I've been playing around with a bunch of Linux Os'es in Oracle Virtual Box. (OSBOXES.ORG)

I like Zorin and am now trying Peppermint. I have found plain Ubuntu hard to learn. Been using Microsoft OS'es since DOS 3 days... Still fond of PDP 11 and VAX/VMS.

Looking for what I might learn more easily now that I am near retirement age. Virtual Box is pretty good with Linux.

First computer game I ever played was the "cave". A text based adventure game written in fortran for Dec. l really enjoyed the Spider Solitare Microsoft had for vista, 7 and 8. I have it on 10 but it gets replaced on every major update. After I retired I wrote a solution for it to find the first empty column. I get motion sickness within minutes on 3d games so I stick to plants-vs-zombies;.

There are two parts to Linux these days, the main bit (and the only bit that is really Linux) is the kernel(*) which, for a given version number is constant. Wrapped around, and totally dependent on is the stuff that is packaged with it in the "distribution". At any one time there are thousands of distributions - and I guess that is what you are actually talking about. The distribution is responsible for the look and feel, and what "nice bits and pieces" are included.
I started a few years ago using Susie, then Red Hat neither of which was friendly to me, so I parked Linux for a time. When I tried again "Mint" was being raved about and I tried it (from a USB stick) and found it was "nearly right" for me, so I continued using, and all my recent build are running Mint of various versions between 16.x and 19.3. For me the GUI is acceptable, there is a good range of utilities already installed and those that aren't can be readily obtained.

However I have to keep a couple of Windows boxes running as there is no real alternative to Autocad - all the "free" ones either have performance issues or don't support native DWG files (which is essential when working as part of a team where everything is done in Autocad). Another, lesser, gripe is the office tools are not fully compatible with MS's offerings - I can live with that most of the time, but have to be careful when sending stuff to the rest of the team to make sure it's in the right format they can use.

(*) I know that things like graphics drivers get built into the kernel, but the core of the kernel has an API for that so I count them as additional to, not part of the kernel.

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Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

Hopefully not to add to confusion...

Linux distributions are structured:

All use the Linux kernel (including drivers);
All can load up additional drivers if needed;
The distro bundles give you a selection of software;
Distros also have their own graphical tools for selecting changes to the configs;

And then the main thing you see is whichever desktop you choose.

And the main desktops are:

KDE which has a similar look to the one only Windows desktop;
Gnome which has similar ideas to the Apple desktop;
And then there's a multitude of lightweight and specialist desktops for whatever you might prefer such as Xfce (fast) or Enlightenment (Apple-esq bling) and many others...

I usually suggest looking at such as Mageia (choose your desktop), Kubuntu (KDE), Ubuntu (Gnome), Xubuntu (Xfce), or even Zorin (Windows look).

And Boinc can be graphically installed from the distro's software repositories for all the main distros.
Take a look at the choice!

Happy crunchin'
Martin

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See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Maybe what's the best is not the right question, specially if you are like me when i tried my first Linux builds a Windows only user with zero knowledge on Linux.

Best not means the easier to install and put Boinc to run.

Each one has it's "best" option, there are so many sauces of Linux and all has pros & cons.

Bu if you think start a Linux host for crunching the easy way is to go for 2 species, Ubuntu or Mint.

Why? Because they are the ones who most of us uses and are easier to find most of the solutions to your questions.

I use Ubuntu and works fine and the TBar AIO makes the installation of Boinc an easy task.

Those who use Mint could tell you more about the installation there.

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Thank you for the replies. Yes, I guess I mean Linux Distribution or "distro". My understanding is the Linux has something called x-windows which allows for the graphical display of choice which is is another layer, like Gnome and the others.

If I could figure out how, I'd change the thread title to Linux Distro, what's the best flavor for long time MS Windows users.

I found Peppermint ("built on" Ubuntu) to boot and run very quickly and Zorin, which is also built on Ubuntu to be friendly and it was easy to install TBar's AIO on it. And crunching on Zorin is so much faster than doing it on Windows, it is mind-boggling.

