From: adam@address.invalid   
      
   Moe Trin wrote:   
   > On Wed, 30 May 2012, in the Usenet newsgroup alt.os.linux.mandriva, in   
   article   
   > , Adam wrote:   
      
   [boot schemes, BSD and SysVInit vs. upstart and systemd]   
      
   > Now, "popular"   
   > distributions are heading towards a third/fourth scheme ("upstart" and   
   > "systemd") because they want it to boot faster [...] The first two are a   
   > serial task (start/run this, then start/run that, and so on) while the   
   > latter are parallel tasks   
      
   I noticed that when booting openSUSE yesterday, and my 400 GB partition   
   was due for a check.  Even after I'd logged in, e2fsck was still going.   
      
   > How often are you dinking with the start scripts?  (Probably   
   > not very often.)   
      
   Nope, not very often.  Most packages seem to add their own (if needed)   
   when they're installed, and have a separate .conf file that I can change   
   if desired.  I don't think SysVInit vs. systemd will be a major issue   
   for me.   
      
   >> FWIW I now have four 20 GB root partitions on my internal 120 GB HD   
   >> for experimenting, and right now they have Mandriva 2011.0, Mageia 2,   
   >> PCLinusOS 2011.09, and openSUSE 12.1, all slightly similar to the   
   >> Mandriva 2010.0 I'm used to.   
   >   
   > Only way to find out is to try them.   
      
   I'm trying them "in parallel".  All four are now up to the stage where   
   user "adam" can log in (this required "chmod 4755 /usr/bin/Xorg" on two   
   of the four) then start up the GUI, and all have wired 'net access   
   working.  Also, all have all updates (as of yesterday) to all installed   
   packages.  The only packages I've added are xfce4 and related, if in   
   their repository.   
      
   > Mentioned, I'm not all that   
   > thrilled by OpenSUSE and it's a little "cutting edge" for me.   
      
   One of its updates involved a new kernel, and the new   
   /boot/grub/menu.lst was broken.  I had to boot up another distro and fix   
   it manually.  No distro is perfect, but that's one point against it.  If   
   I were a newbie, I would have just given up on that distro.   
      
   > As for PCLinuxOS, that's a derivative   
   > of Mandrake with a different package manager.   
      
   As I said, I'm starting with Mandr* and related distros.  PCLinuxOS   
   apparently installs lots of things by default, as it's taking up 14 GB   
   of its 19 GB root partition, leaving me only 4.4 GB for additional apps.   
     None of the other three take up more than 7.3 GB.   
      
   > I scan the alt.os.linux.pclinuxos newsgroup, but it's not   
   > very active or helpful.   
      
   Thanks for the heads-up on that.  Online support is important to me,   
   whether newsgroup, web forum, or whatever.   
      
   Part of me is saying "Just go with Mandriva 2011.0, you already know it"   
   but then I remind myself that its future at this point is uncertain.   
      
   >> BTW, I encountered a (probably well-known) limitation of Linux, or at   
   >> least of Mandriva or cfdisk. [...] I wanted to replace sdb1 and sdb2   
   >> with numerous smaller extended partitions without changing the others,   
   >> but apparently I'm limited to putting at most two partitions in that   
   >> space, both primary.  I don't understand this limitation.   
   >   
   > Blame IBM and Microsoft - it's an old problem about the partitioning   
   > tables only being so big - don't forget that this was a work-around   
   > for ``large'' hard-disks back in PC-DOS 3.3.   
      
   I know the partition table is limited to 4 primary partitions, or 3   
   primary partitions and up to 16 (?) extended partitions.  What I don't   
   understand is why cfdisk won't let me assign the first ~100 GB of that   
   HD as more extended partitions.  Perhaps that's a cfdisk limitation.   
      
   [wireless and Ethernet]   
      
   >> to be able to switch this desktop tower   
   >> between wired and wireless access to test whether the wireless works.   
   >> No need for both at the same time.   
   >   
   > As mentioned, relatively easy.  It's more the ``tools'' that the   
   > various distributions provide than a fundamental issue.   
      
   That's the next step for all four test distros.   
      
   > The key here is "does the distribution have the appropriate driver",   
   > as well as the smoke/mirrors used to set up the networking.   
      
   With "retread" (July 2009) using this same wireless card and the same   
   router connected to "eris", I got it working with Mandriva, Ubuntu, and   
   WinXP (drivers from CD), but not with Slackware and Absolute.  I'm sure   
   that was possible; I just hadn't figured those out yet.   
      
   > Does the router "bridge" (route   
   > packets between two interfaces that are on the same logical network)   
   > or do you have to set up two independent networks   
      
   I don't know directly, but when I set it up for "retread" I don't recall   
   having to set up a separate network on the router, just configure it for   
   wireless (type of security, passphrase, channel, etc.), so I guess not.   
      
   [gphoto2]   
      
   >> I know that would be the correct way to do it, but that sounds   
   >> unnecessary since I have 2.4.14 installed from the source tarball in   
   >> addition to Mandriva's 2.4.7 RPM.  I realize that having both the   
   >> package and the source tarball on the same system isn't recommended,   
   >> but could it cause any problems?   
   >   
   > Perhaps - never mind if the the "new" library isn't fully back   
   > compatible with the old, but some of the dependent applications may   
   > be expecting things in a certain (directory) location and might be   
   > using the "old" files rather than new, or vice-versa.   
      
   In this case, the "new" library is in /usr/local, and (because it was   
   installed from source) no other app or library knows about it.  The   
   packages that depend on gphoto2 find v2.4.7 where RPM put it, in   
   /usr/bin and /usr/lib.  Seems to work just fine, and will become   
   irrelevant once I migrate to the new distro, which will have a package   
   of 2.4.11 (good enough) or later.   
      
   [feline Kiri]   
      
   >> What's the latest update on Kiri?   
   >   
   > Minor degradation - things are coming to a head slowly but surely.   
      
   Oh dear.  Unfortunately that's part of being a pet owner.   
      
   > You mentioned that several of your parent's cats developed thyroid   
   > problems - guess what?   Smokie is now getting a daily dose of   
   > "methimazole", and SHE DOESN'T LIKE THAT CRAP, (no) THANK YOU!   
      
   Last-resort method: (1) Wrap cat in towel so only head is uncovered, (2)   
   put cat/towel on floor face up, sit on cat to hold it in place, (3) use   
   one hand to press on jaw hinge to open mouth, other hand to throw pill   
   (or pour dropper) as far back as possible, (4) wait for cat to swallow   
   pill/liquid, (5) release cat, who will then hide for the next several   
   hours.  Worked for me when dealing with a very determined cat and nobody   
   else was around to help.   
      
   The only "easy" one was one of Allegra's meds that had to be rubbed into   
   her ear, because she loved having her ears rubbed anyway.   
      
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