Linux - the adventure begins...

  • 74 replies
  • 33800 views
Re: Linux - the adventure begins...
« Reply #15 on: July 18, 2014, 01:08:25 PM »
For my next trick I propose to partition the hard drive. However, much of the info online seems, in tech terms, ancient. They talk of systems with 80gb or less hard disk space. I have 300gb to screw around with today. Imma go ahead and guess. I shall perform a clean install of Ubuntu 14.04 (wiping out everything from before). In the installation program I shall allocate 20Gb for root and put the operating system there. The rest I leave to /home..

But then... swap partition?

I have the vague impression the install disk with set up swap automatically. With 2Gb of RAM already, and this being the year of our Linux, 2014, are people still planning their own swap partitions?
when ur a roamin', do as the settled do o_0

*

BrandeX

  • *
  • 1080
Re: Linux - the adventure begins...
« Reply #16 on: July 18, 2014, 04:28:17 PM »
The installer didn't do that for you automatically?

Re: Linux - the adventure begins...
« Reply #17 on: July 18, 2014, 05:50:43 PM »
The first install, of Linux Mint, I chose the first install option - install the OS, "erase" everything else. The second install, of Ubuntu, I chose the second option - install one OS alongside the other. For that, the installer split the hard drive in two - made two partitions of about equal size. For either or both of them, unless the installer creates swap partitions by itself, I assume there was no other partitioning going on. For the future, I want /home (and thus all my data) to be separate from the OS root, so I imagine I'll be using the "Something Else" install option next time. I don't know if I have to choose  a swap partition by myself. I recall the arcane magicks invented for Windows swap files back in the 95/XP days of yore. I'm wondering if Linux is beyond that yet or not.
when ur a roamin', do as the settled do o_0

Re: Linux - the adventure begins...
« Reply #18 on: July 19, 2014, 12:35:22 AM »
What I learned today:

It's easier than I thought to install Cinnamon on Ubuntu 14.04. But the result is not pretty. Also, Linux Mint doesn't screw up Calibri. Me screwing around removing the Nouveau graphics driver screwed Calibri. I presently have a clean install of Mint 17 and Calibri looks fine.

Also, the Linux installer creates swap space by itself. During yet another install of Linux Mint today I had a look at the hard drive partition table and there it was, left over from the Ubuntu install, and way up the other end of the drive, 2 gigabytes of swap space that wasn't put there by me.

Also, I discovered Mint *is* quicker than Ubuntu. Ubuntu starts quicker, but clicking around inside the file system, Mint responds quicker. Also, I like the look. And the functionality. I shall stick for a while with what I set up today - Mint w/ Cinnamon on 20gbs of hard drive. Tomorrow I'll start loading up /home with movies, music, and books and see how it all works out.


Also, as an addendum, it turns out one doesn't need to go to the Be Evils, Google, to get Chrome as a browser on Linux. There's a thing in the software repositories called Chromium.

Booyah.
when ur a roamin', do as the settled do o_0

Re: Linux - the adventure begins...
« Reply #19 on: July 19, 2014, 01:49:29 PM »
Yeah, you can make the front end look different but as long as the back end is Ubuntu then you'll have a stable platform with (and here's the key) a very large support network and exhaustive "tow to" wikis.

*

Pashley

  • *
  • 1659
    • My page at Citizendium
Re: Linux - the adventure begins...
« Reply #20 on: July 19, 2014, 03:13:18 PM »
For background info, see also this ancient thread:
http://raoulschinasaloon.com/index.php?topic=2460.msg47301#msg47301
Who put a stop payment on my reality check?

Re: Linux - the adventure begins...
« Reply #21 on: July 19, 2014, 04:55:07 PM »
In Search Of:

a media player that will take a directory (and subdirectories) of music in various formats and play them on shuffle, preferably without randomly repeating tunes too frequently. Also, cross-fading.

Cross-fading tunes while playing on random isn't strictly necessary but it's a pleasant sophistication since I don't use playlists and hard changes from one random tune to another is not the perfect listening experience. On Windows I use, and applaud, MediaMonkey.
when ur a roamin', do as the settled do o_0

Re: Linux - the adventure begins...
« Reply #22 on: July 22, 2014, 12:52:01 AM »
Discovered Samba. After that, not sure exactly how I did it but woot! my first nearly network. I'll transfer a jillion gigabytes of media and not burn out my USB stick, and then the Linux puter will be Mr Backup. I might then go ahead and thin out the herd on my main Win7 computer.

When I first bought this Win7 machine, it was on the understanding that one day, some day, I'd get a SSD. This particular machine is easily upgradeable in that respect. Might be then that I go the full Linux. I urge everyone to hold their breath.
when ur a roamin', do as the settled do o_0

Re: Linux - the adventure begins...
« Reply #23 on: July 22, 2014, 11:15:09 PM »
Contentious point: Office v Office.

