Linux: an alternative to Windows 10

[palehorse]

After using most Linux out there here I am with Slackware once again, one of the first and most stable independent Linux distros from 1993.
Unfortunately this is not your average distribution, in order to install new packages you will have to build, make or compile the sources and then install the binaries, but Slackware provide up to date builds for that which has all the instructions and it is relatively easy to deal with, you can learn more here:

http://slackbuilds.org/

I was going back to Debian but I had a change of heart in the last moment and the main culprit was the Init software used by Debian nowadays "systemd", back then Debian (wheezy 2013) used "SysV" as init software, the same as Slackware currently using.

Basically I would say for anyone moving into Linux, read and understand what is Systemd.
Here is a good start: https://without-systemd.org/wiki/ind...ainst_systemd/

Linux had been infiltrated by corporation since circa 2012 (perhaps earlier), the only way to keep things a bit sane is to avoid things like Systemd because they are sponsored by big corpos, companies like IBM, Microsoft, Google, etc..

I don't know much people giving these sort of warnings anymore, avoid anything with really appealing marketing (aka deception).

[Mark (Star Mariner)]

I'm currently planning a new PC build. I've just about nailed down the hardware spec, which consists of some quite hefty kit, but concerning the OS itself I'm having serious doubts about Windows 11 (I'm still on Win 7!). I've been a Windows user since forever, but this maybe my first ever non-Windows system.

I welcome any advice or insight about making the Big Switch to Linux, particularly user experience with Linux Garuda, as that's the one I'm looking at.

Here's a useful video all about it.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=a9ZSLNbgF14

[ThePythonicCow]

If you're a gamer who likes to play Triple A games, and have an Nvidia (rather than an AMD) graphics card, then Garuda might well be my first choice for someone coming from Windows.

That's because, if you enjoy AAA games on an Nvidia card, then you'll be closer to the edge of what Linux handles with ease. Garuda seems (from my brief web search, not my personal experience, since I'm not a gamer) to focus more on smoothing those rough edges, and would be a fine first choice. When pushed hard, AMD video cards are less likely to have configuration problems on Linux than Nvidia, perhaps because Nvidia is more hostile to the Open Source culture of Linux than is AMD, making it harder for Linux kernel developers to seamlessly integrate Nvidia video drivers. A distribution focused on that sort of user can (I presume) completely handle that usage pattern (well, except, so I'm told, for some proprietary Nvidia and LED Lighting control panel applications which seem to be Windows only).

If you're a 'generic' Windows user, who maybe uses a browser, some email or chat applications, and some Office products, and who saves and views family video and pictures, then it's pretty hard to go wrong, though some distributions, such as Garuda, Pop!_OS, and Mint are solid choices, which are also well tuned for Windows exiles in their screen layout and configuration defaults .

If you're a hard core Linux developer with strong (perhaps negative) opinions on such topics as SystemD, btrfs, zfs, ... then that's like a long time driver choosing between a street racing car and a pickup for your farm, and so you'll be using various other, some less well known, distributions. In that case, I could share war stories with you, but neither of us would be expecting to persuade the other which distribution we'd be on next.

Since it doesn't sound like you're in that hard core Linux developer camp, you might want to search the Web for a few recent (last year or three) pages discussing Garuda, Pop!_OS and/or Mint. All three such distributions are surprisingly similar under the covers, so this will be like choosing between three family cars, all of which cost the same ($0 in the case of Linux) and have solid six cylinder engines, automatic transmissions, and front wheel drive, but which have different appearing bodies and dashboards, and whose salesmen have a different sales pitch.

[Mark (Star Mariner)]

Posted by ThePythonicCow (here)
That's because, if you enjoy AAA games on an Nvidia card, then you'll be closer to the edge of what Linux handles with ease. Garuda seems (from my brief web search, not my personal experience, since I'm not a gamer) to focus more on smoothing those rough edges, and would be a fine first choice.

Many thanks Paul. I'm not really a big gamer, and don't own any triple A titles, but I do game from time to time (mostly Indie games on Steam), but I also do like to 'tinker' on the development side with some quite intensive applications like Unity and Blender, thus my requirement for a fast, solid system.

On the GPU side, I'm definitely an Nvidia man, have been since the beginning. Their cards are simply the best cards, although AMD beats Nvidia when it comes to pricing! My current machine is 8 years old (can you believe it) and still runs sweet as a nut, but I've been hitting so many Windows 7 brick walls lately with various new applications, tools, and updates that no longer support it, that it was time to build a new system.

One different solution I've also been looking at is AtlasOS. Do you have experience with that, or opinions? It's definitely caught my interest.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=ZxOvySkvv4M

[ThePythonicCow]

Posted by Mark (Star Mariner) (here)
applications like Unity and Blender

The key question I didn't know offhand was whether Unity and Blender ran on Linux. Likely you already knew they did, or you wouldn't be traveling down this path. A 10 second Google search found downloads or installation instructions for both these, so I don't immediately see a problem.

