Other Distros

[Colonel Panic]

I think of Centos (and its derivatives) as the Windows NT of Linux; unflashy, a bit retro....

Windows Vista/7 is an exception to Windows NT being unflashy and retro.

BTW, Windows 7 is still my main OS.

Sure, maybe I should have been more specific. When I said "NT" I meant Windows NT 4.0, i.e. the one from the mid-90s which preceded Windows 2000 and had no other name in common use other than "NT" (in the way that, for example, Windows XP is also Windows NT 5.1).

There was also an earlier NT, 3.51, but it was pretty rare AFAIK and I've never seen it installed anywhere.

[bark_bark_bark]

Sure, maybe I should have been more specific. When I said "NT" I meant Windows NT 4.0, i.e. the one from the mid-90s which preceded Windows 2000 and had no other name in common use other than "NT" (in the way that, for example, Windows XP is also Windows NT 5.1).

There was also an earlier NT, 3.51, but it was pretty rare AFAIK and I've never seen it installed anywhere.

Yeah, I figured you were talking about NT 4.0.

[James C]

Fedora 21 Workstation.
https://getfedora.org/

I don't like Gnome 3 or systemd but I was pretty bored....

Code: Select all

bash-4.3$ uname -a
Linux localhost 3.17.4-301.fc21.x86_64 #1 SMP Thu Nov 27 19:09:10 UTC 2014 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
bash-4.3$ 

[nitehawk]

I don't like Gnome 3 or systemd but I was pretty bored....

HA!!! What better way to fight boredom, than fooling around with a linux distro, eh?

I'm fiddling with Knoppix 7.4 right now. Rebooted it, only to have it revert to German. And it looks like there is no window borders to be able to move or close windows. Looking for work-arounds for those two things. I see there may be a way to make it consistantly boot to English,...and maybe adding Openbox config may add the windows borders. We'll see.

One thing is certain,...it sure is crammed full of programs and apps!! Has even more stuff (and stuff for kids as well) than even Emmabuntus does. I like it. Even if the boot-up voice "Initiating startup sequence" makes you jump off your chair at first ('till you get used to it).

[darry1966]

Been trying out Semplice on an old Dell D620 on USB drive Version 5 very nice.[/img]

[Mike Walsh]

BTW, I have the opposite problem from you. I have a fast internet connection now but an ancient computer which doesn't handle DVDs very well (most of the time, in fact, distros on DVD won't load on it at all). It's one of the reasons I mostly stick with Puppy nowadays - just about all Puppies still fit on CD-Rs instead of DVDs as is increasingly the norm with Linux distros.

I've got the same issue here.Well, partially. My 'newest' machine is a 10-yr old Compaq Presario desktop; Athlon 64, 3 GB RAM, and a dual DVD rewriter setup. This one runs Ubuntu 14.04 LTS/Tahrpup 6.02 as a 'frugal' in its own partition. Also various 'flash' Puppies from the 7-port USB hub I've got. They FLY on this thing.....

However, my OTHER machine is a very elderly Dell Inspiron laptop.....an original 1100, from 2002. Like you, we have a fast broadband connection, but this thing's only got a CD rewriter. I run 'Tahrpup' exclusively on this one, 'cos none of the 'buntus, nor any of the other lightweight distros, will work successfully with the dozy Intel graphics chip in the old girl. So, rather than mess around with the BIOS (like many people have suggested), I just let Tahrpup do its thing.....'cos it just plain WORKS.


Regards,

Mike.

[James C]

Installed another new distro.

From Todd Robinson of On-Disk.com (remember 31 Flavors of Fun) is SiNG one.zero.

I'm sure they would rather sell you a dvd but Sing is available as a free download.
https://singisnotgnome.wordpress.com/downloads/

http://on-disk.com/product_info.php/products_id/1626

SiNG one.zero is the first 64 bit desktop operating system release I'm aware of designed to maximize speed, and efficiency, while minimizing power consumption to extend battery life. Even more impressively, it's not a minimalist release, but built specifically for modern 64 bit PCs, Laptops, and Netbooks with widescreen displays.

The SiNG desktop is derived from JWM (Joe's Window Manager). It's impressively lean, yet beautiful. Something anyone who ever used JWM wouldn't expect to find.

The desktop is characterized by the huge application launcher (start button) in the upper right corner. At first this seemed to be overkill, but then I discovered the genius behind it. You can quickly launch the application finder without precision pointer control...great when using a touchpad.

All of the desktop controls are contained in the control bar on the right. This not only maximizes vertical screen space, but makes switching between virtual desktops, selecting minimized applications, and moving applications quicker and easier than I've ever experienced before. I even noticed that you can right click on a window in the virtual screen selector (sometimes called a pager) and drag windows from one virtual screen (virtual desktop) to another. I found this to be faster than using the menu option under the window icon decoration menu.

SiNG is built from a combination of Debian and L/X/K/Ubuntu, and is 100% compatible with the current Long Term Support Version, which provides system and application updates until 2020.

