[StALUG] sticking with ubuntu

garryg

2010-08-14 10:06:57 UTC

Thanks for the responses.

Roy re:
"I'm a confirmed SuSE and/or ubuntu/debian advocate these days - ubuntu's
Long Term Support (LTS) model is better than anything else on offer at the
price (free) and their server build is fairly compact. SuSE's Yast2 is a
nice tool and the console version is great for remote admin but debian's
apt-get is just a dream come true!"

Jim re:
"Agree about not diving in with Gentoo until you are more used to Linux.
I use Ubuntu 8.04 LTS at the moment, but will be moving to 10.04 as
soon as harvest is out the way!
Rather than dive in at the deep end, I would suggest using
Ubuntu/SuSE/Fedora, and buying a good book on the distro. Once you are
comfortable with the command line, then by all means have a go at the
more complicated stuff."

......................

Yeah, think i should just stick with Ubuntu till i build up a bit of
confidence and competence. I tried out latest release of Debian's Lenny but
couldn't get wireless running - wired was ok though. However, i encrypted my
entire hard disk (250GB) and noted a BIG drop in performance when going
online. Encrypting the disk with Ubuntu (karmic) on the other hand has made
little or no difference as far as i can tell re connection speeds and no
prob with wireless. Tried out Ubuntu 10.04 but got loads of screen
flicker/interference so went back to karmic which runs nice and stable on my
laptop.

As for a book re learning to use the command line, the copy of the 1st Ed
for GNU/Linux: 'Introduction to the Command Line' i ordered from the Free
Software Foundation just arrived the other day. So, think it's back to
school with the bairns on Monday before my Open Uni course 'Linux - An
Introduction' starts in Oct. Also had a wee scan of the Rutebook tutorial
which i'll have a crack at too.

Cheers all.

Garry.

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1. FYI: FLOSS UK Unconference Autumn 2010 (Rory Beaton)
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Rory Beaton <rb36 at st-andrews.ac.uk>
To: StALUG <standrews at mailman.lug.org.uk>
Date: Tue, 10 Aug 2010 13:21:27 +0100
Subject: [StALUG] FYI: FLOSS UK Unconference Autumn 2010
FLOSS UK Unconference Autumn 2010 - http://unconference2010.flossuk.org/
Saturday, 16th October, Birmingham & Midland Institute, England
What is FLOSS UK 2010?
This is our first unconference, and is being held in collaboration
with local FLOSS groups.
What is an Unconference?
An unconference is a conference where what happens is organised by the
delegates on the day. The event organisers have to arrange something,
the main one being a venue, but the rest is down to the delegates. So
all the hassle of talk submissions, review and scheduling is taken
away.
at the start of the day everyone gets up in turn and says who they
are, what their interests are and what they'd like to do
based on this people write proposals on PostIt notes and stick these on
a board
a moderator may read out the proposals in turn to gauge interest, and
if sufficient the proposal will be put on a scheduling board
delegates may adjust the schedule to avoid clashes, etc.
The unconference starts?
Experience shows that the unconference format results in high quality
sessions focussed on what delegates want.
How will FLOSS UK 2010 work?
Because of the numbers we expect, following the above procedure at the
beginning may be too lengthy, so we propose to invite groups to set up
Linux: local LUGs
Perl: Birmingham Perlmongers
PHP: WM PHP Group
Python: PyCon UK Society
Ruby: West Midlands Ruby User Group
(and we're open to offers from other FLOSS groups!)
Groups are able to make preliminary arrangements on this FLOSS UK wiki
- please let us know if you want your group to be added to the left
menu (contact unconference2010 - at - flossuk.org).
We will be providing the basic infrastructure only ? venue, wiki, wifi
internet connectivity, projectors and screens, everything else is up
to the delegates!
How much will it cost me?
We are aiming to keep the cost of attending this event down to the
bare minimum. Everyone will be able to afford to come, and as it is a
one-day event you will not need to incur accommodation costs, though
several hotels are available for anyone who wishes to stay over.
Why attend?
Keep abreast with new/emerging technologies
Network with some of the people who are responsible for developing
critical applications
Become part of the UK Open Source community - build up informal
relationships that can be invaluable in problem solving
Benefit from the experience of delegates with similar interests
_______________________________________________
St Andrews Linux User Group
standrews at mailman.lug.org.uk
http://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/standrews

