Posts by Pompous Git 3087 publicly visible posts • joined 24 Sep 2014
This might help:
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/distro-indecision-cheats-guide-choosing-linux-distribution/
One of the nice things about candidate distros is that they can be booted and used from DVD to test their viability for you before you commit to hard disk. Mint has a forum just for newby questions here:
http://forums.linuxmint.com/
Hope you have fun finding what you're looking for :-)
"Linux" is ready for the desktop. It's been ready for a while. The holdup is getting that one magic distribution that includes everything that anyone might conceivably want and in such a way as it's not overwhelming. We don't have that yet.
Magic involves deception and I think we should leave that to MS.
well then i wouldn't call it "support" except in a specific "i'm just the free tech support" joking way. It's like calling your dear old mum the end user or something. I mean technically it's true but you've crossed a line into sounding like a tool
Valeyard, you're the tool here. Recently I needed a gas leak fixed and the guy who did it is one of the guys I provide "free" computer support. Ditto the guy who lent me his trailer and helped me shift a heap of accumulated crap to the municipal tip. I haven't needed to buy honey for nearly 30 years. The nice lady from the UN gave me her Dell Latitude when she needed to upgrade her hardware a year or so ago and insisted on giving me $50 and a bottle of really decent French wine. And so on...
Retirement sure beats having a day job ;-)
Just a bit bored of the whole anti-MS bandwagon around here, give it a rest, actually come up with some valid experiences of having used it rather than theorycrafting your own linux/mac/W7/WXP fanboy fantasies of it not working for you.
My valid experience of w10 was that it had a severe graphics issue. At least that's what the dialog box that w10 kept putting on the screen said. So, I did the rollback to w7. That resulted in a completely unusable machine. Changing window focus took minutes. Reinstalled w7 and would have been happy to remain there, but...
MS then pushed seven extra copies of w10 onto my computers using up all of my Internet bandwidth. Maybe I'm the only person on the planet who has to pay for Internet access, but that really pissed me off. Being shaped to 256 kb/s for a fortnight also royally pissed me off. This is not a "fanboy fantasy".
For you anti-Linux fantasists, the Linux of today is not the Linux of fifteen years ago when it was a case of swapping DLL Hell for Dependency Hell. It's not perfect (nothing is), but it's much more user-friendly. More to the point, I know it's not going to download gigabytes of data without my permission. Nor is it going to force an "upgraded" driver that bricks the machine. (Service Pack 3 for XP bricked my Toshiba laptop.)
One of the nice things about my move to Linux is that it runs w7 very nicely in a VM that is disconnected from the Internet so MS can't steal bandwidth from me. So I get to still keep using the few applications that don't have a Linux equivalent. As well, I can pin folders to the taskbar in Mint, something that w7 doesn't allow, so I can be more productive. Mostly I'm finding Mint more user-friendly than either w8 or w10. That is, it lets me get on with doing interesting things rather than trying to discover where MS have hidden things I'm used to using.
That brought back memories - I did a lot with 6J6es as a kid
I became a convert to solid state devices after pulling a spark off the anode of an 807. It blew a hole through my thumb! My memories are of Thomas Roddam's Transistor Amplifiers for Audio Frequencies that I read with much enjoyment on my way to Australia in 1965. My fellow passengers were bemused, but tolerated my eccentricity as I had a portable record player; it was the only one on the ship. Listening to Beatles for Sale and Them's first single bring it all back.
Those same people who can't understand a commandline are not going to work out how to make manual registry changes...
You'd have to be pretty thick to not understand double-clicking filename.reg. And what makes you think you need to understand the commands you paste at the command-lline, having copied them from elsewhere? No rocket science here at all...
Weirdest thing, but her keyboard had stopped working with Windows 8/10 (it is fine now).
Setting up my HTPC to dual-boot w7 and MythTV resulted in the disablement of all USB. Fortunately I have a MS Natural PS/2 keyboard and regained control of the machine. Now running Cinnamon Mint 17.2 (no dual boot) and everything's fine. Better than w7/Media Centre even.
