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1 • SSD and Defrag (by Mike Simms on 2021-08-09 00:48:05 GMT from United Kingdom)
SSD and nvme do not need defrag because of the way their controllers access the array of memory chips. defrag will just wear those chips out far sooner than is necessary. The chips have a finite number of writes before they will fail. That is referred to as mean writes to failure in the specifications,
in the last few years the manufacturers have managed to make chips more robust and increase this value (and the length of warranties to 5 years).
All they really require is TRIM. Most of the Ubuntu flavours and derivatives have a systemd service enabled by default when an SSD is detected during install. That service is a timer to run fstrim once a week.
you can check whether it's working or not in terminal with the following code:
systemctl status fstrim
example output from that command:
● fstrim.service - Discard unused blocks on filesystems from /etc/fstab
Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/fstrim.service; static; vendor preset: enabled)
Active: inactive (dead) since Mon 2021-08-09 01:15:48 BST; 31min ago
TriggeredBy: ● fstrim.timer
Docs: man:fstrim(8)
Process: 710 ExecStart=/sbin/fstrim --fstab --verbose --quiet (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Main PID: 710 (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Aug 09 01:15:19 Aures systemd[1]: Starting Discard unused blocks on filesystems from /etc/fstab...
Aug 09 01:15:48 Aures fstrim[710]: /boot/efi: 505.8 MiB (530321408 bytes) trimmed on /dev/sda1
Aug 09 01:15:48 Aures fstrim[710]: /: 382.1 GiB (410314940416 bytes) trimmed on /dev/sda2
Aug 09 01:15:48 Aures systemd[1]: fstrim.service: Succeeded.
Aug 09 01:15:48 Aures systemd[1]: Finished Discard unused blocks on filesystems from /etc/fstab.
2 • BigOS => OS clone (by fatherclone on 2021-08-09 03:14:18 GMT from Canada)
WinOS => ReactOS
BeOS => Haiku OS
MacOS => Airyx OS
It's good to see such efforts - although a little masochistic - but, unfortunately, it will be a long time before these open source clones mature to be allround desktop ecosystems, like their proprietary forefathers.
3 • SSD, defrag & BTRFS (by Greg Zeng on 2021-08-09 06:19:49 GMT from Australia)
Normally SSD seem to not need defragmenting. However sometimes making any partition smaller than currently set is not possible. The operating system has settings that make some files not movable; System, Read-Only, etc. To change these partition sizes, turn off the file attributes, or delete these difficult files. Then defrag, and the partition sizes can then be made smaller.
BTRFS has the other "features" in many independent bench tests of being slower than other partition formats. Perhaps using too many attributes unique to BTRFS might slow it further, and add possible fragility & stability. Only a few operating system designers currently use BTRFS by default. The integration into the Linux kernel & further updates are slowly progressing. In my personal testing, it seems hard to integrate into the many versions of "grub customizer", with multiple operating systems.
4 • Defrag Btrfs (by James on 2021-08-09 10:14:32 GMT from United States)
I have one laptop with Parrot OS that now uses Btrfs as the default file system I have never had the need to defrag the hard drive.
5 • InitWare (by dragonmouth on 2021-08-09 12:13:56 GMT from United States)
And so the cancer (systemd) is about to spread to the BSDs.
6 • defrag and init (by cor on 2021-08-09 13:21:39 GMT from United States)
This is something I have not had to concern myself with since switching to Linux 20 years ago.
As for the Systemd whiners, please get over it. What is the reason for this illogical hatred? It is sad a small minority makes so many waves. Don't use it if you don't like Systemd. It's literally that simple.
7 • systemd (by J. Klotz on 2021-08-09 13:52:36 GMT from United States)
@5 Yes, it's sad. The BSDs were part of my exit strategy in case the shim no longer works or my favorite distro goes to systemd.
@6 As for the Systemd fanbois, please get over it. What is the reason for this illogical love? It is sad a controlling (LP and RedHat) thinks they need more control. Don't use it if you don't like Systemd. It's literally that simple. FTFY
Except that installers don't have an option to purge and proceed without systemd or any of it's crap. Perhaps you weren't using it when it's addition of systemd-resolve proceeded to change your DNS settings without asking and select Google for it's resolvers without asking the user. Then the documentation for it did not allow proper shutdown of systemd-resolve. Wait until they take over something harder to fix like your home directory.
