MX Linux Forum

Actually, as computer use has become ubiquitous, it's safe to say that most people don't know how to use a computer. They only know how to use selected applications, and may become quite good at doing so. Often, these are the people who are the hardest to help. They often don't want to learn how to do routine computer self-care, but just point and click at applications.

In any case, I don't think the hordes are coming. The vast majority will buy new computers with Windows 10.

On the other hand, there will be a flood of good second hand computers available. I picked up my new Intel i7 8-core HP Pavilion HPE in front of a neighbour's house that they put out with their trash. They kept the hard drive and the RAM. I added two hard drives and 16 Gig and I'm cooking!

I think a small $10 usb stick with a live boot ISO is all most people will need. This will come as a revelation - since Windows does not allow this.

I never have such luck as figueroa. In fact, I'm usually the one putting stuff out by the curb. I'd never throw out a perfectly good computer though. A person could sell it if they didn't want it, even with no RAM or HDD in it, and probably get a hundred bucks for it if not more. With a nice video card that could almost be a gaming PC with a Core i7 and 8 cores: they're probably dual-threaded so would offer applications 16 logical or virtual processors. Wow, that would scream!

Bluesguy (cool name. Are you a blues musician?) one of the great things about MX is that though the CLI is indeed your friend if you know what the aitch e double hockey sticks you're doing, you can accomplish 80-90% of maintenance, configuration and repair tasks via its GUI tools that kind of guide you through those command-line operations. While they seems kind of complex at first and may be a bit daunting, still, they're there in MX and absent in other distros, which IMO makes MX a pretty good choice for Windows emigrants, and also for people like me: old-school Linuxers who don't want to have to bother with relearning commands. (I swear, every time I have to use sed and try to make it do what I want I invent new cuss words.)

rs55 wrote: Sat Mar 02, 2019 11:24 pm I think a small $10 usb stick with a live boot ISO is all most people will need. This will come as a revelation - since Windows does not allow this.

Yes, especially if the win7 box has usb3 ports.

Was this not one of MicroSoft's business strategy, to have "illiterate" computer users. One of the big income is the costly service offered. The are reports were customers desperately calling for service, when they forgot to plug the electrical cable. :)

Everyday there are new comers in MX, more are coming. I don't see CLI as problem, not much needed, MX tools do the job. But to reply to repeated threads. In this regard, Arch Linux became famous with their wiki pages. All new comers are guided to find the information there....... "read the wiki page + link".

The Arch Wiki is on another planet! Ours could be better if more than a small handful of people worked on it.

Arch Wiki started in 2004 by copying questions and answers from the forum. This is how it was done in beginning:
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=2250

Same was done recently in MX (respin threads in one place)
viewtopic.php?f=100&t=48617

Again: arch is much bigger than we are. Remember our team is VERY small, and it is all volunteer work.

The first years it was done by two persons, Dusty and myself. Still today maintain by two persons. Its a wiki anyone can edit and addon, the forum users themselves became the contributors.
https://wiki.archlinux.org/

rasat wrote: Sun Mar 03, 2019 8:50 am Arch Wiki started in 2004 by copying questions and answers from the forum. This is how it was done in beginning:
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=2250

Same was done recently in MX (respin threads in one place)
viewtopic.php?f=100&t=48617

Same has been done in MX, and Mepis before that. There problem has not been the technique but the limited personnel.

Eadwine Rose wrote: Sun Mar 03, 2019 9:01 am Again: arch is much bigger than we are. Remember our team is VERY small, and it is all volunteer work.

So here's my sad but true tale regarding contributing.
I have tried to volunteer several times, have written a handful of tutorials, built a minimal install, built an education install and offered everything up for use.... the silence on my offers has been pretty deafening; the downloads of the builds essentially non-existent.
I now write & publish the offered materials on my eirenicon.org site, where no one visits.

Please understand none of this is a complaint, I just think offers of help might be falling through the cracks.

rs55 wrote: Sat Mar 02, 2019 11:24 pm I think a small $10 usb stick with a live boot ISO is all most people will need. This will come as a revelation - since Windows does not allow this.

