Linux Mint 12 Lisa

Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2012 8:36 pm

It's definitely nice to have the choice (after all, that's why most of us use *nix systems) but I'm really liking Cinnamon and don't see myself using anything else for the time being.
Ubuntu and Unity are no doubt great for tablets and other hardware that has small screen real estate but it's just too unproductive for me; I tried really hard to get used to it but couldn't, which is a shame since I loved Ubuntu.

I can live without having a gazzillion customisation options myself but having a menu system where you don't have to go hunting around to find things is absolutely essential. Now Clem is taking on another full time developer, the future is really exciting for Mint.

Newbie Joined: Feb 07, 2012 Posts: 5

I think as long as clem continues to listen to the Mint community mint will stay up top.

I liked Ubuntu as well. it was the 1st distro to make *nix "user friendly" but the unity deal I see it as a major failure. they really alienated alot of the gnome userbase.

Newbie Joined: May 12, 2009 Posts: 74 Location: TX

Just went through what may be my last windows XP meltdown on my dev pc, looking at giving mint a try. Most importantly, what should I be using for local testing, text editor, ftp...

I have only had a brief look around mint as of yet.... and what exactly is Cinnamon?

Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2012 5:41 pm

Cinnamon is just a desktop environment, the standard offering that comes with Mint is perfectly fine. Think of it as a Windows desktop theme on steroids e.g. you can have a menu at the top, bottom or both, decide what types of icons you want be default in your 'taskbar' etc etc. I only installed Cinnamon because I wanted to try it but the standard Mint one is perfectly good and usable.

You should have most stuff installed by default but if not, you can use the built in Software Centre to install FileZilla and a raft of other stuff if you need it.
By default you probably have gEdit installed as a text editor but you could install NetBeans if you need an IDE http://netbeans.org/downloads/
There are other text editors if you prefer to stick with those, which can be installed from the Software Centre.

The LAMP stack is also easy to install and set-up. http://www.web4low.com/blog/?p=289
They do each stage seperately in that guide but you can actually do them all together http://www.unixmen.com/how-to-install-lamp-with-1-command-in-linuxmint/

Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2012 8:28 pm

Let me know how you get on or if you need any assitance, feel free to email me webmaster AT thisdomain

Newbie Joined: May 12, 2009 Posts: 74 Location: TX

Thanks I appreciate it. Going smoothly for the most part, after I abandoned any dual-boot setup (had a drive with a fresh copy of xp already on it)

For my first attempt at linux it was easier than expected, so far. For anyone else following along, I ended up having better luck downloading the minimal version which fits on a cd, after a couple of attempts with the dvd version. There is an easy update once you are installed to upgrade to the full version.

On a side note, I was able to rescue the hard drive my XAMPP install was on, any idea how I would go about retrieving sql tables? I haven't fully thought through how much work was lost there, but if it's too involved rescuing it; I'll probably just deal with the loss.

Thanks for your pointers, off to try out LAMP as the latest batch of updates should be about done. Smile

Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2012 10:09 pm

I honestly don't about getting the data out of XAMPP. If you could boot the drive up to run XAMPP you would be able to export the data just like you would with a website (phpmyadmin) but I'm guessing that's not do-able.
Once you have your LAMP stack installed you can install phpmyadmin easy enough by either going into the Software Center (probably under main menu button ->Other) and then searching for it there to install it OR you can install from the command line by opening a terminal window (ALT + F2) and typing

Code:

sudo apt-get install phpmyadmin

There'a a guide here as well if you need it
http://connectwww.com/how-to-install-and-configure-apachephpmysql-and-phpmyadmin-on-ubuntu/727/

I did find this on Google regarding exporting from Windows/XAMPP to a Linux system http://serverfault.com/questions/110885/how-to-recover-data-files-from-xampp-windows-to-xampp-linux-after-crash

I hope you get going again soon. It is actually not quite as scary using Ubuntu or Mint as most people imagine. Most of the command line voodoo is pretty much gone now there are proper GUI's but it's definitely worth the perseverence. After a few days you'll never want to use Windyblows again (except for Halo of course).

Site Admin Joined: Jan 06, 2006 Posts: 308

Guardian wrote:

Most of the command line voodoo is pretty much gone now there are proper GUI's but it's definitely worth the perseverence. After a few days you'll never want to use Windyblows again (except for Halo of course).

