Best interface?


Recommended Posts

I recently partitioned my harddrive to include an Ext3 filesystem with anticipation that I would install Linux soon. Being an everyday visitor to Neowin, I decided to try Shift Linux or Fedora. Either way, which interface is best to use for a complete Linux newbie? Obviously, I have no problem opening a browser and finding information once I get the OS installed. The most simplistic interface is preferred.

Thanks for any help and comments!

Link to comment
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/621669-best-interface/
Share on other sites

Step 1

Remove your ext3 partition

Seriously. Let the installer create your swap partition. Let is create the 1 or 2 ext3 partitions it will use. Unless you know what you are doing, and are going to set your mount point manually (presumably for / ) and will either go without swap, or will use a swap partition you created, but didn't tell us about.

Link to comment
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/621669-best-interface/#findComment-589227302
Share on other sites

Step 1

Remove your ext3 partition

Seriously. Let the installer create your swap partition. Let is create the 1 or 2 ext3 partitions it will use. Unless you know what you are doing, and are going to set your mount point manually (presumably for / ) and will either go without swap, or will use a swap partition you created, but didn't tell us about.

I assumed that it needed it to install on, but it doesnt matter. I'm sure the installer will run me through it and worse case scenario is that it doesnt and I will just delete it and use the raw parition.

Link to comment
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/621669-best-interface/#findComment-589227323
Share on other sites

Linux uses at least 2 partitions for most configurations. Some distros default to more.

swap is a separate partition. If you don't have one, the installer may install onto the ext3 and not leave you a swap.

Go ahead and try it. It's not going to hurt. I just see tons of people try to "help" the install, and all they do is make extra work for themselves, and either run into problems where they "don't have room", or are unable to create a swap.

Link to comment
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/621669-best-interface/#findComment-589227336
Share on other sites

OK, we're going to need a bit more information if we're to help you with that.

First, which version of Shift did you try? Live CD or did you install it? You say "lock up", but state that your mouse can still move - sounds more like an application crash than a system crash. Did you have Compiz enabled? Did you get any video drivers (if necessary)? What are your hardware specs?

As much information you can supply will help us out here.

Link to comment
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/621669-best-interface/#findComment-589232978
Share on other sites

...

I thought Linux never crashed?

Mostly, when you have heard that, it's been someone with personal anecdotal evidence saying "Linux has never crashed on me". Just like someone saying "XP/Vista has never crashed on me".

No one is saying an OS will never-ever crash. Hardware problems, configuration/software mismatches or errors can cause a PC to go belly-up.

As Mr. Fish stated, the fact you can move your mouse indicates Linux (the kernel) is running, but X (the GUI) is having problems. Possibly configuration issue? When this happens, it is important to let us know what you may have done. Is this purely running as a LiveCD? Or has this been installed? Have you added or enabled any extra apps or features?

Also, when it is not running X properly, you can use CTRL+ALT+F2 to call up a command-line terminal interface and log in and troubleshoot and repair.

Link to comment
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/621669-best-interface/#findComment-589233176
Share on other sites

OK, we're going to need a bit more information if we're to help you with that.

First, which version of Shift did you try? Live CD or did you install it? You say "lock up", but state that your mouse can still move - sounds more like an application crash than a system crash. Did you have Compiz enabled? Did you get any video drivers (if necessary)? What are your hardware specs?

As much information you can supply will help us out here.

It happens most when I'm changing display settings, for example, changing font settings and themes. Maybe a graphics card issue but I couldn't find anything like a device manager to rectify driver issues in Shift. This was during an installed copy of Shift v0.6.2 KDE, not Live CD.

I'm not sure what Compiz is, and I'm sure this issue may be easily rectified if I bothered to research my drivers. I've been busy however, working and fixing someone's laptops... so I haven't been able to play in Shift.

My computer is old technology but I keep it running relatively smoothly. I've attached a HTML of my system information.

Mostly, when you have heard that, it's been someone with personal anecdotal evidence saying "Linux has never crashed on me". Just like someone saying "XP/Vista has never crashed on me".

No one is saying an OS will never-ever crash. Hardware problems, configuration/software mismatches or errors can cause a PC to go belly-up.

As Mr. Fish stated, the fact you can move your mouse indicates Linux (the kernel) is running, but X (the GUI) is having problems. Possibly configuration issue? When this happens, it is important to let us know what you may have done. Is this purely running as a LiveCD? Or has this been installed? Have you added or enabled any extra apps or features?

Also, when it is not running X properly, you can use CTRL+ALT+F2 to call up a command-line terminal interface and log in and troubleshoot and repair.

heheh, I know. It was more of a joke to the Linux fanboys. I realize that the issues related to crashes are numerous and never isolated to any platform.

