Windows vs. Linux [my usage]

[xennex81]

So I've been trying Kubuntu for a while. Went through some paces of coding a little, mostly in Bash but also some Java (not much) on this laptop I had. I found it hard to be productive in other areas, mostly word processing is something that doesn't work for me with Calligra being not up to par with anything. I have difficulties using bullets and numbering whereever I go and Whatever application I use, unless I write in HTML.

I was doing HTML before in a Mozilla app called BlueGriffon. It was mostly an annoying tool because it would always write auto-close tags that I then had to manually remove to keep the flow intact. But at least it worked and it could output whatever in Firefox which would be good for writing. And, of course, something written in HTML is still very portable. I have not used MS Office for a long time. The only tool I used was MS Wordpad. I'm almost thinking there are no good word processors left anymore because the corporate interest is all on the web, so there is office 365 and Google Docs. I mostly hate web-only tools though, they require you to have an internet access at all times, the benefit of course is safe storage online undaunted by your habits.

Word Processors have always been this weird thing with Tables and Bullets and so on. It never quite worked, definitely not in OpenOffice but also not very well in MS Office I believe, although that was better than anything.

Calligra is an offshoot that I hope to maintain or work towards.

But my comfort in Linux is still very low. I'm okay while I'm not doing anything else and I can focus on Linux and on writing software, (perhaps, mostly) but all the same I hardly get to the real life work of making documents and sharing them, making images and sharing them, and making other stuff capable of being published. I seriously want to do more in presentation-wise web-publishing, that is to say, to make stuff that is beautiful and worthwhile and to get it out. I don't really get that far in Linux because I'm worried about the system constantly, fighting with the system, not getting any work done.

For instance, making screenshots of windows in Kubuntu 14.10 doesn't quite work. I get these windows with the blue glow around it and KSnapShot doesn't work well. So if you can't even make screenshots, you are pretty much hindered in whatever else you want to do.

I am using Kubuntu now to rip audio cds. And also, to play them. Clementine is really outstanding. Could be better still, but not by much. It looks fantastic and works fantastic too. So I am using SoundKonverter to rip audio cds and I can rip two at a time (I have two drives) and this really works very well. I'm hoping there will be a tool to convert all my FLAC albums to MP3 later on. There used to be a tool on Windows that I used. It just needs to maintain the filenames and tags.

In Dolphin I am really much lost. I have to give a lot of attention to doing my things. I am a habit of going into a shell, a console, and do my stuff there. I really don't like it to have to use dolphin. But sometimes it is just easier. However, in Windows the file spaces are better organized with the drive letters. In Kubuntu I keep searching and it requires a lot of effort to find my stuff. I have mounted a CIFS/SAMBA drive on /store/media and in the shell I don't have so much a trouble with it, but from Dolphin it is hard to reach. I have managed to add it to Places now.

The devices list at the bottom is just a bit... it is all chaotic. Order! We need order! :P. The filesystem in Linux is hard to create order in because there are so many root folders. I make it a habit personally to never create more than say 10-20 subfolders in any folder hierarchy, usually much less (say 12 different music categories). The root folder of Linux is filled with goo. It is not meant for traversal in a graphical way. They never thought on "how will this look in a file manager".

That is really something that needs to change if Linux is to be user friendly. Mac OS changed that long time ago. Not that the Mac OS is very good, you can hardly reach anything there. The simple Windows setup is still the best.

I am currently, like, putting whatever I need under /home as a form of a local "user" or a shortcut (symlink) to wherever else it stands. I don't like the /home structure. But that aside. It is the best I can manage now.

But now the real deal.

I cannot play games in Linux.

Diablo II doesn't work, Diablo III doesn't work. It is all either too slow or the window/graphics handling is real bad. These applications cause resolution changes in the KDE desktop. There is weird window panning with Diablo II. I can't play these games. I do not like virtual boxing yet. So I'm either at dual boot or....

There is no or. I feel more at ease presently in Kubuntu because it feels a bit more solid and more well installed. But at the same time, I can't do anything here. I just sit here and use my computer but not for any purpose.

I use Kubuntu to write about Kubuntu, like now, but the system is meant for more than that. A computer is meant to do fun stuff or creative stuff. And I don't get to that. The only thing I get to is Bash writing, which is also: writing for the system, writing for Kubuntu.

