#7

Story: 10 common mistakes to avoid when you’re installing Linux softwareTotal Replies: 13
Author Content
tuxchick

Apr 17, 2008
8:52 AM EDT
It's so fun when that happens!

This is a good list. I wish howto authors would wake up to the Yum/Aptitude/Synaptic/Adept era!
techiem2

Apr 17, 2008
10:37 AM EDT
Yeah, my 2GB flash drive boots the Clonezilla/SystemRescueCD combo, my 8GB flash drive boots Backtrack, and my 750GB USB2/eSATA disk boots the Gentoo LiveDVD.

I usually have some liveCDs as well (though I need to put some in my laptop case so I always have them wherever I take my laptop).

Nice list overall.
Sander_Marechal

Apr 17, 2008
11:07 AM EDT
Why can't tar do what file-roller does? Add a commandline switch that tells tar to create a new directory to unpack in if it detects that the contents of the archive isn't contained in a single directory.
techiem2

Apr 17, 2008
11:40 AM EDT
Oh bother...I just realized my reply was on the wrong article...(It should be under the 7 habits article) /me slaps self and reads this article
Bob_Robertson

Apr 17, 2008
12:41 PM EDT
I'm building a system for someone in my karate class. Using VirtualBox to give him a real "windows" environment for games, but otherwise Linux.

To this end, I finally tried Synaptic. I figure not everyone is going to want to use "dselect". I must say it is entirely _strange_ to me. I am not comfortable with it.

But maybe, if someone has never used the command line for package management, Synaptic will be good enough. I hope so.

techiem2

Apr 17, 2008
12:57 PM EDT
Quoting:Using VirtualBox to give him a real "windows" environment for games, but otherwise Linux.


But does vbox work with directx and all that so games will actually run?

jdixon

Apr 17, 2008
1:24 PM EDT
> But does vbox work with directx and all that so games will actually run?

Yes, enquiring minds want to know. VMWare is worthless for even old DOS games, as I've found out. :( I was hoping to retire my FreeDOS box, which is beginning to have hardware problems.
techiem2

Apr 17, 2008
1:58 PM EDT
From a quick search around it appears that vbox does not yet have directx support. Has vmware's ever made it out of alpha state?
Bob_Robertson

Apr 17, 2008
2:02 PM EDT
> But does vbox work with directx and all that so games will actually run?

If not, then I guess we'll just have to come up with something else. Complete honesty, I haven't tried it.

It only really needs to run Microsoft Flight Simulator.
jdixon

Apr 17, 2008
2:04 PM EDT
> Has vmware's ever made it out of alpha state?

I don't believe so, at least not in their free products. :(

A quick web search reveals that it is still listed as experimental in Workstation 5.5. Workstation 6 is now out, but it's not listed in the features, so I assume it's still experimental.
number6x

Apr 17, 2008
2:17 PM EDT
I just installed Ubuntu for a neighbor. Their XP was riddled with crap again. They wanted to watch Netflix movies on line so I installed Virtualbox through synaptic and then installed XP in virtual box using their license. Their hp dv6000 came with a full install disk.

I followed this tutorial to install XP (requires flash or something like that to view): http://www.tomlinux.ca/tutorials/virtualbox/vbox_tutorial.ht...

I activated their copy of Windows, installed open Office and some free antivirus, ran all of the MS Windows updates and then pointed IE to Netflix. Netflix made me install Windows Media Player 11 and a bunch of direct X stuff. I rebooted the virtual XP umpteen times and finally was able to view Netflix movies on line.

I don't think virtualisation is a good idea for games, but it seems to work well for DRM encrusted streaming media.

I showed them how to take a snapshot of Windows in Virtualbox every week or so for backup purposes.

I have a copy of the clean install on a few dvd's and will probably make a new one for them every month or so.

Their kids like tux racer, pingus, frozen bubble and super tux.

I think I would rather just have them use Linux exclusively, but the specs on this request called for Netflix instant view.

(I tried to go through a vnc to their windows desktop across their wireless network. I could do it and the kids got a big kick out of me moving the mouse on the Windows desktop from the Ubuntu laptop. However, the streaming media never showed on the Linux vnc client.)
jdixon

Apr 17, 2008
2:40 PM EDT
OK, time to try out VirtualBox. I've downloaded all the necessary files, I've just been too lazy and busy to get to it. I'll try to post back with the results. You could probably capture a still of the video by telling VNC to update the screen, but you're correct, a changing screen within a screen simply doesn't display properly with VNC.
Bob_Robertson

Apr 17, 2008
3:54 PM EDT
JD, I suggest the non-OSE version. Having USB work is worth it.

But every thing else works, so the OSE is a good way to test everything. It's in Debian of course.
jdixon

Apr 17, 2008
5:03 PM EDT
> It's in Debian of course.

Well, my distro of choice is just a little bit older than Debian (by a matter of days/weeks/months, depending on how you count), so that doesn't do me any good. However, the non-OSE version supposedly supports Slackware, so that's what I downloaded. We'll see how it goes.

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