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MoffD
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Post by MoffD »

Keening_Product wrote: And that pi project wouldn't happen to be a wrist computer, would it? :disguised
Possibly 8)

I just hope those emulators run at sane speeds with the arm6 processor
Thanks for your helpful link, I don't know how to use google search :dopekeen
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Post by Keening_Product »

I assumed you'd done the search, I was just being silly :p

NEW DISTRO: I've just downloaded GoboLinux 015 to run on my netbook, which should be interesting. The distro changes the way the operating system stores binaries, the most obvious difference being the centralisation of all program files into logical directory structure under /programs. It seems to use the structure of /programs/program_name/version/, meaning multiple versions of the same program can run at the same time - not a feature I plan to use but an interesting side effect.

Unsurprisingly the OS sets up an extensive network of symlinks for directories like /bin and /usr/bin.

I'll let you all know how stable it is once I get it running.

In other "news", I left Fedora for a return to Ubuntu because a kernel update killed my graphics drivers, then killed any way of logging in with a GUI. I'm still a Linux noob and this is a work computer so I took the easy way out.

Also, I switched from Mate and XFCE to Cinnamon, which, surprisingly, runs faster than XFCE did. Wat.
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MoffD
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Post by MoffD »

Keening_Product wrote:I assumed you'd done the search, I was just being silly :p
As was I :D
Keening_Product wrote: NEW DISTRO: I've just downloaded GoboLinux 015 to run on my netbook, which should be interesting. The distro changes the way the operating system stores binaries, the most obvious difference being the centralisation of all program files into logical directory structure under /programs. It seems to use the structure of /programs/program_name/version/, meaning multiple versions of the same program can run at the same time - not a feature I plan to use but an interesting side effect.
I wonder how it works with different versions from the CLI
Keening_Product wrote: Also, I switched from Mate and XFCE to Cinnamon, which, surprisingly, runs faster than XFCE did. Wat.
:confused that's almost as strange as compiz running better than xfce...
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Post by Keening_Product »

I assume it'd just work like any other symlink would with a CLI - it's either a shortcut or it's not. I don't have much experience with anything except standard Bash though.

Compiz is one of the most horrible things to ever become standard in Linux. (I count being built into Unity and Gnome as being standard.) I'm looking forward to seeking how well the Deepin distro team's promised Compiz replacement works.
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Post by MoffD »

I wasn't aware that the new gnome and unity integrated compiz, I was referring to compiz as a standalone desktop manager replacement with emerald. I also was not aware that a replacement for it was in the works, I'll be interested to see how well it performs.

And yes, I play around with compiz sometimes :P
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Post by Keening_Product »

I might be wrong about Gnome, but Unity relies on it.
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Post by Keening_Product »

Double posting because waiting for another reply on this thread might take almost as long as it takes to get the GNU Hurd stable.

Surprisingly interesting video looking at Linus Torvalds' desks, which include loads of junk and loads of walking: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSgUPqygAww
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Post by Keening_Product »

DaVince and I have both installed LXDE/Razor-qt mashup LXQt on Ubuntu. It's pretty neat and, as of version 0.7 (the one we're using), pretty damn stable.

You can install it via the lxqt metapackage in the lubuntu daily ppa. I advise pairing it with Openbox.

It's not 100 per cent complete yet, obviously - the settings panel doesn't filter out the applets from other DEs and we've both been able to replicate a panel crash where switching between the number of rows causes the panel to reboot - but it's super fast while remaining functional.

I used to despise LXDE, so my approval hasn't come easily. Give it a shot.
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Post by Commander Spleen »

I've been running a project at the Makerspace to renew a pile of Dell Optiplex GX280s we were donated. P4, 512MB RAM, 20GB HDD, dodgy integrated Intel graphics. The idea being to reuse otherwise discarded hardware into something useful to the general public. We've been putting them out on the local Buy/Swap/Sell for $30, loaded up with a bunch of basic software and games. The best feature is a DOSBox script which loads up Power Menu with a whole bunch of Keen-era games to play.

