Linux turns 33! What's your Linux story?

Discussion
21

Yes :wink:

The phenomenon you experienced seems to be common.

You can still try to download a driver directly from nvidia:

That’s the latest which supports GT730

If you have the tool, create a system snapshot, as this experiment may be harmful to the system.
For that purpose I use systemback, others do it using Timeshift.
Or if a complete reainstall doesn’t bother you, you may skip this.

Clean the residues of your previous trial:

apt purge nvidia*
apt autoremove --purge

Reboot, then extract the driver you downloaded. Edit: it downloads the .run file, no extraction needed… srry…
There should be an nvidia.run or something like that.
Switch to console ctrl-alt-F2 for example, and login on the console.
Get root rights, sudo su, or like that.
Stop the displaymanager,
systemctl stop lightdm

Run the nvidia installer, you may need to mark it executable (chmod +x).
Let it do what it wants to do, hopefully it can work with your kernel version.
(I’m not sure).
Reboot, and if you get a graphical desktop, and can login, check if inxi -Gxxx reports “nvidia” driver loaded, not the nouveau.
Hope the best.
If you get nvidia driver running, go on with the ln libcuda part from my previous steps.

If things break, restore the snapshot.
Or reinstall your system…

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22

Will try tomorrow and tell!

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23

My story is a long one and follows many here with age.
Did programming at school using punchcards and basic. 1972 Careers teacher said no future in computing so did a degree in metallurgy by default through where i worked.
Changed jobs and working in various departments planning, time study, sales where they were starting to computerised systems. So they taught me operations and programming on a datapoint system using dos and hexadecimal coding.
Went into teaching at a local college as they wanted someone with experiance to teach. Gained a degree in computer science. Moved on to a unix company. Then back to education and a university, teaching computing systems. Moved on the work for apple and mac system 6, 7, 8 and 9 before leaving. On to a hospital as technical director, working with more systems than I can name or write about.
Left the uk to come to live in france, where I started my own computer company, ideally working from home doing web site design and development, loved going back to coding and html.
Then discovered linux around 2009 as more and more clients were coming to my door with computer problems, boxes not working, virus issues you name it but all around windows xp, 7, 8, now 10 and 11.
I decided that html was ok to do but meeting people with technical issues was more interesting and a challenge.
Started with ubuntu think it was around 7 or 8 version through getting a free disk handed to me by a client. Installed it and started a new story of discovery. But was frustrated by the desktop so moved onto linux mint prefering the mate version as it ran on older boxes which my clients had.
Being in france i needed something I could offer in any language to suit the clients needs and linux mint offered that. Does mot matter if its in french german english dutch or even arabic its a one stop shop as even if i dont know the language the screens are all the same so i can guess what it says, if all else fails I drop to command line and that is in english.

Yes tried puppy linux, linux lite, lubuntu but my default is lmde now.

Did a count a few years back when asked if I could recommend a system and had done over 400 installations of linux on different client machines.

Now enjoy the questions on this site and sharing experiences with like minded fellow members

I no longer own any microsoft devices, but still repair for clients, but recommend linux as the solution for them, works out cheaper for them to convert than spending hours virus removal, re installing systems etc.

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24

That may be the problem. At about kernel 5.19 the kernel changed its interface to driver modules, and Nvidia refused to update old drivers. They will only work with an old kernel. I had this issue and had to buy a new video card.

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25

I’d been using UNIX (DG-UX and SunOS) since 1992 in late 1995…

I just happened to have a spare 386 at home (alongside my own 486-DX and my wife’s 486-SX) and my work (a big public hospital) IT department, where I worked, had a subscription to Byte magazine and I read about a UNIX like operating system called Linux.

We also had a fast (for the time) 64k ISDN link to the University (I actually had to jack into it via a dodgy coax line in the server room - and “fudge” an IP address) internet connection.

I found an Aussie mirror “AARNET” (it’s still going) - and they had a copy of Slackware 3.0 - all 40 or so floppy disk images!

