Simcity 4 won't start...

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

As a regular CLAM-AV user, and for several years, I haven't had any problem with it.  Maybe the difference is that I run ext4 partitions rather than NTFS. 

When I left Windows (2007), NTFS was in very sad shape, so I am glad to hear that they have finally pulled up their socks.  Since they had not on XP, anything that happened was probably on 7 and more likely 8.  The devil may care attitude at Redmond seems to be moderating these days as more users are completely naive when it comes to system maintenance.

What does Windows do these days about badly behaved applications that litter the file space with unreleased temporaries?  There really are some programmers whose carelessness is beyond the pale.

  Edited July 12, 2015 by A Nonny Moose  

[rsc204 21,866]

I'm thinking I would more than likely have been running on a FAT32 partition, since this was booting off a USB stick, possibly even FAT. None the less I don't see what the file system has to do with the main package not linking to the linked packages it required to work? I know the HP used GPT partitions of a sort, so did other machines like the IBM I literally setup for Linux-only use with xfce.

However, the package manager simply would not install the dependencies for the application, I found this to be the case for a number of things, maybe Ubuntu has improved since the 9/10 releases?

At the time I was sick of Windows, and was looking to a Hackintosh (can't afford a mac, nor would I want one) or Linux system instead, I placed a lot of serious time and effort into the endeavour. I've learnt to program in four languages and have an expert command of Windows including server editions, but Linux is just simply not for me. Of the 4 systems I tried with it, every single one was a nightmare to simply get a stable running OS with the drivers installed upon it. I even bought a HP Mini2133 with SuSE Linux preinstalled, WinXP outperformed it in battery life, performance and compatibility by a large margin, so I eventually switched it to XP until like all HP's it overheated one day and never worked again (a shame, I really liked the form factor). After much annoyance and wasted time I figured eventually if it's this much effort to make it work, I simply have no time for it. Since them I've warmed somewhat to Windows, not enough to consider 8 or 10 in the slightest though.

But the stupidity of downloading files one by one following the error report of the application to see what was missing until eventually Clam-AV worked was one of the most frustrating single experiences I've ever had with a computer. I just couldn't help but think that maybe, say an Installer, would just have worked?

  Edited July 12, 2015 by rsc204  

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

I don't know if you are familiar with the Synaptic Package Manager, but it hauls in any and all dependencies for software when you select the main package of an element.  This is the method I used to install CLAM-AV and it got all the members of that suite the first time.  There are many ways to install software on Ubuntu/Debian/Linux, and I often use the APT program (not APTITUDE) for updates and upgrades, but if I want a GUI interface, I use Synaptic.  Both synaptic and apt are the elements that are often called by other installation elements, and you could consider them older, but I have always found that they work.  Apt is a complex package for managing your software and it is called by Synaptic to actually perform the work.  Both require super user privilege for operation, so you must at least use the sudo call to use them:

console usage:

sudo synaptic

sudo apt-get install <package name>

[rsc204 21,866]

I don't know if you are familiar with the Synaptic Package Manager, but it hauls in any and all dependencies for software when you select the main package of an element.

Yup, that's what it was called, it simply didn't work and did not collect them, hence the problem with no easy solution.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

I don't know if you are familiar with the Synaptic Package Manager, but it hauls in any and all dependencies for software when you select the main package of an element.

Yup, that's what it was called, it simply didn't work and did not collect them, hence the problem with no easy solution.

Most intriguing.  What distro were you using and what version of it?  I've been on Ubuntu since 2007.

[rsc204 21,866]

9.10 and/or 10.10 going by the archived ISOs on my system, I need to stop hoarding every file that passes through my machine one day :).

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Assuming Ubuntu versions, I am puzzled about your problems with Synaptic.  I have never had a problem with it.  Runs just fine in 15.04 and a look at the dependencies shows that I have all of them, so perhaps you were in some sort of rush.  I have run it in both those versions as I prefer it to the software centre when I want something technical.  The fact is, I more often use it as a checking tool since my normal script for updates uses apt.  Here is my update script.

#!/bin/bash
sudo apt-get update;sudo apt-get upgrade

Pretty straight-forward.  The first command collects the data and the second performs the update.  This will fail if one of the upgrades is a new kernel.

[rsc204 21,866]

I don't understand why you can't simply accept it didn't work? As you say, you click on Clam-AV and the rest should be done for you, therefore unless somehow I didn't click on Clam-AV I don't understand what an end user is supposed to do? Since Clam-AV was installed, but failed with errors (those I used to track down the dependencies), it would appear I did install it. I don't know what was wrong, this was years ago but it really put me of Linux, along with a myriad of other problems.

It's great that you like it so much, but Windows is not all bad and evil like people think, sure there is plenty wrong with it, but there is plenty wrong with Linux too, it's not the great solution to the Windows problem that's for sure. If you've ever had to bang your head with mute on, whilst trying to get the simplest of concepts across to a Windows user, you'd appreciate why Linux will simply never work for the masses.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Well, I don't much care that you had a problem with Synaptic when I didn't in the same time frame.  Sometimes it is all in the way you hold your mouth.  Sorry if my attempts to help were not to your taste.

I am not an operating system hopper.  When I left windows it was because I would have had to purchase a whole new machine to run Vista.  Linux fit handily on my old HP hardware.  Once I got there in 2007, there didn't seem to be any point in going back to windows and paying licence fees to Microsoft again, however indirectly.  This particular machine came with Windows bundled for an additional $200.  Since I already had my Ubuntu hot disks, it didn't seem worth the effort nor the money since nothing I wanted was on windows.  I am well beyond the time when I could do my own build.  I no longer have the manual dexterity nor the visual accutance required, so I use the local OEMs when I need new gear.  They are usually very cooperative. 

