What else do I need?

[notbob]

I upgraded FireFox from 30-something to the first available .txz file
available on the Slackware Security updates, Apr 22, 2017. It's now
45.9.0. It also will no longer fly Youtube. Freezes up, every dang
time!

I upgraded cuz my primary financial institution stopped working. It
now works fine. BUT! ...Youtube stopped playing nice. Freezes up my
entire box, almost immediately, and without fail!

Did I miss something?

PS: gotta lotta graphics junk on this ancient P4 32-bit Vaio box.
Specially fer the crappy video set-up I have, which is an ASUS board
mounted NVIDIA MX440 unit pushing 14.1. I been considering upgrading,
but should I move to 14.2 or jes re-load 14.1, minus the junk? ;)

nb

[Rich]

Post by notbob
I upgraded FireFox from 30-something to the first available .txz file
available on the Slackware Security updates, Apr 22, 2017. It's now
45.9.0. It also will no longer fly Youtube. Freezes up, every dang
time!
I upgraded cuz my primary financial institution stopped working. It
now works fine. BUT! ...Youtube stopped playing nice. Freezes up my
entire box, almost immediately, and without fail!

14.2: https://slackbuilds.org/repository/14.2/network/youtube-dl/

14.1: https://slackbuilds.org/repository/14.1/network/youtube-dl/

Youtube problem solved.

[Mike Spencer]

Post by Rich

Post by notbob
I upgraded FireFox from 30-something to the first available .txz file
available on the Slackware Security updates, Apr 22, 2017. It's now
45.9.0. It also will no longer fly Youtube. Freezes up, every dang
time!

14.2: https://slackbuilds.org/repository/14.2/network/youtube-dl/
14.1: https://slackbuilds.org/repository/14.1/network/youtube-dl/

I've had great results with youtube-dl. Also some failures that I
never managed to figure out -- possibly problems at yt rather than the
client software

BTW, notbob, check alt.banjo FWIW. I did hear back from my banjo
person.

Post by Rich
Youtube problem solved.

For me, yes. Have to go to the library for big downloads such as
video. Don't want to sit there forever watching with head phones.

[notbob]

Post by Rich
14.2: https://slackbuilds.org/repository/14.2/network/youtube-dl/
14.1: https://slackbuilds.org/repository/14.1/network/youtube-dl/
Youtube problem solved.

Only if I wanna save dozens of unsaveworthy vids! ;)

I have --and have used-- youtube-dl-2017.06.05.tar.gz and older
versions. I've seen Youtube move through mp3, then mp4, then, of
late, some .mkv files.

IOW, the target keeps moving and a .mkv file is not exactly forgiving,
being a rusky format. Heck, my VLC (2.1.4) barely recognizes a .mkv
file! It plays 'em, but only video. No audio (ALSA). Do I have my
ALSA settings wrong (CLI)?

When I use VLC to play a .mkv file, I get this error msg:

"No suitable decoder module:
VLC does not support the audio or video format "undf". Unfortunately
there is no way for you to fix this."

Gee, that's reassuring! ;)

nb

[Ars Ivci]

On 28 Dec 2017 14:56:50 GMT

Post by notbob

Post by Rich
14.2: https://slackbuilds.org/repository/14.2/network/youtube-dl/
14.1: https://slackbuilds.org/repository/14.1/network/youtube-dl/
Youtube problem solved.

Only if I wanna save dozens of unsaveworthy vids! ;)
I have --and have used-- youtube-dl-2017.06.05.tar.gz and older
versions. I've seen Youtube move through mp3, then mp4, then, of
late, some .mkv files.
IOW, the target keeps moving and a .mkv file is not exactly forgiving,
being a rusky format. Heck, my VLC (2.1.4) barely recognizes a .mkv
file! It plays 'em, but only video. No audio (ALSA). Do I have my
ALSA settings wrong (CLI)?
VLC does not support the audio or video format "undf". Unfortunately
there is no way for you to fix this."
Gee, that's reassuring! ;)
nb

It may have to do with your timezone setting (don't ask me why)
according to this thread in VLC forum:
https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.php?t=116430#p397335

quote
I am originally from Switzerland and currently in the US for Vacation.
I did copy some videos onto my iPad Air, tested them back at home,
everything fine. Now in the US suddenly there is no audio.

However, changing the timezone of my iPad back to Swiss time resolved
the issue and I am having audio like before.
unquote

Give it a try and let's hope sound works.

peace,
t.

[notbob]

Post by Ars Ivci
https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.php?t=116430#p397335
Give it a try and let's hope sound works.

Thanks for the tip. I'll give it a try. ;)

nb

[Ned Latham]

<>

Post by notbob

Post by Rich
14.2: https://slackbuilds.org/repository/14.2/network/youtube-dl/
14.1: https://slackbuilds.org/repository/14.1/network/youtube-dl/
Youtube problem solved.

