Last evening Lance Levsen set me up with a new Debian box. My old computer (running Suse 7.0) was still going strong after 6 years (it’s never turned off) and we actually incorporated the old hard-drive into the new machine, but it wasn’t possible to upgrade it to do some of the functions I needed – like burning cd’s.
There are a few tasks and glitches left – like installing Opera (ugh, I don’t like Firefox at all) and getting my Wacom CT-0405-R tablet to work properly – and I have to learn my way around the distro, so blogging may be light for a few days as I concentrate on that.
You can use the comments section for reader tips and whatnot.
Debian is a rock. I use Debian on my dual-proc dev machine and enjoy it immensely for that purpose. Get familiar with “apt-get” because it is so effective and simple to install packages with it. Stay away from the games ‘armagetron’ and ‘frozen bubble’ – they are time suckers for me!
But Kate, I have to say “owch” on FireFox! I’m using it on windows and Mandriva but my version of stable Debian uses Mozilla. Big time bloat, slow and wah….I almost refuse to surf on Debian using Mozilla. Although I used it nearly exclusively for dev testing many years ago. Firefox is much lighter.
Anyway, installing packages and upgrading is a snap with apt-get. Go Debian!
Good grief. You actually sound like you know what you’re talking about.
Sure, go ahead- kill the fantasy.
You’ll probably like Debian. I’ve loaded it on a couple of boxes for friends. You’ll like it even better if it has the auto update feature and packge management. Lately, I’ve been loading Ubuntu; Debian based. I’m not a command line bigot anymore. If I was I couldn’t play Shoutcast streaming music and I’ve gotten used to piping it all over the house.
Agreed on Firefox, and I don’t even have any truly rational reasons that I could list except the key commands. Opera is a little less objectionable, again for reasons unknown.
After I had visited SDA for a while it finally struck me that I used to run into you on Usenet in a.r.k and the LINUX groups.
“Geekwatch: Two boobs and a baby
By Mathew Ingram
Thursday, January 26, 2006
Globe and Mail Update
A podcast for those late nights?:
Toronto resident Dave Delaney and his wife were expecting a baby last fall, so what did Dave decide to do? Why, start a “podcast,” of course. Dave and his wife Heather (who is from Jackson, Tennessee) have a website and a podcast — a downloadable audio program — devoted to the lives of new parents. As they describe it on their site, “This is our first attempt at being parents [and] it is also our first attempt at a podcast — what could go wrong?” According to Dave, a little over three months after starting their podcast, Two Boobs and a Baby have had over 4,000 downloads of one of the couple’s four episodes. Dave descrbes the show as “a free, PG-rated program about becoming new parents. It’s a comedy, but we hope to share our stories with other new parents who may be seeking advice, or who wish to share their stories.” The website also has a forum for parents and would-be parents to post messages or ask for advice.” >>
http://www.rapp.org/url/?76SW5HAC
You can’t go wrong with Debian, even thought it’s not to my own personal taste (Fedora/SuSE/Mandrake/Knoppix user here). I’m dreaming of the day when…
a) I can get Photoshop CS2 to run on my *nix box, and…
b) Gretag MacBeth releases Linux drivers for my i1 Display 2 so I can colour manage my system properly.
Unfortunately, this is not the case right now so I spend 75% of my time living in Windows XP hell.
Being reported on CTV by Robert Fife that McKenna WON’T be running for the Liberal leadershi0p–does this mean that Brison and Stronach will be the only dregs that the Libs can dredge up?
I’ve heard very nice things about Wacom tablets.
Given the history of the liberal party over the past couple of decades, it’s surprising that ANYBODY would run for the leadership of it!
Perhaps a little O/T, just asking for a little advice.
I would love to put another O/S on my home machine (another XP slave here) and have had no luck with any of the Linux/Unix distributions, mainly Ubuntu, which was recommended.
Not sure if it because I am using an Athlon, or RAID or my video card (ATI All-in-Wonder).
Any recommendations for a distribution that might work? I have never heard of Debian, but I will take a look at it. I would dearly love to end/reduce my reliance on Windows Xtra Problems.
SC&A: Kate, I’ve gathered, is an autodidact Many very bright people are autodidacts, as I’m sure you know, because they are impatient with the pace of normal teaching, have broad interests and/or seek more control over their lives. Once you know how to learn on your own you’ve erased many boundaries altogether.
You guys should get Kate on your famous couch. Don’t let her get all modest on you either; she is a highly complex mind flying under the flag Of “Simple Prairie Maiden”.
Kate: No experience w/ Wacom tablets but the question did come up last year in our local LUG and the solution tree started branching immediately, as usual, with kernel release. I recall that they don’t play well with USB mice in /dev/input/mice. Also, having input, input event interface, usb input, and wacom all enabled and built into the kernel is a Good Thing. But, you’re probably way past that already and already past the Linux Wacom Project at SourceForge too.
Lew: The installation genie on Ubuntu is sometimes unable to configure but once the distro is on and running it is dead solid. Go to the Ubuntu Forums; http://www.ubuntuforums.org; and start “search” for the keywords where your install(s) tanked. Then ask for help in the appropriate forum. Also the distro is being constantly update, current is Breezy Badger.
All LINUX really does is reduce your dependence on MS, it comes with a whole new set of challenges, including the usual climb up Learning Curve Mountain. But, once you get the basics down and grooved in you are good to go.
Also, I finally got tired of all the problems of trying to get XP and LINUX to dual boot. So now I boot dual use computers from a prebuilt floppy. I only boot without it when I absolutely have to use XP; a lot less often now.
Thanks for the feedback Hungry – I will look into the Ubuntu forum and see if I get can it runing. Last time I tried, it installed OK, but my machine would freeze after the O/S loaded, so I had to remove it.
BTW, I use Partition Magic and it allows very flexible multiple boot options – bypassing any MS Winblows nonsense.
Re: Two boobs and a baby
Wouldn’t it be interesting if that became the new “Edgy” activity for Canadian adults.
The baby making not the pod casting, I mean.
Forget patronising the latest bizarre fusion restaurant or attending a “pushing the envelope” performance art.
“Sorry man, can’t make it. Sheila and I are getting married and planning to have more than 2.1 children!”
Not likely to be a frequent occurrence in a city where it costs $300,000 to $400,000 to get a starter condo with two bedrooms.
Vancouver, a totally unsustainable city without immigration. ( Usually from more economially dynamic and lower taxed jurisdictions.)
My first computer was a 1986 XT clone (it had a 20 meg hard drive) which I rescued from a friend who was sending it to the junkyard in 1998. I got online with it through an unrestricted shell account! with a local isp. Through a series of events, I ran into some FreeBSD geeks in the eastern US and Germany through usenet, and eventually learned html and created my website using it. (by logging in to the host server, and writing the html in pico) Couldn’t see pictures or colour, of course.
When I finally retired the XT, I bought Suse Linux 6.0 and installed it on a clean machine, myself. Talk about a learning curve – and all my tech help was in Berlin. It lacked a lot of bells and whistles, but served my basic needs, and like all Linux distros, came with hundreds of programs already installed, including the Gnu Image Manipulation Program (GIMP) which I do all my graphic design with.
And as I said – it’s been running non stop now for about 6 years, and after we replaced a flaky video card, I can count the times the system has locked up in that time on one hand – and there were times I would have Opera, Mozilla, Mozilla email, a game or two, several x-term windows and the GIMP (with several images open) running at the same time – on a Pentium II.
Hungry, hmmm. Kate’s using a usb Mouse. Thanks. We’ll have to see if moving to a USB->PS/2 converter might do the trick.
Cheers,
lance
I WOULD run for the leadership of the Liberals…beats the hell out of working for a living 😀
Lew: and therein lie most of the dual booting problems. Several years ago, fter trashing my MBR several times using the usual dual boot methods, I learned to avoid PM like the a social disease and use only the LINUX tools for partioning. Believe me, if Windows or a Windows based app can find a way to eventually fail, it will. I know I could do it more elegantly using GRUB and following Ed’s guide on Dual Booting. But, with this method, I have never once been locked out of a dual boot machine. I also have a couple of Knoppix CD’s set up for trouble shooting.
Kate: Yes I remember reading once about you using pico to put up a website you couldn’t see. I forwarded the post to a friend who STILL writes most of his code in a text editor; he says it helps if you have a vivid imagination.
Lew: I just checked back into our LUG’s archives and found this in the links. I’ll put it in as text for cutting and pasting. It specifically references Wacom/Debian/GIMP.
http://shallowsky.com/linux/wacom.html
A photo of the original XT, with, I think, my website onscreen – for those who don’t know what I’m talking about. If you look closely, you’ll realize there is no mouse – every function was done by keystroke.
http://www.katewerk.com/images/xt.jpg
Actually, one of the first things I asked Lance was whether Debian had a lynx browser… lol
I haven’t a clue about any of that high-tech linux stuff. I run XP using “AVG7”-the best free AV out there, “Spybot Search & Destroy w/tea-timer”-keeps the nasties from installing modules on my system and can unload them,”Ad-aware” to clean up after Spybot, and an “anti-keylogger” to keep anything from reading my screen or hooking my keyboard. I rarely have any trouble, except for IE now and then.Dunno if that gives you any ideas for smoother running, or if those programs will run on your system.
