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Any Linux users out there


The Dude

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I know in years past I have seen some users around that use Linux or have recommended it for an OS.  Lately I was thinking how to get use out of my Laptop with Vista, there are 2 suggestions and I like them both.  For now due finances and a recommendation from TigerwoodKhorns. I have decided to give it a try.  

 

So if you do use Linux what do you do with it, as in task you perform.  My main things are music play back, and hanging out here on the forum when listening to music.  One thing that came to mind is the home server software offered by Linux, anyone have experience with this.  How would it compare to a Windows platform.  

 

I have nothing to lose with trying this out, if I don't like it I will save for the second recommendation to add a better ssd and upgrade to Win 7. 

 

 

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I have been thinking of switching 1 of my laptops over to Linux as well,  Just have not screwed up the courage as of yet,  I dont consider myself a pc idiot, but not savy either

 

I would be interested to hear some views on this as well

 

My pc uses are very close to yours, basically scan C-list, listen to itunes (all lossless files), scan the forum, and a few other forums and receive and send email

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Joe I have handled some daunting task such as ripping dvds to a hard drive.  As simple as that sounds it was tougher then this.  I had some help from Tiger.  But other then that it wasn't to bad to try.  You have to have a torrent program, I used utorrent.  Then I used winmd5 to check the md5, once that was down I burned the iso image to a dvd r.  With that you can then run the live dvd like a regular program on top of windows to give it a try, then from decided if you want to download it or not. If you have the hard drive space you can run it along with windows, which I might do in the long run.  

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The best Linux distro is based off of Debian -- Ubuntu, and Mint. Super easy installs these days, and comes with enough but not too much. The install will recognize darn near all harware without problems, but can give some issues with NVIDIA video cards/chipsets.

 

http://www.ubuntu.com/

 

http://www.linuxmint.com/

 

I'm using Mint 17 cinnamon on some old Dell boxes.

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Joe I have handled some daunting task such as ripping dvds to a hard drive.  As simple as that sounds it was tougher then this.  I had some help from Tiger.  But other then that it wasn't to bad to try.  You have to have a torrent program, I used utorrent.  Then I used winmd5 to check the md5, once that was down I burned the iso image to a dvd r.  With that you can then run the live dvd like a regular program on top of windows to give it a try, then from decided if you want to download it or not. If you have the hard drive space you can run it along with windows, which I might do in the long run.  

 

Slammed with work here, but a torrent is nopt needed.  Just download the dvd directly from one of the mirror sites.  Download a MD5sum checker and run it.  Burn the iso to a DVD (I screwed  this one up at first) and then run from the dvd.

 

When you install, plug an ethernet cable in to the laptop and everything should work (meaning it will download the right drivers for all of your hardware).  I forget how, but the wireless is an easy fix.  No time now, but there is a program already loaded that will fix this (I think). 

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ut a torrent is nopt needed.  Just download the dvd directly from one of the mirror sites

 

Yes you could do this as well, it was just recommended to use the torrent as why I used it.

 

 

but the wireless is an easy fix.  No time now, but there is a program already loaded that will fix this (I think). 
 

 

Thats good to know. 

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For wireless, simply open up driver manager.  It doesn't automatically install the driver for Broadcom chipsets (which is widely used).  The driver is in the kernel.  Once opened, you should be able to select the first radio button, click apply.  You can then click on the icon showing you no networks, select your wireless network and done.  Takes less than 30 seconds.

 

Personally, I drop the ISO onto a USB drive and skip the whole burning process: this lets you sample each of the desktops in short order and decide which you like best.  Once decided, click install on the desktop and you are done.

 

http://www.pendrivelinux.com/universal-usb-installer-easy-as-1-2-3/

Edited by Anarchist
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I am not a Unix user, but when setting this up, you might consider making your laptop dual-boot, one partition for Windows, another for your favorite flavor of Unix.  You can choose a default so it boots into your OS of choice, or you can make it pause 15-20 seconds so you can choose.

Edited by wvu80
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I am not a Unix user, but when setting this up, you might consider making your laptop dual-boot, one partition for Windows, another for your favorite flavor of Unix.  You can choose a default so it boots into your OS of choice, or you can make it pause 15-20 seconds so you can choose.

Better yet, install VirtualBox on Linux and you can run Windows on Linux and use both of them at the same time if you choose.

 

Some days you need Linux, others Windows, and, of course, there are the days you need a Mac; all have their strengths and weaknesses.

 

Then you can get crazy and use your virtual machines to run alternate operating systems that I suppose most have never heard of before: Haiku, ReactOS, MenuetOS, or Aros (for the Amiga fans.)  There are others as well.

Edited by Anarchist
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For wireless, simply open up driver manager.  It doesn't automatically install the driver for Broadcom chipsets (which is widely used).  The driver is in the kernel.  Once opened, you should be able to select the first radio button, click apply

 

That worked great, thanks. 

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I am not a Unix user, but when setting this up, you might consider making your laptop dual-boot, one partition for Windows, another for your favorite flavor of Unix.  You can choose a default so it boots into your OS of choice, or you can make it pause 15-20 seconds so you can choose.

 

The great thing about this is Linux doesn't take up much space.  

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Well I am here with Linux, we will see how it goes.  Surfing the web, check.  Now I need to figure out music play back.  One site I recommend is this one.

 

https://sites.google.com/site/easylinuxtipsproject/mint-mate-first#TOC-Apply-all-available-updates

 

Maybe somebody all ready posted it, but I just wanted to touch up on it how important some of these do this first items there are. 

 

Crap one thing I didn't think about is sercuity, as in virus proteciton.  I must look at that as well.

Edited by duder1982
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Well I am here with Linux, we will see how it goes.  Surfing the web, check.  Now I need to figure out music play back.  One site I recommend is this one.

 

https://sites.google.com/site/easylinuxtipsproject/mint-mate-first#TOC-Apply-all-available-updates

 

Maybe somebody all ready posted it, but I just wanted to touch up on it how important some of these do this first items there are. 

 

Crap one thing I didn't think about is sercuity, as in virus proteciton.  I must look at that as well.

 

LOL.

 

I think that you are ok.  Check the UFW - Uncomplicated firewall.  It is in the link that I had sent to you on Linux setup.  just make sure it is working, it blocks everything.  Use the "SUDO" in the teminal to set this stuff.  it is easy. 

 

To make changes in Linux you must put in a password to gain privileges.  All of your software should come from the repository, which has been vetted, ie. no viruses.  When you update or add any program, all of the linux programs use the same library instead of multiple duplicate libraries like the fat bloated OS out of Seattel uses.  Th elibraries are from the repository and shoudl be clean.  I have been using Linux for a few years now and no viruses (and the computer is as fast as the day that I installed Linux). 

 

If you are worried about spreading viruses to MS users, your email service should have virus protection that catches those items. 

 

Chech out your office suite.  You can set it to automatically save everything in word format if you exchnage a lot of docs.  There are soem good games in the repositoty too. 

 

I found that my usb dac worked when plugged into linux and there are good audio players included.  Just go to the software manager and download what you like or need. 

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