Only if I wanna save dozens of unsaveworthy vids! ;)
I have --and have used-- youtube-dl-2017.06.05.tar.gz and older
versions. I've seen Youtube move through mp3, then mp4, then, of
late, some .mkv files.
IOW, the target keeps moving and a .mkv file is not exactly forgiving,
being a rusky format. Heck, my VLC (2.1.4) barely recognizes a .mkv
file! It plays 'em, but only video. No audio (ALSA). Do I have my
ALSA settings wrong (CLI)?

I'm running 14.1; mplayer SVN-r37370-snapshot-4.8.2 plays mkv files
(audio and video) just fine and mendoder (same build) converts them
just fine. OTOH, xine v0.99.7 doesn't like them (it has trouble with
wmv files too), so I think your problem is probably VLC.

Do you get audio with other appliocations?

[Rich]

Post by notbob

Post by Rich
14.2: https://slackbuilds.org/repository/14.2/network/youtube-dl/
14.1: https://slackbuilds.org/repository/14.1/network/youtube-dl/
Youtube problem solved.

Only if I wanna save dozens of unsaveworthy vids! ;)

No one said anything about "saving" them. Download them, watch them,
delete them. Not saved....

Post by notbob
IOW, the target keeps moving and a .mkv file is not exactly forgiving,
being a rusky format. Heck, my VLC (2.1.4) barely recognizes a .mkv
file! It plays 'em, but only video. No audio (ALSA). Do I have my
ALSA settings wrong (CLI)?

I use mplayer, and so far it has played, successfully, anything that
youtube-dl downloads.

Post by notbob
VLC does not support the audio or video format "undf". Unfortunately
there is no way for you to fix this."

Maybe upgrade to a newer VLC if you want to stick with VLC?

[Mike]

Post by notbob
VLC does not support the audio or video format "undf". Unfortunately
there is no way for you to fix this."

I've seen that when I ended up with an H26*5* stream in an mkv container,
my version of VLC doesn't seem to know what do with them. H264 is fine.

[Eef Hartman]

Post by notbob
VLC does not support the audio or video format "undf". Unfortunately
there is no way for you to fix this."

Yes, there is: get a newer version of VLC from alien's site:
http://taper.alienbase.nl/mirrors/people/alien/slackbuilds/vlc/pkg/14.1/

Eric even has the npapi plugin to use vlc from i.e. firefox (in the
same directory).

[Aragorn]

On Thursday 28 December 2017 02:40, notbob conveyed the following to
alt.os.linux.slackware...

Post by notbob
I upgraded FireFox from 30-something to the first available .txz file
available on the Slackware Security updates, Apr 22, 2017. It's now
45.9.0. It also will no longer fly Youtube. Freezes up, every dang
time!
I upgraded cuz my primary financial institution stopped working. It
now works fine. BUT! ...Youtube stopped playing nice. Freezes up my
entire box, almost immediately, and without fail!
Did I miss something?
PS: gotta lotta graphics junk on this ancient P4 32-bit Vaio box.
Specially fer the crappy video set-up I have, which is an ASUS board
mounted NVIDIA MX440 unit pushing 14.1. I been considering upgrading,
but should I move to 14.2 or jes re-load 14.1, minus the junk? ;)

I've been using Pale Moon as my primary browser for about a year now,
and while it does have stability issues ─ it crashes on occasion, but
only on the same things that Firefox would crash on as well ─ I find
that it is much faster than Firefox, and it's also much more agreeable.

Pale Moon is a fork of an earlier Firefox, and while it uses roughly the
same rendering engine as Firefox ─ there are a few minor differences ─
its purpose was mainly to retain the old look & feel of Firefox, which
itself has adopted the Chrome-like Australis interface a while ago.

Firefox is now trying very hard to compete with Google Chrome/Chromium,
by essentially becoming a clone of it ─ only not as good. I don't like
Google Chrome/Chromium because it's from Google ─ and they want to know
everything about you ─ and because of its inflexible user interface, but
at least it's stable compared to Firefox.

My advice: give Pale Moon a spin and see whether you like it. ;)

[Jerry Peters]

Post by Aragorn
On Thursday 28 December 2017 02:40, notbob conveyed the following to
alt.os.linux.slackware...

Post by notbob
I upgraded FireFox from 30-something to the first available .txz file
available on the Slackware Security updates, Apr 22, 2017. It's now
45.9.0. It also will no longer fly Youtube. Freezes up, every dang
time!
I upgraded cuz my primary financial institution stopped working. It
now works fine. BUT! ...Youtube stopped playing nice. Freezes up my
entire box, almost immediately, and without fail!
Did I miss something?
PS: gotta lotta graphics junk on this ancient P4 32-bit Vaio box.
Specially fer the crappy video set-up I have, which is an ASUS board
mounted NVIDIA MX440 unit pushing 14.1. I been considering upgrading,
but should I move to 14.2 or jes re-load 14.1, minus the junk? ;)

