[Lancaster] Meeting 5th November

[Wayne Ward]

No worries ken i see dave cant be here either ill still turn up just after 
eight oclock incase anyone turns up!!   lee said he might be coming.. and 
havent heard from andy for a while...

I had problems with java but used the instrucions on my blog  on multiple 
machines java worked fine from iceweasel  they need to fix java plugin!! quick!

I used virtualbox 2 on my debian boxes i just downloaded and installed the deb 
- i also made sure i removed my old version first and rebooted to get rid of 
any modules and network binds etc. The virtual box 2 installed then when i 
started the service it built a module for me and told me to add myself to the 
vboxgroup and that was it!  im not sure a bout usb though i never tested it...

For a kde desktop version of debain you have to just download the kde install 
not the standard gnome install a bit like ubuntu / kubuntu - if you get the 
kde installer you get a full kde desktop setup save all the faffing around!

The last time i did a kde text install it asked me the general questions at 
the start of the install and at the end asked me if i want to write the grub 
changes then reboots? cant recall it asking anything else!
kubuntu asks about 5 questions during a install which was pretty neat!
I seem to remember xp stopping on the install for me to click a ok button for 
no reason what so ever!!

Sounds like your at home with suse ken - its funny how some people cant adapt 
to didnt flavours of linux rather than others!  i was a red hat guy for over 5 
years now i wouldnt touch it with a barge pole as im more used to the debian 
way now!! so i use kubuntu / debain boxes
Whats similiar to suse/novell - fedora im not sure?.. have you ever tried 
mandrake or what ever its called now! i can remember it being pretty easy to 
configure and similiar to suse..

Wayne

On Wednesday 05 November 2008 14:03:30 Ken Hough wrote:
> Sorry guys, but I won't be coming along to the LUG meeting tonight. I've
> got a few problems to attend to, including sorting out my PC. Also, I'm
> going away for the weekend and I've just realised that it's firework night,
> so don't want to leave my dog (a working springer spaniel) on her own
> tonight.
>
> As I've mentioned, I was trying out Debian v5 which I was warming to, but a
> few problems have cropped up:
>
> 1. Debian policy doesn't allow for automounting. Mounting must be done by
> root. A real pain!
> 2. Despite following Debian specific instructions for installing Java, I
> couldn't get it to work.
> 3. Had a real foul up with VirtualBox. After installing the provided v1.6.x
> and getting it to work OK, I discovered that this version doesn't provide
> for USB. I removed this version and tried to install v2 via a Debian
> package (a complicated process), but this didn't work and it really messed
> things up so that I couldn't get the original version re-installed/working.
>
> No doubt, these problems could be resolved by someone who really knows what
> they are doing, but I don't.   :-(
>
> Anyway, I got increasingly fed up with some other aspects of Debian:
>
> 1. The (non graphical) installer appears to give only limited selection of
> software that will be installed, so that the user must play around after
> the installation is done. Also, like it or not, Gnome is installed. KDE
> must be installed separately. I just cannot get to like Gnome!
> 2. The user is required to enter info at a few stages DURING the
> installation process, so one can't simply set up all requirements and then
> leave things to run to completion (unlike with SUSE).
> 3. Why on earth does 'dir' to exactly the same as 'ls' ? I'm used to
> having 'ls' to list file names so as to get a lot on screen, and 'dir' to
> provide a full listing equivalent of 'ls -l' and with the colour option.
>
> The upshot of all of this is that I've gone back to SUSE v11.0 which IMHO
> is much more flexible, user friendly, better presented, and generally works
> well.
>
> The transitions have been relatively painless, because I keep my /home
> directory on a separate partition.
>
> See you soon
>
> Ken hough
>
>
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