I just installed Linux Mint JULAAAAY

skyclaw441skyclaw441 Regular
edited January 2011 in Spurious Generalities
Now what? :confused:

Comments

  • LSA KingLSA King Regular
    edited January 2011
    Set up a partition or virtual container to install Windows 7 because soon enough you're going to realize you can't do shit with it.
  • skyclaw441skyclaw441 Regular
    edited January 2011
    I already run Windows 7 as my main OS, but I'm getting a little bored with it. I had a friend that recommended Mint, so I thought I'd try it (my first experience with Linux, my computer knowledge is actually pretty shit). Figured it'd be best for a beginner.
  • edited January 2011
    Start by learning some things. Learn how to install/remove applications and software. Then have a play around with some settings, get the feel for the system.

    Then you can start figuring things out, such as how you would do the things which you used to do using Windows, while using Linux.

    Have a shot.
  • DfgDfg Admin
    edited January 2011
    Start by installing some web services or working some project. Once you start working on something you will see the difference between Windows and Linux. Oh, follow LSA King advice as well.
  • edited January 2011
    Got any experience running a webserver? Install Apache and PHP (I wrote a guide on this for Totse), and turn your machine into a fully functional webserver :D
  • skyclaw441skyclaw441 Regular
    edited January 2011
    Nah, but considering that I'm going to go to college for Computer Science next year, I might as well get some more in-depth comp knowledge, because my current knowledge is shit. I still have yet to even learn Python or JavaScript (albethem two very different languages, JavaScript just happens to be in line with my hopes for a future career).
  • MorningsideMorningside Regular
    edited January 2011
    LSA King wrote: »
    Set up a partition or virtual container to install Windows 7 because soon enough you're going to realize you can't do shit with it.

    This is the truth....
  • HelladamnleetHelladamnleet Banned
    edited January 2011
    Uninstall it and get a real distro.
  • AmieAmie Regular
    edited January 2011
    Use it. The best way to learn how to use linux is to use it. Tell yourself to use linux and nothing but linux. That way you'll be motivated to fix the things you don't like and learn how everything works. Oh, and, once you've gotten used to it a bit, try a more advanced distro. Creating a working Gentoo / Arch linux desktop is the best way to learn what makes a linux system tick.
  • skyclaw441skyclaw441 Regular
    edited January 2011
    Well, I don't plan on keeping it around. Mint is kinda like Windows on Linux in a way... I just wanted to get a user friendly distro to start with, and then get more and more advanced.
  • AmieAmie Regular
    edited January 2011
    User friendly distro's have their place. Anybody planning to make a career out of administering linux boxes needs to be proficient with at least one user-friendly plug-and-play distro. Even though you always let all your servers run slackware and know the OS better than Patrick Volckerding himself, make sure you can install and run a server in a straightforward easy distro like OpenSuse. That way, when you need to get a server running and it needs to be running NOW, screw long term stability; you can use something easy and fast.

    I've heard of this company hiring new sysadmins. Halfway trough the selection procedure they were given an empty box and told to get a server up and running configured such and such. They could use any unix-like OS they wanted. The guys choosing harder distro's like slackware etc. all failed that part because they couldn't finish it on time, while the ubuntu-monkeys all passed. HR had no clue about that thing called 'long term stability', they just wanted to see a running server.

    There is truth in the saying "If you don't have the time to do something right, you sure as hell don't have the time to do it again so do it right the first time." But sometimes it's not valid.
  • skyclaw441skyclaw441 Regular
    edited January 2011
    Well, I clearly see your logic there.

    My question is what distro do I use after this?

    And also, my installing is failing. Perhaps its because I didn't create a partition, but my friend told me that the LiveCD would do that for me. I pressed F2 (my setup key), and while it's installing, it repeatedly gives me:

    gconftool-2: error while loading shared libraries: /usr/lib/libxm12.so.2: cannot read file date: Input/output error. Google is not giving me anything. Right now it's just stuck on "Checking battery state...." (I'm on a laptop.) I think I done screwed up something...
  • AmieAmie Regular
    edited January 2011
    Go on distrowatch, read the descriptions of the biggest distro's, pick one, install, use it for a couple days / weeks / months depending on how much you like it, format, repeat. Everybody has his own tastes. I've downloaded all of those at least once. Once the install disc wouldn't even boot (checksums right, image verified after burning, disk tested itself fine - hardware compatibility problems most likely), sometimes I formatted after two days. The ones I've used long enough to give a fair opinion of are mentioned here.

    I'd say start with the big ones, and you'll soon enough figure out what you like and what you dislike in a distro. Oh, and once you've learned the basics of command line navigation you just have to install Gentoo at least once. With a custom-compiled kernel. And don't format once you've got a console, get a working desktop. Even better if you do it on a laptop and get wireless and wired networking all running. It's the fastest way of learning how linux and computers work and that way you'll be ahead of most people in your class when you start in college, giving you time to focus on the topics you're behind in. But I don't advise you to keep using Gentoo, you'll loose too much time compiling and recompiling everything.

    Edit: Don't really know what the error is. Did you check the checksums of your install disc image and check the disc after burning it? If you torrented it your torrent client should check it so no checksums needed on the .iso file, but if you downloaded it over HTTP / FTP you need to check one checksum. Use Hashtab for that in windows, it's the coolest thing ever. An installation disc with errors can cause REALLY weird bugs during your installation and it can cause bugs which don't appear until weeks / months after the installation when you use the messed up app for the first time. So, always check the ckecksums unless you downloaded the .iso over bittorrent, and always tell your burning software to check the media after burning.
  • skyclaw441skyclaw441 Regular
    edited January 2011
    Well, it didn't even create a partition, and the installation CD didn't get past the logo with the blinking circles. I eventually gave up after waiting two hours. I'm going to go look on DistroWatch for something different, I already did some internet searching and I like the idea of StudioUbuntu (or something like that, I forget what it's exactly called), though I need something good for programming too and not just media production. I'll also go to your link, figure it'd be the best. Right now I'm trying to figure out how much to shrink the Windows partition, but since I don't have future plans with any one distro, I'm assuming not much, maybe only a few gigs.
  • edited January 2011
    skyclaw441 wrote: »
    Well, it didn't even create a partition, and the installation CD didn't get past the logo with the blinking circles. I eventually gave up after waiting two hours. I'm going to go look on DistroWatch for something different, I already did some internet searching and I like the idea of StudioUbuntu (or something like that, I forget what it's exactly called), though I need something good for programming too and not just media production. I'll also go to your link, figure it'd be the best. Right now I'm trying to figure out how much to shrink the Windows partition, but since I don't have future plans with any one distro, I'm assuming not much, maybe only a few gigs.

    Make sure you defrag your windows partition before you resize it, or you could corrupt some files which are hanging around at the end of your HDD.
  • Levo75Levo75 Acolyte
    edited January 2011
    Linux mint is for chumps.

    Install Gentoo.
  • skyclaw441skyclaw441 Regular
    edited January 2011
    trx100 wrote: »
    Make sure you defrag your windows partition before you resize it, or you could corrupt some files which are hanging around at the end of your HDD.

    Argh, that's gonna take friggin forever since I've (shamefully) never defraged.
  • AmieAmie Regular
    edited January 2011
    skyclaw441 wrote: »
    Argh, that's gonna take friggin forever since I've (shamefully) never defraged.

    Iobit Smartdefrag

    Fastest and best defragmenter I've seen. A deep optimize of your windows partition will make a HUGE difference in speed.

    Make sure you backup your data before messing with your partitions. It's never happened to me, but if an error happens, you will have to reformat your disk.

    8 gigs is enough to to a normal installation of any distro, leaving enough room to add some applications.
  • edited January 2011
    Amie wrote: »
    Iobit Smartdefrag

    Fastest and best defragmenter I've seen. A deep optimize of your windows partition will make a HUGE difference in speed.

    Make sure you backup your data before messing with your partitions. It's never happened to me, but if an error happens, you will have to reformat your disk.

    8 gigs is enough to to a normal installation of any distro, leaving enough room to add some applications.

    An error happened to me once, just because I hadn't defragged properly and I shortened the partition too much. Windows wouldn't boot properly, and files were corrupt.
  • skyclaw441skyclaw441 Regular
    edited January 2011
    trx100 wrote: »
    An error happened to me once, just because I hadn't defragged properly and I shortened the partition too much. Windows wouldn't boot properly, and files were corrupt.

    Dude, that sucks. :eek:

    Well, I don't have the means of backing up my data at the moment (perhaps what my Best Buy gift card should go to), but I went ahead and did it anyway. My problem was that for one, my LiveCD was screwy for some reason (even though the disc image's hashes checked out fine), and secondly, I was attempting to install a 32-bit version when I am running 64-bit Windows. I got the 64-bit version, it ran fine, and it was successfully installed. Now my only problem is finding a driver for my Wireless card, because I installed it on a laptop. After that I'll screw around with it for a couple of weeks. I'm liking it pretty... OK, it's not as pretty as Windows 7 graphically but in the end that doesn't matter.

    After using Linux Mint and getting a general feel I'll move on to another one, but I'm not sure which. Ideas?
  • bornkillerbornkiller Administrator In your girlfriends snatch
    edited January 2011
    skyclaw441 wrote: »
    I'm going to go look on DistroWatch for something different, I already did some internet searching and I like the idea of StudioUbuntu (or something like that, I forget what it's exactly called),
    Don't waste your time with studio. That shits just bloated ubuntu & most of it you'll never use. Just get ubuntu (or kubuntu) & add the stuff you'll require from synaptic or terminal.
    sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras
    
    Will get most of the shit you'll require to get started and then you just need to start adding shit like text editor's, multi media tools, etc. Check the reviews before installing shit though.
  • skyclaw441skyclaw441 Regular
    edited January 2011
    bornkiller wrote: »
    Don't waste your time with studio. That shits just bloated ubuntu & most of it you'll never use. Just get ubuntu (or kubuntu) & add the stuff you'll require from synaptic or terminal.
    sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras
    
    Will get most of the shit you'll require to get started and then you just need to start adding shit like text editor's, multi media tools, etc. Check the reviews before installing shit though.

    Yeah, I make sure to do that. Reviews are the best. Anyway, sounds good, because it appears rather bloated. Besides, I'm only in music production, and I only dabble here and there in graphics and video, so I don't exactly need all of those extra applications.
  • bornkillerbornkiller Administrator In your girlfriends snatch
    edited January 2011
    skyclaw441 wrote: »
    Yeah, I make sure to do that. Reviews are the best. Anyway, sounds good, because it appears rather bloated. Besides, I'm only in music production, and I only dabble here and there in graphics and video, so I don't exactly need all of those extra applications.
    Rakarrak guitar effects. I trial effect pedals before buying the boss alternative.:thumbsup:
    (I like analogue pedals)
  • skyclaw441skyclaw441 Regular
    edited January 2011
    bornkiller wrote: »
    Rakarrak guitar effects. I trial effect pedals before buying the boss alternative.:thumbsup:
    (I like analogue pedals)

    Hahaha, nothing wrong with the analogues.

    I'm on Mint right now, and it is actually a pain in my ass. Windows is much more user friendly, and it doesn't help that I used iTunes (my Wine is already screwed up, it'd be worse if I tried to import my FL Studio). And also, for someone who's never had to do pretty much everything out of a terminal/command module before, it's quite cumbersome.
  • bornkillerbornkiller Administrator In your girlfriends snatch
    edited January 2011
    You're best to run FL studio through your windows partition. :(
  • skyclaw441skyclaw441 Regular
    edited January 2011
    Yeah, I know, but I'm starting to fall in love with Linux more and more and I have only been back to Windows very briefly today.

    On a side note... goddamn this is kicking my fucking ass. I can't even extract a damn tar.bz2. Fuck me... :facepalm:
  • SlartibartfastSlartibartfast Global Moderator -__-
    edited January 2011
    To extract a .tar.gz: tar xzvf /path/to/filename.tar.gz
    to extract a .tar.gz2: tar -jxvf /path/to/filename.tar.gz2

    you should have went with standard Ubuntu or Fedora they've both got more users (thus more support).

    If you haven't got you wireless card working, in a terminal type: jockey-gtk
    You'll find a list of all the closed drivers your system may need there.

    Have you installed the OS with virtual disks (wubi) or did you shrink your exsiting partitions?

    We have a *nix forum here.

    I don't know much about audio production but Ardour is regarded as comparable to a lot of commercial software.
    Also: http://www.rosegardenmusic.com/ and http://lmms.sourceforge.net/
    Rosegarden has been around for longer.

    If you need help installing lmms just ask ask.
  • bornkillerbornkiller Administrator In your girlfriends snatch
    edited January 2011
    skyclaw441 wrote: »
    Yeah, I know, but I'm starting to fall in love with Linux more and more and I have only been back to Windows very briefly today.

    On a side note... goddamn this is kicking my fucking ass. I can't even extract a damn tar.bz2. Fuck me... :facepalm:
    I dunno about mint but to extract a tar.bz I simply right click it and scroll down to extract here. Mints pretty much ubuntu. Do you see that alternative on mint.?:confused:
    Or you could do what "Slartibartfast" suggested in terminal. No time like the beginning to start using terminal.:thumbsup:
    Personally I think Wine sux balls, hence the reason I suggested you may wanna use a windows partition. It lags like a hung over slug. :(
    Good on you for taking that step towards something different.:thumbsup:
  • skyclaw441skyclaw441 Regular
    edited January 2011
    Yeah, I think this is enough for this thread, as I'm starting to slowly figure things out. If I have any more questions I'll be sure to ask them in the appropriate forum or in the Mint forums. I am considering going with Ubuntu in a couple of weeks just to switch it up, but I'm really liking Mint right now.
  • edited January 2011
    Fuck it - I'm going to install Mint over my Ubuntu partition.
  • skyclaw441skyclaw441 Regular
    edited January 2011
    trx100 wrote: »
    Fuck it - I'm going to install Mint over my Ubuntu partition.

    The only thing that bothers me about Mint is that some of the themes are rather unsightly due to black text entry forms that would normally be white. Nothing like going on Facebook, which has a simple white and blue scheme, and then entering your status in a dark gray field. :mad:
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