I've been using Pale Moon as my primary browser for about a year now,
and while it does have stability issues ? it crashes on occasion, but
only on the same things that Firefox would crash on as well ? I find
that it is much faster than Firefox, and it's also much more agreeable.
Pale Moon is a fork of an earlier Firefox, and while it uses roughly the
same rendering engine as Firefox ? there are a few minor differences ?
its purpose was mainly to retain the old look & feel of Firefox, which
itself has adopted the Chrome-like Australis interface a while ago.
Firefox is now trying very hard to compete with Google Chrome/Chromium,
by essentially becoming a clone of it ? only not as good. I don't like
Google Chrome/Chromium because it's from Google ? and they want to know
everything about you ? and because of its inflexible user interface, but
at least it's stable compared to Firefox.
My advice: give Pale Moon a spin and see whether you like it. ;)

Seconded. Switched from FF because to Palemoon of the UI changes and
also because of it requiring signed extensions. Now I see FF is
breaking all extensions. Does Mozilla have a clue?

[notbob]

Post by Aragorn
My advice: give Pale Moon a spin and see whether you like it. ;)

I think I'll jes try 14.2. Problem is, I got all this data which
needs back-up. Can rsync handle it or is their a better way?

Looks like I'll hafta dwnld some new 14.2 CD's. The one's I d/l'd a
yr ago have some issues (I didn't put 'em in CD boxes/envelopes). At
least I can still get a 32-bit version. ;)

Anyone have a good link to a 'howto install Slackware 14.2?' (NOT youtube
vid!) I'm so old and it's been so long since I did any install work,
I've forgotten a lot of it! 8|

nb

[Eef Hartman]

Post by notbob
Can rsync handle it or is their a better way?

Normally I use rsync -avH (to handle hardlinks, which DO occur in some
of my optional packages (like undos:
-rwxr-xr-x 7 root bin 6916 2003-07-24 17:45 tocpm
-rwxr-xr-x 7 root bin 6916 2003-07-24 17:45 todos
-rwxr-xr-x 7 root bin 6916 2003-07-24 17:45 tomac
-rwxr-xr-x 7 root bin 6916 2003-07-24 17:45 tounix
-rwxr-xr-x 7 root bin 6916 2003-07-24 17:45 undos
-rwxr-xr-x 7 root bin 6916 2003-07-24 17:45 unmac
-rwxr-xr-x 7 root bin 6916 2003-07-24 17:45 unparity
and unzip/zipinfo:
-rwxr-xr-x 2 root bin 138788 2009-04-20 06:00 unzip
-rwxr-xr-x 2 root bin 138788 2009-04-20 06:00 zipinfo
(this is my own compilation with a few different options than the
files in the standard slackware package).
rsync does handle all the rest very well, but I'm not using acl's and
sparse files etc, which -a will also not transfer identical).

[notbob]

Post by Eef Hartman
rsync does handle all the rest very well, but I'm not using acl's and
sparse files etc, which -a will also not transfer identical).

Many thanks, Eef.

Maybe you can straighten me out on this issue:

"The non-SMP kernel is mostly intended for machines that can't run the
SMP kernel, which is anything older than a Pentium III, and some
models of the Pentium M that don't support PAE (although it seems that
these might support PAE but just lack the CPU flags to advertise it --
try booting with the "forcepae" kernel option). On 32-bit, it is
highly recommended to use the SMP kernel if your machine is able to
boot with it (even if you have only a single core) because the
optimization and memory handling options should yield better
performance."

So, izzat the "hugesmp" kernel? Slack has so many freakin' options,
now, I'm lost!

I jes wanna load 14.2 on my 32-bit P4 box! Once I make it to the
ncurses menu screen, I'm home. I've got all weekend to 'tweak'.

I gotta Vaio (Asus m/b) P4 box (2001?). All on-board (board mounted)
grapics/video and no wifi or other IDE cards (I use 'CAT-5'). I wanna
load ALL of the first four CD's. This means, YES, I wanna load ALL of
KDE. I'll not use the KDE DE/WM, but fluxbox has many of KDE's
utility menus, already.

Basically, I'm looking for the initial root 'load kernel' command.
Anyone? ;)

nb

[Ars Ivci]

On 29 Dec 2017 20:35:34 GMT

Post by notbob

Post by Eef Hartman
rsync does handle all the rest very well, but I'm not using acl's
and sparse files etc, which -a will also not transfer identical).

Many thanks, Eef.
"The non-SMP kernel is mostly intended for machines that can't run the
SMP kernel, which is anything older than a Pentium III, and some
models of the Pentium M that don't support PAE (although it seems that
these might support PAE but just lack the CPU flags to advertise it --
try booting with the "forcepae" kernel option). On 32-bit, it is
highly recommended to use the SMP kernel if your machine is able to
boot with it (even if you have only a single core) because the
optimization and memory handling options should yield better
performance."
So, izzat the "hugesmp" kernel? Slack has so many freakin' options,
now, I'm lost!

