Any fellow Linux users on here?

[tkcartoonist]

Just thought I'd add a handy note for newbies. There's 2 mainstream branches of Linux - RPM and Debian.

For the average mug user the only difference this makes is what program you use for installing and updating programs.

In Debian you use apt-get eg: sudo apt-get install lxde
In Fedora you use dnf eg: sudo dnf install lxde

Also, Fedora themselves only give a very base set of software from their site and you need to load a third party repository if you want to get all the extra software. There's one specifically for it, just click the links on the web page to install the right repositories for your version, you want both the Free and the Non-Free. Non-free doesn't mean you have to pay any money, it's about the licensing.
https://rpmfusion.org/Configuration
P.S. when someone writes commands in forums like this you can just copy and paste them in to a terminal and hit Enter instead of typing them out.

I'd like to add this point when copying/pasting into a terminal: I'm not sure if this is just a Konsole thing or if this is for all terminal emulators, but for the hotkeys you need to hold shift otherwise it won't work. E.G. Shift-Control-V instead of just Control-V.

 

[elgat0verde]

I may be asking an already asked question but:

Are there any good and free places online to learn more about linux? I have only learned very little and commands are not very well explained when you google them.

Thank you

 

[Outdated]

I'd like to add this point when copying/pasting into a terminal: I'm not sure if this is just a Konsole thing or if this is for all terminal emulators, but for the hotkeys you need to hold shift otherwise it won't work. E.G. Shift-Control-V instead of just Control-V.

With most of them it's Ctrl I for insert. But right click with the mouse and paste also works fine.

 

[Outdated]

Are there any good and free places online to learn more about linux?

Yes. Here!

I'm not really joking either. There's a wealth of in depth information about Linux but a lot of the very basic beginners needs aren't met because it's taken for granted that everyone knows that.

We've got quite a few linux geeks here and all will happily answer any questions you might have.

 

[elgat0verde]

Thank you @Outdated!

I downloaded the spotify package from snap and it makes my system run EXTREMELY slow, moreso when I open firefox.

Are there any other safe lightweight spotify clients available somewhere? I was running it from my browser but it also makes it slow and the music gets super choppy when a webpage is heavy on resources.

Thank you!

 

[Outdated]

I downloaded the spotify package from snap and it makes my system run EXTREMELY slow, moreso when I open firefox.

What Linux are you using, and where exactly did you download the package from?

It should have come from here Unless you are running Ubuntu.
https://snapcraft.io/spotify

 

[elgat0verde]

What Linux are you using, and where exactly did you download the package from?

It should have come from here Unless you are running Ubuntu.
https://snapcraft.io/spotify

I am running xubuntu and used "snap install spotify" on the terminal

Google says that this is very common since spotify and firefox take up a lot of memory

 

[Outdated]

Google says that this is very common since spotify and firefox take up a lot of memory

On an older laptop it would definitely be slower. And yes, in Ubuntu you just install spotify from the repositories as you did, you are running the correct version for your system.

 

[elgat0verde]

On an older laptop it would definitely be slower. And yes, in Ubuntu you just install spotify from the repositories as you did, you are running the correct version for your system.

Ah dang it! This is an old laptop that I'm using so everything seems to be slower, wanted to use Ubuntu actually but it runs like it's swimming in molasses.

Maybe I should switch back to lubuntu although I didn't like it much, I like the aesthetic of xubuntu quite a lot

 

[Judge]

I may be asking an already asked question but:

Are there any good and free places online to learn more about linux? I have only learned very little and commands are not very well explained when you google them.

Thank you

I can't lie about it. With Linux, you're most likely never going to have everything handed to you on a silver platter. Where you sometimes have to dig, and dig for answers which may not always be the right ones. Yeah, I think I'd love to pay for an adult ed class on Linux....but I know in my area they just don't exist. Lots on Microsoft productivity software, but nothing pertinent to Linux.

I still go through hell anytime I try to learn about FSCK or disk partitioning in Linux. Not sure why...but it's one thing I really struggle with. I somehow ended up with a Swap partition I didn't want and despite all the online help there is out there, I have yet to profit from that particular subject struggling with apps like "Disks" and GParted.

One thing for sure, I write down whatever things I learn onto post-it notes and bookmarked in browsers. Pays to have things in writing that you've learned along the way!

I ended up with a swap partition and two other allocated spaces using up a little more than 4GB. At this point I'm just willing to live with them so I can concentrate on other things with Pop!OS22.04. At least I could turn off the swap partition. But I'll always have Mint 21.2....thank goodness. The one distro with the fewest problems in my own case.

 

[Outdated]

You don't have to keep uninstalling and reinstalling to do this. Xubuntu Lubuntu and Ubuntu are all exactly the same thing but with different desktop environments installed. Unfortunately Ubuntu is aimed at the attention deficit and those that think phones and tablets are also computers, they're not giving you the proper names of the desktops.

Xubuntu = XFCE desktop
Lubuntu = LXDE desktop.

As I mentioned in a post above, you can install any or all of these desktops and switch back and forth between them at will. The trouble is you need to know the proper name of the desktop environment in order to install it. The stupid software installer program in Ubuntu is designed to look and feel like Google Play Store, completely useless to anyone except advertisers.

There's a much more useful package manager called Synaptic:

sudo apt-get install synaptic

At least with synaptic you can search lists of programs in different categories. Because you're using an older machine I still recommend that you have a look at some of these:

https://fedoraproject.org/spins/

 

[Outdated]

I somehow ended up with a Swap partition I didn't want and despite all the online help there is out there, I have yet to profit from that particular subject struggling with apps like "Disks" and GParted.

