There are many Slackware-based distros that I & many other people consider to be more user-friendly than Slackware. Give some of those a try, as well. Vector is one that's been around for many many years.
On Sat, Jul 26, 2014 at 5:08 PM, John Jason Jordan <[email protected]> wrote: > On Sat, 26 Jul 2014 06:12:44 -0700 (PDT) > Rich Shepard <[email protected]> dijo: > > >On Fri, 25 Jul 2014, John Jason Jordan wrote: > > > >> I have looked longingly at distros that use a rolling release, > >> because I agree that periodic dist-upgrades are a pain. But none of > >> them offer the ease of use, the presence in the marketplace, or the > >> great community resources of Ubuntu. > > >Now you've confused me: do you use the computer for your work/schooling or > >as a end it itself? Nowadays it's a safe bet that all distributions > >will run the applications you need and want and support the external > >hardware you have sitting around. > > I spend most of my computer time searching the web. And, although I use > it less for academic purposes, that use is more important. I also use > it for monitoring medical issues and, although only a couple minutes a > day, that use is most important of all. Occasionally I also use it for > entertainment (streaming radio and occasionally viewing a movie). > > The academic issues require being able to write in Spanish, German, > French and polytonic Greek - switching keyboards. Plus I need to be > able to enter every character and diacritic in the International > Phonetic Alphabet. The latter include "combining diacritics," special > glyphs that can be added so they appear on top or below other letters. > Not only do I need to be able to enter these glyphs but I also need > them to be displayed properly in my mail client and word processor. In > addition I need to run some programs for things like drawing phrase > structures and analyzing speech. > > >What's ease of use? Germane to using the system or maintaining the system? > >For the latter just about all window managers and desktop enviornments > >run on every distribution. For maintaining the system -- including > >keeping it secure -- there are probably more than the three approaches > >of which I know: .prm, .deb, and .tgz. You've switched distributions a > >few times but haven't explained why in terms of what you are seeking. > > "Ease of use" is a slippery term, because it is so dependent on the > user's abilities and needs as well as personal taste. > > As for abilities, I have tried to compile apps from source half a dozen > times, and succeeded only once. My most recent failure was due to the > fact that the application requires QT5, which is not completely > available in Xubuntu 13.10. And I took a bash class at Free Geek and > learned a few basics, but otherwise I have no knowledge of scripting or > programming. I don't even know what the kernel does. > > I am also fussy about the appearance of my desktop. I have a problem > with distractions, which gets worse with age. I can't tolerate a screen > full of icons or even wallpaper. My screen is solid white and the only > thing visible other than the window I am working in is a single panel, > which I keep on the left side in order to maximize available vertical > space. When Ubuntu went to Gnome 3 and then to Unity I switched to > Xfce because icons drive me nuts. > > >Presence in the marketplace? What has this to do with your using your > >computers as a means to an end? If this is important, perhaps you > >should take Ed's suggestion in his reply to this thread and switch to > >Slackware; it is, after all, the oldest continuously-available > >distribution, It's been present in the 'marketplace' for many, many > >years. > > I fought with myself when I wrote "presence in the marketplace" because > I knew it didn't express precisely what I was trying to communicate. > Perhaps an example would make my meaning clearer. About a month ago I > couldn't get my scanner to work. I normally use Xsane for scanning, but > I knew there were others. Synaptic lists 40,000+ packages and has a > search function, so it was easy to find programs for scanning. > I installed a different one, but it couldn't scan either. So then I > searched the web, including the Ubuntu forums, and discovered a > free but proprietary app. The app's website had instructions for > installing it on Ubuntu, but not for any other distro. This sort of > thing happens all the time. And in this case the developers provided > only 32- and 64-bit .deb packages; the source was not available. > > >Community resources? With mail lists, Web fora, and IRC channels I suspect > >that all distributions have equal support from their community of > >users. Take a look at the list of distribution-specific fora on > >linuxquestions.org. > > Ubuntu has far more users than any other distro and its forums reflect > that fact. I can post a question on an Ubuntu forum and within an hour > it will have been read by hundreds of people. > > > ... But, I can tell you from our short > >experiences with xubuntu versions on portables here that it was more > >of a hassle trying to work with them than with my preferred > >distribution. > > Perhaps at the next Clinic I will bring my old Thinkpad and take > Slackware for a brief spin. > _______________________________________________ > PLUG mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug > -- Free Geek Seattle- Helping The Needy Get Nerdy http://www.freegeekseattle.org/ https://groups.google.com/group/freegeek-seattle/topics?hl=en _______________________________________________ PLUG mailing list [email protected] http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
