Re: Is Squeeze right for me?
On Sat, 21 Nov 2009 12:47:38 -0600
Chris <racerx@makeworld.com> dijo:
> ... Redefined... Ubu 9.10 (assuming) is both nice (to use, as in ease)
> AND flashy (visually). Not a contradiction at all.
>
> Perhaps I should have taken the time to define that however, knowing
> the Op was using Ubu to begin with, I assumed the Op knew exactly what
> I meant and how it was meant.
First, thanks to all who responded. I should have given more detail,
but it's hard to think of everything when writing an e-mail in a list
like this. My failure to communicate required many to make assumptions
about my needs.
I started with Linux with a brand new laptop that I bought for school
four years ago. I found a local user group who helped me get started.
The computer had a 15.4 inch widescreen capable of 1680 x 1050, and I
was adamant in getting that working with 64-bit Linux. At the time I
tried Mandriva, Suse, and several others. No amount of tweaking could
get the display to run better than 1024 x 768 Vesa. After several days
of frustration I tried a Breezy live CD. The screen came up
automatically at 1680 x 1050. That was it. Shuttleworth made another
sale.
Over the years I have often tried live CDs of other distros, but I
always came back to Ubuntu. Two years ago I built myself a new desktop
computer to use as a music server. I installed Debian on it and tried
really hard to get things to work. Eventually I ended up putting Ubuntu
on it.
Today I have two main motivations for going to Debian:
1) It's time to expand my knowledge of Linux, and I have no huge
computer projects underway at the moment. I can afford the time to
fiddle around for a while. At the same time, my experience with other
distros over the years leads me to reject any distro that is not Debian
based. No package management system can hold a candle to Debian. I want
my Synaptic.
2) I write and publish textbooks. In the past I used InDesign on
Windows, but now I am in the Linux world. I recently did a new textbook
and had to figure out what works best for me in Linux. I spent a week
trying to get my head around Lyx-Latex-Tex, but finally gave up. I
found my home in Scribus, which I love. But I want to use 1.3.5.1,
which is close, but not yet stable. In discussing issues on the Scribus
e-list it is clear that the Scribus developers mince few words in their
dislike of Ubuntu. Scribus is based on Qt, and apparently the Ubuntu
people messed around with some of the Qt libraries. They strongly
recommend Fedora, Debian or OpenSuse.
So there you have it. Debian is the common denominator for me. The only
issue is whether I should have used stable instead of testing.
At the time I wrote my original message I was feeling extreme
frustration with the bugs in Nautilus on testing. But Márcio H.
Parreiras just gave me a solution (thanks!) - gconf-editor allows me to
change the configuration without needing to use the Preferences button.
I feel much happier with testing now that I have Nautilus configured
the way I want it. I still have some troublesome apps to install
(realplayer, xaralx, foxit reader), but I had them working on Jaunty,
so I'm sure I can do the same on testing.
I don't mind that testing is probably not as stable as the current
incarnation of Ubuntu. And I am very willing to do my share of bug
reporting and participate as much as I can. I know nothing of
programming, but there are lots of other ways to contribute. In four
years of Ubuntu my "bean count" on the forums is over 1,000.
At the moment I think testing is the right fit for me. But if not,
well, it is installed on a brand new hard disk. My old hard disk with
Jaunty is untouched; all I have to do is put it back in the computer to
go back to Ubuntu. Or I can wipe out testing and install stable.
Thanks again for the viewpoints.
Reply to: