Re: [PLUG] Bloat Lovers Celebrate

[Eric <eric@lucii.org>]

Okay, okay so (K)ubuntu uber alles :-)

Seriously, I tried Kubuntu on my Athlon 64x2 about a year ago and it drove me
crazy.  Two times specifically:

1.  I use Firefox.  I use Firefox extensions - a *lot*.  Firefox came in a 64
bit version but, sadly, none of the extensions were available for 64 bits.  Oh,
and (K)ubuntu was 32 bit OR 64 bit and nary the twain shall meet!.  The
instructions I finally found at the Ubuntu site said that I had to install a
separate 32 bit version of Firefox in a chroot jail with all it's own 32 bit
libraries!  Well excuuuuuuuuse me but I want to _use_ a computer, not _build_
and _rebuild_ one.  To me it was a major hurdle that every time there is an
update to FF or an extension I've got to get all the sources and do a "config;
make; make install" all over again - or maintain two different versions and
remember which one I was using.  Sigh.

2.  I switched from KMail to Thunderbird.  I've since been disappointed by the
fact that TBird uses mailbox files only while KMail uses maildir (the better
way)!  But, KMail crashed on me at one point and I lost all of my settings.
That was, to be blunt, a royal PITA.  I did not trust it.  After I had switched
to TBird I found that enigmail is NOT available for my 64 bit version of TBird
:-(  I would have to compile it from the source and not just enigmail but TBird
as well.

Now I'm as mentally stable as the next person [heh! sure] but this was simply
too much system configuration and hacking for me.  I don't get paid for those
things... I get paid for work output.  When I installed OpenSuSE 10.2 it just
worked.  32/64/extensions/TBird/FF/whatever - zap!  It all just worked.

I won't switch OS or even distros - or even versions - lightly.  It's too much work.

Has the 32/64 issue gotten better with the newer versions of (K)ubuntu?  I would
buy another HD and try it again if these problems are resolved or at least dealt
with in a more transparent manner.

[Also, I was an old SuSE fan from way-back... I have the disks for SuSE going
back to version 6 - maybe even 5 or 4!  I'm used to the German way (it's a
_l_o_n_g_ and OT story....  "Greifaltstempel" comes to mind) ] :-)

As for: "3. Green" I can only say: Themes


Eric


Jason wrote:
> On 10/13/07, Brian Vagnoni <bvagnoni@v-system.net> wrote:
>>  Opensuse 10.3 is out. If this is old news to you please excuse the post.
> 
> I tried it out, and there were some mighty annoying things.  At least
> they're annoying to me.
> 
> 1. Compiz Fusion - I've got Nvidia hardware (8800 gts to be precise),
> using the current nvidia glx drivers, which of course, support AIGLX.
> Compiz should be a no-brainer, right?  The dialog to turn it on told
> me it was going to need to install xgl in order to make Compiz Fusion
> work.  And yes, I did verify that I was using "nvidia" not "nv".
> 
> 2. Missing network-manager addons - little "uninmportant" ones, like
> the vpn control addons.  I know all about SuSE's tools for managing
> network connections, which is why I prefer Network Manager. :)
> 
> 3. Green.  It makes me even more ill than Brown+Orange.
> 
> 4. For reasons I won't go into here, I deactivate the onboard Intel
> HDA audio on my motherboard in favor of a USB sound device.  It's
> detected and all, but for whatever reason, it's never recognized as
> the "default" card.  At least on Ubuntu, I can rectify it with an
> "asoundconf set-default-card" command easily enough.  I couldn't
> figure out how to do that on SuSE without downloading a 3rd party
> package that provided asoundconf.  In the end, that finally worked.
> 
> 5. Is that function in the "Control Panel"?  Or was it YaST?  Or was
> it somewhere else?
> 
> Ubuntu isn't by any stretch perfect, but I can live with it.  If it's
> a system-wide setting,  System > Administration, otherwise, System >
> Preferences.  It's got asoundconf by default. It's got the network
> manager addons I want.  And under Gutsy, flipping on Compiz Fusion was
> dead simple -- no xgl required.
> 
> I'm sure if you're a die-hard SuSE lover, 10.3 rocks your socks off.
> To me, it was just another distro to take a whack at.  Gutsy lives on
> my desktop now. :)
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-- 
#  Eric Lucas
#
#                "Oh, I have slipped the surly bond of earth
#                 And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings...
#                                        -- John Gillespie Magee Jr
___________________________________________________________________________
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Announcements - http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-announce
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