A tale of two Linuxes

So, almost exactly a week ago, I blogged about getting a used PC for eighty bucks, and installing Crunchbang on it -- a type of Linux.

To recap:  about two weeks before Dec 3, my laptop (which I had purchased used, more than five years before), had finally stopped working.

I believe it was Sunday, Nov 30th that I picked up the used Dell desktop PC and installed Crunchbang Linux on it.  The "distro" (i.e. "flavor") of Linux was intentionally bare-bones.  It had some quirks -- but I got used to them.

But.

I was trying to convert some audio files to mp3 format.  Under my laptop running Mint Linux (was it v. 15?), Soundconverter worked just fine.  But under Crunchbang, it would start, but then lock up.

So I downloaded and installed an alternative:  WinFF.  This, too, would start and then lock up.  So, that's no good.

I also didn't like the way thatCrunchbang treated copying folders with the same name as existing folders:  instead of warning you that "a folder with that name already exists", it would just copy the "new" folder over the existing folder -- asking if you wanted to have the "new" files within the folder over-write the existing files of the same name.  I didn't like that.

It also didn't have a built-in "control the 'repeat' speed of your keyboard" app:  I had to do a web search, then install the app for that.  And even when I adjusted the settings, I could barely tell the difference in the "repeat" speed.  Huh.

But the final nail in the coffin was that Crunchbang lacked important safety protocols.  I had a dodgy USB flashdrive.  I was was attempting to clean it up, and when I turned the PC back on the USB flashdrive was already in a USB port.  The computer asked for my login, accepted it -- and then got stuck.

When I powered down, removed the USB flashdrive, and tried to reboot, I couldn't successfully get past the login screen.  I checked the BIOS, and the boot sequence had the USB ports as source #4.  So, as near as I could tell, the PC booted, let me log in, started loading up various devices -- and when it got to the "bad" USB drive, instead of shrugging and moving on, it someone allowed the USB drive to damage the installation.  So in otherwords, Crunchbang appears to lack a safety "diversion" that lets it retain its integrity when it encounters bad devices on startup.

And I could never get it to work again.

Luckily, I had done a full backup just the night before.  So except for a handful of Linux-related webpages I had saved -- largely in response to the "mp3 converter not working" situation -- I didn't lose any work.


So:  I'm back to Mint Linux.  Installed it Sunday, Dec 7th, during the afternoon and evening (I got interrupted a little).  This time I'm using v. 17, because that's what was on the installation DVD-ROM that I had.  Looks the same as the version I had on my laptop, near as I can tell.

And the Soundconverter actually works!!!

And I've adjusted the (built-in) "keyboard repeat" speed -- and it is noticeably faster, once I adjusted it.


So, ha!  Sorry, Crunchbang:  you still need some work.  :(

(Pretty sure is was v. 11, but I don't know the sub-version:  whatever version was current as of Nov 2014.  32 bit, and this is a 64bit machine:  could that have been the problem?  But all the other software seemed to work...)


Interesting to use, though.  But I can't afford the time it takes to rescue delicate OSes:   It took most of a day to install it, and then a full evening to install and set up its replacement.  Plus the lost time trying to get the audio files to convert to mp3.


And I did enjoy its simplicity.  Even though I had to learn how to use "sudo apt-get update" and "sudo apt-get install NameOfSoftware".  I might actually get to use that with Mint Linux, if I ever want something that's not in the official repository...


--GG

Crunchbang

Sorry -- haven't posted for a while.

About two weeks ago, the laptop that I bought used, about five(?) years ago, for AU$230, finally bit the dust.

For the last year or so the keyboard had not been working properly, so I had to use an external, USB keyboard:  not too bad.  But recently I think the "up-arrow" key was stuck in a "pressed" position, because the cursor would keep moving to the top of text windows (and lists of files, within folders).  This made the computer awkward to use (although I figured out that tapping the "down-arrow" key would over-ride the "up-arrow" tendency).

But finally:  it just wouldn't boot.

Luckily, I had backed everything up just two sessions before -- so I'd only lost some notes to myself, plus one or two webpages that I'd saved to HD.


Browsed the local online classifieds (gumtree.com.au), for a replacement.  This time I'm going back to desktop units:  they're modular, so if the screen, keyboard, etc. goes wonky -- you can swap it out with ease.  I found a local guy who had a range of business-surplus Dell desktop PCs for sale.  All of them came with a keyboard, mouse, and a flat-screen monitor.

I was deciding between a AU$50, AU$80, and AU$100 machine.  The difference between the $50 and the $80 choices was that the $80 machine had twice the RAM (2GB vs. 1GB).  The difference between the $80 and $100 machine was the processor speed:  I think it was 2.4GHz versus 2.6GHz.  So I went with the $80 machine:  I'd pay $20 for the bump up in RAM, but not bother with the proportionately small increase in speed.

Took it home, and -- for something different -- installed Crunchbang, which is a bare-bones version of Linux that's designed for older, lower-spec machines.  It intentionally omits a lot of guff:  the fancy bells-and-whistles, fancy desktop thingies, and the like.  I'd recently read a comparison of five low-impact Linux distros, and this one was in the top two (based on my criteria:  straightforward to install, straightforward installation of new software, and can play YouTube videos).

The other option was a Ubuntu-related distro, called Bohdi Linux -- but I figured I'd give the non-Ubuntu flavor a chance:  Ubuntu already has enough market share.  :)


So far I like Crunchbang well enough -- although I've actually had to dabble with the "terminal" (basically, like working in DOS instead of a Windows environment) to install some additional (free!!!) software (graphics, recording, and video editing software).  And unlike Mint Linux -- which I had on my laptop -- which lets you browse by software category (e.g. "games") -- with Crunchbang you have to already know the name of the software.

But, some websearches, and some notes to myself, let me achieve what I needed to achieve.  So, sure.


Also:  Crunchbang seems to have a quirk where if you're trying to save a folder with the same name as an existing folder, instead of automatically saving a copy and calling it "copy of ____" -- it appears to just re-save the contents back into the original folder.  Huh.


Other than that, though, it's working well:  I've just finished a session of doing some audio editing of some audio files of two hours of interviewing that I did of my late grandfather.


Also -- for you newbie Linux users -- I've noticed with both my Mint Linux laptop, and my Crunchbang Linux desktop machine -- that you have to turn on the router after starting up the web browser.  If the router is already on, and then you turn on the computer -- it says you're connected, but your web browser still can't figure it out.  So you have to go turn off the router, then turn it back on again.  Easy enough -- but a bit of a nuisance.


Also, Crunchbang doesn't seem to have a "check the integrity of your USB flashdrive" app -- whereas Windows and (I believe) other Linux distros do.  Yeah, it has fsck -- which I believe stands for "file system check" -- but that's only through the terminal, and I haven't taught myself how to use it properly.  I was hoping for something where I just right-click on the USB flashdrive icon and choose a "scan the disk for errors" option.

Ah well.  It's free.  And interesting to use.


Oh:  and I tried to use the laptop again, just to see if I could salvage those extra two days' worth of work.  And it started up!  But now I don't trust it:  I don't want an un-reliable computer.  So:  never mind.

But I did grab the additional files from it, and copied them to my "new" computer.


--GG