Before I knew it was hooked… I even got ipchains (predecessor of iptables) forwarding via dial up and shared my Slackware Linux machine’s dial up internet with my Windows 3.11 / 95 machines…

Then around 2001 Linux and UNIX (mostly Solaris) became my speciality (before that I was a “generalist” - desktop support, netware server, windows server, UNIX)…

However - having said that - over the next 17 or so years (from 1995 to 2012) - I considered Linux more of a headless server O/S than a desktop - and I would dual boot between some Ubuntu system and Windows 7 - for games - but then Valve released Steam on Linux and some topshelf titles (L4D2 and Serious Sam 3) with native support - and - I stopped dual booting!

Messing about with Slackware was okay way back then (Oh you want ethernet, sound and cd-rom with your O/S? Compile a kernel with the IRQ and DMA for the NIC) - but - these days - I just want something that works without too much tweaking and either Ubuntu or Pop!_OS fit that bill - and either of those are easy enough to make look and feel like MacOs which I run alongside (i.e. I have 4 32" QHD monitors on my desk - 2 of those are used by MacBook Pro M1 laptops - mostly for work stuff).

Aint got time for Gentoo or Arch…

Reckon I’ll stick with Pop!_OS 22.04 as my main (running on AMD desktop and laptop machines - the desktop install for 18+ months now) until Symless Synergy properly support Wayland, then make the switch to Pop!_OS Cosmic 24.04 if I can make it look and feel like MacOS (else I’ll just stick with Pop!_OS 22.04 - or go to Ubuntu 24.04).

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26

Put it on your list of retirement projects.

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27

My story with Linux is nowhere as impressive as some have already posted, but here it is.
Bought my one and only, off the shelf PC, somewhere about 90 or 91, a Gateway with a Pentium II CPU with 1GB of ram running W98. I never put Linux on this box but it did open the door and learn about something, called Linux. I ran that old box until it gave up the ghost, and I was already itching too dabble with building my own PC, and so far I have built 5 desktop PC’s and 4 are still running and one I gave to my son-in-law.
So after a little research, I ordered a Intel PERLD865 mobo and a Antec Sonata case and a 600W PSU 4GB DDR ram and Intel Celeron CPU along with a AGP graphics card, and installed Windows XP, on one of the two EIDE drives, the other drive would later have Ubuntu 6 installed. The Ubuntu install would open the door to the world of Linux, with all it’s ups and downs.
I would run this PC until MS dropped XP support and at one point it was a total Linux machine, but I had started using Linux Mint Mate for my OS but I just could not live with a Linux only machine.
So I retired that machine but kept the case for a future build.
So about the mid 2000 I had enough money saved and the wife and I made a trip to Dallas, TX, to a computer store and I bought a Cooler Master Stryker case a ASUS mobo 32GB DDR3 ram a samsung 1tb SSD a 1000W PSU and a i5 CPU, already had W7 and a Nvidia graphics card!! By this time I would only use Linux in a VM and VirtualBox became my default program for Linux.
Altough, I have ran a lot of different distro, none really became a challenge, they all seemed to automated, if I want automation, I will just use Windows. So I stared reading about Gentoo, and the more I read, the more, it said, install me. So I started using VirtualBox and playing with Gentoo, and got the VirtualBox install right and then moved on to a hard install.
Well, at that time, the only machine, I had was an old 32bit Emachine with 4GB ram and a core duo CPU. Well, it took the good part of a week, but I compiled Gentoo on that machine, and it has been running Gentoo, until just recently, Gentoo was retired for a Debian 32bit install.
I think my biggest honor was when @nevj, in a private post. ask for help with a Gentoo install, with his knowledge of computers and of Linux, I truly believed I learned more than he!!!
Everyone at Foss talks about the freedom of Linux, that may be, but I believe a lot of distros want to be to “Windows Like” with there installation!!! Gentoo on the other hand, will not do anything, unless, I type the command, and for myself, and the way I use Linux, that is all I need in Linux.

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28

Curious. What attracts you to Pop? I’m alternating Fedora and Debian, trying to choose. Is the Cosmic desktop worth a try? Pop really seemed less useful than even Ubuntu.

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Probably 'cause it does a better job of installing GPU support than even Ubuntu - and - has a slight edge on Ubuntu for gaming too (and I do game on Linux)… I’m not completely sold, and could easily end up swinging back to stock Ubuntu LTS…

I did try Fedora in 2022 - but I found it a bit “fudgy” e.g. getting GPU acceleration required adding some other alternative YUM repo - really? WTF? RPMFusion? Why not just make it part of Fedora FFS?