[Colonel Panic]

BTW, I have the opposite problem from you. I have a fast internet connection now but an ancient computer which doesn't handle DVDs very well (most of the time, in fact, distros on DVD won't load on it at all). It's one of the reasons I mostly stick with Puppy nowadays - just about all Puppies still fit on CD-Rs instead of DVDs as is increasingly the norm with Linux distros.

I've got the same issue here.Well, partially. My 'newest' machine is a 10-yr old Compaq Presario desktop; Athlon 64, 3 GB RAM, and a dual DVD rewriter setup. This one runs Ubuntu 14.04 LTS/Tahrpup 6.02 as a 'frugal' in its own partition. Also various 'flash' Puppies from the 7-port USB hub I've got. They FLY on this thing.....

However, my OTHER machine is a very elderly Dell Inspiron laptop.....an original 1100, from 2002. Like you, we have a fast broadband connection, but this thing's only got a CD rewriter. I run 'Tahrpup' exclusively on this one, 'cos none of the 'buntus, nor any of the other lightweight distros, will work successfully with the dozy Intel graphics chip in the old girl. So, rather than mess around with the BIOS (like many people have suggested), I just let Tahrpup do its thing.....'cos it just plain WORKS.

Regards,

Mike.

Hi Mike,

Thanks for replying, and it's good to know that Tahrpup works on even a thirteen year old machine. I'll bear that in mind when I next want to install something on mine.

The only problem I've had in the past with Tahrpup was getting sound working with videos in Palemoon - but sound configuration is a problem I've had with a lot of newer Puppies, not just Tahrpup. For some reason it seems to be a weak point with my machine (or with newer Puppies, I'm not sure which).

[rokytnji]

Code: Select all

harry@scuzbucket:~
$ cd Downloads
harry@scuzbucket:~/Downloads
$ ls
android-x86-5.0.2-lollipop-exton-kernel-332mb-150306.iso  md5

The plan is to put it on one of my netbooks and sell it.

[Colonel Panic]

I stand corrected. I'm using Tahrpup now and it won't install to a single partition; it's the whole hard drive or nothing. Oh well.

[Mike Walsh]

I stand corrected. I'm using Tahrpup now and it won't install to a single partition; it's the whole hard drive or nothing. Oh well.

Hm. THAT'S odd. I take it you are trying to do a 'frugal'? Shouldn't need to ask that, really.... I had no problems at all installing to a single partition, back in October. The only real problem I had was getting Grub2 to let me boot Tahrpup, having installed it! The sodding thing only seems to recognise Debian-based distros.....so after a wee bit of advice here on the forum ( from bigpup, I believe), I used Grub4DOS; and I've had no problems ever since.

The STUPID thing is, I can't get the old girl to run the older Puppies. The boot procedure goes as usual.....but as soon as it's time for the desktop to show itself, the screen just goes blank.....and that's it! It's 13 yrs old, but it'll ONLY run the newest 'Puppy'. Strange, or what? I've tried Slacko 5.7, Precise 5.7.1, Racy, Wary, Carolina....it won't display any of them... 'TahrPup' works a treat, though, so I'm quite satisfied, really. It's a sight lighter on its toes than it ever was with XP, I know that!

The sound issue; personally, I reckon it's got summat to do with the ongoing kerfuffle between Alsa/PulseAudio this last couple of years. I could be wrong.....but that's my opinion, and I'll stand by it. I know I can't get sound to work in Skype video calls, no matter WHAT I try....


Regards,

Mike.

[mikeb]

I run 'Tahrpup' exclusively on this one, 'cos none of the 'buntus, nor any of the other lightweight distros, will work successfully with the dozy Intel graphics chip in the old girl.

if its something like intel 845 / 865 I can only get those working by providing modelines...thats it really. I keep a custom xorg.conf for the job but I normally use AGP nvidia cards instead because I like graphics

They are also pretty bad with boot screens etc as well as intel said piss off to vesa standards for these bunnies.

Thats with puppy 2.12/4.12/slax 6 can't remember how lucid was....just for reference.

mike

[greengeek]

The sound issue; personally, I reckon it's got summat to do with the ongoing kerfuffle between Alsa/PulseAudio this last couple of years. I could be wrong.....but that's my opinion, and I'll stand by it. I know I can't get sound to work in Skype video calls, no matter WHAT I try....

I would be interested for you to try my version of skype puppy to see if it cures your black screen and no-sound problems. Download link here:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/6munz ... March9.iso
It is a 320MB download because I have added some extras like Softmaker Freeoffice etc but ignore that if you just want to try Skype.
Two things to note:
1) Start Skype by selecting "skypelogin" from the internet menu (Dont click "Skype")
2) Follow the onscreen instruction splashes - it is important to read the clues as to how to set the login checkbox and the skype options.

[mikeb]

Ok from elsewhere but I failed to get pulseaudio working whatever I did...must try apulse when I get chance.
The latest skype itself DID start up once it approved of the machines CPU...wow they have a narrow hardware windows for us 'keep machines working ' bunnies but i assume thats exactly the reason for the change... hardware companies pay microsoft for every new machine they sell/make and instruction sets are a great way to obsolete machinery as are dummy kernel functions to obsolete operating systems.

