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1 • antiX (by Paraquat on 2015-08-10 00:10:26 GMT from Asia)
Thanks for reviewing antiX Jesse. As it turns out, this is now my favorite Linux distribution. Not only is it fast, stable, and boasts a very large repository (thanks to Debian), but it allows us to enjoy all the benefits of Debian WITHOUT systemd. I'm not sure how the author managed that, but I'm grateful for the fine effort.
Also, thanks for the tip about Droopy. I hadn't heard of that app, but I can see why it would be useful.
cheers,
P.
2 • antiX, (by dolphin_oracle on 2015-08-10 00:52:56 GMT from North America)
nice review. there is also a slew of liveUSB persistence features for those that like running off usb sticks.
FYI the login manager is "slim" and you can reboot and shutdown from the login prompt, although it isn't obvious.
instead of logging in with a user name, use "reboot" or "halt" for the username and the root password for the password.
3 • antiX (by Ken on 2015-08-10 00:56:44 GMT from Oceania)
I'm using antiX on a netbook with limited RAM. It's just the ticket. Boots fast and it copes as best as it can with the limited screen space. Lots of packages available thanks to the Debian base. Well recommended.
4 • AntiX on legacy laptop (by Anna Merikin on 2015-08-10 00:58:56 GMT from Planet Mars)
A friend had an old Dell laptop with 256Mb RAM and a !0 Gb hard drive; it was loaded with Windows XP. It had been unused for seven years because it did not have enough RAM to load its PCMCIA card WiFi attachment. Could I make this a second computer for his wife?
AntiX loaded, installed and works perfectly. I downloaded the .deb for Google Chrome and now they can share his docs through Drive.
It works enough like Win XP his wife had no problems moving over, if she even noticed.
5 • Flash (by mrdachshund86 on 2015-08-10 01:01:48 GMT from North America)
The problem about Adobe Flash is that many websites still use it: BBC, Bloomberg, and Fox, just to name a few. Flash isn't going anywhere if *websites* don't reject it. Until websites start using alternatives, or a major corporate backer funds an alternative to Flash, the reaction to Flash won't last long. I still don't think that Flash should be included, or enabled by default, since there may well be a security issue(s) that the "good guys" haven't stumbled on yet.
As far as Gnash goes... tried it, but doesn't seem to work too well. No sense including libre software if it doesn't work, it sounds like a good project, but it just doesn't have enough exposure to get more devs working on it.
@Jesse
Just kinda curious, what DEs or WMs do you tend to use? No particular reason, just curiosity :)
mrdachshund86
6 • Flash Alternatives (by Unknown on 2015-08-10 01:16:41 GMT from North America)
Yes Linux distributions should use free "Gnash" alternative instead of Flash. Flash has a dangerous security liability that should be avoided! In all cases, work to secure OUR internet. Congrats to "Korrora" and "System76" for not encluding Flash!
7 • Flash (by Al on 2015-08-10 01:38:31 GMT from North America)
I have Flash disabled by default but it does hurt the functionality of a lot of websites so I have to keep it around. Even Youtube asks to use it. I thought they had switched to all html5.
8 • Installing Ubuntu 14.04.x on IMac OS x 10.4.11 (by howard reagan on 2015-08-10 02:25:43 GMT from Planet Mars)
I have
I have just obtained an IMac with Mac OS X Tiger 10.4.11 and really would like to install ubuntu 14.04.3 or newer as a dual boot with other distros. Dual booting with Mac OS x is not needed. Making it a linux machine would be just great. I have no experience with the Imac so a fairly complete set of instructions of "how to" would be very appreciated. I am trying to search the web but so far not able to gleam sufficient data to get it done.
Thanks
9 • @5 re: Flash Lternatives (by Rev_Don on 2015-08-10 02:41:53 GMT from North America)
There already is a viable flash alternative, and have had for a couple of years no. It's called HTML 5 and lots of major sites are using it. If you want to speed along the adoption of it stop supporting sites that only rely on Flash and be sure to tell them why. Once their traffic and business drops off enough because of it they'll switch in a hurry.
But I think you overestimate how many of them are relying only on flash. Try going to them in an HTML 5 compliant browser without flash install and you'll find that most of the flash use is their ads, and who cares about the ads.
10 • Multiboot, Flash (by Somewhat Reticent on 2015-08-10 03:44:16 GMT from North America)
There are several apps for putting multiple ISOs on a single USB drive. That said, knowing hardware details is often key.
YouTube added support for HTML5 some time ago; many uploaders support it as well. While initial load of a youtube page may seem to require flash, often a re-load will reveal additional options - and sometimes eliminate a dual playback problem. Keeping flash on "Ask to activate" helps keep it under control, and minimize risk.
11 • Flash? (by DJ on 2015-08-10 04:38:03 GMT from North America)
Shumway in Iceweasel and SMtube for youtube if needed only miss flash for Internet Radio. Hmm, if I could put AntiX on a Chromebook? My mom's is Intel'-based and I want the NVIDIA Tegra Logan K1.
12 • Re: 7 Youtube HTML 5 (by hobbitland on 2015-08-10 05:13:44 GMT from Europe)
Youtube in Firefox on Linux stills defaults to Flash. I use UAControl to change useragent for youtube.com domain to:
Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:99.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/99.0
This makes Youtube use HTML5 for Firefox without using stupid cookie opt in. I throw all my cookies away everything I restart Firefox.
Flash is a pain. But BBC and Facebook both are still using them.
13 • antiX 15 (by patrick on 2015-08-10 05:49:39 GMT from Asia)
I have installed antix 15 in my IBM T23 . . .
- it is not that fast in booting, and even, the line display feels quite laggy in uxterm mode; that comparaing with my Wheezy installation in another HDD, Wheezy runs smooth in T23.
- running CMUS is a total failure, not because it crash, nut because it display wave format only; compaaing with my Wheezy installation in another drive, I just apt-get install cmus, run cmus, that it displays and plays all wave and mpeg4 I got.
- mplayer2 display no video in console mode.
So, I put the Wheezy/LXDE back in my old T23. BTW, my X40 is running well with Wheezy/gnome; it runs CMUS straight out of the box with all wave and mp4.
If anybody runs well with CMUS and mplayer in antiX15, give me a hint, please.
14 • Flash just won't die (by AT on 2015-08-10 06:21:42 GMT from Europe)
From what I can see in the IT sector, almost everyone is tired of flash, but for some reason they still keep using it. It is a memory hog, it has security issues, not to mention the bismal support on Linux.
I am glad that Youtube took an initiative towards HTML5 and moved away from Flash, however a lot of big sites still use Flash, and continue to build their empire on a dying technology.
15 • Console Word Proc (by Arch Watcher 402563 on 2015-08-10 06:36:03 GMT from North America)
Question was too vague.
If the notion is "formatted text" then some kind of markup language will answer it. There are many, pick one. (TeX???)
If the notion is "console GUI" then 'mined' is menu-driven with top-of-class Unicode and cross-platform support. You may try 'tilde' - which on Arch isn't packaged right - the versioning is off - but works.
http://towo.net/mined/
http://os.ghalkes.nl/tilde/
I haven't used WordGrinder, but it fits this category.
I think mined deserves a lot more attention than it gets because nothing else on earth, not even most desktop GUI word processors, match its language support. It also sports a number of style features like smart quotes, list formatting, etc.
If the notion is "plain text" then your choices are legion. I frequently use nano. Some text editors have large cults - I avoid (both of) them. However they give a terminal feel complete with input. Take note that even Geany (a desktop GUI editor) has a terminal input tab.
If the notion is "edit office docs in console" then study the office suite itself for console import/export commands. Some suites have conversion routines to a text-based markup format. Then you can use any console editor on it and back-import to the office suite.
However, LibreOffice is compressed XML, so you can technically just decompress the office file and use any XML editor you please on it. In your case, you'd want a console text editor that knows XML syntax highlighting and bracket-matching. It might be smart to write a little open-sesame wrapper script to handle the decompress/recompress you need to surround the XML editing.
16 • Flash vote (by far2fish on 2015-08-10 07:02:15 GMT from Europe)
I voted 'Not offered at all'. Since Apple gave Flash the boot 5 years ago, its use has been declining. Then Microsoft sort of also joined the movement 2-3 years back by announcing Internet Explorer on Windows RT without plugin support. Plus they deprecated their competing Silverlight technology.
All major content providers have thus had a long time to prepare their websites for HTML5 solutions rather than content with Flash, Silverlight, Widewine or Java Applets.
Given the history of major security flaws discovered in Flash and Java Applets, I think it is a welcome move that browser vendors stop supporting plugins.
17 • AntiX is incompatible with YUMI USB Multiboot software (by Bob Carroll on 2015-08-10 07:18:11 GMT from North America)
For years, YUMI (Your USB Multiboot Integrator) Windows and Linux software has enabled booting several multiple OS distros and utilities from a single USB flash drive.
Most Linux distros work fine with YUMI (although some require a bit of path or parameter tinkering).
Unfortunately, AntiX, Mageia, Simplicity 64-bit, and a few others just seem to be incompatible with YUMI.
18 • word processors (by nolinuxguru on 2015-08-10 07:19:16 GMT from Europe)
Line editors like "ex" and WYSIWYG text editors like "nano" do not treat long lines very elegantly. Programs like Leafpad and Kwrite can be used for files containing long lines with "words", by implementing word-wrap.
I use Leafpad extensively for writing, yet the files generated are just plain text: they can be printed by Leafpad itself or lpr using a suitable word-wrap filter. I used to use LibreOffice[Writer] for writing prose, but decided that it was over-kill for that purpose.
WordGrinder is a strange hybrid: it implements "word wrap", but from Nano-style curses application. It is WYSIWYG, but the screen is too "busy" for my liking. I suppose if you are writing a novel over a 9600 baud terminal line, it may helpful.
19 • Flash (by Sondar on 2015-08-10 07:24:15 GMT from Europe)
Afraid that Flash is essential to Brits and those who regularly access the BBC iPlayer. It's a well-trodden path, but briefly it all comes down the stupidity of our politicians, notably Blair, who publicly admitted he didn't know how how to switch on a PC. He was made a bigger fool during a visit by Gates, who he later granted an honorary knighthood. The right-wing isn't interested in good technology, just making money. This is a universal mantra in today's world.
20 • Command line Word Processor (by Alexandru on 2015-08-10 07:32:32 GMT from Europe)
For me, the Command Line Word Processor is TeX family (LaTeX, XeLaTeX, LuaTeX). It deserves exactly this purpose: writing documents with reach formatting with no GUI at all. You can even write a document without having xorg installed.
All font and format related issues are handled through specialized commands. The TeX suite (e.g. TeXLive) is highly portable and capable of producing documents in various formats: PDF, ODT, HTML to name some.
21 • flash (by nolinuxguru on 2015-08-10 07:38:12 GMT from Europe)
I have stopped using Adobe Flash, disabling it in Firefox and Chromium. The constant need to replace the bug-riddled old version with an equally bug-riddled new version is just a waste of time my. I will put up with cute messages from the likes of the BBC until they get the growing move to ditch Flash in favour of HTML5. There may well be security problems with HTML5 in the future, but far fewer than with Flash.
22 • Distraction-free word processing (by BIlly Larlad on 2015-08-10 08:02:09 GMT from North America)
@18 -- yes, nano seems to break lines once they reach the edge of the screen. that is odd and useless in many cases. better to use vi or vim.
another option for distraction-free writing -- albeit in a graphical environment -- is the very fine focuswriter. it is widely available and simple but feature-rich. a similar, somewhat lesser alternative would be pyroom.
23 • Getting rid of flash entails some sacrifices (by Billy Larlad on 2015-08-10 08:11:47 GMT from North America)
If we leave it up to the clueless people behind various corporate websites to voluntarily give up flash, we're going to be waiting a very long time. Better to drive the process ourselves and miss out on some mediocre content for a much shorter period.
Just as when we use free software despite their being superior proprietary alternatives, we sometimes have to make sacrifices for securing our rights and promoting our ideals. Getting rid of flash is no different.
24 • nano breaking lines (by Hndovir on 2015-08-10 08:34:16 GMT from Europe)
@22 running nano with the -w (nowrap) option seems to fix this for me. In fact i have "nano" aliased to "nano -w".
25 • flash (by nolinuxguru on 2015-08-10 08:53:10 GMT from Europe)
@23 Agreed. I tell listening organisations about it, but don't bother with mega-corporations - they can't listen. However, if I need to login to my bank or credit card company, then morals go on the back burner.
26 • Long nano lines @18 @22 (by Arch Watcher 402563 on 2015-08-10 09:00:26 GMT from North America)
Nano is fine for long lines and handles wrapping very respectably (section "Power users rejoice").
http://www.tuxradar.com/content/text-editing-nano-made-easy
https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/122795/long-line-wrapping-in-nano
Promote simpler tools to attract people to Linux. I use nano all the time myself. Granted bigger editors have more but nano is handy and intuitive, with stock mouse support.
http://www.nano-editor.org/dist/v2.2/nanorc.5.html
http://www.nano-editor.org/dist/v2.2/nano.1.html
Line endings get much more complicated (esp. in Unicode) than any editors respect. Only mined does them right.
For simple *nix configs, nano is the best tool for newcomers, and even some of us admins with only so many brain cells left to cram with keystroke sequences.
GUI editors? The new hotness seems to be Javascript-based editors. Thanks anyway, I'll stick with Geany. The original question was about console.
27 • Antix and nano (by dbrion on 2015-08-10 09:32:45 GMT from Europe)
1) Maybe I missed somethin, but is antix translated into various languages? Can its keyboqrd be configured (choosing between AZERY and QWERTY, say?)
2) joe http://joe-editor.sourceforge.net/ seems a little better ( small footprint, too) than nano, as it can syntax highlight ...
28 • Lumina Installation on Fedora 22 (by Graham_J on 2015-08-10 10:05:43 GMT from Oceania)
Instructions given on the website only work if you're using an x86_64 machine :(
29 • Flash (by lashley on 2015-08-10 10:10:08 GMT from North America)
Point is "trust", something that is no longer a priority, then it is time to do away with it and move on, even if you can't run certain apps or browser functions. I have not tried gnash, but plan on it when I'm done here. Exploiting peoples faith and trust is a great big no-no and sooner or later google, firefox, adobe-flash and a host of others are going to realize that Linux is not Windows, maybe ubuntu wants be like Windows but that is also another no-no story. Feel sorry for people who just don't "get it" with all this spying.
30 • @1 Debian without systemd (by Chris on 2015-08-10 10:39:21 GMT from Europe)
There are also instructions on how to install debian jessie without systemd from the start in the debian wiki. So please be grateful to Debian aswell for giving you an Option you seemed to be unaware of.
https://wiki.debian.org/systemd#Installing_without_systemd
31 • @30 Debian without systemd (by Mitt on 2015-08-10 11:06:54 GMT from Asia)
How about that systemd dependency hell? You cannot simply remove systemd and its bloated friends from your system without removing the whole world unless you repack everything. If that would be so easy, there would be no such projects as antiX and Devuan where guys work hard to provide us minimalistic, "UNIX-way" experience.
32 • Flash (by Sam on 2015-08-10 11:31:38 GMT from Europe)
There are not many sites left that still require flash. If any that you use still do then send them an email explaining why they should switch to HTML5.
33 • without systemd (by nolinuxguru on 2015-08-10 11:32:34 GMT from Europe)
I am testing Devuan+openbox on a spare computer; froze once, but not sure why. I may use it properly in future if it behaves. In the meantime, I'm staying with Debian7.
34 • @33 Devuan (by Paraquat on 2015-08-10 11:41:56 GMT from Asia)
Kudos for at least giving Devuan a try. But of course, you know the latest release is alpha2, and is not yet considered stable, so I'm not surprised if it froze once (or more than once) on your computer.
I'm only planning to get serious with Devuan experimenting myself when it hits beta1. That is still a few months in the future. In the meantime, I keep my eye on the mailing list.
All that said, I like antiX just fine right now.
35 • flash (by Euler on 2015-08-10 11:51:29 GMT from Europe)
I do not think flash will go away as long as there are flash developers out there, and I think desktop distributions have to support it. For beginner distribution it should be pre-installed or very easy to install. Most people want to use the internet before the learn about repositories and software installation.
