Microsoft will forcibly open some websites in Edge instead of Internet Explorer

ZDNet ^ | October 26, 2020 | Catalin Cimpanu

[VastRWCon]

I am glad I don’t build websites anymore. Too much BS keeping up.

[Varmint Al]

I started using Linux Mint with 16.0 and upgraded to 17.3, then 18 and 19.3. I like all of the new features. Linux Mint 20 is rock solid. Here is what I am currently running: Kernel: 5.4.0-52-generic x86_64 bits: 64 Desktop: Cinnamon 4.6.7 Distro: Linux Mint 20 Ulyana. Everything works! There are a lot of minor updates, but that is a good thing. Many code developers in the open source community writing and improving the software. I can use Python and Gfortran and write code, with the latest versions. I broke free from MS when Win XP died and have never looked back. Here is the system that is SOLID!

al@al-Metal:~$ neofetch
             ...-:::::-...                 al@al-Metal
          .-MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM-.              -----------
      .-MMMM`..-:::::::-..`MMMM-.          OS: Linux Mint 20 x86_64
    .:MMMM.:MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM:.MMMM:.        Kernel: 5.4.0-52-generic
   -MMM-M---MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM.MMM-       Uptime: 1 hour, 12 mins
 `:MMM:MM`  :MMMM:....::-...-MMMM:MMM:`    Packages: 2577 (dpkg), 6 (flatpak)
 :MMM:MMM`  :MM:`  ``    ``  `:MMM:MMM:    Shell: bash 5.0.17
.MMM.MMMM`  :MM.  -MM.  .MM-  `MMMM.MMM.   Resolution: 2560x1440
:MMM:MMMM`  :MM.  -MM-  .MM:  `MMMM-MMM:   DE: Cinnamon
:MMM:MMMM`  :MM.  -MM-  .MM:  `MMMM:MMM:   WM: Mutter (Muffin)
:MMM:MMMM`  :MM.  -MM-  .MM:  `MMMM-MMM:   WM Theme: Mint-XP-Metallic (Esco)
.MMM.MMMM`  :MM:--:MM:--:MM:  `MMMM.MMM.   Theme: Mint-X-Blue [GTK2/3]
 :MMM:MMM-  `-MMMMMMMMMMMM-`  -MMM-MMM:    Icons: oxygen [GTK2/3]
  :MMM:MMM:`                `:MMM:MMM:     Terminal: gnome-terminal
   .MMM.MMMM:--------------:MMMM.MMM.      CPU: AMD Ryzen 3 2200G (4) @ 3.500GHz
     '-MMMM.-MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM-.MMMM-'       GPU: AMD ATI Radeon Vega Series / Radeon Vega Mobile Series
       '.-MMMM``--:::::--``MMMM-.'         Memory: 2538MiB / 13985MiB
            '-MMMMMMMMMMMMM-'

Good Hunting... from Varmint Al

[PAR35]

The problem I ran into was I couldn’t get the Ubuntu ISO to fit on a CD.

As for the ‘newer or faster’ - they run just fine on Windows. I’m looking for something to play with on older machines - I downloaded Win10 on an old laptop when MS was offering the free upgrade (which ran fine) but now that they’ve bloated up Win10, I am looking for something more efficient.

The Win10 experience on the laptop did convince me to stick with 7 on my main machine.

[ZULU]

Use Foxfire
F*** Gates

[martin_fierro]

I only run Windows on my work laptop because

1. a global Support team supports it in the background 24/7; and
2. I have to

IIRC our IT group told us specifically NOT to use Edge but rather Chrome instead.

[Openurmind]

Good to hear 20 has been stable for you. I was kind of waiting for any possible new bugs to get worked out before upgrading. I see you do like most and get rid of the green. I switched to the X-blue also. :)

Does it have the same Cinnamon spice theme and accessories downloader as this older version? “add & remove” in themes?

[Openurmind]

Have you tried using the reasoning that with something other than windows they might not need that support team? lol

[Openurmind]

What bothers me about this is that it is not up to MS who can or cannot visit my site. That is up to me whether to allow or block any certain browsers to access it or not. They have no right to block my site access as a 3rd party referee. This is mine and up to me not them...

[Openurmind]

Well said, thank you. :)

[Pollard]

https://peppermintos.com/

Minimum
1gb ram
20gb hdd

Recommended
4gb ram
32gb hdd

No mention of processor GHz

[Openurmind]

Make a bootable ISO USB stick then. Then set your BIOS to look for a USB external stick to boot from first.

Best stick maker, leaving the options as default in this works just fine for everything.

https://rufus.ie/

[Varmint Al]

Linux Mint Cinnamon 20 has numerous themes. I like the XP-Metalic theme and the Oxygen icons. I saved them from 18.3 and added them to the .theme folder. They were not available in 20, work fine when I added them. Many color options and I use the Mint-X-Blue. I don't see spice.

