Are There any Linux Users on This Site?

It's an exciting time for computing. Who knows what people will find to exploit tomorrow?

That is exactly what I was talking about.

I think out of all the OSes Linux Mint has the best updater. What do you think about that?

I like PCLinuxOS, but what I don't like about it is how much work I had to put into the distro before I got it running smooth.

Number 1) I had to change this or I couldn't use my external hard drives with it and Linux Mint.
By default, PCLinuxOS UIDs start at 500, while Linux Mint and almost every other distro, start at 1000.


Number 2) FIX SWAPPINESS: (This is controversial among linux users. But for my computers it works really well, so I do it.)
Create
/etc/sysctl.d/vm.swappiness.conf
vm.swappiness = 10
reboot

Number 3) ENABLE WRITE CACHING ON HARD DISKS
Edit /etc/sysconfig/harddisks and uncomment all the options and reboot. That should get you going. ;D

USE_DMA=1
MULTIPLE_IO=16
EIDE_32BIT=3
LOOKAHEAD=1

reboot

Number 4) FIX INTEL NOT CLEARING OUT CPU

How to check:
run these in terminal :

$ cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpuidle/current_driver

and

$ cat /sys/module/intel_idle/parameters/max_cstate


If the max_state is not 1 there could be the problem.


Edit /etc/default/grub
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="splash quiet noiswmd nokmsboot resume=UUID=77894d14-fc4b-4535-b2f4-ad8e84d43f4b audit=0 vga=788 intel_idle.max_cstate=1
su
update-grub
reboot

On PCLinuxOS the software is slightly limited because they are against using System D. So anything that depends on System D, you can't use.

When it comes to updating PClinuxOS, Synaptic Package Manager is your best friend. Anything else, doesn't seem to have enough tools, to help you fix things if something goes wrong. Another tool you need is timeshift. Since this is a rolling distro, it is possible that things could get broken. One time something got updated, but not everything I needed. In order to get my sound working again I had to timeshift it back to an earlier time. Wait a day or so, and then re try the updating.

Another thing you like to have installed is dupeclean. It isn't installed by default, but sometimes if something goes wrong, you can end up with duplicate packages, that messes things up. When that happens dupeclean and dupeclean-gui is your friend.

This shouldn't scare you off from using it. Once you get it smoothed out the way you like it, it isn't hard to keep the distro stable. I haven't had any of the problems that I mentioned in nearly a year!

That does get old! I'm only a janitor and at school, they make me take computer tests, just because they force me to have an email address so that I can take the state testing for my job! Even some of that stuff is for teachers, and yet they make me take that stuff too.

Reminds me of a chat quote:

<jamesd> "... being a Linux user is sort of like living in a house inhabited by a large family of carpenters and architects. Every morning when you wake up, the house is a little different. Maybe there is a new turret, or some walls have moved. Or perhaps someone has temporarily removed the floor under your bed."
* kop_ (~2@sdn-ap-019watacoP0124.) has joined #solaris
<sheenmaster> jamesd: being an OpenServer or UNIXWare user is like living in a house that hasn't been touched by a carpenter or inspected by an architect in years. Every morning when you wake up, the neighbor's house is a little better. You are just thankful that the floor hasn't fallen out from beneath your bed, cause you know it'll be half a decade before its fixed.
* RainbowW has quit (Read error: 54 (Connection reset by peer))
<sheenmaster> jamesd: being a Windows user is like living is a cheap vegas hotel. Every morning, you wake up with a new disease. The floor beneath your bed is likely to fall through at any time, but at least you can burn the hotel down and rebuild it or move to another room.

LOL!

Another distro that I sorta like is Antix
https://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=Antix

It is very lightweight. I only wish the developer who identifies himself as a communist, would leave his communist bookmarks out of the distro. But I guess it's his right to educate people about communism like it's our right to tell people about Jesus. (((shruggs)))

Distros Discussed so far.

PCLinuxOS
https://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=PCLinuxOS

MX Linux
https://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=mx

Linux Mint
https://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=mint

Ubuntu
https://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=Ubuntu

Kali Linux
https://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=kali

Antix
https://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=Antix

* I recently downloaded AV Linux.

AV Linux
https://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=avlinux

I am a Linux user.

And, I got away from Windows something like 20 years ago...

Started out with SUSE - moved on to Slackware.

In 1999, I didn't know what I was doing, but someone gave me Slackware. I tried to install it, but without any kind of guide I was a failure.

Around 2013 I was able to play around with Linux. Before that I couldn't because I didn't know how to get it online. I was on dial up internet for a long time. After getting off of dial up, the only alternative was for me was Verizon Wireless, and they tried everything in their power to keep a Linux computer off their network. They required everyone to use a special piece of software what only ran on Windows. After DSL came to my area, I had to pay Verizon a 100 dollars to get out of my contract. Once I got on DSL then I could start using Linux.

My first distro I tried was Ubuntu, and then I jumped around, mostly because I was having hardware issues, and didn't know it. Finally I bought a used computer that I could just stick Linux on it and see how things went. I remember putting Manjaro on it. After a couple of crashes, I settled on Linux Mint 17. But this story could go on and on. lol

Certain parts of this are very familiar...

It seems that getting into linux comes with it's fair share of bumps and bruises.

But worth it!

I thought of one more thing that I found interesting about PCLinuxOS. As far as I know it is the only distro to use apt to install and manage rpm packages.

lol, started first with Freespire and never could get it online,,gave up and used Microdollar until Vista stopped giving updates then thought if I had to learn another system it might as well be free so played with puppy and others but mostly use Ubuntu. I don't use my computer for online purchases,banking ect. just to surf with that way no need for anything but a USB port...

I do a lot more then just surf. But I'm always happy to meet another Linux user!

I guess today I'm going to install AV Linux inside of Virtualbox. I'm really curious about what version of Audacity it comes with. I use Audacity to fix podcasts before transferring to a mp3 player. I don't like latest Audacity. It doesn't work right with my icons. I don't understand why.

Slackware was your first? Wuff! That sure would be a rough start!

That would be like getting into professional cooking by starting out with souffles. My sympathy.

I use reaper for music making and audacity for simple edits. I also use audacity to do the recording when I transcribe old records and cassettes to digital format.

I only use an old version of audacity though, 2.03 I think, from an old installer I still have on file.

I like Audacity 2.3.3, but all the ones after that, I haven't been as happy with.

I Agree,,,in the old days we would have to leave the sides off our old desktops and burn systems onto multiple HD's and swap them out but it was a hassle to keep up with it. With the out of the box distros it did away with all the headaches and worries about antivirus and such and made it so I could just keep it all in my shirt pocket. That's just for the web surfer though if not Subgraph,Tails ect.

I have used Tails sometimes. But I got to confess, I haven't found a GOOD reason for using tails. Tails walks right around my ability to filter temptation from the internet. So from a moral perspective I can't allow myself to use tails.

Me either,lol I guess I would if I was younger but at my age doing everything from terminal would be like learning to read and write again...everything depends on what it's used for.