Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-11-06 Thread silentdreamer
Oh ok. Thanks. I've been reading a few threads here about security, it seems  
among the regulars who offer advice, you have answered many of them. I really  
appreciate your advice.


If I get it through Synaptic, I hope I'll get the latest version. When I had  
it, I don't remember what version it was, or when I downloaded it.


on IRC, I met some good people in the Trisquel room and the FSF room, 3 of  
them I remembered their names, are in this forum, very helpful. I couldn't  
have gotten this far without all the tech support I got. :D


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-11-06 Thread greatgnu
>I saw a message from SuperTramp about hexchat being better than pidgin for  
better security and less bloatware. Though I like Pidgin, if it's not very  
secure, I'll stay away from it.


Pidgin has had its fair share of security vulnerabilities. Apparently the  
libpurple is not considered very secure. That being said, I use pidgin for  
xmpp/IRC, latest version, apparmored and firejailed, safe enough :)




Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-11-05 Thread silentdreamer
OK so while I'm still using this old low memory machine, I will need a few  
things, all as secure as possible, that I'd only use one at a time:


a chat program. I saw a message from SuperTramp about hexchat being better  
than pidgin for better security and less bloatware. Though I like Pidgin, if  
it's not very secure, I'll stay away from it.


I'll either keep Tor or IceCat, though it'd be interesting to try others I've  
seen mentioned that may be good. Browser security is VERY important to me-  
keeping the trackers, spies, etc. out. Ublock Origin would be great to add  
on, but Tor developers say not to, which I understand. If I'm that concerned  
about letting sneaky stuff in, and Ublock would block them so I don't have to  
worry that they snuck in before I could get NoScript to block them before the  
page loads, then I may need to either add it to Tor anyway or return to  
IceCat or similar.Tor changed their fonts- they're terrible for me. This may  
turn me away from it.


Then it comes down to an OS.

I may edit this later in case I need to add something important.




Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-11-03 Thread silentdreamer
oh dumb me thought it was an OS but it doesn't seem to be so far as I can see  
but my brain may be in dense mode today.


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-11-03 Thread silentdreamer
I've come to a conclusion about this computer- as it's been sugested to me  
before by at least one person, I need a better machine. Based on my needs,  
the programs I tried aren't as good as the GNOME Shell, so I need more memory  
to run it. Although my Mac has enough, it's not libre, but it'd be great as  
an offline backup, or emergency machine, so I'm working out a plan to buy  
something that's closer to being Freedom friendly. This machine could be a  
backup in case something happens to the Libre one. It's too frustrating using  
this setup, but I'll have to for now till the new one comes.


If there was a way to upgrade this one and take the blobs and crapware out,  
I'd do it, but it's old and probably not worth it.


The one I want has 8 GB RAM, if I remember right, it was at ThinkPenguin.


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-30 Thread silentdreamer

That makes sense. Thanks. So if everyone did that it'd be better. :D


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-30 Thread silentdreamer
OK thanks for the info. If I went back to IceCat I wonder what the best way  
to handle that is, to be effective. My logic says making it blank would tell  
it, "no one tracks me." You say it's ineffective- how so?


There was a thread or 2 on this forum about browser tweaking, but I think  
they may be locked, if I remember right when I searched for them a few months  
ago.


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-30 Thread greatgnu
It is not only harmful but also useless (read ineffective) to change any  
value, besides cranking up the "security slider" in TorBB. Besides, when you  
use it properly, no one can track you, no one gets your IP, Misty. 


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-29 Thread silentdreamer

OK I'm gonna try Xfce4.


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-29 Thread silentdreamer
yes. I read many of them, but not all. Also I read some info at Tor, and why  
they don't recommend plug-ins, which makes sense. It might be a good idea to  
compare their prefs with yours. Considering how they set it up, I have to be  
sure if it's ok to add any changes to it. From what I read of yours, they  
look good, but I'll read them again soon. Then I'll be able to better decide  
what I wanna do.


There's something I need advice on. In Icecat, anything with goo in it, I  
made blank. I hope I got them all, there were other nasty names like yahoo, I  
think I made those blank too. I wanna do that in Tor. Someone might say doing  
that would uniquely identify me, but I will never knowingly allow them to  
track me. What's the best solution?


If I were a programmer, all those horrible companies would never be allowed.


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-28 Thread greatgnu
>I read some of your prefs, noticed some mention of windows and NT. That says  
to me it's referring to your computer and OS, am I correct?


I assume you are referring to the prefs.js file.
Those are fake values to override the user agent. On panopticlick, with no  
js, I get 6 bits of identifying information, heh ^^


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-28 Thread greatgnu

sudo apt-get install xfce4 xfce4-goodies

enjoy :)


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-28 Thread silentdreamer
Thank you for the info, I was reading some info at Tor earlier and I'll go to  
the link you gave me.


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-28 Thread silentdreamer
I read some of your prefs, noticed some mention of windows and NT. That says  
to me it's referring to your computer and OS, am I correct?


Oh, and speaking of javascript, you know Diaspora uses it, I'm sure.

Also, about add-ons for Tor- I read it's not recommended to put more than  
what they put in. Some years ago someone said not to use addblock, because it  
reveals info- whatever we use, the sites know we're using it. Would the  
random browser spoofer fool sites into seeing something other than Tor? Would  
that compromise Tor's purpose? Maybe I'll ask this stuff on D, too, and go to  
Tor's IRC channel. I'd have to get my messenger back, when I got scared about  
the DDos, I deleted it.


