[Leaplist] sad state of Linux default desktop installs

Sat Sep 12 19:56:21 EDT 2009

Kevin Korb wrote:
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> Interesting.  I am a little surprised.
>
> Maybe I will try overriding the mask in Gentoo and see how it works now.
> The dependencies wouldn't even build the last time I tried.
>
> BTW, I do agree with you on the codecs support.  Since I use Gentoo I
> sometimes forget that many other distros require extra hoops to play
> common media files.  I am not saying that Gentoo is easy but that
> installing those codecs is no more difficult or unusual that installing
> anything else on Gentoo.
>
> I am a little confused on your network configuration test.  It sounds like
> the system auto-configured the network with a dynamic IP and then you
> wanted to redefine it with a static IP.  If that is the case most distro
> installers do the smart thing and don't bother to ask about IP info if it
> was auto-assigned by a DHCP server.  If you are saying you were never
> asked and nothing was auto-configured I would certainly agree with your
> assessment of failure.  If you are saying you want to override DHCP and
> set a static IP then I would say you should either configure the static IP
> on the DHCP server or you should just accept that you have to do an extra
> step for your unusual requirement.
>   
Every OS except for Debian assumed I was running a DHCP server someplace 
in my network.  I do not I run static IPs, much easier for me to secure 
and maintain when I run wifi.  Only Debian, after attempting to pull an 
IP from a DHCP server and failing, asked me what to do and how to 
configure the network to connect to the internet.

All of the rest just failed and then skipped with zero prompt on what to 
do and went forward with the installation of the OS.  A few of the Linux 
distros that did this also failed to connect when configured properly 
for a static IP with IP, broadcast, gateway, DNS server, and subnet.  
Sabayon would ONLY work from the root user, but that is worthless as by 
default you can not log into the GUI as root, not that you would really 
want to anyways, but still a failure.  Mint would connect but would not 
connect to the network.  It could ping my IPCop and other IPs on my LAN, 
but refused to go outside of the LAN for any reason.  IIRC there was one 
other Linux that I just could not get to work properly for the networking.

Again If I really wanted to take the time to beat things into submission 
I am sure I could, but there is no way a user like my wife would be 
successful at doing so and that is the perspective the test was run from.
> BTW, I am not a fan of the no-root approach either at least for my systems
> but it does work pretty well for the n00bs especially if the desktop
> environment is setup to prompt in a GUI window whenever sudo is needed.
>   
Yeah I personally HATE the laziness that sudo brings.  It makes Linux 
more Windows like. 
> On Sat, 12 Sep 2009 19:39:25 -0400
> Ray Brunkow <ray at brunkow.ws> wrote:
>   
>> Kevin Korb wrote:
>>     
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>>> You didn't mention FF in a few of your distro summaries.  Does that
>>> mean they actually came with FF 3.5.x?  I would be a little surprised
>>> to see the more "stable" distros going to a newer version while the
>>> Gentoo people are still in the testing phase.  It isn't like Gentoo is
>>> known for having a long testing phase on anything.  Even the official
>>> binary build is masked in portage.
>>>   
>>>       
>> Yes, if I did not list a "fail" for a reason, then it passed the other 
>> parts of the test.  So yes if I did not mention FF, then it came with 
>> FF3.5 and had zero problems with the add-ons.
>>     
>>> On Sat, 12 Sep 2009 19:29:47 -0400
>>> Ray Brunkow <ray at brunkow.ws> wrote:
>>>   
>>>       
>>>> Kevin Korb wrote:
>>>>     
>>>>         
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>>>>> I have to ask why you are insisting on FireFox 3.5.  The dependencies
>>>>> that it requires (xulrunner 1.9.1.x and nspr 4.8) are not entirely
>>>>> stable yet. Even bleeding edge stick it in there whether it works or
>>>>> not Gentoo hasn't gone to FF 3.5.x yet.
>>>>>   
>>>>>       
>>>>>           
>>>> -snip-
>>>>
>>>> Simple, 3.5 is stable release for FF.  that is why.  In fact 3.5.3 is 
>>>> the current stable release for FireFox.  To expect Linux, OSx, and 
>>>> Windows to use different versions is not a fair test.  To expect them 
>>>> all to use the exact same version is fair.
>>>>
>>>>     
>>>>         
>>> - -- 
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>>> 	Kevin Korb			Phone:    (407) 252-6853
>>> 	Systems Administrator		Internet:
>>> 	FutureQuest, Inc.		Kevin at FutureQuest.net  (work)
>>> 	Orlando, Florida		kmk at sanitarium.net (personal)
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>>> 	PGP public key available on web site.
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>>     
>
>
> - -- 
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> 	Kevin Korb			Phone:    (407) 252-6853
> 	Systems Administrator		Internet:
> 	FutureQuest, Inc.		Kevin at FutureQuest.net  (work)
> 	Orlando, Florida		kmk at sanitarium.net (personal)
> 	Web page:			http://www.sanitarium.net/
> 	PGP public key available on web site.
> ~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~
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-- 
Raymond L. Brunkow
5th Degree Black Belt
Certified Instructor
Choong Sil Kwan TaekwonDo Federation

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