Questions for my attempt to try Linux

[tinpanalley]

I see this on Zorin's info... "the ability to connect to Android devices to sync notifications, share files and send text messages between the two devices". Can't all Linux do that? Isn't Android at the end of the day Linux based?

(I'm not dead set on Zorin, just curious about it and why it's been recommended to me)

[tinpanalley]

32 minutes ago, wasab said:

Linux is modular to the point you can literally pick what components of the desktop you want to install. Do you want just the windows manager, a few certain apps, or everything the DE has to offer? Of course, you can also pick another DE, selected components from that DE and create Frankenstein desktop with tools from other desktop.

Ok, so basically, I need to learn why I want one distro over another, then study the desktop environments available in that distro. So DE are like themes of Kodi then? Where they can actually feature different interfaces and menu options?

[Sauron]

1 hour ago, tinpanalley said:

Can't all Linux do that?

Yes, but not necessarily out of the box.

1 hour ago, tinpanalley said:

Isn't Android at the end of the day Linux based?

Yes, but that doesn't really matter in this case. In general, Android has very little in common with "normal" Linux distributions - this is why some people prefer to say GNU/Linux when referring to something like Zorin.

1 hour ago, tinpanalley said:

why it's been recommended to me

Zorin is a good beginner's distro because it comes with a lot of common stuff you may want already set up. It also vaguely resembles Windows in terms of UI, which may help if you're used to that. It's also based on Ubuntu, which is a very popular distribution and is compatible with the majority of GNU/Linux software.

 

Personally I usually recommend Ubuntu MATE for beginners, but Zorin is also just fine. The difference is mostly personal preference.

1 hour ago, tinpanalley said:

Ok, so basically, I need to learn why I want one distro over another, then study the desktop environments available in that distro.

I'd recommend just picking one distro and going for it - there is quite simply too much choice for you to know exactly what to expect from a UI without trying it for yourself, and most DEs work just fine; you won't really regret going for any major distro.

1 hour ago, tinpanalley said:

So DE are like themes of Kodi then? Where they can actually feature different interfaces and menu options?

More than that, a desktop environment is pretty much your entire UI - it handles things like window title bars, menu bars, trays, desktop icons and backgrounds, window snapping, virtual desktops and more. The larger ones like Plasma and GNOME also come with utilities like a graphical network manager (almost all DEs have one), a system monitor (~ task manager), a file manager and more.

 

A window manager, on the other hand, only handles your windows and (almost) nothing else. Everything else you need to provide with some other tool. I wouldn't recommend going that route for a beginner.

[21rkosta]

Ok so I am fairly new to linux coming from a similar experience to you. I just wanted to let you know that windows only game emulation has come a long way and is really pretty great now. Honestly almost all steam games work with steamplay unless its a uplay game. Downloading games also seems to occur much faster and more stably than on windows for some reason though this could be a personal issue

[tinpanalley]

1 hour ago, Sauron said:

Personally I usually recommend Ubuntu MATE for beginners, but Zorin is also just fine. The difference is mostly personal preference.

Ok, with no way to know the world of what's out there in distros, I just want to know I have something that will have lots of support online. So that I can actually learn Linux as I go using it.

So really, Mint, Ubuntu, Zorin... doesn't matter at all?

[Sauron]

1 hour ago, tinpanalley said:

So really, Mint, Ubuntu, Zorin... doesn't matter at all?

Not really, both Mint and Zorin are based on Ubuntu (Mint has a Debian based version, but it's close enough) so most of the core features are the same. It's more about how it's packaged and presented, what the default UI looks like, what's in the default repositories. For a new user the difference is meaningless, just try what you think looks best from the screenshots.

[wasab]

4 hours ago, Sauron said:

While it's true that Linux viruses exist, it's dramatically harder to get one; if you install your software from your distro's repositories and don't run random executables, you're extremely unlikely to ever get a virus. It's not even a matter of how rare Linux viruses are - it's just that by installing software from trusted sources (instead of downloading sketchy installers from random websites) you're automatically much safer.

 

Note that the part you quoted doesn't say there are no viruses; it just says you're safe from them and you probably won't need to worry. It may be a bit simplistic, but for a new user who just came across that page and needs this explained to them it's true enough.

Agree. It is like catching viruses on iPhone and Android. There are millions of devices out there, way more than windows computers but since most users install from Google play store or apple appstore, we rarely hear any computer viruses/botnets the likes of what we see on windows. 

 

Few people worry about antivirus on their phones, by the same token, Linux usually do not need to about viruses and how to "anti"viruses.

[wasab]

4 hours ago, tinpanalley said:

Ok, so basically, I need to learn why I want one distro over another, then study the desktop environments available in that distro. So DE are like themes of Kodi then? Where they can actually feature different interfaces and menu options?

Distribution isn't just about the desktop. You can install any desktops on any distribution, some might give you easier time than others but you can uninstall and install desktops environments as if it is just regular program on Linux. Some distribution has no desktop at all, like Ubuntu servers and arch until you install them. Linux is modular in this regard. Sometimes so modular, the only thing they may have in common is just the Linux kernel. 

 

Distribution is honestly just anything that make a Linux stand out as different from other Linux distribution. It can just be a different DE, same DE with different themes, but usually, different distributions ship with their own unique combination of package managers, their software repository, and their own unique software suite. 