I haven't added anything new to Tor yet. On IceCat I have HTTPS Everywhere,  
UblockOrigin, Cookie Monster, SpyBlock, Random Browser Spoofer (hope I'm  
remembering the name of that right), NoScript, and I think that's it but  
that's enough. SilverWolf told me too many add-ons could mess things up. He  
helped me get Trisquel.


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-28 Thread silentdreamer
I looked for Xfce in synaptic, what I saw was Xfce 4, and one mention of Xfce  
keyboard. There were many Xfce4's in the list, I have to find which one to  
get. As much as I like Trisquel, I'm still uncertain about keeping it. One  
feature I really like about Trisquel is the screenshot, to me it's a very  
important tool. I noticed Mini doesn't have it, there's a program that can be  
had separately though. I saw a post about that someplace.


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-27 Thread silentdreamer
I checked fluxbox out, didn't like it much, removed it. It's good there's  
many choices.


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-27 Thread silentdreamer

Thanks. :)


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-27 Thread greatgnu

>how do I get your prefs file into the browser

I suggest you read on each one, as my browsing experience is no js, so if you  
need to use that, or sign into websites that require third party cookies you  
won't be able, with those preferences in about:Config


In your /home/misty/.mozilla/xh539vde(whatever)/

there will be a prefs.js. Open it with a text editor and add the lines you  
wish.
gna! 


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-27 Thread silentdreamer

yea the threads get squeezed, only fix I know is to lower the zoom

Anyway how do I get your prefs file into the browser, I thought I knew how..


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-26 Thread greatgnu

meh..it's all squeezed :(




Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-26 Thread dguthrie
ironically it is nasty window managers fucking up the elegant X window  
system's way of copying 


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-26 Thread silentdreamer
I have questions about verfying stuff, the signatures, to be sure I got what  
I want from where it's supposed to be from- those things are soo   
long it'd take me forever to compare them, is that the only way, no  
matter how long it takes to read it?


When I get my preferred browser I'll put your prefs in the I should do it for  
the ones I use now too, if I'm gonna stay online. It's getting so stressful  
for me though, keeping up with all the stuff that needs doing.


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-26 Thread silentdreamer

Thank you. I noticed when I had Mini, I had 2 others that came in with it.


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-26 Thread silentdreamer

I think I understand what you're saying. Thanks. :)


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-25 Thread silentdreamer

Hello wonderful techies,

I want to try fluxbox, but before I do anything, I have questions. First, I  
want to be sure if it will install beside Trisquel or over it. If I had  
installed Trisquel Mini with the sudo apt-get command, would it have replaced  
it? Magic Banana asked me if that was the command I used, I said yes, but I'm  
not 100% sure. So I want to be sure I know what I'm doing. Way in back of my  
mind I remember thinking as I got the command, "this seems different than I  
expected." Usually I copy this stuff to an editor in case I needed it, which  
I may still have. A few days ago I looked at my files and saw a command I  
pasted there, but I didn't write what it was for, so I'm wondering if that  
was it and if so, explains why Mini came in alongside it.


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-23 Thread silentdreamer
>  You only need to copy your prefs.js to keep your modifications when you  
migrate to another FF browser, there is no need to manually change everything  
in about:config every time.


I'm not sure how to do that, though I have an idea. I guess I should get Tor  
first, I'd also want to delete IceCat. Many years ago I knew how to transfer  
bookmarks, too, but I forgot how. I imagine copying your prefs would be a  
similar method.


If I got this right, I'd find the browser file on my computer, and paste them  
there. I'd want my bookmarks, too. It's been awhile since I've done that,  
somehow I followed instructions and got it right.


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-22 Thread silentdreamer

Joined: 03/22/2016

It looks like I will have to use it. I saw your post and your code for  
customizing it. That may be very helpful to me but I need to know where to  
put the code after installing the program.




Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-22 Thread silentdreamer
Thank you for explaining that. Yes I admit I worry too much but I'd rather be  
safe than sorry, till I'm sure it's ok to go there. I really miss that place,  
so I will go back there soon. Thank you very much for all your help. :)


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-22 Thread silentdreamer
yeah, I'm sorry I didn't make that clear. It would've been interesting to see  
what the logs say about it though.


I removed Trisquel Mini so I can try something else.


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-22 Thread greatgnu
Misty, you seem to worry a little bit too much. A DDoS attack on whatever is  
just a DDoS attack, it can not affect you, the security of your OS, or the  
privacy of the data you keep on it.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denial-of-service_attack#Distributed_attack


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-21 Thread silentdreamer
Hi arielenter, thank you for your suggestion. yes, before I got the GNOME  
Shell, I tried that and I had some trouble using it but I appreciate your  
idea. I may have to use it again if there's nothing else.Too bad I don't have  
as much memory as I did, the GNOME Shell was wonderful for accessibility.


I've seen your name in either the FSF room or the Trisquel room at IRC, when  
I used to go there. Since I read about the DDoS attacks on Freenode I've been  
afraid to go back. Some very nice people helped me in those rooms. I miss  
going there.


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-21 Thread arielgnu

Misty, have you tried kmag as magnifier program? I wrote a post about it:

https://trisquel.info/es/forum/magnifier-follows-your-mouse-around-kmag-solved

maybe you might be interested on trying my approach.