Again and again I see comments about cheap USB sticks, but WHERE do people buy them cheaply? The stores around here in Dorset and Hampshire, UK very rarely stock USB sticks and when they do they're priced at £20 (sterling) or more for a small 8GB stick.

That's not cheap - at least on my pay of £8.31 per hour as a truck driver!

turtlebay777 wrote: Sun Mar 03, 2019 3:13 pm

rs55 wrote: Sat Mar 02, 2019 11:24 pm I think a small $10 usb stick with a live boot ISO is all most people will need. This will come as a revelation - since Windows does not allow this.

Again and again I see comments about cheap USB sticks, but WHERE do people buy them cheaply? The stores around here in Dorset and Hampshire, UK very rarely stock USB sticks and when they do they're priced at £20 (sterling) or more for a small 8GB stick.

That's not cheap - at least on my pay of £8.31 per hour as a truck driver!

Amazon UK has 8GB Kingston USB for under £3

manyroads wrote: Sun Mar 03, 2019 3:21 pm
Amazon UK has 8GB Kingston USB for under £3

plus postage and packing!

Try PC world - or Argos or Curry's.

https://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/computin ... teria.html

https://www.argos.co.uk/browse/technolo ... e/c:30072/

https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/usb-3-0-f ... teria.html

turtlebay777 wrote: Sun Mar 03, 2019 3:13 pm
Again and again I see comments about cheap USB sticks, but WHERE do people buy them cheaply? The stores around here in Dorset and Hampshire, UK very rarely stock USB sticks and when they do they're priced at £20 (sterling) or more for a small 8GB stick.

That's not cheap - at least on my pay of £8.31 per hour as a truck driver!

I've used the following company in the past; shipping to the UK is free:

https://www.mymemory.co.uk/memory/data- ... rives.html

7DayShop often have some good deals, again with UK delivery included; it's worth accepting their daily emails for real bargains:

https://www.7dayshop.com/search/filter/ ... ?q=usb+2.0

Chris

manyroads wrote: Sun Mar 03, 2019 2:56 pm So here's my sad but true tale regarding contributing.
I have tried to volunteer several times..... the silence on my offers has been pretty deafening.

If we look at the history of open source inventions, since beginning of 90's, many of the successful projects (Linux, MySQL, PHP, etc.) they were originally created for the inventors personal usage. This what I liked in Arch Linux, Judd Vinet's personal distro. I think MX has similar background. What I am trying to say, where there is freedom of choice, its difficult to make things for others. The paradox, if it works well for you (inventor) others may start using it, which often happens. Who knows, some of the respins may soon become popular, until then works well for the respiner.

turtlebay777 wrote: Sun Mar 03, 2019 3:13 pm Again and again I see comments about cheap USB sticks, but WHERE do people buy them cheaply? The stores around here in Dorset and Hampshire, UK very rarely stock USB sticks and when they do they're priced at £20 (sterling) or more for a small 8GB stick.

That's hard to relate to. On Amazon.com in the US, the pricing sweet spot seems to be at 32G USB 2.0 drives at 10 for $30, more or less, Prime shipping included. That's $3-US/each. Try to find the UK equivalent.

manyroads wrote: Sun Mar 03, 2019 2:56 pm So here's my sad but true tale regarding contributing.
...
Please understand none of this is a complaint, I just think offers of help might be falling through the cracks.

Many MX users don't have quite the same needs for unique information as Arch users (or Gentoo users). Arch was a new thing. With MX being built upon Debian stable, there is a ton of already existing sources of information for Debian help, as well as Ubuntu help, which is often relatable.

But, as MX settles in as a popular long-term stable distribution, or even takes the #1 position in Distrowatch, there will be an increase in new users interested in deeper levels of help.

Why aren't your contributions on the Wiki?

