"Palmolive dish washing liquid" written by Tinypliny on estrip.org

09/04/11 06:55 - ID#55090

Palmolive dish washing liquid

The label is not on the bottle of dishwashing fluid so I had to look this one up on the Colgate website

:

Water: Consistency
Ammonium C12-15 Pareth Sulfate: Cleaning and Foaming Agent
SD Alcohol 3-A: Controls Thickness and Clarity
Lauramidopropylamine Oxide: Cleaning and Foaming Agent
Sodium Chloride: Controls Thickness (okay, this is salt)
Magnesium Sulfate: Controls Thickness
Fragrance: Pleasant Scent
Poloxamer 124: Controls Thickness
Pentasodium Pentatate: Maintains Product Stability
Preservative: Maintains Product Freshness
Sodium Bisulfite: Maintains Product Stability
Dyes: Color - yeah, what exactly?

I don't know about many of these chemicals. Their descriptions seem tame enough but who knows what lies beneath. I am somewhat rushed for time to verify each thing on that list. So there it is. I am exposed on a daily basis to these and I actually like washing dishes.

Permalink: Palmolive_dish_washing_liquid.html
Words: 145
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 09/04/11 10:42

Category: chemicals

09/04/11 01:09 - ID#55088

Italian Raisin Bread

Italian Raisin Bread baked in a brick oven. Distributed by Mastroianni Brothers Bakery Incorporated (518) 355-5310
51 Opus Blvd, Schenectady, NY 12306

Potassium Bromate.

Good grief. I am merrily eating this while it has been banned in Sri Lanka and China and has escaped a ban here because of a bureaucratic regulation loophole.

In the United States, it has not been banned. The FDA sanctioned the use of bromate before the Delaney clause of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Actâ€”which bans potentially carcinogenic substancesâ€” went into effect in 1958, so it is more difficult for it to now be banned. Instead, since 1991 the FDA has urged bakers to voluntarily stop using it. In California a warning label is required when bromated flour is used.

I am on the last slice. It's delicious but I am placing a personal kitchen ban effective from the next minute. And I just wrote to the store to consider discontinuing this bread.

Permalink: Italian_Raisin_Bread.html
Words: 163
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 09/04/11 10:42

Category: chemicals

09/04/11 11:34 - ID#55085

The product label project.

I have wanted to do this for the longest time. It's completely boring to anyone except me but I want to maintain a running list of every single chemical I apply on my skin or eat that I don't know about. It's fascinating how much chemicals dominate our lives.

I pretend that I am avoiding a ton of it by religiously reading labels to everything I consider buying. But I do end up getting stuff to eat or cosmetics that have unknown compounds in them. I don't know what the roles of these chemicals are or what they are capable of messing up in my body. I place my blind trust in the fact that they can't be excessively harmful because *someone out there* is definitely regulating them.

Fact is, there is very little regulation. Products that proudly proclaim that they are not been tested on animals actually scare me. I get all the arguments of PETA and animal rights activists and their gory pictures of animal suffering are shocking. But let's face it. At some point, we need to draw the line at just how much we want to compromise safety and health for humans in favour of "humane treatment of animals". Scientific research has primarily reached its current status because we could use animals to test our experiments.

We cannot emulate the living system otherwise. We cannot foresee the consequences of chemicals on living systems if we have never tested them on any. You cannot persuade me that reactions that you have seen on cell cultures come close to what happens in real life. My cynicism stems from first hand experience of the limitations of non-living systems for experimentation. It seems so paradoxical to me that we have such complicated and expensive clinical trials for drugs consumed by a minority sick population and yet NO regulation or trials for products that a vast majority of the general population uses and consumes daily and all the time. Prevention is definitely nowhere in the agenda here.

Another alternative is of course to use just edible and known natural substances in everything. While this is a logical and perfect alternative to the dilemmas of animal testing, it is also sometimes not very practical in today's world where products are global rather than local in their distribution and audience.

Anyway, I just ate some hummus:
It had "less than 0.5% of":

Sorbic Acid
Sodium Benzoate
Phosphoric Acid

Preservatives. But why can't salt and olive oil suffice? Maybe I need to just make my own Hummus from (e:libertad)'s awesome (secret?) recipe.

tinypliny writes at 11:52:05 09/05/11 - Comment #64825: I agree with you, but forcing any subset of population, be it prisoners or grad students to take part in drug testing borders on what Nazis did back in the day. Cruelty to any living being is wrong be it animals or humans but is there any other alternative? This is where people come up with "there is always cell culture, there is always cadaver skin" etc. These are NOT living systems. We are not capable of creating life in the laboratory yet. There has to be compromise somewhere. Call me selfish or call me "species-cist", but being a human, I vote in favour of NOT subjecting humans to cruelty.

metalpeter writes at 11:30:38 09/05/11 - Comment #64824: don't get me wrong I'm not a crazy PETA member but do think that cruelty is wrong... That being said you can kill an animal and eat it in a non cruel way.... I know that it is unethical to grab prisoners (bet they do it in china though) and force testing on them... but if they are guilty and really guilty not this eh I didn't do anything that happens sometimes... Why not offer them time off for time in medical testing you know the dangerous stuff that you would want to try on an animal that doesn't have all the same biology as humans.......

tinypliny writes at 10:08:29 09/05/11 - Comment #64813: Yes! They do pay people to take part in trials. :) In fact, believe it or not, some people are career "trialists". Many grad student make small money out of taking part in studies. You are right in saying that all living systems are not equivalent. However, some testing is better than no testing at all. When products proclaim that there has been no animal testing, it inspires ZERO confidence in my and I immediately place it back. I'd rather see things like dermatologist-approved or some such comment OR chemicals/ingredient lists that I know about.

tinypliny writes at 10:04:52 09/05/11 - Comment #64812: Yes, I prefer that there are no substitutions. If it is non-fat (apart from some really simple things like milk), manufacturers do add in other things to compensate. Not all non-fat/low-fat/low-sugar/low-salt stuff has substituted chemicals though. I literally read all the labels before making a decision to buy. Grocery shopping is often an intense speed-reading trip for me. But things like the potassium bromate does slip through, which is why I am posting here. I want to be more familiar with what I am consuming.

Yes, containers do leach out into food. I try not to heat plastics in the microwave. Glass/ceramic/stainless steel (for stovetop/baking) are my materials of choice. Plastics are all over the place however, it's hard to assess their complete effects because of difficulties in measurement.

metalpeter writes at 10:01:31 09/05/11 - Comment #64811

3 Animal Testing... (maybe part of this is a just saw on Friday Rise of the Planet of the apes oh gawd a lot of it was so sad it really was...Or maybe something is just wrong with me...Good movie though) Never makes any sense to me and here is why.....

