Linux

Alan · 5th March 2011, 11:19 PM

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.
_______
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.

Lolly · 5th March 2011, 11:31 PM

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.

Alan · 5th March 2011, 11:35 PM

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.

Lolly · 5th March 2011, 11:49 PM

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.

Alan · 6th March 2011, 03:24 AM

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.

Christian Klippel · 6th March 2011, 06:52 AM

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

ddt · 6th March 2011, 09:40 AM

Originally Posted by Alan

Who else uses Linux?

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

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.

Wowbagger · 6th March 2011, 09:45 AM

I don't really "use" Linux, but I do have several distributions set up in a bunch of virtual machines, for some reason. I guess it's fun to play with and experiment with, sometimes.

ShadowSot · 6th March 2011, 09:56 AM

I have Mint and Ubuntu installed on my old laptop, prefer Mint personally. Much prefer it to my Windows 7 netbook I got.

Christian Klippel · 6th March 2011, 10:07 AM

Originally Posted by ddt

Could someone tell me what command-line command tells me "which package does that file belong to"?

dpkg -S filename

That should do it.

Greetings,

Chris

Lord Emsworth · 6th March 2011, 11:35 AM

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.

The Norseman · 6th March 2011, 12:29 PM

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.

mikeyx · 6th March 2011, 12:35 PM

Originally Posted by ddt

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.

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.

Alan · 6th March 2011, 03:28 PM

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.

Originally Posted by Christian Klippel

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.

Thank you.

BenBurch · 6th March 2011, 05:00 PM

I use linux almost every day; Soon to be every day as we are switching to that at work.

On my netbook I use Ubuntu, and if you want a hassle-free system, that is (currently) it.

The Norseman · 6th March 2011, 05:19 PM

Just downloaded Sabayon and will try it out on my laptop which for now has to be dual booted with Win7.

billw · 6th March 2011, 05:56 PM

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.

Alan · 7th March 2011, 07:32 PM

What do people think about mono? I don't really mind it.

jenspen · 8th March 2011, 01:57 AM

Originally Posted by Lord Emsworth

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.

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).

The Norseman · 8th March 2011, 02:42 AM

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.

Alan · 8th March 2011, 03:14 AM

I tried out Linux Mint Debian Edition a few months ago. It took hours to download the updates.

Xero · 8th March 2011, 03:22 AM

Linux user here. Most PCLinuxOS Gnome on several machines, and linux Mint 10on my netbook and 1 laptop. Most machines dual-boot with XP, but very rarely boot into it, except to make sure it's updated, usually once a month or so. Just did a base install of Ubuntu 10.04 on another laptop, and built it up with only the apps I use. Will be installing Debian 6 (Squeeze on another of the machines when i have some free time. Did it a few weeks ago, but power-supply blew, and can't be bothered right now.

Have used a variety of distros, but quite like Mandriva, Debian, and Fedora. Mostly prefer PCLinuxOS tho, has about every app I want, all in the same repo, and anything not there can be requested. Rolling-release works well, and excellent hardware and multi-media support.

I'm actually quite happy with Gnome in general, and wish the desktop devs would quit changing things for the sake of change. Gnome 3's GUI seems rather counter-intuitive, and more clicks are needed than before just to do simple tasks. I'm not a fan at this point, and won't be rushing to change to it.

commandlinegamer · 8th March 2011, 03:31 AM

If you want to learn the nuts and bolts, Slackware. Rock solid, it just flaming works.

Ubuntu if you want something which'll get you up and running quickly.

Haven't run Gnome in a long time, but I remember the hell of trying to download it and compile when it first came out.

KDE 4 is finally maturing into something fairly stable, though I don't generally use much of the bells and whistles.

Lolly · 8th March 2011, 03:40 AM

Originally Posted by Xero

and wish the desktop devs would quit changing things for the sake of change.

Hear, hear! All I want is something that works and looks ok. When they've got it already, why keep fiddling with it?