Highly recommend AVG tho, it continues to have a 100% capture rate in independant testing.
True Confessions is a literary genre alive and well worth reading here:
http://www.voy.com/178771/127258.html >>>
Author: Paul Martin’s rein [sic]
btw, it takes a while for a party to recover from this kind of crap.
——————————————–
A misspent Liberal youth
Adam Radwanski
National Post
Monday, January 30, 2006
In the end, it was all so anti-climactic. A small, half-empty Montreal banquet hall. A scattering of Liberals grimly watching the screens as their government fell. A humbled, defeated prime minister who suddenly looked all of his 67 years, putting on a brave face as he announced his retirement. And the veteran strategists and advisors for whom he’d been the meal ticket for 15 years, slumping as they tried to digest that their time in the corridors of power was already over.
It was hard to believe, standing among them, that this was what remained of the unstoppable political force that once steamrolled anyone that got in its way. And I say that as someone who got steamrolled. >>> more
Sean,
GIMP is a dream for graphic editing for me. I used it primarily for web graphics but moved into photo editing and eventually some album covers. Give GIMP a try and read a couple of the online books for it.
I love Linux in general. I actually edited a CD worth of songs for a record company (when I lived i LA) using only Linux. I had some troubles with the cheap hardware I bought and learned my lesson there, but otherwise it is a dream. And I didn’t spend $1000 for an audio editor.
Lew,
I ran RedHat 9 on my Atholon machine for a couple years until the athlon died. Had no problems with it. Not sure about the RAID but I’ve had problems with newer hardware and drivers. You may want to try Mandriva which has some pretty recent stuff.
And KAte – I can’t imagine writing code in anything other than command line 🙂 I used to use emacs but recently rented a server than only had vi so I use that remotely and love the highlighting in it. Oh ya, I always check the sites I write in lynx to ensure compatability. Love lynx!! Still use it for things like –head and –source.
Kate: I’ve seen that photo and noiced no mouse. That was when I started to realize that you were “not like other people”.
Lynx, oh yes, I browsed with Lynx and then spent hours downloading Mosaic and getting it up. I still have a open shell account with my ISP as a legacy user from the seond week they opened and I moved from an non profit org. I read newsgroups using nn for years. When I first got on a big night on our old org server would bring up twenty users at the WHO command; one was Harley Hahn.
The link I mistakenly directed to Lew was for Lance re: wacom configuration.
Spent hours on unix talk, too.
Kate: I was wondering if you will be having a link to the coverage of Mr. Harper & team being sworn into office. Timing, Feb 6, I am away, running to the sun for a week. I am sad that I will not be able to see this. I am sure that when I get back there will be lots of reading to get caught up on your site. Without your blog for a week……Watch out for the trolls!!!!!!
So does this mean we’ll see you at the Saskatoon Linux meetings in the future?
which debian are you installing 3.0 or 3.1?
Via LGF >>>
Clinton: “Totally Outrageous Cartoons Against Islam”
Bill Clinton compares the Danish cartoons to �anti-Semitic prejudice,� at a conference in Doha, Qatar: Clinton warns of rising anti-Islamic feeling.
DOHA (AFP) – Former US president Bill Clinton warned of rising anti-Islamic prejudice, comparing it to historic anti-Semitism as he condemned the publishing of cartoons depicting Prophet Mohammed in a Danish newspaper.
�So now what are we going to do? … Replace the anti-Semitic prejudice with anti-Islamic prejudice?� he said at an economic conference in the Qatari capital of Doha.
�In Europe, most of the struggles we�ve had in the past 50 years have been to fight prejudices against Jews, to fight against anti-Semitism,� he said.
Clinton described as �appalling� the 12 cartoons published in a Danish newspaper in September depicting Prophet Mohammed and causing uproar in the Muslim world.
�None of us are totally free of stereotypes about people of different races, different ethnic groups, and different religions … there was this appalling example in northern Europe, in Denmark … these totally outrageous cartoons against Islam,� he said.
To put Clinton�s jaw-dropping analogy in perspective, compare for yourself.
Here are the cartoons from Jyllands-Posten.
And here is a page at the ADL site, dedicated to the continuous stream of outrageously sick, hate-drenched cartoons and articles published daily in the Arab media: Anti-Semitism in the Arab World.
One of these things is not like the other. >>
http://www.newspaperindex.com/blog/2005/12/10/un-to-investigate-jyllands-posten-racism/
Hungry: got the link. Thanks. It may not be significant in this case. Kate’s Wacom tablet is an older serial version, not a USB.
Robert: Debian Stable, 3.1, I debated about Sid, but unless you enjoy the update treadmill too many things break.
Cheers,
lance
Unix talk is great stuff. Still use ksh, albeit on windows.
