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Outlander Systems
08-30-15, 14:26
Any Linux users here?
With the new Windows 10 NSA Edition here, Microsoft can officially go urinate in an upward direction toward twine.
A buddy of mine is using Gnome, but I haven't touched a Linux box since the last Millenium.
Any distro recommendations are welcome. I want efficiency, and Microsloth is anything but.
trackmagic
08-30-15, 15:05
I use Ubuntu 14.04. I have tried other versions of Ubuntu and hated them (some versions seem to have stability issues on my computer). 14.04 has been rock solid. I like Ubuntu because it has the highest level of support and I can normally find any software I need. You don't need to be a linux nerd to be able to use it effectively. It is very rare that I find myself needing Windows.
I have a friend who like Debian, but considering I can't seem to even figure out how to make it install properly (I'm sure that is due to my general computer-illiteracy) I decided to stay away from it.
Outlander Systems
08-30-15, 15:15
I use Ubuntu 14.04. I have tried other versions of Ubuntu and hated them (some versions seem to have stability issues on my computer). 14.04 has been rock solid. I like Ubuntu because it has the highest level of support and I can normally find any software I need. You don't need to be a linux nerd to be able to use it effectively. It is very rare that I find myself needing Windows.
I have a friend who like Debian, but considering I can't seem to even figure out how to make it install properly (I'm sure that is due to my general computer-illiteracy) I decided to stay away from it.
Has the Unity-Interface been working out for you? I've been hearing a lot of bellyaching from my travels in picking a new OS.
I have always preferred Fedora over Ubuntu. This is a good place to keep up with all things Linux.
http://distrowatch.com/
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trackmagic
08-30-15, 15:40
Has the Unity-Interface been working out for you? I've been hearing a lot of bellyaching from my travels in picking a new OS.
I think the Ubuntu interface has been one of the reasons for the stability issues. They have been evolving it over the years and I think some releases are more stable than others. 14.04 works for me, but maybe it just happens to work well with my hardware (other releases MIGHT work better for other people).
I believe distributions like Fedora and Debian may be more stable, but I have found its a bigger leap from being a Windows user than if you were to use Ubuntu. I was ready to give up on Ubuntu until I installed 14.04. 14.04 is what Ubuntu considers a LTS (long-term support) release. I think those releases are more stable in general.
Outlander Systems
08-30-15, 16:20
I think the Ubuntu interface has been one of the reasons for the stability issues. They have been evolving it over the years and I think some releases are more stable than others. 14.04 works for me, but maybe it just happens to work well with my hardware (other releases MIGHT work better for other people).
I believe distributions like Fedora and Debian may be more stable, but I have found its a bigger leap from being a Windows user than if you were to use Ubuntu. I was ready to give up on Ubuntu until I installed 14.04. 14.04 is what Ubuntu considers a LTS (long-term support) release. I think those releases are more stable in general.
I'd like to dive straight at Fedora, but I'm leaning towards Ubuntu. From what I am gathering, Ubuntu has more hardware support.
Waiting for my 2007-era dinosaur to format the thumb drive...
SilverBullet432
08-30-15, 16:37
Ubuntu. /thread.
dmaxfireman
08-30-15, 16:40
I'm using Zorin / Ubuntu. Very new to me as of this spring, but I am liking it.
Ubuntu user since its earliest releases. I don't like the newer interfaces, so have been using the peppermint ubuntu variants as well as putting it on family member laptops when they got too old for modern windows.
It just works, even non techie people can use it as it functions like windows for the most part.
FYI, Ubuntu is largely just an extension of Debian, so its the best of the world's.
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Digital_Damage
08-30-15, 17:45
Any Linux users here?
With the new Windows 10 NSA Edition here, Microsoft can officially go urinate in an upward direction toward twine.
A buddy of mine is using Gnome, but I haven't touched a Linux box since the last Millenium.
Any distro recommendations are welcome. I want efficiency, and Microsloth is anything but.
LULs
If you think switching to Linux is going to keep you off the NSA radar you are delusional. You would need to be completely off the internet.
