From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On Tue, 26 Aug 2025 19:02:29 +1000, Peter 'Shaggy' Haywood wrote:

Groovy hepcat Lawrence DrCOOliveiro was jivin' in comp.os.linux.misc on
Wed, 20 Aug 2025 01:56 pm. It's a cool scene! Dig it.

On Tue, 19 Aug 2025 17:21:04 +1000, Peter 'Shaggy' Haywood wrote:

After hearing about Ubuntu Netbook Remix, I decided that would be a
better option. Unfortunately the UI that came with that also sucked!

sudo apt-get kubuntu-desktop

Yeah, I know. But at the time I only had crappy dial-up internet, and
there weren't any free wi-fi spots near me. Downloading software was difficult at best, and maxed out before it's finished. So doing that was
not really an option then.

Surely downloading a whole new distro would have been even more bandwidth- hungry.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On 2025-08-27, Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:

On Tue, 26 Aug 2025 19:02:29 +1000, Peter 'Shaggy' Haywood wrote:

Groovy hepcat Lawrence DrCOOliveiro was jivin' in comp.os.linux.misc on
Wed, 20 Aug 2025 01:56 pm. It's a cool scene! Dig it.

On Tue, 19 Aug 2025 17:21:04 +1000, Peter 'Shaggy' Haywood wrote:

After hearing about Ubuntu Netbook Remix, I decided that would be a
better option. Unfortunately the UI that came with that also sucked!

sudo apt-get kubuntu-desktop

Yeah, I know. But at the time I only had crappy dial-up internet, and
there weren't any free wi-fi spots near me. Downloading software was
difficult at best, and maxed out before it's finished. So doing that was
not really an option then.

Surely downloading a whole new distro would have been even more bandwidth- hungry.

In some countries, PC magazines(*) coming with linux distros on CDs
might have been a thing, as well as books.

(*) Portugal may have had at least a couple issues of some magazines
doing this; Brasil had at least one publication that seemed to have a
different distro with every issue, which was also available in Portugal.

At one point in the first decade of the century - no idea if it's still
the case - Canonical would provide (as in by post) CDs free of charge
for at least some of these Ubuntus.

But yes, I can understand the problem. At that point I might have had a
MinGW wget windows binary in a pendrive or something, so that I could
not only download the files required for the linux installs without
network connectivity using e.g. library windows PCs, but also do so
taking advantage of wget's features (most notably input list and
resuming partial downloads).

This was with Fedora (which was less easy, but it's quite possible I
overlooked some option or tool that'd have made this much easier) and
with Gentoo (that at least back then made this piece of cake or nearly
that, as you'd get the list with emerge -pf; nowadays I still have to
file a bug (and see if one already exists first, of course) because it
seems the new mirror directory tree scheme makes it so that it won't
work out of the box).
--
Nuno Silva
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On 2025-08-27 11:33, Nuno Silva wrote:

On 2025-08-27, Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:

On Tue, 26 Aug 2025 19:02:29 +1000, Peter 'Shaggy' Haywood wrote:

Groovy hepcat Lawrence DrCOOliveiro was jivin' in comp.os.linux.misc on
Wed, 20 Aug 2025 01:56 pm. It's a cool scene! Dig it.

On Tue, 19 Aug 2025 17:21:04 +1000, Peter 'Shaggy' Haywood wrote:

After hearing about Ubuntu Netbook Remix, I decided that would be a
better option. Unfortunately the UI that came with that also sucked!

sudo apt-get kubuntu-desktop

Yeah, I know. But at the time I only had crappy dial-up internet, and >>> there weren't any free wi-fi spots near me. Downloading software was
difficult at best, and maxed out before it's finished. So doing that was >>> not really an option then.

Surely downloading a whole new distro would have been even more bandwidth- >> hungry.

In some countries, PC magazines(*) coming with linux distros on CDs
might have been a thing, as well as books.

(*) Portugal may have had at least a couple issues of some magazines
doing this; Brasil had at least one publication that seemed to have a different distro with every issue, which was also available in Portugal.

At one point in the first decade of the century - no idea if it's still
the case - Canonical would provide (as in by post) CDs free of charge
for at least some of these Ubuntus.

But yes, I can understand the problem. At that point I might have had a
MinGW wget windows binary in a pendrive or something, so that I could
not only download the files required for the linux installs without
network connectivity using e.g. library windows PCs, but also do so
taking advantage of wget's features (most notably input list and
resuming partial downloads).

