Debian/Ubuntu as cruelty? (was Re: [wellylug] ubuntu help.... & SimplyMEPIS Linux)

[Geraint Jones]

On Thu, 2006-08-17 at 22:53 +1200, Cliff Pratt wrote:

> Brent Wood wrote:
> > 
> > OK, the issues with the pIII. Kubuntu was the distro that seemed to
> > do everything the guy wanted, & supported all his hardware out of the
> > box. USB Sony minidisk, etc... Once there he wanted emacs. I opened
> > the package mangler, I forget which it was, whatever Kubuntu uses, &
> > searched for emacs. It found nothing.
> >
> Tsk, tsk, tsk. You didn't wonder *why* it didn't find the package you 
> wanted?
>  >
> > I said I'd find the .deb files he needed, & I assumed that sticking
> > them on a CD & clicking on them from Konqueror would install them
> > easily.
> >
> So, a few seconds after installing a distribution you decide to subvert 
> the packaging system.
>  >
> > So, I found the URL for the NZ Ubuntu repository. Opened it in a
> > browser looking for a directory full of .debs. Stuffed if I could
> > find any. I then searched for emacs, Ubuntu, Kubuntu, deb, debian,
> > repository, etc. Still couldn't find anything. (This is unusual. I
> > generally find whatever I'm looking for in a few minutes).
> >
> You DON'T find Debian packages that way. But if you do, it took me just 
> a few minutes to find this....
> 
> http://nz.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/e/
> 
> And I wasn't familiar with the structure before I looked. I just pulled 
> the URL out of sources.list and browsed around a little.
>  >
> > I told the guy I wasn't sure what to do, as I was unfamiliar with
> > Debian based distros. I couldn't find an equivalent to
> > www.rpmfind.net in a couple of minutes, so I flicked my question to
> > the list, where Andrej & Jonathan gave excellent & complete replies
> > that I'm pretty sure will work.
> > 
> There is no equivalent of rpmfind because it is not required!
> 
> Honestly! You slap on a distro, don't bother to find out about the 
> packaging system ('package mangler'!!), you then try to find packages by 
> a non-standard method (even for rpm-based distros you rarely have to 
> 'rpmfind' a package, and you rarely have to use the rpm command), then 
> you blame the distro because it doesn't work the way that you expect it to!
> 
> It's highly likely that the system is not correctly configured with 
> repositories correctly set, and the guy will find that he has a system 
> that he can't get updates for!
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Cliff
> 
> 

Cliff : Woah chill out man - rpm, deb, whatever they all have their
merits. i dont see why anyone should be persecuted for making a mistake
- we all have our methods, as for downloading and installing a .deb by
hand - it is perfectly standard and fine. all apt does is to automate
the process. Get off your high horse and help rather than putting the
guy down. as for "there is no equivalent of rpmfind" what do you call
this ? http://www.debian.org/distrib/packages#search_packages and this
http://packages.ubuntu.com/

Brent : you may find this handy (i use it on all Ubuntu systems i
install - it needs net access however)
http://easyubuntu.freecontrib.org/overview.html, and your issue with the
A64 Network is an odd one - i have a similar motherboard and my network
works without an issue, does that board have 2 network ports ? if so you
need to make sure your plugged into the one that is powered by the
northbridge and not the other - as all AMD64 distro's support forcedeth
(the module for nforce ethernet) however they may not support the second
network without some buggering round

Geraint Jones
Systems Administrator
French Maid Foods Limited

www.french-maid.net

DDI: +64 (0)4 570 7633
Tel: +64 (0)4 568 2687
Fax: +64 (0)4 568 2345
Mob: +64 (0)21 739 240

--

This is the first age that's paid much attention to the future, which is
a
little ironic since we may not have one.
-- Arthur Clarke


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