/fglt/ - Friendly GNU/Linux Thread

Welcome to /fglt/ - Friendly GNU/Linux Thread.
Users of all levels are welcome to ask questions about GNU/Linux and share their experiences.

*** Please be civil, notice the "Friendly" in every Friendly GNU/Linux Thread ***

Before asking for help, please check our list of resources[*].

Previous thread: If you would like to try out GNU/Linux you can do one of the following:
0) Install a GNU/Linux distribution of your choice in a Virtual Machine.
1) Use a live image and to boot directly into the GNU/Linux distribution without installing anything.
2) Dual boot the GNU/Linux distribution of your choice along with Windows or Mac.
3) Go balls deep and replace everything with GNU/Linux.

>What distro should I choose?
wiki.installgentoo.com/index.php/Babbies_First_Linux

>What's the alternative for x?
alternativeto.net
linuxalt.com
Search for software by category:
linuxlinks.com/Software
directory.fsf.org/wiki/Main_Page

News:
phoronix.com
webupd8.org
linuxjournal.com
lwn.net
Gaming news:
gamingonlinux.com
linuxgameconsortium.com

/t/'s GNU/Linux Games: /t/'s GNU/Linux Training Videos: * Resources:
Your friendly neighborhood search engine
(try to use a search engine that respects your privacy such as qwant, searx, ixquick or startpage)
$ man
$ info
$ --help
Don't know what to look for?
$ apropos

Check the Wikis (most troubleshoots work for all distros)
wiki.archlinux.org
wiki.gentoo.org

Learn the command line:
linuxcommand.org/tlcl.php

Break out of the botnet:
prism-break.org/en/categories/gnu-linux

Learn more about Free Software:
gnu.org

Sup Forums's Wiki on GNU/Linux:
wiki.installgentoo.com/index.php/Category:GNU/Linux

/fglt/'s website and copypasta collection:
fglt.nl
p.teknik.io/wJ9Zy

Other urls found in this thread:

u.teknik.io/6nK7p.sh
get.haskellstack.org/
wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/installation_guide
github.com/surajmandalcell/Linux-Theming-Documentation
reddit.com/r/linux/comments/5w03h1/as_there_is_no_proper_documentation_for_creating/de6pdff/
asciinema.org/a/bbis1intm13ya7vw3jyk0a2rl
twitter.com/SFWRedditGifs

>mfw there are freetards in this very thread using google botnet captcha to post on a closed source proprietary software imageboard

post your rare stallmans

>he doesn't know how to bypass the captcha

...

>bypass
>pay
>trust gook with your personal information
>he literally has 8 lawsuits in japan for selling user information illegally
>he literally datamines everything

No, Richard, it's 'Linux', not 'GNU/Linux'. The most important contributions that the FSF made to Linux were the creation of the GPL and the GCC compiler. Those are fine and inspired products. GCC is a monumental achievement and has earned you, RMS, and the Free Software Foundation countless kudos and much appreciation.

Following are some reasons for you to mull over, including some already answered in your FAQ.

One guy, Linus Torvalds, used GCC to make his operating system (yes, Linux is an OS -- more on this later). He named it 'Linux' with a little help from his friends. Why doesn't he call it GNU/Linux? Because he wrote it, with more help from his friends, not you. You named your stuff, I named my stuff -- including the software I wrote using GCC -- and Linus named his stuff. The proper name is Linux because Linus Torvalds says so. Linus has spoken. Accept his authority. To do otherwise is to become a nag. You don't want to be known as a nag, do you?

(An operating system) != (a distribution). Linux is an operating system. By my definition, an operating system is that software which provides and limits access to hardware resources on a computer. That definition applies whereever you see Linux in use. However, Linux is usually distributed with a collection of utilities and applications to make it easily configurable as a desktop system, a server, a development box, or a graphics workstation, or whatever the user needs. In such a configuration, we have a Linux (based) distribution. Therein lies your strongest argument for the unwieldy title 'GNU/Linux' (when said bundled software is largely from the FSF). Go bug the distribution makers on that one. Take your beef to Red Hat, Mandrake, and Slackware. At least there you have an argument. Linux alone is an operating system that can be used in various applications without any GNU software whatsoever. Embedded applications come to mind as an obvious example.

So, wtf are you doing here? You're doing the same shit you're sperging about.