The Norseman · 8th March 2011, 05:40 AM

Originally Posted by Alan

I tried out Linux Mint Debian Edition a few months ago. It took hours to download the updates.

Took me maybe twenty more minutes for ~250 downloaded package updates. But I was still up and running with audio/video, flash... everything that took me several hours or so of fiddling with a vanilla Debian install.

I'm simply impressed at how well MLDE works. I've got maybe a dozen apps that I use and that's about it as far as my everyday work/play. It's stable, fast, and I can easily tweak it if I feel like.

Now I'm gonna make a few VM's of RHEL, Win7, Server08 so I can study for my certs.

Alan · 8th March 2011, 10:01 PM

I'm sure that it was my connection that contributed a lot to the speed.

I am learning commands. The terminal is pretty nifty!

You type in cal 2011 and it shows you the calendar for the year and this also works if you type in any year between 0 and 9999 AD. And if you just type cal, it shows you this month. Right there in the terminal! This is witchcraft.

Tee hee. man date.

Fishstick · 9th March 2011, 12:56 AM

Originally Posted by Alan

Tee hee. man date.

If man date goes well you can move on to man fsck and man pipe.

Alan · 9th March 2011, 03:51 AM

There must be something Linus isn't telling us.

Soapy Sam · 9th March 2011, 04:11 AM

Ubuntu on my Asus901 netbook as it's faster than Win XP.
On my desktop I still have Win 7 as it seems to work fine.

laca · 9th March 2011, 04:21 AM

Originally Posted by commandlinegamer

If you want to learn the nuts and bolts, Slackware. Rock solid, it just flaming works.

Yup. I'm using Slackware64 with Xfce. Lightweight, simple and functional.

I've also used RedHat and Suse in the past, but once you go Slack, you never go back.

roger · 9th March 2011, 07:54 AM

Originally Posted by Fishstick

If man date goes well you can move on to man fsck and man pipe.

man tail. If you swing this way, you have man ps, man cd, man strip, man time, man touch, man paste . If you need to get rid of the evidence, man kill. If you don't like what you see, there's man nohup.

mikeyx · 9th March 2011, 09:56 AM

Originally Posted by laca

Yup. I'm using Slackware64 with Xfce. Lightweight, simple and functional.

I've also used RedHat and Suse in the past, but once you go Slack, you never go back.

racist

not daSkeptic · 9th March 2011, 01:18 PM

Originally Posted by roger

man tail. If you swing this way, you have man ps, man cd, man strip, man time, man touch, man paste . If you need to get rid of the evidence, man kill. If you don't like what you see, there's man nohup.

You forgot about man mount.

Lord Emsworth · 9th March 2011, 02:46 PM

man fsck

laca · 9th March 2011, 10:41 PM

Originally Posted by mikeyx

racist

Did you just call me a racist without capitalization, punctuation, and, most importantly, without a smiley?

The Norseman · 9th March 2011, 11:25 PM

I guess he's not willing to cut you any Slack.

laca · 10th March 2011, 12:40 AM

Originally Posted by The Norseman

I guess he's not willing to cut you any Slack.

Guess not.

Alan · 10th March 2011, 01:51 AM

I'm 7 minutes away from completing this Slackware download.

And I'll be trying out the new openSUSE tomorrow, of course.

How could I get the Me Menu and messaging menu from Ubuntu into other distros? I've done the Me Menu before but I can't remember how.

Lord Emsworth · 10th March 2011, 02:35 AM

Originally Posted by Alan

And I'll be trying out the new openSUSE tomorrow, of course.

Make sure you have the Packman repo, otherwise its kind of bland.

Alan · 24th March 2011, 12:11 AM

I didn't like OpenSUSE 11.4 very much... but I forget why.

I'm satisfied with Ubuntu 10.10. It's more comfy.

I'm thinking that I might even stick with 10.10 after 11.04 comes out but I'll see after some betas and the final come out. I'll probably upgrade and then switch between DEs on the login screen as desired.

