[Lancaster] Meeting 5th November

[Ken Hough]

On Wednesday 05 November 2008 16:10:09 Wayne Ward wrote:
> 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 was more interested in the JRE to be able to run the Arduino IDE as I 
already do on my old Athlon box running under SUSE v10.1

>
> 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...

Apparently v2 does include for USB.

>
> 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!

But a proper ( ?  :-) ) installation gives you the choice of Gnome, KDE 3.5, 
and KDE 4.0 so you don't need to go hunting around. I still go for KDE3.5.

>
> 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!

I can't check now because I've got rid of Debian, but I do remember having to 
go back to the PC to put in info at at least two stages.

> kubuntu asks about 5 questions during a install which was pretty neat!

SUSE presents quite a few options, but will happily insert sensible defaults 
if not challenged. these are all before the installation itself get under 
way. I spend a bit of time with the partitioning setup. I also have XP 
installed in the first primary partition. I spread my Linux installation over 
separate /boot, /, and /home partitons. I also put the boot loader into the 
boot record of the /boot partition rather than in the master boot record  --  
just in case XP goes AWOL. The latter is a throwback to the days when I used 
to set up win98/Linux systems. Setup.EXE used to overwrite the master boot 
record and so wipe out any boot records that happend to be there. Perhaps I'm 
being to conservative with XP, but I just don't trust Microsoft.

> I seem to remember xp stopping on the install for me to click a ok button
> for no reason what so ever!!

The Microsoft offerings are in a different and more tedious and silly league, 
and when you have finished installing XP and maybe SP3, you have still to 
faff about with all of the application stuff and drivers!

>
> Sounds like your at home with suse ken - its funny how some people cant
> adapt to didnt flavours of linux rather than others!

That's an advantage of having such a big choice, although for a newbie this 
can be a real downer.

> 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?..

They both use RPM so that typically Fedora packages will install OK on SUSE.

> have you ever tried 
> mandrake or what ever its called now!

Mandriva!  I haven't really used it since the name changed from Mandrake, so 
can't comment.

> i can remember it being pretty easy 
> to configure

That was their main claim to fame. Mandrake may have led the way in that 
aspect, but the likes of Ubuntu, SUSE, and Fedora seem to have have caught 
up.

> and similiar to suse.. 

But SUSE has Yast2! That's a bit like Marmite in that some love it (me!), 
while others claim to hate it. I bet that most of the latter group haven't 
really tried it lately.

Ken Hough

>
> 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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