Posts Tagged: debian

Computing — 4 Comments
12
Dec 06

Debian, at long last

Around a month ago, I attempted setting up Debian on my computer again. Because of trouble getting X to run, though, and school work starting to pile up again, I eventually went back to using Ubuntu. Mistakes, attempts, and then there was this day I installed Windows XP on a whim because I was dying to continue experiencing the seventh final fantasy (It is my first time.) and had zero patience to try to get a PlayStation emulator to work well on my system. Weeks went by.

Last night, again on a whim, I decided to back up my data, clear my hard disk (just the partition table, actually), partition my hard disk exactly the way I realized I wanted it, and then install Debian again. It was either “do” or “die for a while”, just decide what to do afterwards if I still could not get X to work. Surprisingly though, last night, it was so easy – I just did whatever made sense and, before I knew it, X was up. Now, I have Debian, and I am no longer with the haunting thought that my system might be doing things that I really do not want it to do. And since I am on that, here is a bit that I wrote some weeks ago:

I am not against Ubuntu, I think it is a great desktop system. In fact, I still recommend it to a lot of people who are interested in open source software and/or GNU/Linux. However, for myself, I still prefer Debian. I itch not knowing my system, and I am more comfortable with more direct control of it: I want to know what software I have running, what packages I have installed, and the actual configuration of the services I run.

I think it boils down to what is user-friendly for the specific user. Ubuntu may be user-friendly for the regular users, but Debian is for the developers, the (computer) geeks, systems administrators, and the paranoid. I find that hitting that aspect of the Ubuntu vs. Debian issue is pointless.

Then, of course, window manager galore. I now understand why Paolo spends weeks tweaking window manager after window manager just to get the environment that he wants. I am on a Debian high.

Computing / Personal — 1 Comment
17
Nov 06

Installing Debian

w00t! I am finally done with overdue work from the first semester! I only have a thesis class and five other subjects left this semester, there are some hours of productivity to spare. Time to install and set up Debian! I have been waiting for this day for so long.

Computing — No Comments
14
Sep 06

TODO list syntax-highlighting for nano

Until a couple of weeks ago, I never used nano except to make minor modifications to files. I was setting up the new server for CERSA from the base Debian system, and since nano was among the few more friendly text editors already included, it occurred to me to try the program out.

The first thing that I had to do for migration from the current server to the new server was to, of course, prepare a detailed TODO list. To keep this list from looking cluttered, I put together a simple syntax-highlighting system. Below is a bit from the nanorc file I worked with:

syntax "todo" "^TODO"
color brightblack "^[^ <>tn]+"
color brightcyan start="^[ t]*>[ t]*" end="$"
color cyan start="^[ t]*<[ t]*" end="$"
color brightgreen start="^[ t]*-[ t]*" end="$"
color green start="^[ t]*+[ t]*" end="$"
color red "TODO"

nano is pretty straight-forward, and that makes it really cool too.

Computing — No Comments
2
Jun 06

libpam-mysql 0.6.1

The most recent libpam-mysql version considered to be stable in the Debian package repository is 0.5.0-6. The account management section of this module, however, is not functional. It was not until 0.6.1 that this has been fixed.

From the changelog in the project’s homepage:

Fixed account management code that wouldn’t work at all :-p (0.6.1, 0.7pre2)

I hope this saves somebody time.

Computing — 1 Comment
15
Mar 06

manpages-dev

For all else who are having a difficult time trying to find out what the name of the package (the standard Debian packages, at least) for manuals on C system calls and library functions is, it is manpages-dev.

Happy hacking!