Outlander Systems
08-30-15, 18:14
LULs
If you think switching to Linux is going to keep you off the NSA radar you are delusional. You would need to be completely off the internet.
No shit.
But, still, between
Windows 8: Where Smartphone Meets PC!
And
Windows 10: Where All Your Data are Belong to Us!
I said **** it, I'll keep what I've got and get a different OS:
34833
https://www.m4carbine.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=34833&d=1440976439
Alright fellas, Windows is in the garbage can.
Where da free apps at!?
apt-get ?
Linux is fine for programming (including running a server) and light computer use. Also for security use, if you change your distro to Kali or something similar.
But media creation and gaming will bring you, for the most part, back to Windows or OS X. I do a lot of photoshop and gaming on my computer, so I use Windows. I have my phone for forums and word processing and emails can be done anywhere.
That being said, when I run Linux on a home non-server non-laptop, it's generally Ubuntu. It's just easier to work with.
LULs
If you think switching to Linux is going to keep you off the NSA radar you are delusional. You would need to be completely off the internet.
Off the radar: no.
Off an operating system that likely has built in back doors and very very known flaws that last for long cycles with out patches: yes.
That said debian or Mint are both very nice. Mint is amazingly simple to get setup and going. Mint also from what I remember is a little more security and privacy focused that ubuntu which has some built in advertisers/partner software and links.
Outlander Systems
08-30-15, 20:04
Might need to go with something less resource intensive than 15.4...my machine is NOT liking it...
trackmagic
08-30-15, 20:05
No shit.
But, still, between
Windows 8: Where Smartphone Meets PC!
And
Windows 10: Where All Your Data are Belong to Us!
I said **** it, I'll keep what I've got and get a different OS:
Alright fellas, Windows is in the garbage can.
Where da free apps at!?
What version did you go with?
The only app I really install is google chrome and google earth. I hear the steam app they have for Ubuntu has ported a lot of the windows games over. Are you looking for any specific apps?
As noted above linux is most likely just as compromised as windows, but its probably not due to cooperation by the linux community.
If you really wanted to be an online ninja, there are some linux distributions that are audited by privacy groups and supposed to be "spyware" free (Tails, Liberte, etc). If you use those distributions correctly you can probably avoid mass surveillance and maybe even a targeted attack on your computer.
Might need to go with something less resource intensive than 15.4...my machine is NOT liking it...
Again, Check out peppermint, much lighter weight but still based on Ubuntu core.
Also you could use a VM if you still need windows on occasion. I have win7 running in a VM on my fedora machine and it works nicely.
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Outlander Systems
08-31-15, 06:21
Ended up installing Ubuntu 15.04.
Display is constantly going to sleep, and system is locking up. A buddy is running 14, and is going to bring that in for me, since he's not been having any stability issues with it at all.
I'm going to give that a stab, and see how it works before going to something light. On paper, my 8 year old PC exceeds the specs required for 15.04 by exponents, so it may be some issues with the latest version of Ubuntu/Hardware conflicts.
What version did you go with?
The only app I really install is google chrome and google earth. I hear the steam app they have for Ubuntu has ported a lot of the windows games over. Are you looking for any specific apps?
As noted above linux is most likely just as compromised as windows, but its probably not due to cooperation by the linux community.
If you really wanted to be an online ninja, there are some linux distributions that are audited by privacy groups and supposed to be "spyware" free (Tails, Liberte, etc). If you use those distributions correctly you can probably avoid mass surveillance and maybe even a targeted attack on your computer.
Ubuntu also ships everything you type into the search bar off to Amazon, Canonical, and others by default (or 14.04 did anyway). If that bothers you, make sure to disable it. I don't know the procedure, but surely Google knows.
Outlander Systems
08-31-15, 07:41
Ubuntu also ships everything you type into the search bar off to Amazon, Canonical, and others by default (or 14.04 did anyway). If that bothers you, make sure to disable it. I don't know the procedure, but surely Google knows.
Son of a bitch!
