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steezemageeze

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  1. Funny
    steezemageeze got a reaction from Roll_Like_Rollo in Experiences with non-techies   
    A friend of mine, who I never really considered a non-techie (we met in a programming class, so naturally you'd think he knew a little bit about PC hardware), has been complaining about how his Core 2 Duo rig sucks and he needs a new GPU and everything. He messaged me a few minutes ago asking me which was better, a first gen i5 or second gen i3 since his dad picked up a couple of old PCs at a garage sale or something for like $25. I told him the to go with the i5, and asked if he was finally going to get a new GPU, and if he knew what he wanted to get. He replied, "Idk yet. either geforce or asus". FACEDESK
  2. Funny
    steezemageeze reacted to SCHISCHKA in Apple admits that 2013 Mac Pro had problems, Promises a Radical new Modular Mac Pro for next year   
    Regarding the outdated hardware; The CEO must have read all my comments on LTT about my foot and his ass
  3. Agree
    steezemageeze reacted to Mysticode in *UPDATED* Bitfenix Is "Redefining ITX Case Design"   
    It's not a coincidence, they just lack originality and know gamers would get a laugh from it.
  4. Agree
    steezemageeze reacted to jamesc639 in How To Install Any Light-Weight Linux OS On Asus T100TAM   
    what programs are using to create your iso and are you getting any errors 
  5. Like
    steezemageeze reacted to vorticalbox in How To Install Any Light-Weight Linux OS On Asus T100TAM   
    http://www.jfwhome.com/2014/03/07/perfect-ubuntu-or-other-linux-on-the-asus-transformer-book-t100/
     
  6. Agree
    steezemageeze got a reaction from HelplmChoking in Little stickers on a laptop/PC, do you keep them?   
    I have the Athlon badge, Powered By EVGA badge, and the HyperX badge on the front of my PC, but my case was already ugly so it didn't matter. My laptop has all of them removed because they annoy me much much more 
  7. Agree
    steezemageeze reacted to HelplmChoking in Little stickers on a laptop/PC, do you keep them?   
    I feel the same, I had the badges on my old case but on the back, so they were there but not in my face. But on a laptop, they're right there all the time and it just sort of feels cheap and nasty, so they're gone.
  8. Agree
    steezemageeze reacted to suicidalfranco in Microsoft's New W10 Design - A Bit More Info   
    yes... i... can!
    meet KDE Neon
    neon.kde.org

     
  9. Like
    steezemageeze reacted to PlayStation 2 in Apple plans to adopt UMC/UC-E6 as well as USB C and Lightning   
    [insert some complaint to get likes here]
  10. Agree
    steezemageeze got a reaction from Kiani in The best tech purchases you ever made?   
    SSDs for my laptop and desktop, hands down.
  11. Agree
    steezemageeze got a reaction from DexterSmythe in The best tech purchases you ever made?   
    SSDs for my laptop and desktop, hands down.
  12. Agree
    steezemageeze got a reaction from Zodiark1593 in The best tech purchases you ever made?   
    SSDs for my laptop and desktop, hands down.
  13. Agree
    steezemageeze reacted to SteveGrabowski0 in good casual games   
    Dark Souls 3
  14. Agree
    steezemageeze reacted to Droidbot in [removed]   
    I just find building, shaping and modifying my OS to be how I want fun. 
  15. Agree
    steezemageeze reacted to zMeul in Minors playing M rated games. How do you feel?   
    the parent should do his/hers research before agreeing, or not, to buy the little snot's game
  16. Like
    steezemageeze reacted to themoose5 in Tech that has spoiled you?   
    PREACH! I have that same keyboard for my rig at home and I love it! I ended up buying the same one but with MX Brown switches for the office so I didn't drive my co-workers totally crazy but still had some of the tactile feed back that I love so much about the MX Blues!
     
    I don't think I could ever go back to a membrane keyboard now.
  17. Informative
    steezemageeze reacted to Azgoth 2 in Help with distro for laptop older than me   
    DSL has been abandoned for years now--latest release was four years ago, and I don't think there's been much development done on it since.  I personally wouldn't recommend it, though it might run on those specs.
     
    Puppy Linux, though, would be a good one to try, especially if you swap out the desktop environment for something like plain Openbox or i3, but I worry that the really low RAM on the machine might still be an issue.
     
