Some Frustrations

Well, I've had the HHD version of the Aspire one for 24 hrs now and I love it. I opted for the Linux version as it's been years since I used it and I know it'll do me good to learn. :shock:

However, it hasn't been an easy 24 hrs. Why do many Linux users seem to delight in doing things the hard way? One of the first things I did was go exploring and load the desktop switcher. Having now got access to a more conventional desktop I decided to add a couple of shortcuts for Firefox & Email. Wasn't sure how though, when I last used Linux the GUI was almost non existent. I searched on Google and found plenty of advice involving terminal and editing text or xml files, all very long winded and accompanied by warnings of disaster if you mistyped any of it . By accident I discovered that if you go to the application directory in file manager and right click on Firefox you can Send To the desktop as a shortcut, simple.

Perhaps my Google search was worded badly and there's loads of simple advice out there.

Then theres the mouse/touchpad. I can't see any mention of it the manual and I was irritated that it didn't seem to have the vertical scroll capability that my work laptop has. That was until I did a bit more digging into the settings and preferences where both vertical and horizontal scrolling are mentioned! On my work laptop there is a narrow area on the right of the pad covered in horizontal lines, put your finger on there and you can scroll easily. There are no such markings on the Aspire pad and yet the scroll area is there, in fact it's better than my work HP because there's a horizontal scroll area at the bottom of the pad too, also unmarked and not mentioned.

This little machine just keeps getting better the more I find out about it but surely the journey doesn't have to be as hard as it is. There will come a time when I shall dust off my vi skills and create some shell scripts like I used to but after years of using Windows I've got used to the way it works and don't want to start by editing config files when there are easier ways of doing stuff.

And relax

Nick

 

Myself, I wasted no time replacing Linpus Linux with Ubuntu. Not that I had any issues with Linpus, just that I was more familiar with Ubuntu.

 

Disable the advanced mode and create an xfce menu on the panel (need instructions?) and when you're on a normal desktop, right click and create a launcher.