Emmigrating to Linux: A guide

Operating Systems & Open Source Linux
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Immigrating to Linux?

So you are thinking about making the switch to Linux? I've been at this crossroad as well, and boy was it a tough decision to make. But in retrospect, I have no idea why I was considering the positives of not coming to Linux.

Why make the switch?

**HELP?** I could use help adding and rewording these reasons

This is going to be different from person to person, but for me it was the free upgrades. At the time that I started to use Linux, I just started High School, and as a typical teen. I had no money. So being able to have the latest of what was out their was a killer thing for me.

Here is a list of reasons to make the switch to Linux:

  • Free upgrades

  • Centralized location of certified packages, so you won't have to search the web for packages and hope that it is legit

  • Education - You can learn a lot about how computers operate thanks to Linux and the quantity and strive for open source applications.

  • Multiple desktops are available - helping you gel more with your workflow

  • Run-ability: Linux can on just about any hardware with acceptable performance

  • Community support: When at the check out counter now, the lady/man will ask if you want to add customer care packages to the purchase of your computer so you can get live technical support via e-mail or by the phone. Whether or not the operator who takes your problem has had the same problem you had is unknown. They may upgrade your ticket to a higher level of support and/or tell you to re-install the OS or the software. While in the Linux universe, there are hundreds of forums and thousands of users on those forums, all of whom can answer your question, as they all have had a situation close to yours. And each distro. has their own forum, so you are able to get support from some one you know is using the same OS you are. Not to mention that developers of the OS often visit the forums and can chime in on your problem or question.

  • Security: Like Mac OSX it is really hard to encounter a virus or bug that can comprise the stability and data on your system. And when one is found, the developers are quick to find a valid antidote and publish it in days of the bug being known.

Is it right for me?

Don't forget that you can Dual-Boot Linux with Windows and Mac OSX

Off the bat, if you are gamer this may not be for you. Their are not a large quantity of "AA" or "AAA" titles on Linux. And the games achieve similar/better performance on Windows.

Also if your employer has you use software at home that only works on Windows, do not make the full time switch, as the software wont work. If you do find an alternative, you must make sure that your employer allows you to use the alternative and that is compatible with the software that the company is using.

If you are a CAD guy or a video editor, Linux may not be right for you as their are not fully featured alternatives to the programs you are using available on the Linux platform and may be incompatible even thru WINE.

What distribution is right for me?

One of, if not the most asked question coming from someone who is thinking about switching to Linux is, What distribution is right for me? Although I can not answer that question for you directly, I hope to make the decision a little easier for you. By briefly explaining to you the differences between some of the major Linux distros, their ease of use and the goals the operating system maintainers are striving for.

  • Ubuntu - Ubuntu is a Linux Distribution that aims to be as easy to use for a new Linux user as possible, while not numbing down the Linux experience too much. Some times you may need to use the terminal to get things done. In terms of ease of install, Ubuntu is one of the easiest distro's to install. It is basically a carbon copy of the Windows Install Wizard, it just takes a couple of clicks and you are good to go. If you do not want to install Ubuntu you can use the CD Live and have no affect on your hard drive. Ubuntu is also available in many different languages, so if English is not your native tongue, it does not matter, you can easily use it in your native language. A con of Ubuntu is their desktop. They use Unity as their desktop. Unity at first comes off as if someone where trying to describe the Mac OSX GUI to someone on a phone during a hurricane. It can be clumsy to use, and is not that configurable out of the box. But once you get in the groove it is one of the easier desktops to use. Ubuntu does not offer testing versions of applications, only stable ones out of the box. As far as the community is concerned, Ubuntu have some of the friendliest forum/mailing list users, and the moderators do their best to keep things calm and to keep the bullies out. No 3rd party codecs are available out of the box but can be added in via a 3rd party repository, or while installing Ubuntu on the system you can check the box next to: Install this third-party software.