I have this idea or theory on this drug and here is what it is supposed to do and have this effect so lets see what it does in an animal.... Now I get that there are things that can be deadly you don't know about or things you can perfect... But here is where the problem lies for me.... The Biology is different so if something works or doesn't it then would have to be altered cause a chimp or rabbit or rat or Lemur or what ever isn't a human.... So as bad as this sounds just go right to human testing... Yes I get that side effects and that kind of thing only happen to some people because we all don't have the exact same make up... But also shouldn't medicine or cosmetics be tested on sick people as well.... How will they be effected?

Now some would say that isn't ethical but why not as a starting point offer people who are sick in some form full payment of any medical bills from illness past and future as payment for being the animal....

metalpeter writes at 09:53:11 09/05/11 - Comment #64810

2.... Don't think there is a way for you to study this in your home life but what about containers.... Yes once something in a can is opened or even when not opening it putting it in a fridge is bad... But even with out that wonder how much stuff from cans, bottles, and bags works its way into the food... I'm guessing glass is the safest... but this could be true of re heating things as well (more along the lines of microwaves ) can't that container become part of the food and the food part of that container...

metalpeter writes at 09:49:24 09/05/11 - Comment #64809: Comment One of I think about 3.... Avoiding Chemicals is a good idea but not sure how possible it is... As an example there is this claim of things being Healthy... Like fat free or low fat or low Sodium or sugar free.. Well though if you take that stuff out you need something else in its place... Every chemical Sugar in some form (high heat like is setting in the bed of a truck or being stored in a garage hot enough not sure)... But some things when you take fat out to keep the same feel and taste something else has to be added and most times I'm guessing it is chemicals.....

paul writes at 01:59:08 09/04/11 - Comment #64791: I thought I remembered reading it only occurred at warm temperatures such that refrigerated soda was not as much an issue as warm pop. Personally I am equally as paranoid about the plastic bottles. Whatever bleaches put of that crap is not even on the label.

tinypliny writes at 01:29:45 09/04/11 - Comment #64789: I meant ascorbic acid, not citric acid - both of which are naturally found in fruits and are not a health risk per se.

tinypliny writes at 01:28:59 09/04/11 - Comment #64788: Hmm.. the benzene is formed via reaction with citric acid. I wonder what sorbic acid and phosphoric acid are reacting to form with sodium benzoate. Disturbing.

tinypliny writes at 12:48:24 09/04/11 - Comment #64786: Nice. Now I feel I like I should dump the rest of the hummus in the garbage. Actually, I don't quite like the artichoke in it. Tastes iffy unlike the awesome (e:libertad)'s version.

paul writes at 12:15:07 09/04/11 - Comment #64782: This is a great idea. I really, really try to avoid things with chemicals other than the medicines I take. I realize you can't control everything but I can't tell you home many things I don't eat because of Sodium Benzoate after I read about how it forms benezine :::link:::

Permalink: The_product_label_project_.html
Words: 428
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 09/04/11 10:42

Category: linux

09/03/11 10:52 - ID#55079

rcconf - Debian runlevel Configuration

With a thing called rcconf, I can see these are the things running on startup of my system

â”‚ [*] alsa-utils
â”‚ [*] anacron
â”‚ [*] aumix
â”‚ [*] bluetooth
â”‚ [*] bootlogs
â”‚ [*] console-setup
â”‚ [*] cron
â”‚ [*] dbus
â”‚ [*] fancontrol
â”‚ [*] fuse
â”‚ [*] hal
â”‚ [*] hddtemp
â”‚ [*] hdparm
â”‚ [*] kbd
â”‚ [*] keyboard-setup
â”‚ [*] live-boot
â”‚ [*] live-config
â”‚ [*] lm-sensors
â”‚ [*] module-init-tools
â”‚ [*] network-manager
â”‚ [*] openvpn
â”‚ [*] plymouth
â”‚ [*] pppd-dns
â”‚ [*] procps
â”‚ [*] rsync
â”‚ [*] rsyslog
â”‚ [*] sudo
â”‚ [*] udev
â”‚ [*] x11-common

I guess I can disable the ones in blue.. How about the others? What are these things anyway?!

tinypliny writes at 12:08:33 09/04/11 - Comment #64781: I promise I have stopped thinking about it! In fact I have completely laid off messing with my system after comment #64760. I just got lazy and didn't update this post.

paul writes at 11:57:24 09/04/11 - Comment #64779: I think you have to stop thinking about what is useful to you. I am not saying this is for sure the case with the audio mixer service but there is a good chance something else might expect it and then freak out when its not there. I doubt it really uses any resources when not in use.

tinypliny writes at 11:48:17 09/04/11 - Comment #64778: LOL, you are tougher than I thought. It's done now! :) aumix is in blue because it's not really useful to me. System76 has THE WORST soundcard and I seldom use this comp for anything media related anyway. Sound is rock-bottom to say the list. Who cares about mixer levels in that pit of mediocrity?

paul writes at 11:38:00 09/04/11 - Comment #64776: Why is the blue not coming off cron and anacron?

uncutsaniflush writes at 12:41:04 09/03/11 - Comment #64765: i would disable bluetooth, openvpn (unless you do virtual private networking), and pppd-dns (unless you use dail-up). I'm with (e:paul) you do NOT want to disable anacron and cron. Bad shit could happen.

tinypliny writes at 12:04:00 09/03/11 - Comment #64763: seems like it could be problematic with a live system using that tool: :::link:::

paul writes at 11:54:43 09/03/11 - Comment #64762: use dd and clone the drive to an external one that you can restore from later. Thats a long process that requires lots of storage but it might be faster than always rebuilding. A virtual machine on the other hand it would take like 30 seconds and store just the differences.

tinypliny writes at 11:40:59 09/03/11 - Comment #64761: Hold on! that's a fabulous thought. Is there a way to do a snapshot of this real one?

paul writes at 11:39:09 09/03/11 - Comment #64760: If you were using virtual machines his would be a great place for a snapshot.

tinypliny writes at 11:33:36 09/03/11 - Comment #64758: Valid points. I am stopping the removing right now. :) It definitely does not contribute in any way to my work at all. It's kind of annoying as it is too much information. I am determined to be happier with how things are right now because they are working well for now. The weird selection problem has gone away with this new install and I want to keep it that way.

