Re: [Nolug] Distro suggestions

On Thu, 2003-11-06 at 18:42, Alex wrote:
> Thanks for the recipe. I want to say the machine has 256MB RAM, because
> we like RAM in our lab, and it *did* run XP. I'm going to go with
> Mozilla, the person who will be usign it is a Mac user, not a Linux
> user, and it'll run with that config, as well as KDE2. It's got a
> damaged-from-upgrading Mandrake 9 on it right now
>
> I know I like xfce and fluxbox, but they're a little daunting for a convert.

If you set up enough icons on the xfce desktop, anyone should be
able to use it, even though it's different from the Mac.

Mozilla is a Gtk+ app, so if you run it under KDE, the box will
have to load Qt, KDE *and* Gtk.

With XFce, all you'll have is Gtk loaded.

Try him(?) out on XFce, and see if he really balks. If so, you
can always install KDE.

> Ah, the other great thing about text based tools is that I can sit at my
> desk, ssh into the minimal install, and finish it up from there. Or,
> set it to run at night, when there is bandwidth. Yes, the University

What Uni is this, so I can remember not to send my kids there?

> network is so bad I'll probably download *from home* and bring in a CD.
>
> Ron Johnson wrote:
> > On Wed, 2003-11-05 at 14:51, Alex McKenzie wrote:
> >
> >><quote who="Ron Johnson">
> >>
> >>>There is *no* dependency hell in the "stable" version of Debian.
> >>>There are times, occasionally, where packages get moved into "test-
> >>>ing" or "unstable" before a subsidiary package gets moved, or there
> >>>may be a packaging bug, where the maintainer forgot to update the
> >>>dependencies. Wait a few days, and it'll get fixed.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>>I've had bad experiences with Mandrake and simple hardware, like a
> >>>>mouse.
> >>>>And 8.0 (2.4.3 based) paniced a lot, but that was probably the
> >>>>instability
> >>>>of that kernel.
> >>>
> >>>How geeky are you?
> >>>
> >>>If so, install a minimal Debian Woody (i.e., stable). Then imme-
> >>>diately upgrade to "testing", and then make a combined "testing/
> >>>unstable" system. By keeping up with it on a weekly basis, you'll
> >>>be very happy with it.
> >>
> >>What I need to do is setup a Linux workstation in the lab I work in. I
> >>want to set it up and forget about it, I've got plenty of work and several
> >>2K/XP machines to worry about. I won't even be the one usign it, it's for
> >>a grad student in the lab.
> >>
> >>All it's going to do is run Mathematica and some fortran code, and I'll
> >>want samba. Possibly OOo, if it proves useful, and websurfing. I don't
> >>forsee any problem setting any of this up, in a minimal fashion. The
> >>machine is an old P2, no exotic hardware support needed. Although hooking
> >>it up to a DAQ board might be an interesting future project...
> >
> >
> > Then Debian will suit you fine. Note, though, that modern UIs
> > assume modern h/w, and a P2 isn't.... How much RAM?
> >
> > Since it's slow h/w, I'd stay away from Gnome & KDE, and go
> > for XFCe4, which is different, but still simple to use.
> >
> > I'd install a *minimal* text-only Debian 3.0, immediately upgrade
> > to "testing" and kernel 2.4.22, then:
> >
> > # apt-get -u install xserver-xfree86 discover mdetect read-edid \
> > xbase-clients xfonts-100dpi xfonts-75dpi xfonts-base \
> > xfonts-scalable msttcorefonts xfce4 xfce4-iconbox menu \
> > xfce4-mixer xfce4-systray xfprint4 sylpheed dillo \
> > cupsys cupsys-client smbclient cupsys-bsd cupsomatic-ppd \
> > cupsys-driver-gimpprint samba g77-3.3 g77-doc gdb \
> > vim jed jed-extra cooledit fte fte-xwindows nedit \
> > nano emelfm
> >
> > That should provide you with
> > XFree86 + fonts
> > XFCe4, a user-friendly, medium-weight desktop
> > Sylpheed, a light-weight GUI mail reader
> > Dillo, a light-weight GUI web browser
> > CUPS, for printing
> > SAMBA
> > A bunch of text editors
> > emelfm, a file manager
> >
> >
> >>The reason I'm looking at Debian is because of apt, I'd like to be able to
> >>tune it so that all I get are security updates, and they are applied
> >>automagically, as needed. Alternately, I'll apply them manually as they
> >>come out.
> >
> >
> >

-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Ron Johnson, Jr. ron.l.johnson@cox.net
Jefferson, LA USA
"I have created a government of whirled peas..."
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, 12-May-2002, CNN, Larry King Live
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