Linux

[C-Chan]

Good news, everything seems to be on the up-and-up!

W00h00!  ^__^

Just so everything is clarified, sound has been working for the past two days... it's just been sounding really, really crappy. So I just went out on a limb and did just what I said I would do (deleted both /etc/asound.conf and ~/.asoundrc) and now the sound works great.

I know that files can regenerate when you remove them from your home diretory (the ~/. one), but wasn't aware that you could remove conf files from the /etc/ folder without repercussions.  O__O

Still, if it worked, chalk one up for the scientific "trial and error" approach!  ^__^

I still have one teency weency problem, and it's the one I actually started with and should've asked help for to begin with (instead using the ubuntuforums and effin everything up). K3b refuses to preview sounds using aRts (I'm not using alsa 'cos it sounds like s*** on a b****boat with K3b) unless of course I run artsd in the terminal while I'm doing it (which I find to be a little inconvenient given I didn't have to do it until I reconfigured LiVES). I'm assuming the solution would involve shutting down alsa so aRts can stay up... I'm assuming. Anyway, things seem to be working fine save that minor inconvenience, so I'm happy.

Well in fairness, you seem about ready to pack up and leave to a new distro anyway, so it might not be worth the effort.  ^^

I'll get back to you on that VirtualBox thing, once I've tried it.

Assuming it won't be very very slow, I think you'll like it. ^__^
Just make sure you're using version 1.50, as previous versions tend to be buggy (plus 1.50 has OS/2 support... FTW!!!  ^V^).

This way, you can preview many many Linux and BSD distros without wasting unnecessary CDs.  ^.^
Oh and yes, you can also install very old version of Windows for nostalgia's sake.  You can theoretically do DOS as well, although DOSBox is better suited for that.  -v-

No Mac OS support though (although I did get OSX running on VMWare once), but you can use PearPC to run old classic Mac OSes if you want to.  ^__^

Yeah, I know you've got to be busy, I'm surprised you've had the time and patience to work with me on this. Still no response on ubuntuforums (as if I needed it anyway), so yeah, you've been my sole source of support this entire time... I'm truly grateful.

Any time, Brother Man.  You're quite welcome.  ^__^
I am perturbed that I'm your only pillar of support, given I'm still comparatively unreliable.... ^.^;
But as long as you know there are people willing to help you out every way possible, I hope it's helped motivate you to search out the solutions on your own.  ^__^

True, I have been busy with lots of things, not only work, but drawing commission works, writing the Inkscape tutorials, editing the OS-tan Wiki, cram-coursing some Japanese in order to make emergency posts over at +Nijiura+.  And yes of course, keeping up with posting here, all the while resisting the temptation to fire up my Wii for more Metroid goodness.... -v-

But certainly helping out a Linux friend is well worth it,... if you only knew how much time and money I've spent promoting Linux and helping people get used to it, you'd think I were a crazy Mark Shuttleworth-wannabe.  ^.^;

However, I'm of the mindset that says if you have a lot to give, and don't really use it for anything yourself, just give it already!  ^^;
Society will not advance if you don't have people willing to take the initiative,... otherwise you end up with a lot of timid people keeping to themselves and silently hoping someone else (the quintissential hero-type) will resolve the issue for them.  

For instance, I had a scenario recently where a coworker had his house broken into and his computer stolen.  He was p***ed off for a while as anyone would, and more so because while shopping new desktops, he found nothing but heavily-discounted Vista machines that were still not entirely cheap. Simultaneously, I had another friend who's roommate/gf broke up and left the apartment, leaving him to cover the entire rent.  He also happened to be the owner of a brand new [albeit refurbished] laptop... I won't go into details as to why he had it, but bottom line is that he couldn't get rid of it.  

So I figured I'd knock off to problems at once,... I bought that laptop off my friend, installed Linux on it to improve it's speed and modernity, then offered to sell it to my friend at my own special discount to rival M$'s (I won't say how much cause you would send me to have my head checked, but it was almost a 3rd the cost of the desktop).  And aside from the price, portability and the ability to actually hide the unit to prevent another theft, it also performed smoothly and had a graphics card capable of running Beryl.

