Questions : switching back to Linux for my desktop

Wed Oct 26 10:12:25 MST 2022

<scroll>

On 2022-10-26 09:15, Thomas Scott via PLUG-discuss wrote:
>> Not all newbies. The ones who should go back to windows are the ones
> not willing to learn Linux. Linux was never intended for the dweeb
> whose computer interactions are email, web, and porn. Linux has always
> been, and continues to be, for those who want to boss their computers,
> not for those who want their computers to boss them.
> 
> All hail the grey beard! All ye who do not master your computer, run
> and flee!! See the blood and terror ye have wrought whilst ye ignored
> the mighty WM. Ye never truly belonged in the first place...
> 
> Seriously though, that's not why I'm here. I don't think what DE/WM
> you use, or whether you use systemd, init, or have your own set of
> scripts that are written in assembly and COBOL, it's not the point.
> 
> It might have been the point to some, but never to all.
> 
> I got into Linux because it was about choice, it was about what worked
> for me
> and my needs, and not what the corporate overlords have deemed
> or what I could afford. I had crappy hardware, I wanted to learn about
> 
> computers, and Linux was my solution, and the freedom it provided
> and the doors it opened started me down a path that has provided
> jobs and now a career. That's the freedom I was looking for.
> 
> Now *gasp* I run MacOS - even though I could have run Ubuntu or Arch,
> because so many of my tools just worked and needed less config.
> I still use Linux heavily for work, I'm still in the shell everyday, I
> still
> customize the things that matter to me, but I also just throw
> resources
> at problems because I don't want to deal with them right now.
> 
> Congrats on the channel Keith! Hope it's a success for you!!
> Personally couldn't keep going on in PHP, after 2015, it was
> a nervous breakdown waiting to happen (again). I'm glad you've
> been able to make it work for you as a career though, that's
> pretty inspiring :)
> 

Very kind of you!! I fell in love with technology at the UofA in 
1983.... Graduated in 1990 and it took until 1995 to get a cooperate 
job. I have had a love/hate relationship with technology.  It is not for 
the light hearted.

I've made friends with a guy at Walmart who was a COBOL programmer and 
his job was outsourced to India. I hear these stories periodically.  It 
seems the life expectancy of a programmer might be 8 years and then they 
are displaced and then they are working at Walmart.  Is it like this for 
system admin?

I was able to make it work by becoming a freelancer.  I was in the right 
place at the right time.  In 2008 I put up a small website and got some 
traffic.  Those people were looking for custom programming.  It was an 
interesting ride and it fit me well.

Lot's of gotchas, mostly in estimating a project. Estimating projects is 
not easy.  Especially in the one man band space.  Not a lot of money in 
these projects so one must get good at estimating on the fly. The other 
risk is your project might go south because the person on the other side 
does not have the wherewithal to complete the project.  This can lead to 
missed payments and other issues.

So Thomas you are self taught?  I think most of us are.  Did you start 
with PHP?