8 • SME Server review (by Ankleface Wroughlandmire on 2021-08-09 14:03:43 GMT from Ecuador)
Yikes. Thanks Jesse for the review. I like the idea behind that sort of turnkey server project, but it sounds like an extremely poor implementation. I strongly recommend OpenMediaVault, which runs on top of Debian Stable. It can either be installed from a standalone image, or its repo can be simply added on top of a vanilla Debian install, which allows for running it on all sorts of eclectic non-x86 hardware. I run it with great success to keep alive an old NAS with an armel processor that LaCiE stopped supporting eons ago.
9 • Fragging drives (by Tad Strange on 2021-08-09 15:35:27 GMT from Canada)
I thought that defragging an SSD was just a means towards quickening their death.
I've never bothered, personally. The SSD on my principal computer has just started developing a few bad blocks, though I don't know the age of it. I cloned it to a new drive and will just use it for testing on the pi, or something transient.
I'm in the 3rd, DGAF, group regarding systemd.
I want my OS to work for me, rather than the other way around. If it's functional in the way that I expect, I don't care what runs it. I'll leave the holy war to others.
10 • SME Server (by Mark B on 2021-08-09 15:39:28 GMT from United Kingdom)
Jesse's honest review of SME Server came as a bit of a shock to me. I have used older versions in the past and have downloaded v10 to try out at some point. It seems like I needn't bother if it's going to be that slow. Shame!
11 • To SystemD or not to SystemD??? (by tom joad on 2021-08-09 16:09:31 GMT from Seychelles)
First, I don't use btrfs so i don't defrag much of anything. I use linux Mint Cinnamon.
However, just the other day I was standing in a grocery store line, idling, when I thought about SystemD. I said to myself, I said self there hasn't been a nice SystemD blow up in a while. And whaddya think?
Boy and girls, we have the makings of another one.
So I went over to the Search feature on this page to search for distros withOUT SystemD. Shazam! I found 28 in the first 100 distros! That is nearly a third of them. Leading the pack is MX linux at number one withOUT SystemD and I don't think it ever had SystemD. High on the list is PCLinuxOS, Puppy and FreeBSD, all in the first 20 listed distros. I didn't add Anti-X because it pretty much MXLinux. That said Anti-X is SystemD free too. All of them are steady 'eddie distros' too.
So........
If you want to SystemD, fine. If you don't, fine. You have plenty of good options.
Just please let the argument die.
P.S. If one goes looking for boogie-men one will find a lot of them. Just an observation.
12 • BSD/Linux and SystemD (by Otis on 2021-08-09 16:10:05 GMT from United States)
I, like many, have perused the documentation about the wonders of systemd init vs others. But I'd still like to at some point see an anecdotal account of experiences with/without systemd that points to systemd's superiority (for users, not devs).
13 • Not using systemd (by Bobbie Sellers on 2021-08-09 16:54:40 GMT from United States)
I believe that 4MLinux also is Not using systemd but Devuan might be the better choice
if you have been using Debian.
Well I use PCLinuxOS which is one of the best systems avoiding the use of systemd.
It is a rolling release which means that you should do updates (via synaptic) more
often, and as soon as I get off this I have to reboot so that I can try 5.13.9.
Several other distributions avoid the use of systemd and we could always if desperate
enough recompile source code without mention of systemd, for good reasons of
security. Then of course install scripts would have to be modified.
PCLinusOS for me to avoid all that.
bliss - 'Nearly any fool can use a Linux computer. Many do.' After all here I am...
14 • MX Linux - SystemD (by Nodrog on 2021-08-09 17:30:04 GMT from United Kingdom)
I've always been a bit confused by the statement MX-Linux is free from Systemd. When I look at the list of packages on Distrowatch it says Systemd is and always has been installed.
15 • SystemD Free (by Hank on 2021-08-09 17:57:26 GMT from Germany)
MX linux at number one withOUT SystemD and I don't think it ever had SystemD:
Wrong Mx has System D or SysV Init
AntiX is the system D part of the family. Which is why I use and support it.
System D on BSD are the devs nuts ???
16 • SME Server (by Paul on 2021-08-09 18:02:51 GMT from United Kingdom)
I read the review with a great deal of surprise. I've used and supported a number of small businesses using it as an internet gateway and in some cases, file server. Its reliability has been outstanding, and its performance excellent.
