Linux. The OS to use if you want nothing to be compatible with anything else by design.

/but but! My uptime! Surely that makes me superior having up-time!?

Do those that like Harley Davidson even know how to use a computer?

/bad analogy is bad

bravian: Do those that like Harley Davidson even know how to use a computer?

/bad analogy is bad

Linux users don't use computers. They just break them down to see how they work, take it all apart, and spend the next year trying to get it back together and working again.

It's a perfect analogy when you think of all the midlife crisis baby boomers who are doing the exact same thing, only with motorcycles.

Man, they make it sound like Kubuntu isn't available any more or something.

Ubuntu always was BS... Gnome sucks. And apparently Unity does too.

Two Cents:

Been using Ubuntu on and off since 5.10. Did not like the latest update. Unity is fine, I suppose if all you do is surf and check your email, but when I have to click 5 times to find anything, it becomes more of a burden than anything else. Tried Mint a few times, but havent in a long time, I suppose I'll have to give it a shot now. Do they make a Mint Studio?

/dual-booter for years.
//would switch to WINE if it worked better for me...

The user base was in the pool!

My hipster ex-girlfriend probably stopped using Ubuntu 2-3 years ago and started using Mint. She will be so upset to hear that it is popular and may need to find something more obscure.

OTOH: my mom has been using Ubuntu 10.04 and I use Xubuntu 10.04. I am very happy with it and see no need to upgrade for a while.

I just started working at a Microsoft only development shop (even the web servers) and need a grep for windows tool for log files. I found one that costs $159 and would rather have something free. Anyone know a good command line or gui based grep for windows tool that is free?

rev. dave: I just started working at a Microsoft only development shop (even the web servers) and need a grep for windows tool for log files. I found one that costs $159 and would rather have
something free. Anyone know a good command line or gui based grep for windows tool that is free?

This might help. There's a standalone version.
http://betterthangrep.com/

I switched to Mint. It's not better, and it's getting worse. I'm gonna stick with Mint, but I'm not happy with it.

In Ubuntu, there's no farking button to dismiss notifications. You can move your mouse over them and they turn transparent, but you can't just dismiss them. So, when someone sends me an off-color IM at work, it's on my screen - unless I turn off notifications and then I get no notifications. Unity is not that bad. I wish you could move the damned bar to the bottom so I could use a vertical monitor but it's no big deal.

Good about Ubuntu: I got used to the global menu and now I can't live without it. I like the extra screen space. It's ruined me for other distros. I'm currently using Mint (Gnome Shell) with a global menu extension. It sucks. It's not the same.

Of course, Windows 7 is better than either. The Windows 7 panel has:
- a searchable menu you can access with 1 button
- an awesome dock that's on the same panel as the menu and system tray
- a system tray that doesn't suck with notifications that you can easily dismiss
- the ability to move the panel to any side of the screen and it still works properly.

I still prefer Linux for work for various reasons. If Ubuntu would just straight up copy the Windows 7 taskbar, it would be awesome. Of course, they'll always say they don't want to be like microsoft... but basically THAT is the set of features people want, but they refuse to do it. I saw a bug tracker discussion once that made me very sad... people were asking for things and a Unity developer kept saying "Yeah, I wanted to do that, but the design people nixed it" or "Yeah, we might do that but the design people are making it a low priority"

Thanks for the suggestions. This will save me hours of hunting through ~ 200 g of log files.

rev. dave: Anyone know a good command line or gui based grep for windows tool that is free?

Check out Notepad++. It's great for searching log files and free. I even use it on my Ubuntu box via Wine, but I came from a Windows world, so grep is somewhat foreign to me.

Examples from Notepad++:
Find
Results

R.A.Danny: Tatsuma: Ubuntu is perfectly fine. Before that last update, that is.

I don't think that was the point. Ubuntu was starting to appeal to the unwashed masses as well as those with technological savvy until they came up with the silly Unity crap.

Yes, if Ubuntu just wouldn't have changed anything surely 2012 would have been the year of Linux on the desktop.

hophead929: rev. dave: Anyone know a good command line or gui based grep for windows tool that is free?

Check out Notepad++. It's great for searching log files and free. I even use it on my Ubuntu box via Wine, but I came from a Windows world, so grep is somewhat foreign to me.

Examples from Notepad++:
Find
Results

If he's got 200GB of log file (guessing based on the little g) Notepad++ doesn't even approach an ability to open that, let alone search through it once open.

cman: jso2897: Yep - I'm one of those who switched over to Mint. It gives the same results with a lot less effort and dildation. And I'm tired of the forced six-month cycle - things that ain't broke keep getting fixed just so somebody can piss in the soup.

fluffy2097: Linux. The OS to use if you want nothing to be compatible with anything else by design.

/but but! My uptime! Surely that makes me superior having up-time!?


Mice are over. Multitouch pads are the future.
Yeah! And what's with those Macs? They only got one button on the mouse!

