Geekhack Linux Thread (Troubleshooting/General Discussion)

[ttzhou]

(Not quite sure if this belongs in "Other Geeky Stuff" or the "Keyboards" forum -- mods, please remove/move as you see fit.)

So, the gist as to why I made this thread:

A while back, I contacted fellow GH'ers DanielT and henz about some issues I was having with getting past Syslinux boot on Arch Linux when I had my GON keyboard plugged in.

We had a pretty good discussion, but came to the realization that we were basically S.O.L when it came to solutions. At the time, I had to unplug my GON on boot and only plug it in once I actually had X environment started. I spent a good amount of research trying to figure out how to make it work, but apparently the intersection of GON keyboard owners and Linux users worldwide is in the single digits, so I gave up and just used the workaround I described.

henz had mentioned to me along the way that I should start a Linux support thread. I've been busy as hell with studying, boxing, and a full-time job, so I never really got around to it, but the thought came back to me today and I thought I'd make one now.

Essentially, if the mods permit, I would like to make this a thread for Linux users (hardcore or new) to share their experiences and fixes/workarounds/hacks that they have come across in their keyboarding careers.

I know we have a distro thread, but maybe this could serve as a place for general hang out/discussion.

================================================

I'll start off the thread with my findings on Linux and GONs:

- On the latest Arch kernel (4.2.3-1) I am now able to leave my GON TKL plugged while using Syslinux. I can't use the arrow keys, however, so I have to use another keyboard if I want to boot into Windows (I run a dual drive boot, chainloaded through Syslinux).

- I still have not been able to get NerDy GUI to work, even through Wine. I've given up and just configure the keyboard through Windows. A possible workaround would be to use TmK's firmware (you can find it on GitHub) but I'm too lazy to do that.

Hope this thread is of some help for people.

[henz]

recently a friend got in touch with gon. He said the keyboards would work properly in bios and in linux bootmgrs if you run the  keyboard in 6kro rather than nkro.

[sth]

(Not quite sure if this belongs in "Other Geeky Stuff" or the "Keyboards" forum -- mods, please remove/move as you see fit.)

So, the gist as to why I made this thread:

A while back, I contacted fellow GH'ers DanielT and henz about some issues I was having with getting past Syslinux boot on Arch Linux when I had my GON keyboard plugged in.

We had a pretty good discussion, but came to the realization that we were basically S.O.L when it came to solutions. At the time, I had to unplug my GON on boot and only plug it in once I actually had X environment started. I spent a good amount of research trying to figure out how to make it work, but apparently the intersection of GON keyboard owners and Linux users worldwide is in the single digits, so I gave up and just used the workaround I described.

henz had mentioned to me along the way that I should start a Linux support thread. I've been busy as hell with studying, boxing, and a full-time job, so I never really got around to it, but the thought came back to me today and I thought I'd make one now.

Essentially, if the mods permit, I would like to make this a thread for Linux users (hardcore or new) to share their experiences and fixes/workarounds/hacks that they have come across in their keyboarding careers.

I know we have a distro thread, but maybe this could serve as a place for general hang out/discussion.

================================================

I'll start off the thread with my findings on Linux and GONs:

- On the latest Arch kernel (4.2.3-1) I am now able to leave my GON TKL plugged while using Syslinux. I can't use the arrow keys, however, so I have to use another keyboard if I want to boot into Windows (I run a dual drive boot, chainloaded through Syslinux).

- I still have not been able to get NerDy GUI to work, even through Wine. I've given up and just configure the keyboard through Windows. A possible workaround would be to use TmK's firmware (you can find it on GitHub) but I'm too lazy to do that.

Hope this thread is of some help for people.

if you can install arch you can figure out TMK. it's really not that complicated. you don't even really need to KNOW C, just pay attention to the syntax in the layout files and you'll be just fine.
 i use tmk boards on my linux boxes with zero issues (freebsd is another matter that i have not explored very much tbh). i highly recommend going the tmk route - its nice to have the same fw on multiple keyboards

[sth]

let me also take 1sec to evangelize void linux to all the nerds out there looking for a nice, small distro
voidlinux.eu
/evangelism

[henz]

(Not quite sure if this belongs in "Other Geeky Stuff" or the "Keyboards" forum -- mods, please remove/move as you see fit.)

So, the gist as to why I made this thread:

A while back, I contacted fellow GH'ers DanielT and henz about some issues I was having with getting past Syslinux boot on Arch Linux when I had my GON keyboard plugged in.