So, It seems to me I can only use Kubuntu if my interest is Kubuntu, but not if it is more than that. Most people who use Kubuntu a lot get an interest in Kubuntu of course. But that is not the same with Windows: Windows users don't have an interest in Windows, they have an interest in getting work done, doing fun stuff. Windows just sits in the background (hopefully) not wanting anything from you.

It is content with itself.

Like if I had a good word processor right now, I would instantly start writing. But it takes too much work to get it going. I feel like I am worse off than I was in 1999.

The game I am playing already existed by that time, almost. Diablo II. I had a word processor (illegal copy of MS Word). I had a nice browser (Opera). I almost had fixed internet. I was doing a lot of coding. Everything worked.

It's like now I have bet on two horses and I am split between them. I can either rip audio cds or play D2, but not both. Of course my audio ripping is available to me in Windows because I store it on a network drive. I have written a little script to do the renaming and the copying. That is the fun stuff about Linux, that I can write scripts to automate stuff.

[sithlord48]

the filesystem layout is very easy to follow.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filesys...archy_Standard . When i make a package for a linux distro i know exactly where to put my files so they work correctly in the system as a whole not just as a seperate program..
no one cares how many folders are in root and you almost never even have to look at / in a file browser as a user you live in your /home.. Mac os has the same file structure it just hides most of it from the user

just remember linux is not windows so don't expect windows or things to work like they work on windows. http://linux.oneandoneis2.org/LNW.htm

ksnapshot works great you get blue halos because the window manager is putting them there . if you don't like them disable them in system settings . also if you are not doing it use print screen button as a shortcut for ksnapshot. (plus you can pick different ss modes like only window or region of screen)

audio cds can be ripped right in dolphin . put in a cd browse it in dolphin .. notice the mp3. ogg and flac folders just compy them to your hdd and it will encode on the fly . dolphin is the best file browser i have ever used. to many good features to list.. one ez one is press F4 for a konsole . you will like if you use konsole alot like me.. (f3 split window) Ctrl+I lets you filter files in your dir wanna see only mp3s use *.mp3...

[xennex81]

the filesystem layout is very easy to follow.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filesys...archy_Standard . When i make a package for a linux distro i know exactly where to put my files so they work correctly in the system as a whole not just as a seperate program..

no one cares how many folders are in root

False.

and you almost never even have to look at / in a file browser

False, it happens for me.

as a user you live in your /home

I have different mount points for certain things, I have a /store I might put it in /home/store but I definitely don't want put it in my user since it is not bound by any user. How can I live in Home if Home is only for the current user and there can be files that are to be accessed by more users? Or in general outside the scope of that $HOME. The only thing you can do is symlink them from there but not all applications honour or show symlinks. We need a broader scope than just $HOME and $HOME is also not a place to mount CIFS/SAMBA shares. You could mount them in /media but then you need to navigate to /media.

Mac os has the same file structure it just hides most of it from the user.

False, it has the root system files in /System or something of the kind, there are only very few root folders from what I believe or remember. I still don't like the Mac OS structure because you can't customize anything and the only way to reach those system folders is through a console. The file browser doesn't go there.

It is agreed that they have a single root-based file hierarchy.

Also, MacOS packages the applications in their own folders, and the folder IS the application. That makes the applications movable, not like on Linux where you put it in the wrong place, it doesn't work at all. The MacOS applications have like all of the /usr /bin etc, combined in their single folder. That could work excellently for Linux also provided you find a way to deal with the PATH issues that would arise. In general in MacOS I believe most programs are not executable from the command line like that. And Linux has many many different smaller applications and tools. Still, they shouldn't be in /, just in /Programs or something. Personally I think...

Personally I think the Places feature in Dolphin is much like the Windows drive letter assignments, only not as useful yet. I didn't say Linux is Windows, I'm just saying the Windows thing is better or works better, for me at least, I think for many. I think there is a reason to say that, not just that "it is not the same" or "it is different'.

I mean I agree that the Linux feature has some attractive things to it, in Windows it is impossible to get command line access to most applications unless they reside in a single system folder and most programs have to introduce their own part to the PATH variable if they so want to be accessed from any command line. That is not well sought out or well made.

Nevertheless the presentation issues in Linux are a problem because the scope is too big for the ordinary user to find his way, or to find his way repeatedly through the same mess.