That is correct. Pat recommends an SMP kernel, i.e. hugesmp. If
installation is succesful, you can then switch to a generic kernel +
initrd.
peace,
t.

[Eef Hartman]

Post by notbob
"The non-SMP kernel is mostly intended for machines that can't run the
SMP kernel, which is anything older than a Pentium III, and some
models of the Pentium M that don't support PAE (although it seems that

I think all of the "normal" Pentium 4's will support SMP, although
they do not have multiple core's so don't really need it.
But I'm one of those who always build their own custom kernel (with
SMP as this machine got a Core 2 Duo at 3.0 GHz:
processor : 1
vendor_id : GenuineIntel
cpu family : 6
model : 23
model name : Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E7600 @ 3.06GHz
stepping : 10
cpu MHz : 3066.66
from cat /proc/cpuinfo)
so I'm not really the one to ask.
I _do_ use non-SMP kernels (also custom-built) on my older Pentium III
systems (to be exact 2.6.16.7 as backup kernel and 2.6.18.8 as the
normal one) as the hardware is too old to need newer kernels and
they're not on the net anyway.

I only use vmlinuz-huge-smp-3.10.107 on _this_ machine (HP xw4600
workstation, from 2009) as backup kernel, luckily didn't need it yet.

Post by notbob
So, izzat the "hugesmp" kernel? Slack has so many freakin' options,
now, I'm lost!

Could be or the generic-smp one if you'd like to go the initrd way (it
will make for more room for your OWN programs as that kernel is
smaller, you only load the modules you _really_ need from that initial
ramdisk).
With a custom-built kernel you can even avoid the initrd too.

Post by notbob
I jes wanna load 14.2 on my 32-bit P4 box! Once I make it to the
ncurses menu screen, I'm home. I've got all weekend to 'tweak'.

First boot (while installing) is normally with huge or huge-smp, just
try both. Afterwards you can customize your own production kernel cq
use the generic one (and keep the one FROM the install as backup, as
"it worked"). I always like to have a backup kernel around, especially
while customizing my own kernel.
And _do_ remember that the kernels from the CD cq DVD iso images have
already been replaced/upgraded - to 4.4.88 - as they had security
risks, so do upgrade them after the install or even get the source for
4.4.108 from kernel.org and build your own one.

Post by notbob
This means, YES, I wanna load ALL of KDE. I'll not use the KDE DE/WM,

I've got KDE complete too, I even use kdm to login, but do not use the
DE and/or WM, I use xfce, and I haven't got kdei installed, I'm used
to doing things in English.

Post by notbob
Basically, I'm looking for the initial root 'load kernel' command.

Try huge-smp first. If it doesn't work or is flaky, use the non-SMP
one (huge).

[Eef Hartman]

Post by notbob
I gotta Vaio (Asus m/b) P4 box (2001?). All on-board (board mounted)
grapics/video and no wifi or other IDE cards (I use 'CAT-5').

BTW: how much memory (RAM)?
If you got 3 GB or less, PAE in the kernel isn't needed which makes
the machine a bit faster (no need to change mappings whenever you go
to the screen memory, that can then be mapped within the last 1GB of
address space, where you don't have any RAM anyway).
With 4 GB, of course, you DO need PAE (Physical Address Extensions) as
you want your programs to be able to use all of that RAM (and 4 GB is
the 32-bit address space limit, so you do not want video memory to
overmap part OF that RAM).
See the HIGHMEM options in the kernel's config file:
# CONFIG_NOHIGHMEM is not set
# CONFIG_HIGHMEM4G is not set
CONFIG_HIGHMEM64G=y
CONFIG_HIGHMEM=y
# CONFIG_DEBUG_HIGHMEM is not set
(these are mine, _with_ PAE).

HIGHMEM4G is the one to set for a single 4GB address space, so when
your RAM is less then that. Then both the kernel and your programs
will get the video memory mapped into the last GB of that address
space.
PS: NOHIGHMEM is for a machine with 1 GB or less, then both kernel and
user space will be mapped at the same time.

From Linuxtopia:
If you are compiling a kernel that will never run on a machine with
more than 1 Gigabyte total physical RAM, answer off here (the default
choice, and suitable for most users). This will result in a 3GB/1GB
split: 3GB are mapped so that each process sees a 3GB virtual memory
space and the remaining part of the 4GB virtual memory space is used
by the kernel to permanently map as much physical memory as possible.

If the machine has between 1 and 4 Gigabytes physical RAM, then
answer 4GB here.
(actually, with modern screen adaptors, 3 GB is the limit here)

If more than 4 Gigabytes is used, answer 64GB here. This selection
turns Intel PAE (Physical Address Extension) mode on. PAE implements
3-level paging on IA32 processors. PAE is fully supported by Linux,
and PAE mode is implemented on all recent Intel processors (Pentium
Pro and better).

But not all versions of the Pentium M seem to support it (or at least
do not show THAT they support it).

