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Which linux distro/desktop env. you use?

Posted: 2003-07-03 09:46pm
by Pu-239
Post your distro and desktop environment (damn poll doesn't allow 10+ options, 2 for each distro)
Also describe customizations/nonstandard configuration and stuff compiled from source

Using Debian unstable with kde3

Modifications are:

Moved default debian directory structure to something more standard with media under /mnt instead of /
Set up devfs
reversed drive order so hard drive would be at /dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/disc (devfs (long) equivelant of /dev/hda)
Added self to some groups to allow formatting floppy discs, etc.
disabled (x)inetd
Boot logo
Made script to run fetchyahoo upon dialup.
Using masqmail instead of defaultm.
iptables logs to ulogd instead of syslog
Modified x font path since stupid apps could not utilize defoma.
forced all apps to use bitstream-vera sans (suggest everyone get it) instead of Arial/Helvetica
Using reiserfs instead of ext3
Trying to compile vegastrike from source because it keeps segfaulting. -nvidia driver screwing up things.
Removed suid from X and start it from kdm
Set 8 virtual consoles while in init 2 (console mode), and 1 when in init 3 (X)


Debian unstable is driving me nuts. Every 50th package is broken or requires a nonexistant dependency. I'm going to downgrade to testing the next time I download packages.

Posted: 2003-07-03 11:23pm
by phongn
RH9 with a bunch of updates via various apt-rpm depositories.

Posted: 2003-07-04 03:02am
by Yogi
I use Gentoo Linux,

Posted: 2003-07-04 03:11am
by Dillon
Tried Mandrake, but when I installed it, I fucked up my partitions, so I ended up losing all my Documents. :x

Luckily, it had been only a few months since I'd stopped backing them on CD and on partitions.

Posted: 2003-07-04 03:23am
by Crayz9000
Mandrake 9.1, with Mozilla 1.4 and a few other updated programs.

Posted: 2003-07-04 02:56pm
by phongn
Yogi wrote:I use Gentoo Linux,
Compiling takes too long on my box, else I'd be using it too.

Posted: 2003-07-04 09:11pm
by Pu-239
Got tired of compiling packages for LFS- tried ALFS, modified it so I wouldn't have to repartition the drive, worked, but then I had to compile the other stuff, which often did not compile without work. Then I had to make dummy specfiles for my RPM database. Just got sick of it and installed Debian on my new computer, since it can take the bloat with a 40 GB hard drive. There's also dpkg-divert so you can install packages on another paritition.

Posted: 2003-07-04 09:34pm
by Seggybop
Gentoo Linux. If I had a box, I'm sure it would take too long on it. But since I don't, that's ok. No one cares when things take to long on piles of circut boards laying on the ground. The Gentoo is better in the end, so it's worth waiting for compile.

Posted: 2003-07-05 02:23am
by Pu-239
The crap thing is that everything on Debian is compiled for i386 and is not optimized, and I'm too lazy to attempt to recompile Xfree86 and other stuff. Also, they don't have anything that's "non-free", so I have to go out and find java and my winmodem driver.

Good thing is that there are 8000+ packages, vs Gentoo's 46XX- though much of that is because libraries for example are split up into binaries and headers. Besides, sometimes you just have to get a package *now*.

Oh, and the Debian organization rigged this poll. :D
:http://www.desktoplinux.com/cgi-bin/sur ... 4200313234

Posted: 2003-07-05 04:57am
by Crayz9000
Right now, I'm compiling XFce for use, since I'm getting a little tired of KDE's bloat.

Posted: 2003-07-05 03:49pm
by Crayz9000
Finished compiling and installing XFce 4...

MUCH better. All my X apps are running faster, I haven't had any crashes, etc. And it's a clean layout.

http://foobar.homelinux.net/images/desktop6.jpg

Posted: 2003-07-05 04:29pm
by Drooling Iguana
It looks a lot like CDE or the interface they used for OS/2 version 3.

Myself, I use Debian with IceWM as my window manager and DFM to give me icons on my desktop.

I tried Gentoo, but got tired of having to wait for everything to compile, so I went back to Debian. I used FreeBSD for a while before that, but switched to Linux because it had better support for my video card.

Posted: 2003-07-05 04:37pm
by Crayz9000
It's supposed to look a little like CDE. I'll probably get around to tweaking its style later, but what's important is that it's running faster and is more stable than KDE.

Posted: 2003-07-05 07:15pm
by Specialist
Can someone help me install this linux. I already download the iso and burn in onto a disc and set my bio to boot off the disc but nothing is happening! Do I need a previous version of linux to install it?

Posted: 2003-07-05 07:31pm
by phongn
targeted at experienced Linux users
You sure you're experienced enough for this?

At any rate, I have no clue what's going on.

Posted: 2003-07-05 07:32pm
by Crayz9000
You checked the MD5 sums, right?

By the way, if you're new at this, you should note that the author says he's targeting his distro at experienced *nix users. You might want to try one of the more user-friendly distros first.

Posted: 2003-07-05 07:41pm
by Specialist
"You checked the MD5 sums, right?"
That's another problem, since that command only works in a linux environment...

The reason why I didn't try other distros first is because they're cluttered with lots of useless stuff I'm not going to use plus require a few of my disc to burn it on.

Posted: 2003-07-05 07:43pm
by Crayz9000

Posted: 2003-07-05 08:43pm
by Slartibartfast
observer_20000 wrote:Tried Mandrake, but when I installed it, I fucked up my partitions, so I ended up losing all my Documents. :x

Luckily, it had been only a few months since I'd stopped backing them on CD and on partitions.
I feel your pain. I hate that from Mandrake: it asks you if you want to format disk 0. You press NO. Then it shows you a summary where it says that it won't format disk 0. Then you press OK and it proceeds to format disk 0.

Posted: 2003-07-06 03:13pm
by Pu-239
Hehe, installed "mosfet's high performance liquid theme"+ the not quite matching GTK version (gtk version is inferior). It really is "high performance"- very little slowdown despite being aqua clone
Screenshot 1280x1024x16bpp-460kB): http://www.geocities.com/jhnphm/screenshot2.png

Damn, true transparent terminals aren't available(possible) on Linux. Even windows can get it :( . Notice how I place the "transparent" terminal behind the other windows. Damn you MacOSX users...

And specialist, some computer have problems booting from cdroms, like my old vectra. Try making a boot floppy. You should probably try another distro though.

Does XFCE use gtk, or does it have it's custom toolkit?

Posted: 2003-07-06 04:57pm
by Crayz9000
I believe that Enlightenment's window manager has true transparency, but KDE's window manager does not support it.

Posted: 2003-07-06 04:59pm
by Crayz9000
Pu-239 wrote:Does XFCE use gtk, or does it have it's custom toolkit?
XFce uses GTK2.

Posted: 2003-07-06 05:44pm
by Crayz9000
Crayz9000 wrote:I believe that Enlightenment's window manager has true transparency, but KDE's window manager does not support it.
Ok, after checking, Enlightenment does support transparency. However, it's only when moving windows. You can see it for yourself if you set GNOME to use Enlightenment as its window manager, or if you simply fire up Enlightenment.