36 • The problem is the language, not the editor (by Magic Banana on 2015-08-10 12:06:40 GMT from South America)
A markup language like LaTeX makes you focus on the content. Any text editor can be used, including those running in terminals. I personally use AUCTeX in Emacs (with the graphical interface but its runs in a terminal too). Besides, LaTeX is the best when it comes to the quality of the output: all typographic rules are satisfied by default.
37 • comments... (by jay c on 2015-08-10 12:41:56 GMT from North America)
Have NEVER liked Flash and am usually just migrating from those sites that require it.
AntiX is an old friend, but it "fails" as a micro-linux and is not usually compelling when compared with larger distros. Prefer Simplicity for "legacy" puters, of which am possessed of many.
Command line wp's? Oh snap! First experiences on Osbourne running CP/M and using WordStar -- so -- REALLY lang syn. Had no trouble doing a VTK degree using same but understood even then that such was a real problem selling to secretarial types in offices using typewriters. When WP came around there was a loud hoo-ray. Still, it really needed a Mac to do anything requiring a page layout. And doing so in any non-Latin based alphabet was next to impossible! Much, much easier to move on. Still am personally NOT happy with "fully featured" WP like MS-Word; typing a letter requires -- maybe -- a 10th of those features, and use LibreOffice on linux puters or simplistic AngelWriter on lonely Dell running Windows :)
38 • Killah_P (by k on 2015-08-10 13:10:27 GMT from Europe)
Thank you Jesse and Distrowatch for another excellent and timely review. Yonn Lopez posted an excellent video on YouTube: "AntiX 15, Just Says No to Debian's Systemd". Really practical and comprehensive.
Have been using 64 bit Killah, almost exclusively, on desktop and 4 G flash drive, for some weeks.
Still missing: mounting ntfs partitions, and video out with Skype. Any help or tips would be much appreciated.
39 • to flash or not to flash... (by tom joad on 2015-08-10 13:27:58 GMT from Europe)
Regarding using Flash, at this point what choice do we really have? Despite all of Flash's well known short comings nothing works a well for audio, video.
Owing to lack of effective, improved and robust alternatives I am surprised by the poll question. Either we use Flash or go without enjoying a lot of the content that makes the Internet the Internet it seems to me.
40 • antiX (by dolphin_oracle on 2015-08-10 13:32:29 GMT from Planet Mars)
@ no. 27 - yes, keyboard is configurable and antiX is available in several languages.
41 • Flash... again... (by jay c on 2015-08-10 13:34:39 GMT from North America)
Don't wish to hog the comments section but this was just too apropos not to attach. Thank you Mr Hachman. And a kewpie doll for Mr Jung's synchronicity.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2960741/browsers/tested-how-flash-destroys-your-browsers-performance.html
42 • Antix (by jc on 2015-08-10 14:05:09 GMT from North America)
I really liked Antix, but had a severe problem: heat. Cpufreq, intel_pstates, thermald, and several other methods to control cpu frequency and heat are broken in the kernel shipping with Antix. The first thing one should do upon installing is to install a stock debian kernel, reboot, and delete the antix kernel. Otherwise, it was a great experience, but users should know that heat control is a severe problem with the shipped kernel when they choose to install.
43 • UEFI/EFI problems? (by JustMe on 2015-08-10 14:23:19 GMT from Europe)
I've installed Windows on many UEFI and EFI machines, and OS X on many EFI machines. Never faced any problem with (U)EFI.
Why do so many Linux distributions have problems with installing onto UEFI/EFI? What might be so horribly broken in those UEFI/EFI installations since they clearly work well with Windows or OS X?
44 • Playing videos without Flash (by K.U. on 2015-08-10 14:35:16 GMT from Europe)
Tools like youtube-dl and pwnyoutube make it possible to watch videos from vide range of websites using a locally installed mediaplayer.
youtube-dl: http://rg3.github.io/youtube-dl/
pwnyoutube: http://deturl.com/
45 • Poll (by bison on 2015-08-10 15:10:19 GMT from North America)
I voted available in distro repositories, although with hesitation, since whether something "should be" installed by default, available in distro repositories, not offered at all, or replaced by Gnash is entirely up to the people who create the distros.
46 • temperature @42 (by Paraquat on 2015-08-10 15:28:56 GMT from Asia)
Funny, but I have no problem with high temperatures with antiX. Maybe it's a hardware issue for you?
Anyone can check the temperature of the cpu at the command line by typing this:
acpi -V
There are some GUI tools like gkrellm which can also be configured to display the temperature.
47 • nano (@18 @22 @24) (by SuperOscar on 2015-08-10 15:35:46 GMT from Europe)
Apparently people rarely edit their /etc/nanorc’s as it’s right there ready to be uncommented:
## Don't wrap text at all.
# set nowrap
48 • cpufreq on antix (by rog on 2015-08-10 15:41:09 GMT from North America)
jc, I have no problems here with cpufreq and antix15 64bit kernel.
I can't remember whether all necessary packages were preinstalled or if I needed to manually install someting additional. FWIW "cpufreqd" (depends: "libcpufreq0" and "libsensors4") and "cpufrequtils" are installed. thermald is NOT installed.
The command lscpu output mentions "CPU min MHz: 1200.0000" and without having done any tweaking, that's what I'm seeing -- the CPU freq is automatically being scaled back down to 1200 during periods of light load (which is nearly always, FWIW).
49 • @22 Distraction-free word processing (by C C on 2015-08-10 16:01:32 GMT from Asia)
Another vote for:
1. focuswriter (with auto-hide GUI menus that can be called out by moving the mouse to the top or bottom of the screen); and
2. pyroom (even simpler; control with quickkeys)
50 • UEFI (by Jesse on 2015-08-10 16:29:04 GMT from North America)
>> "Why do so many Linux distributions have problems with installing onto UEFI/EFI? What might be so horribly broken in those UEFI/EFI installations since they clearly work well with Windows or OS X?"