No one ever invented that root filesystem for you to be doing "ls /" repeatedly. In a console linux environment you don't list the / because you don't need to list the / to navigate through it. So users never encountered that problem. In linux you can just access "mkdir /mounts" if you want to make a new directory, you don't need to go to "cd /" first in order to do it. It is different in a graphical system. You can't make a new system folder unless you are at the root of the folder hierarchy in your graphical presentation. Much the same way you can't CD to a new directory without going to the root first. In a graphical system. Users never encountered that in a text-mode environment.

Hence it never was a problem before, but now it is. Asking people to only stick to /home/user devoids any sense of manual operation of their computer and being in charge. It is like saying "if you only stay in this room, you'll never have issues with the rest of the house, that is in chaos." But of course people venture outside of the room. Even going to /etc/fstab to edit something there... typically people are told to execute "kdesude kate /etc/fstab" instead of going there with a file browser and just opening the file for editing. People don't traverse these directories graphically. Because it's hard to do it and it is not possible to open the file with elevated privileges (I think). That means you are very limited in what you can do. In Windows you'd just go to whatever directiroy there is graphically and open it from there in a way that is always easy on the eyes and easy on the mind. People didn't think of that when they devised the Unix root hierarchy.

And they didn't encounter it.

just remember linux is not windows so don't expect windows or things to work like they work on windows. http://linux.oneandoneis2.org/LNW.htm

I'm not talking about expectations mostly, I am talking about stuff that has well-founded reasons for saying it. I'm trying to elucidate what I say, not just give my preferences.

I mean I understand that it works well for you but maybe we do not have the same goals in computer programming or user experience, that's all I'm saying.

So my question to you is... where do you mount stuff like a CIFS/SAMBA mount? If you don't want to put it under /home? Also, when I put a CIFS mount in FSTAB, I get all these errors at startup and in the end it gets mounted anyway. I know it is possible to mount it anywhere and then it gets listed in the "devices" section and then you can add that device to places.

But that's hardly the same thing as a mount that is accessible by any program from anywhere, the way it is in Windows.

I mean fine that it works differently. I don't mind that it works differently. If at least it works well, and for me thus far it doesn't, partly also because I don't agree with putting everything under /home. That is not the way the system was built, to put everything under /home. I mean if it works for you, that's fine. I don't mean to offend you in this.

ksnapshot works great you get blue halos because the window manager is putting them there . if you don't like them disable them in system settings . also if you are not doing it use print screen button as a shortcut for ksnapshot. (plus you can pick different ss modes like only window or region of screen)

I like them in the window manager but just not in the screenshots!

audio cds can be ripped right in dolphin . put in a cd browse it in dolphin .. notice the mp3. ogg and flac folders just compy them to your hdd and it will encode on the fly

I noticed that, it was called Kioslave. But it is without track names and formatting of filenames. I find that SoundKonverter is a much better experience. YMMV!

dolphin is the best file browser i have ever used. to many good features to list.. one ez one is press F4 for a konsole . you will like if you use konsole alot like me.. (f3 split window) Ctrl+I lets you filter files in your dir wanna see only mp3s use *.mp3...

I never knew that shortcut, thanks. But I just opened Konsole through the action menu. That is one thing I was already happy about! (Except in KDE5).

[Guest]

Okay, a lot to touch on on this one.
As far as HTML goes, Sublime text two is in excellent coding editor. I use the free version.
Shutter is in excellent snipping tool. It will let you do screenshots as well as snip small graphics from the page and save as whatever file ext you like.

want to game on Linux? Find 'play on Linux'. It's free as well. I have run baldurs gate, never winter nights, the witcher 2, never winter online, and more. I'm sure it can handle Diablo and those games run beautifully on my system.

I use gedit to edit general text files. If I wanted to edit fstab, I would run the following command in my terminal.

Code : sudo gedit /etc/fstab

Or replace gedit with your favorite text editor.

This will open the file with elevated privileges for editing. Of course do so at your own risk and only if you have the knowledge that will fix something should you break it in the root drive.