In case you're wondering, though, the story did have a happy ending, but not the way I thought.  ^^'
My friend eventually refused the laptop offer, I imagine out of peer pressure from some friends who insisted he needed to spend lots of money on a new, modern, glitzy system. (in that case, might as well make it a Mac... ^__^)  

Fortunately, his supervisor (also a friend) needed any kind of computer for work and for his son's homework, and was a lot more interested in this "GNU" philosophy to give it a chance.  Long story short, the laptop landed in far better hands, and he was not only grateful for the price, but also for the completeness of the system (it was already a godsend that it came with 3 mahjongg games, includinga 3D one).

Naturally, this was not a profit-driven endeavor as I lost a lot money on that "discount".  But if you ask me why I did it, I'll say it was an investment.  If my friend and his son like it, they will tell others about it.  At least 10% of those people will try it out for themselves, and may pass it down to others if they like it themselves.  Eventually it'll make its way to some energetic genius who can contribute some code, that will make its way back to me to improve my system.  In addition, I also get to learn new things in the process, as each new user I help migrate requires some special needs that need addressed, be it porting over a favorite Windows program or explaining how to rip CDs and so on.

GNU is a philosophy, not just simply a set of tools,... and if all you're tossing around is a bunch of free applications without the people power behind it to help one another,... then you might as well be downloading a bunch of free Windows apps from Tucows.  -v-

I think Amarok-tan would be kinda wolf-like (definitely wolf ears since it is an audio program), she'd probably be quite a popular -tan given that characteristic. Regardless, I look forward to seeing more of your work (despite the fact I've never posted in your art thread).^__^

You should post in my art threads, ya know (you'll make Amiga-tan cry if you don't).... `v'
But yeah, Amarok,... with her wolf-like appearance and mandatory blue hair -- might just end up looking like a really kick-ass Inu-T.  ^___^

[IanDanKilmaster]

Just so everything is clarified, sound has been working for the past two days... it's just been sounding really, really crappy. So I just went out on a limb and did just what I said I would do (deleted both /etc/asound.conf and ~/.asoundrc) and now the sound works great.

I know that files can regenerate when you remove them from your home diretory (the ~/. one), but wasn't aware that you could remove conf files from the /etc/ folder without repercussions. O__O

Still, if it worked, chalk one up for the scientific "trial and error" approach! ^__^

Yeah, I know I said deleted, but what I really did was the safe approach and add ".old" to the end of them.  That of course, doesn't sound nearly as ballsy as "I effin deleted them sumb****es".  So far everything seems to be working without a hitch (save K3b preview problem), but I'm still kinda tip-toeing around and crossing my fingers waiting around for that major disappointment (you know, playing Black Sabbath only to hear that the audio is either sped-up or bass-ackwards).

I may have misled you a bit with my intentions, while it sounded like I was about ready to dump Ubuntu these past few days (as a matter of fact, I already backed up and deleted a major portion of my personal files), what you were reading was merely tantamount to a scorned lover making threats.  I now realize everything I've said of NimbleX is true: I like the interface, and everything just feels.... smoother, running in NimbleX (which is a major plus).  I'm just not quite ready to give up on the old 'Buntu.  I just love the convenience of it.  I also like the fact that I'm not running in root by default (is that actually a characteristic of NimbleX).  If there were just some way to combine the good parts of each, well I'd just pass out from geekgasm.  Who knows?  Perhaps I could find such a compromise of each in the set-up of Kubuntu (which, if I haven't mentioned is already installed on my computer).  Anyway, I'm still eager to try out new OSes, just not ready to give up on my Ubuntu.

After making sure everything was properly configured, I finally installed VBox last night... it works!  It's just that my memory can't support NimbleX running in Ubuntu, so I'll have to try something a little more low-key.  So how far back are we talking when you say "older" windows OSes?  I'm not the biggest fan of everything 95 and before, so what can you say about something like 98 given what I've already told you (about Nimblex)?

[C-Chan]

I may have misled you a bit with my intentions, while it sounded like I was about ready to dump Ubuntu these past few days (as a matter of fact, I already backed up and deleted a major portion of my personal files), what you were reading was merely tantamount to a scorned lover making threats. I now realize everything I've said of NimbleX is true: I like the interface, and everything just feels.... smoother, running in NimbleX (which is a major plus). I'm just not quite ready to give up on the old 'Buntu. I just love the convenience of it.

Mmmmmm-hmmmmm.... scorned lover indeed.... ^.^;

I also like the fact that I'm not running in root by default (is that actually a characteristic of NimbleX).

