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Linux Mint 20.2


raymac46

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I have upgraded my main Linux Desktop to Linux Mint 20.2. No problems with the upgrade from 20.1 and it works well so far.

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Linux Mint is not the coolest or flashiest distro, but its Cinnamon desktop gets better all the time. It seems much snappier and more stable. The grandkids use it seamlessly with their Google Workspace from school. I have installed LM on my old Acer desktop and my SIL's 17 inch HP Probook. Both of these have Sandy Bridge CPUs that are not supported by Windows any longer. However they work great with Linux.

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securitybreach

I always suggest LinuxMint to new linux users and usually they never have any issues and it just works for them.

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I upgraded to 20.2 when it first became available.  I've used Mint as my main desktop for many years.  I've tried the LDME, Mate and Cinnamon versions.  Currently running Cinnamon.

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I put 20.1 (Xfce) on a flash drive back in January to have a look at the live session. I haven't been using Mint but I might take a look at the latest release, since raymac46 says Cinnamon keeps getting better.

 

I used to run Mint here, but I don't think I ever installed it after the switch to Cinnamon. Or maybe I did and then dumped it, can't remember. Anyway, one thing that bugged me back then was that Mint's version of Synaptic didn't have the "Mark All Upgrades" button. It was a crippled Synaptic, in my opinion. I don't know what Synaptic in Mint looks like these days.

 

I loved Synaptic, but I don't use it anymore, just apt. Would there be any problems with doing package management from the command line in Mint instead of using whatever GUI tools it ships with these days?

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I just use Linux Mint's update manager and it works fine. Apt should also do the job. On my SiL's machines I set up automated upgrades because they *never* update.

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Once again let me say that LM is not my distro of choice. I much prefer Debian or Arch. However for casual users I don't think you can do much better than LM.

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On 7/18/2021 at 2:10 PM, raymac46 said:

Once again let me say that LM is not my distro of choice. I much prefer Debian or Arch. However for casual users I don't think you can do much better than LM.

 

Another good alternative for total beginners is MX. 😎imho

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MX-Linux is a fine distro with a very polished Xfce interface. I would have no issues with it as a new user alternative, provided you stick with the FOSS graphics stack. I have had trouble installing the Nvidia driver on some older hardware if I used the GUI driver manager. That has never happened to me so far wth Linux Mint.

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I recently installed 20.2 on one of my desktops, and it almost made the grade.  But I'm having a problem with Wine.  I was pleased to see it in Synaptic, and told it to go ahead and install.  It =almost= worked ... I copied a dvd, but then I couldn't find where it put the result!  Said it was using the C: disk, but where is that? 

 

But the bigger problem is I can't tell Wine anything about where to put the output.  If I don't fill in that blank it will fully translate the dvd, at least the first one, and then doesn't have room to place a 2nd dvd. 

 

In the olden days I used to run Slack, and I found a place where you could edit the copied result; there is a directory somewhere in setup that it makes the translation between linux and Windows, where you edit the files using 2 colons to specify where to put the output -- but I can't find any such on 20.2. 

 

Any help would be appreciated.  I'm using an old (2013) version of DVDFab.exe that still works well, but am running out of host distros to use it.  

 

 

 

 

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On 7/23/2021 at 12:28 PM, raymac46 said:

Cool -- that solved half of my problems; the link showed me where to find the output file. 

 

It still appears that DVDFab won't let you reset the 'save to' directory on my ancient module.  I recall editing the dos directory files (with the double-colon settings) but that was on the Porteus directory of Slackware; Porteus mounted all directories during boot so it was possible to add as you wanted.   I have not been able to get that to work here.

 

It's worth mentioning that the feature still works fine on my current load of Win-10 -- where it is supposed to work.  I'm just worried that MS will change how files are stored to kill my old DVDFab. 

 

 

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Have you tried launching DVDFab in Wine and then mounting the DVD (or inserting it in the drive?) Maybe installing Winetricks will help if you haven't got it installed already.

I really don't know much about DVDFab and I don't use Wine any more. I have a copy of Windows 10 in a Virtual Machine and I think I'd try using DVDFab that way. You always run the risk with very old software that it won't be compatible, but apparently DVDFab does work with Windows 10.

Maybe someone else can help.

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I'm testing out Linux Mint 20.2 Cinnamon in a live session from a flash drive. Very nice. I enabled Expo. Also added the workspace switcher applet to the panel. I'm experimenting with a left-side panel, but haven't gotten it to look like I want. Out of the box, the live session looks like it would be great for anybody to get up and running with -- experienced user or "newbie".

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I tested the live session on another computer, my slowest laptop. LM 20.2 Cinnamon is a pleasure to use. Its live session is as good as anything I've seen out there.

 

They went with xed for the default text editor. I wonder why I don't see xed in the Debian repos. Or in the Ubuntu repos. The Arch repos have it, so I installed it there. I use Geany, but from what I'm seeing, I might be just as happy with xed.

