Linux Distro talk

[Bob Maxey]

I think Ubuntu is a great first introduction to linux IMHO

I tried Ubuntu. With those gaudy awful colors and the large buttons on the side of the screen, it reminds me of Windows Metro. Not sure why, it just does. I just installed Mint. My last install for a long time to come. I see no value in trying out different versions because I am not convinced there are that many differences between most editions / versions / distros / forks or what have you.

But I am clueless so do not listen to me.

It seems to me that many of these different versions are essentially the same OS with a change in the desktop or included programs. Am I essentially correct? Again, I am clueless.

Seems to me, Microsoft could create Windows_Cook Edition, Windows_Play Edition and Windows_Engineer versions by simply adding things related to baking, games and train driving. Same OS, different content.

Seems the fundamental differences have to do with the Kernel.

So as always, clarification and corrections are welcome.

 

[EarlyMon]

I don't know what to tell you here, Bob. You're pretty close.

Your going in position is that you're not convinced of major differences between the distributions, yet it sounds like you haven't tried many.

GNU/Linux (the canonically correct name) is an operating system consisting of the Linux kernel, GNU and other FOSS replacements for unix building blocks and various utilities and a desktop environment.

Various distributions primarily change those last two items in the list above.

The desktop is actually optional on any *nix operating system. A useful and desirable option but an option nonetheless. Last Ubuntu I ran, I replaced the desktop with one more to my liking.

It's a completely different paradigm than various Windows versions and you need to accept that if you want to understand it.

You can sample distributions until you find one you like, or you modify any of them to the limits of your experience and develop whatever user environment meets your needs.

You can even take a Linux distribution optimized for embedded applications, add a stack engine to serve as a virtual machine, supply utilities that run in that virtual machine, and call it Android. Google did.

 

[Bob Maxey]

Ubuntu is regular chips, Bob.

Thought so.

So Early . . . If Ubuntu is like a bag of regular chips, what would be the equivalent of a lavish 24-course dinner before the Emperor of China, with illegally imported cubans and 50 YO single malt scotch and serving girls in almost nothing at all?

I want to learn one of these programming languages:

Obscure programming languages - All About Circuits Forum

 

[saptech]

Okay, I just received my Core 2 Duo system from Ebay and it came with Ubuntu installed by default. Ugggg, I'm going to keep it installed until the 14 days of exchange ends, then put Mageia 2 and maybe Win 7 on it.

Ubuntu is showing build date as 11.10, so this version is a year old. I don't know if I should update it or not. So far all my external hardware is working without issues, but I haven't tried my Brother All-In-One printer yet. Is this Unity desktop, as Bob mention, it has the icons as a sidebar?

My next task is to get the AIO working, which shouldn't be a big deal since Brother do offer .deb files on their website.

To be continued...

 

[EarlyMon]

Thought so.

So Early . . . If Ubuntu is like a bag of regular chips, what would be the equivalent of a lavish 24-course dinner before the Emperor of China, with illegally imported cubans and 50 YO single malt scotch and serving girls in almost nothing at all?

One of my distributed industrial systems would fit that bill rather nicely.

I want to learn one of these programming languages:

Obscure programming languages - All About Circuits Forum

Don't be shy Bob - I'll bet you've worked in several of those, as have we all.

 

[Prinny]

Okay, I just received my Core 2 Duo system from Ebay and it came with Ubuntu installed by default. Ugggg, I'm going to keep it installed until the 14 days of exchange ends, then put Mageia 2 and maybe Win 7 on it.

Ubuntu is showing build date as 11.10, so this version is a year old. I don't know if I should update it or not. So far all my external hardware is working without issues, but I haven't tried my Brother All-In-One printer yet. Is this Unity desktop, as Bob mention, it has the icons as a sidebar?

My next task is to get the AIO working, which shouldn't be a big deal since Brother do offer .deb files on their website.

To be continued...

Unity is a desktop UI. It can be replaced with whatever you want. Open box, iceWM, cinnamon, kde. I have 12.10 with the cinnamon desktop running. Its what mint uses. Very nice desktop interface. I'll post a screen cap after work

 

[saptech]

Unity is a desktop UI. It can be replaced with whatever you want. Open box, iceWM, cinnamon, kde. I have 12.10 with the cinnamon desktop running. Its what mint uses. Very nice desktop interface. I'll post a screen cap after work

Yes, I understand I can change, switch and use more than one at the same time for the UI, but just wondered if this was Unity, I've never used it. I sure miss Gnome2 and I know it still around in some form or another but I wish somebody had forked it as it was.

Thnx.

 

[SUroot]

I tried Ubuntu. With those gaudy awful colors and the large buttons on the side of the screen

Yeah, see what I did was change the gaudy awful colours and resize the launcher icons to be much smaller....

 

[Prinny]

Yes, I understand I can change, switch and use more than one at the same time for the UI, but just wondered if this was Unity, I've never used it. I sure miss Gnome2 and I know it still around in some form or another but I wish somebody had forked it as it was.

Thnx.

Look up MATE

 

[Bob Maxey]

Yeah, see what I did was change the gaudy awful colours and resize the launcher icons to be much smaller....

Much nicer colors.

 

[Bob Maxey]

One of my distributed industrial systems would fit that bill rather nicely.

Don't be shy Bob - I'll bet you've worked in several of those, as have we all.