Make the wiki yours/ours - Post away - https://mxlinux.org/wiki

figueroa wrote: Sun Mar 03, 2019 5:19 pm

manyroads wrote: Sun Mar 03, 2019 2:56 pm So here's my sad but true tale regarding contributing.
...
Please understand none of this is a complaint, I just think offers of help might be falling through the cracks.

[...]
Why aren't your contributions on the Wiki?

I could not tell you... They are in the Forums, I've offered to have them placed where-ever. They are still here.

I think it would be good to collect a database of willing, able, skilled folks for MX & antiX and place the list in some accessible place for folks to offer & get help. I have attached the kind of "database" I have in mind. I'll probably be getting spam from the free download "forever" The sheet would need to be modified for use here.... but it could be put online. Heck, even I can do that.

@manyroads: same answer, lack of personnel. If you would like to help with the Wiki, we'd be delighted. What has to be done to do that? PM peregrine for access, take a look at what is there and go for it. If that interests you, let me know and I can tell you what I see needing attention.

Maybe suggest a new category on "Tutorials" and bring in yours and others?

Thanks.

Jerry3904 wrote: Sun Mar 03, 2019 7:36 am The Arch Wiki is on another planet! Ours could be better if more than a small handful of people worked on it.

Have you asked for volunteers? My knowledge is limited but wherever I can help, I will.

Is there a patreon page or something similar to also contribute nonliterary monetary funds?
P.S. Stupid autocorrect.

If you are referring to a Donation, there is a Donation link under the main banner.

MX HOME • DONATE • WIKI • MANUALS • SUPPORT • BUGS • GIT

richb wrote: Sun Mar 03, 2019 8:18 pm If you are referring to a Donation, there is a Donation link under the main banner.

MX HOME • DONATE • WIKI • MANUALS • SUPPORT • BUGS • GIT

OOppps, I hadn't noticed it before!

Jerry3904 wrote: Sun Mar 03, 2019 6:59 pm @manyroads: same answer, lack of personnel. If you would like to help with the Wiki, we'd be delighted. What has to be done to do that? PM peregrine for access, take a look at what is there and go for it. If that interests you, let me know and I can tell you what I see needing attention.

Maybe suggest a new category on "Tutorials" and bring in yours and others?

Thanks.

Hi @Jerry3904 you should have a copy of my PM to peregrine....

Sparky wrote: Sun Mar 03, 2019 8:07 pm

Jerry3904 wrote: Sun Mar 03, 2019 7:36 am The Arch Wiki is on another planet! Ours could be better if more than a small handful of people worked on it.

Have you asked for volunteers? My knowledge is limited but wherever I can help, I will.

@Sparky, not to worry, everyone's knowledge is limited.

manyroads wrote: Sun Mar 03, 2019 6:43 pm I could not tell you... They are in the Forums, I've offered to have them placed where-ever. They are still here.

Oh, I see. The wiki isn't a real wiki. Users can't add/edit content. BTW, I greatly enjoy reading your contributions. :-)

See, it is a "real" wiki. It even has its own wikileaks

To thwart wiki spambots (which are rampant nowadays), it has been configured so that unregistered users can't add/edit content.
Yeah, forum registration doesn't carryover to the wiki software, requires a separate login//password.
That (lack of single-sign-in across forum+bugsmacker+wiki) is an unfortunate barrier-to-entry for prospective contributors.

That (lack of single-sign-in across forum+bugsmacker+wiki) is an unfortunate barrier-to-entry for prospective contributors.

Yes, unfortunate but necessary. The xrumer spambots also carry a huge database of manually entered passwords. If a forum password find it's way into it, they can fill the wiki with spam in no time at all. An extra layer of protection saves a lot of work.
Henry

If you are really interested in contributing to the Wiki, just contact our webmistress peregrine to get an account for the website. But since we are moving to a new website soon (on a different platform), maybe wait for that to be come online, then apply for your account.