We had a pretty good discussion, but came to the realization that we were basically S.O.L when it came to solutions. At the time, I had to unplug my GON on boot and only plug it in once I actually had X environment started. I spent a good amount of research trying to figure out how to make it work, but apparently the intersection of GON keyboard owners and Linux users worldwide is in the single digits, so I gave up and just used the workaround I described.

henz had mentioned to me along the way that I should start a Linux support thread. I've been busy as hell with studying, boxing, and a full-time job, so I never really got around to it, but the thought came back to me today and I thought I'd make one now.

Essentially, if the mods permit, I would like to make this a thread for Linux users (hardcore or new) to share their experiences and fixes/workarounds/hacks that they have come across in their keyboarding careers.

I know we have a distro thread, but maybe this could serve as a place for general hang out/discussion.

================================================

I'll start off the thread with my findings on Linux and GONs:

- On the latest Arch kernel (4.2.3-1) I am now able to leave my GON TKL plugged while using Syslinux. I can't use the arrow keys, however, so I have to use another keyboard if I want to boot into Windows (I run a dual drive boot, chainloaded through Syslinux).

- I still have not been able to get NerDy GUI to work, even through Wine. I've given up and just configure the keyboard through Windows. A possible workaround would be to use TmK's firmware (you can find it on GitHub) but I'm too lazy to do that.

Hope this thread is of some help for people.

if you can install arch you can figure out TMK. it's really not that complicated. you don't even really need to KNOW C, just pay attention to the syntax in the layout files and you'll be just fine.
 i use tmk boards on my linux boxes with zero issues (freebsd is another matter that i have not explored very much tbh). i highly recommend going the tmk route - its nice to have the same fw on multiple keyboards

The issue is changing the boot loader, you need to have an avr ISP and i have one. But have not tried yet, dont want to be the first one Not sure if ttzh have one.

im running tmk on my kmacs and have contributed a layout not sure if its merged yet but its the kmac happy

[sth]

i just got a new 500GG "extra" ssd (yay!) but i cant figure out how i wanna partition things.

right now i boot from a 60GB ssd. that is soon to be replaced with a 250GB msata ssd + adapter (yay!).

i want to have / on the 250GB msata. thing is, right now i have everything on my primary disk, and not including my /home directory, my entire distro install takes up only 3GB. so... i will probably keep /home on the 250GB ssd when i get it. now i have this 500GB ssd and i'm not sure how i want to parition it.

right now i'm thinking about doing 2 partitions, one for /home/sth/music and one for /home/sth/data (or something like that), and keep the rest of /home on the 250GB. but... maybe i could do something different? i dunno. i dont want to run lvm on this setup because the 500GB SSD is on a slow-ass bus (dont ask... no way around it), otherwise i would just set them up as a logical volume together.

WAT DO 

[henz]

i just got a new 500GG "extra" ssd (yay!) but i cant figure out how i wanna partition things.

right now i boot from a 60GB ssd. that is soon to be replaced with a 250GB msata ssd + adapter (yay!).

i want to have / on the 250GB msata. thing is, right now i have everything on my primary disk, and not including my /home directory, my entire distro install takes up only 3GB. so... i will probably keep /home on the 250GB ssd when i get it. now i have this 500GB ssd and i'm not sure how i want to parition it.

right now i'm thinking about doing 2 partitions, one for /home/sth/music and one for /home/sth/data (or something like that), and keep the rest of /home on the 250GB. but... maybe i could do something different? i dunno. i dont want to run lvm on this setup because the 500GB SSD is on a slow-ass bus (dont ask... no way around it), otherwise i would just set them up as a logical volume together.

WAT DO 

 I was kind of in the same situation as you. I had a 250G ssd with my linux distro, and a 60G ssd for windows and gaming. I then got a 500G ssd. I made two partitions with, one with 250G windows for games and 250G FAT partitions which was shared between oses. Its nice to be able to watch your shiet on both oses.  And also i threw out my 60 gb ssb.

