The Linux Distro Thread (maybe)

[ej-solutions]

Thought I'd start this one off, rather than continue on another thread.

As a quick catch up for others:

Have a look at Unetbootin, as a means to try out different versions of Linux, without producing numerous coasters (unwanted CDs).
I haven't tried the method of installing to hard drive, only the USB flash drive method (so far).

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Just skimming the surface

Opinions/guidance expressed are intended to benefit the reader (mostly) but no responsibility should be assumed for the accuracy and no warranty is implied/expressed or given - so eBay may pull this post

[otherego]

Ta - I'll have to mess around with it a little (off out shortly, but I'll certainly get round to it.)

No sign of a green bar under the URL - I'll have a bit of a play around and try to find out what I've managed to kill this time.

[oxieman]

I'll have a bit of a play around and try to find out what I've managed to kill this time.

OE

The progress indicator is called the 'Activity Indicator' on my system.

I did laugh when I found out it's name - 'Throbber Icon'

Oxie...

[nice_bow_tie]

I think GC may have an add-on that provides all that stuff - maybe Status-4-Evar? I don't think the green progress bar is a native feature.

By the way, I would highly recommend Status-4-Evar if you want to make Firefox 4+ look more like 3.6. It's extremely configurable, but I found the preferences dialog quite confusing at first. I have it configured to show links URLs in the status bar add-on bar instead of having that weird pop-up bubble thing, and also have the 3.6-style blue progress meter.

[grumpy-cook]

Yes you are correct NBT, I do have S4E. I'd actually forgotten I had it.

[oxieman]

That looks interesting NBT - Thanks

Will have a play to-night, when the OH has buzzed off to her "Skittles" to-night 🙂

Oxie...

[otherego]

Thanks, people - much better. I was starting to feel quite left out as a result of the lack of options in my toolbar customiser, and the lack of a green progress bar under the URL.

Pages are certainly doing a better job of loading than they did with FF 3.6. I initially assumed that I was imagining this. Not unexpected exceptions are pages including ebaystatic dot whatever and of course, thumbs 1, 2, 3 or 4. Mind you, even ebaystatic doesn't always totally fail to finish loading - the "thumbs" are a different story, but simply stopping them doesn't seem to adversely affect the site function - just means that I don't all the thumbnail pictures posted by listers.

An annoying problem since the installation of Firefox 9 is that more often than not, it doesn't shut down fully - delaying the computer's own shut-down.

In System Monitor, Firefox shows "futex_wait_queue_me." I started looking this up (something to do with hooks in the kernel or something), but dozed off - might try harder tomorrow. In the meantime, Firefox has to be Terminated With Extreme Prejudice as often as not.

140MB memory use as I type. But certainly quicker than 3.6.xx ever was on this machine.

[otherego]

Still haven't worked out what to do about Firefox and the futex_wait_queue_me thing. Inconsistent - but often delays shut-down until you tell Mint to just kill it anyway. A minor bother.

After months of trying no new distros, a whole lot that really appealed to me pitched up more or less at once.

The victim machine this time is an old RM (?) desktop - P4/2.4gHz; 1GB RAM. Not ideal live CD bait any more, but typical of the (more modern, *ahem*) machinery in the OE flat. The poor thing probably deserves a break from the tyranny of Windows XP and all its nonsense. (I just reinstalled it, plus the Office 2003 that came with the computer. A two day exercise - so far. I've bunged in a surplus old 40GB HDD to the second HDD position to try something a little more friendly.)

As briefly as possible:

PCLinuxOS-kde-2012.0.2 - nice, and I look forward to replacing the earlier version which can't be updated 'cos I didn't update the updater in time. A Windownista friend is using that computer at the moment.

mageia - bother the details - tried the GNOME and KDE live CDs. Mageia is a fork of Mandriva, but I bet everyone already knows that.

Very impressive. As usual, GNOME seemed slightly more responsive on my ancient equipment (no idea which GNOME it is, mind you), but the KDE version is so very nice that I feel my loyalties wavering. It uses much the same RAM as the GNOME version of the live CD; not sure CPU utilisation isn't slightly lower. I really think I might give it a try.

The latest Mandriva (KDE only?) - more than a touch on the heavy side on this machine, but it would be worth trying it out on something more up to date. Impressive, but not for this old workhorse.

I still haven't tried the Mageia DVD (3.6GB worth - and I'm not sure that it runs "live" - but apparently includes other desktops.)

The family resemblance among Mandriva, PCLinuxOS and Mepis (not used that in a while) looks strong to my untutored eye. I dislike the complex licence agreement in a GNU/Linux distro, but apart from that, really like them. And everything I've tried works "out of the box" on the old machine.

