Can someone please enlighten me?

detto · 2006-11-22 18:30:26

Firstly, this is NOT a fight against distribtions or s.th. like that, just want to settle down on ONE thing

Well it's been a long time since i left Slackware.
That was because i got tired of compiling a kernel, and searchin for libs on the internet to manually make and install them.
I wanted my Slack with many many packages of all sorts and with simple effective dependency resolution.

So i came to ArchLinux. Stayed there for quite a long time too, but moved on to Frugalware where im now at the moment.

The reasons i switched to Frugalware were:
- more up2date in general and the way they check for outdated packages
- Fcommands and the way things are built the uncomplex way (and with chroot!)

What i encountered durig using "-current" (which is their daily updated branch) was a nearly perfect system for my taste, but there were problems like half upgraded X.org to a developers version, Gnome was so highly up2dated kept that things were breakable there too.

After that, im using now "-stable" which is stable but has many packages like "flash" "wine" "konversation" and some more i updated myself to latest because i found them to be too far behind :?
So, now im thinking to switch back to beloved ArchLinux, because i have here the option to use up2date things with -unstable and -testing but can switch back to -current to be on the stable side. Also more control should come to my hands again, frugalware is going a way to make it userfriendly but got more and more automatisations.

So to end this rather long text now.....
I want to have Slackware (stable base system) with many many applications that are updated to latest version.
Frugalware has 2 options, Arch has one but with easy acces to both :shock: (i mean the -testing and -unstable option here )

Can someone point me in the right direction what should fit me best? Where i can finally settle down and dont hassle with anything anymore?

phrakture · 2006-11-22 18:35:37

I think you should be fine with using current/extra/testing. unstable is a whole mess of development versions, which it sounds like you don't want.

One thing you may want to look at (and I'm not sure if this is in the pacman 2.X series) is the UpgradeDelay setting. In pacman 3, this says "when there is an update, make sure it's been there for X timelimit before upgrading" - it's a simple way to handle stability on your end.

detto · 2006-11-22 18:38:31

phrakture wrote:

I think you should be fine with using current/extra/testing. unstable is a whole mess of development versions, which it sounds like you don't want.
One thing you may want to look at (and I'm not sure if this is in the pacman 2.X series) is the UpgradeDelay setting. In pacman 3, this says "when there is an update, make sure it's been there for X timelimit before upgrading" - it's a simple way to handle stability on your end.

Thanx for the speedy reply!
Is pacman3 nearly expected? Like this year maybe?
Think i have to try arch just again and decide.

stonecrest · 2006-11-22 21:11:45

phrakture wrote:

One thing you may want to look at (and I'm not sure if this is in the pacman 2.X series) is the UpgradeDelay setting. In pacman 3, this says "when there is an update, make sure it's been there for X timelimit before upgrading" - it's a simple way to handle stability on your end.

Neat.. what is the default going to be for a new Arch installation?

codemac · 2006-11-22 22:11:53

I'd imagine the default setting for UpgradeDelay would be 0. It's how arch has always worked, and it's more of a special case that someone wants a delay, not the rule.

Snarkout · 2006-11-23 18:00:45

Do most people only use a single distro? I find that if all of my boxen run a particular distro, and that distro has a problem, it sucks to have that problem on all of my boxen. In this room I'm sitting in, I have 4 different distros installed. I'm typing this on my arch box, beside me is my testing box with Frugalware -current on it (in a semi-broken state), to my other side I have a debian etch soekris box, and my wife's lappy has kubuntu edgy on it.

That said, I'm going to be installing edgy on my own lappy today. Currently I'm running arch on it, and while I love arch, this computer is at least partially for work, and I've ended up with egg on my chin twice recently due to packages I didn't have installed that I would expect to have installed - telnet, traceroute, that sort of thing, and for some reason my keyspan usb serial adapter did not work as expected either. I take all of the blame for this, of course, but the reality of the situation for me is that my lappy needs to work without hassle. This is the decision I've had to make.

Almost all of my decisions are made this way - weigh the benefits versus the drawbacks. I'd say frugal is a fantastic distro, but running current is very difficult to do without breakage. I'd also say that their wiki, forums and mailing lists are nearly dead, so if that's important to you it's a consideration. I imagine asking this question in an arch forum is going to result in a lot of pro-arch answers, and for good reason - arch is a damn fine distro. It might not be the most objective input, though.

briancurtin · 2006-11-24 02:16:13

Snarkout wrote:

Do most people only use a single distro?

thats how i do it. i run arch on my desktop and on my laptop.
my desktop is my main machine and runs off of current, whereas my laptop runs off of testing

ckristi · 2006-11-28 05:54:41

Well.. I know I'm out of topic, but I wanted to say that I'm using the same distro twice on the same box (my workstation with 32bit and 64bit Arch), my girlfriend's computer (in the same room) runs Arch 32bit and only the server is Slackware powered. ;-)

chrismortimore · 2006-11-28 11:05:35

I run Arch for my "desktop" every day type stuff (because it's got lots of nice up to date packages, etc), and Debian stable for server tasks (because it looks after itself, and stability is more important than being up to date).

codemac · 2006-11-28 17:52:43

I use Winblowz, Arch, Ubuntu and gentoo

Dusty · 2006-11-28 18:33:35

How did a "does Arch suit my needs" thread turn into a "I use various distros" thread??