That's exactly why I wanted off of Windoze. I'd prefer to not be data mined by every corporate entity on the planet. I can't visit a website without advertisements for hiking boots and ham radios popping up in my face.
Digital_Damage
08-31-15, 09:26
Son of a bitch!
That's exactly why I wanted off of Windoze. I'd prefer to not be data mined by every corporate entity on the planet. I can't visit a website without advertisements for hiking boots and ham radios popping up in my face.
Then as I said, stay off the internet. Never visit forums, never buy anything and do not perform any searches with Bing, google or Yahoo.
They are not tracking you because of your OS, they are tracking based on the sites you visit and the information you freely give up in the form of search's, forum post, Facebook and purchases VIA cookies, IP, Mac address using Linux will not change that.
OP - use Mint, its a better out of the box experience than Ubuntu. No Amazon search issue, better GUI, less resource heavy.
Outlander, you don't really seem to be listening. Stay away from the heavy weight window managers in the recent versions of Ubuntu. Peppermint, mint, xubuntu, and others all go with a lighter weight windowing system and either Firefox or other browser of your choice and dodge all the reporting that canonical does in their search bar. But are pure Ubuntu beneath the window layer. Best of both worlds.
Boot peppermint 3 or 4 or later via usb. See how it runs.
I run it on servers to netbooks.
Outlander Systems
08-31-15, 10:14
Then as I said, stay off the internet. Never visit forums, never buy anything and do not perform any searches with Bing, google or Yahoo.
They are not tracking you because of your OS, they are tracking based on the sites you visit and the information you freely give up in the form of search's, forum post, Facebook and purchases VIA cookies, IP, Mac address using Linux will not change that.
I'm aware of this.
Outlander, you don't really seem to be listening. Stay away from the heavy weight window managers in the recent versions of Ubuntu. Peppermint, mint, xubuntu, and others all go with a lighter weight windowing system and either Firefox or other browser of your choice and dodge all the reporting that canonical does in their search bar. But are pure Ubuntu beneath the window layer. Best of both worlds.
Boot peppermint 3 or 4 or later via usb. See how it runs.
I run it on servers to netbooks.
I'll give Peppermint a shot. One of my biggest goals was to breathe new life into this old dinosaur. After browsing the Peppermint website, it looks like it might be the ticket.
Mint using XFCE as the window manager should be one of the lowest resource distros that maintains usability and good support for random hardware: http://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=2889.
Duck duck go is a good search that holds data mining to a minimum and doesn't track your searches.
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Outlander Systems
08-31-15, 10:47
Thank you.
I really don't like folks using my shit. If they want to cut me a check, they can have all the information they want. Same reason I don't go out of my way to buy anything with a "Logo" or "Brand" on it. You want me to rock a T-shirt with your logo on it? Pay up!
Duck duck go is a good search that holds data mining to a minimum and doesn't track your searches.
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Per TAILS input, use Firefox with all the appropriate plugins. Or if really paranoid, just use TAILS, buts its pretty basic.
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Outlander Systems
08-31-15, 16:48
Per TAILS input, use Firefox with all the appropriate plugins. Or if really paranoid, just use TAILS, buts its pretty basic.
Sent from my PRC-104 using phonetics
I'd like to give as little as possible to third parties, mostly because they:
Will abuse my personal data
Can't keep my personal data secure enough for only them to abuse
For some reason I kept having issues with the Peppermint checksum.
I was able, after three attempts, to get a verified ISO of Lubuntu on a USB, so I'll fire that up and see if it works for my Charles Babbage era HP.
I may try and download Peppermint tomorrow from a different mirror.
Digital_Damage
08-31-15, 16:52
Per TAILS input, use Firefox with all the appropriate plugins. Or if really paranoid, just use TAILS, buts its pretty basic.
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He is trying to be secure... why in the world would you suggest firefox.
Because out of the alternatives, with appropriate plug-ins, Firefox is still one of the most secure. And has integrated tor support, etc.
Don't take my word for it, go read the TAILS perspective.
What would you recommend? That has source available which has been audited? Decent privacy plugin sppt? Modern features?
