/johnny
Thanks. I recently had an XP desktop crash that I had been using as a file server (now have a drive attached to a router for a lot less power consumption) so I was looking for something to do with the hardware other than use it for an end table or printer stand. Time to install Linux.
I am set up for dual booting (choosing windows or linux operating system at startup, a good temporary solution) and find that linux is much more stable than windows.
ßookmark /
I could not be more in disagreement with that statement. I could give the author five examples from friends and family that would blow up that statement.
Thanks again.
Fedora for me. One point the article leaves out is that in choosing a distro you’re also choosing a support community. Maybe analogous to the idea that you don’t just marry someone you marry their family :) I happen to like the Fedora community as well as the distro.
The article also leaves out Arch Linux - when I’m researching issues I find their posts to be quite insightul and they seem to be even more old school than Fedora.
There is certainly the idea that “my grandma uses it” and in some cases I’m sure it’s true but it’s really not a realistic way to look at it for most people. IMHO you *will* need to get under the hood and fiddle - which is half the fun, for me anyway.
bookmarkTried em all, did it all in Linux. Best setup for 90% of normal people, IMO, is simply Ubuntu with XFCE or LXDE desktop. Simple fast and easier than windows.
True dat, and I think it's funny as hell. Our shop's Linux servers are Red Hat but I think it's a little much for a home box and so use Mint for my home Linux fix. Had a relative over last evening and she didn't even notice that she wasn't running Winders until I told her.
bookmark
The first rule of choosing a desktop Linux distribution is, nobody talks about choosing a desktop Linux distribution!
The second rule of choosing a desktop Linux distribution is, nobody talks about choosing a desktop Linux distribution!
One thing I really haven't messed with a while lot in linux beyond getting it working is sound.
A month or so ago, I loaded up Fedora 18 on my main desktop. At first I had issues getting sound working at all, and finally managed, after poking around a bit to at least get my mp3s and stuff to play. I have a harman/kardon speaker system, and the sound is really freaking muddy. It's like there is a bunch of sound processing going on behind the scenes, and the speakers are interpreting it as reverb or other surround sound stuff.
I realize there have been several evolutions of how sound is handled over the years, and would not be at all surprised if I have some artifacts of that in my .kde, .local or other user-based config directory. (could even be a system config somewhere.
To make matters somewhat worse is that I apparently have two audio controllers, and the system has been inconsistent with which it prefers. I'm assuming the "HD Audio Controller" below is the contoller on the motherboard, and the NVIDIA one is relating to the HDMI out on my video card (I just dug around and located a spare HDMI cable - I'll deal with testing that out some other time)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) HD Audio Controller
02:00.1 Audio device: NVIDIA Corporation High Definition Audio Controller (rev a1)
The KDE 'mixer' program seems to adjust the volume sometimes, but when I run VLC, it's like there is a completely different volume control that is independent of that.
It appears I'm running pulse audio
zeugmaamp 13868 1 0 Aug07 ? 00:18:28 /usr/bin/pulseaudio --start
But I've seen messages indicating some programs expect 'alsa' in addition or in place of that.
Do any of you guys have a good resource for getting this stuff cleaned up, so it will be more straightforward going forth?
I learned a lot just attempting a Linux from Scratch install.
Still fall back to Debian w/o X windows—don’t usually use my Linux machines for typical desktop activities.
bkmk
Interestingly, no mention of CentOS, the real RedHat for free.
I used Fedora for many years but for a rock solid no BS desktop, I have come to prefer CentOS. Granted, that’s also partly because I use it for most of my servers, which puts me out of the mainstream of desktop users...
Ubuntu is annoying. Guess I’m a RedHat fan.
I've wanted to try a Linux OS and with all the hubbub about NSA stealing our emails and Microsoft giving the US government free reign of our computers, I want something that is harder for them to hack into. I just hope it isn't too hard for me to learn.