[Dorset] Introduction
Hi All, Having rejoined the list I figured I ought to say 'Hi'. I'll try and come down to one of the meetings if I can, spare giro funds permitting!!! (time I have plenty of at the mo'!). I'm no Linux guru but I am an ex 3rd line support Telecoms/Applications engineer so if you need any telco stuff answering I'll certainly try :). Do be warned I do get vaguely evangelical pie in the sky ideas about random community IT projects :) Look forward to hearing/meeting you in the future Bryn -- Next meeting: Bournemouth? TBD, Wednesday 2010-10-06 20:00 Meets, Mailing list, IRC, LinkedIn, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk/ How to Report Bugs Effectively: http://bit.ly/4sACa
Re: [Dorset] Introduction
On 23/09/2010 15:50, Bryn Jones wrote: > > I'll try and come down to one of the meetings if I can, spare giro funds > permitting!!! (time I have plenty of at the mo'!). Hi Bryn, I have been on this list for some time and have *never* managed to get to a meet ;-) > Do be warned I do get vaguely evangelical pie in the sky ideas about > random community IT projects :) I get evangelical about open source especially when surrounded by Mickey$oft drones. I must be the only one who wears an Ubuntu lanyard for my security pass in Microsoft House, TVP :-) Si -- Next meeting: Bournemouth? TBD, Wednesday 2010-10-06 20:00 Meets, Mailing list, IRC, LinkedIn, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk/ How to Report Bugs Effectively: http://bit.ly/4sACa
Re: [Dorset] Introduction
On 23 September 2010 15:56, Simon P Smith wrote: > On 23/09/2010 15:50, Bryn Jones wrote: > > > > I'll try and come down to one of the meetings if I can, spare giro funds > > permitting!!! (time I have plenty of at the mo'!). > Hi Bryn, > > I have been on this list for some time and have *never* managed to get > to a meet ;-) > > Do be warned I do get vaguely evangelical pie in the sky ideas about > > random community IT projects :) > I get evangelical about open source especially when surrounded by > Mickey$oft drones. I must be the only one who wears an Ubuntu lanyard > for my security pass in Microsoft House, TVP :-) > > Si > > I'm on the Brisol/Wiltshire & Dorset LUGS - and have as yet only attended one meeting. Most are too far away to get to on bicycleanyone care to meet in Melksham?? As for being surrounded by MS Drones.I find myself supporting the (MS) support staff at work on MS O/S installs!!! but - in my little domainerghhh NIS domain I have a fine collection of linux boxes...eventually I'll have to integrate them with MS Active Directory. Currently planning a move from various versions of OpenSUSE to CentOS 5.5 to be done as soon as possible. -- "of all the paths you choose in life, make sure some of them are dirt..." -- Next meeting: Bournemouth? TBD, Wednesday 2010-10-06 20:00 Meets, Mailing list, IRC, LinkedIn, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk/ How to Report Bugs Effectively: http://bit.ly/4sACa
[Dorset] Which distro would you install?
I'm getting a new computer built and for work reasons, I will have Windows 7 on it but of course, I want to install a dual boot system. Currently, I have Ubuntu on my desktop and my netbook. My netbook came with Ubuntu installed and as I share my current desktop with my partner who has no previous experience of Linux, I thought Ubuntu would be the easiest. Also, I had Debian in 2005/2006 and after a few years on Windows, I thought it was good to get back to Linux using a distro based on Debian. My new desktop will be solely mine (partner will keep on using the old desktop) so I'm free to install a perhaps less user-friendly distro. I mostly use the computer for 3 things: AutoCAD (thus requiring Windows), music (again, I prefer Windows software like Cubase - I have used Ardour before and recorded an entire album on it but Cubase suits me better because I collaborate with other musicians who use Cubase sometimes) and programming, for which Linux is the best. I also use my desktop for the usual stuff, like browsing, Open Office etc. With the above in mind, which distro would you advise me to install on my new desktop? I was thinking of perhaps openSuse or Fedora but not too sure if there is one distro considered better for programmers? -- Next meeting: Bournemouth? TBD, Wednesday 2010-10-06 20:00 Meets, Mailing list, IRC, LinkedIn, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk/ How to Report Bugs Effectively: http://bit.ly/4sACa
Re: [Dorset] Which distro would you install?
