New to Linux

Hi there,

I am a long time windows user slowly looking for alternatives to windows since there is no way I’m installing that malware OS they are pushing on everyone. I spent a few weeks reading about various linux distributions and and decided to try OpenSuse first. I have to say that it’s been a rough start so far.

Here are my experiences so far:

Installation went perfectly fine. First time I installed, I went with all defaults. First time I had to reinstall was because my login was not working. I reinstalled again after the OS kept freezing and I couldn’t get audio to work. I tried a live CD with Linux Mint after that. Audio worked perfectly but I had no network connection. Tried installing that (terrible installer by the way), messed up my openSuse partitions but decided to give OpenSuse another shot before giving up.
Installed it again but changed everything to XFE (at least I think that’s what it’s called) file system after reading that the default one was buggy and not recommended.

Now I’m at that final install and this where I’m at.
All my audio devices are detected by the OS, but none of them works. All 3 of them show up when you click the volume in the system tray. When I go to YaST2 to sound setup, my Edirol UA-25EX does not show up, but it shows the headset and the HDMI audio from the graphics card. When I run auto configure on the headset and select to play a test sound, the sound comes from my speakers that are hooked up to my Edirol audio interface but when I try to play a music file or go to you tube there is no sound.

The OS still randomly freezes. Is there an equivalent to the Windows Task Manager (alt+ctrl+delete) in linux?
I installed all the other available desktop environments through YaST2 and I’ll try those to see how they look and if things work better under those.
Tinkering with these things will give me the opportunity to learn about linux while it matures to a more usable OS.

I’m not in a rush to switch since MS will still support older windows versions for a few more years, but I want to be prepared to move both my computer and the ones at the company I work for to Linux when support gets cut off.

That’s it for now. I’ll give this distro a few months to show me that it can be usable.

Hello and welcome here.

When you have technical quesions/problems, please start a thread for each one of them in the best fittong sub-forum and with a good, keywords containing, title. That is the best way to draw the attention of the people you need for help.

E.g., I see you have some sound problem. That then is best asked in the Multimedia section. And do not forget to read the upper, sticky, threads there, because they contain important information.

Yes, I will keep any technical questions to other forums from now on.
My sound started working after I installed all of the other desktop environments. I don’t know how or why but it is working now.

Fine that sound works. Nevertheless, my advice is to read those stickies. You should make the famous “switch to Packman” when you want to be able to play all types of Multimedia.

I’m wondering, given your last comment, if maybe there are issues with your current hardware:

  • Yes, Linux runs very happily on a long list of hardware but, there are some hardware components which are “difficult”.

You could possibly mention the list of hardware (CPU, Main-board, Audio, Network) manufacturers being considered.

Linux, and for that matter all the *NIX systems (everything that looks like UNIXTM), are multi-user systems.
If any single user “dies” then, there is absolutely no need at all to reinstall the operating system (since 1969 – see Thompson and Ritchie).
Simply, as an administrator (it’s always advisable to create an admin user parallel to the root user) do one of the following:

  • Rename the “dead” user’s home directory and then delete (only delete the user, not the user’s data) and recreate the “dead” user by means of YaST;
  • Inspect the “dead” user’s directory for bad “.bashrc”, “.profile” file content; delete “.Xauthority”; check the contents of the “.config” directory and possibly the “.kde4” directory (even on Leap 42.1).

As mentioned above, having to re-install a *NIX system simply because something doesn’t work is considered to be not normally neccasary (since 47 years).

Then there is an Audio Hardware issue here: you need to mention which Audio Hardware is being “diffucult”.

Yes, OK, if you wish to change the SYSTEM (/, /etc/, /bin/, /usr/, /lib/, and so on . . . ) file-system being used then, the *NIX system MUST be reinstalled (no execeptions).
But: if the file system where the User’s directories are located needs to be changed then, there is absolutely no need at all to reinstall any *NIX system ever.Don’t complain, all the UNIX systems which were ever in operation all needed to purchase extra disk drives to accomplish this . . .
Which file system to use, is a very experience and current state of knowledge decision, which is not to be taken lightly:

  • My personal view is: XFS for file systems containing User Home and Application Data directories; either ext4 or Btrfs for file systems containing Operating System directories.

