Arch Linux Server Install

This is not so much like a lot of other reviews/reports I have done in the past, just a sort of quick and dirty, because unless someone out there wants to discuss any of this, I am kind of done with this. That is to say, I
As many of you are well aware, I am a tried and true Linux Mint advocate.  However, as some of you are aware, I believe in using the right tool for the job.

I have been using Zen Server for my file server for years and years. It has been good to me. It is still good. I may well use it again at some point. I like it a lot. No hard feelings.
Recently, however, Dad and I decided it was time to build something better.
So, new, good hardware should mean that we can run whatever distro we want, right? It can take it. But why waste cycles that could be going to BOINC? Why have a fancy DE on a system that may as well be headless?

Okay, well it will not really be headless, but it will be mostly used as such.

So I wanted to get down to basics and Dad and I liked the looks of Arch Linux.

Chose NET for the installation method.  Basically, you can chose a “core” and then do an update, or do the NET install and just get the update during the install.

Got the net ISO on USB stick and booted.
Logged in and started the setup.
Chose my install source (FTP)
Then it prompted me to start up networking.  Cool.
Next was setting the date/time configuration
- region and timezone
- UTC
- Check that it is correct, then back to the main menu
Setup file system.  Choosing manual so I can define my /home volume
Picking packages. done
Installing packages. Well now here is where I am really biting the bullet with this, so to speak. This is going out on a rather slow connection.  This (NET Install) is not really the recommended method, in this day and age, given the connectivity that I have because I will have to wait for the packages to be FTP’d to me.  As mentioned earlier, I could have downloaded the CD-install method, but then, what would be the point, really.  I can wait.  I am not in a hurry.  I have a book.
Oh, mercy, the package installation failed because of a connection timeout. Gee, what a surprise there, eh?  Clever little installer just picked right back up from there.
Now on to the configuration, daemons, bootloader.
Note: This text-based installation was cool. It had just enough pre-done, without having to go back in and remove a bunch of stuff, but still be very user friendly, as long as the user does not need to ask a bunch of questions. -- Or, if they do have to ask a bunch of questions, they ought to have another computer on the standby.

Reboot and setup my user. Done
Add sudo. Done
Installing xorg... little trouble getting the packages... Hmmm... Okay, just need to remove that failing mirror from my mirror list.
Configing video, X and fonts. Done.

Here is gets interesting. I did a bit of pre-install planning and whatnot. I have (I thing) not really been too naive to know that there is a lot about *nix that I do not know.  There is plenty. I knew there were lot of different desktop environments and window managers and stuff, but I had not understood the relationship between them. For the most part, I have dealt with systems that came with something (gnome, KDE, xfce, lxde) and I could install another, or whatever. And I would, and that would determine what sort of gui tools I would have, or what lib’s would load, etc. So, I had played around with some bare WM’s. It was really cool. I had (on another machine) tested out Window Maker, and Fluxbox (which I had played around with before, but now understand it better) and several others before settling on Openbox.  Openbox is perfect for this. Window Maker was my second choice. When you run Openbox, all you get is your apps. There is nothing else in the way. Also, running just a wm and not a de, it is natural to run at init3 unless there is something in there you need to do.

So, set up the proxys, nfs, rsync and all our LAMP stuff.

The verdict? ArchLinux is great for this kind of down to basics server.  

The installation was easy, but precise.
The configuration was straight forward.
So far, the maint and upkeep seems simple enough. I am rather impressed.

And, ArchLinux is not just good for servers. It is good for basically any stripped, purpose built system. Take a netbook, for example. Cloud computing, etc. One could build a basic wardriver with just your wireless tools and chromium, and run all the google app you need. Or, build a media machine with an HDMI to the telly. Watch all the web content, pop in your blu-ray, music through the home theater.  Yeah, I know, you can do all that stuff with other systems, but then, where is the fun in that.  (Yes, you can build it up for a great, multipurpose, general use system, but it you are doing that, unless you are just starting from the ground up for the fun of it, there are other out-of-the-box options that get you there faster in a just-because-you-can-doesn’t-mean-you-should-start-from-scratch sort of way. Linux Mint, for example.)

Granted, I am not giving up my Linux Mint Debian with LXDE for my day-to-day usage.

Linux Mint Xfce (201104)

Some may notice that there is no "release number" there, for example - Linux Mint Xfce 10
That is because this the the Debian base, as opposed to the Ubuntu base.

Going back a little bit, I was very happy when Linux Mint began the Debian based branch. For one thing, it is lighter and faster. I had played around with different distributions to find lightweight ones that I liked, but always came back to Linux Mint for my "main" system, if you will. (Zenwalk has been good to me and I will always give props to Slax.) ["Props?" Really?] {whatever. hush.}

Another reason for wanting the Debian base, was the rolling distribution. There is no "system release" as such. No need to "Reinstall" to get the latest. In other words, the distribution as a whole is "update-able" just like the applications. There is an XKCD png illustrating a weakness here, but.... pfffft.

So, only the Gnome "edition" was available in the Debian tree here with Linux Mint, I installed it. All was good, but I was never a big fan of Gnome - favouring thinner desktop managers like Xfce, Fluxbox and LXDE. Not a problem, I simply installed Xfce and I could choose between Gnome and Xfce at login.

