Another linux question

There's this command line utility called xgamma. You can access its manual by typing "man xgamma" into the terminal. Play around with it until you get decent results, I'm sure someone else here will know how to apply the command on the start of the XServer.


Edit:
I posted a sources.list for Ubuntu Dapper here. It should give you access to all branches of the official repositories. You might want to change the region-specific prefixes in some of the lines though ("au" in the list I posted, "de" in mine, yours could be "fr").

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Hehe, another useful config file (three years Linux and it never caught my attention). My best bet would have been the KDE autostart but since the regular Ubuntu comes with Gnome...

There's nowhere I can't reach.

You can run such binaries by entering "./[file name]" in the command line. If it does not work, run "chmod +x [file name]" first (gives the file executable rights). Copying a binary into /usr/bin will make the program available system wide (and without the "./"). The static version should work in most cases since the library data needed to run it was included in the binary when compiled (the regular/dynamic version relies on libraries installed on your system, if these are missing or versions don't match, it won't work).

As for frontends, I'm not sure wether there is anything similar, that does not rely on KDE's extensive libraries but K3b's CD ripping component is pretty configurable. I feed it a certain LAME command line for example.

And while Audacity's interface is ugly as hell, at least give it a try for basic wave editing.

Originally Posted by Merv Burger

Compiling is the easiest three-step process ever, provided you don't have to fulfill any dependencies (and that you have build-essential installed.)

It's those dependencies that usually become such a pain in the ass. Exept for very simple tools and my custom kernels I never compiled anything myself (though I tried numerous times over the years). MPlayer comes to mind as THE baptism-by-fire-app. Besides, it's usually nicer to install programs with the package manager of your distribution, so you don't have to preserve any uninstall scripts.
I know there is make-kpkg for Debian-based distros (I use that for kernel building) and I presume creating ebuilds for Gentoo isn't that hard either. I'm probably just lazy and had the luck to switch OSs around the time when getting by on Linux without compiling became feasible for power users.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by LiquidAcid

For the native linux user these 'simple program installs' are a breeze when working on the console. You're expecting that everything works by clicking some button.

But you have to admit that this is entirely possible on most distros these days. If an Ubuntu or Debian user doesen't want to hack "apt-get install [program]" into the terminal there is always Synaptic.
Plus graphical user interfaces have more advantages over a text-only interface than "stuff you can click on". Tool tips come to mind, intuitively organized menus, stuff like that. The console is for people who preferably know what they want and how to do it. That's not exatly newbie friendly and it never will be.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by Duminas

I will admit to you here that I used to be a "GUI or Bust" type, but then I found the wonders of man.

Yeah sure, same here.
I'm faster at a lot of taks with the terminal as well, one of them being software installation. My Ubuntu is a server install upgraded to a just-what-I-need desktop and for most other administrative tasks, nano and mc are my tools of choice. But you just cannot throw this at newbies and be like "here, eat up!" or act as if their Windows-grown liking for GUIs was some kind of primitive tribal tradition.
After all, Open Source software is about choice, steaming from people's individual preferences. I'd never gotten into Linux in the first place if it had not been for a solid base of easy to use graphical programs to cover my basic computing needs (like putting on some music in XMMS/BMP ... with a few no-brainer clicks). Of course, when guiding people through their first steps with Linux, I show them a few basic things on the terminal but there's usually plenty of other stuff they will regard as a tad more urgent at that point.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Hm, I kinda doubt Piccolo would have the patience for Gentoo - no offense.

In my experience a friend who knows Linux is the best way to get into the OS and stick with it in the long run. Not only is someone to talk about what distro to chose, expectations, specific requirements, etc. a big help, setup issues can be solved much faster and the healthy "don't expect a Windows"-ellbow check from time to time helps keeping things in perspective.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?