[sth]

i just got a new 500GG "extra" ssd (yay!) but i cant figure out how i wanna partition things.

right now i boot from a 60GB ssd. that is soon to be replaced with a 250GB msata ssd + adapter (yay!).

i want to have / on the 250GB msata. thing is, right now i have everything on my primary disk, and not including my /home directory, my entire distro install takes up only 3GB. so... i will probably keep /home on the 250GB ssd when i get it. now i have this 500GB ssd and i'm not sure how i want to parition it.

right now i'm thinking about doing 2 partitions, one for /home/sth/music and one for /home/sth/data (or something like that), and keep the rest of /home on the 250GB. but... maybe i could do something different? i dunno. i dont want to run lvm on this setup because the 500GB SSD is on a slow-ass bus (dont ask... no way around it), otherwise i would just set them up as a logical volume together.

WAT DO 

 I was kind of in the same situation as you. I had a 250G ssd with my linux distro, and a 60G ssd for windows and gaming. I then got a 500G ssd. I made two partitions with, one with 250G windows for games and 250G FAT partitions which was shared between oses. Its nice to be able to watch your shiet on both oses.  And also i threw out my 60 gb ssb.

i could possibly see having  a win partition for games but this laptop is not gonna run anything that well anyways, plus i really dont game  much at all so its not a big deal.
i decided on going with 1 partition to mount as /home/sth/media and in there i can keep ./music and ./movies and other stuff. most of my video lives on an external disk that i plug into the TV anyways.

[henz]

i just got a new 500GG "extra" ssd (yay!) but i cant figure out how i wanna partition things.

right now i boot from a 60GB ssd. that is soon to be replaced with a 250GB msata ssd + adapter (yay!).

i want to have / on the 250GB msata. thing is, right now i have everything on my primary disk, and not including my /home directory, my entire distro install takes up only 3GB. so... i will probably keep /home on the 250GB ssd when i get it. now i have this 500GB ssd and i'm not sure how i want to parition it.

right now i'm thinking about doing 2 partitions, one for /home/sth/music and one for /home/sth/data (or something like that), and keep the rest of /home on the 250GB. but... maybe i could do something different? i dunno. i dont want to run lvm on this setup because the 500GB SSD is on a slow-ass bus (dont ask... no way around it), otherwise i would just set them up as a logical volume together.

WAT DO 

 I was kind of in the same situation as you. I had a 250G ssd with my linux distro, and a 60G ssd for windows and gaming. I then got a 500G ssd. I made two partitions with, one with 250G windows for games and 250G FAT partitions which was shared between oses. Its nice to be able to watch your shiet on both oses.  And also i threw out my 60 gb ssb.

i could possibly see having  a win partition for games but this laptop is not gonna run anything that well anyways, plus i really dont game  much at all so its not a big deal.
i decided on going with 1 partition to mount as /home/sth/media and in there i can keep ./music and ./movies and other stuff. most of my video lives on an external disk that i plug into the TV anyways.

but but but, a 500G SSD FOR A MEDIA DISK ONLY IS TRECHERY!!

[sth]

i just got a new 500GG "extra" ssd (yay!) but i cant figure out how i wanna partition things.

right now i boot from a 60GB ssd. that is soon to be replaced with a 250GB msata ssd + adapter (yay!).

i want to have / on the 250GB msata. thing is, right now i have everything on my primary disk, and not including my /home directory, my entire distro install takes up only 3GB. so... i will probably keep /home on the 250GB ssd when i get it. now i have this 500GB ssd and i'm not sure how i want to parition it.

right now i'm thinking about doing 2 partitions, one for /home/sth/music and one for /home/sth/data (or something like that), and keep the rest of /home on the 250GB. but... maybe i could do something different? i dunno. i dont want to run lvm on this setup because the 500GB SSD is on a slow-ass bus (dont ask... no way around it), otherwise i would just set them up as a logical volume together.

WAT DO 

 I was kind of in the same situation as you. I had a 250G ssd with my linux distro, and a 60G ssd for windows and gaming. I then got a 500G ssd. I made two partitions with, one with 250G windows for games and 250G FAT partitions which was shared between oses. Its nice to be able to watch your shiet on both oses.  And also i threw out my 60 gb ssb.

i could possibly see having  a win partition for games but this laptop is not gonna run anything that well anyways, plus i really dont game  much at all so its not a big deal.
i decided on going with 1 partition to mount as /home/sth/media and in there i can keep ./music and ./movies and other stuff. most of my video lives on an external disk that i plug into the TV anyways.

but but but, a 500G SSD FOR A MEDIA DISK ONLY IS TRECHERY!!

wtf else would i use it for?

