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1 • congratulations on the milestone (by itsa me mario on 2021-01-18 02:12:01 GMT from New Zealand)
Congratulations on Issue No 900 of the Distrowatch Weekly. May there be many more.
2 • Admin tasks (by DaveW on 2021-01-18 02:34:49 GMT from United States)
I occasionally use su to do admin things, but use sudo a large majority of the time. Only having to enter the password for the first such command helps ease the pain of typing sudo multiple times.
3 • Admin approaches (by TheTKS on 2021-01-18 02:54:09 GMT from Canada)
Voted Another approach, because it depends on the job. I am the only actual user of Linuxes and OpenBSD on my computers that have Admin user, a regular user with some elevated permissions, and on on some a regular user with only default permissions (not even sudo.) Yeah, that many “users” aren’t actually needed when it’s just me using the computers - I set up extra users for testing or for different usages.
For one or a few tasks in a short time, sudo or doas. If I have several tasks that will take me awhile, but I will finish in one sitting, then su (or su -l or su -, as called for.) Signing in directly as root user, rarely, except when using a Puppy, in which you are root by default (unless I want to switch to a limited permission user.)
TKS
4 • Nice stuff! (by Al on 2021-01-18 03:07:42 GMT from United States)
That;s 900 issues of great stuff. A nice way to start the week.
5 • Rooting about... (by Friar Tux on 2021-01-18 03:36:18 GMT from Canada)
It's sudo for me, and yes, I have definitely bricked my laptop with 'fat finger syndrome' running as root. I don't mind the few extra steps required to run sudo. Learned my lesson early in my Linux years.
6 • to su or su - (by pengxuin on 2021-01-18 04:10:23 GMT from New Zealand)
I understand they are different in that one works on the real root directory where the risk of unexpected side effects such as root ownership of user files is reduced.
However, as it is your system, carry on regardless.
sudo or su / su -, all carry risk, how much you are prepared to carry is up to you.
I prefer to to have a root (su -) terminal opened by me after login, on a separate virtual desktop, for when I need it, but out of the way so I don't mistakenly use it for mundane user issues.
7 • Installers for simple distros (by Simon on 2021-01-18 04:10:25 GMT from New Zealand)
It's a pity that projects like Crux don't take the time to develop convenient installers. I understand the advantages of an idiot filter (i.e. they make it clear that the project is for "experienced Linux uesrs" and yet that wouldn't stop hundreds of people clogging their discussions with annoying beginner questions if they made it easier for beginners to get up and running)...however, it's not only idiots who are deterred by long manual installation procedures. Jesse lost interest, and I probably would have too at that point, given that (a) it had already taken up a lot more time than it needed to (an installer can automate most of that work), and (b) the sloppy documentation suggested it might not be worth the effort in the end anyway.
Nice simple distros like Crux (the handful that attempt to stay true to UNIX principles) already come at a cost in terms of time: even for an expert user, it takes a lot longer to edit a bunch of upstream configs carefully from documentation/experience than to click on an option from a GUI menu. I can understand the fully manual approach to installation with distros like Gentoo and LFS where learning is explicitly the point of the process, and the documentation is excellent accordingly. For other distros though, where it's simply a case of "if you're an experienced user then obviously you can set up the filesystems, unpack the distro archives, build the kernel and configure /etc yourself" (and their lack of care with the documentation shows that all this is not intended to be a learning exercise for newbies), I really think they should just script all that drudgery...at least with an old-fashioned text-based installer like Slackware's. It would save people from wasting time doing exactly the kind of boring repetitive stuff (and it is boring and repetitive for experienced users who've done it a hundred times before) that computers exist to spare us from doing. Otherwise, it looks like the unfriendly idiot filter...or just plain old laziness.
8 • Administrative tasks (by Bobbie Sellers on 2021-01-18 05:20:41 GMT from United States)
Actually I use tools like Synaptic and sometime start them with "su -" to work
on tasks that might be characterized as administrative.
