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The "Linux questions (and other stuff)" thread

Installed the 12.04 ubuntu release a few nights ago... not really digging unity yet, but it's much nicer than the last time I used it. And to be fair, the majority of what I do, the DE/WM doesn't matter much.
 
Unity was alright, but it lacked the level of customization that Linux is known for so i switched to KDE. it also played up with my games. the 'unity bar' up top that acts like a system tray/menu bar always stayed on top and could not be moved, cutting off important info (such as my XP-stats and level in Star Trek: Online or the menu bar in Flight Simulator X). also while able to auto-hide, the app dock was huge and took up a good amount of screen real estate, could not be relocated more naturally to the bottom of the screen, and also when auto-hide was on the adjustment was somewhere between 'why won't you go away?' to 'how do i get the bloody thing back?!'

the unity dock and Unity itself were meant for netbooks. which is why they really need to rethink the size of it, given that most netbooks only have 10" of screen area to begin with
 
Yeah, I used it on the Ubuntu Netbook Remix in the 9.X version... worked pretty well then, but was pretty buggy. At least now most of those things are resolved.

And really, I pretty much have all applications in full screen anyways.
 
This is simple

When it comes to general/everyday use and android development, What is your perferred Linux distro and why?

:D
 
I'm not an Android developer, but I've been a Linux user since 1995. I use several distributions because the people who I work with have special Linux needs. For my personal desktop and server boxes, I prefer OpenSUSE.

Why? I've met the original S.u.S.E. people at COMDEX, have used Novell products for decades, and (most of all) I just like how it works. Yast is the best native administration tool that I've ever used, and it allows me to be every bit as lazy as I can be with a Mac or Windows box. It's stable, mature and refined. After 18 years of using Linux, I expect my Linux distro to be as production ready as I am. It's not a toy.
 
I use Ubuntu because most of the development and build environment setup guides are based on ubuntu, even from google so it was a logical choice for me.
 
SUroot said:
I use Ubuntu because most of the development and build environment setup guides are based on ubuntu, even from google so it was a logical choice for me.
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FWIW you can set up an environment for building ROMs on other distros. Example, I have a working build environment on ArchLinux
 
I'd say thus far, my favorite distro has been a debian install I was using for about a year. But you can set up an android dev environment probably anywhere.

A few months back I set on up in backtrack (but that is/was ubuntu based)...

For general use, here's my rough set up -

I generally like a more traditional DE/WM - gnome2 or something similar.

> Terminal Emulator
> Text Editor
> cmus
> bluefish
> browser (firefox/chromium)
> IM client (pidgin or something - though most chatting now seems to be moving towards web-based).

That's about all I can really think of for what I use most often. I don't do too much with documents, but when I do libre office is nice.

Now for why. I am most comfortable with a traditional desktop...that's what I grew up on. That being said, I'm currently trying out unity on ubuntu 12.04. Most of my use relates towards scripting and web development.

*shrugs*
 
I have been using Ubuntu since 2008 and moved to Mint last fall. I was not happy with how commercialized Ubuntu was heading and Unity sucks on a desktop. Mint is what Ubuntu should have been.
 
I went from using the so-called hard distros to Mandriva around 2008, up till 2011 or whenever Mageia forked and started it's own. I'm now using Mageia Beta, while waiting for version 3 to become final. I also use SalixOS (based on Slackware).

The reason I use linux is I can not afford Windows! I do not do any android development either.
 
NightHawk877 said:
I have been using Ubuntu since 2008 and moved to Mint last fall. I was not happy with how commercialized Ubuntu was heading and Unity sucks on a desktop. Mint is what Ubuntu should have been.
Click to expand...

That's Shuttleworth and Canonical Ltd, presumably they want to successfully monetize Ubuntu. There's Ubuntu One including Amazon affiliate stuff.

I'm using Mint myself, has become my distro of choice. Although I've changed things quite a bit from the default Mint install. I'm now using KDE and LXDE rather than the default Mate(Gnome 2 fork) that Mint comes with. The Mint repos are still on Canonical's servers though(ubuntu.com).
 
Do any of you run the LMDE? When I tried Mint, that was the one I ran for a few months. If you like rolling releases, give it a try!
 