I don't know yet about the party.. Could you please message me the address? I will see where I am @ 8:00 PM today.

paul writes at 11:27:42 09/03/11 - Comment #64757: Why are you obsessed with removing everything? I believe this is the root of your problem - besides maybe a hardware issue. Is the system too slow? I bet not - why not just leave a default crunchbang install and see how that goes. Stop removing stuff because you are actually making it way harder to figure out what is wrong by introducing way too many variables into the situation.

It sound to me like you are obsessing on this stuff to avoid your real work but then you justify it by saying, this somehow contributes to your real work. Clearly, the benefits are not paying off it you have to keep reinstalling your os.

Live-config appears to be "live-config contains the scripts that configure a Debian Live system during
the boot process (late userspace)."

That doesn't sound like something you would want to remove.anacron/cron is the service that runs scheduled tasks. You can use it in awesome ways and the OS probably uses it for log rotation or other stuff that needs to happen on schedule.

Off topic - are you going to the party tonight?

Permalink: rcconf_Debian_runlevel_Configuration.html
Words: 66
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 09/04/11 11:45

Category: linux

09/03/11 10:07 - ID#55076

All packages on my Crunchbang

Since I am estripping my Crunchbang this time, why not just post EVERYTHING on my system thus far... It's quite an interesting list. :) The ones installed on Feb 7 came with the system and the ones in the last 2 days are my doing (along with the ones that got installed with the dist-upgrade command).

Run:

ls /var/lib/dpkg/info/*.list -lh >packagelist.txt

to get this:

