Hello & Thanks

[sl23]

I'd just like to thank all those that have created this marvellous OS.
I just updated from LM19.3 to LM20 and it went smoothly without any hint of a problem.
LM19.3 was constantly crashing and firefox kept freezing and crashing too. Whether these issues have been fixed remains to be seen.

I don't know if I can stick with Mint though, as I miss some of my Windows apps and the way in which windows works. Some of these issues are:
1. I really miss Rainmeter
2. File associations don't work for non-linux apps. You can't automatically open a text file with SynWrite or Notepad++.
3. VLC and firefox on LM just keeps crashing and freezing.
4. Why oh why isn't the Num-lock key state remembered between reboots? Every startup requires this be re-enabled! Annoying.
5. No portable apps for linux? On windows, many apps can be downloaded, unpacked and run with all settings stored within the apps folders. Benefits? Well, for a start, when the LM update fails and you lose the operating system and have to resort to a fresh installation, you don't have to reinstall a hundred apps and their settings. It's always there, ready to go. The benefits of portable apps are many. I searched for Linux portable apps, but they are scarce and very outdated.
6. Amazing how difficult it is to get a USB drive recognised using linux! If I plug a drive into Windows, no matter what the file system, it's recognised. If it's not, or the drive has unallocated space, it's pretty easy to find an app to sort it out. My fave being Partition Wizard. But doing this on linux seems to be a major pain.
7. Backups. I have a 2TB drive used on Windows that can't be used to save Timeshift data to just because of the file system. Very inconvenient!

Sorry for the negative comments. Hopefully there's some way that these can be remedied in the future?
But still, it has to be said, those of you that made LM what it is deserve great respect. It's amazing what has been achieved and overall, it's a fantastic OS.

Thanks for giving us a brilliant free alternative, here's to the future...

[Moonstone Man]

2. File associations don't work for non-linux apps. You can't automatically open a text file with SynWrite or Notepad++.
3. VLC and firefox on LM just keeps crashing and freezing.
4. Why oh why isn't the Num-lock key state remembered between reboots? Every startup requires this be re-enabled! Annoying.
5. No portable apps for linux? On windows, many apps can be downloaded, unpacked and run with all settings stored within the apps folders. Benefits? Well, for a start, when the LM update fails and you lose the operating system and have to resort to a fresh installation, you don't have to reinstall a hundred apps and their settings. It's always there, ready to go. The benefits of portable apps are many. I searched for Linux portable apps, but they are scarce and very outdated.
6. Amazing how difficult it is to get a USB drive recognised using linux! If I plug a drive into Windows, no matter what the file system, it's recognised. If it's not, or the drive has unallocated space, it's pretty easy to find an app to sort it out. My fave being Partition Wizard. But doing this on linux seems to be a major pain.
7. Backups. I have a 2TB drive used on Windows that can't be used to save Timeshift data to just because of the file system. Very inconvenient!

Sorry for the negative comments. Hopefully there's some way that these can be remedied in the future?
But still, it has to be said, those of you that made LM what it is deserve great respect. It's amazing what has been achieved and overall, it's a fantastic OS.

Thanks for giving us a brilliant free alternative, here's to the future...

2. You're probably referring to applications in wine. That's a wine issue.

3. If you want that fixed, start a new thread, after reading this: http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=83444

4. That's usually always a function of your machine's BIOS but you can install numlockx for example.

5. Of course there are. They're just not called 'portable'. AppImages and statically compiled software are just two available on linux.

6. If you plug a Linux drive into Windows, it won't do a single thing, including recognising it.

7. Well then, get another disk or partition the one you have.

[sl23]

Thanks for your replies...

2. Ah, so is Wine a separate project then?
3. Thanks for the tip. It's a bit overwhelming being new to all this Linux stuff! It's almost like being new to computing lol
4. Num-lock was never an issue on Windows, hence I assumed it was a Linux one. I'll take a look when I get a chance to boot up next.
5. Apologies, (See 3 above )
6. True. But there's a hundred apps that do just that. Whereas Linux doesn't have that. Again, I'll take another look, but all I found was a gnome disk utility.
7. Well, that was an obvious answer lol but wouldn't it be better for Linux to be able to read all disks, regardless of the file system? Yep, I know, clearly I'm ignorant to the workings of disk formats, there's no doubt some reason as to why they can't be read. But I refuse to believe it's not possible.

Hope I didn't offend with my blunt remarks, it wasn't my intent, I was just being brief.

[Moem]

wouldn't it be better for Linux to be able to read all disks, regardless of the file system?

The Timeshift thing is not a general Linux thing, it's a very specific Timeshift thing. Timeshift needs a specific file system to work. That's just how the software works.
Generally, Linux can read Windows disks, and not the other way around. So if we're going to say that either Windows or Linux is picky with regards to file systems, I'm going to have to point to Windows here.

[robcarr]

2. You're probably referring to applications in wine. That's a wine issue.

3. If you want that fixed, start a new thread, after reading this: http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=83444 https://admission-writer.com/blog/penn- ... ay-writing

4. That's usually always a function of your machine's BIOS but you can install numlockx for example.

5. Of course there are. They're just not called 'portable'. AppImages and statically compiled software are just two available on linux.

6. If you plug a Linux drive into Windows, it won't do a single thing, including recognising it.

7. Well then, get another disk or partition the one you have.

I will check out and read this thread you've recommended. I've missed it somehow.

[Moonstone Man]

...Yep, I know, clearly I'm ignorant to the workings of disk formats, there's no doubt some reason as to why they can't be read...

You're making unfounded assumptions based on a lack of knowledge. Linux reads and writes dozens of file systems whereas Windows handles only so many that you can count them on one hand, and most of those are just variations of the same basic format. Here are just some of the major ones supported by Linux.

Timeshift needs to store a lot of metadata, including permissions, groups, so on and so forth for a large number of file systems. Native Windows filesystems don't have that capability hence the need to use btrfs, zfs or ext4 for Timeshift snapshots. Those filesystems are capable of storing the necessary metadata. Windows file systems simply cannot do it. Without using one of those specific filesystems for snapshots, Timeshift would be unable to restore the all important metadata, and in particular, permissions.

All that said, there is a very good business reason that fully 50% of Microsoft's cloud offerings are running on Linux. Their own OS is simply incapable of providing the services that are demanded.

Hope I didn't offend with my blunt remarks...

Not at all.