Next, even if we limit the GNU/Linux title to the GNU-based Linux distributions, we run into another obvious problem. XFree86 may well be more important to a particular Linux installation than the sum of all the GNU contributions. More properly, shouldn't the distribution be called XFree86/Linux? Or, at a minimum, XFree86/GNU/Linux? Of course, it would be rather arbitrary to draw the line there when many other fine contributions go unlisted. Yes, I know you've heard this one before. Get used to it. You'll keep hearing it until you can cleanly counter it.

You seem to like the lines-of-code metric. There are many lines of GNU code in a typical Linux distribution. You seem to suggest that (more LOC) == (more important). However, I submit to you that raw LOC numbers do not directly correlate with importance. I would suggest that clock cycles spent on code is a better metric. For example, if my system spends 90% of its time executing XFree86 code, XFree86 is probably the single most important collection of code on my system. Even if I loaded ten times as many lines of useless bloatware on my system and I never excuted that bloatware, it certainly isn't more important code than XFree86. Obviously, this metric isn't perfect either, but LOC really, really sucks. Please refrain from using it ever again in supporting any argument.

Last, I'd like to point out that we Linux and GNU users shouldn't be fighting among ourselves over naming other people's software. But what the heck, I'm in a bad mood now. I think I'm feeling sufficiently obnoxious to make the point that GCC is so very famous and, yes, so very useful only because Linux was developed. In a show of proper respect and gratitude, shouldn't you and everyone refer to GCC as 'the Linux compiler'? Or at least, 'Linux GCC'? Seriously, where would your masterpiece be without Linux? Languishing with the HURD?

You don't need to solve the CAPTCHA or buy a pass. There's a hack. Lurk moar and git gud.

I dont have problems using proprietary software :^)

Got this ANSI stallman. u.teknik.io/6nK7p.sh

srsly faggot, either post the complete pasta or don't post at all, reddit

...

I'd hit it

...

It's too intense user
I change my mind

lets say you can choose between arch, debian and gentoo, which one do you choose?

PCLinuxOS

Source Mage GNU/Linux

Debian. It requires the least fucking around of the three.

gen2

arch for downloading

The best

>lets say you can choose between cancer, aids and ebola, which one do you choose?

aids so that i can spread it to all the filthy degenerates

well everything else are hacked together forks, hobby projects or red hat memes

Or improvements.

Gentoo for NEETs

I ran this to install Stack:

curl -sSL get.haskellstack.org/ | sh


and then I ran
stack ghc
stack setup


and holy hell does it take a fuck ton of time.

Does anyone know how much it downloads?

My 2011 Thinkpad comes with a discrete Nvidia Quadro GPU and I want to use it to its fullest extent. What distro can let me do this with the least user input?

>use it to its fullest extent
>with the least user input
pick one

Hey, hello guys!
Newbie full of sad naivety reporting here.
I have never installed an OS that wasn't Windows but after a time learning about distros, commands, etc. i would really like to try to install Arch.
My questions are now:
>Could i install Arch Linux as a second operative system without the need of formating the HDD? Maybe making a second partition for it and more partitions inside of that partition for the parts of the operative system?
>Am i going to die trying to install it? (planning to use WMs instead of Desktop Environment though)

>Sorry for my annoyance as a complete, stupid noob, and thanks for the help.

Isn't it 2017? We have a completely open AAC encoder now.

idk, i have a t410 with an nvs 3100M, and on my distro installing the actual driver is not overly complicated if you know what you're doing, the build script takes care of everything, you just have to do it in the right order and understand which kernel it is building against, and then i think i had to rebuild it a while ago because my mesa package got upgraded and it was all like, CAN'T FIND OPENGL, HARDWARE ACCELERATION DISABLED, and I never even bothered figuring out how to do Optimus switching, read it was complicated/barely functional and don't really care that much since I get breddy gud battery life as it is if I'm smart about it.
but YMMV
to be fair, i don't use one of those complicated "do everything for you" distros

You need to shrink your windows partition in windows to not lose data. Chances are the windows partitioner will only let you shrink it a tiny bit, so something like easeus partitioner might be better. Once you've done that, just make your partition for Linux (either in gparted before booting arch or just make it out of the unpartitioned space in a GUI installer) and install it, and then install grub to dual boot.

I would suggest something other than arch as a starting point, like mint or xubuntu or fedora. If you must use arch, make sure you're comfortable following wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/installation_guide . You'll boot to a command line and need to build a basic system and then chroot into your hard drive. If you don't think you can do that, use arch anywhere, a visual installer that also installs grub. (You can also choose a WM while installing it). Stay away from manjaro and antergos.

