Any fellow Linux users on here?

[Judge]

I dabbled in [Red Hat] Linux years ago, but found its commands to be counter-intuitive compared to Windows/DOS.

Counter-intuitive, or just radically different from what you've known for so long?

Probably the greatest challenge of most users considering migrating to Linux from Windows. That having even a lifetime of experience with Windows won't help you in learning a Linux Distribution (distro). You have to approach it all with an open mind, willing to start- and learn mostly from scratch. To be both inquisitive and persevering to make it all happen with Linux.

Virtually everything is different. Though in time you may well become appreciative of just how all those differences stack up against Windows or even Mac.

 

[Angular Chap]

Hello fellow Linux users!

Been using Linux since 2011. First installed Ubuntu on an old gaming rig, dual boot with Windows 7. Then I tried many different distros installed on a Samsung N145 netbook which I still use to this day. 2 GB RAM limit makes it borderline useless for modern web browsers though. Interestingly, It's N-series Intel Atom CPU is one of the only x86-64 CPUs immune from Meltdown/Spectre.

Distros I've tried (that I can remember):

Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Lubuntu
Caine.dd (Some kind of digital forensics distro.)
Tin Hat Linux (Hardened distro.)
Tinfoil Hat Linux (Some kind of esoteric distro for the ultra paranoid, It adjusted the screen contrast to make shoulder surfing harder and constantly flashed the PCs LEDs, apparently to make TEMPEST attacks more difficult.)
Gentoo (Loved tinkering with this one, a bit too time consuming for day to day use these days, though.)
Arch
Kali (I swear I'm not a script kiddie!)
AntiX (Great for building a custom live distro, so easy to add and remove things and easily update the .ISO)

I've also tried Slax, Slackware and SliTaz for building small custom live .ISOs, but settled on AntiX for the convenience.

I hope one day to tackle the masochistic challenge of Linux From Scratch....

And the flash drive I use for live systems has survived 10 YEARS of having OSs written to it. Usually they die pretty soon with that kind of treatment.

Right now I'm coming to you live from an UNDERCLOCKED Raspberry Pi 4 (the 8GB RAM model)

Yes, I'm trying to save money on the electric bill. Not sure how much money 100MHz will save me though, and web browsing is getting slower and slower....

 

[tkcartoonist]

I'm still in the newbie phase, but I'm starting to learn some things. For instance, I just spent the last half-hour or so learning a bit about how VIM works. I'll probably have to redo the tutorial page a few times before I totally get it down, but the guy I was watching on Youtube mentioned that it is a good way to edit certain files from within the terminal console.

I still have to learn how to make all the audio programs work, though. I still haven't been able to hook up my guitar and test it out. It came with Ardour6 as part of the distro. Anyone know much about it?

 

[MildredHubble]

Hello fellow Linux users!

Been using Linux since 2011. First installed Ubuntu on an old gaming rig, dual boot with Windows 7. Then I tried many different distros installed on a Samsung N145 netbook which I still use to this day. 2 GB RAM limit makes it borderline useless for modern web browsers though. Interestingly, It's N-series Intel Atom CPU is one of the only x86-64 CPUs immune from Meltdown/Spectre.

Distros I've tried (that I can remember):

Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Lubuntu
Caine.dd (Some kind of digital forensics distro.)
Tin Hat Linux (Hardened distro.)
Tinfoil Hat Linux (Some kind of esoteric distro for the ultra paranoid, It adjusted the screen contrast to make shoulder surfing harder and constantly flashed the PCs LEDs, apparently to make TEMPEST attacks more difficult.)
Gentoo (Loved tinkering with this one, a bit too time consuming for day to day use these days, though.)
Arch
Kali (I swear I'm not a script kiddie!)
AntiX (Great for building a custom live distro, so easy to add and remove things and easily update the .ISO)

I've also tried Slax, Slackware and SliTaz for building small custom live .ISOs, but settled on AntiX for the convenience.

I hope one day to tackle the masochistic challenge of Linux From Scratch....

And the flash drive I use for live systems has survived 10 YEARS of having OSs written to it. Usually they die pretty soon with that kind of treatment.

