Re: [gentoo-user] Google privacy changes
Me, I use Chromium for using social media sites or Google services that I want to log-in to. Google+, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn. I don't use it for anything else. I use Firefox for everything else. I am not logged into any of those services in Firefox. I use RequestPolicy to block all third-party content unless I explicitly allow it. I also use noscript, adblock, flashblock, cookie monster. Everything is blocked by default except same-site images. My Firefox is like the armored tank of web browsing: big and slow and sometimes it crashes, but I feel safe inside it. :) I have a setup similar to this. I use chromium on my main user for gmail and other services that I often use and I want to stay logged in. Main difference is that I have another user just for browsing everything else. I used to have simply another firefox profile on my main user, but recently I decided to set a completely different user for what *I'd like to be* safe browsing. On this user I use Firefox with NoScript, Flashblock, AdBlocker, plus it is set up to be in incognito mode by default. The Flash cache is disabled also. With this user I do not login in any site. I'm sick of all these policies about tracking users and this constant siege to privacy. For this very reason I don't have a facebook profile. I used to trust Google, but in recent years has become increasingly intrusive. Maybe slightly OT, but what do gentoo-users think about Tor? Lorenzo -- Nothing is interesting if you're not interested.
Re: [gentoo-user] Konsole issue
emerge smartmontools then when that is done, do this: smartctl -t long /dev/sddrive letter here When you do that, it should print a message that tells when the test will complete. It is usually a 24 hour format thing too. This can run while the drive is in use too. Sometime after that time, run this command: smartctl -l selftest /dev/sddrive letter here That should tell you the results of the test. If it says it passed, this is good. If it reports a problem, well it is not good. If you are lucky, it will be like a recent problem I had and reformatting will fix it. It was a weird problem but beats replacing a drive. I'm just wondering: can a tool like strace (or similar) be helpul in diagnose the problem? Maybe it could detect if konsole is trying to access a file that has too strict permissions, couldn't it? Just wondering, I never really used strace. Lorenzo -- Nothing is interesting if you're not interested.
Re: [gentoo-user] Holiday greetings!
Merry Christmas gentooers! Lorenzo -- Nothing is interesting if you're not interested.
Re: [gentoo-user] can one tell me: gentoo vs opensuse
2011/12/8 LinuxIsOne linuxis...@gmail.com: On Thu, Dec 8, 2011 at 9:29 AM, Alan McKinnon alan.mckin...@gmail.com wrote: Don't take our word for it, go look for yourself. I could give you examples of how that forum works, I could give you links that show what we are saying, but NOTHING can prepare you for what you really find on the Ubuntu user forums. Okay but at least Ubuntu is good for new users and Windows convert and for those doesn't it give a learning curve in Linux? Well, maybe my experience will be useful to you. Ubuntu was my introduction to linux. First, I'll start by saying that before linux I didn't know absolutely nothing about computers and the like. I had my first desktop pc at home (windows xp) when I was 15 or 16 years old. Before that, only my father owned a pc, for his work, and I was not allowed to use it. My high school was centered around humanities/classical studies: ancient greek, latin, philosophy; after high school, I managed to get into med school. So, no computer science/informatics at all. However, I was really curios about computers, and I messed up my family's desktop pc a couple of times :) At 19, I was given a laptop, only for me (windows vista, if I remember correctly). I decided to install linux on it, and I chose Ubuntu because it was the distro of wich I heard about the most. After some months, I decided to move away from ubuntu because I felt it was too limited - I wanted to learn. In the following two years I tried other distros, but at last I felt that only two were apt to me: Gentoo and Arch Linux. Of these two, I tend to prefer Gentoo. What's the point in this story: I started as a computer illiterate. I think that, had I chosen Gentoo (or Arch, or Slackware) as my first distro, probably I would have given up with linux. I could never get started so abruptly with the terminal, CLI etc. I needed a gradual introduction, to get familiar with filesystems, directory hierarchy, basilar command line usage etc. Ubuntu, at the time, provided this. Just remember that *probably* you won't learn much by using Ubuntu. If you want to learn, when you're ready, you will have to move on. You learn more after an attempt to install Gentoo than in one year of plain Ubuntu usage :) At least, that is my real life experience and my opinion. I'm just one user; on this ML there are really knowledgeable users, so you should listen to them[1]. [1] BTW, I just want to say that I really love this ML. Thanks guys. Hope this helps, Lorenzo -- Nothing is interesting if you're not interested.
Re: [gentoo-user] gnome 3 has landed
I googled how to disable the gnome-shell and get my gnome-panel back, along with the panel applets that I refuse to give up. (The gnome- shell replaces the gnome-panel, so there is nowhere to run the old applets.) If you want to disable gnome-shell you can do it with the System Info function in System Settings. Click the Graphics icon and enable the gnome-fallback setting to disable gnome-shell. Ah, much better :) I don't know if this can be useful for you, however: having a box with debian, I read the debian ML, too. Two weeks ago (if I remember correctly) gnome 3 landed in testing, resulting in many discussions. Among these, I remember that a few people claimed that fallback mode is only a temporary solution, and, sooner or later, it'll be removed. I don't know if it's true or not, but maybe this information can be valuable (or worth verification) for those that are going to run gnome 3 in fallback mode... FYI only. Cheers, Lorenzo -- Nothing is interesting if you're not interested.
