Quick run down of necessary services/apps for Linux...

[BruceJ]

Hi all,

I'm going to reinstall SuSE 7.0 but this time I want to do a custom install and select the packages individually.

My intended use for Linux is this: a dial-up workstation (browsing, chat, email), software development using KDevelop and also some Tcl/Tk, and maybe some light office app kind of stuff... mainly spreadsheets.

The current install of SuSE 7.0 was a 'Everything but sources' install. I did that just to play it safe but have since learned I have a heap load of things installed that I don't need.

There's some weird bug, too, in SuSE 7.0 regarding GNOME and sawfish... so I don't want to install either of those. As for the window managers I think I'll stick with KDE 1.2.1 (or something like that) and wait for KDE2 to mature a bit.

Given what I plan on using Linux for does anyone have some tips as far as things that I definitley don't need to install?

Many items I can figure out on my own accord, however, there are a fair bunch who's descriptions are rather obscure so I'm not quite sure what to do.

I'm just trying to get my linux setup lean and mean...

TIA

-Bruce

[mikeylikesitz]

not real sure about the apps to install. I just went through every listing and decided for myself. I had the Gnome and Sawfish problem the first time i installed but when i installed the second time(i do that alot untill i get it right, real newbie here) it was just fine. I found that when i went through the single packages i only changed about 12 or so that wanted most everything loaded by default i liked. Of course i tend to load as much as possible i like at the start.

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life is a journey not a destination

[mikeylikesitz]

BTW, are you having a problem with your monitor to start. i cant seem to get mine right, just wondering if it was the newbie in me.

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life is a journey not a destination

[milanuk]

Well, one option you can try (granted, I no longer have a SuSE machine sitting in front of me... maybe if they get rpm-apt, I'll come back) is to open up yast (that's yast1, the curses-based one, not that goofy YaST2), go to -> Change/Install packages -> Load configuration, and just choose the Default (or Minimal, if you're really serious about stripping down and rebuilding) but I'd recommend doing that , and then choose from the menu at the bottom <Replace> Then a screen will pop up warning you that all these packages will be removed if you do this; do you really want to do this? Answer accordingly, and enjoy!

Monte

[BruceJ]

Mikeylikesitz: I've installed SuSE probably 6 times in the past two weeks. I remember once that I had a problem getting into X-Windows because I had entered inappropriate frequency values for my monitor. You can fix that, I believe, with XConfigurator.

The reason I want to trim down the install of Linux is because when I did the 'Install everything but Sources' option... there was crap load of unneccessary services that were automatically being started at boot up. My mem usage was obscenely high, various cron jobs running in the background making my HD grind like an ax, etc...

I used Yast1 to disable some services but that utility is so cheesy half of the things I didn't even know if I should disable or not.

Sometimes I wish I would have kept Mandrake 7.2 because it had a very intuitive service manager.

Milanuk: Thank you very much for the info. Unfortunatly, I have already nuked my SuSE install! http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/frown.gif I'll be sure to rememeber that next time. I do like SuSE but I was a bit put off by the 'archaic' Yast1... so I opted for a fresh re-install.

What distro are you running? Debian?

-Bruce

[mdwatts]

I just finished rebuilding my laptop to give more space to Win98 and a little less to eDesktop 2.4. Toshiba P120 with 32MB

Created a 550MB root partition and a 64MB swap. Did a minimal install (270MB) and found I had the basic Xfree installed and the minimal KDE 1.2. Runs a lot faster than before. Communicator 4.75 actually starts up in about 7 seconds. Everything else is also very quick.

On my home and work desktops, I usually do a full install (1.3GB) and use Kpackage to uninstall what I do not need. Roughly 400 or 500MB of stuff. I use COAS to disable the services I do not require.

[milanuk]

Originally posted by BruceJ:
I used Yast1 to disable some services but that utility is so cheesy half of the things I didn't even know if I should disable or not.


YaST1 is one of those things that grows on you over time. I've used SuSE for a while now, really starting in w/ 6.0. I feel that you can still do more w/ it than you can YaST2, at least for now. And I must say, it hasn't failed me yet. The keybindings are semi-hardcoded into my fingers by now http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/wink.gif

Milanuk: Thank you very much for the info. Unfortunatly, I have already nuked my SuSE install! http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/frown.gif I'll be sure to rememeber that next time. I do like SuSE but I was a bit put off by the 'archaic' Yast1... so I opted for a fresh re-install.

What distro are you running? Debian?

-Bruce

Yep. I've decided to try to make a go of it w/ Debian for now, though I still hear Slackware calling me (more nostalgia than anything, since I started futzing around w/ Slack 3.0 or so several years back). SuSE is one of those distros I kinda love to hate... everything works great, so long as you do it _their_ way, w/ _their_ tools. Anything else, well, can be hairy at times, and other times, work flawlessly. It's a coin toss. Keeping updated can be a bear at times, since mirroring their updates directory for 7.0 is over 370MB last I checked, as they maintain multiple older copies of stuff all in the same directory. i.e. yast-1.xx.i386.rpm, yast-1.xx+n.i386.rpm, and yast-1.xx+2n.i386.rpm all reside together, and the most recent one is linked to yast.rpm. There are ways to only retrieve the one attached to the link, but unless you get all the info files and whatnot, it gives yast indigestion during updates. Again, it's workable, and reliable, just kind of time consuming. And even on my little home LAN, I have better things to do than that.

SuSE has been doing some impressive stuff w/ IBM and SGI in the high-availability arena, which interests me a lot, even though all I have is a little home system.

Monte