And so it begins! (UK)

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campfreddy
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And so it begins! (UK)

Post by campfreddy »

It started for me in the UK as a very excited kid in the mid-80s with a Commodore 64 for Christmas. On the big day the PSU was faulty and it was the first day I was brought to tears by a computer. It wouldn't be the last, as being a Windows user up until very recently, but normally accompanied by swearing and throwing things!

I was into BASIC programming and playing some wonderful games. I was so keen to get into computers, yet at school they hadn't started a computer course - I ended up doing Typing and Word Processing as I thought that was the closest I'd get. Ended up on very old typewriters (non-powered), circa 1955.

So to get my fix, my mates and I had a real mixture of machines back then. ZX Spectrums, BBC Micro and Acorn Archimedes. Progressing then onto the Amiga and pouring scorn onto anyone who had the Atari ST. Spent many hours on cracked games, from mainland Europe and many pounds spent on shareware mail order. Through that we played with all sorts of tools and applications such as HEX analysers where we could search for plain text in these cracked games and put our own names in - to impress the parents! Lamers to the hilt! We would be script kiddies today!

I dabbled in Graphics which were great on the Amiga, also Music, keyboards, Sampling (Atari ST was the MIDI machine but that wasn't going to stop me!)- it was the start of the House Music scene and Jean Michel-Jarre was making the dawn of computer music sound great to my ears.

And then University came, electronics as there was no good computer course again. This way I ended up with doing a bit of programming, assembly and C/C+ Brings shivers down my spine just thinking about it.

Work beckoned, the dawn of the internet, Commodores sold to friends with younger kids. The dawn or email and the internet. At work our whole department shared one pc on windows 3.1 and a shared email address. It was highly exciting when one came in. At home the first PC was brought, a Compaq with a modem and a long phone line cable. Bulletin boards and then the early websites. Travelling abroad with work, you had to carry a bag of foeign phone adapters (which I still have for some unknown reason!)

Work was still in electronics but moved into Networks and my first experience with Unix. Very well remember the 'su' command!

Fast forward on 20 odd years, its been PC laptops ever since, moved away from the day to day tech jobs to the sales and management side but still missing being a tech without the managerial side of things.

Covid came and a bad injury, stuck at home like everyone else, working from home and an idea came. Let's step into the cyber security world - work is heading that way, I am learning some basics and brought a second hand Acer laptop and installed Kali for some dabbling and loved it. Not the ideal Linux starter distro but nevertheless! And I am 12 years old again. Roll on another year and I am done with Windows. I am not a massive hater - for sure it has the same dramas for me as anyone else - but for day to day admin, emails and MS Office, not so bad (until its starts to age even a little and the brakes and the bloats come on), but I want to ditch the windows work laptops and build a new desktop, a Linux personal daily driver.

I know - the worst time in history to build a new desktop. It took about 4 months to put the parts together and finally got to build it a couple of weeks ago. The spec I went for:

Intel and NVIDIA Build (AMD was my preference but just could not get the higher spec devices for love nor money)-no matter.
i9 11900k
Geforce RTX3070
ASUS MoBo PCI Gen 4 and Z590
32GB RAM
Two M.2 NVME SSDs (one Mint, one Windows 10)

I went for a dual boot (separate M.2 SSDs)- as much research as I could do, for basic work admin, Windows will do fine. Quite honestly I don't want to sully my enjoyment of Linux with all my day to day work stuff loitering about - I work from home and so a virtual break is in place of a physical one. I can leave all that behind at 5 and boot into something clean, like a refreshing shower at the end of a hard dirty day.

I ummed and ahhed between Ubuntu and Mint after much YouTube - (Chris Titus - thanks!), I wanted to stay Debian based so my heard learned terminal commands would not have to be re-learned. And Mint it was. I like the cleanness, a solid build and just feels a little more true to Open Source. Well for me anyway.

I am not a complete Noob - with a complete Noob being 0% I am at 8-9%-nothing to boast about!, I have done a bit with terminal and a little bash scripting. I have played around with network adapters, bits and pieces.

That said I am already faced with my first two challenges a non working Bluetooth, Wireless Network and non-working audio - which I thought would be a little easier to get working I'll admit, I haven't even started throwing random packages at it yet! - maybe refine me down to 5%! **Any thoughts welcome there!

And so it begins, I am sure to spend quite a bit of time here so Hi from the UK!
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Portreve
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Re: And so it begins! (UK)

Post by Portreve »

campfreddy wrote: Thu Jun 17, 2021 2:33 pm And so it begins, I am sure to spend quite a bit of time here so Hi from the UK!
YouTube: Ambassador Kosh: And So It Begins


Incidentally, welcome aboard the crazy train!
Flying this flag in support of freedom 🇺🇦

Recommended keyboard layout: English (intl., with AltGR dead keys)

Podcasts: Linux Unplugged, Destination Linux

Also check out Thor Hartmannsson's Linux Tips YouTube Channel
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kc1di
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Re: And so it begins! (UK)

Post by kc1di »

Hello campfreddy,
Welcome to the Linux Mint Forums, enjoy the trip! :)
Easy tips : https://easylinuxtipsproject.blogspot.com/ Pjotr's Great Linux projects page.
Linux Mint Installation Guide: http://linuxmint-installation-guide.rea ... en/latest/
Registered Linux User #462608
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AndyMH
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Re: And so it begins! (UK)

Post by AndyMH »

That said I am already faced with my first two challenges a non working Bluetooth, Wireless Network and non-working audio - which I thought would be a little easier to get working I'll admit, I haven't even started throwing random packages at it yet! - maybe refine me down to 5%! **Any thoughts welcome there!
You're running fairly new hardware, 11th gen intel. Might be as simple as installing a later kernel, 5.8 if running 5.4. If not start separate topics for each issue and read this:
viewtopic.php?f=17&t=83444
particularly item 5.

Assume bluetooth/wifi/audio are working in win?

Welcome! You will find linux a learning curve, but worth it.
Thinkcentre M720Q - LM21.3 cinnamon, 4 x T430 - LM21.3 cinnamon, Homebrew desktop i5-8400+GTX1080 Cinnamon 19.0
deepakdeshp
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Re: And so it begins! (UK)

Post by deepakdeshp »

Welcome to Linux Mint Forums
If I have helped you solve a problem, please add [SOLVED] to your first post title, it helps other users looking for help.
Regards,
Deepak

Mint 21.1 Cinnamon 64 bit with AMD A6 / 8GB
Mint 21.1 Cinnamon AMD Ryzen3500U/8gb
vanwoe
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Re: And so it begins! (UK)

Post by vanwoe »

I have been a sleeping forum user for years, and never have been needing to call for help myself yet ... all my problems could be solved by using this forum and other internet sources.
At this point in time I was ready for a new computer, and I bought one with an ASUS® ROG STRIX Z590-F GAMING WIFI main board.
The WIFI and the Bluetooth are not recognized, and all the drivers for the board are delivered with Windows 10 executables, so I was stuck to begin with. I have been thinking about sending the computer back to the supplier, but considering the good reputation of the Linux community and this forum i decided to take my chances and wait for drivers for Linux to become available.
If I can contribute to a solution, I am certainly willing to (I am a pensioned IT-person), but I may not be knowledgable enough about Linux, so I have no idea how.
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Pierre
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Re: And so it begins! (UK)

Post by Pierre »

Hi vanwoe,
welcome to our forum.
:)

it would pay to Start an New Topic,
about those issues, as it's an better way for us to assist you.
Image
Please edit your original post title to include [SOLVED] - when your problem is solved!
and DO LOOK at those Unanswered Topics - - you may be able to answer some!.
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