It is a good feeling when you feel like you're way in the shit with a Linux system, and then you work through a problem and get everything working. I know that's vague to the point of being mostly pointless, but I solved something tonight and felt pretty accomplished afterwards (even with Google's help).
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Linux Distro Noob thread of Linux noobs
- Thread starter Flying_Phoenix
- Start date
Nostremitus
Member
That's kind of how I've felt all week.
Vipershark
Member
Is there an easy way to install fonts? I'm on Lubuntu 13.10 for reference.
I'm trying to install ProFont to do some programming, which can be found here: http://tobiasjung.name/profont/
After following multiple tutorials online (the first being this one) that talked about doing an fc-cache -fv, none of them worked. Through following so many tutorials, I placed Profont's .pcf files in MULTIPLE font directories both in my own home folder (~/.fonts/) and inside the system folder (two somewere in /usr/ and one somewhere in /etc/ if I recall correctly) yet nothing worked.
Eventually I found a tutorial that said that I needed to delete a particular file that disallowed Ubuntu from loading Bitmap fonts, which I did. (I don't remember what file or what tutorial it was, but the filename actually had "No-Bitmap" or something in it, I think.)
Finally, ProFont showed up in my list of fonts (multiple times; I'm assuming it found all the copies I put in all the different directories)
...except it wasn't ProFont at all, and was showing up as Sans Bold.
Profont is supposed to look like this:
It was showing up as this:
Sans Bold:
So instead, I tried installing MonteCarlo, which is more or less ProFont but different.
It showed up like this:
And the space character is obviously broken.
What the heck is going on?
Is there a way to just open a font file and install it like on Windows?
Why is Terminus able to display correctly (installed through apt-get) with no changes if it's also a Bitmap font, yet I have to specifically enable Bitmap fonts for anything else?
I'm trying to install ProFont to do some programming, which can be found here: http://tobiasjung.name/profont/
After following multiple tutorials online (the first being this one) that talked about doing an fc-cache -fv, none of them worked. Through following so many tutorials, I placed Profont's .pcf files in MULTIPLE font directories both in my own home folder (~/.fonts/) and inside the system folder (two somewere in /usr/ and one somewhere in /etc/ if I recall correctly) yet nothing worked.
Eventually I found a tutorial that said that I needed to delete a particular file that disallowed Ubuntu from loading Bitmap fonts, which I did. (I don't remember what file or what tutorial it was, but the filename actually had "No-Bitmap" or something in it, I think.)
Finally, ProFont showed up in my list of fonts (multiple times; I'm assuming it found all the copies I put in all the different directories)
...except it wasn't ProFont at all, and was showing up as Sans Bold.
Profont is supposed to look like this:
It was showing up as this:
Sans Bold:
So instead, I tried installing MonteCarlo, which is more or less ProFont but different.
It showed up like this:
And the space character is obviously broken.
What the heck is going on?
Is there a way to just open a font file and install it like on Windows?
Why is Terminus able to display correctly (installed through apt-get) with no changes if it's also a Bitmap font, yet I have to specifically enable Bitmap fonts for anything else?
GameplayWhore
Member
It depends on what you're doing. For headless web servers, FreeBSD is probably a better option if only due to its reputation for supremely high uptimes. For that matter, when I managed a FreeBSD machine, I was able to keep it up to date without anything catastrophic happening and without needing to reboot for years and years. I definitely had problems trying to do this with various debian flavours, archlinux, opensuse, mandrake/mandriva, fedora, and others.
If you just need a machine where hardware support is more important but that you can reboot now and then and the OS can be reinstalled from scratch, than any old Linux would do quite well.
I haven't really dived into Gentoo, though. It's very BSD-like on paper, but when I tried to install it years ago there were problems compiling the initial set of packages, so I balked.
Apart from FreeBSD, if you need to be *incredibly* secure, then OpenBSD is apparently your best option. And I've heard that NetBSD is pretty cool if you want an OS on your microwave oven or something.
Nostremitus
Member
My google-fu says...Is there an easy way to install fonts? I'm on Lubuntu 13.10 for reference.
I'm trying to install ProFont to do some programming, which can be found here: http://tobiasjung.name/profont/
After following multiple tutorials online (the first being this one) that talked about doing an fc-cache -fv, none of them worked. Through following so many tutorials, I placed Profont's .pcf files in MULTIPLE font directories both in my own home folder (~/.fonts/) and inside the system folder (two somewere in /usr/ and one somewhere in /etc/ if I recall correctly) yet nothing worked.
