[TwinQY]

  I don't know why but I can't seem to keep a Linux install running for any length of time lately.  I had a Gentoo install for a couple of years at uni but since then I can't get it to compile far enough to attempt a boot.  Instead I'm lucky to get six months out of a standard distro - this year I've tried Suse, Ubuntu, Fedora and am currently getting frustrated at Mint Debian, which has crippled Cinnamon with it's latest update, and doesn't even have a working terminal under E17 while gnome-legacy tries to open folders using Audacious (a music player...)
 
It's the weekend so time for a reinstall - I effective have a blank system that can run anything (i7, 240gb SSD and 16gb RAM), what should I try that might actually work for a while?  I'm traditionally a Gnome user so GTK+ based would be nice.

Seems like it's not the hardware. Sometimes it's just luck - you're at the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong slough of updates. Sometimes it's bad user habits...it's not bad user habits right? You're not enabling strange things, repos, updating infrequently? Probably not, you seem to know what you're doing.
 
That being said, something like CentOS can be a last resort. Hiccups to set up from scratch sometimes, but. from anecdotal experience, only VM I have on me that has not required troubleshooting or extra maintenance the whole year, updates and all. Using frozen stuff might can seem out of place on a daily desktop, and you might come across some software that requires newer libs, but take for example FF24 - using it with no problems on that front, so it varies from case to case.
 
If you're not privy to something that extreme, a solution would be to simply not play around with the rig. That might mean diligence, and not updating until the very last minute if it's a major component, until you've read some user experiences on the matter.
 
And something that doesn't exactly fit your situation because you seem to be facing a major issue, but might be still relevant otherwise. That maintaining a system in this day and age might seem annoying, but think of it this way; it is only because we pay a given amount of attention to the system, that we notice the bugs. That attention usually stems from fiddling with things you care about. And if you care about it, perhaps you should be maintaining it after all. Because otherwise you wouldn't notice at all, really. I cared little about the Arch install on this laptop for a whole year. There was no glaring issues, until I finally got an itch to try out different things. Then I uncovered a huge load of cruft underneath. But it had worked fine from a daily usage perspective. Who can imagine what grows underneath my W7 install that managed to blow up on itself not so long ago? Well, I've never paid enough attention, nor would I be able to. We, as OC users, only notice because we care.

 

[TwinQY]

  Thing is they're all the same at the core - I have a home partition that I've kept throughout my hopping so I don't even see the default desktop config and theme as chosen by the distro once I get Cinnamon installed.  The only other issue I've come across is my USB3 memory card reader which I had resigned to never working in Linux, but in Mint Debian it does so I don't want to go backwards on that one.  That's why I've suffered a couple of weeks of virtual unusability...  Instead I've used my netbook more (lubuntu) but I just updated that to 13.10 and now that card reader has stopped working too!  It's sad really, I could use Linux more reliably 12 years ago when it wasn't friendly; I was running Slackware before Gentoo.
 
I'll give Arch a go, it has cinnamon in the community repository so should be easy enough to get that installed.  Hopefully it has a live cd so I can test the card reader

If you're having troubles with DEs, and you're using the same /home, there's bound to be messups when you're making them use the same user configs.
 
What's wrong specifically with the card reader?

 

[suicidal_orange]

Thanks for your thoughts TwinQY.  I only enable third party sources (by whatever name) when needed - Fedora doesn't have Cinnamon at all, for example, and E17 is often missing too.  If I've chosen to use a distro I avoid compiling anything that's important and that goes for the kernel too.
 
Quote:

  If you're having troubles with DEs, and you're using the same /home, there's bound to be messups when you're making them use the same user configs.
 
What's wrong specifically with the card reader?

 
That's the whole point of having a separate home partition, it's the best thing about Linux!  You can keep bookmarks in firefox and nemo/nautilus, .abcde.conf so ripping a CD is effortless, toolbox arrangements and tablet setting in gimp... As long as you're not trying to use the config from an older or newer major version (2.x config on 3.x software) it should work, if you keep everything reasonably up to date and are aware of major updates.  Anyway my config worked fine all year (through Suse, Ubuntu, Fedora and on to Mint), then Mint updated and now it doesn't - it's a Mint problem.
 
The card readers both either work or don't even show up in lsusb; in the case of my desktop the USB3 ports built in to the same unit work but the card slots next to them are dead.  I tried building a custom kernel enabling everything that looks remotely relevant, but no joy - it must need some obscure module.  If Mint didn't use so many modules (a necessary evil to get it to work with everything) I might be able to pinpoint which but it's working so I haven't needed to work it out.  The netbook will need some investigating...
 