    Four other ones to look into, though:
    SliTaz, which is designed to be ultra low-resource use, and will load entirely into memory for maximum speed.  But given your 128MB RAM limit, this will be a tight squeeze.  You may be able to get far enough under that if you pull one of the more minimalist spins of the distro and, again, switch to one of the ultra lightweight desktop environments. Tiny Core, which is...tiny.  The .iso is about 15MB, but it comes with basically nothing pre-installed.  (There's a 100MB .iso with more stuff, though, which you might want to try for usability's sake before jumping to the smaller one).  This actually spun off of Damn Small Linux a while back. Nano Linux, which is like Tiny Core, but packs more stuff in and is designed to be more usable. A non-Linux one this time: Kolibri OS.  This is a super neat project, since it's an OS written entirely in assembly.  You can probably run it on a potato.  It might run really snappily even on your setup, but beware that you'll have extremely limited software options compared to anything else on this list.  And it might not be at all intuitive or user-friendly at first, since the design paradigm is pretty different.
  18. Agree
    steezemageeze got a reaction from xc3ll in What OS should I install onto my "brilliant" laptop?   
    Go for Lubuntu or Xubuntu. Both run really well on low-spec machines
  19. Agree
    steezemageeze reacted to /dev/God/Haruhi in Which Linux distro do you like the best?   
    Whichever fits best the bill on whatever I need it to do. On my desktop I do use Arch linux with KDE Plasma so I can tinker around and learn from time to time. Waiting on LXQT to improve a bit, and to get a bit of a nasty bug with wallpapers on multi-monitor support. LXDE as a DE is a close favorite of mine (but hard to use on Arch decently themed due to GTK 3 themes). On my laptop LXLE, since KDE has problems with old NVIDIA hardware. If I had to make a list, it would be something like this, no particular order.
     
     - KDE Neon: @steezemageeze pretty much said it, with the plus being that, since it is based on Ubuntu it does have a good base, both in software and in search results when you encounter a problem. Plasma offers a full featured desktop experience, and since it is integrated by KDE itself everything is really cohesive. Depends on who you ask, but I'd say it excels for people moving away from Windows.
     
    - LXLE: Been using it in this 2007 laptop for a week or so, and it earns it's place on the list by being lightweight enough to resurrect quite old hardware while maintaining good looks and functionality. It does look quite a bit like good old GNOME 2. I believe that some software choices are not the best ones (Seamonkey as browser for example) but still really good.
     
    - Arch linux: Not for everyone, mind you, but the reason it makes into the list is due to the learning process involved on setting it up, and then maintaining it. A steep learning curve that gets smoothed out by it's wiki and forums, that, once passed, allows you to get far more in control of your system. That "YES!" moment when you figure things out is great. Oh and that package manager.
     
    But it is really a matter of trying and settling in what you truly enjoy. I didn't enjoyed the *buntu or the mint experience, and I jumped around them trying them, until I bit the bullet on Arch and found it was for me. That is the beauty, there is no "best" there is just "different", or, more accurately, "whichever fits your bill". For example there is no "Debian" "CentOS" or "Fedora" on that list, because for my use cases right now they are not the "best", but they can be certainly be the best for other use cases (for example a machine that needs utmost stability, or a distro that does not include proprietary software by default) But they are excellent bases for it's own uses, as they are my three choices.
     
    And that is why I am pondering trying seriously something like trying i3WM even if my brain melts for a bit (tiling window manager, search a bit on Google, it is a completely different way of managing a desktop). The best you can do, even if it sounds ridiculous, is to go wild trying! Don't like something? Scratch it, Like something? See how you can change it into something you love. Make it bend to your will, which config options or alternative does it have, usually it doesn't take long to figure it out if you have a half decent google fu. Try some "cake bases", get a base that you like and then "decorate with some toppings" it is really the best path.
     
     
     
  20. Informative
    steezemageeze got a reaction from mrchow19910319 in Survey for mac owners.   
    I'm sorry, I hate to be that guy, but how has nobody corrected you on this yet? macOS is not based on the Linux kernel, and is definitely not Debian. macOS runs on the Darwin XNU kernel, which is based on the BSD kernel. They have similarities, but are also very different and shouldn't be confused. I'm not going to lecture you on this, but I just had to point it out.
     
    Linux Kernel 
    BSD
    Darwin
    macOS
    Debian
     
    EDIT: I read my own links, and Darwin is apparently the name of macOS itself, which runs on the XNU kernel. The more you know I guess?
     
  21. Like
    steezemageeze got a reaction from QueenDemetria in Survey for mac owners.   
    I'm sorry, I hate to be that guy, but how has nobody corrected you on this yet? macOS is not based on the Linux kernel, and is definitely not Debian. macOS runs on the Darwin XNU kernel, which is based on the BSD kernel. They have similarities, but are also very different and shouldn't be confused. I'm not going to lecture you on this, but I just had to point it out.
     
