# Linux Preferences



## regexorcist (Feb 6, 2010)

For you linux users...

I find user preferences *VERY interesting*.
Let us know about your system and or answer some of these questions if you like.


What distro(s) do you use??
Rolling or Fixed release??

Do you use a Graphical Login or command line (run level 3 or 5)??

What Desktop Environment and or Window Manager do you use?? (ex. Gnome, KDE, Xfce, etc...)

What Web Browser(s) do you use??

Do you run multiple Desktops?? If so how many?? (ex. 4 is the normal default)

What editor do you prefer?? (ex. GEdit, Emacs, Vi/Vim, Mousepad, etc...)

What if any servers (services) do you run?? (ex. Samba, Apache, Telnet, etc..)

Do you prefer the Command Line or GUI for most tasks??

If you use a shell(s), which is/are your favorite(s)?? (ex. Bash, ksh, tclsh, zsh, etc...)

Do you use cron/crontab??


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## regexorcist (Feb 6, 2010)

To answer my own questions...



regexorcist said:


> What distro(s) do you use??


Arch Linux



regexorcist said:


> Rolling or Fixed release??


Rolling



regexorcist said:


> Do you use a Graphical Login or command line (run level 3 or 5)??


Command Line (run level 3)



regexorcist said:


> What Desktop Environment and or Window Manager do you use?? (ex. Gnome, KDE, Xfce, etc...)


I don't use a desktop environment, I only use a light WM, Joe's Window Manager (JWM) with some KDE and Xfce applications



regexorcist said:


> What Web Browser(s) do you use??


Firefox, Opera, Konqueror, Lynx and Elinks



regexorcist said:


> Do you run multiple Desktops?? If so how many?? (ex. 4 is the normal default)


yes I run 6 desktops



regexorcist said:


> What editor do you prefer?? (ex. GEdit, Emacs, Vi/Vim, Mousepad, etc...)


I'm a Vi (console) and Vim (X) man



regexorcist said:


> What if any servers (services) do you run?? (ex. Samba, Apache, Telnet, etc..)


Samba (file server), Apache2/FTP (httpd), MySQL (dbms), VNC (tightVNC) - (ultraVNC on client laptops), cups (print), SSH and Telnet - router internal not ported to the outside, etc... 



regexorcist said:


> Do you prefer the Command Line or GUI for most tasks??


command line



regexorcist said:


> If you use a shell(s), which is/are your favorite(s)?? (ex. Bash, ksh, tclsh, zsh, etc...)


bash, tclsh, fish shell, hotwire shell, etc...



regexorcist said:


> Do you use cron/crontab??


Yes I have multiple cron jobs defined in my crontab file and I also use Anacron weekly for a few scripts


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## Easy Rhino (Feb 6, 2010)

regexorcist said:


> [*]What distro(s) do you use??



ubuntu



> [*]Rolling or Fixed release??



rolling although it doesnt matter since i dont update unless there is a major security flaw. 



> [*]Do you use a Graphical Login or command line (run level 3 or 5)??



command line



> [*]What Desktop Environment and or Window Manager do you use?? (ex. Gnome, KDE, Xfce, etc...)



none



> [*]What Web Browser(s) do you use??



none



> [*]Do you run multiple Desktops?? If so how many?? (ex. 4 is the normal default)



N/A



> [*]What editor do you prefer?? (ex. GEdit, Emacs, Vi/Vim, Mousepad, etc...)



nano



> [*]What if any servers (services) do you run?? (ex. Samba, Apache, Telnet, etc..)



apache, ssh, mysql, teamspeak, proftpd, postfix, dovecot



> [*]Do you prefer the Command Line or GUI for most tasks??



command line



> [*]If you use a shell(s), which is/are your favorite(s)?? (ex. Bash, ksh, tclsh, zsh, etc...)



bash



> [*]Do you use cron/crontab??



i never reboot


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## regexorcist (Feb 6, 2010)

awesome


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## Melcar (Feb 6, 2010)

> [*]What distro(s) do you use??



Ubuntu, Sidux, OpenSuse, and Puppy Linux.  Ubuntu is on my main machine though and it's  what I use almost all the time.



> [*]Rolling or Fixed release??



I prefer fixed releases for my main machines.



> [*]Do you use a Graphical Login or command line (run level 3 or 5)??



Graphical.  I'm a graphics whore, what can I say.  



> [*]What Desktop Environment and or Window Manager do you use?? (ex. Gnome, KDE, Xfce, etc...)



KDE is my preference.  Don't mind working in GNOME.  For small machines I use JVM or Fluxbox.



> [*]What Web Browser(s) do you use??



Firefox. 



> [*]Do you run multiple Desktops?? If so how many?? (ex. 4 is the normal default)



4.  Don't need more.  2 is a minimum.  Windows is now torture to use.



> [*]What editor do you prefer?? (ex. GEdit, Emacs, Vi/Vim, Mousepad, etc...)



I use a combination of kate and nano.



> [*]What if any servers (services) do you run?? (ex. Samba, Apache, Telnet, etc..)



Samba, nfs, cups, ssh.  I have no use for anything fancy.



> [*]Do you prefer the Command Line or GUI for most tasks??



On average I spend most of my time with GUIs.  I have no problems with the command line and resort to it often when I want something done quickly.



> [*]If you use a shell(s), which is/are your favorite(s)?? (ex. Bash, ksh, tclsh, zsh, etc...)



Bash.



> [*]Do you use cron/crontab??



I cook something up when I'm bored, but usually I don't use it.


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## A Cheese Danish (Feb 6, 2010)

regexorcist said:


> [*]What distro(s) do you use??


Linux Mint, Solaris, Fedora, CentOS, Puppy


> [*]Rolling or Fixed release??


Fixed normally


> [*]Do you use a Graphical Login or command line (run level 3 or 5)??


Graphical for school work. CentOS runs in level 3


> [*]What Desktop Environment and or Window Manager do you use?? (ex. Gnome, KDE, Xfce, etc...)


KDE


> [*]What Web Browser(s) do you use??


Firefox. SeaMonkey if I'm using Puppy


> [*]Do you run multiple Desktops?? If so how many?? (ex. 4 is the normal default)


Yes, 4 max, but usually 2 or 3, depending if I'm doing music as well


> [*]What editor do you prefer?? (ex. GEdit, Emacs, Vi/Vim, Mousepad, etc...)


jEdit, vi/vim


> [*]What if any servers (services) do you run?? (ex. Samba, Apache, Telnet, etc..)


ssh, apache


> [*]Do you prefer the Command Line or GUI for most tasks??


GUI most of the time since I'm usually listening to music while doing work. But I use the command line 
quite often during my classes and such.


> [*]If you use a shell(s), which is/are your favorite(s)?? (ex. Bash, ksh, tclsh, zsh, etc...)


bash


> [*]Do you use cron/crontab??


Neither.


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## regexorcist (Feb 6, 2010)

Awesome
I see you use puppy, that distro is really something
everything loads into 64K of ram. 
I always have a CD w/ puppy laying around.

My youngest daughter runs TeenPup a puppy variation that targets
teens with all the messaging, social network apps., etc...
It's blazing fast on a 1 gig. pentium w/ 256 meg of ram, 
yes just *256 Meg of Ram*!!!. 

My oldest daughter has been running fedora for about a year
on her Acer laptop with no problems. Prior to Fedora, she had all 
kinds of malware problems w/ Windows.


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## regexorcist (Feb 6, 2010)

An interesting variety here


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## A Cheese Danish (Feb 6, 2010)

regexorcist said:


> Awesome
> I see you use puppy, that distro is really something
> everything loads into 64K of ram.
> I always have a CD w/ puppy laying around.
> ...



Yeah, it's pretty crazy the kind of rigs that can run Linux. DSL can be loaded on something slightly smaller than 
what your younger daughter is using there. And I edited my post after I found my Fedora disk laying around 
and you mentioning it. I love Fedora as well and can't believe I forgot it on my list...


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## regexorcist (Feb 6, 2010)

Yes, my brother-in-law gave me the
1 gig. 256 meg ram desktop machine.

He told me not to bother with it,
he was running Xp and it was soo slow
he couldn't take it anymore and bought 
a new laptop.

When he saw TeenPup running on it,
his jaw dropped to the floor, he couldn't 
believe how fast it was. 

Then my daughter told him the processor and ram
useage along with her upload and download
speeds and he couldn't believe it, he had never
known how to access that type of info.

He is now researching Linux, not sure how this story will end.


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## exodusprime1337 (Feb 6, 2010)

i wish i knew what i could use linux for that would benifit me.. or urge me to learn... i'm trying to learn a programming language, python, or visual basic just to learn and can't seem to get myself past :: print "hello world" before i realize i have no working use of knowing a language..

as for linux i tried a long time ago and loved mandrake linux.. had it on my laptop "shitty emachines", and after a while just went back to windows.. i live in rhode island and can hardly find people to play WoW with let alone talk or work with linux or a programming language... makes me sad really as i find myself incredibly bored and think teaching myself a bit would make some fun.. but i get more bored and lonely hehehe.


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## regexorcist (Feb 6, 2010)

exodusprime1337, 
Mandrake (a Red Hat derivative) has now become 
Mandriva and is an awesome distro
http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=mandriva

As for Python, it's a great multi-platform language.
I'll crunch out a few Python scripts this weekend
and post them here on the forum.


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## Frick (Feb 6, 2010)

regexorcist said:


> For you linux users...
> 
> I find user preferences *VERY interesting*.
> Let us know about your system and or answer some of these questions if you like.
> ...



Xubuntu and DSL. I did have a Smoothwall box running for a while. though..


regexorcist said:


> [*]Rolling or Fixed release


Fixed.


regexorcist said:


> [*]Do you use a Graphical Login or command line (run level 3 or 5)??


Often gui. Depends.





regexorcist said:


> [*]What Desktop Environment and or Window Manager do you use?? (ex. Gnome, KDE, Xfce, etc...)


I tend to like Xfce the most.


regexorcist said:


> What Web Browser(s) do you use??[/qoute]
> Firefox.
> 
> 
> ...


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## exodusprime1337 (Feb 6, 2010)

regexorcist said:


> exodusprime1337,
> Mandrake (a Red Hat derivative) has now become
> Mandriva and is an awesome distro
> http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=mandriva
> ...



thanx yeah i could use some examples of simple programs written in python to help my interest..


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## xfire (Feb 7, 2010)

Ubuntu(with xfce and kde managers installed)


Rolling

GUI (run level 5)

Gnome 


Opera for most of it. Firefox for non compatible websites.

Reduced the default 2 to 1.

Gedit and nano

None

GUI( Mostly do browsing)

bash

none


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## regexorcist (Feb 7, 2010)

xfire,
I see you use opera, so do I.
It seems slightly faster than Firefox
on my system and it has a lot of cool features!!

I also use Firefox as I have a few add-ons and a few Grease Monkey scripts.


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## DirectorC (Feb 7, 2010)

1. What distro(s) do you use??

I started back in the day when I was 16 with Slackware 98.  I was an avid Slackware user all the way til recently when I discovered that Ubuntu has got it goin on.  Now that GUIs all work properly and you can get almost everything done in the GUI I figure why not go with a highly supported distro based on the legendarily stable and secure Debian distro (which I never really liked support-wise due to the strict free-only attitude).

   2. Rolling or Fixed release??

I don't really use Linux anymore.  I just always played with it actually and have always gone back to Windows because well everything works on Windows, including all PC games.  I'll get around to building a Linux box one day, when I'm out of school (I'm a 'late adopter' of the further education movement, LOL) and the money's right.

   3. Do you use a Graphical Login or command line (run level 3 or 5)??

Every recent time I've played with Linux I stick to the GUI.

   4. What Desktop Environment and or Window Manager do you use?? (ex. Gnome, KDE, Xfce, etc...)

GNOME

   5. What Web Browser(s) do you use??

Firefox.

   6. Do you run multiple Desktops?? If so how many?? (ex. 4 is the normal default)

I usually find 4 desktops to be adequate.  I started using 6 but it just complicated things.

   7. What editor do you prefer?? (ex. GEdit, Emacs, Vi/Vim, Mousepad, etc...)

All of them are fine, but I always preferred pico, and later mcedit.  After that I just used gedit or whatever was around in the GUI.

   8. What if any servers (services) do you run?? (ex. Samba, Apache, Telnet, etc..)

I've played with pretty much all of them.

   9. Do you prefer the Command Line or GUI for most tasks??

There's some stuff that just still belongs on the command line.  If anyone is thinking they are going to run a butter-smooth fully featured Linux OS and they aren't going to touch the command line then they have something else coming to them.

  10. If you use a shell(s), which is/are your favorite(s)?? (ex. Bash, ksh, tclsh, zsh, etc...)

The standard GUI shells are fine.  It's just a shell FFS.

  11. Do you use cron/crontab??

I set up jobs once during my Linux playing days.  I don't see what's so special about scheduling...


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## r9 (Feb 7, 2010)

CentOS and Ubuntu on VMware. Running as WEB server (Apache Mysql PHP) DNS server (Bind9) and MAIL server (Courier Postfix) and File server (Samba and vsftp). Did I leave anything ?. For testing purposes. For Desktop Win 7 . And I prefer Terminal with Putty. And my favorite color is Blue and I cheer for Inter Milan .


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## JTS (Feb 7, 2010)

> What distro(s) do you use??


Ubuntu, Opensuse  I'm still a 'relative noob' with Linux, but I am looking at trying a few other distros.



> Rolling or Fixed release??


Fixed.  Mostly.



> Do you use a Graphical Login or command line (run level 3 or 5)??



Clicky clicky - I too like eye candy. RL5



> What Desktop Environment and or Window Manager do you use?? (ex. Gnome, KDE, Xfce, etc...)



It depends on the distro.  GNOME for UBUNTU, KDE for Suse.  I mix-n-match anyway.



> What Web Browser(s) do you use??



Firefox, Opera



> Do you run multiple Desktops?? If so how many?? (ex. 4 is the normal default)



Mainly just the 4.



> What editor do you prefer?? (ex. GEdit, Emacs, Vi/Vim, Mousepad, etc...)



I'm most familiar with GEdit.



> What if any servers (services) do you run?? (ex. Samba, Apache, Telnet, etc..)



I'm felixible.  I usually only need access to one Windows based machine on my 'network'.



> Do you prefer the Command Line or GUI for most tasks??



I'd _prefer_ the GUI for most tasks - but since that rarely has the desired effect, it's mostly command line.




> Do you use cron/crontab??



Not atm.


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## regexorcist (Feb 7, 2010)

DirectorC said:


> 1If anyone is thinking they are going to run a butter-smooth fully featured Linux OS and they aren't going to touch the command line then they have something else coming to them.


agreed , but the GUI keeps getting better and better 



r9 said:


> And my favorite color is Blue .


mine also 



JTS said:


> Ubuntu, Opensuse  I'm still a 'relative noob' with Linux, but I am looking at trying a few other distros.


 Awesome!! 

This thread shows quite a variety of Linux configurations.


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## Easy Rhino (Feb 7, 2010)

currenly all my linux machines are virtual. they are running on vmware server on windows server 2008. the only reason why i am doing that is because i need the windows OS to fold the gpu. but once stanford releases a gpu client that runs with linux i will switch back.

ps. ubuntu server running virtualized on windows 2008/ vmware server 2 does NOT see a performance hit when running multiple applications. having a quad core that does virtualization helps...


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## Solaris17 (Feb 7, 2010)

regexorcist said:


> For you linux users...
> 
> I find user preferences *VERY interesting*.
> Let us know about your system and or answer some of these questions if you like.




What distro(s) do you use??
Elive (installed system)

Do you use a Graphical Login or command line (run level 3 or 5)??
run level 5

What Desktop Environment and or Window Manager do you use?? (ex. Gnome, KDE, Xfce, etc...)
Enlightenment

What Web Browser(s) do you use??
ice weasel

Do you run multiple Desktops?? If so how many?? (ex. 4 is the normal default)
i only really use one

What editor do you prefer?? (ex. GEdit, Emacs, Vi/Vim, Mousepad, etc...)
nano

What if any servers (services) do you run?? (ex. Samba, Apache, Telnet, etc..)
none

Do you prefer the Command Line or GUI for most tasks??
command line terminal EVERYTHING

If you use a shell(s), which is/are your favorite(s)?? (ex. Bash, ksh, tclsh, zsh, etc...)
bash

Do you use cron/crontab??
no


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## xfire (Feb 8, 2010)

regexorcist said:


> xfire,
> I see you use opera, so do I.
> It seems slightly faster than Firefox
> on my system and it has a lot of cool features!!
> ...



Try the new 10.5 alpha, it's even faster! Don't scripts work on opera? Most of the stuff come in built anyway


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## regexorcist (Feb 9, 2010)

xfire said:


> Try the new 10.5 alpha, it's even faster! Don't scripts work on opera? Most of the stuff come in built anyway



Thanks for the info, but I rarely try anything prior Beta release.
Scripts work fine on opera, but it's a matter of having the same scripts available.
I have greasemonkey installed on Firefox which makes the following scripts available to me.
http://userscripts.org/scripts


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## TheLaughingMan (Feb 9, 2010)

1. What distro(s) do you use??

Ubuntu, DamnSmall, Knoppix, JolliCloud (just to test out).

2. Rolling or Fixed release??

Fixed, Rolled, Fixed, Fixed

3. Do you use a Graphical Login or command line (run level 3 or 5)??

Graphical cause I customize it in all but DamnSmall.

4. What Desktop Environment and or Window Manager do you use?? (ex. Gnome, KDE, Xfce, etc...)

Gnome, KDE, and Enlightment.

5. What Web Browser(s) do you use??

Opera 10 and Firefox.

6. Do you run multiple Desktops?? If so how many?? (ex. 4 is the normal default)

4 is my normal cause I like the Cube.

7. What editor do you prefer?? (ex. GEdit, Emacs, Vi/Vim, Mousepad, etc...)

GEdit and Notepad++.

8. What if any servers (services) do you run?? (ex. Samba, Apache, Telnet, etc..)

Samba, Telnet (for school).

9. Do you prefer the Command Line or GUI for most tasks??

GUI for all. Except when I am editing system files.

10. If you use a shell(s), which is/are your favorite(s)?? (ex. Bash, ksh, tclsh, zsh, etc...)

I don't use shells.

11. Do you use cron/crontab??[/QUOTE]

No.  I am not real into scripting.

These questions makes me feel so Linux weak.


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## Error 404 (Feb 9, 2010)

regexorcist said:


> [*]What distro(s) do you use??


Began with Ubuntu, moved on to Xubuntu on powerful comps and Puppy for low end comps / USB install. I've found Puppy is much better than DSL for usability and setup.


regexorcist said:


> [*]Rolling or Fixed release??


Fixed, I don't update that much as well.


regexorcist said:


> [*]Do you use a Graphical Login or command line (run level 3 or 5)??


Graphical, I'm still new to Linux so command line confuses me.


regexorcist said:


> [*]What Desktop Environment and or Window Manager do you use?? (ex. Gnome, KDE, Xfce, etc...)


Xfce is what I usually use, still packs plenty of features with a small footprint.


regexorcist said:


> [*]What Web Browser(s) do you use??


Opera, can't stand failfox (too much like IE, cbf finding/configuring addons).


regexorcist said:


> [*]Do you run multiple Desktops?? If so how many?? (ex. 4 is the normal default)


I usually have just 2, but coming from windows I almost never use the second.


regexorcist said:


> [*]What editor do you prefer?? (ex. GEdit, Emacs, Vi/Vim, Mousepad, etc...)


Whatever text editor comes with the distro!


regexorcist said:


> [*]What if any servers (services) do you run?? (ex. Samba, Apache, Telnet, etc..)


Never got into servers, so I haven't a clue.


regexorcist said:


> [*]Do you prefer the Command Line or GUI for most tasks??


GUI definitely, I don't have the time to learn all the commands and shortcuts to make CLI more efficient than GUI.


regexorcist said:


> [*]If you use a shell(s), which is/are your favorite(s)?? (ex. Bash, ksh, tclsh, zsh, etc...)


Uuuuuh.... what? 


regexorcist said:


> [*]Do you use cron/crontab??


Nope, haven't heard of it.

Personally I don't use Linux that much, but I used to use it quite a bit when I had my P4 desktop and old Dell laptop (PIII 850 MHz), ended up getting sick of Ubuntu (XP and Windows 7 was faster) so I switched to something fast. I've had a lapse from Linux usage with my new laptop and desktop, but I'm probably going to dual boot on my laptop with something really fast for web browsing, listening to music and checking emails.
Any suggestions for what I could put on my laptop that wouldn't break my windows installation?


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## unibrow1990 (Feb 9, 2010)

> What distro(s) do you use??


Kubuntu


> Rolling or Fixed release??


Rolling


> Do you use a Graphical Login or command line (run level 3 or 5)??


Graphical


> What Desktop Environment and or Window Manager do you use?? (ex. Gnome, KDE, Xfce, etc...)


KDE


> What Web Browser(s) do you use??


Chrome


> Do you run multiple Desktops?? If so how many?? (ex. 4 is the normal default)


Yes, 6


> What editor do you prefer?? (ex. GEdit, Emacs, Vi/Vim, Mousepad, etc...)


Kate


> What if any servers (services) do you run?? (ex. Samba, Apache, Telnet, etc..)


MySql and mongrel when I play with rails.


> Do you prefer the Command Line or GUI for most tasks??


I try to do as much as possible via command line.


> If you use a shell(s), which is/are your favorite(s)?? (ex. Bash, ksh, tclsh, zsh, etc...)


bash


> Do you use cron/crontab??


Rarely.


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## regexorcist (Feb 9, 2010)

TheLaughingMan said:


> 4 is my normal cause I like the Cube.


I ran the cube (compiz, compiz/fusion) for about a week, very slick.
(additional desktops give you different shapes) 



Error 404 said:


> Any suggestions for what I could put on my laptop that wouldn't break my windows installation?


850 MHz, there are about a dozen distros designed for older hardware, including puppy. My daughter is running TeenPup on her 
1 GHz and it seems fast. Linux = variety, head on over to distrowatch.org and I'm sure you'll find a cool distro that suits you.



unibrow1990 said:


> I try to do as much as possible via command line.


As do I


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## Frick (Feb 9, 2010)

Error 404 said:


> Personally I don't use Linux that much, but I used to use it quite a bit when I had my P4 desktop and old Dell laptop (PIII 850 MHz), ended up getting sick of Ubuntu (XP and Windows 7 was faster) so I switched to something fast. I've had a lapse from Linux usage with my new laptop and desktop, but I'm probably going to dual boot on my laptop with something really fast for web browsing, listening to music and checking emails.
> Any suggestions for what I could put on my laptop that wouldn't break my windows installation?



What about Xubuntu? I ran 7.10 on a 900Mhz celly and 256MB Ram for quite some time, and it worked pretty good. Surfing is bound to be a bit slow with all the flash and whatnot, but it was alright.


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## regexorcist (Feb 10, 2010)

I did a search on Distrowatch selecting 
*Old Computer* as the Distribution Category
and here is the result:
http://distrowatch.com/search.php?category=Old+computers&origin=All&basedon=All&desktop=All&architecture=All&status=Active

There are some good names in there


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## Zedicus (Feb 10, 2010)

1. What distro(s) do you use??
Debian on servers, Mepis on a laptop

   2. Rolling or Fixed release??
prefer rolling, not a big deal to me really though.

   3. Do you use a Graphical Login or command line (run level 3 or 5)??
xdm normally, also like slim for graphical. server is commandline.  RL3

   4. What Desktop Environment and or Window Manager do you use?? 
blackbox, E17, fluxbox. they are light and still look flashy.