[henz]

i just got a new 500GG "extra" ssd (yay!) but i cant figure out how i wanna partition things.

right now i boot from a 60GB ssd. that is soon to be replaced with a 250GB msata ssd + adapter (yay!).

i want to have / on the 250GB msata. thing is, right now i have everything on my primary disk, and not including my /home directory, my entire distro install takes up only 3GB. so... i will probably keep /home on the 250GB ssd when i get it. now i have this 500GB ssd and i'm not sure how i want to parition it.

right now i'm thinking about doing 2 partitions, one for /home/sth/music and one for /home/sth/data (or something like that), and keep the rest of /home on the 250GB. but... maybe i could do something different? i dunno. i dont want to run lvm on this setup because the 500GB SSD is on a slow-ass bus (dont ask... no way around it), otherwise i would just set them up as a logical volume together.

WAT DO 

 I was kind of in the same situation as you. I had a 250G ssd with my linux distro, and a 60G ssd for windows and gaming. I then got a 500G ssd. I made two partitions with, one with 250G windows for games and 250G FAT partitions which was shared between oses. Its nice to be able to watch your shiet on both oses.  And also i threw out my 60 gb ssb.

i could possibly see having  a win partition for games but this laptop is not gonna run anything that well anyways, plus i really dont game  much at all so its not a big deal.
i decided on going with 1 partition to mount as /home/sth/media and in there i can keep ./music and ./movies and other stuff. most of my video lives on an external disk that i plug into the TV anyways.

but but but, a 500G SSD FOR A MEDIA DISK ONLY IS TRECHERY!!

wtf else would i use it for?

idk, charity?

[ttzhou]

The issue is changing the boot loader, you need to have an avr ISP and i have one. But have not tried yet, dont want to be the first one Not sure if ttzh have one.

im running tmk on my kmacs and have contributed a layout not sure if its merged yet but its the kmac happy

with regards to tmk and avr isp, I may one day try those... life has been extremely busy lately and will continue to be so for at least a year or two; if no one has solved by then i will give it a shot

currently though, i'm pretty happy with my setup; if i want to boot into windows i just have my other keyboard on hand to switch. i knew there was a good reason for having three keyboards!

[sth]

i just got a new 500GG "extra" ssd (yay!) but i cant figure out how i wanna partition things.

right now i boot from a 60GB ssd. that is soon to be replaced with a 250GB msata ssd + adapter (yay!).

i want to have / on the 250GB msata. thing is, right now i have everything on my primary disk, and not including my /home directory, my entire distro install takes up only 3GB. so... i will probably keep /home on the 250GB ssd when i get it. now i have this 500GB ssd and i'm not sure how i want to parition it.

right now i'm thinking about doing 2 partitions, one for /home/sth/music and one for /home/sth/data (or something like that), and keep the rest of /home on the 250GB. but... maybe i could do something different? i dunno. i dont want to run lvm on this setup because the 500GB SSD is on a slow-ass bus (dont ask... no way around it), otherwise i would just set them up as a logical volume together.

WAT DO 

 I was kind of in the same situation as you. I had a 250G ssd with my linux distro, and a 60G ssd for windows and gaming. I then got a 500G ssd. I made two partitions with, one with 250G windows for games and 250G FAT partitions which was shared between oses. Its nice to be able to watch your shiet on both oses.  And also i threw out my 60 gb ssb.

i could possibly see having  a win partition for games but this laptop is not gonna run anything that well anyways, plus i really dont game  much at all so its not a big deal.
i decided on going with 1 partition to mount as /home/sth/media and in there i can keep ./music and ./movies and other stuff. most of my video lives on an external disk that i plug into the TV anyways.

but but but, a 500G SSD FOR A MEDIA DISK ONLY IS TRECHERY!!

wtf else would i use it for?

idk, charity?

if this was a box that stayed online i would give you an account and a quota'd /home

[henz]

i just got a new 500GG "extra" ssd (yay!) but i cant figure out how i wanna partition things.

right now i boot from a 60GB ssd. that is soon to be replaced with a 250GB msata ssd + adapter (yay!).

i want to have / on the 250GB msata. thing is, right now i have everything on my primary disk, and not including my /home directory, my entire distro install takes up only 3GB. so... i will probably keep /home on the 250GB ssd when i get it. now i have this 500GB ssd and i'm not sure how i want to parition it.

right now i'm thinking about doing 2 partitions, one for /home/sth/music and one for /home/sth/data (or something like that), and keep the rest of /home on the 250GB. but... maybe i could do something different? i dunno. i dont want to run lvm on this setup because the 500GB SSD is on a slow-ass bus (dont ask... no way around it), otherwise i would just set them up as a logical volume together.

