What would be a better supported linux?

[bobbaker1970]

Hi I am a newbie to both linux and kubuntu.

I have had a few problems and posted a couple on this forum. Unfortunately, I haven't been helped to a solution.

I have noticed that these forums aren't very busy.

So, I wondered if there is another version of linux you could please point me towards which has better support - I really feel that I need it.

Thanks for any help

Bob

[claydoh]

Don't know. Most of us have tried out a number of different ones until we find one that fits. Sometines the current supported version of a distro may not work, but the previous but still supported one (like our LTS) does. Or the opposite is the case.

We are Ubuntu under the skin, so many issues are shared between us and them. Ubuntu's forums may have the opposite one from what you see here: so busy that a post quickly gets lost in the stream. But the will have more eyeballs and more experts there, for sure.

Note that many distros are based on Ubuntu (Mint, Elementary, KDE Neon, and anything ending in *untu, among many others), so it is a good chance that the same hardware issues and the like will be shared. There is also a possibility that an issue, particularly a hardware related one, might exist on different distros.

With the pervasiveness of live installers, it is very easy to try a number of different ones without having to install them too find out which one works best for you.
Unlike some forums and venues, we don't have a problem with this.

[Qqmike]

Many of us here have tried all sorts of distributions. And here we are, many of us here with little or no major issues with Kubuntu. If you weren't satisfied with the answer to your question, try asking again.

[TWPonKubuntu]

The OP appears to be on the learning curve as they move from another Operating System (perhaps from Windows?). We've all done this and we do have advice to offer... But we need specific questions asked in order to offer that advice. Tell us from where you're starting (Windows?) and what your computer system is, what you've tried to do and what happened.

Let me second the recommendation to try other fora and other Linux distributions. I've personally tried many, both over the years and more recently. I want to point out that I have remained on this forum; KubuntuForums.net, because of the quality of the advice offered to me by other members AND because of the camaraderie I find here. Even when I was running other distributions, I still read this forum because it is agnostic with respect to which distribution is being used, unlike some other Linux fora...

With respect to the title question posed by the OP, I don't think there is a "better Linux" than Kubuntu. That being said, it behooves all of us to use the distribution which works for each of us. That means spending the time to test them until one (or more) is found which works. I recommend that the OP test Linux Mint, Xubuntu, KDE Neon and even full Ubuntu itself, but that is NOT an exclusive list.

Also, please note that the concept of a Desktop Environment (DE) is perhaps not clear to new Linux users. Windows, on the other hand, has only one DE, so you're stuck with it... The many "flavors" of Linux are distinguished from each other by both the "Linux Distribution" and by the DE which the user wants to use (KDE, XFCE, LXDE, etc.).

Toward that end, I strongly recommend using a "live" version for testing rather than installing directly to your HD. Using a small (4GB) USB stick, you can reload it for each test.

Finally, I'll repeat the advice given by others, ask questions here, we work for free, but on our own time... Worst case, you may, perhaps, pay someone in your town to install Linux for you on your machine, but that means missing the opportunity to learn to do it yourself. Don't overlook that learning opportunity because it will serve you well in the future.

[oshunluvr]

This is a user forum. No one here is paid or obligated to respond to anyone. That is in great part because the operating system is free. The people that work on it work for free (mostly). This is free software in a free world. You are free to learn, modify, share info, help others. The expectation that users or forum members are owed something is a false one. This is true of all other Linux forums and distributions that you get for free. If you want commercial support, buy a commercial distribution - although they are geared toward commercial use. I would recommend Red Hat or Ubuntu, both of which can be purchased with support.

I have read through BOTH your other threads - a total of 2. You have been a member here for about two weeks. Your threads contain very little in the way of actual information. Part of your perceived problem may be that you're simply not helping yourself. Besides not being paid, no one here can read your mind or detect and troubleshoot your hardware. Nor is it anyone else's duty to drag information out of you. You have to do the work and then document and share the information. If we were in the same room, I would be glad to slide in front of your machine and dig in. Obviously, that's not going to happen. There's a link in my signature below titled "Please Read Me". I suggest you read that, then return to your posts and see what you can do to add information.

Linux, unlike Mac or Windows, requires user participation. Linux is a journey not a destination, and the path is long and sometimes bumpy. Mac is for those that like to conform. Windows is for those who prefer to be part of the uninformed masses. Linux is for those who want control over their existence. All of those choices have a price to pay. I personally have been using Linux full time for more than two decades. Still today, I run into something here or there that I don't like or doesn't work the way I think it should. But then I get to learn, modify, and control my OS. Frankly IMO, concluding after two weeks and two threads that contain very little useful information that somehow Kubuntu or KFN is the problem and you'll be able to solve it by going elsewhere is another false expectation. You must have decided to try Linux for a reason other than it was just free of cost, or maybe not.