"Okay, Elqueue," you may be saying, "I thought you wanted to avoid doing re-installs, but you just did that for... what - loosing gnome?"

Kinda. I am rather quite fickle.

First step was DL'ing the iso. I torrent it whene'er possible. And that took much of yesterday. I then left the torrent running through the night to help seed. Then there was the backup. FORTUNATELY, my porn folder was kinda small. That was a joke. There were things I had to back up, but for a large part, the media (music and movies) are on a file server, scripts that are NOT part of... well, never-you-mind that... are kept in sync with an on-line backup. And google docs has most of my fiction and whatnot.

Backing up would have, more or less, been a bit of a technicality as I did not /have/ to format my /home - it is on its own volume - but it is good practice. AND I planned on formatting /home too so I could get the "clean" experience. (Yes, I could have gotten the "clean" experience by installing it in a VM, but this was good for me. Really. In ways I could not begin to describe.)

Okay - backups done and final tweeting ... tweeted ... time to boot up to the live DVD.

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Yes, this is a good thing; installing from a Live media - I was tweeting and whatnot during the installation.

Okay, so install done, rebooted, next thing, as always, is the update/upgrade. Yes, I use apt from the command line. This took a long time too. I may set up my display /before/ doing this in the future because I was stuck at a low rez until that was done.

Then there are the screen tweaks - UI this and that which will be poked at for a while. Not a requirement, but fun nonetheless.

Let us look at that more slowly - the process was so slick and easy that it kinda went by you there, didn't it.

-Download the ISO. Yea! What fun!
Booted to it on a usb stick. More like a tiny postage stamp, but it still gets called a stick, right?

-Backed up. Okay, cool. I have been good about keeping the backup fairly current anywho.
This is like a one click action because I have already had it set up. I /could/ have just copied /home/lq/what.I.want* to the network share, but that is not always the best practice.

-The Live DVD. Yep, plenty to have fun with while the install is going, but that was not that long anywho.
Click install, select English, time zone, keyboard, user name, computer name, password, select the volume mount point (and hey, they already expect / and /home and swap, so that is just confirmation. And I did click the checkbox to format my /home - it does not by default.) Then there was the grub install option and away it went.
Launch FireFox and surf away.

-First boot. Sure, the updates took longer than the install, but my connection is not that fast. Would have been the same no matter the distro.
Again, FireFox was available for this. And creating other mountpoints, ln -s's, and whatnot while all that was going on.

-Set the display, reboot, start with my add-ons. Including getting the media, that was like, 5 painless steps.

Well, obviously, I cannot count for diddly, but you get the idea.

Now, one of those things that needed setting up after the updates was the on-line backup sync. My "toolbox" folder is in there with all my little scripts for doing other things (like tweeting #fortunes and building slideshows out of image directories, and... well, all my scripts). So they take a moment to make sym-links into a bin dir. But all this stuff is "fun" anyway when you do not have to do it often and it is by choice.

Another was google-chrome. It syncs up as well so all my bookmarks and settings and addons are all there.

And, to be fare, there were a few apps I removed and daemons to turn off.

Then the blog. I /could/ have been working on it during the process, but I did not feel so ambitious.

Will I install gnome libraries on top? Well, I am sure that sooner or later some app that I install will need some piece of gnome or KDE. And that is not a big deal.

Was all this worth it? Sure, yeah.

What about all kinds of extras and addons and devices and drivers and things? Not a biggie for me, anywho. I attach very little and that what I do is very plug-n-play friendly.

Will it be this easy for everyone? Meh - I am not everyone. But for just about any standard user (gamers notwithstanding) with any reasonably resent computer (and this is a netbook for mercy's sake) this really should be about what you experience. If this "review" seems to be lacking detail, it is because this is just so simple and easy. Sure, I /could/ have gotten rather verbose about it. (I am typing in my desired username now: l followed directly by a q. Now I am entering my password... twice. I received a message that my password was strong. That is good. My hostname must be all lower case... careful now... Okay. I manged to type it all without hitting the shift key.)

If you really want a blow-by-blow because "I am a windoze user and I want to quit getting viruses - what exactly do I need to do?" Let me know and I will make a step-by-step walk-through. from start to finish - how to make a bootable usb device with Linux Mint Xfce (201104) on it and everything. Because, OBVIOUSLY I have no life. =^_^=

Simply send one 2GB (or more) flash drive to the [hey, let me just take that back out] Airport c/o me and if you get it back - ever - then you did not send it correctly.

But seriously, I will post a walk-through if I get feedback requesting one.

Oh, and it is snowing, so I am posting this "early" rather than taking a bike ride. I am not even scheduling it to post later.

Take Care.
LQ

Change of the Window Manager

It has been a while since I posted anything on LINUX.
For roughly a month, I have been enjoying the Linux Mint Debian Edition 64Bit. As I am not really interested in discussing the 32bit release, I am just going to refer to it as LMDE and be done with it - you can trust that I am talking about the 64bit release.

So. As mentioned in other blogs, I have mentioned that I have never been all that fond of GNOME and KDE can be fairly heavy weight on its own. I have used the Linux Mint Fluxbox, and XFCE and whatnot, but I have stuck it out with the LMDE GNOME standard to give it its full whatnot. Vague much? Well, sorry about that. If you have been following along this month, you may note that I have not been spending a great deal of system testing, just working through the "How I Use My Computer" aspect of testing.