Posted by Mark (Star Mariner) (here)
Windows 7 brick walls

Linux does a better job of maintaining compatibility across the years, is less buggy, less bloated, and more secure (not that I'm biased or anything <grin>).

Posted by Mark (Star Mariner) (here)
AtlasOS

My pro-Linux bias is probably too strong, and I my history with Microsoft runs from DOS to Windows XP, but not recently. The Windows PC on my desktop has not been powered on in years ... it serves only as one of my cat's favorite perches. So I'm only good for the pro-Linux, anti-Windows side of this discussion.

So for the pro-Linux, anti-AtlasOS perspective:

1. AtlasOS removes Defender and Updates.
2. AtlasOS disables Spectre & Meltdown mitigations.
3. Steve Gibson (a Windows programmer for decades) complains weekly on "Security Now" about Windows' increasing bugginess and insecurity.
4. The performance and feature set of the Linux file systems, btrfs and ext4 are substantially better than Windows' NTFS.
5. Linux updates are left to your control, and less risky.

A quick web search shows me that there are plenty of people on both sides of this Windows vs Linux debate.

I'll leave the other side of that debate to others.

At least if you do find some Linux limitation that's a show stopper for you (what that would be I don't know), you can revert to a more recent Windows version (without cost unless Unity and Blender charge separately for those two licenses). Or for the price of a disk, you can keep both options open, installing Linux on one disk and keeping your Windows setup on another.

[norman]

Posted by Mark (Star Mariner) (here)

Posted by ThePythonicCow (here)
That's because, if you enjoy AAA games on an Nvidia card, then you'll be closer to the edge of what Linux handles with ease. Garuda seems (from my brief web search, not my personal experience, since I'm not a gamer) to focus more on smoothing those rough edges, and would be a fine first choice.

Many thanks Paul. I'm not really a big gamer, and don't own any triple A titles, but I do game from time to time (mostly Indie games on Steam), but I also do like to 'tinker' on the development side with some quite intensive applications like Unity and Blender, thus my requirement for a fast, solid system.

On the GPU side, I'm definitely an Nvidia man, have been since the beginning. Their cards are simply the best cards, although AMD beats Nvidia when it comes to pricing! My current machine is 8 years old (can you believe it) and still runs sweet as a nut, but I've been hitting so many Windows 7 brick walls lately with various new applications, tools, and updates that no longer support it, that it was time to build a new system.

One different solution I've also been looking at is AtlasOS. Do you have experience with that, or opinions? It's definitely caught my interest.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=ZxOvySkvv4M

I've been experimenting with CleanOS 11 since early this year.

I like it. Simple and bloatless. But, SDSearch&Destroy, which I ran as soon as I installed it the first time, found 3 lines in the registry that it screamed bloody murder about. I let it remove those 3 lines and continued with checking it out. For a long time I wondered if removing those 3 lines was a mistake or not. I thought maybe those lines helped to protect it from MS interference. As it is, MS fails to get in to change anything. It doesn't update and there are a few noticeably missing features that may be a deal breaker for some but I'm happy with it.

I found it at archive dot org. I'd first found a 32 bit version of Win 10 by the same customizer and loved it but as a 32 bit OS I couldn't run a couple of 64bit only programs I'd been wanting to dabble with. Then CleanOS 11 popped up on a search and I went for it.

After this time spent with it, I'm 99.999% confident that it's not doing sneaky stuff but I still have not used it to log on to websites with sensitive information at risk. Actually, I'm far more worried about my fully bloated, fully legit Win 10 system being a snooper than I am about CleanOS 11. I just wish I knew why the customizer added those 3 lines to the registry that I removed.

The last time I posted a link here to something a bit special, that source vanished very fast so I won't post a link but it's easy to find at archive dot org.

[Hughe]

@Mark

Unity supports Linux according to its website.
https://unity.com/releases/editor/archive

I've been using Blender since version 2.5x. It fully supports Linux.

[Mark (Star Mariner)]

Posted by Hughe (here)
I've been using Blender since version 2.5x. It fully supports Linux.

Yes indeed, Linux compatibility is not so much of a problem (as it was in the past), and is now a viable option for users of high end, premium applications.

But Windows is just insane now. The infuriating bloatware is one thing and quite bad enough, but my number one issue is the invasiveness, the snoopware under the hood, as Norman pointed out.

CleanOS, AtlasOS -- I'm not quite sold. Third party utilities may optimize services or eliminate tracking, but what exactly is being snuck back in (without your knowledge) with all those Windows updates, all those so-called 'essential security patches'? I simply don't trust microsoft anymore.

I've been on Windows since 3.11, I've used them all, but think it's time for a change now. Linux will be a BIG change, and a slightly frightening change. It's going to be terra incognita for sure.

