dstites
Oct 26th 2011, 07:03 PM
I have been using Linux since 1995, mostly Slackware. I have tried other distributions but always went back. I have been running Ubuntu in Virtual Box on my Windows machine and liked it but I have always used the KDE desktop so decided to put a new install of Kubuntu on my Slackware machine. I copied a few files off the machine to a thumb drive, downloaded the iso image file, burned a CD and rebooted. The installation was very direct and painless. I resized the partitions, created a swap and made a ext4 file system. Then I went and made a pot of coffee while Kubuntu was installed.
I am very impressed with the installation program apt-get. I used it to install Postfix added my relay info in the config files and my email was working. Then I used it to install Dovecot-imapd. I had a lot of problems getting my IMAP subdirectories to show up. Thunderbird won't even load on the Linux machine and from the Windows 7 machine it only sees some of the subfolders. So I tried Kmail. After learning how to get rid of the 'most messages in its own folder' display I liked it. I still had some issues with subfolders but by turning debug on in Dovecot and reading the logs I finally got namespaces defined properly. Then I used apt-get to install Spamassassin and wow, I didn't even have to look at the config files it works fine. And Kmail moves all the spam to the trash automatically. I just have to decide on the questionable ones. I have found a couple of false positives but once Spamassassin is trained I will edit maildrop so spam goes to /dev/null and I don't have to look at it.
Then I installed Apache, moved my index.html into /var/www and I have my home page again. I forgot my background image so I used Firefox to find a new one on the web. The problem is when I right click on a pic and choose 'save image' nothing happens. I tired several different sites and no joy. So I fired up Konquerer and it worked fine for grabbing the image files. But when I went to Facebook and tried to add a comment nothing happened when I hit enter. A lot of people like to make fun of Microsoft in Linux forums but IE and Outlook have given me less trouble over the years than the Netscape spinoffs.
Frustrated I downloaded Opera.....deb, ran kpkg -i and am now using the Opera browser. Then I used apt-get to install BOINC and all I had to do was attach to the projects I do work for. Wanting to rest from my labors I looked for Freecell but found no games installed. Apt-get install kdegames solved that. I am very impressed with the way packages are installed, menu entries made and additions to the default startup scripts are taken care of.
I did notice that all users are in their own groups. I think idiots will still make their files world accessible but it isn't a major problem. I can always make special groups and put users in them. SUDO however is way to big a security problem to leave. Giving root access to all users just increases the chances of a weak password being exploited. And having to type your password 20 or 30 times in an hour encourages the use of 'fj' or 'ff' or the like. So I gave root a password, use the venerable Switch User command, and disabled sudo.
All in all, a job well done,
David Stites
Pullman, WA
BTW, does the donate button at the top of the page contribute to the total Ubuntu project or just the forums?
I am very impressed with the installation program apt-get. I used it to install Postfix added my relay info in the config files and my email was working. Then I used it to install Dovecot-imapd. I had a lot of problems getting my IMAP subdirectories to show up. Thunderbird won't even load on the Linux machine and from the Windows 7 machine it only sees some of the subfolders. So I tried Kmail. After learning how to get rid of the 'most messages in its own folder' display I liked it. I still had some issues with subfolders but by turning debug on in Dovecot and reading the logs I finally got namespaces defined properly. Then I used apt-get to install Spamassassin and wow, I didn't even have to look at the config files it works fine. And Kmail moves all the spam to the trash automatically. I just have to decide on the questionable ones. I have found a couple of false positives but once Spamassassin is trained I will edit maildrop so spam goes to /dev/null and I don't have to look at it.
Then I installed Apache, moved my index.html into /var/www and I have my home page again. I forgot my background image so I used Firefox to find a new one on the web. The problem is when I right click on a pic and choose 'save image' nothing happens. I tired several different sites and no joy. So I fired up Konquerer and it worked fine for grabbing the image files. But when I went to Facebook and tried to add a comment nothing happened when I hit enter. A lot of people like to make fun of Microsoft in Linux forums but IE and Outlook have given me less trouble over the years than the Netscape spinoffs.
Frustrated I downloaded Opera.....deb, ran kpkg -i and am now using the Opera browser. Then I used apt-get to install BOINC and all I had to do was attach to the projects I do work for. Wanting to rest from my labors I looked for Freecell but found no games installed. Apt-get install kdegames solved that. I am very impressed with the way packages are installed, menu entries made and additions to the default startup scripts are taken care of.
I did notice that all users are in their own groups. I think idiots will still make their files world accessible but it isn't a major problem. I can always make special groups and put users in them. SUDO however is way to big a security problem to leave. Giving root access to all users just increases the chances of a weak password being exploited. And having to type your password 20 or 30 times in an hour encourages the use of 'fj' or 'ff' or the like. So I gave root a password, use the venerable Switch User command, and disabled sudo.
All in all, a job well done,
David Stites
Pullman, WA
BTW, does the donate button at the top of the page contribute to the total Ubuntu project or just the forums?