   5. What Web Browser(s) do you use??
iceweasel, wget (not really a browser), 

   6. Do you run multiple Desktops?? If so how many?? (ex. 4 is the normal default)
1 i come from windows and never got use to multiple desktops, just more places to loose track of what im doing.

   7. What editor do you prefer?? (ex. GEdit, Emacs, Vi/Vim, Mousepad, etc...)
Nano, its the best. even in X i open a term and use nano.

   8. What if any servers (services) do you run?? (ex. Samba, Apache, Telnet, etc..)
mysql, samba, ssh, upnp, prolly some im forgetting.

   9. Do you prefer the Command Line or GUI for most tasks??
depends on the task, use both equally i think.

  10. If you use a shell(s), which is/are your favorite(s)?? (ex. Bash, ksh, tclsh, zsh, etc...)
bash, and ash when i have to.

  11. Do you use cron/crontab??
none

  12.  what terminal emulater (i added this one, it should be on there.)
xterm, occasionally eterm,  and bogl-bterm


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## regexorcist (Feb 10, 2010)

Zedicus said:


> wget (not really a browser)


YES!! 
I have at least a dozen shell scripts which use wget.
I find wget  --spider especially useful 



Zedicus said:


> 12.  what terminal emulater (i added this one, it should be on there.)
> xterm, occasionally eterm,  and bogl-bterm


Great add , I use Eterm also (like the shading and backgrounds)


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## Error 404 (Feb 12, 2010)

regexorcist said:


> 850 MHz, there are about a dozen distros designed for older hardware, including puppy. My daughter is running TeenPup on her
> 1 GHz and it seems fast. Linux = variety, head on over to distrowatch.org and I'm sure you'll find a cool distro that suits you.





Frick said:


> What about Xubuntu? I ran 7.10 on a 900Mhz celly and 256MB Ram for quite some time, and it worked pretty good. Surfing is bound to be a bit slow with all the flash and whatnot, but it was alright.



Haha, oops I was referring to my laptop in my System Specs. Dell Inspiron 1545, T4300 2.1 GHz dual core, 4 GB of RAM, 320GB HDD, 4500MHD, and I'm just looking for something that will boot up fast and do basic stuff. Xubuntu might work well in this case, but from my experience most distros based on Ubuntu are about as slow as Windows...


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## regexorcist (Feb 12, 2010)

Error 404 said:


> Haha, oops I was referring to my laptop in my System Specs. Dell Inspiron 1545, T4300 2.1 GHz dual core, 4 GB of RAM, 320GB HDD, 4500MHD, and I'm just looking for something that will boot up fast and do basic stuff. Xubuntu might work well in this case, but from my experience most distros based on Ubuntu are about as slow as Windows...


Hey Error 404, if your concerned about boot-up and shut-down times...
Fedora seems to have that down to a science.
I'd say that boot-up & shut-down are about 3 times as fast a windows.
They use Gnome by default so everythig should be familiar to you.

My daughter uses Fedora on her Acer laptop 1.8 GHz with flawless performance.
Fedora is a solid distro, no real negatives.
Easy to load/use
Good repository
Current software releases
Good package manager (.rpm is probably the most popular package format)

Not sure how your measuring distro speed, but if internet surfing is your issue...

I don't use Ubuntu (even though they have the best repository), but I did
have debian at one time (Ubuntu source) and found internet surfing to be slow, 
until I adjusted *about:config* in firefox (opps I mean IceWeasel)
then surfing was much much faster.

edit:
to adjust *about:config*
1.) type about:config in the url area of a mozilla based browser
2.) then type ipv6 in the Filter area
3.) then select TRUE for Disable IPV6

This has a dramatic effect on internet surfing speed w/ only some distros


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## xfire (Feb 12, 2010)

Error 404 said:


> Haha, oops I was referring to my laptop in my System Specs. Dell Inspiron 1545, T4300 2.1 GHz dual core, 4 GB of RAM, 320GB HDD, 4500MHD, and I'm just looking for something that will boot up fast and do basic stuff. Xubuntu might work well in this case, but from my experience most distros based on Ubuntu are about as slow as Windows...



Have you tried the latest versions? The boot speeds have increased dramatically.


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## Error 404 (Feb 14, 2010)

xfire said:


> Have you tried the latest versions? The boot speeds have increased dramatically.



I've tried 9.04, and it there was barely any difference between boot time of it and XP on both my laptop and the Dell P4 I had.

@ regexorcist, I'll give Fedora a go, but I'll be using Opera instead of anything based on failfox. I honestly can not stand that piece of software, and I don't know why.


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## xfire (Feb 14, 2010)

Error 404 said:


> I've tried 9.04, and it there was barely any difference between boot time of it and XP on both my laptop and the Dell P4 I had.
> 
> @ regexorcist, I'll give Fedora a go, but I'll be using Opera instead of anything based on failfox. I honestly can not stand that piece of software, and I don't know why.



Have you tried it on ext4 file system? ext4 gives a great amount of performance boost. Install and try 9.10 with ext4 file system. It formats to ext3 by default AFAIK.


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## regexorcist (Feb 15, 2010)

xfire said:


> Have you tried it on ext4 file system? ext4 gives a great amount of performance boost. Install and try 9.10 with ext4 file system. It formats to ext3 by default AFAIK.


I've used ext4 file system on a few different distros, but couldn't tell how much better it performed.
When I used it last, I had to use ext2 or 3 for my boot partition, because GRUB didn't support it yet (it probably does now, I haven't checked).
I'm using ext3 currently on my Arch system.

In case anyone is interested...
mkfs.ext4 (-any option)  /dev/sda(your partition)

and fsck to check


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## Melcar (Feb 15, 2010)

EXT4 tends to be unstable more times than EXT3.  Lets just say that you better hope you never get hard crashes on your rig.  If you want a stable filesystem EXT3 is still the best.  EXT4 has been suffering constant regressions in speed in recent kernel revisions as they try to improve stability, to the point where it really offers no noticeable increases in speed over EXT3.


