Re: [Pan-users] To explain why I'm unwilling to up date my glib/gtk+/etc libs ATM…

[Duncan]

Paul Crawford posted on Wed, 06 Jul 2011 12:39:52 +0100 as excerpted:

> On 05/07/11 22:12, Duncan wrote <sniped>:
>> Don't forget the LiveCD/DVD/LivePlug that most distros have available
>> now.  That lets you test them out far easier without installing, tho
>> especially the LiveCDs tend to work with high compression on the CD,
>> expanding parts of themselves into RAM to run, so the oldest,
>> lowest-RAM systems often can't run them when they can run an install to
>> disk.  But certainly if you have a gig of RAM or more...
> 
> The 'live CD' (or its USB equivalent) is a great way of testing things
> out, generally speaking if it works OK on a live CD then installing it
> should be easy and no problems. However, there are some points also to
> note:
> 
> (1) If something won't quite work, in particular video or wifi, this can
> sometimes be fixed using the propitiatory drivers. However, you can't
> normally do this with a live CD as such a low level change involves a
> reboot, and of course it resumes with the CD's copy...

??  Why would you need to reboot to change the especially the wifi 
driver?  On a liveCD it'd be a loaded module, which should be unloadable, 
and then the one you want to try loaded.

With kms graphics things could be a bit more complicated as you'd have to 
reboot with the -nomodesetting kernel switch, which should then boot into 
the normal vesa-framebuffer or vgacon.  You may also have to use a no-X 
option, so it doesn't start X automatically.  After that, you should be 
able to use a similar procedure to that used for the wifi to switch X 
graphics drivers to the proprietary ones, and then start the X that you 
originally directed not to start automatically.

Of course, that was all covered in the "an experienced user can often 
make it work, particularly if another distro works" bit, which you 
snipped for brevity (no complaints about the snip as that bit of the 
quote wasn't necessary for your point, but I did have a clause covering 
that bit).  But I just glossed it as for someone just starting off, 
simply trying a different distro's livecd or doing a full install to 
check in that case, is going to be easier than the "deep voodoo" of 
manual modprobes and the like.

> (2) If you want to have a dual boot system with an old Windows install,
> you need to have enough space on your main disk and be willing to
> re-partition it.

Um... you jumped from discussing live* versions, which don't normally 
need to use installed storage (tho they can if desired), to splitting the 
disk for a regular install, without any indication of the switch...

So just to be clear, this point (and below it) applies if you're actually 
installing, but NOT just to run a live* version off the CD/DVD/external-
USB-storage, since for running the live* version, you don't need to 
modify what's on the present disk at all.

-- 
Duncan - List replies preferred.   No HTML msgs.
"Every nonfree program has a lord, a master --
and if you use the program, he is your master."  Richard Stallman