Vanilla Crunchbang

abiword-common
abiword-plugin-grammar
abiword-plugin-mathview
abiword
adduser
adobe-flashplugin
alsa-base
alsa-utils
anacron
apt-xapian-index
aptitude
arj
aspell-en
aspell
aumix-common
aumix
b43-fwcutter
base-passwd
bash-completion
bash
bc
binutils
bluez
bsdmainutils
bsdutils
build-essential
busybox
bzip2
cabextract
catfish
console-common
console-data
console-terminus
consolekit
coreutils
cowsay
cpio
cpp-4.4
cpp
cron
crunchbang-bin-scripts
crunchbang-extra-themes
crunchbang-wallpapers
dash
debconf-i18n
debconf
debian-archive-keyring
debianutils
defoma
desktop-file-utils
dictionaries-common
diffutils
dmidecode
dmsetup
dmz-cursor-theme
dnsmasq-base
docbook-xml
dosfstools
dwm-tools
eject
elementary-icon-theme
esound-clients
esound-common
evince-common
evince
exiv2
exo-utils
fakeroot
fancontrol
fbxkb
figlet
file-roller
file
findutils
firmware-b43-installer
firmware-b43legacy-installer
firmware-linux-nonfree
firmware-linux
fontconfig-config
fontconfig
fortune-mod
ftp
fuse-utils
g++-4.4
g++
gamin
gawk
gcalctool
gcc-4.4-base
gcc-4.4
gcc
gconf2-common
gconf2
gdebi-core
gdebi
gedit-plugins
gettext-base
ghostscript
giblib1
gimp-data
gimp-gmic
gimp-plugin-registry
gimp
gksu
gnome-bluetooth
gnome-doc-utils
gnome-icon-theme
gnome-keyring
gnome-mime-data
gnome-user-guide
gnumeric-common
gnumeric
gnupg
gparted
gpgv
grep
groff-base
gsfonts
gsimplecal
gstreamer0.10-alsa
gstreamer0.10-plugins-base
gtk2-engines-murrine
gtk2-engines-pixbuf
gtk2-engines-xfce
gtk2-engines
gtrayicon
gvfs-backends
gvfs
gzip
hal-info
hal
hddtemp
hdparm
hicolor-icon-theme
hostname
human-icon-theme
hunspell-en-us
ifupdown
imagemagick
info
initramfs-tools
initscripts
insserv
install-info
inxi
iproute
iptables
iputils-ping
iso-codes
jfsutils
kbd
lame
less
lha
liba52-0.7.4
libaa1
libabiword-2.8
libacl1
libaiksaurus-1.2-0c2a
libaiksaurus-1.2-data
libaiksaurusgtk-1.2-0c2a
libalgorithm-diff-perl
libalgorithm-diff-xs-perl
libalgorithm-merge-perl
libarchive1
libart-2.0-2
libasound2
libaspell15
libass4
libasyncns0
libatasmart4
libatk1.0-0
libatk1.0-data
libattr1
libaudio2
libaudiofile0
libaudit0
libavc1394-0
libavcodec52
libavformat52
libavutil49
libbabl-0.0-0
libblas3gf
libblkid1
libbluetooth3
libbonobo2-0
libbonobo2-common
libbonoboui2-0
libbonoboui2-common
libboost-iostreams1.42.0
libbsd0
libbz2-1.0
libc-bin
libc-dev-bin
libc6-dev
libc6
libcaca0
libcairo-perl
libcairomm-1.0-1
libcap-ng0
libcap2
libcddb2
libcdio-cdda0
libcdio-paranoia0
libcdio10
libcdparanoia0
libcdt4
libck-connector0
libcolamd2.7.1
libcroco3
libcups2
libcupsimage2
libcwidget3
libdatrie1
libdb4.7
libdb4.8
libdbus-glib-1-2
libdc1394-22
libdca0
libdevmapper1.02.1
libdirac-encoder0
libdirectfb-1.2-9
libdjvulibre-text
libdjvulibre21
libdrm-intel1
libdrm-nouveau1
libdrm-radeon1
libdrm2
libdvbpsi6
libdvdcss2
libdvdnav4
libdvdread4
libebml0
libedit2
libeggdbus-1-0
libelf1
libenca0
libenchant1c2a
libept1
libesd0
libevent-1.4-2
libevince2
libexif12
libexiv2-9
libexo-0.3-0
libexo-common
libexpat1
libfaad2
libffi5
libfftw3-3
libflac8
libfont-afm-perl
libfont-freetype-perl
libfontconfig1
libfontenc1
libfribidi0
libfs6
libfuse2
libgail18
libgamin0
libgcc1
libgconf2-4
libgcr0
libgcrypt11
libgd2-noxpm
libgdbm3
libgdome2-0
libgdome2-cpp-smart0c2a
libgdu0
libgegl-0.0-0
libgfortran3
libgif4
libgimp2.0
libgksu2-0
libgl1-mesa-dri
libgl1-mesa-glx
libglade2-0
libglew1.5
libglib-perl
libglib2.0-0
libglib2.0-data
libglibmm-2.4-1c2a
libglu1-mesa
libgmp3c2
libgnome-bluetooth7
libgnome-keyring0
libgnome2-0
libgnome2-canvas-perl
libgnome2-common
libgnome2-perl
libgnome2-vfs-perl
libgnomecanvas2-0
libgnomecanvas2-common
libgnomeui-0
libgnomeui-common
libgnomevfs2-0
libgnomevfs2-common
libgnomevfs2-extra
libgnutls26
libgoffice-0.8-8-common
libgoffice-0.8-8
libgomp1
libgp11-0
libgpg-error0
libgphoto2-2
libgphoto2-port0
libgpm2
libgraph4
libgs8
libgsf-1-114
libgsf-1-common
libgsm1
libgstreamer-plugins-base0.10-0
libgstreamer0.10-0
libgtk2-perl
libgtk2.0-0
libgtk2.0-bin
libgtk2.0-common
libgtkglext1
libgtkmathview0c2a
libgtkmm-2.4-1c2a
libgtksourceview2.0-0
libgtksourceview2.0-common
libgtop2-7
libgtop2-common
libgucharmap7
libgudev-1.0-0
libgvc5
libhal-storage1
libhal1
libhtml-format-perl
libhtml-parser-perl
libhtml-tagset-perl
libhtml-tree-perl
libhunspell-1.2-0
libice6
libicu44
libid3tag0
libidl0
libidn11
libilmbase6
libimlib2
libimobiledevice1
libiso9660-7
libisofs6
libiw30
libjasper1
libjbig2dec0
libjpeg-progs
libjpeg62
libjpeg8
libkate1
libkeybinder0
libkeyutils1
libkpathsea5
liblapack3gf
liblcms1
liblink-grammar4
liblircclient0
liblocale-gettext-perl
libloudmouth1-0
liblqr-1-0
libltdl7
liblua5.1-0
liblzma2
liblzo2-2
libmad0
libmagic1
libmagickcore3-extra
libmagickcore3
libmagickwand3
libmailtools-perl
libmatroska0
libmng1
libmpcdec6
libmpeg2-4
libmpfr4
libmtp8
libmysqlclient16
libncurses5
libncursesw5
libnetpbm10
libnewt0.52
libnfnetlink0
libnl1
libnotify1
libnspr4-0d
libntfs-3g75
libntfs10
libogg0
libopenexr6
libopenjpeg2
libopenobex1
libopenraw1
liborbit2
liborc-0.4-0
libots0
libpam-ck-connector
libpam-gnome-keyring
libpam-modules
libpam-runtime
libpam0g
libpango-perl
libpangomm-1.4-1
libpaper-utils
libpaper1
libparted0debian1
libpathplan4
libpcap0.8
libpci3
libpciaccess0
libpcre3
libpcsclite1
libpixman-1-0
libpkcs11-helper1
libplist1
libpolkit-agent-1-0
libpolkit-backend-1-0
libpolkit-gobject-1-0
libpoppler-glib4
libpoppler5
libpopt0
libpostproc51
libproxy0
libpython2.6
librarian0