[vinnywright]

Hay @xennex81

first a present for you ,,,,,,,,you wrote "I'm hoping there will be a tool to convert all my FLAC albums to MP3 later on." well just a little script but tool non the less.

 for f in *.flac
      do 
      avconv -i "$f" -b 320k "${f%.flac}.mp3"
done

if you have the "libav-tools" package installed

sudo apt install libav-tools

,,,,,,exicute this in a terminal(or make it a shell script) from in the folder/directory that contains the .flac files and you will get duplicates in .mp3 named the same as the .flac

---

then hear you say "Because it's hard to do it and it is not possible to open the file with elevated privileges (I think)." in the same way you can do "kdesudo kate /etc/fstab" you can do "kdesudo dolphin" and have a root dolphin and you can open the /etc/fstab with kate and edit it or make a system directory such as /mnt/<my directory name> ,,,,,,but I may have misunderstood what you meant @hear

---

and this "So my question to you is... where do you mount stuff like a CIFS/SAMBA mount?" the usual place for "extra" mounts" is (or was in the old days) /mnt

I do not understand what you mean by "But that's hardly the same thing as a mount that is accessible by any program from anywhere" ?

I dont have SAMBA shares ,,,,but I do ,,, in all 5 of my OS installs on this one box ,,,,,have a 1TB storage drive that I mount to /mnt/btrfs in all the OS's to keep all my data in ,,,, and go so far as to have my home directories/folders kept their ,,,,,that is Documents Downloads dwhelper Music MyMachines Pictures steam Videos

---

then "I get these windows with the blue glow around it and KSnapShot doesn't work well." in Ksnapshot uncheck the tick box "include window decorations"

---

@jeepty you should not open GUI apps with sudo

VINNY

[SteveRiley]

False.

OK, so you're the one person who cares about the number of items in /. Why?

I have different mount points for certain things, I have a /store I might put it in /home/store but I definitely don't want put it in my user since it is not bound by any user. How can I live in Home if Home is only for the current user and there can be files that are to be accessed by more users? ... You could mount them in /media but then you need to navigate to /media.

You are free to mount things anywhere you want -- so long as you have, or can obtain, correct privileges. And you will, of course, need to navigate to wherever that is. There's no getting around this. What is your complaint, exactly? That you have to do work?

Also, MacOS packages the applications in their own folders, and the folder IS the application. That makes the applications movable, not like on Linux where you put it in the wrong place, it doesn't work at all. The MacOS applications have like all of the /usr /bin etc, combined in their single folder. That could work excellently for Linux also provided you find a way to deal with the PATH issues that would arise.

And then you end up with multiple copies of various libraries and other ancillary files. While a handful of Linux applications rely on static linking, the majority do not -- they expect the system to provide libraries and for these libraries to be in semi-standard places.

Personally I think the Places feature in Dolphin is much like the Windows drive letter assignments, only not as useful yet. I didn't say Linux is Windows, I'm just saying the Windows thing is better or works better, for me at least, I think for many. I think there is a reason to say that, not just that "it is not the same" or "it is different'.

In Windows, C: is a storage volume name. Only volume names are exposed to normal operations; device names aren't typically revealed. Linux makes a distinction between device names and storage volume names. In Linux, everything is a file. This is a philosophy you must accept and become familiar with. Devices must be mounted into the tree and given a mountpoint; the mountpoint becomes the volume name.

Nevertheless the presentation issues in Linux are a problem because the scope is too big for the ordinary user to find his way, or to find his way repeatedly through the same mess.

What mess? I find the FHS imminently logical. You're generalizing here.

It is different in a graphical system. You can't make a new system folder unless you are at the root of the folder hierarchy in your graphical presentation. Much the same way you can't CD to a new directory without going to the root first. In a graphical system. Users never encountered that in a text-mode environment.

And it's exactly the same in Windows Explorer. Want to make a folder? You have to be in the parent folder first. Want to make a system folder? You have to be in the top level of the volume (like C:\) and have appropriate privileges. Linux and Windows, with their respective graphical file managers, are the same. So again, what's your complaint?

Hence it never was a problem before, but now it is. Asking people to only stick to /home/user devoids any sense of manual operation of their computer and being in charge.

No aspect of Linux has ever made such a demand. You are free to roam wherever you wish across all file systems that you have access to (subject to privileges, of course).

Even going to /etc/fstab to edit something there... typically people are told to execute "kdesude kate /etc/fstab" instead of going there with a file browser and just opening the file for editing. People don't traverse these directories graphically. Because it's hard to do it and it is not possible to open the file with elevated privileges (I think). That means you are very limited in what you can do. In Windows you'd just go to whatever directiroy there is graphically and open it from there in a way that is always easy on the eyes and easy on the mind.