Re: [gentoo-user] [OT] Binary install distro
One more question. What is a easy to install but WELL tested and STABLE binary distro? I'm thinking something that needs a update 2 or 3 times a year or something. If you want a *really* well tested and *really* stable linux binary distro, Debian stable is your friend :D I have a debian install on my home desktop (used by my sister and my parents); I choosed debian basically because I didn't wanted to bother: I just wanted to install and update once in a while. I'm really happy with it. Pros: - stable - tested - once configured, requires minimal maintenance. Basically, all you have to do is apt-get update apt-get upgrade once in while. It'll install only security fixes. No headaches, no massive breakage or something. At least, this is my experience. - easy and fast installation Cons: - softwares tend to be outdated on stable. On my debian stable I have Gnome 2.30.2, Firefox (iceweasel) 3.5.16, OpenOffice 3.2.1... Consider that debian stable versions are released, on average, every two years. - debian has its own way to do things. I had to get used to it... - the default DE is gnome; if you want kde you have to install yourself, and, needless to say, it is not the last version [1] The biggest cons about debian stable is outdated software... If you can cope with it/it is not a priority, give it a try. Otherwise, the previous suggestions (Ubuntu, Kubuntu, OpenSUSE etc) are all good choiches - stable, tested, up-to-date. [1] http://packages.debian.org/en/squeeze/kde-full Best regards, Lorenzo
Re: [gentoo-user] [OT] Binary install distro
I'll be interested in hearing how that goes. I had one weekend running Ubuntu and ended up running away as fast as I could. It wasn't that it was bad or didn't work, but that the management of it seemed so different from any distro I'd run before that I didn't want to deal with learning it. Let's see how that does for you. Again, remembering I didn't really give it much of a chance - I was running on a Power PC Mac Mini - two things that drove me mad were: 1) The basic install didn't tell me what the root password was. 2) All the management was done using sudo. I couldn't get past the idea that if something went wrong that with no root password what was I supposed to do? Now, I was absolutely sure at the time there had to be a way to set that myself, maybe as simple as sudo passwd - root or something like that, but I decided it just wasn't for me and tossed the machine in the garage rather than deal with it! :-) Cheers, Mark SNIP I don't use sudo on my rig so it sort of annoys me. ;-) I guess we have that in common. lol The update tool is GUI. That's why I think he can do that himself. A lot like winders in a way. Heck, if this works well and that intfs thingy gets on my nerves, may use it myself. :-( I may have found my next distro. I'm not leaving yet. I'm going to give the inity thingy a shot, maybe two. After that, kill shot. Dale I hate sudo, I never got the point in using it - and actually it is one of the thing that makes Ubuntu annoying to me. I'm not the only one, then! :D Howerer, I think that Ubuntu is one of the best distro for beginners (especially those coming from windows/os x), so it should work well for your brother. Basically, it is absolutely possible to run and update the distro without ever touching the terminal... Me, I find it too constraining. In regard to Sabayon, last time I tried it, I had the impression it was buggy, but it was three years ago... Actually, I'd like to give it a try one of these days :) Best regards, Lorenzo
Re: [gentoo-user] [OT] Binary install distro
Then you must be using a single-user machine. Like your own laptop or desktop. sudo is absolutely necessary on any multi-user machine unless you like security holes. Instead of bashing sudo, it's better to find out what problem it is designed to solve, then determine if you have that problem. It does have a point, and a very valuable one too, you just seem to not have seen it yet. Yes, Alan, you're right, I'm on a single-user machine. I apologize, I should have made it clear. Indeed, I can see that in a multi-users machine sudo is useful. I just don't agree on the Ubuntu policy of using sudo instead of root by default, assuming that it provides more security. I don't want to start a flame war about sudo vs su, sorry if I sounded rough! Best regards, Lorenzo
Re: [gentoo-user] [OT] Binary install distro
So, what is a easy to install distro that has KDE4, Seamonkey, gtkam, GIMP and such? I want something easy Well, surely Kubuntu would be a nice choice, but can I suggest OpenSuse? I installed it something like two years ago (I was curious) and I liked it. It has a well-done KDE implementation. Lorenzo
Re: [gentoo-user] Does this drive need a funeral?
OK. For those that have never seen this before, here is what messages looks like when a hard drive is going belly up: (...) So, if you see things like this in your log file, rescue data real soon. Make a note of this since this could happen on your rig one day. Thanks, Dale. Actually I've never experienced an hard drive failure, but your thread made me want to do one as soon as possible :D (Besides that, is going belly up made me burst out laughing) Lorenzo
Re: [gentoo-user] Does this drive need a funeral?
Thanks, Dale. Actually I've never experienced an hard drive failure, but your thread made me want to do one as soon as possible :D Sorry, I meant made me want to do a backup as soon as possible
Re: [gentoo-user] Dennis Ritchie
i realized just now that no one has commented on the news of the recent death of dennis ritchie. considering that his contributions to the development of computational technologies were not only paramount, but affect all of us in a very direct way, i think we could somehow compensate for the lack of echo of these news in the media, by dedicating some time to celebrate his memory and express our gratitude. I had the same idea, but I didn't resolve to write a thread because I didn't know if it was appropriate. I'm glad you did it. For my part, I'm trying to sensitize the people about the life and work of Dennis Ritchie. Here (in Italy) Steve Jobs' death received much attention on the media, but the death of Dennis Ritchie passed almost unnoticed. I wrote a letter on a newspaper to underline how much we owe to Ritchie. Next week in Italy we'll celebrate Linux Day (http://www.linuxday.it/): in many italian cities there will be demonstrations of the GNU/Linux OS, install fests etc. I'll propose to my LUG to include in the schedule some kind of tribute to Ritchie. Thanks Ritchie, and goodbye. Best regards, Lorenzo
