Linux Discussion Thread

[ankushv]

I've tried pclinuxos some years back . It was a good alternative to win XP and almost looked like it.
I too find mint the best distro I've used .
Ubuntu tends to be more heavy on the system resources .
Thank god they have left the unity desktop behind . Tried elementary os once. Didn't go well with my existing hardware . Left it at that .
Cheers !
Ankush .

Sent from my MI MAX 2 using Tapatalk

 

[Vyom]

So I 'upgraded' from Ubuntu to Mint, and enjoying Linux even more. I was using Mint on my laptop before, but never noticed somethings which I am now after comparing to Ubuntu. immediately I see following improvements:

• Screen resolution. My fHD monitor now seems good, and closer to Windows in terms of pixels per inch. Ubuntu was making my screen estate feel small.
• I can resize all icons on desktop at once, which I was unable to do on Ubuntu.
• There's only one taskbar and that is below, with background processes on the bottom right, just like the good ol' Windows.
• Black theme doesn't conflict the black text on white textboxes in browser (which means I don't need the "Text Contrast for Dark Themes" extension. Edit: still need that extension. Nevermind.
  
• Nemo file explorer with the ability to edit the path, and better calculator is built in. (There's also tree view in Nemo file explorer! Can't ask for anything more).
• No more issue where I can't move a dialog box without moving the entire app of the foreground.
• Dropbox works as expected. In Ubuntu it was running headless, which means there was no front end. Now I can see an icon in the taskbar from where I can control dropbox.

Now back to the quirks:

1. Screenshot app still doesn't allow me to cancel the last taken screenshot and allow me to take screenshot again (I need the app to only take screenshot of a part of the screen, something which I do often)
2. The thick title bar of firefox. It doesn't even disappear when Firefox is maximized.
   
3. Dragging after pressing mouse's middle click doesn't scroll me down in browser. It was something I was so used to in Windows, but doesn't work in Linux for me.

Few questions related to Mint:

1. How effective is using Timeshift? I have allocated a small partition for taking Timeshifts backups. How useful it can be, in case I mess things up and want to restore? Is it as useless as Windows restore?
2. Can I install plugins/extensions at OS level like Gnome had them? I did explore 'desklets' and 'Extensions' I found in start menu. Didn't really find how to use them. (Also this: *i.imgur.com/Z4MUwRq.png) (Me want drop down terminal from the push of a button).
3. What's the alternative of Device manager in Mint? I want to see if all drivers are installed for all hardware. Like my GPU which is RX 480.
4. What's the best bitmap editor app in Nix like MS Paint? I know about GIMP but that's like photoshop.

Only these much for now, I will get back with more questions.

 

[aaruni]

There's only one taskbar and that is below, with background processes on the bottom right, just like the good ol' Windows.

That's only by default. You can put the panel anywhere, and even have multiple panels.

The thick title bar of firefox. It doesn't even disappear when Firefox is maximized.

F11 to go to full screen mode. I actually like the title bar. Personal preference, I guess.

Dragging after pressing mouse's middle click doesn't scroll me down in browser. It was something I was so used to in Windows, but doesn't work in Linux for me.

I have always hated that in windows.

What's the alternative of Device manager in Mint? I want to see if all drivers are installed for all hardware. Like my GPU which is RX 480.

You mean driver manager?

*i.imgur.com/TXv3TZ5.png

What's the best bitmap editor app in Nix like MS Paint? I know about GIMP but that's like photoshop.

I just use GIMP. Just because its powerful doesn't mean it can't do simple things.

 

[sling-shot]

1. KolourPaint (best choice but KDE origin)
2. Pinta
3. mtPaint

 

[Desmond]

Note that Mint uses the Nouveau open source driver for Nvidia by default. So, if you want to use official Nvidia (closed source) drivers, you will have to disable Nouveau from the kernel first.

 

[Desmond]

Me want drop down terminal from the push of a button

Install guake.

How effective is using Timeshift? I have allocated a small partition for taking Timeshifts backups. How useful it can be, in case I mess things up and want to restore? Is it as useless as Windows restore?

I never really use it.

What's the alternative of Device manager in Mint? I want to see if all drivers are installed for all hardware. Like my GPU which is RX 480.

I simply run "lspci" in the terminal.

 

[Vyom]

My device manager doesn't show my RX 480 GPU. So does that mean that Mint have already installed appropriate driver?
On the AMD website I got the file tar.xz. Easy way to install drivers from that? There's no .deb version available for the drivers?

lspci shows this entry:
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Ellesmere [Radeon RX 470/480] (rev c7)
I guess open source drivers are installed.

And guake, I completely forgot about it. Have used in the past.

1. KolourPaint (best choice but KDE origin)

That seems good! Thanks.

