Linux "Q4OS"

[ajoeiam]

All Linux distros come with pretty much everything you need from a security point of view, IPTABLES is usually the default, and can be auto configured by most distros during the install, or afterwards via editing config files, command line, or GUI tools, in linux there's always a lot of choice to do things. It's not as hard as it may seem to configure a firewall on Linux, it's only when you're configuring more advanced masquerading or stuff like that it gets a bit more complicated, but there's numerous sites with info to help, because all consumer grade OS's are generally open source, so LOT's of support, and good updating, except maybe Centos now unfortunately! ;-(

A lot of the hardware firewall appliances on the market are simply running an embedded or FLASH version of some Linux distro, cut down to just what's needed for the device.

Linux never really took over the desktop like it was anticipated, but it silently took over the enterprise and server arena!

Debian has been using nftables as its default firewall since the release of Debian 10 (IIRC).
(Not that I really know what I'm doing with that - - - grin!)

 

[BaronJ]

Thanks guys. Always good to hear your banter (is that another odd-named Linux programme?).
Xtra-PC stick needs 64-bit PCs made 2007 or later... but I think it was "July 2007" when I checked and mine was a month to old - whatever. Anyway it would not work at all.
K2

Ken, was it one of those that needed some software/driver to get at a feature for it ! Like encryption software.

 

[Chriske]

I'm using Linux Mint. Never had any problems with it. Very easy to install, and most of all all is 'on board'. All software you ever need is accessible at a glance.
Maybe it has been mentioned in this thread already, did not read it all. So sorry if it has.

 

[Richard Hed]

I'm using Linux Mint. Never had any problems with it. Very easy to install, and most of all all is 'on board'. All software you ever need is accessible at a glance.
Maybe it has been mentioned in this thread already, did not read it all. So sorry if it has.

Mint? is that a 'debian'?

 

[Chriske]

yep..!

 

[BaronJ]

Hi Guys,

It is important to note that Q4OS is only one of very many variants of Linux. There are many based on Debian among others.

Have a look at
https://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=Q4OS

 

[Chriske]

Indeed, there are lots of distro's to choose from.
Years ago I started using Linux Mint. There are 4 different to choose from, I picked Mint Xfce. It is the lightest version of the Mint family. It has the look and the 'feel' of WinXP. Love it..!
And as I said before it has all 'on board'. Opening 'Software manager' you got literal thousands of programs to chose from, easy install.
But the most important issue about Linux, is the forums. If you have a question about something, or you do have a problem, just ask the guys at the forum. You really don't now what's happening...! Ask that question and minutes later there's someone answering you, helping you. There's always someone there around the globe to assist you in case of problems. Even the most basic question will be answered. That is something Microsoft can only dream of..!!!
And one more thing : all these Linux OS'ses and all that software is for free.

 

[Apprentice707]

I used Ubuntu (or tried to) for a while but in the end, went back to Windows. My short-term memory could be better so I struggled with the new terminology in Ubuntu always trying to find windows expressions. Perhaps my brain needed rebooting.

I have a refurbished Dell desktop in my workshop using Windows 10. It played up a bit so I decided to reinstall the Windows 10 system, it took forever (overnight) and when I went to it in the morning I found Windows 7 installed. At first, I was crestfallen but decided to flog on and use windows 7. What a joy it boots well and is quick to load and shut down I can use my old bought programmes and can still use Google Chrome with no problems. What I don't understand is where did Windows 10 go?
In future, I will stick to cutting metal and not interfere with electronics, although I am struggling my way through an Arduino project, with more new names to remember.

 

[BaronJ]

I used Ubuntu (or tried to) for a while but in the end, went back to Windows. My short-term memory could be better so I struggled with the new terminology in Ubuntu always trying to find windows expressions. Perhaps my brain needed rebooting.

I have a refurbished Dell desktop in my workshop using Windows 10. It played up a bit so I decided to reinstall the Windows 10 system, it took forever (overnight) and when I went to it in the morning I found Windows 7 installed. At first, I was crestfallen but decided to flog on and use windows 7. What a joy it boots well and is quick to load and shut down I can use my old bought programmes and can still use Google Chrome with no problems. What I don't understand is where did Windows 10 go?
In future, I will stick to cutting metal and not interfere with electronics, although I am struggling my way through an Arduino project, with more new names to remember.

Hello Apprentice,

The most likely reason is that W7 is the OS in the restore partition on your Dell, and that overwrote the W10 installation.

I very common issue, I know of dozens that have done exactly the same thing without realising why !

 

[skyline1]

Linux never really took over the desktop like it was anticipated, but it silently took over the enterprise and server arena!

I agree Yes it has !

Much of "the internet" runs on Linux (including this forum probably) and there are embedded mini Linux instances simply everywhere. Routers, Smart TVs, domestic appliances even, (and many more I haven't even thought of)

Heck even my Digital Audio Mixing Desk runs on a highly modified Linux

Manufacturers don't want MS effectively owning half of their product and having to pay for the privilege.