Arch is fine for a Linux noob. First distro I ever used after a mint live USB.
Do this:
>Shrink windows partition in easeus by at least 20gb. Leave the 20gb unallocated.
>Boot gparted live, make a swap space depending on your ram (IMO half your ram, but at least the same as your ram if you have under 8gb). This is mostly irrelevant if you're not on a laptop or have a good amount of ram. Make the rest an ext4 partition.
>Boot the install media for arch. Try the official arch USB first, if it goes wrong feel free to ask here or use arch anywhere
>Make sure you get the architecture and uefi/bios stuff right.
>Install, just follow the guide linked. Then you need to install grub before you reboot.

void

There was a problem with XFCE's window decorator — area aroung buttons was of different color. So I replaced it with openbox. Everything is almost fine, but xfce4-panel's applications menu can't logout anymore. Is there a way to fix that without XFCE's window decorator?

Guys, i'm having trouble with installation ATI Graphic Card in Debian. Which one i should install? cause last time it left with black screen. should i update the linux kernel? please help, i'm stuck...

I really appreciate your help, thanks for the answers!

>tfw agree completely with the principles of the free software movement but am too isolated IRL to drop certain proprietary chat applications
I feel pathetic for not being able to stop using them. Then again, my computer has 0 proprietary software installed aside from the BIOS, so I'm still doing decent: maybe in some years I'll be able to free my phone as well.

>here was a problem with XFCE's window decorator — area aroung buttons was of different color.
Change the xfwm4 theme you nonce

This is just bollocks and completely inane. If the person who "wrote" this (in quotes because it's copied from somewhere else) is reading this, be ashamed and kill yourself.

github.com/surajmandalcell/Linux-Theming-Documentation

>doesn't like window manager theme's colors
>replaces window manager

Typical poster on here.

...

what's wrong with it besides you just having to complain about something?

>Linux theming documentation
More like GTK theming documentation

>Linux-Theming-Documentation
Linux is a kernel, you cannot theme it.

>A "Theme engine" is a piece of software that changes the look of the GUI's widgets.
He says he focuses on GTK3, and he does. GTK3 has dropped theme engine support a long time ago so this only proves that he has no idea what he's talking about. It's obvious, because he just copy/pasted it from a year old forum post.

>, we will study the "Ambiance" theme, which is usually found at /usr/share/themes/Ambiance
Not only would it be better to modify the default Adwaita theme, but saying that Ambiance is usually found there is ridiculous. It's not a default theme.

>we are not only theming gtk2/3 we are also theming openbox/xfce/unity /others which are variants of gtk but not exactly gtk.. [0]
No, Xfce or Openbox are not variants of GTK, they have nothing to do with GTK. Xfwm4's (Xfce's window manager) themes have nothing to do with GTK, nor do Openbox themes.

[0] reddit.com/r/linux/comments/5w03h1/as_there_is_no_proper_documentation_for_creating/de6pdff/

Right.

File a bug complaint and explain why what he's doing is wrong and shouldn't be done.

You have to register and it's not software, there's no point. I just wanted to complain and call someone an idiot.

Who's the faggot that took Guix out of the /fglt/ main post. Jesus tapdancing Christ the only reason to use Linux these days is Guix and shit like ZSH asciinema.org/a/bbis1intm13ya7vw3jyk0a2rl

>The tinydrm code seems like absolute pure shit that has never seen a compiler. I'm upset, because I expect better quality control. In fact, I expect *some* qualitty control, and this piece-of-shit driver has clearly seen none at all. And those patches were apparently committed yesterday. WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?...How the hell did this get to the point where crap like this is even sent to me? Nobody tested *anything*? AND WHY THE HELL WAS THIS UTTER SHITE SENT TO ME IF IT WAS COMMITTED YESTERDAY?

>shit like ZSH

Says the person who probably isn't even exhausting 10% of Bash and is only using Zsh because he thinks only it can provide a "fancy" prompt.

Retard here running ubuntu server.

I'm using noip so I can access my server remotely. I need to change hostname and I have no fucking idea how to do it. There is a small noip program running that updates the hostname and whatnot and upon installation I could enter what hostname to update but I have no idea how to do it after the fact. I cant find any config file for it or anything.

man hostnamectl

Is that the manual for noip or does ubuntu have a similar feature built into it already?

it's a manual for changing the hostname

How do I install scripts in dmenu?

*for

So I set my hostname but it doesn't seem to work. Will this automatically update like the noip application?

I have 50 bucks in my paypal account and am thinking I'm going to get an EEE 701 off ebay because I owned one years ago and it makes me nostalgic.

