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Awww....

<Pats duncvis on the head>

You'll find something. Plenty of distros in the sea, er... web.

I was actually worried there that I might have stumbled into a Holy War. Nice to see I haven't been flamed.

Currently using Fedora Core 3, (dual boot with Win XP so I can play games when I wish to).

Also got a Sun box running Solaris 10.

I use linux for C++ development, currently studying lexx & yacc (aka flex & bison).
Still got loads of C++ outstanding in other areas, too much.

The search continues... If I can find something which works as flawlessly on my system as MEPIS does, I'll switch, but it'll be fun trying some more out.

So far... tried Knoppix - boot failed with video glitch, but as process automated no workaround evident. *grumble*

Libranet - hated default interface, annoying sound glitch. Not for now.

Xandros - installer hangs halfway through on my machine for some bizarre reason.

Now trying out Lunar as a second OS, which is a very hands on small distro which looks to have a friendly community to help. Fingers crossed... first job will be to compile a 2.6 kernel for it when I have it set up...

Dunc

Wait, why do you guys hate mepis now? I don't quite understand... because some mepis sites have been shut down?

I still use Mepis and love it. But, maybe you guys should wait for the next debian version to come out which should hopefully be soon. The next debian version will be easier to install and should be compatible with all the mepis/debian packages you love.

In the meantime, I recommend Ubuntu or Libranet if you absolutely cannot use Mepis. Mandriva is also pretty good...

Don't get me wrong, MEPIS itself as a distro is fantastic. I am currently using it, but I'm looking for another I like as much partly in response to the reports of how MEPIS is being run - the community aspect is not good, as opposed to Ubuntu which is great in that regard and has a good ethos. Ubuntu/Kubuntu unfortunately was a little buggy on my machine which was why I switched to MEPIS. See above comment for Libranet, and previous for Mandriva.
The other aspect was the fact that MEPIS donated to the US Army, which I was not previously aware of. So given a choice, I'll be voting with my feet.

I understand, Duncvis, but Mepis is freely available which means you aren't helping or hindering them whether you do or do not use their product.

I guess I am a pragmatist. I like it because it works and works well for me. There is no other distro that I know of that has Java and all the proprietary stuff already set up by default... and setting up java and other things on Linux is a real pain so that's why I like Mepis.

I think of it more as using debian, though, because Mepis is 100% debian compatible. Fortunately, as I said, Debian is coming out with a new release soon which will address the issues of user friendliness. Once that happens I'll give it a try and maybe make the switch.

Exactly. MEPIS stays until I get something else working that well. It is basically Debian with the hard bits done for you already, I figure with the updates/upgrades I have done I am pretty much running Debian sarge as it is, under the friendly exterior, so I will most likely attempt that next since it seems to work ok. Never satisfied...

Update: Debian testing/unstable now up and running on my machine without problems, and the beta installer is pretty straightforward if a bit longwinded. Bye bye Mepis. Oh by the way Psychlone- I discovered for a Debian based distro (e.g. Ubuntu) you are best off setting up all the proprietory bits by getting the Blackdown version of Java Runtime Environment - you can download the deb package from http://ftp2.skynet.be/pub/ftp.blackdown ... an/pool/j/ , install using dpkg - and by installing the mplayer plugins/mozplugger/flash non-free through synaptic/aptitude.

Dunc

My comp crashed 2 seconds before it would have finished a libranet download

Feather 0.7.4 doesn't work for some reason (it's not just me, other people have been complaining about it too)

Something's up with vector linux that's making the download sllllloooooowwwwwww......

Debian is giving me this error: 550 /pub/debian/debian-cd/images/3.0_r4/i386/debian-30r4-i386-binary-1_NONUS.iso: No such file or directory

And that gives me:



I swear the universe hates me.

*edit* It works now. A comma got into the address somehow.

*edit* And sadly has no particular relevance to me...

Try this link Peter: http://cdimage.debian.org/pub/weekly/i3 ... nary-1.iso
That mirror works, and its quick.

Dunc

Thanks. When it says 'testing', does that mean it's going to be a buggy beta that'll crash all the time, or is it just a formality?



Hmmmm... 62.8 Kb/sec. Damn you bits! Why do you have to be such a tease! (http://www.epinions.com/cmd-review-64A5-1BE43557-39725798-prod5)

I'm thinking of moving to a 2MB/second (250Kb/sec) service. http://www.metronet.co.uk/. It would work out both cheaper and faster than the 512KB (64Kb) service I currently have with BT.

there are usually three flavours of debian available - stable, testing and unstable. The stable variety has older packages generally, but the current testing version goes stable tomorrow I believe as the new release. so its pretty stable... that was the ISO I used anyway. Handy hint - when adding packages to the base system after installing, DONT select the cd as the source for apt, choose http or ftp instead.

Dunc

I'm kinda fuzzy on all the apt ~grep usr/bin/home/foo/&3%.,m:{??# stuff...

I should probably go read that "Unix for dummies" book I got in a charity shop.

I recently got myself a 200Gb HD, so I plan on keeping mandrake unless I need the space (unlikely, since I don't download music and similar). Do you know if I'll have trouble with getting a triple-boot arrangment (win98 SE; mandrake; debian)?

Also, everytime I restart my computer, Mandrake defaults to a low screen resolution that makes me have to pan around with the mouse to see things. I can set it to a higher resolution that fits everything into my 17 inch monitor but it's a pain in the ass and the setting never sticks after reboot. Any suggestions?

Yeah, I'm not that great with the command line stuff myself yet - I did a little database programming using a *nix package a few years ago at uni but havent touched it again since, until fairly recently. I tend to guess my way through based on the bits I do know (and googling for howtos on what I dont. man pages are also quite useful).

As for a triple boot - shouldn't be a problem with debian, as GRUB detects your existing operating systems.

The resolution issue could have a few different causes. Are you using KDE as your desktop? You can usually alter your display settings through KDE control center and set them to load when KDE starts up. otherwise the mandrake forums would be the best place to find a workaround.

Yup, it detected them ok. I've got debian up and running now. It's recognised my network and I've got sound, but I can't find my other partitions and HD's anywhere. Any idea where they might be?



Yes, I was using KDE. I've tried changing the resolution in xserver and the monitor settings panel, but the settings don't stick past the next reboot and I can't find anything along the lines of a 'save these settings' option. It doesn't really matter now though; there's not much reason to use mandrake when it doesn't like my harware (though replacing the speedtouch adsl modem with a router solved the internet connectivity problem).

I'm off to play around with debian a bit and install gentoo... 200Gb HD's kick ass