But - I’ve been running Pop!_OS 22.04 on this desktop machine for over 18 months now - that’s a long time for me… I would often go 3-6 months and do a fresh install… I did have a laptop that I mostly kept at work on my desk running Ubuntu 18, then 19.x then 20.x - all updates from one to the next never a complete re-install. I now have that laptop at home but haven’t booted it for probably 2 years now…

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I still have that Gentoo. It was a steep learning curve. The best way to get started with Gentoo is to have some help… I am grateful to @Daniel_Phillips for that. He did it the hard way, on his own.

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31

I also used Pop for almost 18 months. Its rock-solid. But I switched because I kindof got bored to the same UI and everything.

I agree, I think it’s one of the best in GPU support.

Man I just installed Fedora… :no_mouth:

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What should I do after this? Cause the names of packages suggest that they are for X11 while Fedora is currently on wayland

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What makes you prefer LMDE over normal Mint. I thinking of dual-booting fedora with mint. So wanna choose between LMDE and Mint Cinnamon…

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32

I guess, the rock-solid atom-stable Debian base. :slight_smile:

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33

Ohh yeahh!!

Edit: Why is there is cake beside my name???
It was not present yesterday…

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34

It’s your anniversary gift :slight_smile:
:cake:

OFF:
T-Shirt I could not resist:

IMG_20240826_200600_DRO
IMG_20240826_200600_DRO1920×3413 1.05 MB

As I always need more coffee, I picked this right away :slight_smile:
:coffee: :coffee: :coffee:

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35

WindowsXP crashed and literally ate 4k+ mp3s. My roommate gave me a Knoppix disk to try to recovery the files, unfortunately they were just gone. So I downloaded Debian Potato and installed it.
Over the years I also ran Kanotix, Xandros, Lindows, and several other Debian based distros. I always came back to just plain Debian.

Never really saw the need to mess with any other distros.

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36

Thanks. The only gaming I do is first-person shooters, which is why I use an HP gaming box with Win11 ( and nothing else). All of my significant work is done in Linux on an old HP SFF business box with integrated graphics, so I don’t care about GPU support.

Still balancing between Fedora and Debian. I particularly like the Emmabuntus desktop on top of Debian.

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37

Hi Craig,
yes, I stuck with plain Debian for years
Then I went looking to see if other distros would run things faster… they do and I found several interesting non-debian distros, like Void and Gentoo.
Now I keep 3 distros in a multiboot setup. … I like variety.

If debian suits you, there is good reason to stay with it.

Regards
Neville

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38

Why choose lmde

Originally having rejected ubuntu as many clients found it a big move from windows, everything in wrong place or wrong colour etc. (Did not matter if it worked)

I tried cinnamon but found on some older systems it did not work so went for mate. Happy campers.
But now the computers i am getting in to repair or virus remove or simply upgrade that will not take windows 11. Are better equipped. Also had a couple of mate failures.

Offering a service to clients where i can safely say select this, press that, it looks like … etc I wanted a standard screen and system

Lmde offers me just that, i like cinnamon and as its based on debian without modifications ubuntu puts on the system.

The only exception is I have a couple of clients with older netbooks with only 2gb memory but capable of 64 bits so choose the xfce version. The menus look slightly different but not massive.

Have one client on lubuntu but it frustrates me when i want to do something like run 2 monitors, I need to install software to do it and there is no repository to get it from, but he will not change as his son (computer expert) set it up for him.

So simple answer a commercial decision on my part for easy support.

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39

So only difference between mint and LMDE is just the base? Everything else is same??

40

Simple answer would be yes.

Both have debian as a start. The Ubuntu add or take away parts for there own product.

Then Linux mint adds the cinnamon desktop onto both versions debian or Ubuntu.

For the end user you see almost no difference but under the hood could be changed you don’t see.

In my cases the difference has been older systems or graphics drivers tend to work better on LMDE.

If I try standard mint in some situations I have failed but with LMDE it tends to work

Exception being underpowered boxes where xfce is a better bet.

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