REQUEST: a Forum for "Mint Non-Standard"

[TheGreatSudoku]

The thread for "breakages" pertaining to Linux Mint non-standard installs has ballooned quite a bit. At times I find myself posting to the thread about things that are NOT breakages, but pertinent to Sid, alternative kernels, etc.

Would it be possible to add a forum for us not running a "standard" Mint install? For those of us who like to hone and tweak and customize Mint to suit our needs, a forum to discuss Sid and Experimental Debian packages, Gnome 3, Tweaked kernels (zen/liquorix/tuc on ice), etc.

[lmintnewb]

Brief look at the board index turned up these items/sections.

Other topics
Questions about other topics - please check if your question fits better in another category before posting here

LXDE
Forums for the LXDE Edition

LMDE (Linux Mint Debian)
Forums for the Debian Edition

Chat about Linux Mint
Talk about anything related to Linux Mint

Chat about Linux & Other Distributions
Talk about Linux in general and other distributions

Open chat
Chat about just anything else


None of these will work for whatcha have in mind ?

[TheGreatSudoku]

If a forum for Indian Curry recipies existed here, i COULD post it there, it just wouldn't be RELEVANT.

The point I was making is that the non-standard breakage thread is ballooning to include other topics, and become an exchange of information between the small clique of us who do the equivalent of making a custom hot-rod out of Linux Mint. A separate forum would help organize by topic what we customizers are doing, and it might attract some existing Mint users to try customizations for the first time, as the new users would have a place to come and ask questions rather than taking a stab in the dark at things.

[lmintnewb]

Ahhh ... I see, though o course I'm being sarcastic.

Why not network with these people and ask them to collaborate with ya in an effort ? An ultimate Mint tweak guide !!! Orrrrrr ... there's also a how to/guide section mentioned on the board. Could perhaps lay out some of the awesome customizations and tweaks the hotrod cliche is performing on Mint and garner interest in it there ? Could definitely be of real benefit to the Mint community wherever ya manage to post it. Who doesn't want their Mint OS install to be even more minty and hotroddish ?




( post smiley ) lol ... guess I'm just cranky. Been up too long ... What would your proposed section be called ?

[TheGreatSudoku]

I think it would be better to have several tweaking guides as stickies, separated by individual topic in my proposed forum.

The reason being: customization.

Not ALL tweaks are going to suit every user. For example, it would irk ME having to read through 2 pages of how to install gnome 3 in an "ultimate tweak guide" before I got to the section *I* wanted which would be on "the liquorix kernel and recompiling it for your own personal system". Likewise a Mint user with no interest in upgrading to Sid isn't going to want to sift through pages of documentation on the intricacies of upgrading to and maintaining a Sid installation just to get to information they want which is unrelated.

The forum would provide a place where this information is made available, and is also easily browsable. The forum would also give us tinker-ers and potential tinker-ers a place to discuss our current efforts, ask question when we hit a wall, provide guide for others when we make it over that wall. This would keep our banter separate from the stock Mint users with support questions for the devs. Though I'm sure devs could benefit by browsing my proposed forum to get a feel for what some users are doing, for additions for new releases, etc.


Oddly enough, naming the forum I am proposing is the hard part. I know WHAT i want the forum to be about, but making into a concise, 2-3 word forum label is a challenge. things like "custom made mint" and "customintzation" just sound cheesy. Maybe something generic like "Mint Unoffical" or "Sid, Custom Kernels, & personal tweaks" ... hadn't given the name much thought

[lmintnewb]

An index could poss be of some use in such a situation ?

Just messing, nothing against tweaking and customization. Would really ( all kidding aside ) be doing some good for the Mint community if you share some of the neat tweaks n stuff you discover along the way with it. Might not have/get a specific section for it. But encourage ya to go ahead and cram it in here somewhere.

Ya already invested the time. Ye will be immortalized in the Mint forums for ye good works and generosity then and the Mint gawds will smile upon you.

[TheGreatSudoku]

the mint gawds already smiled upon me when they created a 64-bit version of Debian

• with an installer NOT stuck in the stone age
• with non-free firmware blobs included by default
• with multimedia repositories and packages included by default

I there were a net-install option, the liquorix kernel, emerald, and based on Sid, it would be perfect

the other reason i am against a one-file-tweak-guide is the sharing of authorship.

