There is a HOWTO on Ubuntu Forums, about how to get a useful and fun Linux system up without using X:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=387598
Unfortunately, I can't seem to get the framebuffer working on Virtualbox, so I haven't properly tried it out!
From what I hear, it's going to be really good.
1. Say goodbye to big, heavy Nautilus; say goodbye to ridiculously limited Rox-Filer. Say hello to Thunar - which seems to look like a lightweight clone of Nautilus.
2. No more manual mounting or installing gnome-volume-manager - Xubuntu now has an automounter.
3. Xu appears to have better sound controls.
Man am I looking forward to putting it onto my iMac. I'd probably never use it, but still it would be fun!
Prelink works by linking shared libraries to programs before they are run, and keeping those links in memory.
As a result, it slows down low memory systems (because the 16 megs of RAM needs to be swapped on and off the disk).
So I ended off disabling it and uninstalling it. However, I followed a tip from a poster on www.ubuntuforums.org to enable some feature of the Linux ext3 filesystem, and now my computer is a bit faster. I can feel it.
I downloaded the Hacked Links source code, but (lol) I couldn't figure out how to compile it. The usual method didn't work, and I tried getting automake and co. But nothing seemed to work, so I just got rid of it. On the upside, the whole computer is running a little faster, so if I restrict my surfing to sites I know, Epiphany is pretty fast anyway.
I also tried downloading Kubuntu Dapper overnight... unfortunately, I came through in the morning to find my computer turned off. When I turned it on and looked at the file, it was only 623 megs rather than 677 like it should've been. I did an MD5 checksum on it, and it failed. I burnt it to CD anyway (Toast couldn't autodetect the ISO) and the CD wouldn't read. Damn. I can't download it again for another month, as my broadband account is shaped after 1000 megs. I might try freeing up some space on my Polly drive (my Mac startup partition) and using BitTorrent next month to get Xubuntu - I want to see if it's good enough now for my primary system. I'll probably get a new computer soon anyway.
My internet access is really slow since I've gone over my limit, but I timed it so that, at 12 midnight tonight, a new billing month starts and my connection goes back to full speed. Cool :-)
Also: Our new comedy podcast is up! You can download it (7.6 megs) at: http://home.iprimus.com.au/lees107/episode_2.mp3.
Geez, Epiphany is a crash-prone web browser.
On the up-side of my Ubuntuing today, I found out how to find and delete orphaned packages using Synaptic. I saved almost 30 megs in orphaned packages. I saved a lot more also by deleting unused languages and locales.
Here's how to do the former:
1. Go into Synaptic.
2. Go to Settings > Filters
3. Create a new filter called "Orphaned Packages". Deselect all the checkboxes except for "Orphaned" (in the right column).
4. Now, whenever you want to look at the orphaned packages, click the Custom button in Synaptic. I recommend looking at the dependant packages of each of the orphans, just to check that they don't include something that sounds important.
In a few days I'll download either a Ubuntu, Kubuntu or Xubuntu Dapper CD, and try it out on my 'puter. I'm very interested in the speed and memory improvements in the new Gnome, but I'd also like to know what KDE is like; and I also hear good things about the new Xfce and Thundar.
My Linux box has always had trouble with OpenGL. I get roughly 1 frame per four seconds with the glxgears program, and similar figures for SuperTux with OpenGL on. SuperTux with OpenGL turned off is actually faster.
I tried a couple of things, like disabling DRI and reducing the colour depth, but that's not improved the situation. I might just try and forget about it. What's really frustrating is the glxgears program runs at full speed for the first second!
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Here are some tips for low memory/slow systems running GNOME:
1. Instead of using the default Metacity window manager, why not use Openbox? (sudo apt-get install openbox obconf). It is themable, customisable, and lightweight. You can use it standalone by selecting it from the gdm Sessions box, or as a drop-in replacement for Metacity by typing the command "openbox --replace".
2. Rather than open gnome-terminal just to run a command-line program, or open up the Applications menu and navigate just to use a GUI program, put the Mini-Commander into one of your GNOME panels. Right-click on a panel, choose "Add to Panel...", then select the Mini-Commander. To launch a GUI program, just type its name into the commander and press Return. CLI programs can be invoked in the same way; if they need to be run as root, append "gksudo" to the beginning of the command. The Commander also supports drag and drop, PLUS it automatically puts quotes around dropped files and folders!