NightHawk877 said:
I have been using Ubuntu since 2008 and moved to Mint last fall. I was not happy with how commercialized Ubuntu was heading and Unity sucks on a desktop. Mint is what Ubuntu should have been.
Click to expand...
Kubuntu is worlds away from Ubuntu. It's what I've used since its first release, and despite occasionally trying other distros I always stick with Kubuntu as my main distro. KDE is light years away from Unity. Too bad you [apparently] only tried Ubuntu proper, and not its much nicer sibling Kubuntu. :)
 
saptech said:
Do any of you run the LMDE? When I tried Mint, that was the one I ran for a few months. If you like rolling releases, give it a try!
Click to expand...

I've not tried that. AFAICT it's still Mint with the default Mate desktop environment, unless you change it. However it uses Debian repos rather than Canonical Ubuntu repo servers. That's why it's rolling release rather than using sixth monthly Ubuntu releases.
 
mikedt said:
I've not tried that. AFAICT it's still Mint with the default Mate desktop environment, unless you change it. However it uses Debian repos rather than Canonical Ubuntu repo servers. That's why it's rolling release rather than using sixth monthly Ubuntu releases.
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Correct. It uses Debian's Testing branch repos, which gives you more current software then using Stable repos. If you use Sid's repos, then you will get the bleeding edge software, but beware of breakage also. :smokingsomb:
 
palmtree5 said:
FWIW you can set up an environment for building ROMs on other distros. Example, I have a working build environment on ArchLinux
Click to expand...

Yeah true, but I was a new comer to Linux in general at the time so as the guides were mostly Ubuntu based, it made sense for me.
 
I don't do development but my flavors are Fedora and Sabayon. I do play around and try different distro's in a live environment just to check them out.
 
saptech said:
I went from using the so-called hard distros to Mandriva around 2008, up till 2011 or whenever Mageia forked and started it's own.
Click to expand...
Actually Mandrake / Mandriva was quite popular among hard core Linux users because it was well sorted, stable, and had plenty of "power user" packages available for it, while still having the convenience of a solid graphical management utility. But without the distro's founder, Ga
 
saptech said:
Yes, that is so true. One thing Mageia did bring with it is Mandrake/Mandriva's Control Center, which is one of the best system management apps around. If all else fails, you can go to the MCC and fixed just about any issue.
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I loved my MCC! Only recently has Yast finally become as good, if not as good-looking.

Maybe it's time for me to try out Mageia with the Trinity desktop. It would be like turning back the clock to when (IMO) Linux/X/KDE was "just right". :D
 
Maybe I'll have to take another look at Ubuntu on my system!!! Unity...

An anthropologist proposed a game to kids in African. He put a basket full of fruit near a tree and told the kids that who ever got there first won the fruits. When he said run they all took each others hands and ran together, then sat together enjoying their treats. When he asked why they ran together, when one could have had all the fruit, they said: ''UBUNTU, how can one of us be happy if all the other ones are sad?''
Click to expand...
Ubuntu%2C+Xhosa+culture+means-+%27I+Am+Because+We+Are%27.jpg
 
I actually like Unity. I do wish it were more customizable, though.

In the year and a half it's been out, I have managed to get things working decently (and convinced Mozilla to allow Classes again).

I do want to experiment with KDE a little more-- I want that level of power over the desktop, but I am comfortable with Ubuntu and Unity now, so I may try for a Unity-type desktop in a KDE environment.

KDE is powerful enough to accommodate me, the question is whether I have the time and patience to train both myself and KDE to get where I would like.
 
MoodyBlues said:
As with all things Linux/UNIX, there are many ways to do what you're after. Ask 1,000 different people and you'll probably get 2,000 different answers! :) With that in mind, here's what I came up with; I'm showing it step by step for clarity, rather than just throwing it all into one script.

First, I ran the script posted earlier to replace spaces with underscores (this time I've added a little documentation! :)). So I started out with 12 files named:

Code: 
[www.somesite.com]fantasy (10).jpg
[www.somesite.com]fantasy (11).jpg
[www.somesite.com]fantasy (12).jpg
[www.somesite.com]fantasy (1).jpg
[www.somesite.com]fantasy (2).jpg
[www.somesite.com]fantasy (3).jpg
[www.somesite.com]fantasy (4).jpg
[www.somesite.com]fantasy (5).jpg
[www.somesite.com]fantasy (6).jpg
[www.somesite.com]fantasy (7).jpg
[www.somesite.com]fantasy (8).jpg
[www.somesite.com]fantasy (9).jpg