I am pleased to report that the card reader works on the arch install CD, which has not greeted me with an installer - guess I'll have to read some instructions!
 
EDIT: Arch is installed and boots, I have the static IP address I requested and it knows that it's supposed to use my router as the gateway, but it wont even ping the router

  And yes, I've checked the cable

 
 
EDIT 2: Got a new router not long ago, it uses a weird IP...

 

[gopanthersgo1]

That's the whole point of having a separate home partition, it's the best thing about Linux!  You can keep bookmarks in firefox and nemo/nautilus, .abcde.conf so ripping a CD is effortless, toolbox arrangements and tablet setting in gimp... As long as you're not trying to use the config from an older or newer major version (2.x config on 3.x software) it should work, if you keep everything reasonably up to date and are aware of major updates.  Anyway my config worked fine all year (through Suse, Ubuntu, Fedora and on to Mint), then Mint updated and now it doesn't - it's a Mint problem.

The card readers both either work or don't even show up in lsusb; in the case of my desktop the USB3 ports built in to the same unit work but the card slots next to them are dead.  I tried building a custom kernel enabling everything that looks remotely relevant, but no joy - it must need some obscure module.  If Mint didn't use so many modules (a necessary evil to get it to work with everything) I might be able to pinpoint which but it's working so I haven't needed to work it out.  The netbook will need some investigating...

I am pleased to report that the card reader works on the arch install CD, which has not greeted me with an installer - guess I'll have to read some instructions!

EDIT: Arch is installed and boots, I have the static IP address I requested and it knows that it's supposed to use my router as the gateway, but it wont even ping the router   And yes, I've checked the cable  

EDIT 2: Got a new router not long ago, it uses a weird IP...

Um, wouldn't it be easiest to just buy a new card reader? I can see how it's frustrating and stuff though... Also +1 to the Arch suggestion, I've been using an Arch based distro called Manjaro for a while now, and it's been great!

 

[proton007]

   
That's the whole point of having a separate home partition, it's the best thing about Linux!  You can keep bookmarks in firefox and nemo/nautilus, .abcde.conf so ripping a CD is effortless, toolbox arrangements and tablet setting in gimp... As long as you're not trying to use the config from an older or newer major version (2.x config on 3.x software) it should work, if you keep everything reasonably up to date and are aware of major updates.  Anyway my config worked fine all year (through Suse, Ubuntu, Fedora and on to Mint), then Mint updated and now it doesn't - it's a Mint problem.
 
The card readers both either work or don't even show up in lsusb; in the case of my desktop the USB3 ports built in to the same unit work but the card slots next to them are dead.  I tried building a custom kernel enabling everything that looks remotely relevant, but no joy - it must need some obscure module.  If Mint didn't use so many modules (a necessary evil to get it to work with everything) I might be able to pinpoint which but it's working so I haven't needed to work it out.  The netbook will need some investigating...
 
I am pleased to report that the card reader works on the arch install CD, which has not greeted me with an installer - guess I'll have to read some instructions!
 
EDIT: Arch is installed and boots, I have the static IP address I requested and it knows that it's supposed to use my router as the gateway, but it wont even ping the router

  And yes, I've checked the cable

 
 
EDIT 2: Got a new router not long ago, it uses a weird IP...

 
I don't see why you'd need static ip. As long as you're physically connected to the router, just using DHCP should acquire an address automatically.

 

[TwinQY]

  That's the whole point of having a separate home partition, it's the best thing about Linux!  You can keep bookmarks in firefox and nemo/nautilus, .abcde.conf so ripping a CD is effortless, toolbox arrangements and tablet setting in gimp... As long as you're not trying to use the config from an older or newer major version (2.x config on 3.x software) it should work, if you keep everything reasonably up to date and are aware of major updates.  Anyway my config worked fine all year (through Suse, Ubuntu, Fedora and on to Mint), then Mint updated and now it doesn't - it's a Mint problem.
 
The card readers both either work or don't even show up in lsusb; in the case of my desktop the USB3 ports built in to the same unit work but the card slots next to them are dead.  I tried building a custom kernel enabling everything that looks remotely relevant, but no joy - it must need some obscure module.  If Mint didn't use so many modules (a necessary evil to get it to work with everything) I might be able to pinpoint which but it's working so I haven't needed to work it out.  The netbook will need some investigating...
 
I am pleased to report that the card reader works on the arch install CD, which has not greeted me with an installer - guess I'll have to read some instructions!
 
EDIT: Arch is installed and boots, I have the static IP address I requested and it knows that it's supposed to use my router as the gateway, but it wont even ping the router

  And yes, I've checked the cable

 
 
EDIT 2: Got a new router not long ago, it uses a weird IP...