In the Kernel settings, you need to enable the “SysRq” keys: YaST -> Kernel Settings -> 2nd Tab: “Enable SysRq keys
Assuming a keyboard with about 105 keys, the “Magic SysRq” key is the “Prt Scrn” key above the “Insert/Home/Page Up” key block.
Then, if and when the “system” freezes:

  • 1st: check that the “freeze” is really system-wide and not the user session:

[Ctrl]+[Alt]+[F1] will (should) enable the 1st console terminal (TTY1) where one can login as a terminal (CLI) user such as root:

[INDENT=2]As root: systemctl restart display-manager.service
[/INDENT]
[INDENT=3]Kills the “frozen” user and allows that user to login again.
[/INDENT]

  • If it is really a system-wide freeze then:

[Alt]+[SysRq]+[r] regain control over the keyboard and mouse.
**[Alt]+[SysRq]+ immediate system reboot

Given that Linux has been around since 1991 (24 years), one could come to the conclusion that *NIX systems are quite mature.
And, with insider (telephony) knowledge, one would know that *NIX has been proven to be very useable (since about 1971). ;)I could have written AT&T / Bell Labs knowledge but that would have been not quite correct: the 1st bit of information about UNIX that I had was about 1972 and not in the USA.

The folks who have been influenced by the Redmond view of the world could possibly say that current Linux’s are not as usable as one could wish:Possibly a valid view but, very hardware dependent. :expressionless:

One possibly needs about 12 months of training and hands-on experience to be able to set-up and maintain NIX systems being used for commercial applications.
There’s some “obtainable without having to pay” schooling available from <beginlinux.org.
Also, take a look at the schooling offered by the Linux Foundation: <http://www.linuxfoundation.org/&gt;
And, there’s also the Linux Professional Institute: <Linux Professional Institute (LPI)
*

I’m wondering if some of the audio issues are because the default output is not set to the device that the speakers are actually plugged into. I had wondered if something was wrong with the drivers for my PCI sound card after I wasn’t hearing anything, until I went into System Settings>Multimedia>Audio and Video and changed the device preference from built-in audio to the Soundblaster card. Worked like a charm.

Edit:
Feda, since I kept getting refreshes destroying the PM I was trying to send you, I’ll post this here. Feel free to PM me with questions/issues that you have. I’m not *nix god by any means, but I am a user who has dealt with a number of the issues that you have in the past, and many others learning through trial and error. I have probably done worse poking around when I didn’t know what I was doing. One word of advice is, assuming your box can handle it, setting up a VM in Virtualbox with an identical base configuration (aside from disks) to play and poke around with. It makes it a lot easier and safer to learn and make serious mistakes that can easily be erased by rolling back to a safe “known good” state.

Thank you both for replies. There is quite a bit of useful information there. I’ll have to digest it over the next few days and move my questions to appropriate form before I get in trouble with the mods.
Like I mentioned in my post earlier, the sound issue is resolved. I still get lockups where I can only move the mouse and nothing else responds. I’ll try some of the suggested solutions and I’ll see you in the tech support forums I guess.

It took me 0 training and 2 days to set it up with SMBS 2008 back in the day. But I do have time until at least 2020 this time around. This stuff is a hobby not my job.
I did mention the audio device that was being difficult. I can see that me criticizing Linux made you cranky but I was not trying to be mean, I was just detailing my experiences with Linux as a new user with zero prior experience with the OS because I think that the first impressions are very important and a smooth start will helps with user retention.
The few you tube videos gave me some idea about the basics, like Yast and repositories but I had to rely in intuitiveness of the OS for the rest. I’m figuring it out slowly and some of the information you gave me in your post will surely help.

