Linux stories

[Ydoow]

Share your linux stories here. Let\'s all share what we know/experienced for the betterment of others and Linux.

I have ubuntu 12.01 and this just happened last night to me.

I just put Dwarf Fortress on my Ubuntu 12.01 laptop, and had all the fun of using terminal commands to change directories and what not for the install; I really do mean fun.

Then I got to the point of running it, and to play it I would always have to type into the terminal

\'/bin/df_linux/df\'

in order to play the game. And that\'s just way too much to type, not to mention it\'s now bound to the terminal so I can\'t close the terminal without killing DFortress D:

Which is when I realized how much fun Linux was.

Shell Scripts!

dfort

#!bash

nohup /bin/df_linux/df &

So now I type dfort to run Dwarf Fortress in a background terminal

And my MOST favorite part, is when I customize the window manager enough to cause conflicts which makes it crash.

Then I have to think how to fix it.

'Think Woody...Unity interface no longer works...you can\'t open a terminal, no Compiz Manger...rebooting doesn\'t change anything, and you auto-login so you can\'t change windows managers...

AHAH!

Linux didn\'t crash, only Unity did, so if I just press Ctrl+Alt+F6...

WOOT! Opened terminal! Now I log in and 'unity --reset' '

Linux is awesome.

[Accelerando]

This thread is now aliens, because I don\'t understand it at all.

[enfyrneaux]

Once you realize how much time you can save by automating stuff, bash scripting is amazing. Using the screen utility you can even run a program in the background and have another script send commands to it - I did that a lot when automating backups on my old Minecraft server. With some simple code (and a bunch of friends building stuff) I put together this timelapse:

@Accelerando: How about actually learning something instead of derailing the subject? Ydoow\'s talking about using shell scripting to make launching a program in Linux easier. You can do the same thing in OS X (it is a kind of UNIX at heart) or similar things with batch files/PowerShell in Windows.

[Rs2k]

Linux has been running my business servers since 2008 (CentOS and Ubuntu LAMP servers). I really don\'t understand why people use windows servers. I\'ve also used Linux (CentOS, Fedora, Ubuntu and flavors) as workstations. While I prefer a Linux workstation over Windows for several reasons, I have been using Windows 7 on my main 4 monitor 'command post' for years. I\'d use linux, but I can\'t get anything more than two monitors to work like I want it to.

I HIGHLY doubt I\'ll be using Windows 8 when it comes out. I hope I can get a decent Linux rig capable of running my wall of monitors before Windows 9 comes out.

The automation, security, ease of administration, robustness, flexibility, scalability and cost of Linux is hard to beat.

[Ydoow]

Way cool!

I\'m always just short of things to do with Linux, I never have a 'goal' per se, so it just turns into an internet/email computer.

I\'m running into the same problem with KSP

I\'d LOVE to use Linux as my main computer, but I just have too many games that run on Windows for me to fully switch over.

I\'ve heard rumors of Steam being released for Linux, but I\'m not holding my breath.

I think the biggest thing keeping people from Linux is just simply it\'s a whole \'nother OS to learn, and it doesn\'t really walk you through all the features or brag about them with the finesse Mac does.

I kinda like learning for myself though

[Rs2k]

There\'s a definite learning curve. I started using PC\'s back in the DOS days, so using a console came more naturally to me than a GUI. Though you can control linux from a GUI now a days as well.

A GREAT way to play with linux without going through the hassle of a multi-boot is to use VMware. I use Oracle VM virtualbox (free program) to run a test server on my main workstation. It\'s a great and very easy to use VM program.

I think the biggest obstacle to Linux is DirectX. I REALLY wish more game developers used OpenGL.

[Ydoow]

Definitely with you on OpenGL and DirectX.

I think with the success of Android Linux will become more popular though.

And if Unity\'s support for Linux is a success, I think that will help breakdown DirectX\'s hold on the market

[enfyrneaux]

I\'d use linux, but I can\'t get anything more than two monitors to work like I want it to.

Have you considered using VNC or PuTTY/Xming to remotely run applications in your Windows environment? If you want to keep it all on one machine you could even use VMs.

I\'m always just short of things to do with Linux, I never have a 'goal' per se, so it just turns into an internet/email computer.

Build a media center, web server or even certain game servers. Find tasks that you do and automate them.

I\'ve heard rumors of Steam being released for Linux, but I\'m not holding my breath.

It\'s coming. Forget rumors, hear it straight from Valve.

I think the biggest obstacle to Linux is DirectX. I REALLY wish more game developers used OpenGL.

It\'s really up to the engine developers. Though with more and more titles appearing on the iOS and Android platforms, we\'re already seeing a significant uptake in some form of OpenGL usage.

[Rs2k]

Have you considered using VNC or PuTTY/Xming to remotely run applications in your Windows environment? If you want to keep it all on one machine you could even use VMs.

Yeah, that\'s what I do now. I have my live server hosted in another state. I have a backup and test server running in a closet, and several test VMs on this workstations. I connect and manage all of them with PuTTY, FTP, rsync over SSH, etc... I also use XAMPP for 'quick and dirty' php and mysql/mysqli work. My favorite program of them all is rsnapshot. I have hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly backups points on my live server. It doesn\'t take up much space either. If I do something stupid I\'m always sure to have a 'restore point' available.

[Accelerando]

@Accelerando: How about actually learning something instead of derailing the subject? Ydoow\'s talking about using shell scripting to make launching a program in Linux easier. You can do the same thing in OS X (it is a kind of UNIX at heart) or similar things with batch files/PowerShell in Windows.

Oh, I can use bash shell just fine. I just don\'t have much fun doing so. This is what I would like to see elaborated upon. @w@ Sorry for obtuseness.

[Ydoow]

Anyone know how to adjust themes?

I just installed GTK 3.0 Elegant Brit theme. It looks great, except the font color in the system bar (using Unity at the top) is virtually the same color as the background until you wave your mouse over it.

So I\'d think it would be set under something like 'Inactive-Font' or something.

I tried messing through the css files and such, but I really don\'t know what to change. And none of my changes seem to have made an influence on the theme :l

Edit: Looks like I\'ve got it now

[Kaail]

change directories and what not for the install

Woah woah woah woah, just hold on a minute there. You can do that?! Teach unto my thy secrets oh divine one!