On 23 September 2010 18:30, Natalie Hooper wrote: > I'm getting a new computer built and for work reasons, I will have Windows > 7 > on it but of course, I want to install a dual boot system. > > Currently, I have Ubuntu on my desktop and my netbook. My netbook came with > Ubuntu installed and as I share my current desktop with my partner who has > no previous experience of Linux, I thought Ubuntu would be the easiest. > Also, I had Debian in 2005/2006 and after a few years on Windows, I thought > it was good to get back to Linux using a distro based on Debian. > > My new desktop will be solely mine (partner will keep on using the old > desktop) so I'm free to install a perhaps less user-friendly distro. I > mostly use the computer for 3 things: AutoCAD (thus requiring Windows), > music (again, I prefer Windows software like Cubase - I have used Ardour > before and recorded an entire album on it but Cubase suits me better > because > I collaborate with other musicians who use Cubase sometimes) and > programming, for which Linux is the best. I also use my desktop for the > usual stuff, like browsing, Open Office etc. > > With the above in mind, which distro would you advise me to install on my > new desktop? I was thinking of perhaps openSuse or Fedora but not too sure > if there is one distro considered better for programmers? > -- > Next meeting: Bournemouth? TBD, Wednesday 2010-10-06 20:00 > Meets, Mailing list, IRC, LinkedIn, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk/ > How to Report Bugs Effectively: http://bit.ly/4sACa > I've found ubuntu perfectly usable for programming, I do mostly ruby stuff on my home and work machines which are both running Ubuntu (lucid at home, karmic at work). I get by fair enough with C, C++ and python programming as well and as far as I can recall I don't remember having to jump through any hoops to get anything to work as far as toolchains, IDEs, editors, debuggers, etc have gone. Saying that, I've not had any experience with using debugging-symbols-enabled/unstripped versions of packages in Ubuntu, I'm not even sure if such things exist for Ubuntu or whether or not you'd have to do a deb build from the source packages. -- Andrew Montgomery-Hurrell Professional Geek Blog: http://darkliquid.co.uk Twitter: http://twitter.com/darkliquid Fiction: http://www.protagonize.com/author/darkliquid -- Next meeting: Bournemouth? TBD, Wednesday 2010-10-06 20:00 Meets, Mailing list, IRC, LinkedIn, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk/ How to Report Bugs Effectively: http://bit.ly/4sACa
Re: [Dorset] Which distro would you install?
On Thu, 23 Sep 2010 18:30:28 +0100, nataliehoo...@virginmedia.com said: > With the above in mind, which distro would you advise me to install on my > new desktop? I was thinking of perhaps openSuse or Fedora but not too > sure if there is one distro considered better for programmers? I don't think either one excels over the other with respect to programming: just about all distros support that well (it is fundamental to Linux after all). However, both SUSE and Fedora are RPM based, as opposed to Ubuntu/Debian, which are APT based. I think that, if you have a preference between the Red Hat way and the Debian way, that will be more of an influence than programming. Purely a personal opinion (are there other sorts?), I prefer Debian or Debian based systems. -- Keith Edmunds +-+ |Tiger Computing Ltd| Helping businesses make the most of Linux | | "The Linux Specialists" | http://www.tiger-computing.co.uk | +-+ -- Next meeting: Bournemouth? TBD, Wednesday 2010-10-06 20:00 Meets, Mailing list, IRC, LinkedIn, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk/ How to Report Bugs Effectively: http://bit.ly/4sACa
Re: [Dorset] Which distro would you install?