If you read the wiki it explains exactly what the problems are. In one case one UEFI implementation blocks all operating systems not called Windows or Red Hat from booting. One Apple implementation only works on HFS+ file systems. The bottom line is many UEFI implementations are designed to work exclusively with OS X or Windows and either don't work properly with Linux or intentionally block Linux from loading.
51 • antiX 15 (by Bill S on 2015-08-10 16:38:09 GMT from North America)
Using antiX right now. It's very nice indeed and gives an alternative to systemd. Only thing was I had to download all of the gstreamer pkgs in order to get sound working, but otherwise it is great!!
52 • antiX 15 (by zykoda on 2015-08-10 17:05:41 GMT from Europe)
Lean and mean: AntiX 15 working on an old Pentium 2 256MB RAM next to Slitaz. The mobo is FIC PA 2004, no USB, of the win 95 era, very solid still with original caps.Simple and excellent.
53 • Word processing with nano (and vim!) (by bison on 2015-08-10 17:30:20 GMT from North America)
I use vim for word processing. :)
I have a meta language that I use for markup, and run the input text through a program that converts it to HTML5 output. I actually have several variations of this for different domains; I need to combine these into a single set of rules. I would like to move closer to Carl Sassenrath's MakeDoc format, if I ever find the time.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MakeDoc
54 • Command line word processors (by Oldken on 2015-08-10 17:41:15 GMT from North America)
Read your artical; had a few minutes so tried Wordgrinder. A bit too much for me but I got the picture.
Just a suggestion: run Pluma in fullscreen mode [F11] it looks about the same to me.
55 • vote in Opinion Poll re Adobe Flash (by champted on 2015-08-10 18:07:51 GMT from North America)
I voted for "replaced by Gnash", but only if Gnash works properly. The last time I tried Gnash about a year ago, it wouldn't render about half of the websites I visited, and I don't purposely visit graphics-heavy websites. I also would like to see Adobe Flash available in repositories for those who want to exercise their choice to use it.
56 • Distraction-free writing (by AnklefaceWroughtlandmire on 2015-08-10 18:39:22 GMT from South America)
For distraction-free writing, I would probably recommend something based on a simple markup language such as Markdown. For me, the biggest distraction while writing is worrying about formatting. So writing in Markdown lets me just focus on the content and let Markdown + CSS deal with the formatting later on.
For the person who sent in the question looking for a terminal-based editor, OrgMode seems to be the premium option for Markdown in the terminal:
http://orgmode.org/
And here are some very nice GUI options for writing in Markdown (under Linux of course):
- http://pad.haroopress.com/user.html (https://github.com/rhiokim/haroopad)
- https://github.com/voldyman/MarkMyWords
- http://markdown-here.com/get.html
57 • Distraction-free writing (by AnklefaceWroughtlandmire on 2015-08-10 18:45:08 GMT from South America)
And two more I just found:
- https://wiki.gnome.org/Apps/Builder
- https://stackedit.io/
58 • UEFI (by More Gee on 2015-08-10 19:05:37 GMT from North America)
I don't know if this is UEFI bug or Grub with UEFI and SystemD issue.
Why is there no longer any Puppy Luv in Grub Update anymore? If the system has a puppy or puppies on it I have to break out a Puppy CD and boot from it and run Grub4DOS over it. This happens every update that causes a version change.
59 • @48 (by jc on 2015-08-10 19:34:03 GMT from North America)
Looks like it must be just a hardware issue on my end. Good to hear. Antix is fantastic.
60 • Flash (by Will B on 2015-08-10 21:01:22 GMT from North America)
I have, for a long time, wished Flash would disappear forever...one could dream ;-) Gnash still is too unstable and buggy for daily use, unfortunately.
61 • Antix (by Francesco on 2015-08-10 22:25:26 GMT from Europe)
Just tried antix on my netbook, quite nice ;) .
Maybe i'll install it instead of lubuntu.
Imho graphically unfortunatly is not as polished as other more famous distribution.
I used icewm a lot of time ago (till 2008 iirc, and with satisfaction) and there were more polished and modern themes around.
E.g. that black borders around the menu button or around the workspaces indicator are imho quite outdated.
62 • antiX review (by anticapitalista on 2015-08-10 22:44:03 GMT from Europe)
Jessie, many thanks for taking the time to review antiX-15. Just a quick question. Did you test the 32 or 64 bit antiX-full version? The article doesn't make it clear.
63 • Flash in Distros (by M.Z. on 2015-08-10 22:44:04 GMT from Planet Mars)
I put 'Other' because like #45 I think it depends largely on the distro maker & more specifically it depends on their goals for their particular OS. If you want to be user friendly above all else & want things to more or less 'just work' for average users, then you still need flash either by default or a few clicks away. In fact the availability of Flash on Linux & the ability to watch all the online media I wanted was one of the few things that held me back from using Linux full time. I seem to remember switching over in 2011 after Flash expanded support to Linux. I'm a bit unhappy about the decision to only support older versions of Flash on Linux & I don't like the security holes, so some fix is still needed.
I'd like to see a better solution to online content than Flash, but nothing is really taking over & truly offering a replacement yet. There is still a need for Flash in user friendly distros & most other desktop distros should continue to offer it for some time to come. It's really just the reality of the situation like it or not, & given the small market share of Linux trying to remove Flash from the repos will only hurt & frustrate users & turn away possible converts.