Back in the 70s I had several girlfriends. My best mate said it was a pity that GF number 2 wasn't called Edith. 'Cos then I could have had my Kate and Edith, too :-)
Kaffeine is a media player for kde. while it supports multiple phonon backends, its default backend is xine, giving kaffeine a wide variety of supported media types and letting kaffeine access cds, dvds, and network streams easily.Sorry, none the wiser....
Kaffeine accesses free-to-air TV through my USB DBTV stick, plays DVD movies, VCD movies, the FLAC files my music is stored as, Internet radio etc.
What, including allowing updates? That's brave.
If he can later convince me he is competent enough, I will give him the go ahead. If he wants my support (and it's free) then he does what I say. My experience with Linux, and this concurs with several people I know who have been penguinistas for a very long time, is that it doesn't need updating weekly. If it ain't broke, don't "fix" it!
His Win and MacOS computers would probably still be OK if he'd followed that diktat to the letter, wouldn't they?Doesn't really prove much about the Linux distro you've talked him into, does it?
I wasn't attempting to prove anything. He was very insistent that he needed help and so I provided that help. I don't do Windows support no more. I never did OS X support. He wants support it's Cinnamon Mint 17.2 'cos that's the OS I'm using. He wanted to browse the Interwebs access his web-based email, and play music and videos, and he can do that now.
How the fuck could I provide W10 support since I only ran it long enough to discover it destabilised the computer I installed it on?
so that gives about four years for someone to figure out a Linux desktop that doesn't suck for the average user
The friend I upgraded from w10 to Linux Mint on Monday is what one might charitably call a less than average user. Oh, he's bright enough (a retired anaesthetist) but he has the irritating habit of bricking his computers. His Mac has been in the hands of an Apple "Genius" for five months, hence the new Acer. He has taken to Cinnamon Mint like a duck to water. And he has strict instructions to not do anything other than initial login that requires his password. Fingers crossed...
In trying to fix this mess, I've somehow gotten my system at a point where it is in an infinite loop of 'You need to restart your computer before...' regarding updates. It is just a mess. On the other hand, I think that this has inadvertently saved me from the telemetry updates, so there's that. Yep, be moving to Linux soon.
Sounds like what happened to my W7 and I'm reminded of it on the very few occasions I've felt the need to boot into Win. More than happy with the shift to Mint so far. Also fixed a W10 problem for a friend on Monday. Upgraded his new Acer notebook to Mint.
"Do you also advocate yearly driving tests?"Yes. For senior citizens over 70. Because someone more senior than citizen, so to speak, hurling two tons of metal around can be very dangerous.
Youngsters not so much...
RACT Insurance has released statistics showing one in eight young drivers regularly checks emails or text messages while driving, compared with only one per cent of drivers over the age of 60.The research also shows 20 per cent of young drivers on Tasmanian roads admit regularly exceeding the speed limit.
That figure is almost double the rate of the overall population.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-05-28/reseach-highlights-bad-habits-in-younger-drivers/4717390
I suspect that you are being deliberately obtuse. I never wrote that the wallabies were ravaging sheep. I included dogs in the list of vermin, specifically people's pets. These aren't farmers' dogs, they belong to townies who have moved into the countryside and brought their towny "ideals" with them.
The law doesn't prevent bullets from flying around near houses, it encourages them. There is no way I can shoot wallabies and rabbits near the house from a hundred metres away. First, there's far too much vegetation around the house to actually be able to see the target. Second, the gun I used to use was nowhere near powerful enough, nor for that matter am I a good enough shot beyond about 20 metres. The ideal location for shooting these rabbits and wallabies is from the front deck of the house since it's elevated 2 metres above ground and surrounding shrubbery. It also ensured that all the shots I fired were away from the house and its occupants.