  • Linux Mint - Ubuntu used to be the most searched for operating system according to distrowatch.com, however once Ubuntu made the switch to Unity it fell. And in its place, Linux Mint took the crown. Linux Mint has two desktops that you can choose at download time. You can choose MATE, which may remind you of Windows XP, and Cinnamon. Linux Mint aims to be as easy to use as possible and at the same time look elegant and polished. Out of the box, it is one of the better looking distros. While Ubuntu does not come with codecs pre-included out of the box, on the downloads page for Linux Mint you can choose mint with codecs, so out of the box you can enjoy all of your media. Linux Mint also have friendly forums/mailing lists, and their moderators are also very thorough in their work. Only stable packages are available, but bleeding edge packages can be added in by adding in the backport repository

  • Chakra - Chakra aims to make an advanced Linux Distribution a lot less complicated and bring what it is based off of Arch Linux to a lot more users, specifically new users. I am going to begin by commenting on the friendliness of the forum. The people in it are very nice and most are European, which is not a problem, just expect some mangled English. The problem comes to the amount and type of rules. If you do not read carefully you can get your post removed by the moderators. For example, back when I was a user, their was this point that it was not allowed to make a post in colour. I made a "Hello" post and put a couple of words in colour, and got my post removed. While other forum moderators will let things slide, moderators on Chakra will not. As for ease of use on install, it is very easy and similar to Windows Install Wizard. However their are a lot of bugs in the distributions install wizard. You have to read the release notes when/before downloading the distro. I love the XFS file system, and when I was installing Chakra with XFS, the installer froze, not reading the release notes, I went to the forum where they replied that their was a bug with installing the system from a CD with XFS. They also told me that the only way to install XFS was via a network install. The posters on the forum not only told me what was wrong but how to fix it. Unfortunately, the net install did not work because when the distro was released their was a bug with the installer playing nice with network cards. So I had to choose a different filesystem. Be prepared to use your plan B's and C's. Chakra ships with developmental packages so be sure to expect problems. When looking for help or research gathering, do not use the Chakra forum as it is really outdated, instead use the Arch Linux forum.

  • Fedora - Fedora is focused more on stability then anything else. Doing things are not as easy as on Ubuntu or Linux Mint. In Fedora one will use the command line more. And just as in Ubuntu no codecs are installed by default. To get them , you would have to add in a third party repository and then install the codecs. The community knows their stuff and can have a short fuse, but for the most part they are friendly people. Fedora does not have the latest ( unstable) or newest versions of packages out their. They may have a software package that is several versions old. This is for good reason tho, because they thoroughly test each application version before it is released to minimize the amount of bugs that the end user may face. Fedora may not have the latest packages but they are always one of the first to bring new technologies to the Linux spotlight, they were one of the first to bring systemd and wayland to a working Linux distro. If you do not want to install the system right away Fedora includes a Live Desktop allowing you to mess around without wiping your hard drive. This is great for those who are indecisive on whether or not they want Fedora. And when you do want to install Fedora it will be fast and easy. Their are no bugs to report of inside the installer and is as easy to install as Ubuntu.

  • OpenSuse - Is a German Linux Distribution that is sponsored and manufactured thru the SUSE Linux Gmbh company, which is owned by Novell. Once based of off Slackware Linux it is now its own independent Distro. OpenSuse has three versions available. Leap which is more stable and has older package versions and even has packages from their Server repository. Their is also Tumbleweed which has newer packages and finally they have their regular distribution which is called openSUSE. Tumbleweed is a rolling release meaning that it will be supported forever and Leap has its releases supported for 36 months. openSUSE releases are supported for 18 months. And whats cool about OpenSuse is that if you are are running an older version of openSUSE like 13.1, instead of upgrading to a newer version of openSUSE, you can keep using 13.1 for a while as some OS versions get longer support (18 to 30 months) thru their Evergreen project. Which provides security and stability patches and fixes. https://en.opensuse.org/openSUSE:Evergreen. The community are very helpful and very willing to help, even as far as to include screen shots of their desktops to get the problem or question resolved. OpenSUSE for all of their OS versions ship with KDE out of the box. OpenSuse tries to be as stable as possible while also rolling out new technologies. They were one of the first distros. to ship with Btrfs as the default filesystem out of the box.