64 • Composing Text (by Arkanabar on 2015-08-10 23:15:11 GMT from North America)
I write most stuff in leafpad. When I want to format it, I copy and paste to LOWriter. If I didn't have a GUI, I'd write in Nano, and then ... well, I dunno. I suppose I'd have to learn some mark up language (probably based on TeX), and apply that in emacs.
65 • antiX build (by Jesse on 2015-08-10 23:21:53 GMT from North America)
@62:
I was running the 64-bit "Full" version of antiX when I wrote my review. In all my reviews, unless I indicate otherwise, I am running 64-bit builds of distributions. I think the only exception is when I am testing out a distribution tied to a specific platform, like Raspbian.
66 • Antix (by a on 2015-08-10 23:59:11 GMT from Europe)
I’m glad some people like Antix and can use it, but when I tried it a couple months ago my experience was not great. Antix 15 RC1 worked, but I couldn’t select the keyboard layout before installation, it was a bit slow and not pretty, and I couldn’t find a GUI for software installation or updates in the menu. A bit later I tried Antix 15, and this time the installer didn’t work.
67 • 17 • AntiX, YUMI (by Bob Carroll from North America) (by Somewhat Reticent on 2015-08-11 01:06:39 GMT from North America)
YUMI has a long history with Windows; its Linux side has only generated one (token?) version AsFarAsIRecall. Since it uses the syslinux bootloader and either FAT or NTFS filesystem, groups hostile toward these aren't eager to "support" or "recommend" this approach. Some are even too lazy to support any multiboot parameter, period; others refer victims to obfuscated DebIan "documentation".
(That said, the multibootusb project at sourceforge also deserves honorable mention.)
But the shining star should go to Easy2Boot. It uses GrUB4dOS (Grand U-can Boot for all the Operating Systems?) and, while a bit slow on older hardware, Keeps managing many ISOs on one USB device Short & Simple - supporting Linux and Windows, with good online documentation.
68 • Flash (by Sabayon user on 2015-08-11 02:46:02 GMT from North America)
I use iceweasel without the flash fixings and lock it down for email and other stuff that is not streaming content. If I want to stream content I just use google chrome or chromium with the pepper flash plugin with noscript and adblock plus and kill java unless I need it turned on. AntiX is a great OS but when it comes to light weight operating systems you can not do without puppy linux.:-)
69 • legacy of Planet Mars (by Antix user on 2015-08-11 05:26:58 GMT from Europe)
@4 He doesn'want to divorce?
70 • command line word processor (by c on 2015-08-11 06:25:52 GMT from Asia)
Welcome to the days of wordstar and wordperfect! I wish those two sources would just be given to the open source community.
71 • 40 is keymap easy to configure with antix? (by dbrion on 2015-08-11 07:23:55 GMT from Europe)
This seems in contradiction with post 66 (configured after install). Post configuring a key;qp lqyout is somezhqt qzkzqrd : see http://www.armadeus.com/wiki/index.php?title=QEMU#Launch_it for a 16 MB GNU linux (antiX audience is rather 512 MB : life could be easier for people who do not distro(s) hop and prefer trivial things to be already done...)
72 • @63 M.Z. - Flash (by Kazlu on 2015-08-11 13:11:08 GMT from Europe)
I'm with you on this. Beginners might be turned away when, after making the effort to try a GNU/Linux distro, they discover that some websites do not work properly. They may blame Linux for that. The Ubuntu way is one of the best here in my opinion: Flash is in a repository, separated from the main OS repository since it is closed source, and you have the *choice* to install it at OS installation time. It is as simple as checking a box and is is quite clear to the user what it does. Even for a newbie, the given explanation is short and explains what it is. Yet, a more experienced user that would not want it can still avoid it.
I voted "in the repositories". I am progressively moving away from Flash, but since I know what I am doing here I don't necessarily want distro makers to do the job for me. I just want a distro to give me the possibility of not installing Flash, while still thinking Flash is necessary for a distro to appeal beginners. That's not hard to find :) On my Debian Wheezy setup, I use Gnash+Lightspark on Iceweasel. Gnash gets a fair amount of Flash content to work and since I added Lightspark, some sites that did not work with Gnash now work (Soundcloud for example), but sadly I also met websites that do not work any longer with Lightspark although they did with Gnash alone (I don't remember which ones). There are still websites that won't work at all without a recent version of Flash, particularly TV (live or replay) websites. For that, I also use Chromium and pepperflash, and even that does not always work. I don't use Chromium for day-to-day browsing.
73 • flash is still needed (by Tim Dowd on 2015-08-11 14:08:56 GMT from Planet Mars)
@72 @63
You guys have the right idea on this one. Those commenting that very few websites still use flash are simply incorrect. In the US, if you want to watch live sports, (for example baseball) the subscription service is still flash based. I get that this might not matter for some, but it does for many. Ultimately this comes down to the same debate we always fight out in FOSS circles: do we make any allowances for proprietary software in a FOSS world? I think that has to be up to the individual user. Without those striving for purely free software we wouldn't have OS alternatives. But do we say that using GNU/Linux means no access to any service that doesn't share our worldview? Everyone will answer this question differently and it's why the choice is still important.
74 • Flash "need" (by Kragle von Schnitzelbank on 2015-08-11 15:01:25 GMT from North America)
Can an audio/video stream be encrypted, and displayed in a "container"? Would DefectRequirementMethods be "necessary" in such a case?
75 • error http://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20150810 (by Sergey on 2015-08-11 17:00:05 GMT from Europe)
interface text interface - you have written double.