Using as I do PCLinuxOS and having started on Mandriva in 2006 I am
accustomed to using the graphical root tool Computer Control Center.
It is not available in the root desktop though.
In the past I used CCC to tune my User Privileges but lately I find
it unnecessary to accomplish my admin tasks minor as they are.
bliss -“Nearly any fool can use a computer. Many do.” After all here I am...
9 • Happy 900 DW! (by Andy Prough on 2021-01-18 05:29:03 GMT from United States)
Big congrats to Jesse and Ladislav and Bruce. It's not easy making the GNU/Linux news interesting every week, but you guys have really come through for us readers. And it's really paid off for the readers. I learned about my current distro from DW, and the one before that, and the one before that, and the one before that...
10 • Crux (by David on 2021-01-18 05:46:38 GMT from United States)
Jesse,
I've never been able to make Grub2 work on Crux. Lilo installed and worked flawlessly on Crux 3.5 on my laptop (with bios). I've got Crux 3.6 on my desktop machine. That machine has a grub-legacy boot partition, so maybe I got lucky, not having to install a boot loader with 3.6.
But you can boot Crux with the rescue option if the bootloader, the kernel build or something else goes haywire. If they forgot to put Lilo on the 3.6.1 iso, you could probably build it from ports, while in rescue mode. But I don't blame you for giving up at that point.
11 • admin tasks - sudo vs root, etc. (by Simon Wainscott-Plaistowe on 2021-01-18 07:24:28 GMT from New Zealand)
I answered "another approach" because I don't use any one method exclusively. My approach is to use sudo for quick tasks & su if I'm doing something a bit more involved. Sometimes I'll log in as root, but only rarely.
12 • Another approach: (by Someguy on 2021-01-18 08:24:47 GMT from United Kingdom)
Maybe misunderstood the question? Mostly, I want to shift files/directories/etc from one internal location to another or to another logged-in disc/card/etc. To do this I right-click and select 'open as root', transfer material and close rooted location pronto. Not had problems so far. But I also use sudo and, sometimes su - for simpler/routie ops.
13 • SU vs SUDO (by Alexandru on 2021-01-18 08:45:22 GMT from Austria)
Actually both approaches are equivalent:
sudo = su -c ""
su && = sudo su &&
The only difference is SU asks for root password while SUDO asks for user's password and only works if the user is in sudoers group.
The real difference I ever seen is approached by Solaris / OpenIndiana, where there is no black / white (i.e. user / root) user privileges. There are fine tuned, multi level and scope granulated privileges for many different system accounts. Each account has acces gratend only to certain resources that are relevant to its task. For example I was wandered how it is possible in to install new software without root password.
However, this approach usually very difficult to implement and configure to fulfill real user needs in administrative area.
14 • SU vs SODU (by Alexandru on 2021-01-18 08:47:16 GMT from Austria)
sudo command = su -c "command"
su $$ command = sudo su && command
15 • Errata: Crux is using BSD-Style not SysV (by luca on 2021-01-18 09:07:15 GMT from Switzerland)
From CRUX handbook:
The initialization scripts used in CRUX follow the BSD-style (as opposed to the SysV-style).
16 • Documentation and time (by Any on 2021-01-18 09:08:24 GMT from Spain)
I am curious and like testing new things, but I do not want to spend hours reading some project's documentation just to try it for 1 or 2 hours and then forget it. Investing much time only to get things working is worth in a job, but then who would like to use a product of this type in a business environment?
17 • su (by Gary W on 2021-01-18 09:15:47 GMT from Australia)
I open a terminal tab and 'su -' as soon as I boot. Use this for all my admin activities. Occasionally I will 'sudo' in another tab if the root tab is busy.
18 • init (by Jesse on 2021-01-18 11:13:08 GMT from Canada)
@15: "The initialization scripts used in CRUX follow the BSD-style (as opposed to the SysV-style). "
I'm not sure why you think that is an error. CRUX runs SysV init. Its init scripts are organized in a BSD-style. Slackware does something similar where its init follows a BSD-like style, but its init software is SysV init.