Mind if I go only a little O/T, and, with respect to Kate’s reference to editing html on pico in 1998, ask how long SDA has been around? I only discovered it myself a year or so ago, but then I was one of those benighted fellows who mostly read newspapers. Has it been around that long?
Mark
Lance: I had Debian 2.1 on an old Aptiva with 2 drives totalling 3.6GB. I wanted to replace it with Debian 3.0 (Woody) but had troubles mounting the cdrom. So, now I am trying Debian 3.1 (Sarge) and did download the iso files, but I get only 2 of them; yet when you buy the cd’s with Debian 3.1 you get 14 cd’s. Did you go that route or did you burn your own?
Lew,
Suse Linux 10.0 is good for a dual boot. I started dual booting with Suse 8.0 and I do not use the command line. I now use Suse 10.0.
A free version of Suse 10.0 is available for download. I bought the boxed set because I wanted a paper manual and the opportunity to ask for support. (Dweeb central!)
I have read that Xandros, Mandriva, and Fedora are also relatively easy for new users. Xandros is based on Debian, but is not free (Debian is). Just Google for the web sites.
If you want to use Windows Applications on Linux you probably should use Xandros with the Crossover Office program that lets one use some Windows Apps.
Good luck and be patient!
I picked up Mandriva for the first time recently to use with my laptop because it is the only Linux distro certified by Intel to work with centrino. Seems to be pretty nice. No problems yet, hasn’t failed me. Use debian on the dev machine, a debian lrp variant on the gateway, redhat 8 and 9 on two production machines (not my choice). Still haven’t delved into fedora. I have live CDs for Ubuntu and Knoppix as well as Knoppix STD. Linux is so much dang fun….
Mark, SDA started just about 2 years ago now as a blog site, but for some years prior to that it was the title of a page on my regular (Katewerk.com) website, which was devoted to fringe humour, etc. It was inspired by the same dead gopher photo that graces this page.
Ubuntu [a Debian] is my second OS. I like it, but haven’t switched over from XP yet since I’m having trouble getting my NTFS partitions accessible from Linux.
“…Bill Clinton compares the Danish cartoons to �anti-Semitic prejudice,� at a conference in Doha, Qatar: Clinton warns of rising anti-Islamic feeling…”
At $5,000/handshake Bill must have been able to collect a small fortune after making that statement.
Something you might not have thought about, Kate. After 6 yrs of running constantly, might be a good time to replace your cooling fans, and add some if there’s room. They run about $10 each, lil more for top-of-line ones. Electronics HATE heat. A cooler machine will run much faster and easier than a hot one. If you need another powerpack, I have a 250 Watt one sitting in it’s box, from an upgrade 2 yrs ago.
Thanks Snook, but it’s a whole new box – we just moved the old hard drive into it.
For those tired of vacuuming the insides of their pc tower try this. Take your used dryer softener sheets and place over the air intakes on the tower secured using magnetic tape, or other means. Keeps pet hair, dustbunnies and such on the outside. Just vacuum the dryer sheet and yer done. A lil cologne/perfume on the sheet scents the air. I Have done this for last couple yrs and only need to open the tower and clean once yr now 🙂
ytalk kate
heh.
To all ya Linux propeller heads out there…
Which distro is best for a small office doing text documents, spreadsheets and then a small database?
Plus doing some website designs and maintaining.
Let the fight begin…
cheers
tom
(Happily using Windows XP and 2003.)
Tomax: No need to jump ship completely. Download and install OpenOffice.org. It’s a complete MS Office replacement (except Excel Macros, the lang is proprietary, OO.org uses OOBasic for macros).
OO.org 2.0 has a very nive Access like module called Base. Depending on your database needs it’ll deal with its own file based db right up to the big dbs with internal drivers or ODBC connectons.
Cheers,
lance
buy cheap cigarettes by mail revenge discount carton cigarettes http://pedikvkepke.otbet.ru/cheap_cigarettes/i-___cheap_cigarettes.html cheap cigarettes neatherland carlton cigarettes cheap http://pedikvkepke.otbet.ru/cheap_cigarettes/discount_cigarette_cigarettes.html and …. duty free discount cigarettes dirt cheap newport cigarettes http://pedikvkepke.otbet.ru/cheap_cigarettes/usa_gold_discount_cigarettes.html discount cigarettes online all discount cigarettes http://pedikvkepke.otbet.ru/cheap_cigarettes/cheap_menthol_cigarettes.html reservation cigarettes discount ny cheap cigarettes menthol http://pedikvkepke.otbet.ru/cheap_cigarettes/cheap_indian_cigarettes.html .Thanks.
yes.this is my site http://japanime.net/keno/philip_kamin_and_keno.html Thanks.