A bit sad also. Windows 7 was so good. It's why I've been on it so long. It's like that classic car you've kept running for years and cannot bring yourself to give up. Hands down Windows 7 was the peak, the grand triumph of operating systems. That's the opinion of many many other users too, and the IT pros I've spoken to agree: Win7 was microsoft's best operating system, and maybe 'the' best period, certainly on the surface insofar as usability is concerned. Windows 8 was a piece of cr*p, and all it's been downhill since then.

This little meme about sums it up.

[norman]

It turns out that NO OS (or browser) cares about your privacy.

'Security', yes, but not your privacy. Even deleting cookies on exit doesn't safeguard your privacy.

This youtuber tells all about it.

[ 21 minutes ]

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=spSdUSgAkKg

[dim]

Not entirely sure about that.
https://www.privacyguides.org/
https://discuss.privacyguides.net/

[Cruissser]

Thanks Greybeard!

I have been using mint for years now and love it. There is something about open source software that is very rewarding. Using support is much easier than with windows.

Nice to hear about the recording software. I have never tried it yet. I don't know if I could call myself a musician, but I enjoy playing piano and guitar for my own entertainment.

Do you know if there is any anti virus software that is easy to use on mint?

[ExomatrixTV]

• Linux Mint 21.3 "Virginia" BETA RELEASED with MIND BLOWING Features! - See What's New! (2024):

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=WcnjUDju9fA

• Is Linux Mint BETTER Than Windows?:

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=499jqHWZ-Ts

[palehorse]

Posted by palehorse (here)
After using most Linux out there here I am with Slackware once again, one of the first and most stable independent Linux distros from 1993.
Unfortunately this is not your average distribution, in order to install new packages you will have to build, make or compile the sources and then install the binaries, but Slackware provide up to date builds for that which has all the instructions and it is relatively easy to deal with, you can learn more here:

http://slackbuilds.org/

I was going back to Debian but I had a change of heart in the last moment and the main culprit was the Init software used by Debian nowadays "systemd", back then Debian (wheezy 2013) used "SysV" as init software, the same as Slackware currently using.

Basically I would say for anyone moving into Linux, read and understand what is Systemd.
Here is a good start: https://without-systemd.org/wiki/ind...ainst_systemd/

Linux had been infiltrated by corporation since circa 2012 (perhaps earlier), the only way to keep things a bit sane is to avoid things like Systemd because they are sponsored by big corpos, companies like IBM, Microsoft, Google, etc..

I don't know much people giving these sort of warnings anymore, avoid anything with really appealing marketing (aka deception).

Ok, I didn't know where to post the following information, so be it here, because it is related to Slackware and also Linux in general. The following recovery commands should work fine in any distro out there.

Yesterday during the storm my computers shutdown after a prolonged power outage, I noticed my power backup device was off, the power outage burned it, luck me it didn't pass to the computers, but they were off too. My old Thinkpad t400 with Slackware installed was booting in read-only mode while the other laptops with Arch Linux and Debian I could boot just normally. So I went into recovering mode for my Slackware, I will write the commands bellow because it is pointless for me to explain how I got to it in order to fix the issue, it took me hours.

Step 1 - boot as mono user, Linux has it for recovery situations, when booting you will have to edit your LILO prompt with the following `linux single`, just enter these 2 words in there and press return.
Step 2 - the system will boot and you will have to provide your root password (it will boot as root).
Step 3 - find about your devices, where your OS is installed using `fdisk`, the following command will only read your disk: `fdisk -l`
Step 4 - now you know what your device is, e.g. `/dev/sda2 `, you need to run `e2fsck` in your filesystem in order to fix all the issues, since it is a long task with many questions, we automate all the answers to YES. It is safe to proceed like that, since it is mono user, it won't affect other users or personal files in /home/ directory for example. run the following command: `e2fsck -y /dev/sda`
Step 5 - reboot and proceed with normal login.

Many Linux users when run into situations like this, they will just backup their data and reinstall the OS, because it is faster option to resolve such boring issue. But if you have these command on top of your mind, it will take just a few minutes and you are good to go again.

Note: Use the above commands only when your system is on read-only mode, DO NOT issue the command `e2fsck -y /dev/sda` with a mounted device, because it can cause data loss.


Another boring issue on Linux that happen from time to time, you try to login and the screen freezes or keep loading forever and you get nowhere (specially with KDE plasma). Next time that happen, try to open a terminal with `CTRL+ALT+F1`, then log in with your normal user and then type `startx`. It works most of the cases.

Posted by Cruissser (here)
...
Do you know if there is any anti virus software that is easy to use on mint?

I myself never used any anti-virus for Linux, but I knew 2 corporations using ESET with their terminals, mostly for emails to catch phishing. If you are coming from Windows, that is one thing you can say goodbye