(As did Mint 12. The graphics couldn't handle the fancy new "eye candy," and I was simply presented with the alternative (MATE?) - no whining about inadequate hardware and fallback solutions. Which happened with OpenSuse (GNOME 3). Not sure I'll ever get to install Suse on anything, unless I win the lottery and get some new equipment. )

But I really need to try something outside my 'buntu-derived comfort zone - 'tho must confess to clinging a little to PCLOS and its relatives - only mildly let down by the recent inability to update a long-abandoned machine.

[otherego]

Ooops. Trying to get rid of the Firefox non-shutdown (futex_wait_queue_me) error while distracted by other important matters (lunch), I removed, rather than turned off, Assistive Technologies. And rebooted to a black screen with a pointer on it.

Doubtless quite repairable, but I'd recently found the custom reinstallation DVD I made a couple of months ago with Remastersys. Thinking it would be fun to try it out, I booted the computer from it, and told it to (re)install Mint 9.

Apart from taking a bit of a deep breath (fortunately, I recently copied anything of importance off the machine), the only thing I did differently from usual was to mark the existing /home partition as such again, taking care that the "format" option was unticked.

Otherwise, a perfectly standard installation, using the custom options in the partitioner.

Rebooting showed a white on black GRUB screen instead of the previous soothing green, but otherwise everthing looked normal. 120 updates were offered and installed (less than 15 minutes), and so far, everything seems fine - all the data are still there, settings seem to be the same and so on. Even my Firefox settings and bookmarks and things look just the same as ever they did.

Useful thing, remastersys.

[grumpy-cook]

Hmmm, must have a look at remastersys.

[otherego]

Firefox still doesn't always shut down cleanly (Mint 9; Dell GX 260 with -ta-da - 2GHz P4 and 2GB RAM.)

It lurks in System Monitor with the "futex_wait_queue_me" message after I shut it down - about three quarters of the time. (Intermittent faults - tedious.) On these occasions, computer shut-down is delayed by the message saying that Firefox is still running and do I really, really want to kill it?

Apart from briefly borking the whole system, I've yet to achieve anything from my googling.

The problem started when Firefox was upgraded from 3.6.whatever to 9. I hoped that the recent upgrade to version 10 - I assume this is effectively a reinstallation - would solve the hassle, but it hasn't.

Hardly one of Life's major worries, but irritating none the less. Any suggestions would be greatly welcomed.

[nice_bow_tie]

It's to do with Assistive Technologies apparently. Try going to System > Preferences > Assistive Technologies and untick "Enable Assistive Technologies".

[otherego]

Thanks, n_b_t. I should have mentioned I've tried that (more in post 1231) - just trying to keep my posts to sub-novel length, for a change.

Assistive Technologies was/is already unticked. I tried enabling then disabling it - no joy. That was when I had the bright idea of uninstalling it. Next time, I'll take a closer look at any dependencies which might disappear at the same time...

It seems (from googling) to crop up in various contexts and with various applications. Most irritating must be those in which it freezes applications on launching. At least I merely have to end Firefox in System Monitor.

Although Assistive Technologies seems a common contributer to the futex_wait_queue_me snag, there are other suggestions - eg I seem to remember someone uninstalled mySql server or something to solve it - I forget which app was hanging with the error in that instance.

My total lack of aptitude for programming, scripting etc (I haven't even got the hang of command-line syntax yet - thank goodness for copy-and-paste) is particularly frustrating at times like this.

I vaguely suspect that useful clues might lurk in pages like this:

http://kerneltrap.org/mailarchive/git-commits-head/2009/9/26/10147/thread

but don't actually understand a word of it.

*Sigh*

[nice_bow_tie]

OE, have you tried uninstalling and reinstalling Firefox, if that's the only app it happens with?

The second suggestion I've got is to try running the upstream version of Firefox, rather than your distro's packaged version (which I assume is what you're currently using). I've no idea if that will make any difference, but it might be worth trying.

Installing the upstream version is really easy actually, as unlike most open source software it comes ready-built so you don't have to compile it yourself. Just download the appropriate tar.bz2 from Mozilla's website, unzip it somewhere (it creates a single 'firefox' directory containing all the files) and then run ./firefox/firefox relative to the directory you unzipped it in.

It shouldn't affect your profile at all (which is hopefully in ~/.mozilla), but if you've got any important bookmarks or other data in your profile you might want to do a backup of it first (or eg. export your bookmarks to a file). I'm sure I'm preaching to the converting about doing backups though. 😉

[nice_bow_tie]

Another thing I forgot to mention, which might be worth trying first, is creating a new temporary Firefox profile and seeing if the problem still happens with that. The profile stores a lot of its data in sqlite database files and it's possible they may get corrupted. I've no idea if that would cause the problem though.

