[sclug] Alternative to Ubuntu

[Alan Pearson]

Neil,

The secret is to try them all and find what you're happy with.
Ubuntu is currently the 'flavour of the minute' but it is by no means  
all...

Give OpenSUSE a go, or even Fedora

See which one you like !

---
AlanP

On 4 Oct 2009, at 19:26, Neil Haughton wrote:

> 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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>> When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
>> than "Re: Contents of sclug digest..."
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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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