WAT DO 

 I was kind of in the same situation as you. I had a 250G ssd with my linux distro, and a 60G ssd for windows and gaming. I then got a 500G ssd. I made two partitions with, one with 250G windows for games and 250G FAT partitions which was shared between oses. Its nice to be able to watch your shiet on both oses.  And also i threw out my 60 gb ssb.

i could possibly see having  a win partition for games but this laptop is not gonna run anything that well anyways, plus i really dont game  much at all so its not a big deal.
i decided on going with 1 partition to mount as /home/sth/media and in there i can keep ./music and ./movies and other stuff. most of my video lives on an external disk that i plug into the TV anyways.

but but but, a 500G SSD FOR A MEDIA DISK ONLY IS TRECHERY!!

wtf else would i use it for?

idk, charity?

if this was a box that stayed online i would give you an account and a quota'd /home

i would totally rock that. 

[sth]

anyone ever have luck getting a portable version of ps cs6 running in wine?

[henz]

anyone ever have luck getting a portable version of ps cs6 running in wine?

I have never been a wine guy, **** never works properly.

[ttzhou]

I have never been a wine guy, **** never works properly.

were you ever able to get NerDy (GUI or commandline) working in Linux?

[sth]

anyone ever have luck getting a portable version of ps cs6 running in wine?

I have never been a wine guy, **** never works properly.

i know same here, but gimp just doesnt cut it for the stuff i need to do (cmyk is a big one but text editing in gimp is awful compared to PS). i've really tried to be game with gimp but it lacks too many features i actually need

[henz]

anyone ever have luck getting a portable version of ps cs6 running in wine?

I have never been a wine guy, **** never works properly.

i know same here, but gimp just doesnt cut it for the stuff i need to do (cmyk is a big one but text editing in gimp is awful compared to PS). i've really tried to be game with gimp but it lacks too many features i actually need

I dont know whar your abbrevations mean but IF you want to text edit nicely id recommend vim IF you are set to learn it. Or sublime IF you just want something easy but powerful idk why my phone keeps making capital ifs but I'm to lazy to correct them

[henz]

I have never been a wine guy, **** never works properly.

were you ever able to get NerDy (GUI or commandline) working in Linux?

Sorry for double post, but nope. I plug in my kmacs at home  where I use my own fork of tmk

[sth]

anyone ever have luck getting a portable version of ps cs6 running in wine?

I have never been a wine guy, **** never works properly.

i know same here, but gimp just doesnt cut it for the stuff i need to do (cmyk is a big one but text editing in gimp is awful compared to PS). i've really tried to be game with gimp but it lacks too many features i actually need

I dont know whar your abbrevations mean but IF you want to text edit nicely id recommend vim IF you are set to learn it. Or sublime IF you just want something easy but powerful idk why my phone keeps making capital ifs but I'm to lazy to correct them

nah dog i mean editing text in an image editor, for graphic work. i use vim for text editing.

[henz]

anyone ever have luck getting a portable version of ps cs6 running in wine?

I have never been a wine guy, **** never works properly.

i know same here, but gimp just doesnt cut it for the stuff i need to do (cmyk is a big one but text editing in gimp is awful compared to PS). i've really tried to be game with gimp but it lacks too many features i actually need

I dont know whar your abbrevations mean but IF you want to text edit nicely id recommend vim IF you are set to learn it. Or sublime IF you just want something easy but powerful idk why my phone keeps making capital ifs but I'm to lazy to correct them

nah dog i mean editing text in an image editor, for graphic work. i use vim for text editing.

ok. as you can guess i have no experience with that

[DanielT]

I have never been a wine guy, **** never works properly.

were you ever able to get NerDy (GUI or commandline) working in Linux?

I have tried all sort of tricks to make it work under Linux but with no luck. I know for sure that you can write a new bootloader on the controller and use TMK, there is also a branch in TMK for NerD60 and TKL but without a clear guide on how to do it I never had the courage to attempt such an operation. So I'm waiting for someone to do it first
NerDy GUI is very nice but the firmware has some issues, I have problems too with BIOS, GRUB and also on MAC.

