NickA's first linux thingummy

**NickA** · 30-05-2007, 09:07 PM

^What language is that FF?

I wrote my first linux app in GTK & C the other day....well it took me a couple a weeks, but I'm new to it.

**DrAndy** · 30-05-2007, 09:13 PM

he speaks mericain

he writes it too

**cimboc** · 30-05-2007, 09:23 PM

Originally Posted by NickA

^What language is that FF?

hmmm looks like a PC virus for TD from what I can see

lucky I have a Mac

Nice pics FF

**friscofrankie** · 30-05-2007, 09:50 PM

Originally Posted by NickA

^What language is that FF? I wrote my first linux app in GTK & C the other day....well it took me a couple a weeks, but I'm new to it.

The language is Just JavaScript, is an ajax submit and return function. it's part of a drag&drop hierarchal DB manager.
Is "c" you're first language? Great place to start. THe GTK libraries and widgets help alot. I've doen quite a few perl Tk apps but being lazy I prefer using the commmand line so never get around to writing a GUI. Working with Javascript xHTML & PHP/PERL with Ajax I am able to build cross platform apps. None of these languages are as strict as c. declaring vars and varTypes is a pain but very very good training.

when you move on to loosely typed languages you will have the good habits to make robust, readable and maintainable code. I do want to build a distribution of linux with my own install will have to use c, c++ maybe NASM.

You're using GTK to develop on a KDE desktop

the wonderful world of open source Computing... best things in life really are free(sometimes).

**NickA** · 31-05-2007, 09:41 AM

^here it is, not beautiful, but it does the job

**friscofrankie** · 31-05-2007, 11:26 AM

Nice, what's on the back end? dvd+rw-tools? I've written a couple a scripts to handle my burning and ripping. but all command line. This looks like it will play Xvid/Divx maybe some others? Does it burn DVDs as well?
From windows lackey to Linux geek in 8 months

Good on you.

**mrsquirrel** · 31-05-2007, 11:29 AM

Sad to say I reverted back to Windows.

However the wife has come out with her own laptop so I will be dumping windows off one of them. Not sure what one though.

My Thinkpad or her V3000 - hard choice to make. Do I keep my machine Windows so I can go to work without having to worry about problems and turn hers.

Or turn mine to the dark side and keep hers Windows for her to use.

**friscofrankie** · 31-05-2007, 11:54 AM

Originally Posted by mrsquirrel

turn mine to the dark side and keep hers Windows for her to use.

The way I'd go.
Although I would use the more powerful machine for linux simply because I'm a greedy bastard linux requires less disk space memory and CPU power to run well. I wouldn't worry too much about who as the toughest hardware.

I had linux and windows on two desktops for a while the ex wife preferred windows so she would log into windows start and Xserver (a client) log into the linux machine fromthe windows machine so she could play Mah-Jong

I would set up my systems so I had the linux and keep on my important data on that system, and my woman off of it.

**ChiangMai noon** · 31-05-2007, 12:06 PM

Originally Posted by friscofrankie

From windows lackey to Linux geek in 8 months

Here's a challenge.
If you can come and set me up with linux next Monday or Tuesday, I'll have one of those application things done inside 2 months.

**mrsquirrel** · 31-05-2007, 12:08 PM

My main problem before was that my laser printer was windows only. I got pissed off switching between the two.

I then added OSx-86 for the wankfest of it and got in a muddle and wiped everything back to Windows.

Everything I need at work has Linux drivers available. My laptop is covered as well.

I have KUbuntu, Ubuntu, SuSE 10.5, MEPIS and a few other versions of Linux all waiting. Just need the balls and the patience to change.

We will see. If I can get my wireless router sharing my cable connection this weekend I will brave it. If not I will hold off for another day.

**friscofrankie** · 31-05-2007, 12:11 PM

^see you Tuesday. have you DL'd Debian/Suse yet?

**ChiangMai noon** · 31-05-2007, 12:12 PM

Originally Posted by friscofrankie

^see you Tuesday. have you DL'd Debian/Suse yet?

thanks and nope.
where do I download it to?
will anywhere do?

**friscofrankie** · 31-05-2007, 12:16 PM

Originally Posted by mrsquirrel

My main problem before was that my laser printer was windows only. I got pissed off switching between the two.

Linux prints to Postscript printers but there are drivers for every thing under the sun. I'm on my way out the door, when I get back I'll put up some links on printer "drivers" if I can get my Canon 200SPx working in linux imagine you could get your printer working.
What kind of printer is it? (Lexmark???)

**friscofrankie** · 31-05-2007, 12:19 PM

Originally Posted by ChiangMai noon

will anywhere do

Your hard-dirve???
you'll need to burn the image(s) to CDs or a DVD depending. I put up some links to the different distro sites a while back when NickA was converting... You can look 'em up wait til I get home. Or, some else puts up the links...

