The Terminal is Best: My Linux Journey

My first exposure to Linux was in the 90s when a school friend picked up a copy of Mandriva and tried to teach me perl. In the early 2000s, my university heavily encouraged usage of Linux on the desktop, alongside Windows and the (then new) Mac OS X. For about seven or eight years, Linux was my primary desktop. I ran Debian on a Dell laptop and a home-built desktop. OpenOffice was my main office application. I spent hours stuffing around with Xinerama and Compviz and software RAID, and I predominantly used GNOME as my desktop environment. The terminal was there, and I used it extensively, but GNOME was still my primary interface.

Then lots of things changed. I started working, so using Windows more. Mac OS X became more mature, and so I found myself using Windows and Mac OS X more and more. I was pretty happy. Windows wasn't bad for productivity applications, and Mac OS X was good for multimedia and web browsing at home. But Microsoft decided to release the disaster that was Windows 8, and that drove me to Mac OS X full-time. We started using Windows 10 at work, which I grew to absolutely despise.

Over time, Mac OS X has become less unix-y, but it's still a very capable operating system. But then my Mac laptop died, and I faced a decision - do I buy another Mac and remain locked into an ecosystem, or do I go back to a PC?

In the end, I couldn't justify spending nearly $4000 on the only Mac laptop that has a decent keyboard, so I made the decision to buy a HP and use Linux exclusively. It's been a journey - lots has changed, and yet lots has stayed the same - but two weeks in, I'm pretty happy.

I started off with Ubuntu and it worked well enough, but was surprised to see that running on a modern 4k screen was nearly unbearable. My first task was to try and find themes and scaling options that worked well, which proved to be a challenge. The other thing that amazed me was home much extra ... stuff ... there was in Linux since the last time I used it - it was consuming over 2GB of RAM on a base install, which wasn't how I remembered Linux.

So I made the decision to go back to Debian as a base install. Installed the minimal packages. And then I decided that maybe I didn't need a fancy desktop environment. Sure, RAM is cheap and I have plenty of processing power. But to be honest, most of the Linux desktop environments just didn't feel right.

So I'm now running Debian with a i3wm, with everything being pretty customised. I've setup my own power management scheme and systemd units. I'm using predominantly the terminal for things like connecting to WiFi and Bluetooth, mounting shares etc. I'm generally finding I enjoy using terminal applications, such as Mutt, over their UI counterparts. It feels like I'm actually computing again, and brings back the happy feelings I used to get in the 90s when the user was actually in control of their computer. I feel like I understand exactly how my computer works, what it's doing and what's running on it. And I don't feel like some arbitrary change by a company is going to change my computing experience at any moment. It feels light and powerful and unencumbered. Overall, I'm overjoyed.

https://redd.it/f046kf
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Advice

I just decided to start deepening my knowledge in computers and Linux, just to be more aware and to have the ability to navigate more securely. What do you seasoned programmers recommend in regards to materials, videos, books or anything else that would help me find the information I need to know.

Basically, where do I begin?

https://redd.it/f03zs6
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Linux on a calculator

So I recently discovered that you can run Linux on a TI-nspire calculator. What version of Linux is it and where can I download it?

https://redd.it/f05pil
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Lost Article - Torvalds on Error Handling

Hi, hoping someone can point me in the right direction.

I recently saw this article with a click-baity noscript that was referencing a thread where Linus Torvalds was talking about systems calls and how no one properly handles the return codes. I believe he also mentioned uncovering several bugs during his development of git because he was attempting to properly handle them but the underlying system libraries were not returning the correct return codes.

Then he went on a rant about not being able to trust programmers using more abstracted languages than c to handle errors at all. Has anyone seen this / know what I'm talking about? I've been trying to search for it for a bit now and haven't come up with it yet.

https://redd.it/f032i5
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GNU-FSF cooperation update - GNU Project
https://www.gnu.org/gnu/2020-announcement-1.html

https://redd.it/f06smb
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Here's a weird question: Portable mp3/media player?

Anyone know of one of these with out internet capabilities that exists in 2020? One that would be compatible with Linux to transfer files with...

https://redd.it/f02809
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elementary OS 5.1.2 Hera Officially Released
https://blog.elementary.io/5.1.2-hera-download/

https://redd.it/f084ju
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Basic Linux Set up Scripts

Hey Guys,

Here are a collection of 4 Shell noscripts to aid a quicker set up of an Ubuntu machine or VM.

These are very basic, but should allow you to run the noscript and go make a brew without having to sit at your screen.

[https://github.com/jwandrews99/Linux-Automation](https://github.com/jwandrews99/Linux-Automation)

If anyone has there own they would like to add, or if there's a better sub - Reddit to put this let us know

https://redd.it/f08gbl
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Linux on Lenovo Carbon X1

I picked up a Lenovo Carbon X1 on ebay. It came with Win 10 pro. I tried installing the latest version of Xubuntu on it but ran into an issue. During the install the wifi works, however after the install completes and I reboot the wifi hardware does not work. Any one run into a similar problem or have a work around? Thank you

https://redd.it/f09p55
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Dictation Software?

Hi everyone, I've been looking for an open-source alternative to Dragon-Naturallyspeaking.