This was with Fedora (which was less easy, but it's quite possible I overlooked some option or tool that'd have made this much easier) and
with Gentoo (that at least back then made this piece of cake or nearly
that, as you'd get the list with emerge -pf; nowadays I still have to
file a bug (and see if one already exists first, of course) because it
seems the new mirror directory tree scheme makes it so that it won't
work out of the box).

Around 1998 computer magazines in Spain did indeed include CDs with some
Linux distribution. There was no way I could download a distro on my
modem. Even if I paid the phone charges, my room mates would roast me alive.

So I think I got a CD of Red Had and installed that. I finally booted
and got a shell prompt, but I had no idea what to do with that.

So another magazine posted a comparison of several distros, and said
that SuSE was the easiest. Weeks later that or another magazine included
a double CD of S.u.S.E. Linux 5.3 (I still have it) and I installed that
one. Yes, it worked and I could do things with it. It contained help
like "susehelp", a database of known problems. Eventually, I bough maybe
6.2 or 6.3. It came with books in the box. That was fantastic!
--
Cheers, Carlos.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc



On 8/27/25 03:04, Carlos E.R. wrote:

On 2025-08-27 11:33, Nuno Silva wrote:

On 2025-08-27, Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:

On Tue, 26 Aug 2025 19:02:29 +1000, Peter 'Shaggy' Haywood wrote:

Groovy hepcat Lawrence DrCOOliveiro was jivin' in comp.os.linux.misc on >>>> Wed, 20 Aug 2025 01:56 pm. It's a cool scene! Dig it.

On Tue, 19 Aug 2025 17:21:04 +1000, Peter 'Shaggy' Haywood wrote:

After hearing about Ubuntu Netbook Remix, I decided that would be a >>>>>> better option. Unfortunately the UI that came with that also sucked! >>>>>

-a-a-a-a sudo apt-get kubuntu-desktop

-a-a Yeah, I know. But at the time I only had crappy dial-up internet, >>>> and
there weren't any free wi-fi spots near me. Downloading software was
difficult at best, and maxed out before it's finished. So doing that
was
not really an option then.

Surely downloading a whole new distro would have been even more
bandwidth-
hungry.

In some countries, PC magazines(*) coming with linux distros on CDs
might have been a thing, as well as books.

I used to buy Linux Pro for the distros on their Disk of the Month. I stopped
doing that during Covid-19 restrictions when the shop I was buying at
closed.
I started getting digital copies of the Linux Pro now simply the Linux Magaxine.

So when I started out I moved to DSL line from my old POTS when I was downloading Amiga programs from AmiNet and local BBSes.
But now I was downloading much larger items and iso files from various repositories
I bought a a paperback copy of Dummies Guide to Knoppix which
had a CD of Knoppix 3.7 I believe. I learned that the Guide had as many
errors as my Commodore 64 Users manual but at least they spelled
"kernel" correctly.

(*) Portugal may have had at least a couple issues of some magazines
doing this; Brasil had at least one publication that seemed to have a
different distro with every issue, which was also available in Portugal.

At one point in the first decade of the century - no idea if it's still
the case - Canonical would provide (as in by post) CDs free of charge
for at least some of these Ubuntus.

But yes, I can understand the problem. At that point I might have had a
MinGW wget windows binary in a pendrive or something, so that I could
not only download the files required for the linux installs without
network connectivity using e.g. library windows PCs, but also do so
taking advantage of wget's features (most notably input list and
resuming partial downloads).

This was with Fedora (which was less easy, but it's quite possible I
overlooked some option or tool that'd have made this much easier) and
with Gentoo (that at least back then made this piece of cake or nearly
that, as you'd get the list with emerge -pf; nowadays I still have to
file a bug (and see if one already exists first, of course) because it
seems the new mirror directory tree scheme makes it so that it won't
work out of the box).

Around 1998 computer magazines in Spain did indeed include CDs with some Linux distribution. There was no way I could download a distro on my
modem. Even if I paid the phone charges, my room mates would roast me
alive.

So I think I got a CD of Red Had and installed that. I finally booted
and got a shell prompt, but I had no idea what to do with that.

So another magazine posted a comparison of several distros, and said
that SuSE was the easiest. Weeks later that or another magazine included
a double CD of S.u.S.E. Linux 5.3 (I still have it) and I installed that one. Yes, it worked and I could do things with it. It contained help
like "susehelp", a database of known problems. Eventually, I bough maybe
6.2 or 6.3. It came with books in the box. That was fantastic!

