another newb ... yay !!!

[vectornewb]

 Recently installed vector linux ... alongside a bunch of other distro's. Vector light 6.0 has become my favorite, the one most used on this comp and have to say the devs behind this distro are great at what they do. With 512mbs/ram, went looking for all things light linux. In the process found vector light and am blown away by how full featured the people behind this distro made it, while still being light as a feather in terms of system overhead.

So hi everyone in the community n thanks to the vector devs for a great OS. Will be promoting your linux distro 4 sure.

[vectornewb]

The massive welcome really warms the heart in this forum. Messing round mainly. But sheesh for such a nice distro does seem like this board is deader than a door nail. Talks 2 self ... self how ya doing. Am fine self and you. Errrr nevermind, just clowning.

[M0E-lnx]

Welcome to the forums vectornewb.

Hope you like it enough to keep it around on your system and get the most out of what the devs have put together.

[vectornewb]

Ha !!! I knew there were other people here ! Caughtcha !!! Messing round again ... thanks 4 the welcome. VL light has become my favorite by far to date. One thing I don't get about linux. Ubuntu ( which I cannot stand ) becomes synonymous with linux and a great feather weight distro like VL hardly get's any notice. What's wrong with that picture ?

Fact been through a dozen other distro's w 3 still installed. Almost all the ones I've tried so far, liked more than ubuntu. Odd world we live in I guess.

[nightflier]

Yeah, people here are not all that talkative, but if they can help out, they do so. Welcome.

[GrannyGeek]

One thing I don't get about linux. Ubuntu ( which I cannot stand ) becomes synonymous with linux and a great feather weight distro like VL hardly get's any notice. What's wrong with that picture ?

That drives me crazy, too. I blame a lot of it on the online computer press and "pundits," who keep equating Linux with Ubuntu. Ubuntu also has a lot of money and apparently they send out a lot of press releases touting all their developments and the lazy computer press doesn't bother to do any original investigation but just regurgitates the press releases.

I tried many distros in my early years with Linux (I started with Linux 11 or 12 years ago) but VectorLinux was so much faster than the others that I stayed with it. My hardware was on the bad side in those days and a distro's speed was important. With VectorLinux 4.3 there was a great leap forward in usability and polish and I lost any desire to use other distros. It's been Vector all the way ever since and I couldn't be happier with Linux.

As for the traffic on this forum, I find it just about right. If you post a problem, at least you'll be able to find any responses you get. People complain that when they post on the Ubuntu forums, their message scrolls down very quickly and finding any responses is difficult. People on our VectorLinux forum are almost always friendly and do their best to help solve problems.

I hope you enjoy your time here.
--GrannyGeek

[vectornewb]

A no nonsense, get down to bizness distro n linux community ... I get it.

Had 3 issues and you and nightflier showed me how to sort them out quick.

I can't stand ubuntu ... Only tried 2 of their releases and thought both were horrible, bloated, user unfriendly messes. I won't even use or install anything that's a buntu derivative now. Thought linux mint was good stuff. Ton better than pure buntu was imo. Just knowing it was based on ubuntu bothered me enough to get rid of it though. After all the hype I'd heard about buntu was expecting it to be this grand awesome thing. lol ... felt so let down n kinda betrayed. Way I look at it now, ubuntu is the M$ of the linux world.

Typed linux into google the other day and what comes up as top result ? UBUNTU !!!! Sad ... No justice in da world. I mean, I didn't do any of the work ( and couldn't, don't have the talent ) But admire the linux devs of the world and all the amazing stuff they've managed to do. And all the linux users for taking the road less traveled. End babbling rant, anyway, thanks for the welcomes and the help.

[RonB]

That drives me crazy, too. I blame a lot of it on the online computer press and "pundits," who keep equating Linux with Ubuntu. Ubuntu also has a lot of money and apparently they send out a lot of press releases touting all their developments and the lazy computer press doesn't bother to do any original investigation but just regurgitates the press releases.