[henz]

I have never been a wine guy, **** never works properly.

were you ever able to get NerDy (GUI or commandline) working in Linux?

I have tried all sort of tricks to make it work under Linux but with no luck. I know for sure that you can write a new bootloader on the controller and use TMK, there is also a branch in TMK for NerD60 and TKL but without a clear guide on how to do it I never had the courage to attempt such an operation. So I'm waiting for someone to do it first
NerDy GUI is very nice but the firmware has some issues, I have problems too with BIOS, GRUB and also on MAC.

i have a colleague, which sent a message to GON, GON states that all those things should work if you run the keyboard in 6kro instead of NKRO. im not able to test that now but please do to see if he is right. I might attempt that bootloader  someday

[DanielT]

I have never been a wine guy, **** never works properly.

were you ever able to get NerDy (GUI or commandline) working in Linux?

I have tried all sort of tricks to make it work under Linux but with no luck. I know for sure that you can write a new bootloader on the controller and use TMK, there is also a branch in TMK for NerD60 and TKL but without a clear guide on how to do it I never had the courage to attempt such an operation. So I'm waiting for someone to do it first
NerDy GUI is very nice but the firmware has some issues, I have problems too with BIOS, GRUB and also on MAC.

i have a colleague, which sent a message to GON, GON states that all those things should work if you run the keyboard in 6kro instead of NKRO. im not able to test that now but please do to see if he is right. I might attempt that bootloader  someday

I have 6KRO and it doesn't make a difference. I've spoken to GON some time ago about this, he told me the same. Funny thing, I have an older revision NerD60 board, it's both old PCB revision/FW revision and that one works fine.
If you try that bootloader thingy let us know how it goes, and document it thoroughly TMK and this PCB would be a dream.

[ttzhou]

nah dog i mean editing text in an image editor, for graphic work. i use vim for text editing.

vim is ambrosia sent from the gods... text editing is merely an extra feature.

[SL89]

So right, ive dabbled with linux on and off for a while and finally am making a switch away from W10 for good. I have Debian XFCE on my home server, and Mint on my laptop and idk what distro to ****s around with on my desktop. Do any of you have preferred distros you use?

Also, i have a confession, i have never compiled a single thing for linux yet. idek what it is, and im just using cruise control settings for the time being despite wanting to learn more.

[henz]

im an archer because of the great wiki resources, so Archlinux with xmonad.

i think i will try out voidlinux soonish also.

[ttzhou]

So right, ive dabbled with linux on and off for a while and finally am making a switch away from W10 for good. I have Debian XFCE on my home server, and Mint on my laptop and idk what distro to ****s around with on my desktop. Do any of you have preferred distros you use?

Also, i have a confession, i have never compiled a single thing for linux yet. idek what it is, and im just using cruise control settings for the time being despite wanting to learn more.

what i would do is get a netbook or something that you can pilot distros on. i wouldn't do a full switch until you've gotten a good feel for what distro you want (others may feel differently and suggest the "dive right in" approach).

if you are the kind of person who likes to tinker and fix things because you would get easily bored otherwise, arch would be a good distro. gentoo if you are insane and like to compile everything.

if you are the kind of person who just likes the idea of OSS and doesn't really want to get too much into the maintenance, Mint, Manjaro, or Debian are quite nice.

[SL89]

I've tested a bunch and that's why I need input, besides Debian, I've used (in no particular order) puppy, bodhi, netrunner, Ubuntu, kubuntu, a little bit of void, elementary, and a few others. It's mostly an issue of just picking one and going with it. I'll be distro hopping for a while but all my important **** is on the server and backed up to my ghetto nas.

[trenzafeeds]

I support the existence of this thread. I think I will try out Gentoo next, because of the BSD-based port system.

[sth]

I've tested a bunch and that's why I need input, besides Debian, I've used (in no particular order) puppy, bodhi, netrunner, Ubuntu, kubuntu, a little bit of void, elementary, and a few others. It's mostly an issue of just picking one and going with it. I'll be distro hopping for a while but all my important **** is on the server and backed up to my ghetto nas.

it can help to research distro philosophy and go from there, if you care about things like that. but if you dont have a ton of experience it might not matter that much to you.