For other contributions, contact the different persons listed in https://mxlinux.org/donate

Time and talent

MX and antiX Linux are offered to the public free of charge, but it actually takes people's time and money to make it free. For this reason, we are always looking for contributions in any of the following areas:

Development -- coding, art, distribution, etc. -- contact devs@mxlinux.org <== not expressly stated, but PACKAGING is a big part of this
General help -- website, outreach, maintenance, etc. -- contact devs@mxlinux.org
Documentation -- Users Manual, Wiki, videos -- contact manual@mxlinux.org
Translation -- MX tools, documentation -- post on the Translation Forum

If you have the time and interest to get involved in one of these areas, please let us know!

The team members have our own lives and work outside of this forum and distro. We can't do everything ourselves and often we are just here to coordinate and harness the talents of OTHER members of the community (I'm no artist, for instance). But it would help if members could actually volunteer using the contacts listed above and say what you can do. If the offer is an off-the-cuff remark hidden within a long thread like this, it might get overlooked. (I think I will also make a new thread to capture some of what I'm saying here so it doesn't get lost).

For those who have sent such emails/PMs, you are not forgotten (I think Jerry notified me of one or two). It's just that until the timelines for next release get put into place, there is no wholesale gearing up and no assignment of tasks in the interim. But it's not zero activity.

1. the packaging team - who are very small - are still busily building new packages for MX, which is an important part of what makes MX stand out from standard Debian. So they may welcome help. Offer your help if you are interested.
2. Jerry is hard at work on so many things - MX18 manual, adding to/cleaning up website contents, all the other bits and bobs that need to get done for the proper running of MX..... and he puts it on himself to do these things because no one else is doing it
3. a small team has been working on the website (mainly peregrine, with input from myself, Jerry, richb, with feedback from a few others)
4. the devs like anti, dolphin are I believe doing their own tests on Buster (currently Debian Testing) in the meantime.

[ADDED: Meanwhile, I've noticed that devs Adrian and Bitjam having been issuing bugfixes once in a while when issues are reported in this forum]

figueroa wrote: Sun Mar 03, 2019 10:38 pm

manyroads wrote: Sun Mar 03, 2019 6:43 pm I could not tell you... They are in the Forums, I've offered to have them placed where-ever. They are still here.

Oh, I see. The wiki isn't a real wiki. Users can't add/edit content. BTW, I greatly enjoy reading your contributions. :-)

I am glad this was bought up. MX Wiki is CMS (Drupal, Wordpress, Joomla, etc). Posts are depending on maintainer/editor. Wiki (MediaWiki), users collaboratively modify content directly in web browser. CMS engine, search through posts content, wiki through page titles. Example search "Bluetooth" in CMS is like google search.
https://mxlinux.org/search/node/bluetooth

Wiki search directly to the assigned "Bluetooth" page:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluetooth

I think MX team would like to have CMS and Wiki with same appearance. That's a bit of challenge but some distros have.

rasat wrote: Mon Mar 04, 2019 5:17 am I think MX team would like to have CMS and Wiki with same appearance. That's a bit of challenge but some distros have.

Of course, with a real wiki, content quality can quickly degrade unless management is actively moderating what users change and contribute.

On the new site things will be somewhat different...

figueroa wrote: Mon Mar 04, 2019 1:46 pm

rasat wrote: Mon Mar 04, 2019 5:17 am I think MX team would like to have CMS and Wiki with same appearance. That's a bit of challenge but some distros have.

Of course, with a real wiki, content quality can quickly degrade unless management is actively moderating what users change and contribute.

I agree. A wiki which supports a distro needs to provide accurate information. To make certain that objective is achievable requires quality moderation and high-quality input. Anything less casts a dark cloud over all the distro efforts.

Edit: As for the look & feel, given the new site is built on Wordpress, a sub-ordinate wiki is easily achievable (one which shares a theme with the main site). Here are some tools/ plugins that make that possible. There almost certainly others: https://pagely.com/blog/wordpress-wiki/

Thanks figueroa your point is good, though I referred to appearance of look & fell, both CMS and Wiki to have same theme. @manyroads, didn't know WP has wiki plugin. I will take a look, need for my own WP site.

rasat wrote: Mon Mar 04, 2019 5:04 pm Thanks figueroa your point is good, though I referred to appearance of look & fell, both CMS and Wiki to have same theme. @manyroads, didn't know WP has wiki plugin. I will take a look, need for my own WP site.