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## HalfAHertz (Feb 15, 2010)

regexorcist said:


> Hey Error 404, if your concerned about boot-up and shut-down times...
> Fedora seems to have that down to a science.
> I'd say that boot-up & shut-down are about 3 times as fast a windows.
> They use Gnome by default so everythig should be familiar to you.
> ...



Thanks a lot! I run a Ubuntu 9.10 Guest system under my win and that gave my mozilla a noticeable boost.


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## TheLaughingMan (Feb 15, 2010)

regexorcist said:


> I ran the cube (compiz, compiz/fusion) for about a week, very slick.
> (additional desktops give you different shapes)



Cube???  My is a sphere (cool plugin). Add in one hi res global map and my desktop is planet earth.  And when I span out, they float in space thanks to my starring ski wallpaper used as the backdrop.  And that is how I roll.


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## monte84 (Feb 17, 2010)

1. What distro(s) do you use??
   Ubuntu 9.10/ Debian
2. Rolling or Fixed release??
   rolling
3. Do you use a Graphical Login or command line (run level 3 or 5)??
   GUI
4. What Desktop Environment and or Window Manager do you use?? (ex. Gnome, KDE, Xfce, etc...)
   Gnome   
5. What Web Browser(s) do you use??
   Firefox   
6. Do you run multiple Desktops?? If so how many?? (ex. 4 is the normal default)
   4   
7. What editor do you prefer?? (ex. GEdit, Emacs, Vi/Vim, Mousepad, etc...)
   nano   
8. What if any servers (services) do you run?? (ex. Samba, Apache, Telnet, etc..)
   samba   
9. Do you prefer the Command Line or GUI for most tasks??
   CLI


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## regexorcist (Feb 18, 2010)

HalfAHertz said:


> Thanks a lot! I run a Ubuntu 9.10 Guest system under my win and that gave my mozilla a noticeable boost.


Yea, that confirms it. Disable IPV6 in Firefox/Ice Weasel on Debian/Ubuntu based systems if browsing is slow. 




TheLaughingMan said:


> Cube???  My is a sphere (cool plugin). Add in one hi res global map and my desktop is planet earth.  And when I span out, they float in space thanks to my starring ski wallpaper used as the backdrop.  And that is how I roll.


Awesome!!




monte84 said:


> 8. What if any servers (services) do you run?? (ex. Samba, Apache, Telnet, etc..)
> samba


Yes my samba server is the central file server at my house with 2 and sometimes 3
other machines accessing it.
It's up 24/7 and always available. 
Super easy to configure and a perfect price $0.00


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## Clement (Feb 19, 2010)

What distro(s) do you use??
Fedora x64

Rolling or Fixed release??
Fixed

Do you use a Graphical Login or command line (run level 3 or 5)??
5

What Desktop Environment and or Window Manager do you use?? (ex. Gnome, KDE, Xfce, etc...)
Primarily: Gnome
Sometimes: WindowMaker/FVWM/IceWM
In the past: Blackbox

What Web Browser(s) do you use??
Firefox/Lynx/Opera

Do you run multiple Desktops?? If so how many?? (ex. 4 is the normal default)
2

What editor do you prefer?? (ex. GEdit, Emacs, Vi/Vim, Mousepad, etc...)
Vim/Pico/Gedit

What if any servers (services) do you run?? (ex. Samba, Apache, Telnet, etc..)
Apache/MySQL/PHP (PHP development)

Do you prefer the Command Line or GUI for most tasks??
GUI: Web browsing, Research, Etc. 
CLI: Programming, everything else

If you use a shell(s), which is/are your favorite(s)?? (ex. Bash, ksh, tclsh, zsh, etc...)
Bash and recently tclsh

Do you use cron/crontab??
Mostly just for Rsync backups


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## Yukikaze (Feb 19, 2010)

Q: What distro(s) do you use??
A: Linux Mint.

Q: Rolling or Fixed release??
A: Long-Term Support.

Q: Do you use a Graphical Login or command line (run level 3 or 5)??
A: Graphical Login.

Q: What Desktop Environment and or Window Manager do you use?? (ex. Gnome, KDE, Xfce, etc...)
A: Gnome or Xfce.

Q: What Web Browser(s) do you use??
A: Firefox.

Q: Do you run multiple Desktops?? If so how many?? (ex. 4 is the normal default)
A: 4.

Q: What editor do you prefer?? (ex. GEdit, Emacs, Vi/Vim, Mousepad, etc...)
A: GEdit for small tasks. I code in Eclipse.

Q: What if any servers (services) do you run?? (ex. Samba, Apache, Telnet, etc..)
A: None.

Q: Do you prefer the Command Line or GUI for most tasks??
A: Command Line. GUI is too slow, but I am not a (complete) command line maniac. Both have their uses.

Q: If you use a shell(s), which is/are your favorite(s)?? (ex. Bash, ksh, tclsh, zsh, etc...)
A: Bash.

Q: Do you use cron/crontab??
A: No.


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## Clement (Feb 19, 2010)

Many times I have heard people say that the GUI's are slow on linux. For me, that statement is anything but true, everything on linux is much faster than any version of windows.

I suspect that many people are running the default Xorg.conf file instead of tweaking it for their video card (there is no utility that will insert card specific tweaks TIKO). This is just an assumption, but very likely.

That gives me an idea for a challenging application....hmmmm...

Regexorcist, want to start a project together?


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## regexorcist (Feb 19, 2010)

Clement said:


> Many times I have heard people say that the GUI's are slow on linux. For me, that statement is anything but true, everything on linux is much faster than any version of windows.
> 
> I suspect that many people are running the default Xorg.conf file instead of tweaking it for their video card (there is no utility that will insert card specific tweaks TIKO). This is just an assumption, but very likely.
> 
> ...


Sure, why not? 

