Regardless, Amarok doesn't seem to like playing the music files that I've got on my Windows drive. Rythmbox has no problem. I like Amarok much better. Is there any way around this?
Try installing the libxine-extracodecs package and see if it's happy.
Don't forget to restart Amarok.
You, good sir, are a scholar and a gentleman. Thank you very much.
Now I just have to figure out the dual monitor setup...
Descendant X on
Garry: I know you gentlemen have been through a lot, but when you find the time I'd rather not spend the rest of the winter TIED TO THIS FUCKING COUCH!
Im going to throw my .02 into the fire and let them melt...
I love all unix ('cept for AIX and HPUX... oh and SCO), but remember that the greatness of unix lies not in the fact that it has a stable desktop, but in that there are so many things you can do with it that cost you $0. I encourage you guys to take it a step further. Currently I have 2 freeBSD machines, one is a desktop running xfce/x.org the other is my shell, music and web server, i samba mount mp3s to my win32 desktop so it can sync up to itunes, but it also streams out my entire music lib so anywhere there is inet, i have my tunes. My server is also my bittorrent whore via torrentflux. I still keep my win32 desktop for gaming/itunes, but my heart is with *nix.
Also, just one more point, learning the ins and outs of unix/linux makes for a good career move. Once you know enough, you can make it your career.
Now this is the kind of stuff I want to do with linux. Do you recommend any good sites/books to help with learning the ins and outs of linux?
Nothing really comes to mind as alot of it you learn just by playing with it. But the best advice i can give you, is play with it till you break it, then figure out how to fix it. The oreilly books are usually a good read. Also look on sourceforge for neat projects to build and play with, all kinds of stuff is out there.
Tar on
AC:WW 2191.0414.2547 Tar in Red Hill PM me if you add me!
TETRIS DS 760.559 466.343
clubhouse 270.663 522.426
Is there any way to set up dual monitors so that windows do not appear between both monitors? In addition, is there any was that I can use what amounts to Dualview in XP instead of Twinview? I've got an NVidia card and Separate X Screen does not appear to work.
Is dualview where only things like fullscreen videos/presentations/etc play on your second screen? From what ive seen of nvidia dualhead configs I think the closest you are going to get to that in linux is just a cloned output unfortunately (Not that ive got an nvidia card installed to actually try it out with)
If you need a hand with a standard dual monitor setup ive done it a few times now so gimme a shout and i may be able to at least point you in the right direction
And Darmak cheers for the update on xinerama, just got back from my holiday... Ive gone for the turning the monitor off option as well :P
Is there any way to set up dual monitors so that windows do not appear between both monitors? In addition, is there any was that I can use what amounts to Dualview in XP instead of Twinview? I've got an NVidia card and Separate X Screen does not appear to work.
Is dualview where only things like fullscreen videos/presentations/etc play on your second screen? From what ive seen of nvidia dualhead configs I think the closest you are going to get to that in linux is just a cloned output unfortunately (Not that ive got an nvidia card installed to actually try it out with)
If you need a hand with a standard dual monitor setup ive done it a few times now so gimme a shout and i may be able to at least point you in the right direction
And Darmak cheers for the update on xinerama, just got back from my holiday... Ive gone for the turning the monitor off option as well :P
Actually, Xinerama may be what Descendant is looking for. Not for me and my ATI card, of course, but since he has an nvidia it should work fine for him.
Bah. Whatever Microsoft is/has been up to .. doesn't change how useful linux is to me right this second ... or how much i like linux. Too often appreciation threads turn into bashing the opposition threads ... cant we keep this *Linux* thread from turning into a debate about MS?
Photon on
PSN: photon_86
0
Just_Bri_ThanksSeething with ragefrom a handbasket.Registered User, ClubPAregular
Bah. Whatever Microsoft is/has been up to .. doesn't change how useful linux is to me right this second ... or how much i like linux. Too often appreciation threads turn into bashing the opposition threads ... cant we keep this *Linux* thread from turning into a debate about MS?
I am cool with it.
Edit: The not further derailing part, that is.
Just_Bri_Thanks on
...and when you are done with that; take a folding
chair to Creation and then suplex the Void.
Is there any way to set up dual monitors so that windows do not appear between both monitors? In addition, is there any was that I can use what amounts to Dualview in XP instead of Twinview? I've got an NVidia card and Separate X Screen does not appear to work.
Is dualview where only things like fullscreen videos/presentations/etc play on your second screen? From what ive seen of nvidia dualhead configs I think the closest you are going to get to that in linux is just a cloned output unfortunately (Not that ive got an nvidia card installed to actually try it out with)
If you need a hand with a standard dual monitor setup ive done it a few times now so gimme a shout and i may be able to at least point you in the right direction
And Darmak cheers for the update on xinerama, just got back from my holiday... Ive gone for the turning the monitor off option as well :P
Actually, Xinerama may be what Descendant is looking for. Not for me and my ATI card, of course, but since he has an nvidia it should work fine for him.
Tbh i dont think xinerama is what anyone wants :P I think its the only option on some gfx cards but i assume the dual head stuff by ati/nvidia is always gonna work better generally when you are using their drivers, even if they dont have all the features of the features of the windows ones ... I know i didnt enjoy the big pile of glitch for my mouse cursor and no 3d accel with xinerama
Is there any way to set up dual monitors so that windows do not appear between both monitors? In addition, is there any was that I can use what amounts to Dualview in XP instead of Twinview? I've got an NVidia card and Separate X Screen does not appear to work.
Is dualview where only things like fullscreen videos/presentations/etc play on your second screen? From what ive seen of nvidia dualhead configs I think the closest you are going to get to that in linux is just a cloned output unfortunately (Not that ive got an nvidia card installed to actually try it out with)
If you need a hand with a standard dual monitor setup ive done it a few times now so gimme a shout and i may be able to at least point you in the right direction
And Darmak cheers for the update on xinerama, just got back from my holiday... Ive gone for the turning the monitor off option as well :P
Actually, Xinerama may be what Descendant is looking for. Not for me and my ATI card, of course, but since he has an nvidia it should work fine for him.
Tbh i dont think xinerama is what anyone wants :P I think its the only option on some gfx cards but i assume the dual head stuff by ati/nvidia is always gonna work better generally when you are using their drivers, even if they dont have all the features of the features of the windows ones ... I know i didnt enjoy the big pile of glitch for my mouse cursor and no 3d accel with xinerama
Me neither. I don't remember if you told me, but what kind of ati card do you have?
So im starting on a placement year at uni in september, working at HP R&D for the year ... I know they use gentoo on their development pc's there so im thinking of installing it now to make sure i know my way around any gentoo specific bits and bobs by the time i start. Anyone here got any tips/info ill find useful before i jump in? Am downloading now
So im starting on a placement year at uni in september, working at HP R&D for the year ... I know they use gentoo on their development pc's there so im thinking of installing it now to make sure i know my way around any gentoo specific bits and bobs by the time i start. Anyone here got any tips/info ill find useful before i jump in? Am downloading now
Linux is Linux. The only difference between distributions is what comes with it by default, how you install things, and how things are configured. Once you know one distro, you only really need to learn the quirks of another, like pretty much everything outside of ~/ in Fedora needing root access to view.
So im starting on a placement year at uni in september, working at HP R&D for the year ... I know they use gentoo on their development pc's there so im thinking of installing it now to make sure i know my way around any gentoo specific bits and bobs by the time i start. Anyone here got any tips/info ill find useful before i jump in? Am downloading now
Linux is Linux. The only difference between distributions is what comes with it by default, how you install things, and how things are configured. Once you know one distro, you only really need to learn the quirks of another, like pretty much everything outside of ~/ in Fedora needing root access to view.
I've seen gentoo installs and configurations break many a mans spirit. If you don't know Linux like the back of your hand already, make sure you have another machine with internet access sitting beside you for extensive googling, you'll most likely need it.
I've seen gentoo installs and configurations break many a mans spirit. If you don't know Linux like the back of your hand already, make sure you have another machine with internet access sitting beside you for extensive googling, you'll most likely need it.
Gentoo was a learning experience for me. When I installed it years ago I made sure to download the installation guides and also have a spare computer up for "research" purposes.
