Re: GUI systems

[Steve Baker <sjbaker1@airmail.net>]

Keith Lucas wrote:

> >Most people have no problem with those - I'm their maintainer and I'd like to
> >hear what your problem was....typically it's something *really* simple.
> 
> It was. After I downloaded the thing that it depended on, I found that needed
> something else that wasn't installed. This is a Slackware system that has been
> maintained in a "when it explodes fix it fashion" for ~5 years.

That's what my system was like until PLIB and Tux_AQFH made it onto
the SuSE 6.x CD's - now they send me free copies of SuSE whenever a
new release comes out and I try to keep my machine fairly up to date.
(Although I have to admit that my SuSE 6.3 CD's are still in their
FedEx carton waiting for me to get up the enthusiasm to open them).

> After two links in the dependency chain, each of which
> needed about 1/2 hours download time over the modem, I
> got bored - I'd used up the "have a ten minute look and see
> if it's any good" time several times over. Low patience threshold.

Yes - I know what you mean.  Unfortunately, with the growing
interdependence of Linux packages, that policy pretty much
dooms you to only looking at pretty basic stuff!  However, once
you've undergone the pain for several large and complex packages,
you gradually start to have up to date versions of the libraries
that most things depend on - and the pain factor gradually
diminishes.

Anyway, PLIB pretty much depends only on having Mesa and GLUT
installed...it *should* build in the absence of the joystick
driver, and the sound driver - which you may not have by default
if your kernel is pre-2.0.36 or so.

(I developed 90% of PLIB on an ancient Slakware 2.0.0 machine -
so I'm familiar with the issues!)

> It depends how new the system is. I bet it'll all work fine on Affront, but
> Excession simply doesn't have all the bobbins that modern stuff seems to expect.
> (There's no Gnome, no GTK, no QT, no package manager, nothing like that). It's
> on a 2.0 kernel, quite apart from anything else...

PLIB doesn't need any of those things - but it *does* need
Mesa and GLUT...although if you didn't have either of those things
installed then you wouldn't need PLIB anyway - because it's
main reason for existing is to support OpenGL/Mesa APPs.

At any rate, it seems like you are well overdue for a complete
system overhaul.  Maybe you're holding out for a 2.4 kernel eh?!
Sounds like Linus is hell-bent on getting 2.4 out before Windoze2K
hits the streets...so it may be worth skipping the 2.2 series
kernels completely.

--
Steve Baker                (817)619-2657 (Vox/Vox-Mail)
Raytheon Systems Inc.      (817)619-2466 (Fax)
Work: sjbaker@hti.com      http://www.hti.com
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