Mint Debian

[craig10x]

thanks the tip from me too randomizer....still, i hope the mint team will also do the tinkering..on the actual system, so that it's already done for us...kind of like the difference between buying a "kit" you have to assemble and buying something that is ready to use

[mfdemicco]

Then Sid must have made the appropriate patching changes...as you said, the mint team would have to figure it out...
I use KDE now myself (just recently switched from gnome thanks to getting hooked on Mint 9 64 bit KDE)...and i would want the KDE 64 bit version of Mint Debian which hopefully will eventually be offered...I hope by then they got the fonts to look as good (or better) then ubuntu/kubuntu...
Mint 9 KDE looks great right out of the box with no tinkering at all...

Hmm..never looked at Sid...might have to check it out...to just to play a bit...that's a rolling distro? is is stable? How about getting codecs for it...does it come with what you need or do you have to add it on and how do you do it? I know a bit off topic but just curious....

+1 for KDE and 64bit versions, that would be awesome.

1. Deb-based
2. Rolling release
3. Lovely desktop environment
Doesn't it sound like a distro of dream?:)

sidux is based on Debian Unstable (Sid) and KDE and comes in 32 and 64 bit versions. It does 1-3. Fred (do a search in the forum) pointed me to sidux. Right now they've stopped development due to a beef with Debian, but will be coming out with an update soon under a new name. The installer is very fast. It boots up and runs fast. They want you to use apt for all updates and installations. A lot of stuff isn't installed, but it is fairly ez to install things. It definitely takes a bit more knowledge to run than Mint does, but is not overly difficult.

I used to run the 64 bit version, but now that Flash is unavailable and my Canon printer drivers are only available in 32 bit versions, I am using the 32 bit version. I notice no difference in speed. Unless you are using a lot of memory (> 4 gigs?) you probably don't need the 64 bit version.

[ibm450]

3G wireless modem not connecting, Telstra - replicated the connection as in m9 - the connection icon will just spin and will not connect - both on livecd and install onto hd

during install, it kept freezing on the "updating grub menu" section a number of times - canceled install and was surprised it booted and worked.

has potential, but havnt really noticed any speed gains (performance wise)

anyways, keep up the good work, will definately keeping a close eye on this debian distro.


eta on 64bit version???

[shayney]

sidux is based on Debian Unstable (Sid) and KDE and comes in 32 and 64 bit versions. It does 1-3. Fred (do a search in the forum) pointed me to sidux. Right now they've stopped development due to a beef with Debian, but will be coming out with an update soon under a new name.

Just thought I'd mention, the beef is with the sidux foundation (set up by sidux for fundraising etc) who hold the sidux trademark.
There is a much deeper story and plenty of confusion surrounding it last time I checked, there are bits and bobs of information floating around their forum but nobody seems willing to give a full and frank explanation of everything, preferring to brush it all under the carpet and move on instead.
As said, sidux will continue under a new name and apparently everything else will continue as before but it should be said there seems to be a lot of bad feeling on the forum between everyone - devs, users and foundation members (some of whom are also devs and users to confuse things further ).

I would say the future is far from certain for sidux

[altair4]

....
The partition type for my fat32 data partition used "fat32" as the partition type instead of vfat.
....

I've submitted a bug report of the fat32 filetype problem in case you have a launchpad id and want to add your vote to the "this bug affects" count:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/linuxmint/+bug/634903

[hinto]

As said, sidux will continue under a new name and apparently everything else will continue as before but it should be said there seems to be a lot of bad feeling on the forum between everyone - devs, users and foundation members (some of whom are also devs and users to confuse things further ).

I would say the future is far from certain for sidux

What's the new name? I seem to recall this was similar to the kanotix/sidix split way back when.
-Hinto

[shayney]

@ altair4

Done. Also added that the problem affects ext partitions.


@ hinto

The kanotix situation was in that there were disagreements between the "boss" kano and the other developers.
He was considering switching to a different base and there hadn't been a release for some time so they decided to fork off in their own direction, the way they felt kanotix *should* have been heading.

This one seems like a fight between everyone involved though for the most part the devs themselves are still together on things so that might well save the disto.

A new name has been decided but they are keeping it quiet for now. I'm assuming they want to wait until a final iso is ready for release first.
If there is any good to come from this, mint debian may be able to pick up some of the sidux users who are either completely fed up of the whole situation or are worried about the outcome and are more concerned they will have a live distro to use.

[hinto]

If there is any good to come from this, mint debian may be able to pick up some of the sidux users who are either completely fed up of the whole situation or are worried about the outcome and are more concerned they will have a live distro to use.

They (Linux Mint) picked me up . I was a long time user of Kanotix and sidux (about 6-7 years). I've been a happy Linux Mint user since LM 7.
-Hinto

[bug67]

bug67 you seem to have the same intel card that I have one one of my machines. To solve this problem I had to remove the xserver-xorg-video-nouveau and xserver-xorg-video-nv packages then run sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg. I restarted X and all was well. I don't fully understand why this works as the removed packages aren't intel related.

I don't know how to do any of the stuff you suggest. When I get some time (if I don't get frustrated and re-install Helena) I may poke around a bit and see if I can figure it out. I saw a thread elsewhere about Compiz not working. There was some terminal commands given as a solution and a similar GLX error was returned. Compiz isn't working on my machine either. Wonder if this is all related.

