The Computer And General Tech Thread - Software, Hardware, Questions, etc.

[rotting bones]

Regarding free antiviruses: I think Avira was my favorite free antivirus. I've switched to paid antiviruses for a few years now, so I don't know how much junk they've added recently.

Regarding BSD: The last time I checked, BSD didn't have the extensive hardware support that Linux offers.

Regarding Linux: I installed the Ubuntu LTS on one of my laptops. It crashes all the time. It stopped crashing during startup and shutdown after I disabled a few services, but I still can't restart it. I hear the latest versions of GTK 3 were unstable, as is the new GTK 4.

[bradrn]

Regarding Linux: I installed the Ubuntu LTS on one of my laptops. It crashes all the time. It stopped crashing during startup and shutdown after I disabled a few services, but I still can't restart it. I hear the latest versions of GTK 3 were unstable, as is the new GTK 4.

I’ve heard that Ubuntu these days is pretty bad in general. Try Debian stable or Linux Mint instead — or for that matter Arch Linux (or its derivative EndeavourOS), which despite its reputation as unstable has been working surprisingly well for me. I dislike GTK, but I haven’t actually had many issues with it.

[rotting bones]

I’ve heard that Ubuntu these days is pretty bad in general. Try Debian stable or Linux Mint instead — or for that matter Arch Linux (or its derivative EndeavourOS), which despite its reputation as unstable has been working surprisingly well for me. I dislike GTK, but I haven’t actually had many issues with it.

Thanks. There is one particular software I'm trying to run which says it runs on Ubuntu, so I'm worried about incompatibilities with other distributions. Maybe I should have used an older version of Ubuntu, but then there are worries about outdated drivers.

[bradrn]

There is one particular software I'm trying to run which says it runs on Ubuntu, so I'm worried about incompatibilities with other distributions.

As far as I’m aware, such a case would be extremely unusual — most software works similarly on all Linux distributions. In any case, Ubuntu itself is simply a variant of Debian, so pretty much all software which works on the former should also be compatible with the latter.

[Travis B.]

Regarding Linux: I installed the Ubuntu LTS on one of my laptops. It crashes all the time. It stopped crashing during startup and shutdown after I disabled a few services, but I still can't restart it. I hear the latest versions of GTK 3 were unstable, as is the new GTK 4.

I’ve heard that Ubuntu these days is pretty bad in general. Try Debian stable or Linux Mint instead — or for that matter Arch Linux (or its derivative EndeavourOS), which despite its reputation as unstable has been working surprisingly well for me. I dislike GTK, but I haven’t actually had many issues with it.

I have used Debian "testing" for years, and the only issues I have encountered is that at times in the past, either lightdm or gdm3 would not work, so I would have to select one or the other, and when I first installed it on this laptop, the proprietary nVidia drivers would not work, but the FLOSS Nouveau drivers would. As a whole I've found it to be quite solid. Word to the wise, though - Debian "stable" tends to be far behind Debian "testing", as the only updates it gets are security fixes, which is why I don't use it.

[bradrn]

Word to the wise, though - Debian "stable" tends to be far behind Debian "testing", as the only updates it gets are security fixes, which is why I don't use it.

Yeah, I know — it’s just that rotting bones seemed concerned about stability, and Debian stable is, indeed, very thoroughly stable. For myself, I use Arch Linux (well, EndeavourOS, but it comes to the same thing).

[rotting bones]

As far as I’m aware, such a case would be extremely unusual — most software works similarly on all Linux distributions.

A better description than "unusual" might be "backend". Backend software like fussy custom tools from the swamps of GitHub is not exactly rare. This GitHub code repo is extremely backend.

In any case, Ubuntu itself is simply a variant of Debian, so pretty much all software which works on the former should also be compatible with the latter.

IIRC even the Ubuntu package format was not fully compatible with Debian.

[bradrn]

As far as I’m aware, such a case would be extremely unusual — most software works similarly on all Linux distributions.

A better description than "unusual" might be "backend". Backend software like fussy custom tools from the swamps of GitHub is not exactly rare. This GitHub code repo is extremely backend.

Hmm, what software is this?

In any case, Ubuntu itself is simply a variant of Debian, so pretty much all software which works on the former should also be compatible with the latter.

IIRC even the Ubuntu package format was not fully compatible with Debian.

Not that I’m aware. apt is the standard package manager for both Ubuntu and Debian.

[rotting bones]

Hmm, what software is this?

This is probably the least hacky of the ones I need: https://github.com/opencv/cvat

I couldn't get automatic annotation to work on Windows.

Not that I’m aware. apt is the standard package manager for both Ubuntu and Debian.

