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Tracking Software Installations—Day 16© Copyright Darrell Anderson. One of my migration concerns is tracking what software is installed on my system. The proprietary way of doing things is shoot first and hope the user does not ask questions. I remember the more honest days a dozen years ago when vendors at least provided text files listing every file that was installed. That honesty disappeared when the infamous Windows registry appeared. Thus, for years I have been using tracking software on my NT system because I long ago stopped trusting software vendors. Little gets installed on my NT4 system without my knowledge, including registry changes. The Mandrake people have their URPMI way of doing things, and I have no major complaints about that process. However, I like the pkgtool concept provided by Slackware. Simple. The intstallpkg, removepkg, and upgradepkg tools seem right up my alley. This approach seems much better than the Windows Add/Remove process, and certainly more informative. Much like the “old” days when vendors provided text files of what gets installed, the Slackware process helps keep a user fully informed. I like that kind of honesty. Actually, all of the GNU/Linux developers do a good job of this. Somewhat of a hoot, I notice the KDE KPackage manager supports Slackware packages. I think the KDE people are on the right track! I performed a full Slackware installation only because I am unfamiliar with the distro. Eventually I will remove packages. The full installation seemed the easiest path until I am more familiar with Slackware. However, Slackware threw another curve ball at me when I tried to configure my HP LaserJet 4200 printer. I had to edit the rc.module file to uncomment the lines for parallel port support. This makes no sense to me. I learned about this only by reading an online story of another individual installing Slackware. Here’s another area to improve Slackware with a simple installation question: Do you want parallel port support? I’ll rant here for a moment. If the GNU/Linux people truly want “world domination” I recommend they continue supporting “legacy” hardware. “Legacy” according to whom? Only to marketing people who must continually reinvent ways to dupe people as consumers. One of my neighbors still uses his 1948 Ford tractor and can still buy parts over the counter. I still travel in a well-maintained 1988 pickup truck. Some of my hand tools are 30 years old but fully functional. I have no idea why people tolerate this “legacy” nonsense with computers. Many people still use the parallel port for printers, especially single system users. This is not going to change in developing areas of the world. If I had not stumbled across that online essay I likely would have struggled figuring out how to enable my parallel port—something I otherwise would have assumed and taken for granted. Conversely, however, the KDE control panel provides a wonderful way to configure CUPS and my printer. All I need do with other non-KDE applications is use the kprinter printer. I have no idea why people mock the KDE control center when such tools are so easy to use! I wanted to configure K3B, but apparently that package is not part of the normal Slackware installation. Odd. I’ll have to use installpkg to add that program from the extras CD directory. Then later I hopefully avoid battling with directory permissions to get K3B working under a non-root login! I have no sound. When I ran aplay from a command line I received an error message of aplay: main:508: audio open error: no such device. My sound card is an ISA Creative Labs Soundblaster AWE 32/64. A common card. The BIOS recognizes the card at boot-up and the card works fine in NT and Mandrake. Hmm. Another repair job is adding my both of my CD drives in fstab. Mandrake correctly identified and installed both of my CD drives, but the initial Slackware installation only installed one of my two CD drives. Odd at best, sloppy at worst. I haven’t yet figured out how to save window positions in KDE 3.3.1. When I launch programs they all seem to open wherever they want on the screen. I tend to size my program windows in the center of the screen and save the window size and position. How do I do that in KDE 3.3.1? That option used to be embedded in the title bar context menu. Oops! Still is hidden in the title bar, just in a new location. I still need to use the new KDE fonts installer to recognize all of my TrueType fonts. Long ago I installed my TrueType fonts to my /usr/local partition and they are all available to my Mandrake setup. Also on the list is KPPP as well as configuring my bash environment. I don’t remember how or where I configured my alias commands in Mandrake so I can copy and paste to Slackware. I will have to hunt for that information. In all, I’m glad things are somewhat working, but I am exhausted from the effort. I don’t see too many typical home or small business users migrating to GNU/Linux using a minimalist distro. Perhaps most should stick with a distro such as Mandrake or Xandros. There is far too much initial hand-tweaking for the typical non-techie. I can and do tinker under the hood, but like anybody I want to get from A to B as efficiently as possible. I can learn to play under the hood later. Yes, the command line is powerful, but that is Phase B of the learning curve, not Phase A. I wish GNU/Linux developers understood this! However, with only a handful of installation improvements, Slackware easily could become a favorite for newbies and people migrating. Regardless, I hope to continue tweaking and getting more familiar with Slackware under my multi-boot system. Despite the lack of intuitive tools, the Slackware philosophy seems to match my personal philosophy. Finis. |
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