Linux Hell

I learn Linux for couple of years now. Started with RedHat 6.0 back then but not much. I installed it but well, what should I do next? The GUI is working but with 16 colors, I'm very unfamiliar with the softwares. So nothing I can use from this alien operating system. Then couple of years later I heard about Mandrake, the most easiest Linux distro ever based on RedHat. Back then, it was Mandrake 8.2. So what the heck, I grab a copy from a local store then installed it on my PC. Wow. Linux surely change alot. Install is just a snap, great apps, specially Openoffice.org, Xmms and GIMP. With some games included it's even better. Frozen Bubble, Super Methane Brothers, Tux Racer. At least now I have much todo in Linux. So I thought hey, can I live only with Linux? I remove my windows installation and work with Linux for a whole week or two. Yes, I survive. But one problem. I'm a 3D animation professional and hobiist. I need 3D animation apps under Linux. Now this is a huge problem. There's almost none. Mandrake includes a evaluation copy of AC3D, but I need a fully functional one. So sure Maya is released under Linux also but it's hard to find a copy of the Linux version here. So I do some research on the internet and turn out I found ALOT. K-3D, Art of Illusion, and especially the infamous Wings and Blender. Now I'm really hooked with Blender. For wings, well, since Blender can do modeling aswell, I don't need too much softwares anyway so I never touch it as much as I play with Blender. Even today, Blender is still one of my main app.

So I learn about being a Linux user. My mandrake installation running fine, I work with Linux without any problem. But I'm not satisfied with Mandrake. There're alot of unused, unfamilar package installed automatically. I want a clean system with no bloat at all. So I took a copy of RedHat, the father of Mandrake, again. That day it was version 9. I remove Mandrake and installed RedHat. Well, a little bit faster with less bloat in it. But still, I'm not satisfied. One day a person suggested me to use Slackware. It is highly customizeable 100% according to my needs. Wow. Maybe this is it? So I grab a Slackware 9 copy and try to install it. I jump into expert mode right on the first installation. I choose each package carefully, reading its descriptions and guessing wether I would need it or not. Everything went wrong, but most of all X don't start. But the bash console tells me what's wrong, what package I miss. So I redo the installation and now I'm adding the package I miss told by bash. I reinstall it couple of times, reading the errors and suddenly I got myself a super clean installation with a fully working GNOME desktop. But browsing the internet or running a network with my Slackware installation was impossible, because I install none of the "n" packages. Well, I want a super clean operating system but also a fully working one. Now that's hell.

So I left Linux for sometimes and then now I grabbed ubuntu. This one is clean, and all my network devices are working from the start. But the downside is it can't play any of my media files (movies, sound, music etc). And there's too few softwares included so not much todo here. I was in brunei when I ordered the ubuntu CD, so when I play around with it I have no problem getting new softwares. And also I discovered EasyUbuntu script. In brunei internet was amazingly fast. Unlike here in Indonesia. But there's also a hardware problem. Ubuntu don't recognize the SATA controller on my notebook, so I got this freezes every once in a while. It's not comfortable working under Operating system which freezes frequently. So I removed Ubuntu.

Sometimes before I notice Ubuntu, I discovered Slax. A slackware based live cd distribution. I started to get interested in this one from version 3.0.25 or so. It's clean but kind of looking messy back then and there're still alot of unnecessary apps such as the potato guy (I really hate this app). Tomas just started this distro. But going through time, I routinely grab a Slax copy and I realize this distro is developing really well, it's getting neat and neater on each version. Started from Slax 4, this is it. This is the distro I always wanted! It also include a well written harddrive installation script.

But somewhere on Slax 5, Tomas, the developer removed the installation script *sigh*. Tomas wrote a tutorial on how to install Slax manually. It works. But some Slax scripts that weren't meant for harddrive installation were included if you use this method. So do I give up? Nope. I listed the installed packages in Slax and grab a copy of Slackware 11 and install it according to it. So here's the package list for you guys Linux enthusiast.

