[AccessD] I couldn't post

John W. Colby jwcolby at gmail.com
Thu Feb 5 06:58:38 CST 2015


That would be my fault.

Only back a few days and already causing dissension in the ranks..

:(

John W. Colby

On 2/5/2015 6:49 AM, Jim Dettman wrote:
>
>   Why oh why is all this being posted to the Access D list?
>
>   If were going to have separate lists, post to the separate lists... If your
> not because you think it will be of interest to everyone, then let's get rid
> of the separate lists.
>
> Jim.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
> [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Jim Lawrence
> Sent: Thursday, February 05, 2015 03:25 AM
> To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving
> Subject: Re: [AccessD] I couldn't post
>
> Hi John:
>
> If you really want to dig around in the distros the following list gives the
> top 287 contenders...not a completely extensive list but a good start. I
> don't think I have played with more than a dozen though:
>
> http://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=popularity
>
> I tend to make a list of commands acquired from the installation site so if
> the command is ever needed again it easy to get or if it is used repeatedly
> I just build a bash script and drop a short-cut on the desktop. After a
> while you just memorize them.
>
> sudo apt-get remove --purge mysql-server mysql-client mysql-common
> sudo apt-get autoremove
> sudo apt-get autoclean
>
> The above is pretty well standard for any debian distros...Ubuntu and Mint.
> Debian is my favourite. There are only about half a dozen main Linux and BSD
> distros.
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Linux_distributions
>
> The truth is that Microsoft Windows is probably the only major
> non-Unix/Linux OS left and apparently they are flirting with the dark side
> as well. ;-)
>
> Jim
>
> PS The first OS the Bill Gaits worked on was Xenix...a multi-user,
> multi-tasking Unix like OS that could run on computers like 286s...for some
> reason he then made a castrated version and called it DOS and Windows has
> been trying to catch up ever since. ;-)
>     
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "John W. Colby" <jwcolby at gmail.com>
> To: "Access Developers discussion and problem solving"
> <accessd at databaseadvisors.com>
> Sent: Tuesday, February 3, 2015 8:34:46 PM
> Subject: Re: [AccessD] I couldn't post
>
> Jim,
>
>   >unless your willing to go down to the command prompt network issues
> can be impossible to fix.
>
> I get that, and I understand dropping to the command window for that
> kind of thing.  But that is NOT a simple install or uninstall!  That is
> once in a blue moon gotta go to the command window.  Go out to watch
> YouTube videos of ANYTHING linux and observe what percentage of time the
> person is clacking away in the command window.  It is like I am back in
> 1982.
>
> I'm not giving up!
>
> I expect that if you are just doing office stuff then yea, install it
> and go.  The mint installation itself went flawlessly. Actually USING a
> browser or the office apps works just as you would expect (and as in
> Windows) in the Gui.  And at lleast in Mint, anything already in the
> distro can just be installed through the gui.  But holy crap, come time
> to actually install anything else...
>
> Take MariaDB for example.  I want to use that specifically, rather than
> get started with MySQL and switch later.  Unfortunately (for me) it
> seems that MySQL is native to Ubuntu and Mint is a fork of Ubuntu.  So I
> immediately have to uninstall MySQL.  Well... there is no (gui)
> uninstaller.  And the uninstall itself (the actual text that you type
> in) is specific to the linux distro.  And... of course... it is typing
> in the command console.  So it is off to Google to try to discover how
> to uninstall something.  Then... it is the same to install MariaDB.
> "What version of linux are you using?"  If this version then you have to
> do this, but if that version you have to do that... and of course...
> typing into the command console.
>
> Likewise with getting a VM running.  Likewise with getting Wine. If you
> happen to be lucky and it is already in the distro then it gets easier
> (to install).  Maybe / mostly.
>
> Get this, I was in a chat room asking questions about how to do this
> stuff.  The guy actually recommended that I get rid of mint and go
> to...  Now what kind of stupid response is that.  Trash my perfectly
> running install of a version of linux to move to some other (equally
> frustrating) version of linux in the vain hope that one specific
> application will be easier to install?
>