There are actually quite a number of them, plus some plugins that work similarly but are more secure. I'm testing one on my sandbox site http://eirenicon.com You'll see a couple of test items on the left menu cleverly labeled: Test MXLinux Wiki

Edit: it is Yada Wiki see: https://www.webtng.com/yada-wiki-documentation/

figueroa - true.

So who wants to step up and manage the wiki?

anticapitalista wrote: Mon Mar 04, 2019 5:27 pm figueroa - true.

So who wants to step up and manage the wiki?

I guess the questions are... does the team want:
1. a wiki built of other people's content & transfered into the new MX website site using a plugin like "yada wiki"?
2. a standalone wiki that can be made to look like the mxlinux.org site? (also using info scraped from the Forums, main site, etc)
3. someone who can write most of the wiki content and do one of the above as well?

I hope we'll have a real Wiki (easy to edit) not HTML pages like we have right now. It's not conducive to editing...

anticapitalista wrote: Mon Mar 04, 2019 5:27 pm So who wants to step up and manage the wiki?

I will not have time to take the lead, but I am there to help. Lets start by opening another thread.

I think you should all wait to see the new website and wiki before getting too deep into suggestions that may be moot.

figueroa wrote: Sun Mar 03, 2019 5:10 pm

turtlebay777 wrote: Sun Mar 03, 2019 3:13 pm Again and again I see comments about cheap USB sticks, but WHERE do people buy them cheaply? The stores around here in Dorset and Hampshire, UK very rarely stock USB sticks and when they do they're priced at £20 (sterling) or more for a small 8GB stick.

That's hard to relate to. On Amazon.com in the US, the pricing sweet spot seems to be at 32G USB 2.0 drives at 10 for $30, more or less, Prime shipping included. That's $3-US/each. Try to find the UK equivalent.

So only by buying online and risking one of the mega sites having their database with my banking details on it, being broken into and details stolen?

No way, Hosea!!

turtlebay777 wrote: Wed Mar 13, 2019 6:22 pm

figueroa wrote: Sun Mar 03, 2019 5:10 pm

turtlebay777 wrote: Sun Mar 03, 2019 3:13 pm Again and again I see comments about cheap USB sticks, but WHERE do people buy them cheaply? The stores around here in Dorset and Hampshire, UK very rarely stock USB sticks and when they do they're priced at £20 (sterling) or more for a small 8GB stick.

That's hard to relate to. On Amazon.com in the US, the pricing sweet spot seems to be at 32G USB 2.0 drives at 10 for $30, more or less, Prime shipping included. That's $3-US/each. Try to find the UK equivalent.

So only by buying online and risking one of the mega sites having their database with my banking details on it, being broken into and details stolen?

No way, Hosea!!

Well, if you ever have a change of heart, I'd certainly recommend this stick > https://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-MUF-64 ... r=8-7&th=1
I use the 128GB vesion in a usb 3.1 slot and a snapshot iso of 11.2GB takes around 4 minutes to write as a live usb. Hampshire and Dorset are two of my favourite counties, but Hampshire especially, I generally find to be very expensive whenever I've been there.

turtlebay777 wrote: Wed Mar 13, 2019 6:22 pm

figueroa wrote: Sun Mar 03, 2019 5:10 pm

turtlebay777 wrote: Sun Mar 03, 2019 3:13 pm Again and again I see comments about cheap USB sticks, but WHERE do people buy them cheaply? The stores around here in Dorset and Hampshire, UK very rarely stock USB sticks and when they do they're priced at £20 (sterling) or more for a small 8GB stick.

That's hard to relate to. On Amazon.com in the US, the pricing sweet spot seems to be at 32G USB 2.0 drives at 10 for $30, more or less, Prime shipping included. That's $3-US/each. Try to find the UK equivalent.

So only by buying online and risking one of the mega sites having their database with my banking details on it, being broken into and details stolen?

