My Impression of Linux (Ubuntu)

[JrClocker]

I finally bit the bullet after all of these years to start the process of adding Linux to my list of "things I'm learning".

So far, I am happy with Linux...BUT

- Steep learning curve (knew that going in)
- More control (but see steep learning curve above)
- Passionate user base (but see steep learning curve above)
- Not as stable as Windows
- Don't feel as though I can do as much as Windows (but this could still be my learning)...good for what I am using it for

Do I think it's as good as Windows? Can't really say yet. I understand the passion folks have for it now (see the more control). But, I've been using Windows since the 3.1 days...and DOS way before that. So, my background is tainted a bit.

Stability is not what I have now with Windows 10 (feels more like Windows 98 stability). I have already borked up 2 Ubuntu installs...don't know what happened, but "Kernel Panic" is a bad thing! Since I didn't have much in it, I reinstalled (which is much easier than with Windows). I have yet to bork up a Windows install this bad, but that could just be my experience with Windows.

All in all, I am happy...and learning...two steps up the mountain!

My next goal is to bring in file sharing between Windows/Linux, and then start doing my Handbrake encoding in Linux.

Knowing that the Linux box is for folding...would like to make it as a quasi server route. What is the best way to go here? My main router is currently my NAS (works pretty well, has built in DLNA media server)...what is a good NAS application? I have read about FreeNAS, but heard it has a steep learning curve. If the answer is file sharing until I am more comfortable in Linux...that's OK too!

Keep it easy with the "add this repository, move this thing here, restart this service there...etc"...has to be more baby steps for me!

Thanks guys!

 

[Janus67]

freenas isn't an application, it's an entire OS. I'm moving to FreeNAS from OpenMediaVault because I have the spare RAM in my server box to do so. If you don't have about 8GB+1GB/TB of storage space I would check out either Nas4Free or OpenMediaVault for a NAS OS, both work well and don't have near the RAM requirements that FreeNAS requests/recommends for using ZFS.

 

[JrClocker]

Thanks!

I just built a mITX system...has 16 GB of ram (maxed out), so that is my target platform. It folds now 24/7.

I will check out OpenMediaVault after I am comfortable that I have a "file server" type of thing setup.

My main router (Linksys WRT1900AC) works pretty good as a NAS. I have a 3 TB USB hard drive plugged into it. It runs the media server on the router, and I can setup user level access and control. (Didn't buy it for this reason...was pretty cool when I discovered that it could.) Net throughput read/write is ~100 MByte/sec through the integrated GBe switch. Not too shabby.

My main system has 7 TB of drive storage along with a 512 MB Samsung 950 Pro. No redundancy (I have all of the machines backup to one of the internal hard drives). I do not have a backup for the 3 TB USB drive. Future plans are to get a RAID array going...4 x 4 TB in RAID 5...looking at a QNAP device...will be a bit as my daughter is getting married in April...and that aint cheep!

 

[caddi daddi]

you have more choice with Linux, that's what makes the learning curve so steep.
stay with it and try out few flavors and os'.
many are based on Ubuntu so what you know in Ubuntu transfers right over.
I now work in red hat and use Ubuntu based also but will be dropping the Ubuntu because my software requires red hat.
movies are made in Linux, most of the stuff you see around you was designed in Linux, a lot of the world needs and uses Linux.

 

[Janus67]

Regarding your proposed raid5 setup: http://www.zdnet.com/article/why-raid-5-stops-working-in-2009/

 

[knoober]

My next goal is to bring in file sharing between Windows/Linux, and then start doing my Handbrake encoding in Linux.

Samba my good man. Samba.

apt-get install samba

then go to synaptic package manager and search "samba" and look for "system-config-samba"
it is a GUI for setting up samba shares so that you wont have to edit the smb.conf (/etc/samba/smb.conf) by hand. It isnt too tough to do it by hand, but the GUI is nice to have until you get the swing of things.

Also here is a random link with instructions on how to configure samba by hand

Keep it easy with the "add this repository, move this thing here, restart this service there...etc"...has to be more baby steps for me!

Even alot of the complicated stuff has a GUI if you keep your eyes open in the package manager. ufw (uncomplicated firewall) has a GUI as well. Im not an expert by any means, but these little things are helping me bridge the gap while I learn

 

[JrClocker]

Regarding your proposed raid5 setup: http://www.zdnet.com/article/why-raid-5-stops-working-in-2009/

Interesting read...thank you.

Other than to scare us, is there a solution? Do a 12 gig RAID as 2 sets of RAID 1 6 gig drives?

Or a RAID 6...but get 8 gig out of 12 gig worth of drives?

 

[Janus67]

I would argue most people go with a raid6 setup for a lot of large storage arrays.

