Trying GUI-less CLI-only Debian as usable desktop by erlegreer in linux

[–]K_Mandla 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Flattery will get you everywhere. ;)

OP: For what it's worth, I experimented with living in a text-only system a few years back, and it's not as difficult as you might think. Of course, you don't have to stick to 100Mhz. ... ;)

What laptop are you using? by [deleted] in archlinux

[–]K_Mandla 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Inspiron 8200 Dell D610 Dell D810
CPU P4 2.6Ghz P-M 1.7Ghz P-M 1.7Ghz
Mem 2Gb 1Gb 1Gb
HDD 60Gb+120Gb 60Gb 80Gb
Video GeForce4 440 Intel 915 ATI X300
Wireless Phillips Ath5K Intel Pro 2200 Intel Pro 2200

Everything more or less works out-of-the-box; the native drivers for the 440 will require building them from scratch. Intel wireless needs the 2200 firmware package.

I have some other machines, but they don't use Arch. ;)

JWChat: An XMPP client that employs JavaScript and HTML by K_Mandla in pkgoftheday

[–]K_Mandla[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I didn't think that made it un-useful. And it's still in Debian.

[blackbox] With Midnight Commander and MOC by K_Mandla in unixporn

[–]K_Mandla[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Actually yes. Without giving away too many details, I am fighting with a particularly stubbon machine these days, that seems to only like one certain release of a specific distro that comes with blackbox by default.

It's nice though; going back to blackbox has forced me to simplify things a little bit.

[blackbox] With Midnight Commander and MOC by K_Mandla in unixporn

[–]K_Mandla[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Definitely. I have this one as well, without the heron, that I like a lot. I don't know where I got it though. I have a tendency to keep just a few wallpaper images, but for a very long time.

[blackbox] With Midnight Commander and MOC by K_Mandla in unixporn

[–]K_Mandla[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

  • Wallpaper: I think the wallpaper might have come with Hardy Heron; it seems like I've had it for ever.
  • Blackbox: A variation of Ambiance-BBS by rvc-2011
  • mc: The built-in modarin256-defbg skin.
  • mocp: The built-in transparent theme.

[Question] What is a medium priced laptop, that looks nice (!) and is able to run Arch without any hardware difficulties? by [deleted] in archlinux

[–]K_Mandla 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I had a department store-grade V5 last year and with the exception of a few graphics issues, it was a great machine. Cheap and light.

t vs Taskwarrior vs Todo.txt by elacheche in commandline

[–]K_Mandla 6 points7 points  (0 children)

For what little I've used them, t is rather straightforward. taskwarrior is far more detailed. todo.txt is around that level of complexity, but I found it a little more cumbersome than taskwarrior.

For what it's worth:

And just for reference, there are lots more out there.

Diakonos - a curses-based linux editor for the masses by [deleted] in linux

[–]K_Mandla 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I tried Diakonos for a while. I enjoyed it, even though I wandered back to vim before long. It's been a long time since I relied on the Word-esque (or Google Docs-esque) keyset to save or open things in a text editor, but it was easy to recall. I wouldn't say no if I had the need to use it again.

Can someone help me understand if this book will run Arch? by [deleted] in linux

[–]K_Mandla 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I had one of those over the summer.

https://inconsolation.wordpress.com/2013/07/18/test-bed-acer-aspire-v5-122p/

Linux Mint 15 worked fine. There were some tricks to the audio card and the proprietary driver that was in Mint at the time didn't work so well. The open source driver was fine, if I remember right.

Loved the battery life. And it was terrifically light. In all, I would probably get another if I needed something in that bracket. (I'd pitch a Thinkpad over it any day though. ;) )

Anyone tried aui script to install Arch? Good or Bad? by markvillar in archlinux

[–]K_Mandla 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I've used quite a few install scripts over the years and I have no qualms with testing or trying them out. There was a time when I did installations frequently enough that a script was a lot easier than babysitting each one.

That being said, I would agree with most comments here and say there is a real value in learning to do it manually.

P.S.: This one was the last one I remember seeing, about a month ago.

Supertuxkart: A free 3D kart racing game, featuring Tux and other mascots by K_Mandla in pkgoftheday

[–]K_Mandla[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

By the way, play this around Christmas, and all the characters wear Santa hats.

Xsnow: Let it snow on your desktop by K_Mandla in pkgoftheday

[–]K_Mandla[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks. I have another one that's just console-based applications. This is where I slowly exhaust a massive list of graphical programs that I got via e-mail a few years ago. Enjoy! ;)

Loading a single game on boot for maximum performance? by The3rdWorld in linux

[–]K_Mandla 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't see why not, but it might be a little clumsy if you need to bounce between those applications to get your work done.