[ttzhou]

I've tested a bunch and that's why I need input, besides Debian, I've used (in no particular order) puppy, bodhi, netrunner, Ubuntu, kubuntu, a little bit of void, elementary, and a few others. It's mostly an issue of just picking one and going with it. I'll be distro hopping for a while but all my important **** is on the server and backed up to my ghetto nas.

i really like where void is going, i just don't have time to commit. i hate systemd with a passion and find it counter to arch philosophy, but i'm too invested and too used to it to jump ship for now. void to me is arch minus systemd plus BSD source trees. which is awesome.

thus, i rec void. if you've gotten this far then i am sure you have the savvy to fix any hiccups you will experience with rolling releases.

[henz]

I support the existence of this thread. I think I will try out Gentoo next, because of the BSD-based port system.

I liked the idea of selecting whatever i needed for my specific purpose. But having gentoo as your desktop client is purely a waste of time i noticed. Upgrading would take several hours, if you did not update for a week you would get what one would call circular dependencies. Things would break down.
As long as you keep your number of packets to a minimum i guess its ok. But installing a bunch of things(which you usually do on a client) will make the system hard to maintain with upgrades amongst other things. Not sure if things have changed or not.

If one has not tried gentoo before, their e-peen would grow greatly after finishing the minimal installation. It take several hours if you do not know what you are doing(again not sure if things have changed or not)

Good luck with that I would however recommend it as a lightweight server, when using old hardware. Will definitely give your old stuff new life.

[trenzafeeds]

Good luck with that I would however recommend it as a lightweight server, when using old hardware. Will definitely give your old stuff new life.

Yeah, I'm using it on a $20 Dell computer that I bought at the local crap store to turn it into a lightweight VPN.

[SL89]

@sth good advice, i do care, and you were the one who recommended void to me on DT. i'm just not totally sure, because things like Debian seem to have good ethos, but then get shipped with systemd, im not involved or informed to know if that is a wholly good thing, but systemd just seems so contrary to a lot of the ethos of the linux project and debian itself. slack seems like what'd id really like, but it seems very arcane to me as a noob.

[vivalarevolución]

Is the intent of this thread just Linux and keyboards? Because I want discuss windows managers and learn about others experiences with them. They seem interesting.

[henz]

Is the intent of this thread just Linux and keyboards? Because I want discuss windows managers and learn about others experiences with them. They seem interesting.

Give it your best shot

[user 18]

Is the intent of this thread just Linux and keyboards? Because I want discuss windows managers and learn about others experiences with them. They seem interesting.

Openbox. Anything else is unnecessary. 

[ttzhou]

Is the intent of this thread just Linux and keyboards? Because I want discuss windows managers and learn about others experiences with them. They seem interesting.

Openbox. tiling window managers. Anything else is unnecessary.  floating windows are for squares.

FTFY! (half) joking

[vivalarevolución]

Is the intent of this thread just Linux and keyboards? Because I want discuss windows managers and learn about others experiences with them. They seem interesting.

Openbox. Anything else is unnecessary. 

But how am I supposed to know if I don't try them all? I only have about 300 more distros to go.  I'll add all the active windows managers to that list.  See you all again sometime in 2017.

Openbox. tiling window managers. Anything else is unnecessary.  floating windows are for squares.

FTFY! (half) joking

Tiling window managers seem like they would be cluttered, although I've only played around with the stacking type.

I guess the main thing that I wonder about windows managers is if they improve efficiency and reduce clutter on the desktop.  What do users see as the advantages besides having less stuff on the desktop and using less system resources?  What do you personally like about using a windows manager?

[CPTBadAss]

I heard that Red Star OS was the best Linux distro. Is that true?

[ttzhou]

Tiling window managers seem like they would be cluttered, although I've only played around with the stacking type.

I guess the main thing that I wonder about windows managers is if they improve efficiency and reduce clutter on the desktop.  What do users see as the advantages besides having less stuff on the desktop and using less system resources?  What do you personally like about using a windows manager?

Quite the opposite, in my experience. Floating requires you to use your mouse, and you may need to manually resize. With tiling managers, I can pop open Chrome, two terminals, have Chrome take up half the screen, while the two terminals take up the other half in a 50-50 vertical split, with about 4 keystrokes. I can then open vim in the top terminal and have a shell running my script in the bottom one, while reading documentation/github on Chrome. Never touch the mouse once (especially if you get Vimium as an extension for Chrome).

[user 18]

Tiling window managers seem like they would be cluttered, although I've only played around with the stacking type.

