Random Rambling - Back from the dead

Back from the dead

Tuesday, February 8, 2005

Well, it's been a slow couple of weeks. Sorry for the lack of updates (though as far as I know, nobody reads this.)

# Ubuntu on PPC I'm attempting a Ubuntu Linux install at work. What I'm hoping for is to be able to do without either OS X Server or an older, more crotchety install. So far, I've managed to install Ubuntu and get the old server software running under MacOnLinux. Aside from some complaints about speed (I've not really noticed a slowdown) there haven't been any major complaints. I'm slowly transferring files from MacOS to Linux via AppleTalk (probably the reason for the slowdown ) and once that's done, I'll run psync to synchronize the folders and quietly shut down Maconlinux, and rename the Netatalk system to the current system's name. I'm sure there will be more to it than that, but as far as I can tell so far, Netatalk is being less "quirky" than either OS X or (especially) OS 9 + ASIP. Hooray. Overall Ubuntu seems to be more sane "out of the box" than most Linux distributions these days. And if I have a filesystem problem that's bad enough that I can't boot, there's a PPC LiveCD available. Sweetness.

# Ubuntu on x86 Speaking of Ubuntu, that's the Linux distribution I use at home. I'm not the biggest GNOME fan ever, but it's better than a kick in the teeth, to be sure. I spent far less time setting up the system and far more time doing fun stuff like creating and burning DVDs, CDs, doing page layouts in Scribus, and all sorts of things that are more the realm of a desktop system, not a general-purpose Linux system. It rocks. It doesn't hurt that the Ubuntu project seems to want to adhere as closely to standards as possible.

Now, having said that, I'm getting more and more irritated at developer-types. First they didn't want to do anything other than bugfix releases, and when I first started using it, a big mistake was to ask about software in the Universe repository in #ubuntu on irc.freenode.net.

Want to piss off a developer in #ubuntu? Asking for help with Universe software will do it, yeah. Mentioning problems with upgrades if you've installed stuff from Ubuntu Backports will do it, too. Mentioning anything WINE-related seems to do the trick as well. Suggesting that maybe there should have been packages available other than bugfixes, thereby making ubuntu-bp pointless, is another good way to raise ire. I'd chalk it up to immature questions, but many times I've seen devs fly off the handle when a simple question has been asked.

The project seems to be very mature; real shame not all the devs can do the same.

The best advice I can give: Ask about nonstandard setups on Ubuntu Forums if you don't want a lecture about how you can't be "supported" if you're not willing to use the approved software.