Looong time computer user, just made the plunge into linux this week, haven't used it (*nix) literally since before browsers became "the internet".  I squeezed my windows machine and was able to shrink out a 12G partition, and installed Linux Lite (with grub) on it.  I lovelovelove the setup, being a longtime windows user, it felt like moving into an upgraded home (from a rental) where I finally have say-so over what goes where and how and why.  I have minor issues (scrollbars are very thin and "steppers" missing frequently...  and scary partition questions during install) but I am learning how to install packages, add repositories, the internet is my friend.

OK.  So, I am all excited about linux now.  So I scavenged up another hard drive, chose three distros I wanted to try...  and I installed the latest version of Ubuntu.

DIS.  A.  POINTED!  Apparently the Unity or GNOME, or whatever the "desktop environment" is, much more like Android than any Windows product.  Panel is locked in place?  No Whisker menu (my buddy).  All those settings I just learned to find...  I have to learn to find them again?  I can't even change the panel settings (bottom, top, side)?  This is part of why I wanted to transition away from windows in the first place!  Here's the final kicker:  apparently in Ubuntu, there is no (practical...  did find admin:/// or whatever command for sh) way to access your own root directory.

The package manager GUI was nice, but I was already comfortable installing packages through the shell.  It reminds me of the good old days writing batch programs in DOS, except super-powered.

So, I do have some questions, but I wanted to give some background on myself first.  I have been hearing people talk about *nix for years, had some minimal exposure to it (yes I downloaded pr0n via ftp before there were browsers...  in college), have been wanting to try it for years, and finally just did it.  But my recent experience with Ubuntu was worse than disapointing.  Linux Lite has, in a few days, made a much more lasting impression on me.  It does almost everything my windows system did, I will keep windows, probably mostly for games, but I already prefer LL for everything else.  So...  questions:

1.  LL uses XFCE, Ubuntu uses GNOME...  where can I find a comparison of the differences between these (in terms a novice can understand), and what are they called exactly?  Something like a flowchart, perhaps?

2.  When downloading Ubuntu, I read that it was based on a "build" of Debian.  I have some understanding of these terms...  Debian is a server-oriented OS, and "build" means the code was changed a little.  Right?  Is there another flowchart perhaps of the popular distros, showing the versions they are based on, and the differences?  Couldn't hurt to ask.  Something like a family tree.

3. A lot of the problems I have (i.e. customizing the GUI), when I look up the answers, I originally was looking up LL specific answers, then Ubuntu answers (because they were easy to find).  I got to a point where I was seeing gtk-specific answers, and LL does not have the gtk-specific config files.  I figured they had to make it "Light" somehow, by choosing smaller components, OK.  I guess my question is, what are the different major components of the build (like mate, or cinnamon, etc.), and how should I think of them in somewhat-laymans-terms?

Thanks in advance

I don't like adverts but do understand how important they are for FOSS operations like Linux Lite so have my ad-blocker turned off for Forum visits, as requested.

I have found the ads to generally be of interest and not distracting but today I was treated to a spurious offer of an Apple device because I was the 1 millionth visitor. It's a while since I've seen this but I have been the 'lucky' visitor on other sites and found it to be just a ruse to capture useful info about you.

I have a screenshot just to help with identification but you probably know the type of thing anyway. Here's the screenshot
https://imgur.com/a/rNb9v

Is there anything that can be done to prevent this type of ad, as it does let the site down. Most of the ads have a little x to remove the ad but I couldn't see this for the 'lucky winner' ad (flashy border perhaps hiding it).

I feel it would be good if there was a way to stop adverts like this spoiling the Forum - but perhaps I'm just a stick-in-the-mud?

I cannot install wine because when I try to do it from the Linux Lite software application did not work and I also got some thing in terminal it looks like the packages they are broken is anyone else having this issue my apologies for my broken English

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

For a while I've noticed that the Desktop Widget on a Core2Duo laptop of mine (now running 64bit 3.8 ) has been showing 'never updated' for the update status even though I've performed several updates, including the upgrade to 3.8 (but the problem precedes that).
I saw that the updates script for the widget looks for update dates in the history.log in /var/log/apt/ so had a look at that.
I found that no log existed for updates after 24 November 2017 and that the last entry for that date showed an Update Start Date but not an Update End Date.
As I read the script this could well cause the 'never updated' message to appear.

So I then did another update to see what happened. It went through the usual prompts without any problem but once it started the package downloads it just disappeared from view altogether - no window, no status icon - but apt processes were clearly active in the Task Manager. When update was completed the LLUpdates.log appeared and seemed to be all in order apart from some problem with the Flash Updater which it had seemed to resolve.

However, history.log remained unchanged.

I'd be grateful for any pointers on how to fix this, which looks to be more of an apt issue rather than anything to do with the widget.

Thank you

i just deleted a torrent with data and this stupid software didn ' t even ask me if i want to delete the torrent with data with confirmation box , how can i remove this thing and use transmission instead ?

My son was playing Factorio on my LL 3.8 laptop. It froze during the stage of joining a multiplayer game. I tried Ctrl-C and it did not work. I also tried Alt-tab and Ctrl-Alt-Delete.

Finally I did a hard shutdown using the power button. This worked, but it was very much a last resort. My question is, what should I have done (if anything) instead of shutting down with power button? Is there another combination of keys which should have worked to force-quit the game? Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.

I've been spending quite a bit of time creating special panels on my desktop to launch project specific programs and open specific file folders.  This is going to be a fantastic system when I'm done, but it takes some time to set it all up.  So my question:

Is there a way to save an entire panel including all its launchers and transfer it to another Linux computer?

The reason I ask is because I'm installing Linux on some of my other computers and I would love to be able to just instantly transfer all these panels and launchers to the new installation.  I realize that some of them might not work due to small differences in paths, etc.  But I could deal with having to just clean up a few paths.  But it would sure save me a lot of time if I could just transfer these newly customized panels over to the newly created Linux systems.

I'd hate to have to redo this all over again from scratch with every new installation.

Thanks

Hey guys I am looking for an screen writer app. I am currently got an book / film idea but I know of macos apps... Thought I ask here to get some ideas.

God not dead. He roaring like an lion.

On an Asus G750JS I'm having problems when playing music.  The subwoofer frequently cuts out, when playing quite loudly, the sound being mainly limited to the inbuilt front speakers.
I need to be able to independently control (reduce) the volume on the subwoofer as I think too much power is going through it and making the cone 'stick' at the limit of its movement.
The problem has been reported elsewhere, though everyone else with this laptop model are using windows 8.1 or 10 and of course have Windows software to allow independent control of the subwoofer, see
https://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.ph...ofer-Issue

How do I control the subwoofer volume independently from that of the front speakers in LL3.8?

Many thanks for any help with this