Adventures of Switching to Linux

Operating Systems & Open Source Linux
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Hello All

This extremely long post i hope will serve to help others in trying out and perhaps switching to linux. I will talk about my likes and woes in experimenting with linux and also provide you with knowledge and questions i hope you can help me with also.

My background, Longtime windows sysadmin which i thought would make learning linux easy which in some ways it did but it also made the experience more frustrating because being used to doing advanced system tasks in windows in just seconds turned into perhaps hours in linux because i didn't know what i was doing generated ALOT of frustration.

Subject 1:

What is linux?
I don't know but first thing i did was do this online FREE course https://www.edx.org/course/introduction-linux-linuxfoundationx-lfs101x-2
and read this FREE book. http://www.tldp.org/LDP/intro-linux/intro-linux.pdf

This was an excellent start and opened my mind to linux. The highlights for me was really the history and philosophy of linux. What i don't like so much is the linux file structure but perhaps it will grow on me.

Check out those links..

Subject 2:

Distributions and desktop enviroments
Wow seriously these suck, I really appreciate the plethora of choices but linux would be far more ahead if only a handful of these were around. I was overwhelmed with choice and wanted a more core experience. I found this webpage http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/ which seems to be able to teach you how to construct your own linux system from the ground up.

This really appeals to me but from what i skimmed it might be too advanced for me right now. So for now im using Ubuntu because it's popular and i hear it's good for noobs.

Anybody want to share their thoughts on linux distribution without talking about desktop enviroment?

Subject 3:

Desktop environments
wow okay again alot of choices, i tried all the major flavors of ubuntu and i still haven't really settled but in order of preference....

My two favorites so far:
Gnome3: starts out really bare but with a bit of configuration seems to the most attractive. This takes a bit of work
Xubuntu (xfce): Right out of the box it's light and nice looking, no configuration required. Highly customizable as well.

Other Desktop env i found nice:
Unity: ubuntu's default, it's nice but you can make gnome 3 look like it in about 5min with more style, so yeah i guess use this if you like gnome but don't like configuring things.
MATE: It's very very similar to XFCE, so idk either one is okay for a lightweight option.
Elementary OS: not officially ubuntu but it does run ubuntu underneath. Also it's totally a MAC OSX clone (no right-click included). so if your into that.....

Desktop enviroments which i didn't really like:
KDE: i didn't spend much time in KDE but it was weird as i found the UI to have modern and classic elements mixed it, basically it looked unpolished.
LXDE: XFCE is lightweight enough IMO.. but LXDE seems fine but it's really for old hardware or if you are into running a very low demands system.

What do you guys think about the desktop enviroments? got a suggestion for me to try?

Subject 4:

Display manager, Xrandr and cvt
So i've been running my trials in vmware and vitualbox and hence linux wasn't able to pick up my 3240x1920 desktop rez on windows.

You can change your default display manger by editing /etc/x11/default-display-manager to use /bin/gdm or /usr/bin/lightdm

So i learned how to force resolutions from here https://wiki.ubuntu.com/X/Config/Resolution
Also i learned how to force resolution in Ubuntu's lightdm display manager by editing /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf from

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2214380

QUESTION: I can't seem to find any info on how to force resolution in GDM, help?
Whats your Display manager of choice?

Subject 5:

Installing software and Applications
So far not so good in linux. I appreciate the multiple ways to get and install software but it more confusing than helpful. Graphical tools are kinda meh and it seems the way i've had the most success is apt, apt-cache and apt-get methodology.

QUESTION: How can i get a nice list of my installed apps like "windows add/remove programs" ? uninstalling applications is still unknown?
I tried Aptitude software wendell recommended but very confusing, the list is massive why?

I need a better tool...

QUESTION: how do i know where an application installed it's files? what happens if i just delete those files without an un-install in linux?

Some good news, im glad teamviewer just works out of the box because i use it SOO much. Also chrome etc.

Subject 6:

Network file sharing, not a good time.

  • ubuntu seems to detect and connect to windows shares right out of the box which is awesome!

  • Ubuntu sharing to windows has been a total fail so far, how do i setup smb shares and configure this. The advertised ubuntu method is causing nautilus crashing. ???