What do people think of Unity's progress?

5th March 2011, 11:19 PM	#1
Alan Illuminator Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 3,652	Linux 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. _______ 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.

5th March 2011, 11:31 PM	#2
Lolly discombobulated Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Western Australia Posts: 4,576	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.
	__________________ Pet Lover http://forums.randi.org/group.php?groupid=45 "When particles of evil and iniquity swarm together, they make a Lolly.": Legend

5th March 2011, 11:35 PM	#3
Alan Illuminator Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 3,652	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.
	Last edited by Alan; 5th March 2011 at 11:39 PM.

5th March 2011, 11:49 PM	#4
Lolly discombobulated Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Western Australia Posts: 4,576	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.
	__________________ Pet Lover http://forums.randi.org/group.php?groupid=45 "When particles of evil and iniquity swarm together, they make a Lolly.": Legend

6th March 2011, 06:52 AM	#6
Christian Klippel Graduate Poster Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Ruhr Area in Germany Posts: 1,927	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
	__________________ Humber-physics 101: The treadmill has no ground equivalent. This means that the belt is not the road, but the Earth. ... That means the belt is also a privileged and unique perspective. If not then the treadmill collapses to the real world equivalent of a real treadmill, with different objects at different velocities in the same frame. Either way, no motion. Last edited by Christian Klippel; 6th March 2011 at 06:54 AM.

6th March 2011, 03:24 AM	#5
Alan Illuminator Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 3,652	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.

6th March 2011, 09:40 AM	#7
ddt Mafia Penguin Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Netherlands Posts: 10,329	Originally Posted by Alan Who else uses Linux? Which distribution/s and desktop environments do you use? What do you think about GNOME 3? Unity? 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.
	__________________ Proud member of the Solipsistic Autosycophant's Group

6th March 2011, 09:45 AM	#8
Wowbagger The Infinitely Prolonged Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Westchester County, NY (when not in space) Posts: 13,534	I don't really "use" Linux, but I do have several distributions set up in a bunch of virtual machines, for some reason. I guess it's fun to play with and experiment with, sometimes.
	__________________ WARNING: Phrases in this post may sound meaner than they were intended to be. SkeptiCamp NYC: http://www.skepticampnyc.org/ An open conference on science and skepticism, where *you* could be a presenter! By the way, my first name is NOT Bowerick!!!!

6th March 2011, 09:56 AM	#9
ShadowSot Muse Join Date: May 2010 Location: Pensacola Posts: 770	I have Mint and Ubuntu installed on my old laptop, prefer Mint personally. Much prefer it to my Windows 7 netbook I got.
	__________________ I love this crazy tragic, sometimes almost magic, awful beautiful life. - Darryl Worley The Stupid! It burns!

6th March 2011, 10:07 AM	#10
Christian Klippel Graduate Poster Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Ruhr Area in Germany Posts: 1,927	Originally Posted by ddt Could someone tell me what command-line command tells me "which package does that file belong to"? dpkg -S filename That should do it. Greetings, Chris
	__________________ Humber-physics 101: The treadmill has no ground equivalent. This means that the belt is not the road, but the Earth. ... That means the belt is also a privileged and unique perspective. If not then the treadmill collapses to the real world equivalent of a real treadmill, with different objects at different velocities in the same frame. Either way, no motion.

6th March 2011, 11:35 AM	#11
Lord Emsworth Je ne suis pas une de vos élèves Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Through the Cables and the Underground ... Posts: 2,827	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.

6th March 2011, 12:29 PM	#12
The Norseman I Void Warranties Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: The Treasure Valley Posts: 3,242	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.
	__________________ "I have always thought that a wild animal never looks so well as when some obstacle of pronounced durability is between us." "Sticking the flounce is the hardest move in forum gymnastics." -tsig

6th March 2011, 12:35 PM	#13
mikeyx Banned Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 3,570	Originally Posted by ddt 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. 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.
mikeyx Banned Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 3,570

6th March 2011, 03:28 PM	#14
Alan Illuminator Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 3,652	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. Originally Posted by Christian Klippel 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. Thank you.