hi Natalie, > With the above in mind, which distro would you advise me to install on my > new desktop? I was thinking of perhaps openSuse or Fedora but not too sure > if there is one distro considered better for programmers? how about you install software like VMware or VirtualBox (my preference), then you have the option to try various distributions without too much pain. ;) as for a "distro considered better for programmers": how about slackware or one of its derivates? -- regards, jr. time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana. -- Next meeting: Bournemouth? TBD, Wednesday 2010-10-06 20:00 Meets, Mailing list, IRC, LinkedIn, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk/ How to Report Bugs Effectively: http://bit.ly/4sACa
Re: [Dorset] Which distro would you install?
Hi Andrew, > Saying that, I've not had any experience with using > debugging-symbols-enabled/unstripped versions of packages in Ubuntu, > I'm not even sure if such things exist for Ubuntu or whether or not > you'd have to do a deb build from the source packages. `Debug' packages that contain symbol information are provided for Ubuntu. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DebuggingProgramCrash has more detail. $ pkg / bash dbgsym bash-dbgsym - debug symbols for package bash bash-minimal-dbgsym - debug symbols for package bash-minimal bash-static-dbgsym - debug symbols for package bash-static $ Cheers, Ralph. -- Next meeting: Bournemouth? TBD, Wednesday 2010-10-06 20:00 Meets, Mailing list, IRC, LinkedIn, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk/ How to Report Bugs Effectively: http://bit.ly/4sACa
Re: [Dorset] Which distro would you install?
On Thu, 23 Sep 2010 18:30:28 +0100, Natalie Hooper wrote: With the above in mind, which distro would you advise me to install on my new desktop? I was thinking of perhaps openSuse or Fedora but not too sure if there is one distro considered better for programmers? With all of the above in mind I would say use Ubuntu - you're familiar with it, seems logical. However if you have the itch to try something new then I'd go with Fedora. It's my distro of choice. It gives you the most "rpm" based distro in my experience. I would argue SUSE is a very good enterprise desktop. Fedora is a little experimental, though you don't really notice it too much day to day. There are differences to Ubuntu, some config files etc. are in different places and there are times you'll want different packages for things etc. It's your choice if the learning if fun or a chore. There's always a community out there you can call for support ;) Some people will warn you about rpm dependency hell. TBH I don't find that problem in any recent release. One word of caution, try not to install too many "random" repositories. Thats where you'll hit problems. At the same time, *DO* install rpmfusion, this brings the package count back up near the Ubuntu level and will avoid rpm hell. -- Robert Bronsdon -- Next meeting: Bournemouth? TBD, Wednesday 2010-10-06 20:00 Meets, Mailing list, IRC, LinkedIn, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk/ How to Report Bugs Effectively: http://bit.ly/4sACa
Re: [Dorset] Which distro would you install?
Hi Natalie, > With the above in mind, which distro would you advise me to install on > my new desktop? I was thinking of perhaps openSuse or Fedora but not > too sure if there is one distro considered better for programmers? Stick with Ubuntu. You get six monthly updates. There's a wide range of packages. Many others use it so the number of people irked in the same way as you will be higher meaning there's more chance one of them has documented a solution. It's perfectly fine for programming. Depending on your needs you may have to build some cutting edge stuff from source for programming no matter what distro you use. If you really wanted something different then I'd go wildly different, e.g. Gentoo. But that's if I wanted to spend lots of my "free" time tinkering, tailoring, and generally keeping the system running. It sounds like you're busy enough already and just want something reliable that starts on cue. You can always tinker with other distros using VirtualBox, as others have said. Then you can choose to play with Plan 9, etc. Cheers, Ralph. -- Next meeting: Bournemouth? TBD, Wednesday 2010-10-06 20:00 Meets, Mailing list, IRC, LinkedIn, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk/ How to Report Bugs Effectively: http://bit.ly/4sACa
Re: [Dorset] Which distro would you install?