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-21 Thread silentdreamer
When the screen scrambled, it was when I had GNOME Shell, which has been  
removed as the likely suspect, a month ago, but I'm sure an old log would say  
something about the incident.


I hope it'd be ok to use the terminal I like from Accessories.

You have been very kind and patient with me, it means a lot to me. Thank you.  
:D


 I will look at some info and see what I can find, some log should have what  
we need. If I can't find it, I'd like to move onto finding asomething that  
uses less resources. I don't like Mini very much so I should delete it and  
try something else from the suggestions here. In Synaptic, I saw Fluxbox, I'd  
like to try that next.


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-20 Thread silentdreamer
I'm never using the "real terminal" again because I couldn't get out of it. I  
tried and had to force my machine to restart. Nope, not doing that again. I  
looked up commands, strange, I could get out of the other Terminals. So I  
hope I can continue using the one I found that I like, though it's not the  
"real Terminal." I spent awhile searching the Command Line doc, it said  
ossibly F7 or F8 would return me to the desktop from the Terminal but it did  
not. I tested this in the one I'm familiar with that doesn't take up the  
whole screen, in case I couldn't get out again. Once I was in the "real  
Terminal", I was stuck. I typed in my name and pw, then tried to quit to be  
sure I remembered the command. So I have to work with what I know how to get  
out of. The command that works in my preferred Terminal is exit. It didn't  
work in the other one.


In the Command Line manual, I searched for it, I typed in everything I could  
think of. I tried the help in the Terminal, there was so much stuff there, I  
don't know why I couldn't find it. Somehow I remembered 'exit' from a very  
distant memory and tried it in desperation. When I said my tech skills stink,  
I meant it.


So anyway.

I typed in $ top, got so much stuff I have no idea how to read it. One part  
looked like it said 2 users. what the heck, I'm the only user, unless it's  
referring to a previous name I had and previous users, but now I'm the only  
one. All of them were me, now there's only one of me.


Last night I looked at a log called Bootstrap, it had so much in there, I  
could never read it all, but it did say some intersting things, I couldn't  
find any dates within the document to see when things happened. I feel so  
lost, there's so many logs and so much data.


I've been in Trisquel instead of Mini for the past few days because I like it  
better, though I don't have the GNOME shell anymore, but when I startup and  
look where the options are, I thought I saw GENOME but it sends me to a blank  
screen. Synatic say there's nothing broken but I'm sure I messed up my  
machine.


Riht now I'm so frustrated with this, I hardly did any tech stuff all day  
because of it, though I read the thread for anything new but didn't log in.  
When I did do anything, I found that System Log with the alt+F2, but I wasn't  
sure how to use it, tried a few things and gave up for today. If I can't find  
what happened with the screen, I'll have to give that up and just work on  
getting the best programs for this thing till I can convert the Mac.




Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-19 Thread strypey

I never knew about the Alt-F2 thing! How useful! Thanks for sharing that tip.

I have thought for a while that it would be great if something like that  
could be built into the taskbar in GNU/Linux desktops in some way, so new  
GNU/Linux users can see what's going on under the hood, and run commands,  
from within the default interface. Switching to a terminal or opening a  
virtual terminal window becomes second nature eventually, but for people  
who've never used a computer without pointing and clicking, it can be quite  
intimidating at first.


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-19 Thread strypey
Keep at it. One day people will say things like this to you. You will be just  
as amazed as I am when people say them to me ;)

https://www.xkcd.com/627/


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-19 Thread silentdreamer

I didn't find anything called LightDM.


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-19 Thread silentdreamer
how many high-level languages are there? are Bash and Python in that  
category? Often I see many programming code names like those, so I imagine  
they're part of that whole group.


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-19 Thread silentdreamer
It didn't explain anything. I went to the documents, found some logs, have to  
find which one might show any info about the screen prob.


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-19 Thread greatgnu

> One way to know the number of your swap partition (parted)

or, without sudo, lsblk, so you save 5 seconds of your time :)


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-18 Thread silentdreamer
LOL! I like Terminal, it's not as scary as it was when I first tried it so  
long ago. :)


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-18 Thread silentdreamer
Hi Mangy Dog, Thanks for explaining! This is fascinating stuff! I wish we  
could remove all those proprietary blobs and replace every one with something  
Free. I wish I was a programmer. Many years ago someone tried explaining what  
binary is. He made it seem so simple. This stuff is so over my head, so I'm  
very, very thankful for all of you techies. :D


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-18 Thread silentdreamer

please tell us what that is?


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-18 Thread agullo

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051418/


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-18 Thread silentdreamer
Wow that is noticeable difference. I see I have some studying to do, so I can  
put together something that my poor old machine can handle, till I can  
convert my Mac. I'll look at all the suggestions again and compare them. You  
have all been so wonderful. :D


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-18 Thread greatgnu
> You can do most (if not all) of your computing activities not touching the  
terminal.


True, but then you risk dying from tedium! :P


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-18 Thread greatgnu
Misty, to clarify a little bit, or more correctly to prove the point let us  
take an example. Let's use a very, very lightweight **GUI** music player -  
namely qmmp


The "terminal" music player we can relate to, the one I like, will be "moc"

Now, on my old but great beasty, I open the terminal to check RAM usage and  
CPU usage, using "top", here, the average values


qmmp - cpu usage 13.5 %  / ram usage 2.1 %
mocp - cpu usage 7.5 %  / ram usage 0.6 %


You can see the great difference. Now, consider that I am comparing the CLI  
program with a GUI program tht is exceptionally lightweight (qmmp). If you  
compare it to a music player that is not as lightweight you'll probably find  
out "moc" uses 1/3 or 1/4 of the resources..





Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-18 Thread greatgnu
You can not compare versions of Xfce like that, strypey. You can not compare  
Xubuntu say 12 with Xubuntu (or worse yet another distro with Xfce) 16..
Try this -> install Debian Jessie (current stable) with Xfce **4.10** and  
test it for a few hours, then on the **same exact** distribution (Debian  
Jessie) compile Xfce 4.12 and test it. I did that on two different laptops  
(current one is a 2004 lappy) and I can tell you they run exactly the same  
and consume exactly the same amount of RAM and CPU.




Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-18 Thread silentdreamer
I got an error message, (WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented. (???)  
unknown.


The (EE) is in red.

 


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-18 Thread silentdreamer
Disk Self Test is complete, Disk is OK. Now onto the next thing. I'm in  
Trisquel there so I can do the next suggestion. Report coming soon. Thanks.  
:)


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-18 Thread silentdreamer
Wow Strypey, you have thought this out well with the levels. That and the  
usability rating idea make a lot of sense to me. It would be nice if you  
could present these suggestions to the FSF for consideration.


What is a blob? It'd be interesting to know how these things got their name. 


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-18 Thread silentdreamer

OK  and thanks. I started the self test, this will take awhile it looks like.


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-18 Thread silentdreamer
It seems to me a good idea to look at the specs for these programs everyone's  
suggesting, to see how much memory they require before installing, Due to the  
lack of RAM, then I can decide which OS I want. I'd like to try the others to  
see if I like than better than Trisquel Mini, for my poor old machine. I  
really like Trisquel, it will be on my Mac, it's in the VM there now. If I'm  
that concerned about RAM, maybe I should keep Trisquel Mini and not Trisquel?



The browser I want is Tor, and I want a secure messenger. From all I've read,  
Signal seems to be the most secure. Before doing anything, I'm gonna look up  
the specs.


My priority right now is to free up as much memory as I can, including  
cleaning up any fragments of the GNOME Shell, since I don't have much RAM to  
work with.


When that's all settled, I will make a new thread for help converting the  
Mac. I'm so tired of Crapple and their proprietary ways. To me, it's not  
worth the convenience. I wish others would feel that way, but it's their  
choice.


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-18 Thread silentdreamer
Hmmm, considering my RAM problem, I really need to do some homework on all of  
this.





Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-18 Thread silentdreamer
Hi, I'm on my other machine, the memtest is still going on my old one, but at  
the bottom of the screen a message says it's complete, there's no errors, yet  
at the top, it's still testing. Is it starting over? I don't know when the  
message of being complete came up, sometime this morning. It's been running  
all night. When we're sure it's done, where can I get the report to show you,  
if you want to see it?


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-18 Thread silentdreamer

OK, thanks for the info.


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-18 Thread strypey

"You are very good at tech. You are doing everything right."

+100!


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-18 Thread strypey

"it doesn't get slower with each version"

This isn't true in my experience. I used to run XFCE (Xubuntu) on a computer  
with 256MB or 512MB of RAM. I guarantee it won't work now with less than 1GB,  
and if it's anything like Mate (also supposedly a "lightweight" desktop), it  
really needs 2GB.


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-18 Thread strypey
Hmmm. Distrowatch might be saying it's "dormant" because they haven't  
released a new version since 2012?

http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=dragora

But it does look like they are actively working on shipping a new release  
this year:

http://dragora.org/repo.fsl/doc/trunk/www/roadmap.md


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-18 Thread strypey
Thanks for the tip about swap files, I'll have a play with that. There's some  
good info on swap partitions and swap files here:

https://www.linux.com/news/all-about-linux-swap-space

"One swap partition can be shared between several GNU/Linux distributions"

That's what I thought too, but I came across some information on the web  
(can't find the link now) that said that installing another instance of  
GNU/Linux using the same swap partition breaks the ability of the original  
instance to use the swap file. Was this person just wrong, or are you saying  
that editing /etc/fstab is the solution to this problem? If so, can you  
provide more detail (or a link to it) on exactly what to edit in /etc/fstab  
and how?


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-18 Thread strypey
The other downside with Tails, from a libre POV, is that it uses the blobbed  
version of the Linux kernel, not Linux-libre. This is why FSF will not  
endorse it. Of course, RiseUp (developers of Tails) do this for a good  
reason; Tails is designed to allows its user to get on the net from any PC  
they can get their hands on, and including the binary blobs (mostly firmware/  
drivers) means Tails will run properly on a wider variety of PCs than a 100%  
libre distro like Trisquel or Uruk.


It's a shame the FSF endorsement list doesn't have different levels,  
something like:
* Gold: fulfils every criteria on the FSDG (Free System Distribution  
Guidelines) ie the existing list
* Silver: default install fulfils every criteria on the FSDG, but gives users  
access to some proprietary software in a separate repo (eg Debian)
* Bronze: fulfils every criteria on the FSDG except using linux-libre, but  
vows to remove blobs for any hardware as soon as there is a free driver that  
can support it (eg Tails)


Also some kind of usability-rating would be good. After deciding to move on  
from Ubuntu to a more freedom-respecting distro, I tried a number of the  
distros on the FSF's list before I found one that was actually usable as a  
day-to-day OS, which was Trisquel, which is why I'm here (see:  
http://www.coactivate.org/projects/disintermedia/blog/2012/10/22/brick-seeks-free-software-foundation-endorsement/).  
Of the 9 full distros on the list, almost half are not even being actively  
developed according to Distrowatch (eg Dragora, Utoto, Dyne:Bolic, Musix). Of  
the 5 that are left (Trisquel, BLAG, Parabola, GuixSD, and gNewSense), BLAG  
is useless and broken, Parabola is an Arch fork (experts only), I haven't  
tried GuixSD or the last couple of versions of gNewSense.


