Posted on 04/25/2019 8:34:14 AM PDT by ShadowAce
Up until recently, Elementary OS was my platform of choice. It's an elegant, simple, and user-friendly solution for the desktop. One thing that the Elementary developers do that I believe is fairly wise is to not allow upgrades from one major release to another. In other words, if you use Elementary OS Loki, you can't upgrade to Juno. To get the benefits of Juno, you must do a full-blown re-install of the OS.
Why is this route wise? My latest adventures in Linux will help explain.
A few months ago, I purchased a System76 Thelio. It's a beast of a desktop, while at the same a masterful work of art. Preinstalled on that desktop machine was System76's own Pop!_OS. Based on Ubuntu, it seemed like a great way for me to dive back into the GNOME desktop. So I did. It took no time to get accustomed to the new workflow with GNOME. Once my fingers understood the new keyboard shortcuts, I was good to go.
This is where it gets interesting.
Everything was working great. But then Ubuntu officially released 19.04, and my fingers were itching to type do-release-upgrade. Before bed one night, I opened a terminal and issued the command to run the upgrade. It was a fairly safe assumption that System76 vetted everything, and the upgrade would go off without a hitch.
My assumption was correct—System76 did their work.
Upon rebooting, it seemed like the upgrade was successful. Not one thing was wrong. Yes, GNOME was slightly different, and the default icon theme wasn't quite as slick as the previous one, but the end result provided an improved experience. The Thelio ran faster and smoother, which is a feat in and of itself considering how blazingly fast it was, to begin with.
Until (you knew it was coming) the dreaded suspend occurred. Since this isn't a laptop, suspend isn't a big deal. But when I logged back into the desktop, I discovered something odd. Both trackpads I use (a Logitech T650 and an MS Arc Mouse—don't judge me) no longer scrolled. They would both move the cursor and successfully click on items, but scrolling would not happen.
After digging around, I realized the issue was the 5.x kernel. Since there was no time table for the fix, I decided to reboot with the previous (4.18) kernel. But alas, no matter how I configured GRUB, I couldn't reach the GRUB menu, which was odd, as I was always able to make things work with Linux. Was I destined to return to my old scroll wheel mouse? I'd grown to really like that Arc Mouse, so the idea of having that physical wheel under finger had me shaking my first-world head.
And so, I hopped into a Pop!_OS chat to get the scoop. Turns out, the Thelio/Pop!_OS combination used UEFI, which is managed in a completely different configuration file.
The more fool I.
After making a quick configuration change (I'll address this in another article), I rebooted and was able to choose between the 4.18 and the 5.x kernels. With the 4.18 kernel running, scrolling functioned as expected, and I could get back to work. Sure, I was missing out on some of the improvements found in the 5.x kernel, but the ability to scroll took precedence. It's the small things.
That 4.18 kernel saved me from a frustrating workflow. But, because this is Linux, you can always retain a functioning kernel. This makes it possible when a newer, shinier kernel comes along to install it without the fear that your computer will be rendered unbootable or hampered in any way (so long as you configure the UEFI boot to grant you access to the advanced boot options).
Try that in Windows.
On second thought, don't. Because you can't.
I will grant you that this is not something new-to-Linux users might undertake. Because most new Linux users won't run the do-release-upgrade command, they won't find themselves in situations that require them to edit the loader.conf file (hint, hint). But for those who like to experiment, anything is possible.
And that is part of the profound difference between Linux and other operating systems. Linux works flawlessly for new users. At the same time, Linux makes it possible for experienced users to tinker to their heart's content. When things do go wrong, Linux gives you all the tools necessary to fix the problems.
I won't deny that over the years I've had Linux installations go awry. But each and every time, I resolved the problems without too much hassle. There were a scant few occasions where the only path to resolution was a complete reinstallation. Even then, Linux is one of the easiest operating systems on the market to install.
You may think that Linux on the desktop is dead. It's not. Given the state of Linux desktop distributions, it's all too clear that Linux, as a desktop operating system, is better than ever. The Linux desktop has become a set-it-and-forget-it environment where "just works" is the modus operandi. And on those rare occasions, where things do go astray, it's always possible to resolve the issue, without too much strain or stress.
This difference between Linux and other operating systems has shown itself to me many times over the years. When it reared up this time, it dawned on me just how profound it is.
“Linux desktop thriving”
well, sure, if you define “thriving” as a 3.37% share of the desktop market ...
“This difference between Linux and other operating systems has shown itself to me many times over the years”
Yes, the real difference is motives. Why was the code written? To simply work? or to simply make money by adding charges.
Yep... It’s yours not theirs. :)
Now don't get wrong, I have Linux Mint 19.1 on another hard drive and I've been experimenting with it, but is that an actual "desktop" operating system in the same vein as Windows?
put me on ping list please- thanks
[[but is that an actual “desktop” operating system in the same vein as Windows? ]]
Depends on whether you can accept windows alternative programs like open office or gimp or other such substitutes- I can’t- I use linux as my every day, day to day computer for online stuff, email, card games, and that’s about it- as it’s much safer than windows- but for things l ike PC games, photoshop, office, I dual boot into windows proper- not some virtual machine-
Linux doesn’t make anything. Simply speaking it is an operating system.
What you are probably referring to are the assorted ‘distros’ that are Linux based and are generally packaged as a desktop system.
Most of these packages consist of Free and Open Sourced Software that is indeed free, being the product of communities of like minded people.
I use the same OS as you are experimenting with and find that I am more productive than I was ever able to be with any windows system I have ever used.