No way, Hosea!!

You can buy a prepaid debit card, unless those also cost an arm and a leg where you live. Otherwise you'd need to take a trip to your nearest large computer/electronics/gadget retailer with lower prices, wherever that might be. (Search pcworld.co.uk for store locations near you.) And if you pay with a debit or credit card issued by your bank, that large retailer will also have your banking details in a database that could become compromised or hacked.

I just had a look and 16GB to 32GBGB flash drives typically retail for under £10 online in the UK, and usually closer to £5, so at 20-plus for 8GB your local shops are ripping you off unless they're gold-plated or special editions or something, or if you're going to small independent retailers who have high rents to pay and so high mark-ups. Curry's has Sandisk Cruzer 16GB USB2.0 sticks at 3 for £14.99 for example, which is more like what you should be expecting to pay. Heck, here in the Philippines everything to do with computers, electronics and tech gadgets costs more than in the west, and even I paid under £5 for an 8GB USB.

@Bluesguy, have you seen the Testimonials forum and/or the Success Stories forum?

BitJam wrote: Wed Mar 13, 2019 9:42 pm @Bluesguy, have you seen the Testimonials forum and/or the Success Stories forum?

Also Testimonials on the Website.

turtlebay777 wrote: Wed Mar 13, 2019 6:22 pm So only by buying online and risking one of the mega sites having their database with my banking details on it, being broken into and details stolen?

No way, Hosea!!

Then, you are the mercy of your local retailers. That's nice. Expect to pay more. Or, get yourself a cash card and do your online purchasing that way. Welcome to the 21st century.

I agree this is a safe haven for windows refuges if they desire. I still rock hardware from 2006-2007 thanx to Mx Linux. Keep up the good work! I told a family member about Mx LInux who has been trying to massage the life out of Win 7/Win 10. Yes there is life after Microsoft! Been on this journey personally since the days of Win Dos 3.1. & 386 processors. People just need to know they have more & better options.

turtlebay777 wrote: Wed Mar 13, 2019 6:22 pm

figueroa wrote: Sun Mar 03, 2019 5:10 pm

turtlebay777 wrote: Sun Mar 03, 2019 3:13 pm Again and again I see comments about cheap USB sticks, but WHERE do people buy them cheaply? The stores around here in Dorset and Hampshire, UK very rarely stock USB sticks and when they do they're priced at £20 (sterling) or more for a small 8GB stick.

That's hard to relate to. On Amazon.com in the US, the pricing sweet spot seems to be at 32G USB 2.0 drives at 10 for $30, more or less, Prime shipping included. That's $3-US/each. Try to find the UK equivalent.

So only by buying online and risking one of the mega sites having their database with my banking details on it, being broken into and details stolen?

the thing is, that any pricing from the USA is biased to the USA market,,
and thus is very hard to compare elsewhere to that. .. Australia is the same .. Try to find the AU equivalent.
you can't - - there is No Equivalent .. ..

there used to be an three pack of 4Gb usb stick(s) for $24.98,,
and now there is the 16Gb three pack for $19.98,, or an single 16Gb for $6.98,,
or the 32Gb three pack for $28.96,, or an single 32Gb for $14.98 ..
& all at my local Office Supply Shop.
&& Amazon AU is not that good either - - their prices, will be similar to that Office Supply Shop.

but anyway,, one would assume that the win-7 refugees would be a-coming, as their system, enters it's final days.
- - some will "upgrade" to win-10, by re-using their win-7 product key,, yet others will go sideways - - to Linux
but2, will there be any more than the normal movement maybe a little more,, but Not Heaps, as that's most doubtful.

It looks as if Bluesguy may have been right. I've been seeing a lot of posts in the last two or three weeks from people coming from Ubuntu or Mint, or at least dual-booting from one of those and MX. To them, welcome to the forum and to MX!

Prospective Windows refugee here. I was looking for decent Linux distros and trawling through YouTube for good videos on distributions, and some commenters on those videos mentioned MX Linux.