I'd rather have autocrosser, who plays with Gnome 3 to write a Gnome 3 how-to thread, and answer users questions therein.

I have no interest in Gnome 3 personally, but I could write a document on say installing and customizing Enlightenment 17.

a how-to doc getting passed from author to author has the following problems:

• slows down the process by making one author wait until another is finished
• slows/halts work on the document if one author for one section drops the ball and backs out of writing anything
• by the time the last contributing author has finished, timeliness may dictate that the first contributing author update proedures that have changed during the writing of the document.

Also procedures change frequently with Sid, with Kernels, etc. and instead of rewriting, the solution can be appended in a forum. Documentation loses that real-time attentiveness that forums have.

Even if this was done as documentation as opposed to a forum, I'd want each document to be separate and authored and edited by users who have actually tried out what they are writing about. It's like the linux kernel itself. Modules vs. Built-in. I like modular.

[lmintnewb]

Just checking in with the forums. All that comes to mind is go ahead and carve yaself out a place in one of the sections. Could be some really interesting materials you ( others wanting to contribute ) etc. post to show ya stuff/tech talents. Can't hurt adding to Mint's tweak/customization depts.


gdlk ...

[autocrosser]

Yes---I do agree...."most" if not all the mods we are doing are based on LMDE---not other versions of Mint"y" So, I would propose a sub-forum off of & related to LMDE...

Altho' a separated forum would be nice (keep the "krazys" in one place?) It's sort of like the Development & Testing forum at Ubuntu Forums-- The door was "closed" & they slipped us food every so often....We didn't bit (much!) & quite a few very good bits of code/thoughts/ideas escaped out into mainstream Ubuntu....

Gee---what a "original"? thought---make a Testing & Development forum.......And do a sub-forum for each of the various branches of Mint.....

[autocrosser]

Speaking of code---The chroot script I use (mod to your own use)

Code: Select all

#!/bin/bash
sudo mount --bind /dev /mnt/MintEX/dev
sudo mount --bind /proc /mnt/MintEX/proc
sudo mount --bind /sys /mnt/MintEX/sys
sudo cp /etc/resolv.conf /mnt/MintEX/etc/resolv.conf
sudo chroot /mnt/MintEX su

I created it a couple of years ago to not have to manually mount everything each time I wanted to chroot in to do updates...mod as required & chmod it....

[TheGreatSudoku]

Please, if it isn't too much trouble, or a waste of resources, could we please have our own sub-forum

The breakage thread:
viewtopic.php?f=141&t=70230

is starting to grow like that horror movie blob and if the thread it self had sentience it would be annoyed at the fact it contained things not related to breakages

[lmintnewb]

lol ... at the blob analogy.

Just curious who other than ye 2 want this dedicated section ? Might not hurt your cause if you can show there actually is a Minty crowd interested in it ( aka: petition) and/or examples of what would be accomplished there. I mean could help sway the admins here to consider it more strongly. Otherwise ya gotta look at it from their perspective. Plenty of sections that are ambiguous enough to allow this kinda thing to be posted. While if they start giving any Mint user who feels like it a dedicated forum section ... That way lies madness, lol.

The Mint forums already aren't exactly a work of art in terms of good organization as it is. Personally just think I'd start a thread in one of the aforementioned sections and let it grow as people add to it, shrugs. Could even take all these mod/tweak oriented threads getting mixed into breakage and compile them ... tidy em up and post them in your brand new shiny thread dedicated to all things Mint tweakage ?

Either way ... thread has been bumped.

[psych1610]

lol ... at the blob analogy.

Just curious who other than ye 2 want this dedicated section ? Might not hurt your cause if you can show there actually is a Minty crowd interested in it ( aka: petition) and/or examples of what would be accomplished there. I mean could help sway the admins here to consider it more strongly.

Aye! I feel like the LMDE board is too cluttered with a bunch of stuff that may or may not pertain to users just starting off. Couple this with "How-To's" and "Tutorials" that are not clearly marked as such and may or may not be stickied to the top and we have a vast wealth of information with no clear method of organization. In short, a real mess that makes it difficult for users, advanced or otherwise, to find the information they want. An advanced users or development sub-forum anywhere on the board or just in the LMDE forum makes perfect sense to me. Add to this dedicated people to fill that space and a willing mod or two to help organize this conglomeration of information that currently fills this space and we would be in great shape.