 

[sling-shot]

As far as I know for AMD open source drivers are already the best (as they are supported by AMD itself). You most likely won't need additional installation.

Run glxinfo in a terminal and check the top of output. It might show amdgpu as the driver used.

 

[aaruni]

Note that Mint uses the Nouveau open source driver for Nvidia by default. So, if you want to use official Nvidia (closed source) drivers, you will have to disable Nouveau from the kernel first.

or, in my case, nouveau.modeset=0 in grub.

nouveau doesn't play nice with 1050, and I haven't been able to get official NVIDIA drivers to work, so I just disable the NVIDIA card in mint.

 

[aaruni]

Run glxinfo in a terminal and check the top of output. It might show amdgpu as the driver used.

glxinfo | grep vendor

for better effect.

 

[Vyom]

As far as I know for AMD open source drivers are already the best (as they are supported by AMD itself). You most likely won't need additional installation.

Run glxinfo in a terminal and check the top of output. It might show amdgpu as the driver used.

It doesn't

vyom@vyom-mint-main:~$ glxinfo | grep vendor
server glx vendor string: SGI
client glx vendor string: Mesa Project and SGI
OpenGL vendor string: X.Org

 

[sling-shot]

I am not familiar with *buntu and Associates way of handling things as I have been with PCLinuxOS since the beginning. Someone else may help you out here.

EDIT:
Search for amdgpu in your package manager.

 

[Vyom]

I am not familiar with *buntu and Associates way of handling things as I have been with PCLinuxOS since the beginning. Someone else may help you out here.

You don't need to reply, if you don't have to. But thanks for letting me know.
Edit: Also I learned that Open source driver, that is, Mesa driver is best to use.

 

[Desmond]

As far as I know for AMD open source drivers are already the best (as they are supported by AMD itself). You most likely won't need additional installation.

Run glxinfo in a terminal and check the top of output. It might show amdgpu as the driver used.

AFAIK, AMD open source drivers are the same as MESA.

nouveau.modeset=0

That is a kernel argument.

Mesa Project

Yup, open source drivers. Most AMD users I have seen on linux appear to use Mesa only, even for gaming.

 

[Vyom]

I
Search for amdgpu in your package manager.

Got this:
*i.imgur.com/kBGEu4R.png

 

[whitestar_999]

^^& that's why majority stays away from linux,in windows all one needs to do is type device manager.

 

[sling-shot]

This is a slightly old but informative instruction set that should work for you:

Mint 18.1 Cinn: How To: AMD Driver install (RX480, R7, R9) + Steam - Linux Mint Forums

 

[Vyom]

^^& that's why majority stays away from linux,in windows all one needs to do is type device manager.

Yea man. It's rough getting used to LInux. The fact that it takes "getting used to" is the reason many are just not able to switch from Windows. It requires a learning curve. In Windows just double click setup -> Next -> Next, Reboot, and you are done. In Nix you need to "understand" what you are doing, learn about package manager, repositories, software sources, multiple ways to install same thing.. etc.

But that's the price we are paying for "getting it free". Free OS doesn't mean easy OS. And while the learning curve is worth to learn, many just don't want to do it.

 

[Nerevarine]

Yea man. It's rough getting used to LInux. The fact that it takes "getting used to" is the reason many are just not able to switch from Windows. It requires a learning curve. In Windows just double click setup -> Next -> Next, Reboot, and you are done. In Nix you need to "understand" what you are doing, learn about package manager, repositories, software sources, multiple ways to install same thing.. etc.

But that's the price we are paying for "getting it free". Free OS doesn't mean easy OS. And while the learning curve is worth to learn, many just don't want to do it.

aptly put buddy.

 

[Desmond]

Yea man. It's rough getting used to LInux. The fact that it takes "getting used to" is the reason many are just not able to switch from Windows. It requires a learning curve. In Windows just double click setup -> Next -> Next, Reboot, and you are done. In Nix you need to "understand" what you are doing, learn about package manager, repositories, software sources, multiple ways to install same thing.. etc.

But that's the price we are paying for "getting it free". Free OS doesn't mean easy OS. And while the learning curve is worth to learn, many just don't want to do it.

IMO its a small price to pay for having a stable OS. Windows on the other hand is getting worse, mandatory updates which have a chance to break your system. Also, telemetry, ads and promoted apps, none of which have any business being on an OS. Ubuntu tried that by partnering with Amazon and drove people mad but Windows gets a free pass because of people's bias towards it.

For a casual user, the software center is the most convenient way to install software and it uses the system's default package manager in the background, so nothing new compared to using apt from the terminal. Linux also does not bug you for updates and an update is not likely to break your system since they are thoroughly tested before releasing, especially in case of "very stable" distros such as Debian who don't release an update for weeks until its guaranteed to be stable.

Edit: Also, the software center is not cancer like the Windows store.