libraw1394-11
libreadline5
libreadline6
librecode0
librpm1
librpmio1
librsvg2-2
librsvg2-common
libsasl2-2
libsasl2-modules
libschroedinger-1.0-0
libsdl-image1.2
libsdl1.2debian-alsa
libsdl1.2debian
libselinux1
libsensors4
libsepol1
libsexy2
libsgutils2-2
libshout3
libsigc++-2.0-0c2a
libslang2
libsm6
libsoup-gnome2.4-1
libsoup2.4-1
libspectre1
libspeex1
libsqlite3-0
libssh2-1
libstartup-notification0
libstdc++6-4.4-dev
libstdc++6
libsvga1
libswscale0
libsysfs2
libt1-5
libtag1-vanilla
libtag1c2a
libtagc0
libtalloc2
libtar
libtasn1-3
libtext-charwidth-perl
libtext-iconv-perl
libtext-wrapi18n-perl
libthai-data
libthai0
libtheora0
libthunar-vfs-1-2
libtimedate-perl
libts-0.0-0
libtwolame0
libudev0
libunique-1.0-0
libupnp3
liburi-perl
libusb-0.1-4
libusb-1.0-0
libusbmuxd1
libuuid-perl
libuuid1
libv4l-0
libvcdinfo0
libvisual-0.4-0
libvisual-0.4-plugins
libvorbis0a
libvorbisenc2
libvpx0
libvte-common
libvte9
libwmf0.2-7
libwnck-common
libwnck22
libwpd8c2a
libwpg-0.1-1
libwps-0.1-1
libwrap0
libwv-1.2-3
libwww-perl
libx11-6
libx11-data
libx11-xcb1
libx86-1
libxapian22
libxau6
libxaw7
libxcb-atom1
libxcb-aux0
libxcb-dri2-0
libxcb-event1
libxcb-keysyms1
libxcb-randr0
libxcb-render-util0
libxcb-render0
libxcb-shm0
libxcb-xv0
libxcb1
libxcomposite1
libxcursor1
libxdamage1
libxdmcp6
libxdot4
libxext6
libxfce4menu-0.1-0
libxfce4util-bin
libxfce4util-common
libxfce4util4
libxfcegui4-4
libxfconf-0-2
libxfixes3
libxft2
libxi6
libxinerama1
libxkbfile1
libxklavier16
libxml-parser-perl
libxmu6
libxmuu1
libxpm4
libxrandr2
libxrender1
libxres1
libxslt1.1
libxss1
libxt6
libxtst6
libxv1
libxvmc1
libxxf86dga1
libxxf86vm1
link-grammar-dictionaries-en
linux-image-2.6-amd64
linux-sound-base
liquorix-archive-keyring
liquorix-keyring
liquorix-keyrings
lm-sensors
locales
logrotate
lp-solve
lsb-base
lsb-release
lsof
lzop
make
man-db
manpages-dev
manpages
mawk
menu
mesa-utils
mime-support
miscfiles
mobile-broadband-provider-info
modemmanager
module-init-tools
mount
mtools
mysql-common
nano
ncurses-base
ncurses-bin
net-tools
netbase
netcat-traditional
netpbm
network-manager-gnome
network-manager-openvpn-gnome
network-manager-openvpn
network-manager-pptp-gnome
network-manager-pptp
network-manager-vpnc-gnome
network-manager-vpnc
notify-osd
ntfs-3g
ntfsprogs
obex-data-server
obexd-client
openssh-blacklist-extra
openssh-blacklist
openssh-client
openssl-blacklist
openvpn-blacklist
openvpn
orage
os-prober
oss-compat
p7zip-full
patch
pciutils
plymouth-themes-all
plymouth-themes-fade-in
plymouth-themes-glow
plymouth-themes-script
plymouth-themes-solar
plymouth-themes-spinfinity
plymouth
pm-utils
policykit-1-gnome
policykit-1
poppler-utils
powermgmt-base
ppp
pptp-linux
procps
psmisc
python-cairo
python-central
python-chardet
python-dbus
python-debian
python-gconf
python-glade2
python-gnome2
python-gnupginterface
python-gobject
python-gtk2
python-gtksourceview2
python-keybinder
python-notify
python-numpy
python-pyorbit
python-software-properties
python-support
python-vte
python-xapian
python-xdg
python2.6-minimal
python2.6
radeontool
rarian-compat
readline-common
reiser4progs
reiserfsprogs
rpl
rpm-common
rpm2cpio
rsync
rsyslog
rzip
screen
scrot
sed
sensible-utils
sgml-base
sgml-data
shared-mime-info
software-properties-gtk
sshfs
statler-theme
suckless-tools
synaptic
sysv-rc
sysvinit-utils
sysvinit
tangerine-icon-theme
tango-icon-theme
tar
tasksel-data
tasksel
tcl8.4
tcpd
terminator
thunar-archive-plugin
thunar-data
thunar-dropbox
thunar-media-tags-plugin
thunar-thumbnailers
thunar-volman
thunar
tint2
tint2conf
traceroute
transmission-common
transmission-gtk
tsconf
ttf-dejavu-core
ttf-dejavu-extra
ttf-dejavu
ttf-freefont
ttf-lyx
ttf-mscorefonts-installer
ucf
udev
udisks
ufraw-batch
unace
unalz
unattended-upgrades
unrar
unzip
usb-modeswitch
usbmuxd
usbutils
user-setup
util-linux
uuid-runtime
vbetool
viewnior
vim-common
vim-tiny
volumeicon
vpnc
w64codecs
wget
whiptail
whois
wireless-tools
wpasupplicant
x-ttcidfont-conf
x11-apps
x11-common
x11-session-utils
x11-utils
x11-xfs-utils
x11-xkb-utils
xauth
xbase-clients
xchat-common
xchat
xdg-user-dirs
xdg-utils
xfburn
xfce-keyboard-shortcuts
xfce4-appfinder
xfce4-mixer
xfce4-panel
xfce4-power-manager-data
xfce4-power-manager
xfce4-screenshooter
xfce4-session
xfce4-settings
xfce4-terminal
xfce4-utils
xfce4-volumed
xfce4
xfconf
xfdesktop4-data
xfdesktop4
xfonts-100dpi
xfonts-75dpi
xfonts-base
xfonts-encodings
xfonts-scalable
xfonts-utils
xfsprogs
xfwm4-themes
xfwm4
xinit
xinput
xkb-data
xli
xml-core
xorg-docs-core
xorg
xscreensaver-data
xscreensaver
xserver-xorg-input-all
xserver-xorg-input-evdev
xserver-xorg-input-synaptics
xserver-xorg-input-wacom
xserver-xorg-video-all
xserver-xorg-video-apm
xserver-xorg-video-ark
xserver-xorg-video-ati
xserver-xorg-video-chips
xserver-xorg-video-cirrus
xserver-xorg-video-fbdev
xserver-xorg-video-i128
xserver-xorg-video-mach64
xserver-xorg-video-mga
xserver-xorg-video-neomagic
xserver-xorg-video-nouveau
xserver-xorg-video-nv
xserver-xorg-video-openchrome
xserver-xorg-video-r128
xserver-xorg-video-radeon
xserver-xorg-video-rendition
xserver-xorg-video-s3
xserver-xorg-video-s3virge
xserver-xorg-video-savage
xserver-xorg-video-siliconmotion
xserver-xorg-video-sis
xserver-xorg-video-sisusb
xserver-xorg-video-tdfx
xserver-xorg-video-trident
xserver-xorg-video-vesa
xserver-xorg-video-vmware
xserver-xorg-video-voodoo
xserver-xorg
xsltproc
xz-utils
yelp
zenity
zip
zlib1g
zoo