Thanks!!
Keith

> Best Regards,
> -Thomas Scott
> 
> On Wed, Oct 26, 2022 at 11:29 AM Matthew Gibson via PLUG-discuss
> <plug-discuss at lists.phxlinux.org> wrote:
> 
>> Wait. No shameless youtube channel plug?
>> all joking aside. What is your channel name?
>> 
>> Matthew
>> 
>> On Wed, Oct 26, 2022 at 7:36 AM Keith Smith via PLUG-discuss
>> <plug-discuss at lists.phxlinux.org> wrote:
>> 
>>> Hi,
>>> 
>>> So to put this to rest, I broke out my old cheep dell laptop that
>>> is
>>> about 6 or 7 years old. It already had Kubuntu 20.4 installed.  I
>>> do not
>>> recall installing Kubuntu on that laptop. I've been playing with
>>> it for
>>> a day or so.  I am very much impressed.
>>> 
>>> I pulled out my old Linux desktop and will be putting an SSD drive
>>> into
>>> it and installing Kubuntu on it.  It is an i5 with 4 cores and 4
>>> threads.  I upgraded it years ago to 16Gb of RAM.
>>> 
>>> I expect Kubuntu will serve my needs.
>>> 
>>> I fall into the camp of I just want my computer to work. And I
>>> would
>>> like to know more.  I'm an old guy and do not have the energy I
>>> used to.
>>> I have a lot of goals and things I would like to accomplish.
>>> 
>>> I prefer Linux over Microsoft.  I like making browser based
>>> business web
>>> apps using PHP/MySQL.
>>> 
>>> My ultimate goal is to get my YouTube channel and blog going.
>>> 
>>> Thank you to everyone for all of your input.  This was a good
>>> thread.  I
>>> sill have a ton of questions.  I use Linux to create LAMP servers.
>>> I
>>> plan on developing a working knowledge of NGINX (LEMP). I'm not a
>>> sys
>>> admin, I'm a programmer.  Given all that I would like to learn
>>> what I do
>>> not know and strengthen what I do know.
>>> 
>>> Thanks!!
>>> 
>>> Keith
>>> 
>>> On 2022-10-26 00:05, Steve Litt via PLUG-discuss wrote:
>>>> Ryan Petris via PLUG-discuss said on Tue, 25 Oct 2022 06:30:34
>>> -0700
>>>> 
>>>>> I don't really have the time to reply to all of this,
>>>> 
>>>> And yet here you are.
>>>> 
>>>>> but I did want
>>>>> to reply to a couple of things.
>>>>> 
>>>>>> Let them go back to windows. Not everybody belongs in the
>>> Linux
>>>>>> world.
>>>>> 
>>>>> This. This right here is why you shouldn't be giving advice to
>>>>> newbies. This is the wrong attitude to have if you want to new
>>> people
>>>>> involved with Linux.
>>>> 
>>>> Not all newbies. The ones who should go back to windows are the
>>> ones
>>>> not willing to learn Linux. Linux was never intended for the
>>> dweeb
>>>> whose computer interactions are email, web, and porn. Linux has
>>> always
>>>> been, and continues to be, for those who want to boss their
>>> computers,
>>>> not for those who want their computers to boss them.
>>>> 
>>>> Did you just emerge from 1999, when we thought everyone would be
>>> using
>>>> Linux on the desktop and laptop in a couple years? It's 2022,
>>> and Linux
>>>> slaughtered Microsoft and Apple (and proprietary Unix) on the
>>> server,
>>>> but still has only a dedicated core of desktop users. The KDE,
>>> Gnome
>>>> and systemd you tout erect barriers to those desktop users who
>>> want to
>>>> boss their computers, and who want at least some POSIX.
>>>> 
>>>> And don't forget that the lead developer on the systemd project
>>> now
>>>> works for Microsoft. What could *possibly* go wrong?
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>>> New people are a good thing, they have new ideas
>>>>> and new directions that they want to go, and will take things
>>> to
>>>>> places never thought before. To push them out will create a
>>> dying
>>>>> community.
>>>> 
>>>> Like I said, I recommend working with users willing to use
>>> Linux.
>>>> 
>>>>> For new people, easier is better, hence GNOME or KDE being a
>>> good
>>>>> recommendation.
>>>> 
>>>> There's absolutely nothing easy or intuitive about Gnome3. If
>>> you want
>>>> easy and intuitive, LXDE and LXQt are what you want.
>>>> Have you ever used them? XFCE is also in that category, although
>>> on
>>>> Linux (as opposed to OpenBSD) I've found XFCE glitchy, and XFCE
>>> isn't
>>>> light enough for an anemic computer, which is the computer a lot
>>> of
>>>> Windows users have available to dabble with Linux.
>>>> 
>>>>> Once they get their footing then they can go and try
>>>>> more esoteric things as they get comfortable. Having them try
>>> to use
>>>>> straight openbox with a custom configuration is NOT the right
>>> advice
>>>>> for a new person.
>>>> 
>>>> Please remember, I recommended LXDE and LXQt. My point of
>>> Openbox was
>>>> to say that if you want an interface that completely stays out
>>> of your
>>>> way the way you say Gnome3 does, my interface does that.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Lastly, yes I did mean "integrated" and not "dependent" or
>>>>> "entangled".
>>>> 
>>>> No matter what you *meant*, "integrated" implies entangled.
>>>> 
>>>>> GNOME 3/4 in no way, shape, or form, REQUIRES systemd.
>>>>> You don't have to look far to prove this as it runs on FreeBSD,
>>> which
>>>>> is systemd-free. And no you don't have to jump through hoops to
>>> get it
>>>>> working, you install it and enable a couple services and poof
>>> it works
>>>>> just as well as on any other Linux system. GNOME also a
>>> first-class
>>>>> desktop environment on Void.
>>>> 
>>>> Well, the Gentoo/Funtoo people sure had to jump through hoops to
>>> get
>>>> Gnome working with OpenRC, but yeah, you're right, as shown at
>>>> 
>>> 
>> 
> https://distrowatch.com/search.php?ostype=All&category=All&origin=All&basedon=All&notbasedon=None&desktop=GNOME&architecture=All&package=All&rolling=All&isosize=All&netinstall=All&language=All&defaultinit=Not+systemd&status=Active#simple
>>>> 
>>>> Therefore, I can recommend Void to somebody who wants Gnome.
>>>> 
>>>> SteveT
>>>> 
>>>> Steve Litt
>>>> Summer 2022 featured book: Thriving in Tough Times
>>>> http://www.troubleshooters.com/bookstore/thrive.htm
>>>> ---------------------------------------------------
>>>> PLUG-discuss mailing list: PLUG-discuss at lists.phxlinux.org
>>>> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings:
>>>> https://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
>>> ---------------------------------------------------
>>> PLUG-discuss mailing list: PLUG-discuss at lists.phxlinux.org
>>> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings:
>>> https://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
>> ---------------------------------------------------
>> PLUG-discuss mailing list: PLUG-discuss at lists.phxlinux.org
>> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings:
>> https://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
> ---------------------------------------------------
> PLUG-discuss mailing list: PLUG-discuss at lists.phxlinux.org
> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings:
> https://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss