What would get you to switch to linux from windows?

Yah, I know, Linux vs Windows or Macs vs PCs, age old "discussions" that end up running around themselves and then straight into the ground 99% of the time so no worries. I'm usually the person that tends to try and steer things back on track when threads go way off the rails anyway. :)

And yeah, blinkenlights.nl is still there, probably will be there forever I suppose, one of the oldest things on the Internet and still damned cool even so. :D
 
I still haven't made use of bash in Windows, does anyone find it useful?
 
Not yet, but I have testing WMIC over the network (Windows Magamenent Instrumentation Console) on my todo list, and there is a client for Linux.
So I might try combining the two in a few days.
 
michalrz said:
Not yet, but I have testing WMIC over the network (Windows Magamenent Instrumentation Console) on my todo list, and there is a client for Linux.
So I might try combining the two in a few days.
Click to expand...

It'd be interesting to hear how it goes...
 
Didn't they just update that Linux subsystem on Windows 10 to now use Ubuntu 16.04 as the base (originally it was 14.04)? Thought I saw an article somewhere on a page yesterday related to that.
 
Tiberian said:
Didn't they just update that Linux subsystem on Windows 10 to now use Ubuntu 16.04 as the base (originally it was 14.04)? Thought I saw an article somewhere on a page yesterday related to that.
Click to expand...

Isn't it just bash? What difference would there be between 14.04 and 16.04? I've really gotta try this bash under Windows thing out, I know nothing about it.
 
Well, it's already good enough (for now) that they added this at all. I'm betting they will be monitoring the usage carefully to gauge interest - it doesn't sound like an easily supported feature.

Yeah, I too wanted to note that this upgrade (14->16) would be merely a nice gesture, but I need to try it out.
 
BulletDust said:
Driver issues exist under every OS, and while Windows is one of the least troublesome operating systems regarding such issues, issues do still exist and can be just as frustrating. Furthermore, the only time I use terminal is to install software via apt, which as demonstrated is stupidly easy. In every other instance I rarely need to open the terminal.
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Agreed, the issue is not so much the driver issues themselves, it's in how to deal with driver issues. In windows it's typically a point and click operation to fix driver issues, you just go into device manager and select update driver and find the correct driver. Granted sometimes that doesn't always work, at which point that usability abstraction becomes a quite debilitating obstruction to resolving the problem editing the registry or mucking with COM and shit like that. Not something any normal user can do for sure and sometimes even impossible. But for the only way to deal with said issues, as in Linux, to be dropping out to a terminal and having to have a intimate knowledge therein, is unacceptable in a mainstream OS. I realize there is many advantages to the level of control that Linux gives you, but the arrogance of the developers in regards to what potential linux users should or should not be willing or capable of doing is still a problem in my opinion.


BulletDust said:
One point worth considering is that everything you describe above is also true under OSX/macOS, yet no one claims Apples operating system is less intuitive even though it's a derivative of BSD and therefore literally identical to Linux - Right down to it's reliance on terminal usage for advanced tasks. What this tends to highlight is that people don't really have an issue with Linux as such, realistically speaking the real issue is that they want a Windows clone OS, but there is no reason whatsoever for an OS to behave identically to Windows. I tend to blame this on an entire generation that has never known anything but Microsoft's operating system, in my day computing was fragmented with a number of differing makes and models all with their own OS and methods of usage so change isn't as daunting for myself. People claim to have used Linux, however I honestly believe their usage was terribly limited due to the false generalisations they're throwing around regarding the OS.

Just an observation. :)
Click to expand...

I've never used OSX so I cant really speak to that. However Apple has an advantage in that most of their ecosystem is also Apple hardware. So they just need to build support in for a finite and known number of devices and hardware combinations. Windows and Linux has to run on anything and everything. By no means would I say that MS is the only ones to have done device/driver management the right way. But in my opinion, and at this stage in the game, it should be something that just works in most cases. The experience may differ person to person, but my own experience with Linux is that regardless of the hardware I put it on, it's an issue every single time I try. Maybe I just have bad luck.

As a side note; the only time I have not had an issue is when I bought a (embedded mini-itx) motherboard for a firewall build, which I chose because it was explicitly listed as supported by bundled drivers in slackware. I am still running that box, I have not had one issue since first boot. The longest up-time was over 190 days and the only reason it failed that time was due to a power outage. Its damn near 7 years old at this point I think lol!
 
michalrz said:
cowsay.png


You can't do that on any other platform! :D
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lol, I searched to see if a Windows version of such a pointless thing existed and nothing. Well played.
 