I think I will try "Mint" for a little bit too.

I too, have a problem where work needs me to use software like MS Office (Excel, Access) and SQL Server extensively, so I made my main driver dual boot and it runs Zorin at night and Windows 10 during the work day. Zorin "software updates" are so much nicer than "Windows and other software updates."

If I could figure out how, I'd change the thread title to Linux Distro, what's the best flavor for long time MS Windows users.

Title changed. Hope that is OK. :)

If any OP wants the title changed for their thread contact a mod or press the Red X and make the request.

Thank you cRunchy!

The only issue I had with Tbar's all in one was with Astropulse on Nvdia cards. I think I had to do:

sudo apt-get install ocl-icd-libopencl1

to install the OpenCL driver. Everything else was done for me.

Hi IntenseGuy,

If I could figure out how, I'd change the thread title to Linux Distro, what's the best flavor for long time MS Windows users.

For future reference, to change the title in a thread that you start you need to make a new post to the thread, no replying or quoting, must be a new post. Once it is posted to the thread, you edit the post and you can change the title as you like. :)

My main Linux PC has Linux Mint installed. I like it a lot. My 3 Raspberry Pis have Raspbian which is based on Debian. I watched a video, some time ago, warning people about what Ubuntu is up to. I don't remember the gist of the video off hand; I'd have to find it again. I never did like Ubuntu anyway. I think, if memory serves me, that they were trying to monetize Ubuntu somehow. As I said, I'd have to find the video again. Perhaps I can and link it here. Until then, I have to say I like this thread.

Have a great day! :)

Siran

[edit]
I found the Ubuntu video I mentioned. I watched about half of it and I was right, they did try to monetize Ubuntu. Plus it's bloated like Windows and other stuff.
[/edit]

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CAPT Siran d'Vel'nahr - L L & P _\\//
Winders 11 OS? "What a piece of junk!" - L. Skywalker
"Logic is the cement of our civilization with which we ascend from chaos using reason as our guide." - T'Plana-hath

Interesting video. But Ubuntu currently does not monetize the desktop product. The main point I got out of the video is the main one why I chose Ubuntu. It is easy to install for a newbie. If I had been able to get Mint working with BOINC and the special app, I probably would still be on Mint. Mint was the first Linux distro I tried and could not get it to install or work correctly. Spent a couple of days scouring the internet looking for solutions and answers. Finally one of the answers was to try Ubuntu. Instant success. Yes I would agree it is bloated. So is Windows. Ubuntu does have a minimal installation now that gets rid of most of the bloatware. That problem is solved. The other point I got out of the video is the one that pointed out that Ubuntu has a terrific community support system. A minute in the forums provides the answer to how to do things or fix a problem. Yes, it may not be bleeding edge like some of the distros, but the common theme that Ubuntu does not look like Windows is a plus to me. Or that people don't like the look of Ubuntu. I could care less what it looks like, I just want it to work with no fuss or muss. I don't want it to look or work like Windows. I just want things to work which Ubuntu does very well.

My $0.02 on the topic.

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Seti@Home classic workunits:20,676 CPU time:74,226 hours

A proud member of the OFA (Old Farts Association)

Interesting video. But Ubuntu currently does not monetize the desktop product. The main point I got out of the video is the main one why I chose Ubuntu. It is easy to install for a newbie. If I had been able to get Mint working with BOINC and the special app, I probably would still be on Mint. Mint was the first Linux distro I tried and could not get it to install or work correctly. Spent a couple of days scouring the internet looking for solutions and answers. Finally one of the answers was to try Ubuntu. Instant success. Yes I would agree it is bloated. So is Windows. Ubuntu does have a minimal installation now that gets rid of most of the bloatware. That problem is solved. The other point I got out of the video is the one that pointed out that Ubuntu has a terrific community support system. A minute in the forums provides the answer to how to do things or fix a problem. Yes, it may not be bleeding edge like some of the distros, but the common theme that Ubuntu does not look like Windows is a plus to me. Or that people don't like the look of Ubuntu. I could care less what it looks like, I just want it to work with no fuss or muss. I don't want it to look or work like Windows. I just want things to work which Ubuntu does very well.