Truth be told, there really aren't that many distros that make you operate as Root.  Puppy is the only other one I can think of off-hand.  ^^

If there were just some way to combine the good parts of each, well I'd just pass out from geekgasm. Who knows? Perhaps I could find such a compromise of each in the set-up of Kubuntu (which, if I haven't mentioned is already installed on my computer). Anyway, I'm still eager to try out new OSes, just not ready to give up on my Ubuntu.

Fair enough, although word of warning... Nimblex is "nimble" cause it's light, so don't expect to get a performance boost from Kubuntu.  On the contrary, it may feel just a tad bit slower, since you're talking KDE over Ubuntu.

*ponders*

I guess while you're looknig around, you can try out Goblinx and Wolvix for me too.  I hear they're interesting distros as well, although can't try them at this time.... -v-'

After making sure everything was properly configured, I finally installed VBox last night... it works! It's just that my memory can't support NimbleX running in Ubuntu, so I'll have to try something a little more low-key. So how far back are we talking when you say "older" windows OSes? I'm not the biggest fan of everything 95 and before, so what can you say about something like 98 given what I've already told you (about Nimblex)?

Gaaaaaaaaah.... >v<'

Ummm,... that might still be a problem considering that VirtualBox itself requires quite a lot of RAM.  So in between Virtualbox AND Ubuntu's mystery RAM-guzzlers, you're talking about very little available RAM left over to run even Nimblex!  ^^;

As far as lighter distros than that one,....
Puppy, Damn Small, Linux Console and Feather, but we're really scraping the bottom of the barrel here.  ^^;
(Puppy might be a good bet, since it already has GParted by defaut and I'm slightly more familiar with it)

If you notice from the VirtualBox menu, the Windows versions go as far back as Windows 3.1, so I'll consider that as being how far back it goes.  ^^

Windows 98 vanilla required a minimum of 32megs of RAM, so it might just work.  Just beware, that WIndows still blue screens on virtual environments too (had Hacchan crash on me on installation a few times).  I'd just slug through it for nostalgia's sake.  ^^;

[IanDanKilmaster]

For now I suppose I'll save VBox for whenever I get a video card (it'll free up some RAM that I'm currently using for video).  I might try one of the Win OSes whenever I can get my hands on one of the older ones.  btw. Would it bother you if I told you that I installed the binary for the closed source rather than open source version?^__^'

I've downloaded Wolvix, but Goblinx is a problem given the download time is so sloooooow.  I'll try and make a LiveCD once I get the files from one of my CD-RWs put back on my computer (I know, I know, CD-RWs are notoriously unreliable, but I hate wasting CDs for temp stuff - like backing up stuff).  I'll give downloading Goblinx another try later.

I'm currently using Keramik for my style and window decoration with Umicons for my desktop icons on my KDE desktop.  It's all looking pretty smooth (I'm just wondering when a more complete set of Umicons will be available).  Let me know if you ever make a set of anime-inspired icons... I'll be all over it man!

[C-Chan]

Would it bother you if I told you that I installed the binary for the closed source rather than open source version?^__^'

Not really,... cause I used the closed source version as well.  Can't help it, I need my USB devices after all..... ^___^'

I've downloaded Wolvix, but Goblinx is a problem given the download time is so sloooooow. I'll try and make a LiveCD once I get the files from one of my CD-RWs put back on my computer (I know, I know, CD-RWs are notoriously unreliable, but I hate wasting CDs for temp stuff - like backing up stuff). I'll give downloading Goblinx another try later.

Yeah,... if only you can get your VM working, you'd be able to save on a lot of CD's (not all, though.... the OpenSUSE demo of KDE4 is GAWDawful, and probably works better as a native LiveCD).

I'm currently using Keramik for my style and window decoration with Umicons for my desktop icons on my KDE desktop. It's all looking pretty smooth (I'm just wondering when a more complete set of Umicons will be available). Let me know if you ever make a set of anime-inspired icons... I'll be all over it man!

