linux newbie has questions

[orange303]

I've been building PCs and cocking around with puters for nearly 20 years but have only recently played with jolicloud and easypeasy and there seems to be so many different linux OS types around so forgive my confusion.

I intend to buy a couple of slices of this Pi but was wondering if it would be possible for it to autorun some software at start up?

I am a photographer and I have a large 32" monitor that plays a 10 minute looped slideshow of some of my photos via my laptop, it's a long winded process to get the slideshow running at the moment so I wondered if I could attach the R-Pi to the screen and as soon as the power is turned on it starts the slideshow with no manual input?

[rurwin]

Except that it will take a fair few seconds to actually boot, yes.

To run from the command line, research "init" ("initd" may be more google friendly) and run states.

It can be done with the X windows system as well if you need windows.

[t3ddftw]

orange303 said:


I've been building PCs and cocking around with puters for nearly 20 years but have only recently played with jolicloud and easypeasy and there seems to be so many different linux OS types around so forgive my confusion.

I intend to buy a couple of slices of this Pi but was wondering if it would be possible for it to autorun some software at start up?

I am a photographer and I have a large 32" monitor that plays a 10 minute looped slideshow of some of my photos via my laptop, it's a long winded process to get the slideshow running at the moment so I wondered if I could attach the R-Pi to the screen and as soon as the power is turned on it starts the slideshow with no manual input?


Yes - You can auto run anything you'd like on boot (generally by adding it to /etc/rc.local). You can also use "cron" to run a command or action at any given interval or on a schedule.

[obarthelemy]

You'll need to do 3 things:

1- boot Linux on startup, whih is the default behaviour so nothing to do

2- autologin a user, which you can do, details depend on the version of Linux you're using. UpStart (which I think Fedora uses) does that in tty1.conf in some subdirectoy of /etc, I think.

3- autorun your slideshow app, which is easy, though again details depend on your version of linux and on your app (does it need X11 ? a browser ? does it autoupdate its slides from some source ? ...). Again, depending on your version of Linux, the shell you using, you might do it in Upstart with a .conf, in bash as a shell autorun...

So, yes, it's feasible, but details vary. A lot.

[Paul7k]

Im in a similar situation, i have been tinkering with computers for about 9 years, but i am not really good with the inner workings of linux and their multi distros.

however recently i have stuck a few different versions (Zorin, Debian and Fedora) on my spare laptop i just have knocking around to get used to it alittle and i have to say it seems to be very easy to use (with the odd bit of help from Google)

I manged to get things on startup quite easily, and apart from getting used to the commands to enter in the Terminal (where Google came in), it is straight forward to use in general.

[rurwin]

Regarding usability, it's a long story, but I recently forced a totally computer illiterate friend to forgo Windows and use Linux Mint instead. The only complaint was that it wouldn't run Windows games and for that reason he eventually had XP reloaded. I got no complaints or questions about usability.

[adlambert]

Regarding linux usability, as long as a new user stays within the distro install, then it is easy street. Go beyond the boundary and out into the wild and things become a bit "interesting".

For instance, new user with an Ubuntu 11.10 install gets directed to and downloads an RPM package for something that he needs.

It has a geeky tar.gz extension, no problem though, the standard install extracts the RPM fairly intuitively. But what to do with the RPM? OK, off to google to find out.

Google turns up a howtogeek.com instruction on installing RPM on ubuntu.

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto.....ntu-linux/

Helpfully, the page explains about synaptic and apt-get and implies that RPM is out of date deprecated format.

So, what to do? It explains you need to convert your RPM to another format. Not great, but not a big deal, we'll give it a go:

sudo apt-get install alien dpkg-dev debhelper build-essential

??? WTF ??? is the justifiable response.

Just to make the linux capable of converting the package?

Then, without any explanation about where on the file system things need to be, the next instruction is:

sudo alien packagename.rpm

then:

sudo dpkg -i packagename.deb

Is presented to the Ubuntu user, with no explanation of the relationship between debian and unbuntu to explain the .deb extension.

After all this, the article signs off with:

The package should now be installed, providing it’s compatible with your system.

!!! ??? The linux world has got a long way to go before it understands usability, when it is up against double clicking a self-installing archive. If these kids are going to hooked on, then the documentation needs to drop down into the real world.

[jamesh]

Of course, most people never leave the distro boundary. I very rarely do and I have been using Ubuntu for years.  Everything I need is pre-packaged.

Although documentation is key, I think Windows also has a lot of work to do there!

[rurwin]

That is sort of like installing a windows NT package on Windows CE. You might get it to work, but it wont be easy.

I have never had to use the "alien" keyword, and I've been on a Debian system for about ten years. (The other eight hours that I am awake, I use Windows.) I compile from source maybe once a year.

I'm fairly comfortable in saying that 99% of users would not experience any difficulty swapping to Linux, because they never push the limits of Windows. The other 1% might find it harder because they are used to stuff being in certain places and expressed in certain ways.

