Oolite Bulletins

I've taken a computing plunge. For I've just finished setting up Linux on an old-ish laptop (2 ghz Intel dualcore, 4GB RAM, one harddrive), though I'm keeping it dual-booting with Windows XP.

I had a hell of a job setting things up. I tried about five different distributions - sometimes by 'liveCD', sometimes by actual installation - and one of the installations left some stuff behind, which caused problems for the distribution I finally went with, namely, Mint (version 16), with the 'cinnamon' theme. I do like it - the speed, the security, and, mostly, the looks - but getting some of my customisations to work, and installing some software (including Dropbox) was much harder than it should be. Other distributions lacked features that I couldn't live without and couldn't easily work around (e.g. the function of disabling the touchpad when using a mouse) and/or - and this often happened - had terrible looking fonts.

One final thing: can anyone can tell me how, in Mint, to get connecting to another computer via GoToMyPc to work well - or indeed, via Chrome, at all? (It works, badly, via Firefox.) Also, I can't seem to get Firefox's password manager to work.

PS: Moderators, perhaps this should be moved to the Linux thread . . Still, this post is hardly about Oolite. ('Linoooox'?)

EDIT: I've just read this piece on the Linux philosophy. Perhaps I had the wrong attitude, somewhat . .

Sounds as if your setup is similar to mine.. a 7yo Asus Pro31Jr with a 1.73GHz Core2 Duo and 4GB RAM (although the Asus hardware can only see 3GB of it ). I also use Mint16 with Cinnamon, and love it. It also multi-boots XP, Win7-64, Ubuntu Studio and Arch Linux, but Mint16 is what I make most use of.

UK_Eliter wrote:

I tried about five different distributions - sometimes by 'liveCD', sometimes by actual installation - and one of the installations left some stuff behind, which caused problems for the distribution I finally went with, namely, Mint (version 16)

That's odd.. did you make sure when you installed Mint to have it reformat the partition you installed it to?

I'm surprised that Dropbox gave you trouble.. it went in quite easily for me. Did you use the version in the Package Manager, or the one from Dropbox's website? I prefer the release from Dropbox, it's more up to date, and seems to integrate better.

Since I don't use it, I can't help much with the GoToMyPc question, although some quick reading suggests it should work ok. The main thing seems to be that you need to have Java (not the same thing as Javascript) installed. I'd suggest you check that OpenJDK is installed. If it is, and things still aren't working right, you may need to get the official Linux version of Sun Java instead. Rather than faffing about with installing from a tarball, I'd suggest getting the RPM version and use alien to convert it to a .deb file, which you can then install with gdebi.. that will greatly simplify uninstalling it, should you ever wish to do so.

Of course, the other part of the GoToMyPc problem may be what you're trying to do with it.. are you trying to connect to a PC on your home network, or across the internet? It may be more of a firewalling/portforwarding issue.

So far as the password manager in Firefox goes, dump it and use the (free) LastPass addon instead. It's more secure and has many more (very useful) features. Be sure to get the latest addon version from the LastPass website, as the version available through the Firefox addon interface is an older, buggy one, which gave me a number of problems until I upgraded via the website.

Diziet

Thanks for the sympathy and the tips!

The problem with installing Mint was indeed partly a leftover (swap) partition, and also, I think, the fact that one of the (un)installers hung on me.

As to Dropbox: I think I did get it from the Dropbox website, thanks.

As to the other stuff: good tips! I've put them in a text file and put the text file in my dropbox and hence, next time I open my laptop, they'll be there for me to act on. Thanks!

PS: You might not like this, by my Mint recognised 3.9 gig of Ram, whereas the XP Pro on the machine manages 3.7, I think (although I get around that by using the program Eboostr on XP).
PPS: For some strange reason, when I got my laptop, I got a Dell. In retrospect, I would have got something else and perhaps Acer. I've seen some Acers and they were fast and had good screens. And they don't have Dell's (bad) reputation.

Interesting that you guys aren't running Mint 13, since it's long-term support. I'm still using 13 on a desktop machine with MATE for two years now .

I'm thinking about trying out a KDE flavor of Mint for the next LTS.

CommRLock78 wrote:

Interesting that you guys aren't running Mint 13, since it's long-term support. I'm still using 13 on a desktop machine with MATE for two years now .

I'm thinking about trying out a KDE flavor of Mint for the next LTS.

I'm unsure just what Long-Term Support means. I gather it means that updates fix bugs rather than introduce new features. But does it also mean that, once the advertised support period for a non-LTS version has finished, there will be no updates for it (save the big quasi-update that is the next version of the software, i.e. Mint 17 for Mint 16)?

Also: I read that the proper way to install a new version of the OS (say Mint 17 after having Mint 16) involves a DVD and wipes all one's documents (if they are on the same partition as the OS). I don't fancy that, partly because I haven't got my head around Linux backup software sufficiently yet. So I'll take what is apparently the other, riskier way, namely, which is called, I think, a 'live [i.e. in situ] update'.