Right now I'm coming to you live from an UNDERCLOCKED Raspberry Pi 4 (the 8GB RAM model)

View attachment 90968

Yes, I'm trying to save money on the electric bill. Not sure how much money 100MHz will save me though, and web browsing is getting slower and slower....

I think shaving off 100mhz won't make a huge impact. To be honest the Pi4 is pretty good with power consumption. It may *require* 15 watts but it rarely gets close to that even on a bad day. If you max the CPU and GPU and have quite a few usb peripherals going you will probably push the PSU a bit and pull those 15 watts. But even then that's some pretty amazing power consumption for a pretty performant machine.

It's just my opinion, but I think the best thing to do is enjoy the 100mhz extra headroom. If you have adequate cooling the machine will perform well for most basic needs. If the CPU has to finish a task, it will probably be break even. In other words, slower still likely uses the same energy as faster to complete the same task. You just end up waiting longer.

I used my pi4 almost exclusively for a few months (2 gig version with 120gb SSD) and it was great. I ended up going back to using my iMac more often as most of my software is x86 64 stuff. I have a smallish low powered tablet that I have set up with a mouse and keyboard. This is always at the ready and just sips power so for basic computing needs, it fits the bill and doesn't consume 80 watts at idle like my iMac

 

[mysterionz]

*sits here with popcorn since I don’t have a Linux OS*

 

[Slime_Punk]

*sits here with popcorn since I don’t have a Linux OS*View attachment 91098

lol, same. I can't even get the IDEs / programming environments and DAWs I use to work correctly (without crashing over and over), and that's if my wifi card is even still recognized after installing Linux.

But otherwise I'm still intrigued

 

[Angular Chap]

I think shaving off 100mhz won't make a huge impact. To be honest the Pi4 is pretty good with power consumption. It may *require* 15 watts but it rarely gets close to that even on a bad day. If you max the CPU and GPU and have quite a few usb peripherals going you will probably push the PSU a bit and pull those 15 watts. But even then that's some pretty amazing power consumption for a pretty performant machine.

It's just my opinion, but I think the best thing to do is enjoy the 100mhz extra headroom. If you have adequate cooling the machine will perform well for most basic needs. If the CPU has to finish a task, it will probably be break even. In other words, slower still likely uses the same energy as faster to complete the same task. You just end up waiting longer.

I used my pi4 almost exclusively for a few months (2 gig version with 120gb SSD) and it was great. I ended up going back to using my iMac more often as most of my software is x86 64 stuff. I have a smallish low powered tablet that I have set up with a mouse and keyboard. This is always at the ready and just sips power so for basic computing needs, it fits the bill and doesn't consume 80 watts at idle like my iMac

Yup, shall I come clean? Look at the pic of the config file I posted again. See how I had it overclocked a bit? I've actually been been using the Pi4 as a daily driver for about 2 years now. Had a fan running off the 3.3v pins, didn't bother with the heatsinks though.

Recently, the "high quality" PSU I was using started playing up. The infamous low voltage warning in the top right of the screen. Intermittently. The only thing that fixed it was dropping the CPU clock speed. I've got a USB C connector ready to solder to an old mini ITX PSU. Maybe I should solder it onto a full size ATX PSU and post the pic for the internet points...

I also have it booting off an SSD, but the chipset in the USB SSD adapter needs the quirked workaround to get it to boot, limiting it's full speed. I'll upgrade to an M.2 NVMe with a better chpset in future.

The reason I'm so fond of the pi is that everything I use it for "just works" (mac terminology there!) Everything from old serial devices from yesteryear, radio hardware and software, knock-off USB wifi, esoteric things, everything. For modders, by modders. There's always something in the repos that works.

and that's if my wifi card is even still recognized after installing Linux.

That's a shame. One of the reasons I stuck to Linux was how easy it was to work with wifi hardware, in kernel drivers for everything that consistently seemed to work.

 

[MildredHubble]

Yup, shall I come clean? Look at the pic of the config file I posted again. See how I had it overclocked a bit? I've actually been been using the Pi4 as a daily driver for about 2 years now. Had a fan running off the 3.3v pins, didn't bother with the heatsinks though.

