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1 month ago/Not_a_Rant
Are you sure about that?
I don’t mind people sharing their feelings about their switch, joy as well as frustration. And if I did, I would not read them… exactly like I don’t read political topics ;)
Libb
A 50-something French dude that’s old enough to think blogs are still cool, if not cooler than ever. Also, I like to write and to sketch.
https://thefoolwithapen.com
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Cake day: November 26th, 2023
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It can vary a lot depending the publisher, and some will not care at all while others will use, say, tracking features or work collaboratively (they can even be using OneDrive for that, which includes MS Office in its price), or they will require the author to use a specific Word template that they have devised for Word (with the person in charge of the final layout in whatever layout application, in order to streamline or the process and save time on that part of the job), when they aren’t that kind of publishers that simply do the final layout directly in Word before sending the final PDF to the printer. Also, as an author, if a publisher has asked you to use MS Word and some specific stylesheet and realize they tried to to be smarter than them… good luck with that, unless they’re already one of their best-selling author.
And that’s just what comes to my mind and that I have been witnessing first hand ;)
So I’m wondering if an upgrade is safe because
Imho that’s the wrong question. Without backup nothing is safe whether you pate the OS or not. Anything can happen (the disk can die, the computer can be stolen,…) and, yes, most upgrades should go without any issue but then one won’t go well and then what? You need to do backups, we should all ;)
I’m currently using Proton and still have to move to another service
I’ve moved to Filen (German end-to-end encrypted cloud you can rent (or buy) for a year or… a month (maybe worth the cost at least for a month when you will upgrade) and it works real nice for me on Mint 22.1
Depending the storage you need, you can get from 10 to 50Go for free: 10 base *+10 if you use crate your account using this affiliate link (no string attached, it’s real free storage) and up to 30Go more if you also share your own affiliate link. If you’re wondering, I use their 2To lifetime plan.
2/ Related to the first question: I’m using a old laptop (asus zenbook from 2015 or 2016, can’t remember), so would I be find with an old hardware such as mine?
It’s not that old, you should not worry much ;)
Depends what you need. Many publishers require certain features from MS Word that are not available or are not as ‘compatible’ in LO Writer (not that its LO’s fault ;), but for most use case I would agree. Things are a bit more complicated in the case of Excel as far as I can understand what I read (edit: I don’t use much spreadsheets myself).
I’ve quit using MS Word a few years ago, fully switching to LO Writer. There are a few issues here and there but nothing that’s a deal breaker (and Word had its own issues too), and I must quite like many things in Writer—beside the app not spying on me, I mean ;)
Sorry I didn’t used PKMS as keyword :/
Don’t be, it’s not that obvious.
To answer your question… Yeah I suppose analog note-taking is probably the best, You can write without any limitation in every direction !
Will see how the conversation goes in the pkms group, but that’s the road I went and I have zero (like in not a single one) regrets.
There isn’t any community about note taking where I could post my question and no this is not a “What’s the best note taking app” question…
Here, maybe? [email protected]
A community dedicated to personal knowledge management systems.
Does anyone here has some experience and is taking notes that way? I’m really curious on your experience and maybe your thoughts if it’s feasible ? Practical ?
If you ever decide to post over there, in order to no pollute this Linux community I would happily share my own choices but they may not be the most digital solution, as I fully switched back to analog note-taking, using a Zettelkasten system (a fancy name for index cards stored in shoe boxes).
Aren’t they constantly? ;)
Hi,
I’m a Windows user of all life
I was a Mac user for 35+ years (still am, partly). It took me a little while to get used to new names/commands in Linux but that’s to be expected. And it is not much an issue anymore ;)
I am those persons that has bad times remembering names, words… imagine commands… Even after using it so much I remember some basics but I’m struggling a lot and I have to go back to notes constantly to do some basic operations. Even worst after trying multiple distro from from different upstreams that commands are … Different
What kind of commands exactly? I mean, I don’t know that ‘commands’ are different from one distro to the other’ as they all use the same apps. So, beside the name of a few specific ones (like, maybe the app installer).
What would be your recommendations to help me. Are there tools to help this issue ?