During the 34 years I have lived here I have only very rarely needed a gun. The local farmers' sons and daughters used to shoot recreationally. The farmers used to carry a gun on the tractor or in the truck so that when the opportunity arose, they could shoot vermin as they came across them. As the farmers and farmworkers have been displaced by townies, the vermin have increased in numbers markedly.
Yes, I could join a gun club (mandatory), purchase a gun safe (mandatory) and a gun. But this would cost several thousand dollars and no doubt annoy the newcomers who think it's cruel to shoot "poor, innocent animals", but not cruel to allow their dogs to run around mauliing farm animals. Go figure...
While possums (and feral cats) are easy to trap, the question arises what to do with the captured possum. Set it free too near where it's caught and it will return from a remarkable distance. Set it free far enough away and it will attempt to displace the local possum(s), they are territorial animals. It will either succeed or starve to death. How humane is that?
Rabbits can only be easily trapped with rabbit traps (illegal), or snares (illegal).
I didn't set up a straw man argument regarding "Glocks, AR-15s and pump-action shotguns"; I was quoting from the post I was responding to. Australia's gun laws apply to the .22 calibre rifle I used to have access to and no longer do so. Prior to the Port Arthur massacre I couldn't justify owning a gun. Now I need one there's so much excessive regulation it's easier to move to town and leave the wildlife problem for someone else to deal with.
Wallabies are only cute when they are not eating your crops.
It is true that there have been no mass shootings in Tasmania since Port Arthur, but Barry Unsworth only called for one such in order for the parliament to pass the gun laws it wanted. Why would they need any more once the legislation passed?
Guns have a place as a tool on farms, but show me a farmer who would shoot a sheep rather than cut its throat and I'll show you a gun-nut.
Gun control laws apply to farmers as well as townies. I used to be able to borrow a rifle from a neighbour when the rabbits and wallabies got out of hand. Not any more... And the rabbits, wallabies, possums etc are out of hand so I'm glad I'm moving into town later this year.
And no, it wasn't a " a Glock, nor an AR-15, nor a pump-action shotgun"; it was a .22. The vermin are quite active near the house where it is illegal for me to shoot them at point blank range (5-10 metres). To comply with the gun laws I need to be at least 100 metres from the house which means I would need to be shooting directly towards the house and a far more accurate shot required for a kill.
With factory made components (propellant, primers, cases and bullets) and tools, as you say, rather easy; without them, however, rather hard if not practically impossible.
True, but I was thinking of something rather more quick and dirty. Ammonium tri-iodide for primer: ingredients iodine and household ammonia. Nitram (fertiliser) for propellant. Cases would need to be purchased or recycled cases. Moulds for casting bullets from lead still seem to be available in garage sales around these parts. Bloke up the road used to manufacture his own ammunition until a tree fell on him a few years ago. I suspect he was rather more sophisticated about it than my thoughts indicate. And I know he did it in the kitchen because his wife used to moan about it.
If the fire is anything more than very minor, a fire extinguisher is going to do you damn all good if you use it to try to put the fire out.
Minor kitchen fires can quickly get out of hand unless nipped in the bud. My kitchen has a 1 kg powder type extinguisher within easy reach of the stove.
When the volunteer fire brigade I was president of was amalgamated with the paid fire brigade, we had an unbroken record of never having lost a house. The paid firies had an unbroken record of never having succeeded in saving a house. One fire in particular I remember they turned up with a tanker, but it was empty because they had forgotten to refill it after one of their "exercises".
When gun-nuts talk about their rights, I always wonder why they ignore the right to not get shot.
Like vermin you mean? Wallabies, rabbits, possums, feral cats, crows, uncontrolled dogs... Speaking of the latter, do you enjoy the idea that sheep should die slowly from the wounds inflicted by a pack of domestic "pets"? Funny how dog owners always say: "My dog's not a sheep-killer!"
How often do people have this problem in America where an assailant is attacking them in such a way that lethal force is necessary?Is it really so frequent an event?
