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The "Linux questions (and other stuff)" thread
- Thread starter MoodyBlues
- Start date
nickdalzell
Extreme Android User
I like playing with Linux. Android is my primary system and is BASED on Linux. that does NOT mean i like fooling with system files when things inevitably fail to work or stop working. it's still better than Windows 8 i assure you. easier? hell no. Android is quite possibly the easiest but i still had to give up games i use in Windows. tons of 'em. even some of the recent ones. they neither support Android, Linux OR Mac OS X.
I certainly would not be having this argument had the chrome book supported other distros. i may be better off wiping it and putting ChromeOS back. it's just not reliable or stable in Linux. Lately i've just been using Chrome Web Store apps in the browser to avoid the problem with Linux not liking what i choose to put on it. my problems are all around Ubuntu, a noob-lover's install. it's too dumbed down and too protective of itself. Ubuntu is one distro out of many. so my problem isn't Linux itself, but Ubuntu.
I'd really like to try SuSE or Mint or Arch on the thing. unfortunately, the Chromebook's BIOS cannot be rewritten, and won't boot an init.rd image. it's not supported. so the only distro available as of yet is an older Ubuntu variant (12.04).
I certainly would not be having this argument had the chrome book supported other distros. i may be better off wiping it and putting ChromeOS back. it's just not reliable or stable in Linux. Lately i've just been using Chrome Web Store apps in the browser to avoid the problem with Linux not liking what i choose to put on it. my problems are all around Ubuntu, a noob-lover's install. it's too dumbed down and too protective of itself. Ubuntu is one distro out of many. so my problem isn't Linux itself, but Ubuntu.
I'd really like to try SuSE or Mint or Arch on the thing. unfortunately, the Chromebook's BIOS cannot be rewritten, and won't boot an init.rd image. it's not supported. so the only distro available as of yet is an older Ubuntu variant (12.04).
But look on the bright side: window$ disappeared! :laugh:You know, its gotta be a reality distortion field from a nearby apple device causing the problem. One of my friends is a hardcore Mac user and -no joke- my Win8 install literally, completely imploded the second he walked over to see what I was working on.
I wonder why it DIDN'T do any of that for me.
As documented by screenshots, it was as easy as 1-2-3 when I did it. In fact, I cannot recall the last time I had to search for a workaround, or do anything else out of the ordinary, in order to install something.I actually find that kind of funny. I mean, the world's most powerful, fastest supercomputers run Linux. Not exactly basic computing, you know?
Like I've said before, it's not Linux's fault that game developers don't release native Linux versions of their games, but you can encourage them to do so by letting them know you're interested.
And, for me, it's a snap. Choose, click, install, done. Total time, ~30 seconds.
As I've said, I've used *buntu since its first release, and have never had the issues you do. Ever. And my experience makes much more sense, because *buntu is supposed to be really easy to use--and I mean for window$ converts. I've personally [in real life] converted a number of window$ users to *buntu and guess what? They don't have the problems you do, either. I really can't explain your experience. I just can't.
I'm not seeing it. What I see is what I've detailed many times, i.e., perusing Synaptic for what I want, then selecting it/them, and clicking 'apply.' Period. Done. That's it. I don't understand how that qualifies as noob protection. It just does what I want--and should do the same for anyone, regardless of their noob/non-noob status.
I have no personal experience with that, but I don't see why it wouldn't work.
See above.
Contact the developers.
Mine is. Stable as a rock, reliable as the sun coming up in the morning.
Everything I've installed, from SeaMonkey to the GIMP, VLC to Skype, runs flawlessly.
As you know, *I* am no noob to *nix. And I don't agree AT ALL with your assessment because in my day-to-day experience (with all my computers running Kubuntu), I simply don't see anything that backs up what you're saying. Dumbed down? Not my *buntu installs.
nickdalzell
Extreme Android User
does your Acer have the 320GB hard disk or the 16GB SSD? mine has the SSD. is it possible at all that Linux's method of disk access hates SSDs? once i had a laptop where the hard drive died, and i tried using MacPup (a Puppy Linux-based distro that boots off many types including flash cards) off an SD card. it didn't work very well. it tended to freeze up a lot.
Most of the 'common' Linux programs work fine. they even install perfectly fine. it's non-native and those types that don't happen to be in Synaptic or Software Center that cause me aggravation installing. either my distro isn't listed, or the file listed for mine isn't working properly (package manager aborts due to some error) forcing me into terminal hacking again. obviously the GIMP works as i used it to make my avatar.