6th March 2011, 05:00 PM	#15
BenBurch Gatekeeper of The Left Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: The Universe 35.2 ms ahead of this one. Posts: 32,220	I use linux almost every day; Soon to be every day as we are switching to that at work. On my netbook I use Ubuntu, and if you want a hassle-free system, that is (currently) it.
	__________________ Are you IN? Join the IN crowd now!

6th March 2011, 05:19 PM	#16
The Norseman I Void Warranties Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: The Treasure Valley Posts: 3,242	Just downloaded Sabayon and will try it out on my laptop which for now has to be dual booted with Win7.
	__________________ "I have always thought that a wild animal never looks so well as when some obstacle of pronounced durability is between us." "Sticking the flounce is the hardest move in forum gymnastics." -tsig

6th March 2011, 05:56 PM	#17
billw Critical Thinker Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Far North Glendale Posts: 463	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.
	__________________ I may be going to hell in a bucket But at least I'm enjoying the ride. -- John Perry Barlow

7th March 2011, 07:32 PM	#18
Alan Illuminator Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 3,652	What do people think about mono? I don't really mind it.

8th March 2011, 01:57 AM	#19
jenspen Thinker Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Australia Posts: 163	Originally Posted by Lord Emsworth 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. 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).

8th March 2011, 02:42 AM	#20
The Norseman I Void Warranties Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: The Treasure Valley Posts: 3,242	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.
	__________________ "I have always thought that a wild animal never looks so well as when some obstacle of pronounced durability is between us." "Sticking the flounce is the hardest move in forum gymnastics." -tsig

8th March 2011, 03:14 AM	#21
Alan Illuminator Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 3,652	I tried out Linux Mint Debian Edition a few months ago. It took hours to download the updates.

8th March 2011, 03:22 AM	#22
Xero Thinker Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Western Australia Posts: 178	Linux user here. Most PCLinuxOS Gnome on several machines, and linux Mint 10on my netbook and 1 laptop. Most machines dual-boot with XP, but very rarely boot into it, except to make sure it's updated, usually once a month or so. Just did a base install of Ubuntu 10.04 on another laptop, and built it up with only the apps I use. Will be installing Debian 6 (Squeeze on another of the machines when i have some free time. Did it a few weeks ago, but power-supply blew, and can't be bothered right now. Have used a variety of distros, but quite like Mandriva, Debian, and Fedora. Mostly prefer PCLinuxOS tho, has about every app I want, all in the same repo, and anything not there can be requested. Rolling-release works well, and excellent hardware and multi-media support. I'm actually quite happy with Gnome in general, and wish the desktop devs would quit changing things for the sake of change. Gnome 3's GUI seems rather counter-intuitive, and more clicks are needed than before just to do simple tasks. I'm not a fan at this point, and won't be rushing to change to it.

8th March 2011, 03:31 AM	#23
commandlinegamer Philosopher Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Mazes of Menace Posts: 5,908	If you want to learn the nuts and bolts, Slackware. Rock solid, it just flaming works. Ubuntu if you want something which'll get you up and running quickly. Haven't run Gnome in a long time, but I remember the hell of trying to download it and compile when it first came out. KDE 4 is finally maturing into something fairly stable, though I don't generally use much of the bells and whistles.
	__________________ He bade me take any rug in the house. Last edited by commandlinegamer; 8th March 2011 at 03:34 AM.