I'm currently looking at migrating 7 SME 9 servers to the new version. As a result, I've installed a number of test systems, none with the problems described in the review. First start after install does seem very slow, but subsequent restarts are fine. The web interface (both text mode from an SSH login) and from a graphical web browser has always shown me confirmation or failure messages. I've also not seen repeated demands for reconfiguration.
One of SME's great strengths is the number of "contribs" that are available to expand its services and capabilities. Along with very extensive documentation, it makes a very good server which is normally simple to install and maintain.
I've run SME on all sorts of different hardware, a good deal of which is obsolete. I would love to know what could have caused such a poor experience with what I continue to regard as an excellent software product.
17 • Initware (by Jyrki on 2021-08-09 18:22:39 GMT from Czechia)
I had to quickly check if it's 1st April. And it's not. Open source is often abused for splitting ways and waste resources. And this project is the biggest waste ever seen
18 • Init war or how to waste time instead of working on end user apps. (by Frederic Bezies on 2021-08-09 19:23:09 GMT from France)
I've been using systemd since 2012 on my archlinux installations. I've used upstart (back in my Ubuntu days) and sysVinit back in my Mandrake Linux days.
I will say something simple: it is USELESS to continue this init war. It lead Linux world NOWHERE.
Where are the killer apps for Linux? Besides LibreOffice, there is none. GIMP is light years behind Photoshop for ease of use.
I've been running linux only on my PCs since Ubuntu 6.06... 15 years, and I saw lot of distributions dying. I saw "wars" between Unity and Gnome users and for something like a decade this endless and wasting wars on init.
We have to be grown up. And let's work on the end user application level.
I don't care which init is used. I just want it to work, to manage my services, to help me getting a more friendly Linux distributions.
I'm just a 15 years long linux-only users on my home computers and I'm fed up with this init war.
19 • Unite for what? (by uselessmore999 on 2021-08-09 20:36:34 GMT from Germany)
Calls to stop those "useless" "wars" about some stuff that's under the hood and instead unite to focus on the development of "killer" end-user "apps" (usually meaning drop-in replacements for expensive, well-established Windows or Mac "productivity" software) in order to take Linux further always strike me as rather funny.
It's a bit like saying: I'm frustrated with the debate because it basically works for me and, apart from that, I don't give a shit. Just gimme (free) "killer apps" so I don't have to go back to using Windows or macOS.
That's not the way to ever have sane IT.
You can't just unite people over fundamental disagreements on how to do basic stuff. Those disagreements often have very valid reasons and thus should not and simply cannot be shoved aside on a whim. That's also because they're not merely technical, but to a considerable extent cultural, or questions of attitude.
The only valid ground on which to call the "init" "war" futile is that Linux, like apparently most software, is way beyond sanity in the first place. BSD might provide a good, or even just bearable, interim solution to that problem, as far as operating systems go, and as long as it's not FreeBSD.
Suit yourself.
20 • @19 How many years will be lost? (by Frederic Bezies on 2021-08-09 20:53:18 GMT from France)
I saw your comment, and I want to ask you: how many more years are we going to lose because of war on init systems?
"Calls to stop those "useless" "wars" about some stuff that's under the hood and instead unite to focus on the development of "killer" end-user "apps" (usually meaning drop-in replacements for expensive, well-established Windows or Mac "productivity" software) in order to take Linux further always strike me as rather funny."
Is there any professional quality end user software on Linux besides LibreOffice?
"It's a bit like saying: I'm frustrated with the debate because it basically works for me and, apart from that, I don't give a shit. Just gimme (free) "killer apps" so I don't have to go back to using Windows or macOS."
I stopped using MS-Windows as my daily OS back in 2006. I wrote back in 2006 on my french speaking blog an article on my thoughts after 3 weeks using ubuntu 6.06 : https://blog.fredericbezies-ep.fr/2006/06/18/un-peu-plus-de-3-semaines-sous-la-ubuntu-dapper-drake-bilan/
Sorry, it is in french. But I think you can find a translation tool that works.
I saw a lot of progress be done: user friendly installers, more and more polished versions of main desktop environment. I remember using Gnome 2.something on Ubuntu 6.06 LTS. I remember KDE 3.5 and its plastik theme. Things were going the right way.
"That's not the way to ever have sane IT."
Ah...
