caieng
Member
Posts: 80
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« Reply #5 on: May 12, 2010, 01:45:51 pm » |
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This is an older thread, a little off the main track, and therefore appropriate for my somewhat guarded comments.
I have encountered some modest problems with installation of VL6 KDE 3.5, but also with VL6 Light from last summer, and the most recent SOHO RC 2.8.
The installation problems are not identical, but, in summary, I am unable to boot into any VL distro, at present, though I have nearly a dozen VL 6 CDroms now serving as coasters.
I have had some terrific help from nightflier and Vec, thanks to both.
As a last resort, I have been testing the live install, i.e. running off the cdrom itself.
So, this message is meant to offer some opinion or advice, or recommendation, from one person, not meant to be some kind of all embracing, all knowing solution to all the world's problems.
In my opinion, and perhaps, mine alone, a good version of VL light, or VL SOHO, or VL with kde 3.5, which is intended for use by owners of "old" computers, ought to offer an option to insert the cdrom, and install to the partition of one's choice, without any other fuss or bother.
once up and running, if one wishes to add users, then, one could accomplish that from the desktop of the installed version, rather than slow down the installation procedure.
Again, only in my opinion, not a fact or ultimate truth, VL would do well to ensure that at least VL light, and VL SOHO, incorporate multiple browsers, so that the user has a choice, and at a minimum, include VLC as the default streaming audio player of choice.
I would point to two other Linux versions which have worked well for me, during the past year on these three older computers which I use to test Linux:
Crunchbang 10, alpha
Puppy 4.3.2
these are two very different distros, but both share a couple of features, which naive operators like me, enjoy:
1. They both work right out of the box. No fussing about with trying to reinstall LILO, or rebooting in command line, attempting to edit /etc/lilo.conf or whatever.....
2. They both have acceptable streaming audio, Puppy a little less desirable here, than Crunchbang.
3. They are both very fast to install in my experience. Though I haven't yet succeeded in installing any VL distro, (despite many hours of frustration, trying), here are some numbers for PCLinuxOS, KDE 4.4.1, which is somewhat comparable to our VL choices, for one of my three test computers, a trident video controller based, 1.4 GHz PIII system, with half a gigabyte of memory:
Distro.........install(min).boot(sec)..browser..............time (sec)..player.......time (sec)...shutdown (sec)
Win 98 SE....73...........59...........Sea Monkey 1.18......3..........VLC 0.86f.....9.................4
Win XP........80...........62...........Chrome...................5..........VLC 1.05......6.................10
Puppy.........20...........40...........Sea Monkey 2.04.......6.........Aqualung......8.................10
Crunchbang..30...........53...........FireFox ...................6.........VLC 1.05......7.................7
PCLinuxOS....85...........96...........Konqueror................7.........Amarok 2.3...29................28
A couple of notes:
1. Crunchbang installs in half of that time, but then, to achieve the proper resolution, one must go through all kinds of hand waving exercises, editing, rebooting, copying files, a nightmare....Even with all that nonsensical fuss and bother, Crunchbang total installation time is still only HALF as long as what it takes me to almost finish installation of VL 6 of any subtype. (Almost, because I never quite finish....)
2. VL light, for example, has opera, a good browser in my experience, but, what is the interface to the streaming audio?
NOT VLC.
It is something I never heard of, called xmms, which works ONLY for OGG format, not mp3, and not aaCPlus. I require a media player to accept all three formats, VLC does that, admirably. Amarok handles two out of three, and Aqualung is unnecessarily difficult, because it requires an additional key stroke from the user, both to commence, and to terminate, very awkward and thoughtless software engineering.
Yes, I have attempted to use PCLinuxOS lxde and fxce and open box. None of them work, well that's a tad exaggerated, they all install, satisfactorily (except open box, which crashes), but once up and running, none of them offer the user any access to streaming audio. They have browsers, and some sort of audio players, and some sort of mechanism, clumsy, awkward, and slow, to download additional components from a central repository, however, nothing works, after this process: the room is still silent.
Quite a shocking difference with Crunchbang or Puppy. Both work, immediately, just click on the icon, music follows. No muss, no fuss, no bother. PCLinuxOS with KDE 4.4.1, is, I suspect, fairly similar to VL 6 with kde 3.5. Well, one doesn't know for sure of course, that was precisely my goal, to test them and see how they match up. But, PCLinuxOS with KDE 4.4.1 is about the slowest slug on the block. I know of no prospective SOHO owner, with half a dozen older computers laying about, (which still work well,) and with gross income slowing to a trickle, having no intention of purchasing new gear, who would be willing to employ any of these KDE monsters, in his/her enterprise.
Regards, CAI ENG
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