UK_Eliter wrote:

Also: I read that the proper way to install a new version of the OS (say Mint 17 after having Mint 16) involves a DVD and wipes all one's documents (if they are on the same partition as the OS). I don't fancy that, partly because I haven't got my head around Linux backup software sufficiently yet. So I'll take what is apparently the other, riskier way, namely, which is called, I think, a 'live [i.e. in situ] update'.

That ... would depend on the distribution at the very least. I've upgraded Debian systems without wiping them for the last ten years, though, without any problems whatsoever. Though, Debian expects people to upgrade systems that way so it's really well-tested before release: it's possible that Mint expects fresh installations every time and doesn't really test the upgrade paths as much.

(Having your system and user data on separate partitions is a good idea anyway - if nothing else to make backup more straightforward)

cim wrote:

(Having your system and user data on separate partitions is a good idea anyway - if nothing else to make backup more straightforward)

Yes, I do this on my Windows systems. And I could do that for Linux, even though I am running out of primary partitions - I could use a logical partition. I'll Google how to do all that. EDIT: I found what looks like a good source (its for Ubuntu but Mint is based on Ubuntu). (Also: I know that some Linux distros give you a seperate Home partition automatically; this one didn't.)

Thanks for your other thoughts, cim.

I recently migrated to Mint 16 Cinnamon (from Ubuntu v10.10), and the whole experience has been a positive one. A clean install was necessary as this was in part prompted by the arrival of a new 1TB HDD, and it was simplicity itself.
Unlike my previous install, I opted for a Home partition this time, for all the reasons mentioned above, namely that it makes backing-up easier and that in future I can re-install/upgrade without touching the Home partition. The disc I burned via the Mint download center contained a version of gparted (I believe it is), and so everything necessary to carry out the partitioning was already there, except any clear instructions (which a first-time partitioner like me needed) but a quick Google found several excellent and straight-forward guides.
The whole installation process was quick and easy, and the benefits are huge. Mint 16 is a great O/S, simple and intuitive to use, and very fast and reliable. It comes with everything you need (Firefox, email and chat clients, gedit, VLC and Gimp among others. Also several things are now working which weren't before like the HDMI output from the graphics card to my AV receiver (Oolite looks great on the 50" plasma ), and the PCI soundcard I added a long time ago to name just two, but this is probably down to the clean install rather than an advantage of Mint over Ubuntu.
Mint 16 is excellent, though, and I would heartily recommend it.

I still have to do a separate home folder partition... something I'll create when I go to the next LTS .

But yeah UK, having a separate partition for that makes life much easier - if you want to try out another distro, or simply upgrade, you don't have to worry about your data and settings.

CommRLock78 wrote:

I still have to do a separate home folder partition...

I did that, following the seemingly convoluted instructions here, and it worked perfectly!

I had a separate partition for system stuff vs my stuff, but the system partition filled up and I couldn't get it to install or remove any software. (And that may have just been me not knowing what I was doing...) So I did a clean install and reformatted the hard drive to get rid of that problem. A few months later I upgraded to Mint 16, and backed up all of my files and a list of software to my Windows partition, (which I hardly ever use) but it kept all of my files.

Long Term Support (LTS) releases are the ones that they promise to keep bug fixing for three years. (With Ubuntu and Mint, it may be a different amount of time for others.) They are designed for people who don't want to have to update as often. I don't use them, simply because I like to have the latest software available.

As to your note on updating, UK_Eliter, it does normally use a removable disk, but it doesn't necessarily have to be a DVD. I have a 2G flash drive that I use for nothing else, but updating and trying new linux distros. If you would rather not have to do that, there is a Linux Mint version that updates the system files at the same time as the files for the programs, so it is always up to date, and you never have to deal with the fresh install. It is based on Debian Testing, rather than Ubuntu, and so it does not have the same compatibility as the main release, but you should be able to get most of the things that you need to do done on it.

SirAdrian

It is possible to do an in situ upgrade to the next version of Mint - and to do so via download - only so doing is not entirely recommended. (Info here.) I think I'll do it anyway. Also, that next edition - Mint 17 - is going to be a 'long term support release' (and thanks for clarifying what that means); so that is handy for me!

UK_Eliter wrote:

SirAdrian

It is possible to do an in situ upgrade to the next version of Mint - and to do so via download - only so doing is not entirely recommended. (Info here.)

Be sure to read the comments too.. some important info there.

UK_Eliter wrote:

SirAdrian

It is possible to do an in situ upgrade to the next version of Mint - and to do so via download - only so doing is not entirely recommended. (Info here.) I think I'll do it anyway. Also, that next edition - Mint 17 - is going to be a 'long term support release' (and thanks for clarifying what that means); so that is handy for me!

I've had distribution upgrades go really well, and I've also had them go horribly wrong - so be careful .

CommRLock78 wrote:

I've had distribution upgrades go really well, and I've also had them go horribly wrong - so be careful .

Aha. On Mint, though, please?