[notbob]

Post by Eef Hartman
But not all versions of the Pentium M seem to support it (or at least
do not show THAT they support it).

I'm not using a Pentium M, which is a later, stripped down, version of a P4
(which I am using). My lshw command shows:

description: CPU
product: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.40GHz
[...]
capabilities: fpu fpu_exception wp vme de pse tsc msr
pae.....

BTW, I only have .8G RAM. ;)

nb

[Eef Hartman]

Post by notbob
product: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.40GHz

Alright a full Pentium 4, so it should have both pae as well as smb
support. Then you should boot up with the "huge-smp" kernel from the
install media, that should work OK.

Post by notbob
BTW, I only have .8G RAM. ;)

But then a pae kernel is heavy overkill, you could custimize it to
have "NOHIGHMEM" to save on kernel (and timing) overhead.
Compare:
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 6276672 2017-09-15 00:56:54
vmlinuz-huge-smp-3.10.107
(from Slackware 14.1) with
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1737961 2012-11-12 12:30:28 vmlinuz-2.6.18.8
(from the older Pentium III with custom kernel).

You see that the huge 3.10 kernel is almost 4 times as large as the
2.6.18 one (BTW: that machine only got 512 MB of RAM, so I needed my
kernel to be as small as could be).

BTW: the 4.4.88 kernel from the 14.2 updates is still a full MB larger:
-rw-r--r-- root root 7276208 2017-09-14 22:51:24
vmlinuz-huge-smp-4.4.88-smp

[Rich]

Post by notbob

Post by Eef Hartman
But not all versions of the Pentium M seem to support it (or at least
do not show THAT they support it).

I'm not using a Pentium M, which is a later, stripped down, version of a P4
description: CPU
product: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.40GHz
[...]
capabilities: fpu fpu_exception wp vme de pse tsc msr
pae.....
BTW, I only have .8G RAM. ;)

PAE (if that is the "it" which is referenced two quotes back) was first
introduced in the Pentium Pro:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_Address_Extension

PAE was first introduced by Intel in the Pentium Pro, and later by
AMD in the Athlon processor.

So it has been around since sometime circa. 1995-1998, which was the
time range of the Pentium Pro chips. Whether any particular later
processor contains the feature has more do to with Intel's desire to
differentiate processors by feature set.

[Ned Latham]

Post by Aragorn
My advice: give Pale Moon a spin and see whether you like it. ;)

I think I'll jes try 14.2. Problem is, I got all this data which
needs back-up. Can rsync handle it or is there a better way?

I doubt there's a better way. I use it directly and also backup
scripts that call it.

Direct: rsync -avz --delete sourcedir/ destdir
Script: rsync -aqz --delete sourcedir/ destdir

Note the placement of "/".

The question makes me wonder about your partition scheme:
you *do* have /home on its own partition, right?

Looks like I'll hafta dwnld some new 14.2 CD's. The one's I d/l'd
a yr ago have some issues (I didn't put 'em in CD boxes/envelopes).
At least I can still get a 32-bit version. ;)
Anyone have a good link to a 'howto install Slackware 14.2?'
(NOT youtube vid!) I'm so old and it's been so long since
I did any install work, I've forgotten a lot of it! 8|

It's a doddle these days. Just go for it. If you botch it,
no harm done: call it a learning experience and try again.

I'm dubious about 14.2, though. It's unstable on my test machine,
so I still use 14.1 on most of my work machines (the only exception
is my development machine, which is still running 13.37, which I
reckon is the best that Slackware ever got to be - so far). I'm
waiting now for 15.0, which I hope will be the magic bullet -
the OS for all seasons.

[Eef Hartman]

Post by Ned Latham
Direct: rsync -avz --delete sourcedir/ destdir

With newer rsync --del is better then --delete which needs a full pass
to delete things first:
--del an alias for --delete-during

[Ned Latham]

Post by Eef Hartman

Post by Ned Latham
Direct: rsync -avz --delete sourcedir/ destdir

With newer rsync --del is better then --delete which needs a full pass
--del an alias for --delete-during

Thanks for that.

[notbob]

Post by Ned Latham
you *do* have /home on its own partition, right?

Of course! One of the first things I learned about Linux partioning.

Post by Ned Latham
It's a doddle these days. Just go for it. If you botch it,
no harm done: call it a learning experience and try again.

Yep. BTDT!

Post by Ned Latham
I'm dubious about 14.2, though.
my development machine, which is still running 13.37.....

LEET! Loved it. No probs. But, I realize the 'www' landscape has
changed.

Post by Ned Latham
waiting now for 15.0, which I hope will be the magic bullet -
the OS for all seasons.

We'll see! ;)

nb

[Ned Latham]

Post by Ned Latham
you *do* have /home on its own partition, right?

Of course! One of the first things I learned about Linux partioning.

Ah, Sorry. Your questions made me think you might be less geeky
than I am.

