Distro-hoppers anonymous

PackRat · 2026-02-24 13:29:24

Colonel Panic wrote:

However, Pacman was locked for some reason and as a result I was unable to install any fresh software;
error: failed to init transaction (unable to lock database)

Usually means there is another instance of pacman running, or the previous process didn't terminate properly. You need to delete the db.lck file.

sudo rm -r /var/lib/pacman/db.lck

is the typical fix.

Sector11 · 2026-02-24 16:00:29

And Mrs. Pacman will get really upset.
(sorry - could not help myself)

We now return you to your regular programming.

Colonel Panic · 2026-02-24 19:01:10

PackRat wrote:

Colonel Panic wrote:
However, Pacman was locked for some reason and as a result I was unable to install any fresh software;
error: failed to init transaction (unable to lock database)
Usually means there is another instance of pacman running, or the previous process didn't terminate properly. You need to delete the db.lck file.
sudo rm -r /var/lib/pacman/db.lck
is the typical fix.

Thanks for replying. I found a temporary fix - I rebooted (didn't think logging out would be drastic enough) and then logged back in again, and I was able to install a couple more programs before it happened again ...

I am slowly getting on top of it though, and advice like that goes a long way to help so thanks again.

WizardofCOR · 2026-02-25 02:51:34

UCS/Nubus (deb-based AD), Mint, Kali, Ubuntu and of course, BL.
Thinking of doing Arch on a NUC that's been sitting in my closet, or maybe freeBSD. Just need a purpose, really.
Can always spin up VM's on my ESXI, but still deciding on purposes and architecture - like maybe pihole, Wazuh, TheHive, OpenVAS, Grafana, Authentik, or Wireguard.

Yet out of all of them, I gotta admit - BL has been my overwhelming favorite.

Colonel Panic · 2026-02-25 22:42:48

Increasingly now I'm finding that ISOs are getting too big to be burnt to even a DVD-R - the latest installation ISO of Alien Bob's Slackware Current comes to 5.0 GB.

It means that I have to have a utility in another distro that will burn the ISO to a USB pendrive and make it bootable - MX has such a utility, and there are probably other distros that have one too.

Last edited by Colonel Panic (2026-02-25 23:20:30)

MarkW · 2026-02-25 22:45:54

Had a look at the latest KaOS. Niri is certainly interesting

greenjeans · 2026-02-25 23:42:35

Colonel Panic wrote:

Increasingly now I'm finding that ISOs are getting too big to be burnt to even a DVD-R - the latest installation ISO of Alien Bob's Slackware Current comes to 5.0 GB.
It means that I have to have a utility in another distro that will burn the ISO to a USB pendrive and make it bootable - MX has such a utility, and there are probably other distros that have one too.

Mintstick is what I typically use for a quickie burn, very reliable, in the debian repo too.

PackRat · 2026-02-26 00:00:26

MarkW wrote:

Had a look at the latest KaOS. Niri is certainly interesting

Did you install it, or just run the live session?

Pretty radical change for them.

MarkW · 2026-02-26 00:04:45

Just ran the live session.

kozimodo · 2026-02-26 01:04:49

Colonel Panic wrote:

It means that I have to have a utility in another distro that will burn the ISO to a USB pendrive and make it bootable - MX has such a utility, and there are probably other distros that have one too.

Ventoy.net. You can have multiple ISOs that you simply copy to your flash drive and boot from any of them. Supports multitudes of distros and Windows installer ISOs.

Colonel Panic · 2026-02-26 03:06:08

Thanks. I have tried Ventoy in the past and might consider it again in the future.

https://www.quora.com/How-does-VENTOY-w … asy-to-use

wickedlester · 2026-02-26 03:45:42

@MarkW I installed it, it was nice but it only lasted a few hours . @kozimodo I love ventoy I have 22 iso's on mine currently.

Döbbie03 · 2026-02-26 03:57:45

wickedlester wrote:

@MarkW I installed it, it was nice but it only lasted a few hours . @kozimodo I love ventoy I have 22 iso's on mine currently.

Ventoy is great, I normally keep 6 or so.

wickedlester · 2026-02-26 04:09:12

I usually take it with me when I visit my dad. He tends to mess up his windows 7 ( yes, windows 7) install and I have to get in there and fix stuff.

Döbbie03 · 2026-02-26 05:17:00

Time to transition, for Mr wickedlester Snr.