Recently, the "high quality" PSU I was using started playing up. The infamous low voltage warning in the top right of the screen. Intermittently. The only thing that fixed it was dropping the CPU clock speed. I've got a USB C connector ready to solder to an old mini ITX PSU. Maybe I should solder it onto a full size ATX PSU and post the pic for the internet points...

I also have it booting off an SSD, but the chipset in the USB SSD adapter needs the quirked workaround to get it to boot, limiting it's full speed. I'll upgrade to an M.2 NVMe with a better chpset in future.

The reason I'm so fond of the pi is that everything I use it for "just works" (mac terminology there!) Everything from old serial devices from yesteryear, radio hardware and software, knock-off USB wifi, esoteric things, everything. For modders, by modders. There's always something in the repos that works.



That's a shame. One of the reasons I stuck to Linux was how easy it was to work with wifi hardware, in kernel drivers for everything that consistently seemed to work.

Oh I see now! I struggled to read the image as I pretty much always use my phone for most internet duties.

Overclock can pull a bit more power of course. I have also had the same issues with "high quality" power supplies. My solution is to keep an eye out at thrift/charity stores as they often have genuinely high quality PSUs in a crate somewhere. Best bets are set top box PSUs as they often exceed their ratings in terms of amps. Sometimes I will grab a high quality switch mode regulator from eBay and use it to drop the voltage from a 12v PSU and that has often been ideal.

I've had some minor issues with SSDs not having TRIM enabled. It's not ideal but it's useable.

 

[Judge]

and that's if my wifi card is even still recognized after installing Linux.

But otherwise I'm still intrigued

Oddly enough in making some recent mods to my hardware and case I had to switch to a WiFi card using an older 16-bit PCI bus rather than a newer PCIe bus. The older WiFi card fits and works fine in Linux, but not at all in Windows 10. Luckily my primary method of accessing the Internet is using an Ethernet connection.

You never know what Linux may accept. Go figure...

 

[Angular Chap]

Oh I see now! I struggled to read the image as I pretty much always use my phone for most internet duties.

Overclock can pull a bit more power of course. I have also had the same issues with "high quality" power supplies. My solution is to keep an eye out at thrift/charity stores as they often have genuinely high quality PSUs in a crate somewhere. Best bets are set top box PSUs as they often exceed their ratings in terms of amps. Sometimes I will grab a high quality switch mode regulator from eBay and use it to drop the voltage from a 12v PSU and that has often been ideal.

I've had some minor issues with SSDs not having TRIM enabled. It's not ideal but it's useable.

Good call on the charity shop recycling . I have crates of decent quality PSUs myself with all kinds of voltages, some even brand new (perks of the job.) I should really follow your example and get a few regulators and use a smaller PSU for the Pi, it would keep my desk neater. The SSD I'm using is an mSATA one in a cute little black box.

You never know what Linux may accept. Go figure...

Indeed, sometimes I just have to laugh when I plug some esoteric USB device into a modern Linux distro and it just works! lsusb brings up all the details instantly. Meanwhile on Windows: "Generic Mass Storage Device" for an IR pointy thingy... Almost like it didn't even try.

 

[Shevek]

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

I use Linux because I spent a month trying to get a PC to work after my Mac died. Don't buy Apple unless you want to replace it yearly. Those record breaking profits come out of the quality. I finally was advised that nothing on-line would fix my HP laptop, and I had to wait for a disk. Before the mail came through, I had tried Linux and had it working fine.
It is past time for me to update, though, and I'm thinking of MX Linux this time, but will watch this thread.

 

[Angular Chap]

I'm thinking of MX Linux this time, but will watch this thread.

I've never used MX myself, but it does look like a good choice. It's Debian based, which I've used, and it's a co-operative venture with antiX, which I use and really like. Looks modern, well supported, good tutorials, good community, all the good stuff.