Post by Ned Latham
It's a doddle these days. Just go for it. If you botch it,
no harm done: call it a learning experience and try again.

Yep. BTDT!

I don't even bother with customising the kernel these days,
just leave hugesmp in place.

Thank IPU for cheap memory, ay?

Post by Ned Latham
I'm dubious about 14.2, though.
my development machine, which is still running 13.37.....

LEET!

WTF LEET

Loved it. No probs. But, I realize the 'www' landscape has
changed.

The few searches I do from that machine have been free of problems.
It's a work machine: I only ever search for information related
to programming projects, so I don't have any problems with browser
and plugin versionitis.

Post by Ned Latham
waiting now for 15.0, which I hope will be the magic bullet -
the OS for all seasons.

We'll see! ;)

Whether it is or not, I love Patrick for existing.

[Eef Hartman]

Post by Ned Latham

Post by Ned Latham
my development machine, which is still running 13.37.....

LEET!

WTF LEET

LEET is the phonetic spelling OF 1337 (and the reason Pat chose that
version number):
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leet

[Ned Latham]

Post by Eef Hartman

Post by Ned Latham

Post by Ned Latham
my development machine, which is still running 13.37.....

LEET!

WTF LEET

LEET is the phonetic spelling OF 1337 (and the reason Pat chose
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leet

Wow. How have I missed that? 6332!

[notbob]

Post by Ned Latham
Ah, Sorry. Your questions made me think you might be less geeky
than I am.

(sigh) I can imagine.

I've been using Slackware since about version 8.1. I'm a CLI kinda
guy, but am becoming old and forgetful. Plus, I hate 'coding'. Jes
yesterday, I started RE-learning Linux scripting for the umpteenth
time.

Post by Ned Latham
I don't even bother with customising the kernel these days,
just leave hugesmp in place.

I never have. I jes upgrade to a newer version.

I also do NOT have a cell phone. I'm only 'semi-geeky'.

Post by Ned Latham
I love Patrick for existing.

Testify!! ;)

nb

[Eli the Bearded]

Post by Ned Latham
Direct: rsync -avz --delete sourcedir/ destdir
Script: rsync -aqz --delete sourcedir/ destdir
Note the placement of "/".

Hello, and welcome to this episode of My Pet Peeves: rsync's stupid
slash sensitivity.

Which parameter gets the slash? And when do I want to use it? Fuck, why
can't they just use a --copy-as-subdir or --copy-without-subdir with a
one-letter version I could look-up when I want something terse? No, have
to try to be all clever and introduce syntax not used anywhere else.

Elijah
------
next time: "-ProfileManager" vs "-no-remote", the bad choices in Firefox

[Ned Latham]

Post by Eli the Bearded

Post by Ned Latham
Direct: rsync -avz --delete sourcedir/ destdir
Script: rsync -aqz --delete sourcedir/ destdir
Note the placement of "/".

Hello, and welcome to this episode of My Pet Peeves: rsync's stupid
slash sensitivity.

I agree wholeheartedly. It's a pain in the arse, eveb when you're
familiar with it.

Post by Eli the Bearded
Which parameter gets the slash? And when do I want to use it? Fuck, why
can't they just use a --copy-as-subdir or --copy-without-subdir with a
one-letter version I could look-up when I want something terse? No, have
to try to be all clever and introduce syntax not used anywhere else.
Elijah
------
next time: "-ProfileManager" vs "-no-remote", the bad choices in Firefox

Mplayer, anyone?

[Eli the Bearded]

Post by Ned Latham

Post by Eli the Bearded
next time: "-ProfileManager" vs "-no-remote", the bad choices in Firefox

Mplayer, anyone?

After many years, I kinda get mplayer's command line logic. It's a
complicated system wherein all options get a single dash, even though
they are multiple characters long, some options have a weird system
of suboptions, AND order matters. What to give to those suboption ones
gets complicated.

They (the mplayer options) don't mix BiCaps with hyphen-delimited.

Elijah
------
mplayer options are like imagemagick, but at least mplayer has them documented

[Ned Latham]

Post by Eli the Bearded

Post by Ned Latham

Post by Eli the Bearded
next time: "-ProfileManager" vs "-no-remote",
the bad choices in Firefox

Mplayer, anyone?

After many years, I kinda get mplayer's command line logic. It's a
complicated system wherein all options get a single dash, even though
they are multiple characters long, some options have a weird system
of suboptions, AND order matters. What to give to those suboption ones
gets complicated.

I've given up trying to understand it. The techi9cal terms are wolly,
and the differences between different options that do "simiular"
things are difficult to determine. What I've done with it is write
a bunch of scripts for calling it with parameters that I've worked
out by trial and error,

Post by Eli the Bearded
They (the mplayer options) don't mix BiCaps with hyphen-delimited.

Wot dat BiCaps?

Post by Eli the Bearded
Elijah
------
mplayer options are like imagemagick, but at least mplayer has them documented

Ah yes; the man page. Such a pleasant read!