76 • Intel SMM - planned obsolescence? (by Kragle on 2015-08-11 20:47:52 GMT from North America)
Nice to see a firmware vulnerability in Intel chips made from 1992 through 2010 can be mitigated "hypervisor/VMM enforcement". How would that affect performance?
77 • Adobe flash (by Toran Korshnah on 2015-08-12 00:13:01 GMT from Europe)
Happy Debian8 user I reject the policy of adobe towards linux. We are doomed to 11.2 for 64 bit. So get rid of it. Pepperflash is the answer, but unfortunatly The King of Browsers does lack support. I changed to Opera as my default browser as I play games on Facebook. For this I still need flash. Please Facebook, go html5...I probably will stay with Opera. Great browser this is...
78 • Flash (by Kubelik on 2015-08-12 01:02:15 GMT from Europe)
@73. - Hope flash will be replaced with html5. - For the rest I fully agree with you.
79 • JOE for text editing (by KingNeutron on 2015-08-12 06:08:18 GMT from North America)
--I'm gonna put another +1 for the JOE editor. The package provides " jstar " for those of us that are Wordstar-proficient. :-)
80 • Adobe Flash (by Thomas Mueller on 2015-08-12 07:15:58 GMT from North America)
@14 If Flash support is abysmal on Linux, it is nonexistent in BSD; only possibility is Linux emulation or possibly Wine + Pipelight.
Tiger Direct uses Flash, and I couldn't view their videos; I told them through page feedback that I was on a platform that didn't support Adobe Flash, but I could view most YouTube videos thanks to HTML5. Another possiblility is a downloadable .mp4 video; I have successfully viewed some of them in FreeBSD and NetBSD.
For a time, I was able to use Gnash on FreeBSD, but that became broken with FreeBSD 10.x and current (unable to link in libboost_system). When Gnash worked on FreeBSD 9.x, it was on YouTube and nothing or nearly nothing else. Swfdec plugin never worked.
I read that Flash does not work well on mobile devices; that may help diminish Flash's prevalence.
81 • Flash (by Somewhere in America on 2015-08-12 16:39:04 GMT from North America)
Anyone who hits Facebook and wants to play a game or two (a very large part of the computing population in these parts) is going to want Flash, period.
82 • Flash (by 4tux on 2015-08-13 01:36:06 GMT from Europe)
Would only install it if there's no other choice to watch something. And remove, afterwords. Hope no traces of it will be left after.
83 • 82 • (by 4tux from Europe) (by Kragle on 2015-08-13 02:19:08 GMT from North America)
"… only install … and remove… hope no traces will be left…" sounds like running from RAM (VM?) through anonymizer (VPN/TOR/…) from wardriven open wifi/cell-fi, right? But there's often another choice - be patient, download and watch later, for example. Traces will still exist all along the server chain of transmission.
It's easier to avoid watching some optional entertainment than it is to avoid required transaction-processing. Some alleged "requirements" are based on deliberate ignorance of actual necessities.
84 • 83 • by Kragle, North America (thanks Kragle) (by 4tux on 2015-08-13 04:53:26 GMT from Europe)
ah.. is not about navigation "traces", I meant the uninstaller to remove all traces of Flash from the operating system.
85 • @82 (by far2fish on 2015-08-13 06:40:23 GMT from Europe)
I wonder if that could be a good candidate for running Docker at home. For instance pulling a tiny Ubuntu image down, run it as a Docker container where you only install a browser with Flash support.
86 • Flash! (by imnotrich on 2015-08-13 06:44:29 GMT from North America)
On a recent bicycle ride through suburban Tijuana, I was almost bitten by a dog named Flash but I digress.
About 80% of the websites I frequent still use Flash, and this is not just a Linux issue because Firefix and Chome for Windows are also blocking Flash and Java by default, rendering the web pretty much useless to me.
I have additional countermeasures in place, and I acknowledge other users may not be as security savvy but the question needs to be asked: Why automatically block all plugins? Cant browsers integrate some sandboxie like technology or scan/whitelist safe code?
When the average user is asked to right click to run this whatever, how does the user know it's safe to run? Answer: They don't.
Speaking of Gnash, it's name is because users can only Gnash their teeth as pages refuse to load.
For obvious reasons there will never be a suitable, viable open source alternative for Adobe reader, Adobe Flash, Microsoft Silverlight, Java,certain codecs, Microsoft Office, proprietary video drivers other drivers and so on. Close maybe but no cigar. All distros should at least make the "real"versions available to users without having to pass an act of Congress. If you like your plugins, you can keep your plugins. Period.
87 • Yeah yeah, Flash (by Barnabyh on 2015-08-13 12:09:32 GMT from Europe)
It's very easy to keep control of Flash. Download it from Adobe website if and when needed, unzip/uncompress package, move plugin -it's only one binary- into mozilla plugin folder. Restart browser. Rename, move, delete or otherwise disable when done.
Best not to use it at all. You'ld be surprised how many websites offer html5 versions of their videos if using an extension that makes html5 the default or trying web pages without any Flash at all - and to my surprise vids often load.
88 • 87 • (by Barnabyh) (by 4tux on 2015-08-13 13:42:02 GMT from Europe)
As you said: "Best not to use it at all"! Or some solution as @85
"Rename...disable..." will deactivate the plugin,
but there's something else: after using flash in a specific site,
2 new folders were added: .adobe .macromedia
Other sites may store what else, in h.drive?
better no no, Flash
89 • 86 • "obvious reasons" (by imnotrich (by Fossilizing Dinosaur on 2015-08-13 15:30:52 GMT from North America)
What are these "obvious reasons" ?