"The only valid ground on which to call the "init" "war" futile is that Linux, like apparently most software, is way beyond sanity in the first place. BSD might provide a good, or even just bearable, interim solution to that problem, as far as operating systems go, and as long as it's not FreeBSD. "
What is sanity? You make me think of somebody searching for some kind of software purity...
BSD the way to go? And going back to 2010 for hardware support? The longer you will search for software purity, the longer you'll see your computer as a gadget. Not as a working tool.
I was like you until 2017... Then I saw that Linux kernel was ready from prime time, desktop environment too. Only missing part are professional quality end-user software.
Sorry to be mainly a desktop oriented linux, and archlinux user.
So, a bottom hole for some purists linux users :)
Have a good day.
21 • systemD (by dragonmouth on 2021-08-09 21:27:18 GMT from United States)
@5: systemD is like a command economy. ALL decisions are made by one central entity.
@18:
"it is USELESS to continue this init war."
No, it isn't. It is interesting that when it comes to pointless duplicate apps and distros, the more the better according to most Linux users because Linux is about choice. Yet, when it comes to systemD, the same pro-choicers see it as the wave of the future and an application (because it is way more than init by now) to be used by as many distros as possible. The heck with choice. All other inits must die.
"We have to be grown up."
I agree. However, part of being grown up is giving up the "my way or the highway" attitude and allowing everyone their freedom of choice though you disagree with that choice.
"let's work on the end user application level"
Tell that to all those churning out endless "me too" copies of apps and distros instead of helping on the already existing projects. (Again we run into the Linux "choice" mantra)
BTW - the first distro I installed was Red Hat and it came on six 3.5" diskettes.
22 • Init and others (by Nathan on 2021-08-09 21:29:07 GMT from United States)
Init wars are lovely, and I love reading them almost as much as editor wars! So here's my 2 cents. Some of us have PTSD from losing control over something we thought we were in charge of. For me it's planned obsolescence in cellphones: a perfectly good phone is no longer supported and just dies a strange death of not being able to install anything from the app store. Now I see myself corralled into using SystemD just like I was corralled into choosing between iOS and Android, and the parallel is too striking for my fragile brain. Maybe I'm just paranoid, but kind of like a cat who sees the closet door closing and scoots in, I see the options in alternative init systems drying up and I think, "gotta get in that closet!"
I'm probably way off base. The cat analogy hits close to home... But all the same, I'm loving the openrc closet, and I also love getting upset about software that isn't init-agnostic when it should be.
23 • init (by dave on 2021-08-10 04:11:12 GMT from United States)
@7 same.. we'll end up using TempleOS to avoid all the glowies
systemd pushers basically speak like the borg from star trek-- instead of "resistance is futile" it's "debate is useless". When they're not speaking like the borg, they talk like someone from the proverbial marketing department "b-but muh killer appz!" Please take your bloat addiction and mission creep back to wandows.
24 • init (by M.Z. on 2021-08-10 04:56:01 GMT from United States)
There remains plenty of choices based on init alone if that's your thing. There really is no rational reason to complain when you have plenty of decent options, unless of course you just like complaining. There are always complaints of a shadowy cabal taking freedom; however, the option to choose whatever distro with whatever init you want remains & the real cabals of the world have a lot bigger fish to fry than how you boot your OS. Also there is the option to fork any distro you want if you can get enough technically minded people & other resources behind the effort.
I ran PCLinuxOS for about five years straight, mostly before the holy init war crap began. It was a very solid OS for the most part. I think it's cousin Mageia is in the same ballpark, regardless of init. I'm not really sure about Devuan, but it's cousin Mint is excellent. Chose what you will & support you preferred project how you see fit & chances are your preference or something like it will be around for a long time to come.
25 • SystemD on OpenBSD (by DaveT on 2021-08-10 06:42:31 GMT from United Kingdom)
That report about InitWare working on porting systemd to OpenBSD made me laugh out loud. They will never get that past Theo de Raadt!
My laptop and servers run OpenBSD. I have a Devuan linux box for applications such as csound and what have you that never got ported to the BSDs.
26 • Systems without systemd (by Sa on 2021-08-10 07:14:18 GMT from France)
There is still Android, AOSP and later Fuchsia.
27 • @21 @22 @23 choice dictatorship and others subjects... (by Frederic Bezies on 2021-08-10 09:18:58 GMT from France)
Ah, choice dictatorship...
Linux is about choice. There is about 10 init system or so. How many are rock solid? We have 10 desktop environment or so. How many are complete and really user friendly?