19 • Crux (by Dan on 2021-01-18 12:14:06 GMT from United States)
The only thing in distros like Crux, Gentoo, etc is bragging rights. There is probably nothing in advanced distros that isn't in the simple ones, except headaches.
20 • KAOS/GHOSTBSD. Distro in news (by kkshethin on 2021-01-18 12:30:53 GMT from India)
KAOS new ISO has weird fonts in menu and does not install. If installed by using pre-partition, view font problem still remains.
GHOSTBSD ISO has no installer. Does not boot in UEFI.
21 • Wiped Drive (by pfbruce1 on 2021-01-18 13:04:44 GMT from United States)
Many years ago I installed Slitaz which immediately wiped my hard drive.
I have not tried it since.
Thanks for the warning on Nutyx. I will add it to my avoid list.
pfb
22 • Poll Question (by Tired Frux on 2021-01-18 13:41:50 GMT from France)
Ahem, dear nix vets, the instructions are for newbs that may read this, NOT you. ;)
I love root accounts but rarely use them, just nice to know they are there if all else fails. So I 'su' (I voted 'su') from this custom Xfce Desktop launcher (right click and create first, then open later with a lite text editor like mousepad, paste this, you will need the appropriate icon themes installed for them to appear)...
Root Terminal (do not paste these comment section titles):
[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Name=Root Terminal
Comment=Run terminal emulator as root
Type=Application
Exec=x-terminal-emulator -e su -
Categories=System;TerminalEmulator;
Icon=/usr/share/icons/gnome-colors-common/32x32/apps/gksu-root-terminal.png
Path=
Terminal=false
StartupNotify=false
For schizz and giggles, Thunar as root (same process as above to make it)
[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Type=Application
Name=Thunar As Root
Comment=Admin file manager
Exec=pkexec thunar %f /
Icon=folder-saved-search
Path=
Terminal=false
StartupNotify=false
23 • administrative tasks (by Adondequiera on 2021-01-18 13:45:16 GMT from United States)
I use *su -* because that was the recommended way in Fedora Core 3, the first distribution I put much effort in. Distros that won't allow *su -* I work around by using *sudo su -*
24 • Crux (by Semiarticulate on 2021-01-18 15:05:41 GMT from United States)
I would very much like to use Crux. It seems akin to Slackware, without having to install the kitchen sink, which appeals to me. Being that it is manually configured is great, but the lack of documentation makes it an exercise in frustration. It's a shame.
25 • admin tasks (by Otis on 2021-01-18 15:38:55 GMT from United States)
I just go as super user when updating this Artix distro in terminal (daily). Sudo is there, but su lets me leave the terminal open for as long as I need with super user access as things come in and I look around at root/deep files for changes, etc.
26 • Newcomers in waiting list (by papavlos on 2021-01-18 16:13:16 GMT from Poland)
Another new distributions based on distributions... Such a waste of effort...
What are their key differences and not-yet-existing-anywhere features? An Arch derivative with Desktop Environment? The base Arch has all of them. Graphical installer? You have already a dozen of ready Arch derivatives with graphical installers and environments.
Someone has ambitions? Let him or her sign-in and enhance an existing distro. Or, a software package... Instead of a new just-a-bit-different distro, just to have one's name as The Chief Chef on the main page... Pity...
27 • Weekly Torrents section (by Herlock Sholmes on 2021-01-18 16:54:12 GMT from United States)
On your "Weekly Torrents" section, you list an SHA256 checksum for KDE Neon, however, the people that put out the KDE Neon iso themselves refuse to post any checksums, instead, unfortunately, restricting the user to verify their ISOs vio gpg.
So, where do these KDE Neon checksums come from on your "Weekly Torrents" section? Have they been verified to be legitimate?