Well, they also release every six months, so that would naturally keep them in the news. I don't hate Ubuntu, but I don't like the "bleeding edge" nature of it. It's frustrating. Everything works "out of the box" ... almost -- and it's the "almost" that drives me crazy. It seems like, just when you think you've got it set up and running nicely, something inevitably goes wrong. I have Mint 10 on another petition because my Dad (who lives about 500 miles away) has Linux Mint and it makes it easier for me to remotely support him by going step-by-step on my computer. But almost every time I boot into Mint, I've got to go to a terminal and type in "pkill nautilus" and "pkill gnome-panel" or, otherwise, I just have a blank desktop and a mouse cursor -- and no one seems to know how to fix it, though others have the problem. And I like Mint quite a bit more than pure Ubuntu, but it's frustrating also. I think Ubuntu should drop to once-a-year releases and put something out that's a bit more stable.

I tried many distros in my early years with Linux (I started with Linux 11 or 12 years ago) but VectorLinux was so much faster than the others that I stayed with it. My hardware was on the bad side in those days and a distro's speed was important. With VectorLinux 4.3 there was a great leap forward in usability and polish and I lost any desire to use other distros. It's been Vector all the way ever since and I couldn't be happier with Linux.

Absolutely. I still boot into CentOS (want to learn Red Hat) and, though I like the distribution just fine, VectorLinux is so much faster -- and it comes default with clearer and better fonts. And it just works "out of the box." Great distribution.

As for the traffic on this forum, I find it just about right. If you post a problem, at least you'll be able to find any responses you get. People complain that when they post on the Ubuntu forums, their message scrolls down very quickly and finding any responses is difficult. People on our VectorLinux forum are almost always friendly and do their best to help solve problems.

The thing that drives me nuts about the Ubuntu forums (and to a lesser degree, the Mint forums) is that you've got so many people who just have to write some kind of response -- even ones that are rude and completely off base -- just so they can waste their time and yours. Why? Why bother? I'll never be able to figure it out.

At any rate, welcome vectornewb. I've used Light, but my favorite is the Standard Deluxe XFce version.

[vectornewb]

Thank you,

Think that's one of ubuntu's big problems and Mint inherits some of it since it's based on buntu too. They release every 6 months, ready or not. Stick to it whether all the bugs are worked out or not. etc. Linux mint's coming out with debian based releases now as an alternative to the main ubuntu releases they do.

(edit) Could be because they are tired of getting handed a bloated buggy mess from ubuntu every 6 months and being in Canonical's shadow, even though Mint imo, is a lot better than ubuntu itself. So looks like linux mint is making efforts to go with Debian instead. From my newbish experience. Seems like most things buntu linux, that are any good ... Aren't made by ubuntu itself, lol. Like crunchbang ( now debian ), linux mint ( looks to be moving towards debian too).

Your Mint 10 problems sound odd. Surprised nobody at the Mint forums could help ya sort them out. It's a pretty lively forum over that way. Never had any problems with Mint 10 that weren't self inflicted. Well other than it's buntu based and wayyyy over bloated compared to what I like and need. Got tired of spending hours tweaking things to get it down to reasonable system overhead. Mint 10/gnome was using like 270mbs/ram by default. Eventually got it down to like 125mbs idle. But was more trouble than it was worth. When you can get another distro. Have everything you need and it idles at under 70mbs out of the box. Vector light 6.0 uses all of like 43mbs at boot up. Why would anyone want to trim n tweak and slash and poss bork. When they can just install this lil beauty and be ready for action.

[RonB]

Your Mint 10 problems sound odd. Surprised nobody at the Mint forums could help ya sort them out. It's a pretty lively forum over that way.

I got my help on that one via Ubuntu forums. Help being "run 'pkill nautilus' and 'pkill gnome-panel.'" It's not that common of a problem, but there were a few folks at both Mint and Ubuntu who had (have) it. Personally I think it has something to do with the nVidia proprietary driver on my class of graphics card (GeForce4 MX-440). One thing I absolutely detest about Ubuntu and Mint (and maybe this is something I'll have to work with in all newer versions of Linux) is the Nouveau driver. The only way I get it NOT to load so I could install the nVidia proprietary driver in Mint, was to blacklist it in Grub. The Nouveau driver is getting better, but it's still four or five times slower than the proprietary drivers. And it makes a big difference. (I guess I should see if this is going to be an issue in VectorLinux 7.)

[vectornewb]

Hmmm, does sound like a good reason to set up a small testing partition or if ya have the RAM and know how. Trying it out in VM ( virtual machine ). Then you probably already thought of that.