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: garryg <gargul1969 at gmail.com>
To: standrews at mailman.lug.org.uk
Date: Wed, 11 Aug 2010 22:25:36 +0100
Subject: [StALUG] trying out Gentoo
Hey Rory,
well, attempting to install gentoo for the first time was fairly hardcore
for a gui user. just spent the last week getting my head round logical
volume management! afraid to say failed gentoo instalment twice. got as far
as installing the stage 3 tarball but things went downhill rapidly once
portage came into the equation. there were a few other probs during earlier
stages but not sure if it's cos was doing it in virtualbox or not (you did
say to bare that in mind if things went wrong and i was looking for help).
no matter, i'll have another crack it once i figure out dual booting and
then find out if was virtualbox, my inexperience or a combination of both -
i know which one my money's going on though!
Cheers,
Garry
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Rory Beaton <rb36 at st-andrews.ac.uk>
To: StALUG - The St Andrews Linux User Group <standrews at mailman.lug.org.uk
Date: Thu, 12 Aug 2010 11:13:44 +0100
Subject: Re: [StALUG] trying out Gentoo
Hi Garry,
I'm not too familiar with Gentoo but my impressions of it were that it
looks
great for building a minimalist or highly customised system tailored to a
specific application but a lot of effort for a standard box. If I wanted
something minimalist, I'm not sure I'd want to install the entire toolchain
necessary to build Gentoo. And I suppose I've never recovered from waiting
upwards of 10 hours for X to build on a DEC 3000 running NetBSD...
I'm a confirmed SuSE and/or ubuntu/debian advocate these days - ubuntu's
Long
Term Support (LTS) model is better than anything else on offer at the price
(free) and their server build is fairly compact. SuSE's Yast2 is a nice
tool
and the console version is great for remote admin but debian's apt-get is
just
a dream come true!
Virtualbox does have some issues and my best advice would be to get the
latest
build directly from Sun/Oracle. I've failed to get Win7 to install and have
had
problems getting various CAD/modelling apps installed on XP in Vbox on my
ubuntu
workstation.
rb

Hey Rory,
well, attempting to install gentoo for the first time was fairly hardcore
for a gui user. just spent the last week getting my head round logical
volume management! afraid to say failed gentoo instalment twice. got as

far

as installing the stage 3 tarball but things went downhill rapidly once
portage came into the equation. there were a few other probs during

earlier

stages but not sure if it's cos was doing it in virtualbox or not (you

did

say to bare that in mind if things went wrong and i was looking for

help).

no matter, i'll have another crack it once i figure out dual booting and
then find out if was virtualbox, my inexperience or a combination of both

i know which one my money's going on though!
Cheers,
Garry

------------------------------------------------------------------
University of St Andrews Webmail: https://webmail.st-andrews.ac.uk
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Jim McLaren <Jim at blackfingernail.com>
To: standrews at mailman.lug.org.uk
Date: Thu, 12 Aug 2010 11:32:40 +0100
Subject: Re: [StALUG] trying out Gentoo
On Thu, 12 Aug 2010 11:13:44 +0100

Virtualbox does have some issues and my best advice would be to get
the latest build directly from Sun/Oracle. I've failed to get Win7 to
install and have had problems getting various CAD/modelling apps
installed on XP in Vbox on my ubuntu workstation.

Likewise, especially with the recent builds of VB. I can't get USB to
function correctly on version 3.2 so am still working on 3.1. I've
installed Windows 7 on it, but not really done much with it yet.
Agree about not diving in with Gentoo until you are more used to Linux.
I use Ubuntu 8.04 LTS at the moment, but will be moving to 10.04 as
soon as harvest is out the way!
Rather than dive in at the deep end, I would suggest using
Ubuntu/SuSE/Fedora, and buying a good book on the distro. Once you are
comfortable with the command line, then by all means have a go at the
more complicated stuff.
--
Jim McLaren
Cults Farm
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Rory Beaton <rb36 at st-andrews.ac.uk>
To: StALUG - The St Andrews Linux User Group <standrews at mailman.lug.org.uk
Date: Thu, 12 Aug 2010 12:10:54 +0100
Subject: Re: [StALUG] trying out Gentoo

On Thu, 12 Aug 2010 11:13:44 +0100
Likewise, especially with the recent builds of VB. I can't get USB to
function correctly on version 3.2 so am still working on 3.1. I've
installed Windows 7 on it, but not really done much with it yet.

Interesting...was this the 32-bit or 64-bit Windows 7? I was trying with
64-bit
and I kept having the problem of the installer "losing" the source
drive/directory.
I agree that USB is an issue - I spent too long trying to get the guest OS
to
see my graphics tablet and security dongles are a nightmare!
rb
------------------------------------------------------------------
University of St Andrews Webmail: https://webmail.st-andrews.ac.uk
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Jim McLaren <Jim at blackfingernail.com>
To: standrews at mailman.lug.org.uk
Date: Thu, 12 Aug 2010 12:41:51 +0100
Subject: Re: [StALUG] trying out Gentoo
On Thu, 12 Aug 2010 12:10:54 +0100

Interesting...was this the 32-bit or 64-bit Windows 7? I was trying
with 64-bit and I kept having the problem of the installer "losing"
the source drive/directory.

64bit. Sounds like you either have a dodgy DVD or DVD drive. That would
be the first thing I would check.

I agree that USB is an issue - I spent too long trying to get the
guest OS to see my graphics tablet and security dongles are a
nightmare!

Everything works fine under 3.1, although I haven't tried my graphics
tablet admittedly, but scanner, pen drives Palm treo sync cable and
other things all work fine. Upgrade to 3.2 and nothing gets recognised
on any guest system, be it Windows or Linux.
--
Jim McLaren
Cults Farm
_______________________________________________
St Andrews Linux User Group
standrews at mailman.lug.org.uk
http://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/standrews

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