Windows user wants like functions

[PBJ777]

Hi, I have just installed Mate Mint 14 Nadia 64 bit (it says Kernel 3.5.0-17-generic x86_64 in Sys, info) on a 64 bit Sony 2.8ghz dual core cpu, and 4gb ram. I installed it off a USB stick into a separate HD (i unplugged the Window drives temporarily in so doing).

It is the "Universal Edition" (I live in the US and want to be legal), and am glad to see Firefox and LibreOffice, but am still rather green in Linux, and yet I know the means of configuration can be different among distros. And maybe I should have installed Cinnamon.

I have done a lot of customization in Windows, and want to do similar things here, like making hot keys to launch things (i use AutoHotKey) in the interest of speed, so I am looking for answers to the following:

1. When I right click on an icon in the Start menu (or whatever it is called here) or on the Desktop in Windows (I have W/8 but use Classic Shell) I can find out where the actual location is (and so copy it or make a shortcut), but not in Mint. How to I quickly find out these locations and make hot keys for them?

(I also want to make a common location for user configs for some programs, and I know you can find user folder locations for Firefox by Help>Troubleshooting>Open Directory, and in LibreOffice Tools>Options>Paths but I am looking to quickly find locations to other things.)

2. In the Start menu I like the classic look in which you have long cascading columns in which you can see everything at once (I know you scan add scroll bars to Linux Mint but that is different) Is there a way to

3. If I r. clk. on a file/folder and then try to paste it somewhere else then I cannot do it (except into a folder) if the location is so full that window shows no empty space. Wherever you r. clk. the entire row gets selected so the Paste option is not there, and if you enlarge the window it expands the columns so it is still shows no empty space. How do you change that behavior?

4. When i right click into Properties on the 82gb sata drive in Computer that Linux is installed in then it does not show me the file type (NTFS) or the size (or last accessed). It does how the size on the usb flash drive, but not the file type, nor an option to format. How do I get it to show these?

5. I have a couple programs (besides Firefox and LO) that I really want to use or find LM equivalents for. Under Windows I use AutoHotKey to make hot keys or even remap keys, such as turning the cap key into Ctrl+C and Esc into Ctrl+V (and NumLock into Esc) and the middle mouse button to Ctrl+x (I often work with text), but I have not found anything that does that for Linux, and the LM keyboard shortcuts are rather limited. Is there such a program for Linux?

The second is a program called PhoneTrayFree (except it is no longer offered for free), and which uses your modem (if you have one) and called ID to log all the calls and numbers (if not blocked) to tell you who is calling, and even to zap telemarketers, among other things. Does anyone know of an equivalent for Linux?

Thanks for any help and may God bless.

[viking777]

1. There is no easy way to do that (find program names and locations) and that is something I have been whinging about for years. I was caught out by it earlier today in fact. I wanted to launch a program which, in the program menu, is called Software Sources and I needed to launch it from a terminal not the program menu, but I had no idea what it was actually called (the only thing I knew for certain is that is wasn't called software sources). My solution was to open the package manager 'synaptic' and search for Software Sources. I got 6-8 results but I know enough to guess the right one, you wouldn't. I wish you luck in getting this behaviour changed - it needs to be, but never will be. It annoys the hell out of me. Incidentally if you want to make a desktop shortcut you just right click the program and select 'Add to Desktop' but that it not what I wanted to do.

3. Drop it onto a place where there are files not folders. Alternatively use the 'Edit>Paste' menu at the top of the file manager.

[PBJ777]

Thanks for the input on 1 and 3.

Good to know someone else is looking for this function. Does this seeming inablity as regards #1 apply to all Linux distros? I use it at lot in Windows, and am surprised LM does not do this as it is the most popular distro. I do know how to make a Desktop shortcut (which only gives the DT as the location), but i wanted to r. clk. and make a hot key shortcut, as in Windows.

As for your example, if you were looking for the command, i found that if you make a shortcut to the DT for software Sources, and then hit properties on it you can see the command: software-properties-gtk

Re. #3, simply r. clicking where there are no folders will not work in this situation under list view (which i want to remain as my default). There is no empty space due to the location you are in being so populous and the entire row is selected upon right clicking and no paste option is then provided even among files. You need to change the view settings, or do edit<paste, but I found that you can use ctrl+v anywhere, even if you cannot by right clicking in this situation (though with my stiff fingers that is slower).

[PBJ777]

I mentioned one of the reasons i want to remap keys was for copying and pasting, but reading the "Introduction to Linux Mint" i found out that by simply selecting text LM copies it, and then by middling clicking then it is pasted. I wonder how many know that?

In addition, I did find AutoKey http://saravananthirumuruganathan.wordpress.com/2010/04/14/autokey-linux-utility-for-text-substitution-hotkeys-and-desktop-automation for Linux in the repo and installed it, but it freezes when i try to save a script.

[bjornmu]

Heh, this cut-n-paste using the mouse has been around in X since "forever", meaning at least 20 years. It's older than Linux.