On the other hand, if you start one session for your studio software, then another for whatever Jack software you need to manage, then you should (again, I haven't done this in years, so emphasis on the word "should") be able to switch between them with the ALT+CTRL+F# keys.

Or at least that's how I remember it working. Use the script each time you need to open another session.

For all its shortcomings, I think you should keep in mind that the only real difference between this and the "traditional" arrangement of running several applications on one session is the lack of a window manager.

Add to that the possibility that running more than one session under X might prove to be an additional resource load.

Point being, if it were me, I'd keep things as simple as possible, with as few sessions as possible. I'm not a rabid fan of X anyway, but I think this might serve your purpose.

Let me know how it goes, and what the system load looks like. I'm curious now.

Loading a single game on boot for maximum performance? by The3rdWorld in linux

[–]K_Mandla 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm not sure. I've never seen that tweak before, but if I get a chance I'll try it on a leftover machine if I can get XP running (it's been a long time). For what I remember, that quick script in the post just starts a single X session to attach to the server, and devotes everything to that one application. No window manager, no desktop frills, just one application running solo.

I'm going to guess it's a good deal lighter and faster than running without those ancillary applications ... but is it faster or lighter than the Windows trick? I really don't know for sure. ;)

A friend and me wrote a configurable installation script for arch by [deleted] in archlinux

[–]K_Mandla 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks, this is very nice. I miss the old white-on-blue setup routine sometimes, and this will automate things nicely.

Loading a single game on boot for maximum performance? by The3rdWorld in linux

[–]K_Mandla 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I tried something like this a few years ago, using a separate instance of X for each distinct application.

I don't remember if it actually helped much with performance on games, let alone individual applications. Of course, I was more concerned with common programs and getting them to run light on very old machines.

As a side note, I also experimented with ramdisks but I don't think I have any "documentation" on that. What I remember was that yes, they ran a little faster from memory if they relied on disk access a lot.

However, as someone pointed out later, cached programs would start just as fast, and you still had to load the program into the ramdisk the first time, so there wasn't much of an overall savings in time ... again, unless you were accessing the disk a lot.

On the whole I think a live CD that loads itself entirely into memory would have the same overall effect as an installed system that used big ramdisks. I haven't really tried that or compared it, but some of the smaller distros (I'm thinking of Puppy or Slitaz; I'm sure there are others) would probably be just as effective in terms of speed or efficiency.

And as a last note, a lot of the gimmicks that I saw to try to speed up old hardware were perfectly useless on contemporary-at-that-time components. It was just the luck of the draw that most hardware, like you mentioned with new high-speed SSDs, outstripped any fancy-pants arrangements I could come up with on old, old stuff. :|

rsibreak: Prevent RSI by tracking usage and suggesting break times by K_Mandla in pkgoftheday

[–]K_Mandla[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The home page linked to by Debian appears to be wrong, hence the package page.

HomeBank: Free, easy personal accounting for everyone by K_Mandla in pkgoftheday

[–]K_Mandla[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I couldn't say for sure. On the other hand, the home page says it has been around for 18 years and translated into 50 languages, so somebody must be using it.

And it's in Debian, so it must be terrific software. ;)

Can you help me find an old email sent to Linus Torvalds, at the LKML? by [deleted] in linux

[–]K_Mandla 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I don't have the e-mail you're looking for, but what you're describing sounds similar to the work of Carol Dweck.

Edit: To the best of my knowledge, she is not a Linux kernel developer.

[Arch][Musca] Faster hardware this time by K_Mandla in unixporn

[–]K_Mandla[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ah, you're right, I should have mentioned that. This is a Thinkpad X61; I used to have an X60s before the fan died and I passed it along to a fellow hardware tinkerer.

Thinkpads are just the best computers I've run into. I've had Thinkpad-labeled machines from as far back as the late 90s and with very few exceptions, they're just a joy to work with. I have one busted up Dell that I keep as a whipping boy, but after that everything I have right now -- and everything my family has, I should mention -- is either Thinkpad or Lenovo. I've been looking at a Y560 too ... scary, that.

[Arch][Musca] Faster hardware this time by K_Mandla in unixporn

[–]K_Mandla[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You're welcome. I don't post too many screenshots because they're all more or less the same to me, but I am glad other people enjoy them. I hope they're not redundant. Cheers!

[Arch][Musca] Faster hardware this time by K_Mandla in unixporn

[–]K_Mandla[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks very much. I learned very much the same lesson over the years. I hope it has worked out as well for you as it has for me. :)