Tag Archives: Linux

Linux Mint Debian XFCE (and Fedora XFCE)

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This is a screenshot of the laptop, after a clean install of Linux Mint Debian. I’ve always found Debian easier to maintain than an rpm based system, and since Ubuntu and Fedora have moved away from the mainstream into gnome 3 and unity, I find myself using XFCE by choice. And LMDE is rolling, so no need to burn a CD or DVD every six months…

Mint distros have fairly pragmatic choices. Flash and Youtube work out the box, it comes with the most useful office system (Libreoffice) and, as it is based on the debian testing repository, it is fairly easy to keep running at the uni.

And… you can install it onto odd machines, such as some of the homebrew crazy boxes me and the boys use. Recommended.

UPDATE.

I’ve got fairly stable versions of Fedora 15 running on my desktop (as a work machine, I need it to be stable).

If you are familiar with Fedora, you can see that I have gone for a green theme, and I use two screens. What is interesting is that both distros are about equally uptodate, and they are both using xfce: apart from the wallpapers all the other settings are stock, and they look quite different.

 

Use A Command Line At Boston College… Have Your Computer Equipment Confiscated | Techdirt

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I’m glad my IT department has a clue. Note to any police: clt-Alt F3 (or any function key apart from f7 will bring up a virtual terminal. These are useful for big jobs when you don’t want a graphic interface. The term for this is a command line.

And any parent who works from home should have seperate logins for the kids and him or her: the spouse may not inadvertantly trash you data, but the kids probably will type rm -rf * at least once just to see what it does….

A bunch of folks have submitted various versions of a story in Boston, involving Boston College police being granted a warrant which they used to confiscate the computers of a student as part of an investigation over an email sent to a mailing list. The troubling part is that the warrant was given without any real reason. In fact, part of the warrant application focused on the scary fact that the student in question used a command line on his computer:

Mr. Calixte uses two different operating systems to hide his illegal activities. One is the regular B.C. operating system and the other is a black screen with white font which he uses prompt commands on.

There are other accusations in the filing, but reading through it, it seems clear that this is a pure fishing expedition by the police, rather than any real probable cause.

via Use A Command Line At Boston College… Have Your Computer Equipment Confiscated | Techdirt.