As for the difference in the Debian over the normal Ubuntu based distro? It seems to not even be a factor on the day to day. My system is stable, releases are easy, things update nicely... Meaning, in short, I have rebooted much less, stayed more current, and my system has not been getting in the way of my doing-things.

As for the apps - well, the software manager gives me (almost) everything I need to be happy without much fuss. This is important to me. I mean, sure, any halfway descent distro is going to have some kind of package manager and it is not that big a to go, Oh, Hey, Where is VIM? apt-get install vim and you are done. So, the package thing - what I am saying here, is that it does not get in the way. Now, remember that "almost" up there? What is the deal with chromium-browser vs. google-chrome? I mean, really? Can someone please explain to me (or rather don't and I will go look it up) why I have to go and manually get the deb package from google and install it? Why is it not just an option in the repository? Why do I care at all? For the apps. Specifically Muro. But nevermind that.

My desktop was easily configured, and reconfigured as I worked through the options. I wrote a php script to take a directory, find the images, and make a wallpaper list xml thing so I have my rotating wallpaper, etc. It has been good. CPU speed and RAM have kept me content.

And complacent.

So - I installed XFCE this morning/last night (don't know, I just couldn't sleep). Wow. I forgot how fast a desktop manager can be. I am wondering to myself why I was content.

When I am writing, coding, reading, drawing, etc, I typically am full-screen. It is a descent enough size, but with my nice, small font (to make it harder for anyone to "accidentally" read over my shoulder, DAD) I prefer having what I'm doing fill my screen rather than what I may switch over to, or my background, or... whatever.

Sure, I would really like to make my wallpaper rotate again here, but then, that is one more thing out there, running, taking resources away from my fingertips.

But, before I go through all that, I am probably going to give FLUXBOX a spin.

Not that I have anything really against GNOME and KDE... just not for me, full time.

Oh, and I did install Thunar to use instead of Nautilus before going through all this. That was one of the things that was missing from the release that I really wanted to use instead.

Startled Awake

Well that was ... interesting.

I woke frightened as all get-out, pulse racing, sweaty as anything and I had kicked off all my covers.
I was freeeeeeeezzzziiiinnnngggg.

I put on a pot of coffee, took a hot shower, drank some coffee, was still cold.

So, I am sitting here, all bundled up like the sun had gone out, with the laptop warming my lap (or am I supercooling my laptop?) trying to remember what I was dreaming about.

Like a roller coaster or suspense thriller, I have the emotional impression that I would have really liked the dream. Pity.

So, I have been using LMDE64 for a while now and have one issue... power management. It would seem that it does not seem to really like waking up from being suspended if I had a number of tab open in chromium.

Because suspending and waking seems to be fine when I only have e-mail open, or something like that, I am suspicious of chrome behaving badly when all its threads get tucked away. Twice, once on each of two computers, this did happen.

Now, I know what you windows users out there are thinking; "Only one 'lock up' per machine in over two weeks? Wow!"

No offence.

But yeah. I mean, Chrome is not Debian's responsibility, nor is it Mint's, but hey, it seems to be a condition that I have witnessed. And two occurrences is not enough to definitively call it a bug, but I am keeping an eye on it.

Take Care-
LQ

It's Friday + a dream

Well, part of a dream - but I'll get to that later.
First:
Yeah, there have been updates to LMDE (Linux Mint Debian Edition) and so, and all the groovy updates promised. The big one I am waiting for is the 64bit release.
I mean, am I wrong or will this require a new iso? Everything else, yeah, great, I can get through updates. Well, not exactly everything. They said they made improvements to the installer, so I need to run the installer if I want to check them out.

So I am waiting (kinda) patiently for the new 64bit iso of LMDE. But I will be all excited when it is out - probably blog all about it and stuff.

Second:
As some of you are well aware, my - er, Dad's - house plays holiday host for the holidays. People were over for Thanksgiving, and typically we get everyone again for Christmas-New Years. Yup, that's right, a week+ of "house guests."
Every time, I work hard to make sure the house is ready for everyone. Then Mum comes and re-does it all - like it was her house. So, "Why do I do it, knowing this?" you may ask. I just have to. If for no other reason than when Mum comes and moved things, there are not those "clean" spots where things were, you know? Everything is clean before she touches it. Then I have to re-clean after they go to, uh, get "them" off things.
I am doing something different this year. I am completely rearranging the house full stop. Totally mixed up the chi or whatever. Couch - over there. Radio - there. Book case - (unloaded) over there (reloaded). Etc, etc. Even the kitchen is all rearranged.

The point of all this? To change things so radically that Mum will actually _notice_ that I am taking care of it. This is still a work in progress, so we'll see how it goes. It may backfire on me and drive me nuts. Oh, and for the record, yeah, I even am doing the bedrooms.