8th March 2011, 03:40 AM	#24
Lolly discombobulated Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Western Australia Posts: 4,576	Originally Posted by Xero and wish the desktop devs would quit changing things for the sake of change. Hear, hear! All I want is something that works and looks ok. When they've got it already, why keep fiddling with it?
	__________________ Pet Lover http://forums.randi.org/group.php?groupid=45 "When particles of evil and iniquity swarm together, they make a Lolly.": Legend

8th March 2011, 05:40 AM	#25
The Norseman I Void Warranties Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: The Treasure Valley Posts: 3,242	Originally Posted by Alan I tried out Linux Mint Debian Edition a few months ago. It took hours to download the updates. Took me maybe twenty more minutes for ~250 downloaded package updates. But I was still up and running with audio/video, flash... everything that took me several hours or so of fiddling with a vanilla Debian install. I'm simply impressed at how well MLDE works. I've got maybe a dozen apps that I use and that's about it as far as my everyday work/play. It's stable, fast, and I can easily tweak it if I feel like. Now I'm gonna make a few VM's of RHEL, Win7, Server08 so I can study for my certs.
	__________________ "I have always thought that a wild animal never looks so well as when some obstacle of pronounced durability is between us." "Sticking the flounce is the hardest move in forum gymnastics." -tsig

8th March 2011, 10:01 PM	#26
Alan Illuminator Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 3,652	I'm sure that it was my connection that contributed a lot to the speed. I am learning commands. The terminal is pretty nifty! You type in cal 2011 and it shows you the calendar for the year and this also works if you type in any year between 0 and 9999 AD. And if you just type cal, it shows you this month. Right there in the terminal! This is witchcraft. Tee hee. man date.

9th March 2011, 12:56 AM	#27
Fishstick Graduate Poster Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 1,303	Originally Posted by Alan Tee hee. man date. If man date goes well you can move on to man fsck and man pipe.

9th March 2011, 03:51 AM	#28
Alan Illuminator Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 3,652	There must be something Linus isn't telling us.

9th March 2011, 04:11 AM	#29
Soapy Sam NLH Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 25,885	Ubuntu on my Asus901 netbook as it's faster than Win XP. On my desktop I still have Win 7 as it seems to work fine.
Soapy Sam NLH Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 25,885

9th March 2011, 04:21 AM	#30
laca Illuminator Join Date: May 2009 Posts: 3,161	Originally Posted by commandlinegamer If you want to learn the nuts and bolts, Slackware. Rock solid, it just flaming works. Yup. I'm using Slackware64 with Xfce. Lightweight, simple and functional. I've also used RedHat and Suse in the past, but once you go Slack, you never go back.
laca Illuminator Join Date: May 2009 Posts: 3,161

9th March 2011, 07:54 AM	#31
roger Penultimate Amazing Join Date: May 2002 Location: Mountain View, CA Posts: 11,021	Originally Posted by Fishstick If man date goes well you can move on to man fsck and man pipe. man tail. If you swing this way, you have man ps, man cd, man strip, man time, man touch, man paste . If you need to get rid of the evidence, man kill. If you don't like what you see, there's man nohup.
	__________________ May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds. - Edward Abbey Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves. - John Muir

9th March 2011, 09:56 AM	#32
mikeyx Banned Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 3,570	Originally Posted by laca Yup. I'm using Slackware64 with Xfce. Lightweight, simple and functional. I've also used RedHat and Suse in the past, but once you go Slack, you never go back. racist
mikeyx Banned Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 3,570

9th March 2011, 01:18 PM	#33
not daSkeptic Graduate Poster Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 1,919	Originally Posted by roger man tail. If you swing this way, you have man ps, man cd, man strip, man time, man touch, man paste . If you need to get rid of the evidence, man kill. If you don't like what you see, there's man nohup. You forgot about man mount.
	__________________ Skepticism, good. Organized skepticism, bad. Formerly daSkeptic.

9th March 2011, 02:46 PM	#34
Lord Emsworth Je ne suis pas une de vos élèves Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Through the Cables and the Underground ... Posts: 2,827	man fsck

9th March 2011, 10:41 PM	#35
laca Illuminator Join Date: May 2009 Posts: 3,161	Originally Posted by mikeyx racist Did you just call me a racist without capitalization, punctuation, and, most importantly, without a smiley?
laca Illuminator Join Date: May 2009 Posts: 3,161