My additions

google-chrome-beta
base-files
dpkg
e2fslibs
e2fsprogs
grub-common
grub-pc
libfreetype6
libperl5.10
login
perl-modules
perl
apt-utils
apt
ca-certificates
console-setup
dbus-x11
dbus
isc-dhcp-client
isc-dhcp-common
keyboard-configuration
libcomerr2
libdbus-1-3
libgssapi-krb5-2
libk5crypto3
libkrb5-3
libkrb5support0
libldap-2.4-2
libss2
libssl0.9.8
libxml2
linux-base
linux-image-2.6.32-5-amd64
openssl
passwd
perl-base
python-apt-common
python-apt
python-minimal
python
tzdata
desktop-base
dpkg-dev
firmware-linux-free
gedit-common
gedit
klibc-utils
libavahi-client3
libavahi-common-data
libavahi-common3
libavahi-glib1
libburn4
libcairo2
libcurl3-gnutls
libcurl3
libdpkg-perl
libklibc
libmodplug1
libnautilus-extension1
libnm-glib-vpn1
libnm-glib2
libnm-util1
libnss3-1d
libpango1.0-0
libpango1.0-common
libpng12-0
libpulse0
libqt4-dbus
libqt4-designer
libqt4-network
libqt4-qt3support
libqt4-script
libqt4-sql-mysql
libqt4-sql
libqt4-xml
libqtcore4
libqtgui4
libsmbclient
libsndfile1
libtiff-tools
libtiff4
libvlc5
libvlccore4
libwbclient0
libwebkit-1.0-2
libwebkit-1.0-common
libxfont1
libxml2-utils
linux-libc-dev
live-boot-initramfs-tools
live-boot
live-config-sysvinit
live-config
qt4-qtconfig
vlc-data
live-initramfs
network-manager
python-libxml2
sudo
ttf-liberation
usb-modeswitch-data
vlc-nox
vlc-plugin-notify
vlc-plugin-pulse
vlc
x11-xserver-utils
xserver-common
xserver-xorg-core
xserver-xorg-video-intel
xserver-xorg-video-tseng
cl-asdf
clisp
common-lisp-controller
ed
feynmf
lacheck
latex-beamer
latex-xcolor
libffcall1
libmagick++3
libplot2c2
libpstoedit0c2a
libsigsegv0
lmodern
luatex
pgf
prosper
ps2eps
pstoedit
purifyeps
realpath
tex-common
texlive-base
texlive-binaries
texlive-common
texlive-doc-base
texlive-extra-utils
texlive-font-utils
texlive-fonts-recommended-doc
texlive-fonts-recommended
texlive-generic-recommended
texlive-latex-base-doc
texlive-latex-base
texlive-latex-recommended-doc
texlive-latex-recommended
texlive-luatex
texlive-metapost-doc
texlive-metapost
texlive-pstricks-doc
texlive-pstricks
texlive
tipa
xindy-rules
xindy
autopoint
autotools-dev
cdbs
debhelper
dpatch
gettext
gfortran-4.4
gfortran
git
html2text
intltool-debian
libblas-dev
libbz2-dev
liberror-perl
libjpeg62-dev
liblapack-dev
libmail-sendmail-perl
libncurses5-dev
libpcre3-dev
libpcrecpp0
libpng12-dev
libreadline-dev
libreadline6-dev
libsys-hostname-long-perl
libunistring0
patchutils
po-debconf
r-base-core
r-base-dev
r-base-html
r-base
r-cran-boot
r-cran-class
r-cran-cluster
r-cran-codetools
r-cran-foreign
r-cran-kernsmooth
r-cran-lattice
r-cran-mass
r-cran-matrix
r-cran-mgcv
r-cran-nlme
r-cran-nnet
r-cran-rpart
r-cran-spatial
r-cran-survival
r-doc-html
r-recommended
tcl8.5
tk8.5
zlib1g-dev
rstudio
libapr1
libaprutil1
libneon27-gnutls
libserf-0-0
libsvn1
subversion
mendeleydesktop
network-manager-openconnect
openconnect
cpp-4.3
gcc-4.3-base
gcc-4.3
linux-headers-2.6.32-5-amd64
linux-headers-2.6.32-5-common
linux-kbuild-2.6.32
e4rat
libc6-i386
ia32-libs
lib32asound2
lib32bz2-1.0
lib32gcc1
lib32ncurses5
lib32stdc++6
lib32v4l-0
lib32z1
libwine-unstable
libwine-bin-unstable
wine-bin-unstable
libwine-gl-unstable
libwine-oss-unstable
libwine-print-unstable
libwine-sane-unstable
libwine-cms-unstable
libwine-gphoto2-unstable
libwine-ldap-unstable
libwine-openal-unstable
wine-unstable

Permalink: All_packages_on_my_Crunchbang.html
Words: 1403
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 09/03/11 10:19

Category: linux

09/03/11 09:48 - ID#55075

Wine + PDFXchange on Crunchbang

I tried some alternatives but they all appallingly bad (e:tinypliny,55072). So I am back to Wine + PDFXchange in my new crunchbang install. Running notes from the install:

The Wine for amd64 machines come from the dev.carbon-project.org repository as recommended by WineHQ for 64 bit systems:

The libraries that are essential to the wine install are:

lib32asound2
lib32bz2-1.0
lib32gcc1
lib32ncurses5
lib32stdc++6
lib32v4l-0
lib32z1
libc6-i386
libwine-bin-unstable
libwine-cms-unstable
libwine-gl-unstable
libwine-gphoto2-unstable
libwine-ldap-unstable
libwine-openal-unstable
libwine-oss-unstable
libwine-print-unstable
libwine-sane-unstable
libwine-unstable
wine-bin-unstable
wine-unstable

In that particular order. I discovered this nifty command that can tell you the exact date and time of the all the packages installed on your system.

ls /var/lib/dpkg/info/*.list -lh

Pipe it to a list on your home directory

ls /var/lib/dpkg/info/*.list -lh >packagelist.txt

Using gnumeric, I sorted the list by date and time and et voila, I have a neat list of what was installed as a part of what and in what order.

The next step is of course installing PDF Xchange Reader from the PDF Xchange website

Permalink: Wine_PDFXchange_on_Crunchbang.html
Words: 194
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 09/03/11 09:54

Category: linux

09/02/11 07:14 - ID#55072

GNU PDF project

I don't want to install wine and PDF XChange viewer just because it has some odd behaviour on linux. Scrolling does not work well at all. I wish the GNU PDF project would speed up and release the GNU Juggler

The code-named GNU Juggler will be a full-fledged PDF viewer and editor making use of the GNU PDF Library. Right now we are busy in the development of the library and the GNU Juggler is not even started.

I don't know why there isn't a decent PDF annotation program for linux yet. There just isn't. It's very odd. Evince 3.0 has note-taking but no highlighting and the developer told me he has no time to work on it anymore. Jarnal/Xournal/Mendeley etc. have fake highlighting where the annotation does not show up in other PDF readers and is not saved in the PDF file itself. Okular is fine but require installation of too many KDE components, is resource-hogging and kind of buggy as well.

Though linux has some really good PDF tools, sadly PDF annotation is not among them.

---
PS: I keep double clicking the post to edit it like in i2 and then I realize, I am not on i2! hah

Permalink: GNU_PDF_project.html
Words: 210
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 09/02/11 07:16

Category: linux

09/02/11 05:47 - ID#55070

Crunchbang install notes

Just so I can keep track of the configuration changes I am making that messes up my system, I am going to post a running list here. Starting from a brand new install:

Started with crunchbang for 64 bit systems:

Downloaded google chrome beta and installed it
Windows Manager Tweaks: turned compositor on
Terminator
changed keybindings for copy and paste (ctrl-c & ctrl-v)
checked use system fixed width font
Orage
made clock fonts bigger.
Removed stuff:

sudo aptitude purge chromium-browser chromium-browser-inspector firmware-ipw2x00 firmware-iwlwifi firmware-ralink fortunes-min gftp gftp-common gftp-gtk heybuddy gdm avahi-utils avahi-daemon fortune-cookie-db conky

