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The "Linux questions (and other stuff)" thread

Hmm... I think that should work... it might depend on vi/vim/vim-tiny...?

Or I could have messed up the syntax ;)

But q and a letter should start a macro recording, then q again to end it. And 3@a should do the macro assigned to a three times...
I was getting weird results, like the numbers incrementing like this:

1.
6.


:thinking:

I'll give it another look tomorrow.

But I'm really getting into vim now.
I still call it vi, and it's been my good friend since 1985! :D

I just got a decent .vimrc file configured for my work comp. :)
Cool! :)

Edit: Also, I just noticed your guide status - congrats! :)
That's sweet. Thank you.
 
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I should give this os a try... I never tried it before.
Slackware has a bad reputation for being very user UNfriendly, but don't let that sway you. As with everything else, some people find things easy and others don't. No one knows how their experience with Slackware [or anything else] will go unless they try it.
 
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I learned a lot about Linux just installing Slackware... of course, that was a few versions ago. :rolleyes:
Yep, Slackware definitely comes in handy when it comes to learning about Linux. :D

I have since gotten lazy and all but abandoned the CLI. :(
Me, too...sort of. I love my beautiful GUIs, I love my desktop cube with its separate faces for each desktop, I love all the whiz-bang visual effects. But, when it comes to getting things done fast and efficiently? I'm always at a prompt. There's just no comparison.
 
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I learned a lot about Linux just installing Slackware... of course, that was a few versions ago. :rolleyes:

I have since gotten lazy and all but abandoned the CLI. :(
Same here. I used to love tinkering with linux but as time went on, I started using more GUI friendly distros.

My current distros are Mageia Linux, forked from Mandriva/Mandrake and also a more friendly Slackware version, SalixOS. If anyone is thinking about Slackware but afraid it may be hard to install/use, give Salix a try.
 
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I'm kinda in the same boat. I use distros with easy guis, but for the most part, I'm just on one terminal full screen with multiple tabs open.
(cmus|vim|vim|less|man|etc.......)

Though, I do use a few gui applications quite regularly, mostly firefox, pdf viewer, and wireshark.

One of these days, I'm gonna get a new computer and be able to get a great linux setup going. I want to dive into arch again.
 
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I'm kinda in the same boat. I use distros with easy guis, but for the most part, I'm just on one terminal full screen with multiple tabs open.
(cmus|vim|vim|less|man|etc.......)

Though, I do use a few gui applications quite regularly, mostly firefox, pdf viewer, and wireshark.

One of these days, I'm gonna get a new computer and be able to get a great linux setup going. I want to dive into arch again.

Nice. I don't think I can get far without a GUI.
 
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The other day I was looking for info on one thing, and--as so often happens online--ended up stumbling across something totally different, but very interesting. It's a command called dmidecode. If I ever knew about it, I guess I had forgotten, because it didn't even sound familiar.

Here's the first bit of its man page:

Code:
DMIDECODE(8)                                                                                                        

NAME
       dmidecode - DMI table decoder

SYNOPSIS
       dmidecode [OPTIONS]

DESCRIPTION
       dmidecode is a tool for dumping a computer's DMI (some say SMBIOS)
       table contents in a human-readable format. This table contains a
       description of the system's hardware components, as well as other
       useful pieces of information such  as  serial  numbers  and  BIOS
       revision. Thanks to this table, you can retrieve this information
       without having to probe for the actual hardware.  While this is a
       good point in terms of report speed and safeness, this also makes
       the presented information possibly unreliable.

       The DMI table doesn't only describe what the system is currently
       made of, it also can report the possible evolutions (such  as  the
       fastest supported CPU or the maximal amount of memory supported).

       SMBIOS stands for System Management BIOS, while DMI stands for
       Desktop Management Interface. Both standards are tightly related and
       developed by the DMTF (Desktop Management Task Force).

       As you run it, dmidecode will try to locate the DMI table. If it
       succeeds, it will then parse this table  and  display  a  list  of
       records like this one:

       Handle 0x0002, DMI type 2, 8 bytes.  Base Board Information
               Manufacturer: Intel
               Product Name: C440GX+
               Version: 727281-001
               Serial Number: INCY92700942

Note that it has to be run as root.

It produces an AMAZING array of information about the computer it's run on.
 
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The other day I was looking for info on one thing, and--as so often happens online--ended up stumbling across something totally different, but very interesting. It's a command called dmidecode. If I ever knew about it, I guess I had forgotten, because it didn't even sound familiar.

Here's the first bit of its man page:

Code:
DMIDECODE(8)                                                                                                        

NAME
       dmidecode - DMI table decoder

SYNOPSIS
       dmidecode [OPTIONS]

DESCRIPTION
       dmidecode is a tool for dumping a computer's DMI (some say SMBIOS)
       table contents in a human-readable format. This table contains a
       description of the system's hardware components, as well as other
       useful pieces of information such  as  serial  numbers  and  BIOS
       revision. Thanks to this table, you can retrieve this information
       without having to probe for the actual hardware.  While this is a
       good point in terms of report speed and safeness, this also makes
       the presented information possibly unreliable.

