Please give me decent reason to stick with Linux

[GreenCandy]

I`l try not to rant but im getting extremely frustrated with linux ....

I Tried it years ago ( knoppix ) and found that unless i had the skills of a programmer/engineers it was very hard to use, i left it for a while contiuned to use windows. I recently read a post about linux Mint and how it weighed up to win7 and thought i`d give it another go. I downloaded and installed Mint 14 cinnamon 64bit, The installation went ok and i started to use it.

On the face of things it looked good, but things started to slip soon enough ....

The main thing i use my PC for >

1 > the internet
2 > gaming
3 > music & films

1 > the internet works ( using firefox ) but the browser looks like win98 & any attempt to find new themes to make it look pretty allways turn up blank ( what the point of a powerfull pc if i cant make things look pretty? )

2 > this is still quite dissapointing, whereas there are some decent looking games avalible now, 95% of them require me to go thru pages of setup stuff, 95% of the games require me to download maps, AI etc .... in other words there not ready just to "work", also the grapical output u get is very often laggy and wont run in full res ( even tho this never happened in windows - a OS that over uses the systems HW)

3 > even tho VLC came with the installation, on doing comparisson with windows ( i evengone back & tried 98 & XP ) the quality is horrible(very blocky), i thought the codecs req came with VLC? As for music this has got to be one of the most frustrating things ive come acrross as none of the players that i have use come with EQ presets built in?? (im using audacity atm) after looking through countless sites and trying countless solutions ( 95% which didnt work making me belive that im clogging the OS up with more crap ) i finally found a post that allowed me to input the winamp presets into it - but they are not the winamp presets, so that was a pointless waste of my time

Ive had Mint installed for about 3 weeks now n the only thing that i can guarentee is that when i come home in the evening i can bet my arse that im gonna be spending a lot of time seraching the net trying to figure out what the hell im doing, rather than using my time productivly. Its all good asking peeps for help to fix problems, the community is great and i must add very helpful .... but this comes at a cost as im not learning much about "the system" ... its all just copy n paste, try this or try that .... i feel like a right lemon :\

Peeps keep on saying how much better linux is to windows, but im really struggling to agree with them ...... I really dont want to move back to windows as i find that also a massive pain in the arse too but at least it works "out of the box" so to say. When i first installed linux a help window came up with links to sites that could help us noobs us it ..... but if i didnt have access to the net i`d be totally screwed :\

I dont know if im just getting pissed off with OS`s in general n im half thinking of scraping the lot n re-installing winborg XP but then i lose the 64bt capabilty I Really do not want to return to using win 7 as my main OS but its heading that way .... Linux on the face of it seems good only for browsing the net as its the only thing that seems to work straight away without having to configure everything. The use of a free O/S is great but its comparable to being given a car that has half the engine missing.

So here i am asking peeps to give me good reasons to actually sitck with linux ..... it hasnt been removed yet, should i try ubuntu??

( btw im dyslexic, i can read but i find it very very frustrating, so if spelling mistakes crop up - sorry )

[Spinnekop]

Hi GreenCandy

I have found the learning curve quite steep at times and I am not a programmer or engineer but I have stuck with and am learning something which is never a bad thing.....

1) I have found firefox to be a good browser and many themes are available and work on my HP G60 OK. You can also try chrome or Opera.

2) Not a gamer myself but have you tried running windows games using wine?

3) There are other good music and video players besides VLC...

Mint is based on Ubuntu (unless you are using the Debian version) so the issues you have will likely be the same.

This has probably not been a terribly helpful reply but I have no regrets in moving from Vista to Mint+Cinnamon. (I use Windows 7 for work and don't like it much.....)

Best

Spinnekop

[altair4]

There is no decent reason to stick with Linux if it's giving you this much angst and you don't have the desire or aptitude for it.

BTW, I used the word "aptitude" in it's archaic sense:

The condition or quality of being suitable; appropriateness.

Has nothing to do with intelligence has everything to do with a desire to make it work.

Linux has always been for the lunatic fringe which is why I've been using it for nearly a decade now In that decade things have gotten much easier - dramatically easier then they were but it's not for everyone.

Also, and this is more an FYI, programmers make terrible Linux users. They simply don't have the patience for it. This I know first hand since everyone I know is one including my wife.

[catweazel]

Also, and this is more an FYI, programmers make terrible Linux users. They simply don't have the patience for it. This I know first hand since everyone I know is one including my wife.

Sorry to bust your theory, but...

[samriggs]

Also, and this is more an FYI, programmers make terrible Linux users. They simply don't have the patience for it. This I know first hand since everyone I know is one including my wife.