I don't know if the installation process is any simpler these days, but back then I wouldn't have recommended it without prior experience in configuring a bootloader, fstab, and networking by hand.
Another annoying thing was that there wasn't any metapackage for what I consider basic system tools.
Barrakketh on
Rollers are red, chargers are blue....omae wa mou shindeiru
Descendant XSkyrim is my god now.Outpost 31Registered Userregular
edited August 2007
I installed Linux Mint this morning and I've got to say that it adds a great deal to an already excellent distro (Ubuntu). It comes with media support right out of the box and it automatically mounts all of my NTFS partitions. Amarok works like a charm now! I'm running the Xfce flavour and my desktop is looking pretty damn spiffy. I tried to get the e17 flavour but it was taking too long to download. I may just try to put e17 on it later. I'd also like to give Fluxbox a try, but when I loaded up in Ubuntu I had not idea how to configure. I might get to spend my holiday tomorrow slogging through HOWTOs.
Anyway, if you've not yet decided on which distro to try out, check out Linux Mint. It's an excellent and easy-to-use distribution. The best part is that if you need support you can go to the Ubuntu forums because it's based on Ubuntu. Give it a try!
Descendant X on
Garry: I know you gentlemen have been through a lot, but when you find the time I'd rather not spend the rest of the winter TIED TO THIS FUCKING COUCH!
I installed Linux Mint this morning and I've got to say that it adds a great deal to an already excellent distro (Ubuntu). It comes with media support right out of the box and it automatically mounts all of my NTFS partitions. Amarok works like a charm now! I'm running the Xfce flavour and my desktop is looking pretty damn spiffy. I tried to get the e17 flavour but it was taking too long to download. I may just try to put e17 on it later. I'd also like to give Fluxbox a try, but when I loaded up in Ubuntu I had not idea how to configure. I might get to spend my holiday tomorrow slogging through HOWTOs.
Anyway, if you've not yet decided on which distro to try out, check out Linux Mint. It's an excellent and easy-to-use distribution. The best part is that if you need support you can go to the Ubuntu forums because it's based on Ubuntu. Give it a try!
Linux Mint is also very nice-looking. The mint color would get old after awhile but everything is very clean and the colors do go well and are easy on the eyes.
Do anyone have Myth II Soulblighter running on a new Linux installation? Only one I ever really checked somewhat recently was Gentoo, and the answer there was no. I'm talking about the Linux version from Loki here, not the game running under Wine.
I took the plunge with gentoo today and have really enjoyed it No problems so far apart from my first attempt at a kernel being borked
The handbook / documentation is pretty thorough and i have definately learned alot about things that i only had a vague idea about before .. would definately reccomend it to anyone looking for a learning experience
(am writing this from lynx while my xorg compiles )
hang about, will UT2k4 install on ubuntu without ay crazy fiddling? just right off the disc?
thats awesome.
Yup ... linux installer on the disk as far as i remember ... and theres a penguin on the back of the game box
that's awsome, is there a list/wiki of what games have linux installers on the disc? iirc there is a way to play CSS/HL2 on linux too, how does one go about that?
hang about, will UT2k4 install on ubuntu without ay crazy fiddling? just right off the disc?
thats awesome.
Yup ... linux installer on the disk as far as i remember ... and theres a penguin on the back of the game box
that's awsome, is there a list/wiki of what games have linux installers on the disc? iirc there is a way to play CSS/HL2 on linux too, how does one go about that?
For CSS/HL2 you'll probably need Wine. And my UT2k4 installation was completely painless, even all the mods and maps and all that shit was easy.
Darmak on
0
Zilla36021st Century. |She/Her|Trans* Woman In Aviators Firing A Bazooka. ⚛️Registered Userregular
ok since getting my laptop back from my flat mate, it appears the cd drive is pretty fucked on it, it's grinding away trying to read a cd. It'll get a bit of the way through but it doesn't sound healthy.
Is there anyway I can copy the install files over the network and install from the harddrive?
Grrr, not happy.
