[sclug] Alternative to Ubuntu

Sun Oct 4 18:26:07 UTC 2009

I was wondering if anyone has a personal recommendation for an alternative
to Ubuntu for a desktop OS. I'm currently using Jaunty (9.04) and it is
beset with niggling problems, viz

My CD writer isn't recognised.
The printer doesn't start until I reboot, and then after clearing the print
queue it stops again. Result = I have to reboot every time I want to print
something (all these reboots - is Ubuntu trying to be Windows, or what? :-)
)
5 times out of 10 it won't do a clean shutdown.

These are all regression from 7.10 Gutsy, which didn't have these problems
and ran quite nicely until they withdrew the repositories in April and I
couldn't get any more packages.

Anyway, what I want is a nice (pref. Gnome based) distro that doesn't have
the above issues. Someone said Fedora 11, but I am open to suggestions. I do
a lot of photography so any distro I use must support the nvidia proprietary
drivers, the usual browser and other codecs, offer decent audio rip and play
apps plus dcraw, UFRaw and Gimp 2.6 in the repositories, and do a good job
with wireless networking (using ndiswrapper).

Can anyone show me the way forward?

TIA

Neil.

2009/10/4 <sclug-request at sclug.org.uk>

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> Today's Topics:
>
>   1. Cent OS 5.3 Server Edition Problem (Matthew Cox)
>   2. Re: Cent OS 5.3 Server Edition Problem (Simon Huggins)
>   3. Re: Cent OS 5.3 Server Edition Problem (Alex Butcher)
>   4. Re: Cent OS 5.3 Server Edition Problem (Matthew Cox)
>   5. Re: Cent OS 5.3 Server Edition Problem (Keith Edmunds)
>
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Matthew Cox <spudgun79 at gmail.com>
> To: sclug at sclug.org.uk
> Date: Sat, 3 Oct 2009 22:07:10 +0100
> Subject: [sclug] Cent OS 5.3 Server Edition Problem
> Hi all,
>
> I've got an old PC lying around which I wanted to make a home server (LAMP)
> out of.  I thought I'd try and branch out from using Ubuntu so thought I
> woud try Cent OS 5.3 to broaden my horizons.
>
> It installed okay (via net install disk), however on boot it does a check
> for hardware changes, and after that it gives the following error which
> repeats and talks about disabling it for 5 minutes:
>
> 'cannot execute: /sbin/mingetty'
>
> I haven't been able to find anything directly involving the same problem as
> me, but was wondering if anyone has any pointers as to where to go from
> here?
>
> Many thanks.
>
> Matt.
>
>
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Simon Huggins <huggie at earth.li>
> To: sclug at sclug.org.uk
> Date: Sat, 3 Oct 2009 23:09:59 +0100
> Subject: Re: [sclug] Cent OS 5.3 Server Edition Problem
> On Sat, Oct 03, 2009 at 10:07:10PM +0100, Matthew Cox wrote:
> > It installed okay (via net install disk), however on boot it does a check
> > for hardware changes, and after that it gives the following error which
> > repeats and talks about disabling it for 5 minutes:
>
> > 'cannot execute: /sbin/mingetty'
>
> > I haven't been able to find anything directly involving the same problem
> as
> > me, but was wondering if anyone has any pointers as to where to go from
> > here?
>
> I don't know how you've got into this state but you could try booting
> with init=/bin/sh (via grub) to get you into the system at all.
>
> You should then be able to have a look around at /sbin/mingetty and
> /etc/inittab (which is what'll be running it) to find out what's up.
>
> For our sins, we have CentOS at work and I've never seen this before.
>
> --
> ----------( "What do you find bracing Basil?  the damp, the  )----------
> ----------(   drizzle, the fog ..." - Sybil, Fawlty Towers   )----------
> Simon ----(                                                  )---- Nomis
>                             Htag.pl 0.0.24
>
>
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Alex Butcher <lug at assursys.co.uk>
> To: Simon Huggins <huggie at earth.li>
> Date: Sun, 4 Oct 2009 11:05:27 +0100 (BST)
> Subject: Re: [sclug] Cent OS 5.3 Server Edition Problem
> On Sat, 3 Oct 2009, Simon Huggins wrote:
>
>  On Sat, Oct 03, 2009 at 10:07:10PM +0100, Matthew Cox wrote:
>>
>>> It installed okay (via net install disk), however on boot it does a check
>>> for hardware changes, and after that it gives the following error which
>>> repeats and talks about disabling it for 5 minutes:
>>>
>>
>>  'cannot execute: /sbin/mingetty'
>>>
>>
>>  I haven't been able to find anything directly involving the same problem
>>> as
>>> me, but was wondering if anyone has any pointers as to where to go from
>>> here?
>>>
>>
> [snip]
>
>  For our sins, we have CentOS at work and I've never seen this before.
>>
>
> Me neither. Googling suggests that the root (or /tmp, if you've separated
> it) filesystem being full or the disc having failed may be root causes.
>
> HTH,
> Alex
>
>
>
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Matthew Cox <spudgun79 at gmail.com>
> To: Alex Butcher <lug at assursys.co.uk>, sclug at sclug.org.uk
> Date: Sun, 4 Oct 2009 11:39:36 +0100
> Subject: Re: [sclug] Cent OS 5.3 Server Edition Problem
> Yes, I'm starting to suspect it may be the HD causing the issue. I've had
> to
> re-seat the SATA cable for the drive a couple of times and its starting to
> become a bit finnicky.
>
> I tried another install this morning and it failed due to an unexpected
> error. I have a couple of spare SATA cables lying around so I'll try one of
> those first to perhaps eliminate it from my enquiries.  Failing that I have
> a spare drive that I can try.
>
> Its strange, it had a win2k install on it up until now and was working
> fine.
> Either I've disturbed something in the case where I've been tinkering or
> the
> reinstall has been the straw which broke the camel's back on the HD.
>
> Thanks for your help and suggestions, I'll try the above and let you know
> how I get on.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Matt.
>
> On Oct 4, 2009 11:05 AM, "Alex Butcher" <lug at assursys.co.uk> wrote:
>
> On Sat, 3 Oct 2009, Simon Huggins wrote: > On Sat, Oct 03, 2009 at
> 10:07:10PM +0100, Matthew Cox wr...
> [snip]
>
> > For our sins, we have CentOS at work and I've never seen this before.
> Me neither. Googling suggests that the root (or /tmp, if you've separated
> it) filesystem being full or the disc having failed may be root causes.
>
> HTH,
> Alex
>
>
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Keith Edmunds <kae at midnighthax.com>
> To: sclug at sclug.org.uk
> Date: Sun, 4 Oct 2009 12:34:47 +0100
> Subject: Re: [sclug] Cent OS 5.3 Server Edition Problem
> It's worth checking that the permissions of /tmp are correct - they should
> be 1777, which shows as "drwxrwxrwt" (note the trailing 't').
>
> Keith
>
>
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