    Linux Kernel 
    BSD
    Darwin
    macOS
    Debian
     
    EDIT: I read my own links, and Darwin is apparently the name of macOS itself, which runs on the XNU kernel. The more you know I guess?
     
  22. Informative
    steezemageeze got a reaction from daniielrp in Survey for mac owners.   
    I'm sorry, I hate to be that guy, but how has nobody corrected you on this yet? macOS is not based on the Linux kernel, and is definitely not Debian. macOS runs on the Darwin XNU kernel, which is based on the BSD kernel. They have similarities, but are also very different and shouldn't be confused. I'm not going to lecture you on this, but I just had to point it out.
     
    Linux Kernel 
    BSD
    Darwin
    macOS
    Debian
     
    EDIT: I read my own links, and Darwin is apparently the name of macOS itself, which runs on the XNU kernel. The more you know I guess?
     
  23. Agree
    steezemageeze reacted to CRSaka.. in Can we ban these questions?   
    Just being blunt with my views. Sorry if anyone is offended.
    Unfortunately, this is a forum that attempts to perform the role of an IRC channel rather than sticking to the traditional purpose of archiving answers to questions so people don't have to repeat their response(that's why "software/hardware forums" exist). Remember most people asking questions are curious and want to learn...spoon feeding answers does not help them in the long run. Critical thinking is a skill and we should attempt to encourage it. But I agree this forum is designed to be an "Open Forum", though I personally feel it would be of more benefit to the users if it were used as a tech tips forum.
    Somebody linked one of these in a thread a few weeks ago, though it was completely ignored. Might have been yours. It seemed to be a constructive discussion and much more informative than. "Go with Ubuntu" or "Try installing arch" and the much more irresponsible and potentially criminal advice of "install Kali" or "look into BlackArch". But it is useless when the people asking aren't willing to read about what they are attempting to do.
     
    for the TLDRs out there.
    1. These posts are rarely unique or previously unanswered.
    2. Could lead to legal issues.
    3. Specific problems should be addressed in the appropriate forums, IRCs, Mailing Lists, etc..
    4. OP @Bigun ban is too much, but I can see a reason to auto lock and point to the sticky, unless overridden by moderator.
    5. Bad web etiquette is contagious and spreading it to the youth/new community members will only lead all forums into a abysmal state of misinformation.
     
    Suggested Solutions: It would be of benefit to the forum to implement a bot that auto locks and posts a pointer to the appropriate open stickied thread, this could of course be overridden by proper moderators who believe the question has some form of originality that could not be answered with a general explanation.
     
    (not to mention (oh wait I'll mention it!) expand the forum policy to enforce at least the basics of generally accepted forum etiquette...you're teaching new members how not to seek advice on forums, and is f'ing with a lot of once great forums. It peeves a lot of us.)
     
    adding a legal reason to implement it:
    Implementing this would be the same as implementing a no hackintosh policy to protect the forum from legal issues. Look into "contributing to the delinquency of a minor". If one under 18 kid gets charged and has a decent lawyer, they'd go through the blame game to show that the kid is decent and undeserving of punishment. Might even push negligence on the moderators and forum owner that allowed the advice to occur. Just another aspect outside of the it's annoying to see 4+ "what's the best Linux distribution" posts on the front page of the LTT Linux forum.
     
    Rarely are these questions unique or unanswered.
  24. Informative
    steezemageeze got a reaction from Carlos1010 in A guide for getting started with Linux   
    Okay, so I have notifications turned on for this subforum, and very frequently, I get the same "what distro for this computer" and "how to learn linux" posts, and I thought I'd write this to try to put some people's minds at ease. Because there is no way I can possibly cover everything, outside links will be plentiful. Please feel free to suggest edits or correct me on any points I make.
     
    First off, anyone looking to ditch Windows who has never used Linux before needs to realize that they are immensely different. You don't download you software from websites (for the most part, I'll get to this later). A good portion of the software that you used on Windows will not be available on Linux, however there are plentiful open source alternatives for these. Most of your software will be downloaded directly from your distribution's repositories, either through a software "app store" so to speak or through a command line package manager. Speaking of the command line, you can't be afraid of it. The command line is one of your greatest tools in a Linux system. This is a pretty good guide for getting started.
     
    So which distro is right for me?
     