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MarkShuttlewort ... butions.3F

[bradrn]

Hmm, what software is this?

This is probably the least hacky of the ones I need: https://github.com/opencv/cvat

It looks like the only distro-specific stuff here is the Docker installation process, and that’s well-documented across all systems.

Not that I’m aware. apt is the standard package manager for both Ubuntu and Debian.

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MarkShuttlewort ... butions.3F

This is quite vaguely written, but seems to be referring to compatibility between specific binary executable programs, rather than anything to do with the packaging. That is, it’s saying that if you compile a program for the libraries on Debian, then copy that same file to Ubuntu and try to use it without modification, it might not work due to slight differences between the precise binary interfaces to libraries available on each system. However, if you stick to the usual workflow of either installing stuff from your package manager or compiling stuff from source — which in my experience is how all software on Linux is expected to be installed — you shouldn’t even notice this.

[rotting bones]

It looks like the only distro-specific stuff here is the Docker installation process, and that’s well-documented across all systems.

Do you have a guess as to why automatic annotation is working on Ubuntu but not Windows? https://opencv.github.io/cvat/docs/admi ... nnotation/ I suspect it has something to do with nuctl.

This is quite vaguely written, but seems to be referring to compatibility between specific binary executable programs, rather than anything to do with the packaging.

Thanks. I basically meant you can't always install an Ubuntu package on Debian Stable.

[bradrn]

It looks like the only distro-specific stuff here is the Docker installation process, and that’s well-documented across all systems.

Do you have a guess as to why automatic annotation is working on Ubuntu but not Windows? https://opencv.github.io/cvat/docs/admi ... nnotation/ I suspect it has something to do with nuctl.

Where do you see that? I can’t find it on the page you linked.

This is quite vaguely written, but seems to be referring to compatibility between specific binary executable programs, rather than anything to do with the packaging.

Thanks. I basically meant you can't always install an Ubuntu package on Debian Stable.

Correct… though then again, what you’re looking at isn’t an Ubuntu package in the first place, so it’s a moot point here. And most (if not all?) Ubuntu packages are originally from Debian repositories anyway.

[MacAnDàil]

So is BSD Berkeley Software Distribution?

[Travis B.]

So is BSD Berkeley Software Distribution?

Yes, Berkeley Software Distribution or Berkeley Standard Distribution.

[rotting bones]

Where do you see that? I can’t find it on the page you linked.

My partner and I tried it both ways on 5 different machines.

Correct… though then again, what you’re looking at isn’t an Ubuntu package in the first place, so it’s a moot point here. And most (if not all?) Ubuntu packages are originally from Debian repositories anyway.

I need other tools as well. But you're right, there are possible combinations of tools that avoid Ubuntu packages altogether. Do you think I should try Debian Stable directly, or something like MX Linux, a distro based on Debian Stable that has been taking off recently? https://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=popularity

[bradrn]

Where do you see that? I can’t find it on the page you linked.

My partner and I tried it both ways on 5 different machines.

In that case, I’m not sure.

Correct… though then again, what you’re looking at isn’t an Ubuntu package in the first place, so it’s a moot point here. And most (if not all?) Ubuntu packages are originally from Debian repositories anyway.

I need other tools as well. But you're right, there are possible combinations of tools that avoid Ubuntu packages altogether. Do you think I should try Debian Stable directly, or something like MX Linux, a distro based on Debian Stable that has been taking off recently? https://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=popularity

I dunno, both seem fine from what I’ve heard, though Debian Stable is of course the most popular. I do know that MX Linux doesn’t use systemd, which might be a positive or a negative depending on what you want.

[bradrn]

Saw this and thought Travis might be interested: https://udamonic.com/what-is-a-scamp.html

[alice]

Where do you see that? I can’t find it on the page you linked.

My partner and I tried it both ways on 5 different machines.

must.. not... make... off.. colour... remark... much strain...

[Travis B.]

Saw this and thought Travis might be interested: https://udamonic.com/what-is-a-scamp.html

Yeah, that runs FlashForth on a PIC24 microcontroller. I have never used FlashForth myself, as I do not own any PIC or AVR microcontrollers and consider them somewhat underpowered for this day and age (along with not being able to execute out of RAM, so you're constantly wearing out flash when you are recompiling repeatedly during development), but with the help of someone I know who has a board that does run it, I added support to it to zeptocom.js (GitHub page: https://github.com/tabemann/zeptocomjs/).

[rotting bones]

I dunno, both seem fine from what I’ve heard, though Debian Stable is of course the most popular. I do know that MX Linux doesn’t use systemd, which might be a positive or a negative depending on what you want.

Thanks. I think I'll try Debian Stable first.