Linux and browsers

[argedion]

People not only use what they like they tend to tell others because we think others will like it to. What we sometimes fail to realize is that One man's treasure is another man's junk.

With that said I would like to point out that I personally had no issues when I used a *buntu distro. It just wasn't what I was looking for in my Linux. So I went back to OpenSUSE then switched to Fedora for a bit. Then when they killed Gnome by making it version 3 I decided to go back to OpenSUSE and been with it ever since.

 

[MoodyBlues]

I do have something different that 'just works' it's called OpenSUSE. works perfectly fine. and for the record, Chrome installed perfectly on it.

Good! I'm glad you're happy with what you're using now.

On Ubuntu the installer would always fail for some reason, often saying unable to resolve dependencies, or architecture not supported, or wrong OS Type, and so on. i call it 'built-in protection' as it is essentially claiming the file i'm trying to install is unsupported, even though i know otherwise. to disable that , that, sanity check, would be the objective,

And as I, and others, have said over time, you seem to be the only one who's experienced this. I have never seen this. Ever.

I just can't stand Ubuntu at all. it's too dumbed down and hard to mess with.

This statement proves...well, something. I'm not sure how to word it. Let's just say that--as I've said before--it's not dumbed down for me. It looks, feels, and functions exactly as *I* want it, and is no different in any sense from any other Linux distro I've ever used.

i never said i hated Linux.

I know. But it does seem that you're plagued with problems none of the rest of us has ever seen.

I thought of installing the newest version of Vector but unfortunately, like many others lately, it's also become dumbed down for newbies and tries too hard to copy Mac OS X with the SOHO edition, which replaced Light Edition. no more default Console access. it always boots X and console access

Are you SURE about that? Keep in mind that you think *buntu is dumbed down, while I'm sitting here telling you it isn't--and I say that as a die-hard, old-school UNIX command line only aficionado with ~30 years experience with *nix.

What i fail to grasp is why there's this big deal about *Buntu as if it's the best thing ever. i never understood the blind loyalty towards it.

There is no blind loyalty to it on my part! I freely try and recommend other distros [although I haven't tried any very recently]. The reason I feel good about recommending Kubuntu is because for me: A) it just works--with everything, all my peripherals; B) it's beautiful and extraordinarily customizable; C) contrary to some opinions, it is NOT dumbed down.

 

[nickdalzell]

For the record, the actual error message (leading to a greyed out install button) for the downloaded Chrome *.Deb) during my short Kubuntu stint was:

Dependency is not satisfiable

What i never grasped is why it didn't satisfy it on its own? i mean, isn't it supposed to automatically download anything it depends on on its own? but of course, that was only one of many errors. i mean, Software Center would always install fine, but not every program i wanted was available there. trying to download any Ubuntu *.deb would throw an error. i never could figure out and just gave up.

Other errors:

Skype (32-bit Ubuntu Deb) "Architecture not supported" (greyed out install button)

VLC Player (Ubuntu Deb) "Dependency problems prevent configuration" (greyed out install again)

Various others:

The following packages have unmet dependencies:
 wine1.6 : Depends: libgettextpo0 but it is not installable
           Depends: wine1.6-i386 (= 1.7.1-actually1.6-0ubuntu1)
           Depends: binfmt-support (>= 1.1.2) but it is not installable
           Recommends: gnome-exe-thumbnailer but it is not going to be installed or
                       kde-runtime but it is not going to be installed
           Recommends: fonts-droid but it is not installable
           Recommends: ttf-mscorefonts-installer but it is not installable
           Recommends: fonts-horai-umefont but it is not installable
           Recommends: fonts-unfonts-core but it is not installable
           Recommends: winbind but it is not going to be installed
           Recommends: winetricks but it is not going to be installed
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.

Keep in mind these always came up trying to install anything downloaded from the internet. i could eventually get them installed, but they either were buggy, or i ended up suffering major headache trying to figure out a workaround, often spending hours editing installer scripts. it took two hours to install something that should take a few minutes. it was largely inefficient, and a pain. i couldn't handle it.

The "unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages" was the most common. it never told me *why* it wasn't installable, or *why* it's 'unable to correct' or *why* the installer couldn't install all needed dependencies (something even archaic Vector 6 could do on its own) in the first place. it's as vague as a Google error. unacceptable.

 

[MoodyBlues]

Thanks for posting those messages, Nick. While I don't recall ever seeing those myself, I feel reasonably sure that it all could've been fixed with a few commands and/or some Synaptic use.

What i never grasped is why it didn't satisfy it on its own? i mean, isn't it supposed to automatically download anything it depends on on its own?

Yes, it should--and does, for me. But I can understand your frustration if your experience was different.

