Corporate creep in Linux? (mini-rantette)
in [Slackware]
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From: Jim Diamond on 11 Sep 2009 10:39 On 2009-09-11 at 03:35 ADT, Peter Chant <REMpeteOVE(a)petezilla.co.uk> wrote: > ~kurt wrote: > >> Peter Chant <REMpeteOVE(a)petezilla.co.uk> wrote: >>> >>> Is it not a good idea to have the OS ask if you want USB sticks mounted >>> in one click when you plug them in, rather than have root mount them for >>> you? >> >> No, I'd rather have it mount when I tell it to mount as a normal user. >> Just because I stick it into the computer, it doesn't mean I'm ready to >> use it, or want to have my train of thought interrupted by a stupid >> popup window asking me stupid questions. >> > > Why would you put in a USB stick and then not use it. You don't put bread > in the toaster because you want to make toast sometime later on in the week, > you put bread in the toaster because you want toast now. Cute, but unsound analogy. Suppose you are using virtualbox or vmware and want the guest OS to access your USB device. If the host OS immediately grabs it, that makes it difficult (impossible?) to use in the guest OS. Even without a VM, maybe the first thing you want to do with a USB stick is to do a mkfs on it. Or maybe you have some custom software which does something with it that requires it not be mounted. There are all sorts of reasons why you might not want to be asked about mounting it. Of course, for many people, mounting it will be the preferred action. Each to his own. Jim
From: notbob on 11 Sep 2009 10:39 On 2009-09-11, Kees Theunissen <theuniss(a)rijnh.nl> wrote: > Did you read the xwmconfig(1) manpage? > And while doing so, did you notice: > "When run by a non-root user, xwmconfig writes out a $HOME/.xinitrc > file, allowing the user to choose their own default window manager > (possibly overriding the one chosen as a system default)"? No. I didn't get around to it, but figured it was something like that. So, when I went digging into my home dir to clear out all the other wm cruft, sure enough, there it was. One itty bitty .xinit(rc) file with "exec /etc/...twm in the last line. I rm'd it and all is well. Thanks for the heads up, though. Strangely enough, I never did find the xwmconfig command in my history file. so it would appear it got generated some way other than my invoking it as user. <shrug> nb
From: Michael Black on 11 Sep 2009 10:43 On Fri, 11 Sep 2009, Peter Chant wrote: > dae3 wrote: > >> Mike Jones <Not(a)Arizona.Bay> wrote: >> >>> Whats wrong with RXVT? >>> >>> If you want extended function, MRXVT? >> >> >> For that matter, I wonder what's wrong with xterm... >> >> > > ...or connecting a teletype to your serial port... > What's a serial port? This about 2001 computer has only one, which I find a problem at times. But I assume later computers have even less in the way of serial ports. Michael
From: Mike Jones on 11 Sep 2009 11:42 Responding to Jim Diamond: > On 2009-09-11 at 05:57 ADT, Mike Jones <Not(a)Arizona.Bay> wrote: >> Responding to dae3: >> >>> Mike Jones <Not(a)Arizona.Bay> wrote: >>> >>>> Whats wrong with RXVT? >>>> >>>> If you want extended function, MRXVT? >>> >>> >>> For that matter, I wonder what's wrong with xterm... >> >> >> A good point, seeing as RXVT's key strength is that is it lighter than >> xterm, and these days thats not even going to cause a ripple on today's >> hardware. >> >> MRXVT does do multiple tabs though, and all the fancy stuff if you want >> it. > > I think it is still lacking utf8 support, which is a bit of a nuisance > in some circumstances. Also, it doesn't use X resources, which IMHO is > a Bad Thing. Other than that, it's not a bad terminal emulator. > > Jim A console that doesn't require X resources? Isn't that a /good/ thing? -- *===( http://www.400monkeys.com/God/ *===( http://principiadiscordia.com/ *===( http://www.slackware.com/
From: Mike Jones on 11 Sep 2009 11:46
Responding to Glyn Millington: > Mike Jones <Not(a)Arizona.Bay> writes: > >> Responding to Glyn Millington: > > >>> I think the answer to all tis stuff is, as you say, to RTFM - as it >>> always has been with Slackware I think. But one of the problems is >>> that many of the docs are getting a little dated and to find >>> up-to-date information can be more tricky at times, especially for the >>> newer users who may not be sure of the right terms to enter into >>> Goolge and who want something a little less forbidding than the man >>> pages! So I'm *really* looking forward to the next edition of the >>> Slackware book :-) >> >> Just a thought on this one... > > .... good stuff snipped ... > > >> I'd have prefered things more like they were around Slack 9, but with >> better documentation written by people who know how to present that >> level of information to people who don't have all the clues (like, with >> config examples?), rather than the typical obscure tech-docs written by >> tech- heads, and approved by other tech-heads. >> >> Most things can be configured by hand (often easier than figuring out a >> semi-auto mega-app) by most people *IF* they can access the clues they >> need (See IceWM documentation as an example of how to do this). Linux >> documentation is famous for missing this function. If you can >> understand the man page, you don't need the man page. Catch-22. >> Therefore, when someone writes a "do it for me" app, it gets used, then >> it becomes standardised, then the original swiss-army-knife app gets >> dropped. >> >> When enough automated "do it for me" apps have appeared, you get >> Ubuntu. >> >> Then Slackware starts losing its traditional tool-sets. > > Well has that happened yet? The major tool is a text editor - we have > lots on the dvd. There seem to be lots of .*rc files around and > /etc/rc.d seems to be the sunny playground it always was :-) All that > has happened is that the KDE version has taken a major bump up. > >> The prosecution rests at this time. > > And you have a *good* case - I just don't think it helps if it is > overstated :-) The sky isn't about to fall down. > Wellllllll.... Back to that /dev/??? thing. Back on Slack 9 I had a dir full of devs. Now I don't, and have udev\HAL to deal with. Sure I can nuke HAL and even udev, but then what? See how those bridged get burned behind you while you're not watching? -- *===( http://www.400monkeys.com/God/ *===( http://principiadiscordia.com/ *===( http://www.slackware.com/ |