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Linux

Alan

Illuminator
Alan
Joined
Oct 22, 2009
Messages
3,714
Who else uses Linux?

Which distribution/s and desktop environments do you use? What do you think about GNOME 3? Unity? :)

I hope this could be a big thread about linuxy things.
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GNOME 3 looks exciting. I only used it in its alpha stage, and I saw just a few minutes ago that it's gone beta. It will probably be hard to get used to the different ways of interacting with the computer.

I have tried out a lot of distributions but I keep on going back to Ubuntu 10.10. I like it for GNOME's combination of customisability and simplicity, the ease of installing new things on it and its indicators.

Also, Iceweasel in my new Debian 6 install seems to have partially frozen as it lets me type but it doesn't let me switch tabs or move the window, but I can still type and scroll. Stable! And I don't get any audio, so I'm fixing that. I had trouble with the fifth DVD in the installation, so I'm re-downloading that now.
 
The base system is only on the first dvd, I think. The others just contain all of the additional programs you might want to install.
 
It will be good to have it on hand from the beginning in case I need to install anything that's on it. It was very jarring when it wanted me to insert a disc to get something from the software centre. I've connected it to the internet. Do I have to do something to make it download what I want, instead of getting it from a DVD? I went to the software sources but it doesn't let me click on the option it gives to set it up.

I'm also downloading GNOME 3's beta. It's a Live CD, so I can try it out without it interfering with Debian.
 
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You need to amend your sources list, but I don't know exactly what you need to do, I only ever install from my discs.
 
Because of the audio problem and some other things like it not wanting to blank discs, I'm partitioning it off and installing Ubuntu on the other partition. I'll still keep Debian but I'll need something that works while I find out how to sort it out.

And I'll try out GNOME3 on a live CD before going to bed and describe my impressions.
 
I'm using Linux since the first Yggdrasil CD came out. Then i went with SUSE Linux for a while, had some fun with Debian, and nowdays i'm using Kubuntu. Oh, and i had build my own Linux using LFS twice, just for fun. It's a great learning experience if you want to know what "makes it tick", what depends on what, etc.

For the desktop i use KDE since it's first version. I'm not a big fan of Gnome, it had a lot of inconsistencies in it's appearance (like the arrangement and placement of entries in the menu bar). Also, i don't like their philosophy of "you don't want to have these settings, so we don't put them in". If i want a dumbed down user interface, i would go with a OS-X install ;)

While i also used a Windows (dual-boot setup) in the early days, my only Windows now is a virtual machine that i start up once in a while. And i need that only for using MPLab, when a customer wants me to create some PIC code there. Otherwise i'm exclusively using Linux for a long time now.

As for your package problem: You need to edit the /etc/apt/sources.list file. IIRC, they already have the entries included to use repositories on the net, but just commented out. Once you added the proper sources in there, do an "apt-get update" so that the package management retrieves the information about what is available at what source from there. Don't forget to remove (comment-out) the entry for the local CD/DVD.

Greetings,

Chris
 
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Alan said:
Who else uses Linux?

Which distribution/s and desktop environments do you use? What do you think about GNOME 3? Unity? :)
Click to expand...
I use Linux. :) Started with Slackware in 1995, when I bought a P-1 to upgrade from a 586. That came on 50-odd floppies. :) Later I switched to RedHat. Now I use Fedora for desktop use and CentOS for server use. I have Ubuntu on my Dell netbook (came pre-installed), on my mom's computer and on the odd virtual machine. I ***** hate Ubuntu's lack of LVM support in their desktop version, so I'm not even contemplating switching over to it for my main desktop or laptop.

Another point is that I like the RPM package management system, and I've extensively written scripts around it. Despite the occasional Ubuntu or Debian install I've done and used, I've never quite gotten the hang of the Debian package management system. Could someone tell me what command-line command tells me "which package does that file belong to"?

I don't care much for eye candy, so I take desktop environments pretty much as they come. So Gnome 2 it is for me now. :)
 
I have Mint and Ubuntu installed on my old laptop, prefer Mint personally. Much prefer it to my Windows 7 netbook I got.
 
openSUSE 11.3 with KDE SC 4.6 as of now. But 11.4 is due this week. :)

I like it because, I feel can get very far with it without being some sort of Linux Guru. YaST makes setting up lots of stuff quite easy, and it's got an ncurses interface that doesn't require X.
 
