Who said "rough around the edges"? - My success story...

[gosa]

Hi All!

I'm not sure this belong in this part of the forum, but since it's LMDE we're talking about here...

I've just gotten home from one week of teaching the "Learning Managment System" that we use here at work.
During this week - and the days of training I've given I've been using my LMDE-charged Netbook for various different tasks, and I'm very happy about the outcome.

Connecting projectors, using it to browse the internet with my Android phone as a modem, doing my dropbox stuff, showing presentations (with a little help from Microsoft Office and Playonlinux) browsed the internet, image editing, done some work in Scribus, and I've even had a Virtualbox session up and running during parts of this week. And all of that without even getting close to feeling any worries. (And my Netbook has been keeping loads and loads of apps running at the same time without any kind of lag.

I've even gone through the process of downloading and applying all available updates (including the level 5 ones) now that we went "stable" the other day... no problem.

In short - a real success story for a guy who still consider himself being a newbie in the Linux world.

So - with this my thanks go out to all the people building, maintaining and developing this wonderful Operating system.
- Keep up the good work everybody!

[vrkalak]

Welcome to LMDE and Debian and the Mint Forums.

I have been using Debian and Debian-based distros for a number of years now . . . and from my experience.

"We" are the ones "rough around the edges" -- not Debian.

Debian Squeeze was just released as 'stable' -- which makes it, at the moment, the newest most stable GNU/Linux Operating System released to date.

[DrHu]

Connecting projectors, using it to browse the internet with my Android phone as a modem, doing my dropbox stuff, showing presentations (with a little help from Microsoft Office and Playonlinux) browsed the internet, image editing, done some work in Scribus, and I've even had a Virtualbox session up and running during parts of this week. And all of that without even getting close to feeling any worries. (And my Netbook has been keeping loads and loads of apps running at the same time without any kind of lag.

Excellent and I would say the proper way to learn to use Linux, just do it (sorry I get as inundated with advertising as everyone else..--their jungles/catchphrases also tend to stick in my mind, probably due to excessive amount of repetition they use.)

That's the right approach!

Oh, and Welcome to Linux..

Just curious, does anyone in those meetings/seminars notice, or ask what happened to Windows, it doesn't look like windows

• If you ever got those seminar foopaws of dropping out from the sideshow and showing the underlying application and OS ?

[tdockery97]

Very nice story of a week at work with LMDE. In my opinion there's nothing better than the stability of Debian coupled with the freshness of Mint. In the year since I've reentered the world of computing, LMDE (since last September) is the only OS that has had a permanent place on my computer.

[malligt]

Nice post!

To answer your question, I believe Clem penned the term about rough edges in the LMDE FAQ's:

"Debian is a less user-friendly/desktop-ready base than Ubuntu. Expect some rough edges."

see the entire post here:
http://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=1604

My observation is that everybody has a different skill-set when it comes to linux, MINT, and LMDE. What is easy for you on LMDE can be a nightmare for another.

LMDE has been a challenge to me, after using ubuntu 10.10 and/or MINT 9, and Mint 10 Julia. Sometimes, I have that top-of-the -world feeling with LMDE, and the there are othertimes when LMDE wins. But, that's how I learn.

What would anyone please suggest here as a primer, or a "Debian-for-Dummies" type book, (or Debian 101, or "The Newbie's Guide to Debian" type book) to use as a reference tool?

Thanks.

[Dave68]

The Debian Wiki is a great Source, and they are really good with Documentation.

Dave

[malligt]

Thank you for your kindness.....but this wiki site is so hard to navigate for me? ....maybe I'll get use to it in time

But to your inspiration....I FOUND THIS FORUM: and WOWOWOWOW impressive indeed

http://forums.debian.net/

All I had asked for /wanted in my original post was for a reference manual.....published since 2005 hopefully....(aka... I find real old stuff on amazon, but don't know if it's still relevant

[gosa]

A few days of part lurking, part doing other things (busy days at work) and I'm back to read the comments.

