Tips on moving to Linux?

[stefcep2]

There is, of course. It's just a lot easier to tell him "open terminal and type 'foo'" than writing half a novel explaining where to click, what it's called and how it will react.

NO!No!No!

I've heard this bull%&$#?@!%&$#?@!%&$#?@!%&$#?@! excuse for Linux lack of intuitive interface a lot.

All the user is doing is cut and pasting archaic, cryptic commands that :
1.  He has no idea what they do and why.
2.  He will not remember any of it.

Y'know people sometime in the 1970's realised this and thought...there has to be a better way..and lo and behold, there was.

They called it a Graphical User Interface.

Then use Synaptic and the Gnome System Monitor (or whatever equivalent Lubuntu is using) to do the tasks described above.

So why did he have to come here and ask and couldn't see this for himself?

The rest of us will enjoy the beauty that is the Unix terminal in the meantime.

I think I just threw up a little.

[stefcep2]

Someone needs to take some chillout time. You do know the difference between Ubuntu release models don't you? Such as LTS and standard releases?
 
They make it pretty clear what the difference is between releases.

1.  I do know the difference.  Even with LTS, the updates are not always fully tested.  Especially when a new LTS version is released.  Look at the Unity LTS debacle.

2.  Ubuntu doesn't equal Linux.  In fact its not even the most popular distro, Mint is.   Which is a rolling release..which means more Linux users are subject to the risks of running rolling releases.

[stefcep2]

And on top of that, Linux is making our children gay! I saw it with my own eyes!

Its interesting you brought homosexuality into it.

[CritAnime]

@stefcep2

After you have finished your little tantrum maybe you need to read the post I replied to.

Well doing a quick search I found this article which helps explain the Ubuntu system monitor, but it does not tell of any keyboard shortcuts in case the mouse is frozen. It does'nt it mention if you can end specific programs.

They were looking for keyboard specific solutions. I offered a keyboard specific solution. It's not the only keyboard specific way. Maybe you need to keep off the caffeine because it is obviously not good for you.

1.  I do know the difference.  Even with LTS, the updates are not always fully tested.  Especially when a new LTS version is released.  Look at the Unity LTS debacle.

Just look for Windows failed updates or Windows update gone wrong. In fact look at Metro when it was introduced.  

Failed updates happen on all OS's. They can't account for every hardware config in the world. Even Microsoft can't do that.

LTS releases have a long support life. You are not forced to upgrade as soon as a new lts is released.

2.  Ubuntu doesn't equal Linux.  In fact its not even the most popular distro, Mint is.   Which is a rolling release..which means more Linux users are subject to the risks of running rolling releases.

We know Ubuntu doesn't equal Linux. But I think you have got your facts wrong. Mint Debian Edition is rolling release and based off Debian Testing, but even this is a semi-rolling release which introduces snapshot packages from the testing respoitories. Mint, the main editions, it's self is based directly off Ubuntu and follows roughly a month after each Ubuntu update. That is not a rolling release model. Ubuntu is not a rolling release.

Also where did you get your fact that Mint is the most popular distro, Distro Watch? Because if you did then this is not a good indicator of what is popular.

Bodnar has written that "I'd like to believe that there is some truth in the figures, but in all honesty, they really don't mean all that much and should not be taken very seriously" and "NOT an indication of [...] market share or quality".

[Ral-Clan]

Does linux Ubuntu have the eqivalent to Task manger? Applcations mainly Firefox freeze up and I have no way to end the programs. Ubuntu even with the updates seems a little buggy rigth now, I am using version 12.04 for now.

This exact thing happened to me yesterday for the first time.  Firefox totally froze and locked my Lubuntu system, requiring a hard reboot.  Is that what happened to you?

I can't figure out how to update Firefox.  In windows it was from the "About Firefox" window within Firefox.  This is not present in Linux firefox (at least in Lubuntu).  I suspect it must be done from the main system updates panel for Lubuntu.

[cgutjahr]

I've heard this bull%&$#?@!%&$#?@!%&$#?@!%&$#?@! excuse for Linux lack of intuitive interface a lot.
[...]
So why did he have to come here and ask and couldn't see this for himself?

Invoking the 'task manager' and killing a task actually works exactly like on Windows. It's not more or less user friendly than on other systems, you just have to know the proper keyboard shortcut or where to find it in the applications menu.

Somebody told you the required keyboard shortcut for Windows a decade ago - and nobody's bothering to explain the Linux equivalent to you (might be because of all the swearing, but that's just a guess) - that's the only difference.

Ubuntu doesn't equal Linux.

Your statement was that "all distros" would be on "that hamster wheel" - which is completely ridiculous of course. Two thirds of the Internet is running on Linux these days - but hey, what's that compared to your glorious insight in Linux' stability...

[cgutjahr]

I can't figure out how to update Firefox.  In windows it was from the "About Firefox" window within Firefox.  This is not present in Linux firefox (at least in Lubuntu).

Linux automatically keeps all your applications up to date for you. Lubuntu checks for updates every other day (or something like that), notifies you and starts updating in the background.

This approach has a drawback - many Windows users stumble about that one: "but Firefox 412 has been already released, where is it?"