The article makes no real attempt to give an explanation answering this. All we are treated to is technical jargon and some vague generalities that the article says in one of the headings is “Not the stuff for newbies”.
Here is an excerpt from a poster in an amusing Quora discussion that was on the same subject where people actually make an attempt to compare Linux with Windows.
Daniel Georgiev, Forbes 30 under 30, TEDx speaker, Founder of IrisTech.co Answered May 4, 2018
“Like everything Free, Linux is too complicated with no documentation and you need a doctor degree to install a text editor.
The only real advantage is that you don’t pay for it. Aside from this everything is well nothing special.
I won’t go into much details but here are some of the points which a lot of Linux users say always and the real truth.
Faster
Linux is faster because it’s just not backward compatible.
While Windows has tons of gigabytes unused data after update this is just to save your whole information from disappearing.
With Linux your PC just decides to crash one day and you lose all your files.
Viruses
There is no point to make virus for Linux, because it can’t even start on most of the distros.
It’s not like you can’t make a virus, but you need to make it and rewrite it for every kernel, because the ecosystem is so segmented that you will constantly get missing libraries and segmentation faults.
Customization
Most of the time limited options are better than huge customization because with great customization comes great risk of breaking everything.
Packages
Millions of different versions, millions of different commands and in the end of the day nothing works.
Software
These things are also bad from developer point of view and I’m talking from my experience here.
You just can’t make a high-quality software because you need to build it for every individual kernel and distro and for every distro version.
Even if your project is open source you need to add tons of external libraries and they start to crash after 1 or 2 months.
I have a build of my software Iris for every distro and every version and it still crashes on every new update which is like every month." from, https://www.quora.com/What-are-all-the-advantages-of-using-Linux-rather-than-Microsoft-Windows
You may think that Linux on the desktop is dead. It’s not...
Not quite a glowing endorsement.
If I was setting up a server I would use some form of Linux. I have virtual machines set up with a various forms of Linux to play around with. But I do not use them for serious work, like setting up spreadsheets, doing my taxes, photo and video editing, setting up PowerPoint presentations, designing objects for my 3-D printer. I do not even use them for creating written documents to share with others.
This is largely because most of the software that I use either have no equivalent packages in Linux, or the packages available have poor compatibility with the software being used by those that I collaborate with.
The other issue is familiarity with packages like Photoshop that I have been using for close to 30 years. There is no way that I am going to waste my time trying to become familiar with the features of a much more limited open source photo or video editor at this point in my life.
The operating system is really there to just make a stable platform to run the applications we use on. It is very irritating that Microsoft tries to make it much more obtrusive than it should be. But unfortunately the way things have evolved we are mostly stuck with the hand we have been dealt.
“Like everything Free, Linux is too complicated with no documentation and you need a doctor degree to install a text editor.”
Say what? I’ve never seen a graphic version of linux that didn’t come with a text editor and usually a more powerful version than notepad. If you want something different, you open Software Manager, type in text editor and you’ll get a dozen results and all of them are safe to use. Hard to find free windows software that doesn’t come with a virus, malware, spyware etc. I remember the good old days when download.com had some decent stuff but at some point it went downhill. So now you have to pay for something safe.
Where people get confused is in having too many choices with linux. 10 different distros and each one can run one of a dozen text editors, from the basic notepad type to the type for programmers with line numbers, syntax highlighting and more.
I use Leafpad for basic stuff and sublime for code. Mousepad is another good basic one but Leafpad takes less than a second to fire up. Gedit is a common one, Kate is another as is Nano.
Statements like needing a doctor’s degree to install a text editor are way outdated. Maybe 20 years ago it might have made sense.
I’ve been seeing quite a few linux posts here but most of them are too techy for me and I’ve been running linux as my desktop(laptop) OS for over 10 years. Seeing these techy articles makes people think you have to be techy to run linux.
Most people can’t even install an Operating System.
Same here... And in almost a year now I have had not one negative experience. It has just plain worked and is very resource friendly. I just yesterday installed mint 18.3 on a 2001 32 bit HP laptop that had an EXTREME known overheating problem and it now screams and runs cool. Windows resource overtaxing was the problem from the factory. The fact that Linux allows you to recycle and use an up to date OS on an old machine like this speaks for it’s self. “Does not meet minimum requirements” and need to buy a new machine is almost unheard of with linux. It can even be installed on a Raspberry Pi or smartphone.
I know one thing, there is a very good reason why all the largest and most powerful organizations and institutions in the world are now switching to Linux...
I tried Elementary OS and didn’t care for it. You’d better like it as it comes because you won’t find much of any settings you can change.
do you happen to have a list handy?
I just thought that it was an amusing rant complete with Eastern Block style written “dialect” and he does make a few good points. The guy obviously was not being completely serious. There are plenty of good text editors and even “office” type packages available for Linux. And they are typically not any harder to install than software for Windows as long as you don’t hit some type of snag.
Absolutely... The only time I have needed the console/command line was in setting up more advanced things the average user might never need, like a local VPN server, or Virtual Machine.To set these up in Windows is not a cake walk either. Other than these incidents it has been all easy to use point and click, drag and drop, Graphic Interface just like Windows. The newer versions are extremely user friendly, just as easy as windows but without all the issues that come with windows.
Which is why I have become such a fan of Oracle’s VirtualBox. The host OS can be either Windows or Linux and the limitations on VM (Virtual Machines) are limited only by the host machine’s specs.
Starting two OS’s is a bit cumbersome at first but it allows me to work in compartmentalized areas with disaster recovery only a mouse-click away.
LOL
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