 

[Stratus_ss]

First let me say my reaction(s) are not to invalidate your experience so please don't think that I am disregarding your experience

- Steep learning curve (knew that going in)
- More control (but see steep learning curve above)
- Passionate user base (but see steep learning curve above)
- Not as stable as Windows

I have to disagree with both the stability and the learning curve. For me, I haven't used Windows in any meaningful way since Windows XP, I find Windows unintuitive, backwards and quite frankly I cannot understand why it is considered "easy". I don't believe the learning curve is steep its just different. I moved over when things were still done with CMD so it was just a matter of figuring out what the linux (or Ubuntu) equivalents where. Again, I am not trying to take away from your experience. I believe that it is foreign to you and that is obviously problematic!

I am not sure what's going on with your hardware but generally I don't experience any crashes (outside of Chrome...).

- Don't feel as though I can do as much as Windows (but this could still be my learning)...good for what I am using it for

I don't understand this... can you expand on this?

Stability is not what I have now with Windows 10 (feels more like Windows 98 stability). I have already borked up 2 Ubuntu installs...don't know what happened, but "Kernel Panic" is a bad thing! Since I didn't have much in it, I reinstalled (which is much easier than with Windows). I have yet to bork up a Windows install this bad, but that could just be my experience with Windows.

I could tinker with Windows and bork it in no time flat! This is not the stability of the operating system but the ability of an OS to assume that the user knows what they are doing

 

[JrClocker]

My mother always said not to get into a Linux discussion with a person who has a penguin as his avatar...



My angle at going to Linux is from a DOS-->Windows angle.

First let me say my reaction(s) are not to invalidate your experience so please don't think that I am disregarding your experience

Understand...this won't be the first time I have had this discussion. The difference this time is that I am committing to take time to learn. I've seen Linux systems do some pretty crazy and cool stuff, and done a number of higher system integrations over my career. But, I've also seen these systems be difficult to maintain. I've always employed an expert in this area. (PM me if you want to know more about these systems.)

Take my feedback in the same way please.

I have to disagree with both the stability and the learning curve. For me, I haven't used Windows in any meaningful way since Windows XP, I find Windows unintuitive, backwards and quite frankly I cannot understand why it is considered "easy". I don't believe the learning curve is steep its just different. I moved over when things were still done with CMD so it was just a matter of figuring out what the linux (or Ubuntu) equivalents where. Again, I am not trying to take away from your experience. I believe that it is foreign to you and that is obviously problematic!

I get you and understand. I find the Ubuntu interface non-intuitive...but I have also felt the same way with Windows 3.1 when I started using it. All those years have me indoctrinated...I just have to create a new partition in my brain.

I always thought it was a hack with Windows when you went back and forth to DOS command line (the whole 16 oz beer as 2 8 oz cans analogy for Windows 3.1, 95, and 98). I am not convinced yet that the Linux command line is a differentiator. I agree that it is required...but required and necessary are two different discussions.

XP was the first version of Windows that Microsoft got right...you didn't have to spend time at the command line for most things.

As far as the system borks...my hardware is working fine - there is nothing wrong with it.

One system bork was installing an application from the app center. It installed, and the system became unstable...caused a system crash. I tried to uninstall, and the OS became borked.

The other system bork was applying an update patch that the system asked me if I wanted to apply. I hit yes, it asked to reboot, and I got a Kernel panic.

I don't understand this... can you expand on this?

For example, I can't find:
- a CPUz application (GKrellM is pretty cool though...but if I install the CPUFreq plug in when I am running Ubuntu in a VM, GKrellM crashes)
- a GPUz application
- a GPU overclock tool like EVGA Precision X. I can "sort of" get there with the NVIDIA thing...but it's not as integrated
- mainstream games

Linux is a hard driven user community...and this is a great thing. However, in my opinion, many of the GUIs lack "polish and flow" which you tend to get from a commercial development of an application. Not all of them are bad mind you...inconsistent is a better word. For example: Handbrake...both the Windows and Linux versions do the same thing. However, the GUI that controls them is different. I would expect some differences due to the OS (features in different locations), but I wouldn't expect the GUIs to function differently...some items are available in one and not in the other...when I save a profile it saves everything with the Windows version, but doesn't save the sound settings in the Linux version. I could go on, but you get the point.

I worked with many a software engineer who thinks his technical "engineer like" GUI is fabulous...and have the marketing product manager go for more of an elegant, polished, and ease-of-use perspective.

I do get annoyed though every time Microsoft wants to move things on me. (For instance...WTF did they do with the new Office applications???? The last version was functional...why did you change it???)



I will in the future be a Linux power user. I'm not just learning it to learn it...I'm learning it to make it do something. Once I get here, I will go into programming within this environment. Not sure if I want to go the whole LAMP approach...I don't consider myself a "big data" type of guy...but I have personal projects I want to do that could benefit from a different systems approach. I dismissed these approaches in the Windows environment as it's not as integrated as LAMP.


Again - thank you for the feedback. I do appreciate it!

 

[RJARRRPCGP]

"Kernel Panic" is a bad thing! !

A kernel panic is the Linux version of a BSOD.

 

[Silver_Pharaoh]

IIRC there's a Linux distro based on the look and feel of Windows...
Maybe take that for a spin too.