Very long story spanning about a year and involving about a lot of distro/DE/WM hopping and soul destroying from-scratch system contructions, I have finally settled on GALPon MiniNo. It is based on Debian Wheezy and LXDE, and boots into about 80MB RAM. Running Iceweasel with a few open tabs and various other general use programs open it tends to hover around 300MB. Alas, the graphics chip holds it back from its full potential, but that's part of the challenge. The next experiment will be trying it out on an a sub-1GHz PC with 128MB RAM and see how well it can handle Windows 98 territory.

Stable is the most suitable and least breakable when sent into the wild, but I prefer to use Testing where possible. I doubt it would be a very clean jump, so this wouldn't be my preferred Debian for a reasonably modern PC. Although it wasn't too hard to upgrade from Stable to Testing in antiX, which was the previously preferred distro, so there may still be potential here.

In less-old-computer land, I'm giving Arch another go for the first time in a few years on my secondary PC, in the guise of Bridge Linux which is preinstalled with a functional desktop, available as live CD installer images for each of the major desktop environments--Xfce being my preference but LXDE was also tempting.

Mint has been my distro of choice for a long time, but I miss rolling release. Debian is nice for this purpose, and I'll be switching from Mint to a Debian Testing distro on my general use PC soon, but Arch is a lot more satisfying and much more flexible for development purposes.
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Post by Keening_Product »

That's a really sweet project you've got on there, and explains the pics of you with stacks of PCs on nosebook.

MiniNo looks neat, and the apparent panel customisation options look easy and effective. Does it have the same overload of permission screens Debian has? Debian has always been a bit fiddly, which might not be good for new users, but I have no idea what MiniNo does.

Bridge's website would have to be one of the worst out there. Its DistroWatch page is better than the real thing: http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=bridge What do you like about it? Or is it just that it's Arch with some of the installation pain removed?

As for Mint: did you see there is an official MATE spin of Ubuntu coming? Should be good. I've been running Cinnamon on Ubuntu for a couple of months now and it's proved stable and effective. And, as mentioned before, somehow more responsive than XFCE.
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Post by Commander Spleen »

explains the pics of you with stacks of PCs on nosebook.
Actually that was a whole other enterprise which took place just on ten years ago. Those machines were around the Pentium I era and were destined to become Windows 98 and FreeDOS computers. Networking in raw DOS was one of the major objectives heere, so we could play the likes of Death Rally and Duke 3D multiplayer without having to install Windows. Alas, I did have to cull many of those computers from my collection at one point, but still enough remain to form a decently sized exhibit one day.
Does it have the same overload of permission screens Debian has?
I've never had any success installing a raw Debian distro despite repeated attempts over the past decade. antiX, Sparky, Knoppix and now MiniNo are the main ones that have proven cooperative. All of these have reasonably straightforward installation procedures, some almost as smooth as Ubuntu or Mint.
Bridge's website would have to be one of the worst out there.
Indeed. I avoided it at first in favour of Antergos, but it drew me back in because it supports both LXDE and Xfce, while Antergos has an Xfce version but no LXDE. I'm using the Xfce edition on my development PC, but plan to do some Arch Linux stuff at the Makerspace in the near future where LXDE will be the desktop of choice and using the same distro for both will limit the necessity of relearning.

