Re: [Thinkpad] Linux as escape from Micro$oft tyranny.

Otherwise, Gentoo. The install is long and tedious, but will give you
enough experience to not make such boo-boos as often.

On 3/31/06, Alex Austin <circuitsoft.alex@gmail.com> wrote:
> Try Pnut linux (http://pnutproject.org/). The commands default to
> asking you before doing anything potentially destructive. And, it's
> pretty full-featured, if limited in install methods.
>
> - Alex
>
> On 3/31/06, mje@foxall.com.au <mje@foxall.com.au> wrote:
> > [Jack Wingard:]
> >
> > >Maybe you should try Linux. Even though most distros are becoming
> > >more gui intensive,
> > >the command line interface is still where most of the real work is done.
> >
> > Hi, Jack. Yes, I have considered that, and I think I've even asked about
> > that on this list before. I am seriously interested in that, and very eager (if
> > I can) to escape the clammy, sticky, claustrophobic grasp of Micro$oft's tentacles.
> > Some time ago, I got a new laptop with dual-booting Windows XP and Fedora
> > Core Linux on it, and start cautiously experimenting with it.
> > However, I made a very small mistake with rather serious consequences, in
> > that I used an "mv" command to move three files to a subdirectory, and did it
> > wrongly. I didn't use wildcard characters, but gave the command three times for
> > each individual file. But unfortunately I mistyped the destination subdirectory
> > name, with the result that, instead of moving the files, the command created a
> > new file and moved the old files to it - all three of them in succession copied
> > to the same new file-name, so obliterating the first two. Now even the
> > brain-dead Windows would have warned me about that - but this just did it. That
> > is not good design, and my opinion of Linux went down a bit upon that.
> > This put a very big spoke in the wheel as far as using Linux was concerned,
> > since I was determined to make every effort to recover those files, but had not
> > the faintest idea of how to. I instantly turned off the computer: not closing
> > down properly, but literally pulling the plug only a minute or so after
> > discovering my mistake, to minimize the chance that new files (swap files and
> > the like which I had no knowledge of) might overwrite the deleted data, now on
> > space considered empty and reusable. From that moment on, I considered the
> > computer unusable until I could find a suitable disk recovery tool, similar to
> > the old MS-DOS Norton Utilities (whose usage I am thoroughly conversant with).
> > I do consider it possible that at least one copy of the obliterated files
> > may still be there in the empty disk space: for one thing, when the three files
> > were written to the same destination file-name, it's possible they could have
> > been written to different areas of empty space, so they may all still be there,
> > even though deleted; and also, the original copies of the files may still be
> > there, although also deleted. To avoid obliterating these is why I almost
> > immediately pulled the plug on the computer and stopped using it.
> > I switched to another computer for everything computer related that I do:
> > back to my increasingly crippled ThinkPad 770ED, which was still usable after a
> > fashion, and then to the replacement 770ED I mentioned a little while ago, which
> > I got when the old 770 broke down; and also to another desktop - and continued
> > life like that.
> > I'm not sure I like the Medion laptop this mishap occurred on, largely
> > because of its TouchPad pointing device, and I put it aside and almost forgot
> > about it - and it has literally not been switched on since December, 2004.
> > My older brother, who works professionally with Linux at a very high level,
> > told me that he didn't know where a suitable disk editor or file-recovery
> > program could be obtained, and he wasn't even sure if such a thing *existed*,
> > and he advised me to just write those files off, put it down to experience, and
> > move on. But I am extremely stubborn about things like lost files, and I was
> > determined that that laptop would not be used until I had either recovered the
> > files, or established definitely that they could not be recovered, because the
> > data was overwritten by other files.
> > Because of this debacle, and because of knowing my general resistance to
> > new technology, my brother concluded that Linux was not suited to me after all,
> > maybe still a bit too geeky for me; and he suggested I go back to Windows XP,
> > which I have done for the time being, although I still regard that as a
> > short-term, temporary measure. I don't share his opinion that Linux is not
> > suited to me, although this incident has certainly been a severe setback. But
> > maybe Linux can be configured to warn me when I issue potentially dangerous
> > commands such as "mv" to a mistyped destination subdirectory, and I may be able
> > to continue with it after all - because I have long had the intuition that a lot
> > of Linux software may be just the type of software that in MS-DOS days I
> > considered good, althoug of course expanded in scope to meet today's needs in
> > software. I did see a neat file-comparison utility on the Linux partition which
> > almost rekindled that old feeling of getting excited about software that I
> > mentioned before I had often felt in the old MS-DOS days.
> >
> > I just can't believe that suitable file-recovery software for Linux doesn't
> > exist, even though my highly professional brother working in Linux didn't know
> > of one. If anyone does know of a specific program that can do this, I would be
> > very grateful if they could please tell me what it is, and where to get it. It
> > doesn't have to be freeware, and I'm prepared to pay for it if it will do the job.
> > I need a disk editor that can examine particular clusters, search for data,
> > and which can also recognize subdirectory and file structures - just like the
> > old MS-DOS Norton Utilities could do. A Linux equivalent of that is exactly
> > what I need; and it has to be on a C.D.-ROM that I can boot off without it in
> > any way writing to or altering the hard disk unless I explicitly tell it to.
> > Is there any hope of my finding this? It would be the passport to me
> > moving on with Linux and escaping from Microsoft.
> > Rather off-topic here, I know, but the topic seems to have arisen. I'd be
> > very grateful for any leads on this.
> > Thanks.
> >
> > Regards,
> > Michael Edwards.
> >
> >
> >
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Received on Fri Mar 31 22:41:52 2006