I'm a Linux noob but want to rice the fuck out of it. Can I just download a modern distribution and install it?

I've been thinking about switching to Linux, becuase my computer has virus and has gotten really slow. I'm probably going to restore PC to factory defaults and use Linux from then, cuz I grew tired of Microsoft and their BS, What do you guys think? I'm not a complete computer illiterate, but I'm not a top-tier programmer either. And if so, which Linux is the most fool-proof?

Debian

Install that, or just install crunchbang if you're unsure of yourself. It's jsut debian with scrips anyway.

it will be painfully slow

lightweight ofshoot of ubuntu like xubuntu or lubuntu.

debian with xfce/lxde is an option, though i would suggest waiting for debian 9.0 to be released (in 2-3 months), because then youll be eligible to pick LXQt

would MS Visual Studio run on Debian, or any other Linux without trouble? I've read about MS going open-code with VS, so it should be possible.
Any experience with this?

plus trying to browse modern webistes with 512mb ram would be painful

Kinda new to linux, is there a better way to manage cron jobs in terms of knowing when and if the jobs run and running the job outside of the specified time? an alternative would be ok too.

i have a 250gb ssd and a 1tb hdd
is it a good idea to partition the drive like this?
ssd - entirely linux
hdd - 200gb windows partition
200gb linux home folder
600gb mutual usage partition(shit like movies etc)

>crunchbang
is dead. It's now bunsenlabs.

might runwith wine, or you could always virtualize windows.

also this

I don't care, it's not going to be a daily driver. I want to own it more as a collectors item. I just want to fuck around with ricing it and maybe hacktintosh it for fun. It was my first computer, I want to get a hold of one as a sort of keepsake.

It supports up to 4gb of ram iirc, and most of them on Ebay come with 2 or 4gb.

>no "Share this result on Facebook" link
>doesn't automatically print amazon suggestions
>no emojis
this is why linux isn't ready for the desktop

GNU+Linux*

Why my debian netins doesn't automatically mount usb sticks?

wat how

they are called jump drives

xubuntu LTS works fine on mine. I don't use it much so I wouldn't know about others.

Have you used XP on it? Is Xubuntu faster or slower than XP on it?

XP will always be faster.
It's a pretty fucking old operating system

I'll probably buy one with XP and just boot Xubuntu or some other lightweight distro off an SD card or flash drive.

How does RAM affect web browsing? If anything, the CPU running the browser will be making it painful and not the RAM.

Use systemd timers if you already have systemd running.

Because you didn't install the appropriate software. USB flash drive automatic mounting software isn't exclusive to Debian nor the specific installation medium/method you use for a distribution.

Modern browsers use about 500mb on their own with one tab open.

modern websites and browsers use a lot of memory, so having a several tabs open at once could fill up 512mb pretty quick. I'm using 1.7 gigs right now and the only application open is firefox with 6 tabs, 5 of them Sup Forums and 1 wikipedia.

I guess you could mitigate this some using a browser/distro specifically for lightweight use.

but it is more browsers that use the memory, not just the websites.
Something like firefox uses more and more memory, it is not data generated by javascript on the websites, it is more than that.

No, they don't. My Firefox has been running for 4 hours and I have 5+ tabs open and it's using up 422MB.

RAM means nothing, it's your CPU that bottlenecks it. Browsing the internet was painfully slow and impossible on my Northwood Pentium 4 CPU, even after a RAM upgrade from 512MB DDR to 1GB. The upgrade wasn't noticeable browser wise at all. The only difference was that it could start up faster on the 2nd time because it could keep things cached. Stop perpetuating myths.

No one is saying an old cheap CPU isn't going to hurt performance as well. It's fairly well established that browsers use a lot of ram. good for you for not using too much but when you do and start using swap it will slow down. 512mb is just not really a manageable amount of ram nowdays.

Your CPU is more important. If your CPU can handle the modern web, you can ignore the RAM issue because chances are you have more than enough.

>fresh install of ubuntu
>shutdown
>[TTM] Buffer evicition failed
what's happening?

The buffer evicition failed.

Hi, Sup Forumsents!
What is the simpliest and lightest for performance way to transmit video stream from remote camera, operated by linux?
For example, I have Jolla phone with linux-based OS, and I want to use it's /dev/video0 camera.

Where can I find CLI tricks ?

You won't remember them anyway.
Start using CLI programs and you will run into the "tricks" yourself.

Coming from awesomewm, what's the best/comfiest DE?
Never kept track of the DE elitism

The one I'm using.

XFCE and Cinnamon

KDE