I agree to your statement about not being able to do as much in Linux as you do in Windows. For me, there's no games that interest me and almost everything assumes you know how to work in the command line well.

Linux is powerful, but there's no way to convey it's power. That's how I see it anyways

 

[Stratus_ss]

I get you and understand. I find the Ubuntu interface non-intuitive...

Interesting. I am not a big fan of unity myself actually. Although I suspect you wouldn't like Gnome much better because its fairly far from the Windows Paradigm. Try Ubuntu Mate 15.10, it has a built in theme manager that can make the desktop change to your liking (i.e. "Redmond" or "Coppertino" themes)

As far as the system borks...my hardware is working fine - there is nothing wrong with it.

One system bork was installing an application from the app center. It installed, and the system became unstable...caused a system crash. I tried to uninstall, and the OS became borked.

The other system bork was applying an update patch that the system asked me if I wanted to apply. I hit yes, it asked to reboot, and I got a Kernel panic.

I am NOT saying there is anything wrong with the hardware. What I am saying is it sounds like there was a problem with the drivers for some piece of your hardware. I had this problem a couple of months ago where I couldn't update past a certain version of the NVIDIA driver without it breaking my desktop, turns out I had to install I needed to update my intel-ucode (which is a microcode update for the cpu) before I could run newer drivers

For example, I can't find:
- a CPUz application (GKrellM is pretty cool though...but if I install the CPUFreq plug in when I am running Ubuntu in a VM, GKrellM crashes)
- a GPUz application
- a GPU overclock tool like EVGA Precision X. I can "sort of" get there with the NVIDIA thing...but it's not as integrated
- mainstream games

CPUz -- I believe you want i-Nex or maybe cpu-g... although I think iNex is more maintained

GPUz -- I guess that depends on what functionality you want?

I don't overclock my GPU so aside from the NVIDIA one I dont know of anything

mainstream games -- I think you need to explain what that means. If you are talking about Battlefield type games, you are right!

Linux is a hard driven user community...and this is a great thing. However, in my opinion, many of the GUIs lack "polish and flow" which you tend to get from a commercial development of an application. Not all of them are bad mind you...inconsistent is a better word. For example: Handbrake...both the Windows and Linux versions do the same thing. However, the GUI that controls them is different. I would expect some differences due to the OS (features in different locations), but I wouldn't expect the GUIs to function differently...some items are available in one and not in the other...when I save a profile it saves everything with the Windows version, but doesn't save the sound settings in the Linux version. I could go on, but you get the point.

This is an interesting perspective and one I have no insight into as I really have only used linux for the last 8-10 years (Windows was the equivalent of a toy for me. I have to bow to your observations on this matter as you are more qualified than I to talk about it. I would have made the assumption that the applications that are cross platform are basically the same

I will in the future be a Linux power user. I'm not just learning it to learn it...I'm learning it to make it do something. Once I get here, I will go into programming within this environment. Not sure if I want to go the whole LAMP approach...I don't consider myself a "big data" type of guy...but I have personal projects I want to do that could benefit from a different systems approach. I dismissed these approaches in the Windows environment as it's not as integrated as LAMP.

openvz, lxc or docker will be wonderful friends of yours if you want to experience "application" virtualization as opposed to full vms

 

[Janus67]

Regarding the mainstream games you can take a look here: http://store.steampowered.com/browse/linux/

You will have to sort through some stuff, but XCOM2 (just released) is there, as is Firewatch, Dying Light, Cities Skylines, Rust. Granted that's a good % of their mainstream/AAA-ish popular games for Linux, but they do exist.

 

[Tokae]

Regarding your proposed raid5 setup: http://www.zdnet.com/article/why-raid-5-stops-working-in-2009/

Is this a thing really?

I have been running RAID5 in this box for 5 years now. I have replaced 2 drives over that period and no real issue. First drive failed in the 3rd year and the 2nd drive just failed about 3 months ago. Drives are all standard desktop Seagate Barracudas no less.

EDIT:

I guess my drives are only 1TB each... Now I want to try this intentionally with 4 - 3TB drives in RAID5

 

[JrClocker]

Is this a thing really?

I have been running RAID5 in this box for 5 years now. I have replaced 2 drives over that period and no real issue. First drive failed in the 3rd year and the 2nd drive just failed about 3 months ago. Drives are all standard desktop Seagate Barracudas no less.

EDIT:

I guess my drives are only 1TB each... Now I want to try this intentionally with 4 - 3TB drives in RAID5

If you read into that article, it's more of a theoretical discussion:

1. It assumes that all drives fail at the specified error rate
2. It assumes that all drives fail at the same time

Basically, you do RAID so that you don't have a failure and lose your data. In 12 TB setups, you have a probability of catastrophic failure in RAID 5...small, but larger than 0%...which is why you do RAID.

 

[ihrsetrdr]

My mother always said not to get into a Linux discussion with a person who has a penguin as his avatar...

= priceless!


You're curious, you want Linux, you'll master it all in your own time.