I have had awful hiccups with things like the .mpd configs jumping from rolling to frozen distros, most .config things, because say, the Debian packages is vastly different. rtorrent is a huge culprit when it comes to this, no configs will remain consistent because they're all. It's just an administrative nightmare that works when you have luck on your side, and git works much better for this because it can be selective. 
 
What's the make of the reader? I get where you're coming from, they removed a lot of laptop extras a few kernel releases back, can't get this Panasonic's volume control working like it used to.
 
Arch has gone chroot + bootstrap, with systemd it's a simple system-nspawn once you have the partitions set up and mounted, plus pacstrap, what have you. It's great because I can just do one big ugly command and have everything done in 5-10 minutes and worry about locales, arbitary configuring, later - with the menus I feel obligated to check everything off. 
 
Well there you go

 

[joketamili]

i think so,I was very impressed. It even had the snap to side screen window thingy that 7 has!  thank you

 

[suicidal_orange]

   
I don't see why you'd need static ip. As long as you're physically connected to the router, just using DHCP should acquire an address automatically.

It's easier to do file sharing with windows without having to set it up properly (type in IP); haven't actually done this for years but it's not something that causes any problems so I've stuck with it.  Arch had no problem with it, I just don't know my own setup

 

  I have had awful hiccups with things like the .mpd configs jumping from rolling to frozen distros, most .config things, because say, the Debian packages is vastly different. rtorrent is a huge culprit when it comes to this, no configs will remain consistent because they're all. It's just an administrative nightmare that works when you have luck on your side, and git works much better for this because it can be selective. 
 
What's the make of the reader? I get where you're coming from, they removed a lot of laptop extras a few kernel releases back, can't get this Panasonic's volume control working like it used to.
 
Arch has gone chroot + bootstrap, with systemd it's a simple system-nspawn once you have the partitions set up and mounted, plus pacstrap, what have you. It's great because I can just do one big ugly command and have everything done in 5-10 minutes and worry about locales, arbitary configuring, later - with the menus I feel obligated to check everything off. 
 
Well there you go

I'll remember that, mpd has many compile time options so it makes sense.  Surely it's config would be held in /etc not /home though as it's a deamon? 
 
The card reader is made ba Akasa, it's a nice one that fits in a 3.5" bay and does pretty much everything memory card wise. Searching for the USB ID (I doubt they made the controller) got me nowhere.  I could understand if it showed up in lsusb but didn't work, but it somehow completely disappears!
 
Arch is certainly different - I've never used system-nspawn before, seems simple enough although have to remember new commands.  My only issue now is Cinnamon - it starts but as soon as I do anything (click the menu, right click or hover over something and get a tooltip) it freezes.  Maybe I shouldn't have added it to the bootstrap command...

 

[TwinQY]

  I'll remember that, mpd has many compile time options so it makes sense.  Surely it's config would be held in /etc not /home though as it's a deamon? 
 
The card reader is made ba Akasa, it's a nice one that fits in a 3.5" bay and does pretty much everything memory card wise. Searching for the USB ID (I doubt they made the controller) got me nowhere.  I could understand if it showed up in lsusb but didn't work, but it somehow completely disappears!
 
Arch is certainly different - I've never used system-nspawn before, seems simple enough although have to remember new commands.  My only issue now is Cinnamon - it starts but as soon as I do anything (click the menu, right click or hover over something and get a tooltip) it freezes.  Maybe I shouldn't have added it to the bootstrap command...

It can also be a user daemon (systemd), but nonetheless, yes it can have user-by-user configs. People usually use it that way.
 
Fair enough. Akasa stuff shows up as Atico, usually. Is it the AK-ICR-17? I dug around the usb.ids for anything that might have looked similar, didn't help.
 
I had never heard of it either until it had been updated onto the installer guide a while back. Using 2D (software rendering) or hardware rendering (in which case, hope you have acceleration enabled properly)? How did you set it up specifically, I'll try and replicate it in a VM.

 

[suicidal_orange]

  It can also be a user daemon (systemd), but nonetheless, yes it can have user-by-user configs. People usually use it that way.
 
Fair enough. Akasa stuff shows up as Atico, usually. Is it the AK-ICR-17? I dug around the usb.ids for anything that might have looked similar, didn't help.
 
I had never heard of it either until it had been updated onto the installer guide a while back. Using 2D (software rendering) or hardware rendering (in which case, hope you have acceleration enabled properly)? How did you set it up specifically, I'll try and replicate it in a VM.

Oh right.  Mine is a single user system so it doesn't make much difference, but I guess it would suck to have someone else's library merged with yours on a shared computer.  I used mpd at uni to stream the same playlist round our shared house but that was many years ago, no need for it now.
 