I guess the main thing that I wonder about windows managers is if they improve efficiency and reduce clutter on the desktop.  What do users see as the advantages besides having less stuff on the desktop and using less system resources?  What do you personally like about using a windows manager?

Quite the opposite, in my experience. Floating requires you to use your mouse, and you may need to manually resize. With tiling managers, I can pop open Chrome, two terminals, have Chrome take up half the screen, while the two terminals take up the other half in a 50-50 vertical split, with about 4 keystrokes. I can then open vim in the top terminal and have a shell running my script in the bottom one, while reading documentation/github on Chrome. Never touch the mouse once (especially if you get Vimium as an extension for Chrome).

I have openbox scripts that let me do similar things, but I retain the flexibility of being able to pop open an additional window for a brief task without affecting the existing tiling I have set up at all. I also like the openbox menu and integrated shortcuts, not sure if other WMs are as full-featured in that regard (although I find myself using the menu less and less these days...)

[SL89]

On debian for a while i had Ratpoison. It was the best to get all the clicks and clacks out of my board. Have any of you ****ed around with it?

[vivalarevolución]

I heard that Red Star OS was the best Linux distro. Is that true?

Absolutely correct.

Tiling window managers seem like they would be cluttered, although I've only played around with the stacking type.

I guess the main thing that I wonder about windows managers is if they improve efficiency and reduce clutter on the desktop.  What do users see as the advantages besides having less stuff on the desktop and using less system resources?  What do you personally like about using a windows manager?

Quite the opposite, in my experience. Floating requires you to use your mouse, and you may need to manually resize. With tiling managers, I can pop open Chrome, two terminals, have Chrome take up half the screen, while the two terminals take up the other half in a 50-50 vertical split, with about 4 keystrokes. I can then open vim in the top terminal and have a shell running my script in the bottom one, while reading documentation/github on Chrome. Never touch the mouse once (especially if you get Vimium as an extension for Chrome).

Oh boy.  Now I'm intrigued!  Seriously, sounds efficient.

[ttzhou]

the tiling window manager i use

[henz]

xmonad here.

[KRKS]

boxen 4 lyfe

The Openbox/Fluxbox/etc. workflow just feels so nice and comfy while not being bloated.

[sth]

I liked the idea of selecting whatever i needed for my specific purpose. But having gentoo as your desktop client is purely a waste of time i noticed. Upgrading would take several hours, if you did not update for a week you would get what one would call circular dependencies. Things would break down.
As long as you keep your number of packets to a minimum i guess its ok. But installing a bunch of things(which you usually do on a client) will make the system hard to maintain with upgrades amongst other things. Not sure if things have changed or not.

If one has not tried gentoo before, their e-peen would grow greatly after finishing the minimal installation. It take several hours if you do not know what you are doing(again not sure if things have changed or not)

just go full gmang and run LFS 

I have openbox scripts that let me do similar things, but I retain the flexibility of being able to pop open an additional window for a brief task without affecting the existing tiling I have set up at all. I also like the openbox menu and integrated shortcuts, not sure if other WMs are as full-featured in that regard (although I find myself using the menu less and less these days...)

i don't know too much about other tiling WMs but with bspwm i think it wouldn't be tooooo hard to spawn a new window in floating mode with a single command. it's DEFINITELY possible to do in 2 commands (open program, switch window to float).

@sth good advice, i do care, and you were the one who recommended void to me on DT. i'm just not totally sure, because things like Debian seem to have good ethos, but then get shipped with systemd, im not involved or informed to know if that is a wholly good thing, but systemd just seems so contrary to a lot of the ethos of the linux project and debian itself. slack seems like what'd id really like, but it seems very arcane to me as a noob.

i dont mean to sound like i'm complaining but i think debian USED to have a good ethos. at this point they don't seem that different to me than centos. i do like that debian has a lot of outreach programs (debian women woo!!) but unfortunately for the purely technical side of things, their organizational priorities are not in line with their previous technical priorities. it's fine... i am not involved with debian so i can't REALLY complain, especially since i probably never would have discovered void if they hadn't switched to systemd.
systemd is probably less at-odds with the linux ecosystem than it is with the unix philosophy. it just so happens, i think, that a lot of folks who use linux and don't like systemd use it mainly because it's a widespread unix-like, and not specifically because it's linux.

i'm pretty close to switching to openbsd at this point  void's cool but when i get my new hard drive i'll try and get obsd running, and if i can use it for everything i use linux for i don't have much reason to go back to linux :/