Windows, like Linux, requires you to elevate your privileges even if you're a local administrator when you want to make system-wide changes.

People didn't think of that when they devised the Unix root hierarchy.

The FHS predates most Linux GUIs.

I'm not talking about expectations mostly, I am talking about stuff that has well-founded reasons for saying it. I'm trying to elucidate what I say, not just give my preferences.

It's true that Linux and Unix have accreted some things that could have been done differently. But in general things work, and there are good reasons. Please don't assume that just because you don't see any "well-founded reasons," such reasons don't exist.

Also, when I put a CIFS mount in FSTAB, I get all these errors at startup and in the end it gets mounted anyway. I know it is possible to mount it anywhere and then it gets listed in the "devices" section and then you can add that device to places.

https://www.google.com/?q=fstab+smb

[GreyGeek]

And from Steve's Google search is this gem:
http://ubuntuhandbook.org/index.php/...-ubuntu-14-04/

[xennex81]

I can't respond to everything individually as it's too much and not all of it is constructive.

Particularly Steve's comments I have a hard time with because they seem to amount to nothing more than "what's your problem?"

I already told you my problem, apparently it is not enough.

The problem is that it keeps from becoming an intuitive experience. Of course I have years and years of experience in Windows and am used to the Windows way. Likewise I have years and years of experience in Linux but that is only the shell. I obviously do not and cannot have years of experience in Kubuntu in this way, seeing as it is just a current offshoot and KDE was also not what it was before.

So apparently "the linux way" is not even a monolithic or homogeneous thing.

I find personally that I keep sticking to the shell because it works better than the GUI, but still it doesn't work very well.

Even in the DOS shell I had better tools to traverse the filesystem hierarchy, it may also exist in Linux, I haven't encountered it yet. It was a QCD tool for "Quick Change Directory" that could graphically traverse a directory tree by visual indication -- all in text mode. It could easily be made in Linux and I might even want to make it, just not yet.

You'd just type "QCD" and then you'd need nothing more than the cursor keys to go anywhere (and possibly enter).

But Like I Said, I have years of experience in the Linux shell, and while I may not know all, it is easy enough to find new things and I am well versed in Linux scripting by now.

I have long been working on a linux shell host for example, while working with and programming PHP files. And I have no issue with that as long as I have my (Windows) environment at the same time, although I had trouble moving files back and forth from that server (having to type full paths all the time).

I eased up on that by creating symlinks with short names and also I created shell variables that I could easily CD to such as $wp for a current wordpress installation. I learned how to use pushd and popd but it doesn't work very well for me yet. I learned how to set "setopts -p" or something in bash such that it would always travel to the full path of a symlink, and not just the symlink name.

Currently what has always worked well for me is to press Win+R (it would pop up a run box much like ALT-F2 but in a better location) and then to press or type a directory location, as a quick way of opening a file path in a Explorer (or Dolphin). So that means you need short file paths: I want short file paths.

For example, my music has been always in like G:\audio\albums and that's quick for me to type and open, I do not need to press Win+E (for explorer) and then get the mouse in my hand to select the right file path (which is hard in Windows) (although currently you can add it to your library locations).

So what works is that it is not yet INTUITIVE for me in Linux which means I end up frustrated because I have to think about what I need to do, every time, and every time I don't know how to do it (ie. go into Dolphin (which one) select Home (oh right, that's my user folder) (Home is not even called Xen, which would make sense to me)..

So the intuitive part is still missing. If I had an organisation that made sense to me it would work out. "Home" feels to me like "Root". I don't even like to put everything under Home but I never did that in Windows, either, I always had my fixed partitions for data. So while Linux puts "Home" on a separate volume or partition (to make sense of data vs system) in Windows I had the shoddy solution of just creating another partition and putting everything there except for work files.

That is to say: "I created a well-maintained set of data files on D:\ or G:\ or M:\ (depending on hard drive) while temporary files resided on C:\"

I have always maintained a SPLIT between "what Windows wants" and what I wanted myself. "My Documents" was (currently, recently) just a location on the C drive where I stored temporary files that I hadn't archived yet (not the best of solutions of course) while recently I have been trying to put temp files in some "work" dir but that never quite worked. So I just maintain (or try to maintain) a default operation system working set (a documents folder) and then I organize THAT (in topic or subject subfolders) and then I move it to my persisent set when I need to.