[otherego]

Interesting suggestions, n_b_t. Many thanks for those.

I'm out this evening (despite being in one of those grouchy moods where I'd rather mess about with the computer than talk rubbish at the pub engage in sparkling conversation at a local symposium.)

I've not played with Firefox profiles - certainly looks like a useful starting point.

I'd rather hoped that the recent upgrade from version 9 to 10 would wreak the potential magic of a reinstallation, but 'twas not to be. So I'd guess that'll be the next stage.

[otherego]

Sorry, n_b_t. I've allowed myself to be a little sidetracked by other matters, but will definitely try your suggestions once my hangover has gone other committments allow.

[otherego]

The problem is arising too infrequently now for me to try any real trouble-shooting.

Two possibilities:

A new Firefox version (= effective reinstallation)

Three years after plugging in a mighty 16MB graphics card (stop sniggering at the back, please), I realised that the BIOS had not automatically detected it (ancient Dell GX260.) Manually selecting AGP video controller has a) improve the graphics noticeably - almost plays YouTube full screen now - and seems to make the machine run so much better...

[oxieman]

Oh no OE - don't mention graphics cards - especially Nvidia drivers :_|

Will let you know my sad story when have it sorted, will keep you in suspense 😄

Oxie...

[otherego]

Sounds interesting, oxie. We wait breathlessly...

I see my last post was particularly illiterate - I was trying to beat the witching hour, just for fun.

The #2 ancient desktop (I think it's an RM or something - 2.4GHz P4 and 1GB RAM) has been briefly spared the annoyances of XP while I try Mageia out.

Very nice, so far. Most of the software I need is included in the live CD version, and I'm gradually getting the hang of making things work (ie finding commands to copy and paste!) in its software manager.

Despite being the KDE version, it seems comfortably within the old computer's capabilities. Can anyone remember the name of the Remastersys-style app that allows one to produce a custom bootable DVD of non-Debian installations? Or am I just imagining that such a thing existed?

It would be nice to be able to "preserve" my Mageia KDE installation despite wiping it and trying the GNOME version. There's a limit to how many distros one can usefully multi-boot on one computer, after all. One invariably ends up neglected and out of date.

Neither of the old desktops can cope with GNOME 3, alas. I dusted off my most powerful laptop - 1.86GHz Celeron and 2GB of RAM, ta da - again - do stop sniggering - and I'm typing this from a live session of OpenSuse. It's version 12.1 - "Asparagus." (I often wonder whether MS's continuing domination of the desktop isn't due in part to clever marketing and cool names...)

So far, I'm most impressed. Although not terribly light on resources, it's well within the capability of this (oh, all right) not particularly modern machine, and nice and quick.

I think I might eventually get to like the eye-candy, 'tho' it does feel as if I need an extra click to find anything - should actually check that.

Might even install it, though. I've never installed OpenSuse - always seem to have some problem with the live CD on my elderly equipment - but this really is rather nice.

Must go out for a spot of exercise. I'll see whether I can post a couple of screenshots first.

As you can see, I had a fair bit running there. Still very responsive.

And now, the tyranny of exercise. (I always used to simply lie down until the feeling had passed. Apparently that's why I now need to make the effort. Bah.)

[otherego]

Sometimes, I really can understand the appeal of MS Windows.

You buy (and how) the current version. You put up with its foibles for several years. Then you buy the replacement. And learn its new bits and pieces. And use it on the one computer it allows you to.

Now, the popular versions of Linux - for people like men wot can't programme, or write scripts - if you tried all the options, they'd all be out of date before you finished.

I had pretty much decided to give OpenSuse a try, but thought I'd try Mint 12 first.

Same prettiness - but if you don't feel like using it, just use the old system instead.

And despite having gained some weight compared with her older sisters, Lisa is still pretty light on resources. Again, I'll try a couple of screenshots showing  a) Lisa's good looks and  b) her leaner disposition.

About 370 MiB of RAM cf Suse's 518-odd (OK, I did forget to close the add-ons manager in Suse's screenshot. But really.)

And things seem to "just work." (Except that I seem to have acquired a US keyboard - should be easy to solve.)

Suse is pretty good - needed Flash to play YouTube, but it installed fine in the live session. But Lisa plays YT with no fiddling, and copes better with full screen - total RAM use 435MiB, with FF, Writer and Calc still open.

All these choices. No wonder people love Windoze.

And Mint really does remain my favourite.