I ran this script:

[high]#!/bin/bash

# create a list of files that are in current directory, writing only
# their names, in /tmp/current_files
ls > /tmp/current_files

# move the list of file names to current directory
mv /tmp/current_files ./current_files

# run contents of list file through tr, changing spaces into;
# underscores; write modified results to new file
cat current_files | tr ' ' '_' > current_files_new

FileCount=$(wc -l current_files | awk '{print $1}')
count=1
while [ "$count" -le "$FileCount" ]
# this will get fed to awk for processing
do ReadAwk="FNR=="$count
OldName=$(awk $ReadAwk current_files)
NewName=$(awk $ReadAwk current_files_new)
# use quotes so files with spaces in their names are interpreted
# correctly; suppress any output
mv "$OldName" "$NewName" > /dev/null 2>&1
count=$(($count+1))
done

# clean up when done
rm current_files
rm current_files_new

exit 0[/high]

Now my files' names looked like this:

Code: 
[www.somesite.com]fantasy_(10).jpg
[www.somesite.com]fantasy_(11).jpg
[www.somesite.com]fantasy_(12).jpg
[www.somesite.com]fantasy_(1).jpg
[www.somesite.com]fantasy_(2).jpg
[www.somesite.com]fantasy_(3).jpg
[www.somesite.com]fantasy_(4).jpg
[www.somesite.com]fantasy_(5).jpg
[www.somesite.com]fantasy_(6).jpg
[www.somesite.com]fantasy_(7).jpg
[www.somesite.com]fantasy_(8).jpg
[www.somesite.com]fantasy_(9).jpg

Next I typed this at a prompt to remove the [www.somesite.com] from each file's name:

Code: 
for file in \[www.somesite.com\]fantasy*.jpg
do mv $file ${file#\[www.somesite.com\]}
done

My files now looked like this:

Code: 
fantasy_(10).jpg
fantasy_(11).jpg
fantasy_(12).jpg
fantasy_(1).jpg
fantasy_(2).jpg
fantasy_(3).jpg
fantasy_(4).jpg
fantasy_(5).jpg
fantasy_(6).jpg
fantasy_(7).jpg
fantasy_(8).jpg
fantasy_(9).jpg

Next comes this, which strips the "(" from each file's name:

Code: 
for file in *\(*.jpg
do mv ${file} ${file/\(/}
done

Yielding:

Code: 
fantasy_10).jpg
fantasy_11).jpg
fantasy_12).jpg
fantasy_1).jpg
fantasy_2).jpg
fantasy_3).jpg
fantasy_4).jpg
fantasy_5).jpg
fantasy_6).jpg
fantasy_7).jpg
fantasy_8).jpg
fantasy_9).jpg

Then this, to strip the ")" from each file's name:

Code: 
for file in *\)*.jpg
do mv ${file} ${file/\)/}
done

Yielding:

Code: 
fantasy_10.jpg
fantasy_11.jpg
fantasy_12.jpg
fantasy_1.jpg
fantasy_2.jpg
fantasy_3.jpg
fantasy_4.jpg
fantasy_5.jpg
fantasy_6.jpg
fantasy_7.jpg
fantasy_8.jpg
fantasy_9.jpg

Done! :D

Please ask questions if you're not sure what/how/why something is being done in any of the above.

My caveat, as before, is to first try this in a dummy directory that contains *COPIES* of your files. That way, if something doesn't work right, or you make a typo, or whatever, you don't risk losing anything important. Once you're satisfied that it works as expected it, do it for real.
Click to expand...
I highly recommend you look into sed and regular expressions. You can do all that work in one line wrapped by a folder/file nested loop structure. I will leave it up to the curious to look up sed and learn regular expressions. Very powerful and concise. It was designed for exactly these sorts of purposes to avoid writing of lengthy scripts. Cheers!
 
PhysicsGuyBria said:
I highly recommend you look into sed and regular expressions. You can do all that work in one line wrapped by a folder/file nested loop structure. I will leave it up to the curious to look up sed and learn regular expressions. Very powerful and concise. It was designed for exactly these sorts of purposes to avoid writing of lengthy scripts. Cheers!
Click to expand...
Thanks. *I* have used sed for over 25 years. However, the point of the 'lengthy script' was to teach a new bash scripting person how to step through various operations--and learn from them, without totally confusing them with symbols and sequences they'd have NO idea about.
 
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