Hi Natalie On 23/09/10 18:30, Natalie Hooper wrote: With the above in mind, which distro would you advise me to install on my new desktop? I was thinking of perhaps openSuse or Fedora but not too sure if there is one distro considered better for programmers? What about Debian? Same great package management, of course. Less bleeding edge than Ubuntu, upgrades every 18 months/2 years. So more time for programming, less time spent sorting out upgrade issues (and there are always some, whatever the distribution). Cheers Tim -- Next meeting: Bournemouth? TBD, Wednesday 2010-10-06 20:00 Meets, Mailing list, IRC, LinkedIn, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk/ How to Report Bugs Effectively: http://bit.ly/4sACa
Re: [Dorset] Which distro would you install?
Thank you all for your answers. It seems that the consensus is to stick with what I know, ie Ubuntu or Debian. Gentoo seems like too much work involved just to get it running... I have found Ubuntu quite unstable at time - the last upgrade was quite stressful for example. Eclipse, which is an IDE I use fairly often, is a lot less stable than it was - in fact, it isn't stable at all, it crashes about once every half hour at the moment. The frequent Ubuntu upgrades are actually a negative for me, too many risks of things going wrong too often. Sometimes, it takes up to 2 months to get the system working as well as it did before the upgrade - in fact, right now, I haven't got mine working as well as it did with 9.10. I think that perhaps Debian is the way forward then... I'll sleep on it before making a decision - not getting the new computer until week after next anyway so got time to think about it... -- Next meeting: Bournemouth? TBD, Wednesday 2010-10-06 20:00 Meets, Mailing list, IRC, LinkedIn, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk/ How to Report Bugs Effectively: http://bit.ly/4sACa
Re: [Dorset] Which distro would you install?
If you're using Eclipse for C/C++ programming with CDT, you might try MonoDevelop. It doesn't have the 'intellisense' feature when dealing with C++, but it is a reliable IDE and has a nice package manager which makes integrating libraries automatic. I use both and have had few problems. Of course if you are using Eclipse for JAVA then that might be another story. Simono On Thu, 2010-09-23 at 21:39 +0100, Natalie Hooper wrote: > Thank you all for your answers. > > It seems that the consensus is to stick with what I know, ie Ubuntu or > Debian. Gentoo seems like too much work involved just to get it running... > > I have found Ubuntu quite unstable at time - the last upgrade was quite > stressful for example. Eclipse, which is an IDE I use fairly often, is a lot > less stable than it was - in fact, it isn't stable at all, it crashes about > once every half hour at the moment. The frequent Ubuntu upgrades are > actually a negative for me, too many risks of things going wrong too often. > Sometimes, it takes up to 2 months to get the system working as well as it > did before the upgrade - in fact, right now, I haven't got mine working as > well as it did with 9.10. I think that perhaps Debian is the way forward > then... > > I'll sleep on it before making a decision - not getting the new computer > until week after next anyway so got time to think about it... > -- > Next meeting: Bournemouth? TBD, Wednesday 2010-10-06 20:00 > Meets, Mailing list, IRC, LinkedIn, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk/ > How to Report Bugs Effectively: http://bit.ly/4sACa -- Next meeting: Bournemouth? TBD, Wednesday 2010-10-06 20:00 Meets, Mailing list, IRC, LinkedIn, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk/ How to Report Bugs Effectively: http://bit.ly/4sACa
Re: [Dorset] Which distro would you install?
On 23/09/10 21:39, Natalie Hooper wrote: > The frequent Ubuntu upgrades are > actually a negative for me, too many risks of things going wrong too often. > Sometimes, it takes up to 2 months to get the system working as well as it > did before the upgrade - in fact, right now, I haven't got mine working as > well as it did with 9.10. I think that perhaps Debian is the way forward > then... Ubuntu LTS (Long Term Support) might be what you're looking for Natalie: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LTS The current version, 10.04, is an LTS release and will be supported until April 2013 in the desktop version. Sean -- music, film, comics, books, rants and drivel: www.funkygibbins.me.uk -- Next meeting: Bournemouth? TBD, Wednesday 2010-10-06 20:00 Meets, Mailing list, IRC, LinkedIn, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk/ How to Report Bugs Effectively: http://bit.ly/4sACa
Re: [Dorset] Which distro would you install?