Actually I have been doing that On Linux when I had my Kubuntu 14.10 laptop, which worked better for me than it does now, because I only had one operating system and I had my data well organized (sort of) which was also hard to do but I put a lot of thought into it.

[xennex81]

Is it possible to elevate Dolphin to root privileges and have some visual indication of that WHILE IN THE DOLPHIN WINDOW?

Is it possible to open any file from Dolphin with root privileges through the default user actions (open file) as in "open this file with root privileges"? I believe someone mentioned that, that it is possible?

I still don't know where you people mount your media shares. I don't mean Places. I mean something in the filesystem.

I have attempted /store/media but I get confused. I just want it to be /store/audio really. But my mounts are not individual mounts at present, they end up /store/media/audio, I have never had a CIFS mount before. Like this.

See in Windows I would put it in Z: and I get Z:\audio, maybe I should make it /remote/audio. Or, this has been my interest, aufs mount it together under /store.

Or /media. So many options, and it doesn't make sense to me yet. The problem is that I cannot organize the root filesystem because it is filled with folders already, I can't make it "mine".

It is a big cloud of nonsencial folders that don't make sense to a user. I want a presentation that is nice and that gives me a nice ease of mind. Peace of mind. That is why I went about putting local storage under /store. I'd have a place of my own. /home/xen would then just be a place for current working files and symlinks to the project and storage hierarchies.

For example, /home/xen/ would look like:

projects --> /store/projects
audio --> /store/audio
video --> /store/video
documents -> (its own folder)

But unfortunately in KDE these folders get capitalized with Music and Video and you can't get rid of that.

I think I will stick to /remote for my CIFS mount. Then I will add it to Places as "Remote".

Then I used to have /home/xen/safe with an encrypted container which contained my long-term portable files. That I then synced with USB stick using FreeFileSync.

Then I could even think of merging /store/ and /remote using AUFS if I could get the merged subdirectory behaviour sorted.

[claydoh]

You might find the program mc to be a useful graphical command line file manager, dual-pane and keyboard navigated.

Sent from my cheap-assed Intel Atom iview i700 tablet

[Wheel Inventor]

Is it possible to elevate Dolphin to root privileges and have some visual indication of that WHILE IN THE DOLPHIN WINDOW?


Is it possible to open any file from Dolphin with root privileges through the default user actions (open file) as in "open this file with root privileges"? I believe someone mentioned that, that it is possible?

Root Actions: http://kde-apps.org/content/show.php...?content=48411




Simple Root Actions: http://kde-apps.org/content/show.php...?content=72762

For example, /home/xen/ would look like:


projects --> /store/projects
audio --> /store/audio
video --> /store/video
documents -> (its own folder)


But unfortunately in KDE these folders get capitalized with Music and Video and you can't get rid of that.

? - xdg-user-dirs: http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/xdg-user-dirs/

Manual way to edit: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php...er_directories

KDE gui

KDE4: KDE System settings > Account Details > Paths
KF5: KDE System settings > Applications > Locations

[SteveRiley]

Particularly Steve's comments I have a hard time with because they seem to amount to nothing more than "what's your problem?"

Exactly. Because your "complaints" about Dolphin's behavior aren't logical. Dolphin (as an example) requires much the same style of file system navigation as Windows Explorer.

The problem is that it keeps from becoming an intuitive experience. Of course I have years and years of experience in Windows and am used to the Windows way. Likewise I have years and years of experience in Linux but that is only the shell. I obviously do not and cannot have years of experience in Kubuntu in this way, seeing as it is just a current offshoot and KDE was also not what it was before.

While operations in Dolphin are similar to those in Windows Explorer, the underlying mechanism is tightly integrated with how file systems in Linux behave. Of course, while successfully operating Dolphin doesn't require an understanding of FHS, knowing the FHS is certainly helpful.

I find personally that I keep sticking to the shell because it works better than the GUI, but still it doesn't work very well.

Windows has gone to great lengths to purge the CLI from day-to-day use (though see, as an exception, PowerShell). Most Linux based distributions have not chosen to adopt this goal. Certain operations are much more efficient at the CLI. Seems that you're experiencing this.