Let me first of all thank you guys for your welcome and positive words. I've been following this forum a couple of months after doing a little bit of crunchbang-ing. I really like the idea of Crunchbang, but in the end I felt I - for now - don't have the time for the kind of tinkering that Crunchbang sometimes need.
So now I'm here running LMDE as my only OS on my Netbook, and working on the transition to full LMDE on my desktop computer that I still mainly boot Windows 7 on. That transition is going to be a bit more tricky, because I still don't feel that I can replace Lightroom and Photoshop with Linux alternatives, but I do know that I won't be paying for any more Windows OS's after Windows 7, so eventually I'll have to leave Windows behind.

Anyway - about what malligt said - Of course we all have different experiences from running LMDE and depending on hardware some people might have greater problems to solve than others. I consider myself being very new at this, but I've also found that a little bit of "google-fuu" can solve a lot of problems. I did have some issues with my Nvidia Graphics before I found the excellent tool sgfxi. And by the way - I do know where the "quote" comes from... my subject line was more about making a "point" from my personal perspective on things...

Just curious, does anyone in those meetings/seminars notice, or ask what happened to Windows, it doesn't look like windows

• If you ever got those seminar foopaws of dropping out from the sideshow and showing the underlying application and OS ?

I don't think anyone really noticed... I was teaching a web based system to people that might (or might not in some cases) - at best - use a couple of hours per week to do some administrative task like enrolling to courses, adding and removing users and so on.

Towards the end of each day I did have to tell everyone I was running Linux, to explain why the "Browser Compatibility Test" we have fails for me when I run it (Nothing but IE and Windows is recommended in this system), but I really didn't get any comments on that either despite running both Opera and Firefox during these sessions. I suppose I "got away" with this because I was teaching content more than technical details...

[willie42]

This is a great post. I can also say that not too long ago I let Mint 9 and 10 go and now only run LMDE on my system. LMDE is quicker and smoother than 9 or 10. I have 10 on my laptop but it has not been up and going for a while now due to work and other things going on. I find it not rough around the edges. I do not not see me changing from using LMDE as of now. I will be bringing 2 to 3 more systems up the next 6 months or that is the plan for now. And I can say that LMDE will be on them at this point.

[gosa]

Thank you for your kindness.....but this wiki site is so hard to navigate for me? ....maybe I'll get use to it in time

But to your inspiration....I FOUND THIS FORUM: and WOWOWOWOW impressive indeed

http://forums.debian.net/

All I had asked for /wanted in my original post was for a reference manual.....published since 2005 hopefully....(aka... I find real old stuff on amazon, but don't know if it's still relevant

Ok... this might be just a bit "off topic" for this thread, but for the "fun of it" I went to Debian Forums to search for information on XFCE 4.8 and when it might be made available for us. I made a search, and among all the results I got this thread: http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php? ... e&start=15
In there I found the references to some guy named "Julian" who seems to be "on vacation" (banned) - I followed a link, that gave another link and after some reading I found myself - 4 or 5 threads away - in the middle of some ongoing war, about banning moderators, rude people, experienced users leaving the forum because of the climate and other people just throwing sh*t around without caring a bit for the "next guy"...

I'm sure that forum has it's good parts, probably more of the good than of the bad, but those 20 minutes of reading "scared me" all the way back into the Mint Forum again. And since we all know what they say about "first impressions" - I'm not sure I'll be setting my foot in that particular forum again.

- And all of that because I was curious about when I might be able to install XFCE 4.8 in my LMDE...

So - I apologize for going "off topic" for a bit, I'll just end this post by saying:
"It's great to be back!"

[willie42]

Well I can say the Mods here are wonderful people. I don't see this being the typical forums. We do get occasional trolls but they usually don't last long.

[rivenathos]

FYI - Do not let the recent "dust-up" in the http://forums.debian.net/ frighten you away from Debian. The dust already has settled with some of the disgruntled and highly-experienced Debian users migrating to the new http://www.debianuserforums.org/. Now, there are two communities from which to choose, so most everyone should fit in with either the ".net" or the ".org" forum.

