Linux Lite 2 Performance Review & Some Queries

[Scott]

@gold_finger, valtam

Does ticking "download updates while installing" make any difference?

[gold_finger]

Yes it is strange because it's happened on multiple installs for me (3 or 4), but doesn't appear to happen for many other people.   I think I vaguely remember telling one or two people along the way to make the repo change.  If this were happening for many others, would expect the forum to have been flooded with problem reports about it.  Since it wasn't widely complained about -- I just decided to ignore it as a fluke.

P.s.  I just double-checked the md5sum of my file and it matches number published. 

[Jerry]

Well this is really bizarre, working on one computer fresh install and not another. Me is stumped for now

[gold_finger]

@gold_finger from a fresh install, does it do that via Menu, Install Updates or just Synaptic?

Sorry for late reply back.

Did it from both "Install Updates" and when refreshing repo in Synaptic.  After install, tried updates first and it caught failed repos, then just closed window without updating.

[N4RPS]

Hello!

NO one distro is best for EVERYONE. Based on their own unique needs and preferences, each user chooses their own favorite.

Personally, I recommend that EVERYONE try as many different distros as possible before picking a 'fave'...

73 DE N4RPS
Rob
 

[NRD80V]

Hi
Synaptic Issue & Installing Additional Applications
I tried to install XFCE Theme Manager and Gnucash
Synaptic did not showed these application

Even if I selected what has been shown example, Exaile and install it, it was not installing and the screen came to the initial stage

Similarly when I used Additional Application Installer, 20 to 25 were not installable
Chromium Browser was installed but not working.

Resolution:
I just gave these three commands in terminal and got the issue resolved

apt-get -f install
apt-get update
apt-get upgrade

After these three commands, the issue completely resolved


Installation Issue
When we install - in the beginning stage, there are two choices - installing media codecs and third party repositories & drivers
If I selected them and proceeded for the installation, the installation takes more than 75 Minutes
But if I simply proceeded to install, it took only 7 Minutes and 25 Seconds

The issue may be attributable to the connectivity. Not clear as to why this happened.

Yours
VN

Why the synaptic package manager is not functioning in the same manner with Mint or Ubuntu

Can you be more specific about problems you encountered with Synaptic?  I used to use Ubuntu a few years ago and currently still use Mint in addition to LL and have not experienced any difference whatsoever in Synaptic performance between them.  In addition, over the years I've periodically tested and used more distros than I can possibly recall -- Synaptic performed no differently in any of them.

Installation with 3rd party codecs and multimedia support takes hell a lot of time. This was not the case with Ubuntu or Linux Mint.

Again, can you be more specific?  What types of codecs are you referring to and what process did you use to install them.  Like bitsnpcs, the only thing I've ever needed to do is install the "Restricted Extras" package.

Additional Application Installation is not a bit easy. Though the promise is so, I am finding that the Additional Software Installation does not work seamlessly.

One thing I've run into on LL installations is that a few of the included repositories (needed for installing some of the "additional" programs) seem to be pointed to incorrect address, which causes error message and failure of install attempt.  Is that the problem you ran into?  (That repo problem also causes error messages when refreshing Synaptic.  Is that the issue you had with Synaptic too?)

[NRD80V]

Dear Dave
Yes you are absolutely correct.

I have been on Linux since 2010. I have tested some 50 Distributions so far
Hence I am able to deploy a Linux Distros at its right place.

In 2007-08 I used Linux without any understanding it was forced upon me by my Company
The biggest difficulty at that time was using Office Suite
Now all those issues have gone and we are able to use Linux much better and get better results than what we do with Windows

I agree with you on Linux Lite Comment, yes, this is the most user friendly, resource optimising and best Binary Based Linux

I just wanted to compare Linux Mint XFCE Edition with this and find out why this one was created.
Further while using I had problems on installing applications
That's why I posted this comment and review

I can say the plus point over Mint are:
a) Easy to download and use - No too many choices and confusion arising due to it
b) Resource Optimal - Linux Mint XFCE & MATE are reasonable but Gnome and Cinnamon are worse than Windows 8 in consuming resources. Hence Linux Lite is really resource friendly
c) Better Driver Support
d) Unnecessary Tweakings and Application avoided to maintain further stability

The issue I had, I feel might be due to my connectivity and not specifically due to Lite.
Yours
VN

Hi VN,

I suspect you have been using Linux for a while, and are reasonably comfortable with it.