    This can be a tough question. Nobody can tell you exactly what distribution is right for you, in the end you will have to distro-hop until you find a home somewhere. I will however, try to give you a general recommendation
     
    EDIT:  @Azgoth 2 covered it very well in a comment below
     
    For the complete noob:
    Most people will point you towards Linux Mint in this case, and I tend to agree. In fact, I ran it on my main PC for a long time. For the most part, it is a very stable distro, it's very easy to set up, and the community is very friendly. It is based on Ubuntu 16.04 as of the version 18 release. Ubuntu, or any of it's flavors, is also a very good place to start. I've also heard that Elementary is good for beginners (especially OSX converts) but I haven't used it. Honorable mentions go to Zorin OS and ChaletOS, I have heard that they are both very Windows-like and are generally pretty stable.
     
    For an older computer:
    The general consensus here is that Lubuntu and Xubuntu are the best choices for a beginner with a slower computer. Both are low on resource consumption and run great on older hardware. I personally have Xubuntu running on all three of my systems, one of which is as old as me (16 years!). BunsenLabs and ArchBang are good choices if you are slightly more experienced or want a challenge.
     
    For anyone else:
    Really, just take your pick. Fedora (or offspins like Korora or Chapeau), Manjaro, and Debian are all great choices. If you're brave, give Arch a try. 
     
    Desktop Environments explained (link to post below)
    https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/593724-a-guide-for-getting-started-with-linux/?do=findComment&comment=7754472
     
     
    Installing Software
    This varies between distros. Each has their own command line package manager, and graphical front-ends for them. This is a pretty complete list of programs available in Linux, as is this.
     
    Debian-based: APT package manager
    Debian based distributions such as Ubuntu, Mint, Elementary, BunsenLabs, etc, use the APT package manager. Installing a package is achieved by typing in the terminal 
    sudo apt-get install chromium Chromium, the open-source version of Chrome, is being used in the example. "Sudo" grants you temporary root access in order to install the package (after providing your password). 
     
    You also have the option to install pre-packaged ".deb" files, which you download from a website and then install with something like gDebi or Qapt (usually included in the distro. Left click the .deb and choose "install with ___"). This is how you would install Google Chrome (the non-open-source version).
     
    To remove a program, type 
    sudo apt-get remove chromium or
    sudo apt-get purge chromium Purge removes all files associated with the package (ie config files), remove only removes the package
     
    sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get upgrade These are used to update the repository lists and then upgrade the installed packages
     
    EDIT: As of Ubuntu 16.04, you can simply type "sudo apt install ____".
     
    Synaptic Package Manager is a good graphical front-end if you wish to avoid the CLI
     
    Fedora-based: DNF package manager
    I will admit, I have less experience with this than I should, and I'm sorry if there is misinformation. I used Fedora for a few weeks but not as extensively as I would've liked. If someone wants to swoop in here and correct me I'd be very thankful.
     
    To install a package:
    sudo dnf install chromium To remove a package:
    sudo dnf remove chromium To update a package:
    sudo dnf check-update sudo dnf upgrade  
    DNF mostly uses simple commands, and is pretty easy to pick up. This is a good resource, I actually had to use it to check myself.
     
    Arch-based: Pacman package manager
    Pacman is one of my favorite package managers, for a couple reasons I won't get into. It's also pretty easy to pick up.
     
    To install a package:
    sudo pacman -S chromium (the capital S is important.)
    To remove a package:
    sudo pacman -R chromium or
    sudo pacman -Rs chromium same deal as APT, -R removes the program, -Rs removes dependencies & configs
    To update packages:
    sudo pacman -Syu  
    Arch also has the Yaourt and Pacaur (Pacaur is preferred by most users) package managers for the Arch User Repository, but I won't get into that. The commands however, are all the same as pacman (ie -S, -R, -Syu). Octopi and Pamac are popular graphical front-ends for pacman
     
    Coming soon eventually: openSUSE: Zypper package manager
    I finally got around to giving OpenSUSE a shot, and I'm really loving it! The commands are super simple.
     
    To install a package:
    sudo zypper in chromium To remove a package:
    sudo zypper rm chromium To update packages:
    sudo zypper up  
     
    Eww, Linux is ugly!
    You're damn right it is. However, with a little work, your OSX buddies will be jealous of your desktop for once. I'll just recommend you a few popular themes to get you started.
     
    GTK Themes:
    Arc (my fav)
    Numix
    Paper
     
    Icon Themes:
    Numix
    Moka
    Paper
     
    Obviously there are TONS of themes out there, these are just the most popular and (imo) best looking. You'll most likely find the option to change your themes in your distro's settings menu, otherwise you could edit the configuration files manually.
     
