Thinking about trying other distro(s)

[Qqmike]

Re: Thinking about trying other distro(s)

Anyone been running Skype (flawlessly, easily) on aptosid?

[dibl]

Re: Thinking about trying other distro(s)

Anyone been running Skype (flawlessly, easily) on aptosid?

Yes, for quite a while now. Do you have a problem with it? If it's a video issue with your camera, try my little "skypelauncher.sh" script, after you install v4l:

#!/bin/sh
export XLIB_SKIP_ARGB_VISUALS=1
LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib32/libv4l/v4l1compat.so skype
exit 0

save it in your user's home folder, and modify the command line in the skype icon to call that script.

[SteveRiley]

Re: Thinking about trying other distro(s)

I do have my diskette somewhere in my garage

Really? Me too!

[Qqmike]

Re: Thinking about trying other distro(s)

dibl, re Skype -- No, I haven't yet tried Skype. I'm still using Kubuntu 8.04.3, and will upgrade to something more current (Kubuntu) soon and at that time will try Skype in Kubuntu ... but ... I keep reading all the mixed reports about Skype in Kubuntu and so thought I'd use aptosid as an alternative should I encounter problems. If all that makes sense. I bookmarked your post on this. Many thanks.

[dibl]

Re: Thinking about trying other distro(s)

I do have my diskette somewhere in my garage

Really? Me too!

Hah -- that takes me back! Would you believe I still have the AOL e-mail account that I first got when I used a diskette from a magazine to set up a dialup AOL account, about 1992?

I had a ton of diskette-based software, including SCO Unix, Novell Netware, OS/2 Warp, and I forget what all else -- 3 or 4 versions of MS-DOS, WordPerfect 4 or 5 -- lots of oldies. I dumped all that when I moved in 2004. Except for the nostalgic aspect, I have not had any cause for regret.

[dibl]

Re: Thinking about trying other distro(s)

@Mike, one of the Skype download packages is for Debian 5. That's the one to use with aptosid. Off the top of my head, I can't think of anything that doesn't work. I use skype and VMware. I did need Virtualbox for awhile, while VMware wasn't able to install on a Linux 3.x kernel, and Vbox works fine too. KDE is at 4.6.5, so far. Hopefully we'll get an upgrade in the near term.

[DoYouKubuntu]

Re: Thinking about trying other distro(s)

I do have my diskette somewhere in my garage

Really? Me too!

Bwwwaaaaaaaah! That's hilarious. I zoomed in so I could read the text. I love it!

"Surf quickly and easily with no need for ISPs"
"Millions and millions of websites on one 3-1/2" disc" (note the "c" instead of "k")
"Take the Internet with you wherever you go--it fits in your pocket!"

I had a ton of diskette-based software, including SCO Unix, Novell Netware, OS/2 Warp, and I forget what all else -- 3 or 4 versions of MS-DOS, WordPerfect 4 or 5 -- lots of oldies. I dumped all that when I moved in 2004. Except for the nostalgic aspect, I have not had any cause for regret.

I'm not quite there yet. I still have...um...5-1/4" floppies that I just can't bear to part with. Of course I haven't actually SEEN them in more than 5 years, but I know they're out there [in the garage].

[SteveRiley]

Re: Thinking about trying other distro(s)

You guys will like this one too. Wait about 10 seconds for the best part. (If you don't see the animation right away, it'll restart.)



A buddy and I used those for years during our public speaking heyday

[woodsmoke]

Re: Thinking about trying other distro(s)

Oh geeze....I had SO gotten into that habit that I automatically went over and clicked ok!

woodsmoke

[DoYouKubuntu]

Re: Thinking about trying other distro(s)

I installed Bodhi today on my other laptop. It's nice. It's running MUCH faster than Kubuntu 11.04 did on that laptop--it was actually quite painful. Not only that, but from the day I let the 'version upgrade' thing run, taking it from 10.10 to 11.04, I lost my wireless connectivity--despite the fact that the correct Broadcom driver was installed AND activated. I hadn't bothered posting about it because I didn't care. I have lots of cables, and since I was only accessing the laptop from my other computers, it didn't bother me that it was sitting in my room with a cable plugged in. *shrug* But Bodhi required NOTHING on my part...wireless just worked from the get go. (I wired it while installing.)

Anyway, Bodhi looks nice but it's a little weird as far as getting oriented. Its initial layout is what I'm working with at the moment because it's been a whole 30 minutes since I installed it!

[oshunluvr]

Re: Thinking about trying other distro(s)

The Enlightenment desktop functions way different than KDE. The hardest thing for me was figuring out which modules were needed for which widget and you have to install and activate each thing before attempting to use it.

Once you get past that, it's really very easy to use. The earliest releases had a couple buggy modules but I think that's all worked out now.

I actually like that the menu pops up where ever you have your mouse and it handles screen-edge overlap very well. There are shortcut keys assigned to most functions too so if you don't have the desktop in view, you can still access the menu.

And as I said before - it's really very attractive looking right out of the box and the themes are easy to change.

[dibl]

Re: Thinking about trying other distro(s)

The Enlightenment desktop functions way different than KDE. The hardest thing for me was figuring out which modules were needed for which widget and you have to install and activate each thing before attempting to use it.

Once you get past that, it's really very easy to use. The earliest releases had a couple buggy modules but I think that's all worked out now.

I actually like that the menu pops up where ever you have your mouse and it handles screen-edge overlap very well. There are shortcut keys assigned to most functions too so if you don't have the desktop in view, you can still access the menu.

And as I said before - it's really very attractive looking right out of the box and the themes are easy to change.

Right -- E17 is way cool. I haven't tried setting it up for myself, but some time ago I spent quite a bit of time playing with E-Live, which I believe now costs you some $$ to activate your installation. E17 would definitely be my second choice after KDE, for a desktop environment, and first choice on old hardware with not enough memory.

@osunluvr, did you set up Enlightment on a *buntu OS? Where did you find guidance?

Thanks.

[ScottyK]

Re: Thinking about trying other distro(s)

I do have my diskette somewhere in my garage

Really? Me too!

Steve - Soda hurts when it comes out the nose. You almost owed me a keyboard!

[DoYouKubuntu]

Re: Thinking about trying other distro(s)

I played around with Bodhi for quite a while last night...and then decided it was too *buntu-ish (quite expected, considering its source). So...I wiped / again and reinstalled Kubuntu 10.10 (stepping back down from the screwy 11.04 version upgrade). Everything's working correctly again, including wireless, which took no effort on my part. And it's a LOT faster than it was with 11.04 on it. I'm going to consider other distros and try again, on the same laptop. I LOVE *buntu, but I really want something that's very different from it, from start to finish. IOW, from its installation down to its appearance. I'm glad I tried Bodhi and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it, but it's just too similar to *buntu for my purposes.

[SteveRiley]

Re: Thinking about trying other distro(s)

Try Fedora. It uses completely different schemes for init and package management, which should be enough to satisfy your craving for something new. And it has a rather active community to rely on for help. While you're at it, install the version that uses GNOME 3 and GNOME Shell if you want a new desktop experience.