And there is just a ton of information/help out there at your finger tips through Google searches. I haven't looked back either for over 4 years. I just tempted now-and-then when a find a few things that I would like to do that are so easy in Windows, plus some really good software written for only Windows. But, for development purposes, I have lacked nothing!

Newbie Joined: May 12, 2009 Posts: 74 Location: TX

Well i got thru the initial setup of LAMP and some db importing issues, now I don't know how to properly manage permissions on folders within var/www/

While I agree there is alot of documentation, there is almost too much, lol. With so many flavors and versions of linux it's been a little difficult at times finding what I'm looking for; or at least knowing it pertains to my setup.

I'm sure I will ultimately like it, but it was not the best time for me to shift gears and adapt to a new system.

EDIT: It may be shortlink related. Disabled shortlinks and have attained some functionality. Looking into it further,

Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2012 8:50 pm

Is the problem with adding files?
As this is a true LAMP stack, by default the var/www directory is owned by Apache not the PC user. I'm lazy so I used CHOWN to change ownership to my PC username or you can do it through the main menu Administration -> Users and Groups
Select the 'Manage Groups' option, scroll down to find the group www-data and add yourself (your PC log-in name) to the group.

If that wasn't what you were referring to, maybe it is related to the Apache configuration for mod_rewrite. Might be worth doing a phpinfo() to see if it is turned on (it should be on by default).

Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2012 10:56 pm

Just about to hit the sack but just thought of something in case you had used an FTP client to dump website files into var/www/
Make sure the htaccess files are there - some FTP clients default to hiding files/directories starting with a period (because those are typically 'system' file or directories) and don't transfer them. I've had that issue myself when I've even done a copy/paste on directories without viewing the directory first and allowing 'view hidden files' in the right-click property menu.

Newbie Joined: May 12, 2009 Posts: 74 Location: TX

Thanks for the advice, I'm pretty sure I got past this issue, although I never found the admin menu or any sort of manage groups option. I wwon't really know for sure until I get back to work and start adding files/folders, etc.

What about an svn client? I saw one in the software center and installed it, now I'm mucking around trying to figure out how to checkout a copy of the RN SVN. A little scared I'm going to find out all SVN interactions are going to be via command line. If that's the case, it's a huge drawback. I guess I'm a ways off from getting work done on the SVN so I'll see what you say. You are welcome to split this thread if you like as I'm getting a little off-topic. Smile

Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2012 4:07 am

I used RapidSVN the first time around when I switched from Windows to Ubuntu. Then I found NetBeans IDE had a SubVersion client built in and used that for a while.
Just before I left the RN dev team I was using a Nautilus script (Nautilus is the file browser similar to Windows Explorer) which worked very well for doing my RN updates.
If you wanted to try that, in the Software Center, search for;
nautilus-script-collection-svn
and you should find it. Here is what it looks like in action http://solitarygeek.com/linux/linux-version-control-svn-subversion-nautilus-nautilussvn-ubuntu

Nautilus SVN script looks like it has now been replaced with RabbitVCS, which works for both SVN and Git repositories so I would probably go with that one - here's some pics http://rabbitvcs.org/

Maybe montego might have some idea's as he uses SVN a heck of a lot but I haven't found anything quite as good as Tortoise.

Site Admin Joined: Jan 06, 2006 Posts: 308

I agree that nothing as good as Tortoise. I have been using Eclipse all this time, which has great SVN plug-in support (Subclipse). However, Guardian has turned me on to NetBeans (I have installed 7.1). I am still having some issues with it, but I am hopeful that I can get it to work because I am really liking the IDE.

Take a look at the Netbeans thread in G's forums.

Newbie Joined: May 12, 2009 Posts: 74 Location: TX

Well looks like there is some hope there regarding svn. I'll let you know how I get along... Still have a couple extra pc's and a KVM switch if I need to setup a XP machine just for RN dev... although a linux alternative would be my first pick. I take it I would want the ubuntu version of RabbitVCS?

Netbeans looks cool, little concerned about the learning curve as I've never used an IDE; and already have a few other things to learn. Although I may bite the bullet.. Not sure I'm sold on gedit yet, but you become so accustomed to a particular editor making a switch is always hard; so we'll see.