The Linux Thread

[pentode]

Following the discussion about the latest major computer outage, and given that I'm sure there are more than a few members who are interested in security, privacy, preparedness, etc, I thought it would be a good idea to start a thread to answer any questions folks might have about the pros and cons of switching to an alternative operating system such as Linux, and to help anyone who's interested enough to give it a try.

Most important thing to know: you do _not_ have to make any changes to your computer to give Linux a spin, you can simply create what's known as a "live USB" and boot your computer from that.

I'll start with a few pros and cons.

Pros:

1) Security. Linux is "open source", which means the source code is available for everyone and anyone to look at - yes, even the bad guys. But the thing is, there are so many eyeballs looking at the code that makes up Linux that serious flaws are virtually always detected very early, if not before they even make it into the wild. To this day there are very few viruses/malwares that target Linux, and even then you need to have a very specific set of circumstances to be vulnerable to those.

2) Freedom. Linux is part of the world of FOSS, Free and Open Source software. I've found that many people are suspicious of this whole concept as it seems sort of communist, but the fact is that when you use Linux you stop being beholden to corporations and monthly subscriptions and paying for anti-virus updates, sale of your personal data that's being phoned home to the mothership (Windows 10 was bad for this, Windows 11 is borderline nightmarish), things like that. I haven't paid for a piece of software in a couple decades now. Is everything 100% as slick as windows or mac? No. But if you're not playing games, it's probably 90-95% there and that's plenty for me.

Cons:

1) Learning curve. If all you do is surf the web, watch youtube, send emails and do word processing and business software, your learning curve will be very slight. If you want to record your next album on Linux, there's a bit more learning to do, but you can certainly do it.

I'll see if anyone has any thoughts or questions before I blather on for another hour, but for anyone who's curious enough to give Linux a try, I would suggest looking into Lubuntu. It's the same exact thing under the skin as Ubuntu (probably the most widely used distribution) but it'll be much more familiar to a Windows user and it'll run on just about any machine newer than 15 years old.

If anyone's interested, I'll post links and step you through how to create the live USB. It's way easier than you think.

 

[ericbphoto]

I’ve started down that path several times over the past 25 years or more. I have trouble understanding the file structure and “where things really are”. It seems that many of the places so think a file is located just end up being pointers or links to where it really is. The deeper ins and outs of setting up or fine-tuning software packages usually frustrates me also. I always end up feeling like I need an official training course to get comfortable with it. I have several bootable thumb drives at home with various Linux distros on them. There just seems to be a wall that I keep bouncing off of.

And I’m not exactly a computer dummy. My first computer ran on MS DOS. I’ve built and modified computers over the years, though not much recently. I have done some website design and programming. And, professionally, I deal with industrial PLCs on a daily basis for troubleshooting and programming and also industrial robot programming and troubleshooting.

 

[pentode]

I’ve started down that path several times over the past 25 years or more. I have trouble understanding the file structure and “where things really are”. It seems that many of the places so think a file is located just end up being pointers or links to where it really is. The deeper ins and outs of setting up or fine-tuning software packages usually frustrates me also. I always end up feeling like I need an official training course to get comfortable with it. I have several bootable thumb drives at home with various Linux distros on them. There just seems to be a wall that I keep bouncing off of.

And I’m not exactly a computer dummy. My first computer ran on MS DOS. I’ve built and modified computers over the years, though not much recently. I have done some website design and programming. And, professionally, I deal with industrial PLCs on a daily basis for troubleshooting and programming and also industrial robot programming and troubleshooting.

I totally understand what you're saying. In fact, coming from the DOS/Windows world I remember a period where I was frustrated by the exact same thing. I had used Unix in college and then went to the Windows side, then found that nothing was where I expected it to be, not the same as unix or DOS. However, once everything clicks, I think you'll find it's actually more logical than Windows. All _your_ stuff is in /home/username and all the system stuff is in logical places. They've even gone to a windows-like convention where, say, your downloads are in /home/username/Downloads and your photos are in /home/username/Photos.
And from your desktop, you don't really need to know much about the file system structure, it's presented to you very much like windows.

I get why a nuts and bolts guy is going to want to know where the goods really are though, believe me. You'd learn it in a day of messing around.

I'd suggest taking one of those old thumb drives and grabbing either Lubuntu, or if you have a relatively recent machine, Kubuntu (slicker visuals, more eye candy) or plain Ubuntu (different desktop look altogether, slight learning curve there but great if you want a total break from windows)

 

[bobbywalter]

nice.

 

[pentode]

For any old DOS users who are curious, I was going to write up a quick summary of what's where in Linux but I found this handy graphic online:

On a day to day basis, the directory you're going to interact most with is /home. If you're really rooting around in your system configuration, you'll likely be editing config files in /etc (no need to do this manually anymore) or /media where things like external drives are mounted.