ZenDragon said:
Agreed, the issue is not so much the driver issues themselves, it's in how to deal with driver issues. In windows it's typically a point and click operation to fix driver issues, you just go into device manager and select update driver and find the correct driver. Granted sometimes that doesn't always work, at which point that usability abstraction becomes a quite debilitating obstruction to resolving the problem editing the registry or mucking with COM and shit like that. Not something any normal user can do for sure and sometimes even impossible. But for the only way to deal with said issues, as in Linux, to be dropping out to a terminal and having to have a intimate knowledge therein, is unacceptable in a mainstream OS. I realize there is many advantages to the level of control that Linux gives you, but the arrogance of the developers in regards to what potential linux users should or should not be willing or capable of doing is still a problem in my opinion.
Click to expand...

Just to add, the only time I used the terminal to install a driver was via apt. As stated in the past I use the PPA method to install Nvidia drivers, which is ridiculously easy as seen from my video demonstration a few pages back. From that point on the drivers keep themselves updated if I choose to allow system updates to update them. The only other drivers I've ever had to manually install was the drivers for my Brother HL-3150CDN laser printer and they were packaged as .deb installers and installed via the GUI just like Windows.

Since I mentioned the update process under Linux, it has to be said that my experience updating the OS, drivers and software applications under Linux craps all over that abortion that exists in Windows 10 and never surprises you with Applying updates, please don't turn off your computer and those bloody spinning balls when all you wanted to do was quickly check your emails before going to bed.
 
ZenDragon said:
I've never used OSX so I cant really speak to that. However Apple has an advantage in that most of their ecosystem is also Apple hardware. So they just need to build support in for a finite and known number of devices and hardware combinations. Windows and Linux has to run on anything and everything. By no means would I say that MS is the only ones to have done device/driver management the right way. But in my opinion, and at this stage in the game, it should be something that just works in most cases. The experience may differ person to person, but my own experience with Linux is that regardless of the hardware I put it on, it's an issue every single time I try. Maybe I just have bad luck.
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I also see Apple's controlled ecosystem as their weakness in comparison to Linux as their products are always underpowered in the GPU department with no allowance whatsoever made for upgrades, under Linux you have options in relation to the GPU you choose to run, although i recommend Nvidia until AMD get their act together.

The last truly great Mac was the cheesegrater Mac Pro, still very sought after machines.
 
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SuperSubZero said:
mac pro in Apple Desktops and All-In-Ones | eBay
78 of them currently on eBay, and that's just the 2012 model. Anyone that wants one can easily get one. I'm glad I can do this forum such a service.
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They still fetch top $$.

I really wanted one but just couldn't justify the price. In the end I settled for an i5 Mac Mini, added 16GB of ram and an SSD for a home made fusion drive setup - It's a pretty fast little bugger! Just installed macOS on it.
 
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I have added a PC to my fold. Using Mint Linux 64 bit as the main OS. Been using it for the last 48 hours without touching windows so far. Learning as time goes....48 hours is the longest survived Linux distro on my personal PC.
 
Nobified[H] said:
I have added a PC to my fold. Using Mint Linux 64 bit as the main OS. Been using it for the last 48 hours without touching windows so far. Learning as time goes....48 hours is the longest survived Linux distro on my personal PC.
Click to expand...

If you need advice I'd be happy to help. :)
 
BulletDust said:
If you can't get folders to share on your Linux machine try sharing a folder from within your home folder and see if that works. Sharing folders outside of the home folder requires some tweaking of smb.conf.
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I am trying to get files off my windows machine to put on the linux machine...by networking.
 
BulletDust said:
If you can't get folders to share on your Linux machine try sharing a folder from within your home folder and see if that works. Sharing folders outside of the home folder requires some tweaking of smb.conf.
Click to expand...


I set a folder to share @ home on Linux...went to a windows machine and was able to upload to the Linux machine files.....but basically it only works 1 way from windows to Linux?
 
This is the process I use to add a network share using Caja file manager, most file managers are fairly similar so I'm sure Dolphin would have a similar function, you can also do this via terminal:

1. Open a file manager window, go to Network and click 'Browse Network'.



2. Once 'Browse Network' is clicked another window should open displaying all shares available on the network, for this example I'll use the shared folder on my Mac as it was powered up at the time of making this tutorial:



3. Enter the username and password of the network share:



4. A network share icon should appear on the desktop that you can click to access the share just like under Windows:

 
Bear in mind that Linux has no problem whatsoever reading NTFS/FAT32/ExFAT file structures, so transferring files to a USB stick and plugging that USB stick directly into your Linux Mint PC will work no problem.
 
I am stuck at where it
BulletDust said:
This is the process I use to add a network share using Caja file manager, most file managers are fairly similar so I'm sure Dolphin would have a similar function, you can also do this via terminal:

1. Open a file manager window, go to Network and click 'Browse Network'.



2. Once 'Browse Network' is clicked another window should open displaying all shares available on the network, for this example I'll use the shared folder on my Mac as it was powered up at the time of making this tutorial:



3. Enter the username and password of the network share:



4. A network share icon should appear on the desktop that you can click to access the share just like under Windows:

Click to expand...

Stuck at browse network, nothing goes beyond this. Only thing I see is windows workgroup nothing else. Just a single icon showing workgroup. The previous icon showed windows network, I see no computer or anything else.