       The DMI table doesn't only describe what the system is currently
       made of, it also can report the possible evolutions (such  as  the
       fastest supported CPU or the maximal amount of memory supported).

       SMBIOS stands for System Management BIOS, while DMI stands for
       Desktop Management Interface. Both standards are tightly related and
       developed by the DMTF (Desktop Management Task Force).

       As you run it, dmidecode will try to locate the DMI table. If it
       succeeds, it will then parse this table  and  display  a  list  of
       records like this one:

       Handle 0x0002, DMI type 2, 8 bytes.  Base Board Information
               Manufacturer: Intel
               Product Name: C440GX+
               Version: 727281-001
               Serial Number: INCY92700942

Note that it has to be run as root.

It produces an AMAZING array of information about the computer it's run on.

Never even heard of it until just now :rolleyes:
 
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I'll have to check that out once I have a computer again...
I think you'll be pleased. I was. I just don't know why I'd never heard of it before. :thinking:

Speaking of, I just ordered a new laptop, and will have the"opportunity" to install Mint 15 on an UEFI machine.
Will you post a followup? I'd love to hear how your experience with UEFI goes.

That also means I get to experience Windows 8 in all its magnificent glory. :rolleyes:
Right! :laugh:
 
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I'll have to check that out once I have a computer again...

Speaking of, I just ordered a new laptop, and will have the"opportunity" to install Mint 15 on an UEFI machine.

That also means I get to experience Windows 8 in all its magnificent glory. :rolleyes:

If it's anything like the UEFI'd HP laptop I recently got, you'll need to know a few things ahead of time.

1.) ABSOLUTELY get the 64bit, UEFI-aware version of whatever Linux distro you want to install, if available. It massively cuts down on headaches.

2.) The UEFI "OS Boot Manager" has complete tunnel vision for windows 8. Grub will NOT show up unless you explicitly hit whatever key is for "select boot device" on startup (F9 on mine), and select your UEFI distro entry -- EVERY TIME!

3.) Some of them support Secure Boot out of the box, others don't, if your distro installs in UEFI mode and still won't boot after selecting it, it probably didn't support it. You'll have to turn it off in the BIOS.

Hope this helps :)
 
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Grub will NOT show up unless you explicitly hit whatever key is for "select boot device" on startup (F9 on mine), and select your UEFI distro entry -- EVERY TIME!

Personally, I don't use Grub on my laptop, I use this. Detects installed operating systems and bootable external media with the ability to refresh if you plug something in while on the screen.
 
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Speaking of, I just ordered a new laptop, and will have the"opportunity" to install Mint 15 on an UEFI machine.
Here's a ZDNet article describing one person's experience with that (KDE). It's pretty interesting, and includes this summary:

So, to summarize about Linux Mint 15 KDE: if you have a UEFI-boot system, you might want to think carefully before trying it. If you have a normal or legacy boot system, or if you are happy leaving Legacy Boot Support enabled on a UEFI-boot system, then by all means, go for it. Beyond this UEFI-boot issue, the release itself is what we all expect from Linux Mint these days: good, solid, well configured with an excellent range of pre-installed packages and great Mint-specific utilities.
 
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I finally got that dual boot of mine squared away. I upgraded to 12.04LST. Now how do I install a tar.bz file? I happen to want FX and Thunderbird ESR. Those only get security installs. I use them on Windows. Trouble is, they are tar.bz . I can extract, but can't install.

Also, how do you get a different desktop? I don't care for unity. I liked the old menu with a list with titles, like internet, science, office, games. I had 10.10 set up, then went to Mint, and now I can't find the answers again.

One good thing, this time on installing Ubuntu told me which command would do what.

Upgrade, erase 11.04 and install 12.04. Erase everything including the drive with XP.
That made sense. I know which HD is which by MFG. SDA1 tells me nothing,

Thanks

I did look up FX, and the answer was to let FX update normally. They didn't realize there was an ESR version.
 
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I finally got that dual boot of mine squared away. I upgraded to 12.04LST. Now how do I install a tar.bz file? I happen to want FX and Thunderbird ESR. Those only get security installs. I use them on Windows. Trouble is, they are tar.bz . I can extract, but can't install.

Also, how do you get a different desktop? I don't care for unity. I liked the old menu with a list with titles, like internet, science, office, games. I had 10.10 set up, then went to Mint, and now I can't find the answers again.

One good thing, this time on installing Ubuntu told me which command would do what.

Upgrade, erase 11.04 and install 12.04. Erase everything including the drive with XP.
That made sense. I know which HD is which by MFG. SDA1 tells me nothing,

Thanks

I did look up FX, and the answer was to let FX update normally. They didn't realize there was an ESR version.
Should be able to extract the tar.bz file with something like this:
Code:
tar xfvj [I]file.tar.bz[/I]

I *think* rights, but I didn't have a tar.bz to try it on.
 
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