[Mike Spencer]

I've given up trying to understand [mplayer]. The techi9cal terms
are wolly, and the differences between different options that do
"simiular" things are difficult to determine. What I've done with it
is write a bunch of scripts for calling it with parameters that I've
worked out by trial and error,

I've always assumed that such scripts (or aliases) were the only way
to go in the *ix world. I have lots of both that call various
programs for various purposes with all the -hentracks appropriate for
a particular use. Who can remember all the options for utilities you
only use very occasionally?

alias xroot 'xterm -sb -fn
-sony-fixed-medium-r-normal--24-230-75-75-c-120-iso8859-1 -bg
DarkOliveGreen -ms SteelBlue -fg rgb:a/b/c -cr SandyBrown -bd dimgrey
-bw 4 -geometry -1-1 #+1+485 -n "* ROOT *"'

[line-wrapped for Usenet]

In the case of Mplayer, separate aliases to call it to run web cam and
a microscope cam, play individual DVDs that need minor hacks to view.

[Eli the Bearded]

Post by Mike Spencer

I've given up trying to understand [mplayer]. The techi9cal terms
are wolly, and the differences between different options that do

Video is complicated, and mplayer does a whole lot. Most of the time I
need just a very few command line options because mplayer has decent
defaults.

Post by Mike Spencer
I've always assumed that such scripts (or aliases) were the only way
to go in the *ix world. I have lots of both that call various
programs for various purposes with all the -hentracks appropriate for
a particular use. Who can remember all the options for utilities you
only use very occasionally?

I do this, too. But I don't worry so much about the difficulty of
creating new mplayer scripts/aliases as I do about some other tools.

Post by Mike Spencer
alias xroot 'xterm -sb -fn
-sony-fixed-medium-r-normal--24-230-75-75-c-120-iso8859-1 -bg
DarkOliveGreen -ms SteelBlue -fg rgb:a/b/c -cr SandyBrown -bd dimgrey
-bw 4 -geometry -1-1 #+1+485 -n "* ROOT *"'

xterm supports .Xdefaults very well. If you want multiple configurations,
you can use multiple names and tell xterm which name to use:

xterm -name GrayTerm

With matching .Xdefaults entries like:

GrayTerm*Background: lightgray
GrayTerm*Foreground: black

Post by Mike Spencer
In the case of Mplayer, separate aliases to call it to run web cam and
a microscope cam, play individual DVDs that need minor hacks to view.

I typically watch downloaded video (youtube-dl is excellent) and do a
little bit of GIF making from video. I use aliases for watching, and
scripts for wrapping mplayer for my "-vo jpeg:outdir=..." frame grabing
before selecting frames by previewing in feh (configured with feh
"themes", and composing into a GIF with convert (wrapped in another
shell script).

Once upon a time I ripped DVDs with mplayer/mencoder, but I haven't in a
long time. prefering just to watch those on a TV and favoring smaller
computers with no optical drive.

Elijah
------
replaced the DVD with a second hard drive on the last laptop that had one

[root]

Post by Eli the Bearded

I've given up trying to understand [mplayer]. The techi9cal terms
are wolly, and the differences between different options that do

Video is complicated, and mplayer does a whole lot. Most of the time I
need just a very few command line options because mplayer has decent
defaults.

If you have an NVidia video card, make sure you use the vdpau driver.

[Mike Spencer]

Post by Eli the Bearded
Once upon a time I ripped DVDs with mplayer/mencoder, but I haven't in a
long time. prefering just to watch those on a TV and favoring smaller
computers with no optical drive.

Ripping w/ MPlayer made my day once. Henry V is a great movie. "Oh,
for a muse of fire...." Being quite heard of hearing I needed
subtitles. Lacking on DVD, found an external file. Great.

Only subtitles inexplicably stopped working half way through. Nothing
I could figure out fixed it.

Ripped the video to HD. Now characters have egg-shaped heads
due to aspect ratio $SOMETHING. Doing some arithmetic on aspect ratio,

mplayer -sub sub-file -x 888 ripped-file

worked perfectly.

[Rinaldi J. Montessi]

Post by Eli the Bearded

Post by Ned Latham

Post by Eli the Bearded
next time: "-ProfileManager" vs "-no-remote", the bad choices in Firefox

Mplayer, anyone?

After many years, I kinda get mplayer's command line logic. It's a
complicated system wherein all options get a single dash, even though
they are multiple characters long, some options have a weird system
of suboptions, AND order matters. What to give to those suboption ones
gets complicated.
They (the mplayer options) don't mix BiCaps with hyphen-delimited.
Elijah
------
mplayer options are like imagemagick, but at least mplayer has them documented

I do very little video processing, mostly stuff for my home personal
viewing via Plex to TV, but I have found ffmpeg to be much more
versatile and better documented. I had previously used mplayer/mencoder
for years.