And, third:
Before I get to the actual "dream" part of this, you gotta know the setup.
In the past, I have had (bad) dreams about waking up next to Dad in bed and (bad) dreams about waking up next to him in bed that felt so real that I ran screaming into his room waking him up with a hockey stick. Being a bit of a sleep walker, I have actually woken up in Dad's bed, being... uh... poked in the back of the leg by him*. That was a fright and he ended up getting kicked in the face before things settled down.
[edit: I should clarify that he was /sleeping/ when this happened, eh? Not his /fault/.]
Also, Amy shares my bed when everyone is over for the holidays. So, I am not completely unaccustomed to waking with someone else in bed. Now, on to the dream:

In the dream, I was dreaming about everyone being here for the holidays and having Amy around. Then, in the dream, I dreamed I woke up rather peacefully, just stretching in the sun-warmed sheets, face down and feeling the still-fresh linen against my skin. I was quickly and calmly aware of the weight of someone next to me, my skin against their smooth skin. I could feel the rhythm of their breathing and it was comforting. I kept my eyes closed against the persistent, bright sumer sun. I felt the curves of their - of her body and knew she was on her back; slight curve of breast against the my ribs. My skin felt cool against her warm body, soft and tender. I smiled from the comfort of it all as I finished my stretch then rolled to my side, away from my bedmate to look at her face. The scent was so familiar I could picture the form before me before I opened my eyes and found...
Claire.
That startled me awake for real. I should have known it was a dream from the light. There was too much light. Sunrise it not until like almost eleven. I had been expecting (in my dream) for it to have been Amy, so familiar and comfortable. I really believed my dream was real and Amy was next to me. I just knew it. Then to open my eyes and find Claire - I was instantly bombarded with new, Claire scents and rhythms. And that /light/. It was on the other side of Claire from me (well, no, it was all around such that the only things I could see were myself, the bed (and beddings) and Claire) and the light wrapped around her so tightly that I could only see her face - my mind filling in the rest of her from memory, vague and incomplete. At least she was smiling at me.

That was yesterday morning - Thursday. It kinda occupied my thoughts, leaving me lost to this distraction most of the day.
You know when you have an "off" day, right? And you can tell things are just not going the way they normally do. So, at fencing, I am off my game. Completely distracted. One guy who doesn't really beat me... doesn't really get touches on a normal day... beats me - twice - and starts talking to his buds about how much better he is because now he is better than me. He had extra toast with breakfast, and now he is better than me, so he is going to have extra toast before tournaments. He put on his right shoe first this time, so he is better than me and will now always put on his right shoe first. Some such nonsense.
On the other hand, the other, the really good fencers, are actually /more/ annoying. "Hey, there were a couple of opportunities in there you missed, thank goodness." Or, "Oh, my, I thought you were going to get me there... You normally get me with those." Etc, etc. Yeah, they could tell I was off my game, but they were trying to /help/. Even Coach started trying, but my mind just was not in it. I tried meditating, but oddly, it did not help.

Sheehs.

So, this is probably a fairly frustrating post for some of you. It touches on Linux, Family, Dreams, Fencing... if I... Oh, I think I will...

Here are the first fifteen tracks in my current playlist:
[0/2680] Lily Allen - Everything's Just Wonderful (03:29)
[1/6901] Book Of Love - I Touch Roses (Long Stemmed Version) (05:46)
[2/6891] Book Of Love - Late Show (03:38)
[3/3300] KT Tunstall - Hold On (02:58)
[4/3209] Katharine McPhee - Over It (03:35)
[5/3294] 32+-+KT+Tunstall+-+Hold+On.mp3 (02:47)
[6/6946] Everything But The Girl - Letting Love Go (04:46)
[7/6939] Everything But The Girl - Driving (04:00)
[8/4235] Yaz - And On (03:12)
[9/5702] Garbage - Wicked Ways (03:44)
[10/5660] Garbage - Cup Of Coffee (04:31)
[11/3221] Katy Perry - I Kissed A Girl (03:00)
[12/3299] KT Tunstall - Funnyman (02:56)
[13/6902] Book Of Love - Boy (Extended Mix) (04:29)
[14/3121] Gabriella Cilmi - Einstein (03:40)

Oh, Mercy... somethings in that list should be omitted. :blush:

I just finished reading The Ghost and the Goth by Stacey Kade. It was a good and light teen candy book. I have these "Candy Books" that I read from time to time. Most are Teen, or YA books, but they are fun without having a lot of weight, you know? Why I Let My Hair Grow Out, The first HP book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, In the Stone Circle, the first Twilight book (Uh, I guess that would be Twilight) and about anything by Meg Cabbot. I mean, there are other "light reading" books I have and like and whatnot. The Pern Series, some Piers Anthony, Dresden Files, Girl Vs Evil and whatnot. But these are not like my "deep reading" like Time Travelers Wife, or Never Let Me Go, etc.

Okay... lots of topics to post for one day. Have fun...

LQ

It is Friday and I am not sure how I feel about that

This update may take me a while to get posted, but I will leave it up here until I am good and ready to post it.

This week has really gone my fast. Too fast, one may say.

The Linux Mint servers were having issues from being overloaded. I am happy that they are getting that popular... in a way.

Maybe I should go back to looking for a nice, quiet, unpopular distribution... maybe I should stick with Mint. It is great, but I am never one to go with the flow, as it were.

Rice. Sure, it's rice - who expects it to _not_ be boring. But hey, seasoned right, it is very flexible. And, dried, it stores well all winter, so, you know, no point in being down about it, eh?

