Linux v windows

forgotmyname

esuhl wrote: »

Whaaat?! But the terminal is where all the cool stuff happens!

Honestly, some things are much easier in the terminal, and it's often easier to tell someone to type a command, rather than guide them through a complex user-interface (especially if you're communicating via phone/email).

Try that when the person your teaching forgets what/where the retirn key is every 5 minutes.

Cannot see the program icon down by the clock, but the screenshot they sent me clearly shows it.

Click the X in the top right. it says menu. No above that further up and even more to the right. TOP/RIGHT shouting down the phone....
Then they mention something else which is still not top or right...

OK type your password and press enter, whats my password? The pne you just wrote in your little password book i got you?
Cannot find it... 10 minutes later typed it in now what. press enter. Wheres enter?
ARGGHH.. Good job i dont collect japanese Hara-kiri swords.

The thought of Linix for them makes me shudder, althugh talking them through fixing opem with options in windows 10 is getting just as bad.

These icons have appeared and my program wont open wtih xx anymore. No your windows 10 virus did that and you have to live with it.

Mr_Toad

forgotmyname wrote: »

Try that when the person your teaching forgets what/where the retirn key is every 5 minutes.

Cannot see the program icon down by the clock, but the screenshot they sent me clearly shows it.

Click the X in the top right. it says menu. No above that further up and even more to the right. TOP/RIGHT shouting down the phone....
Then they mention something else which is still not top or right...

OK type your password and press enter, whats my password? The pne you just wrote in your little password book i got you?
Cannot find it... 10 minutes later typed it in now what. press enter. Wheres enter?
ARGGHH.. Good job i dont collect japanese Hara-kiri swords.

The thought of Linix for them makes me shudder, althugh talking them through fixing opem with options in windows 10 is getting just as bad.

These icons have appeared and my program wont open wtih xx anymore. No your windows 10 virus did that and you have to live with it.

I'm afraid there will always be people who are too stupid to own a computer no matter what the OS is.

Then there are those others, the clever ones like my friend.

He speaks five languages and can play half a dozen musical instruments but is often outwitted by his toaster.

Various people, me included, have spent endless hours trying to show him how to use a computer to no avail. How can you remember enough words in five languages to be totally fluent and yet be unable to remember that the envelope icon on the desktop with 'Mail' written underneath it will open his email?

fenlander_uk

TeamViewer?

spud17

Mr_Toad wrote: »

I'm afraid there will always be people who are too stupid to own a computer no matter what the OS is.

Then there are those others, the clever ones like my friend.

He speaks five languages and can play half a dozen musical instruments but is often outwitted by his toaster.

Various people, me included, have spent endless hours trying to show him how to use a computer to no avail. How can you remember enough words in five languages to be totally fluent and yet be unable to remember that the envelope icon on the desktop with 'Mail' written underneath it will open his email?

Sounds similar to my occasional phone support.:)

"Just click the soddin' great icon in the middle of the screen".

They then go through everything they can see on the screen except the one required.

esuhl

fenlander_uk wrote: »

TeamViewer?

That's not usually on option on business systems for security reasons. And both parties would need to be available at the same time, which isn't possible in instruction manuals, web forums, etc.

Also, GNU is open source so there are often a variety of graphical front-ends that you could use for a program. Text commands are less likely to change in subsequent versions that GUI layouts.

The best thing is that there is a choice of OSes and user-interfaces. Just use whatever's easiest for you. But I think it's a mistake to run a GNU/Linux OS and deliberately try to avoid terminal shell commands. It just seems like trying to run Windows without a mouse. (Sort of.)

patman99

Never failed to get a printer working in Linux. In fact, it only took 5 minutes to get my Canon MP620 fully working in Linux as opposed to 90 minutes in Windows.

Windows hated the fact that I also had drivers for an HP installed (two printer household). Linux didn't !!!!! and require me to uninstall the HP drivers and software first.