Too many choices are killing choices. I'm not the first one telling this. Just look at this TED conference: https://www.ted.com/talks/barry_schwartz_the_paradox_of_choice
"Psychologist Barry Schwartz takes aim at a central tenet of western societies: freedom of choice. In Schwartz's estimation, choice has made us not freer but more paralyzed, not happier but more dissatisfied."
Once again, I DON'T CARE about which init system my OS is using. It works, I keep it. It doesn't work? I remove it.
There is about 280 alive distributions listed here. How many are used only by their developers? How many are simple copycat of each others?
Well, I have nothing more to add. I know this discussion will run into an endless circle. I'm no more a geeky linux user. My computer is my working tool, not an experiment one.
Have a good day.
28 • RunOpenSysD (by Cheker on 2021-08-10 13:07:55 GMT from Portugal)
The open nature of UNIX-likes prevents a single init, or for that matter, any other system component, to monopolize its entire space. The very same fragmentation that people complain about, an inevitable consequence of freedom of choice, guarantees that long as there is one developer that doesn't like systemd (and this will always be the case), there will always be a non-systemd UNIX. I wouldn't worry too much about it.
Having said this, that headline did make me question if I hadn't slipped into a parallel universe. Systemd and OpenBSD in the same sentence is not something I was expecting in the most feverish of dreams. Note that InitWare is not pure systemd though - Theo will never entertain it otherwise.
29 • Politics Religion Systemd (by John Brown on 2021-08-10 14:05:47 GMT from United States)
All my friends are Republicans , Christians, SystemDoers.
I tried all the non systemd distros in the past. They worked. Now I run distros with systemd, and guess what they work.
I don't see any difference. Surely no bloat. If I can get a fully installed debian down to 3.6GB. Where's the bloat. If your referring to the million+ lines of code. Its just the coding, NOT the compiled program.
How many lines of code is linux: 27.8 million lines!!! No one is complaining about its bloat.
30 • fire in the whole (by fonz on 2021-08-10 14:35:16 GMT from Indonesia)
nice set of reviews nowadays showing light on lesser used distros. id still prefer a mainstream distro and install server stuff. i find it as an easier starting ground overall. also tried installing ubuntu server and adding lxde for a slightly cleaner start. id still prefer the former.
like swap, i prefer setting defrag as a last resort. a 'byte saved is a byte earned' mentality and tmpfsing nearly everything saves me a bunch of time (IMHO). i usually only check the defrag status on both lin and win, both suggest none required. my externals are a different story tho, but id still prefer not to ;P
not too picky on init (swaying against systemd tho), most people would still prefer choosing what we want. take mx for example, you can use sysv (default) or switch to sysd. i hope more distros can let us 'choose your destiny' and stuff. IIRC there are other distros that offer a bunch of choices, but wouldnt it be awesome (and easier) if they were ALL preinstalled, can choose to install more, and switch between them freely like mx..?
31 • SystemD query re-worded (by Otis on 2021-08-10 15:54:45 GMT from United States)
In @12 I may not have made my question clear. I'll pose it differently:
What is good/superior for users, FOR USERS, about systemD over other init systems? We see a lot about how it's easier, more useful for developers to make necessary changes to their products. But the conversation in here is (mostly) users complaining about or praising systemD.
Why do USERS need systemD as the init system? It's taking over.. so devs are doing that at the behest of users? Or with disregard for users?
32 • April's Fool Day (by Oko on 2021-08-10 17:26:15 GMT from United States)
It looks like the latest DistroWatch weekly was seriously affected by clock drifting. I didn't expect April's fool day joke in the form InitWare aka. systemd for OpenBSD in August. A quick look reveals license incompatibility
"InitWare is licensed under the GNU Library GPL, version 2.1 or later, except for the following files:"
which means that has zero provability to become the part of OpenBSD proper. There is also some blurb about D-Bus nonsense which no OpenBSD user uses. For a serious talk on init system for OpenBSD by no other than its core developer
https://www.bsdfrog.org/pub/events/openbsd-rcd-EuroBSDcon2016.pdf
and mandatory video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjHDvO_haQY
I am not sure if the purpose of the news was to generate Internet traffic (which could mean more advertisement revenue for DWW) but it certainly does contribute to diminishing quality of articles on this web site.