Debian Lenny with KDE currently, though I've tried Gnome and Fluxbox here recently. Went back to KDE because of... well, because the other two aren't as convenient for me.

A day or two ago, I downloaded icewm to try that out.

I've been running a GNU/Linux distro since Red Hat 5 (I think) off and on, though only since I got my last box did I move to Linux full time with a virtual WinXP machine but I've been hammering away at Wine and winetricks so even the VM isn't really necessary any more.
 
ddt said:
I use Linux. :) Started with Slackware in 1995, when I bought a P-1 to upgrade from a 586. That came on 50-odd floppies. :) Later I switched to RedHat. Now I use Fedora for desktop use and CentOS for server use. I have Ubuntu on my Dell netbook (came pre-installed), on my mom's computer and on the odd virtual machine. I ***** hate Ubuntu's lack of LVM support in their desktop version, so I'm not even contemplating switching over to it for my main desktop or laptop.

Another point is that I like the RPM package management system, and I've extensively written scripts around it. Despite the occasional Ubuntu or Debian install I've done and used, I've never quite gotten the hang of the Debian package management system. Could someone tell me what command-line command tells me "which package does that file belong to"?

I don't care much for eye candy, so I take desktop environments pretty much as they come. So Gnome 2 it is for me now. :)
Click to expand...

Caldera to Suse to Ubuntu since 96, with use of BSD, QNX and Solaris a s well. All were fun, ubuntu is a good lazy man's linux, and also one where I dont have to screw with the wifi on my netbook.
 
I gave GNOME 3's beta a shot. It's so counter-intuitive. I could get used to it so that other things become counter-intuitive, of course.

I'm really looking forward to OpenSUSE 11.4. I tried out the second beta but I can't remember what I thought of it. Still, I'll give the final release a shot.

Kubuntu 11.04 looks on track to be my favourite KDE distro, though. I don't like YaST. And Pardus 2011 gets a lot of praise but I don't see it. It has wizards? That's not really all that great.

Christian Klippel said:
As for your package problem: You need to edit the /etc/apt/sources.list file. IIRC, they already have the entries included to use repositories on the net, but just commented out. Once you added the proper sources in there, do an "apt-get update" so that the package management retrieves the information about what is available at what source from there. Don't forget to remove (comment-out) the entry for the local CD/DVD.
Click to expand...
Thank you. :)
 
Just downloaded Sabayon and will try it out on my laptop which for now has to be dual booted with Win7.
 
In 2007, through a deal at work, I bought a Dell Dimension dual-CPU desktop with Feisty Fawn pre-installed as my main home computer. Currently running Lucid Lynx. Stability has been good, except for some OS upgrade issues when moving to Hardy Heron, and a few annoying grub problems.
 
What do people think about mono? I don't really mind it.
 
Lord Emsworth said:
openSUSE 11.3 with KDE SC 4.6 as of now. But 11.4 is due this week. :)

I like it because, I feel can get very far with it without being some sort of Linux Guru. YaST makes setting up lots of stuff quite easy, and it's got an ncurses interface that doesn't require X.
Click to expand...

Me too, Lord Emsworth. 2 days to 11.4!

I am interested in all new developments in GUIs so will try Gnome 3 some time or other, as I have tried a number of window managers in the past. But about 8? years ago Gnome stripped out a lot of its configurability and as configuring computers is one of life's little pleasures, I get more fun out of KDE (4.6 at the moment).
 
Funny thing.

I went wild and decided to reinstall my Linux OS, but decided to try something new, so I went for Mint Linux 64bit (based on Debian, not Ubuntu) and it. Just. Worked. Out of the box, it even asked me if I wanted to use the proprietary NVIDIA video drivers. Took less than ten minutes for a full install to a working desktop.

Sabayon on the laptop performed flawlessly and looks gorgeous. Again, out of the box, read my wireless card in the laptop (an older Dell Inspiron 1420) which I've had troubles with when I tried a vanilla Debian Lenny, Fedora 14, Ubuntu (not sure which one) and even a different version of Mint.
 
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