::edit::
Wahoo, after some persuasion and grinding of discs it installed Ubuntu. Now I'm trying to figure out how to change the desktop away form 640x480. It doesn't appear to want to and I suspect it's my graphics card drivers. Also having some trouble getting wireless network up and running. I shall push forward though
::Edit 2::
Woo, wireless up and running fine and dandy, now to sort out the display issue
::Edit 3::
Yay! A quick sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg later and answering a few basic questions and I'm up and running at 1024x768 (maximum this laptop seems capable of).
Phew, that's my basic Ubuntu set up done now. Now I just need to figure out how to install applications, uninstall them and how to fix things when I undoubtedly break this!
I've had a pretty unpleasant experience over the last few days. I built a new PC with the intention of switching to Linux and getting started with seriously learning it. I still needed a working OS for my day to day stuff, so I downloaded a whole lot of "user friendly" distros and tried them all.
Boy was I disappointed.
It's not that they didn't work, or that getting them to run was difficult. What frustrated me was that they were all wonky in one way or another - the sound mixer options were a mess, important features were randomly missing (in SimplyMEPIS I had to manually add a trash icon to the desktop by creating a text file - priceless), and countless other details I'd rather avoid recalling made me lose my nerves. So I bought a new copy of Windows XP and breathed a sigh of relief as I resumed work with a familiar, polished GUI.
But I haven't given up. Along the way I did learn a couple of basic things about the inner workings of Linux, and even though I'm obviously never going to be happy with any distro (and I'm not willing to try any more), I still firmly believe the OS is fundamentally badass, I just need to learn to use it in a way that is appropriate to my perfectionist tastes.
So I've decided to start at the very basics (commandline etc.), and work my way up from there, until one day I'm hopefully able to build my own custom OS. I realize I've got quite a long road ahead of me, and I already have a few ideas about where to start, but I was wondering if you had any pointers you could give me on accomplishing such a task? I'd be especially interested in (printed) books, since I've learned that trying to absorb massive amounts of information from the internet can be painful.
From the description of your experience with SimplyMEPIS, it sounds like you were disappointed because the interface differed from Windows.
Newsflash: You are not using Windows. Things are different with other OSes. if you want the same interface and functionality as Windows, then use Windows. If you want to learn how to use Linux, learn how to use Linux, don't learn how to turn Linux into Windows.
Do you mind if we ask what distributions you did try?
If I just needed to do internet/word processing and music stuff, I had no problem setting up Ubuntu basically "out of the box."
I think I just needed to do some simple updates.
From the description of your experience with SimplyMEPIS, it sounds like you were disappointed because the interface differed from Windows.
Newsflash: You are not using Windows. Things are different with other OSes. if you want the same interface and functionality as Windows, then use Windows. If you want to learn how to use Linux, learn how to use Linux, don't learn how to turn Linux into Windows.
No, I was disappointed because stuff literally didn't work. The problem with the trash can was a known bug I learned to solve by Googling around forums. The basic interface principles were essentially identical to Windows, and that was not what I had a problem with.
And yes, I want to learn Linux, that's why I'd like to avoid starting with KDE, GNOME and the like and learn it from the ground up.
Do you mind if we ask what distributions you did try?
If I just needed to do internet/word processing and music stuff, I had no problem setting up Ubuntu basically "out of the box."
I think I just needed to do some simple updates.
Ubuntu worked best, but still had quite a few annoyances related to the GNOME desktop. And like I said, stuff essentially worked, but it didn't beat Windows at its own game. Which is why I want to learn Linux proper.
I used to use Gentoo which was pretty customizable but I was impatient (hated waiting for stuff to compile) and the quality of the ebuilds had really been slipping so I ditched it for Fedora. It works pretty well out of the box so I didn't really have to screw around too much.
From the description of your experience with SimplyMEPIS, it sounds like you were disappointed because the interface differed from Windows.
Newsflash: You are not using Windows. Things are different with other OSes. if you want the same interface and functionality as Windows, then use Windows. If you want to learn how to use Linux, learn how to use Linux, don't learn how to turn Linux into Windows.
No, I was disappointed because stuff literally didn't work. The problem with the trash can was a known bug I learned to solve by Googling around forums. The basic interface principles were essentially identical to Windows, and that was not what I had a problem with.
