Why Linux p*$$e$ me off....
Posted: Tue Jun 02, 2020 6:19 pm
Hi all,
I hope you will indulge me a minor rant as I'm rather dismayed at my experience installing Linux, ahead of a FB Sprint.
So, cutting a long story short:
Background:
a) I removed my Win 7 Pro HDD from an Intel S2600CP4 mobo + GTX970 GPU and 32GB of RAM, with the idea of installing a suitable Linux in order to run some Wanless/WEP+2 tasks.
b) I swapped to a nice new 120Gb SSD, that was completely blank and unformated (which had been bought to replace an ailing HDD in a friends laptop, but the blooming laptop BIOS won't accept a SATA SSD (to replace the ailing SATA HDD) so it was spare.
The installation:
1) I have a USB stick with a boot partition containg Ubuntu 16.04 0 but the Intel motherboard wouldn't boot from it - it has been used on other PCs to boot and install Ubuntu OK, so the USB stick is fine
2) I downloaded Linux Mint 19.something or other - the latest version on their website - something about a "Long Legged" version IIRC - I created a Boot image on a 32GB USB stick and I did the OEM installation, as essentially this is a NEW PC. I had to give it a "password" - which proved to be a pain further on during the installation of the OS and other programs as the OS kept on asking for the password at various stages
3) That SEEMED to install OK but it wouldn't boot....no matter what I tried, all I got was a "blinking cursor" in the top left corner.
4) Numerous efforts with the BIOS and changing BOOT optins eventually allowed me to boot the PC - apparently one has to boot the "ubuntu" option, INSTEAD of selecting the actual drive that the OS is installed on. (if it had been called "Linux Mint" in the boot option, it would have been more obvious, but it didn't).
5) Mint installed Firefox, so I headed off to the BOINC website to download the latest and greatest BOINC Manager and the BOINC website clearly identified the PC as running Linux, so it gave me a nice BLUE Box to click to download BOINC.
Except it downloaded a file ending in ".sh" - and it wouldn't install and double clicking on it, just opened a TEXT EDITOR
So, I go back to the BOINC website and in much smaller letters it says something about using a Software Manager to install specific programs.
6) So I find the Software Manager, and search for BOINC and sure enough it installs BOINC Manager - it needs some extra files too, so I allow that (as admin) and it starts - except it's v7.9.3 which is a bit old ?
7) I then use BM to add Wanless+Wep+2 as a project and it installs and starts processing - all well and good - we're getting there.
8 ) I then add PrimeGrid project and that goes OK - except that within seconds of downloading GPU tasks, they are ALL erroring out. So I quickly suspend PrimeGrid and try and figure out what's going on - the obvious one being that Linux Mint has NOT actually installed a suitable driver for the GTX970 - I assume it has just installed a VGA type driver. And yet it installed drivers for the onboard NIC - and the keyboard and mouse are working too so those drivers are OK !!
It's a shame it didn't install the right driver for the GPU from the start.
9) So, off to the NVidia website and I find the Linux driver and download that. But it doesn't work - the filename ends in ".run"...and double clicking on it, just brings up the text editor again
10) Further checking and it seems there is a "Driver Manager" that one can run...and it loads up slowly and sure enough it tells me that there are 4 different NVidia drivers available (of varying age, going back to something like "v393.something" (IIRC)...so I pick the "Recommended" one which is "440.something". It also needs some extra files, so they install and the driver installs...or so it seems.
11) I have to suspend Wanless tasks in order to reboot the PC, so I wait until they complete (as they don't checkpoint) and then we reboot.
12) All seems well, so I start up BM and then unsuspend the remaining Wanless tasks (that hadn't started yet) and they start being processed - using all 32 cores initially - I then changed the percentage from 100% CPU down to 90% to allow some CPU for the GPU tasks).
I try the same with the PrimeGrid tasks, but they still have "Computation errors"...very irritating now. BM certainly "sees" the GPU as the menu option to "allow, and/or suspend" GPU operations is there...
So, I've downloaded some other GPU tasks (Asteroids and GPUGrid for now) and will see if they have issues.
13) I then use the "Software Mannger" to install "AnyDesk" so I can control this PC remotely...it too needs extra files and once downloaded, the program works, but one cannot set an "access password" via the "Settings" menu option - if you try, the program just crashes....it seems the Linux version has nothing to do with Anydesk, so it might just be that someone has ported it over and hasn't got it work 100%.
