As some people have reported there seem to be some voids in the netpkg 'current' mirror, we would advise people to select a snapshot mirror (since, as we announced, snapshot and current's contents ought to be identical). Sadly something has gone wrong, however, the snapshot repos seem to do fine . So please rely on those if you want to get extra Zenwalk 4.0 packages - until further notice.

Mind you this is a Zenwalk 4.0 issue only - since we are migrating our mirrors to 4.0 (i.e. GTK 2.10 apps & Xorg 7.1-based apps).

This warning does not apply to Zenwalk 3.0 users, who are asked to use the current-old mirror if they want to add programs to their existing 3.0 install, but nonetheless encouraged to do a clean install of 4.0, to minimize any possible transitional problems (and protect the devs from lawsuits ) .

How long is the current-old mirror going to be available? I need to know because I have a problem getting 4.0 to work with my wireless card (works fine with 3.0, posted this in problems forum). I need to know how long I have to try to get it working before I can no longer go back to 3.0 because the repo is offline. Thanks.

missmoondog,

You have posted a number of messages of this kind over the last one or two weeks. The only thing this really tells me is that you could take an example from sysadmins in the corporate world.

They expect things to break when they install a product one or two days after it is first released. That's why they install it on a non critical machine. Then they play with it for a while. Lots of other people in the world are doing the same at the same time. Part of these people report their problems. So these problems can be fixed or found workarounds for. Then after a while the more critical systems are upgraded. Still for any critical system there will be a roll-back method in place. So if they screw up the update, then they simply restore the old situation.

Large scale adoption of a new version of MS Windows in the corporate world doesn't take place before the first service pack is out. That is for a product where large numbers of highly paid engineers and consultants have worked on. Have a look at Zenwalk's contacts page. There are only nineteen people on that page at the moment. These people work on Zenwalk in their spare time. Now you expect this product to work flawlessly, where the commercial products don't.


I'd say stop whining and learn to be a decent sysadmin in stead. More specifically: Make backups and learn patience.

Yes, Tibors.  I keep 3 backups for my system, and use the newest first when restoring, the 2nd most recent if needed, or the 3rd most recent - in that order.  Sometimes the CDs or DVDs are bad, sometimes I may have made a mistake, etc.

Failing all that - bad hard drive, whatever - I also have a copy of ZenLive and keep another distro or two to install in case of emergency.  If a fire destroys my entire office, though, I get the afternoon off. 

Things go wrong a certain percentage of the time no matter how perfect you are.

But only the afternoon, i'd guess 

In support of Tibors
For what it's worth, I was a network admin for 3 years until last year jointly responsible for well over 100 Windows servers and, well, a lot of desktops. The posts here bear out my experience and advice: don't stick a new OS or app, or patch on any machine whose failure will result in you working late when you should be with friends and family, or which is going to get you shouted at by people who decide your pay

That said, some things do just happen as I'm sure anyone on this board with experience in business will tell you. In that case, get someone to block the door to the server room, get a laptop to view forum posts in 'real time', and try and get it fixed.

As for backups. Indeedy indeedy, (ArcServe WOOT!!).

"Never underestimate the bandwidth of a stationwagon full of backup tapes."

Judging by the replies posted here I think I've been mistaken for somebody else. I'm not missmoondog, I'm not a sysadmin, I have just installed ZW4.0 on a laptop for personal use, am having a problem with it which I posed in the problems form to no avail, and I'm wondering how long the old repositories are likely to be available. I didn't anticipate it would be a question which would cause offence. Okay, I have asked the same question *once* before in one of the other forums, but it wasn't answered so I asked it again in this thread. If you don't know, then "I don't know" would suffice as an answer. Thanks.

Mark,

We did not make a mistake. These post are not targeted at you. And your question did not offend anyone.

There was a post by missmoondog between your and my post, but apparently she (or an admin?) decided to remove it and her reaction to my post.

I for one didn't remove any posts, if I do so, I inform the concerned user. It's only fair.

Edit: And who the heck unstickied this thread???

Please accept my apologies for strongly wording my previous post, in that case. Does anybody happen to know the answer to my question (or indeed, whether or not there is an answer)?

One 'sneakish' answer: I expect the mirror at ftp.nluug.nl

ftp://ftp.nluug.nl/pub/os/Linux/distr/z ... urrent-old

To stay operational for a 'loooong' time: The nluug guys don't discard their valuable bits lightly.. to give you an idea: ZenWalk-2.0.2 is till present there The current-old dir name is one of these non-standard dir-names that will not easily die: nluug does over-write, but hardly deletes...

edit: when looking closer: the minislack-1.1.iso (dated; anno domini: 06-aug-2005) is also still on-line there  Is anyone 'in' for a fit of nostagia? Perhaps only to get a feeling of what's happened in the last 1.25 years (is it *really* only 1.25 years ago that 1.1 was 'current'?). For the nostalics:

ftp://ftp.nluug.nl/pub/os/Linux/distr/z ... ck-1.1.iso

end of off topic

Thanks for that tip! I may stick with 3.0 on my laptop anyway as it does everything I need, though some of the new graphics in 4.0 are rather nifty (particularly the login screen).