So, Im Ditching Windows And Moving Fully To Linux...

[HMS_Dave]

End of the week and a full working week that i have been on Linux. So far, so good. Not missed a single thing about windows. No crashes, no popups and no interruptions to my workflow. Everything feels just that bit snappier. The only issue that im looking into is firefox Internet Browser. On a few occasions now i will have a slight sound lag on video playback, which requires me to restart firefox. A number of reasons could exist for this. I am using a soundblaster sound card from 2007(ish). I do have onboard sound but the soundblaster is still better in sound quality than what i have onboard. Could be adblocker, could be firefox, etc. I will investigate over the weekend, but it is a very minor issue.

But overall, very happy with Pop!OS. Not looking back at all.

 

[Edwardoka]

The only issue that im looking into is firefox Internet Browser. On a few occasions now i will have a slight sound lag on video playback, which requires me to restart firefox. A number of reasons could exist for this. I am using a soundblaster sound card from 2007(ish). I do have onboard sound but the soundblaster is still better in sound quality than what i have onboard. Could be adblocker, could be firefox, etc.

Good luck! IME Pulseaudio and lag (usually when the CPU is working) go hand in hand, to the point where I set up a keyboard shortcut to restart the audio service.

 

[HMS_Dave]

After further investigation regarding my video play back on Firefox, i have narrowed it down to Firefox being the issue. I've tried Opera and Installed satan himself, Google Chrome and i have 0 issues with playback on either. Firefox doesn't like something or some configuration on my system. Other than that, im having a good time with Linux and there appears to be no turning back!

 

[yello]

Firefox doesn't like something or some configuration on my system.

Now that rings a bell somewhere.... something about replacing a version of a library somewhere....

You can try disabling hardware acceleration (in Firefox) but chances are that that's not it.

There's something about... codecs? Or Firefox not licenced for something or other?? I'll have a think and a google

POP!OS is Ubuntu based isn't it? You could worse that try a 'sudo apt install ubuntu-restricted-extras' to load a full palette of codecs

 

[HMS_Dave]

Now that rings a bell somewhere.... something about replacing a version of a library somewhere....

You can try disabling hardware acceleration (in Firefox) but chances are that that's not it.

There's something about... codecs? Or Firefox not licenced for something or other?? I'll have a think and a google

POP!OS is Ubuntu based isn't it? You could worse that try a 'sudo apt install ubuntu-restricted-extras' to load a full palette of codecs

I did try disabling hardware acceleration to no avail.

It is ubuntu based indeed. I will install the extra codecs and report back. Thanks for that.

 

[mjr]

For working I've exclusively used Arch and AwesomeWM since 2007 and ViM is my tool of choice.

Try the Titan Material Design config for AwesomeWM. Back up your old config in case you don't like it, but since I got it working (and turned my custom launchers into a menu on a system tray indicator), it seems pretty cool.

 

[HMS_Dave]

This has reminded me to update this log. Im still on PopOS and very happy. I ditched the old soundblaster card as this was the cause of a number of issues. It is very old and it's fair to say after 14 years of use, it can retire gracefully. I still haven't had a single crash and the operating system is updated regularly. I am using Libreoffice for all my work related tasks, no problems at all. I've since made my own tweaks to the GUI and customised it to my liking. Overall a customisable, fast and stable machine. What more could you want?

 

[si_c]

Try the Titan Material Design config for AwesomeWM. Back up your old config in case you don't like it, but since I got it working (and turned my custom launchers into a menu on a system tray indicator), it seems pretty cool.

Got a link?

I may give it a quick try - my AwesomeWM config is a long evolved thing as has migrated through multiple versions (basically using the same config since V2), and whilst it works really well for me it's looking a bit tired if I'm honest.

 

[mjr]

Got a link?

I may give it a quick try - my AwesomeWM config is a long evolved thing as has migrated through multiple versions (basically using the same config since V2), and whilst it works really well for me it's looking a bit tired if I'm honest.

I'm now back at my desk, so yes, I was slightly wrong on the name (It's Titus not Titan...) and the link is https://awesomeopensource.com/project/ChrisTitusTech/titus-awesome but I had to install one or two extra apps to make its defaults work (terminator was the default terminal app, for example, which was fiddly to work around) and the rofi config file seemed to need "drun-" in front of "icon-theme" but I might have broken something else doing that!

It's underdocumented IMO, but the icons top left are your tags/screens, and clicking + either opens the default app for that tab (not entirely sure why the web tab is a lion by default but I wonder if that's the icon for the Brave browser which was configured) or a searchy menu. Some things are set in .config/awesome/Configuration/apps.lua and nearby texts, but lots can be set using the usual configuration apps.

https://awesomeopensource.com/project/HikariKnight/material-awesome is a related setup which might be easier to get working in some ways and has a cool-looking monitoring/settings panel, but has panels along two edges (which offends me for some reason) and requires the bleeding edge AwesomeWM, which I hesitate to do because like some others above, I need to use the system and not spend too much time messing in code. A bit of setup is OK, even if it means editing text, but I'm not keen to start building development master versions.

And the system tray menu app is based on https://fosspost.org/custom-system-tray-icon-indicator-linux/ with an added indicator.set_secondary_activate_target(command_one) so middle-click on the icon starts the first menu entry.

OK, far too much detail, but hope that helps.