My $0.02 on the topic.

Hi Keith,

Yes, they no longer have Ubuntu monetized. It's the fact that they went the route of Micro$oft and did it to begin with that is the problem. What will they try in the future? Canonical (sp) seems to be following the road that Micro$oft paved so many years ago. ;)

I tried Ubuntu and Kubuntu and hated both of them. I had read about Ubuntu being easy for noobs that knew only Winders. I tried them, I dropped them and stayed with Winders.

Then I read about Linux Mint. Ok, I'll give that one try. It's supposed to be easy for Winders only noobs to try Linux too. I had it dual booting with my Win7. I had no problem with it and I liked it. I did not use it for BOINC and SETI because it was just for testing at the time. But still, I liked it. Then I built my 8th Gen Intel PC and didn't put Mint back on it, mainly because of Micro$oft and Winders 10. I then rebuilt my old 4th Gen Intel PC and put Linux Mint on it with BOINC running SETI with an older "secret sauce" version. My only problem with Mint is, I'm no Linux guru. ;) I know just enough to get by. But the install and setup was a piece of cake and Mint is easy to use.

Have a great day! :)

Siran

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CAPT Siran d'Vel'nahr - L L & P _\\//
Winders 11 OS? "What a piece of junk!" - L. Skywalker
"Logic is the cement of our civilization with which we ascend from chaos using reason as our guide." - T'Plana-hath

On my headless servers I use Ubuntu Server with the xfce desktop just in case I ever want to remote desktop into them which is almost never. I also have Linux Mint on a laptop and on a dual boot windows PC.

Ubuntu has such a large community of users that if you ever have a problem it is easy to google up the solution because someone else has already had the same problem.

Lately I have installed Lubuntu on a few older computers and I am very happy with that distro. I find that Linux runs so much faster than Windows on older computers, which is what I have, that I don't ever consider using windows on them.

The Raspberry Pis use Raspbian (Jesse and Stretch).

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As an off-and-on Linux user since the 90s, I have tried all the major distros. Seems I always come back to the Debian eco-system (Debian, all flavors of Ubuntu, and others). The Debian systems seems to mesh best with my way of thinking. Across all those distros, there really is not much difference. The guts are the same and basically use all the same tools.....just different desktop environment choices (which you can change btw) and default packaging. Most all distros based on Ubuntu use the Ubuntu repos (and Ubuntu uses the Debian repos), so you are basically getting the same packaged software across all of them.

As for desktop, I am not super particular, but I do see where many get flummoxed. If you are a long time Windows users, there is nothing in the Linux universe exactly like it. Gnome (what base Ubuntu uses) is very different feeling that windows. KDE feels somewhat like Windows. Xfce as well.

All my crunchers are running Xubuntu (Ubuntu with XFCE desktop). When I ran my main PC on Linux for several years before having to change back to Windows, I was running Ubuntu Mate (Ubuntu with Mate desktop). My laptop currently runs Pop_OS (based on Ubuntu with GNOME desktop). My servers all run Ubuntu Server.

My main PC is currently running Windows 10, as like everyone else, I use some proprietary software that there is simply not a Linux equivalent (or not good enough). Software issues are still a big problem in desktop Linux. Someone mentioned incompatibility with MS Office and LibreOffice. The problem here is that MS does not completely adhere to the Open Document format, so anything "Not Office" will have compatibility issues with Office. I really wish this would get worked out some day. MS dominates this segment; they have no eagerness to comply.