33 • To D or not to D... (by Friar Tux on 2021-08-10 20:48:46 GMT from Canada)
I guess, when it comes to systemd, I'm in that 3rd group, too. The "I don't really care" group. My OS uses systemd and I've not had any issues in the five years I've used it. I HAVE had issues with some of the other init systems that I've tested.
I don't really care what init system my OS uses so long as it stays out of the way and let's me get my work done. Plus, if it makes the devs' job easier, all the better. Maybe that's why it was adopted so quickly by so many. (Though you are perfectly in you right to beef and complain about it if you wish. Just don't be upset if the rest of us ignore you. That is OUR right.)
As for systemd being ported over to BSD, well, it appears, if that is really the case, that it may make things easier for the BSD devs. Again, why was/is it adopted so quickly if it isn't that good. (The arguement that it was "forced" on us is incorrect as this is Linux and we can cobble together any franken-distro we wish, even without systemd, if we wish.)
34 • This weeks Opinion Poll... (by Tech in San Diego on 2021-08-10 21:08:05 GMT from United States)
Diverting a bit from the init controversy. I have used "spinners" for over 35 years, that is until I purchased a new laptop earlier this year that came with a 256GB SSD and a 1TB HDD @7200RPM. Can someone point me to where I can find performance and MTFB numbers? In my particular environment I don't notice the benefits of an SSD vs an HDD. The only real improvement that I can quantify is that the system appears to boot slightly faster with an SSD vs an HDD. I use a RAID array when "crunching the numbers". The other benefit that improves my environment is the throughput when I encode video/audio content or when I'm programming. Adding a faster processor and faster memory helps resolve this. The noticeable difference, and one that I can absolutely quantify, is in the area of performance, reliability and price. I'm already seeing a "premature SSD failure is imminent" notice upon boot. If and when it dies, I'm going to replace it with a tried and true 1TB HDD @10K RPM.
And now a word from our sponsor. If last weeks topic wasn't controversial enough, the init system raised it's ugly head... again. In the words of Rodney King "Why cant we all learn to get along?".
All the Best!
Tech in San Diego
PS: I use openSUSE Tumbleweed with the BTRFS filesystem and a Rasp Pi for my NAS. I have never defragged my file systems and differ to BTRFS and openSUSE to do it's own "cleanup" upon boot.
35 • OpenBSD and systemd (by Keith S on 2021-08-11 03:22:57 GMT from United States)
I've been using OpenBSD as my daily driver for over 10 years. I'd put the odds of Theo allowing systemd to replace the current init system at zero.
I wish the systemd people would do something useful with their time, like porting Android SDK Platform Tools to OpenBSD. But no, political agitprop is more their style.
36 • SME10 Review (by Terry Fage on 2021-08-11 05:33:19 GMT from Australia)
Can you please provide the hardware specs you used when doing your review..it looks to have been a VM, what flavour and what were the VM specs..
Your comments re speed is very dependent on amount of RAM, particulary for ClamAV..
Terry Fage
37 • SME Server review (by Dan on 2021-08-11 05:34:28 GMT from Romania)
I'm curios, are there (free) alternatives to SME Server that offer the same features out of the box for small businesses? Features like admin interface for user/groups management, samba file sharing and domain controller, full email services including IMAP, SMTP, spam/antivirus filtering and optionally gateway/firewall/vpn services. The ones I know of are ClearOS, Nethserver, Univention, Zentyal. Could you do a full lineup?
38 • defragging btrfs (by Simon Plaistowe on 2021-08-11 11:07:48 GMT from New Zealand)
My only drive using btrfs is the storage drive in my UrBackup server, where my household's data backups are kept. No need yet for any defragmentation. In fact I think it'd bugger up the efficient deduplication, upon which the backup system relies heavily. As for workstations, they're all ext4 ...and I've never ever had to defrag any of 'em! On the odd occasion when I remember to run it, e4defrag invariably tells me it's not needed. Score is always 0 or 1 (and 56 is the recommended threshold above which you ought to defrag).
39 • Elementary OS 6 Inter font hint for KDE users (by Mike Simms on 2021-08-11 14:08:24 GMT from United Kingdom)
I'll look forward to your review of this version of Elementary even though I'm not a massive fan of Mac OS clones. In the meantime, any KDE users who wish to try out the new version of the Inter font linked to in the release announcement on their blog will need to use the hinted TTF variant.
