Testing Salix and liking it.

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eight.bit.al
Posts: 12
Joined: 3. Nov 2022, 02:17

Testing Salix and liking it.

Post by eight.bit.al »

Light and responsive, I'm liking Salix more by the minute.

Long time computer user; 1967, punch cards and Mylar tape.
Addicted, serial distro-hopper.

8bit
galmei
Posts: 166
Joined: 1. Jun 2018, 21:54

Re: Testing Salix and liking it.

Post by galmei »

A warm welcome to you!
eight.bit.al wrote: 3. Nov 2022, 02:23 Long time computer user; 1967, punch cards and Mylar tape.
I can't quite keep up with that.
As a student, I used the IBM 029/129 punch (cardboard cards) in the beginning, then in advanced studies I used the
the IBM 3215 console printer with attached keyboard and input/output via paper tape.
An IBM System/360 was fed with it.

All so long ago that it is no longer true. Good that there is now Salix!
Not that anyone thinks I'm old, back then I could still walk upright under tables with ease.

galmei
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Papasot
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Location: Patras, Greece

Re: Testing Salix and liking it.

Post by Papasot »

eight.bit.al wrote: 3. Nov 2022, 02:23Long time computer user; 1967, punch cards and Mylar tape.
Addicted, serial distro-hopper.
Welcome, eight.bit.al (the future was 8-bit, afterall.) ;)
I have a feeling you might quit being a serial distro-hopper now (that "serial" was so funny.) :D
Beware though: Salix is rock-solid stable, so if you enjoy some "adventure" every time to turn on your computer (risk of something is not working all of the sudden,) you won't find any of that here. I use Salix for several years, and it never disappointed me: it will work as expected until your hardware dies.

I never used punch cards for their real purpose, the University already had a more modern VAX-based mainframe and PCs back then. But a large stock of those cards was left for dead in a desk - I got some and I am still using them as bookmarks. Always a Fortran enthusiast though (I assume this is what you used the cards for,) which I am using for everything, including OpenGL/Multimedia programming. Best high-level programming language, ever.

galmei wrote: 3. Nov 2022, 12:06Not that anyone thinks I'm old, back then I could still walk upright under tables with ease.
Age is just a number. Oh, and by the way it gets smaller if you say it in hexadecimal. I do that all the time (without telling people - there is no need they know about such a small and insignificant detail.) Just avoid doing that whenever the number includes A-F. :lol:
A pleasant detail in this forum: several people pick a picture of their pet as their avatar. Who am I to do otherwise? ;-)
galmei
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Re: Testing Salix and liking it.

Post by galmei »

Papasot wrote: 4. Nov 2022, 11:00
galmei wrote: 3. Nov 2022, 12:06Not that anyone thinks I'm old, back then I could still walk upright under tables with ease.
.
Papasot wrote: 4. Nov 2022, 11:00 Age is just a number.
My father's mother turned 93. I wonder what she would have said to that.
Papasot wrote: 4. Nov 2022, 11:00 I do that all the time (without telling people - there is no need they know about such a small and insignificant detail.)
Cute idea! But that no longer works for younger people, because teachers make pupils say the base of the number system they use to express themselves at every opportunity, even though it is well known that our society has agreed on the base-ten-number-system. Today's political influence on our schools/teachers/pupils. Can't imagine it's different in Greece. "European Union" political influence.
Papasot wrote: 4. Nov 2022, 11:00 Just avoid doing that whenever the number includes A-F.
But letters occur frequently in sedecimal numbers.

I didn't come into contact with number systems to other bases until I was in college.

In college we had to learn IBM Job Control Language (JCL) and IBM Programming Language One (PL/1) on IBM OS/VS and of course others and also the FORTRAN-Languarge. We immortalized our exercise program creations (JCL and PL/1) on punched cards. Printing was done on tabulating paper. The card reader and the printer were operated by a hired operator.

I came in contact with DEC/VAX/VMS only in my professional life, after that there was a lot from "Sun" and the usual computer/Unix zoo at that time!
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Papasot
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Re: Testing Salix and liking it.

