Since some members wanted this thread, I'm starting it.
If it takes off, I hope a mod/admin stickies it.

Regardless of your level of expertise, Ubuntu is a good starting point. It is beginner-friendly and a bit GUI centric, but can you do programmer-level stuff on it as well (all the tools are there, just like any other distro). It's not my distro of choice, but I still recommend it to first-timers mainly due to the large amount of documentation floating online. More often than not, you'll get linked to a Ubuntu-related answer or teh Ubuntu forums even if you search a general Linux question on Google.

Go to the Ubuntu website, get the iso (10.10 for the latest stable version, or 10.04 LTS if you want a bit more stability), and then go here for tips on how to set up some stuff:
http://ubuntuguide.org/

Alternatively, you can try Mint, which is based on Ubuntu but has more stuff included out of the box (plus it looks better)
http://linuxmint.com/

After a few months, you can move on to other distros that offer a higher level of modularity (or you can stick to Ubuntu as well, it' doesn't matter)

Suse, Fedora, Mandriva all offer similar experiences to Ubuntu.

If you want to learn more about Linux in general, or just like computing on the bleeding-edge, or want something more minimalist that includes only the packages/apps you need, you can then try out distros like Debian (Testing or Unstable), Arch, Gentoo, Slackware, Source Mage, Sorcerer...etc.

Cheers

This post has been edited by G-17: Dec 19 2010, 05:36 PM

Firstly, I must disclaim that I haven't use Fedora in a while, so whatever I type below will be "logical assumptions". The Fedora support forums are still your no.1 source for Fedora specific help, -Hzu-

With regards to starting ScrotWM, I assume you're using the standard Fedo Gnome edition that uses GDM to manage your sessions, right.

If so, you'll need to find where the desktop entries are stored in Fedora. It's probably in /usr/share/xsessions. Go there, and see if you have other entries in it (like gnome.desktop...etc) If yes, do you see a scrotwm.desktop entry?

If not, try creating one, and then, inside it paste this



Here, we assume that your package manager defaults to installing the ScrotWM executable to your /usr/bin folder. Check that folder first to see if there's a scrotwm file there. If not, find out where Fedora installs it to, and change to "Exec" line to point to it accordingly. Save it, then log out to GDM and see if you see a ScrotWM entry.

If it doesn't work, ask here again (or the Fedo forums alternatively)

Ugh, now I remember why I never liked GDM in the first place... so leceh

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Added on December 19, 2010, 4:51 pmWTF!! This thread moved so fast, ah?! O_O

Ubuntu Studio is basically Ubuntu + real time kernel + apps
The benefits of a realtime(RT) kernel are it's low latency, mainly for audio production apps that rely on JACK

If you don't know what JACK or LADSPA are, then there's no point in you installing Ubuntu Studio, since you can just install all the other multimedia related apps in Studio on regular Ubuntu via apt-get or Synaptic.

Truth be told, I think Ubuntu Studio doesn't even run the RT kernel anymore, due to problems with it's maintenance. RT Kernels are "sort of" losing their place with the current trend of high premption kernels like Zen or Liquorix, which is quite sad to see.

If you're really interested in studio-related, audio production distros, there are a few out there that do a better job tha Ubuntu Studio does, at the expense of user-friendliness, possibly.

This post has been edited by G-17: Dec 19 2010, 04:52 PM

LOL, speaking of Chrome, I received an e-mail from Google a few weeks ago asking if I wanted their prototype Chrome lappy for testing (CR something something) ... I clicked on the link, and then saw the "only for US" line.

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Added on December 19, 2010, 5:30 pm@1faris
http://www.debian.org/
http://crunchbanglinux.org/ (based on Debian Squeeze/Testing)
http://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=1527 (Mint Debian, based on Debian Testing)
http://aptosid.com/ (based on Debian Sid/Unstable)
http://www.archlinux.org/
http://www.slackware.com/
http://www.zenwalk.org/ (based on Slackware)
http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/ (based on YOU)



@Acid_RuleZz
Hmm, it's possible, but I don't use GDM/KDM so this might not be 100% accurate, but should work *in theory*

I'll use GDM and ScrotWM as examples;

first, confirm that you have the scrotwm.desktop (or just Scrotwm) entry in your usr/share/xsessions. If so, open it, and save it's contents to somewhere else (in case what I tell you here doesn't work and you need to revert)

Now replace its contents with this (you'll need root permissions, obviously):


You see the "/root/scrotwm.sh" script there? .... We're going to create that file now.