"a" packages
aaa_base-11.0.0-noarch-2.tgz
aaa_elflibs-11.0.0-i486-9.tgz
acl-2.2.39_1-i486-1.tgz
acpid-1.0.4-i486-2.tgz
attr-2.4.32_1-i486-1.tgz
bash-3.1.017-i486-1.tgz
bin-11.0-i486-3.tgz
bzip2-1.0.3-i486-3.tgz
coreutils-5.97-i486-1.tgz
cpio-2.5-i386-1.tgz
cups-1.1.23-i486-4.tgz
cxxlibs-6.0.3-i486-1.tgz
dcron-2.3.3-i486-5.tgz
e2fsprogs-1.38-i486-2.tgz
elvis-2.2_0-i486-2.tgz
etc-11.0-noarch-2.tgz
findutils-4.2.28-i486-1.tgz
floppy-5.4-i386-3.tgz
gawk-3.1.5-i486-3.tgz
gettext-0.15-i486-1.tgz
getty-ps-2.1.0b-i486-1.tgz
glibc-solibs-2.3.6-i486-6.tgz
glibc-zoneinfo-2.3.6-noarch-6.tgz
gpm-1.20.1-i486-2.tgz
grep-2.5-i486-3.tgz
gzip-1.3.5-i486-1.tgz
hdparm-6.6-i486-1.tgz
hotplug-2004_09_23-noarch-11.tgz
infozip-5.52-i486-1.tgz
isapnptools-1.26-i386-1.tgz
jfsutils-1.1.11-i486-1.tgz
kbd-1.12-i486-2.tgz
less-394-i486-1.tgz
lilo-22.7.1-i486-2.tgz
logrotate-3.7.4-i486-1.tgz
module-init-tools-3.2.2-i486-2.tgz
openssl-solibs-0.9.8d-i486-1.tgz
pciutils-2.2.3-i486-2.tgz
pcmcia-cs-3.2.8-i486-3.tgz
pkgtools-11.0.0-i486-4.tgz
procps-3.2.7-i486-1.tgz
reiserfsprogs-3.6.19-i486-1.tgz
sed-4.1.5-i486-1.tgz
shadow-4.0.3-i486-13.tgz
slocate-3.1-i486-1.tgz
smartmontools-5.36-i486-1.tgz
sysklogd-1.4.1-i486-9.tgz
sysvinit-2.84-i486-69.tgz
tar-1.15.1-i486-2.tgz
udev-097-i486-10.tgz
umsdos-progs-1.13-i386-1.tgz
usbutils-0.72-i486-1.tgz
utempter-1.1.3-i486-1.tgz
util-linux-2.12r-i486-5.tgz
xfsprogs-2.8.10_1-i486-1.tgz

"ap" packages
alsa-utils-1.0.11-i486-2.tgz
amp-0.7.6-i386-1.tgz
ash-0.4.0-i386-1.tgz
bc-1.06-i486-3.tgz
bpe-2.01.00-i486-1.tgz
cdparanoia-IIIalpha9.8-i486-2.tgz
cdrdao-1.2.1-i486-1.tgz
cdrtools-2.01-i486-1.tgz
diffutils-2.8.1-i486-3.tgz
dmapi-2.2.5_1-i486-1.tgz
dvd+rw-tools-6.1-i486-1.tgz
flac-1.1.2-i486-2.tgz
groff-1.19.2-i486-1.tgz
joe-3.5-i486-1.tgz
jove-4.16.0.61-i386-1.tgz
lsof-4.76-i486-1.tgz
lvm-1.0.8-i486-1.tgz
man-1.6c-i486-2.tgz
man-pages-2.39-noarch-1.tgz
mc-4.6.1-i486-2.tgz
mdadm-2.5.3-i486-1.tgz
most-4.10.2-i486-1.tgz
mpg321-0.2.10-i486-2.tgz
mt-st-0.9b-i486-1.tgz
normalize-0.7.6-i486-1.tgz
rexima-1.4-i486-1.tgz
rpm-4.2.1-i486-3.tgz
rzip-2.1-i486-1.tgz
screen-4.0.2-i486-1.tgz
seejpeg-1.10-i386-1.tgz
sox-12.18.1-i486-1.tgz
sudo-1.6.8p12-i486-1.tgz
vorbis-tools-1.1.1-i486-3.tgz
workbone-2.40-i386-3.tgz
xfsdump-2.2.38_1-i486-1.tgz

"d" packages
binutils-2.15.92.0.2-i486-3.tgz
gcc-3.4.6-i486-1.tgz
kernel-headers-2.4.33.3-i386-1.tgz
make-3.81-i486-1.tgz
perl-5.8.8-i486-3.tgz
python-2.4.3-i486-4.tgz

"kde" packages
kdebase-3.5.4-i486-7.tgz
kdelibs-3.5.4-i486-1.tgz
qt-3.3.6-i486-4.tgz

"l" packages
aalib-1.4rc5-i386-1.tgz
alsa-driver-1.0.11_2.4.33.3-i486-1.tgz
alsa-lib-1.0.11-i486-1.tgz
alsa-oss-1.0.11-i486-1.tgz
arts-1.5.4-i486-2.tgz
aspell-0.60.4-i486-1.tgz
atk-1.10.3-i486-2.tgz
audiofile-0.2.6-i486-1.tgz
cairo-1.0.4-i486-1.tgz
esound-0.2.36-i486-1.tgz
expat-1.95.8-i486-1.tgz
fribidi-0.10.7-i486-1.tgz
gdk-pixbuf-0.22.0-i486-1.tgz
glib-1.2.10-i386-2.tgz
glib2-2.10.3-i486-1.tgz
glut-3.7-i486-1.tgz
gmp-4.2.1-i486-1.tgz
gtk+-1.2.10-i386-3.tgz
gtk+2-2.8.20-i486-1.tgz
imlib-1.9.15-i486-1.tgz
lcms-1.15-i486-1.tgz
lesstif-0.95.0-i486-1.tgz
libao-0.8.6-i486-1.tgz
libart_lgpl-2.3.17-i486-1.tgz
libexif-0.6.13-i486-2.tgz
libglade-2.5.1-i486-1.tgz
libgsf-1.14.1-i486-1.tgz
libid3tag-0.15.1b-i486-1.tgz
libidn-0.6.5-i486-1.tgz
libieee1284-0.2.10-i486-1.tgz
libjpeg-6b-i386-4.tgz
libmad-0.15.1b-i486-1.tgz
libmikmod-3.1.11a-i486-1.tgz
libmng-1.0.5-i486-1.tgz
libmusicbrainz-2.1.4-i486-1.tgz
libogg-1.1.3-i486-1.tgz
libpng-1.2.12-i486-2.tgz
librsvg-2.14.4-i486-1.tgz
libtermcap-1.2.3-i486-6.tgz
libtiff-3.8.2-i486-2.tgz
libtunepimp-0.4.2-i486-2.tgz
libungif-4.1.4-i486-3.tgz
libusb-0.1.12-i486-1.tgz
libvorbis-1.1.2-i486-1.tgz
libwmf-0.2.8.4-i486-2.tgz
libwpd-0.8.6-i486-1.tgz
libxml2-2.6.26-i486-1.tgz
libxslt-1.1.17-i486-1.tgz
mhash-0.9.7-i486-1.tgz
mpeg_lib-1.3.1-i386-2.tgz
ncurses-5.5-i486-1.tgz
pango-1.12.4-i486-1.tgz
pcre-6.7-i486-1.tgz
popt-1.7-i386-1.tgz
sdl-1.2.11-i486-1.tgz
startup-notification-0.8-i486-1.tgz
svgalib-1.4.3-i386-2.tgz
t1lib-5.1.0-i486-1.tgz
taglib-1.4-i486-2.tgz
wv2-0.2.2-i486-2.tgz
xaw3d-1.5-i386-3.tgz
zlib-1.2.3-i486-1.tgz

"n" packages
autofs-3.1.7-i386-1.tgz
bind-9.3.2_P1-i486-1.tgz
cyrus-sasl-2.1.22-i486-1.tgz
dhcpcd-2.0.4-i486-2.tgz
iproute2-2.6.16_060323-i486-1.tgz
iptables-1.3.5-i486-2.tgz
iptraf-2.7.0-i386-1.tgz
lynx-2.8.5rel.5-i486-2.tgz
mutt-1.4.2.2i-i486-1.tgz
nc-1.10-i386-1.tgz
netwatch-1.0a-i386-1.tgz
nmap-4.11-i486-1.tgz
openldap-client-2.3.27-i486-1.tgz
openssh-4.4p1-i486-1.tgz
openssl-0.9.8d-i486-1.tgz
pidentd-3.0.19-i486-1.tgz
portmap-5.0-i486-3.tgz
ppp-2.4.4-i486-1.tgz
rdesktop-1.5.0-i486-1.tgz
rdist-6.1.5-i386-1.tgz
rp-pppoe-3.8-i486-2.tgz
rsync-2.6.8-i486-1.tgz
samba-3.0.23c-i486-1.tgz
tcpdump-3.9.4-i486-2.tgz
tcpip-0.17-i486-39.tgz
traceroute-1.4a12-i386-2.tgz
wget-1.10.2-i486-2.tgz
whois-4.7.15-i486-1.tgz
wireless-tools-28-i486-3.tgz

"x" packages
dejavu-ttf-2.10-noarch-1.tgz
fontconfig-2.2.3-i486-2.tgz
x11-6.9.0-i486-11.tgz
x11-fonts-misc-6.9.0-noarch-5.tgz

Frost giant unwrapped

Well, here it is. Some minor warps on the head & neck area. But it's quite usable already. Unwrapped using blender. Blender LSCM unwrapper is one helluva really powerful tool. I understand it better than Max' pelt mapping and it's easier to do. Both LSCM and pelt are quite similar one another, with similar workflow (marking seams, then on to the unwrapping) but LSCM does some stuffs automatically compared to Pelt.