I'm currently using Inter hinted font with Kubuntu 20.04 and it does vastly improve the look and legibility over the standard Noto Sans
40 • Killer app? (by Tad Strange on 2021-08-11 18:42:19 GMT from Canada)
*cough* That would be the web browser. More and more vendors are moving their software to cloud-based subscription models every year.
The browser is the killer app that frees folk from the Wintel and PC world.
I think Google even wrapped a laptop around a web browser....
LibreOffice represents the quaint old way of working - there's nothing "killer" about it, other than it being as free as beer isn't.
Living offline is rapidly becoming niche.
41 • On & Off Line (by Friar Tux on 2021-08-11 23:50:18 GMT from Canada)
@40 (Tad Strange) "Living offline is rapidly becoming niche." No, I don't think so. There are way too many of us that want OUR stuff to stay on OUR devices. I have been burnt twice with "cloud tech" so I, for one, have sworn it off. And I know of plenty of others in the same boat. Maybe, in 50 years or so, but not any time soon. Cloud tech is still way too young and way too sketchy to be stable and secure. (Plus the fact that your stuff is being curated by someone else at a location you have no control over... no thanks.)
That goes for having a full fledged OS on my device, also. No "browser OS" for me. To me, the cons far out way the pros.
42 • I'm a hypocryt - w/ systemd (by crayola-eater on 2021-08-12 00:49:22 GMT from United States)
Someone earlier asked for feedback from a usr on systemd. Well I have to admit that I have what I know is an irrational distrust of it, so I don't use it (running antiX with runit init). But I so use religiously the dreaded precursor to systemd - pulseaudio. Fortunately I can run it without actually running systemd, as it handles my audio needs much better (read easier) than I can get with alsa. When I sample a distro running systemd, I have never encountered any issue that I can track back to it. But I still don't want it as my daily driver - yep, irrational distrust. And I'll live with that.
43 • Cloud based OS (by Mike Simms on 2021-08-12 06:20:07 GMT from United Kingdom)
I'm with Friar Tux on this one. There isn't the infrastructure here to allow reliance on the cloud even if I wanted to go down that route anyway.
But more importantly cloud data centres are vulnerable to attack, fire, flooding, the host business folding. Only recently cloud servers I do access through an online game (they host the game servers) went down due to a fire at the cloud data farm and were offline for 2 weeks while the data centre had the climate control for the building they were in checked for the same fault that caused a fire in the adjacent building also containing cloud servers.
What this highlighted is that despite the data host stating they had redundancy in case of such an occurrence, there was none. The people responsible for those servers in the game have since cancelled their contract and gone elsewhere.
44 • @40 Tad Strange: (by dragonmouth on 2021-08-12 12:13:17 GMT from United States)
Whenever you store your data on third-party servers (cloud) you give up control of that data. In addition to the dangers already mentioned by others, your data is subject to the whims of corporate policy. Your data can be held hostage to corporate demands. Once you put your data out in the cloud, it will be there forever and you can never retrieve it. The cloud provider will always have a copy of your data. So much for data security.
45 • "Do You Defrag Your Btrfs Volume?"...Why would one explicitly do that? (by R. Cain on 2021-08-12 14:13:16 GMT from United States)
Btrfs contains, among the many of its convenient features, 'autodefrag' (it also happens to be much more kind and gentle with/to SSDs than other file systems. But that's going "....off topic...").
46 • systemd and BSDs (by Basilio on 2021-08-12 15:09:44 GMT from Italy)
BSDs have no need for systemd. In the Linux world systemd, pulseaudio, D-Bus and GNOME were introduced to create a single standard that would hinder the excessive fragmentation among the different Linux distributions. In the BSD field, distributions do not exist and the only reason to introduce "something like systemd" may be the willingness to fully support the GNOME desktop environment. But looking at the good level reached by other desktop environments (first of all KDE Plasma) ... do BSDs really need GNOME?
47 • Don't worry, I'm a Doctor (by Trihexagonal on 2021-08-12 16:58:21 GMT from United States)
@5 "And so the cancer (systemd) is about to spread to the BSDs."
Just because a program, or library, makes it into the FreeBSD ports tree does not mean it is going to be included in the Base System installation.
From the FreeBSD About Ports page for libinotify:
"This library provides inotify-compatible interface for applications,
that need to monitor changes happening in a filesystem. It can be useful
when porting Linux applications, which often use inotify interface."