I've grown accustomed to Microsoft Office 2010, which is to say Microsoft Word 2010 and Microsoft Powerpoint 2010. How does it really compare to LibreOffice? For reference, I installed Microsoft Office 2007 on Linux Mint 17 today. (Used Wine 1.6.2, installed Word and Powerpoint.) Word works. Powerpoint didn't. I'll make an attempt to install Office 2010 some other time. But meanwhile, LibreOffice 4.2 is what I otherwise have in Linux Mint 17. Haven't really tried it out. Don't know what I'm missing. Don't really have a question except to wonder what experiences others have had. I likely would prefer that LibreOffice take over as my whatsit, productivity suite, if it can.

I make powerpoints for class. They are fairly basic but recently I've like dramatising images and stories with collages created by fading in and out images on top of one another. Also, embedded video and audio are de rigeur for marketing class. With word, I format documents that usually end up as A4 handouts. Text + pictures, mostly.

LibreOffice will do it all for me too?

(I know the answer is, gah! dude, try it for yourself and find out like we all did, but still....)
when ur a roamin', do as the settled do o_0

Re: Linux - the adventure begins...
« Reply #24 on: July 22, 2014, 11:47:25 PM »
Also, window size and position is not remembered? Apps, unless programmed otherwise, always open in the top left corner of the screen? And this has been an issue for a decade? Well thanks, Linux developers! I guess you can't have principles without having principles.
when ur a roamin', do as the settled do o_0

*

BrandeX

  • *
  • 1080
Re: Linux - the adventure begins...
« Reply #25 on: July 23, 2014, 05:50:21 AM »
I use Mint 15 w/ Cinnamon at work, and it doesn't do that.

Re: Linux - the adventure begins...
« Reply #26 on: July 23, 2014, 12:50:35 PM »
Perhaps I'm missing a setting. There is however something of a pattern. If I start Terminal or Files from the panel, it'll open in the top left corner. (Though Chrome started from the panel opens wherever.) And, if I click on something that'll call something else (like click on an mp3 and it opens with a player), then it'll open in the top left. (Not images though - they open middle screen.) But if I open a program from a Desktop link, it'll open wherever it was before.

I went online looking for what setting I'm missing and found only discussion of the great developer schism, on the one side are developers who believe it good manners for their programs to remember for themselves, on the other are developers who say a  desktop windows manager should manage windows for them. It's a GNOME thing, apparently.

In any case, I shall be trying out KDE in place of Cinnamon today. Apparently it's the more well-liked desktop environment where eye-candy and over-management are concerned.
when ur a roamin', do as the settled do o_0

Re: Linux - the adventure begins...
« Reply #27 on: July 23, 2014, 11:35:48 PM »
So what does happen when you opt out of the mainstream? Microsoft Office, it seems to me, is relatively inaccessible from Linux.  Can be installed, can be run, partly, and sometimes. It seems to me likely better to commit to LibreOffice (or some other alternative) and see what happens. So what does happen? I get the impression LibreOffice will be fine for most individual uses, but you're on the way to screwed if you have to cooperate with lots of people around you using Microsoft products. So what happens in China? Presumably classroom setups will be WinXP for quite a time to come. Does one often get surprised by how LibreOffice output doesn't quite work with WinXP when you want to give a class?
when ur a roamin', do as the settled do o_0

Re: Linux - the adventure begins...
« Reply #28 on: July 24, 2014, 09:13:19 PM »
The adventure comes to a crashing halt.

Impress files with embedded video work fine in LibreOffice, but saved as any of the other file formats offered in LibreOffice 4.2.5 (including ppt and pptx), the embedded video slides are blank. For a lot of things I normally do with ppt, it looks like LibreOffice would be fine, albeit slow, basic, and in some cases dumb (you can resize images by hand but you have to maintain the aspect ratio by hand too?!), but screwing up embedded video is a deal breaker. LibreOffice, as a tool for making what it's not primarily supposed to make, ppts, is okay but not adequate.
when ur a roamin', do as the settled do o_0

*

Nolefan

  • Lord of Avalon
  • *****
  • 2571
  • 八九不离十
    • Catania Vibe
Re: Linux - the adventure begins...
« Reply #29 on: July 24, 2014, 10:35:16 PM »
The adventure comes to a crashing halt.

Impress files with embedded video work fine in LibreOffice, but saved as any of the other file formats offered in LibreOffice 4.2.5 (including ppt and pptx), the embedded video slides are blank. For a lot of things I normally do with ppt, it looks like LibreOffice would be fine, albeit slow, basic, and in some cases dumb (you can resize images by hand but you have to maintain the aspect ratio by hand too?!), but screwing up embedded video is a deal breaker. LibreOffice, as a tool for making what it's not primarily supposed to make, ppts, is okay but not adequate.
Libreoffice can't cut it on those fancy things. Best is using something along the lines of google docs or ZOHO docs. They have better trac record.
alors régressons fatalement, eternellement. Des débutants, avec la peur comme exutoire à l'ignorance et Alzheimer en prof d'histoire de nos enfances!
- Random food, music and geek tales from the Catania, Sicily: http://ctvibe.com