` A friend of mine at the time recommended Mandriva and another friend
with
a more rsponsible attitude sent me a DVD with all 6 ot hte 2006 Mandriva
iso
files from Norway and i sent him something good a few years later.

When Mandriva went ouf of business after producing a 2011 version that would not run on the hardward I had then I tried Mageia at 3.1 from a Linux
Pro Magazine but no luck on my hardware used PCLinuxOS and then changed
to Mageia 4+ for a while but in 2016 back to PCLinuxOS.
It is a very reliable for a rolling release and very seldom gives me problems.

But if you are living in a place with slow download speeds, join a Linux Users group and they should have at least one member who will
download what you are interested in using or trying out. I used to do
that but it was waste of time because most Linux users are not
distro jumpers. They are happy with what they have and are not
terribly interested in newer flashier distributions.

Might want to buy 4-8 GB flash drives these days as that is the
favored medium for installation so that the downloader can be given
a clean Flash drive for an installed Live Flash drive.

bliss- Dell Precision 7730- PCLOS 2025.08- Linux 6.12.43-pclos1- KDE
Plasma 6.4.4


--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On Wed, 27 Aug 2025 10:33:52 +0100, Nuno Silva wrote:

In some countries, PC magazines(*) coming with linux distros on CDs
might have been a thing, as well as books.

The CD is long gone but my copy of 'Red Hat Linux Unleashed' from 1998 had one. The magazines had them too. I also have a SuSE distro that came
shrink wrapped with the media and manuals.

https://archive.org/details/su-82-dvd-1_202107

Canonical did send free CDs for a while. There was also a company that
would send CDs of any distro for $7 iirc. I can't remember the company
name but it sounded like burning CDs was more of a sideline hobby than
their real business.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On 8/27/25 5:33 AM, Nuno Silva wrote:

On 2025-08-27, Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:

On Tue, 26 Aug 2025 19:02:29 +1000, Peter 'Shaggy' Haywood wrote:

Groovy hepcat Lawrence DrCOOliveiro was jivin' in comp.os.linux.misc on
Wed, 20 Aug 2025 01:56 pm. It's a cool scene! Dig it.

On Tue, 19 Aug 2025 17:21:04 +1000, Peter 'Shaggy' Haywood wrote:

After hearing about Ubuntu Netbook Remix, I decided that would be a
better option. Unfortunately the UI that came with that also sucked!

sudo apt-get kubuntu-desktop

Yeah, I know. But at the time I only had crappy dial-up internet, and >>> there weren't any free wi-fi spots near me. Downloading software was
difficult at best, and maxed out before it's finished. So doing that was >>> not really an option then.

Surely downloading a whole new distro would have been even more bandwidth- >> hungry.

In some countries, PC magazines(*) coming with linux distros on CDs
might have been a thing, as well as books.

There were a lot of those in the USA. I remember a "Turbo Linux"
in a magazine. Apparently still exists, but the site is in all
Japanese script. You could buy intro-to-linux books which often
had CDs, later DVDs, in them.

(*) Portugal may have had at least a couple issues of some magazines
doing this; Brasil had at least one publication that seemed to have a different distro with every issue, which was also available in Portugal.

At one point in the first decade of the century - no idea if it's still
the case - Canonical would provide (as in by post) CDs free of charge
for at least some of these Ubuntus.

But yes, I can understand the problem. At that point I might have had a
MinGW wget windows binary in a pendrive or something, so that I could
not only download the files required for the linux installs without
network connectivity using e.g. library windows PCs, but also do so
taking advantage of wget's features (most notably input list and
resuming partial downloads).

This was with Fedora (which was less easy, but it's quite possible I overlooked some option or tool that'd have made this much easier) and
with Gentoo (that at least back then made this piece of cake or nearly
that, as you'd get the list with emerge -pf; nowadays I still have to
file a bug (and see if one already exists first, of course) because it
seems the new mirror directory tree scheme makes it so that it won't
work out of the box).

Bought Slack/RH/SUSE from store shelves, WalMart, as
soon as they came out. Sorry, no high-speed downloads
back then. Nice boxes. I think original RH came on a
large stack of floppies. "X" could take a LONG time to
get the mouse/kb set up. SUSE was the easiest. Even
found a version of Oracle in WalMart for cheap ... but
never had a reason to install it.