So what it boils down to is what you want:

  • Out of box stability: Fedora, OpenSuse

  • Out of box looks and ease of use: Linux Mint

  • Out of box ease of use: Ubuntu

  • Out of box availability of bleeding edge packages: Chakra

What Desktop is right for me?

Their are literally hundreds of Desktops available on Linux. Some are used by thousands thanks to its ease of use and customization and some are small projects with a set of hard core users.

Choosing the right Desktop is as important as a therapist to patient relationship. You may want to switch to Linux because of your reasons, but more or less if its not easy you may recall back to your original OS. Many consumers, when facing a bad product return it and never come back and leave a negative review. In reality the product may have fitted their needs perfectly, it was just the cumbersomeness of the product that left a bad taste in their mouths.

To be successful in keeping your residential status in Linux, choose a desktop that is right for you. Also choosing a distro that out of the box has the Desktop you are looking for is key. Linux is highly flexible to the users needs, so if you want Ubuntu but don't want Unity you can remove Unity and install MATE, alternatively, you can download Ubuntu MATE, which hasMATE by default.

In terms of RAM usage this is how some of the Desktops fair:

KDE

GNOME 3

GNOME 3 is one of the most used Desktop Environments on all of Linux, thanks to its versatility. It can be used on a traditional Desktop or a tablet with ease. Also, if you run older hardware, GNOME 3 has a fallback mode so you can run it on hardware that doesn't cut the mustard anymore.

To new users GNOME 3 may seem a bit odd, as it does not have a traditional application menu. To view the applications you have installed you must move your mouse to the top left the screen, then you can view your application and work-spaces. But GNOME 3, being GNOME 3, tons of extensions are available, after a little bit of looking you can find an extension that gives you a traditional Applications Menu.

GNOME 3 before Applications Menu extension, under the Activities Button:

GNOME 3 after Applications Menu extension, called Axe Menu:

MATE

Cinnamon

Cinnamon is a community fork of GNOME 3 done by the Mint Team. It aims to make GNOME 3 as easy to use for new users out of the box as possible. It looks and feels more like a traditional desktop and is easy to use for new users. Cinnamon is one of the default desktops of Linux Mint and can be found in almost all of the other Linux distribution's repositories if you did want to install it on another distro. Although it is based off of Gnome 3, some, not ALL, extensions work on Cinnamon.

How to ask questions on forum/mailing list

When asking a question on the forums or mailing lists, its important to be as descriptive as possible. A post that is not descriptive may yield more follow up questions which may take days to get answered or people just skipping on answering the post entirely as their may be to much work in getting the post solved thanks to the vagueness of the post. Many things can be causing what is describing your problem. The more info you can provide and the more accurate you are, the faster you will get help and getting an answer.

Step 1 - Write a descriptive title of the problem you are facing

If you can not log in, say that in the title.

example:

Cannot log in to the computer.

Not:

My computer hates me

Or:

Computer problems.

Step 2 - Be as descriptive as possible in the message.

Put all of the relevant details to your problem here. Make sure to include package versions and application logs. If you do not where the log file lives for your application you can simply google the <package name> log file. It may also help, especially for repository problems to post the time/timezone/date when the problem started to occur. Also be sure to include what you were doing when the problem happened, how often you update the packages, and did the software work before you updated the system.

example for unable to log in:

Today I was unable to login in to my user account. However I am able to login to the root account, and the three other users can log in on their non root accounts on the system. I restarted the computer last night after I was finished upgrading from Ubuntu 10.04 to 10.10. This was the first time I updated anything in a while, I just came back from vacation. The last time I ran apt-get update was on Jan. 24 and today is December 10. This was the only thing that I have done on the computer since getting back from vacation. Upon coming back I powered on, logged into my account and ran apt-get update I was informed of a version upgrade and upgraded to the latest OS. I then turned off the computer, once the upgrade said it was finished and safe to power off.