[tinpanalley]

16 minutes ago, wasab said:

their software repository, and their own unique software suite. 

So even linux software varies from distribution to distribution? I mean, I imagine it is still possible to install any Linux program on any Linux distro, isn't it?

[wasab]

2 hours ago, tinpanalley said:

So even linux software varies from distribution to distribution? I mean, I imagine it is still possible to install any Linux program on any Linux distro, isn't it?

Yes, if the distribution has all the necessary dependencies. You are not going to be running GUI apps on distros without xorg for instance.(linux servers sometimes ship without it because it doesn't require a GUI)

 

Chrome OS is also Linux btw but it won't be able to run Linux apps unless you have the newest beta version.

[jpenguin]

On 3/21/2019 at 11:23 PM, Bananasplit_00 said:

Some kernels won't work with some NVIDIA drivers is the main Mint one, sound card didn't work on the kernel that came with it, sound card had lots of static even when reported working decently with the updated kernel, NVIDIAs drivers also don't like three screens so my third screen has some black artifacts and random green dots. 

https://askubuntu.com/questions/405071/static-and-crackling-in-my-hdmi-audio#444559

[Bananasplit_00]

4 minutes ago, jpenguin said:

https://askubuntu.com/questions/405071/static-and-crackling-in-my-hdmi-audio#444559

Im not using HDMI audio though, and for that matter DP audio was fine. The problem was somewhere between Alsamixer and my SBX

[jpenguin]

3 hours ago, Bananasplit_00 said:

Im not using HDMI audio though, and for that matter DP audio was fine. The problem was somewhere between Alsamixer and my SBX

I've used that to fix static/lag on HDMI/3.5mm/dp sound; it was worth a post.

[Si Kampret]

On 3/22/2019 at 5:45 AM, Sauron said:

 

Well, you can install MS office software on your phone for free, so that's taken care of. On Linux (GNU/Linux, not Android) you can use LibreOffice, which supports opening and editing word and excel files, however be aware that the functionality isn't 1:1 and MS Office documents often end up looking and behaving differently on LO. Word and Excel work well enough through Wine, though your mileage may vary.

 

There might be another way though; depending on what you do, you may not need an office suite at all. Personally I stopped using office programs entirely a couple of years ago in favor of tools like markdown and LaTeX; these are completely platform independent (a markdown file is just a text file) and can be rendered to PDF quite easily. Spreadsheets can be converted to CSV (depending on what excel features you use) which is a simpler and more portable format and works better with LO and a bunch of other spreadsheet programs that run on Linux.

the only reason I stick with windows is MICROSOFT OFFICE, all documents that come to me were made on it.

[Si Kampret]

On 3/23/2019 at 12:37 AM, tinpanalley said:

I clearly need to read more, I dont know what any of those are.

I thought knowing the different distros was the end of the story. I didn't know there were different "flavours" in each distro.

maybe you should consider these devices that come with linux out of the box: https://puri.sm/

www.system76.com

www.pine64.org/?page_id=3707

They probably have high compatibility with all your peripheral. And I'm sure they have good ability in browsing, office, notes, cloud storage, multimedia editting,,, and so on...

 

[Ithanul]

On 3/22/2019 at 4:50 PM, tinpanalley said:

Ok, with no way to know the world of what's out there in distros, I just want to know I have something that will have lots of support online. So that I can actually learn Linux as I go using it.

So really, Mint, Ubuntu, Zorin... doesn't matter at all?

Some advice that may help you decide.  Get a spare USB you may have, load a few distros on it and have them setup as live bootables.  That way you can try several distros out without needing to install the distros.

[tinpanalley]

1 hour ago, Si Kampret said:

maybe you should consider these devices that come with linux out of the box: https://puri.sm/

www.system76.com

www.pine64.org/?page_id=3707

They probably have high compatibility with all your peripheral. And I'm sure they have good ability in browsing, office, notes, cloud storage, multimedia editting,,, and so on...

 

I appreciate the advice but in a world of OSes that you can install yourself on existing hardware, buying a device just to run Linux seems like excessive overkill to me.

[tinpanalley]

18 minutes ago, Ithanul said:

Some advice that may help you decide.  Get a spare USB you may have, load a few distros on it and have them setup as live bootables.  That way you can try several distros out without needing to install the distros.

Yeah, I've done this. The problem is I've done this and I'm never gonna get in one or two days what each distro will offer and using Live Installs for more than one or two days becomes difficult when system settings aren't saved. I just have to try one and go with it at this point but I wanna read up on them as much as possible and watch some videos online.

[tinpanalley]

Question for all of you...

I just learned on another site that dual booting Windows 10 and Linux -- even if on 2 different hdds -- can cause system clock errors? Is that true because that would massively suck.

[wasab]

On 3/22/2019 at 5:50 PM, tinpanalley said:

Ok, with no way to know the world of what's out there in distros, I just want to know I have something that will have lots of support online. So that I can actually learn Linux as I go using it.

So really, Mint, Ubuntu, Zorin... doesn't matter at all?

I will save you from the choices and headaches. Just pick Ubuntu. It is well rounded for consumer.