So painless, did I miss something?
Hi Everyone
A couple of days ago I install the proprietary Nvidia drivers on Ubuntu.
Long story short I actually felt dirty after(Stallman has converted me
and I did not even know it), I uninstalled them. Then I got to thinking
that there was other non-free stuff on Ubuntu and decided to move on.
gNewSense did not work out(I'm on a 64 bit machine, maybe thats why) so
I installed Trisquel.
Anyhow over the years I have come to the conclusion that
software(proprietary or floss) is usually not as advertised and I
expected a huge fight to move to a pure free distro. It took less then
20 minutes of work to:
install Trisquel
set up dual monitors
move all by configuration and data files from my old drive
set up thunderbird
migrate from firefox to web browser
and set up a network printer
This was too easy! When we move to a libre kernel do we just lose eye
candy like flash and some device drivers? is the kernel 99.9% identical?
gNewSense has been around since 2006, why don't they support 64 bit,
your(now were)the new kid on the block and support it?
If my computer really contains no non-free software then this is
amazing(my head is still spinning). I hope I can help out with this
noteworthy project-Patrick
That's great; I'm glad to hear the process was so simple for you.
As far as I know, the Linux-libre kernel is largely identical to the standard Linux kernel, though I don't know exactly what percentage is different. Flash doesn't have anything to do with the kernel, though; it's an end-user program.
> I
> expected a huge fight to move to a pure free distro. It took less then
> 20 minutes of work to:
[...]
I had similar expectations with free distros, this changed after using
gNewSense on a Lemote YeeLoong (my only problem with Trisquel
installation on an AMD64 machine was a scratched CD).
> This was too easy! When we move to a libre kernel do we just lose eye
> candy like flash and some device drivers? is the kernel 99.9%
> identical?
Trisquel kernels differ from Ubuntu kernels mostly by not naming nonfree
firmware requested by non-libre kernels and not including some code to
load it (with some drivers needing it disabled). When not having
devices needing this nonfree firmware, there aren't very noticeable
differences.
Flash is unrelated to the kernel. For some significant uses of it there
are working free alternatives (like Gnash or very many video-playing
programs) and adverts using it aren't needed.
> gNewSense has been around since 2006, why don't they support 64 bit,
> your(now were)the new kid on the block and support it?
Current gNewSense release is based on an old Ubuntu release.
Debian-based gNewSense 3 doesn't have installable media and some
important packages yet, but otherwise supports AMD64 (and MIPS with
64-bit Loongson CPUs).
I am a translator!
Nice to hear Trisquel is working out so good for you! But did you really manage to even just install it in under 20 minutes? In my experience it needs almost an hour.
On 11-08-15 06:28 PM, name at domain wrote:
> Nice to hear Trisquel is working out so good for you! But did you
> really manage to even just install it in under 20 minutes? In my
> experience it needs almost an hour.
>
Hi Igor
Yes! Last March I finally scraped together enough money for a fast
computer after using slow ones for years. The actual base install was
about 5 minutes(definitely no longer then ten). I did not count the 5-10
minutes it took to transfer in 25G but that was not work time, I did
other things while waiting.
I am delighted with the results, this is my work computer, I will enjoy
having a 100% floss machine to work with everyday-Patrick
My install was ~20 minutes as well. As long as your hardware doesn't need firmware things go fairly smoothly. FlashVideoReplacer works well generally especially having it prefer WebM. After adding a few Maverick PPAs (thunderbird, pidgin, transmission, libreoffice, etc) the result is a stable, fast, attractive, up-to-date, libre desktop.
Great work!
Congratulations :) and welcome to Freedom!!
Btw which graphic card do u have?? You can try installing libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental to enable experimental 3d support(if u feel like experimenting ;)
On 11-08-16 01:36 AM, name at domain wrote:
> Congratulations :) and welcome to Freedom!!
> Btw which graphic card do u have?? You can try installing
> libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental to enable experimental 3d support(if u
> feel like experimenting ;)
>
It's a GeForce 9500GT, thanks, I'll give it a shot-patrick
If you are looking to help you can check out this page (http://trisquel.info/en/wiki/how-help) on various ways to help the project.
On 11-08-16 03:59 AM, name at domain wrote:
> If you are looking to help you can check out this page
> (http://trisquel.info/en/wiki/how-help) on various ways to help the
> project.
>
With guidance perhaps I could help as a developer.
I have a small business buying refurbishing and reselling scientific
instruments. I have been angry for years at the prices and terms
instrumentation manufacturers license their software at. For the past 5
years or so I have slowly taught myself how to program and built a set
up to monitor communication across serial, Ethernet and GPIB. I am just
about ready to start deciphering the command sets that these instruments
use to communicate and I have big plans to shake this industry up. I
wonder if there is some application for this work in Linux? I think the
API for video cards will be to difficult for me but perhaps there is
something else? Any feedback would be welcome-Patrick
Great to hear your positive experiences using Trisquel. I always found I could install Trisquel in about 20 minutes too. It's one of its many advantages.
I agree there's huge potential for Trisquel, and other GNU/Linux distros in the small and medium business sector. Particularly in todays climate where cost saving and control is a priority.
About the applications to decipher the command sets. There's various applications available, depending on what network level your want to work with.
For example, there's SSH protocol clients like PuTTY, and network analyzers (network sniffers) like Wireshark. Both are available to install using Add/Remove Applications. There's lots more tools besides these, just type "network" into the Add/Remove Applications search box and have a browse. Ettercap also looks interesting for your purposes.
On 11-08-16 11:44 AM, name at domain wrote:
> Great to hear your positive experiences using Trisquel. I always found
> I could install Trisquel in about 20 minutes too. It's one of its many
> advantages.
>
> I agree there's huge potential for Trisquel, and other GNU/Linux
> distros in the small and medium business sector. Particularly in
> todays climate where cost saving and control is a priority.
>
> About the applications to decipher the command sets. There's various
> applications available, depending on what network level your want to
> work with.
>
> For example, there's SSH protocol clients like PuTTY, and network
> analyzers (network sniffers) like Wireshark. Both are available to
> install using Add/Remove Applications. There's lots more tools besides
> these, just type "network" into the Add/Remove Applications search box
> and have a browse. Ettercap also looks interesting for your purposes.
>
Thanks Daniel
There is also:
http://benoit.papillault.free.fr/usbsnoop/
for sniffing USB.
I am basically all set to work on creating open source programs to
control scientific instruments but I might be of use to the Linux
community if there was some sort of application for this. I know the
Xsane guys used USBsniff for scanners, not sure if there is a critical
hardware component that is missing and that I would be competent to help
with?
Thanks again-Patrick
"I am basically all set to work on creating open source programs to
control scientific instruments"
I'd love to see such Free Software programs too ;)