Kitz Forum
Chat => Tech Chat => Topic started by: roseway on May 30, 2007, 02:03:57 PM
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I'm bored! Not with life generally, I hasten to add, but with the computing part of it. Everything has become too comfortable - an OS which is easy to use and configure and gives me no grief, hardware which works well and meets all my needs, a good internet connection which doesn't let me down (touch wood) and so on. I need a new challenge.
What I'm thinking of doing is installing something much more raw and geeky, just for the hell of it; one of those purist Linux distros which avoid nice friendly configuration dialogs and leave you to hand-edit the config files. I might have fun, or I might become very frustrated. I'll let you know.
Eric
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heh - good luck.
I dont seem to find much time to do anything these days for some reason.... mind you it didnt help that I just got very distracted playing the tower defence game posted in the other thread :-[
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I built a server for a local charity run school to run 30 machines and that kept me quite for a few months of my spare time, it got the 'grey' mater working over time.
It was very satisfying that it all worked very well.
Do you use a spare machine to experiment on ?, I have about 10 :'( with W2k pro,W2K sever,various Linux Ditro's , XP pro, Linux Firewals etc.etc. I use a KVM (Keyboard Video Mouse switch) which helps to keep the clutter down !.
Also been trying 'windows virtual machine' .
I tend to do more of this sort of thing in the winter with the darker nights.
Keep us informed what you what you try.
Michael.
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I've got three machines, and I also use VMWare on my main working machine. The only Windows installation to be found here is a W2K setup in VMWare, and it hasn't been used for months.
I don't know what I'll choose to play with yet, but it probably won't be ultra-geeky, maybe Gentoo. As you say, it may not get a lot of attention until the nights draw in again.
Eric
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Just to report on (not much) progress, I've test-installed several distros over the last few weeks, and this comes to you from Vector Linux, which is a bit raw compared to the comfortable distros I have been using, but manageable by my brain cell. I've had to compile a couple of things from source to get them working properly, and there's some more to do. I'll probably stay with it for a while now until I get itchy feet again.
Others I've tried are:
PCLinuxOS - what I was using a month ago. Much too comfortable - everything works, no issues.
Kubuntu - almost as comfortable.
Sabayon - I was interested in this one, as it's a derivative of Gentoo, which is a 'compile everything from scratch' distro. But I couldn't get on with their forum, which uses a black theme which hurts my eyes, and no alternative theme was offered. (I've since realised that I could have switched off theming altogether in Firefox, but I didn't know that at the time.)
Gentoo - the installer crashed with an incomprehensible error message, so I've put it aside for another look in winter.
Mint - another Ubuntu derivative, with nothing really to distinguish it from Kubuntu.
Granular Linux - a derivative of PCLinuxOS, nothing much to distinguish it.
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Sounds like some interesting distros there, I will get around to trying some in the winter months, as I'm up to the neck in Plumbing, patio's, roofing, gardening etc. until it gets dark ( and if its not raining ! ).
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Ah yes, the delights of managing a house and garden. :D
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talking of rain - has there been a day in the past few weeks when it hasnt peed it down.
A couple of weeks ago I borrowed a jet washer to do my drive, paths and patio.. but there hasnt been a decent day yet when Ive been able to do it.
I'm sure that I cant remember a summer as wet as this one.
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I think it probably rained every day in June here (Kent), or if it didn't it certainly seemed like it. Last year we had a severe water shortage.
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yep same here rain every day although I think the first week or so in June was ok.
Surely those reservoirs must be full by now - hey who needs to water the garden :D
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Hosepipe ban next ;D
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yeah I can just imagine it
2 weeks of sun then that will be next :-X
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We live in-between two reservoirs (6 mile apart ) and they are both overflowing.
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I was in sheffield a few weeks ago staying with a friend. Ive never seen anything like the rain pour down that night.
I was absolutely drenched as we walked between pubs, trying to find somewhere to eat.
The water was running down the street like a river.. My jeans were sodden and I had water in my boots and the rain had even gone through my coat.... and this was before the floods the other week. :/
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Just to cheer you all up ;D ... here in Southern France we've had dreadful weather ........a very HOT April....was taken over by an unsettled May, and June was horrendous, very hot but thunderstorms like we've not seen before (not in the last 15 years) ...we had a few days when the skies were bright blue, the sunshine brilliant AND it was thundering and lightening - no rain - spoooooooky :o The vines have been affected by the hot humid weather.... just hoping the resulting liquid won't feel the effects .... salut folks ! (https://forum.kitz.co.uk/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.villagephotos.com%2Fp%2F2005-5%2F1013475%2Fredwine.gif&hash=a7acb370fbda2982f403a6338f129b5f0bd87e95)
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Well I think if you are lucky enough to live in the South of France then you deserve to get some bad weather occasionally, just so that the rest of us can feel a bit better. :D
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Kent finally has some sunshine today - there are actually some grockels in the car park across the road today... it's only the beach-goers that use it and it's hardly been used since April.
Perhaps it will stay fine for the cyclists tomorrow - they must be mad to do it anyway without getting soaked for their trouble ;D
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Well I think if you are lucky enough to live in the South of France then you deserve to get some bad weather occasionally, just so that the rest of us can feel a bit better. :D
:D I know, I never get any sympathy on the weather front !!
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Kent finally has some sunshine today ... etc
So I'm not the only Kentian here then :)
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Kent finally has some sunshine today ... etc
So I'm not the only Kentian here then :)
Not any more ~waves~ and I'm only down the road too :P
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Ohmygawd, don't tell me you're a neighbour (looks back anxiously at recent postings) :P
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>> Kent finally has some sunshine today - there are actually some grockels in the car park across the road today
Blackpool also has a tiny bit of sun breaking through the clouds today too.
OMG - someone else actually understands (and uses) the term "grockles". I'm normally met with vacant stares if I mention grockles.
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Ohmygawd, don't tell me you're a neighbour (looks back anxiously at recent postings) :P
Only by c.15 miles ;D although I might have ignored you in Tescos or Asda :D
Grockels - yes Dymchurch (1. from me) gets invaded annually, drawn in by the tourist hype that it's a happening place no doubt... happening for the seagulls maybe :lol:
To be fair, there is a decent beach http://www.bbc.co.uk/kent/places/pans/st_marys_bay/index.shtml
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heh - Im not sure what I did when I first opened that pic -
Somehow something I must have done got it spinning round in circles really fast - eke I feel dizzy ???
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>>> OMG - someone else actually understands (and uses) the term "grockles".
I had to look it up :-[
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It's the normal term of abuse we use in Devon, when you lot come down here clogging up the lanes. You become an emmet when you are west of the Tamar though.