Good Hunting... from Varmint Al

[Pollard]

I've got three browsers with 20-40 tabs open on each, thunderbird email client, file manager, cherrytree note-keeping program, qbittorrent downloading a torrent file and filezilla uploading ftp right now. Here's my desktop which has a CPU and RAM monitor on it. Using very little of my 2.7GHz and 4.5gb of my 16gb of RAM. Processors are running nice and cool on this 8 year old Thinkpad. I can shut down all these programs and shut down the PC and it would be less than 5 second shut down time. I never have to restart after an update or after installing a program.

I run Kubuntu which runs the Plasma desktop which has lots of bells and whistles. I would have to start up a couple of graphics programs and/or stream video to push the system.

I used to have a to do list desktop widget on the top left of the desktop in the tan area but I just use my note-keeping program these days and have it auto-start when Kubuntu starts. At the top left on my taskbar(yes, I have it on the top instead of the bottom) are 6 rectangles. Each one is what's called a virtual desktop. I use Ctrl_Alt and Left or Right arrow keys to navigate or just click a rectangle. I have notes and email on desktop 1, firefox on 2, firefox developer edition on 3, Brave browser on 4 and everything else on 5. The screenshot above is desktop 6. All the icons on the left bar are quick launch icons.

$200.00 used Thinkpad from ebay and $0.00 worth of software and I can do anything I need. I run Abiword for a word processor, fully compatible with MS Word files and Calligra Sheets for spreadsheets, fully compatible with Excel files.

[Openurmind]

On mine the Mint cinnamon spice theme options are in Menu/system settings/themes/add-remove/then refresh cache...

It should load up a whole list of available themes to download from the cinnamon spice repository. :)

Just wondering if the 20 has this built in option also?

There are some cool ones, even an XP. Or you can go directly to the Mint cinnamon spices site and get themes, applets, desklets and extensions also.

https://cinnamon-spices.linuxmint.com/themes/view/Mint-XP

https://cinnamon-spices.linuxmint.com/themes

[Starcitizen]

LibreOffice (OpenOffice before that) is pure unadulterated garbage. It’s not fully comparable, where are the VBA extensions or VB programming? And where is Access, Visio or Project?

The rest are pure unadulterated open source garbage. When the real working industry uses GIMP over Photoshop or even PaintShop Pro or the old Fireworks, ping me.

When Blender can export FBX files properly - game industry standard (it can’t - Normals get borked and orientation gets borked (it’s RHS and the rest of the industry standard apps (Maya, Max, midi, Houdini) for content development are LHS) and can’t do import MAYA or MAX scenes

Sublime is absolute garbage and does not interfere with Unity3D or Unreal or Lumberyard, or compile game engine code.

Stay using your broken open source apps, only good for light casual work. I’ll stick with known industry standards.

[daniel1212]

Glad to see you customizing (though I like my DT better), but your load is hardly comparable to what I am typically running (hundreds of tabs, etc.), not that you need to be. I like Kubuntu since I like KDE, and Apache open office over Abiword, but thank God we are free to make such choices. And I do not want an "Antifa OS" running the gov. that's for sure.

[Svartalfiar]

When Linux works with games/ games development, has a decent IDE, has decent industry standard 2D and 3D content production apps and office apps ok. Right now, it’s really only for server use.

Linux is definitely for more than just server use. Sure, it's still a bit more on the advanced side for many users, but it's opened up a LOT.

- There are several IDEs geared towards various languages, but I'm not much of a programmer so I can't say anything on a quality comparison.
- Definitely agree on CAD, Linux has some programs but they're just not as good as the stuff on Windows. But most people using those likely already have a certain program their company uses, so they don;t have much freedom on that.
- Games, try https://store.steampowered.com/linux or Blizzard's stuff - "Overwatch is the only game that Blizzard has released (except Warcraft 1 & earlier) that is not playable in Linux (even with work). Every other title that Blizzard has put out is playable in Linux with not much effort". There's likely options from other companies, but I don't really play that much in general, and almost nothing outside of Steam/StarCraft. (My tower's on Windows anyway, so it doesn't really matter though.)
- Word/PPT/Excel: try https://www.libreoffice.org/ or http://www.openoffice.org/. I like Libre better, and both are fine with most normal documents. If you have a ton of fancy formatting/cell formulas/ppt transitions and effects, you're better off sticking to the same program that designed that particular file, as any switching programs can go wonky.

[Varmint Al]

I tried the Mint-XP theme from spices and it worked fine in LM Cinnamon 20.

Good Hunting... from Varmint Al

[Openurmind]

Lol, that is one thing I really like about linux, just about everything old works on new versions, and everything new works on old versions. Quite remarkable actually compared to MS. :)

Thank you for the update!

[Starcitizen]

Have over 1000! steam games. Maybe 25 have working Linux versions.

Linux 2D/3D modeling software is crapware. As repeated ad nasuem above, if the standard art asset tool chain requires Photoshop, 3DSMax and Substance, I can’t use The Gimp/Blender (and no Substance equivalent). Even the Windows/Mac versions of this software is not ready for prime time.

And as mentioned before, the open-source crapware known as LibreOffice and its assorted forks are absolutely great at reformatting and destroying existing documents. Huge issue is font replacement and not supporting PowerPoint themes or animations. Excel spreadsheets get borked as well. Unless everything is kept to a super basic level of meh.