Go to your /root and create a file/document called scrotwm.sh and give it permission to run as an executable (either via teh Properties tab in your file manager or chmod in terminal)

Then, inside scrotwm.sh, add your startup apps like this example:


Replace those entries with whatever you use on your setup.
Please note that nm-applet might not work (since ScrotWM doesn't have a systray for you to run applets), but you can still try it. If not, you'll have to replace that line with the actual network manager command (which I do not know since I don't use network manager). the "feh" line is for your wallpaper, which means you should have feh installed (it's in your repos).
Important: make sure you refer back to your regular Gnome sessions for all teh stuff you want started and the exact lines they need, since here I'm just assuming the commands for you... I don't use gnome). I added the setxkbmap line to default to a US keyboard and the synclient line for your touchpad tap-to-click function, remove em if you don't need.

Let me know if it works.

Your main problem will be the network manager. I'm sorry that I can't help further with that. I don't really know it's syntax, and I prefer wicd-curses myself (mainly cos wicd launches during the boot process, so I don't need to add it to any of my session startups and can control it via terminal)

Hope this helps,

Cheers.

Edit:
Oh, btw .. you can't really use gnome-panel or docky in a tiling WM ... it's pointless, and docky needs compositing to work, which most tilers don't support by default. you can pipe conky output to the ScrotWM bar, however...

I actually included the "bar_ action = conky" in the .scrotwm.conf I sent you, Acid_RuleZz , but forgot to tell you how to configure conky to appear on it. I'll show you later after you've solved your current issues.

This post has been edited by G-17: Dec 19 2010, 06:01 PM

The Arch Beginners Guide and ArchWiki are a good place to start.
Great resources. I don't use Arch as much as I used to (AUR is a joke, imho), but it's still a great distro for learning. Just don't think you've suddenly become a guru just because you installed Arch, cos anyone can do it by reading the guide.

Alternatively, you could try a minimal Fedora or Ubuntu install first, and then move to Arch or Debian Unstable, and finally move on to source based distros liek Gentoo or Sorcerer.... seems the more logical learning curve to me.

Don't worry, la ... Just wipe everything, and then I'll help you make a pink GTK theme to match her Hello Kitty wallpaper

This post has been edited by G-17: Dec 19 2010, 07:36 PM

@Acid_RuleZz
Strange. O_o
Is it not working at all (as in ScrotWM does not even start), or does it start but without the wireless? If so, does the wallpaper and keymap get loaded, at least?

This post has been edited by G-17: Dec 20 2010, 12:47 AM

^okay, Firstly, you're sure the scrotwm.sh script is placed in /root and you gave it permissions, right?

Secondly, you're supposed to change the path in feh to your wallpaper
Example: feh --bg-scale /home/acidrulezz/pictures/supermodel.jpg

Edit: Sexy terminal, btw

This post has been edited by G-17: Dec 20 2010, 01:04 AM

^the easy way (using GUI),
In your file manager (you use Nautilus, I presume, so launch nautilus as root user), then go to your /root (click in file system, then double-click on the folder called root) and on the scrotwm.sh file, right-click it, and then go to properties, and there should be a permissions tab... in there, there should be a box saying "Allow this file to run as a program" , make you you tick it.

Note: I don;t have Nautilus. The only GUI file manager I have installed is Thunar, and what I explained above is how it looks in Thunar. Nautilus might have different labels for it, but there still should be a box you can tick somewhere in "Properties"

OR

the cli way
open a root terminal and type in;



This post has been edited by G-17: Dec 20 2010, 01:40 AM

@scorps
Aptosid, GRML, Arch, Slackware, Gentoo, Free-BSD

You don't really have to change to another distro if you don't want to.. One of my servers has run Debian Testing for years, since around the time Etch was released. If something works well enough for you, you can always stick to it. Conversely, there's no crime in trying out new things.

The choice is yours.

This post has been edited by G-17: Dec 20 2010, 03:37 AM

My Eyes!! >_<

@Acir_RuleZz
Why can't it work? O_o
Launch emesene from the terminal and see if there's any error message.

With regards to CLI IM clients, I use Mcabber for my Gtalk. I'm not too sure about MSN (I don't use anything MS), since it seems to only handle jabber protocols. CenterIM seems to work with MSN, though how much, I'm not sure. I doubt you'll be able to video conference and all that, but text chats should be fine.

You'll need to setup a config file, I think... or maybe you can configure it once you launch it. Note: the first time you run it, make sure you launch it from the Master Pane in scrotwm. That way you waon't get any dialog boxes being cut off in case you need to configure.

It's in your repos, so you don't need to compile from source. Here's the project page for you to refer to.
http://www.centerim.org/index.php/Main_Page

Off to bed. Good night.

Just so you know, Scrot and ScrotWM are completely different/unrelated packages. ScrotWM is the tiling window manager I was talking about earlier, while scrot is just a screenshot taking app. So if you installed scrot, then yes, you installed the wrong thing.