I think that's the right card reader, the pic on Amazon looks the same.  It shows up as either Alcor Micro Corp USB hub 058f:6254 or Genesys Logic, Inc 05e3:0732 (it has USB 2 and 3 connections so not sure which is failing)  It probably just got added to a recent kernel as I had Mint for the last three months and the Arch CD is even newer so hopefully my problems are a thing of the past.
 
I'm using integrated Intel graphics and glxinfo says "direct rendering: yes", is that still enough to say 3D works?  I haven't tried to do anything 3D lately to know, but everything runs smoothly and Enlightenment is happy to do compositing.  Oh and the Cinnamon2d session does the same as the regular one so that rules that out. The only X config I added was the dimensions of my monitor to ensure the DPI is calculated correctly, so that won't have broken anything. 
 
To install I did the standard base install then repeated the command to install cinnamon, audacious and audacity before thinking it would be better to check it actually booted before installing everything.  Perhaps when it said "you can add apps to the command" it really meant it and the command should only be ran once?  It didn't complain...  Not sure a VM will use the intel driver but other than that it should be easy enough to replicate - thanks for the offer.
 
I should also add that I've tried it without my old config and it does exactly the same, so that's definitely not the issue either.  At this point a reinstall is looking like a good option, but I might get the hang of aur and try some of the experimental desktops first, then I can start again knowing which I want to actually use.

 

[TwinQY]

  Oh right.  Mine is a single user system so it doesn't make much difference, but I guess it would suck to have someone else's library merged with yours on a shared computer.  I used mpd at uni to stream the same playlist round our shared house but that was many years ago, no need for it now.
 
I think that's the right card reader, the pic on Amazon looks the same.  It shows up as either Alcor Micro Corp USB hub 058f:6254 or Genesys Logic, Inc 05e3:0732 (it has USB 2 and 3 connections so not sure which is failing)  It probably just got added to a recent kernel as I had Mint for the last three months and the Arch CD is even newer so hopefully my problems are a thing of the past.
 
I'm using integrated Intel graphics and glxinfo says "direct rendering: yes", is that still enough to say 3D works?  I haven't tried to do anything 3D lately to know, but everything runs smoothly and Enlightenment is happy to do compositing.  Oh and the Cinnamon2d session does the same as the regular one so that rules that out. The only X config I added was the dimensions of my monitor to ensure the DPI is calculated correctly, so that won't have broken anything. 
 
To install I did the standard base install then repeated the command to install cinnamon, audacious and audacity before thinking it would be better to check it actually booted before installing everything.  Perhaps when it said "you can add apps to the command" it really meant it and the command should only be ran once?  It didn't complain...  Not sure a VM will use the intel driver but other than that it should be easy enough to replicate - thanks for the offer.
 
I should also add that I've tried it without my old config and it does exactly the same, so that's definitely not the issue either.  At this point a reinstall is looking like a good option, but I might get the hang of aur and try some of the experimental desktops first, then I can start again knowing which I want to actually use.

It's also heck of a lot easier to edit since no root write privileges needed.
 
I think 3.10 or 11 had some significant xhci (USB 3.0) stuff added, that would explain that.
 
It's not the intel driver methinks - I'm getting something similar on VirtualBox. Will try to debug and get back to you.

 

[suicidal_orange]

  It's also heck of a lot easier to edit since no root write privileges needed.
 
I think 3.10 or 11 had some significant xhci (USB 3.0) stuff added, that would explain that.
 
It's not the intel driver methinks - I'm getting something similar on VirtualBox. Will try to debug and get back to you.

Great (because it's not me) but not so great (because I'd like it to just work!)  I really should get back into Linux and learn to debug rather than being a "user" and running away...

 

[proton007]

 
Great (because it's not me) but not so great (because I'd like it to just work!)  I really should get back into Linux and learn to debug rather than being a "user" and running away...

 
Does the module show up under dmesg?

 

[TwinQY]

I just saw that Cinnamon got package upgrades - not sure if anything's changed on the freezing part (still think it's graphics-related, not the driver but perhaps mesa - I used a package with most if not everything apart from the swrast there disabled to get rid of the Wayland and llvm dependency, I'll try going back to stock), but I'll leave it to update overnight, probably won't do much.

 

[Silent One]

Prediction:
 
On 31 October, there will appear a BIG Fat Moon, and in the darkest hour 'Silent One' will become the world's most proficient

Linux user... ever. Lasting a mere 

 30 minutes. 

 
With reality looming, 'SO' is prepared to start from scratch

under the guidance of this thread.