My point is, having different levels of endorsement would give users a  
greater range of actually usable distros to try, while still educating them  
the freedom issues involved.


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-18 Thread greatgnu

cli https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Command-line_interface

CLI applications require less resources, are much faster and efficient. Sure,  
they are less friendly for you will not click with your mouse in a GUI,  
instead you will only use your keyboard and will need to learn a few  
commands.


Xfce is awesome, it has no bloat, it doesn't get in your way, it doesn't get  
slower with each version, they don't add nonsense and is very complete and  
supercustomizable.


I believe the package to install is xfce4 and the goodies:
sudo apt-get install xfce4 xfce4-goodies

Then you log out and at the login screen you select it as your DE (I believe  
you'll find the selection icon on the top right of your screen, you select  
Xfce, and that's it.

By default it'll look as poo :(
But you can set it to look exactly how you want to look, you just need to  
tinker a little. But first use it for a few days and see if you like its  
minimalism and functionality.
You are welcome :) 


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-18 Thread strypey

A few points in response to the above:

* Some distros will refuse to install unless a /swap partition is defined,  
and they create one automatically if you choose 'guided partitioning'.


* If OP has only 1GB RAM, they need Trisquel-Mini, or at least a much more  
lightweight desktop than GNOME. I recently tried Uruk on my Aspire One (1GB  
"netbook") which uses Mate, but as soon as I opened a browser and started  
watching a video on YouTube, it fell over :( Sure, I could use VLC to watch  
YT videos instead, or use NoScript or whatever, but these are ugly hacks  
compared to using the site like average folks do.


* Speaking of  memory leaks, Firefox-based software is infamous for them. The  
lagging, freezing, and crashing problems I've had running GNU/Linux of  
various flavours on older machines have *always* involved a browser. Miro  
(formerly Democracy Player) never works no matter how powerful a PC I've  
tried it on, and I suspect the problem is memory leaks inherited from the  
Mozilla code the Miro developers fork.


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-18 Thread greatgnu
Well, Tails is Debian set to be as secure as possible by default and an  
amnesic OS, that is, an OS that will run entirely in your memory without ever  
touching your hard drive. The idea is the non persistence - and precisely non  
persistence of malware. It routes every connection through the tor network,  
so that you never make a clear connection to a server.
I would recommend it to someone who really takes risks on the net, say an  
activist, a whistleblower, or any illegal action.
If nothing stays on the disk and after you shut down your PC the memory in a  
few seconds got flushed, then there is no proof of wrongdoing. The downside  
is that Tails is slow, even when you run it from a USB.


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-17 Thread silentdreamer
I tried to get it from the Terminal, that's how I saw the warnig. I know how  
to get it the way you explained it, if I remember right, I set it up that way  
awhile ago. Why does Terminal send that warning?


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-17 Thread silentdreamer
you said, "You could even go "half-full cli" and find a cli replacement for  
many of your GUI applications." I'd like to understand more about that. You  
also mentioned Xfce. I'd like to try it, but I should remove something first.  
Since my Trisquel is still functional without the GNOME shell, I'll remove  
the mini.

However long this all takes, I'm in it for the long haul- I wanna be free! :D


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-17 Thread silentdreamer

I like Tor and I've used it with that identity feature.

 Yes I am very serious about this, if it takes awhile, that's ok. Tonight  
I'll set up that memtest and hope for the best.


What do you know about Tails? I've read it's very good.

And, Yeah, us caring people are seen as a threat.

Thanks again for your help. :)


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-17 Thread greatgnu
> One concern is, they say at Tor, if someone uses a non Tor browser, then  
revisits a site with Tor, it compromises anonymity.


Hmm, no. Why would it? Wait, I think I know what you mean. If you **log in**  
to a website while using Tor, then they know it is you, and then if you stay  
on the same circuit (get renovated each 10 mins) an attacker who can observe  
a large portion of the network can follow you and see where else you go. This  
is why TorBB has this nice little option to refresh the circuit or better yet  
to "change identity", which is close and restart the TorBB. Each time you do  
that (new identity) you get the default shiny browser, everything just got  
flushed (think cookies, session id etc).
But if you do not log into the site they can not know by any means that it is  
you.



> Other sources say using Tor makes us targets of certin snooping agencies,  
but, we're targets anyway, despite any innocence. Seems life is always a  
compromise.


Well, if caring makes me a terrorist, so be it.

Do not let the initial complexity (switching to somethin new is always tough)  
discourage you, if you are serious about it, I am certain you'll manage to  
get your system libre, up, and running as you like it. It may take months or  
years, but it will pay in the end, so.. PERSIST!





Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-17 Thread silentdreamer
A message from Terminal has a warning saying The following packages cannot be  
authenticated! memtest86+


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-17 Thread silentdreamer
OH wow- Thank you very much! I really appreciate that.This is exactly what I  
need.