I think if you take a step back,
and look at Linux Lite from a complete beginners point of view it becomes more compelling
and Linux Lite will evolve with you

Dave

[NRD80V]

Hi
Really a Good Comment and Response to my post.
I enjoyed reading your reply.

I have successfully Migrated to Linux Lite
I faced some issues with Further Application installation due to some kernel issues, once I ran the update, Lite became more functional
I have installed all applications I needed in a seamless way and now I am typing this reply from my Linux Lite Machine

I agree with your comments on Ubuntu and Other OS.
Ubuntu 10.04 LTS was the Best Ubuntu Distribution, then from 11.04 onwards, they have screwed it up
Linux Mint MATE or XFCE Editions alone are workable, Gnome or Cinnamon is resource intensive and not deploy-able
All RPM Distros require us to become a System Administrator, hence not so great for a normal end user
Other Linux are not having stable and consistent performance
Linux Lite really scores well in this dense forest of Linux Distributions

Yours
VN

Hello VN,

Welcome to the community 

I am a Linux Lite user too and cannot answer the question you ask for the Development Team.

I enjoyed reading your review, experiences so far with LL and your opinion, it differs from my own, but we don't live under communism. (sadly some peoples still do)

I installed the "Restricted Extras" from the "Install Additional Software" GUI, which includes the multimedia codecs.
For the type of use for me I have not experienced any multimedia problems at all or codec problems in LL itself.
I did experience a problem in XFBurn, that is not unique to LL but rather to XFBurn, it needs additional things added to burn mp3 as audio cd, the same occurs in Linux Mint as I read Mint forum posts of many people having the same problems.
I think the Install Additional Software GUI looks very nice.
The Restricted Extras are the only item I need/use from the current Install Additional Software GUI, so I cannot comment on any of the other software, hopefully someone who has installed the particular ones can help.

I have installed quite a few things using Synaptic Package Manager and have not found any problems/faults or malfunctions with this yet, my only difficulty being becoming familiar in how to use it as I had not seen it before as a newbie to Linux.
 
Linux Lite has been very good to use and a wonderful way for me to begin escaping windows.
I have not tried Linux Mint or Debian itself.
I have seen used a long time back Red Hat, Suse and Mandrake as my first mentor used these on his machines , it gave me the desire to dream I would one day use Linux, one I didn't think was very realistic for some time/until I found Linux Lite and its community of friendly and helpful users and Team.

I am only able to mention these other distros that I have used/use -
1/Ubuntu itself , it was a disaster for me and took the techie over a month to fix the hdd after my accepting its first updates directly after installing as dual boot.
2/ Knoppix live cd which I used a few times under guidance /someone walking me through fault finding a windows computer. Also the only game I have ever played was on this live cd.
3/ Xiaopan (live cd). I did not have issues. I had some newbie instructions from China in the snail mail.

[Jerry]

@gold_finger from a fresh install, does it do that via Menu, Install Updates or just Synaptic?

[cactusneedle]

Could you steer me to the Firefox fix you mention?  Every linux distro I've tried based on 14.04 LTS, save PeachOSI, refuses to install a working Firefox, simply freezes the system forcing a hard shutdown. Lite is no exception so I remain firmly affixed to 1.0.6 LTS as my main squeeze (until 2017 that is).    I did notice that if I went into the file system Applications folder I could open FF as administrator, but it wouldn't last and would go back to freezing the screen later.

[gold_finger]

Which ones?

Don't remember exactly, would have to reinstall to know for sure.  Might have time to test out on VM later to see if same thing happens again.  Will let you know when confirm.

Two that I know caused problems were:
deb http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main
deb http://dl.google.com/linux/talkplugin/deb/ stable main

I think there were one or two more -- Wine and/or Skype might have been one of them, but can't remember.

Was never a problem to me, because I don't use those things and just deleted the repos.  But when installing for someone else who I thought might like to use them, I had to fix the problem.  Was a simple fix -- just changed wording at end from either "stable" to "trusty", or vice versa.  Don't recall which was correct.  Same basic fix was needed for Skype if I remember right.

Just installed Chrome and Skype from Install Additional Software, no issues here.

Valtam,

To follow up on this, just installed LL 2.0 (32-bit) to spare computer.  After initial install, these are the repos that produce error messages:

deb http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ trusty main
deb http://dl.google.com/linux/talkplugin/deb/ trusty main
deb [arch=amd64,i386] http://repo.steampowered.com/steam/ trusty steam
deb-src [arch=amd64,i386] http://repo.steampowered.com/steam/ trusty steam

I don't know what proper repo for Steam should be (never bothered fixing it), but the Google ones just need "trusty" changed to "stable".  With the initial repos listed above, the update manager will not run and errors get spit out on a Synaptic reload.