Checked if google chrome is the default

sudo update-alternatives --config gnome-www-browser

Set google-chrome in preferred applications
Cleanup old kernels and configurations

sudo apt-get --purge autoremove
sudo aptitude purge ~c

In /usr/games/fortune, deleted the fortune executable

gedit ~/.config/xfce4/autostart.sh

-- Comment out these lines

cb-fortune - have Statler say a little adage
(sleep 120s && cb-fortune) &
conky
cb-welcome
cb-setxkbmap live &
cb-bad-nautilus &

sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

CRUNCHBANG
deb

statler main

DEBIAN
deb

stable main #contrib non-free
deb-src

stable main #contrib non-free

DEBIAN SECURITY
deb

squeeze/updates contrib non-free main
deb-src

squeeze/updates main

DEBIAN BACKPORTS
deb

squeeze-backports main contrib non-free
deb

squeeze-proposed-updates contrib non-free main
deb

squeeze-cran/

gpg --keyserver pgp.mit.edu --recv-key 381BA480
gpg -a --export 381BA480 > jranke_cran.asc
sudo apt-key add jranke_cran.asc

sudo gedit /etc/apt/preferences

Package: *
Pin: release a=squeeze-cran
Pin-Priority: 991

R-check

apt-get update
apt-cache policy r-base

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

added myself to the fuse group.
Copied apt archive files from my external harddrive

sudo apt-get install texlive r-base ghostscript subversion

Installed the following from .deb packages
R-studio
Mendeley

In R

install.packages(c("rms", "Hmisc", "ggplot2", "haplo.stats"))

Make a file /usr/local/sbin/autologin with

#! /bin/sh
/bin/login -f myusername

sudo gedit /etc/inittab

Changed

1:2345:respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty1

to

1:2345:respawn:/sbin/getty -n -l /usr/local/sbin/autologin 38400 tty1

Commented out

3:23:respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty3
4:23:respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty4
5:23:respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty5
6:23:respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty6

sudo gedit /etc/bash.bashrc

Make xfce4 start automatically after login

if [[ -z "$DISPLAY" ]] && [[ $(tty) = /dev/tty1 ]]; then
startx
logout
fi

Expand size of bash history

export HISTCONTROL=erasedups
export HISTSIZE=10000
shopt -s histappend

gedit ~./inputrc

"\ep": history-search-backward
"\en": history-search-forward

Changed xfce menu

gedit ~/.config/menus/xfce-applications.menu

tinypliny writes at 11:03:27 09/03/11 - Comment #64752: If I pipe your error/log/messages command into a txt file will it keep populating that text file with the newer messages? What do you think? Then I dont have to have a terminal open all the time.

tinypliny writes at 10:23:50 09/03/11 - Comment #64745: Where I comment out daemons? Pray tell! This is getting so interesting!

Yes, I was thinking of turning off bluetooth. I tried several times to pair my Nexus One to this laptop and do bluetooth transfers. For some reason it always fails so I guess I had better turn off something that doesn't work anyway.

uncutsaniflush writes at 10:06:32 09/03/11 - Comment #64742: (e:tinypliny) - Just in case you didn't know:

Launching daemons and services at start up can take a bit of time, so you should launch only the daemons you want to startup and comment out the rest.

Also, most BIOS have a quick start setting (that ignores some tests) at POST that can speed up the boot.

To significantly extend battery turn off your wi-fi and bluetooth on your laptop. Ironically enough, wi-fi (ards use more energy looking for networks than they do connected to a networks. I don't have bluetooth on anything, but I would assume the bluetooth cards would expend energy in the discovery mode.

On the Dell circa 2006 laptops we use at work, turning off the wi-fi nearly doubled the battery life.

I reckon I'm lucky I got a box from Zareason instead of System 76. But then again, I don't have your unique requirements and preferences. So who knows.

tinypliny writes at 09:28:04 09/03/11 - Comment #64739: Hmm... (e:Terry) too!?! Who knew.

tinypliny writes at 09:26:52 09/03/11 - Comment #64738: Hmm.. why am I so obsessed about getting rid of apps? Because they are clutter and pop up all over the place when I am searching for something else. I guess I have no valid space-related reason for getting rid of them but I just don't like things I don't use to be on the system. By that argument, there are a ton of components on there that I don't even know that I don't use... And that is why someday I want to take a shot at Linux from Scratch. But till then, I am honing my skills at "sudo apt-get purge"

Most of the other changes are aimed at making boot up quicker. I don't keep my laptop on all the time because it travels all the time between office and home and has a lamentable battery life of just under an hour even though it's only a few months old. I pretty much hate System76 because of so many reasons now.

Let me keep a watch on those errors when something strange happens.

paul writes at 11:54:47 09/02/11 - Comment #64737: I have to stop using their computers.

terry writes at 11:54:22 09/02/11 - Comment #64736: You have to really watch the errors while they are happening to know. The errors themselves are written by the developers so they could really say whatever that app's developer wants them to say. Same for OS X and windows. Looking at google that does seem to be about laptop hardware.

uncutsaniflush writes at 08:59:10 09/02/11 - Comment #64735: (e:paul) (e:tinypliny) - my theory that the changes made after the original install are the problem or a fresh install would not "solve" the problems.

I have a general question to tiny - why are you so obssessed with getting rid of apps? Are you trying to run r on a 1 gig hard drive? Are you really so short of space?

My guess is something(s) that tiny installs have unmet requirements that aren't covered the apt depends because the developer assumed that the box would already have it as part of a vanilla install.

I question getting rid gftp unless it is replaced with some other ftp app. For example some other app might call wget to do an ftp download. And wget will get confused and hilarity might ensue?

Why get rid of avahi? Why not just just change rc.d (or whatever the Crunchbang equiv is) so that that the avahi daemon doesn't start.

Why get rid of tty3 - tty6? In case of freezes or slow downs having another tty to killall apps or reboot can be very useful.

I'm not a big fall of gdm, I think slim is better; but starting x with a script can be a bit problematic.

Also, and this is based on personal experience. I would not mix using aptitude and apt-get. Use one or the other. I think that even though aptitude calls apt-get, apt-get has better dependecy handling.

I have to end by saying you are quite the Linux geek, (e:tinypliny)!! Well done!!!

tinypliny writes at 08:00:08 09/02/11 - Comment #64727: Should I be watching out for anything that starts with an "ERROR:" like this one:
Error (psparse-0537): Method parse/execution failed [\] (Node ffffffff8166d8d0), AE_ALREADY_EXISTS

How on earth will I know what it means?

tinypliny writes at 07:55:39 09/02/11 - Comment #64725: hahah yes, unless (e:matthew) has an secret obsession with linux that we didn't know about and suddenly decided to come out.

paul writes at 07:52:38 09/02/11 - Comment #64722: Oops that was me.

matthew writes at 07:52:10 09/02/11 - Comment #64721: I would start with /var/log/messages, its the main system log. You can read the end with tail. e.g. sudo tail -f -n 1000 /var/log/messages

That will display the last 1000 lines of the file and then continue to dump new lines to the terminal as they are added.

tinypliny writes at 06:43:41 09/02/11 - Comment #64719: Hmm.. I don't know what he runs. :::link::: Lemme see what I can find.

tinypliny writes at 06:41:33 09/02/11 - Comment #64718: What kind of logs should I be looking at?

paul writes at 06:21:09 09/02/11 - Comment #64717: I take it back none of those are too crazy. Either:
A. Your hardware sucks
OR
B. Crunchbang sucks
OR
C. Something with R.