[Shortshift Frog]

Dear PB,

I am making the transition from Windows to Linux.
I'm about a month into it.
It has been arduous and cruel but will be worth it in the end I think.
I'm rich and foolish enough to not sweat the time spent...I'm into it for something like 80 hours now.
There are a load of Linux programs out there that work well.
You are right into the nice features of Windows that don't come easily in Linux with the right click menus and all that.
There are ways around it; usually at the command line (terminal).
Not tragic when you get used to it, but the up front price is steep.
Gparted looks good and will do everything you want on disk management.
Better than anthing on the windows side.
I found Linux Mint to be loaded with good programs, but the essential ones didn't work for me.
Unetbootin works for me where the program packaged with Mint 14 failed.
Nautilus and Pcman file managers worked where Thunar file manager failed.
YMMV as they say.
I have posted my suffering on these fora.
The past two days I've been playing with the WattOS distro which is a lightweight branch off Ubuntu like Mint but lighter still.
It has been far less buggy for me than Mint 14, but that may be because I'm getting better at Linux.
Maybe the earlier distros of Mint would have worked better for me.
I still have a computer loaded with Mint OS to return to.
Linux makes it easy to play around with different editing choices on what you want in a computer.
Also Linux makes it easy to build totally robust and bomb-proof systems and back-ups without driving you nuts with their
licensing and all sorts of marketing BS.
Freedom from MS is worth suffering through the learning curve right there.
There are many things that Windows does well, but the bones underneath are not pretty at all.
Many of the important things about Linx are quite beautiful, and some, like the key mapping still have a ways to go.
The community around MintOS has been very nice and is large enough to have some mass.
If you have a load of time to spend you will see it's worth the suffering to switch over to Linux.
I doubt there is an easy solution to the lack of key mapping. I'm facing this with the distro I'm using as well.
I won't go on...very possible that the management will delete or move this post as not being supportive enough of Mint or not to the point of you original post etc.

So, good luck,

Shortshift Frog.

[PBJ777]

Heh, this cut-n-paste using the mouse has been around in X since "forever", meaning at least 20 years. It's older than Linux.

That is something. I wonder how many Linux users are aware of it?

[PBJ777]

Dear PB,

I am making the transition from Windows to Linux.
I'm about a month into it.
It has been arduous and cruel but will be worth it in the end I think...
Freedom from MS is worth suffering through the learning curve right there.
There are many things that Windows does well, but the bones underneath are not pretty at all.
Many of the important things about Linx are quite beautiful, and some, like the key mapping still have a ways to go.
The community around MintOS has been very nice and is large enough to have some mass.
If you have a load of time to spend you will see it's worth the suffering to switch over to Linux.
I doubt there is an easy solution to the lack of key mapping. I'm facing this with the distro I'm using as well.
I won't go on...very possible that the management will delete or move this post as not being supportive enough of Mint or not to the point of you original post etc.

So, good luck,

Shortshift Frog.

Thanks. I appreciate virtues of Linux and the potential, and hope it can become a better alternative to more Windows users. Part of this is money. The reason i have W/8 is because i was trying to gain more use of my memory (lots of tabs and documents being typically open) in this 7 year old PC, which is 64 bit, as 32 bit maxes out around 3.3gb, and last month i was able to get W/8 pro 64 bit upgrade (from XP) for 29.00 from NewEgg with the rebate special (now over). But then (besides waiting 30 months for the Visa rebate card) you need to get the ProPack for playing DVDs which will cost 10.00 after Jan. 31 (free now). And i understand then there is a dual booting issue (i install each on separate drives and tap F8 on this box during POST to get a boot menu).

Meanwhile, it turns out that the Intel 945 board that i have does not allocate more memory past 4gb so i only have 3.5gb useable. (The W/8 license is different from the past, and will let you transfer to another PC, so i may upgrade the mobo for about 25.00) But the memory use seems lower in LM, and apparently you can also do the ReadyBoost thing: http://tech.sixcolumns.com/2012/12/acti ... d-netbooks.

I have used Gparted many times and it is good (the disk management in Windows 8 will let you make partitions in active disks, but not the C drive in use, which the Gparted CD can do, and with a better GUI).

I wonder if free Windows KeyTweak (http://webpages.charter.net/krumsick) but i doubt they would work under WINE, but there are some here that could be investigated: http://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/1110

As for the PhoneTrayFree that i miss, i have found no Linux alternatives (edit: i found this for KDE, but have yet to try it: http://sourceforge.net/projects/ktuxcall), and i doubt that or Analog called ID (http://www.snapfiles.com/get/AnalogXCallerID.html) would work under WINE due to the modem variables.

[PBJ777]

I installed the KDE Desktop and like it much better, though the start menu/shortcut behavior issue is the same. And trying to select more than one file at once by holding down the Ctrl key does not work, nor does selecting a series by clicking on the first and last and then Shift. None of my 3 printers will work (i downloaded all the updates and 2 of the printers are recognnized, but test pages or documents will not print) or my intergrated sound card or USB sound card.

I do not want to use more time or energy on this now, and will just use Windows until i look into this alternative again.