Although I did like that Antergos has a cleaner installation and nicer graphical package manager installed with the AUR enabled by default. I don't remember the name of Antergos' package manager at the moment, but Bridge Linux uses Packages for GNOME and it is pretty terrible. I'm just doing everything by the terminal at the moment--which I generally prefer, but having a supplementary visual browsing method comes in handy.
What do you like about it? Or is it just that it's Arch with some of the installation pain removed?
Aye, mainly just that. Although it's a great experience to build a system from scratch, I've done that too many times over the past 12 months and I just want something that's solid and functional without so much potential for broken stuff during setup.
As for Mint: did you see there is an official MATE spin of Ubuntu coming? Should be good. I've been running Cinnamon on Ubuntu for a couple of months now and it's proved stable and effective. And, as mentioned before, somehow more responsive than XFCE.
I'm not a huge fan of Cinnamon. It's been installed on my primary PC for about a year and there are just little things that annoy me. Such as not being able to access the shut down button with the arrow keys on the menu, all the configuration stuff being kept in a Control Panel style interface rather than directly accessible from the System/Preferences menus as in Xfce and LXDE, and some other things like that. There have probably been improvements since this version as I'm currently stranded on an abandoned non LTS edition of Mint, or maybe there are tweaks I'm overlooking. But Xfce still feels like home. Still, Cinnamon is definitely far preferable to KDE, while I'd rate it just below MATE overall,

Ubuntu running MATE might be something I would be more willing to recommend to others for higher end hardware, but not something I'm all that interested in using for myself.
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Post by gerstrong »

For productivity I'm using Mageia with KDE. I feel it a bit sluggish right now, but KDE has a lot of features, nice looking themes and great apps.

About performance... I don't know. Windows 7 and later I think are good, but I don't think the difference is that big. Linux much faster? I don't think so. If your Linux runs very slow, mostly it is because the hardware is not compatible. Many complains come because people do not get the right graphics card driver so the Cpu does the extra work for graphics.

What I always felt and feel with Windows is that over time it gets slower. My Linux never got so many slow down over the time.

And the last thing that should be mentioned and people do not always undrstand, Linux is not Windows. It is Operating System, but no Windows, meaning if someone wants to switch, there new things to learn. You cannot expect to work it like Windows, because it ain't.

Linux has had rough times lately especiallly in the desktop section, but give it a chance, you might find smething cool Windows might not be able to offer.
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Post by Keening_Product »

I noticed you were using KDE in your screenshots. I've been planning to shift to KDE when Ubuntu 14.10 comes out for some time now - gave it a shot a while back and it's a great shell.

Also looking at getting an SSD - should be interesting to see how that goes. I was shown a 2.2Ghz dual Celeron boot to the Win7 desktop in five seconds using one the other week.
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Post by gerstrong »

Keening_Product wrote:I noticed you were using KDE in your screenshots. I've been planning to shift to KDE when Ubuntu 14.10 comes out for some time now - gave it a shot a while back and it's a great shell.

Also looking at getting an SSD - should be interesting to see how that goes. I was shown a 2.2Ghz dual Celeron boot to the Win7 desktop in five seconds using one the other week.
KDE is nice and very costumisable, but honestly I'm a bigger fan of Gnome and it's shell. I tend to switch often because I get excited about the new features they release. I also tend to switch to XFCE, it is awesome for system with lower resources.

For users coming from Windows (especially 7) and want to use something familiar, I really recommend KDE. It is stable, it is mature and has a lot of power tools.

SSDs are awesome, I have one here and yeah I think 5 seconds is what my machine takes to boot as well, but I must say, I also mount my home directory on a harddrive, so the apps and OS get the boost really.

For me, that's good enough.
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Post by Keening_Product »

Upgrades complete. Woah, so responsive! I knew to expect a speed increase, but there are some basic things that I wasn't expecting to improve. Window animations (cheap thrills) slickening up, for example, and general workflow improvements as a result. They don't take less time so much as provide a smoother transition between tasks.

I fresh installed Kubuntu 14.10 with the new drive and this is my first full KDE installation. I was impressed by the partial install I did on 14.04, and this is just above and beyond what I'd expected. Even the default Ubuntu application centre has been replaced with something better-designed and more responsive.

Also, the Xorg Crack Pushers ppa is the best ppa ever.

I'm really happy with the upgrades - improved productivity ahead.
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