a newbie says hello

[bardo]

Hello,
let me begin by stating: "I have already been benefitted by the works from Sparky-team in the past."

Background: After many years as a dev (and many similar jobs) in the windows centered business world, i moved to linux after retiring. Since January, i came to switch to debian, which upped the challenges quite a bit, because i find it difficult to get information and support (that was much easier on Ubuntu centered user bases). But more than once, the sparky experiments inside virtual machines led me to discover solutions to my problems. A recent example?

After upgrading my jessie installation to stretch, vlc stopped to play some films i had on my disk. Although i noticed, the problems were related to a specific codec, i couldn't find a resolution, until ... i noticed, that a fresh install of sparky WAS able to play the film with vlc. By using dpkg --get-selections, i was able to get closer to the relevant detail, that was causing my problem: Somehow. during the debian upgrade, ffmpeg had vanished. And after reinstalling it on my stretch OS, the film is playing again as expected.

Thank you!!!  :)

Now, i am NOT using sparky, even though i consider it to be a well configured debian installation to begin with, probably better, then what the standard debian installer produces. But to create such a nice derivative work shows some knowledge, that i am obviously lacking. And as a simple user (nowadays), i found the debian forums to be of little help, even arrogant sometimes. Which is keeping me in my isolation without guidance or exchange of any kind. And health problems are making it even worse... :(

So: Here i am, a debian user with several (at the moment: 8 ) sparky installations inside virtualbox to learn from you. And i love it. :-)

Addenum (edited):
One thing possibly worth mentioning:
While my main OS really is debian stable, i am using it to run virtualbox + zfs from it, which in turn are providing the environment for everything else. Plenty (> 50) of machines are specialized and assigned to specific tasks, like mail communication, internet surfing, video manipulation, accessing tor, and many more...
Just reviewing the "main ones", i came to notice, that there are in fact 2 Sparky based ones in my bag full of flies ! :)

One additional note: since very early on (late seventies), i have been very concerned with privacy issues on the interwebs, even chose to risk my job on more than one occassion in the endeavor to fight for my convictions. What has become mainstream in the meantime is hurting my understanding (in general), and that may be difficult to some, if their lifestyle is based on a different set of beliefs. I am not going to do any political work here, but in an attempt to protect my personal privacy, i prefer private (encrypted) communication to personal + public statements on forums.

End of Statement.
Nice to meet you
bardo

[blaze]

Welcome to Sparky bardo. Good to see you are enjoying your Debian journey. Vbx is an excellent way to test new stuff, and of course, thanks for the informative intro. Such things are always a good nice read. :)

[bardo]

...and goodbye...
I have not been here for long. But my social skills may not be high enough to take this.
In this short time, i did see other people leave, pointing at a lack of cooperation + friendliness.
Now, Mr paxmark1 convinced me to leave this place alone.

What has this been good for? Or did i just waste my time?
Old age doesnt prevent making mistakes, i guess.
Next time, i see a description speaking of supportive community, i will investigate first, if this is wishful thinking or a true description.

Good luck alltogether and have fun! Live is beautiful!

[Capitain_Jack]

It's sad that our user base have not much time, but we do effort into addressing issues...