I guess most linux developers, develop on windows
From the developers I knew and know, most use linux and love it, unless their only developing on windows for windows, and even then some use dual boots because they perfer using linux for personal use.
Sorry but i don't believe that one, maybe the ones you know do but that doesn't count for the rest.

[dee.]

1 - i don't understand the question, you should be able to use the same themes and extensions for firefox on any OS you run firefox on

2 - have you considered steam?

3 - try Amarok for music

4 - As for VLC being blocky, might have something to do with your video card. You may want to look into updating your drivers if you use anything other than an intel gpu.

[dee.]

Also, and this is more an FYI, programmers make terrible Linux users. They simply don't have the patience for it. This I know first hand since everyone I know is one including my wife.

I know 10 people who all have long toenails. Therefore, it's safe to assume that all people everywhere have long toenails.

[craig10x]

Google Chrome is a great browser (much nicer then internet explorer) and Rhythmbox is a nice choice for your music player...try those...

You can get chrome from their website and rhythmbox is available from your software center on mint...(if it is not already installed....haven't used mint for some time, i run ubuntu currently)...

[kurok]

Clementine is a really good music player and has an eq feature built into it.
Sadly gaming still isnt on par with windows but is getting better with steam.
I have never had a problem with themes for firefox.

[Pierre]

it's point 2 - gaming - that you will have the most issues with.

most games were designed to run under the windows environment.
- there are emulators - like wine OR crossover - that can run a limited amount of games under linux.
- there is also steam, for another, yet still limited, amount of games to be run.

otherwise linux is really just as good as windows is .. ..

[semicolon]

- there are emulators - like wine OR crossover - that can run a limited amount of games under linux.

Wine Is Not an Emulator

And since you asked for a reason to stick with linux, I'd say: 1) it's free and 2) no viruses. But really decide for yourself, I myself use linux because I think it's just better than windows.

[monkeyboy]

I`l try not to rant but im getting extremely frustrated with linux ....

I Tried it years ago ( knoppix ) and found that unless i had the skills of a programmer/engineers it was very hard to use, i left it for a while contiuned to use windows.

Windows is a fine OS and meets the needs of most of the worlds computer users so I am glad that it is around for people to use. I am also glad that OSX, BSD and Linux are around to meet the needs and desires of other users. As a computer user I have never had so many reasonable choices available to me.

I recently read a post about linux Mint and how it weighed up to win7 and thought i`d give it another go. I downloaded and installed Mint 14 cinnamon 64bit, The installation went ok and i started to use it.

On the face of things it looked good, but things started to slip soon enough ....

The main thing i use my PC for >

1 > the internet
2 > gaming
3 > music & films

1 > the internet works ( using firefox ) but the browser looks like win98 & any attempt to find new themes to make it look pretty allways turn up blank ( what the point of a powerfull pc if i cant make things look pretty? )

Got me hanging on that one. I haven't had any of those problems but then the chances of two folks having the same software, OS configuration, hardware choices and skills are real thin so I am at a loss on that one.

2 > this is still quite dissapointing, whereas there are some decent looking games avalible now, 95% of them require me to go thru pages of setup stuff, 95% of the games require me to download maps, AI etc .... in other words there not ready just to "work", also the grapical output u get is very often laggy and wont run in full res ( even tho this never happened in windows - a OS that over uses the systems HW)

I totally agree with you on that one. Lots of folks seem to get by with things like WINE, virtual machines. etc but the results for me have never been as good as games were running on their native OS.

3 > even tho VLC came with the installation, on doing comparisson with windows ( i evengone back & tried 98 & XP ) the quality is horrible(very blocky), i thought the codecs req came with VLC? As for music this has got to be one of the most frustrating things ive come acrross as none of the players that i have use come with EQ presets built in?? (im using audacity atm) after looking through countless sites and trying countless solutions ( 95% which didnt work making me belive that im clogging the OS up with more crap ) i finally found a post that allowed me to input the winamp presets into it - but they are not the winamp presets, so that was a pointless waste of my time

Not a big music guy but I do use my box for lots of video tasks. It is real good (not perfect) for managing incoming video resources (ripping DVDs and managing downloads, etc) re-encoding and playback has been great (considering my hardware) so on this I think we have an entirely different user experience.