My two sole advice:
- don’t try to remember too many commands. Instead, focus on the ones you use daily or very often. After you get those memorized you can always decide to memorize more… or not memorize them at all. I don’t bother remembering them, why would I when I can easily use Ctrl+F and instantly find them the moment I need them?
How do I do? I keep a text files in which I store all the stuff I seldom use but still want to be able to find in case I need it someday. To make finding them easier, I put descriptive titles and comments with each command. And that’s what I’m searching for, not the command name ;)
- If you’re talking about Terminal commands, learn to create your own aliases they will let you remember a short name instead of full commands. I have a few lengthy commands and some scripts (for example, to compress/convert images) that I I regularly use. I don’t remember them. I’ve saved them in a .sh file that I can either call through a Terminal or simply by a right-click in my File Explorer (it’s Nemo and they’re called ‘Actions’, on Linux Mint)
I must be older and even more out of touch than you are, as I only use the default Terminal that came with my distro and I had to do a search to check what were Ghostty and Terminator (I know about the movie, obviously, but I’m also old enough to have been watching it in theatre the year it was first released ;)
s that no longer pre-installed, at least for camera imports? It was on 17-20.3 but I don’t think I’ve done a clean (re)install since.
I could not swear, one or the other. Let’s just say I make it my default viewer instead ;)
Jesus that explains why I’ve never used this. Pip is a security issue.
Not sure to understand your remark: I don’t use pip and have no idea what risks it could represent or not.
- I remove the preinstalled version (sudo apt remove yt-dlp)
- In my ~/.local, I have a ‘bin’ folder in which to put any manually added app, and in my .bashrc I added that folder to the path. So everything in it is usable.
- I download the latest binary from https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp#release-files and moved it to that bin folder.
- Done. I can use it like if it was the pre-installed app ;)
Apps I replace with newer versions (on Mint too):
- LibreOffice, with the latest .deb from their website
- Celluloid, with mpv. I cannot tell how much I appreciate mpv even though it sucks with DVD, for which I use VLC ;)
- yt-dlp, with the latest version available from git
- Screenshot, with Ksnip.
- Whatever the default image viewer is, with Pix.
This is really good advise and it all boils down to one attribute. Patience.
Thx. Yes, patience is key. As is the ability to
Take a step back.
Failing is fine because it’s not about us, it’s not personal. It never is. It’s about learning something and about the process.
Many thanks to all those that maintain FOSS.
Amazing.
+1. That’s amazing to see people working together like that in order to develop and maintain a fully working set of tools for anyone to freely use.
I guess my end goal is to be able to comfortably install and use arch Linux with my own customization’s and be able to fix it when things go wrong.
What tips/ideas do you have for getting better at navigating the terminal, and getting a better understanding of how the os works. What is a good roadmap to follow? And how did you, advanced Linux user, get to the stage your at now?
You learn by doing and by failing. Like we learned to walk, to write, to drive, to kiss, to speak a foreign language, or even to lace our shoes (and, yep, even that was a heavy trial and error process for toddler-us back then).
- Install Arch (in a VM, maybe) and while doing so read the Arch Wiki to understand each step, each action and the role of each app you’re asked to install. The Arch Wiki is an impressively well done documentation.
- Be fine knowing that it will take time to learn anything new (not just Arch, anything), you won’t get good at it the first time. Don’t rush it, take your time.
- Be fine knowing that you will face issues and will most likely fail at some point, be it to instal Arch or in doing whatever new. There is no other way to learn, for all of us, than by failing and then trying again, over and over. Once again like we learned to walk (by falling on our butt), to lace our shoes (by making a mess) or to kiss (by not doing it great at first).
Learning takes time and efforts. Perseverance, and humility. There is no shortcut to learning anything that is worth learning, not just Arch. But the reward is also so much worth it. Einstein had to learn calculus, Da Vinci had to learn how to hold a paint brush, and Tolstoy like Flaubert had to learn to write and I’m willing to bet they all made mistakes while they were learning their respective craft.