Dunno, I don't live there. But a friend's mother lives there and the small town she lives in apparently mandated carrying a gun. Crime in the township declined dramatically, albeit at the expense of an increase in nearby townships. Criminals, by and large, dislike being shot at. Many law-abiding citizens in the USA, UKLand and Oz apparently approve the disarming of law-abiding citizens under the assumption that they are unlikely to be shot at by the police, or criminals.
A new investigation into the police shooting of Joe Gilewicz in 1991 has been ordered by the state government, after new evidence and further allegations of a police cover-up were presented in the manuscript of a forthcoming book. The book, by former journalist Paul Tapp, is based on extensive examination of the evidence and on allegations by former police ballistics expert Stan Hanuszewicz.
https://www.greenleft.org.au/node/18829
Declaration: a mutual friend was refused permission by police to talk to Joe who, as a Vietnam war veteran, had regular psychotic episodes of the nature he was experiencing when the police decided to execute him.
A 2013 study from the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) found 94 fatal police shootings for the period between 1992 and 2011.
When the mass shooting at Port Arthur occurred there was an immediate call for changes to gun ownership laws. When the police execute unarmed people for being mentally ill, nobody really gives a fuck. If you're not mentally ill, what's there to worry about?
There has been a pronounced change in the type of weapons used in homicide since monitoring began. Firearm use has declined by more than half since 1989-90 as a proportion of homicide methods, and there has been an upward trend in the use of knives and sharp instruments, which in 2006-07 accounted for nearly half of all homicide victims.
http://www.aic.gov.au/statistics/homicide/weapon.html
I see MS qualifications as more of a way to get past the agency / HR gatekeepers than any actual proof of knowledge.
That's certainly true, but you are far less likely to be interviewed if you don't have the required "qualification". My estimate of what my MS Cert was worth to me was about an extra $AU10,000 a year. A significant amount of moolah in Tasmania 20 years ago.
There's also the general science angle. There's a quite good description of Köppen climate classification here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%B6ppen_climate_classification
Those who "believe in climate change" are usually abysmally ignorant of the science. If you peruse the maps maintained by Peel, M. C., Finlayson, B. L., and McMahon, T. A. at the University of Melbourne, you will see that Tasmania is currently Temperate/mesothermal, dry winters, warmest month averaging below 22 °C, but with at least four months averaging above 10 °C (Cwb). A century ago, before "unprecedented climate change" it was also Cwb. If it's the same now as a century ago, how can it be an "unprecedented change"?
Three thousand years ago, the northernmost forest limit throughout North America, Europe and Asia was hundreds of kilometres north of the present. See Climate, vegetation and forest limits in early civilized times by HH Lamb, Phil Trans R Soc Lond A 276, 195-230 (1974). This would appear to indicate much warmer climates in those regions than present, yet we are told that it's warmer now than in "millions of years".
Additionally, I can find no mention whatsoever in the many tertiary-level texts on climate in my collection that include any mention of CAGW theory other than a passing reference to some people "believe" in it.
Steven, one computer not on your list that was popular in Australia in its day was the Exidy Sorceror. It was the first computer I ever used though I never owned one. My first computer was a Tandy 200 clamshell laptop.
Also worth noting that Apple Macs were very popular for music production, not just DTP.
Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II, and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Apple is now recommitted to its original mission to bring the best personal computing products and support to students, educators, designers, scientists, engineers, businesspersons and consumers in over 140 countries around the world.
Apple Press release 1997
They're a very weird store.
Ain't that the truth. It took me years to purchase a Mac in Hobart. I'm still waiting on a quote for a Mac Quadra with a 16" monitor and sundry software from Management Technology*!
*Local Apple monopoly at the time.
Nope, this is because Israel is a friendly state, and Putin's Russia is NOT.
We know that Israel is a "friendly" state because it fired on USS Liberty in 1967 killing 34 American servicemen. We know that Russia is an "unfriendly" state because it never fired on US troops except in retaliation when attacked by US fighter planes at Niš in Serbia in 1944. It's a funny thing this "friendship" lark...
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