Re: GNUstep distro

[Liam Proven]

On 10 May 2013 17:34, Riccardo Mottola <riccardo.mottola@libero.it> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I think we are getting a bit out of topic of GNUstep here. If you have
> particular problems with specific distros, get help from the respective
> forums.

I do not have particular problems with particular distros.

I might be having problems with apparently out-of-date GNUstep
packages in them. I think that is something that really should concern
the GNUstep developers. If I am not mistaken, you are one of these.

> For example, personally, I consider Ubuntu a bad linux distribution

Why?

It is the world's leading FOSS OS, with the most mature and polished
package-management on any Unix. It is the obvious and logical choice
if one were to try to build a populist GNUstep-based OS.

> and for
> the GNUstep packages it has the last time I checked it is just "debian
> stuff".

That seems fair - but if those packages are out of date, then this is
something which should be of great concern to the GNUstep team.

> Debian for me works out of the Box

It's better than it was, certainly. It's still not perfect, though. I
have several Debian machines and all have problems that Ubuntu doesn't
have on the same hardware. E.g. unsupported NICs, unable to select
between multiple sound cards, missing proprietary firmware whose lack
makes it impossible to download the missing drivers.

>  and windowmaker menus work with all its
> fine apps getting added too, no patches neeed, this also in testing and
> unstable versions.

WMaker has a known bug in the Debian family. I've posted links. I've
replicated this, personally, *this morning* on Ubuntu 13.04 and it is
the same bug that has been present since 10.10 and was in Debian 5 and
6.

The links I've already posted describe the problem and how to fix it.

> For me NetBSD was always a breeze to isntall, quick fast... No "stuff to
> remove" as happens on most distributions.
> OpenBSD too, FreeBSd even easier!

Good for you. Clearly your UNIX skills far exceed mine. I have only
tried NetBSD once but I could not get past a basic CLI bare core OS.

FreeBSD, ditto, repeated with v5, 6, 7, 8 & 9. (I don't give up easily.)

I find them horribly primitive and pretty much unusable myself, but I
am very happy that others like something basic, stripped-back, simple
and retro-style.

Me, I just want my computer to work with the minimum of fuss. Therefore, Ubuntu.

> Perhaps the only thing I regret about all these (but this includes linux) is
> support for wireless cards...

Indeed, this is a major issue.

>> Just for the record... Sadly, Window Maker gets into severe problems as
>> soon as it's run, with the main menu flickering madly as it is continually
>> redrawn. It is not possible to pick anything off the menus.
>
> I use windowmaker on OpenBSD, NetBSD, FreeBSD, Solaris, Linux/Gentoo,
> Linux/Debian and it works fine!

I speak only of the specific instructions in this thread from
Sebastiano, nothing more general.

I know WM is fine - I have it on at least 5 machines.

In my OpenBSD install, following his instructions, I had the problems
I describe. That is *all* I was talking about.

--
Liam Proven • Profile: http://lproven.livejournal.com/profile
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