Software Center would always install fine, but not every program i wanted was available there.

I never use Software Center. Oh, I've TRIED it, but it sucks. I always install Synaptic ASAP and use that. Either way, however, if something you wanted wasn't available there, perhaps you simply hadn't enabled or added its repository.

trying to download any Ubuntu *.deb would throw an error. i never could figure out and just gave up.

Yeah, I don't know...I've never seen it myself.

 

[nickdalzell]

Just fired up an old Kubuntu install to see if it still booted (forgot it was still there) and i did have Chrome in there, but i remember having to spend an hour online and do a lot of repo adding and other trickery to get it to work.

simply being able to click 'download and install' would have been better but in my experience in any *buntu it's not that simple.

 

[MoodyBlues]

Just fired up an old Kubuntu install to see if it still booted (forgot it was still there) and i did have Chrome in there, but i remember having to spend an hour online and do a lot of repo adding and other trickery to get it to work.

This indicates a major issue with your installation--see my pics earlier in this thread for the simple-as-1-2-3 installation of Chrome on Kubuntu for me. Perhaps your Kubuntu install was missing some components. Perhaps you installed Kubuntu on top of Ubuntu and failed to install all of its components. Perhaps you had a faulty installation some other way. As I say over and over again, I've been doing this since 5.04 and never see the issues you're having, so I have to assume that your experience was an anomaly. I'm curious as to what would happen if you started with a freshly wiped disk and a freshly downloaded, complete version of Kubuntu. :hmmmm2:

 

[nickdalzell]

Here's another infuriating thing that makes me despise *buntu even more. trying to install Steam on it, all packages give me '404 file not found' and can't be fixed. WTF?!

Can't even sudo apt-get update. or upgrade. everything ends in 404s

 

[Dngrsone]

That tells me that you have a connection problem... perhaps you need to adjust your wifi parameters?

 

[MoodyBlues]

Here's another infuriating thing that makes me despise *buntu even more. trying to install Steam on it, all packages give me '404 file not found' and can't be fixed. WTF?!

...and installed and runs flawlessly and effortlessly for me.

Can't even sudo apt-get update. or upgrade. everything ends in 404s

See my earlier post about starting with a freshly formatted, empty disk...

 

[nickdalzell]

connected fine, but i think 13.10 is EOL. any means of adding in archived repos? i forget everything

I REFUSE to wipe everything. i got too much data here i'd like to keep. it took me all night once to get Flight Simulator X to work. not doing that again.

W: Failed to fetch http://us.old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-backports/universe/source/Sources  Something wicked happened resolving 'us.old-releases.ubuntu.com:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)

W: Failed to fetch http://us.old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-backports/multiverse/source/Sources  Something wicked happened resolving 'us.old-releases.ubuntu.com:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)

W: Failed to fetch http://us.old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-backports/main/binary-i386/Packages  Something wicked happened resolving 'us.old-releases.ubuntu.com:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)

W: Failed to fetch http://us.old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-backports/restricted/binary-i386/Packages  Something wicked happened resolving 'us.old-releases.ubuntu.com:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)

W: Failed to fetch http://us.old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-backports/universe/binary-i386/Packages  Something wicked happened resolving 'us.old-releases.ubuntu.com:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)

W: Failed to fetch http://us.old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-backports/multiverse/binary-i386/Packages  Something wicked happened resolving 'us.old-releases.ubuntu.com:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)

W: Failed to fetch http://us.old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-backports/main/i18n/Translation-en_US  Something wicked happened resolving 'us.old-releases.ubuntu.com:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)

W: Failed to fetch http://us.old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-backports/main/i18n/Translation-en  Something wicked happened resolving 'us.old-releases.ubuntu.com:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)

W: Failed to fetch http://us.old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-backports/multiverse/i18n/Translation-en_US  Something wicked happened resolving 'us.old-releases.ubuntu.com:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)

W: Failed to fetch http://us.old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-backports/multiverse/i18n/Translation-en  Something wicked happened resolving 'us.old-releases.ubuntu.com:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)

W: Failed to fetch http://us.old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-backports/restricted/i18n/Translation-en_US  Something wicked happened resolving 'us.old-releases.ubuntu.com:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)

W: Failed to fetch http://us.old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-backports/restricted/i18n/Translation-en  Something wicked happened resolving 'us.old-releases.ubuntu.com:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)

W: Failed to fetch http://us.old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-backports/universe/i18n/Translation-en_US  Something wicked happened resolving 'us.old-releases.ubuntu.com:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)

W: Failed to fetch http://us.old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-backports/universe/i18n/Translation-en  Something wicked happened resolving 'us.old-releases.ubuntu.com:http' (-5 - No address associated with hostname)

E: Some index files failed to download. They have been ignored, or old ones used instead.
nick@nick-Satellite-C855D:~$

Seems Steam also needs a package, and is halted with an unmet dependency, called 'xZenity'. but it's 'not installable' gee where have i seen that before?! is there a different Distro i can use to install Steam? OpenSUSE doesn't support Steam and i cannot install the S3DT library there.