example for an application crashing:

Firefox version 4.3.233.2-3 crashes on Ubuntu 15.04 whenever I try to open a new tab. It works fine with just one tab open, all of the features work, but when I click to add a second tab, it crashes. I tried opening it as root and the problem still occurred. This did not happen before I updated the system last week. Here is the output of the logfile, it is too big to post here in the description so I posted it on pastebin.com

Step 3 - Add descriptive tags

Some forums allow the user to add tags to their questions in order for them to be found by a wider audience. Include the <package name> the <problem you are encountering> and the <OS> and the <version of the OS>.

example:

firefox crashes ubuntu 10.10

Step 4 - R-E-L-A-X

Do not post the question again on the same forum. Be patient. If your problem did not get resolved or you are not getting answers it is more or less because you are not descriptive. If you are a horrible writer and bad at explaining yourself thru words you can upload pictures of the problem.

Guides

Ubuntu has great guides available. As I said above Unity is not the easiest to use. However Ubuntu includes a guide to get you more comfortable with Unity. https://help.ubuntu.com/stable/ubuntu-help/shell-overview.html More guides are available at, https://help.ubuntu.com/stable/ubuntu-help/

Wiki's

For help with Chakra use the Arch Wiki: https://wiki.archlinux.org/ , they have great and fully featured documentation available.

OS Forums

Ubuntu - www.ubuntuforums.org

Arch - www.bbs.archlinux.org

Fedora - www.fedoraforum.org

Chakra - www.Chakraos.org/forum

Linux Mint - www.forums.linuxmint.com/

OpenSuse - www.forums.opensuse.org/forum.php

7 Likes
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I did not know about Chakra, and I'm stoked to take a look at it. Especially for my upcoming purchase of an Surface Book. And I hope @wendell will do and review and linux howto like he did with the Surface.

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I think that is the best statement anyone can make. It's usually terminology that makes people rage in forums/chats across the web. It's how to ask the question...

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Ya, especially for the more advanced distros. They get mad at all of the mistakes users make while generating their question. It seems that the more advanced you get, in terms of what distro. you use, the more hate their is to dumb questions. And by dumb questions I do not mean stupid questions I mean questions that, as you say, have the wrong terminology or common sense questions even. The community kinda acts like High School teachers, where they get mad at students for asking question on something that they should of learned and memorized back from when they were younger. My 11th grade math teacher always used to yell at me for asking questions on "My Dear Aunt Sally". Which was something that I was taught back in the 5th grade. Usually the easy to use Distro's have forum users that are more forgiving on whats wrong with the question and answer it.

When I installed Arch, I never went to the Arch forums for help, because I knew they would tell me to RTFM. So I went to the Ubuntu forums and did not tell anyone that I was running Arch, I made them think I was using Ubuntu. Of course if this was a problem to do with the package management it may not of worked out so well as they would know that Pacman is not available on Ubuntu.

The way some users defended their views on forums, its as if someone were attacking their boyfriend/girlfriend/wife/husband.

The more educated you sound, the more research you gather, is key to having success in not getting raged upon when asking a question. Its also important to be fully aware, if you are half a sleep you can let things slip and anger some people.

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You are by far going to have the sexiest Linux laptop/tablet.

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Because of the nature of Linux for example, Arch: Build an environment from the ground up, You basically become attached to it. YOU built it, its yours, unique, special to you, like your gaming PC for instance. Honestly, thats cool and all but there are people with who genuinely need help and can't get it because people can't see past the glare of their LED lights in their system. Ive been disxcouraged a bit, but I like to learn. Tutorials like this are very helpful

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I'm recommending this course to everyone now. Explains the fundamentals of using linux from the command line up. The beauty of that is you will be able to use any distro with only minor differences like the package manager's commands (which can be found in the man pages).

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No Opensuse? :(

Not sure there is really a guides for switching over since everyone's needs are different. Good content in the post.

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I'll add OpenSuse and others on Monday. I don't really do stuff on the weekend....or on a weekday come to think of it.

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