Here are the system specifications:
System Specifications
Intel Core i7-3770
32 GB DDR 3 (Corsair)
Asus Maximus V Formula motherboard with onboard network adapter
nVidia GForce 770
Edirol UA-25EX audio interface
240 GB SSD with Windows 8.1
240 GB SSD with OpenSuse Leap 42.1
1 TB HD for Data
1 TB HD for Backup

I’ll try your suggestions for dealing with the lockups and take it to the proper forum from here.

Thank you for your post.

Looking at your system specs, I’d highly suggest downloading Virtualbox and cloning your “known good” install into a newly created VM (dd command to clone the disk, then just image the VM). Using a VM for trying stuff and basic “what the hell does this do?” saves a lot of aggravation. Once everything is where you like it on your “real” install, YaST>Misc>Snapper to create stable save states (I’m about 4 “known good states” in from installing a bit over a month ago.

Now, if I only took my own advice on this matter, I wouldn’t have times where I have to ask myself “What the fsck did I do?!” and “Now how do I fix that?” :shame:

Please note that currently the Snapper delivered with openSUSE 13.2 and Leap 42.1 only supports Btrfs file systems – the experimental Snapper support for ext4 file systems is not enabled by default.
IMHO using Snapper to:

  • enable the roll-back of file systems containing “static” system partitions (/bin/, /lib/, /usr/, /etc/, /boot/, . . .) makes a lot of sense;
  • using it to roll-back file systems containing “variable/temporary” system partitions (/var/, /tmp/) possibly doesn’t make much sense;
  • using it to roll-back file systems containing web-server partitions (/srv/) {one of Snapper’s original intentions} also makes a lot of sense;
  • using it to roll-back file systems containing user data partitions could be considered but, there are other tools available to either “snapshot” user files as they are changed or to continually track any changes made (software versioning and revision control systems).

FYI: the book “UNIX for the Impatient” is 828 pages (~3 cm thick).

Nice system – I see that the motherboard supports RAID, Bluetooth and “2 second” boot. Nice.

Even experimental ext4 support is news to me. Thanks for the additional info.

<snip>
I totally agree with you there about what is and is not a good use for Snapper. I actually try not to depend on it myself, unless I absolutely have to (much like a parachute). But failing using a VM for experimenting as one learns, it sure beats having to spend hours/days figuring out what went wrong, reimage or even worse, reinstall. Granted, the process of trying to fix the thing helps the learning experience, I know that at least personally, I want my primary machine to “Just Work”.

My primary machine is my windows 8.1, so this is purely for learning at this time. I didn’t know anything about virtual machines until starting this. I installed OpenSuse on one and it is working fine so far. Unfortunately, I can’t say that for the version I’m trying to install on the secondary hard drive. I tried reinstalling earlier today and the install failed. I’ll have to try again over the weekend and do some forum reading.

If you’re still in the learning phase, perform a new clean install with your desktop of choice. Then add the Packman repo to get full multimedia support working. You now have “all the desktop environments” installed. Not that that isn’t possible, but in case of issues / solutions it may be harder to find out why things don’t work / suddenly stop working / suddenly start working.

And … welcome here, enjoy

Referring to the Btrfs issue:

I find the capability of Btrfs to create snapshots of a running system tempting and, will possibly set-up new systems to use it for the file system containing the static system directories. But, will also need to consider where the backups of the snapshots need to be stored – preferably off-line . . .
[HR][/HR]

Yes, Virtual Machines are very good sandboxes and, given a “bought with MS Windows” machine, a nice way to learn the *NIX world.

  • If the machine needs Windows to update the BIOS/UEFI then one has to yield to the need to “Dual-Boot” when Linux running “native” on the hardware is also needed.

Traditionally, Bell Labs and Berkeley UNIXTM did just that; in the very beginning, Linux also did just that. And, Linux currently does a pretty good job of supporting both legacy hardware and the current spectrum of modern hardware but, it’s a complex scene; from where I’m sitting it seems that it will become even more complex.
So, the Einstein quote: “Everything should be as simple as possibly but, no more simple than that.”