Magmarock: Hi there people.
I love open source programs such as 7-zip and LibreOffice
So I'm starting to get into Linux and I have tried a few different distros: Mint, both KDE Cinnamon, Mate and even Debian. As well as Ubuntu and Zorin OS. However I've been having a really tough time with it. There are things I like and many things I don't. I like the simplicity of it all and how it can play most video and audio file out of the box.
However, what I don't like is how much Linux depends on constent internet access and programming knowledge to use. The main reason I love GOG so much is because they don't use DRM meaning that there is no net dependency
The simple task of installing Nivida drivers from a .run file has given me quite a headache.
Here's just a quick overview of the process I had to go through. Keep in mind that I try to avoid using terminal as much as possible since I'm more likey to remember menus then commands. (Yes I know lol)
At first it wouldn't run; so I googled it and changed it's properties to execute. Then I get an error message saying that that it has to be executed as Root user before it will work. So I googled it again and looked all over place. I right clicked the menu and opened the folder as Root and then ran the .run with Terminal under Root. I got the error you appear to be running an X server.
At this point I got fed-up and just gave up. I'm sure many of you who are Linux users and reading this, are probably face palming yourselves already knowing the solutions to these problems. But just about everything I do with Linux has a story that goes like this; form trying to install Wine traditionally to locating the directory of installed programs.
What I'm trying to say is; I like Linux and I like the competition it brings. However, it is far from the Windows killer that everyone makes it out to be. With the kind of nonsense you have to go through just to get basic stuff to that you can already do in Windows is astounding. I remember using Windows 3.1 when I was 10 and it was the most amazing OS for it's time. Mostly, because a 10 year old could use it without needing to read a manual; or read much at all for that matter. Things just worked the way you expected and I never had to go back to that CLI known as DOS ever again. I've been using computer for over 20 years now and consider myself a reasonably advanced user but Linux has reduced me to tears lol. Using things like software manager and driver manager is great for casual use, but how do are you supposed to do these manually.
Bottom line is:
Windows 7 is awesome but Windows 8 is terrible.
What I'm really after, is something that I can use just like Windows, but not have to worry about Microsoft doing what they do best. Taking something good and fixing it till it breaks.
GOG is full of an active DRM hating Linux community, so please let me know your thoughts on Linux, Windows and thinking I can do to improve my Linux usage, I could use all the help I can get. Thanks for taking the time to read this post.
Welcome to Linux I guess :-)
Well first of All Linux is very different than Windows. I have personally had an interest in Switching completely from Windows for the past 6 years. Why I never made the complete switch? Gaming was always the reason but this is changing with all these Linux games coming out.
About 2 months I've spent hours upon hours in my little virtual machine with Linux Mint 17 before using it as my main OS. I agree that installing simple Nvidia drivers can be quite a headache and I spent about 2 days to get a successful installation, now it's become like child's play, it requires a bit of using the terminal but in the end you'll only have to follow a short text document.
Linux can be a dependency hell in the beginning but with some patience you'll eventually crack it open and becomes easy from there on.
For anyone's interested in installing the Nvidia Drivers (headache free) on Linux Mint, I have attached a simple text document to follow. The document is about 2-3 days worth of googling and piecing up information, all the hard work is already done.
Since the GOG forums don't allow to attach text files, please rename the file to a .txt extension. :-) Hopefully this guide will be useful to someone.