Thanks
28 • "the new boss is the same as the old boss..." (by tom joad on 2021-01-18 16:55:21 GMT from Netherlands)
@26
Yeah, buddy. I been down that road. I was happy, too, distro hopping banging around trying this and that. And I found stuff I liked and a whole lotta stuff I quickly walked away from. I did MX for a while before it got white hot. And it is good but I moved on to Mint cinnamon and have settled down.
But what Papavlos stated is true. We need more totally new and interesting and useful here in linux land. Changing the spices in a pot of chili doesn't make a "new" chili. It might make better chili or really bad chili but in the end you still have chili.
I had hopes that LFS and BLFS would make inroads into new and interesting. Guess not, at least not yet I had hope there would be a big push into something like TAILS too. Online security is a big and growing issue these days. But not much shook out there either. And TAILS, sadly, is being developed at a glacial pace too.
Another area is MS software. I know, I know. But a lot of those games kick a**! I shopped for a new video card last week end. I can tell those MS games are driving the video card business CRAZY! I saw $1900.00 video card. Are you mad? Yes, and those bad boys are selling. Not to mention that a good number here run both systems for whatever reason, ie, MS and Liinux. Being able to run MS workware would be a help.
Yeah, its is time to shake out the cob webs. Maybe take some of the best we have, re-spin it and mix it with some NEW. Let's see what would shakes out...
That's my two cents for the week...
29 • checksums (by Jesse on 2021-01-18 17:02:40 GMT from Canada)
@27: "So, where do these KDE Neon checksums come from on your "Weekly Torrents" section? Have they been verified to be legitimate?"
The checksums we publish are the checksums of the ISO files we are seeding. This allows you to check them against your download to confirm the files were not corrupted during transfer.
30 • Admin tasks: pkexec (by David on 2021-01-18 17:33:37 GMT from United Kingdom)
I use PCLinuxOS, which doesn't use sudo. It does have menu entries (at least in the Xfce version) for running both the file manager and text editor as root. These use something which was new to me: pkexec. Unlike other tools, it launches just one application in root mode, and so reduces the chance of accidents.
31 • @28 tom joad: (by dragonmouth on 2021-01-18 17:45:26 GMT from United States)
"But what Papavlos stated is true."
Of course it is but the majority of the Linux community does not see it that way. The members would much rather see a balkanization into hundreds of mediocre distros with little to distinguish them from each other, than a few dozen well-developed, well-supported distros with innovative features. You've perhaps heard about the proposition that if you let an infinite number of monkeys bang away on an infinite number of typewriters, they will eventually produce the complete works of Shakespeare. The currently prevailing idea in Linux is that if you let an infinite number of coders create infinite number of distros, eventually a superior distro will be created.
"I had hopes that LFS and BLFS would make inroads into new and interesting."
Ahh, but using LFS and BLFS to create a distro requires real work. Using the Chinese Menu or Erector Set approach currently in vogue is much easier and faster, although much less imaginative and/or creative.
Quality vs. quantity of distros is the same type of unresolvable argument as MS vs. Linux, AMD vs. Intel or ATI vs Nvidia. I think the most recent reiteration of this discussion on this forum was only 3 or 4 weeks ago.
32 • pv (by mandatory on 2021-01-18 17:47:20 GMT from United States)
Is it just me or does 'pv image.file > /dev/sdx' not work with sudo
33 • Admin tasks (by Cheker on 2021-01-18 18:02:16 GMT from Portugal)
I use a combination of doas and sudo to do maintenance on my GNU+Linux systems. I have doas setup to let me check and install updates without inputting password. It doesn't work with everything though, I'm guessing something's not 100% right regarding its privilege. But then, neither does sudo, sometimes I really have to bust out su, but this is usually if I'm modifying some kernel parameter and this obviously doesn't happen every day.
34 • NuTyX + CRUX (by ntj on 2021-01-18 18:08:38 GMT from Germany)
One reason I wouldn't use NuTyX is that they neither provide digital signatures nor checksums for their installation images. I have complained about this in the past, to no avail. If you ask me, that's just irresponsible. Users (newcomers and experts alike) should be provided with a way to verify any downloaded image before they use it. What's more, they should be told to always do that and they should be given useful instructions on how to do it. Finally, those instructions (or a link pointing to them) should be right on the download page.