OP, I used lubuntu for a while as well. Pretty solid, but peppermint is a little better integrated. Like mint, but without proprietary repositories.
Outlander Systems
08-31-15, 17:00
He is trying to be secure... why in the world would you suggest firefox.
Because Tor leads people to believe you're "up to no good."
; )
Ok, you guys can use IE10 if you like... But just as an FYI, the tor browser bundle as used in TAILS and others is essentially Firefox cleaned of issues, configured safely, and can be used without tor.
It's still one of the top recommended browsers by people who test and audit this type of thing.
Dealing with leakage to 3rd parties is completely different than things like onion routing. Tor browser bundle does both.
For security try the Aviator browser.
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Hot off the press:
http://www.techworld.com/security/the-best-5-secure-browsers-2015-3246550/
http://lifehacker.com/the-best-privacy-and-security-focused-web-browsers-1672758270
Aviator is closed sourced and has some trust issues. But also has some neat features.
But that's what "they" want us to think!
Digital_Damage
08-31-15, 17:46
Ok, you guys can use IE10 if you like... But just as an FYI, the tor browser bundle as used in TAILS and others is essentially Firefox cleaned of issues, configured safely, and can be used without tor.
It's still one of the top recommended browsers by people who test and audit this type of thing.
Dealing with leakage to 3rd parties is completely different than things like onion routing. Tor browser bundle does both.
It was until about 7 months ago... They keep trying to stamp out issues but the majority of issues are in the base. That is why you have seen 18 revisions in the 7 last months and 9 in the last month.
IF privacy is a concern, yes. Firefox is including some seemingly tight controls .
If security is a concern I would look elsewhere until their house is brought to order. Just to give you a snap shot of how bad it has gotten, a certain security lab threw 18 in the wild exploits against Firefox, IE and Chrome. Chrome thwarted 17, Firefox actually tied with IE 10 at 12....
One of the reason Firefox is having such an issue is because the source is out there and the exploits are not being reported like they use to. Groups are banking them so they can impress at the expos or forking their own... bunch of greedy bitches.
Outlander Systems
08-31-15, 18:00
So I managed to get Peppermint up and running. Definitely the most pleasant GUi I've ever worked in as far as appearance.
Seems to be running solid. The only issue I'm having is:
Where the hell my files go when I download them from the software center (Learning curve/end-user problem)
Why the hell my monitor defaults into sleep mode on reboot.
Other than that, I'm ready to get some freeware immediately.
SeriousStudent
08-31-15, 21:41
I am sort of curious. Are we discussing operating systems or religions in this thread?
Not wearing my mod hat, just puzzled. They are tools, right?
On a side note but somewhat related, has anyone tried free bsd? It's one of the few that I have always wanted to try but have never got around to it.
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This makes one hell of a firewall if you have an extra machine laying around.
https://pfsense.org/
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Mint using XFCE as the window manager should be one of the lowest resource distros that maintains usability and good support for random hardware: http://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=2889.
I use Xubuntu, which is Ubuntu + XFCE. I agree with Grizzly that XFCE is lighter weight than Gnome, KDE and the like, while still having good usability.
-john
I am sort of curious. Are we discussing operating systems or religions in this thread?
Not wearing my mod hat, just puzzled. They are tools, right?
OS and browser preferences ARE religions. Especially if it's Apple related. :p
SeriousStudent
09-01-15, 22:36
On a side note but somewhat related, has anyone tried free bsd? It's one of the few that I have always wanted to try but have never got around to it.
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Yes. I have a pair of FreeBSD machines using pfsense for the DMZ's here at the house. It's not as simple as a lot of other distro's, but it's certainly easier than it was a few years ago.
SeriousStudent
09-01-15, 22:38
OS and browser preferences ARE religions. Especially if it's Apple related. :p
Yes, Layer 10 of the OSI model. :cool:
Layer 7 = Application Layer.
Layer 8 = Money.
Layer 9 = Politics.
Layer 10 = Religion.
Always a good idea to remember when explaining things to the Board of Directors or CIO.
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