On Sun, Apr 26, 2015 at 10:06 PM, dereck <dereckhaskins%yahoo.com@localhost> wrote:
> I've followed this thread with interest. I have one of these machines but
> I've not worked with it in several years. I know that I could follow your
> emails, but have you considered doing a blog post on your trials and errors
> so that others could give this a shot? I'm sure that others have this
> machine floating about (as I have). If you have a blog it could be very
> helpful to share what worked and what didn't.
My biggest issue is that I expect certain things to just WORK & they
don't. Guess I'm just too used to Linux. And when they don't work it
gets frustrating. I want to use this thing for writing, but I can't
get any editors to even work properly. Siag's Pathetic Writer causes
the text on the current line to disappear 1/4 way into a line of text,
and Ted fails to even work to be able to do anything useful.
I've been at this for over a month. I'm about ready to give up and
just use Pocket Word.
Even the install of NetBSD is a pain compared to some Linux installers
I've used over the past 16 years.
> But of course, only if you have the time.
Time is of course always an issue. If I had been documenting what
I've done I might have something to blog about, but I keep hitting and
missing trying to get stuff to work. Like:
1. Why does IceWM have empty menus? (seems that instead of starting
it with 'startx /usr/pkg/bin/icewm' you are supposed to start it
with 'startx /usr/pkg/bin/icewm-session' - nope, menus are still
empty!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! )
2. why does Matchbox Window Manager fail to start?
3. Why did my tab complete under root go away and now I can't fix it?
4. Why do the Ax keys work as Fx keys in X-Windows but not on the console?
5. Why do my 6GB microdrives not work when they should?
Unix Man pages also automatically assume you know how to do certain
things. Like use vi or emacs. I have no idea how to use either.
When I want to edit a text file, I use mcedit, a part of Midnight
Commander( I also used to use Norton Commander in DOS 25 years ago so
it's very familiar to me). But I can't use Midnight Commander in a
virtual terminal on the machine, so I have to use X because I can't
use any of the Ax keys as Fx keys so I can't really do anything useful
and can't even shut it down to get out of it.
Now, I don't want to scare anyone away, but if you aren't familiar
with any kind of Unix, NetBSD is either scary or useless. I remember
installing NetBSD years ago and only had a command line. I couldn't
make it do anything useful so I wiped it & reinstalled Linux. And now
with stuff like systemd and wayland, Linux is moving further away from
the other Unix(es)
Sorry. Bit of a Rant. But while it's NICE to be able to use
something other than Windows CE on the Z50, it doesn't help if I can't
make it work to do something useful.........
And a Big thanx to everyone who has helped me get this far as well.