If you can't do that, maybe don't waste your time publishing a Linux distribution (or any non-trivial piece of software in general, for that matter).
CRUX is slightly better in that repsect, at least providing MD5 sums to verify an image's integrity and telling people to do that. Still not good enough, though.
As with Slackware, running CRUX, for me, meant running half a source-based system, using their Ports System to compile things they don't offer as binary packages. This was time-consuming and made software management more cumbersome, in particular because CRUX's ports collection is a decentralized mess.
On the positive side, the maintainers of some CRUX port repositories sign their ports.
Also, CRUX does have a nice website, and their Handbook has the potential for being a really good resource. If only anyone really cared… The last time I sent them some fixes, they needed a year to get them in, missed some of what I had sent them and introduced at least one new error in the process.
It seems to me that a lot of independent open-source software projects are broken in similar ways. (NetBSD, anyone?) I have no idea what to do about that. Maybe lots of money would help.
35 • @32 sudo pv (by Marco on 2021-01-18 18:26:37 GMT from United States)
Do you want pv to run with elevated privileges or the entire statement?
If you are trying:
sudo pv image.file > /dev/sdx
could you try:
sudo bash -c 'pv image.file > /dev/sdx'
36 • @20 (by Jyrki on 2021-01-18 20:12:14 GMT from Czechia)
Yeah, this GhostBSD iso is not with installer. I tried XFCE version and it did even boot.
As for system admin, thanks to OpenBSD I got used to doas and I use it everwhere. But I don't understand why it got linuxized in Artix, where there is vidoas command that edit doas.conf file.
37 • Monkey business (by Friar Tux on 2021-01-18 20:13:28 GMT from Canada)
@31 (dragonmouth) My question, sir, would be, "Are those monkeys happy, and are the typewriters smoothly?" If that's the case, let them type away to their hearts' content. The same goes for Linux devs. If they're happy pumping out distros in whatever state, then, by all means, let them. I thought the Linux ideology was to take the free code, modify it to your heart's content and share it back into the hive. At least, that's what I keep hearing. I think all this complaining is like everyone complaining about all the coffee shops selling the same old coffee made from coffee beans. No one is selling coffee that's different (not coffee?).
38 • init (by Luca on 2021-01-18 20:48:50 GMT from Switzerland)
@18 It's depends:
« @15: "The initialization scripts used in CRUX follow the BSD-style (as opposed to the SysV-style). "
I'm not sure why you think that is an error. CRUX runs SysV init. Its init scripts are organized in a BSD-style. Slackware does something similar where its init follows a BSD-like style, but its init software is SysV init. »
"Slackware Linux uses the BSD-style file layout for its system initialization files." [http://www.slackware.com/config/init.php]
Slackware uses BSD-style and has System V Compatibility:
Since version 7.0, Slackware includes System V init compatibility. Many other Linux distributions make use of this style instead of the BSD style. Basically each runlevel is given a subdirectory for init scripts, whereas BSD style gives one init script to each runlevel.
The rc.sysvinit script will search for any System V init scripts you have in /etc/rc.d and run them, if the runlevel is appropriate. This is useful for certain commercial software packages that install System V init scripts and scripts for BSD style init.
39 • KDE Neon checksums (from Neon website) (by Daniel on 2021-01-18 20:52:46 GMT from United Kingdom)
@27 The 'people who put out KDE Neon' do post SHA256 checksums. For example you can find those for the current User iso at https://files.kde.org/neon/images/user/20210114-0946/
40 • init (by Jesse on 2021-01-18 21:24:14 GMT from Canada)
@38: "Slackware uses BSD-style and has System V Compatibility:"
This may seem like a splitting of hairs, but I'd like to make a correction here. Slackware runs SysV init. It doesn't have System V Compatibility, it is literally running the SysV init software. Slackware's -current branch includes SysV init 2.98, to be specific.