 

Debian Bullseye's repos have cinnamon 4.8.3, I think, compared to 5.0.4 in LM 20.2. I might wanna take a look at Cinnamon in Debian, sometime. Sweet file manager (Nemo), by the way.

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I like Cinnamon, but it isn't head and shoulders above other desktops to the point where I'd choose it on any distro. That said, I think LM does a better job with Cinnamon than anyone else so I use it there.

I really don't know why LM chose Xed instead of Gedit but I have found it works OK. It may have something to do with the fact that LM continues to use Xorg and has not migrated to Wayland.

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Hedon James
23 hours ago, raymac46 said:

Have you tried launching DVDFab in Wine and then mounting the DVD (or inserting it in the drive?) Maybe installing Winetricks will help if you haven't got it installed already.

I really don't know much about DVDFab and I don't use Wine any more. I have a copy of Windows 10 in a Virtual Machine and I think I'd try using DVDFab that way. You always run the risk with very old software that it won't be compatible, but apparently DVDFab does work with Windows 10.

Maybe someone else can help.

 

Agree with Ray on all accounts here.

 

What are you trying to accomplish with DVDFab?  Are you ripping movies to ISO or mp4?  Or are you creating movies/vids from other sources/clips?  I would never presume to question someone else's choice of software, as I assume you chose what you chose for good reasons.  But with that said, maybe the reason is simply because you're familiar with DVDFab and aren't aware of linux alternatives?

 

Speaking only for myself, I learned that it wasn't worth the hassle to mess with Wine, Winetricks, and the gyrations to keep a Windows program going on Linux, no matter how much I liked it.  Especially when there are so many native linux alternatives.  For ripping DVDS, I've found that Handbrake is more than enough for MY needs.  Added bonus, it's cross-platform.  I'm not much of a video/movie creator, but I did put together a DVD of home movie compilation once, to send to local rescue so they could see what a great life our dog, whom we adopted from the rescue, is enjoying.  It's been awhile, but I think that was DeVeDe.

 

In most cases (mine included), people tend to cling to the software they know.  But once you realize alternatives are available (and FREE to try), there's almost always a native offering that's just as good, or at the least....sufficient.  If you're willing to consider that, here's some linux alternatives:

 

https://www.linuxlinks.com/dvdtools/

 

And some alternatives for DVD authoring:

 

https://alternativeto.net/category/burn-and-rip/dvd-authoring/?platform=linux

 

I'll bet there's something on those lists that work as good, if not better, than DVDFab.  Good luck!

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On 7/27/2021 at 6:46 AM, Hedon James said:

 

Agree with Ray on all accounts here.

 

What are you trying to accomplish with DVDFab?  Are you ripping movies to ISO or mp4?  Or are you creating movies/vids from other sources/clips?  I would never presume to question someone else's choice of software, as I assume you chose what you chose for good reasons.  But with that said, maybe the reason is simply because you're familiar with DVDFab and aren't aware of linux alternatives?

 

Speaking only for myself, I learned that it wasn't worth the hassle to mess with Wine, Winetricks, and the gyrations to keep a Windows program going on Linux, no matter how much I liked it.  Especially when there are so many native linux alternatives.  For ripping DVDS, I've found that Handbrake is more than enough for MY needs.  Added bonus, it's cross-platform.  I'm not much of a video/movie creator, but I did put together a DVD of home movie compilation once, to send to local rescue so they could see what a great life our dog, whom we adopted from the rescue, is enjoying.  It's been awhile, but I think that was DeVeDe.

 

In most cases (mine included), people tend to cling to the software they know.  But once you realize alternatives are available (and FREE to try), there's almost always a native offering that's just as good, or at the least....sufficient.  If you're willing to consider that, here's some linux alternatives:

 

https://www.linuxlinks.com/dvdtools/

 

And some alternatives for DVD authoring:

 

https://alternativeto.net/category/burn-and-rip/dvd-authoring/?platform=linux

 

I'll bet there's something on those lists that work as good, if not better, than DVDFab.  Good luck!

++++++++++++

 

DVDFab -- the old one I use -- makes a dvd that looks exactly like a commercial movie dvd; same directory structure without the FBI warning and extra trash.  It isn't an mp4 or an iso file.   Stick it in a player and it starts immediately.  I use the old version because the company that makes it went very commercial with all the following versions.  It currently comes from China, though the old one I use was (maybe) the last one when they were a US company.  FWIW, it beats any protection except Cinavia.  

 

I'm not stealing anything, I copy an original dvd onto a cheap blank and hand it to my sister who lives in a retirement home.  They don't last very long in that environment.  I know about handbrake but haven't found the need to use it yet.  I doubt that her (old) player will accept an mp4. 