So far I have been quite impressed with MX Linux. Coming from Windows 7 I already feel quite at home. I even managed to send a few cold-call tech support scammers into a rage of confusion with MX Linux and antiX Linux VMs. There have been a handful of teething issues that tend to occur with any major transition. I'm still evaluating and testing things out, but it seems I'm on track for making the switch by the end of this year.

I found MX Tools and MX Tweak come in handy. The snapshot and remastering features seem interesting (although I haven't had the chance to test them out yet). Also putting the panel/taskbar/whatever on the side is genius. It works well even on my 1024x768 screen. For inexperienced users wanting to just browse Facetwitterinstabooktubegram and check emails like a boss, I feel MX will not get in your way.

I occasionally found simple tasks like installing printer drivers to be a bit difficult. It also took me some time to work out how to set some system-wide settings (eg. power button press to suspend the laptop when it's at the lock screen). There is also some room for improvement with the installer, such as advanced encryption settings like cipher selection, the ability to preserve encrypted /home, and also asking the user about the boot loader before the install rather than when it's almost finished. Hoping to submit some patches soon.


I say, these smilies are surprisingly stupendously versatile.

Welcome to the horde. Er, forum. :)

MX Snapshot is a wonderful tool. Once you have MX set up the way you like it and all the apps that you want installed, make a snapshot of it and burn the resulting ISO to a USB stick and set it aside. Later if something goes seriously haywire and you need to reinstall, or your disk dies, or you simply get another computer, you can install your very own MX setup instead of the stock one then reconfiguring/reinstalling everything to get it the way it was. (Yes, you can install your own customized MX setup even on a different computer with way different hardware, and it will "just work". Ingenious!)

I agree about the panel placement (though being an old codger I've moved mine to the bottom where I've had it in Windows for the last 23-plus years.) It's just another example of how well thought-out MX is. Monitors are wider than they are tall, so the smaller amount of vertical space (height) is at a higher premium than the comparatively abundant horizontal space (width.) Putting the panel off on one side leaves more usable room on the screen for user-space apps and activities.

AK-47 wrote: Wed Apr 03, 2019 3:36 am Prospective Windows refugee here. I was looking for decent Linux distros and trawling through YouTube for good videos on distributions, and some commenters on those videos mentioned MX Linux.

So far I have been quite impressed with MX Linux. Coming from Windows 7 I already feel quite at home. I even managed to send a few cold-call tech support scammers into a rage of confusion with MX Linux and antiX Linux VMs. There have been a handful of teething issues that tend to occur with any major transition. I'm still evaluating and testing things out, but it seems I'm on track for making the switch by the end of this year.

I found MX Tools and MX Tweak come in handy. The snapshot and remastering features seem interesting (although I haven't had the chance to test them out yet). Also putting the panel/taskbar/whatever on the side is genius. It works well even on my 1024x768 screen. For inexperienced users wanting to just browse Facetwitterinstabooktubegram and check emails like a boss, I feel MX will not get in your way.

I occasionally found simple tasks like installing printer drivers to be a bit difficult. It also took me some time to work out how to set some system-wide settings (eg. power button press to suspend the laptop when it's at the lock screen). There is also some room for improvement with the installer, such as advanced encryption settings like cipher selection, the ability to preserve encrypted /home, and also asking the user about the boot loader before the install rather than when it's almost finished. Hoping to submit some patches soon.


I say, these smilies are surprisingly stupendously versatile.

The same here. I mean completely same

JayM wrote: Sun Mar 31, 2019 6:28 am It looks as if Bluesguy may have been right. I've been seeing a lot of posts in the last two or three weeks from people coming from Ubuntu or Mint, or at least dual-booting from one of those and MX. To them, welcome to the forum and to MX!

Yup! I don't dual-boot, but I have MX on the home computer and a modified Linux Lite on a laptop. Both are completely awesome newbie-friendly and technophobe-friendly distros, and both use a highly modified Xfce desktop.