> Eclipse, which is an IDE I use fairly often, is a lot > less stable than it was - in fact, it isn't stable at all, it crashes about > once every half hour at the moment. I've Eclipse on a (virtual) XP machine but have never used it under Linux, so far no problems -- touch wood. > The frequent Ubuntu upgrades are > actually a negative for me, too many risks of things going wrong too often. concur, a stable (working) environment is very important. -- regards, jr. time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana. -- Next meeting: Bournemouth? TBD, Wednesday 2010-10-06 20:00 Meets, Mailing list, IRC, LinkedIn, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk/ How to Report Bugs Effectively: http://bit.ly/4sACa
Re: [Dorset] Which distro would you install?
Hi Natalie, > Sometimes, it takes up to 2 months to get the system working as well > as it did before the upgrade I'd probably wait that long after an upgrade is out before moving. Or test it on a copy of your installation, e.g. in a VM, for a bit to see if it's immature. Let others volunteer to be guinea pigs. :-) Cheers, Ralph. -- Next meeting: Bournemouth? TBD, Wednesday 2010-10-06 20:00 Meets, Mailing list, IRC, LinkedIn, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk/ How to Report Bugs Effectively: http://bit.ly/4sACa
Re: [Dorset] Which distro would you install?
On 23/09/10 21:39, Natalie Hooper wrote: > I have found Ubuntu quite unstable at time - the last upgrade was quite > stressful for example. Eclipse, which is an IDE I use fairly often, is a lot > less stable than it was - in fact, it isn't stable at all, it crashes about > once every half hour at the moment. Googling for 'eclipse + ubuntu' revealed quite a few hits that imply the packages that are installed from the repositories may not be as compatible with one another as the Sun equivalents. Might be worth investigating as it sounds like your current setup is bordering unusable. Sean -- music, film, comics, books, rants and drivel: www.funkygibbins.me.uk -- Next meeting: Bournemouth? TBD, Wednesday 2010-10-06 20:00 Meets, Mailing list, IRC, LinkedIn, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk/ How to Report Bugs Effectively: http://bit.ly/4sACa
Re: [Dorset] Which distro would you install?
> Let others volunteer to be guinea pigs. :-) Oh, me! me! me! Pick me! I install betas occasionally and see if they're good enough in a VM. As soon as they are I use them full time. And make sure everything is fixed before release day (submitting bug reports etc) THEN being confident of being able to use the stable system. -- Next meeting: Bournemouth? TBD, Wednesday 2010-10-06 20:00 Meets, Mailing list, IRC, LinkedIn, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk/ How to Report Bugs Effectively: http://bit.ly/4sACa
Re: [Dorset] Which distro would you install?
On 23/09/10 22:25, Dan Dart wrote: >> Let others volunteer to be guinea pigs. :-) > Oh, me! me! me! Pick me! > > I install betas occasionally and see if they're good enough in a VM. > As soon as they are I use them full time. And make sure everything is > fixed before release day (submitting bug reports etc) THEN being > confident of being able to use the stable system. VMs are for scaredy-cats - I installed Maverick Meerkat on my desktop a week or so ago! That said, I do daily backups and my desktop machine is hardly what you would call 'production'. Sean -- music, film, comics, books, rants and drivel: www.funkygibbins.me.uk -- Next meeting: Bournemouth? TBD, Wednesday 2010-10-06 20:00 Meets, Mailing list, IRC, LinkedIn, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk/ How to Report Bugs Effectively: http://bit.ly/4sACa
Re: [Dorset] Which distro would you install?
