The officially official Devuan Forum!

sumbodee

Member

Registered: 2020-06-21

Posts: 5  

Devuan

Hi,
Just downloaded Beowulf.
Doesn’t boot on my netbook, boots fine on laptop.
This looks good.
Ok, delete bottom panel, move top panel to bottom.
Replace menu with whisker menu.
Add battery monitor.
Connect to internet, no problem.
Open synaptic, install xserver-xorg-input-synaptics.
Log out, log in, enable tap to click. This is a must have for me.
Xsane can’t see my scanner. Install Simplescan. Bingo, works fine.
Brilliant, I now have Mint without systemd.
Double click install.
Oh dear, this is much too complicated for me.
Distrowatch review came to the same conclusion.
Oh well, I suppose I’ll just have to wait for Mint 20.

larsH

Member

Registered: 2020-05-05

Posts: 184  

Re: Devuan

Hi

The most important thing when trying something new is to stay calm. Try to see how the default works. They are quite often default for a reason. And as you get used to it you can change a few things. So it is you who are making things complicated because you want devuan to behave like Linux Mint in a hurry. And off course it does not work like that. Try and experiment and you might be surprised when you get used to something new ;-))

Have a nice day
Lars H

sumbodee

Member

Registered: 2020-06-21

Posts: 5  

Re: Devuan

Hi

Thanks for the reply, I'm very calm,
I don't think it's me making things difficult.
Jesse Smith who wrote the review for Distrowatch said "the steps to install the distribution are lengthy and likely to confuse newcomers"
I'm not a newcomer having started out with Ubuntu 6.06, but it confused me.

Have a nice day

sumbodee

Still very calm.

Last edited by sumbodee (2020-06-25 09:07:52)

steve_v

Member

Registered: 2018-01-11

Posts: 396  

Re: Devuan

Double click install.
Oh dear, this is much too complicated for me.

The Devuan installer is almost identical to the Debian installer, which is thouroghly documented and has served well for many years.

Comparing Devuan to Mint/Ubuntu is disingenuous, they have very different intended audiences.
One focuses on being beginner friendly, the other on flexibility and reliability. This is why they have an easy-mode installer, while ours has lots of options. Making the install process like Ubuntu would exclude a large number of possible configurations.

If the flexible and configurable installer is "too complicated" for you, perhaps you should read the manual?
If that doesn't answer your questions, there's always the Debian install guide, which is 99% applicable to Devuan.

I'm not a newcomer having started out with Ubuntu 6.06

If Ubuntu/Mint is all you have used since then, you're still a "newcomer" to Devuan.
Both of those distros are noob-friendly Debian derivatives targeted squarely at those who are allergic to the command-line, and they exist almost entirely to make Debian (and thus Devuan) less complicated.

Last edited by steve_v (2020-06-25 00:01:30)

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Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action. Four times is Official GNOME Policy.

sumbodee

Member

Registered: 2020-06-21

Posts: 5  

Re: Devuan

Hi

I thought the whole reason for Devuans existence was to remove systemd, something which complicates something which should be simple.

Likewise after taking, editing and printing my own photos for years, I won't be buying a book on how to develop them using chemicals in a darkroom any time  soon.

Peace

larsH

Member

Registered: 2020-05-05

Posts: 184  

Re: Devuan

It

Removing systemd is the reason, but it it is built on top of debian, not ubuntu, mint and other mostly newcomer friendly systems. And debian is not noob friendly. But if you want something new, and something you can make your own it is a very good foundation (that's why ubuntu and mint are based on debian).

And because of the extent that systemd has taken over the control af the whole linux-world it is not a simple task to remove and keep the system usefull at the same time.

Have a nice day
Lars H

sumbodee

Member

Registered: 2020-06-21

Posts: 5  

Re: Devuan

Hi

Sorry for being such a nuisance.
We're obviously never going to agree.
Anyway, can't stop, Mint 20 just landed on Heanet mirror.
That's me good for the next five years.

Bye.

steve_v

Member

Registered: 2018-01-11

Posts: 396  

Re: Devuan

We're obviously never going to agree.

We certainly won't if your only interaction with this community is to drop in and say "Devuan is too hard, I'm going to use Mint."

Feel free to use whatever distro you want. If no-reading one-click installs are your thing, Devuan probably isn't for you.

If you have questions about Devuan, we're happy to provide answers.
If you have a problem to solve, we'll probably enjoy helping you.
If you have constructive ideas on how to make Devuan better (ideally with some code to share), we'll gladly discuss them.

If you're just here to (passive aggressively) complain and make pointless comparisons to $newb_friendly_distro though, I'm pretty sure this conversation is over.

Last edited by steve_v (2020-06-26 02:04:19)

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Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action. Four times is Official GNOME Policy.

golinux

Administrator

Registered: 2016-11-25

Posts: 3,345  

Re: Devuan

Well said, steve_v

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Tatwi

Member

From: Canada

Registered: 2018-10-24

Posts: 72  

Website

Re: Devuan

I agree that there a lot of steps involved to configure Devuan to be similar to Mint, but that has always been true of Debian. Mint is based upon Ubuntu, not Debian directly. As such, Mint comes with a huge number of customizations that Debian (and thus Devuan) do not have. Want those customizations in Debian? Well, you're going to have to install them yourself, to this day. The Mint project has LMDE, which is "Linux Mint Debian Edition", which is literally plain Debian with all the customizations that make Mint what it is.

Mint is not Debian. Devuan is Debian without Systemd.

Last edited by Tatwi (2020-06-26 12:46:42)

sumbodee

Member

Registered: 2020-06-21

Posts: 5  

Re: Devuan

Hi

Can I just say I apologize unreservedly, and am sincerely sorry for any offence caused.

Its just that having installed Linux the easy way for fifteen years, being an old dog, I have no wish to learn new tricks.

Have a nice day.