The old swap partition is no longer needed for Linux unless you have a cripplingly low amount of ram. In 20 years I have never seen a single byte written to the swap file in Linux, where as Windows seems to prefer using the swap file instead of actual ram. This is one of the major reasons why Linux is so much quicker than Windows.

You can opt to not create a swap file during the install process, but once it's there you can not remove it, it becomes a dependency of your system. So if you don't want a swap file you have to be a lot more alert during installation.

But let's be honest - what's a few gigs here and there with today's systems?

 

[Judge]

There's a much more useful package manager called Synaptic:

The Synaptic Package Manager? I couldn't live without it. Especially useful in deleting residual files left when whatever means used to delete/purge a program just don't work completely. Kind of like using the Windows' registry editor, but a lot safer. Linux Mint provides it upon installation of their OS. And Pop!OS had it in their repository (Pop_Shop) to download.

IMO it's a "must have" in anyone's Linux "toolbox".

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

For those that use Linux.....Why?
Just curious.

Talking to my brother, no viruses pond to small commercial platforms bigger lake, more fishl Plus, user's computer savvy harder to screw with them.

 

[Outdated]

Talking to my brother, no viruses pond to small commercial platforms bigger lake, more fishl Plus, user's computer savvy harder to screw with them.

This is rhetoric from people with Microsoft tattooed across their foreheads. As long as you don't go playing around with any of Linux's security settings you Can Not get a virus. It is simply not possible.

In truly secure systems like Fedora even if I wrote my own Linux specific virus and gave it my root password Fedora would simply refuse to allow me to run it. It will not allow any of it's system files to be corrupted.

 

[Judge]

The old swap partition is no longer needed for Linux unless you have a cripplingly low amount of ram.

That much I know. Though I still have no idea why installing Pop!OS put a swap partition on. And I can't seem to get rid of it despite reading lots on the subject. Yeah, I can afford to kiss goodbye to a mere 4 GBs.

After spending the afternoon struggling to hack the code of Pop!OS interface, I figured out how to alter dark.css and stylesheet.css to make the "application overview" semi-transparent rather than keep it an ugly black background. I lost the script that someone else made to do the same thing and ultimately what I came up with involved just a few changes in two lines of code. Funny to read how many out there preferred it without an opaque background, but System 76 wanted something more legible given how elaborate some desktops can be. Still I'm glad was able to change it. Something I couldn't possibly have changed with Windows.

Unfortunately since I reinstalled Pop!OS I have an entirely new and critical problem. While installing Wine 8.0.2 seemed to work ok, it won't install Photoshop 5.5 properly, and hangs when opened. Just not sure if it's the OS or WineHQ at fault. In Linux Mint I have installed Photoshop 5.5 without incident using Wine 8.0.2. Worse still, Pop!OS allowed me to install Adobe Illustrator 7 . Go figure.

 

[elgat0verde]

I can't lie about it. With Linux, you're most likely never going to have everything handed to you on a silver platter. Where you sometimes have to dig, and dig for answers which may not always be the right ones. Yeah, I think I'd love to pay for an adult ed class on Linux....but I know in my area they just don't exist. Lots on Microsoft productivity software, but nothing pertinent to Linux.

I still go through hell anytime I try to learn about FSCK or disk partitioning in Linux. Not sure why...but it's one thing I really struggle with. I somehow ended up with a Swap partition I didn't want and despite all the online help there is out there, I have yet to profit from that particular subject struggling with apps like "Disks" and GParted.

One thing for sure, I write down whatever things I learn onto post-it notes and bookmarked in browsers. Pays to have things in writing that you've learned along the way!

I ended up with a swap partition and two other allocated spaces using up a little more than 4GB. At this point I'm just willing to live with them so I can concentrate on other things with Pop!OS22.04. At least I could turn off the swap partition. But I'll always have Mint 21.2....thank goodness.

That's what I'm loving about Linux, 100% is DIY which is pretty cool!

I really like the feeling of finally figuring something out that's been bugging you

So far I've learned how to download packages, how to install them, how to update through terminal, turning on the firewall and such.

I will keep Linux as my main operating system.

Mint wasn't my cup of tea, I already fixed the issue with xububtu (play Spotify on a browser).

Thank you!

 

[Outdated]

While installing Wine 8.0.2 seemed to work ok, it won't install Photoshop 5.5 properly, and hangs when opened.

This will be due to dependencies not being met - winetricks - install the correct versions of libraries for your software, they are time period specific.

This means you likely need to set up a Prefix (fake windows drive) specifically for that period. You need DotNet, DirectX and vcrun and vbrun components from that time period, as well as the core fonts of course.

I actually have 4 different wine prefixes at the moment - win98, winxp, win7 and win10.

 

[Judge]

This means you likely need to set up a Prefix (fake windows drive) specifically for that period. You need DotNet, DirectX and vcrun and vbrun components from that time period, as well as the core fonts of course.

One thing I've pondered is that I haven't added MS Core fonts yet, which might explain why I haven't been able to load Photoshop 5.5. I don't need more fonts...but in this case if it makes the program run I'm fine with it.

With earlier installations running Photoshop 5.5 I always added the MS Core fonts right off. Hmmmmm....

 

[Outdated]

Almost all Windows programs will fail to install without those fonts available. Adobe is essentially macintosh software and that always ships with it's own fonts.