I watched the film they made of Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones and...
I think they did a good job. I am not goring to do a side-by-side breakdown. I have given up on trying to do that because it never ends well for the film. Maybe an exception or two. Now, books made from films? That is a whole other issue all together.
Back to the point, I really think that - for a conversion - the stripped down film made a lot of sense. Yeah, I think there was a point or two missing... but those missing points are mostly Mrs. Sebold's issues/hangups. It was tidied up nicely for the movie-going audience.

Never Let Me Go, when it comes out, I am not likely going to be so kind about. In fact, I think I am going to re-read it over the holidays so it is all fresh. It has been even longer since I read Ishiguro than Sebold. This was an incredible book. Depressing, yes, but incredible.

Now, I have no idea if there are plans or not, but I think Peter Jackson could do a good job bringing Scott Westerfeld's Uglies series to film... seeing as how Hollywood has thrown in the towel on original film concepts. (Did I spell Westerfeld right? lemme look that up... Nope. Better go back and fix that. Done. Now no one will know.)

I did a thing a while back about songs that, given a more developed story, could make a really good film. Some may be more like a Sundance festival short, other maybe like a full fledged motion picture, but hey... interesting plot nonetheless.
I am listening to Yaz (or Yazoo, for those of you across the pond) while writing this. It feels good.

Earlier, I was listening to Cherry Poppin' Daddies:
"You gotta move fast to beat the devil
Your arm is too short to box with G__"
I feel like that some days... stuck between anything and everything with no recourse and no wall to put my back against. It really wears me out sometimes.

Oh, I am doing better now, I suppose. Sometimes when you are lying down at the bottom of the well, the only thing to do is be still and hope the kicking is over with soon.

So, this is supposed to be the month for writing, right? It is bugging me that I have not been able to put anything down, you know? And Mum will be here Wednesday. It feels like it may as well be tomorrow. I am not ready to deal with family again. Maybe I just want Dad all to myself for the holidays. Yeah, that is bad of me to think like that, but then, I have even worse thoughts, so, oh well. The point of that was to say that starting with Mum on Wed,family will be coming and between getting ready, and then them being here, I doubt I will get anything finished enough to post. :bummer:

This is getting long-ish and has touched on a number of subjects without being very meaningful to any of them, so I suppose it is time to wrap this up.

Take Care-
LQ

Friday: Back to Linux Mint 10 RC

Hi, and welcome to Friday.

As far as moods and disposition goes, this was not a good week for me to have been messing about with OS's. There are times when I am in a much better frame of mind for Slackware based distros.

Most of my "grief" came from three simple things, but there was more to it than just these:
1) Virtual Box & Guest Addition display drivers
2) Package management
3) I'm an idiot.

So, it went something like this.
I was running Linux Mint Debian Edition, but the RC for Linux Mint (Main~Gnome) 10 which has a lot of cool new features on the mintMenu in particular. And, it is available in 64bit.
Okay, great. Got it installed. Got Rosetta@home going again. All was good.
Well, while going through all that, I was thinking to myself... I wonder what Zenwalk has gotten up to lately. I mean, we are talking about a virtual machine, right? I stayed up on LM10 the whole time. No problem.
So... yeah.
First off, Zenwalk Core is great for a number of things. I mean, the file server here (an old 333Mhz Pentium got mercy's sake) that I built up scraps (with Dad's help - it was my first computer assembly) is still running Zenwalk Server for about four years now. Very stable, but anyway.

One of the things I like about it is it is really easy to switch from init 3 to 4 and back. (console environment to graphical environment) This is a good thing because I needed it. I just could not really get Xorg configured. It wanted to use nothing but the vesa driver and stuck me in 800x600 in stead of 1280x800 and the mouse integration never really worked right.
Going on the supposition that these were VirtualBox issues and all this would work fine in a "real" installation, I decided to set that aside and have a look around - the real purpose of the exercise. Well, the package manager - netpkg was not too bad. I mean, I am spoiled to Mint's updater and whatnot, but I could work with netpkg/zenpkg. It is better than it was four years ago when I set up the file server. But you kinda have to know what package you are looking for. There are plenty of resources for looking around the interwebs for package names, then hope that netpkg can find it out there. I mean, I did get the kernel headers installed so I could install the VBGuestAdditions. It was livable. Zenwalk is very pretty, but I do not want to settle. If I really wanted a MAC, but did not want to pay for it, I could run ZW and install everything under the sun and be happy, I suppose.

Quickly, I just went back to LMDE, but I could not get it to install. I got kinda frustrated with that because I _had_ installed it before.

So, I looked at Absolute. It too is slackware based. And kinda pretty. I had kinda tested it out in the past, but as soon as I saw that I could not just run it in VBox out-of-the-box, I moved on because I was looking for something kinda specific at the time. So, install again.
It had a nice little "Here is what you can do now" welcome message. Google Chromium was installed out of the box as were some other things I use and others I don't. Typical.
During the install, it prompted to create a root password, but did not have a step for setting up the user. Here in the welcome screen, the message was something like this:
Here is where I am supposed to tell you that you should create a user for yourself, but I don't because I need root for everything because the only things I do on this distro need root access and I do not want to su or sudo and keep having to type the password over and over.