Dusty

pelle.k · 2006-11-28 18:57:24

I run arch 70%, ubuntu 25%, windows xp 5% of my time.
I used to run ubuntu primarily. Nowadays, I dislike ubuntu because of three reasons;
1. It's too dumbed down. Especially kubuntu 6.10. (I like the fact there is system administration tools, split kde packages, and a package manager GUI though...)
2. It's too damn hard to make debian packages.
3. It autostarts deamons upon installation. (WTF! i haven't even configured it yet!)

detto; what about zenwalk or kateOS? you seem to like slackware, and they're slackware based (sortof).

detto · 2006-11-28 20:59:56

Well, thank you all others for a reponse. Im still at frugalware though, but think of giving arch another go. Its just leaner and i like being up2date but base seems really stable and things just work.
But still some things are keeping me away from it like the fact that AUR is still not implemented enough and pacman3 and so on. You know, the usual flames one can have against arch, because everything else is just nice

Still i got feeling that arch needs s.th. like Fbuilds, maybe called just Abuild and so on, making things efficienter for everyone.
It gives one a mixed feeling that one has to use AUR and use packages that are maybe not well tested enough and may make problems to get a system one wants.
Go and steal some things from frugalware thats what im talkin bout 8) Merging all good aspects of both distros would be... oh well *dreams*....

dtw · 2006-11-28 21:27:51

Dusty wrote:

How did a "does Arch suit my needs" thread turn into a "I use various distros" thread??
Dusty

I was wondering that

pelle.k · 2006-11-28 22:00:01

I was under the impression frugalbuilds and PKGBUILDS are pretty much the same thing. Am i wrong?

Also, it would be nice if packages like tilda (sillywilly aren't maintaining it anymore) would be taken of the repo as they are incompatible with gnome 2.16.

I guess bleeding edgy is a part of the arch philosophy, but i wouldn't mind a bit more stability. I've had my share of irritating bugs. the lighttpd bug is one example of an app still broken after several weeks. It's dead easy to fix too

Snarkout · 2006-11-28 22:50:35

Dusty wrote:

How did a "does Arch suit my needs" thread turn into a "I use various distros" thread??
Dusty

Probably my fault. Like usual. Turns out I'm pretty good at hijacking threads.

Dusty · 2006-11-29 03:53:40

Snarkout wrote:

Turns out I'm pretty good at hijacking threads.

Next thing you know you'll be a moderator. 8-)

Now its turned into a "what I think is wrong with arch" thread. This is a very organic thread indeed. Next thing you know it'll be a "the evolution of thread hijacking".

Dusty

Snarkout · 2006-11-29 23:59:54

Well, my problem is that I tend to give complete answers to open ended questions which ask for opinion. I kind of explained all of my thinking behind my choices. Part of that was how I weigh positives and negatives, and another part was why I run what I do where I do. I should probably just stick to "Yes" and answering questions in Newbie Corner.

detto · 2006-11-30 11:47:28

Snarkout wrote:

Well, my problem is that I tend to give complete answers to open ended questions which ask for opinion. I kind of explained all of my thinking behind my choices. Part of that was how I weigh positives and negatives, and another part was why I run what I do where I do. I should probably just stick to "Yes" and answering questions in Newbie Corner.

Hell no i liked and like your answers that gives one a more detailed way of how someone looks at something. keep at it

Arch Linux

#1 2006-11-22 18:30:26

Can someone please enlighten me?

#2 2006-11-22 18:35:37

Re: Can someone please enlighten me?

#3 2006-11-22 18:38:31

Re: Can someone please enlighten me?

#4 2006-11-22 21:11:45

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#5 2006-11-22 22:11:53

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#6 2006-11-23 18:00:45

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#7 2006-11-24 02:16:13

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#8 2006-11-28 05:54:41

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#9 2006-11-28 11:05:35

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#10 2006-11-28 17:52:43

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#11 2006-11-28 18:33:35

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#12 2006-11-28 18:57:24

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#13 2006-11-28 20:59:56

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#14 2006-11-28 21:27:51

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#15 2006-11-28 22:00:01

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#16 2006-11-28 22:50:35

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#17 2006-11-29 03:53:40

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#18 2006-11-29 23:59:54

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#19 2006-11-30 11:47:28

Re: Can someone please enlighten me?

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