"All distros should…" - how, when monopolistic fantasies drive proprietary licensing and secret coding?
(Did these "obvious reasons" apply to SSL/TLS web security maintenance?)
90 • Flash Plugin (by Michael on 2015-08-14 01:35:36 GMT from Oceania)
I would love to dispense with Flash but some sites check for it's existence before loading (www.speedtest.net). They will not work with alternatives.
91 • RPM, Fedora, KDE, MATE, XFCE (by Greg Zeng on 2015-08-14 05:00:31 GMT from Oceania)
Noteworthy news from: http://fedoramagazine.org/state-fedora-2015-edition/
RPM is not the favored desktop operating system, staying with servers and workstations. Of those who dare use RPM on the desktop, the preferred display managers are:
KDE (5%), MATE (2%), XFCE (2.5%), LXDE (2.5%).
Missed are Gnome & Cinnamon.
92 • 90 • Flash Plugin (by Michael - from Oceania) (by Somewhat Reticent on 2015-08-14 05:56:59 GMT from North America)
Consider the HTML5 speedtest by dslreports - no Flash or plugin required, though it may take some active security management to accommodate the servers it uses.
93 • @61 Antix - Francesco (by Wse on 2015-08-14 07:39:31 GMT from Europe)
"Just tried antix on my netbook, quite nice ;) .
Maybe i'll install it instead of lubuntu.
Imho graphically unfortunatly is not as polished as other more famous distribution."
Antix is based on Debian, while Lubuntu is of Ubuntu. You just can't compare them. Antix also mix repos, pulling Jessie, strefach etc.
94 • 90 • Flash Plugin (by Michael - from Oceania) (by Somewhat Reticent on 2015-08-14 07:42:37 GMT from North America)
Consider the dslreports HTML5 speedtest.
95 • @91 (by far2fish on 2015-08-14 08:37:02 GMT from Europe)
"Missed are Gnome & Cinnamon"
Not quite true. The graph states the 68% of all ISO downloads are Workstation downloads. The Workstation ISO comes with Gnome.
KDE, Mate, XFCE, LXDE and Sugar are official spins available for download.
Cinnamon is available as a DE in Fedora, but you first have to either download and install the Workstation (With Gnome) or any of the official spins with KDE, Mate, XFCE or LXDE. Since Cinnamon has to be installed AFTER a download, it makes no sense to include it in download statistics.
The same applies to other desktop environments or window managers. If you want Openbox, Enlightenment or whatever you can of course get it, but it won't show up in the ISO download statistics.
96 • command line word processor (by Jason on 2015-08-14 13:14:38 GMT from North America)
From reading the question, I was thinking they were looking for something like ed + TeX, but I probably ready too much into it.
97 • Flash (by JT on 2015-08-14 20:10:19 GMT from North America)
I have yet to meet a person who actually likes Flash-player. It's one of the most annoying/borderline-garbage pieces of software that everyone has seemingly accepted as part of the software they want to use. I personally voted that it should be in the repos, and not installed by default.
With most distros I use, I have Chrome/Chromium installed with pepper-flash, and set to Click-to-Play. I don't typically use it, but there have been a couple times where I didn't have a choice. One being the university's class registration web application was designed entirely in Flash. That's why it should still be in the repos without being installed by default. Get people away from it, if possible, but still let them install it easily if they need to.
98 • DE comparisons (by MirrorMirror on 2015-08-15 05:09:45 GMT from Oceania)
how about a distrowatch comparison of the older versus newer DEs:
KDE, GNOME, MATE, XFCE, LXDE versus Lumina, Budgie, Wayland, Mir/Unity.
99 • @ 98 • DE comparisons - MirrorMirror (by Wse on 2015-08-15 15:16:53 GMT from Europe)
>how about a distrowatch comparison of the older versus newer DEs:
KDE, GNOME, MATE, XFCE, LXDE versus Lumina, Budgie, Wayland, Mir/Unity.<
How about comparisons of WMs against DEs too?
100 • DE comparisons (by M.Z. on 2015-08-16 04:44:33 GMT from Planet Mars)
@98 & 99
All told there are over 3 dozen DEs listed in the DW search page & they come in all different sizes & functions. If you want a fair comparison it would be best to divide them into size classes & intended functions. If you don't separate them out you'd end up with either tiny meaningless blurbs on each or some war & peace like essay that most users wouldn't read. Perhaps categories like: 1) full featured & modern; 2) mid to light weight; & 3) lightweight WMs.
I'd also point out that Wayland is a display protocol or some such thing that runs along side a DE like Gnome or KDE & helps the DE decide how to draw windows, at least to my understanding. At any rate Wayland doesn't qualify as any sort of a DE, but is instead a piece of software that the DE relies on in order to function, much like the older X11 software currently used by most DEs in Linux & BSD. I would say that different DEs are a topic that most desktop Linux users would likely be interested in, though many DEs get a fair amount of coverage here via general distro reviews.
Number of Comments: 100
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| TUXEDO |
TUXEDO Computers - Linux Hardware in a tailor made suite
Choose from a wide range of laptops and PCs in various sizes and shapes at TUXEDOComputers.com. Every machine comes pre-installed and ready-to-run with Linux. Full 24 months of warranty and lifetime support included!
Learn more about our full service package and all benefits from buying at TUXEDO.
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| Star Labs |
Star Labs - Laptops built for Linux.
View our range including the highly anticipated StarFighter. Available with coreboot open-source firmware and a choice of Ubuntu, elementary, Manjaro and more. Visit Star Labs for information, to buy and get support.
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