Issues with Ubuntu 12.10, can you recommend a better distro?
Linux - NewbieThis Linux forum is for members that are new to Linux.
Just starting out and have a question?
If it is not in the man pages or the how-to's this is the place!
Notices
Welcome to LinuxQuestions.org, a friendly and active Linux Community.
You are currently viewing LQ as a guest. By joining our community you will have the ability to post topics, receive our newsletter, use the advanced search, subscribe to threads and access many other special features. Registration is quick, simple and absolutely free. Join our community today!
Note that registered members see fewer ads, and ContentLink is completely disabled once you log in.
If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us. If you need to reset your password, click here.
Having a problem logging in? Please visit this page to clear all LQ-related cookies.
Get a virtual cloud desktop with the Linux distro that you want in less than five minutes with Shells! With over 10 pre-installed distros to choose from, the worry-free installation life is here! Whether you are a digital nomad or just looking for flexibility, Shells can put your Linux machine on the device that you want to use.
Exclusive for LQ members, get up to 45% off per month. Click here for more info.
Issues with Ubuntu 12.10, can you recommend a better distro?
I've just had my first go at installing Linux. I went with Ubuntu 12.10 but found a lot of issues when I installed it.
First of all it says it wants to track everything I do, including my keystrokes, which is a bit creepy.
Secondly, this might be the case with all distros, but it asked for my password 3 times in 10 minutes. When I first went on, when I went to install I think it was adobe to watch youtube, and then afterwards youtube still didn't work.
It then went to a black screen (with writing), saying there was something wrong with the battery, finally came back on asking for my password again, and then went black again.
I got it from this site http://www.ubuntu.com/download/deskt...dows-installer and it's on an ASUS Pro50N (I think 2008). Maybe a more distro would be better for my computer? I'd like to learn to code, starting with Python, and eventually design in CAD (I'm a cabinetmaker) and to be able to design websites. I realise I don't need Linux to do this but I like the idea of open source software.
I'm not going to waste your time asking how to uninstall Ubuntu, google will know (I've rebooted back onto Windows atm) but are there any security issues now I'm on windows with Ubuntu still on the computer being able to "track my keystrokes" etc?
what do you mean by "tracking your keystrokes"? I never heard such a thing before, but since Ubuntu contains a keyboard driver...
About the password: Linux is very restrictive with user permissions. You (being you as in you != root) aren't allowed to do much outside of your home directory (speaking of /home/yourusername). That's because the system needs to be protected from changes - in some directories like /usr/bin, /etc or /var, unintentional changes can be lethal to the system.
Usually, you use su, but Ubuntu rather uses sudo, to get root rights. Root can do anything - and I repeat ANYTHING - to the system. Good - or bad. As installing software, mounting a storage device or configuring the bootloader is generally something you do outside of your home directory (because you need to write/read /usr/bin, /dev or /boot), it is a task that only root can do.
Also, while entering your password, you can think about what you were just going to do...
Because:
Code:
rm ./* -rf
deletes everything in the current directory. If that is a subdir of your home, you don't need root rights.
Code:
rm /* -rf
deletes everything in the root directory - that's all of the systems. You always need root rights to execute this, unless you play around with recursive chmod, which I would not reccomend on this level.
You see, one little period can make such a big difference. Linux is a multi-user system, and not every user knows enough to be root and handle the permissions associated with it responsibly - this is why everything is restricted.
Actually, I seen Ubuntu 12.10 run perfectly on much older computers (Used 12.04 on a aprox. 15 years old ThinkPad).
When you boot Ubuntu you should see a panel of icons on the left side of the screen. There is a gear-shaped icon and if you mouse over it you are told it is 'System Settings'. Click on that and go to the Brightness and Lock icon and click it and you will have the option to set a time for your screen to lock or to turn it off and also to require or not entering your password if you leave the lock on.
Also under System Settings is an icon 'User Accounts' where you can enable autologin if you don't want to enter a password to log in. As indicated above, any system type actions such as installing software are going to require administrative rights and password by default.
You'll have to give a little more information about this tracking your keystrokes business and why you think that's happening.
Distribution: OpenSUSE 13.2 64bit-Gnome on ASUS U52F
Posts: 1,444
Rep:
You can turn off the shopping lenses if you don't want the OS to show you result base on your previous search.
Here is a good link for other things you might want to do
im not a fan of the entire ubuntu line for many reasons, several of them you mentioned mainly that they have sold out and are now have built in advertising along with data collection as part of the default OS. someone new to linux may not know how to disable this function thus turning the computer into one giant bit of malware. totally against this.
