Getting frustrated with Ubuntu....

[Scott]

Lee H. wrote:

[...]
> 
> I then, just for comparison purposes, installed Afterstep and Fluxbox.
> Fluxbox takes much, much longer to load but is the only one that picked
> up on the fact that Opera was installed.

"apt-get install menu" would have probably fixed that.

> 
> At this point I felt I was stalling out--I was happy with what I had
> done so far but I was still a little lost about installing other
> software and, as yet, I had no sound, which didn't really bother me at
> that point.  
> 
> So, wanting something I was more familiar with, I installed Gnome.  Big
> mistake!  I didn't notice that installing Gnome would automatically
> install Firefox, Games, Gimp, Abiword and piles of other stuff I either
> didn't want at all or wanted to install manually, one at a time, as a
> learning experience.  I can only start Opera from a terminal.  Not only
> that, but now I've lost the ability to just boot to the command line.
> I've tried changing the runlevel in /etc/initab but I can only get to
> the command line as root.  Whatever else it's set at, X starts.
> Ctrl-Alt-Backspace shuts down X for a second but it immediately starts
> up again.  

You really went about this the hard way, didn't you? ;-)

> 
> Now, having proven that I know just enough about Linux to be dangerous
> to myself, I have a few questions.

[....]
> 
> 1.  When downloading software from various sources, where is the default
> place I'm supposed to download it to?

I gather you are speaking of manual downloads and not downloading via apt?

If that is the case there is not place you're "supposed" to download
stuff to other than your home directory or any subdirectory you create
in it.  I have a directory I created just for this purpose.   "
"~/Downloads"

> 
> 2.  Is it possible to install just the GUI part of Gnome without all the
> excess baggage it brings with it?

I don't think so, GNOME is a desktop environment and therefore by
default comes packaged with lot of software.

If you like GNOME but want it lightweight I'd recommend XFCE instead of
GNOME. Like GNOME, it relies on GTK2 so any GTK2 app you install will
blend in very nicely.

"sudo apt-get install x-window-system-core xfce4"


> 
> 3a.  How do I change the refresh rate so I can use Gnome?  The other
> GUIs I've tried are watchable with no flickering.  Why is Gnome
> different?  3b.  What part of the Gnome installation made my soundcard
> work?  

My Linux box is out of commission for the time being so I can't look and
answer that question directly. But somewhere on the preferences menu  is
an icon for screen resolution.  I use it every time I install GNOME as
it doesn't quite get my refresh rate right by default.


> 4.  At some time, I do want to attempt to compile a Kernel suited to my
> machine.  I've found the instructions on the Wiki and they look good.
> Are there any "Gotchas" or things I should look out for?

That one is out of my league..  I'm sure a guru will jump in (if they
haven't already.

> 5.  I have, for years, used Forté Agent as my Mail/News program, running
> it through Hamster Classic for its multi-server capability.  What Linux
> program most closely resembles Agent in usage?  I would prefer the
> simplicity of having one program for email and newsgroups (with
> multi-server capability) but I could adapt to something else if I had

The closest thing Linux has to Agent is Pan which was patterned after
Agent (much like Evolution was patterned after Outlook).  However, it's
    News-only. No email.  Pan is a GTK2-based app as well.

"sudo apt-get install pan"

http://pan.rebelbase.com/

> 
> 6.  Under Windows, you have to install chipset drivers from VIA.  Is
> there something similiar under Linux or is this not necessary?

Not necessary. Support is in the kernel.  I have a VIA chipset myself.

My hardware --> http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=510822#post510822

-- 
Scott
www.angrykeyboarder.com
© 2005 angrykeyboarder & Elmer Fudd. All Wights Wesewved