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Thread: Extreme Frustration w/Linux in general (mini rant)

  1. #1
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    Unhappy Extreme Frustration w/Linux in general (mini rant)

    Hey everyone. I haven't posted much... But lately I have been trying to get help with my Mint 7 KDE system.

    I have tried Debian, Ubuntu, Linux Mint (Gnome and KDE) and have had problems with each one of them.

    My Mint Gloria KDE is crashing all the time now. I understand that there may be some tweaking to do in order to get everything working properly, but this is getting ridiculous.

    Most recently all of my browsers crash...Konqueror, Firefox (all the time), Chrome (constantly), Opera (only a couple times, but still).

    X or KDM or whatever controls my environment has been having fits lately for reasons I can't explain. I even kill compiz every time I boot up, but that doesn't seem to help anymore.

    I can't close my laptop or put it to "sleep" b/c when I try to get started again I get I/O errors and have to hard reset anyway.

    I keep seeing these posts about Linux "just working." I haven't experienced that...ever. And I would like to, but I find myself trying to get the OS to work far far more than actually getting work done.

    Worst part, I booted into Windows to post this. I didn't want to do that but I feared I would launch my laptop across the room if Linux crashed again.

    All I would like to do is some web development (I installed XAMPP, and Wordpress and learned while doing so) and listen to music while I do it. That's all. Maybe some video editing and DVD authoring later on....

    I don't need my laptop to do back-flips....I just don't want it to crash.

    Is this a typical experience?
    Last edited by Pres B; February 12th, 2010 at 10:40 PM.

  2. #2
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    Re: Extreme Frustration w/Linux in general (mini rant)

    Quote Originally Posted by Pres B View Post

    Is this a typical experience?
    Well, not for me, or else I wouldn't be here still using Kubuntu. I suspect others would say the same.

    Seeing as you're talking about several different distros having several different problems, it's a little hard to address things specifically; but I would suggest to you the common denominator here is your laptop. Some hardware just does not play nicely with Linux. This could possibly be the root of the problems.

    I'm personally OK with Kubuntu's KDE implementation (apart from the package manager), but a lot of people say it's not the best, and Debian's has it's own issues. Maybe OpenSuse is worth a try; everything you've tried so far is pretty much in the same family, it might be time to branch out to find something more suited to your hardware and usage habits.

  3. #3
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    Re: Extreme Frustration w/Linux in general (mini rant)

    It doesn't sound like a typical experience.

    You mentioned I/O errors. Check your hard disk, and check your RAM for errors (the GRUB menu contains a memtest option).

  4. #4
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    Smile Re: Extreme Frustration w/Linux in general (mini rant)

    Quote Originally Posted by lykwydchykyn View Post
    I would suggest to you the common denominator here is your laptop.
    I have considered this. I had issues with NVIDIA drivers when I first got started with Linux... And wireless issues, too.

    Is there generally anything that I should look out for as far as processors, video or wireless cards for when I look for another laptop. (I may just give my wife this one and buy one that would "play nice" with Linux.)

    Quote Originally Posted by lykwydchykyn View Post
    Maybe OpenSuse is worth a try; everything you've tried so far is pretty much in the same family, it might be time to branch out to find something more suited to your hardware and usage habits.
    I thought about that, too. I really liked openSUSE when I sampled the Live CD. I might have to give it another shot.

  5. #5
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    Re: Extreme Frustration w/Linux in general (mini rant)

    Quote Originally Posted by jken146 View Post
    It doesn't sound like a typical experience.

    You mentioned I/O errors. Check your hard disk, and check your RAM for errors (the GRUB menu contains a memtest option).
    Thanks, jken. I'll look into that.

  6. #6
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    Re: Extreme Frustration w/Linux in general (mini rant)

    Quote Originally Posted by Pres B View Post
    I have considered this. I had issues with NVIDIA drivers when I first got started with Linux... And wireless issues, too.

    Is there generally anything that I should look out for as far as processors, video or wireless cards for when I look for another laptop. (I may just give my wife this one and buy one that would "play nice" with Linux.)
    Well, the fool-proof method is to buy a laptop with Linux pre-installed. Nvidia is usually pretty good as far as video performance once you get the proprietary drivers loaded, but as for wireless and network stuff I couldn't say.

    ATI has had a lot of problems with Linux, but it's improving.

    Intel generally works very well with Linux, but their hardware isn't always so great for high-intensity usage.

    Overall, I've had good luck with Dell stuff and Linux, but you always have a weird model here and there.

  7. #7
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    Re: Extreme Frustration w/Linux in general (mini rant)

    The sleep problem is common on laptops with Nvidia and ATI cards, I have intel GMA945, which sleeps and unsleeps perfectly. I can leave it on for days, witn no problems.


    As for the io errors, I would suggest checking ram/hdd, but it still could be caused by the graphics drivers, as sometimes weird things happen.


    I would try disabling desktop effects as they are still young, and tend to cause problems.

    Best advice is to pick a decent linux distro such as ubuntu, and stick with it, eventually you will get it all ironed out.


    Also if you feel you really have a bug, report it, and be part of the solution.

    It feels great, when a bug you reported is squashed, and lots of people are happy because of it.

  8. #8
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    Re: Extreme Frustration w/Linux in general (mini rant)

    Quote Originally Posted by t4thfavor View Post
    As for the io errors, I would suggest checking ram/hdd, but it still could be caused by the graphics drivers, as sometimes weird things happen.
    He says he's getting I/O errors from trying to come out of sleep mode.

  9. #9
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    Re: Extreme Frustration w/Linux in general (mini rant)

    Quote Originally Posted by lykwydchykyn View Post
    Well, the fool-proof method is to buy a laptop with Linux pre-installed... Overall, I've had good luck with Dell stuff and Linux, but you always have a weird model here and there.
    Thanks for the advice. I had looked at Dell's laptops with Ubuntu installed when I first started trying out distros. I will definitely revisit.

    On a side note, I just finished downloading the OpenSUSE 11.2 ISO. Hope that goes well.

  10. #10
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    Re: Extreme Frustration w/Linux in general (mini rant)

    You might try Fedora 12, too.

    Hey. Whatever works for you is good.
    Please read The Forum Rules and The Forum Posting Guidelines

    A thing discovered and kept to oneself must be discovered time and again by others. A thing discovered and shared with others need be discovered only the once.
    This universe is crazy. I'm going back to my own.

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