Back then, my office had reached the point where it
needed some specialized servers - and the Win solutions
were expensive, restrictive and kinda crappy. So, I
started using Linux for that stuff. Alas the other
office people stuck like glue to Win, NO convincing
them otherwise. So, Linux did its stuff invisibly
in the background. Only one with a Linux desktop in
the building was me. One protege' came along, but
management pissed him off and drove him away. Retired
not long after, nobody to carry the torch. New "IT"
guy is all WinCloud, can't even program three lines
of Python. It's what the bosses wanted - UNTIL Vlad's
boyz evaporate the 'cloud' stuff .......
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On Wed, 27 Aug 2025 14:36:39 -0700, Bobbie Sellers wrote:

` A friend of mine at the time recommended Mandriva and another friend
with a more rsponsible attitude sent me a DVD with all 6 ot hte 2006
Mandriva iso files from Norway and i sent him something good a few years later.

I ran Mandrake for a while. I've got an old box in the shed I should try
to fire up and see what's on it. I've got a PS2 keyboard and there must be
a PS2 mouse around here somewhere. If I really want a blast from the past
I've got a CRT VGA terminal that may work. Or explode if it's become a
mouse condo.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

Groovy hepcat Lawrence DrCOOliveiro was jivin' in comp.os.linux.misc on
Wed, 27 Aug 2025 10:39 am. It's a cool scene! Dig it.

On Tue, 26 Aug 2025 19:02:29 +1000, Peter 'Shaggy' Haywood wrote:

Groovy hepcat Lawrence DrCOOliveiro was jivin' in comp.os.linux.misc on
Wed, 20 Aug 2025 01:56 pm. It's a cool scene! Dig it.

On Tue, 19 Aug 2025 17:21:04 +1000, Peter 'Shaggy' Haywood wrote:

After hearing about Ubuntu Netbook Remix, I decided that would be a
better option. Unfortunately the UI that came with that also
sucked!

sudo apt-get kubuntu-desktop

Yeah, I know. But at the time I only had crappy dial-up internet,
and
there weren't any free wi-fi spots near me. Downloading software was
difficult at best, and maxed out before it's finished. So doing that
was not really an option then.

Surely downloading a whole new distro would have been even more
bandwidth- hungry.

True, but getting them from magazine cover CDs/DVDs wasn't. Nor was
ordering a disk set from a disk set vendor.
--


----- Dig the NEW and IMPROVED news sig!! -----


-------------- Shaggy was here! ---------------
Ain't I'm a dawg!!
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On Thu, 28 Aug 2025 18:37:33 +1000, Peter 'Shaggy' Haywood wrote:

Groovy hepcat Lawrence DrCOOliveiro was jivin' in comp.os.linux.misc on
Wed, 27 Aug 2025 10:39 am. It's a cool scene! Dig it.

On Tue, 26 Aug 2025 19:02:29 +1000, Peter 'Shaggy' Haywood wrote:

Groovy hepcat Lawrence DrCOOliveiro was jivin' in comp.os.linux.misc on
Wed, 20 Aug 2025 01:56 pm. It's a cool scene! Dig it.

On Tue, 19 Aug 2025 17:21:04 +1000, Peter 'Shaggy' Haywood wrote:

After hearing about Ubuntu Netbook Remix, I decided that would be a
better option. Unfortunately the UI that came with that also sucked!

sudo apt-get kubuntu-desktop

Yeah, I know. But at the time I only had crappy dial-up internet,
and
there weren't any free wi-fi spots near me. Downloading software was
difficult at best, and maxed out before it's finished. So doing that
was not really an option then.

Surely downloading a whole new distro would have been even more
bandwidth- hungry.

True, but getting them from magazine cover CDs/DVDs wasn't. Nor was ordering a disk set from a disk set vendor.

Generally you also had a complete, working system. Today most isos seem to have just enough to allow the installation to phone home for the rest of
the stuff.

--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On Thu, 28 Aug 2025 18:37:33 +1000, Peter 'Shaggy' Haywood wrote:

True, but getting them from magazine cover CDs/DVDs wasn't. Nor was
ordering a disk set from a disk set vendor.

Ah, fair enough. There was even a period when the Ubuntu project would
happily send out CDs for free to anyone in the world who asked.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On Fri, 29 Aug 2025 00:55:20 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:

On Thu, 28 Aug 2025 18:37:33 +1000, Peter 'Shaggy' Haywood wrote:

True, but getting them from magazine cover CDs/DVDs wasn't. Nor was
ordering a disk set from a disk set vendor.