Rinaldi

[Ned Latham]

Post by Rinaldi J. Montessi

Post by Eli the Bearded

Post by Ned Latham
Mplayer, anyone?

After many years, I kinda get mplayer's command line logic. It's a
complicated system wherein all options get a single dash, even though
they are multiple characters long, some options have a weird system
of suboptions, AND order matters. What to give to those suboption ones
gets complicated.
They (the mplayer options) don't mix BiCaps with hyphen-delimited.

I do very little video processing, mostly stuff for my home personal
viewing via Plex to TV, but I have found ffmpeg to be much more
versatile and better documented. I had previously used
mplayer/mencoder for years.

Mmmm. I've used them for years too. With less than unequivocal
satisfaction. I use ffmoeg for converting from FILM format to
PAL, but otherwise not.

Might have to rethink that.

[Rich]

Post by Eli the Bearded

Post by Ned Latham
Direct: rsync -avz --delete sourcedir/ destdir
Script: rsync -aqz --delete sourcedir/ destdir
Note the placement of "/".

Hello, and welcome to this episode of My Pet Peeves: rsync's stupid
slash sensitivity.
Which parameter gets the slash?

The source parameter(s).

Post by Eli the Bearded
And when do I want to use it?

When you want to copy the contents of the directory without copying the
directory itself.

Post by Eli the Bearded
Fuck, why can't they just use a --copy-as-subdir or
--copy-without-subdir with a one-letter version I could look-up when
I want something terse?

Probably because both of those are significantly longer to type than a
single slash on the end of the source parameter(s).

Post by Eli the Bearded
No, have to try to be all clever and introduce syntax not used
anywhere else.

The source appears to be the BSD lineage. BSD cp supports the same
"trailing slash" trick to specify copy directory vs. copy directory
contents:

https://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?cp

... If the source_file ends in a /, the contents of the directory
are copied rather than the directory itself. ...

So while it is not used elsewhere in the GNU toolset, the source of the
concept for rsync appears to be the BSD tools.

[Eef Hartman]

Post by notbob
I upgraded FireFox from 30-something to the first available .txz file
available on the Slackware Security updates, Apr 22, 2017. It's now
45.9.0. It also will no longer fly Youtube. Freezes up, every dang
time!

That is rather strange, because I got Slackware 14.1 (32-bits) here
with _all_ upgrades installed and Firefox 45.9.0esr works fine here,
with Youtube too (even though I do NOT have FlashPlayer active).

I _do_ have some (noarch) packages from -current installed, like
network-scripts-14.2, pkgtools-14.2, sysvinit-scripts-2.1,
xdg-utils-1.1.2 and xkeyboard-config-2.21, but that shouldn't make any
difference. And I'm using Eric "alien"s version of vlc:
vlc-2.2.6 (for 14.1).

Post by notbob
PS: gotta lotta graphics junk on this ancient P4 32-bit Vaio box.
Specially fer the crappy video set-up I have, which is an ASUS board
mounted NVIDIA MX440 unit pushing 14.1.

Mine is a NVIDIA Corporation G71GL [Quadro FX 1500] one, which is OK,
but I _do_ drive it with the custom nVidia drivers:
304.135, which was the latest one for this out-of-date hardware.

Your MX440 propably will need the 96.43.23 one, I used to have such
hardware at my job.

But I would either reload 14.1 or go all the way to -current at once,
14.2 is getting older too.

[notbob]

Post by Eef Hartman
14.2 is getting older too.

Yes, I know. I shoulda loaded it when it first came out. Now, it's
already almost a year old. What I need is, a newer 64-bit box. I'm
guessing the newer Slackware 15.0 does not even come in 32-bit! 8|

nb

[Eef Hartman]

I'm guessing the newer Slackware 15.0 does not even come in 32-bit!

In -current there still is a 32-bit version, so I think the release
will be in both 32- as well as 64-bit too.

[Dan C]

Post by notbob

Post by Eef Hartman
14.2 is getting older too.

Yes, I know. I shoulda loaded it when it first came out. Now, it's
already almost a year old. What I need is, a newer 64-bit box. I'm
guessing the newer Slackware 15.0 does not even come in 32-bit! 8|
nb

14.2 is a year and a half old... Seems like it's getting close to 15.0
time. Maybe you should just wait for that?

[notbob]

Post by Dan C
14.2 is a year and a half old... Seems like it's getting close to 15.0
time. Maybe you should just wait for that?

I gotta do something about this box. It's so full of crap (mostly
graphics junk), it's really bogging down. I didn't think a Linux box
would do it, but it does. Crap up, that is!

So, whatever I put on this ol' box --14.1, 14.2, or 15.0-- has gotta
be better than this nonsense.

OH ....and look out fer that damn ~/.cache dir! Mine had so much crap in it,
slocate -u was taking over 10 mins to compile a new database. With
the help of emacs, I cleaned all of 'em out. Now, with all the
'cache/trash' files deleted, that slocate database update now only takes
about 30-40 secs. Major difference!

nb