Currently running a W10 desktop, a dual-booting Mint/Win10 laptop and have just embarked on setting-up an old laptop with ArchLinux (defo one for the not-so-faint-hearted).

letsbehonest

I decided to try out Linux after years of deliberation and installed Linux Mint onto my laptop via a spare HDD I had. 3 weeks on I am quite impressed with it it runs much in the same way as windows. It does not need any anti virus package, yes you will have to play with it to get the feel of it. It is quick, you don't get the annoying updates as in windows, it is very light no bloatware
It's very easy to install and there are lot's of free software apps pre-installed. enough for any average user and the support forums is very good indeed.
Very good post by Fenlander by the way

Undervalued

letsbehonest wrote: »

I decided to try out Linux after years of deliberation and installed Linux Mint onto my laptop via a spare HDD I had. 3 weeks on I am quite impressed with it it runs much in the same way as windows. It does not need any anti virus package, yes you will have to play with it to get the feel of it. It is quick, you don't get the annoying updates as in windows, it is very light no bloatware
It's very easy to install and there are lot's of free software apps pre-installed. enough for any average user and the support forums is very good indeed.

If you don't have to interact with users of main stream commercial software then I would largely agree.

The problem is when you do. Take Open Office, or one of its derivations for example. Stand alone it works great. It will generally open and save MS Office documents OK until you get to something more involved. Slightly more complex templates produced in MS Office can sometimes give very unexpected results!

The GIMP is another example. Very powerful Photoshop alternative, in most respects, but you try working on a PSD file along with somebody who is using Adobe.

It is a shame really as in so many respects it out performs Windows and will give a new lease of life to a computer that was only just about creaking along.

If you want the power of Unix with a very polished user interface and the ability to run all the major commercial packages then you use a Mac. However you pay handsomely for the privilege!

fenlander_uk

I'm a week into Linux Mint full time on my laptop (Lenovo i5/8GB/SSD) and I'm totally pleased. Immediately post-installation there were still a few minor niggles but I've resolved all these with a little help from Google and the Mint forums, even though the Linux advice on line all seems to be 5 years old or more. Among other things:

- I've now sorted my Canon MP620 which not only prints, but also scans perfectly. And it not only scans, it also does real time OCR.
- I've updated my Nvidia drivers and can now switch between Intel and Nvidia graphics. Intel is much more battery-friendly - and much cooler-running.
Neither of these worked fully under W10.
- Updated Libre Office and am still evaluating it against WPS Office. Either will fill my needs.
- Discovered that Audacious is as good at reading Audiobooks as the dedicated apps in W10.
- and that Variety is a fantastic desktop wallpaper switcher that gives W10 desktop themes a hiding.

I've happily lost the constant W10 nags that my last USB device is not working when no USB devices are connected. No endless updates; no popup ads from my anti-virus (none needed so no database updates or scans).

Losses. A few things that slightly spoil the party:
- Linux does not support Intel Quick Sync Video, so a video encode with Handbrake that used to take 5 minutes now takes an hour.
- GIMP really is no replacement for Photoshop Elements. Some things it does better than PSE, like perspective correction, but other simple processes are a chore. Other graphics viewers/editors are not a patch on those available in Windows. (I know....Wine....next week)
- Also the battery monitor in Mint is poor so you need to watch your charge state, though this does not qualify as a party-spoiler.
- Oh, and I haven't yet found a way to use my lappy's built-in cam but it hasn't worked since W7 days and I don't need it anyway.

Next: install XAMPP so I can do some website development jobs on the machine and TeamViewer so I can keep an eye on what my W10 machine is getting up to when it thinks nobody's watching.

Overall, I'm really enjoying using the laptop for the first time since W10 took it over. It's now completely trouble-free and hassle-free. However, I confess that I do have that lurking W10 machine that I mainly use as a media centre, but that also does the business when I need Quick Sync Video or Photoshop Elements.

(Total cost £0.00.)

tronator

fenlander_uk wrote: »

Next: install XAMPP so I can do some website development jobs on the machine

No need for XAMPP on Linux, just use the native Apache, MySQL (or MariaDB) and PHP packages.