Well, 1) sudo can be set such that one does not have to enter the password every time. It is not as secure, but better than running around as root all the time. 2) I suppose that is fine when one is the only person to use the computer or everyone using it is just going to all use the same ID. Whatever.
So, okay. I could just set myself up my user account and configure it the way I want - I hardly have to subscribe to the author's policies, right? I *see* where he is coming from, but I just don't go there myself. No biggie. Moving on.
I downloaded all the kernel source and started building modules and installing the guest additions. Pfft - same thing; 800x600 and no mouse integration. Oh, and no mounting host shares. That is definitely a show stopper... ish.
Then it comes to the package manager - yeah, right. Search the web, find the package its self, install it. Okay... this really is fine for plenty of situations. I can really see jumping into this methodology really easily. Especially in an IT type environment where you probably have a file server with all your packages on it and can just mount your share, get to your own little custom repository and pick and choose.
BUT, if I was doing that, I would probably just run SLAX, you know? This just does not suit my current mission. Maybe when I am setting up something where that would be more appropriate, then that would be more... well, appropriate.

Now, a few things about the installers. What ever happened to letting me use more than one drive for the install? No... What drive would you like to install this on. Pick one and I am going to ignore the rest. This is fine for some things, but I want to go through this setup during installation and not have to revisit it after the fact. I want swap on a disk all its own. I want to choose where my home gets mounted - on its own drive. Putting /media in its own partition has its purpose too. Sure, I can add them later, but during install really is when I want to do it. After install, I just want to get the extra packages I need, remove the ones I don't and get to work, you know? Not the end of the world, but I feel like this was a bit of a step back in the evolution of linux installers. (Sure, someone is going to read this and think to themselves - hey, if she had just done it this way, or that way, everything would have this or that. Did I mention that I was not in the proper disposition for doing this stuff this week? Maybe later. It's virtual, I can pick it up again when I feel more like gettin' teckie wit' it.)

So, I go back to my good old Mint. What is this? I had not reset the environment back to 32 bit when I was installing LMDE! Oh... I am an idiot. But, well, I am installing 64 bit now, so no problem.

I put the VM back to Linux Mint 10 RC so I can track it until the release comes out and see if I want to install it on my laptop, or stick with the debian.

Frame of mind? I had kind of had a few setbacks when I kept blacking out during the Zenwalk tests. I would be in the middle of something, then the next thing I would know, I would be doing something else, somewhere else and have no idea where the past few hours had gone. A major setback in the trying-to-get-things-done department.

Now, all that is set aside for now and I am back on my laptop. :sigh: Comfy.

Thanks, take care, and happy Friday!

Oh, is this a Friday again?

I haz a Friday.

Well, lookie her.  Apparently I found the way to boost site traffic:
Talk about all kinds of weird and popular stuff.

Like, I could probably look at what the latest top google searches are on, and just talk about all of them.  Presto - my blog would show up among all the other completely useless and irrelevant search results.

Well, only useless to those searching for one of those popular search keywords.

Oh, was that it?

No, I haz a Friday.  No, sorry; a Fridai.  No... uhg.  I never did get the hang of that.

But, instead of talking about all the hot films, songs, tv shows, I am going to talk about...

*queue the dramatic music*

LINUX!

Let's hear it for the penguin.

I have been using LMDE (LinuxMint Debian Edition) for a while and am _really_ happy with it.

I am not going to bad mouth Ubuntu.  I mean, it is popular for a reason.  I do not know what that reason is (kidding) but it has its merits.  I mean, (shudder) even Micro$loth Windoze has its merits, and it is, like, at the bottom of the OS gene pool, eh?

So, what I really need to do is convince the peoplz what be that making a 64bit LMDE is worth while.

Constant updates?  Sure!  I like getting the new toys.  I like keeping my personal unit right there on the immediate up-to-date.  Risk?  Well, I have to justify my back-up paranoia some how, eh?

Ah, yeah, Dad, I really do need that 5TB NAS... for backups.  I am pulling testing/unstable packages every morning!  =^_^=

So, it looks around here I lot like this:
LMDE on my netbook  (Acer-one.  64bit cpu, dual core, 1gb ram.  Yeah, even with the wireless and the flash.)
LM Isadora Main 64bit on "our" workstation.  (This is the one we run all the virtual machines on.)
Zenwalk server on the file server.  Yeah... only very stable packages there.

So, there you have it.  A Friday post on Friday.

Take Care!

Woo! Hoo! I have sarcastic enthusiasm!

Well, it is not raining, drizzling or misting today.  That is good.  I can ride my bike without getting wet.

Except for sweat, but that is different.

It is warmer today too.  I wonder if it will last.  I suppose I could look at the forecast, but I hate to spoil the surprise.

Fiddlesticks.  It may rain later.  (Yeah, I peaked.  No, peeked.)  Not a big chance though. Maybe I will be in the 70% that it misses.

Anywho-
It is Tuesday, not Friday.  I have nothing all that special/important to say - except:
LMDE (Linux Mint Debian Edition) is out.  32bit anyway.  I am running it in a virtual box for now.  I am not entirely sure that I want to go back to a 32bit OS, but... does it really matter that much? I have never been a huge fan of Ubuntu - but put up with it because Linux Mint is teh awesome.  So, I am excited (on the inside - deep down where the nerdy me lives.)  I mean, I think I like slackware even better, but that is mostly because I like my little Slax USB drive so much.  (Especially at public terminals.)