The configuration files SysV init uses on Slackware are arranged in a BSD-like style. Slackware doesn't use the BSD init software. That's a common misconception because of the way the Slackware documentation is worded.
SysV init is very small and flexible and will run just about anything you throw at it in any configuration which is why Debian's old SysV configuration, Fedora's and Slackware's could be so different all while using the same underlying init program.
41 • Salient OS (by Mike on 2021-01-18 22:05:05 GMT from United States)
I see that Salient OS has been added to the waiting list. I've been using it daily for a couple of months now and it's a good solid distro. Now, there is certainly no lack of decent Arch based distros available, but Salient is as good as any and better than many with a rich menu of programs and great support for gaming with Lutris and Steam, and now with Wine 6.0 released, it's even better. Timeshift with timeshift-autosnap installed works great also. It's well worth running a live USB to check it out.
42 • High Risk Admin (by Dr. Dave on 2021-01-18 22:32:37 GMT from United States)
I only use gksu!!
43 • @41 (by Jyrki on 2021-01-18 22:40:42 GMT from Czechia)
is it systemd distro? If yes, it's not go for me. I am very happy with Artix, but it would be nice to have more systemd arch-based options.
44 • @37 (&31) (by Simon on 2021-01-18 22:41:17 GMT from New Zealand)
I like the coffee analogy there. I couldn't agree more that change is not progress. The reason people don't insist that every new cafe serves up some new-tasting beverage as "coffee" is that they can actually tell when a drink is no longer coffee and so you can't profit from their ignorance by passing off the latest cup of brown goo as "new improved" coffee. Unfortunately, the reason so many users do insist that GNU/Linux distributions keep "innovating" in stupid ways is that they're largely ex-Windows users and so they actually have no idea what the principles of a UNIX-like operating system are or how a UNIX-like OS is meant to taste, so have no idea when they're swallowing the brown goo instead. On the whole, the more a distro changes things to work like a proprietary OS, the more they praise this as "improvement".
Dumbed down by the likes of Apple marketing campaigns, they've got it into their heads that they're missing out if they're running "yesterday's" software...no matter that it actually becomes more and more bug-free and refined in other ways the less it changes, they desperately need to see change ("oo look, the panel's over here now...oo, something popped up automatically over here...wow, clearly folks have been working on this stuff!") or they feel like they're missing out on something.
Give me a good coffee, made by a trained barista who's spent time coming to know and understand the tradition before attempting to "innovate" it. Keep your marketing-driven cup of mud spat out by some glittering million-dollar coffee machine with all its empty Steve-Jobs-inspired "25% more flavour than last year's coffee!" drivel.
45 • Crux - lazy review (by Gerard Lally on 2021-01-19 00:41:46 GMT from Ireland)
Disappointing that you didn't bother to prepare properly for a full Crux review, considering there aren't many reviews out there.
46 • Arch Spins (by Mark on 2021-01-19 01:03:32 GMT from Canada)
Lots of new Arch linux flavors. Still waiting for one with a package manager that forgives my infrequent updates. If I wait too long, pacman/pamac stalls in a dependency mess (all or nothing upgrades).
Debian's Synaptic lets me update selectively, when needed. If it warns of trouble for a big update, I will make smaller update package selections, where there are no warnings. After a few iterations of this, everything is updated without problems.
47 • @46 Arch vs Debian updates (by Hoos on 2021-01-19 07:30:28 GMT from Singapore)
Seems rather unreasonable to compare a fast rolling distro like Arch with a fixed release distro like Debian with 5 year support.
The latter is on the same base and core packages/libraries for 5 years, so of course you can selectively update a few packages only, since everything, including updates, remains on the same base.
The former rolls everything, including base and core elements, all the time. If you update infrequently, the amount of changes that have taken place in the meanwhile is huge and you may have to work a little to resolve any conflicts. And obviously updating only selected packages will cause issues longterm in a rolling distro since everything is rolling and depending on everything else to be moving forward at the same rate.