I have used Tor a few times, though I know there's concerns about it. Some  
sites blocked me for using it, and others who use it have complained about  
that too.. There are tunnels, I tried them, tried watching a vid through one  
while using Tor, but it took me 4 hours to watch, lots of lag time,  
rebuffering and freezing. An interesting experience.


 One concern is, they say at Tor, if someone uses a non Tor browser, then  
revisits a site with Tor, it compromises anonymity. Other sources say using  
Tor makes us targets of certin snooping agencies, but, we're targets anyway,  
despite any innocence. Seems life is always a compromise.


Anyway I'll copy that info you gave me, and do what Magic Banana suggested  
about checking RAM.. . 


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-17 Thread silentdreamer
OK. I'll check it out and see what happens and report the results as soon as  
possible. Thank you for explaining all this.


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-17 Thread greatgnu
> about the browser, I'm concerned about being able to block trackers and I  
need to have my security settings, plus have some add-ons, all are for those  
purposes. I like IcaCat for that.


There is nothing special about Icecat, it is only the best browser AFAIK for  
your privacy **by defult** (well, after TorBB, of course). You can set any FF  
based browser to be as secure if not more.
On the monkey I have noscript, ublockorigin, noresourceurileak  and  
httpseverywhere installed. They are all compatible and everything works  
great. I will leave you in the attachment the huuge list of modifications I  
made in advanced settings. You only need to copy your prefs.js to keep your  
modifications when you migrate to another FF browser, there is no need to  
manually change everything in about:config every time..


> I haven't watched videos or listened to music on here yet, though I'd love  
to, if I felt sure I'd be protected, especially from google; I wouldn't  
download their vids for fear there's embedded stuff that would snoop and mine  
my info.


Embedding malware in videos AFAIK is extremely difficult and it relies on  
exploiting a bug in the video player. An attacker would need to know which  
player, on which OS, which libraries version you use. It is something that  
can be done (from what I read) but in practice nobody does it. I don't think  
google would risk millions of dollars and spend time and effort to infect a  
bunch of GNU users. They already have all the info from people who don't know  
better and voluntarily spit out all their private information. Through  
correlation they also have a lot of information on those who don't even use  
their services.
Malware gets usually embedded in pdfs and doc files. If you receive a mail  
with one of those attached, you should worry, but you should not worry bout  
videos and music.
Btw, I am pretty sure the Tor Browser will run faster and use some 50 mb less  
memory than FF (or Icecat). Give it a try.


I recommend you don't apply blindly changes in about:config but first read  
what does each do.




Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-16 Thread silentdreamer
about the browser, I'm concerned about being able to block trackers and I  
need to have my security settings, plus have some add-ons, all are for those  
purposes. I like IcaCat for that. It took me months to get it tweaked. I  
wouldn't mind doing that again if I knew what to do ahead of time so it  
doesn't take so long because I didn't have all the info I needed.


I haven't watched videos or listened to music on here yet, though I'd love  
to, if I felt sure I'd be protected, especially from google; I wouldn't  
download their vids for fear there's embedded stuff that would snoop and mine  
my info.


 I know how devious they are, and what happens just by using anything they  
have,like their analytics, for example, which I block as soon as I get there,  
blocked them in the browser,and spydblock, so I stopped enjoying that stuff  
on my Mac, and I won't do it here for peace of mind. I hope they don't bypass  
my settings but I know they prob'ly could. I do my best to avoid them but  
that's nearly impossible, sad to say. I miss watching videos.


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-16 Thread silentdreamer
if I understood this better I'd try it, though I really appreciate the  
advice. Maybe one day I'll have learned enough to do it with confidence. :)


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-16 Thread silentdreamer
 how do I replace the RAM? The scrambling happened a lot. If this involves  
opening up my machine, I'd have to send it to a repair place. I never  
intended it to be online or be my main computer, but for now I want it to be  
stable enough till I can convert my Mac, or get something that's more  
respecting of our rights.


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-16 Thread silentdreamer
Very interesting. I have to read this a few times to be sure I understand it  
as it relates to my situation. I really appreciate the explanations you've  
given. It'll take some time for all this to sink in. This has been a wonderfl  
adventure for me. Thank you again.. :)




Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-16 Thread silentdreamer
hi, thank you for your suggestion. For now I'm not sure what I will do, I may  
try a few different programs to see which one I like, if I can be sure I'm  
not adding to what I have, so I'd have to decide what to remove first.


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-16 Thread megver83
You could try Parabola, its base installation is less than 1GB. Then you can  
install desktop environments, applications, games, etc. But be careful not to  
fulfill you memory again! 


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-16 Thread greatgnu

> what can I do, what can I run that will not use too much resources?

First of all, the most important, is the desktop environment. An old laptop  
with limited resources may run flawlessly with xfce, and barely move with say  
KDE.
I have used for a long time Xfce, I really recommend it. Some say LXDE is  
faster, but last time I checked, I saw no difference at all. Xfce is IMHO  
much more complete and customizable than LXDE, very easy to customize and to  
make it look modern and shiny.


Then, the applications you run.

The browser is usually the heaviest one, firefox and most of its variants are  
as heavy as it gets. I recommend seamonkey and Links2. Dillo is great too.  
You could try some others (like netsurf, xombrero etc) and see if you like  
one.


Nothing plays as smoothly the videos as "smplayer" does in my experience.