Just stuck at that icon, "workgroup".
 
BulletDust said:
Bear in mind that Linux has no problem whatsoever reading NTFS/FAT32/ExFAT file structures, so transferring files to a USB stick and plugging that USB stick directly into your Linux Mint PC will work no problem.
Click to expand...

I can verify this does work, usb stick data transfer is not the issue. If I am going to switch to Linux, I want networking working.

Thanks

As I stated earlier, I can upload windows data into Linux box from the windows desktop keyboard. It doesn't work the other way around.
 
I don't like Mint personally. Every time I've tried it, it has malfunctioned in some way or another. Plain vanilla Xubuntu or Ubuntu Mate is a much safer bet for any beginning user IMHO. I recently tried Ubuntu Mate 16.10 for my uncles laptop and the install was smooth as silk. Not a single hiccup during the whole configuration.
 
B00nie said:
I don't like Mint personally. Every time I've tried it, it has malfunctioned in some way or another. Plain vanilla Xubuntu or Ubuntu Mate is a much safer bet for any beginning user IMHO. I recently tried Ubuntu Mate 16.10 for my uncles laptop and the install was smooth as silk. Not a single hiccup during the whole configuration.
Click to expand...


Can you get silverlight to work on your install?
 
Nobified[H] said:
How to Share Files via Linux Mint to Windows 10?

Basically I have to turn off my password protecting sharing. I get it now, MS is not going to let Linux connect to their operating system VIA password protected sharing.
Click to expand...

No you don't, using the procedure outlined above I can share folders via Samba just fine, you can even see the password requester in one of the shots....

Have you actually shared the folder/partition in Windows? Please tell me you don't rely on homegroup when running Windows...
 
BulletDust said:
No you don't, using the procedure outlined above I can share folders via Samba just fine, you can even see the password requester in one of the shots....

Have you actually shared the folder/partition in Windows? Please tell me you don't rely on homegroup when running Windows...
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LOL yeah I did! LOLOLOL I did rely on homegroup.
 
Nobified[H] said:
LOL yeah I did! LOLOLOL I did rely on homegroup.
Click to expand...

You can't use homegroup, you have to share the folder using the real method to share - Which is probably only slightly harder than homegroup.

From memory, in Windows go to the folder/partition, right click on it, go to sharing options and click share. You may need to alter permissions, but most of the time this is not necessary.
 
BulletDust said:
You can't use homegroup, you have to share the folder using the real method to share - Which is probably only slightly harder than homegroup.

From memory, in Windows go to the folder/partition, right click on it, go to sharing options and click share. You may need to alter permissions, but most of the time this is not necessary.
Click to expand...

Chrome is working and so is netflix! Thank you.....now working on networking....very nice!
 
BulletDust said:
I've never seen this before, good find!

However I think most users will find it easier just to install Chrome, I think even the bleeding edge release of Firefox supports Netflix DRM now.
Click to expand...

You'll need the Widevine plugin for DRM usage. Plus Pepper Flash for Chrome/Chromium has issues with DRM. Firefox is recommended for Linux due to better support of DRM through Flash or Silverlight. I have yet to find the right balance though, so I'll have to do more testing soon. My intent is to have it working on both Chrome & Firefox for Hulu Plus, Amazon Instant Video, & Netflix.

Pipelight | Plugin - Widevine
 
CrimsonKnight13 said:
You'll need the Widevine plugin for DRM usage. Plus Pepper Flash for Chrome/Chromium has issues with DRM. Firefox is recommended for Linux due to better support of DRM through Flash or Silverlight. I have yet to find the right balance though, so I'll have to do more testing soon. My intent is to have it working on both Chrome & Firefox for Hulu Plus, Amazon Instant Video, & Netflix.

Pipelight | Plugin - Widevine
Click to expand...

Very interesting, keep us updated. :)
 
apropos of nothing

I'd be willing to switch if there was support for MS Office. The web versions aren't as fully featured so that's a non-starter. WINE only seems to have success with 2010 which looks very dated and doesn't have the same proficiency for sharing and cloud storage support.

The other thing keeping Windows in my life is Active Directory. Nothing is a real challenger for AD
 
feistyfish said:
apropos of nothing

I'd be willing to switch if there was support for MS Office. The web versions aren't as fully featured so that's a non-starter. WINE only seems to have success with 2010 which looks very dated and doesn't have the same proficiency for sharing and cloud storage support.

The other thing keeping Windows in my life is Active Directory. Nothing is a real challenger for AD
Click to expand...

AD? Really? When it comes to small business, I can't stand situations where a single Windows Server DC is set up as a single point of massive failure in a small business environment. Especially one with no more than about seven machines in total all depending on this server to continue running day after day, year after year with no allowances whatsoever made for redundancy with the exception of a couple of backup hard drives.
 
That's not a failure of AD but of a lack of disaster recovery planning. Maybe overzealous deployment as well.
 
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