 

[Dngrsone]

If you have the extra space, you could add a second installation...

That's what I am doing even at this moment-- Mint 15 is EOL and I installed Mint 17 alongside. I am migrating important data from one OS to the other as needed. Of course everything is backed up offline, anyway.

 

[nickdalzell]

well everything that was already installed on this one is still working but i wanted to play Portal and Portal 2 on Linux. it won't support OpenSUSE yet. Steam apparently only fully supports Ubuntu (sadly) and this one has no separate /home partition. i suppose i could blow away OpenSUSE and get the latest install DVD? and leave this one alone.

IS there any means of reviving the software center on this? i mean all i want from it is Steam.

I tried installing Steam from the browser but it fails with an unmet dependency and that dependency can't install due to a 404 error. so all the package repos here are dead or something. and i forget the convoluted line needed to add in the backup repos. this is Kubuntu 13.10

 

[MoodyBlues]

Steam apparently only fully supports Ubuntu (sadly) and this one has no separate /home partition.

Does it actually need a /home partition, or simply a /home directory? (When I installed Steam it was moot because I always have separate partitions for /home, etc.)

i suppose i could blow away OpenSUSE and get the latest install DVD? and leave this one alone.

Yes, but if you want to keep your openSUSE installation, it makes better sense to blow away the bad Kubuntu install instead.

IS there any means of reviving the software center on this? i mean all i want from it is Steam.

Software Center, I have no idea. Synaptic, of course.

 

[nickdalzell]

I cannot wipe the Kubuntu install. Too many still working games installed there that are a royal pain to reinstall from scratch. Took a whole day to get Flight Simulator X working. I'd rather just run steam on a different partition.

I can make OpenSUSE run on any of my five laptops it doesn't need to be on the Toshiba.

If SteamOS didn't have insane requirements (5gb RAM, anyone?) I'd just use that.

A project for tomorrow. I will just get a regular Ubuntu install on there and run Steam in big picture mode. Thus hiding the hideous Unity UI, so anyone know of a script to auto launch Steam on system boot? Not as simple as putting the icon in the startup folder like in Windows.

OK i just installed Ubuntu 14.04, and they made it a bit easier to install Chrome but i still had to Google the procedure as it kept trying to open up Software Center when i double-clicked the *.DEB file. i had to sudo apt-get install Gdebi to get the actual installer back, which succeeded. got Steam going, haven't tested the Portal games yet as they are still installing, but Portal 2 didn't want to go, said i had insufficient disk space despite having over 20GB free. wtf there? all the rest installed fine....

EDIT:

OK figured out the space issue. Steam was using a smaller partition as its default...Portal 1 runs perfectly fine, although laggy a bit on this two-year old laptop, so hardware isn't that good, but it does run and graphics are great. trying Portal 2 next.

 

[Divergent]

I like the chromium on Ubuntu the most, have used FireFox but it's far to slow in comparison against chromium.

 

[Dngrsone]

The performance of Firefox is largely depending on what and how many plugins one uses.

I use different profiles with different sets of plugins depending on which tasks I want to accomplish, and that helps.

 

[Joelgp83]

The "unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages" was the most common. it never told me *why* it wasn't installable, or *why* it's 'unable to correct' or *why* the installer couldn't install all needed dependencies (something even archaic Vector 6 could do on its own) in the first place. it's as vague as a Google error. unacceptable.

I've encountered and cleared the broken package condition on a friends system before. Believe it or not, its probably the main culprit behind the rest of nicks problems, outside of what appears to be dead 404 links.

Nick, could you fire off a sudo apt-get clean && sudo apt-get update on the system with the broken packages? Also, did you ever attempt to do a partial-upgrade at all?

 

[nickdalzell]

No, I just wiped the hard drive and put the latest Ubuntu release on it next to opensuse. Opensuse worked fine for everything except Steam games. It seems to be missing the libs for video support and throws an error about S3DT libs needing install, but they're not available for opensuse. The games play properly on Ubuntu however. So that install is just for games.

 

[zuben el genub]

If you don't like the new FX, Pale Moon has a tar.gz file. It's based on FX, but doesn't do Australis.

SW Iron (german) - a chrome clone made for Europe also has a tar.gz file. Behaves just like Chrome but with EU controls.

I have both. On Windows and Kubuntu.