Linux "Dependency ****"

[pmsmechanic]

Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think Chromebooks have a hard drive. Everything is off of the internet. So if your a person like me that likes to keep files on a computer then Chromebooks are not a good choice. Besides Google is just as bad as Microsoft for snooping into your personal business.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I just started using this new DELL desktop (about the size of a book) that I got already a year and a half ago. Totally frustrated. None of my printers and scanners will work, as drivers are not available. Now, I wanted to open WORD, and you have to sign in. This crap just keeps getting worse and deeper. I'm almost thinking of getting my Windows XP box repaired. I'm so sick of this stuff getting less user friendly all the time.

You are expected to learn stuff, that will shortly have no value what so ever. And I just can't see wasting my time that way. But what's the alternative?

 

[aczlan]

Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think Chromebooks have a hard drive. Everything is off of the internet. So if your a person like me that likes to keep files on a computer then Chromebooks are not a good choice. Besides Google is just as bad as Microsoft for snooping into your personal business.

They have some local storage, not sure how much though.

Aaron Z

 

[drssg]

For those using Linux, how do you buy hardware? All the laptops I see these days come preloaded with an OS.

Do you buy an OS license you don’t want and overwrite it?

 

[drssg]

I just started using this new DELL desktop (about the size of a book) that I got already a year and a half ago. Totally frustrated. None of my printers and scanners will work, as drivers are not available. Now, I wanted to open WORD, and you have to sign in. This crap just keeps getting worse and deeper. I'm almost thinking of getting my Windows XP box repaired. I'm so sick of this stuff getting less user friendly all the time.

You are expected to learn stuff, that will shortly have no value what so ever. And I just can't see wasting my time that way. But what's the alternative?

If you know a computer techie, it might be worth verifying that the drivers really aren’t available for your printer.

Also, I recently setup a new computer for my FIL, and I recall that I still didn’t have to sign in to use Word. They definitely try to encourage you to sign in and use their cloud.

In regards to being continually forced to learn new stuff, I hear you. During 30 years of computer programming, I practically had to relearn my job every few years; otherwise, I’d be on my way to becoming obsolete. It gets old.

That’s one of the things I like about horseback riding. Once I learn how to train a horse, I have that knowledge for life. No one comes out with Horse 5.7, which works completely different.

 

[BlackOps]

i have run gnu/linux exclusively for more than a decade. in debian/ubuntu based distros synaptic is the package manager as such as takes care of it all. so no worries. what kind of computer do you run? that would help. wifi hardware is either easy or difficult but has gotten better. i run thinkpads - - went from r-t-x series. like the x's a lot. smaller. ubuntu is fine - mint is fine and they have changed a lot good and bad over the years. ubuntu has all of the extra codecs available at install. i have run bodhi using moksha desktop - a for of e 17 - enlightenment which i love. totally unique to any other distro. i would suggest burning an iso on cd or dvd as opposed to usb installs - - i never could get that working and many others have had issues too - never with a disc. make sure you burn it as disk image!!!!! enjoy.

p.s. we have 3 laptops running linux!

 

[ericm979]

For those using Linux, how do you buy hardware? All the laptops I see these days come preloaded with an OS.

Do you buy an OS license you don’t want and overwrite it?

Yep.

There are sellers that install linux, but not on hardware I like. And if they also ship units with windows you're probably paying the windows tax anyhow.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I want nothing to do with a cloud. I spoke with Honeywell Security Tech support at length today, and he was talking about his hopes for better product employing the cloud. I want my stuff as stand alone as possible. When you spend half the day on HOLD only to find out that after you pressed the right buttons, and ended up in the wrong que for reasons that will never be known, you want to be as independent from any large corporate entity as possible. The time used to be, that you would load the disks onto your computer, and it was on its own. Honeywell admitted, or the new owner, Risideo, whoever the (f) that is, that they don't have a handle on their software. But hey, it's FREE, so what do you expect?

 

[ning]

For those using Linux, how do you buy hardware? All the laptops I see these days come preloaded with an OS.

Do you buy an OS license you don’t want and overwrite it?