Summary:
I've sort of got it working...but it's not ideal...too many hoops to go through and the GUI is awful...I have a 32" (diagonal) Widescreen LCD screen and the OS fonts are far too big - they look like "kiddies letters" (ie far too big) and the right hand "scroll bar" down the side of running programs is so thin - it's about 1mm wide...you cannot easily position the cursor so as to scroll down to see the rest of the screen.
I was used to running Linux in the past from the command line - RedHat v6.0 and before that anyone remember Caldera ? (I think I've still go the original CDROMs of these too).
But this latest generation Linux is just not "user friendly" (IMHO) - I can put a Windows CDROM/DVDROM (or USB stick nowadays) into a machine and within minutes it gives a great screen, all nicely sized for your monitor and with all the right drivers installed.
It seems that doing something basic with Linux makes you go through so many hoops - and you can see why Linux has not overtaken Windows (in terms of use by the general population), because the entire installation and setting up on a new PC is just so woeful...
It just seems that the various developers of Linux are so stuck in their own ways of doing things, that making thing easy and simple for the layman to do, (to install a Linux OS) is just beyond them - they clearly do not want to make Linux a "mass market" OS - if they did then they could make the entire process less fraught with issues.
PS: Yes, I know Linux ISN'T Windows and it isn't trying to be Windows (and if it did, no doubt Micro$soft lawyers would be on the case real quick...) But even so, the GUI is just clunky and not easy to navigate - even using the "Start" button brings up a strange box with functions that do not seem obvious - there's no "balloon-text" when you hover the mouse over the icons...and just trying to select the right icon, is tricky....else you end up opening the wrong program...so, I've quickly got used to keeping the mouse cursor, really close to the bottom edge of the screen and then then bringing it up the screen, to the right of this "options" box in order to select the program I want to run....
If you have read this far, and you can offer the odd tip that might be worth me trying, then please feel free...but don't worry too much about it, as once we know which project is going to be "chosen" this week, I'll either leave the host to run Wanless, (if that is chosen) or else I'll just re-instate the Windows HDD and use that !!
regards
Tim
I hope you will indulge me a minor rant as I'm rather dismayed at my experience installing Linux, ahead of a FB Sprint.
So, cutting a long story short:
Background:
a) I removed my Win 7 Pro HDD from an Intel S2600CP4 mobo + GTX970 GPU and 32GB of RAM, with the idea of installing a suitable Linux in order to run some Wanless/WEP+2 tasks.
b) I swapped to a nice new 120Gb SSD, that was completely blank and unformated (which had been bought to replace an ailing HDD in a friends laptop, but the blooming laptop BIOS won't accept a SATA SSD (to replace the ailing SATA HDD) so it was spare.
The installation:
1) I have a USB stick with a boot partition containg Ubuntu 16.04 0 but the Intel motherboard wouldn't boot from it - it has been used on other PCs to boot and install Ubuntu OK, so the USB stick is fine
2) I downloaded Linux Mint 19.something or other - the latest version on their website - something about a "Long Legged" version IIRC - I created a Boot image on a 32GB USB stick and I did the OEM installation, as essentially this is a NEW PC. I had to give it a "password" - which proved to be a pain further on during the installation of the OS and other programs as the OS kept on asking for the password at various stages
3) That SEEMED to install OK but it wouldn't boot....no matter what I tried, all I got was a "blinking cursor" in the top left corner.
4) Numerous efforts with the BIOS and changing BOOT optins eventually allowed me to boot the PC - apparently one has to boot the "ubuntu" option, INSTEAD of selecting the actual drive that the OS is installed on. (if it had been called "Linux Mint" in the boot option, it would have been more obvious, but it didn't).
5) Mint installed Firefox, so I headed off to the BOINC website to download the latest and greatest BOINC Manager and the BOINC website clearly identified the PC as running Linux, so it gave me a nice BLUE Box to click to download BOINC.
Except it downloaded a file ending in ".sh" - and it wouldn't install and double clicking on it, just opened a TEXT EDITOR
So, I go back to the BOINC website and in much smaller letters it says something about using a Software Manager to install specific programs.