And yes, I want to learn Linux, that's why I'd like to avoid starting with KDE, GNOME and the like and learn it from the ground up.
The best way to do that is to pick a linux distro, install it and just start using it... I mean, I'm sure thats how almost everyone learned to use windows. Linux seems very weird at first but thats because the average person is coming to linux after using windows since 95 or before and being stuck in that way of thinking. As far as books, I have no idea. Your best bet would be to post on a distro specific forum asking advice about what the best book to learn with would be.
LittleBoots on
Tofu wrote: Here be Littleboots, destroyer of threads and master of drunkposting.
Basically using linux involves searching for which app will do what you want, looking at the man pages trying to figure out which of the billion command line options you want, then running it. Pretty simple. I guess you can learn piping, redirecting output, and daemons too.
I'm no linux wiz, but I've learned just by doing (for work). There are tons of linux companion books.
Posts
You, good sir, are a scholar and a gentleman. Thank you very much.
Now I just have to figure out the dual monitor setup...
Looking through that thread, I found this post that looks like a way of setting up the network bridge in a manner that isn't a royal PITA.
Nothing really comes to mind as alot of it you learn just by playing with it. But the best advice i can give you, is play with it till you break it, then figure out how to fix it. The oreilly books are usually a good read. Also look on sourceforge for neat projects to build and play with, all kinds of stuff is out there.
TETRIS DS 760.559 466.343
clubhouse 270.663 522.426
Is dualview where only things like fullscreen videos/presentations/etc play on your second screen? From what ive seen of nvidia dualhead configs I think the closest you are going to get to that in linux is just a cloned output unfortunately (Not that ive got an nvidia card installed to actually try it out with)
If you need a hand with a standard dual monitor setup ive done it a few times now so gimme a shout and i may be able to at least point you in the right direction
And Darmak cheers for the update on xinerama, just got back from my holiday... Ive gone for the turning the monitor off option as well :P
Actually, Xinerama may be what Descendant is looking for. Not for me and my ATI card, of course, but since he has an nvidia it should work fine for him.
Here is but a single example out of many:
http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20070723235113424
Edit: If Microsoft isn't totally pissing you off, then you are simply not paying attention to what they are doing these days.
chair to Creation and then suplex the Void.
I am cool with it.
Edit: The not further derailing part, that is.
chair to Creation and then suplex the Void.
Tbh i dont think xinerama is what anyone wants :P I think its the only option on some gfx cards but i assume the dual head stuff by ati/nvidia is always gonna work better generally when you are using their drivers, even if they dont have all the features of the features of the windows ones ... I know i didnt enjoy the big pile of glitch for my mouse cursor and no 3d accel with xinerama
Me neither. I don't remember if you told me, but what kind of ati card do you have?
I dont know if i told you either
Ahhh, okay. I have an x1950 pro 256mb and I was wondering if our cards were similar or not (since we had the same issues with Xinerama).
Linux is Linux. The only difference between distributions is what comes with it by default, how you install things, and how things are configured. Once you know one distro, you only really need to learn the quirks of another, like pretty much everything outside of ~/ in Fedora needing root access to view.
chair to Creation and then suplex the Void.
Gentoo was a learning experience for me. When I installed it years ago I made sure to download the installation guides and also have a spare computer up for "research" purposes.
I don't know if the installation process is any simpler these days, but back then I wouldn't have recommended it without prior experience in configuring a bootloader, fstab, and networking by hand.
Another annoying thing was that there wasn't any metapackage for what I consider basic system tools.
PSN: SirGrinchX
Oculus Rift: Sir_Grinch
Anyway, if you've not yet decided on which distro to try out, check out Linux Mint. It's an excellent and easy-to-use distribution. The best part is that if you need support you can go to the Ubuntu forums because it's based on Ubuntu. Give it a try!
Linux Mint is also very nice-looking. The mint color would get old after awhile but everything is very clean and the colors do go well and are easy on the eyes.
The handbook / documentation is pretty thorough and i have definately learned alot about things that i only had a vague idea about before .. would definately reccomend it to anyone looking for a learning experience
(am writing this from lynx while my xorg compiles
thats awesome.