Or a combo. What are you logs saying when the issues occur?

What type if computer does the crunchbang guy use.

Permalink: Crunchbang_install_notes.html
Words: 452
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 09/02/11 05:56

Category: goals

09/02/11 09:43 - ID#55068

Unsorted

I am at a weird point right now. Everything seems pretty unsorted in my life. I can't say that if I died tomorrow, I would be happy with the choices I made. That is not a nice place to be.

This needs to change, today and right now. I want to just take this weekend off the tracks and stop doing the same old things I do and the experience the same old panic. I want to start off anew.

I am promising myself that this weekend will be the most productive of any weekends thus far. And no other future weekends will end with panic ever more because they will all be better managed from now on.

Did you know that:

In 1752, the British Empire adopted the Gregorian calendar. In the British Empire that year, September 2 was immediately followed by September 14.

We will see how sorted I manage to be by September 14.

Permalink: Unsorted.html
Words: 153
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 09/02/11 09:43

Category: linux

08/31/11 08:01 - ID#55063

Arrgh, what's wrong now?!

Seriously, I can't seem to catch a break with my linux troubles. It's been hardly 14 days since my fresh install and things are already starting to act up with Crunchbang.

The stylus goes on insane object and text selecting sprees on its own and randomly refuses to be controlled. The bash history no longer takes orders from ~/.bashrc and never remembers even a line of history (even though I have set it to remember 10K lines). E4rat is installed and running, but applications have been slowing down.

I am SO sick of having to do fresh installs every fortnight. It borders on the illogical and for this reason alone windows XP seems rather appealing. Its rock solid and just as fast even after 1.5 years after a fresh install. Why OH WHY can't my favourite distro come even close to that kind of stability and consistency??

tinypliny writes at 04:43:04 09/02/11 - Comment #64714: Too late. I re-installed crunchbang and things are going okay now. If I face more problems in a fortnight, I will give scientific linux a whirl.

But yes, your point of having a distro for playing around and one for work makes sense. I am not sure I tweak so much though... In fact I am going to post my running installation notes here to see just what kind of tweaking is breaking my system. I don't think I am linux-y enough yet to make major changes, but who knows.

I really suspect that it is a hardware issue - mainly to do with the ATI card from hell that I have. I still maintain that System76 was a big mistake.

uncutsaniflush writes at 12:28:21 09/02/11 - Comment #64711: (e:paul) - that's what I think (e:tinypliny) is doing as well. I think your advice is very sound. I used to have two version of several distros on the same box - one for "production" and one that was a "sandbox" for lack of a better term to mess around with. I would try stuff on the sandbox and if worked eventually the production partition would get changed.

(e:tinypliny) - I like Fedora 15 so I'm hoping Fedora 16 will be even better. I like gnome 3 shell. I'm running Fedora 15 on my hex-core box and an asus eee netbook. I'm running Arch on a G3 ibook. I've been using PCLinuxos for about 7 years on the computer(s) that (e:leettee) uses. It is a fork of Mandrake/Mandriva. I consider PClinuxos to be a generalist distro. It is conservative and thus stable. I've had uptime of over 6 months using it. I still using it on her box because I really haven't had a reason to change. If it ain't broke don't fix it.

I really like Arch but I hate going through the install process. It's not hard or complicated but it can be time-consuming But I don't have the time for it these days. But Arch is great because one ends up with a customised distro that only has what one chooses to install.

I think that Linux Mint is a great generalist distro. It builds on your choice of Ubuntu or Debian.

Despite using Ubuntu Studio for over 6 months, I'm not a fan of Ubuntu. I prefer Fedora's automagic to Ubuntu's. I would recommend Linux Mint over Ubuntu.

I liked E-Live which was an E17 based debian distro; but the developer hasn't had a new release in over a year, so it is outdated.

Automagic installers like Fedora's anaconda are great until one wants to do something that isn't automagical. Yes, it is flexible enough to let you do customised installs but depending exactly what one wants to do, it isn't always intuitive or obvious.

paul writes at 10:23:07 09/02/11 - Comment #64710: I think you are either having an issue with your hardware being non standard or you are messing it up yourself by over configuration, unstable packages, and non stable distros, etc. I have Linux computers that have uptimes of 6 months to a year without even rebooting. And at that point the reboots are just for kernel changes.

I mean my parents could have easily assumed windows XP sucked and was broken until you fixed their computer by removing all of the problems they had.

I think you need to separate your experimental playground Linux space from your workspace using two partitions or harddrives so that when you continue to play and tweak you are not killing your productivity by having to reinstall.

That or use virtual machines for experimenting via virtual box.

You might also want to stick with a Linux that more people use. More people = more testers, more developers and bug fixes. Same with common hardware.

Have you tried scientific Linux? Its based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux which is extremely stable. It wont be as cutting edge as fedora Ubuntu, etc but it will be stable and it can definately run your r code.

tinypliny writes at 09:45:10 09/02/11 - Comment #64708: What kind of audio do you want to produce?

tinypliny writes at 09:44:40 09/02/11 - Comment #64707: 15 different distros?! What were your favourites? What are your favourites now?

tinypliny writes at 06:22:13 09/01/11 - Comment #64700: I can't work on Win XP. Linux is pretty essential to the software I run. So for good or bad I have to stick to it. I don't have a choice really. It's either decent performance with Linux or fester in slowness in XP...

uncutsaniflush writes at 10:25:01 08/31/11 - Comment #64691: If WinXP works so well, why are you looking for alternatives?

I would suspect that you have made more changes to Crunchbang in the last month than you did to WinXP in the last year or so.

Did you ever consider having more than one distro on your computer at the same time? You don't have to wipe out everything everytime you change your mind about what distro you use. Unless of course you have a very small hard drive.

I, personally, at one point, when I was a distro whore, had 15 different distros (including several different releases of the same distro) spread across 2 hard drives totalling 70 gigs.

Like (e:paul), I'm liking Fedora 15 with gnome shell a lot and use it daily on the new box. I'm still looking for the perfect audio production disto. Ubuntu Studio ain't it.

Good luck with Linux. But if doesn't work for you, there isn't any shame in going back to WinXP.