On Linux Lite I have an adapted version of Linux Mint's updater, to help protect against the infamous upstream Ubuntu stuff that can break a perfectly good machine. On MX I don't need any such protection! The Debian Stable base is what brought me to MX from my other Ubuntu-based favorite. It just doesn't get any more stable than Debian Stable!

WarhawkCZ wrote: Fri Apr 12, 2019 3:38 am I use Google before asking dumb questions but I am new to Linux. Thank you for your patience :-)

@WarhawkCZ I love the signature block. I do the same and I have been a full time Linux user since was a pup (~2000). Started with Mandrake and then went to Ubuntu with Warty Warthog (version 4) then on to Mint... Manjaro (v. 0. and now here. (I'm personally just a tad older than dirt.) Reg. Linux User #449130

Welcome!

manyroads wrote: Fri Apr 12, 2019 9:49 am

WarhawkCZ wrote: Fri Apr 12, 2019 3:38 am I use Google before asking dumb questions but I am new to Linux. Thank you for your patience :-)

@WarhawkCZ I love the signature block. I do the same and I have been a full time Linux user since was a pup (~2000). Started with Mandrake and then went to Ubuntu with Warty Warthog (version 4) then on to Mint... Manjaro (v. 0. and now here. (I'm personally just a tad older than dirt.) Reg. Linux User #449130

Welcome!

Thank you!

I saw something to-day while researching new laptops that could send even more folks over to Linux. Microsoft has launched WINDOWS 10 S which is identical to regular Win 10 except for one very large gotcha: a user can only install software that has been downloaded from the official windows store.

see here for the details:

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/ ... comparison

I can see a lot of people being very disgruntled when they discover that their new laptop / desktop, by design, is not nearly as capable as their old one.

j2mcgreg wrote: Fri Apr 19, 2019 2:36 pm I saw something to-day while researching new laptops that could send even more folks over to Linux. Microsoft has launched WINDOWS 10 S which is identical to regular Win 10 except for one very large gotcha: a user can only install software that has been downloaded from the official windows store.

see here for the details:

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/ ... comparison

I can see a lot of people being very disgruntled when they discover that their new laptop / desktop, by design, is not nearly as capable as their old one.

I truly believe once MS has tamed Chromium, they will go for ChromiumOS next and you will get the Windows version of a Chromebook "Windows Lite". They just need to get you into the cloud and subscribed to their software, they don't care how they do it.

manyroads wrote: Fri Apr 12, 2019 9:49 am... Reg. Linux User #449130

Okay! Now I see that again, I have to ask... where can one get one?

Did a search, when you posted, but came up blank...


Btw. thread ttitle indicates newcombers aren't really welcome... one or two maybe, but hundreds are a horde...

Jan K. wrote: Fri Apr 19, 2019 5:03 pm

manyroads wrote: Fri Apr 12, 2019 9:49 am... Reg. Linux User #449130

Okay! Now I see that again, I have to ask... where can one get one?

Did a search, when you posted, but came up blank...


Btw. thread ttitle indicates newcombers aren't really welcome... one or two maybe, but hundreds are a horde...

Looks dead to me...
https://web.archive.org/web/20181116044 ... unter.net/

Re Linux Counter, the database is no longer maintained and is not available.

richb wrote: Fri Apr 19, 2019 5:15 pm Re Linux Counter, the database is no longer maintained and is not available.

Probably due to an integer overflow.

The person who took over the website left a note as to why they discontinued on the landing page.

From the Forum Rules.

Do not copy and paste entire or even up to half of someone else's words or articles into posts. Post only a few sentences or a paragraph and make sure to include a link back to original words or article.

Please edit your post accordingly.

viewtopic.php?f=32&t=29041

richb wrote: Fri Apr 19, 2019 5:15 pm Re Linux Counter, the database is no longer maintained and is not available.

Oh! He's that old!

Jan K. wrote: Fri Apr 19, 2019 7:25 pm Oh! He's that old!

Older than dirt...

My (Linux Counter) guess at the number of Linux users: 85,780,478 (Jun 2018 ??)