Awesome!  ^v^
Guess that means you figured out how to change your style then.  ^___^

Was prepared to make a quick tutorial, but hey.... only on demand.  ^.^

And yeah, I'd love to make a theme one day, but with current schedule it's unlikely it'll be any time soon.  -v-;

[IanDanKilmaster]

Awesome! ^v^
Guess that means you figured out how to change your style then. ^___^

Yeah, in pm I was just letting you know that I settled in and setup.  As long as I have some sort of auto-setup file I can handle (I can only imagine how difficult setting up each individual icon would be >__<).  I saw some really neat Soviet icons on KDE-look the other day, but it wasn't a tarball and it didn't have any kind of compiler either... I don't think the project is going to get off the ground, catches alot of flack from commie-haters who find it offensive (a shame really, not only are the icons really nice looking but I find them humorous in kind of an ironic way).

fyi.  I designed my own splash screen some time ago (for Ubuntu) using Vash the Stampede (didn't do the graphic myself just arranged everything to make a nice looking splash).  I'm also thinking of making an entire theme with Cthulhu graphics (I don't really think I can, I'm afraid I lack the talent).

[C-Chan]

*lack of talent alert is detected in C-chan's internal radar*  O___O

.............

....................... T__T

....................................... ^^

I can fix that, you know.  Please step into my office....  -v-

http://ostan-collections.net/post-35902.html#35902

Added after 23 seconds:

Fufufu.... well okay, i mean my OTHER office.  ^^;

[Bella]

So I finally got Ubuntu to work on virtualbox! I did what, I believe the technical types call it, a lot of "tinkering" XD

I started with the base amount of memory I figured Ubuntu could run on (since I read sometimes allotting too much memory to a virtualized OS will cause trouble,) and voila! It booted up! And it ran. Not very fast...actually, I got this message:



Which made me think that the zealous KDE fanboys were right, and GNOME was the daughter of the devil XD But I kept upping the memory in 30 MB at a time, and when everything seemed right, I left it.

Feeling particularly adventurous, I also tried installing it. Things didn't go so well at first...so I deleted the first virtual HD, made a larger one (but just barely big enough...in hindsight, I probably should have made it bigger : | ), and tried installing it...

Long story short, a half-dozen bootup kernel panics, and a few hours later,



I finally got it installed! I'm really liking it; I couldn't figure out how to save stuff or navigate the files on Puppy very well, but I find Ubuntu a lot easier to work with. It runs perfectly fast, is very polished (IE, good software suite, help info, etc.), and say what you will about GNOME, I find the GUI very easy on the eyes.

I **maybe** even found a basket of totally awesome easter eggs, in one of the folders.

If you run Ubuntu, search for the background folder and see what I mean

The only problem I've been having was the one I've had all along; mounting the USB and/or CDR drives. I'll talk more about that, later...

[IanDanKilmaster]

I finally got it installed! I'm really liking it; I couldn't figure out how to save stuff or navigate the files on Puppy very well, but I find Ubuntu a lot easier to work with. It runs perfectly fast, is very polished (IE, good software suite, help info, etc.), and say what you will about GNOME, I find the GUI very easy on the eyes.

Welcome aboard fellow Ubuntu user (I hope I'm not jumping the gun here)!  I'm happy to see you have found contentment in such a Linux distribution.  I try to avoid using GNOME whenever possible, but that's only because it kind of bored me after so long... sad but true.  To me, KDE just seems alot... slicker, I really shouldn't be using it because on my computer it just won't run as smoothly as a lighter interface, but I'm in love with it's appearance, setup, and overall polish.  Now don't get me wrong, I still think GNOME is a terrific interface - it's just that it's "Lost That Lovin' Feeling" for me.  I'm sure I'll come around later and just switch between the two interfaces but for now... meh.  I have to mention that using GNOME to start off with is great though, there's more tech support (free via the ubuntuforums) available and I think it's a little lighter and friendlier than KDE.  So once again, kangee Bella-san!

I **maybe** even found a basket of totally awesome easter eggs, in one of the folders.

If you run Ubuntu, search for the background folder and see what I mean

Not sure I'm getting what you're referring to... but I'll say w00t for naked calendar girls!  Oh yeah, and pictures in space!

The only problem I've been having was the one I've had all along; mounting the USB and/or CDR drives. I'll talk more about that, later...

I'm sure what I'm about to say qualifies me to be Captain Obvious for a day, but Piggy-senpai should be along shortly and know exactly what to do (hopefully).  He always does, he's how would I say this? Kyokudo no Buta!  Geez, I'm such a n00b, lol.