They make money this way though I do question when similar things happen with FOSS (not skype)

mike

[Colonel Panic]

I stand corrected. I'm using Tahrpup now and it won't install to a single partition; it's the whole hard drive or nothing. Oh well.

Hm. THAT'S odd. I take it you are trying to do a 'frugal'? Shouldn't need to ask that, really.... I had no problems at all installing to a single partition, back in October. The only real problem I had was getting Grub2 to let me boot Tahrpup, having installed it! The sodding thing only seems to recognise Debian-based distros.....so after a wee bit of advice here on the forum ( from bigpup, I believe), I used Grub4DOS; and I've had no problems ever since.

The STUPID thing is, I can't get the old girl to run the older Puppies. The boot procedure goes as usual.....but as soon as it's time for the desktop to show itself, the screen just goes blank.....and that's it! It's 13 yrs old, but it'll ONLY run the newest 'Puppy'. Strange, or what? I've tried Slacko 5.7, Precise 5.7.1, Racy, Wary, Carolina....it won't display any of them... 'TahrPup' works a treat, though, so I'm quite satisfied, really. It's a sight lighter on its toes than it ever was with XP, I know that!

The sound issue; personally, I reckon it's got summat to do with the ongoing kerfuffle between Alsa/PulseAudio this last couple of years. I could be wrong.....but that's my opinion, and I'll stand by it. I know I can't get sound to work in Skype video calls, no matter WHAT I try....


Regards,

Mike.

I was in fact trying to do a full install... with my computer's power supply seemingly on its last legs I figured a full install would boot better than trying to unpack the tahr 6.0 sfs file every time I boot up (or even boot at all). Sad I know.

[starhawk]

Colonel Panic, you should probably replace that power supply. A dying PSU can do all sorts of nasty stuff... trust me, I've seen it happen. Far better, in both the short term and the long run, to replace it quickly.

[Colonel Panic]

Colonel Panic, you should probably replace that power supply. A dying PSU can do all sorts of nasty stuff... trust me, I've seen it happen. Far better, in both the short term and the long run, to replace it quickly.

Thanks for your concern, much appreciated. It's only a guess that it's the power supply that's going wrong – the computer takes about 15-20 minutes before it will boot every morning and is prone to freeze at times – but I think it's a good guess under the circumstances.

The computer was a rescue from a community centre cupboard a year ago, and I'm guessing they'd had problems with it as it wasn't being used. I like to keep things (especially computers) working where I can, but all the same I'm wondering whether or not I'd be better off getting another one now as it could be cheaper than trying to fix this one.

[starhawk]

[...]It's only a guess that it's the power supply that's going wrong – the computer takes about 15-20 minutes before it will boot every morning and is prone to freeze at times[...]

That's an interesting can of symptoms... a little confusing, in fact.

Do you mean that it requires approximately a quarter-hour for the boot process to take place? Or are you removing all power (shutting off via a power supply-mounted switch on the rear of the system, or a surge suppressor strip / power strip nearby) in between boots...?

Sounds almost like a thermal issue, at the moment, though. How often do you dust the inside of the system? and what make/mfr. is it? Specs?

EDIT: I hope you don't mind, I emailed a local friend of mine (runs the town's *good* tech shop) about your system and its issues -- this is his response --

I can't guarantee this but your power supply diagnosis is probably correct. If a system won't power on but generally works when it does (even if it only sort-of-works) the usual culprit is the power supply is failing to start. The problem is that initial current jump needed to start the supply.

Tell him to disassemble the PSU and look for bad capacitors. I can 90% guarantee that's what he'll find.

Pulling open a power supply isn't hard. With the supply still in the system, unplug it and hold down the computer's power button for about 15 seconds -- this will empty the stored electricity from the supply so that it won't zap you while you're inspecting the insides. At that point you're all good, go at it with a screwdriver. Capacitors are cylindrical and should be flat-topped. Any and all domed capacitors are failed capacitors -- doubly so if they're leaking weird alien goo type stuff.

(A note of warning -- supplies from the very early 1990s and before were made a lot better, and you'd need to manually discharge the capacitors before touching the innards safely, or you'd need insulated static-safe gloves. Modern supplies, however, are built to cost, and don't have that issue.)

[Colonel Panic]

Many thanks for your trouble starhawk. My computer dates from 2003 so there's a fair chance its power supply is in the "made to last" category.

I'll definitely consider replacing the capacitors - the problem of course being that it's one of the 2 most dangerous jobs you can do in a computer IMO (the most dangerous, and one I once swore I'd never do, being opening up a CRT monitor). So, I'm going to read up on it first before even thinking of opening up my case and getting stuck in.

Thanks again for your trouble (and that of the computer shop guy).

Cheers,

CP .

P.S. The computer's specs are in my sig. I last dusted the inside of my system two weeks ago (though I will admit it was the first time this year).

[mikeb]

The money you would save off your electricity bill would pay for a few goodies if you got rid of it and it does not sound healthy at all.
Those pentium 4 took an obscene amount of power and its not surprising when power supplies give up on them...indeed it may not be rated sufficiently anyway.

One of those times when you need to draw the line... you could probably use some of the parts elsewhere or sell on ebay.

mike