    How do I install Linux on my PC?
    First, make sure that secure boot is turned off in your BIOS/UEFI. Next, go to the website of the distro you're going to use, and either direct download or torrent (torrenting isn't bad!) the .ISO file for the OS. Once that's done, either burn it to a CD using the build-in burner in WIndows (not recommended), or use a tool like Rufus, Universal USB Installer, or Unetbootin to burn the ISO to a USB drive. Now reboot the PC, press whatever key your PC requires to change the boot device, and select your USB drive (If you have a UEFI mobo, it can be a crapshoot whether or not you should boot it as UEFI or BIOS. Try both.). Select the "Live" option if there is one, since it gives you a chance to play around with it before installing. Once you're convinced you want to install the OS, fire up the installer (should be an icon on the home screen) and follow it's instructions. Reboot when it's done, and you're good to go!
     
    How do I dual boot Linux and Windows on my PC?
    https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/593724-a-guide-for-getting-started-with-linux/?do=findComment&comment=7862971
     
     
    I'm having trouble with graphics drivers
    Usually, there will be an "additional drivers" menu somewhere within your distro's settings menu's, usually you can select the Nvidia or AMD driver from there. If not, you're gonna have a rough time. This may help you on the Nvidia side, while AMD drivers can really be a crapshoot from what I've heard (don't own an AMD card, can't testify). If anyone has a good guide for getting them working, I'll link it.
     
     I NEED this piece of Windows software
    You're in luck. There just so happens to be a program called Wine (and by extension, PlayOnLinux) that runs a "compatability layer" that allows some Windows programs to, albeit not always perfectly, run in a Linux environment. Nice, right?
     
    I broke my system!
    It happens, don't worry. Most likely, it's a simple fix, and you'll be able to recover your data. Your best bet is a Google search first, and if you come up empty come post in the forum here or in the Linux Helpdesk on the Tek Syndicate forums. Their Linux community is very active, sometimes you'll get a better/quicker answer over there. 
     
    My laptop gets worse battery life in Linux than in Windows:
    This is most likely the fault of unoptimized hardware, and affects just about everyone. The solution to this is to install a package called TLP. To install it, you'll want to run (assuming Debian base)
    sudo apt-get install tlp and then 
    tlp start You should get the output "TLP started in (bat/AC) mode".  Depending on the laptop, this could increase your battery life by a few minutes or a few hours in my experience.
     
    How do I check my RAM & CPU usage? Where's Task Manager?
    One of the most popular task manager applications is a command line script called HTOP. It looks like this:

    You run it in the terminal by simply typing
    htop in the terminal (it may or may not be installed already). Your distro/DE of choice may also have their own graphical Task Manager installed, you can usually find it by searching for "task manager" in the search bar or in the Administration folder of the main menu. In my case, Manjaro Cinnamon, HTOP is the pre-installed task manager, and I can actually click on an icon to launch a terminal with it running.
     
    (this file) that I downloaded won't run! What should I do?
     This could be one of two very likely things. First, you probably want to make it executable. You can do this by typing 
    chmod +x (your file) in the console. Now try running it again. The other thing that may be wrong is that you're missing dependencies. In Debian/Ubuntu, you can run 
    sudo apt-get -f install just as an example. Some distros will handle this in different ways. If that doesn't work, try googling problems with that specific package on your distro. In many cases these are well documented and you can find a very simple answer.
     
    Useful Resources:
    Arch Wiki: even if you don't run Arch, you will find that the Arch Wiki is a great resource  Man pages: Accessed through the command line by typing "man sudo", or whatever you want to know about. Linux is one place where it's uncool not to read the manual. Your distro's website: a lot of distro's have  a wiki or a forum on their website, both of which are great resources if you can't find information elsewhere Here: A lot of the time, your question could've been asked and answered here before. Try the search bar in the top right of the website.  
    For now, I think that covers the basics. Again, edits are welcome, and I will be adding more information to this thread if it comes to my mind. Cheers, good luck on your journey into open-source!
     
     
    Note to those scared about trying Linux for the first time: I have only been using Linux since February 2016. I had never used it before, minus one time I installed Ubuntu with Wubi (look that up, it's actually pretty neat) on my laptop and then immediately deleted it when I was 8. I am pretty advanced with computers, as teenagers go at least, so I had an idea of what I was doing, and I wasn't afraid to learn. The whole key using Linux, in my experience, is to not be afraid to learn, not be afraid to experiment, and to google the hell out of everything!!! Good luck!
  25. Agree
    steezemageeze got a reaction from Excitedtaco in What linux to get started on   
    None of you people are being of any help to the guy at all. Why even bother coming to the Linux section if you're going to shoot someone down and tell them to go back to Windows and stop complaining about it. @TubsAlwaysWins, I recommend you read the guide linked in my signature. I mostly cover the ways to narrow down a distro, and the differences between and features of some mainstream distros,
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