**ChiangMai noon** · 31-05-2007, 12:20 PM

^
cheers, I'll head over to Nick's thread now.

watterinja · 31-05-2007, 01:03 PM

<openSUSE>

Suse 10.2 free download - CD-set, or DVD. Smashing.

**NickA** · 31-05-2007, 01:10 PM

Originally Posted by friscofrankie

looks like it will play Xvid/Divx maybe some others? Does it burn DVDs as well?

It's really just a frontend to convert .avi files to DVD compatible .mpg files using tovid. it also gets some basic info from idvid and estimates the size of the output file.

I wrote it just to see that I could and it does come in useful to leave my computer converting films overnight.

The authoring and writing tabs don't do anything yet. Writing is easy, but a good authoring program could take a while.

**mrsquirrel** · 31-05-2007, 01:18 PM

It was the only Kyocera to be windows only

FS-720 - excellent printer. Really economical but Windows only.

**mrsquirrel** · 31-05-2007, 01:31 PM

FF

Don't bite on Noonies challenge

he is only after another 100 post count thread.

YOU KNOW IT WILL BE ALL YOUR POSTS AS WELL.

FF why doesn't the mouse move?
FF why is the screen not black. i want it black how do i make it black.
FF why is cd drive making a funny whiring noise.

You know you don't want to do it.

**friscofrankie** · 31-05-2007, 11:18 PM

Originally Posted by NickA

It's really just a frontend to convert .avi files to DVD compatible .mpg files using tovid. it also gets some basic info from idvid and estimates the size of the output file. I wrote it just to see that I could and it does come in useful to leave my computer converting films overnight. The authoring and writing tabs don't do anything yet. Writing is easy, but a good authoring program could take a while.

I've got a whole suite of DVD authoring software tried them all I settled on a suite using dvd+rw-tools and a few others all command line, there are some FE's out there but making your own in GTK ought be cool enough, just string them together using shell scripts or perl.

I started the DVD authoring/ripping/encoding project for grins and had to download and compile so many libraries differnt utilities it took a week just get all the software together. I've got abut 70% of the stuff compiled and working together (command line only, I do prefer command line utilities but will eventually build a GUI to manage all them under one app). Paying projects kind take priority...

SO. Cmn, follow the link to Suse provided above, this is a full featured GUI installation distribution Burn the CDs or DVD and buy lots of fuckin beer See you Tuesday.

Make sure your camera's charged up we wanna get some pics and taking screen shots while partitioning your hardrive ain't exactly easy.

**lom** · 01-06-2007, 12:17 AM

Originally Posted by friscofrankie

I started the DVD authoring/ripping/encoding project for grins and had to download and compile so many libraries differnt utilities it took a week just get all the software together. I've got abut 70% of the stuff compiled and working together

There it is , directly from the horses mouth.

Too many distributions with incompatible libraries, includefiles and makefiles.
You are always on a file hunt when running linux.
And you're wasting hours finding out what file in a compile chain is in error.

Berkely is responsible for two things, Unix and LSD.
That is not a coincidence

**friscofrankie** · 01-06-2007, 01:29 AM

Originally Posted by lom

There it is , directly from the horses mouth. Too many distributions with incompatible libraries, includefiles and makefiles. You are always on a file hunt when running linux. And you're wasting hours finding out what file in a compile chain is in error. Berkely is responsible for two things, Unix and LSD. That is not a coincidence

Actually far from right on almost ALL accounts.
There are pre-compiled packages for almost all distributions. Unless you are a geek there is very little you can;t do with what is available in package format. DVD authoring, burning, graphics CD ripping & burning email many pre packaged office suites. All free. There are also very good applications available on the market at reasonable prices. The days of hunting for obscure libraries and even having a need for gcc on your machine all but gone.

I happen to run a (customized) version of Slackware this is not a distribution for the non-geek. I have (had) a very minimal install with only the very bare-bone required libs. This is how I wanted it. It did come complete with cd burning software. I can play any video in any format. I could add plugins to my browser to even play the windows media file formats should I desire, I don't. I stripped in the install to a barely running machine and have built it up over the past year plus to do what I want, how I want. The Suite of tools I accumulated and am bringing together is a suite of best-of-breed utilities that will allow me to manipulate all my media files under one interface.

Everything I've downloaded and compiled is available in binary format ready to run. In fact Suse, Debian and a few others will check for dependencies retrieve them and install them for their own repositories with out the user having to know bupkus.