[RonB]

Hmmm, does sound like a good reason to set up a small testing partition or if ya have the RAM and know how. Trying it out in VM ( virtual machine ). Then you probably already thought of that.

I don't have enough of a computer to really run Ubuntu (or any modern, major distribution) in a virtual machine -- mostly it's the memory limitation (1 Gig). It'll work, but it's too slow to be enjoyable. About the only OS I run in VirtualBox is Windows 2000 -- and I haven't booted into that in probably two months. I give it about 300 Megs and it runs pretty well -- I don't give it access to the Internet.

Speaking of Ubuntu, my younger brother called yesterday. He's a Windows programmer and he's finally trying Linux on one of his laptops -- Ubuntu unfortunately. He's using the laptop screen and an external screen simultaneously and it worked great for him -- until Ubuntu said he needed to update. Once updated the ATI video card is apparently no longer supported properly. I looked it up -- a pretty big issue. I'm beginning to wonder if Ubuntu is a help or hindrance in bringing people to Linux. A lot of Windows users think of Linux as Ubuntu and the six month release schedule basically means it is in constant "beta mode." So the first Linux experience for many people is a "not ready for release" distribution. I've had too many issues with Ubuntu to really recommend it. The concept of "bleeding edge" doesn't appeal to me anyhow.

[vectornewb]

I'm starting to think of ubuntu as the M$ of the nix world. Think you're right too. They aren't doing the FOSS, gnu/linux cause any favors. Starting to wonder if M$ are really the ones financing Canonical behind the scenes. After all the hype I'd heard about ubuntu. Remember thinking this is going to be great !!! Goodbye M$ forever ... linux here I come. Installed buntu 10.10 and was horrified with it. The windows controls all reversed for no understandable reason. Toolbars oddly running along the top of the screen. User unfriendly mess and butt ugly to boot at default. Bloated, resource slurping pig dog from hades ... HATED IT almost immediately.

Felt betrayed at that point. And it almost did make me give up on linux and run back to winblows. Thought if this is great linux n user friendly linux, I'll pass. But I'd heard of Linux Mint and was a long time sidelines linux fan. Knew there were a ton of distro's in the world. Tried Mint, blows ubuntu away imo. Definitely seemed mucho more user/newb friendly.

lol ... thought finally now this is great !!! I lucked out and found one of the best distro's here !!! Which still think Mint is linuxy goodness. Just found so many others ( all imo, put ubuntu to shame.) that are as or more user friendly than Mint and aren't a bloated ram sucking hog like the heavy weight distro's and DE's. Been distro hopping ever since. Am blown away by the talent and generousity of the worlds linux devs ... amazing. Vector linux light has become my favorite. Most used OS on this box.

Didn't mean this to turn into a book. Just wanted to agree with whatcha said. Ubuntu imo too, is a really poor example of linux. Still have no answer for how they've gotten as popular as they are, shrugs. Other than money/marketing etc. Really wouldn't be surprised if M$ has their craptastic hands mixed up in it somewhere ... 4 real.

Tried another ubuntu release later, cause was going through a xfce phase at the time and xfce 2.8 wasn't available in the Mint repos. Was with that version of xubuntu or whichever. Tried it ... same thing, strongly disliked it within 10mins of playing with it. Could someone explain to me how ubuntu became so popular ?

[nightflier]

I wish Ubuntu great future success. It may not be my first choice, but it has done much to raise the awareness of the fact that there is an alternative on the desktop. It is making a dent in the proprietary wall, and lending more credibility to the rest of the free software world.

[vectornewb]

Kinda get whatcha saying there. Don't wish ubuntu success. Wish they'd fade away and all the really good distro's get the recognition they deserve instead. Imo, a distro that's more or less in constant beta ... Really doesn't appear to be the best choice for migrating to nix. At least just my opinions on the topic. Not when there's linux distro's soooooo much better and actually live up to being user friendly. More so than buntu. Fact is ... haven't found a distro that wasn't on par with buntu. Many that blow it out of the water as far as I can tell. Like many much more than what buntu puts out.

Hit the buntu and Mint forums. And ye shall see all the people having issues getting buntu ( and buntu based latest ) stuff to even work right on their comps w/o having to bend over backwards looking for fixes n work around. Easy 4 me to say o course. But don't think thats a good thing in advancing the FOSS, gnu/linux cause. Either way not my place to decide such things. Just opinions on it all.