Some might find it interesting that I recently acquired at Canon MG2520 Printer/Scanner/Copier that Canon categorically denies for support on Linux.  On Ubuntu 15.04 it works perfectly without any of their software.  For some reason, probably having to do with the default drivers, the scanner section did not work on Ubuntu 14.10.  I suspect that the readout of the status word was incorrect on that version.

[rsc204 21,866]

The thing is I'm not looking for help, this was all long ago in the past, I seriously considered Linux, seriously enough to purchase a computer with it preinstalled. However, the problems I describe I am certain were not the result of an error on my part, I am sure also that it was tested with more than one configuration/OS Install given all the work I was doing back then with Linux. I did have it working fine at one point, but I know it wasn't working at another. Some of the exact details allude me because it was so long ago, but as I say it's not a problem I still need fixing, I've moved on.

I'm not a hopper either, Since 1999 I've used three versions of Windows (2000, XP & 7), actually at first the changes in 7 which ultimately make it more hassle for users in the know to use gave me the motivation to look at the available options instead.

It became more long-winded to get to some frequently used features (compared to XP), combined with stupid nag-checks and lock-out of functions, that I would happily praise for regular users as keeping them out of trouble, but prove infuriating when you just want the computer to do what you tell it to and not say "I'm sorry Dave, I can't do that". My computer rarely knows better than I, if I want to share the root of a HDD over my network, what business is it of Windows to stop me (trust me this is nigh-on-impossible).

I looked into everything and I wasn't going to use a custom Firmware for the BIOS of a brand new mainboard (required for a Hackintosh), so Linux was the obvious candidate. After a few months of trying it though I decided I could live with Windows after all and was much happier about Windows in general, we have a love/hate relationship. Actually I decided to move to 7 after a HDD died with my XP install on it and I ended up using the Win7 test drive I had knocking about temporarily for a working system. At the time I only really did some surfing and watching videos on my PC, I realised that Windows 7 had a vast improvement over XP in terms of the quality of the video output and finally relented. I built my current machine two years ago and it's not going anywhere, neither is my Win7 installation, MS support or otherwise be dammed. I'm simply not prepared to give out an e-mail address to MS just so I can run my OS. That'd be like a desk drawer refusing to open without some private information being handed to the supplier first. Something very special would need to happen before 10 ever touches my machine. I've even blocked the update that adds the stupid notification to upgrade from being installed on my PC, the first time I ever felt enough distrust to filter Windows updates.

[NCGAIO 562]

Unfortunately this does not always mean that ceased to be updates without you know.

A peek to Layout.ini in your prefetch folder and maybe see things you did not even know were running.

This modern strategy where some companys think they know better than the consumer what is best for him  already creates difficulties even among manufacturers...

Samsung was caught recently (Patrick Barker, MVP Windows) distributing the "disable_Windowsupdate.exe" to prevent their portables  were affected by disastrous driver and OS updates such as those already taken place before. 

Win10 maybe brings even worse news for domestic User that  not even have the option to choose or disable Automatic Updates.

I agree it is a very strange world that where things  what you buy is not yours and its use even not is under yours control but the the strangest and that people increasingly agree with that.

Now ... I know this is an interesting subject for both but are thirteen posts since Saturday and it looks like transfomou the topic in a personal debate oblivious to  original subject ... maybe other place?

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Well, you and I are really brothers from different parents.  I treasure my privacy as do you. 

No operating system (and I have written some) is going to Dick and Jane me.  Since I only do simple things any more, Ubuntu serves my purpose admirably.  Mostly, I correspond over e-mail (Thunderbird), browse (Firefox), and so some limited external correspondence (Libre Office) and keep my health statistics (Libre Office Calc - I am diabetic, so record my tests daily into a graph).  Other than that, I run a few games (Banished, SC4 Deluxe, Angband) and a few brain teasers (Xwellris, Quadrupassel, Minesweeper) and occasionally take a swipe at GNU Chess.  GNU Chess plays around candidate master strength and reminds me of how bad I have become. 

Every once in a while I try out a new language and find it yet more LR(k) generated stuff really based on YACC and LEX, so most of them are uninteresting.  I did run GNU COBOL the other day just to see where the standard has gone.  My first language other than machine code was COBOL'60.  COBOL (2002) is still around despite attempts to kill it, and it is quite modern and current with OOP elements.  Too many commercial applications are in COBOL despite attempts to rewrite some of them in "modern" languages.  Think of the number of statements of C++ or Java it would take to handle this:

COMPUTE A = N * M ROUNDED ON SIZE ERROR PERFORM OPERAND-RECOVERY-X.

On one machine I've used this takes two machine instructions.  The first to do the arithmetic and the second to handle the exception (if any).  You can't make an LR(k) parser for this statement because it is "impure".  It changes from a simple arithmetic statement into a conditional half-way though the scan.  Anyway, COBOL is for string slinging, and most "modern" languages are very poor at that.  I've always believed in horses for courses.

I have deliberately let my knowledge of Windows go since I retired (2002) and only keep up with other stuff periodically.  I do remember fondly the days when we were all breaking ground in the applications game in the 1960s and 1970s.  When IBM announced the PC in 1980 it was an expensive toy, but it sure caught on in the market place as people discovered that it was a general purpose computer.  Moore's Conjecture has turned out to be fairly accurate, and the latest IBM announcement on 7 NM transistors makes it seem that things are going to continue.