And as far as LSD is concerned: (Wikipedia is your friend)

Originally Posted by wikipedia

Sandoz Laboratories was a Swiss pharmaceutical company, best known for inventing LSD in 1938

AND linux is NOT Unix
But :

Originally Posted by wikipedia

In 1991, Linus Torvalds began to work on the Linux kernel while he was attending the University of Helsinki

Then Unix:

Originally Posted by wikipedia

Unix (officially trademarked as UNIX&#174

is a computer operating system originally developed in the 1960s and 1970s by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie and Douglas McIlroy.

Originally Posted by wikipedia

BUT you are correct in one very small way
Unix's influence in academic circles led to large-scale adoption of Unix (particularly of the BSD variant, originating from the University of California, Berkeley) by commercial startups, the most notable of which is Sun Microsystems. Today, in addition to certified Unix systems, Unix-like operating systems such as Linux, Mac OS X and BSD derivatives are commonly encountered.

Originally Posted by FreeBSD website

FreeBSD® is an advanced operating system for x86 compatible (including Pentium® and Athlon™), amd64 compatible (including Opteron™, Athlon™64, and EM64T), UltraSPARC®, IA-64, PC-98 and ARM architectures. It is derived from BSD, the version of UNIX® developed at the University of California, Berkeley. It is developed and maintained by a large team of individuals. Additional platforms are in various stages of development.

This operating system (BSD) is noted for it's completeness and strong reliable nature, probably the best free server out there from a purely technical point of view. Slackware and Red Hat are highly popular red hat for it's ease of use, configuration and support (red Hat ain't free though). Slack for it's minimalistic approach and the emphasis on reliability. But BSD is still the Cadillac of free even (arguably) not free OSes.

Although many claim Slackware is one of the few Linux distributions to use a BSD style init scripts where most others use a System V style of init scripts/sequence I find Slack to be more an amalgam of the two. Either way, the system is accessible and edit-able from a boot floppy should the need ever arise, as are purely system V and BSD styles.

There are many GUI administration utilities and a user may never have to even go out to the system prompt or edit a conf or init file. Drag & drop icons, menu utilities are all available in fact many more ways to skin the cat in Linux and the two most popular window managers offer much more flexibility than Windoze.

Menu files can be hand edited or in a GUI, most menus are in xml files, hand editable if need be or so desired. Linux doesn't over-use the swap file, overly scatter files in multitudes of tiny pieces requiring defragmentation or tuning has no registry to get bloated with left behind entries that do absolutely nothing but slow config look ups down. I could go on, but what's the use MS has convinced many people that Linux is only for geeks.

Some utilities and cool things are only developed for windows. As the use base increases for linux Microsoft's strangle hold on the corporate and home desktop can be diminished. Microsoft as made it a marketing ploy to avoid standardization when the rest of the world is looking to interoperatability and open systems Microsoft continues to try and close the system tighter and tighter. You can bend over for Bill and hand him the grease if you want, Personally I think the dude's got enough fuckin money

**mrsquirrel** · 01-06-2007, 07:23 AM

Why are you telling him to use SuSE?

**ChiangMai noon** · 01-06-2007, 08:19 AM

Originally Posted by mrsquirrel

Why are you telling him to use SuSE?

I have asked him that but naturally didn't understand the answer.

**friscofrankie** · 01-06-2007, 11:55 AM

Originally Posted by mrsquirrel

Why are you telling him to use SuSE?

Good, professional,development background. Concentrating on reliability ease of installation and maintenance. I have not used Unbuntu but it appears to have almost as good backing and is designed for ease of use and installation, Debian would be OK too.
Picking on distribution over another is kinda like picking one car over another in the same model range. They all have four wheels, a steering wheel and an engine. Thing is here, all have pretty much the same engine, suspension and they all have four seats. Some are painted nicer, maybe even have leather. Some come with a remote start /entry system others require you to print out the plans for your key and make it before you can get in...

Suse is backed by Novell, novell has always been a a company that cared about the stability of their products, Open Suse is a community developed product but much of Novells work and turned back out to the that community. Documentation is all there.

Before I get into this I am goig to give CMn the URL to their PDF docs.

In the end it all boils down to a subjective decision. They all use the same core utils, kernel, X system, window managers, office suites, etc there is tons of support on the net for all of this stuff. So. you pick a group of distros that offer what you want, ease of install (This really means good hardware detection, and a pretty face on it; doesn't it?). Maybe ease of customization or granularity of install options. Whatever. You then pitch 'em in a bucket close your eyes and grab one.

I would tend to go for the major distros. The more obscure, recent additions to the mix may be fine; but for CMn I want a stable, easy system with all the backup I can get for free. I am not a teacher, I do not intend to teach Cmn how to be a geek a or even computer literate, I am a lousy teacher I will direct him to places to find answers. But he's gonna fuckin learn, not be taught.

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