Eventually I found a tutorial that said that I needed to delete a particular file that disallowed Ubuntu from loading Bitmap fonts, which I did. (I don't remember what file or what tutorial it was, but the filename actually had "No-Bitmap" or something in it, I think.)
Finally, ProFont showed up in my list of fonts (multiple times; I'm assuming it found all the copies I put in all the different directories)
...except it wasn't ProFont at all, and was showing up as Sans Bold.
Profont is supposed to look like this:
It was showing up as this:
Sans Bold:
So instead, I tried installing MonteCarlo, which is more or less ProFont but different.
It showed up like this:
And the space character is obviously broken.
What the heck is going on?
Is there a way to just open a font file and install it like on Windows?
Why is Terminus able to display correctly (installed through apt-get) with no changes if it's also a Bitmap font, yet I have to specifically enable Bitmap fonts for anything else?
Code:
cp ./somefont.ttf ~/.fontsI think it'll only be available for your user, though.
Vipershark
Member
I did that already.
That's not the issue so much as the OS finally loads ProFont, but it's not the right font at all.
I even specifically opened the .pcf files in FontForge and they are indeed showing up as they're supposed to. For some reason though, Lubuntu (or LDXE or something, I don't even know where to begin troubleshooting) doesn't like it and displays it incorrectly and I have no idea why.
That's not the issue so much as the OS finally loads ProFont, but it's not the right font at all.
I even specifically opened the .pcf files in FontForge and they are indeed showing up as they're supposed to. For some reason though, Lubuntu (or LDXE or something, I don't even know where to begin troubleshooting) doesn't like it and displays it incorrectly and I have no idea why.
Nostremitus
Member
Pay no attention, I clearly didn't, lol.
Vipershark
Member
I linked that exact tutorial in my post and said it didn't work.
Maybe just a chmod 777 on the root directory of the external?
chmod 777 /dev/correct-partition
Vipershark
Member
I read that the problem is that Macs use HFS+ with Journaling, so you have to connect the drive to a mac, turn off Journaling, and then you're good to go.
Otherwise Linux says the drive is read-only and won't allow you to chmod.
(I was actually having that exact problem the other day)
Otherwise Linux says the drive is read-only and won't allow you to chmod.
(I was actually having that exact problem the other day)
Nostremitus
Member
Wow, sorry, I missed that. Carry on.
smokeandmirrors
Banned
Ubuntu installer gave me an error during install(?!) and now my the boot loader for windows 7 is missing. awesome.
Oh and the error kept saying I burnt the iso too quickly or some bullshit and I wasn't even using a dvd. Thank fucking christ i have another computer to redownload it so hopefully I can fix this.
Edit: Got it to work. That was an annoying 20 minutes.
Oh and the error kept saying I burnt the iso too quickly or some bullshit and I wasn't even using a dvd. Thank fucking christ i have another computer to redownload it so hopefully I can fix this.
Edit: Got it to work. That was an annoying 20 minutes.
Vanillalite
Ask me about the GAF Notebook
Honestly outside of Debian I wouldn't use any of those for a server anyway in any meaningful capacity. Of course something like Fedora isn't gonna be super stable. Its a testing ground so to speak.
It basically comes down to CentOS or RHEL for production based stuff outside of Debian or Ubuntu if you want to pay for their extra support features.
On a side note what does everyone think of CentOS officially getting buddy buddy with RHEL? It's interesting to say the least. I see how it'll be a boon for Cent, but I scratch my head on why Red Hat would care. Figure they would just want people to use their own shit instead.
Yeah I use arch for all my computers including my servers because I like it, but honestly it's too much work for running on a server. Things break too often in updates and you have to fix it. That said, I recently rebooted one of my servers because they had to shut off the power in my house for a while, and it had been running for 352 days (bit of a bummer that they couldn't wait another week for the power outage) at that point. So it sure is stable if you know what you're doing but it's just too much work in general. I'm thinking of just installing CentOS on the servers instead and call it a day. I don't have much time or patience to experiment and tinker around anymore when something breaks unfortunately. I used to enjoy doing that but I've had my fill of it.
