam.

 

I suggest that if you can, try Linux on a non mission critical computer first. Have a look around and see if it meets your needs. Ubuntu is one of the most popular distros out there for beginners. Mint is another one. Libre office is MS office replacement in Linux. I use google One and iCloud for back-ups for all our apple devices in our family of 4. I'm sure there is many other options as well.

 

My first, and second plasma tables used Linux to run the machine controllers. It was great!

 

I am by no mean a techie; I've learned enough to survive with the technology as it goes. I heard of Linux way back when it started getting its shares of the popularity; however, never have sufficient knowledge base to brave myself to add Linux to my system.
I still hope someday I can dive deeper into Linux so I don't have to rely on a sole dominant Windows OS.

 

I got into Linux probably 10 years ago because of the show big bang theory lol, There was a scene on there where Sheldon talked about it. I had my mom take an old laptop to her IT guy at work and he added a Linux partition to it. I played with it for a while then forgot about it. 5 or 6 years ago I wound up with 4 old laptops from my work that were locked out due to falling off our domain. One of our IT guys suggested I install Linux and down the rabbit hole I went. For the next 4 years I had some type of Linux for my daily driver at home. I really like Ubuntu it seemed to be the easiest to use. The only program I wanted to run that I couldn’t was a free engine tuning program that was only available for windows. Last year for Christmas my MIL got me a new windows laptop for Christmas and I haven’t touched Linux since. I need to dig that laptop out and start tinkering with it again. I am by no means any good at it but it was fun playing and learning as I went. The options seem to be endless with what can be done in Linux.

 

Data backup could easily be its own thread. It is certainly a rabbit hole to go down and there are a lot of opinions too. Without knowing your level of PC knowledge, the amount you need to backup, how much money you're willing to spend, and your tolerance for risk it is hard to say what's best.

In my case I'm a nerds nerd. I was a unix sysadmin before linux was a thing. But, I run an off the shelf NAS (network attached storage) with local and off-site storage. Mine is right for me and how much I'm willing to spend, yours will almost certainly be different.

 

It does, and OneDrive being a cloud app, there are likely tons of other options for storing data on someone else's computer.

Kidding aside, I use other storage options and not the cloud, but dug around, looks like there's a OneDrive client for Linux.

https://github.com/abraunegg/onedrive/

But it's free, no customer involved. See the original post, download the .iso, burn it to a CD/DVD or USB stick, boot up on it and try it out without installing.

Being that it's running off the external media it will be slower than if run from your HD, but you get to try it before you . . . don't buy it.

 

That's the thing though. That is exactly why I went Linux, and have far less trouble than I ever did. I've never encountered a task where I've said "crap, gotta go Windows to do that." Windows has so many issues, crashing apps due to DLL's going corrupt, slow loading, all sorts of problems. Ironically for S & G's last night after this thread I tried to boot in it (Windows 7.) It won't even boot. No disk repair options would do anything, not even a safe mode boot. To be fair it's an old HD and may be on its last leg, but even so I found it funny.

 

LOL a co-worker brought me his Dell and asked me to nuke the living crap out of it and install Ubuntu, so I did. A few cliff notes to get him started and he was on his way.

 

I've installed more then a few distros for friends.

In the OP you mentioned dual booting. You still have that set-up? I built a PC about 7 years ago to build Android roms. I needed something much faster then the i5 in my laptop so I went full retard. Since what I was building was basically a high end gaming PC I decided to try PC master race gaming. I was always a console guy. Knowing that, I set it up for dual boot with Win 10.

I quickly realized the PC master race theory was complete bullshit. At least for my gaming. Ended up going back to the PS4 for games and used that windows SSD for a NAS. lol

 

Yes and no. :-D It's set up with the old original drive containing Windows and the new drive for Linux, dual boot using grub. But as mentioned in the previous reply, tried to boot into Windows last night after this thread and it won't even boot, totally broken LOL

 

Kind of disagree here. You are technically correct, but from a practical standpoint, the typical windows user doesn’t care. They buy a Windows machine, use it for a few years, it starts crapping out, they replace it. Rinse and repeat. Like an iPhone.

I made the mistake of attempting to install iTunes on a chromebook. Technically can be done, I came close with Wine, but uhh, don’t bother trying that. Not worth the effort.

Point being, for simple tasks, Linux isn’t worth it for the average person.

But, this thread makes me want to mess with Linux some more

 

Our experiences are different. I haven't found any modern closed source OS to be all that bad as compared to what they were in the past. Windows 7 is definitely in the past lol. I also tend to have a large corporate view point of computers and their users. Its where I've lived my whole career. My experience with desktop linux is its great for the hobbiest who is willing to deal with the lack of drivers and support. For the corporate world where people need to be productive using tools they already know, not so much. These are the people that blew their everliving stacks when Microsoft changed the color of the Outlook desktop icon. They besieged the help desk (which is just outside my door) with angry Karen calls accusing IT of deleting all of their email, "No the icon is blue now. No I don't know why they changed it. Yes, look for the blue icon. I agree they shouldn't have changed it. Did you find it? Ok go ahead and click on it. Is your email there? OK good. Can I help you with anything else?" God bless help desk people, one of the hardest jobs in tech IMO.

I do my best to not do friends and family tech support. (fail miserably at it though) I would never suggest linux my non-tech interested friends. If someone is interested in tech then linux fiddling is what they want to do and I highly encourage it.

 

I’d have to say that a linux desktop combined with iOS products provides a nice walled garden for my immediate family. I really appreciate that. Especially about Ubuntu. But, Windows has come a long way tho. Everything that we use is covered by either one. Linux or iOS. I know that if my wife or 2 kids are using the desktop that there is a very low risk of any viruses or ransomware. I can easily set up parental controls on my wife’s or 2 kids iOS devices. We have little to no issues. Being the IT guy for my immediate family this combo makes my life so much easier. I just focus on the dangers of sharing too much on line and how to keep safe. I gave up on other family and friends tech support long ago. The wife is annoying enough.

I also mistakenly assumed that everyone was as excited as I was deep diving into the world of computers. Even younger co-workers whom I thought would easily relate as they grew up with technology we’re clueless. I came to the realization then, that the majority of people in life just wanted whatever was easy. Computers and technology was hard. Then it dawned on me. Oh hey, I think I’m a hobbyist geek! WTF?

Back in the day I remember when I first got my first hardwired Linksys router. Very excited. I used to send abuse emails to ISP’s. I was logging my ports to see what ip address were pinging my ports from other people’s computers whom did not know they were infected with viruses. Also, would shut down peoples open wifi by letting them know in the wireless signal name.

Anyhow, most folks really don’t care about that shit, Linux or other computer stuff. Only when there is a problem.

 

Speaking of linux and routers, I ran this firmware many many years ago...

https://dd-wrt.com/

 

I was introduced to Linux in 1996, became my daily OS about 10 years later. Never looked back.

 

Yes, used that and Tomato on many Linksys routers. Lots of fun back them.

 

Just fired up and installed Steam on Ubuntu last week as I haven't played in a long time. I see that there is still a limited selection of titles for Linux. I downloaded and installed Team Fortress. I had to turn some of the setting down for the video card. Played a bit and let my 9 yo son play. He liked it considering he'd never played before. My vid card is getting long in the tooth.

 

I was never really a desktop gamer. I think the last video card I bought was a GTX550. For me, that was enough for my home theatre setup and some classic emulators.

 

I am not much of a gamer but bought a dual head Nvidia years ago to support the one game I used to like that had a "rebirth." It was all on Steam. I'm thinking I should upgrade since the rest of the box I built is all new, but it does what I need for now.