DSLinux Voted Off The Island

I'm giving Damn Small Linux (DSLinux) the boot.

It exhibited bizarre behavior, and I never felt like I could trust it to work. Two quick examples: To exit the Window Manager, I'd use the Shutdown menu option off the system folder. That would result in the Window Manager closing and leaving a command line. Typing 'exit' from the command line would . . . restart the Window Manager! What's linux for 'GO AWAY'? It may have been user error, but it is darn goofy behavior, and there was no indication of what to do differently. Besides, you'd think the 'Shutdown' menu option would, er, shut the machine down.

The other odd behavior I encountered was that the shell window, the console, would spring up when you clicked its dedicated button at the bottom of the screen. It would spring up the first time. When I finished my session, I exited the command line, and it appeared to exit normally. After that, the console was MIA. The second, third, and subsequent attempts to launch the console would have no result. This again sounds like you're doing it wrong, but it's CLICKING A BUTTON. How wrong can you be? It looks to me like it don't work.

And then there's the ugly damn wallpaper. That must be where the 'damn' in Damn Small Linux comes from. It's a silly subject to use all this vitriol on, but the desktop was so ugly it was distracting. And I looked and looked for a way to change the wallpaper and couldn't find it. All I could find was 'Change Theme' which didn't do anything.

I'm sure DSLinux is fine for some things, just not any of the three things I tried to do with it.

I think I'll use Knoppix 5.1 for the time being, until I can get my system installed with PC-BSD. (Ironically, DSLinux is based upon Knoppix. Except Knoppix works right. BA-ZING! Okay, enough DSLinux abuse . . .)

Viewscreen, On!

I have a new monitor, a Dell 19" Widescreen (model number SE198WFP). I am running it using VGA, not digital video.

I like it fine. It's my first flat panel monitor, so I don't have much to compare it to. The picture is clear enough that I've restarted my habit of watching '24' through iTunes. Make the picture full screen and turn the lights out, and you've lost me for an hour.

The additional screen real estate (versus my previous 17" monitor) makes for plenty of room for using TADS. I can have the editor, compiler, and debugging message window open, with lots of room to spare.

I haven't had any picture quality or driver problems.

*poof* All Gone!

The trackpad on our new Toshiba laptop suddenly quit working about a week ago. I haven't had time to look at it, but in a cursory check it looks like it's still in Windows Hardware Manager, and the driver is still loaded.

I don't know if the fault lies with a Windows Vista hiccup or if the hardware just died. I'll examine it more closely and post a report here.

Everything else on the laptop (still) works fine; it just works using a mouse now.

Surprise!

Hey, did you know hitting ALT and POWER at the same time on my lame $12 Wal-Mart keyboard will turn off Windows INSTANTLY?

Neither did I, until a minute ago!

Damn Small Linux

I'm playing around with 'Damn Small Linux'. It's a minimalist Linux distro designed to be run off a CD or USB key. Its maximum size on disk is 50MB, so it can fit almost anywhere.

An alternative way of running it - the one I'm using - is to install it to HD and run it as an app. That's right, it's an entire Linux inside a Windows window! And, yes - by 'entire Linux' I mean XWindows, too!

So the question became, "What would I do with Linux, if I had it?" I never came up with a real answer. The closest I could come was that I would work through the charmingly old-fashioned Rescued By UNIX (by Augie Hansen, Jamsa Press, 1994) so all I'd need is a command line. Click HERE for the book info

With its default window manager and theme, I think a better name for DSLinux is, "&^#@%$! Ugly Linux". It's freakin' awful, even after I spent a few minutes playing with color choices and resolutions.

I'm still a little freaked out at the idea of going from Linux to Windows simply by ALT-TAB -ing.

Information on Damn Small Linux is available by clicking here!

(Note: I can report that, just like in Windows, the DSLinux version of Firefox doesn't care how you check or uncheck options in dialog boxes; it does whatever it wants.)

(Further Note: I know 'Damn Small Linux' is abbreviated 'DSL'. I am using my own abbreviation 'DSLinux' to spare less-technical folk confusion with the broadband Internet access technology of the same name)

(Furthest Note: This post was posted (mostly) using Damn Small Linux!)

Last Step For Now

Finishing R5-D4 Block 3

Today I put my NVIDIA GeForce FX 5500 video card back in. I now have 256MB of video memory, as opposed to the 64MB for the chip built in to the motherboard.

I had a game of Age of Mythology and it ran fine.

My crappy monitor does spoil the effect though. Hopefully I'll get it replaced soon.

Block 3 Motherboard and Processor

I have to give a 'thumbs up' to Ascendtech!

Motherboard and processor combos are fairly easy to come by, but I like the twist Ascendtech puts on them - you can specify a standard or high-capacity cooling system, choose hard drives, or order some other parts with the mobo combo, and Ascendtech will assemble and test your setup before it ships!

I chose an FIC motherboard with Athlon 64 processor, a combo they had on special that week. After some consideration, I stayed with the standard cooling solution. The processor and fan were installed onto the motherboard and the whole thing was tested. When it arrived it was ready to mount in the case.

I appreciated knowing that everything had been tested. I used to get parts from Fry's Electronics, and all three times I bought motherboard and processors pairs, one or more of the parts had to be exchanged. With Ascendtech, a whole level of potential headache is removed!

Shipping went smoothly, and the parts arrived right when Ascendtech said they would. The packaging seemed adequate to protect the parts. The box was somewhat customized to accommodate the processor and fan having been mounted already. The box was study and there was plenty of padding around the vitals.

When I build another system, I'll definitely go to Ascendtech first.

You can check it out for yourself by clicking this link!

R5-D4 Block 3

Last week I rebuilt my desktop computer, R5-D4. This edition is, in military parlance, R5-D4 Block 3, the third edition of my system.

My old processor and hard drive were destroyed in separate, unrelated accidents. (Don't think too hard, just keep reading . . .)


The specs of the new system:

FIC K8M-800M motherboard
AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Processor (2.0 GHz)
1GB DDR memory (Crucial brand)
40GB hard drive (Western Digital Caviar)
64MB VIA / S3 video (Built in to motherboard)
AC97 audio (Built in to motherboard)
Realtek RTL8139 ethernet (Built in to motherboard)

See next post regarding the ordering and shipping of the motherboard and processor.

Everything went together well. I hadn't lost my touch, it seems. Everything worked the first time. I was very pleased.

Since the rebuild, I have had zero hardware problems.