Usually, Linux distributions only release bug fixes and security updates immediately, other updates either arrive with a delay (due to some distribution specific testing before release) or they will only be made available with the next bigger OS update (like Lubuntu 14.04 which has just been released).

[TheMagicM]

Since we're still talking about Linux... I installed Debian 7.4 on my G5 PowerMac to see how it would run.. so far so good.  Havent played with it much, but I'll be looking to install some emulators (Amiga, c64 etc) and changing the window manager from Gnome3 to something else.

[desiv]

Mint, the main editions, it's self is based directly off Ubuntu and follows roughly a month after each Ubuntu update. That is not a rolling release model. Ubuntu is not a rolling release.

It's kind of interesting that Mint was mentioned here, considering the disagreement between an Ubuntu dev and Mint about stability.
Mint has chosen not to automatically update the kernel (and a few other things) with the regular updates.  In their mind, they see some possible stability issues.
But some people feel that the possible security implications outweigh the stability issue.

Of course, we have the same type of things with our Windows server updates.
Our hosting provider updates once a month, and not every week.  Some people in business love that.  Some people in I.T. (I'm looking at you "Security"!) aren't so sure...

It's not an OS specific issue, it's just the biz..

desiv
(I installed Mint a bit ago on my old XP laptop.  Haven't decided if I'm going to enable the kernel+ auto updates yet or not..  Kind of waiting to see..  I might agree with Mint on this one, but not sure yet..)

[Fats]

Y'know people sometime in the 1970's realised this and thought...there has to be a better way..and lo and behold, there was.

They called it a Graphical User Interface.

For everybody it's own. I am one of those weird guys who did a lot of his Amiga stuff in AmigaShell using Vinced.

Just to say Amiga was not GUI only...

[AmigaPixel]

This exact thing happened to me yesterday for the first time.  Firefox totally froze and locked my Lubuntu system, requiring a hard reboot.  Is that what happened to you?

I can't figure out how to update Firefox.  In windows it was from the "About Firefox" window within Firefox.  This is not present in Linux firefox (at least in Lubuntu).  I suspect it must be done from the main system updates panel for Lubuntu.

Yes for the last two days Ubuntu freezes before I even do anything. Before it would run for a awhile then freeze especially on FireFox but now the mouse pointer and entire desktop freezes. I downloaded ver. 13.10 so I was hoping your set up was still running smoothly.  I have not installed 13.10 yet. I was trying to see if there is a way to assign keyboard shortcuts to System monitor. However I am not sure that even if I could bring the system monitor up or the terminal to kill Firefox I doubt if that would make any difference since the whole desktop is frozen.

Also, Am I the only one who has had to run the Grub/MBR Boot-repair after each installation of Ubuntu? The install goes fine but when I reboot I get the BIOS/Splash screen then straight to Win XP, so I have to run this repair program to finally get a Grub dual boot screen. Nuts!

[AmigaPixel]

open a terminal window (ctrl+alt+t) then do killall firefox in the cli. If it complains the stick sudo infront of it. So long as you know the terminal command to run a program you can kill it the by apending killall infront of it. If not you can do a check using top or ps.
 
I reall like htop, which is a enhanced veriosn of top, for doing process management in terminal. It gives clear info on what state the system is in and gives a breakdown of running processes on both user and root. If you are on a debian/ubuntu system simply do sudo apt-get install htop and bingo bango it is done. To run type htop in a terminal and off it goes. If you need enhanced privlidges for something stick sudo infront of it.
 

OK thanks for the information, I will try that out.

[psxphill]

Somebody told you the required keyboard shortcut for Windows a decade ago - and nobody's bothering to explain the Linux equivalent to you (might be because of all the swearing, but that's just a guess) - that's the only difference.

If you know what Task Manager is for in Windows then finding it on your own is trivially easy. It's on the menu that is used for logging out or locking the screen and is also available by right clicking the task bar.
 
If you have to court an existing Linux user to find out how to do the same, then I can see why Windows has a much higher installation rate.

[stefcep2]

Two thirds of the Internet is running on Linux these days - but hey, what's that compared to your glorious insight in Linux' stability...

So what?  Barely 1% of computers *connected* to the internet run Linux.

Linux is a good server OS.  What does it do? Negotiate connections, allow other computers to access and facilitate the transfer of data from the servers.  

But the demands of a server OS are very different to those of a desktop OS.  

As an amateur, free to acquire but not free in time OS Linux is a decent.  

But most users would rather just pay for a Mac or Windows PC and not waste their valuable time fartsing around in the terminal to do simple things.

[stefcep2]

For everybody it's own. I am one of those weird guys who did a lot of his Amiga stuff in AmigaShell using Vinced.

Just to say Amiga was not GUI only...

Never said it was.

But you had a choice.

[Fats]

Never said it was.

But you had a choice.

You also have the choice on Linux. It's just that most Linux users also learn to use the CLI and thus propose solutions for problems using the CLI.
And once you are used to it HOWTO's for example for Windows with step-by-step click here, click there just seems quite involved.
But like said before if Linux is not for you, don't use it. Just don't assume everybody thinks or functions as you.