There are some laptops you can buy without Windows but these days the cost of the OEM license is relatively small.

If you put together a computer obviously you don't need to buy Windows.

Getting Windows with a laptop isn't terrible; you can always repartition the storage (disk/ssd) and install Linux on the system as well - at boot time you decide which OS to run, because there are the occasional things you may still need Windows for (games, or software you already bought for Windows that won't run on Linux - some s/w will [using wine or something], but a lot won't).

 

[saxnbees]

For those using Linux, how do you buy hardware? All the laptops I see these days come preloaded with an OS.

Do you buy an OS license you don稚 want and overwrite it?

I bought a laptop and then installed Ubuntu in a separate partition and use dual boot if I have to use the original Windows system but I don't think I have in years. Instead, I installed the VMWare player software and have various versions of Windows as virtual machines to run old software and games when necessary. I also use the partition to run stuff like tax software because it won't run easily in Linux. Maybe someday....

I agree with previous comments that constantly learning new software eventually gets old. I was a software developer and analyst for 27 years. When our company got sold I decided I didn't want to continue with programming because it was no longer fun. When I started out, I was using Cobol and eventually got into system programming with Assembler and other challenging stuff. But over the years, being a programmer became more about doing design and paperwork than actual programming.

 

[Alien]

I recently bought a new android Samsung S4 Tablet. It seems that they are Linux based which surprised me. I am a bit naive about these things but it is a little beauty, much better than my iPad Pro.

 

[ericm979]

Android is linux underneath. Google supplies the layers of gunk between the OS and the apps.

 

[Pawatch]

Been running Linux for years. Started with Red Hat and then switched to Suse and currently running Mint.
Go to Distro Watch and download your favorite distro....And burn to disc.
Your computer should be able to run off the cd just to give you an idea how it works. No need to install until your ready.
Linux is the best internet system out there for free. Very hard to get a virus with Linux.

Years ago I had 2 teenage boys and they could sure malware a Windows system up.
It would be easier to reload the Windows system than to try and fix it.
They would always blame the malware on the other brother.

Built them a Linux box and ended the problem. Had the Linux setup so they so I could see who was doing what.
15 years later them boys joke about how mad I use to with them with them.

Give Linux a test run, It 's a pretty nice package for free.

 

[JasperFrank]

Try Zorin. Mint is fine also. I like Puppy. If you have some weird old equipment to use with a computer, don't even try with Linux, or any Distro of Linux. No one bothered to write a driver for it. But if you just want to do anything else, a Linux Distro is fine and the software is all free.

 

[cqaigy2]

Yes, lots of web servers use it, but thats all those servers do.

Not exactly, if you bring freebsd based system. Most of your cloud providers are using non-ms os systems, not to mention all the systems moving the data around.

 

[LittleBill21]

Sorry 80% does not run on Linux, its more like 50/50 and that changes depending on the IT department, more then the os. Both os's are very very stable, its the end user that makes them unstable.

2 programs that have 0 linux competition and are used by almost every single LARGE corporation. Exchange and Active Directory.

I use both, each have pro's/con's to simply say one is better is foolish.

 

[mikester]

I've read some about "Dependency ****" when tryin' to install programs in Linux and I reaching out to some experienced users to tell me if it's as bad as it seems. I mean it sounds like a convoluted intertwined mess to get/meet all the requirements (dependent programs) to get a program up and running in a Linux distro. I was leaning toward "Mint". I'm probably considered elderly and probably have a "low patience threshold". I would just like to be able to browse the Internet (YouTube) and have some Productivity programs like "Office". Am I just being a silly Ol' TXXD thinking I could EVER figure out Linux?

All operating systems do this. You just dont see what windows is doing when you install its bloatware.
Just relax and let the installer install the required dependencies for your program.
If you want to understand the guts of an install or operating systems use a Linux variant. If you want a black box solution for a computer install windows or macOS.
Linux isnt for the faint hearted. Unfortunately theres a million Linux flavours out there and not much standardization...and even less hardware drivers. Pick a distro that has a large active users group and start posting there.