I have been using both Debian and Fedora (RedHat) distros for a long time and am much more happy with the direction that Fedora is headed vs Debian forks like ubuntu. I know a lot of people are very happy with Linux Mint, an other fork of Debian so you might want to check that out too.
side note with the Fedora desktop line, they have a short life support frame. Typically it is two releases then they are dropped from support. So with Fedora 18 just having gone line Fedora 16 is the oldest release that is still getting any kind of patches or security updates. Starting with Fedora 18 they have adjusted how the releases update from old to next so there might be some issues with going to Fedora 19 when it is released, but that is to be seen. In addition to the update cycle you will have to install several 3rd party repos to get access to some basics like FLASH, MP3, DVDs, etc... there are plenty of HOWTO guides out there and if you install easylife (http://easylifeproject.org/) it will handle that issue for you very nicely.
Ubuntu is well-known because the company Canonical is good at publicity. In fact it's not a good distro. Poor quality control, poor hardware support, relentless commercialism, tax-avoidance, etc.
Have a look at Funduntu. It's well behaved, has features to reduce power consumption on lap-tops, and it's rolling-release: install once and it's kept up-to-date automatically, instead of having a new version every 6 months.
As for giving passwords, you just get used to it. It's there to protect you from hackers, marauding children, and your own carelessness! Every time you're asked for a password, say "I'm doing something important: am I sure I understand it?"
I used to be a frequent user of Ubuntu versions. I too am looking for a new OS after being stuck with windows for what seems a lifetime. I was going to go back to Ubuntu but after reading some of the posts in this thread it's very off putting.
Besides Fedora and Funduntu (Thanks btw to the previous contributors) can anybody offer anymore suggestions for OS's that are as user friendly as Ubuntu?
Also under System Settings is an icon 'User Accounts' where you can enable autologin if you don't want to enter a password to log in. As indicated above, any system type actions such as installing software are going to require administrative rights and password by default.
I don't know if this has changed but last I used Ubutnu with automatic login enabled, I actually got prompted more often by gnome-keyring for my password (which I'm guessing the OP was referring to when he said prompted for password three times in ten minutes).
Quote:
Originally Posted by Patrick.Michaels
Besides Fedora and Funduntu (Thanks btw to the previous contributors) can anybody offer anymore suggestions for OS's that are as user friendly as Ubuntu?
If you want more 'user friendly' than vanilla Debian, you can try Mint Debian edition. I haven't used it much but if I ever want to try something ese that would be my choice. I have tried fedora, and it's ok. It's just that I'm used to APT and therefore always stick to distros that use it.
Besides Fedora and Funduntu (Thanks btw to the previous contributors) can anybody offer anymore suggestions for OS's that are as user friendly as Ubuntu?
Mepis, SalineOS, PCLinuxOS, Snowlinux (the Debian-based versions, not the Ubuntu-based ones), ZorinOS, Parsix, Vector, OpenSUSE (only for KDE).
First of all it says it wants to track everything I do, including my keystrokes, which is a bit creepy
I have never seen this, but IIRC there is a message about reporting package usage (a.k.a. the "popularity contest") and you can disbale this by uninstalling the popcon package.
Ubuntu still on the computer being able to "track my keystrokes" etc?
it is NOT tracking your "keystrokes" !!!!!!!!!
unless you grabbed some 'off the wall' version from some Chinese server from some 'off the wall' bittorrent site
this would be like grabbing a "unlocked" " full version" windows 7 from some bitorrent
-- a very big no-no ---
if your system is powerful enough
-- an i5 or i7 CPU and 4+ gig ram
install OpenSUSE 12.2
but as everyone above has stated
you run as a normal user and then ONLY if 100% NEEDED use the terminal to become "root" to make system changes
-- like installing software ,reconfiguring "mount points" for drives , and so on ...
this is standard Linux safety
by default suse uses " sudo" and dose NOT make a full root account ,but uses your FIRST normal user's password
-- i DISLIKE that -- big time !
so i do a custom install ( using the GUI installer to make a DIFFERENT root password than my normal user )
then use "su" and "su -" instead of "sudo"
Distribution: Debian Sid AMD64, Raspbian Wheezy, various VMs
Posts: 7,680
Rep:
I think the "tracking keystrokes" is "zeitgeist" and, as far as I can tell, it does log everything you do os in some ways it may seem to be "tracking keystrokes". However, what it really is is more like Windows "most recently used" list in that each program or component logs the last things you told it to do so that the search will be more tailored to you.
I still don't like the idea, but it doesn't spy on you from what I can gather.
Ubuntu tracks your use of the Dash, whatever that might be. It also provides information about user habits to Amazon, for which it gets paid. Tax-dodgers hanging together! http://arstechnica.com/information-t...acks-searches/
LinuxQuestions.org is looking for people interested in writing
Editorials, Articles, Reviews, and more. If you'd like to contribute
content, let us know.