Ive had Mint installed for about 3 weeks now n the only thing that i can guarentee is that when i come home in the evening i can bet my arse that im gonna be spending a lot of time seraching the net trying to figure out what the hell im doing, rather than using my time productivly. Its all good asking peeps for help to fix problems, the community is great and i must add very helpful .... but this comes at a cost as im not learning much about "the system" ... its all just copy n paste, try this or try that .... i feel like a right lemon :\

There is indeed a learning curve for Linux and it sucks being at the bottom of the slope but we all learn. The nice thing about Mint is that the tools and the help one needs are made relatively available with the OS. However learning Linux is not for everyone which is fine because there are alternatives.

Peeps keep on saying how much better linux is to windows, but im really struggling to agree with them ...... I really dont want to move back to windows as i find that also a massive pain in the arse too but at least it works "out of the box" so to say. When i first installed linux a help window came up with links to sites that could help us noobs us it ..... but if i didnt have access to the net i`d be totally screwed :\

Linux is different from Windows and it is not better for everyone and vice versa. I know what you mean about the net as a aid to using Linux without it I would be afloat in manuals.

I dont know if im just getting pissed off with OS`s in general n im half thinking of scraping the lot n re-installing winborg XP but then i lose the 64bt capabilty I Really do not want to return to using win 7 as my main OS but its heading that way .... Linux on the face of it seems good only for browsing the net as its the only thing that seems to work straight away without having to configure everything. The use of a free O/S is great but its comparable to being given a car that has half the engine missing.

If memory serves XP came in a 64 bit edition as well as the 32 bit release but I could be wrong. As to your impression that Linux is "good only for browsing the net" I think we have to disagree on that one. Linux has been either my main or only OS for years and while I agree it takes a little more work and knowledge than some OSs it really isn't rocket science.

So here i am asking peeps to give me good reasons to actually sitck with linux ..... it hasnt been removed yet, should i try ubuntu??

I hope folks don't sell you Linux, better for you to come to it on your own at some point. If you turn into a user by your own means and needs you will be happier with way less buyer remorse. As to switching to Ubuntu, it is the upstream parent of Mint so you may very well run into similar problems. Often Debian (a real good OS) based OSs share some of the same strengths and problems as their sire. Perhaps looking at another Linux branch might be worthwhile. Good Luck

( btw im dyslexic, i can read but i find it very very frustrating, so if spelling mistakes crop up - sorry )

[altair4]

Also, and this is more an FYI, programmers make terrible Linux users. They simply don't have the patience for it. This I know first hand since everyone I know is one including my wife.

I guess most linux developers, develop on windows
From the developers I knew and know, most use linux and love it, unless their only developing on windows for windows, and even then some use dual boots because they perfer using linux for personal use.
Sorry but i don't believe that one, maybe the ones you know do but that doesn't count for the rest.

You got me there. All of the developers I know are professional developers who create web services and such not Linux, or Apple, or Windows applications so they will either use OSX or Windows. Their code ends up on RedHat servers if that makes you feel better.

[MALsPa]

what the point of a powerfull pc if i cant make things look pretty?

Now there's a question I've never considered!

Possible solution for the OP: A Windows computer and a Linux computer (or, a dual-boot set-up). Well, I kept using Windows computer as my main computer for about a year after I had Linux on another computer, then took I my sweet time learning about Linux. Later, went to a dual-boot, Windows/Linux set-up for awhile.

Haven't had Windows here at home for about five years now, though.

I'm glad I never got into gaming; I'd probably still be tied to Windows if I had...

[GreenCandy]

Well thanks for the responces peeps, im gonna try it a bit more to see if things click into place for me (hopefully my forehead wont cave in)

Ive tried steam for gaming n its ok but there are not a lot ot titles avalible comparesd to windows, Wine is ok but as said i dont see the point in using it when i can just use windows .... I can put up with gaming with a partitioned drive running win7 ( preferable if it was in one OS tho ).

The Audio & video side of things got me very rilled up as i found it a bit daft that the players that come with it have no EQ I`ll give those other players a go, so thx to the peeps that suggested them n also il try updating my video codecs to see if that improves.

The theme problem in firefox ...ive gotta admit i got wrong - its not the theme thats causing me a prob (sorry about confusion) - i cant figure out how to change the color of the window bar around the browser - take a look at this review http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2012/11/linu ... top-review its the "panel" outskirts that i would like to change, its a horrible light green baby sick kinda color The themes inside the cinnamon setting doesnt change this so im lost as to what to do?

[DrHu]

No, I can give you no reason: decent or otherwise, it is always a user specific choice.


I think you should go with your gut, if you really believe that Linux is only good for email, browsing
---and it is quite a rant

Most Linux users get more use from the OS and the many applications (OSS) available to them than you have found, even to video./audio editing, if they do not have a requirement for a specific tool and would need to go to a commercial application: might even be a job requirement.

