Maintaining a weird distribution for someone
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Developers of GNU/Linux distribution recently discontinued its "stable" branch and only the rolling branch is being maintained. One of its users asks me how to switch to the rolling branch. I browsed the directory structure of the mirror server and figured out how to do this.
However, the latest (discontinued) "stable" branch is still running Gnome 2.xx, whereas the rolling branch has Gnome 40, and I always have unsolvable dependency issues.
Finally, I ask the user, what is your wireless NIC. Thankfully it's an Atheros, so I could install a blobless Debian testing for the user. I choose the Gnome Flashback option, so the user doesn't realize that the distribution has changed.
Is it Vine Linux, the big Japanese distro that's been around for over 20 years? I was just reading that they are dropping their stable branch and going with rolling release only.
Yes it is Vine. But the latest installer I could find was released in 2017 (version 6.5). And even if I could find a recent snapshot (something like Debian's weekly build), I'd not use it, because the non-free software included in it.
However, when I operated that user's operating system for a while, I recalled the days when I first tried GNU/Linux (RedHat) in late 1990s. I successfully installed it (dual-boot with Losedows 95) by myself without help (including online documentation, because I didn't have Internet access by then), therefore the claim that GNU/Linux is too hard for novices is unjustifiable.
> therefore the claim that GNU/Linux is too hard for novices is unjustifiable.
Therefore you must be a fast learner. It took years of pawing that Ubuntu live CD, and eventually that bright idea from Asus to ship their 7" eeepc with Xandros, before I could get into even using some GNU/Linux distro as my travel OS. After which, I must admit, the learning curve was quite pleasant, starting with successfully installing Ubuntu everywhere I could (at the time), then opening the Terminal to break everything and try everything else, before eventually landing on Trisquel. But then no one could be blamed for not enjoying spending sleepless nights in the Shiva destruction/creation cycles of fresh installs and iso respins.
Would you still recommend Debian over Trisquel to the novice that you were at the time? I don't think I would, because I can still feel some slight loss in ergonomy when switching to Debian/Devuan from seamless Trisquel. Up to now, Trisquel+Guix has perfectly solved all benign cases of versionitis I have met.
I needed a little help with my first (and only) RedHat install in the late 90's, but I was able to get Turbolinux and Suse installed on my own. Suse used to offer real live phone support back then. When's the last time you got phone support with a GNU/Linux distro?
> When's the last time you got phone support with a GNU/Linux distro?
We do exactly that, with Trisquel.
Also, we do install parties, which are in fact also post-install and maintenance parties.
Why haven't I been invited to these parties? I like parties. I could bring the potato chips and sodas. We could play Risk, or Yahtzee.
Oh! We thought you were snubbing us in favor of the cooler MX install nights, or possibly the legendary Devuan rice, patatas and pasta breakfasts.
We did not want to look too clingy, so we decided to announce the coming parties through megaphone only, ice cream vendor style. In French and in several regional dialects, because we all remember that our grandparents all too literally got their knuckles struck if they were caught speaking their native language at school, instead of the new fashionable and compulsory French language. What a shame.
Talk about imperialism and discrimination. Now we all have to use strange keyboards with weird diacritical marks, while still being stigmatized for our peculiar accents each time we travel away from the county. As a remedy, I have decided to learn Cuban Spanish for good.
Also, we would like to lure nadebula.1984 into visiting us, so we could get all our hardware compatibility nightmares solved at once, and at last know in what way exactly they are using Trisquel, in that secret, greatly firewalled location. I am beginning to think they are in fact a collective of about 1984 undercover agents working to undermine the faith of the people in the combined merits of plutocracy and oligarchy. One more reason to invite them.
In the mean time, I will be attending an event on "Free currencies" (as opposed to debt-based currency) and time banks (or Local Exchange Systems). Long time no seen, need to catch-up. It looks like some blockchain-based non-mined currency.
> In the mean time, I will be attending an event on "Free currencies" (as opposed to debt-based currency) and time banks (or Local Exchange Systems).
Oh that's awesome, we'll probably see each other there. I'm giving a speech at that event titled "Non-Free Money Is Evil, Give All Yours To Me, And Be Relieved Of This Terrible Burden". I recommend you bring your checkbook and credit cards, it will be a great liberating experience for the whole community.
I did not know they would be accepting talks in English, but I'm glad you managed.
Do you still accept manila envelopes? I could send you a stack of 1986 złoty bills. A rarity. I see you are a collector.
I just noticed that the app page for the libre currency Ğ1 has been translated into some sort of English dialect: https://cesium.app/en.
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