Linux Mint help

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hyperion1is

Linux Mint help

Post by hyperion1is »

This has to be the right section :). Thanks Nemo with the other topic.
Are there any users here who use Linux Mint, Mate eventually, or even Ubuntu to give me some tips?
I'm on Windows 7 but for the last 3 weeks I'm testing Linux as dual boot in order to migrate to it. And it isn't easy as you may fabric.
Anyway, in any such cases many questions arise. But for now I'm having questions about re-installing Linux, when and if I have to.
There is a tool to backup and restore user profile?
Also, how to keep my linux installation clean? In windows I have a list of installed programs under Uninstall a program, but here on linux I don't know. I have tested so many packages until now, that I don't even know what came with the distro and what I have added.  :D
There are some places where I can get help, like on linux mint forum. But is slow there at times. Maybe you can get me a few pointers.
I can help you in return with Windows 7 and not only if you need it :P
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Re: Linux Mint help

Post by Nemo »

Yes, this is the right section :). Im using Windows only so I can't help with this one, sorry :P.
loki

Re: Linux Mint help

Post by loki »

By using Linux Mint, I'm going to assume it's at least very similar operations to Ubuntu and therefore Debian. They both use the same package type and should, at least back-end should use the same managers.

While it's true linux doesn't really list programs like Windows being installed by user versus a default installation but you could look in synaptic, I think it lists or keeps track of packages that were manually installed (after installation). But it's also useful to know that linux packages are much better at keeping clean than for example Windows. Don't use a specific package/program anymore? Simply uninstall it, and with synaptic (or apt-get purge command) you can remove the leftover or no longer needed config files. The only downside I found to the apt-way is it only applies a remove option to dependency files (which would leave dependencies with their config files) whereas synaptic can do it in a single operation, so to speak, selecting completely remove on each dependency marked for removal.

As for a backup tool, I think Mint has it's own dedicated backup package that you can install in the usual way. (MintBackup?) Unsure how it works but from what I've seen it's a simple point-n-click operation for most features it offers.

I do hope you at least keep Linux around to experiment with, I tried out Linux Mint Debian a while back and convinced myself to dedicate completely to Debian back when Wheezy froze. I now run my laptop on Debian stable branch, I like the fact that I can (easily, once configured) grab a newer updated package or 2 when needed from testing. Or run rock solid stable with plenty of frequent security updates. And the fact that with packages supplied of almost everything no need to actually compile something from source, though the option is clearly there for those that want to.
ciaobaby

Re: Linux Mint help

Post by ciaobaby »

What version of Mint?

I run Mint 15 and 16  (no Windows machines at all), test run 17 but it needs a fairly high end machine to be responsive.  If you want to see what packages are installed, open Software Manager and set the "View" filter to "Installed Packages"

Or in the CLI (Terminal/Console)  dpkg --get-selections | grep -v deinstall (add sudo if you are not in a root/su shell)

You can follow up an "apt-get remove package" with "apt-get clean all" and "apt-get autoremove"  to clean up unused and orphaned dependencies.

And if you don't want any prompting from apt, add a -y switch into the command line.
hyperion1is

Re: Linux Mint help

Post by hyperion1is »

Thanks guys for your help.
Yes, Mint is similar with Ubuntu.
In synaptic appears to be a way to filter after installed packages. I will click on there some more.
Software manager works also, but you have to go in a specific category to show you. It appears you can view them all in one place.
@loki, you are right about having a backup tool. It backups files and packages. You need to know what to select. I thought it's a straight way. In the sense, me not having to re-customize my desktop for instance.
The last paragraph you wrote, me being a novice in Linux, didn't made much sense to me. I will Google things like "Wheezy". :P
@ciaobaby
I have Linux Mint 17, Mate desktop. You are right is a bit slow, upon responsiveness. 15, 16 runs more smoothly I take it?
It takes about 2 seconds to open a folder. Also Flash Player, on Youtube, I can barely see a clip at 480p, while on windows 7 I can watch at 720p no problem.
I don't have a high end machine. Intel Cpu Pentium D 2.66 Ghz, 2GB Ram, Nvidia 6600 256Mb video card. So...
The Cli commands you wrote is for removing junk? Or I risk to remove some important stuff? :)
ciaobaby

Re: Linux Mint help

Post by ciaobaby »

I have Mint 15 32bit (LXDE) on a Pentium D 2.3Ghz 2GiB RAM that serves as DVD player, Digital Radio, MP3 player etc. that runs quite nicely,  Mint 16 (XFCE4) 64bit on a 2.4G Core2 Duo, 8GiB RAM, Nvdia 7600 1GiB dual head, even on the Core2 Mint 17 was almost unusable.

Nope, they will only clean up and remove unused dependencies, any ones that are still referenced by packages will remain.

Tecmint have a 'cheat sheet' for apt-get and apt-cache, http://www.tecmint.com/useful-basic-com ... anagement/
hyperion1is

Re: Linux Mint help

Post by hyperion1is »

[quote="ciaobaby"]
I have Mint 15 32bit (LXDE) on a Pentium D 2.3Ghz 2GiB RAM that serves as DVD player, Digital Radio, MP3 player etc. that runs quite nicely,  Mint 16 (XFCE4) 64bit on a 2.4G Core2 Duo, 8GiB RAM, Nvdia 7600 1GiB dual head, even on the Core2 Mint 17 was almost unusable.
[/quote]
What do you recommend? Should I install an earlier version of Mint? How will that work about the updates, will upgrade automatically? What will I miss? I will have to see the changelog. Or Ubuntu, but technically is pretty much the same as Mint, no? Or should I keep Mint 17 with the hope that with updates they will improve it?
By the way, how is youtube clips rendering on your pc with that haves Mint 15?
ciaobaby

Re: Linux Mint help

Post by ciaobaby »

If 15 or 16 does all that you need and supports your hardware there is nothing really to be gained by persevering with 17 just for the sake of it, most of the changes from 16 to 17 are cosmetic  rather than functional.

YouTube does fine, same with NetFlix, LoveFilm and UltraViolet,  I don't have a television just a decent sized Samsung monitor that displays whatever I choose to watch.
loki

Re: Linux Mint help

Post by loki »

That last paragraph I sent was probably too much info, since you're running Ubuntu based and I was talking Debian releases.

Something you should probably do if you haven't already is to have nvidia drivers loaded for that video card... I'm not sure what the supported version is for the card you have but I see ubuntu repository (based on 14.04) lists nvidia-173, nvidia-304, and nvidia-331.

Also on a low-end system you might try a different desktop environment, xfce for example, is lighter weight on resources, should respond better by default. LXDE was another one, ciaobaby reports using both these apparently. Or Cinnamon, since you are using Mint, Cinnamon was built by the maintainers of Mint itself. However the downside to all this is its likely to install a bunch of dependency files, if you can get your hands on a live CD to try out different desktop environments I'd recommend this first, then once you decide on one apply it from your package manager. It may still make a mess of excess files, keeping packages from the old until you at least remove the old DE then again they probably also be cross compatible. I'd personally prefer KDE but that's just me, and probably wouldn't offer much if any performance improvement over MATE.
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