It is installed (VBOX) but I have not really played around with it much.  Okay, any.

So, if you are into that sort of thing, try it out.  If not, oh well.

Take care.  I think I am going back to bed now.

Friday Followup

Well, it was a fun weekend, but that is a lot like work.  

Anywho

Linux Mint 9 LXDE was released.  Great fun.  But (next) I am looking forward to Linux Mint 9 KDE 64 bit.  That will be cool  (Yeah, I will still install the LXDE ... DE but this LXDE edition is not 64bit.)

Ebooks are cool and my netbook's battery made it through the whole weekend with plenty of juice to spare.  Not that I used it much, but I was happy.  My Dearly Departed would not have made it by far.

No internet connection, but I had downloaded them before leaving home. #PlanningAhead

Nightmares were pretty ugly, but I blame them largely on the lack of shower facilities.  Dad was there to stifle my waking screams, but I was among people who know me, mostly, in that regard.

Then I made a cake yesterday.  Want some?

Take Care

LQ

Oh, hey! It it Friday!

I have not been so excited about something that I read about on the interwebs since... I don't know when.  Days maybe.  No, weeks, surely.

Check it out: Linux Mint re-evaluating a Debian dist!
(happy-happy)
Yeah, I am typing "happy-happy" with a straight face.

YES! I will absolutely be testing that out.

(Okay, so, maybe I would be even happier with a Slackware based dist, but hey - I am not the one doing the work.)

Friday comes early

It is kinda like this:

I gave up (for the moment) waiting on Linux Mint 9 LXDE to be released.  I installed the regular (gnome) edition and then installed LXDE.  Liking it nicely.

I updated my DA yesterday.  Not my journal, no, but I may do that today.  My gallery. I am kinda starting / have started a new fiction thread for myself under the pretext that I will be adding "episodes" to a series.  So, they are like... short stories (or, will be, rather) but related, but not as related as book chapters.  So, I uploaded the "introduction."

Whatever.

But.
Um.
There was something else, but I forgot.  I will Try and remember. 
On another note: Congrats Chicago, but I was rooting for Phili.

Linux Mint 9 Released today!

Yea! 
Here is Isadora

It is Gnome based.

I downloaded it (the CD and the DVD) this morning and will probably install tonight or first thing in the morning.

Ah, but I may not install on my laptop until LXDE edition is out... Not the it is resource un-friendly, but I like to keep this OS as thins as ... I want.

(Note: Not as thin as I can.  That would be our file server.  It is like a "home-made NAS.")

Upgrading Linux Mint Methods.

There is an interesting conversation about how to upgrade your Linux Mint here. 

I admit with mild reluctance that I did not read _all_ of them (some of them were like "What...?" and others were just like, "Hooray, welcome to Mint") but I found it interesting how many people use what method for upgrading.

I am really looking forward to #9! (Isadora, I believe)


Take Care-
LQ

I found a nice Linux Mint 8 LXDE CD RC1 Review

A really nice review.

I wish I had written it.  I feel like their opinions are spot on with much of my experience of the distribution.

Where I am now: I may be getting ready to go back to my Fluxbox (Or rather, install the KDE edition, then install Fluxbox on top) and wait for LXDE to be released!

The latest in the OS saga

(Pardon the bit of redundancy.)
1) I have my /home on a separate drive, so whenever I install a new os, 90% of my settings persist, depending on if my WM changes and whatnot.
2) All my music and movies and stuff are on a separate file server, so I just copy in my fstab and proxy settings after a new install and all that stuff is back and ready to go.
2) Over time, different WM's using some of the same components, and thus, configuration files, all kinda start stepping on each other so...
3) I kinda had to step through the dot configs and clean things up a bit.

I did, while at it, try again to see how things were going with Slackware.  I have SLAX on a USB drive for forensics and for when visiting other systems (i.e. the library) and it does well for me, but the "purest" in me is ever-striving for that no-nonsense, back-to-basics, squeaky-clean system.  The problem is, I am not truly that kind of users.
I romanticize about having a pure, businesslike workstation where I work on things without distraction.  Where everything is well, laid-out and easy to read, even if it is not so pretty.  But, again, I am not that kind of user.  All my stuff is personal.  I can't/don't do that kinda cool stuff I daydream about.
Yes, I installed Slackware 13.  I like it.  It is nice.  I have no complaints about it (other than that it comes with /everything/ installed).  But still, there is just something about LinuxMint that is so... friendly.  I like saying I am a Mint user.  It feels like being a part of something, in this very, non-committal way.
I would love to provide reviews of all this stuff - share my findings and opinions and experiences with each distribution, but I just do not know what to write about.

(But I kinda did like how simple it was to just pick a "SlideShow" wallpaper in the desktop settings for Slackware (KDE4) and fully intend to make this happen under LXDE)

So, I am , once again, back to Linux Mint Helena (8) LXDE Community Edition RC1 with today's fresh update.