Yup ... linux installer on the disk as far as i remember ... and theres a penguin on the back of the game box
that's awsome, is there a list/wiki of what games have linux installers on the disc? iirc there is a way to play CSS/HL2 on linux too, how does one go about that?
For CSS/HL2 you'll probably need Wine. And my UT2k4 installation was completely painless, even all the mods and maps and all that shit was easy.
Is there anyway I can copy the install files over the network and install from the harddrive?
Grrr, not happy.
::edit::
Wahoo, after some persuasion and grinding of discs it installed Ubuntu. Now I'm trying to figure out how to change the desktop away form 640x480. It doesn't appear to want to and I suspect it's my graphics card drivers. Also having some trouble getting wireless network up and running. I shall push forward though
::Edit 2::
Woo, wireless up and running fine and dandy, now to sort out the display issue
::Edit 3::
Yay! A quick sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg later and answering a few basic questions and I'm up and running at 1024x768 (maximum this laptop seems capable of).
Phew, that's my basic Ubuntu set up done now. Now I just need to figure out how to install applications, uninstall them and how to fix things when I undoubtedly break this!
PSN: SirGrinchX
Oculus Rift: Sir_Grinch
Boy was I disappointed.
It's not that they didn't work, or that getting them to run was difficult. What frustrated me was that they were all wonky in one way or another - the sound mixer options were a mess, important features were randomly missing (in SimplyMEPIS I had to manually add a trash icon to the desktop by creating a text file - priceless), and countless other details I'd rather avoid recalling made me lose my nerves. So I bought a new copy of Windows XP and breathed a sigh of relief as I resumed work with a familiar, polished GUI.
But I haven't given up. Along the way I did learn a couple of basic things about the inner workings of Linux, and even though I'm obviously never going to be happy with any distro (and I'm not willing to try any more), I still firmly believe the OS is fundamentally badass, I just need to learn to use it in a way that is appropriate to my perfectionist tastes.
So I've decided to start at the very basics (commandline etc.), and work my way up from there, until one day I'm hopefully able to build my own custom OS. I realize I've got quite a long road ahead of me, and I already have a few ideas about where to start, but I was wondering if you had any pointers you could give me on accomplishing such a task? I'd be especially interested in (printed) books, since I've learned that trying to absorb massive amounts of information from the internet can be painful.
Any advice?
Okay, here's where to start: 1)Be a genius 2) Get a phd in computer science 3)profit
Tofu wrote: Here be Littleboots, destroyer of threads and master of drunkposting.
I meant set up my own custom Linux installation. I'm not that ambitious.
Newsflash: You are not using Windows. Things are different with other OSes. if you want the same interface and functionality as Windows, then use Windows. If you want to learn how to use Linux, learn how to use Linux, don't learn how to turn Linux into Windows.
If I just needed to do internet/word processing and music stuff, I had no problem setting up Ubuntu basically "out of the box."
I think I just needed to do some simple updates.
No, I was disappointed because stuff literally didn't work. The problem with the trash can was a known bug I learned to solve by Googling around forums. The basic interface principles were essentially identical to Windows, and that was not what I had a problem with.
And yes, I want to learn Linux, that's why I'd like to avoid starting with KDE, GNOME and the like and learn it from the ground up.
Ubuntu worked best, but still had quite a few annoyances related to the GNOME desktop. And like I said, stuff essentially worked, but it didn't beat Windows at its own game. Which is why I want to learn Linux proper.
Have fun...
I used to use Gentoo which was pretty customizable but I was impatient (hated waiting for stuff to compile) and the quality of the ebuilds had really been slipping so I ditched it for Fedora. It works pretty well out of the box so I didn't really have to screw around too much.
The best way to do that is to pick a linux distro, install it and just start using it... I mean, I'm sure thats how almost everyone learned to use windows. Linux seems very weird at first but thats because the average person is coming to linux after using windows since 95 or before and being stuck in that way of thinking. As far as books, I have no idea. Your best bet would be to post on a distro specific forum asking advice about what the best book to learn with would be.
Tofu wrote: Here be Littleboots, destroyer of threads and master of drunkposting.
I'm no linux wiz, but I've learned just by doing (for work). There are tons of linux companion books.