Linux for noobs

Philtre

Am I right in thinking Ubuntu is back on Gnome now?

Apparently 17.10 uses Gnome.

RedRabbit

digitalscream said:

RedRabbit said:

digitalscream said:

Ubuntu gives you the option to install proprietary-licensed stuff like codecs on installation, and then there's an option for downloading closed-source drivers in the Software and Updates application.

Must have changed since I last installed Ubuntu then - it's probably a fair few years ago. Am I right in thinking Ubuntu is back on Gnome now?

As of 17.10 yes, I think. I've used GNOME for ages now, it's always just been smoother and more stable than Unity.

Although the proprietary drivers thing has been in there since 12.04 as far as I know...it's certainly been a number of years since I had to install NVidia drivers manually.

It was more the option during installation that I was thinking of.  That said, for drivers it might have just been the option to enable them in the repository by default rather than actually installing them.

I never tried Unity but read plenty of negative reviews.  Never been much of a Gnome user either.  Always preferred KDE when I first started using Linux and then moved onto OpenBox when I switched to Arch and haven't looked back. 

monquixote

Adam_MD said:

monquixote said:What you need to appreciate is that any one of us could have our own Linux distro if we wanted to so most of them are made by some bloke in a shed. Ubuntu and Fedora are made by big companies with lots of care and attention and support and documentation so that's really what you want to go for until you really know what you are doing.

All I’ve ever really known is windows I’ve used macs but not very often and the general advice seems to be mint is one of the easiest for those of us coming from windows to manage.  Would you recommend me going with Ubuntu itself instead?  

Ive got the rest of today to myself so am going to clone my HDD onto the new ssd, partition it and put Linux on in dual boot with win 10.  im going to try Linux for internets and pedal decals and keep windows for ableton live then when I’m used to Linux and feeling braver I’m going to try reaper and see if I can live it.  If that works I might dump windows altogether.  

I don't know anything about Mint other than that it's quite popular so I expect it's probably fine. I just use Ubuntu because it's what I use on my servers and it's easier to develop on the same distro as you deploy on.

So glad they dropped Unity I always hated it.

Axe_meister

One thing windows need a to get rid of is drive letters. A real pain in the arse.
Likewise Linux does need some simplification, I.e. a human readable file system structure, e.g. programs installed into "program files". 
MacOS does hide the Unix file system to some degree bit then forces you to so things their way (importing pictures into its own photo library) making it difficult to pick up the files if you want to use an alternative tool such as light room.
At least with windows all photos get stored by default into "pictures" so you just point light room at that.
It'll be interesting to see where MS is going to go with it's Linux integration.

monquixote

Who cares where the program is if it's on your path?

Mac is also terrible for this. Stuff ends up everywhere.