Edited by selflysis
Link to comment
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/621669-best-interface/#findComment-589237363
Share on other sites

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Posts

    • Wonder what MPs have ties to these privacy/verification/data harvesting companies that are going to step in this time. Last time under the Tories half the cabinet had fingers in the pies, heck even the PM and his wife at the time was working for silicon valley, probably made a fortune.
    • Google Chrome is killing all uBlock Origin bypasses, Microsoft Edge, Opera to follow by Sayan Sen For a while now the transition away from Manifest V2 (MV2) to MV3 has been on-going and it looks like it is entering its final phase of deprecation, at least, in the case of Google Chrome. A recent discussion thread in the w3c WebExtensions Community Group GitHub repo has highlighted how the latest and upcoming versions of the most popular browser are expected to be its final releases with support for MV2 extensions. Chromium contributor Andrey Bershanskiy shared details about recent Chromium changes and according to comments from Google engineer Devlin Cronin, Chrome has now started removing the flags that previously controlled MV2 availability. kExtensionManifestV2Disabled, the Chromium feature flag that allowed controlled disabling of MV2 add-ons, is now completely removed, which means you will likely no longer find uBlock Origin in your browser extensions list. He wrote: "The kExtensionManifestV2Disabled feature has been default-enabled for over a year. Remove the feature and the effectively-dead code. ... Any tests that relied on being in the "warning" phase (i.e., with the kExtensionManifestV2Disabled) for their sole behavior testing are removed, since this stage is no longer reachable." Cronin further explained why MV2 extensions are no longer allowed in supported Chrome versions as maintaining the associated functionality indefinitely is no longer possible. He cited growing technical difficulties and implementation complexities as well as security concerns. He wrote: "MV2 extensions are no longer allowed in any supported version of Chrome, and we are removing support for them and the associated functionality. We won't be able to provide / maintain this functionality indefinitely due to the complexity and tech debt, as well as the security risks it entails (we've actually found a number of bugs that are specific to MV2 lately). Of course, other browsers can continue supporting these if they so desire. Unfortunately, we won't be putting code behind a compilation flag ... We won't be removing all the MV2 code wholesale right away, so many of these things will continue working for awhile (but they will go away eventually, and some may go away sooner than others)." What this essentially means is that the tricks and bypasses that were used to keep MV2 extensions like uBlock Origin and others alive will not work any more on Chrome, or at least not for very long. For example the Windows Registry mod that could extend MV2 availability will cease to function after Chromium version 151. Here is a rundown of the changes coming in the final such releases of Chromium releases: Chromium 150 lost ExtensionManifestV2Disabled option Chromium 151 will loose ExtensionManifestV2Unsupported option Chromium 151 will loose ExtensionManifestV2Availability option Chromium 151 will likely loose AllowLegacyMV2Extensions option Other Chromium-based browsers like Opera and Microsoft Edge could soon follow suit too. Although it is not specified, Edge began disabling uBlock Origin back in February, and Opera could also stop the functioning of MV2 add-ons, even though it had committed to support MV2 for longer in October 2024. uBlock Origin developer Raymond Hill (gorhill) apparently stated the following: "For Opera I did submit 1.70.0 rather late, but this was weeks ago. A while ago I received an email from Opera that they plan to abandon MV2-based extension so maybe they are no longer allocating resources for reviewing such extensions." The email which developers like Gorhill mentions was received from Opera last year. Here is what it seemingly said: Hence for now the only Chromium browser that seems to be on-board fully with MV2 support is Brave, and perhaps Vivaldi as well. Meanwhile if you want to ditch Chromium browsers entirely then Mozilla Firefox is an excellent alternative as MV3 and MV2 are both supported. Of course the easiest solution is to switch to uBlock Origin Lite if you want to remain on Chrome, as it is MV3-based, but from our experience, uBO Lite does not seem to be as good as the original non-Lite version. Source: w3C (GitHub repo) As an online publication, Neowin too relies on ads for operating costs and, if you use an ad blocker, we'd appreciate being whitelisted. In addition, we have an ad-free subscription for $28 a year, which is another way to show support!
    • Write to your MP 😄 Like believing in Santa. Total surveillance IS the goal. Wake up.
    • This whole dumb age verification thing needs to die and be replaced by giving parents tools to control devices. Why am I required to plaster my ID all over the internet to prove I'm old enough when parents should be the ones dictating what their kids are doing on their phones. Apple released great set of tools for iPhones coming to iOS 27 that do just that. Why are governments not mandating that kind of control to phone makers to built them into phones. This whole thing is so absolutely idiotic it's wild.
  • Recent Achievements

    • Very Popular
      Captain_Eric earned a badge
      Very Popular
    • One Month Later
      amusc earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • One Month Later
      DJC50PLUS earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • Week One Done
      DJC50PLUS earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • Proficient
      Eric Biran went up a rank
      Proficient
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      511
    2. 2
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      220
    3. 3
      ATLien_0
      92
    4. 4
      +Edouard
      90
    5. 5
      Steven P.
      83
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!