So far my chrome book is my daily use machine. so long as it's just browsing sites and playing some internet radio, maybe check my email and play Angry Birds through Chrome, it's fine. for some reason it performs rather poorly if i do anything intensive like attempt to play Euro Truck Sim 2, which has a native Linux version. it installs fine, but it just kept locking the machine up. from what i read of my machine's specs, it should play ok, not well, but ok. it seems to make the fan run full hilt and then freeze ten minutes into it. i found it a bit amusing once, i was trying to do something CPU intensive (at least, according to my Chromebook, ) which was playing a Flash game in Facebook, only to have it give me the 'spinning beach ball of death' since my cursor theme was Mac OS X. but still, why is it so sensitive to intensive tasks? it's at least a Celeron dual-core at 2.0 GHz with a couple gigs of RAM, shouldn't linux play well with that?
that error i get when booting that disappears in a millisecond, about 'invalid iomem size, you might experience problems' might have something to do with that. i saw it just enough to notice 'sdpci' or something like it listed at the beginning of the error.
Most of the 'common' Linux programs work fine. they even install perfectly fine. it's non-native and those types that don't happen to be in Synaptic or Software Center that cause me aggravation installing. either my distro isn't listed, or the file listed for mine isn't working properly (package manager aborts due to some error) forcing me into terminal hacking again. obviously the GIMP works as i used it to make my avatar.
So far my chrome book is my daily use machine. so long as it's just browsing sites and playing some internet radio, maybe check my email and play Angry Birds through Chrome, it's fine. for some reason it performs rather poorly if i do anything intensive like attempt to play Euro Truck Sim 2, which has a native Linux version. it installs fine, but it just kept locking the machine up. from what i read of my machine's specs, it should play ok, not well, but ok. it seems to make the fan run full hilt and then freeze ten minutes into it. i found it a bit amusing once, i was trying to do something CPU intensive (at least, according to my Chromebook, ) which was playing a Flash game in Facebook, only to have it give me the 'spinning beach ball of death' since my cursor theme was Mac OS X. but still, why is it so sensitive to intensive tasks? it's at least a Celeron dual-core at 2.0 GHz with a couple gigs of RAM, shouldn't linux play well with that?
that error i get when booting that disappears in a millisecond, about 'invalid iomem size, you might experience problems' might have something to do with that. i saw it just enough to notice 'sdpci' or something like it listed at the beginning of the error.
Code:
sdhci-pci invalid iomem size you may experience problems
I'm sure that's all you can get. Bootable USB sticks are formatted as FAT32, and 4GB is the maximum file-size that FAT32 can handle. Because the "persistence" used for storing your data is a single file on the storage device, and Linux mounts and opens it when it boots.
An NTFS or EXT2/3/4 formatted USB stick can hold files larger than 4GB, but not sure if you can make that bootable. I assume you're using Windows, you could try formatting the USB as NTFS, and see if LILi USB Creator works with that. But if that doesn't work you're stuck with 4GB of persistence.
You could also try partitioning the USB. A primary bootable partition large enough for the OS plus the persistence, for the additional software you want to install. and the second partition for own stuff, like movies, music, documents, photos, etc. Because Linux should mount the secondary partition as an additional removable drive.
nickdalzell
Extreme Android User
i hope this is a sign i've finally patched all my install issues. i often listen to this online radio station (Mad Mikes Radio for those who like variety, it's local here--broadcasts near where i work) that appears to only support Windows. not true! of course, on my Mac i can use iTunes, and add it as a stream. so i wondered 'is it that easy in Linux?' well, apparently it is! open up Rhythmbox, Ubuntu's answer to iTunes, and do the very same thing! other than wondering why nothing happened at first (it didn't exactly tell me anything, i had to find the section where it added it) it plays perfectly fine. not the most intuitive UI, but still, worked as fast. i can only hope this is a sign it's all fixed.
There's also vlc
nickdalzell
Extreme Android User
VLC was my second option but in the past it never worked correctly. i once tried it on some other distro and it was missing things to play files with. video would work but no audio, or music refused to play, etc.
I'm trying to find suitable analogs to various apps i use often in OS X and Windows. i really wouldn't prefer something i'd have to learn about, when a replacement that at least has some shred of familiarity exists anyway.
I'm trying to find suitable analogs to various apps i use often in OS X and Windows. i really wouldn't prefer something i'd have to learn about, when a replacement that at least has some shred of familiarity exists anyway.
Nick, you're going to totally hate me...but, I did *NOTHING* and listened to the stream just fine.
(And I see that while I was doing my thing, palmtree mentioned VLC--which is what I used.)
(And I see that while I was doing my thing, palmtree mentioned VLC--which is what I used.)
VLC is my go-to app for media. It's what I use for every imaginable type of media file. I'm surprised you've had problems with it. Do you recall which distro that was on? Have you tried it recently?
nickdalzell
Extreme Android User
it didnt' play through the browser on Linux or on my Mac. both times they just opened a page with a play button that just said 'loading' indefintely. i just copied the URL and it worked fine. don't need it in the browser anyway. i would guess since you have VLC installed it probably included a plugin. mine had no such apps installed as i had removed them to clear up some space. that was MY bad.
VLC was i think an attempt to play some movies i downloaded from YouTube back during my VectorLinux 6 days. the machine was too slow to properly stream them so i downloaded them and tried using VLC to play them. it played the video but no sound came out. i ended up using Xine instead
VLC was i think an attempt to play some movies i downloaded from YouTube back during my VectorLinux 6 days. the machine was too slow to properly stream them so i downloaded them and tried using VLC to play them. it played the video but no sound came out. i ended up using Xine instead
It should work, it's regular streaming MP3, no DRM or anything. Plays on my Mint system. Have you got what Ubuntu refers to as the "bad" or "ugly" codecs installed? Because they're not installed in Unbuntu by default, due to MP3 software patent and licensing issues, i.e. they're not free like Ogg Vorbis. But the codecs you need should be there in the repos, just have to download and install them via Synaptic or apt.
Canonical will sell you a set of licensed non-free codecs that you can install into Ubuntu, should you have any legal or IP obligations you might have to comply with. They'll also sell you an officially licensed DVD and Blu-ray player you can install. In the US if you're playing a commercial DRM'd DVD in Linux using VLC with LibCSS, you're actually committing a felony offence under the DMCA
Mint has them by default usually. Although there is a version of Mint for distribution in the United States, which doesn't include patented non-free codecs, because of the risks of legal action, huge fines and significant jail time. With Windows and Mac OS X, Microsoft and Apple have paid the appropriate licensing fees to Fraunhofer or Technicolor or whatever, holders of the software patents, so they can include them no problem. Because Linux is free, it's up to you to determine if you need to be licensed, depending on your uses for the patented codecs, and if need them or not. Personal use you don't need to be licensed, but for commercial use you do, although IANAL.
You can read all about it what you need to do here..."Restricted Formats"
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RestrictedFormats
And this what Mint has to say about distributing "Restricted Formats"
"A version without multimedia support. For magazines, companies and distributors in the USA, Japan and countries where the legislation allows patents to apply to software and distribution of restricted technologies may require the acquisition of 3rd party licenses*."
"multimedia support" would also include DVD players that can crack and play DRM'd commercial DVDs, e.g. VLC with LibCSS. Basically because the DMCA makes it a criminal offence to distribute technology that can crack and defeat DRM.
This is why your Ubuntu more than likely can't play that MP3 radio station, not without installing the restricted MP3 codecs.
saptech
Android Expert
Here's a solution for anyone willing to put in the time to create their own Cloud system.
ownCloud: A Cross-Platform, Self-Hosted Alternative to Dropbox & Google Calendar
ownCloud: A Cross-Platform, Self-Hosted Alternative to Dropbox & Google Calendar
I'll have to look into this one day, when Moody have it done!
What I've managed to do is install ubuntu to the flash drive directly. I understand this uses swap and stops a few other features, but it was the least hassle and I think it works now
saptech
Android Expert
Is this what you used or something similar? Just curious.What I've managed to do is install ubuntu to the flash drive directly. I understand this uses swap and stops a few other features, but it was the least hassle and I think it works now
UNetbootin - Homepage and Downloads
I have a file I've dragged with me over the years filled with pithy sayings about *nix, window$, M$, and more. It includes the quote you posted.
Here are a few others::rofl:
I have a file I've dragged with me over the years filled with pithy sayings about *nix, window$, M$, and more. It includes the quote you posted.
:rofl:
I get random quotes as a result of the fortune package
nickdalzell
Extreme Android User
Codecs? i didn't need no stinkin' Codecs! it worked fine all i had to do was put Rhythmbox back as i had deleted all my MP3/multimedia playback software (i thought, i'm not putting tons of MP3s on a 9GB SSD partition so why have the apps to play them taking up space?) and that was all i had to do. i just did what i done on my Mac and it worked perfectly fine.