 

 

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Hedon James
1 hour ago, burninbush said:

++++++++++++

 

DVDFab -- the old one I use -- makes a dvd that looks exactly like a commercial movie dvd; same directory structure without the FBI warning and extra trash.  It isn't an mp4 or an iso file.   Stick it in a player and it starts immediately.  I use the old version because the company that makes it went very commercial with all the following versions.  It currently comes from China, though the old one I use was (maybe) the last one when they were a US company.  FWIW, it beats any protection except Cinavia.  

 

I'm not stealing anything, I copy an original dvd onto a cheap blank and hand it to my sister who lives in a retirement home.  They don't last very long in that environment.  I know about handbrake but haven't found the need to use it yet.  I doubt that her (old) player will accept an mp4. 

 

 

 

You're probably right about her old player and mp4 format.  I've burned mp3 music to a CD for a buddy to enjoy, but his old CD player won't recognize mp3s....they've gotta be *.wav files for him to enjoy.  What a PITA!  I now put them on USB drives and tell him to play on his computer.  If he wants to burn to a CD,  he can convert to *.wav files.  I spent MANY man-hours digitizing my vinyl collection (over 300+ albums), and then converting from *.wav to *.mp3 to reduce disk space and for universal compatibility.  It's not my fault his stuff is over 20 years old and doesn't recognize mp3.  I have no use, nor reason, to go back to *.wav files.  So you're probably right about mp4 movies.

 

But FWIW, after I digitized my vinyl collection, I spent a lot of time ripping my store-bought DVDs to mp4, and placed onto server disk for streaming throughout the house, via KODI set-top devices and Android tablets.  I used VLC to identify which "chapter" was the authentic movie, then used Handbrake to rip that chapter to a disk file.  VLC is important because of its use of libdvdcss to "crack" encryption handshakes, and I think Handbrake is the same.  Both VLC and Handbrake are available in linux versions, and are in nearly every distro's repo. 

 

When ripping, I chose MP4, for "universal compatibility" and space-saving on disk storage, but could have chosen any number of formats allowed by Handbrake.  I would think that ripping to ISO format would work for an older DVD player, but you might have to look online for a manual of the old device to see what formats it recognizes.  Barring that, might have to go through a little trial & error to see what works.  Worst case scenario, upgrade her old DVD player with an MP4 friendly version.  You can get them now for $20-$30 on E-bay or FB Marketplace.  But I'm 99% sure that VLC and Handbrake will work for you.  I'm 100% sure if her DVD player gets upgraded.  Keeping an old Windows software running on linux through Wine is going to get more and more dicey, as underlying libraries are changed/deprecated/updated.  Native VLC and Handbrake will do that for you....if you can just figure out what her existing player will recognize (ISO?), or upgrade her player to read MP4s.  Even that will be cheaper than DVD copy software.  JMO...

 

Do what you're comfortable with, but wanted to share an alternative solution with you before you get cut off from DVDFab unexpectedly.  Good luck!

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Interesting discussion. I also have an extensive vinyl collection - much of it dating back to the 1960s. A lot of my disks were brutalized by less than optimal turntables and as a result have a lot of clicks, pops, and "Whumps" in their rendering. 

About 20 years ago I discovered a program called "Wave Repair" which allows you to go deep into a WAV file, isolate noise events and repair the damaged area either with a new default wave or cloning the other side of the stereo groove. You have to transcribe the vinyl recording into a WAV file and Wave Repair allowed me to do this on my PC. I had cables from the amp to the microphone jack to do this.

This was marvelous but so time consuming I only did it on some irreplaceable vinyl. I then burned the "New WAV" onto a CD or ripped it to an MP3. My CD player is old school so I needed WAV files.

Note: many of my vinyl records got remastered to CD and it was often better to just buy a boxed CD set than to try restoring all my Simon and Garfunkel stuff anyway.

Nowadays the whole point seems moot as I can go on Spotify and stream a John Hammond blues album from 1967 that I spent hours fixing back in 2002.

 

 

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"About 20 years ago I discovered a program called "Wave Repair" which allows you to go deep into a WAV file, isolate noise events and repair the damaged area either with a new default wave or cloning the other side of the stereo groove. You have to transcribe the vinyl recording into a WAV file and Wave Repair allowed me to do this on my PC. I had cables from the amp to the microphone jack to do this.

This was marvelous but so time consuming I only did it on some irreplaceable vinyl...."

 

Ah, someone else who knows about Wave Repair!  I spent =many= hours recovering a bunch of 45rpms some years back with that program.  And many cd's and dvd's as well.  I think (??) it will work in win-10 also.  Does amazing stuff.

 

 

In these modern times YouTube will solve most old recording issues. 

 

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I use Izotope RX6 in Windows to restore old vinyl. Nothing in Linux comes close. I'm sure its code contains magic fairy dust or some kind of voodoo it works so well! 👍😎

Apparently Izotope RX5 used to work in WINE but don't think RX6 does. Maybe I'll try it some time.

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