6) So I find the Software Manager, and search for BOINC and sure enough it installs BOINC Manager - it needs some extra files too, so I allow that (as admin) and it starts - except it's v7.9.3 which is a bit old ?
7) I then use BM to add Wanless+Wep+2 as a project and it installs and starts processing - all well and good - we're getting there.
8 ) I then add PrimeGrid project and that goes OK - except that within seconds of downloading GPU tasks, they are ALL erroring out. So I quickly suspend PrimeGrid and try and figure out what's going on - the obvious one being that Linux Mint has NOT actually installed a suitable driver for the GTX970 - I assume it has just installed a VGA type driver. And yet it installed drivers for the onboard NIC - and the keyboard and mouse are working too so those drivers are OK !!
It's a shame it didn't install the right driver for the GPU from the start.
9) So, off to the NVidia website and I find the Linux driver and download that. But it doesn't work - the filename ends in ".run"...and double clicking on it, just brings up the text editor again
10) Further checking and it seems there is a "Driver Manager" that one can run...and it loads up slowly and sure enough it tells me that there are 4 different NVidia drivers available (of varying age, going back to something like "v393.something" (IIRC)...so I pick the "Recommended" one which is "440.something". It also needs some extra files, so they install and the driver installs...or so it seems.
11) I have to suspend Wanless tasks in order to reboot the PC, so I wait until they complete (as they don't checkpoint) and then we reboot.
12) All seems well, so I start up BM and then unsuspend the remaining Wanless tasks (that hadn't started yet) and they start being processed - using all 32 cores initially - I then changed the percentage from 100% CPU down to 90% to allow some CPU for the GPU tasks).
I try the same with the PrimeGrid tasks, but they still have "Computation errors"...very irritating now. BM certainly "sees" the GPU as the menu option to "allow, and/or suspend" GPU operations is there...
So, I've downloaded some other GPU tasks (Asteroids and GPUGrid for now) and will see if they have issues.
13) I then use the "Software Mannger" to install "AnyDesk" so I can control this PC remotely...it too needs extra files and once downloaded, the program works, but one cannot set an "access password" via the "Settings" menu option - if you try, the program just crashes....it seems the Linux version has nothing to do with Anydesk, so it might just be that someone has ported it over and hasn't got it work 100%.
Summary:
I've sort of got it working...but it's not ideal...too many hoops to go through and the GUI is awful...I have a 32" (diagonal) Widescreen LCD screen and the OS fonts are far too big - they look like "kiddies letters" (ie far too big) and the right hand "scroll bar" down the side of running programs is so thin - it's about 1mm wide...you cannot easily position the cursor so as to scroll down to see the rest of the screen.
I was used to running Linux in the past from the command line - RedHat v6.0 and before that anyone remember Caldera ? (I think I've still go the original CDROMs of these too).
But this latest generation Linux is just not "user friendly" (IMHO) - I can put a Windows CDROM/DVDROM (or USB stick nowadays) into a machine and within minutes it gives a great screen, all nicely sized for your monitor and with all the right drivers installed.
It seems that doing something basic with Linux makes you go through so many hoops - and you can see why Linux has not overtaken Windows (in terms of use by the general population), because the entire installation and setting up on a new PC is just so woeful...
It just seems that the various developers of Linux are so stuck in their own ways of doing things, that making thing easy and simple for the layman to do, (to install a Linux OS) is just beyond them - they clearly do not want to make Linux a "mass market" OS - if they did then they could make the entire process less fraught with issues.
PS: Yes, I know Linux ISN'T Windows and it isn't trying to be Windows (and if it did, no doubt Micro$soft lawyers would be on the case real quick...) But even so, the GUI is just clunky and not easy to navigate - even using the "Start" button brings up a strange box with functions that do not seem obvious - there's no "balloon-text" when you hover the mouse over the icons...and just trying to select the right icon, is tricky....else you end up opening the wrong program...so, I've quickly got used to keeping the mouse cursor, really close to the bottom edge of the screen and then then bringing it up the screen, to the right of this "options" box in order to select the program I want to run....
If you have read this far, and you can offer the odd tip that might be worth me trying, then please feel free...but don't worry too much about it, as once we know which project is going to be "chosen" this week, I'll either leave the host to run Wanless, (if that is chosen) or else I'll just re-instate the Windows HDD and use that !!
regards
Tim