> And we all know why it is like this.  Because Linux is so fragmented
> that even though it is supposed to "all be the same", it isn't.  Nothing
> is the same, everything is slightly (or not so slightly) different.  I
> was watching a YouTube video the other day where the speaker was showing
> a graph of the number of users of various versions.  There were perhaps
> 15 or 20 different lines in this graph.  And those are just the MAJOR
> distros.  It's a cluster...friggen mess.  To be honest it reminds me of
> school children trading baseball cards.  "Ooooh have you seen..."?  "No
> but I'm gonna run right home and grab my usb stick and get that up and
> play with it..."
>
> So I can see how you could get an entire office up in Linux, I got my
> machine up in Mint in just an hour or so.  And spent many MANY
> subsequent hours trying (unsuccessfully so far) getting MariaDB and VM
> hosting up and working.  Once they are up and working, I fully expect to
> have a gui that allows me to do my work in those programs.
>
> Furthermore I AM going to work in ucontrollers and they are all Linux so
> I just have no choice but to move through this cluster...friggen mess
> and learn enough to get a dev environment and cross compiler up.  You
> better believe however that there is a very narrow objective, which is
> to get specific applications up in SOME (don't give a damn which)
> version of Linux so I can actually get some work done.
>
> If anyone wants to join me in the nightmare, (misery LOVES company) I
> joined the tech group and am trying to get some response over there for
> playing with Raspberry Pi or BeagleBone Black.  Go get one if you
> haven't already and let's play.  The BeagleBone Black in particular is a
> way cool widget for automation stuff.  I did Atmel controllers a few
> years ago (no linux fortunately) and it was a ton-o-fun.
>
> By the way, I designed and built a debit card vending machine in 96 when
> I lived in Mexico.  It used a Z-80 single board computer and ran a
> custom real time system with a C compiler to program it.  It used a bill
> acceptor (like in a coke machine) interfaced over RS-488 serial to the
> controller and we then built a vend widget with a motor, a metal ram,
> and a bunch of LED / detectors to allow me to control the vend cycle.
> It kept all of the data in RAM on the SBC and talked (via RS232) to a
> hand held computer that the operator would hook up to the machine to
> read out the data about the bills in the machine, how many cards were
> left etc.  I did all of the electronics (really quite simple) as well as
> wrote the vending machine software.
>
> That was the most fun I have ever been paid to have!
>
> :)
>
> John W. Colby
>
> On 2/3/2015 10:31 PM, Jim Lawrence wrote:
>> You are obviously having the worse experiences with it.
>>
>> I tend to be lazy and use the terminal only when all else fails and mostly
> for speed. I tend to find Windows too dumbed down and unless your willing to
> go down to the command prompt network issues can be impossible to fix.
>> I must relate a story of a client that I helped a couple (three) of years
> ago. They had all Windows XP boxes but decided to experiment by setting a
> dozen by upgrading to Linux (in this case Ubuntu), to save money. It took
> only four hours, on a Saturday afternoon, to install a dozen new system,
> connect to all the printer, the network, the internet and install all the
> office software. A young lady there (24-25), who knew basically nothing
> about computers, helped me with the install.
>> I thought that I might be supporting them for years, one way of another,
> but it was not so. She just picked the ball up and ran with it. I understand
> the whole office (50 desktops) and all the servers are now running Linux and
> everything runs flawlessly. So with no computer system training or
> experience (thank God for Google), this young person did all this without
> any help from me and she just loves it. The truth is that she was young and
> didn't have to unlearn any bad habits.
>> I have had no problem with Linux but back in the day, I was a certified
> SCO Unix installer, so it was just like being back home again. This does not
> mean that I do not like Windows; it is just that the moment we step away
> from the desktop and move into the world of the internet, its a Linux
> universe out there.
>> Don't give up on Linux...it is hardly smarter than you are and I have
> found it to be great fun as it has all the latest and greatest technologies,
> first. As Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft say, "We love Linux."
>> Jim
>>



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