I'm assuming if more people use CentOS, Red Hat expects more people will move towards them eventually for enterprise level needs. I say that having not known about the partnership until I saw your post and read up a bit online, so just a shot in the dark there. Interesting news either way.
How exactly would I do that? Can I just add a PPA or is more tinkering required?
I fought for our company to move to CentOS because juggling licence files was a pain for VMs.
I wonder if CentOS was catching on with smaller businesses. By bringing it into the fold, they lose the license fees, but can sell support and related products.
Nostremitus
Member
There is the mainline Kernel PPA from the Ubuntu Kernel team, but afaik you can't add it to the APT sources. You have to download the .deb manually and install it via
Code:
sudo dpkg -i kernel-image.deb kernel-headers.debAre they guaranteed to work with Linux distros?
Nostremitus
Member
Google search says Chromebooks do, and this is basically one of those without the expense of the screen or battery.
I doubt they're going to provide a guarantee considering they're pushing their own OS.
Vanillalite
Ask me about the GAF Notebook
Haswel x86 proc so no reason it wouldn't work with any standard distro provided someone figures out how to get it to boot from SD.
You can't install both on the same partition. If you don't already have a partition to give it aside from the Windows one, you will need to create a new partition.
Is there a way to install Gnome 3.10 on Ubuntu without screwing up Unity? I tried it the instructions on OMG Ubuntu and unity turned into some sort of freakish hybrid. I'd like to keep unity looking like unity and Gnome looking like Gnome, but be able to switch between them.
Piercedveil
Member
What would you guys recommend to a person with no experience with Linux? From the OP, I'm thinking maybe Ubuntu or Mint. I have a laptop that's a couple years old and I'm just going to go ahead and completely wipe it and install linux on it to hopefully get some experience with it since I'm interested.
ThatObviousUser
ὠαἴÏÏιÏÏÎ¿Ï Ïαá¿Ï εἶ
Ubuntu, Gnome Ubuntu, or Elementary OS.
Piercedveil
Member
Thanks, will check each out.
I would suggest making two partitions, maybe even try two distros or something. You can mount the other partition and use it as a second drive while booted into the other.
Yeah actually these are all great for beginners. I do like Ubuntu because it breaks out a lot of features to the gui. My #1 problem with linux distros is them never having a convenient graphical shell, because sometimes I can't be bother to make a super-command-line-argument. Ubuntu/Mint are best in this regard, and last I checked Elementary made it a tad harder. I remember one issue of trying to create a shortcut to an executable which forced me into the terminal.
But if you are just doing some light things Elementaro is blissful, and it's not bad to defer to the terminal. It's probably best to learn the basics of it, just that one instance sort of peeved me in the moment.
Also look at the Ubuntu versions with a slimmer desktop environment (Lubuntu and Xubuntu) if you are going to install it on a rather weak machine.
systemfehler
Member
For a general look and feel and to get a grasp of the installation I would recommend installing a Linux version in a virtual machine first. Once you made a partition mistake it is over ;-)
Piercedveil
Member
I guess what I'm confused about is what really is the big difference between distros? Will I be limiting myself in a way if I choose one over another? I'm thinking I may just go with trying Ubuntu since it seems to be pretty popular. I don't exactly know what makes a distro "good."
The machine is a cheap laptop with no more than 2 GB of ram and a single core Intel processor with no dedicated graphics. So I will definitely check these out
thanks.Vanillalite
Ask me about the GAF Notebook
I guess what I'm confused about is what really is the big difference between distros? Will I be limiting myself in a way if I choose one over another? I'm thinking I may just go with trying Ubuntu since it seems to be pretty popular. I don't exactly know what makes a distro "good."
The machine is a cheap laptop with no more than 2 GB of ram and a single core Intel processor with no dedicated graphics. So I will definitely check these out
No need to look else where since this is your 1st time, and there are various "flavors" of Ubuntu with different interfaces that can be more light weight.
Xubuntu is what I run and it's more light weight than Ubuntu while still being really full featured.
Lubuntu is more light weight, but it might appear at first too minimal. Still a great option.
Single Core setup is almost a decade old now tho so you won't be getting great performance on either IMO.
xubuntu.org
http://lubuntu.net/
PS: If you get brave and want to try something else check out Crunchbang or Puppy Linux. Puppy specifically is made to be extremely small and light weight.
PPS: If your old comp can boot from a USB use that to install vs wasting a disc on burning.
