Last night, I was looking at this computer, somewhat satisfied in how I had configured it. It was working pretty well – though I still haven’t finished optimizing the video system.
I had read about Gimp 2.0, a new version of an old PhotoShop-like program, and decided to try it out. Often with Linux there are specific packages put together to suit individual distributions – for instance Mandrake Community 10 on this PC. But, there’s no package for me, yet.
I was about to quit my pursuit when I read this on the Gimp site:
Who wrote that? Where is he? How can I break his neck?
I attempted to install package after package, each failing in its own individual way, but pointing to a pre-existing condition that could be corrected which would fix everything. And, of course, each time I fixed one thing, it revealed another.
Finally, it got to the point where a certain installation of one system was holding up the entire show. I would mention what that system is, but I am too embarrassed to mention it in front of the Linux aware. Let’s just say I thought it would be a good idea to uninstall it and then immediately reinstall it to fix the problem.
Boom!
Without thinking I had gutted my system. Some of it worked, but most did not – including the easy ability to recover the missing pieces. I was distressed.
I went to bed and told Helaine I had a fight with the penguin… and though he won, I had mortally wounded him.
This morning, I totally reinstalled Mandrake Community 10. In the meantime, some of my ability to update and correct this installation has been removed as Mandrake changed their directory structure in midstream!
I am older and wiser and wary of the penguin.