[C-Chan]

Kyokudo no Piggy, eh?  Â¬v¬'

*chuckles*

Funny that I'm still technically a n00b when it comes to Linux, but somehow along the way I ended up as Piggy-Senpai.  (Not just here but in real-life.)  ^^'

Guess what I lack in knowledge, I make up for in GUTS!  ^0^'
If I don't know something, I just make sh*t up, and then stall for time until I can properly Google the solution (or play around with a safe LiveCD).  ^___^

Oh well, whatever works I guess.  ^v^

In any event, I too wish to congratulate Bella-san, not just for setting up her first *Buntu, but also for perfecting the art of "tinkering".  ^___^
Funny how working with Linux unconsciously makes you more adept at working with other systems.  For example, I don't have a Mac nor do I use them regularly, but I've winged my way to learning a helluva lot more than my friend who lives with two of them 24/7.  @o@
And somehow, fixing my friends' Windows Boxes is no longer as terrifying as it used to be... ^__^

Fufufu.... ^.^

In any event, let's look this through carefully.... ¯v¯

Which made me think that the zealous KDE fanboys were right, and GNOME was the daughter of the devil XD But I kept upping the memory in 30 MB at a time, and when everything seemed right, I left it.

Just as a frame of reference, Linus himself hates GNOME with a small passion.  ^^'
I for one never cared for the foot logo, near-nonexistent menu-editing or the fact that is uses a registry -- but since this is basically only a desktop environment, your trademark saying of "use whatever works best for you" applies here more than ever.  ^___^

One thing, though,... I think I mentioned this before, but the *Buntus require an unusually greater amount of memory than your standard distro.  Not sure what it goes into, but yeah I was kinda worried that it would be too top-heavy for K8's 512MBs of RAM.  Guess it's okay now.

Another thing... never mentioned it before since [baka C-chan] never thought that you would try out Ubuntu (in a VM), but you could also give Wubi a go:

http://wubi-installer.org/

Apparently it's almost like using a VM designed exclusively for Ubuntu.  If it works the way I think it works, it should free up some RAM that would normally get locked up running VirtualBox.  ^^

Feeling particularly adventurous, I also tried installing it. Things didn't go so well at first...so I deleted the first virtual HD, made a larger one (but just barely big enough...in hindsight, I probably should have made it bigger : | ), and tried installing it...

Long story short, a half-dozen bootup kernel panics, and a few hours later,

Yeah, never tried installing it on a VM myself, so definitely had to be a thing with it since all my *Buntu (and variant) installs were fairly uneventful.  ^___^

BTW, I forgot if you're using the new version 1.5.0 of VirtualBox.... ^^'

I finally got it installed! I'm really liking it; I couldn't figure out how to save stuff or navigate the files on Puppy very well, but I find Ubuntu a lot easier to work with. It runs perfectly fast, is very polished (IE, good software suite, help info, etc.), and say what you will about GNOME, I find the GUI very easy on the eyes.

Fufufu... ^.^
Well in fairness to Puppy-chan, she was a tiny little 90MB distro that crammed a lot of [very fast] stuff in her small build, and had to sacrifice convenience to achieve this (I really don't like ROX either.... >__<).  That's why I was sorta hesitant to have you use Puppy-chan full-time, since it's more the exception than the norm as far as desktops go.  ^^

So I reckon Ubuntu/Gnome should be to you more like a souped-up version of SAM/Xfce.  Plus it was also designed with Windows migrants in mind, so yeah Canonical put a lot of money into making that interface just work (and provide you with 20,000 software titles PLUS include bleeding-edge software that you're probably expecting from a modern system).  ^.^

In any event, welcome to South Africa's pride and joy (aside from the Kruggerand)!  ^v^

I **maybe** even found a basket of totally awesome easter eggs, in one of the folders.

Could that be the Sample folder with the Nelson Mandela video?  ^^;

The only problem I've been having was the one I've had all along; mounting the USB and/or CDR drives. I'll talk more about that, later...

Okay, I can help you out with these.... -v-

If you want to mount your external USB hard drive, go into the USB submenu of your virtual machine's main menu, select the Enable USB Controller, and then [very important] click on the SECOND icon which features a USB connector with a plus sign.  This one reads "Add from List", and when selected gives you a drop-down of ALL the devices that are currently hooked up to your USB ports.  Naturally, select the one which sorta/kinda sounds like your external hard drive, and ONLY that one (don't add keyboards and mice).  ^.^

When you turn on your VM, your device will disappear from your Windows desktop, but become available in VM Buntu.  ^__^

As for the CDR,...