Post by Papasot »

galmei wrote: 4. Nov 2022, 19:39 Cute idea! But that no longer works for younger people, because teachers make pupils say the base of the number system they use to express themselves at every opportunity, even though it is well known that our society has agreed on the base-ten-number-system. Today's political influence on our schools/teachers/pupils.
Well, I am highly allergic to political correctness, and young pupils should better be equally allergic. However, they don't need hexadecimal numbers to make their age cuter anyway. :lol:
galmei wrote: 4. Nov 2022, 19:39 In college we had to learn IBM Job Control Language (JCL) and IBM Programming Language One (PL/1) on IBM OS/VS
...
I came in contact with DEC/VAX/VMS only in my professional life, after that there was a lot from "Sun" and the usual computer/Unix zoo at that time!
PL/1 was a curiosity for real computer nerds in my time.
VAX was a lightning speed machine, compared to what common mortals could have access to back when I used it for the first time. I had a code written in C64 Abacus Fortran, and it was working but it was slow. PCs of the era were not much better either. Converting the code to VAX Fortran was easy and, once compiled, I thought I should get up and go outside while the program is running. Being used to long execution times, I assumed it will take some time for the program to execute even on the VAX, enough time to at least smoke a cigarette outside. So, I pressed [Enter] (actually, "Line Feed", if I recall correctly) but I didn't get up because the beast finished execution in less than a second. It was one of those "what the ..." moments, and the first time I realized mainframes, even old ones, were in just another level.
A pleasant detail in this forum: several people pick a picture of their pet as their avatar. Who am I to do otherwise? ;-)
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laprjns
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Re: Testing Salix and liking it.

Post by laprjns »

The very first lesson in my Fortran IV class was;
There are two kinds of programmers, those who have dropped their card deck and those that will. So number your card decks,
“Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought?"
galmei
Posts: 166
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Re: Testing Salix and liking it.

Post by galmei »

It's not about political corectness, it's about what teachers demand from their pupils. To change this, parents must be aware of the problems and oppose the system. The pupils can try this only in advanced grades at the (German) high school, but they want to achieve their (German) high-school diploma.
However, they don't need hexadecimal numbers to make their age cuter anyway. :lol:
You are laughing at your own words here. When a ten year old is asked his age, should he answer "A"? Or should he refuse to answer? Those would be his options to show your kind of resistance (your kind of political correctness). If an older, let's say a 60-year-old has to state his age (verbally or in writing) should he then state "3C"? He could only do that if he had studied computer science or was otherwise familiar with number systems. What does such a person do who asks for a passport? Does he write his date of birth "D.A.7A8" (13.11.1960 in this example)? You write age only in sedecimal notation. :roll:
PL/1 was a curiosity for real computer nerds in my time.
I did not write about your time, but about my student time. PL/1 was a language of instruction in my studies - exams were held on it. JCL was a prerequisite to work with IBM OS/VS using punch cards or (typewriter) terminals. JCL was also taught and was part of exams. We students did not have a choice to learn these languages - it was dictated by the boards. What kind of world do you live in? You have attended schools and a university/college?

The FORTRAN language was developed by John Warner Backus at IBM. Also PL/1 was further developed at IBM from NPL (New Programming Language). In Germany the short form PL/1 is/was more often used instead of PL/I or PLI.

Now this is the end of the senseless writing. EOD as far as I'm concerned!
[/quote]
eight.bit.al
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Re: Testing Salix and liking it.

Post by eight.bit.al »

To get back on topic: ;)

Completely smitten with Salix.

Light, responsive, NVIDIA drivers, smooth video playback,
my fav wall, theme and icons, what more is there to say.

Image

Image
eight.bit.al
Posts: 12
Joined: 3. Nov 2022, 02:17

Re: Testing Salix and liking it.

Post by eight.bit.al »

Like I said, I'm a fully addicted, serial distro-hopper. And if it has an Xfce version, I've run it.

A dir of over 600 screenshots:

Image

And that doesn't count the hundreds I lost when an image hosting service went belly up in the middle of the night. I won't make that mistake again.

Back when I was using spinning rust; eSATA station:

Image Image

Now days it's all NVMe PCIe adaptors"

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But I may have found a home with Salix for the main machine. I'm using several:

Image

8bit

P.S when does the "Your post is being reviewed" end?
Edit: Whoo Hoo. Thank you.
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Papasot
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Re: Testing Salix and liking it.

Post by Papasot »

Ok, your setup clearly puts my humble desk to shame. :D
A pleasant detail in this forum: several people pick a picture of their pet as their avatar. Who am I to do otherwise? ;-)
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