[PLUG] Ubuntu 14.04.1 released

elcaseti . elcaseti at gmail.com
Sat Jul 26 19:00:25 UTC 2014


There are many Slackware-based distros that I & many other people consider
to be more user-friendly than Slackware.  Give some of those a try, as
well.  Vector is one that's been around for many many years.


On Sat, Jul 26, 2014 at 5:08 PM, John Jason Jordan <johnxj at comcast.net>
wrote:

> On Sat, 26 Jul 2014 06:12:44 -0700 (PDT)
> Rich Shepard <rshepard at appl-ecosys.com> dijo:
>
> >On Fri, 25 Jul 2014, John Jason Jordan wrote:
> >
> >> I have looked longingly at distros that use a rolling release,
> >> because I agree that periodic dist-upgrades are a pain. But none of
> >> them offer the ease of use, the presence in the marketplace, or the
> >> great community resources of Ubuntu.
>
> >Now you've confused me: do you use the computer for your work/schooling or
> >as a end it itself?  Nowadays it's a safe bet that all distributions
> >will run the applications you need and want and support the external
> >hardware you have sitting around.
>
> I spend most of my computer time searching the web. And, although I use
> it less for academic purposes, that use is more important. I also use
> it for monitoring medical issues and, although only a couple minutes a
> day, that use is most important of all. Occasionally I also use it for
> entertainment (streaming radio and occasionally viewing a movie).
>
> The academic issues require being able to write in Spanish, German,
> French and polytonic Greek - switching keyboards. Plus I need to be
> able to enter every character and diacritic in the International
> Phonetic Alphabet. The latter include "combining diacritics," special
> glyphs that can be added so they appear on top or below other letters.
> Not only do I need to be able to enter these glyphs but I also need
> them to be displayed properly in my mail client and word processor. In
> addition I need to run some programs for things like drawing phrase
> structures and analyzing speech.
>
> >What's ease of use? Germane to using the system or maintaining the system?
> >For the latter just about all window managers and desktop enviornments
> >run on every distribution. For maintaining the system -- including
> >keeping it secure -- there are probably more than the three approaches
> >of which I know: .prm, .deb, and .tgz. You've switched distributions a
> >few times but haven't explained why in terms of what you are seeking.
>
> "Ease of use" is a slippery term, because it is so dependent on the
> user's abilities and needs as well as personal taste.
>
> As for abilities, I have tried to compile apps from source half a dozen
> times, and succeeded only once. My most recent failure was due to the
> fact that the application requires QT5, which is not completely
> available in Xubuntu 13.10. And I took a bash class at Free Geek and
> learned a few basics, but otherwise I have no knowledge of scripting or
> programming. I don't even know what the kernel does.
>
> I am also fussy about the appearance of my desktop. I have a problem
> with distractions, which gets worse with age. I can't tolerate a screen
> full of icons or even wallpaper. My screen is solid white and the only
> thing visible other than the window I am working in is a single panel,
> which I keep on the left side in order to maximize available vertical
> space. When Ubuntu went to Gnome 3 and then to Unity I switched to
> Xfce because icons drive me nuts.
>
> >Presence in the marketplace? What has this to do with your using your
> >computers as a means to an end? If this is important, perhaps you
> >should take Ed's suggestion in his reply to this thread and switch to
> >Slackware; it is, after all, the oldest continuously-available
> >distribution, It's been present in the 'marketplace' for many, many
> >years.
>
> I fought with myself when I wrote "presence in the marketplace" because
> I knew it didn't express precisely what I was trying to communicate.
> Perhaps an example would make my meaning clearer. About a month ago I
> couldn't get my scanner to work. I normally use Xsane for scanning, but
> I knew there were others. Synaptic lists 40,000+ packages and has a
> search function, so it was easy to find programs for scanning.
> I installed a different one, but it couldn't scan either. So then I
> searched the web, including the Ubuntu forums, and discovered a
> free but proprietary app. The app's website had instructions for
> installing it on Ubuntu, but not for any other distro. This sort of
> thing happens all the time. And in this case the developers provided
> only 32- and 64-bit .deb packages; the source was not available.
>
> >Community resources? With mail lists, Web fora, and IRC channels I suspect
> >that all distributions have equal support from their community of
> >users. Take a look at the list of distribution-specific fora on
> >linuxquestions.org.
>
> Ubuntu has far more users than any other distro and its forums reflect
> that fact. I can post a question on an Ubuntu forum and within an hour
> it will have been read by hundreds of people.
>
> > ... But, I can tell you from our short
> >experiences with xubuntu versions on portables here that it was more
> >of a hassle trying to work with them than with my preferred
> >distribution.
>
> Perhaps at the next Clinic I will bring my old Thinkpad and take
> Slackware for a brief spin.
> _______________________________________________
> PLUG mailing list
> PLUG at lists.pdxlinux.org
> http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
>



-- 
Free Geek Seattle- Helping The Needy Get Nerdy
http://www.freegeekseattle.org/
https://groups.google.com/group/freegeek-seattle/topics?hl=en



More information about the PLUG mailing list