[samriggs]

i cant figure out how to change the color of the window bar around the browser - take a look at this review http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2012/11/linu ... top-review its the "panel" outskirts that i would like to change, its a horrible light green baby sick kinda color The themes inside the cinnamon setting doesnt change this so im lost as to what to do?

If it's the window bar (window frame) around browsers and all the other windows that open, then that's a metacity file for a theme, if your using nadia it should be a metacity file, that's what creates the window frame. There's thousands of them on the net.
How it works for themes is, cinnamon is the shell (menu, panel, etc) then you got the metacity which is the frame around windows, then the gtk which takes care of all the stuff inside the window frame, if you go into the menu>Preferences>Cinnamon Settings, then click on themes then on other you will see all the parts that you can change,
Window Theme is the metacity frame themes, gtk/theme is the inside of the window stuff, icons is for the icons packs and the cursor of course is for the cursor.
If you want more themes just go here: http://gnome-look.org/ or here: http://linuxmint-art.org/ or on deviantart.com look up linux themes there's literally thousands and thousands of them, if you want to install one just make a folder in your home directory named .themes it'll be a hidden folder press ctl h to see hidden folders and put your themes in there, they will show up under themes in the cinnamon preferences then.
Your not stuck with what comes with the system, you can make it anything you want actually or pretty much anything you want.
As far as that part goes there's thousands of great themes out there, also more here: http://cinnamon-spices.linuxmint.com/themes
So your not stuck with the green
Hope it helps you out.
Sam

[homerscousin]

I just started with Linux middle of last year. About a month later I built my current rig. I knew nothing about the overabundance of distros out there and the various desktops and how they looked, how customizable they were, what software was better for me than others etc. I had a new blank hdd so I started downloading and burning a few distros just to try. If I didn't really like what I saw after I bothered to actually install it, no big deal, reformat and try something else. There is a whole lot of variety out there and some do suit my tastes better than others. I like pretty. I like Mint 14 KDE (using it now) and I also liked Ultimate Edition 3.5. Grab some blank dvd's and try a few. I quess most of them can be run live- from a dvd.

You didn't post your 'powerful' hardware specs did you?

[GreenCandy]

samriggs - The way you have explained that was very easy for me to read and understand, it is the window bar (window frame) that i was asking about ... Thank You!


DrHu - I think the reverse psycology that the stable linux users show, is the reason my gut is telling me to stick this out for a bit longer, sorry about the ranting but i tend to speak more with my heart rather than the brain n good idea homerscousin ... hmmm

[alizee]

I must agree with the assessment of the initial poster, taken the two following points into account :
1. Windows 7 is a great OS. We cannot say that much of Xp, Vista, or even W8, but to my mind, yes, Windows 7 is running smoothly, is user friendly, and works out of the box - of course*.
2. There is NO linux distribution that prevents you from spending a pretty big proportion of your time tuning the OS, first, to make it work properly, and then, maybe, to make it work the way you like (and "customizability" is a huge point of Linux)

Also, and this is more an FYI, programmers make terrible Linux users. They simply don't have the patience for it. This I know first hand since everyone I know is one including my wife.

Interestingly, this is pretty true. Of course not all programmers avoid linux, this is non-sense, but the cliche of "Linux for programmers" is totally false. Programmers (like me) go around computers for work, not as a hobby. Because of the number 2 above, I know personally a big bunch of them that just run OSX, XP or W7 when they don't need to be in Linux. And don't be mislead, apart from having developed a Linux distribution itself, being a programmer does not help you finding which configuration file to change in order to make things right.

Now, to answer your question, I'll give you two reasons/cases for sticking with Linux:
1. You have time and fun playing with your OS and learning how to make it work the way you want.
2. You need linux. You need the command line, you need all the awesome features that only Linux provides to a "Power user". I'm right now writing from a 16-cores-64gb-machine used for heavy computations that is tied to a network to share the resource, I had no choice. Same for servers, same for farms, same for embedded applications...

Additionally, it is free. This is significant.

One solution that works for me when I just want word, outlook, or other stuff as a no-brainer : Virtual Box. (Although this will not solve the everlasting problems of hardware/OS compatibility, especially for graphic card...)

Hope this contribution will be seen as constructive
Best,
Antoine

*Yes, it does. Myth of Windows being unreliable are totally outdated. I've bee using W7 on my 900$ laptop for the last two years, and I NEVER experienced any real problem or need to reinstall my system. And I use it everyday for programming, surfing, playing games, multimedia, movie projection on big screens...