Your info is many years out of date. Apple introduced two button mice years ago

jbuist: rev. dave: I just started working at a Microsoft only development shop (even the web servers) and need a grep for windows tool for log files. I found one that costs $159 and would rather have something free. Anyone know a good command line or gui based grep for windows tool that is free?

Cygwin -- a good Linux shell with all the goodies for Win32 systems.

+1

I was an Ubuntu supporter for so many years and Unity just killed it for me. Yes, yes, I know.... Kubuntu, Xubuntu.... but really? I don't want to use the afterthought version of the OS. When you need to troubleshoot some problem, you want to be using the main GUI of the OS and Kubuntu and Xubuntu aren't it.
I tried Mint and Crunch bang for a while, but Mint was too green (seriously, every fricking menu?) and Crunchbang was too Debian (FU Iceweasel that won't update to 7.0). So, I tried out Fedora with Gnome 3.2 and like it here. Getting used to Gnome 3 took a little bit of time but I really really like the hotspot and dash. My big complaint was that there was so little customization but the extensions fixed that. Now the dash behaves the way I want it to (opening new windows instead of switching focus), the title bar autohides and has an actual shutdown instead of only a suspend, and the task switcher doesn't group windows.
Yes, that seems like a lot, but really, those were my biggest complaints and now I can work better. In fact my biggest complaint now is that rpm sucks and I wish it was apt-get....... Maybe someday Linux will have a unified package manager.... I've heard arch has something like that.... but I've tried enough distros in 2011. this year, I'm staying with what I have for a while.

/I also use Win 7 but only because Netflix runs natively in it. I still prefer Fedora over Win 7. Come on Netflix, come out with Linux support soon.
//At least i have the taskbar on the left side and have it autohide so it acts like the hotspot and dash in Gnome 3

jonny_q: Of course, Windows 7 is better than either. The Windows 7 panel has:
- a searchable menu you can access with 1 button
- an awesome dock that's on the same panel as the menu and system tray
- a system tray that doesn't suck with notifications that you can easily dismiss
- the ability to move the panel to any side of the screen and it still works properly.


Have you tried Gnome 3? It has the searchable one button thing. I like the dock much better, and really I hate the one dock/system tray/panel thing. The moving the panel around can be accomplished with extensions.

Ohhh that reminds me, Gnome 3 needs to make the extensions available offline. That would be very nice.

I don't really understand why someone would reload their OS unless either something was badly wrong with the installation, or if the previous installation was inadequate for meeting the user's needs. If either of those are the case, why use it in the first place?

fluffy2097: Linux. The OS to use if you want nothing to be compatible with anything else by design.

/but but! My uptime! Surely that makes me superior having up-time!?

1/10 - Just sad. Ballmer will probably have you beaten.

At least Netflix realized that they were drowning in a sea of bad PR when they reneged on Quickster.

Then again, I can understand that Ubuntu was in a pinch -- GNOME 3 was an "unholy mess" as Linus said (although extensions are making it far more usable now), and they needed to do something that didn't tie them down to GNOME 3's cumbersome interface. But Unity turned out to be an even bigger mess. Not everyone wants to use their Desktop computer as a tablet, especially the geeks that make up Linux's base.

I'm using Mint right now, in part because I have other people in the house that use my computer, as well as family and other guests who might want to. I'd prefer that they know to just look for the Menu button in the bottom corner and find what they're looking for. When my parents computer went on the fritz I put Mint LXDE on a flash on they were using it as if they'd been at it for years.

That said, use what you like - even if it's Windows or Mac. I'm thinking of putting OpenSUSE on a partition this afternoon since I've yet to try them out.

Ubuntu updates are like Star Trek sequels. Only the odd releases are any good.

By the time I became aware of Ubuntu, I'd already been a Gentoo user for some time, and I have no real interest in giving up portage.. As a curiosity point, do Ubuntu or Mint have anything better than portage?

I like Unity fine. Though as others have said, the latest update is not good, and for being an OS that is so simple and easy-to-use they really could do better with making system files more accessible. The "dash" thing they've got going seems half-assed. And the update took away a lot of options, mostly with personalization. Things that seem obvious to have added were not, but then they also stripped away content. Finally, God help you if you use CompizConfig Settings Manager in Unity. In fact, come to think of it, screw Unity. They need to get their heads out of their asses. 11.10 sucks.

All that said, I am not your usual Linux geek. I don't use it for any sort of nerd cred or because I am making a statement other than deciding I didn't want to use Windows for at least the time being. And even that isn't an anti-Microsoft stance. Mostly it was because, after building my new machine, I was too cheap to go buy a copy of 7. But unless Ubuntu vastly improves by the next update, I'm done.

Started with Ubuntu back in the days of 6.06 and finally bailed out because of the Unity crap. Running Debian Squeeze now.