[gosa]

FYI - Do not let the recent "dust-up" in the http://forums.debian.net/ frighten you away from Debian. The dust already has settled with some of the disgruntled and highly-experienced Debian users migrating to the new http://www.debianuserforums.org/. Now, there are two communities from which to choose, so most everyone should fit in with either the ".net" or the ".org" forum.

Naahh... I'm not planning to skip debian just because of that forum. After all I'm still here, am I not?

I did take a look at the ".org" version after reading your post, and I guess I can give that one a try as well. Not that I think I need it since all the people here seem to carry more or less all there is to know, but it's always good to have an alternative.

[timmer1240]

I used Ubuntu before for a year so the jump to LMDE was pretty painless for me.It did take a little work to get my nvidia drivers installed and to set up compiz but all in all it was no problem.I probably wouldnt recommend the debian edition to an absolute newbie but for someone with some familiarity with linux its fine.I think thats what they meant by rough around the edges but ive had to do the same configurations on windows installs too video drivers sound cards ect.I actually dont mind having to do some of the set up myself its kind of fun then once you get everything up and running you get a feeling of accomplishment!I love LMDE so far its really performing and doing whatever tasks I throw at it!

[dawgdoc]

....disgruntled and highly-experienced Debian users migrating to the new http://www.debianuserforums.org/. Now, there are two communities from which to choose, so most everyone should fit in with either the ".net" or the ".org" forum.

At the .org forum, be sure that you do not mention that you use LMDE. Big Flame on you if you do.

I'd like a Before you post topic simply to have justification for throwing ubuntards and mintards into the stockade for a few days.
It's good rtfm training for them.

2) That this is a debian board. If you're a mint user you're welcome but not in the support sections.

[Blacsdad]

I guess that makes them "DEBITARDS" .....

[gosa]

At the .org forum, be sure that you do not mention that you use LMDE. Big Flame on you if you do.

I'd like a Before you post topic simply to have justification for throwing ubuntards and mintards into the stockade for a few days.
It's good rtfm training for them.

2) That this is a debian board. If you're a mint user you're welcome but not in the support sections.

- What's wrong with some people?

I give up trying to understand some groups of people... but on the other hand - why bother?
10 years younger I might have taken the time to go over there and argue a bit against that position, but I just don't have neither the time nor the energy for that anymore.

Mint Forums and Google-Fuu seems to be the best solutions available among all the options out there, so I'll just stay like that...

[nadir]

- And all of that because I was curious about when I might be able to install XFCE 4.8 in my LMDE...

http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=58733
today among one of the first threads in the how-to section.
Make sure to also read the posts by hadret (in case you got a 64)

some more info about that question:
http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=59314

It might be a good idea to read a bit through the how-to-section. That, of course, is your decision.
As for the actual trouble: it will probably calm down in the near future ( s/probably/hopefully).
If that will keep the level of knowledge as high as it has been is a different question.

[gosa]

some more info about that question:
http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=59314

Thanks nadir, I read that thread.

That was actually the thread that led me to that poor "first impression" of the Debian forums...

About XFCE 4.8 - I've been reading around a bit and right now it feels like I prefer to wait until it goes into testing. Considering the last days of "fuss" about the updates, broken packages and vlc (more about that in other threads) I feel like I don't want to throw to much extra into the mix. So far I've been able to manage those small things (with the wonderful help of the people here) that have appeared, but I still don't want to risk messing up my system too much.

[mgh]

I probably shouldn't post, as I do not have much experience, but I have had LMDE installed for a couple of weeks, and I really like it. I have found it very easy to use. I have had some experience with Linux, so have a rudimentary understanding of how to use synaptic, and know how to use the terminal (that is not the same as saying I know the proper commands), so I guess I am not completely new, but I really like LMDE, and the support here on the forums has been outstanding.

I have been looking for a place to gush about how much I like LMDE