  • how about linux to linux using NFS, how do i set this up?

Subject 7:

Process management and fixing stuff
so this is where i am right now and i know this is an ongoing subject.
All i've read about is a few programs like top, ps and kill to manage processes and apps. But i've found working with these difficult and much more cumbersome than "task manager" from windows.

Anyone got something better?

What happens if i totally lose my GUI? How do i restart my GUI in TTY7 from TTY1 without totally restarting the system?

**

Subject 8:

** remote management
okay so teamviewer works yay! but what about text based remote control to lan computers other internet computer? I've heard of SSH but tell me more? other suggestions?

PS: Let the learning continue...

Remi Lafo

1 Like
2

You can move this topic to a more appropriate forum if this isn't the right place. Perhaps it should have gone in linux helpdesk.

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I'll try to answer some of your questions, in the same way you've ordered them.

Subject 1:

Two sites for Linux noobs

Link: http://www.theurbanpenguin.com/
Currently there are over 500 videos available starting with introductory training with the LPI (Linux Professional Institute) Linux Essentials moving through to more technically challenging how-tos on iSCSI and Virtualization.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/user/danscourses
Dan is one of my favourites, hundreds of videos. College computer instructor specializing in teaching Cisco Academy courses on the CCNA and the CCNA Security. Lots of fun teaching stuff with tons of other computer topics as well, including Linux. Has a real nice laid back teaching style.

Subject 2:

Link: http://distrowatch.com/
Distrowatch gives a reasonable overview on currently available flavours of Linux:

Subject 3:

Link: http://www.linuxmint.com
As you're coming from Windows, I'd recommend Linux Mint Cinnamon LTS. In terms of style and use it has a familiar XP to 7 'look and feel'. Easy to customize with backgrounds, themes and icons. I refer you to subject 2, for alternatives.

Link: http://www.zdnet.com/article/best-linux-desktop-of-2014-linux-mint-17-1/

Subject 4:

No real opinion here. I just go with the best resolution I can get, usually the default.

Subject 5:

Screenshot from 2015-04-11 19:02:57.png782x655 152 KB

Mostly, things that you've installed are off your home directory. To see these, ls (that's lowercase letter L, not a 'i') in a terminal or in Nemo (file manager) select 'view' then 'show hidden files'

Right click on at icon and select uninstall, to uninstall. Self explanatory.

Subject 6:


The fabulous Nixie Pixel, will be your guide here. Set Up a Secure Network / File Sharing Server in 5 Minutes

Subject 7:

Most of the time I use a terminal, rather than a ctrl-alt function key.
My GUI is on ctrl+alt F8

Subject 8:

Link: http://www.datamation.com/open-source/linux-remote-desktop-roundup.html

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Moved to Linux help desk

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@Geoff

wow some fantastic answers, thanks i will investigate these thoroughly.

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Re "Subject 7", specifically for process monitoring.

I found glances very useful for me, someone not an expert (yet) with commands such as top, ps and the like.

It is still a very good idea to become familiar with top, ps and kill I am not recommending glances as a replacement just something simple and quick to use while learning.

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wow, i think im falling in love with KDE..

whats a very strong/best distro for KDE desktop environment?

Remilafo

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Kubuntu and Opensuse are designed as KDE as their main DE.

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If you want a more in-depth package manager but with the ease of use of GUI, try Synaptic. Long ago it was the default package manager for ubuntu, berfore they did the store thingy

If you are using gnome, it comes with a "task manager" similar to what you are used to on windows

The easiest command to remember I can think of is going to a TTY and running sudo startx
if your DM is what's misbehaving, try sudo killall gdm && sudo gdm to restart it

VNC and RDP are available to you. I used to run Vinagre for VNC and it was ok. If you want to access your computer from outside your local network you'll need to portforward on your router, and I'd recommend that if you want to expose SSH to the internet, use a port different to 22. Teamviewer is the most friendly choice, but there's also SplashTop (although the devs kinda botched the linux port and sometimes doesn't work out of the box, it's just a wine bottle for the windows streamer program)