And then there are the infamous Windows updates which almost everyone has fallen foul of at one time or another. A lengthy and secretive process involving one or more complete reboots. and it is not until the end of it that you know whether it's been successful or not. Why an update takes many times longer than installing the O.S. in the first place baffles me.

I have a home built NAS/server which uses OMV (Based on Debian) It runs 24/7 and has been doing so for at least 5 years without a fault. It just gets on with it without complaining and throwing problems at you, and best of all it was FREE !

It's resources are very modest by MS standards. The processor is an old AMD Phenom II quad core and it has only 8 GB of RAM (might even be 4 GB)
It has 8 Big (3 TB ) drives hanging on it and is running any number of applications besides simply storage.

Whilst most of my machines do use Windows (some are specialized for certain jobs and software is only available for Windows) For this job Linux eats any MS offering for breakfast.

At one time Linux was considered a "Computer enthusiast's" Operating System, Very powerful, but you needed a lot of technical knowhow to get the best out of it (A degree in computer science was handy)

But not nowadays, Linux is fast becoming as easy to use as commercial O.S's and software support is growing too, an increasing number of packages for Windows (and MACs) are being ported to Linux

Whilst I may sound like a complete Linux "Geek", I'm not. I have a foot in both camps, It's really "horses for courses" but there may well be a Linux solution to your particular problem worth considering.

Best Regards Mark

 

[aarggh]

Hello Apprentice,

The most likely reason is that W7 is the OS in the restore partition on your Dell, and that overwrote the W10 installation.

I very common issue, I know of dozens that have done exactly the same thing without realising why !

Win 7 is far superior to Win 10 anyway, in Win 10 they tried to make it everything, for every use, for everyone, and in turn made it so dumbed down and bloated it runs like rubbish, and you have to run 3rd party scripts to turn off all the disgusting telemetry and crap they put in just to make it reasonably useful.

 

[Chriske]

The biggest mistake new Linux users do : choosing a distro way to large and complex for their needs.
Ubuntu sound very 'sexy' or whatever you want to call it.. But it absolutely is the wrong distro for beginners. Not all is installed like in Linux Mint. Not only Ubuntu, there are some more distro's intended for advanced users.
I don't like to work on the command line(terminal) so that is the reason why I chose Linux Mint. There's (almost) no need to open a terminal. All a regular Wintendo-user need is pre-installed in Mint. That is absolutely NOT the case with Ubuntu and a few others. Installing extra software on Ubuntu is not easy at all.
Nowadays many developers of Linux software export their product as a 'appimage' file. Download the software double click and you immediately can start working. No installation needed for these programs.

Whats more, all documents ever made in Win, Linux does open it without any problems. Doc, doxc, excell, powerpoint, you name it...

As Marc wrote : Linux is fast becoming as easy to use as commercial O.S's and software support is growing too, an increasing number of packages for Windows (and MACs) are being ported to Linux
Very true..!

The only problem for Linux starters, the big change, the big unknown...
What if I run into a problem, well... I quote myself here :
But the most important issue about Linux, is the forums. If you have a question about something, or you do have a problem, just ask the guys at the forum. You really don't now what's happening...! Ask that question and minutes later there's someone answering you, helping you. There's always someone there around the globe to assist you in case of problems. Even the most basic question will be answered. That is something Microsoft can only dream of..!!!

 

[Chriske]

Win 7 is far superior to Win 10 anyway, you say..?
very true, and do not forget XP, that was a very good and most of all easy to tune OS..!
In those days I managed to tune XP, I had only 86Mb in RAM...! And everything kept working. Those were the days. Starting up took me 14 sec flat, and no, in those days there was no SSD available.

 

[skyline1]

Whats more, all documents ever made in Win, Linux does open it without any problems. Doc, doxc, excell, powerpoint, you name it...

Not just documents, modern distros can mount and read non native file systems including NTFS (Windows) ones, very handy if you have loads of data on a Windows formatted drive. Linux will treat it just like a native Linux drive.

do not forget XP, that was a very good and most of all easy to tune OS..!
In those days I managed to tune XP, I had only 86Mb in RAM...! And everything kept working. Those were the days. Starting up took me 14 sec flat, and no, in those days there was no SSD available.

I agree Probably the best OS that They ever came up with, which is probably why they had such a job trying to kill it. They never did completely and many people are still using it for certain things including me.

My little Chinese gantry router runs Mach 3 on XP and works just fine. Using it to access the Net would be very risky (and probably difficult) but for standalone things like this it's ideal. Little bloat so it's pretty fast, and very stable (It had 10 years or so to get most of the bugs knocked out).

As an experiment I once installed XP on a fairly modern machine (i5 Quad IIRC) only 32 bit so it couldn't use the full capability of the processor and memory capacity was limited. (By modern standards). I had to do a fair bit of searching for drivers, as is usually the case with XP but once finished, it absolutely went like the clappers.