I never use the packages for eclipse and instead download the latest tarball and run it from my homedir. Most ide packages suck whatever distro I've found. >> Let others volunteer to be guinea pigs. :-) > Oh, me! me! me! Pick me! > > I install betas occasionally and see if they're good enough in a VM. > As soon as they are I use them full time. And make sure everything is > fixed before release day (submitting bug reports etc) THEN being > confident of being able to use the stable system. > > -- > Next meeting: Bournemouth? TBD, Wednesday 2010-10-06 20:00 > Meets, Mailing list, IRC, LinkedIn, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk/ > How to Report Bugs Effectively: http://bit.ly/4sACa -- Next meeting: Bournemouth? TBD, Wednesday 2010-10-06 20:00 Meets, Mailing list, IRC, LinkedIn, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk/ How to Report Bugs Effectively: http://bit.ly/4sACa
Re: [Dorset] Which distro would you install?
On Thu, 2010-09-23 at 22:29 +0100, Sean Gibbins wrote: > On 23/09/10 22:25, Dan Dart wrote: > >> Let others volunteer to be guinea pigs. :-) > > Oh, me! me! me! Pick me! > > > > I install betas occasionally and see if they're good enough in a VM. > > As soon as they are I use them full time. And make sure everything is > > fixed before release day (submitting bug reports etc) THEN being > > confident of being able to use the stable system. > > VMs are for scaredy-cats - I installed Maverick Meerkat on my desktop a > week or so ago! > > That said, I do daily backups and my desktop machine is hardly what you > would call 'production'. > > Sean > Pah I upgraded to Maverick Meerkat 2 weeks ago on my day to day netbook. It collapsed in a heap and I had to blat it and start again going back to 10.04. I really shouldn't make decisions to do stuff like this at midnight VM's are the future Where else would I run that single app that only runs on windoze ;). Bryn wandering off topic. -- Next meeting: Bournemouth? TBD, Wednesday 2010-10-06 20:00 Meets, Mailing list, IRC, LinkedIn, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk/ How to Report Bugs Effectively: http://bit.ly/4sACa
Re: [Dorset] Which distro would you install?
> VM's are the future Yes. Especially with 6 cores! :D -- Next meeting: Bournemouth? TBD, Wednesday 2010-10-06 20:00 Meets, Mailing list, IRC, LinkedIn, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk/ How to Report Bugs Effectively: http://bit.ly/4sACa
Re: [Dorset] Which distro would you install?
> VM's are the future Where else would I run that single app that only > runs on windoze ;). if you run on an older machine, Wine might be useful since it's not as resource-hungry. then again, Wine doesn't support all applications. -- regards, jr. time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana. -- Next meeting: Bournemouth? TBD, Wednesday 2010-10-06 20:00 Meets, Mailing list, IRC, LinkedIn, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk/ How to Report Bugs Effectively: http://bit.ly/4sACa
Re: [Dorset] Which distro would you install?
