Thursday, December 30, 2004
(8:43 PM) | Adam Kotsko:
My Self-Induced Computer Problems
I installed Red Hat Linux on my "machine," since they were the only distribution I could find with a straight-up net install that didn't require printing off a 95-page manual and working extensively with the command line (viz. Debian's install process). The whole affair was surprisingly simple, and I now have a functional computer again only a couple hours after completely reformatting. I just have a few complaints:- Red Hat has gone all corporate and shit, so apparently the only way to have easy access to software updates is to pay them money. I apparently need a software upgrade immediately, because the installer for FireFox crashes, asking for a higher glibc version. I say: fuck that.
- I have only one mp3 to my name, and for some reason, no matter how many times I try to select it in xmms, it will not load. What is the deal?
- The whole point of this exercise was to make it easy to use AUCTeX and bibtex in order to revamp my paper-composition style, i.e., to make it less stupid and inefficient. The process for setting up such a system under Windows was definitely more arduous than what I've done so far (made a boot disk, rebooted, and selected a couple things off of menus).
- However, now I think I need to install another distribution. Gentoo looks good. If any of you have tips for how to get my current Red Hat installation to destroy itself and cause Gentoo to rise from the ashes? I don't have a CD-ROM drive, or else I'd have installed Gentoo in the first place.
