Fewer Broken Pieces

The blog of N. Dan Smith

Archive for the ‘Debian’ tag

Debian Fluxbox tip

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I started using Fluxbox on my Debian machine. It is a very nice implementation and is now my default desktop environment, since Gnome is pretty heavy. However I was missing the NetworkManager applet and the update notifier in Fluxbox. So, I added the following bit to my ~/.fluxbox/startup to get them running automagically when I log in:

nm-applet --sm-disable &
update-notifier &

And there you have it.

Written by N. Dan Smith

May 30th, 2008 at 11:53 pm

Posted in technology

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Debian on a PowerMac G3

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This week I decided to abandon the too-time-consuming-for-me Gentoo and switch to a binary-based GNU/Linux distribution. Of the options which appealed to me, only Fedora and Debian had official PowerPC support. I ended up going with Debian.

At first I installed the stable Etch (4.0) tem but soon found myself longing for the more recent versions of some of my favorite software (Pidgin, Claws Mail, Transmission). So I switched over to the testing Lenny branch (5.0), which is working quite well for me. The default Gnome install is a bit heavy for my 350 MHz G3, but I am getting on well enough.

So it seems I have found a new Linux home, as it were. Yes, Debian had a rather colossal screwup with SSL recently, and yes, it is not as exciting as its progeny Ubuntu. However, one of the things I really appreciate about Debian is its outspoken support for Free Software. Add that to a system that does everything I need (word processing, web, email, games, amateur radio, chat, etc.), and I am in heaven.

Written by N. Dan Smith

May 26th, 2008 at 2:24 am

Posted in technology

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