Even without referring to geniuses: the first time I tried to install Arch I ran away screaming and swearing I would never touch that thing again. The second time, I had already managed to read a good chunk of the relevant part of the wiki and used it constantly at each step of the process. I still failed at it but at least I understood why I failed and I felt incredibly more… in charge, despite me failing. The third time, I managed to have it running, and to install most the packages I wanted. That was great. There was no fourth time as, as much as I love Arch (which is a lot), I quickly realized using it that constant updates were not what I wanted from my OS and apps (I’m an old-ish user with very basic needs, I’m not even that much of a geek to be honest). So, I switched to the complete opposite of Arch (Debian, another great love of mine I must say). Still, learning and using Arch taught me a lot about Linux in general and about… myself.
I don’t distrohop but I do backup my home folder which also contains most of my settings & tweaks. I also keep a simple list of all the apps/packages I have installed in a text file.
I had to reinstall a few weeks a go (new SSD) and it took me maybe 10 minutes to make the base install + all my apps ( ‘sudo apt install’ with a copypaste of my list of apps), and then the time required to copy my home folder too (which was fast). Add to that the couple apps I have to manually install (like Filen for the cloud, Bitwarden for passwords) and that’s it. It’s really one of the things I appreciate since I switched to Linux (coming from Mac where a fresh install now takes… a lot of wasted time).
Without knowing what you have tried already:
- Have you tried changing User Interface scale to 200%, in System Settings->Display?
- You may also change font size in System Settings->Font Selection
Do you guys have higher tolerance to buggy bs? Are you all gaslighting people to get higher adoption? Does it just work? If so… How??
I’ve tried about every distro in multiple different laptops/desktops, amd gpus, basically every possible idea and there’s always weird ass bugs and issues and a ton of involuntary learning involved.
Your question is a bit like asking ‘why do you guys all have a perfect spouse while I only get to live with that stupid creature?’.
Obviously, you would be wrong in considering both your and our own relationships like that.
As far as Linux goes, nope, we’re not more tolerant to BS or gaslighting anyone. That said, maybe you’re the one gaslighting here (yourself, at least) if you’re saying there is such a as a perfect OS?
My Linux machines (Debian/Xfce and Mint/Cinnamon, if that really matters) both have issues. Exactly like, what not-a-surprise, my Mac and my iOS devices have. They’re different issues, but they’re issues.
I don’t know, say, I can’t run Affinity Designer on Linux like I easily can run it on my Mac (‘what a shitty OS that Linux is!’). But then I also cannot change all text size on the screen as easily on the Mac as I can do it on Linux (‘what a shitty OS that macOS is!’). Or have a Windows laptop with as good a battery life as a M Mac (what a shitty… you get the idea).
The only serious question to ask should be: which issues are deal breakers for you, and which are not?
It’s a relatively simple checklist to do. Then, it’s a matter of asking a few questions around to confirm there is no solution available. Problem solved, you will know for sure if you can use Linux or if you cannot. No drama, no existential crisis. And, as a nice bonus, no need to question anyone else intelligence and/or honesty, not even your own.
edit. Any chances you guys could suggest me one setup that “just works” no ifs and no buts? Or does it not exist in the Linux world?
‘Could you suggest a Mac that will just works? Or does it not exist in the Apple (or Windows) world?’ You can’t? And, no, you can’t, don’t believe the marketing. Because if you could Apple would certainly not need to spend the fortune it is spending on customer support and warranty repairs, and the repairman/right to repair advocate Louis Rossman would never have become the influencer he is. Macs and iPhone too have issues.
Well, neither can we help you find the perfect setup for Linux that is guarantee to work without issue ;)
edit: typos
Hi & welcome from a fellow Mint user.
It’s a stable distribution that comes with a lot of things preinstalled (so less extra stuff to install, but also a lot of stuff you might not need)
I would add to that:
On that topic,I’m not much of a geek (a 50-something dude and a 35+ years Apple customer) but I did learn to use git to keep a backup of my config folder. So, when I screw up something (so far, Mint has not once screwed up anything by itself, the few issues I had to deal with were all me-related) , I know I can revert back to the previous version of whatever settings I’ve just damaged without difficulty. Learning the basic of Git is not hard, it’s just…odd, and it works great. If it was compatible with LibreOffice files I would love to use if for that too…