A very lightweight mail client (and great software overall) is claws mail  
(too bad it constantly gave me issues with riseup :/ )


For the musicz: qmmp.

You could even go "half-full cli" and find a cli replacement for many of your  
GUI applications (which is very fascinating and something I have been trying  
to do lately).

Cli applications tend to be inherently more efficient in terms of resources.




Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-16 Thread silentdreamer
What I'm trying to see is if Trisquel and GNOME are 2 separate  
programs(Desktops) but when I look at their dependencies they seem to need  
components from each other. Being new to how all this works, perhaps I'm not  
comprehending what a package is. I know it's not a program, so my next  
assumption is, it's a component. The dependencies seem to be componenents,  
which I know can't work alone..


Then I need to understand GNOME and GNOME Shell. If I am correct, GNOME is a  
program that can run alone, but not the shell. I remember what a shell is  
from my PC days.


I'll never be a good tech person but it's so fascinating, so I do my best to  
understand. As long as I'm using this tech stuff I will try to understand it.  



Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-16 Thread silentdreamer
I'm gonna look up some stuff on here to se if I can find the info before  
asking more questions. Thanks again for all your help. :)


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-16 Thread silentdreamer
oh ok. I'll look at tht again. this is a good experience for me when I can  
see the different ways of getting the same info. I'm very glad to be  
learning. :D


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-16 Thread silentdreamer
ok, thanks. usually I would run IceCat and one other program. what about the  
scrambled screen? What about GNOME shell?


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-16 Thread silentdreamer
Under File Systems, I put this into a text editor and wrote it out  since I  
can't do screenshot, so I could ask why does it say this:


Device  DirectoryType Total  Free  
AvailableUsed


/def/sda1   /   ext4   19.5GB14.1 GB   13.1 GB   
5.4GB 29%


/dev/sda6 /home xfs   136.8 GB  136.6 GB   136.6GB  
222.2MB  0%



sorry I can't seem to line these colum up. :(



Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-16 Thread silentdreamer
OK. I was there a day or 2 ago. I wish you could see this. will  examine it  
carefully. Thank you. :)


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-16 Thread silentdreamer
Thank you for explaining. This is a gret experience for me, thanks to all of  
you. :)


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-16 Thread silentdreamer
Hello SuperTrmp83, thank you for your help, too. I'm very thankful to all of  
you for taking time to explain and guide me. :)


Somedy I would like to get another machine, a Libreboot system. I've seen a  
couple of sites that have them, and I want a libre router or something as  
close to it as poible, I saw something like tht, too.. Till then I'll use  
this machine so I can get help converting my Mac, but it'd be so great to  
have something more respecting of our rights.


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-16 Thread silentdreamer
Thank you so much for taking time to write all this info. All of you have  
been wonderful. :)


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-16 Thread silentdreamer

somehow I got $ sudo parted -l to work today:

Model: ATA TOSHIBA MK1665GS (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 160GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos

Number  Start   End SizeType  File system Flags
 1  1049kB  20.0GB  20.0GB  primary   ext4boot
 2  20.0GB  160GB   140GB   extended
 5  20.0GB  23.2GB  3191MB  logical   linux-swap(v1)
 6  23.2GB  160GB   137GB   logical   xfs




Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-16 Thread silentdreamer
Wow this is all very interesting. what can I do, what can I run that will not  
use too much resources? 


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-16 Thread greatgnu
>  I usually make swap partitions the same size as the amount of RAM on that  
computer.


From what I gathered around, the size of the swap partition is very relative.  
On modern computers (say 4 or better yet 8 gb of RAM) swap is hardly needed  
at all and you could even omit it without ever encountering any issue  
whatsoever (unless you edit heavy pics/vids or whatever may drain a modern  
monster).
OP has 1 gb of RAM. In this case, the swap partition is **vital** as the  
probability of filling the RAM up is very high. Hence my recommendation is to  
make it double in this case - go for 2 gb of swap, just to be safe.


I have an old laptop, 2 gb ram, 2 gb swap. I am pretty certain I never even  
touched the /swap..
But then again I hate multitasking and I extremely enjoy lightweight  
applications. My average RAM usage is 400/500 mb :)


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-16 Thread strypey
I strongly recommend learning about partitions, as this will make installs  
and reinstalls much less confusing for you. I started learning about them  
when I was trained as a Windows technician but most of what I know now is  
self-learned.


BTW In my other comment, I forgot to mention that you will also need "swap  
partitions". A swap partition is a slice of the hard drive that is reserved  
in case you run out of memory. I usually make Swap partitions the same size  
as the amount of RAM on that computer.


You need a separate swap partition for each OS partition, although you can  
usually shrink your ext4 partitions during install to make space for a Swap  
partition. Sorry if this is all a bit confusing, but stick with it! Most of  
us here have learned what we know by a combination of web searches, making  
illuminating mistakes, and getting advice from people like the friendly and  
helpful folks who frequent this forum.


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-15 Thread silentdreamer

Filesystem  Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
udev486M  4.0K  486M   1% /dev
tmpfs   100M  1.1M   99M   2% /run
/dev/sda119G  5.1G   13G  30% /
none4.0K 0  4.0K   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
none5.0M 0  5.0M   0% /run/lock
none497M  120K  497M   1% /run/shm
none100M  8.0K  100M   1% /run/user
/dev/sda6   128G  212M  128G   1% /home



Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-15 Thread silentdreamer
you said, "As far as I understand you, the command you were given through IRC  
is "sudo apt-get install trisquel-mini" and your system currently has both  
Trisquel's default system and Trisquel Mini's base. Am I right??