The plus side to this is having the latest packages all the time.
Users should choose a distro that fits their preferences.
A middle-ground would be more gently rolling distros like Solus or PCLinuxOS. From my experience, they update user-facing apps actively while holding back changes to base/core for some time, until a substantial portion of the base/core changes have settled. Then there is one big update to bring everything up to date.
PCLinuxOS even uses Synaptic.
48 • su or sudo (by bigblack on 2021-01-19 09:15:03 GMT from United States)
I use both, for those tasks often performed I have passwordless sudo commands, and for everything else su.
49 • @45 (by Andy Prough on 2021-01-19 17:16:54 GMT from United States)
> Disappointing that you didn't bother to prepare properly for a full Crux review, considering there aren't many reviews out there.
What would you have him do? He read the documentation and changelogs. If there's no accurately documented way to successfully install a boot loader then the review should reflect that, which it did.
50 • Crux review (by Otis on 2021-01-19 17:22:23 GMT from United States)
@45 @49 yes all I could find aside from docs and changelogs on Crux are other reviews.
51 • @42 gksu (by Frying Trux on 2021-01-19 17:22:39 GMT from Germany)
It's getting deprecated, slowly but surely, I run a testing level Debian based distro, see @22.
@ Phil J. Fry Tux, I am just pandemic insane and goofy, nothing personal. :)
52 • More CRUX reviews (by barnabyh on 2021-01-19 21:06:10 GMT from Ireland)
There are a few more that are not linked on DW currently. You may not know these yet. They are old though, Crux 2.7 and 2.8.
https://agentoss.wordpress.com/2011/04/28/a-fast-and-lightweight-linux-desktop-with-crux-linux-2-7-i686/
https://all-things-linux.blogspot.com/2012/12/crux-inspiration-behind-arch-linux.html
53 • @52 (by Cynic on 2021-01-20 04:17:01 GMT from Ghana)
Also a good review of Crux! I like the comparison to Slackware/SlackBuilds as it's what I'm more familiar with. Crux and Slack certainly have some similarities but it seems; just as many differences.
Is there a way to contact you via the blog to respond/comment/suggest an article?
54 • Response to Cynic, 53 (by barnabyh on 2021-01-20 13:36:28 GMT from Sweden)
Thank you Cynic. You're certainly right about Slackware and Crux. I stopped posting contact details due to time constraints. Some posts have the ability to comment enabled but it's all moderated as most of what I'm getting there is spam and I often don't check these for weeks so it may seem like the comment wasn't posted.
I am linking an address above. You and anybody else here is welcome to write to me and save it as it will still be in use for a while, meaning probably at least for another year. But articles are quite infrequent now.
55 • display management and distro partitions gone wild (by jay on 2021-01-22 04:30:30 GMT from United States)
I'd like to say it'd be nice if a display manager supported many distros of the same family, instead of simply many window managers. I dont see why this cant happen or be made to happen. So like, say if lightdm supported an array of *distro-wm combos* say, Debian PPA supporting downstream: MX-KDE/fluxbox/LXDE, Ubuntu/Gnome/Budgie, Linux Mint-Mate,Cinnamon,xfce, LMDE,Xubuntu, etc and upon login you can choose among them *as long as filesystem* is same, i.e. ext4 not brtfs/zfs and encryption/volume issues are supported. Similarly, all the arch's under one display manager, all the Gentoo family, etc. Right now one chooses a WM (1 choice), why not give two choices per entry? i think the harddisk can collapse many commonalities. where they differ, distro-specific encryption and symlinks can cleverly hide the sub-filesystems from other distros . any thoughts?
56 • packages (by jay on 2021-01-22 05:04:19 GMT from United States)
another thought , linux-firmware package is utterly huge, over 100 MB already. can it be split into a few pieces? not everyone has high speed net.
Number of Comments: 56
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