A little Visual Basic, some Access and a love affair with Fox Pro. Then batch files and modem test scripts written for our test computers and HP's BT Basic (Board Test Basic).

I do have a great fondness for Fox Pro. Not sure why I like it better than Access.

The first language I learned early on was called MOMBasic. The syntax is easy to understand:

"IF you do not clean your room, AND by the time your father gets home, THEN he will beat you. DO it now, young man, OR ELSE.

I think Roger Waters was a coder: "IF you dont eat your meat, THEN you will not get your pudding."

 

[Prinny]

You know....I just got an.idea...why don't we get a bunch of people here and start our own distro...? We can build off a tiny ubuntu ISO and customize it

 

[Bob Maxey]

You know....I just got an.idea...why don't we get a bunch of people here and start our own distro...? We can build off a tiny ubuntu ISO and customize it

See the screenshot in #33 above. He seems to be using the Android Forums color scheme, so he is should be project lead. Or Early.

My programs are not very good because they only run on an abacus.

 

[Ze Veteran]

Yellowdog is for Macs only.

Old Macs. Since 2006 all Apple computers have the x86 CPU architecture.

I started with Red Hat (was it 5 or 5.1) back in 1998. Tried everything, loved Debian the most - stable. Apt-get FTW. Trouble is, I got bored of screwing around to make little things continue working. Connecting digital cameras was a particular thorn in my side.

At first, you should use the most popular distro, because that one 'usually' has the best support community. I still think that learning the command line is important - plus you may be able to get a job as a Linux Sys Admin. The most used Linux in industry is Red Hat by far. I have Oracle's linux due to my job. Its a clone of Red Hat.

 

[Bob Maxey]

Some of you might have seen this distro already, but if you are an artist, writer or musician, you might consider downloading the live CD.

I have tried a few distros and I rather like Mint, but I also rather like ArtistX. Tons of programs. I am new to Linux so perhaps what I am so excited about is not so new; perhaps there are other distros just as feature rich and filled with applications aimed at one set of interests.

ArtistX is a large distro; around 3.5-4 gb. AX install hundreds of programs for creating 2d and 3d graphics, there are several different office suites, several word processors, quite a few text editors and more than a dozen configuration programs. There is really too much to describe here.

Tons of stuff I have never seen in a distro. I like Wine which is also installed.

It is built on Ubuntu.

I am rather surprised to see so much offered in a distro. Typically, you get the usual stuff. With this one, you get far more than you can absorb, fiddle with, experiment with, setup, and tryout.

Enlightenment:

Have you see this desktop? We talk of Gnome, KDE and the rest, but I had to discover this one on my own. Very slick and completely different than other DTs. It took me some time to figure out that desktop icons are locked in place and to move and resize them, you must right-clkck and select the action. You can configure the hell out of almost everything.

Anyway, it is snowing and I have nothing better to do than fiddle with the laptop and pester you fine folks.

 

[argedion]

Thanks for the info Bob

 

[Bob Maxey]

Thanks for the info Bob

UR welcome. I find it all quite interesting.

 

[EarlyMon]

Definitely sounds worth checking out!

 

[Prinny]

UR welcome. I find it all quite interesting.

Hey, Bob. Check out ubuntu studio or dream linux. Studio has the xfce environment. Dream...I dunno I haven't used it

 

[argedion]

you can also check out 64 studio for media stuff

64 Studio | Have GNU/Linux your way!

or gnuartist

https://sites.google.com/site/gnuartist/

 

[saptech]

Enlightenment:

Have you see this desktop? We talk of Gnome, KDE and the rest, but I had to discover this one on my own. Very slick and completely different than other DTs. It took me some time to figure out that desktop icons are locked in place and to move and resize them, you must right-clkck and select the action. You can configure the hell out of almost everything.

Anyway, it is snowing and I have nothing better to do than fiddle with the laptop and pester you fine folks.

You think Enlightenment is the bomb, for me, it have too much eye candy, but is nice & different.

I rather go for Openbox, it comes with only a blank screen by default. You have to right-click for any type of menu options. Then you add more to it. No desktop icons though unless you add something like Rox Filer.

Just a thought.

 

[Bob Maxey]

Hey, Bob. Check out ubuntu studio or dream linux. Studio has the xfce environment. Dream...I dunno I haven't used it

I took a look at Ubuntu Studio. Not really for me, but it does look nice.

Some of these distros contain stuff I'll never use because I have it already, on a seperate machine. I did take a look at Dream Linux, but apparently, it is discontinued.

Not sure if that really makes a difference, does it? Perhaps you can tell me: if a distro is discontinued, does it really matter since you can add your own desktop and apps to any distro.

 

[EarlyMon]

One of my machines is running a ten year old distribution, and it does exactly what I need. If it ain't broke, don't fix it sort of thing.

You can follow the security community and update anything that you believe is a risk for you when found. If it is broken, you can fix it.

Typically, so long as you keep gcc updated and manage libraries as needed, you can use distributions for a very long time.

 

[xxkid123]

I voted Ubuntu, but only because with mint I've had a few issues getting things running right. Also, ubuntu worked straight out of the box for me, whereas with mint I had to spend time configuring a bunch of drivers.

I think that's just because I made a few errors on my part with mint. YMMV.

All in all I like both- they're extremely similar and I use a billion and one desktop environments anyways, and the two I use the most are Gnome 3 and LXDE- I don't give two turds about Mate, Cinnamon or Unity.