Any Linux users?

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oldmansmokingpipe

oldmansmokingpipe

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Just curious - anyone using linux? which distro(s)? Why do you use linux? What other opensource apps do you run?
 
I am a part time linux user, I have a chromebook with gallium and an old dell with ubuntu.
 
When I'm actually on a PC it's running some distro or another.
I think it's currently on Mint Debian Edition. I started playing with Linux in the mid 90's when Debian came out. I'm not currently actually using it because of the whole, 'sitting up' issue but I have used it for games and web surfing mostly. I've had useful stuff on the machines as well, ham radio programs, IDE, Home Budget stuff... Basically Linix is for anything you would need a PC for. The best program of all time has National Security implications, The Battle For Wesnoth.
 
Wow! Quite a few folks using linux... why? I am very curious. I have my reasons but did not want to come off like I was selling it all... but I am rather curious.
 
In the late 90's I was more of a computer hobbiest than I am now. At home I used SuSE linux on a machine I assembled myself. In 1999, I took an old Novell server at work and installed Red Hat on it for a project. I was looking for cheap and functional. I did not want to pay for a MS license.

Since that Red Hat instaltion, I have always had some linux server in use. My primary comuter at home has been linux since about 2000. I used mostly Red Hat or Fedora at home until Ubuntu came out. Ubuntu was a single CD to install, and it seemed to have a lot of community buzz and support.
 
Wow Fr. Tom, I have used linux for a long time too but i am unfortunately command line ignorant. as of 12/24/15 I use it 100 on 2 thinkpads i general and 1 office. no macs anymore for backup and that was a leap although i ran it for years... Sounds like you blew right by me re: linux. That is Great!
 
I know less than nothing about computers, but I was told by someone who knows about these things that if I had Ubuntu I'd never have a virus or worm, provided of course I didn't visit any sites that were questionable. And he's been right so far.


Cheers,

RR
 
Currently LinuxMint 17.3 Cinnamon 64bit.  LinuxMint is tall dog in short grass right now for ease of use.  I was a fan of SimplyMepis for a number of years.  The Ubuntu project is useful to Linux as a whole.  But after trying several of the Ubuntu distributions, I decided I liked none of them.  I had initially started on some early Redhat version.  The one Linux course I took in college was using Redhat.  But it was all command line stuff.  I discovered fairly quick that I preferred a Debian distribution.

I do have a few Windows systems around.  But that's really only for Ham Radio stuff on the hamshack computer.  And interesting games.  Skyrim being the last biggie.
 
I wish i knew command line - that would have made me switch totally a long time ago.

i wish there was a good web development app that was not all html.  But i found a work around with the more pro hosted website as opposed to the free one but the templates are still not what i want and the free hosted had one template that worked.

Tried ubuntu - many years ago but had wirless issues and random mouse gestures.  then it finally worked - Mint was next but way to cluttered - but worked.  now they and ubuntu went off in not so good directions - tried e17 on top of ubuntu and mint but e17 had issues and was stalled for a long time and also tried other e17 distros.

then Bodhi kicked up many notches and developed moksha and since then - i have been 100% linux with no issues once i tweaked both thinkpads to my needs.  Stable and sweet and love the desktop interface.
 
My main machine is dual boot Windows7/Ubuntu Studio (Xubuntu with extra photography programs).  I've had a unix/unix-like system running since about the mid 1980's (remember Coherent?).   I was administering a small Unix system at work and wanted the power of the shell on my home machine.  

I currently spend more time on the PC side but I do most of my graphics and web development on Linux.  I would like to spend more time there (and will have to when Microsoft cuts support for Windows 7) But there are several programs that I just can't duplicate on Linux:

MasterCook: The linux replacements bog way down after a couple thousand recipies.
Family Tree Maker:  Gramps isn't sufficiently powerful for my uses--though FTM is going away, so I'll have to adjust.
MS Office:  I hate the program, but sometimes you just need it.  LibreOffice is good, but not totally compatible.
Scanning: I have a great Microtek scanner that can do 4x5 negatives but isn't supported by Linux.

I have several other old machines running linux and dedicated to specific tasks like routing, network storage, and web serving.
 
I understand about apps - that is why i stayed with macs - but the DRM stuff that took over I said enough is enough is enough. Bought my daughter an new macbook pro a couple of years ago it refused to let me install the new libreoffice - was able with an older version but it would not allow you to install what you wanted on a machine you paid good money for. and now all apps pretty much have to be done through the apple store - screw that!

I finally went off the deep end and went all linux. I am so glad i did that 100% but - wish that could have been done earlier - but as stated - not knowing commnd line/bash made it so difficult.
 
All you need to know about command line is, how to open a terminal, and where to find online the commands you want to run. I so rarely run any command line stuff. I don't need to memorize any of it. No more than I need to in Windows. Which is a great strength in Linux. If I want to be a user that does open Bash every time I boot the computer, I can. Or I can use one of several other gui tools to do that for me.

The whole MS Office ordeal. It is an ordeal. It is not even compatible with itself over several generations. Currently I use LibreOffice Suite. If I need to create a PDF, I start in LibreOffice and then open the document in AbiWord, then save it as a PDF file. I have a decade of documents for the public office I serve as treasurer, all created with OpenOffice or LibreOffice.

There should be no reason for Linux to not make use of any Microtek scanner. But you may have to use the command line to get it setup. Then it should work in SANE. Google everything you can about it and read up on it. Then give it a try. Unless something in the firmware of that scanner says "Microsoft only", it can be made to work. What model is it?

Yeah, some of the software packages do seem to be a bit behind. It just take a focus on peoples interest and packages can improve. Or multiple choices suddenly appear. I don't particularly like Gramps either.

From the very first time I plugged in my Maverick Audio tube DAC Linux knew exactly what it was and made use of it no problem. Because people before me were interested in great sound and smoothed the path for me.
 
Carlos:

"There should be no reason for Linux to not make use of any Microtek scanner. But you may have to use the command line to get it setup. Then it should work in SANE. Google everything you can about it and read up on it. Then give it a try. Unless something in the firmware of that scanner says "Microsoft only", it can be made to work. What model is it?"

It really should work that way, but it doesn't. This is a Microtek ScanMaker 5900--a somewhat unusual, and now ageing model, but one of the few I have found that can do 4x5 negatives. The SANE project (http://www.sane-project.org/lists/sane-mfgs-cvs.html#Z-MICROTEK) lists it as "Unsupported", as it does most of Microtek's USB units. I tried writing the driver myself (I used to do similar work for a living), but Microtek hasn't published near enough information to make that feasible. But thanks for the encouragement.

The other stuff is more of an annoyance than anything, but this is a deal breaker. So I'll stay with my dual boot as long as I can and then look into virtualization.
 
maybe this thread will help other people work out some situations using linux. Thanks to all who commented!
 
Been using Linux exclusively since 1997 as my OS except for a brief stint consulting where I used OS/X. Goto distros are Mint for folks moving off of Windows. Quick-n-dirty Ubuntu. Fiesty hardware I use Arch. Work I use RHEL. Previous years it was Gentoo, Mandrake (dead), SUSE, Slackware.
 
Hi, not only do I use Linux I write code starting back to Hardy Heron. I basically use my Cento server and a proxy server I built in 2013. I was NOT a proponent of having the driver packages within the Grub of Linux O/S software, the theory made absolutely no sense to me!! There is one particular chipset that still to this very day causes issues when posting Linux. I got around this problem by re-writing the Grub and now my servers run flawlessly. My Linux experience goes way back to the Mandrake period, that's like ancient times I guess... :lol!: :lol!:

KEEP ON PUFFING!!!
 
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