Yes

 thank you! here's the info:

 total   used   free sharedbuffers cached
Mem:  993M   812M   181M41M21M   311M
-/+ buffers/cache:   479M   514M
Swap: 3.0G   172K   3.0G




Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-15 Thread silentdreamer
sorry for causing confusion. Thank you for explaining. I understand it enough  
to know that ram is not the hard disk. When I looked at "Disk" I saw 160 GB,  
so it seems I don't even have 2 GB. More confusion, i know, and I know how  
frustrating it is giving tech support without seeing the user's system.


My problem is, I thought I had more disk space, now if I can find out how  
much RAM I have I know that'd be helpful. I was sure I had 2 GB. Please  
remember I don't see well and often follow the wrong line. When I remember  
how I found where to look for specs, I thought it said almost 2 GB, I looked  
up getting a screenshot in this program but it looked complicated.


 unknowingly I installed programs beside each other, following advice on how  
to download, not realizing the new program didn't erase the old one.


I looked at the disk analyser, didn't quite understand it, then, while  
looking in a window with folders, I saw more numbers, maybe that was the RAM.  
When I first learned computers, I wrote some notes, what RAM is, what ROM is,  
and a few other things.


The main problem is, before getting Trisquel Mini, I had Trisquel and a GNOME  
shell, which worked well, till the display started getting scrambled, so I  
went to the Trisquel room at IRC and tried to properly read the specs on the  
Terminal after someone gave me a command to input. Then I was told I could  
not use Trisquel, so I got a command to install Mini, not realizing I was  
adding to what I had, instead of replacing.


On my own, I looked Synaptic, almost deleted Trisquel from there. I had tried  
uninstalling the shell, but didn't, so there's still fragments of it on here.  
When I log in, I still have the Trisquel screen. If it's still functional I  
could do screenshots.


Admittedly I don't know what I'm doing, that's why I'm here. I'm slowly  
learning, ty trial and error and error.


Thank you for your help, and again, I'm sorry for causing confusion..


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-14 Thread silentdreamer
you said, "Boot to the netinstall image. Install the base system. Do NOT  
install the Trisquel desktop, Triskel desktop, or Trisquel-mini desktop."


I'm embarrassed to admit I don't know what a netinstall image is.


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-14 Thread silentdreamer
Heather, hi again, thanks for the compliment. I was just curious about the  
denial message but I don't think I  need to see those folders right now. I  
wouldn't make any changes, I'd just read the files, but it's not important at  
this time.


 The only thing I haven't backed up yet is the browser. I have to look again  
at how to do that.


I hope you'll be on again soon. While I wait for replies I've been looking at  
the Command Line doc and experimenting with Terminal, and looking for any  
help files.


 


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-14 Thread noordinaryspider
If you get an "access denied" message, that means that you need root  
privileges to access the folder; type "sudo nautilus" or "sudo pcmanfm" into  
the terminal and then your password and the file manager will open with root  
privileges, which will allow you to change system folders so be careful and  
make sure you know what you're doing!


I like to make a habit out of doing a dry run of opening configuration files,  
locating the correct folder, etc. with a user account and read-only access  
just to be on the safe side.


Your description of your training and educational methods sound exactly like  
my own. I refuse to let people label me "self-educated" or "self-taught"  
because I consider it an insult to the many kind people who have contributed  
20 minutes or so of their time to explain unfamiliar terminology, encourage  
me to experiment, and teach me how to teach myself since 2004.


What you are doing is admirable, achievable, and exactly what the pioneers of  
the free software movement wanted people to be able to do.


You are very good at tech. You are doing everything right. T

Now, you've found the folder and copied it into one of your 500 gig drives,  
right? You've backed up all of your personal files? You've got the Apple to  
get online if anything goes wrong and you need to look something up or ask  
any questions?


Are there any other settings you want to keep? Any other data that needs to  
be saved before the fresh install?





Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-14 Thread silentdreamer

Heather, there is a folder .mozilla.


Re: [Trisquel-users] Need to Uninstall Trisquel

2016-10-14 Thread silentdreamer
hello Magic Banana, I appreciate your help. I do have a backup program on  
here, used it a few days ago.


When I was searching for files today I noticed something that makes me  
wonder, that's got me more confused. In the window where the folders are, in  
the right hand corner, there's text about free space and total space, says  
there's more than 2GB, but how can that be? When I was in the Trisquel room  
on IRC someone gave me a Terminal command that would show me the memory,  
which was less.


 All I know is it seemed like  the problem with the display during  
multitasking meant I didn't have enough memory. Being no good at tech is very  
frustrating, I'm amazed I got this far, but that's only because of help from  
many wonderful people who have taught me a lot, enough that I could maintain  
my computers fairly well.


When I could find the window with the folders for system settings, I looked  
in there for memory specs also, it showed I didn't have much memory, too, so  
I don't know what's going on. If I can find that again I'll look at that  
also.


There's something else that mystifies me- I click on some folders and got an  
"access denied" message. One folder I remember the name of was "lost+found".  
Other folders did that too. What the heck is going on here?


I humbly admit I don't know what I'm doing, that's why I'm here. For many  
years I tried to understand this stuff, but I keep trying. While I wait for  
replies, I'm reading the Command Line document, trying to find the commands I  
need.






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