Ah, fair enough. There was even a period when the Ubuntu project would happily send out CDs for free to anyone in the world who asked.

I got one of those. I was a little suspicious after the deluge of AOL CDs
but there didn't seem to be a catch.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On 8/28/25 3:09 PM, rbowman wrote:

On Thu, 28 Aug 2025 18:37:33 +1000, Peter 'Shaggy' Haywood wrote:

Groovy hepcat Lawrence DrCOOliveiro was jivin' in comp.os.linux.misc on
Wed, 27 Aug 2025 10:39 am. It's a cool scene! Dig it.

On Tue, 26 Aug 2025 19:02:29 +1000, Peter 'Shaggy' Haywood wrote:

Groovy hepcat Lawrence DrCOOliveiro was jivin' in comp.os.linux.misc on >>>> Wed, 20 Aug 2025 01:56 pm. It's a cool scene! Dig it.

On Tue, 19 Aug 2025 17:21:04 +1000, Peter 'Shaggy' Haywood wrote:

After hearing about Ubuntu Netbook Remix, I decided that would be a >>>>>> better option. Unfortunately the UI that came with that also sucked! >>>>>

sudo apt-get kubuntu-desktop

Yeah, I know. But at the time I only had crappy dial-up internet,
and
there weren't any free wi-fi spots near me. Downloading software was
difficult at best, and maxed out before it's finished. So doing that
was not really an option then.

Surely downloading a whole new distro would have been even more
bandwidth- hungry.

True, but getting them from magazine cover CDs/DVDs wasn't. Nor was
ordering a disk set from a disk set vendor.

Generally you also had a complete, working system. Today most isos seem to have just enough to allow the installation to phone home for the rest of
the stuff.

Umm ... many distros offer both ways - a relatively
large all-in-one distro or a "netinst" distro.

In the end they probably use up the same number of
bytes to install or update - but with the full distro
you can choose WHEN and HOW to do the updates.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc



On 8/28/25 21:04, rbowman wrote:

On Fri, 29 Aug 2025 00:55:20 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:

On Thu, 28 Aug 2025 18:37:33 +1000, Peter 'Shaggy' Haywood wrote:

True, but getting them from magazine cover CDs/DVDs wasn't. Nor was
ordering a disk set from a disk set vendor.

Ah, fair enough. There was even a period when the Ubuntu project would
happily send out CDs for free to anyone in the world who asked.

I got one of those. I was a little suspicious after the deluge of AOL CDs
but there didn't seem to be a catch.

As a former user of Mandriva I have to point out that the catch was Ubuntu
but maybe it was better then. I have a friend a year older than me and
she caught
the Ubuntu mal-ware. She has a 32 bit EEPC and will not be able to get updates
much longer and does not want to spend time learning another system. Not
that either of are planning for lasting forever. Just my VHO of Ubuntu,
many fine
people use it and work on it.

bliss- Dell Precision 7730- PCLOS 2025.08- Linux 6.12.44-pclos1- KDE
Plasma 6.4.4

--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On 8/29/25 2:20 AM, Bobbie Sellers wrote:

On 8/28/25 21:04, rbowman wrote:

On Fri, 29 Aug 2025 00:55:20 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:

On Thu, 28 Aug 2025 18:37:33 +1000, Peter 'Shaggy' Haywood wrote:

True, but getting them from magazine cover CDs/DVDs wasn't. Nor was
ordering a disk set from a disk set vendor.

Ah, fair enough. There was even a period when the Ubuntu project would
happily send out CDs for free to anyone in the world who asked.

I got one of those. I was a little suspicious after the deluge of AOL CDs
but there didn't seem to be a catch.

-a-a-a-aAs a former user of Mandriva I have to point out that the catch was Ubuntu
but maybe it was better then. I have a friend a year older than me and
she caught
the Ubuntu mal-ware.-a She has a 32 bit EEPC and will not be able to get updates
much longer and does not want to spend time learning another system.-a Not that either of are planning for lasting forever. Just my VHO of Ubuntu,
many fine
people use it and work on it.

Um ... just copy the custom stuff to a USB, install
newer Ubuntu, copy back.

I don't like Ubuntu any more ... they're now a "business",
keep trying to force their 'services' and weird configs
on everybody.

MX is where it's at. Add, subtract, as needed but
you're GOOD.

DO still have one Manjaro unit. Also good - but don't
like the all-or-nothing update model.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2