A lot of new users to Linux do not realize that the bulk of programmers in the Linux world do work pro-bono. They have a real job that pays the bills and do Linux Dev on the side. There are core programmers who do get paid to work on GNU/Linux full time, but they are way out numbered by the volunteers. Because of all of this, it will be an on-going battle for support as long as Linux desktop usage stays relatively low. Software companies just don't see the value with a small user base and don't hire or otherwise put in heavy effort to develop apps.....even though the OS can be much easier to work in and more stable....it is unfortunate and creates a "chicken and egg" scenario that has been well documented over the years (need apps to get users, need users to justify app developers). A lot of the lack of polish and the configuration problems many in this forum bring up has its base in this situation...there simply are not the teams of developers in the FOSS world as there is in the paid software world.

When you take into account the chicken and egg problem with Linux, it is amazing where it sits in the IT world. A very large majority of servers run Linux. It is only the desktop space where Linux is the lesser player.

If you are a tweaker, every desktop can be modified to suit your needs and make it feel the way you want. It just depends on how far down the rabbit hole you want to go. For example, there are add-ons that will make GNOME feel much closer to windows 10. Linux is infinitely modifiable. Coming from Windows, that can be very strange as MS locks a lot of stuff down. You have infinite power to make Linux how you want...but, with that power, it can be really easy to hang yourself....and Linux will give you all the rope it can....lol

Having so many distros is both a great thing and a terrible thing for Linux. It creates a lot of choice, but also creates a lot of confusion. The spread of developer talent across all the different projects dilutes things and sometime slows progress and polish. At the same time, sometimes forking a project to make something new creates real innovation. It really is a double-edged sword.

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This has been my experience here keeping PC's running in this country area of Australia.

For the last few years I've had 2 laptops here loaded with 2 different flavours of Linux, Mint & Ubuntu, in preparation for Vista's end of life (and no one liking M$'s then latest OS's) as there were a lot of these computers being used around here and mostly owned by elderly people (60-90yrs), as well as the fact that I hate seeing perfectly good hardware going to waste.

After trying both laptops every one of them went with Mint.

Since then I've lost count of the number of Mint installs that I've done now, but soon after finishing all the Vista PC's around here the Windows 8/8.1 PC's starting turning up to be Minted and now it's Windows 10 PC's turning up (living out in the country with our limited internet connections Win10 is not only hurting peoples' browsing experience it's hurting their pockets as well, along with the ever rising privacy concerns attached to it).

The only 2 Win7 PC's that I've converted over so far are my 2 main rigs (dual boot via BIOS and I still have 2 others for doing Windows' things on and they'll stay that way until the day they die), but I expect that to change in the next 18 months and some are already starting to inquire about it already (though I have been telling them to hang on for as long as they can).

Cheers.

Thank you to everyone that replied. I have learned a lot.

Another vote for Mint here... it seems to be tailor-made for migrating from Windows with its interface, menu and control placement, and suite of pre-installed apps. After using Mint I tried Ubuntu and did not like it at all in comparison. Mint is an Ubuntu derivative so is completely compatible, certainly for SETI@Home purposes! All my computers except one including my daily driver are Mint now. (I keep the one Ubuntu box for testing.)

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I played with Denbian Buster today as well as Mint. Denbian and Raspbian are similar, and I wasn't too keen on it. I liked Mint. Going to dual boot my laptop with Mint tomorrow.

I have a Pi in a box somewhere, I should dig it out soon and run seti on it.

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SETI@home classic workunits 103,576
SETI@home classic CPU time 655,753 hours

The dual boot installation went well. My Dell E7470 is happy with Mint and has Windows 10 for when I need it (for work). I spent a while with the GRUB loader thing - started from "it's gibberish" and ended up with "it's pretty cool."

I found this helpful:

https://itsfoss.com/grub-customizer-ubuntu/

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SETI@home classic workunits 103,576
SETI@home classic CPU time 655,753 hours

Mint is my "Daily Driver" because it "just works" and the desktop is similar enough to Windows that you don't have to switch Brain Modes when you go back to Windows. You can sit an average Windows user down in front of it, and they will soon find their way around.

Boinc is installed via the program manager, and you can set up remote desktop for headless rigs,

It's based in Ubuntu, just with a more "Windows" looking desktop.