 

[Shevek]

Thanks. My first friend using Linux needed a year to get his printer going. I've had one work, and one not, possibly due to other issues. The only really strange thing I've had happen is a couple of SD cards that would not mount on Linux but work fine on Windoze.
I got a friend onto Linux, and he really likes it despite a really severe inability to follow instructions or adapt to change.

 

[Angular Chap]

Thanks. My first friend using Linux needed a year to get his printer going. I've had one work, and one not, possibly due to other issues. The only really strange thing I've had happen is a couple of SD cards that would not mount on Linux but work fine on Windoze.
I got a friend onto Linux, and he really likes it despite a really severe inability to follow instructions or adapt to change.

Indeed, I always blame the printer before the OS, we all know what those are like, whether it's Windows, Mac, Linux, or any other OS.

As for SD card behavior, that's a fun one, process of elimination, or trail and error more accurately. Getting into formatting and trying different file systems. Fun and rewarding for some, frustrating and unnecessarily time consuming for others.

 

[tkcartoonist]

I've been finding it so convenient to use command line for basic things (moving/getting rid of files, updating software, shutting down the computer, etc) instead of having to screw with the graphical interface for all that stuff. Guess it makes good practice for when I start learning more advanced commands. I plan on going back to school for IT in January, so what better way to learn than ahead of time, right?

 

[Outdated]

It sounds like you're enjoying Linux. I'm glad. Some things are just easier in Linux.

 

[Angular Chap]

I've been finding it so convenient to use command line for basic things (moving/getting rid of files, updating software, shutting down the computer, etc) instead of having to screw with the graphical interface for all that stuff. Guess it makes good practice for when I start learning more advanced commands. I plan on going back to school for IT in January, so what better way to learn than ahead of time, right?

Yup, command line is just way more productive and physically faster than using a GUI. On some of my Linux machines I don't even bother booting to desktop by default, or even have any kind of GUI installed in the first place. CLI gets the job done. Even Power Shell in Windows just isn't the same.

 

[chameleonov]

I've been jumping between Linux and Windows since the mid 2000s. I've been using Linux Mint since last year. I hope I don't have to go back.

The reason for chosing Linux is the amount of spying and tracking Windows has been up to for the past few years, and I still got BSOD several times a week on Windows in 2021, if you can imagine. Mint is still clunky in many areas, but it works good enough.

Btw, I convinced my mother to use Linux and she's been on Ubuntu for several years now and is pretty happy with it. It's not too late to try Linux

 

[tkcartoonist]

Yup, command line is just way more productive and physically faster than using a GUI. On some of my Linux machines I don't even bother booting to desktop by default, or even have any kind of GUI installed in the first place. CLI gets the job done. Even Power Shell in Windows just isn't the same.

There are some things I have to use GUI for, like certain applications (I do a lot of creative work; hard to do that without graphics), but for a lot of basic functions it comes in very handy. Instead of clicking the mouse three times to shut off the computer, I now just type "shutdown +0" and it's off.

 

[Angular Chap]

I've been jumping between Linux and Windows since the mid 2000s. I've been using Linux Mint since last year. I hope I don't have to go back.

The reason for chosing Linux is the amount of spying and tracking Windows has been up to for the past few years, and I still got BSOD several times a week on Windows in 2021, if you can imagine. Mint is still clunky in many areas, but it works good enough.

Btw, I convinced my mother to use Linux and she's been on Ubuntu for several years now and is pretty happy with it. It's not too late to try Linux

I had to laugh when I installed Windows 10 for the first time and the options on one of the installation screens were pretty much "Would you like to enable ALL tracking or just SOME tracking?"

I like it when I can convince relatives to use Linux, much less chance of them accidentally filling up the system will malware.

There are some things I have to use GUI for, like certain applications (I do a lot of creative work; hard to do that without graphics), but for a lot of basic functions it comes in very handy. Instead of clicking the mouse three times to shut off the computer, I now just type "shutdown +0" and it's off.

Indeed, you can also use "shutdown now" "poweroff" or maybe "reboot" Also, I like just how fast Linux not only boots, but shuts down compared to Windows. Windows usually likes to mess about with something or other when trying to shut it down or reboot.