Piercedveil
Member
Thank you! I think I will give Lubuntu a shot and see how that goes.
Elfforkusu
Member
God damn it. Fuck Ubuntu. I'm done!
They broke another LTS system of mine with a security upgrade! Again! We're done!
What's the new hotness. Mint? I know that's ubuntu derived, do they pull the ubuntu kernel / Xorg / driver packages verbatim or manage stuff on their own?
e: this ragepost is not intended to stop people from using ubuntu, unless said hypothetical person is thinking of using it as a server. In which case, please don't
They broke another LTS system of mine with a security upgrade! Again! We're done!
What's the new hotness. Mint? I know that's ubuntu derived, do they pull the ubuntu kernel / Xorg / driver packages verbatim or manage stuff on their own?
e: this ragepost is not intended to stop people from using ubuntu, unless said hypothetical person is thinking of using it as a server. In which case, please don't
Vanillalite
Ask me about the GAF Notebook
If stability is really needed just go with Debian stable branch.
If you are in an actual business production environment you should have been on Cent/Debian/RHEL long ago anyways.
Elfforkusu
Member
In this case, I am on a laptop that is both expected to be stable and to also compile/run software updated within the last 3 years.
Incremental upgrades should not break my shit. This is not a rolling distro, for god's sake. I'm not surprised, though, it's been happening more and more frequently between my desktop/server and laptop. Onward to Mint I guess! Maybe debian, if I can get graphics drivers to work...? Probably worse, tbh
archnemesis
Member
I switched to Mint recently and it's awesome.
Elfforkusu
Member
ok, fixed the problem. Always drivers. Ubuntu used to be really good about this, too. It was their claim to fame.
Now they're testing (on other people's hardware) in production. Security patch? Surprise, your graphics driver is hosed, congrats.
Now they're testing (on other people's hardware) in production. Security patch? Surprise, your graphics driver is hosed, congrats.
Nostremitus
Member
AMD?
Treechopper
Member
It's been a while since I posted in here but I just wanted to pop in to say that I finally saw the light and switched to Arch. After going Ubuntu->Crunchbang->Debian Testing I've never been so satisfied with my choice of distro. Rolling release + extensive documentation + letting you build up rather than tear down is great.
I even like pacman.
I even like pacman.
Piercedveil
Member
Well, I've spent a little time with Lubuntu. I must say, I am pleasantly surprised to see how quick it is on my old laptop. Even the boot time is really decent. I have a new battery coming in the mail this weekend so I'm looking forward to messing around with it a bit more.
I have to agree. It made using my netbook enjoyable again. Windows 7 is just too slow on those Intel Atom machines.
My ancient Pentium M laptop runs it quite nicely too. I think before XP hits EOL, I'll change that over.
Vanillalite
Ask me about the GAF Notebook
Good to hear you've had positive experiences! If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask as Linux-GAF is rather friendly!
Also good to know you didn't have install problems. I figured you'd be back with install questions before long. LOL
Piercedveil
Member
Thanks, I'm sure I'll ask some questions once I get to spend some more time with it. The only issue I had was trying to install Steam. It wouldn't let me because I needed to install a package called "curl" first. I'm not exactly sure what that does but I got Steam up and running
Installing the OS itself was incredibly straight-forward, though, which is great.
Elfforkusu
Member
This time, yep! "Hey, we upgraded your fglrx for you! (it no longer supports your graphics card, sorry)"
On a different machine, I've also had semi-frequent trouble with the intel video kernel driver going haywire on "security" updates. Probably has happened... 4 times at this point? Only thing that's stayed immune is Nvidia, probably because that binary blob lives in its own world with no input from the doofuses at Canonical.
There are two different set of packages for AMD drivers in the Ubuntu repositories, fglrx which follows the standard stability rules, and fglrx-updates which is always updated as AMD releases new drivers.
Vanillalite
Ask me about the GAF Notebook
Got bored and updated my Xubuntu install to the latest 14.04 Daily. So far so good here. Beta is only a week away anyways so not like I jumped in pre alpha.
PS: It's great to still see itxaka and Massa posting in this thread after all these years!
PS: It's great to still see itxaka and Massa posting in this thread after all these years!
Nostremitus
Member
Yeah, AMD's drivers no longer support my laptop's old HD4200, I had to update to 13.10 for the open source driver.
(I went through this on the last page, thanks again guys/gals)