LinuxQuestions.org - Linux as an general OS...?

- Slackware (https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/slackware-14/)

- - Linux as an general OS...? (https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/slackware-14/linux-as-an-general-os-4175448908/)

Linux as an general OS...?

There, in left side, bellow username has three pictogramms - from left - from what OS make this post, user is online or offline, and "add reputation".
as i see, many of posters sometimes have a "Win_7" or something microsoft like, even! "Alien Bob" :-O.

for me that is strange - why linux users in everyday use mswin?
i personally have a windows using experience approx a hour in year ( except a working needs - client computer configure, and so on) throught last 5-7 years...
in my oppinion, Linux for my tasks is sufficient, and i not need MS product ( maybe DOS 6.22 and win95 - 98SE on my old computers for old, youngdays games and so on, but it is different tale :)

why another of us uses MS, if not a secret?

It's probably because they are posting from work, and they didn't bring their own computer.

Some of them are probably posting from work, where they didn't get to choose their OS.

I see great minds think alike, and at exactly the same time too!

I've not found that icon to be terribly accurate. I almost always post from a Linux VM running on a Windows host, sometimes it picks Linux, sometimes Windows, and sometimes it can't decide.

Posting from work indeed...

Eric

This is why I have mine disabled..

Never noticed it to be honest.

Yep - posting from work for me too. I've noticed that the Windows browser is detected correctly, but unless I modify browser about: settings from my main Linux box the icon used is a question mark.

EDIT: I take it back - it's selected Linux, my mistake.

EDIT2: I saved my edit and the icon was back to the question mark.

If you want the Slackware icon to display in Firefox, shut down Firefox (it cannot be running when you do this).

Open a terminal:

Code:

cd .mozilla/firefox

ls (to see your gobbldigook.default directory name)

cd gobbldigook.default

Append this (all on one line) to the file prefs.js (use an editor or whatever you choose):

Code:

user_pref("general.useragent.override", "Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:11.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/18.0.1 Slackware Linux");

If any of the content is not correct for your system, correct it.

Restart Firefox.

You can check it at http://whatsmyuseragent.com/ and, subsequent posts at LinunxQuestions.org will show the Slackware "blue-ball."

Hope this helps some.

Thanks for that tronayne - sorry for side-tracking the thread

Quote:

Originally Posted by tronayne (Post 4885818)

If you want the Slackware icon to display in Firefox, shut down Firefox (it cannot be running when you do this).

Open a terminal:

Code:

cd .mozilla/firefox

ls (to see your gobbldigook.default directory name)

cd gobbldigook.default

Append this (all on one line) to the file prefs.js (use an editor or whatever you choose):

Code:

user_pref("general.useragent.override", "Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:11.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/18.0.1 Slackware Linux");

You can do the same with a running Firefox, just type about:config into the address bar and add a string named general.useragent.override with the value Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:11.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/18.0.1 Slackware Linux

Back on topic, another reason why many people post from Windows machines could be that this is Linuxquestions.org after all. Many people post here when they have problems with their Linux systems, often preventing them from posting here with that system.

For me, when I am posting from a Windows machine it is either a) not my machine, or b) I just post during a break from one of my games and don't want to reboot because I intend to continue the game after the break.

I don't see the point of displaying an icon at all, since it can be spoofed. I, for instance, am posting this using DOS 5.1.

Yes, it can be spoofed. But there is no reason to do it. If you don't want the forum to display which OS you are using (and there are valid reasons for that) then just disable that in your User Control Panel (Edit Options, second option from top).

But it can help to actually help other people. Many new members forget to include which distro they are using in their first posts, but using the distro icon as indicator for that can bring the answers at least into the right direction, although further clarification is needed in the most cases (and if only to get the version number).

And of course not spoofed useragent values are needed to make the browser usage statistics somewhat reliable.

Many people aren't able to post on Linux because they are using their work computer. I use a VM whenever possible, but sometimes I can't. For instance, I'm starting to learn Spanish using Rosseta Stone, but Rosseta Stone only supports Windows, so I have to use Windows for that, and use VMs for other stuff. Sometimes I'll get lazy though, and just use MicrosoftBroken Glass instead.

Have not had a personal computer in 4+ years with anything but a Linux Distro( Nint, Debian, Arch ) . However I will ocassionaly check e-mail and reply to a post from work where it is a MS shop. :(