It could even heavy jobs like video rendering much, much faster than any of it's successors, (2 to 3 times faster). so sometimes there is room for the old adage "If it ain't busted don't fix it"

Squeezing even XP into 86 MB is very impressive, that must have been a quite a prune and tune job ! As is a 14 Second boot up especially on an old (and probably 5400 PATA) flying rust drive.

All of this has got me thinking about trying Linux CNC on my router.

The idea of having the CNC control program integrated into an OS actually preconfigured and designed for the job against having having it installed onto a general purpose non realtime one (Mach3/XP) seems like a good idea. And if it doesn't work it hasn't cost me anything.

I will make a backup of the XP install so if things really screw up I can just revert back

Anyone with experience of Linux CNC who knows of any gotchas, advice would be appreciated.

Best Regards Mark

 

[Chriske]

To do this, booting with just 86Mb in RAM, I completely stripped the 'Services' list, killed all 'Startup' files, never ever installed a firewall or virusscanners. and last but not least edited many many registry settings. All my friends were eager to bring their pc to me to have it tuned 'my way'..In those days I had lots of fun doing that...☺
I made a list 'what to do'. After a while it was mere routine..

 

[Chriske]

I do run Linux Mint on all our machines at home btw. I had to convince my wife - very difficult task - but now she's even happy to have Linux running. She was fed-up with the constant FORCED win10 updates.
On my Mint 'laptop workhorse' runs a Virtual Machine to run W7. I need to run W7 because my CAD software is written 'Wintendo only'. Problem is, I can't go back, using another CAD program, because of the many projects I drew over the years in Inventor. Way to many files to simply abandon. I could convert to STEP(or other), but that would take me months, if not years to do...
So I'm stuck with W7 forever...

 

[salzburg]

Is there a CNC OP system for mint?

 

[awake]

The biggest mistake new Linux users do : choosing a distro way to large and complex for their needs.
Ubuntu sound very 'sexy' or whatever you want to call it.. But it absolutely is the wrong distro for beginners. Not all is installed like in Linux Mint. Not only Ubuntu, there are some more distro's intended for advanced users.
I don't like to work on the command line(terminal) so that is the reason why I chose Linux Mint. There's (almost) no need to open a terminal. All a regular Wintendo-user need is pre-installed in Mint. That is absolutely NOT the case with Ubuntu and a few others. Installing extra software on Ubuntu is not easy at all.
Nowadays many developers of Linux software export their product as a 'appimage' file. Download the software double click and you immediately can start working. No installation needed for these programs.

Whats more, all documents ever made in Win, Linux does open it without any problems. Doc, doxc, excell, powerpoint, you name it...

As Marc wrote : Linux is fast becoming as easy to use as commercial O.S's and software support is growing too, an increasing number of packages for Windows (and MACs) are being ported to Linux
Very true..!

The only problem for Linux starters, the big change, the big unknown...
What if I run into a problem, well... I quote myself here :
But the most important issue about Linux, is the forums. If you have a question about something, or you do have a problem, just ask the guys at the forum. You really don't now what's happening...! Ask that question and minutes later there's someone answering you, helping you. There's always someone there around the globe to assist you in case of problems. Even the most basic question will be answered. That is something Microsoft can only dream of..!!!

Hmmm ... your experience with Ubuntu is vastly different from mine. I have found it to be a very easy-to-use install for beginners, having set up machines for folks to use with it installed, and they never had a problem doing all the things they wanted to do. My parents ran on Ubuntu for many years until their laptop died (physically, not software).

Likewise, installing additional software on Ubuntu seems very easy and straightforward. I don't think I've ever encountered a situation where a program offers a Linux variant, and the choices don't include Ubuntu (most often specifically, but sometimes "generically" as the choice between .deb and .rpm).

Of course, different use cases can lead to different experiences - this is just my own experience on my own machines and those I've set up for others.

One other place where my experience differs - yes, LibreOffice can open any MS-Office file, and can save in Office file formats. However, there are subtle issues that can lead to rather significant problems with formatting. In general, simple formats are no problem, but when you start using outlines and bullet points and table of contents fields and so on, it is not unusual for it to come across looking quite different than intended.

I say this as someone who by preference uses LibreOffice 95% of the time, including editing MS-Office files. But there are times when I have to fire up my VirtualBox installation of Windows and use MS-Office to keep from messing up the format on a document that will be shared with others who are MS only.

 

[BaronJ]

Hi Guys,

I think Linux CNC is based on Debian with a real time kernel.

 

[Richard Hed]

I do run Linux Mint on all our machines at home btw. I had to convince my wife - very difficult task - but now she's even happy to have Linux running. She was fed-up with the constant FORCED win10 updates.
On my Mint 'laptop workhorse' runs a Virtual Machine to run W7. I need to run W7 because my CAD software is written 'Wintendo only'. Problem is, I can't go back, using another CAD program, because of the many projects I drew over the years in Inventor. Way to many files to simply abandon. I could convert to STEP(or other), but that would take me months, if not years to do...
So I'm stuck with W7 forever...

I thot I was the only one with that disgust of msux forcing the unwanted updates and trouble it causes.