Nuance's TTS-software is awesome but unfortunately it's not available on Linux... or open source.
Also, running it in a Virtual machine is annoying and slow.

I've read stuff about Deep-Speech and Kaldi and Simon but I feel like I have to be a programmer, just to somehow make them run run on my PC.


Any better software you guys know of?

https://redd.it/f09d6j
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Is there a terminal emulator with smooth cursor animation?



https://redd.it/f0av3f
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Should I Use Clear Linux?

Here is my pc properties.

processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5 CPU M 480 @ 2.67GHz (4 CPUs), \~2.7GHz

Ram: 2048MB

DirectX 12

Video: Intel(R) HD Graphics

VRAM: 64MB

total memory: 1018 MB

shared memory: 954 MB

Monitor: 1366 x 768 (32 bit) (60Hz)

I'm using Blender 3D, Aseprite (if ı install linux ı will use LibreSprite), GameMaker Studio 2 (alternative: Unity Game Engine), Spotify, Gimp and Steam. Should ı install Clear Linux? I use Win 10 Home 64 bit.

https://redd.it/f0bwvf
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Proma Compact THC 150

This may be a basic question. Sorry if it was asked before. But I need to know how to configure the Proma compact thc 150 for Linuxcnc.Thank you

https://redd.it/f0cb3w
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Weekend Fluff / Linux in the Wild Thread - February 07, 2020

Welcome to the weekend! This stickied thread is for you to post pictures of your ubuntu 2006 install disk, slackware floppies, on-topic memes or more.

When it's not the weekend, be sure to check out r/WildLinuxAppears or r/linuxmemes!

https://redd.it/f0dfaw
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AppCenter for Everyone
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/appcenter-for-everyone/#/

https://redd.it/f0efdd
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Is 512gb enough to dual boot windows and Ubuntu?

Hey guys, I'm concidering getting the MSI gs65 which has a 512GB SSD, but I also want to dual boot with Ubuntu. So you think this gives me enough space to do so? Thanks

https://redd.it/f0fdx4
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Steam Proton made me ditch Windows for Ubuntu

I've used ubuntu and zorin os on and off since about 2010. I always found some impossible bug that would drive me insane and I couldn't play games so I'd always end up back on windows. Well Windows 10 is a giant pile of crap and I always had the honeymoon period where it would work just great after a billion updates, reboots, installing drivers, etc. I thought that was normal for any system so I bit down hard and dealt with knowing that every reinstall of windows 10 was going to be an all day affair.

So windows 10 finally crapped the bed again about 3 weeks ago and I eventually fixed the issue but I was so annoyed that MS simply cannot get basic things to function in their system like the taskbar. It would lock up and freeze and at least 2x a day I'd have to restart explorer.exe.

I had linux mint on my 2nd hard drive and wanted to just go work on some stuff and cleanse myself from that troubleshooting nightmare. The icons were too small on my 50 inch TV I use as a monitor and I tried to fix that but got frustrated and gave up. On a whim I said "I'll just try ubuntu... linux mint is based on Ubuntu so maybe that will work better."

I haven't touched windows or even thought about it at all in the last three weeks. The Icons and text are easy to see. Everything "just worked" when I installed 18.04. I just said... well... I'll stick with this.

Then something amazing happened. I knew about steam proton but largely ignored it until I was thinking "what games are on linux" so I start up steam and see a few I like then decided to turn Proton/Steam Play on. I install Oblivion, a notorious game that constantly crashes on windows just for lulz and turned out... it didn't crash. At all. Nothin. Worked outa the box with no mods or issues... I'm very impressed.

Not going back to windows anytime soon.

Bonus story:

My dad has a PC he just uses for teamviewer to work on his office PC in a different town and his PC was so junked up on windows 7 that it just wouldn't work. It would lag and take literally 10 minutes to boot up or do anything with a regular HDD and it just flat out refused to work after I spent HOURS trying to make it act like it had any sense.

I decided to install ZorinOS which of course didn't want to install teamviewer for some reason and then Linux Mint which just worked. I had his files backed up from the home PC and put them on mint, installed it all, done in 10 minutes and he has been perfectly happy with it ever since. Hasn't had a single issue, error, or crash like he did on windows 7. He's not computer savvy at all and it's made my life a lot easier lol

https://redd.it/f0fnss
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This Month in Mutter & GNOME Shell | December 2019 & January 2020 – GNOME Shell & Mutter Dev
https://blogs.gnome.org/shell-dev/2020/02/07/this-month-in-mutter-gnome-shell-december-2019-january-2020/

https://redd.it/f0giow
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Mir News 2020-02-07
https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/mir-news-2020-02-07/14315

https://redd.it/f0g13l
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Thanks for being friendly.

This community overall is without a doubt the most supportive I’ve seen. I don’t really use it for Linux support, just for interesting reads. I’ve yet to see much toxicity here similar to the coding/software support communities on the web. Just genuine help for all things Linux, and for that I salute this subreddit.

Nothing’s more frustrating then getting ragged on a support forums because you’re there seeking help. Good job, just another reason why I support Linux and it’s Distros.

https://redd.it/f0i1os
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Krita Weekly #10
https://www.hellozee.dev/kw10/

https://redd.it/f0hzsj
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