Even in the DOS shell I had better tools to traverse the filesystem hierarchy, it may also exist in Linux, I haven't encountered it yet. It was a QCD tool for "Quick Change Directory" that could graphically traverse a directory tree by visual indication -- all in text mode. It could easily be made in Linux and I might even want to make it, just not yet.

https://www.google.com/?q=linux+quick+change+directory

Is it really so hard to search for solutions rather than to write lengthy treatises about how the free software you're using doesn't behave in exactly the manner you wish?

Currently what has always worked well for me is to press Win+R (it would pop up a run box much like ALT-F2 but in a better location)

Alt+Space is another choice for KRunner. See also System Settings -> Shortcuts.

Also it's statements like these -- "much like ALT+F2 but in a better location" -- that make you seem antagonistic. You ask for advice and you criticize at the same time. Like in this thread: sithlord48 offered some suggestions and your first response was to argue.

For example, my music has been always in like G:\audio\albums and that's quick for me to type and open, I do not need to press Win+E (for explorer) and then get the mouse in my hand to select the right file path (which is hard in Windows) (although currently you can add it to your library locations).

Baloo, the file indexer in Kubuntu, maintains a list of all folders. KRunner has access to this list. You can press Alt+F2 (or Alt+Space) and simply type the name of a folder. It will appear in the list. Cursor to it and press Enter. This works even if you don't add folders/subdirectories to Dolphin's Places.

So what works is that it is not yet INTUITIVE for me in Linux which means I end up frustrated because I have to think about what I need to do, every time

I'd argue that nothing about any operating system is intuitive. Manipulating software is a learned behavior. Some of what you know from Windows will work in Linux and KDE. Some of what you know won't. The more time you spend with KDE, the more "intuitive" it will feel.

and every time I don't know how to do it (ie. go into Dolphin (which one) select Home (oh right, that's my user folder) (Home is not even called Xen, which would make sense to me)..

Right-click Home in Places and change the label to whatever you want. As in Windows, in KDE the right-click context menu is a powerful thing. Here is an example of a system feature that's shared between the two desktop environments.

[GerardV]

I know the Dutch are not always the most sensitive in their communications, they can be outright blunt, but as a fellow Dutchman I would like to ask you to slow and tone down because here we prefer to meet as friends that reach out for each other.

+1

[Qqmike]

Now speaking in general, psycho-social-philosophical terms only ...


--> People do what they want to do. Period.

No matter the story, no matter the challenge, no matter the odds or the requirements or details, "you" will find a way to not only make "it" work, but you will likely excel at your task at hand..

That's how humans behave. If you want to do it, you will.

On topic here, the world is filled with countless thousands of people who use Linux at a high-competency level, expert, near-expert, or dedicated hobby-est doing every kind of computing task you can think of and some tasks you have never thought of.


Aside, re "average Windows users" ...
Speaking of average users, have you spent time with any who use Windows? We all have. Talk about being lost. Most average Windows users have no clue about their system, how to tweak it, how to fix it, how to adjust things (like printing or photo management), how to use the Windows filesystem (which is a real mess, imo, look at 8.1 with its redundancies--the average user has no clue what all those folders are for), how to use the Control Panel, on and on and on. They're afraid of their PC, they've learned to fear it. The average Windows users I've known through the past 15+ years just accept and live with their Windows systems, no matter how broken or bogged down or limited or quirky it becomes--they have a whole list of questions and to-do's, things to fix "someday."


As for the above-average user experience in Linux, clearly the Linux world is alive and well.

[GreyGeek]

+1
The last eleven years of my working career was spent at a state dept of revenue office that had 30 servers and 450 Windows workstations. Even employees with 15+ years experience using Win95, Nt4, W2k and XP had no understanding of Windows. They could not distinguish between the OS, Explorer (FM), Explorer(browser) and applications. Very few of them understood the similarities or the differences between them. Developers were constantly being blamed for OS crashes. If the clerk inadvertently hit multiple, or the wrong, keys and ended up in an unfamiliar place they were completely lost as to what to do next. Detailed instructions for the steps to take to get from power up to an app's main menu are posted on the wall next to the terminal, but if they lose their way they are lost and either reboot or call for help.

Age doesn't matter. Recent HS grads are just as computer illiterate, even among game players, whose one and only recovery technique is a warm reboot.

Is it any wonder that the majority of the Joe & Sally Sixpacks have dropped laptops for smartphones and "app's".