 

[JoshT]

So I don't have the aversion to Windows that some people do, but I too can recomend giving Linux a try. Like Pentode said there are live USB sticks that will let you sample it without a full install. I will say not to judge performance off the USB stick, as it can be much slower than an actual install.

If you are a long time Windows user, or even considering switching from Apple, I'd recommend trying out Ubuntu or distribution based on it. I've used Mint and it was pretty nice, I liked the layout better than basic Ubuntu. Kubuntu at a glance looks pretty similar to Mint, but I've never used it. If coming from one of the two main OSes, those will probably have the easiest interfaces for you to adapt to.

Do be aware that if you use a computer for things beyond the normal browsing and emails, the software you are familiar with on your existing OS probably won't be available. Browsers are usually designed to be cross platform, even if the coding isn't exactly the same the operation and function is nearly identical. I think many email applications fall into that as well. Much other software is platform specific. If you have a program or application you like on Windows or Apple, it may not be natively available in Linux. There are likely open source versions available, but there will be differences and have a learning curve.

Of course, if you are a user of professional software products, like Office or Photoshop, most do offer a Linux version as well. If you are making the switch to Linux, you are trying to escape Windows and take advantage of open source, so do you really want to continue using Microsoft Office or other paid professional products?

 

[JoshT]

For any old DOS users who are curious, I was going to write up a quick summary of what's where in Linux but I found this handy graphic online:

View attachment 113850

On a day to day basis, the directory you're going to interact most with is /home. If you're really rooting around in your system configuration, you'll likely be editing config files in /etc (no need to do this manually anymore) or /media where things like external drives are mounted.

No offense, but I think you might be trying to go too indepth and scare off more people than you draw in.

Do your thing, just keep in mind that it's easy for people to get overwhelmed by this stuff. Information overload can be a bad thing, and make people avoid something that they would otherwise be interested in.

 

[pentode]

All great info. If anyone has questions about specific software availability or tasks they need to accomplish, we can let them know what's out there too.

 

[pentode]

No offense, but I think you might be trying to go too indepth and scare off more people than you draw in.

Do your thing, just keep in mind that it's easy for people to get overwhelmed by this stuff. Information overload can be a bad thing, and make people avoid something that they would otherwise be interested in.

Absolutely, that was mostly aimed at @ericbphoto and anyone else who might have similar concerns.

 

[ericbphoto]

No offense, but I think you might be trying to go too indepth and scare off more people than you draw in.

Do your thing, just keep in mind that it's easy for people to get overwhelmed by this stuff. Information overload can be a bad thing, and make people avoid something that they would otherwise be interested in.

Since this is now a thread dedicated to Linux, that shouldn't Be an issue. Readers can read or ignore as they see fit.

 

[pentode]

I should add that I'm not a Linux evangelist. Nor anti-Windows. I don't love Apple but I'm not anti-Mac either. All have their pros and cons. My main motivation was just to provide information because I know people get curious every time there's a huge hack or data breach or whatever.
And since I agree that a big graphic of a file system structure might look intimidating to someone who's never seen that end of a computer and doesn't care, I figured I'd just post a picture of what Lubuntu looks like when it's running on your computer, then I'll just back off and see if anyone has comments or questions.

It's really not scary.

 

[sgtsandman]

There is a learning curve, just like anything else. I've been using OpenSuse for years. I tried Ubuntu but couldn't figure it out. So went back to OpenSuse on the computer I tried it on.

Ubuntu seems to be the most popular and Mint seems to be another favorite.

OpenSuse is very "hands on". So not a great OS for those who just want to turn the thing on and just click stuff. It's better than it was since they include a couple options for a graphical user interface but there are times when you have to get to the "DOS prompt" to do things.

 

[pentode]

OpenSuse is a really good distro, definitely geared towards the more technical hands-on user. I usually recommend Ubuntu just because it’s aimed at the general public, the user base is comparatively big and they have really good documentation, especially for beginners.

I know this is one of the biggest things that hurts adoption, the huge number of different distributions and people don’t know where to start.

 

[ericbphoto]

Just found these. They're at least 5 years old. I think one of them might have been called Puppy Linux. Anyway, if y'all really spark my interest, maybe I'll try again. I probably won't go all in. I like my Adobe products for photo and video editing. There is a good Linux photo editor that I have had good success with. But I prefer to direct all my efforts into what I know and not have to learn more software to do what I am already enjoying in that realm.

 

[pentode]

I’ve used Puppy Linux, that was (is) a small portable Linux, sort of on the minimal side.

For photo editing, I think you’re referring to the unfortunately named GIMP, which is a really good open source photo editor. Last time I checked there was actually a windows version too. It might not be quite as slick as the current Photoshop but the cool thing is that it comes with a slew of effects that you have to pay for in Photoshop.