From the freebsd.org site:
"With over 33,000 ported libraries and applications, FreeBSD supports applications for desktop, server, appliance, and embedded environments."
They are optional programs you choose to install or dependencies of other programs you choose to install, but 33,000 of the are not included in the Base System installation.
Xorg isn't included in the Bases System because people who use it as a server don't need it. A DE or WM aren't included because nobody who uses FreeBSD wants one included and have someone else make that choice for them.
We like it that way and no matter how many people complain about "Why can't FreeBSD be more like that other OS" it's going to stay that way. I try to make it easier for people to learn how, but I'm only a Doctor. Not a miracle worker.
"ive always wondered how people can say 'unused RAM is wasted RAM.' wonder if theyve tried doing something like gaming, browsing ETC."
I can't cure ignorance, only provide you with assistance to overcome it. Now stand up and walk.
48 • @47: (by dragonmouth on 2021-08-13 12:32:41 GMT from United States)
"Just because a program, or library, makes it into the FreeBSD ports tree does not mean it is going to be included in the Base System installation. "
We shall see in the coming months/years. :-)
The quotes and commentary you provided does not preclude systemd from spreading to BSDs.
"I'm only a Doctor. Not a miracle worker"
Whatever you say, Bones.
49 • So what has changed *NOW*? ((38 • defragging btrfs (by Simon Plaistowe...}} (by R. Cain on 2021-08-13 13:37:31 GMT from United States)
"My only drive using btrfs is the storage drive... No need yet for any defragmentation..."
"...workstations, they're all ext4 ...and I've never ever had to defrag any of 'em!... when I remember to run it, e4d
efrag INVARIABLY TELLS ME IT'S NOT NEEDED. Score is always 0 or 1 (and 56 is the recommended threshold above which you ought to defrag)."
************************************************************************************************
I seem to remember, from back in the Pleistocene Era (when everyone was running some variant of Windows--3.1; 3.11, 95; 98...), that a VERY standard--requisite--drill was the defragmentation of the hard drive; performed almost religiously by serious users. The 'defrag' option was a built-in "menu option" on Windows
Some people would run "defrag" once a week; the more slovenly would wait a month. It was a common response to a "newb's" complaint of a slowing-down computer, to start the attack of the problem by running "defrag", and that this most certainly would probably solve all the user's problems.
I also seem to remember that when we serious users discovered Linux, and brought along our "...you need to defrag the hard drive all the time..." 'muscle memory' from Windows, being advised by Linux Cognicenti that Linux, unlike Windows, did NOT require hard-drive defragmentation; and, furthermore--"LEAVE IT ALONE!"
All I can say is that, in the more than twenty years I've been running various flavors of Linux on a lot of different machines, I have taken "The Cognicenti"s advice. I have *never* "de-fragged" a Linux hard drive. I have *never* had a problem.
What is different now? What has changed?
50 • defrag (by Trihexagonal on 2021-08-13 17:16:31 GMT from United States)
I thought defrag was a Windows thing and this the first time I've heard it mentioned while using Linux or FreeBSD.
When using FreeBSD if the power goes out and you don't shutdown cleanly the System will run fsck during the boot process to check for and fix any file system errors.
If it's serious enough you may have to boot into Single-user mode and run it from there. I've never had to in 16 years, starting as a beta tester for PC-BSD in 2005 before moving to FreeBSD.
If during the normal boot process if you haven't made a keystroke in 60 seconds after hitting the CLI it will start fsck in the background automatically to check the file system.
@47 No more than your comment qualifies as a diagnosis of cancer, or indicates Chemo, Radiology or Surgery is required.
You'll do fine with FreeBSD I'm sure. I, or one of my associates, will be waiting patiently for your arrival to make you comfortable and assist you as needed.
We discussed the possibility of SystemD metastasis last night in conference. It is our prognosis it will not spread further than the ports tree.
51 • To the 72% of you who checked the "I No Not Use Btrfs" box-- (by R. Cain on 2021-08-13 23:16:18 GMT from United States)
...perhaps you need to learn something new; to discover a really good, well-supported distribution by a major player, i.e., from a source which is NOT driven by the "Move Fast and Break Things'" syndrome: Fedora 34.
You might find it liberating--to say nothing of almost magical--to discover a distribution which does not fill you with the dread of wondering what, exactly, is going to break, and is NOT going to work when you upgrade to the newest version.
Number of Comments: 51
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