However, you asked a question so lets address that. It seems you might be more suited to a distribution with less user control so you don't have to do as much to make it work. You might consider switching to a desktop environment that requires less user interaction. I would also not install a newer release because that means more bugs, at least initially. So here my suggestions in no particular order;

1) Ubuntu 16.04 - Gnome desktop is more locked down so less to muck with. Ubuntu is also a commercial distribution so there' more support available generally. 16.04 was a good release and now that it's two years old it's very stable. It will be supported until 2021 so you have some time to learn Linux and get more comfortable before you have to upgrade.

2) Zorin OS - Geared toward Windows users in look and behavior so the transition can be easier. I comes initially with a ton of software so you won't be expected to customize right away.

3) Linux Mint Cinnamon - The desktop is based on Gnome and Mint is well known as a good beginner's distro with a good forum.

Unfortunately, all of the above are Ubuntu based so there's no guarantee any unsupported hardware you own will work out-of-the-box. An excellent suggestion made by TWPonKubuntu is to try several distributions using a LiveUSB rather than installing. Get two thumb drives and start burning distros until you find one that works for you. It will only cost you time.

Normally, I conclude my first reply to a new user with welcome to Linux and KFN, instead I wish you luck finding something that works for you.

[notabug]

Also, avail yourself of Google, askubuntu.com and other search engines you know or find. Join other distribution forums. Even if you don't become an active member in all of them or even none of those forums. you can learn more than you might imagine by reading other user's questions and subsequent answers. Welcome to this forum.

[woodsmoke]

Hi
I completely agree with the comments of the posters after your OP, however, I would expand on what they wrote.

One really big problem with "online" communication is that "just because someone wrote this" is not a guarantee that the reader will not "see that".

Or, from the film Cool Hand Luke "what we have here is POSSIBLY a failure to communicate".

As to your last comment about the forum "not being very busy"... well, contrary to the Windblows world THAT IS A GOOD THING...if...the questions that ARE THERE have generally been answered.

In other words, the reason it is not "very busy" is because ..."it generally "just works".

But, I tend to be a hardware kind of guy and generally unless a piece of hardware is

a) totally brand new
b) high end and paired with other pieces of high end equipment...

Generally Linux works with anything that is "average or less" However, that does not mean that Linux will not work with high end equipment but the situation is that the pairing of high end equpment pieces presents a problem of

"permutations and combinations"

In other words, again, problem A may be fixable, and problem B might be fixable but add A to B and then C becomes something that "a specific driver or whatever" can't necessarily deal with. Then one gets into "pull and replace" which, unfortunately is not that easy do do since, generally, people are restricted to the hardware on the desk.

So...anyway lets see if we can come "close" to a fix.

Hello and forgive me if I am being stupid, I am a newbie to both linux and kubuntu,

I have a laptop dell e7240, 8 GB ram, 128GB SSD.

So, I looked up the computer and found this page:

https://www.amazon.com/Dell-Latitude.../dp/B00KYLWEN6

So the lappy was first manufactured in 2013 , that is quite old, which, in and of itself is NOT A PROBLEM...if it is in UNUSED and "LIKE" NEW condition

but the reviews show a lot of people with problems having purchased a "refurbished or used computer".

SO THE FIRST QUESTION IS... is this a "new" computer or one that has been used either by yourself for the last years or was it purchased used?

If it is absolutely NEW then that would probably eliminate a situation with one side or the other of the touchpad AND ALSO "one side or another" of the buttons on the mouse.

HOWEVER... the "plug" on laptops are somewhat notorious for "getting wallerd out"...

if the TOUCHPAD works ok, and the mouse left mouse click is the ONLY situation then it could be a situation with the "plugin" on the laptop.

If it really is an "older" laptop that has seen a lot of use, the mere moving of it from place to place on carpeting "can"...not always...but "can" cause a static charge that can affect the soldering of the plug

Or, again, it could have been an electrical surge that affected the soldering of the plugin on the laptop...

IF ...AGAIN...IF the touch pad works "just ok"... THAT THEN makes "both" of them are jiggy in "some way" AND THEN...it may not be the driver but be the hardware connexion.

Surprising as it may seem, almost "none" of the hardware problems with touch pads are "a single wire" you have a "matrix" of sensors with the touch pad in terms of "X and Y" axes and the "driver" has to address that "matrix" not "just a wire".

Also, you say that the touchpad " is not perfect" - well "not as good as under windows"...

