[sf-lug] SF-LUG meeting notes for Monday 18 March 2019

Wed Mar 20 11:30:39 PDT 2019

Hi Aaron,

   Knoppix is all very well but not being able to get to the WiFi
connection still keeps me from updating the particular distributions
that do not contain the drivers for my onboard WiFi.

     As for PCLinuxOS I have few problems getting it online as long
as I avoid certain distros that turn off the WiFi as they shut down.
     But i can fix that when it happens.

     Now with EasyOS I can run it here and use Ethernet with DSL
to get the driver for the WiFi its design is such that each use
in Live mode produces a remaster.

     If I can figure out why the AntiX 17.4 is not booting then I
possibly do the same thing there but it won't stick unless I
do an install and remaster after I have the working driver.

     Presently I am not installing anything else on this E6540 with
PCLinuxOS 64 KDE5 2019.03 and Deepin.  If I am not involved
with pointless discussion of various matters I may find time to
install a larger hard drive with plenty of room to spare for all
the things I might want to write to disk to fully test.

     The 6420 which i bring to meeting has even more limited
space and I intend only to keep upgrade it as I did today.

     I never wanted to be a Linux Terminal expert because it is
so different from the AmigaOS which was a much simpler system
and on which I did lots of stuff essentially in root mode all the
time.  I learn things as I need them and keep examples of
fixes and terminal commands on hand for future use.

     I think the Terminal use is frightening away potential
users from the desktop.  I prefer to work from the given
GUI tools like Synaptic from the desktop.

On 3/20/19 10:06 AM, aaronco36 wrote:
> Bobbie Sellers <bliss-sf4ever at dslextreme.com> wrote at [1]
>> I tried a bunch of Flash Drives sequentially as I have previously
>> mentioned I am not installing to hard drives or even SSD.  Since
>> the cannot get on line prevents attempting to do any sort of
>> download or online information seeking at the alleged meeting
>
> Seems like this was a Catch-22 situation.
>
> What's a Catch-22 situation, for the one or two people reading this 
> who don't already know what a Catch-22 is or may have conveniently 
> forgotten??
>
> A definition of a Catch-22 from ref [2]
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> A catch-22 is a paradoxical situation from which an individual cannot 
> escape because of contradictory rules or limitations. The term was 
> coined by Joseph Heller, who used it in his 1961 novel Catch-22.
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
> So in brief, the comparable Catch-22 situation here may very well be 
> that Bobbie S was simply _unable_ to go online to download and seek 
> the very "information" that would have allowed her to go online in the 
> first place. Such is my admittedly feeble attempt to describe as a 
> prototypical Catch-22 situation Bobbie S's inability to have WiFi 
> "working" and subsequently getting online.
>
> Carefully note from the posting of [3] that ....
> - Bobby S "showed up at 5:35 PM and had no problems with setting up 
> [her] Dell E6520"; the point being that she only had _one_ machine 
> with her
> -"Jim S. Showed up about 7 PM..."; the point being that Bobbie S was 
> _completely unassisted_ with her efforts to go online for nearly an 
> hour-and-a-half
>
> Although of course by no means the _only_ way of resolving Bobbie S's 
> Catch-22 situation here, one way to assist in diagnostics and 
> troubleshooting is to use bootable live media on her E6520 that's 
> almost _intended_ for this purpose. I favor using the Swiss Army Knife 
> of Linux distro's, KNOPPIX [4]. While the current stable version is 
> KNOPPIX_V8.2-2018-05-10-EN.iso 2018-05-14 18:29 4.4G (downloadable 
> from the Knoppix mirrors listed at [5]), I'm getting the distinct 
> impression from refs [6] and [7] that KNOPPIX 8.5.x might be available 
> in the near future on these selfsame mirror sites [5].
>
> Once the 4.4GB KNOPPIX iso is downloaded and burned to DVD, then the 
> KNOPPIX DVD's 'flash-knoppix' utility can be used on a USB stick 
> having a capacity of at least 8 GB to create a bootable USB stick (see 
> ref [8].)
> Then Bobbie S and others could use this KNOPPIX bootable USB stick for 
> the requisite diagnostics and troubleshooting and thus avoid as much 
> as possible future potential Catch-22 situations ;-D
>
> -A

      I have setup using Knoppix's own facility several Knoppix Flash 
Drives and have them at meetings.
     When i hear that a new version of the Knoppix iso file is out I 
will download that and update any
Knoppix Flash Drives on hand,
     If someone wants a DVD of Knoppix I will be happy to prepare if 
requested before the meeting a day or
so in advance.  Writing DVDs takes a lot more time than writing an iso 
to a Flash Drive.

     Bobbie Sellers - my nose is quite athletic, it runs in all weathers but
stopped during our smoky summer of 2018

>
> =================================================
> References
> =================================================
> [1]http://linuxmafia.com/pipermail/sf-lug/2019q1/013929.html
> [2]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catch-22_(logic)
> [3]http://linuxmafia.com/pipermail/sf-lug/2019q1/013925.html
> [4]https://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=knoppix
> [5]http://www.knopper.net/knoppix-mirrors/index-en.html
> [6]http://knoppix.net/forum/threads/38676-Knoppix-8-5
> [7]http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/knoppix850-en.html
> [8]http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/knoppix-flash-en.html
> =================================================
>
> aaronco36 at sdf.org
> SDF Public Access UNIX System - http://sdf.org

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