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I need to install a new Linux/Gnu OS soon. The present one, Linux Mint (Mate) Debian edition no longer fills my needs. I run 4 screens with 3 X sessions. Mate worked great for this, then an update broke it to one screen. I tried Cinnamon but it won't even start on multiple X sessions. XFCE works but with some serious drawbacks although that may be caused by my current system. Enlightenment actually worked well until it started crashing and I had to restore the settings file. When it finally crashed so nothing got it to run again I gave up on it.
I need a OS with multimedia support, the ability to install programs that may not be in the repositories ( Mythtv ), and multi X screen support. I am also looking for a file manager that has something like Gnome scripts. I have fair command line skills. I presently have Nvidia cards but I will go shopping if I have to. I might try Xinerama but I usually watch one screen while switching the other 2's desktops. Also not having a menu on all screens would be a pain.
(Score: 2) by zeigerpuppy on Tuesday November 26 2019, @07:10AM (9 children)
devuan with Mate desktop is my favourite desktop environment.
it gives you good compatibility with debian packages and is no problem with Nvidia cards
(Score: 5, Interesting) by janrinok on Tuesday November 26 2019, @07:45AM (7 children)
The problem is that a Debian update has changed something that prevents his system from working properly. You have just suggested that he use a distro that is based on Debian. I'm not sure if the problem will follow from Debian to Devuan, but there is a reasonable chance that it might. I don't suppose that he will want to go through the entire problem again when Devuan finally catches up with the latest Debian release.
Personally, I would prefer to identify the cause of the problem rather than jump to an entirely new distro, but if I am going to change then I would probably be steering away from Debian for the time being. Time to start testing various distros in a virtual environment to find which one works best for the specified configuration. Is the problem in X, is it the update to the MATE desktop, or maybe a change to a standard lib that is no longer doing what it did? Presumably the poster still has the original ISO for the previous working version - try it again to make sure that there isn't a new hardware fault which showed itself at the same time as the update.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Arik on Tuesday November 26 2019, @08:57AM (1 child)
Well, one would hope that at some point during the process, the emergency signal gets passed downstream, halt on update xyz123, that was a regression, wait for next patch.
In my experience, you can't always get what you want, and I rarely get what I hope for either.
"Personally, I would prefer to identify the cause of the problem rather than jump to an entirely new distro"
Now that's a bit of shockingly good advice!
The unfortunate fact is that simply switching to a different distro may run into the same problem, either immediately or relatively shortly down the road.
Understanding why it happened, that's Mott the Hoople.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Tuesday November 26 2019, @09:19AM
I agree. However the user's configuration is untypical from most other users and there is a chance that not many will discover the problem, and if they do it might be a low priority if only a small number of users are affected. I don't think that MythTV is supported by Debian any longer, but I could easily be wrong. MythTV do give a link to explain how to install their software and it appears to have been updated in August of this year.
Anything that the user can do to pin this bug down will be important in deciding whether there is sufficient information to even begin a bug squash.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by aristarchus on Tuesday November 26 2019, @09:17AM (3 children)
Yes, Debian will do that on occasion, since neither Deb nor Ian are involved in the distro any more, and god knows who is, outside the fact they approved the Nefarious and Diabolical SystemD!!!! TenanciousD was not all that bad, as a comedy rock band, but Systemd sucks the proverbial Donkey balls, and is to be avoided at all cost. I repeat, at alll costs. You may have to go Gentoo. So be it! Or Slack! So be that. Great thing about Free Software (Do NOT get me started on the scum-bag "Business Friendly" Bruce shit of "La Dee Da, Open Source") is that it grants you freedom. And as William Wallace once said, "They can take our lives, but they canna take, our, FREEDOM!!!" Scots for free software agree. Scots for "open source" software, well, they be down the Locks, weighted, you know.
"The problem is that a Debian update has changed something that prevents his system from working properly. " Seriously, janrinok, you are going to allow crap like this on the front page, and censor the aristarchus submissions? Oh, the Huge Manatee!! !
(Score: 4, Touché) by janrinok on Tuesday November 26 2019, @10:36AM (2 children)
I know that your comment was partly in jest but, just to clarify for any members of our community that are fairly recent arrivals, we have never censored your submissions.
They might not get selected because you do not follow the guidelines for submissions, but we can hardly be held responsible for that. Heaven knows we have tried often enough to help you.
They might be edited but - well, that is what editors are meant to do, so that submissions comply with our stated guidelines and the aims of this site.
But we have not, do not, and will not censor our community unless instructed to do so by the appropriate legal authorities who can present the necessary legal paperwork.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 26 2019, @12:43PM
That's a lie. No, make it too lyes, the one with "never censored" and the "members of our community that are fairly recent arrivals".
(Score: 1, Flamebait) by aristarchus on Wednesday November 27 2019, @12:50AM
There is no "Official Secrets Act" in the Untied States, Jan! And it is only censorship is the government does it. What happens at SN is far, far more insidious. Kind of thing only a Mangy Buzzard could pull off.
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Tuesday November 26 2019, @02:32PM
Absolutely agree.
I'd look at xorg.conf changes, or replacement. That's one of my most important OS (non-personal) files for backups.
And as you said, something might have changed in the binaries / libs that broke the xorg.conf parameters, so again, I'd look in that direction before I change OS.
(Score: 2) by pjbgravely on Tuesday November 26 2019, @06:12PM