 

[HMS_Dave]

Im at about the 6 months or so mark of no longer using Microshaft Winblows (yes, im that childish, but my wife lives with me everyday) So, i thought its time to continue the update.

Still using PopOS Linux distro, No problems thus far. My business is now fully reliant on this computer. I've done my taxes and all my work on Libre Office using Spreadsheets and the Word Processor predominantly. The Canon driver for my 3 in 1 printer works a treat. Ive scanned and printed many documents, important to my work reliably. No crashes that has cause work loss, although i have had 1 lock up when i visited the "pop shop" in order to look for a specific app. No real problem. I've managed to get my old soundcard to work after revisiting the issue after realising that the issue actually was with Pulseaudio and now even that works. In the 6 months of using the OS it still seems as fast as it was the day i installed it, with low RAM and CPU usage, indicating a lack of bloat, trackers or spaghetti code. I have found the few games i play to work perfectly, although the more avid gamer may not get on with it, mostly due to the specialist peripherals that may or may not have linux drivers, it can be a bit of a lottery and research is recommended before purchases or moving to Linux. Overall, Im glad i made the switch, I can change what i want, when i want and have an extremely snappy and reliable experience with regular updates and all this cost me nothing. It will keep my unsupported (on win 11) hardware going for many years despite its 32 core 48gb ram. There's hope for impending landfill doom yet!

 

[HMS_Dave]

So, just a small update to this....

I am still using Linux. Still using the venerable HP Z620 machine which is now 11 years old and im still alive. I did decide to buy a RTX 3060 12gb graphics card for the cuda cores and better performance over the RX590 which is now in my sons PC. No problems with PopOS moving to NVIDIA drivers, a rather painless process. Unplug old GPU, Plug in new GPU, Install drivers and that's it. I also threw my old soundcard in the bin, which was 16 years old and realised it was knackered after testing it in another machine, reverting instead to onboard sound which has proven to be the better choice and no more inconsistent crackling and dodgy MIC input which wasn't the port and possibly a corroded track and just couldn't be bothered with it anymore.

Here's a screenshot of HTOP (system monitor).

The CPU's are basically doing nothing, im using 2.7gb of RAM, that is running the OS, which isn't the lightest Linux distro, my Email client and a few other processes which are set launch on start up. This is just after a restart. To be fair, PopOS is a bit of a tank like many Ubuntu based distro's, although i have been running this OS without refreshing it for getting on for 2 years. Not bad really.

Here is my system in a bit more detail

I am looking forward to what system76 have in store for PopOS when they move away from Gnome, if and when that happens.

But all in all, still very happy.

 

[Andy in Germany]

So, just a small update to this....

I am still using Linux. Still using the venerable HP Z620 machine which is now 11 years old and im still alive. I did decide to buy a RTX 3060 12gb graphics card for the cuda cores and better performance over the RX590 which is now in my sons PC. No problems with PopOS moving to NVIDIA drivers, a rather painless process. Unplug old GPU, Plug in new GPU, Install drivers and that's it. I also threw my old soundcard in the bin, which was 16 years old and realised it was knackered after testing it in another machine, reverting instead to onboard sound which has proven to be the better choice and no more inconsistent crackling and dodgy MIC input which wasn't the port and possibly a corroded track and just couldn't be bothered with it anymore.

Here's a screenshot of HTOP (system monitor).

View attachment 685919

The CPU's are basically doing nothing, im using 2.7gb of RAM, that is running the OS, which isn't the lightest Linux distro, my Email client and a few other processes which are set launch on start up. This is just after a restart. To be fair, PopOS is a bit of a tank like many Ubuntu based distro's, although i have been running this OS without refreshing it for getting on for 2 years. Not bad really.

Here is my system in a bit more detail

View attachment 685920

I am looking forward to what system76 have in store for PopOS when they move away from Gnome, if and when that happens.

But all in all, still very happy.

I think this explains why Linux works for you and not for me: you understand the inner workings of the computer, whereas I just want it to work when I switch it on.

 

[HMS_Dave]

I think this explains why Linux works for you and not for me: you understand the inner workings of the computer, whereas I just want it to work when I switch it on.

You're probably right Andy, it's probably nowhere near as bad as you think, but there is not much reason to switch to any other operating system unless you have reason to, such as an interest, hobby or political reason or whatever really. I'd always recommend sticking to what you feel is best for you. Thanks for checking out the thread though.

 

[Deleted member 1258]

I think this explains why Linux works for you and not for me: you understand the inner workings of the computer, whereas I just want it to work when I switch it on.

I'm like you, not good on the inner workings of PC's and like them to just work, I've been on Linux for over 10 years, currently on Xubuntu.

 

[Andy in Germany]

I'm like you, not good on the inner workings of PC's and like them to just work, I've been on Linux for over 10 years, currently on Xubuntu.

I wish I'd had that experience. I tried Linux several times over the years and every time either the computer froze or I got a message along the lines of "Error 437254: redo using hyperdense molecular transformer protocol".

Questions online generally resulted in answers like: "But it's so eeeeeeasy! Just reboot it but this time press the # key at the same time as CAPS then interrupt it at 45.9 seconds by pressing SPACE, '>' and '§''. Then retype code lines 237 to 28466 in reverse using using a Japanese keyboard and a '1' whenever they have the letter "G" while making sure the RAM isn't working to more than 27.37% of capacity. Honestly, why are you so DUMB?"

That's why I still use Windows.