Just backed up everything I need to my 2nd HDD so i'm now about to re-format and make the full-time switch to Gnome 3.

It remains to be seen how long i'll last though before I get bored and switch back. I'm wondering if the fact I couldn't get it working was what was driving me to thinking I wanted a Gnome 3 desktop full time.

We'll see

hhmmm .. made the switch and been hacking around for the past hour installing things and getting things set up and everything, the regular glitching is still there and quite prominent and - consequently - insanely irritating.

Perhaps you should hold off on making the switch full-time until you can replace your monitor with one that accepts a DVI connection.

Even back in '98 i didn't have as many graphical problems with Linux that you seem to experience.

Yeah I agree. I'd just let it go Jason. You're obviously having some unusual issues. I'll be honest, if Linux wasn't fire-and-go for me, I'd wouldn't be using it. Like the latest Ubuntu's 2 step installer -

Step 1 - I installed it.

Step 2 - Profit!

I've had nothing else to configure or faff with.

If it doesn't work for you, I'd let it go dude.

But .. but .. but ..

I'm actually back on Windows - the glitching was just getting too much and too annoying. I do have a VGA->DVI lead as it is, which did improve the picture quality overall.

I won't be getting a monitor any time soon so it may well be a case of having to leave it permanently. Or just get used to Unity

Well we're just thinking of your sanity Jason.

FWIW I think Unity is excellent and a nice way to use a desktop. A lot of the geeks on the forums don't like it because there aren't as many options available for customising it at the moment, but out of the box it's sweet enough imho. I mentioned earlier it does take a bit of adjusting to, like any new DE (I imagine if I started using a Mac I'd have to figure it out over time), but even though I thought I wouldn't like it, I ended up taking to it fairly quickly.

But still, I always say use what works for you.

Kal_El, I see you've got PCLinuxOS 2011 in your services. I tried it yesterday. I've been using Mint 10 KDE since release and, as there doesn't seem to be much movement on Mint 11 KDE, I decided it was time for a change.

It was hopeless. Everything was extremely slow like window redraws on resizing were slower than Windows 3.11! Tried a few things like different (Nvidia) graphics driver and turned off ACPI, but couldn't improve it.

So I tried Kubuntu 11.10 and it's just great. Installer presented even more options than I needed, in a logical way (I've always liked ncurses ) and even with the Nouveau drivers the desktop worked very well. Changing to proprietary drivers went smoothly (a first for me) and Grub2 even found all of my other installed OSes (Grub in PCLOS didn't even find the other Linux OS on the same HDD). Only thing which surprised me was that /var/log/messages didn't exist and I needed it to find what was happening when a buggy USB DVDROM was connected. Found how to get it back here.

I was quite surprised really. I've tried VMs of PCLOS and they worked really well, but I guess it just doesn't like my hardware.

What can I say? I've had no trouble at all with PCLinuxOS. It's been nothing less than excellent and trouble free now for over a year (I've had it since v.2010). YMMV. This is why I always say to try a few different options, rather than the usual install Ubuntu, doesn't work, back to Windows cycle. There's a ton of different systems out there, and though many are similar in some ways, they often differ enough in vital areas to make it worth shopping around. As above -


I've tried a few I didn't get on with or just plain didn't work, like Fedora for example, which hates me. I don't mind tweaking a bit, there's always info out there, or suffering a few early-release bugs, but I draw the line at sticking square pegs into round holes. Gone are the days when I sat up all night desperately trying to get something to work. If it doesn't work with a minimum of fuss, then I'm off. This is why I say I'm not a geek or Linux nerd at all. I'm just a regular desktop user who wants the stuff to work.

Don't we all?

http://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=1851

Just a post from today on the Mint website. People have been wondering what Mint devs are up to with all thats happening to Gnome.

Saw this on the Ubuntu forums earlier. It looks to me as though they are trying to create their own Unity, but on Gnome shell. It could be good, though it looks a little sparse and not "Minty" at the moment. I'm looking forward to seeing it done though.

Apparently the next Ubuntu will see the Unity dash lose the eight main icons from the Home button. I wasn't sure what I thought of this at first, but it sounds like the plan is to have the filtered overview with all your installed applications visible from your first click of the dash button, which makes a lot of sense.

Just found this survey and it looks like its bye bye Ubuntu if they take note of the poll

http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopi...d11e&start=300

Yes its early days yet, but if anyone can do it its the Mint team

Hmm .. i'm intruiged

OpenSUSE 12.1 RC (release candidate) version 2 came out the other day. It's their last RC before the final in a couple of weeks. Been having a play, and have to admit some things to myself. Firstly, Gnome 3 is awesome and the shell is no doubt just that bit better than Unity. Secondly, openSUSE is awesome and just that bit better than Ubuntu. I love it, and I'm definitely moving back to it when the final is out.

There. I mean it this time.

Then again, I am prone to changing my mind.

This'll make you laugh. Was indoors this afternoon and at a loose end so thought i'd have a punt on the new RC of OpenSuse.

Downloaded the 64 Bit version from Distrowatch and rebooted. Chose "installation". Failed. Went into something that appeared to be "Emergency Mode". Pressed 'Enter' and was given a command line prompt.

Same with booting into the livecd OS. Failed. Command line again.

Tried getting it from the Suse website. Same thing.

Just going to use my last blank on getting the 32 bit version instead

32 bit version is borked as well .. ah well ..

I'd give up by now if I was you..

I had given up. I was just at a loose end and bored. Wasn't expecting it to not work ..

Do you ever use VMWare Player/Virtualbox Jason?

Or are they too iffy/not realistic enough?

I prefer VM Ware, and prefer virtualisation under Windows anyway to save time/rebooting.
I do get glitches though from time to time.

My needs are not great.

I've used Virtualbox before when I was last on Linux for any length of time. I set up and installed Windows in it so I could see if 'Final Draft' worked, which it did.

I haven't used it on Windows though to try Linux - I suppose there's a chance that the emulation would work perfectly fine, but i'd rather have it as my main OS overall.

There was a new (to me anyway) distro mentioned in MicroMart this week.

OpenELEC media center type Linux. Builds from 87MB to 126mb.
Nvidia, ATI, Intel, etc.

Reported boots of 10 seconds?

Pick build first
www.openelec.tv/get-openelec
then
http://www.openelec.tv/find-help/doc...n/installation

I see Fedora 16 is officially out now .. might .. might not

Aye, I saw it was out today. I'll pass on Fedora. It's a fine OS, but it's never been good for me for some reason. Always found it slow and laggy. I might give it a go when it turns up on a Linux Format disc, but I won't be downloading it personally. Let us know if you try it.

It won't work, you do know that don't you?

Well of course !