Yeah, I read up a little more about this a while ago, and found out that you currently cannot use a burner in virtualbox.  Version 1.5.0 has an experimental feature which registers CD/DVD burners, but cannot actually use them properly.  I think this is a shortcoming of all virtualization solutions, save perhaps for the Macintosh version of Parallels and VMWare Fusion.  

it's just that it's "Lost That Lovin' Feeling" for me. I'm sure I'll come around later and just switch between the two interfaces but for now... meh. I have to mention that using GNOME to start off with is great though, there's more tech support (free via the ubuntuforums) available and I think it's a little lighter and friendlier than KDE. So once again, kangee Bella-san!

Personally, I wish the developers could finally get Enlightenment off the ground.  Now THAT'S a simple and fast desktop environment that I wouldn't mind using.  ^__^

Other than that, I am eagerly awaiting KDE4 and all the rest of the assorted "Koolness" I hope it comes with.....  ^.^

[IanDanKilmaster]

Sumimasen, senpai...  I thought you wouldn't mind being the "super-pig".  Of course, given that I've just started Japanese this semester I realize that my translation could've been entirely off.

(in reference to an earlier PM)  I'm starting to see the reality in your comparison of myself and Tsubashi-san.  So apparently there was Pitkin-san, then Tsubashi-san, and now IDK-san who don't know how to stop with the head-bowing, haha... sigh-__-.

Let us not forget that while you may be Piggy-senpai, we're all still outranked by the powerful, all-knowing Tux-sensei... who I'm surprised I haven't seen in the Linux thread in some time.

Could that be the Sample folder with the Nelson Mandela video? ^^;

I thought she may have been referring to that as well, but that would be in the /home/Examples/ not the /usr/share/backgrounds/ which I presume is the background folder she's talking about.  It could also be true that she's running a newer version of Ubuntu (I'm Dapper) that has different stuff.  As far as the naked ladies go, that was the first thing that caught my eye in that folder which I had not seen before... Dude, I swear (seriously though, they're supposed to be some sort of Ubuntu calendar girls or something).  I really do need to give the files in that Example folder a good look though, looks very informative.

Personally, I wish the developers could finally get Enlightenment off the ground. Now THAT'S a simple and fast desktop environment that I wouldn't mind using. ^__^

Other than that, I am eagerly awaiting KDE4 and all the rest of the assorted "Koolness" I hope it comes with..... ^.^

I reinstalled Enlightenment not too long ago, just to remind myself what it was like.  Isn't Linux Mint basically Ubuntu with Enlightenment as the window manager?  Oh and is there actually a full DE of Enlightenment, I've tried running a session with just Enlightenment (not E-KDE or E-GNOME) and couldn't really do a damn thing... the same thing happens with Fluxbox, you know of any way I configure each of these to act almost as if I were running Mint or Fluxbuntu?  So is Enlightenment actually lighter than KDE?  'cos I've heard it's excellent for multimedia applications (which as you may or may not know is pretty much what I've been looking for).  Sumimasen, one more question senpai, do you know if KDE4 will be compatible with older versions of Ubuntu?

Thanks,
Stanbert-san

[C-Chan]

Hold those thoughts....
I'll touch base with you tomorrow.  ^^

[Bella]

Not sure I'm getting what you're referring to... but I'll say w00t for naked calendar girls! Oh yeah, and pictures in space!

I don't have any nekid ladies, but there were some space pix...

(I thought perhaps this was a reference to Mark Shuttleworth's trip to space, or even some pictures from the trip...but I'm not sure)

Just as a frame of reference, Linus himself hates GNOME with a small passion. ^^'

Now that you mention it, I do remember hearing that XD

Apparently it's almost like using a VM designed exclusively for Ubuntu. If it works the way I think it works, it should free up some RAM that would normally get locked up running VirtualBox. ^^

I'll have to give that a look...but yeah, K8 does seem to run pretty normal (just a little laggy) while Virtualbox is running...

Fufufu... ^.^
Well in fairness to Puppy-chan, she was a tiny little 90MB distro that crammed a lot of [very fast] stuff in her small build, and had to sacrifice convenience to achieve this (I really don't like ROX either.... >__<).

Hmmm...I wonder why they didn't go with Xfce...?