So, the obvious question that jumps to mind is "just how GOOD was it "under Windows"...was it perfect with windows? And again is it a "used computer" that maybe started out "ok" but then degraded?

And the reason for asking that is that the "hardware" of the touch pad and the "mouse" go through the same "chokepoint" in the hardware so that a symptom in one place might reflect what is going on with another place.

And, again, one has to have an idea of what "a driver" does...

A "proprietary" driver, if it very well done will have what is known as "error trapping" in the driver to "kind of take care of" the degradation of something like a touch pad or a mouse on a surface...they can get "jiggy" ...I do not know what the amount of error trapping is in the Linux driver, it may have a lot or it may not.

The original computer was shipped with Windows 7, and a "driver" for a certain class of laptop for Win 7 sometimes does NOT work with later editions of Windblows so another question might be, if you have had the computer for a long time and now have Win 10 on it how did the driver react for Win 7 and now for Win 10.

The important thing being...if the driver for Win 7 and Win 10 seemed to be driving the equipment ok then one can quickly say...

A) the driver was not the problem since it was in Win 7 and assumedly in Win 10.
B) the hardware worked with both drivers...IF...the hardware really was "good"...

I have a MS 6000 wireless mouse which I have used for years and which I like very much. However, I can't get it to work properly under kubuntu, I should add that it is a wireless mouse - not bluetooth and has a usb plug in dongle that comes with the mouse.

which I have used for years

I ASSUME that since you said that you are a "newbie" to "Linux and Kubuntu" that the use was with a Windows system.

So...I have the MS 7000 keyboard which worked flawlessly through many, many distributions, I test different distributions, and also through many versions of Kubuntu.

7000 is AFTER your mouse, ( and possibly associated keyboard ) So, the "driver" should work for your setup, it works for me now.

The important thing here is that my keyboard / mouse combo are between your mouse and NOW, so the driver, in and of itself, should work.

SOOOOOOOOO given that the question still arises about "how well" the touch pad and mouse left click worked with Window 7 or Windows 10 before you installed Kubuntu.

MS 7000 system

So, to get down to the nub of it, It would SEEM that "the driver" in and of itself is probably not "the" problem.

We are now down to the hardware itself.

The problem is the left click. This either doesn't work or works intermittently. I should add the right click works fine and scrolling also works fine.

The problem here...again, is..."pull and replace" that would mean, in this case that you would need to test the mouse on a Windows 10 system, or maybe windows 7.

What you DID NOT STATE...is just how "Kubuntu' ... ARRIVED...ON...the laptop.

a) Are you doing a dual boot with Win 7 / Win 10 and Kubuntu
b) have you installed Kubuntu over the Windows OS?
c) have you had the original HD removed and repalced with an empty HD and installed Kubunu on that empty drive.

This then leads to several possibly ways to diagnose the situation.

a) if it is a dual boot, when you switch to the Windows OS does the touch pad work "ok" and the mouse LEFT click work "ok"?

b) if it is case "b" then you will need to take the mouse to another computer to test it, you won't be able to check the touch pad

c) if it is case "c" ...and you have two drives you could switch out the drives and test the touchpad and the mouse.

So, if you can reply as to your HARDWARE setup in terms of the OSs and tell us specifically what occurs in the various situations then...

d) if the touch pad / left click mouse problem does NOT occur with Windows and DOES occur with Kubuntu, then it would seem to be the "Linux driver"

e) if the touch problem and / or the mouse left click problem occurs with BOTH Operating Systems then it would seem to be the hardware and not the software.

So, this has been a very long post, but that is what a "repair shop' would do if they were checking the situation and I hope that you will soon reply as to results.

if it IS a "driver" problem then there are possibly two things...

a) it can be reported to the Linux Hardware List and they might recommend another driver.
b) it might be that there is no specific driver for the particular hardware and the Kubuntu system offers what is considered to be a "workable" driver and a specific driver can be developed relatively quickly or not, depending upon demand.

If you are the ONLY reporter of this situation it might not go to the top of the list in working on it. However, if there are other such reports then it might be very quickly addressed.

As to it "being a Microsoft product" AND the IMPLICATION ...that it just won't work because it is MS hardware...that is an old way of thinking..

I AM NOT A MS FAN BY ANY MEANS...but... By and large MS products .ESPECIALLY FOR OLDER HARDWARE... drivers have been produced which work well.

I, again, remind you that I have the "intermediate" product and it works just fine, although that may be an exception in and of itself,.

So, if you would very kindly reply back with some answers to the scenarios that I posed...

then people who are MUCH MORE EXPERIENCED than the old woodsmoker may be able to address your concerns.

woodinterestingquestionsmoke