Not interested in xorg.conf or video card driver options, 
but I'm sure we can come up with something.

As long as we use one of the following...(at least in part) 
bash shell scripting
tcl/tk scripting
perl scripting
python scripting


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## Clement (Feb 19, 2010)

regexorcist said:


> Sure, why not?
> 
> Not interested in xorg.conf or video card driver options,
> but I'm sure we can come up with something.
> ...



You are not interested in writing an application to help people with tweaking their Xorg.conf or you don't want advice yourself?

Even if you aren't interested in what I mentioned, please hear me out:

Together I was thinking of you creating the user interface with a language of your choice (preferably something that would be accessible to as many people as possible with different setups - I was thinking Tcl/tk, I'm not sure if Python would be better or not) (I can help of course but you know a lot of Tcl already) and I can do all the research and writing necessary for things such as:
Which options to use for which drivers (and all available)
Which options are known to work (to recommend)
Possible conflicts
Descriptions of different drivers/Xservers available for a given chipset (and known documentation for each one)
All necessary documentation (including for each tweak/option) and help

I could also run a server to distribute the project (not a ton of upload on DSL but it will work), a server for reporting bugs/etc, a server for a central repository for the project, and I could even go so far as to setup a remote X desktop setup for you if you want a GUI terminal.

Thoughts? Better application ideas?


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## regexorcist (Feb 20, 2010)

Clement said:


> You are not interested in writing an application to help people with tweaking their Xorg.conf or you don't want advice yourself?
> 
> Even if you aren't interested in what I mentioned, please hear me out:
> 
> ...


No you don't need me, a user interface is easy to create.

I've had issues with the open source ATI Radeon drivers and
the catalyst dropped support for cards under series 600
(I have a series 300) and Nvidia doesn't work with the 
open source community at all.

I've messed w/ driver options only to get frustrated.
No one wants an optimized blank screen, the experts have 
enough trouble detecting the endless hardware combinations.

Now for xorg.conf, I normally edit mine due to my monitor, but
many Linux distros have eliminated the xorg.conf all together and
I'm sure the other distros are soon to follow.
In addition xorg is only one type of X11 server (currently the most popular) 
but there are half a dozen different ones. 
My oldest daughter is using Fedora on her laptop without an xorg.conf 
and my other daughter isn't using xorg at all. Puppy uses a lighter
smaller X11 server.
Sorry but display drivers and xorg are two things I'm not very fond of. 

I don't have any other ideas, so good luck as I'm sure you'll create 
an excellent piece of software.


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## Clement (Feb 20, 2010)

regexorcist said:


> No you don't need me, a user interface is easy to create.
> 
> I've had issues with the open source ATI Radeon drivers and
> the catalyst dropped support for cards under series 600
> ...



Do you mean you have an RV3xx by that?

I had slight trouble getting my RV5xx to work, but now its working beautifully with the radeon driver with a few Xorg.conf tweaks (very fast!) (not the one from ATI, which doesn't support my card, doesn't matter anyway as the one I am using works beautifully!)

If you do have an RV3xx card let me know and I will check my driver to see if yours is supported and if so, I get I can get you sorted out!

That software idea was just an idea, I may work on something else I don't know yet. I really have to find a way to make more money first as I am temporarily disabled and still have bills to pay (My computer repair/building business is not enough to pay the bills at the time). So first things first. I am looking into working for TPU as an Interviewer  (which would be great because I love writing) and possibly also a news and/or downloads editor. I would be perfect as a hardware reviewer, but because of my financial situation I cannot afford the latest greatest hardware.


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## Melcar (Feb 20, 2010)

There are graphical interfaces for xrandr, which covers all your display/resolution options.  There is driconf, which covers mesa options (3D settings).  I haven't seen an interface for handling DDX drivers themselves; there are more than a few advanced options for drivers that still require the user to do manual editing of configuration files; these options are usually auto-configured by X depending on your device, so most of the time it "just works" and there is little need for extra tweaking; a GUI for debuging purposes would be useful for some, but then again, if you're trying to fix your driver the last thing you need is a GUI.
I agree though, that an all purpose GUI would still be useful.  I would love to have a single interface that would link me to my DDX driver's manual and at least list all available options, that integrates one of the xrandr graphical interfaces, includes driconf for mesa cofiguration, and even links me to xorg.conf with a click.


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## Clement (Feb 20, 2010)

Melcar said:


> There are graphical interfaces for xrandr, which covers all your display/resolution options.  There is driconf, which covers mesa options (3D settings).  I haven't seen an interface for handling DDX drivers themselves; *there are more than a few advanced options for drivers that still require the user to do manual editing of configuration* files; these options are usually auto-configured by X depending on your device, so most of the time it "just works" and there is little need for extra tweaking; a GUI for debuging purposes would be useful for some, but then again, if you're trying to fix your driver the last thing you need is a GUI.
> I agree though, that an all purpose GUI would still be useful.  I would love to have a single interface that would link me to my DDX driver's manual and at least lists all available options, that integrates one of the xrandr graphical interfaces, includes driconf for mesa cofiguration, and even links me to xorg.conf with a click.



My application idea would address the specific issue I highlighted in bold in your quote above, and then some.

After tweaking my own setup from researched options, I received a significant increase in video performance on my box.

The idea also arose because newer linux installations are not properly configuring older video cards (at least on mine). Fedora 11 and 12 both tried to use the radeonhd driver (12 tried on graphical install and failed to launch!!!) which gave me a blank screen because my card is not supported.

I also had thought earlier to include a small benchmark utility to test/compare results for the user to review.

Because sometimes video just doesn't work, I was thinking of using the ncurses library so that a library would not be necessary. I will ask for opinions when I create the new thread.

As for debugging, do you mean to show log files easily to the user? (of course there would be an advanced mode also)

Thank you very much for the suggestion near the end, VERY good idea!

I may begin working on this tomorrow. My father and I have planned a day of snowmobiling so it will be in the afternoon/evening that I will create a thread for this project and start taking suggestions/configurations/etc.