[shayney]

Just to follow up the side discussion on sidux, the new name has been announced as "aptosid"

I have to say in my opinion it is an awful name and sort of looks like a jumble of letters in one of those anagram puzzles in the newspaper.
When I first saw it I also read it backwards to see if there was some clever or humorous intent to the name but it seems not.

[kmb42vt]

Just to follow up the side discussion on sidux, the new name has been announced as "aptosid"

I have to say in my opinion it is an awful name and sort of looks like a jumble of letters in one of those anagram puzzles in the newspaper.
When I first saw it I also read it backwards to see if there was some clever or humorous intent to the name but it seems not.

I was following the Sidux forums thread on this and no one seemed to take aptosid seriously. Looks like they actually did. To me it sounds like the name of an antacid.

[secipolla]

bug67 you seem to have the same intel card that I have one one of my machines. To solve this problem I had to remove the xserver-xorg-video-nouveau and xserver-xorg-video-nv packages then run sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg. I restarted X and all was well. I don't fully understand why this works as the removed packages aren't intel related.

I don't know how to do any of the stuff you suggest. When I get some time (if I don't get frustrated and re-install Helena) I may poke around a bit and see if I can figure it out. I saw a thread elsewhere about Compiz not working. There was some terminal commands given as a solution and a similar GLX error was returned. Compiz isn't working on my machine either. Wonder if this is all related.

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get purge xserver-xorg-video-nouveau xserver-xorg-video-nv

Code: Select all

sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

Reboot.

You may also check if libgl1-mesa-dri is installed

Code: Select all

apt-cache policy libgl1-mesa-dri

if it isn't, then

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get install libgl1-mesa-dri

and reboot.

[bug67]

...

Thanks!

[bug67]

Maybe that Intel stuff...

I'm wondering if this needs to be made into a bug report or if this is something that is just a symptom of a combo of my n00bness/hardware. I'm sure I can sort it using the tools that have been provided.

If it is a true bug, on the other hand, I'm wondering if I should just wait for the official patch.

[gotjazz]

mint debian? AWESOME!

And that so shortly after me starting to play with pure debian testing. converting debian to mint failed (probably in part because I had sudo deactivated and allowed root-login) so I did a fresh install
Been playing around on virtualbox and I'm really considering switching to it. This could with a bit of polish become THE ubuntu-killer


Just a side note: With chromium-browser having vanished form the squeeze repos wouldn't it make sense to have that package on the lm deb repository? Maybe synched to the versions used by the google-chrome stable releases?

[secipolla]

Maybe that Intel stuff...

I'm wondering if this needs to be made into a bug report or if this is something that is just a symptom of a combo of my n00bness/hardware. I'm sure I can sort it using the tools that have been provided.

If it is a true bug, on the other hand, I'm wondering if I should just wait for the official patch.

Did you try installing libgl1-mesa-dri? Or removing the nvidia packages?
Sometimes the installation just doesn't go well, like the CD isn't properly burnt or the installer failed at copying files or whatever.

[kmb42vt]

Just a side note: With chromium-browser having vanished form the squeeze repos wouldn't it make sense to have that package on the lm deb repository? Maybe synched to the versions used by the google-chrome stable releases?

Good idea. But for now you can get all Google software including 'Google Chrome Stable', 'Google Chrome beta' and 'Google Chrome Unstable' (that's how they're labeled) listed in Synaptic by adding the 'Google Linux Software Repositories'.

Add the following to your 'sources.list'.

Code: Select all

deb http://dl.google.com/linux/deb/ stable non-free main

Then bring up the terminal and type (for the key and update):

Code: Select all

wget -q -O - https://dl-ssl.google.com/linux/linux_signing_key.pub | apt-key add - && apt-get update

Once that's done, you can install any version of Chrome that I listed above into LMDE via Synaptic or the terminal. Of course if you've done this already...

[Pilosopong Tasyo]

To me it sounds like the name of an antacid.

The name change reminds me of an anti-fungal cream!

[bug67]

Did you try installing libgl1-mesa-dri? Or removing the nvidia packages?

Yes. I can now play my card games. Thanks. Now off to sort out Compiz.

[msuggs]

Maybe that Intel stuff could be made into a script?

I have NOT tested this yet, kinda hoping someone checks it, confirms it works
and makes it better

I've been paying with this a bit and added a couple of things like screens clearing as it works an updating the repos before installing the mesa driver. It seems to work okay at my end. I'd be interested in feedback

Code: Select all

#!/bin/bash

# check for root
if [[ $UID -ne 0 ]]; then
     echo "This script must run as root. Good bye."
   sleep 3s
     exit
fi

# Purging nvidia stuff
   echo "Removing nvidia drivers.."
   apt-get remove --purge xserver-xorg-video-nouveau xserver-xorg-video-nv
   sleep 2s

# Is mesa (direct rendering) lib installed?
if [[ `apt show libgl1-mesa-dri | grep -i "installed" | grep -i "yes"` ]]; then
¬† ¬† ¬†   echo "Mesa drivers already installed. Finished"
   sleep 2s
else
   clear
   echo "Mesa drivers not found - installing now"
   sleep 2s
   clear
   echo "Updating existing packages before install"
   sleep 2s
   apt-get update
   sleep 2s
   clear
   echo "Installing mesa drivers"
   apt-get install libgl1-mesa-dri
   sleep 2s
fi
   clear
   echo "Reconfiguring the X display server"
   dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg
   sleep 2s

# done
echo "Installation complete."


I've also been putting together a blog post with several LMDE compiz fixes outlined. I hope you find it useful. http://musings.omnsproject.org/?p=680