/and windows xp inside virtual box

RedPhoenix122: On a side note to anyone in this thread, anyone tried Kubuntu 11.10 yet? Was curious to know if the KDE interface was better than Unity at this point, and if it's worth trying out.

Well since apparently Gnome > Unity... and KDE was always > Gnome... clearly, the answer is yes.

Metraxis: By the time I became aware of Ubuntu, I'd already been a Gentoo user for some time, and I have no real interest in giving up portage.. As a curiosity point, do Ubuntu or Mint have anything better than portage?

apt > portage.

/then again, my experience with gentoo dates from 2002 or so.
//haven't seriously used a linux desktop since what, 2006?
///whoa

sotua: Metraxis: By the time I became aware of Ubuntu, I'd already been a Gentoo user for some time, and I have no real interest in giving up portage.. As a curiosity point, do Ubuntu or Mint have anything better than portage?

apt > portage.

/then again, my experience with gentoo dates from 2002 or so.
//haven't seriously used a linux desktop since what, 2006?
///whoa

Yeah, there's a number of things different now. Portage considers dependencies in both directions and is much better about handling the case where package A needs a version of package C that conflicts with package B or similar shenanigans. Apt and RMS's pickiness are the reasons I stopped using Debian in the first place.

sotua: Metraxis: By the time I became aware of Ubuntu, I'd already been a Gentoo user for some time, and I have no real interest in giving up portage.. As a curiosity point, do Ubuntu or Mint have anything better than portage?

apt > portage.

/then again, my experience with gentoo dates from 2002 or so.
//haven't seriously used a linux desktop since what, 2006?
///whoa

apt is NOT better than portage. Portage beats out deb, apt, rpm, everything else.

Curious to hear why you would prefer apt over portage though...

\emerge world

I've run three operating systems in the last decade or so.

My old computer had Debian, which was fine.

My current computer runs Slackware, which I haven't bothered updating in years (after swapping 10.0 out for 12.2). Why fix something that still works perfectly?

I get why commercial junk stops working every six months ("Buy more stuff!"), but I like being able to ignore that cycle.

Dangl1ng: I don't want to use the afterthought version of the OS. When you need to troubleshoot some problem, you want to be using the main GUI of the OS and Kubuntu and Xubuntu aren't it.

You do realize that Ubuntu is the 'afterthought version' of Debian...so your comment is quite humorous. You also owe me a new keyboard...thankfully it was just water.

For what it's worth, this obsolete desktop I built from used parts -- e.g., AMD Sempron(tm) 2200+ with 2 gigs of DDR -- creeps and creaks along on Xubuntu 10.10. It would run Windows 3.1 at "scifi" speed if Windows 3.1 was still useful for anything.

But. Seriously. People still get into arguments over OSes and interfaces? I was thinking of going to BSD but over the past several years I've gotten used to Xubuntu; for some reason this seems to fit me. Not that I really care: I started with Slackware back in '94 and I could use any "Unix-like" OS with any window/desktop manager. If the distro can play video & audio with VLC (the customizable equalizer is great for my hearing problems) I'll get used to anything else if I have to.

But then I'm not a barely post-pubescent hipster; I've got no idea what kids think is "cool" these days and I don't care.

Here's another: wire rims or plastic frames? Full rims or semi- ? Let the combat begin!

By the way, I like updating the OS version every now & them from curiosity and boredom. I'll always install the same non-default packages though: I'm OLD. And LTS versions are better for that reason; I'm waiting for 12.

Quantumbunny: sotua: Metraxis: By the time I became aware of Ubuntu, I'd already been a Gentoo user for some time, and I have no real interest in giving up portage.. As a curiosity point, do Ubuntu or Mint have anything better than portage?

apt > portage.

/then again, my experience with gentoo dates from 2002 or so.
//haven't seriously used a linux desktop since what, 2006?
///whoa

apt is NOT better than portage. Portage beats out deb, apt, rpm, everything else.

Curious to hear why you would prefer apt over portage though...

\emerge world

I can't really remember clearly, it was like ten years ago. One example I can remember: back in the day when I did use portage, it would let you do retarded stuff like removing Perl without raising an extra-hard stink. apt told me what I was about to do was extremely retarded. Dependency handling mostly, and some obscure versions clash maybe? Don't really remember.

I sure did love my Gentoo system, did my thesis on it. Then I realized I needed to work and all that compiling was getting in the way of my working.

Nowadays, I have an ubuntu install in some corner of one of the laptops' hard disk, but haven't booted it in ages. I shut down the home server since my employer disapproves of outgoing SSH so its main use was rendered moot. For my personal uses (browsing, watching movies, some Line6 software for audio processing/recording) I have Windows 7 which works perfectly for that on my 2006 hardware. I sure would love to have Linux at work (since we do a lot of work with jboss, having local instances installed in honest-to-$DEITY linux instead of cygwin would fix some annoyances with paths and stuff) but we have the standard WinXP image and have to do with that.