If you want to mount your external USB hard drive, go into the USB submenu of your virtual machine's main menu, select the Enable USB Controller, and then [very important] click on the SECOND icon which features a USB connector with a plus sign. This one reads "Add from List", and when selected gives you a drop-down of ALL the devices that are currently hooked up to your USB ports. Naturally, select the one which sorta/kinda sounds like your external hard drive, and ONLY that one (don't add keyboards and mice). ^.^

When you turn on your VM, your device will disappear from your Windows desktop, but become available in VM Buntu. ^__^

I have to try that. Later XD

I've been trying to get the pen drive to mount, but maybe I'll try that with the HD...

it's just that it's "Lost That Lovin' Feeling" for me. I'm sure I'll come around later and just switch between the two interfaces but for now... meh. I have to mention that using GNOME to start off with is great though, there's more tech support (free via the ubuntuforums) available and I think it's a little lighter and friendlier than KDE. So once again, kangee Bella-san!

I know what you mean, kinda....it's always neat to try out new things.

On one last unrelated note, IanDanKilmaster, has anyone told you that you've got the best. avatar. ever. In all truthiness.

[C-Chan]

Sumimasen, senpai... I thought you wouldn't mind being the "super-pig". Of course, given that I've just started Japanese this semester I realize that my translation could've been entirely off.

*feels ego deflate dangerously below the 140% range*

Hey now, I didn't tell you to stop.  You keep pumping that senpai talk now!  

*tries out new over-priced suit*

Besides, it's great that you're taking up Japanese and that should be fostered.  ^v^
However, to help you out more, I recommend actually typing it in Japanese rather than in Romaji.  That way, the Kanji provides useful hints as to what you're trying to say.  ^__^

(in reference to an earlier PM) I'm starting to see the reality in your comparison of myself and Tsubashi-san. So apparently there was Pitkin-san, then Tsubashi-san, and now IDK-san who don't know how to stop with the head-bowing, haha... sigh-__-.

Oh yeeeeeeeeeeeah, you're definitely like Tsubashi Part II,... only with slightly more Cthullu.  ^.^'

Let us not forget that while you may be Piggy-senpai, we're all still outranked by the powerful, all-knowing Tux-sensei... who I'm surprised I haven't seen in the Linux thread in some time.

Yeah,... the Great Penguin God comes and goes.  ^___^

I really do need to give the files in that Example folder a good look though, looks very informative.

Yeah, after slugging through the disaster that was OpenSUSE, I still remember when I first had my glimpse of the Example folder in Xubuntu 6.10, and how overjoyed I was that EVERYTHING was working properly and (most importantly) FAST.  @v@

Ahhhhhhh,... sweet sweet memories.... ^___^

I reinstalled Enlightenment not too long ago, just to remind myself what it was like. Isn't Linux Mint basically Ubuntu with Enlightenment as the window manager?

Ummmm,.... noooo..... '__'
I mean there is a version of Minty-chan with E17, but it's just an experimental community edition.
Enlightenment is that light and pretty windows manager that Elive is built on....

http://www.elivecd.org/

Try this on a VERY old machine, and you'll see what I mean.  ^.^

Oh and is there actually a full DE of Enlightenment, I've tried running a session with just Enlightenment (not E-KDE or E-GNOME) and couldn't really do a damn thing... the same thing happens with Fluxbox, you know of any way I configure each of these to act almost as if I were running Mint or Fluxbuntu?

Nope.  In fact, Gnome and KDE are the only true desktop environments in the open source world (although I think XFce barely qualifies as one too).  All others, such as Enlightenment, Fluxbox and IceWM, are all Windows Managers and just simply graphical layers to your existing set up.  Not really sure why you're not seeing any of your applications on them, since they should recognize what apps are installed in your system.  Unless you have to recreate your menus for use in FluxBox and Enlightenment (this has to be done especially in Xfce, which won't recognize KDE-only apps unless their KDE-only tag is disabled), my best recommendation is to read up some more on the subject as I myself have never experimented with that kind of Desktop swapping.

(Except with Puppy-chan, although the difference between JWM and IceWM is pretty superficial.  ^.^'

So is Enlightenment actually lighter than KDE? 'cos I've heard it's excellent for multimedia applications (which as you may or may not know is pretty much what I've been looking for).