This has happened on a number of installs I've done, but never really bothered me because I don't use them and just delete the repos.  What I have found surprising is that very few support requests have been made about this -- so, I've been just assuming that it doesn't happen to others and mine have just been flukes.  Who knows?

P.s.  If it makes any difference, I downloaded the ISO that I'm using back on 6/1/14.  If you've updated the ISO since then, may my old version had wrong repos coded to it and newer ones don't.  Just guessing.

[Alex]

Just as an additional comment to the one above; I can say that all of the minor problems I have experienced with LL were due to my inexperience and urge to fiddle (like installing software from other sources) I never had any problems using the Synaptic or with any of the 'right' software.

Also I agree with most of the comments above - this friendly forum is a real resource and a pleasure to visit.

[newtusmaximus]

As a complete linux newbie, all I needed was a distro that truly worked out of the box with my pc/laptops  and peripherals.  LL did that with the minimum of fuss - some minor keyboard set up niggles.

The result was a fast and stable platform.  Key additional  "business" software found and  installed easily without issues.

Problems with firefox easily resolved with detailed help from this forum.

I have since installed LL on several other peoples laptops without major issues and they are still acclimatising.

Unfortunately I did have  boot up issues (possibly iiyama driver problem) with an HP desktop and iiyama CRT monitor and had to return to Mint where the the issues were less pronounced .

BTW Puppy linux USB never had these boot up issues???  Possibly iiyama driver loaded sooner/quicker.

Fortunately the higher spec meant that the desktop did not slow down too much wih Mint.

My only concern is that LL is a young distribution and as such a small developer community i.e that there may be longevity issues should adverse circumstances occur.

 IMHO, fhe purpose of a OS for the majority of users is as a vehicle - a means to an end-  with the aim of being simple to install, compatible with a wide range of peripherals etc, and stable.   I.e a platform  from which to do other things.   LL does that "simply" . 

[m654321]

In response to the above, apparently Linux Mint Cinnamon's kernel is now rather old and may therefore have issues with some of the future updates which might require a newer kernel (see Quidsup youtube review on cinnamon). It is also annoyingly laggy when opening the web-browsers - my experience too. It also did not permit me to  pin icons to the taskbar, apparently a limitation with the cinnamon desktop.

I have been using LL since I moved from XP in April this year.  As I mentioned elsewhere in this forum, I flirted with Zorin, Linux Mint, PClinuxOS amongst numerous others, in dual boot (with Win 7, and also with the embedded version of win XP, as well as multiboot (distro-only), but have always returned to LL as the main OS. 

LL is now my main OS on two laptops, a 64-bit version of LL2 running on a 4-core Asus laptop (X71Q), and the 32-bit version of LL2 on a 2-core Samsung netbook (N145 Plus), where I run Windows on both as virtual machines - mainly because linux is incompatible with many of my scanner's features, which of course was originally bought for my previous WinXP set-up.

Unlike other distros, I have found LL to be the best for three main reasons:
1. Intuitive and easy to use, and seemingly very adaptable
2. An extremely supportive & friendly LL Forum community (invaluable) - many thanks particularly to goldfinger (Puppylinuxworld's youtube videos (a.k.a. Linuxhelpguy) on LL have also been v. helpful in getting me started in LL).
3. Stable (no wobbles, bugs or crashes as often happened with Zorin)

I notice there have been one or two comments in the LL forums re. difficulty of use of the synaptic package manager for installing new software for newbies. Even though I'm a newbie from XP, and not a computer expert by any means, I have found synaptic fairly easy to use for installing or deleting software, after of course an initial bit of fiddling around to see how it worked.  In addition, I picked up command line basics (e.g. downloading software) quickly by simply googling when I needed to know a particular command to carry out a specific task. Heads up all round, I'm very happy with LL, and would say for me, at least, it is the best by far of the many distros I have tried and is the one I wish to stay with, certainly at least for now.

Regards
Mike

[Wirezfree]

Hi VN,

I suspect you have been using Linux for a while, and are reasonably comfortable with it.

I think if you take a step back,
and look at Linux Lite from a complete beginners point of view it becomes more compelling
and Linux Lite will evolve with you

Dave