Transition to Linux that is.

WizardofCOR · 2026-02-26 07:51:02

I'll admit I did like 7 - it's what Vista should've been. Didn't appreciate the telemetry, of course - but that was easily disabled. And the compatibility options were probably the widest in scope for all Windows-based OS's.
So I can't blame anyone for still running it, as long as it's protected appropriately.
For Windows imaging/restoration I would use Macrium Reflect, which was free at the cost of a burner email address.
If I ever needed a USB install for Windows, then Rufus was my preference.
But gonna check out Ventoy for *nix stuff - sounds like a great enabler!

Colonel Panic · 2026-02-26 11:47:00

Back when our local community centre had a computer suite, it used to run on Windows 7 and then 10. I didn't mind Windows 7 but I wasn't so keen on 10, I thought Cortana was a gimmick.

I still think that setting up a networked printer is easier in Windows than in Linux, especially if the printer is at all complicated (like a multi-function device, such as the one we had in the centre).

I don't have a problem with people buying a computer with Windows already installed on it if that's what they actually want - it's when it's installed by default and they're not given any other choice that I see a problem. The computer I'm using came from a charity shop, with Mint installed and no Windows.

Last edited by Colonel Panic (2026-02-26 11:49:49)

wickedlester · 2026-02-26 14:57:59

I miss windows xp. It was so easy to run litestep or bb4win,bblean, etc. windows 7 was nice. I never used windows much after windows 7, I was pretty much full linux since then. I still keep windows installed just to boot to it once in a while to see how bad it is

PackRat · 2026-02-26 15:42:37

wickedlester wrote:

I miss windows xp. It was so easy to run litestep or bb4win,bblean, etc. windows 7 was nice. I never used windows much after windows 7, I was pretty much full linux since then. I still keep windows installed just to boot to it once in a while to see how bad it is

Windows 7 was good. If I could get the drivers for it, I would reinstall it on the old HP. It's handy to have a Windows install for some administrative reasons (like accessing the school system).

Döbbie03 · 2026-02-27 05:23:03

wickedlester wrote:

I miss windows xp. It was so easy to run litestep or bb4win,bblean, etc. windows 7 was nice. I never used windows much after windows 7, I was pretty much full linux since then. I still keep windows installed just to boot to it once in a while to see how bad it is

Windows 7 was my last long term Windows on my own machines. Ubuntu 8.04 was my first encounter with Linux.

I dabbled briefly with Windows 10 when my PC shat itself and I had to wait two days for my new machine to arrive and all I had was a spare laptop with Windows 10 randomly laying around.

I see my mate at work who uses W11 fight with his computer on a daily basis, I feel his pain.

#2801 2026-02-24 13:29:24

Re: Distro-hoppers anonymous

#2802 2026-02-24 16:00:29

Re: Distro-hoppers anonymous

#2803 2026-02-24 19:01:10

Re: Distro-hoppers anonymous

#2804 2026-02-25 02:51:34

Re: Distro-hoppers anonymous

#2805 2026-02-25 22:42:48

Re: Distro-hoppers anonymous

#2806 2026-02-25 22:45:54

Re: Distro-hoppers anonymous

#2807 2026-02-25 23:42:35

Re: Distro-hoppers anonymous

#2808 2026-02-26 00:00:26

Re: Distro-hoppers anonymous

#2809 2026-02-26 00:04:45

Re: Distro-hoppers anonymous

#2810 2026-02-26 01:04:49

Re: Distro-hoppers anonymous

#2811 2026-02-26 03:06:08

Re: Distro-hoppers anonymous

#2812 2026-02-26 03:45:42

Re: Distro-hoppers anonymous

#2813 2026-02-26 03:57:45

Re: Distro-hoppers anonymous

#2814 2026-02-26 04:09:12

Re: Distro-hoppers anonymous

#2815 2026-02-26 05:17:00

Re: Distro-hoppers anonymous

#2816 2026-02-26 07:51:02

Re: Distro-hoppers anonymous

#2817 2026-02-26 11:47:00

Re: Distro-hoppers anonymous

#2818 2026-02-26 14:57:59

Re: Distro-hoppers anonymous

#2819 2026-02-26 15:42:37

Re: Distro-hoppers anonymous

#2820 2026-02-27 05:23:03

Re: Distro-hoppers anonymous

Board footer