In my experience, both Linux users and Windows users can hit problems that result in three days  of Internet searching, screaming, tearing of hair and gnashing of teeth. The Windows user tends to come out the other end with a reformatted hard-disk, no wiser and a little less self-confident. The Linux user tends to come out with a fixed machine, wiser and a little more self-confident.

[adlambert]

Yes, as I thought there is an awful lot of work to do.

I personally use windows, because I have to. Some functions I need only work on windows. I also use ubuntu in a vm on the windows pc, the Ubuntu is my preferred environment. And I have a Mac because I write iPhone apps, therefore I must.

I"m quite comfortable in all those platforms, but I am under no illusion as to the high geek factor associated with the open source one. This is a barrier to its wider uptake, and denial does not improve the situation.

[Gert van Loo]

I mentioned this elsewhere so for those who already know the story:Sorry.

My kids (10/13) got laptops with the worst of the worst: Vista! (No I did not buy them). They were only used to Windows (Albeit 2000/XP) After a fatal crash on both! I put Linux on it and they have taken it in stride and never looked back.

What I have to be carefull of is e.g. buying a printer as not all manufacturers make Linux drivers.

See what really, really p*sses me of is that I had to pay extra to go back to XP. Also if I want to buy XP now I can't! (Not officially) This is were the hatred against Microsoft comes from.

[Paul7k]

with like any (or most) systems though it does depend on what you want to do with it to how "easy" it is to use, for example i have spent very little time on linux so far and most of it was in the terminal typing in commands (ofcourse with google leading the way), this is because i was figuring out how to install packages that are not so user friendly to install, set up a dlna server, starting the device with a ntfs usb drive already mounted on startup with read/write access, and no password requests when requesting gksu/sudo commands and not forgetting to run terminal commands on startup..which im not too sure is for the average user..however it was still all very easy stuff for myself with the guidelines of some usefull websites i found

[Canuck]

Couldn't you just make a shell script to make a slideshow with feh and then init it on boot.

Also could use a samba share so you could potentially connect it to your network and add stuff to your slideshow from windows.

[grumpyoldgit]

You all seem to be making this extremely complicated. I am a mere mortal with Ubuntu on a rather geriatric PC. The default photo package is F-Spot and if I want to look at a group of photos I just press the Slideshow button. I'm sure I could tart it up a bit but life is too short.

[Canuck]

Grumpyoldgit said:


You all seem to be making this extremely complicated. I am a mere mortal with Ubuntu on a rather geriatric PC. The default photo package is F-Spot and if I want to look at a group of photos I just press the Slideshow button. I"m sure I could tart it up a bit but life is too short.

Ubuntu is bloated, Unity sucks, deb is inferior.

I would not run a DE on the raspberry pi as its CPU is about as powerful as a 100mhz 486.

Running a Arch setup with Feh as the photoviewer/slideshow utility without X server installed is the way I"d do the OP"s wanted task.

[kme]

Canuck said:



Ubuntu is bloated, Unity sucks, deb is inferior.

I would not run a DE on the raspberry pi as its CPU is about as powerful as a 100mhz 486.



Get a life.

[Paul7k]

samba works for sharing files from windows but not ps3, ps3 is dlna server which is different.

[Canuck]

Paul7k said:


samba works for sharing files from windows but not ps3, ps3 is dlna server which is different.


Then use FTP?

[Canuck]

kme said:


Canuck said:



Ubuntu is bloated, Unity sucks, deb is inferior.

I would not run a DE on the raspberry pi as its CPU is about as powerful as a 100mhz 486.



Get a life.

mad?

[grumpyoldgit]

Looking back I can see that I didn't quite make myself clear. I mentioned Ubuntu as that is the only Linux flavour I have experience of. I appreciate that it will not be one of the approved distros. The point I was trying to make was that whatever distro is chosen, there is likely to be a simple photo storage program included or readily available. While people who know such things will be able to set up scripts to automate a slideshow, the available software will have that capability built in, which can then be simply set up by the most end user of end users.

[jamesh]

Canuck said:


kme said:


Canuck said:



Ubuntu is bloated, Unity sucks, deb is inferior.

I would not run a DE on the raspberry pi as its CPU is about as powerful as a 100mhz 486.



Get a life.

mad?



I think he meant get some manners.

On my desktop, I use Unity on Ubutnu. Works fine for me. On the Raspi, when I need a DE, I use LXDE, works fine.

And a 700Mhz Arm is definitely faster than a 100Mhz 486!

[Canuck]

Not by much.

[spamel]

Don"t mind me jumping in with my muddy boots on, but I saw mention of PS3 and it piqued my interest. I set my PS3 up to play files off my desktop, so what canuck says about FTP interests me. What is it exactly, how does it work (exactly!) and how do I install it on the RasPi when I get it. EXACTLY!

[Canuck]

FTP is a common file transfer protocol, its not very secure but you can use FTPS.

[kme]

Canuck said:


Not by much.


Prove it. A 100 MHz i486 has ~80 MIPS. A 700 MHz ARMv6 is just short of 900 MIPS, so it's eleven times faster. And this is without the R-Pi taking advantage of its GPU.