I recently upgraded someone's computer from Win-doze Vista to Win-doze 7.  I have played around with various versions of Micro$oft OS's, but they just feel so... clumsy.  They just feel so... "Here, let me do that for you."  True, most of the popular LINUX distros now-a-days are rather automated, but it does not feel the same.  It feels like if I stay on this thought-thread, I will just get into a lot of whining and moaning about this or that, so I will move on.

FluxBox is really cool.  It has been my fave WM. LXDE may be replacing it though.  Sure, where would these be without XFCE, right? XFCE is plenty good enough on it's own, and I am still working on the thing about them that makes me like one over another.  I feel almost bad that I cannot qualify (no, quantify) what it is about them, but not too bad.  I like what I like.

I do REALLY like KDE, but it does get in the way a little sometimes.  I think I had mentioned before that installing the KDE distro, then installing FluxBox for the WM was like getting the best of both worlds.  Hmmm... maybe I should install the KDE distro and then add LXDE on top.  Perhaps I will do that with Mint #9





I think that about wraps it up then.  I've got things to do other than play with my desktop settings.  Surely I do.

Take Care,
LQ

"Machine dreams hold a special vertigo..." -- William Gibson, Count Zero

Top Fifteen Movie Songs 10/15

Top Fifteen Movie Songs 10/15 (in no particular order that I will admit to): 
10) Amadeus - the whole thin - What can I say, it's Mozart.
I mean, the film leaves some to be desired, but as a piece of cinema fiction with good tunes - there you have it.

On another note...
When I originally posted this on another blog last summer, in this spot, I talked about Linux Mint being... heavier than my computer was really happy with, and that I was thinking about giving something really thin like Zenwalk or Slackware a try.


I did, but still went back to Mint.  I have, with more RAM, found more happiness with Mint, yet, due mostly to restlessness, gave Slackware another go.


See next post for more how all that went (is going.)

Anywho,
Take Care-
LQ

Helena KDE CE released

Another visit to the OS Saga.  Sat, Helena KDE Community Edition was released. Sunday I downloaded it (via torrent and left it up the whole day to help with the initial download hit.) And yesterday, I installed it.  I did not have as much time to spend exploring it as I wanted, but it gave me no grief.
Today I am cleaning out some of the unwanted packages.  I think then I am going to install the Xfce WM so I can flip flop depending on my mood.  (Sometimes I want to dedicate my resources to what I am doing rather than where I am doing it.)  But don't get me wrong.  KDE is still my favourite place to work/play/goof off.

=^_^=
LQ

Back to KDE

And the story continues...

I bought some more RAM and re-installed Helena KDE RC1.  It made a world of difference.

1) Why did I buy RAM:
"Well, other than listening to music and checking my e-mail, you okay I do my school work on it.  Not just research and reading, but I have some like, "practice test" and worksheets and stuff.

I usually have lots of windows open so I can try out some of the stuff I find online.  Mostly php and database stuff.  It is fun to work with data.  That was how I got started pulling track lists out of the Amarok database.

So, I do not need anything really powerful.  I only needed the RAM to run the KDE desktop manager.  It is "pretty" and has lots of "toys".  FluxBox is more... down to business and gives me what I need, but not so much what I _want_.  I cannot really justify wanting more than what FluxBox provides; it runs all my apps nicely.  And it is easier to configure your desktop with KDE, but once I get things set like I like them, I do not really change them, so that is not a big deal." - an e-mail I sent to someone about it.
In other words, I did it all for the pretty.


2) It has been a long time since I made any upgrades like that.


I feel a bit self indulgent buying RAM for no real practical purpose.  It was not a decision of practicality.  I normally am a fairly practical person (I think.)


But, I did it, and now I can run KDE and it is *so pretty*!!


I am working up a short review, but my head is not in it at the moment.  I followed a tweeted link from William Gibson and it unknowingly took me to Youtube.  For those that don't know, I have some sort of weird phobia of that site.  So, later this morning... etc.


Take Care
LQ

OS Saga Continued

Yeah, I installed Helena KDE RC1 on Tuesday.

It was a little to slow at times... switching desktops, scrolling through windows, etc.  Enough so that....
Yesterday (Wednesday) I installed Helena FluxBox RC1

I think I ought to mention that I installed Helena Main edition RC1 when it came out, even though I was never a big fan of Gnome.  I installed Helena stable when it was released and it gave me no trouble, but I just _like_ KDE better - unless I am going for a really light weight DM like FluxBox/Xfce whatever.

So I am using Helena FluxBox RC1

The new OS is cool.  FluxBox makes for a fast interface, but KDE just has more toys.  I am not sure about my priorities. Maybe I'll get a long stem dimm for Valentines from a secret admirer.


That being said, I have the crucial things installed, and some frivolous stuff too and more is on the way.  I have the basic look set up, but for the feel... I still need to get around to the keyboard short-cuts.


Take Care!


ps... I have a file server running an old version of Zenwalk which is really cool and a "common" machine we use here at the house that is running 64bit Helena.  It is cool, but my laptop does not have that kinda oomph.  I cannot just upgrade/change the OS on those at whim, obviously.


pss... Helena is the "name" of Linux Mint 8.  I started using Linux Mint with Bianca and have had a crush on it ever sense.  I admire Zenwalk fro its down-to-Earthiness, but...  I likez my Mint!!!