Me thinks you have my radio station playback success confused with an earlier attempt to play back some downloaded *.FLVs from YouTube a few years ago via VLC in Vector Linux. The Latter of which was solved by simply using a different app (Xine) so it wasn't likely a codec issue as that would have affected all players capable of playing that file type.
One of the other *buntu-based distros i used (Pear OS) had a similar bug with Amarok. it would play the file, but no sound. (this time it was an MP3). switching to Clementine worked fine. in that case, it was again, using a different player that fixed it. if i recall, Amarok did complain about codecs and gave the option to download/install them, which it did, but it still had no sound coming out.
nickdalzell
Extreme Android User
here's a new screencap, as you can see the music plays fine
I like your desktop; it looks nice, from its Cairo dock to its wallpaper. And I especially like someone who "loves deer" and that doesn't mean they love KILLING deer.here's a new screencap, as you can see the music plays fine
nickdalzell
Extreme Android User
You'd be surprised the number of folks who automatically assume i hunt. it's so unheard of to find anyone here who actually would rather hug a deer than eat one. my gamertag on Steam, Xbox and PS3 is either 'Deerlover1' or 'Deerluvr1'. all my tech, tablets, phones, computers have deer themes. then there's my home
I am not sure what made me settle on OS X look in Linux. i just haven't found a combo that works as well as of yet.
I am not sure what made me settle on OS X look in Linux. i just haven't found a combo that works as well as of yet.
I have to admit something--that was my first thought way back when. Forgive me?
it's so unheard of to find anyone here who actually would rather hug a deer than eat one. my gamertag on Steam, Xbox and PS3 is either 'Deerlover1' or 'Deerluvr1'. all my tech, tablets, phones, computers have deer themes. then there's my home
Hey, it looks great, so if you're pleased with it for now, that's all that counts. And if/when you feel like it, well, you know, plunge in and tweak its bazillion settings! :laugh:
nickdalzell
Extreme Android User
i have already tweaked a bazzilion things. had to to make it work for me, plus changing the default Windows 95 look to what it turned into now. the only thing i wish i could pull off was the 'glassy buttons' effect that Mac OS X does. i think it's called 'aqua' but none of the 'aqua' themes do it for the buttons. there's currently one installed now if you noticed the window gloss of the music player, but that's about as far as i can get.
Vector was a non-noobified install, it came out of the box the way i liked it (you could tweak the end result during install ten million different ways). with this one, it comes out of the box with tons of bloat plus Unity. that's easy enough to ditch, but then KDE installs its own stuff, taking up 90% of the storage. i just did a lot of purging tonight and dropped it to 75%, still too large but hardly anything is left. not sure where it's going. nothing i /var/log, nothing in any other folder.
but as far as tweaks go:
- Deleted naggy notifications to upgrade (if i wanted it to pop up telling me security updates are ready to install, i'd have installed Windows XP)
- purged Unity (had to keep some of it though as it appears to be the default gdm login, not sure how to make Kdm the default)
- root logins enabled (partly your help Moody to accomplish that one)
- keyrings/password prompts (User Account Control) fully deleted
- turned off all system sounds except startup sounds
- theme, deleted default panel, deleted all widgets, and installed Cairo Dock and themed in OS X button title bars and a OS X GTK/icon theme.
-Chrome runs full-screen the same way i use it on Mac.
Vector was a non-noobified install, it came out of the box the way i liked it (you could tweak the end result during install ten million different ways). with this one, it comes out of the box with tons of bloat plus Unity. that's easy enough to ditch, but then KDE installs its own stuff, taking up 90% of the storage. i just did a lot of purging tonight and dropped it to 75%, still too large but hardly anything is left. not sure where it's going. nothing i /var/log, nothing in any other folder.
but as far as tweaks go:
- Deleted naggy notifications to upgrade (if i wanted it to pop up telling me security updates are ready to install, i'd have installed Windows XP)
- purged Unity (had to keep some of it though as it appears to be the default gdm login, not sure how to make Kdm the default)
- root logins enabled (partly your help Moody to accomplish that one)
- keyrings/password prompts (User Account Control) fully deleted
- turned off all system sounds except startup sounds
- theme, deleted default panel, deleted all widgets, and installed Cairo Dock and themed in OS X button title bars and a OS X GTK/icon theme.
-Chrome runs full-screen the same way i use it on Mac.