Hohohoho....! ^v^

Not only is it faster than KDE, it's actually faster than Xfce!  And given all the eye-candy, it's actually pretty remarkable that it uses so little RAM.  The only drawback is that it is a bit awkward to use for people used to a taskbar and start menu -- but between the speed and the eye candy it is worth the try at least.  ^.^'

I reckon it's very good for multimedia precisely because it uses so little RAM (and hence can devote the freed-up resources for those purposes.  Plus, E16 has futuristic voice-enabled configuration menus, and E17 has animated desktops.  @v@

Elive does a really good job of demonstrating the power of Enlightenment, although don't forget that JackLab (aka JAD 1.0) also runs on Enlightenment (and also happens to be a multimedia distro!).  ^__~

Sumimasen, one more question senpai, do you know if KDE4 will be compatible with older versions of Ubuntu?

KD4 is just a desktop environment, so it will be compatible with anything as long as the hardware can back it.  In fact, I hear that efforts are being made to make KDE4 completely cross-platform (hence, compatible with Mac and Windows!). ^__^

On the other hand, it's always good to,... as they say,... "wait and see".  ^v^'

I'll have to give that a look...but yeah, K8 does seem to run pretty normal (just a little laggy) while Virtualbox is running...

Fufufu... ^__^
Yep, when assessing how VirtualBox will run on any machine, you have to take into consideration not only how much RAM your host OS needs (128MB-256MBs for XP), but you also have to add the RAM required to run VB PLUS the amount of RAM you want to allocate to the GuestOS (say an additional +128MBs for Ubuntu).  So yeah, if you say you only have 512MB of RAM, the lack of wiggle room would explain the lagginess.  ^___^

Hmmm...I wonder why they didn't go with Xfce...?

Xfce is not as light as they make it sound.  It' just that Xfce is the lightest of the more complete desktop solution, and certainly far more feature-rich than Joe's Window Manager (JWM), hence requiring more space.  You couldn't possibly keep a 90MB puppy on Xfce.  ^__^'

On the other hand, you CAN set up Xfce to run as Puppy's desktop environment if you really wanted to.  ^__^

I've been trying to get the pen drive to mount, but maybe I'll try that with the HD...

That should also work with your pen drive.... '__';
Hmmm.... *ponders*

[IanDanKilmaster]

First off, I highly recommend Bella-san try NimbleX, Bob-san demands it so!  Give me Slack or Give me Death!

Just as a frame of reference, Linus himself hates GNOME with a small passion. ^^'

Now that you mention it, I do remember hearing that XD

I wouldn't give that too much bearing on whether or not to use GNOME though, from what I read he just seemed to be ranting over some obscure little detail (something about not being able to use his mouse just like he wanted it).  Before I am accused of blasphemy, I must say I mean no respect to our OS god, and let us not forget we have one other in Stallman-san.

On one last unrelated note, IanDanKilmaster, has anyone told you that you've got the best. avatar. ever. In all truthiness.

Doomo, Bella-san.  I too am a devotee of the truthiness.  I just took a variation of my last avi and put it into the ThreatDownGenerator and entered the text "Manbears!" (which I know is painfully hard to see given that I had to shrink the avi).  I thought my last avi was so popular (not just here, EVERYWHERE) that the only thing that could've made it better was Colbert-san, now I can't even think of a way to top it.  I've thought about just getting a pen and some paper and just trying to draw a chibi or mini version of myself as a Manbear (which is why I refer to myself as "Stanbert" or "Stanbert the Manbear" now).  Anyway, thanks again Bella.

Besides, it's great that you're taking up Japanese and that should be fostered. ^v^
However, to help you out more, I recommend actually typing it in Japanese rather than in Romaji. That way, the Kanji provides useful hints as to what you're trying to say. ^__^

I haven't learned Kanji yet, we start with Hirigana and Katakana and we probably won't learn Kanji until Japanese 4.  The focus of the class now is to learn to read/write all we can in Hirigana and Katakana and also to be able to speak as much as we can in Japanese.  I should get as much practice as I can not using Romanji (it will help to use more actual Japanese on tests), but alas that would mean much copypasta since I can't actually type in Japanese (I know there's a way to do it, but I'm sure it involves alot of combo button presses).

Oh yeeeeeeeeeeeah, you're definitely like Tsubashi Part II,... only with slightly more Cthullu. ^.^'

Tsubashi-san likes Lovecraft-san too? Ia Ia Cthulhu Fhtagn!