On 23/09/10 22:38, Bryn Jones wrote: > On Thu, 2010-09-23 at 22:29 +0100, Sean Gibbins wrote: >> On 23/09/10 22:25, Dan Dart wrote: Let others volunteer to be guinea pigs. :-) >>> Oh, me! me! me! Pick me! >>> >>> I install betas occasionally and see if they're good enough in a VM. >>> As soon as they are I use them full time. And make sure everything is >>> fixed before release day (submitting bug reports etc) THEN being >>> confident of being able to use the stable system. >> VMs are for scaredy-cats - I installed Maverick Meerkat on my desktop a >> week or so ago! >> >> That said, I do daily backups and my desktop machine is hardly what you >> would call 'production'. >> >> Sean >> > Pah I upgraded to Maverick Meerkat 2 weeks ago on my day to day > netbook. It collapsed in a heap and I had to blat it and start again > going back to 10.04. > > I really shouldn't make decisions to do stuff like this at midnight Heh, sounds familiar. I usually get a nagging doubt creep into my head, too, which I immediately dismiss and then later regret. In fairness though, this time around my doubts were unfounded and Meerkat was my 'best install ever' of recent Ubuntu incarnations. The last few have struggled with my monitor (a 17" Acer) and required serious amounts of faffery to get them to play nice. This one worked from the outset, as did everything else I use regularly enough to know whether it is working or not. There have been a few minor hiccups (unmounting USB drives seems to provoke the occasional crash in Nautilus for instance), but no show-stoppers. > VM's are the future Where else would I run that single app that only > runs on windoze ;). I run an XP VM on VirtualBox here for a couple of apps that have no Linux equivalents and aren't worth a dual-boot environment. My ancient P4 hyperthreading processor (2 cores-ish) and 2GB RAM lacks the oomph for anything more ambitious than that. That's what I get for donating my newer machine to my son for gaming I guess! Sean -- music, film, comics, books, rants and drivel: www.funkygibbins.me.uk -- Next meeting: Bournemouth? TBD, Wednesday 2010-10-06 20:00 Meets, Mailing list, IRC, LinkedIn, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk/ How to Report Bugs Effectively: http://bit.ly/4sACa
Re: [Dorset] Which distro would you install?
I use Eclipse for Google Android development mostly, and Java a little bit. At the moment, it's so unstable that I have gone back to using Windows XP (I have a dual boot Ubuntu/XP on my desktop). It is actually more stable with Java than with Android so I think an added problem is the Android SDK, which isn't the most stable SDK in the world to start with anyway (and don't get me started on their emulator which can take up to two whole minutes to start up!). I use Qt Creator for C++ development, this is pretty stable. I'm aware that the trend is towards VMs - I've been putting it off for a few months but I guess it might be time for me to experiment with them a little bit... I'm a little scared - see, I'm worried that it will mean more time troubleshooting my computer and less time actually using my computer... The problems with upgrades is that it's difficult to resist them - they are announced everywhere (Ubuntu gets quite a lot of press/blog coverage etc) and I'm only human lol, I'm tempted to get the "latest" version of Ubuntu... So it might suit me better to go with a distro that simply doesn't upgrade so often... @Andrew & @ Sean - yes, I guess I should try installing Eclipse from the tar files, it can't really be worse than it is right now anyway lol -- Next meeting: Bournemouth? TBD, Wednesday 2010-10-06 20:00 Meets, Mailing list, IRC, LinkedIn, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk/ How to Report Bugs Effectively: http://bit.ly/4sACa
Re: [Dorset] Which distro would you install?
> I'm aware that the trend is towards VMs - I've been putting it off for a few > months but I guess it might be time for me to experiment with them a little > bit... I'm a little scared - see, I'm worried that it will mean more time > troubleshooting my computer and less time actually using my computer... in an ideal world you'd have two computers, one (server setup) to run your vm's on, the second (your day-to-day favourite) to remote desktop into your vm's. both VMware and VirtualBox are pretty painless, stable and free (though, personally, I did loathe the VMware web administration thingy and stopped using it last year), the Sun software has the advantage of allowing very easy VM management from the command-line (ie you don't need to run a X server for the graphical i/f). both VMware and VirtualBox are very well supported via their respective 'communities', but there are other virtualisation products too. as to losing time troubleshooting, I think it's safe to say that the advantages of going virtual will outweigh the initial investment in time (of getting used to). a big advantage of virtualisation, IMO, is that each vm is just a set of files and, if something does go wrong, as in rootkit or malware, delete them, retrieve a copy from store, and you're back in business. there's also the fact that you can have multiple virtual hard disks which you connect and disconnect as needed, allowing you share/transfer data between systems as you please. (sorry for going on and on) -- regards, jr. time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana. -- Next meeting: Bournemouth? TBD, Wednesday 2010-10-06 20:00 Meets, Mailing list, IRC, LinkedIn, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk/ How to Report Bugs Effectively: http://bit.ly/4sACa