With regards to starting ScrotWM via GDM;
As far as I know Ubuntu and stock Debian Stable (Gnome) will automatically add ScrotWM to your xsessions, but I'm not sure about other distros. The instructions I previously posted (about manually creating a scrotwm.desktop in your /usr/share/xsessions) should work across most distros that have GDM installed. Not sure about Fedora (which I assume -Hzu- is using), but maybe it has something to do with the path Yum installs Scrotwm to.

Like I mentioned previously, I don't rely on GDM to manage my sessions (I'm old fashioned and prefer good ol' startx), so I'm not exactly well-informed in that department. It might be best to ask the Fedora forums.

This post has been edited by G-17: Dec 23 2010, 01:26 AM

Nouveau is the Open Source version, not directly supported or sanctioned by Nvidia (as far as I know), but it's easier to install and maintain.

In terms of performance, Nouveau is quite good, but the restricted "official" Nvidia drivers are better. Nouveau doesn't support VDPAU either, if I'm not mistaken.

This post has been edited by G-17: Dec 23 2010, 08:44 PM

@axxer
Strange O_o ... the output says your CPU is indeed scaling correctly.
Tell me, does any part of the laptop feel hot to the touch?

Does this in the terminal give you anything? (eg: performance, ondemand..etc)


...and the same for the other core


if the answer for both is "ondemand", then there's not much you can do, since it's scaling correctly.

What kernel does LMDE currently use? If I remember correctly, Debian Testing is still frozen on the 2.6.32 kernel until Squeeze gets officially released. I remember there being some temperature issues on certain Core2Duo and Core2Quad processors with version 2.6.32-5

@axxer
Hmm... I don't have any Core2Duo T series processor laptop here to test out myself.

Could be one of 3 possibilities.

1. It's normal for your model.

2. lm-sensors might be reporting it wrong.... Notice how the "high" and "critical" are the same.

3. Your laptop fan needs cleaning.

Do you happen to have a windoze partition on the same laptop? If yes, boot into windows and install a temperature monitor app (google it) and see if the core temperatures are in the same range.

Do you remember your lm-sensors output from back when you used Ubuntu?

You can try installing a daemon called irqbalance. It's function is to distribute load across your system more evenly, so *in theory* it's not supposed to affect your temperature, but a few users have reported cooler core temps under load with irqbalance installed. All you have to do is install it and reboot, it will run itself. If you see no change or you get an error during boot, you can just remove it without problems.

Lastly, try unplugging your laptop and using it under battery power for a couple of hours, and monitor your temperatures too see if they're cooler, since cpufreq is supposed to load the "powersave" module when on battery power. If you still get the same high temps when on battery power, then something might be wrong with the scaling.

P.S
How high does your CPU temp go when under load? Try running a few flash videos or h264 HD mkv files, or run some heavy filter effects with Gimp. Does it spike a lot (as in more than 10 - 15 degrees)??

@powerwoot
Good morning to you too.
Alas, I'm not so happy .... cos I haven't solved axxer's high core temperature problem yet.

Btw, I'm currently a little devil (FreeBSD), not a penguin.

@cocooh
Wah lau!! ... You still searching for audio players? O_O
Just go install MoC or MPD + Ncmcpp or Cplay or Cmus man .... you won't bother with others after that.
Oh, if you want a fat GUI one, the newest Audacious beta (Ubuntu has a PPA somewhere) is very good. Supports GTK+ themes now and also does gapless playback very well.

This post has been edited by G-17: Dec 24 2010, 09:08 AM

So did you fix your Grub21 error and get this, or is this part of the first problem?

If this is a separate problem, can you be more specific, please?
When you say "stuck at boot screen", do you mean the screen before grub loads, or just after grub loads, or during the bootsplash (for ubuntu it's the purple plymouth one, I think)??

This post has been edited by G-17: Dec 27 2010, 07:13 PM

Ouch!! >_<
Firstly, check if you can run a live-cd on it.
If you can, then it's not BIOS related and is probably still a Grub problem.
Did you run the supergrubdisk? (yours is Grub2, btw). It should be able to restore grub for you. Try this method only if the initial "sudo apt-get install grub" and "sudo update-grub" method from a live CD didn't solve it.

You basically need to reinstall your bootloader.
I know Ubuntu Alternate CDs have that option.

Also, these might prove useful as you're diagnosing.
http://members.iinet.net/~herman546/p20/GR...20Commands.html
http://members.iinet.net/~herman546/p20/GR...nds.html#chroot

This post has been edited by G-17: Dec 27 2010, 07:36 PM