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## Melcar (Feb 20, 2010)

I remember a small qt GUI that would let you switch DDX drivers.  I remember it being included on older Kubuntu and Fedora builds.  Allowing the user to view their Xorg.0.log would be useful too.


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## Clement (Feb 21, 2010)

Clement said:


> What distro(s) do you use??
> Fedora x64
> 
> Rolling or Fixed release??
> ...



I've switched to the Xfce WM and desktop and removed the bloat from Gnome and KDE. I didn't think it was possible, but things are even faster than before!!!!


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## Odin Eidolon (Feb 21, 2010)

regexorcist said:


> For you linux users...
> 
> I find user preferences *VERY interesting*.
> Let us know about your system and or answer some of these questions if you like.
> ...



(laptop)
1- Like you, Arch
2- Rolling
3- Kdm
4- Kde 4.4 + Enlightenment
5- Firefox
6- 4
7- Nano
8- None
9- Both
10- Yakuake
11- Not much

I have even installed Pardus on my Mum's machine, Ubuntu on the gf's notebook, Puppy on an old (32mb RAM!) laptop, Ubuntu on my desktop, Kubuntu on my brother's laptop and (soon to be) Elive on father's laptop. I'm considering to try out something else (centos, opensuse, debian, knoppix: never tried them) but ATM I have no time.


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## regexorcist (Feb 21, 2010)

Odin Eidolon said:


> (laptop)1- Like you, Arch


Arch is currently my favorite distro!! 



Odin Eidolon said:


> 10- Yakuake


First I've heard of Yakuake, sounds cool 



Odin Eidolon said:


> I have even installed Pardus on my Mum's machine, Ubuntu on the gf's notebook, Puppy on an old (32mb RAM!) laptop, Ubuntu on my desktop, Kubuntu on my brother's laptop and (soon to be) Elive on father's laptop. I'm considering to try out something else (centos, opensuse, debian, knoppix: never tried them) but ATM I have no time.


Nice variety Odin 

It seems, people are more willing to try linux, when they have 
an experienced user available in case they have any problems.

Usually they don't need any help


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## Odin Eidolon (Feb 22, 2010)

regexorcist said:


> Arch is currently my favorite distro!!
> 
> 
> First I've heard of Yakuake, sounds cool
> ...




Yep, Arch rocks, you only have to set it up well and you have probably one of the best Linux systems possible.
Yakuake is only a terminal emulator based on Konsole, though its very pretty. Try it out!

I like to test as much distros as possible... guess what, they are all great! I prefer Arch too but every distro has some unique characterstic which makes it wonderful.

I love to spread the Linux Word around to my friends and relatives: actually I converted around 10 people, and all of them is very happy with it. Anyway we have, in Italy, plenty of LUGs (Linux User Group) which help for free installing and using Linux. Even in the town where I live (40000 people in a very big area) there are three of them. So support is avaiable for sure.


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## Clement (Feb 22, 2010)

Odin Eidolon said:


> Yep, Arch rocks, you only have to set it up well and you have probably one of the best Linux systems possible.
> Yakuake is only a terminal emulator based on Konsole, though its very pretty. Try it out!
> 
> I like to test as much distros as possible... guess what, they are all great! I prefer Arch too but every distro has some unique characterstic which makes it wonderful.
> ...



I am installing Kahel linux as soon as its done burning the disk. Only reason I didn't just use Arch is because Kahel comes with Xfce included 

I love the simplicity of Arch vs Fedora. I also became tired of SElinux being so tightly wound into the fedora core. Arch provides the simplicity and power that I require.

I would have acquired Scientific linux, but it does not include Xfce by default.


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## Odin Eidolon (Feb 23, 2010)

Clement said:


> I am installing Kahel linux as soon as its done burning the disk. Only reason I didn't just use Arch is because Kahel comes with Xfce included
> 
> I love the simplicity of Arch vs Fedora. I also became tired of SElinux being so tightly wound into the fedora core. Arch provides the simplicity and power that I require.
> 
> I would have acquired Scientific linux, but it does not include Xfce by default.



However you can always install XFCE later, cant you? 
Never used Fedora, but was seriously considering trying out Scientific. Pretty bad I only have a 60GB SSD in my laptop or I would install it.
Arch is great because of the freedom it gives you imho. Install ONLY what you want, only what you need, and take the responsability for your own system.


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## regexorcist (Feb 24, 2010)

Odin Eidolon said:


> Arch is great because of the freedom it gives you imho. Install ONLY what you want, only what you need, and take the responsability for your own system.


Exactly Odin 

I have Xfce for one particular login and JWM for another.

I do not have Gnome or KDE installed, but I do have
a few KDE apps. installed

*only what I want, only what I need*!!


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## Clement (Feb 24, 2010)

Odin Eidolon said:


> However you can always install XFCE later, cant you?
> Never used Fedora, but was seriously considering trying out Scientific. Pretty bad I only have a 60GB SSD in my laptop or I would install it.
> Arch is great because of the freedom it gives you imho. Install ONLY what you want, only what you need, and take the responsability for your own system.



Yes, but I have been trying a lot of different distributions to change from fedora (too many bugs with too new of software), and I grew tired of having to install/configure again and again and again.



regexorcist said:


> Exactly Odin
> 
> I have Xfce for one particular login and JWM for another.
> 
> ...



Agreed.

I have settled onto Linux Mint Xfce edition for now, I agree with their design/development/open source modal as apposed to Ubuntu. Not too much to un-install and none of the problems I had with fedora installing multiple applications to do the same task (too many different complex libraries needed for each - I like simple ones - Eg. Xfce requires at bare minimum imlib and an X setup. Amen!)

After so much time using linux with rpm package management, I am skeptical although open minded about switching to the apt/deb system.

When I have the time I am also going to resize for more space to try FreeBSD.

I have also switched to developing/learning GTK programming with Glade.

My time resources are a bit more constricted now that I have physical therapy 3 times a week.

In time I will see where this setup goes, but my initial impressions are that I believe I've found my new workstation environment.


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