Not wishing to Cut Nose/Spite face.

[munair]

Bug report filed:

http://bugs.freepascal.org/view.php?id=27843

It's unfixable (if it's bug I've noted there). libpixman must be rebuilded with --mstackrealign (affects 32bit IDE & apps only on linux gtk2),
or use Qt ide.

As I reported, this problem does not exist with Debian 7 GTK2, so the poblem is probably somewhere else. Interestingly, it happens only with the user's home folder, not with any of its subfolders.

[Signal]

If you want another VERY stable and consistent (things are clearly documented, defined and adhered too where they install etc) then try FreeBSD or PC-BSD (this being the "desktop friendly version" of FreeBSD).

I disagree in regard to PC-BSD only. The development team is small and trying to do too much, too fast, too soon. The PC-BSD forum is thinly populated and ill managed. By that I mean new users have to have every single post approved by a moderator. That doesn't work when the moderator doesn't check for new posts for days. Yes, days.

It may not be the case, but it appears that there is only a single individual that can approve new users' posts. In any event, the Lazarus forum's new user post verification methods are far superior, if annoying to some. 

For the relatively few people that post to the PC-BSD forum, the majority of them seem to have updating issues. A lot of them seem to have to reinstall to get back on their feet. It's not a good thing.

There are also file system issues with their installer. Anyone contemplating installing PC-BSD in place of FreeBSD should take a real hard look at PC-BSD forum posts regarding installers and/or file systems before jumping in with both feet.

FreeBSD, no argument.

However, neither FreeBSD, nor PC-BSD support hardware accelerated integrated graphics on Intel Haswell processors. It's vesa graphics only. Something to keep in mind for anyone contemplating moving to either one of those distributions.

[Graeme]

I disagree in regard to PC-BSD only. The development team is small and trying to do too much, too fast, too soon.

I can't comment much on PC-BSD other that that is is simply a Graphical Desktop Environment (auto-installed) on top of FreeBSD. In fact you can install FreeBSD and to a ports update to switch to PC-BSD.

For support, I have always used the FreeBSD Forums - no moderator approval needed, and replies are really good and helpful.

However, neither FreeBSD, nor PC-BSD support hardware accelerated integrated graphics on Intel Haswell processors. It's vesa graphics only.

I have a Intel i7-3770K processor with a built in HD-4000 GPU. I don't know the Intel cpu code name for this. In my system hardware acceleration works perfectly with the Intel X11 driver (since FreeBSD 9.1). I've used that driver for the last 3.5 years with silky smooth OpenGL graphics. About 3 months ago I switched to a NVIDIA GeForce GT 730 card for a bit more horsepower on hi-res monitors (but still didn't want any extra fans in my system). I installed the NVIDIA graphics driver and it was a breeze to setup - 5 minutes max. I wouldn't recommend AMD graphics cards though - no official AMD drivers and the open source versions suck.

[Signal]

I can't comment much on PC-BSD other that that is is simply a Graphical Desktop Environment (auto-installed) on top of FreeBSD. In fact you can install FreeBSD and to a ports update to switch to PC-BSD.

For support, I have always used the FreeBSD Forums - no moderator approval needed, and replies are really good and helpful.

The FreeBSD forum specifically states they will not help with PC-BSD related issues. It's their policy. You can of course, couch inquiries in FreeBSD specific terms in order to get around their ban, except when the issue is unambiguously PC-BSD related.

In my opinion, PC-BSD is no longer a simple graphical environment installed over FreeBSD, although the claim that it is really FreeBSD is still made.

PC-BSD has its own repositories. PC-BSD has its own front ends to the FreeBSD packages/ports system. Neither of them is thoroughly documented. PC-BSD essentially forces users to use ZFS, which takes over your whole hard drive because that is the only way the installers will work. If you try to use less than the full drive, the installer will error out.

One PC-BSD developer is developing an entire desktop environment called Lumina. It seems to be the hot priority over everything else.

There is a port to convert FreeBSD to PC-BSD. There isn't one to go the other way. 

I have a Intel i7-3770K processor with a built in HD-4000 GPU. I don't know the Intel cpu code name for this. In my system hardware acceleration works perfectly with the Intel X11 driver (since FreeBSD 9.1). I've used that driver for the last 3.5 years with silky smooth OpenGL graphics. About 3 months ago I switched to a NVIDIA GeForce GT 730 card for a bit more horsepower on hi-res monitors (but still didn't want any extra fans in my system). I installed the NVIDIA graphics driver and it was a breeze to setup - 5 minutes max. I wouldn't recommend AMD graphics cards though - no official AMD drivers and the open source versions suck.

Your processor is in the Ivy Bridge series, which is pre-Haswell. They work fine. As far as I know, only the Haswell series isn't supported.

[munair]

Bug report filed:

http://bugs.freepascal.org/view.php?id=27843

It's unfixable (if it's bug I've noted there). libpixman must be rebuilded with --mstackrealign (affects 32bit IDE & apps only on linux gtk2),
or use Qt ide.

I have Debian 32bit with XFCE desktop, which is also GTK2, and I don't have any problems there. So I believe it is too easy to simply say it is a Linux 32bit GTK2 problem.

[goodname]

I have Debian 32bit with XFCE desktop, which is also GTK2, and I don't have any problems there. So I believe it is too easy to simply say it is a Linux 32bit GTK2 problem.

I can confirm as well. Using the current stable Debian 32bit with XFCE 4.8 and GTK2 no error occurs when running $startlazarus.

[zeljko]

Forgot to say that such issue is spotted on Linux Mint only afair.

[Graeme]

PC-BSD has its own repositories. PC-BSD has its own front ends to the FreeBSD packages/ports system.

As far as I know they have there own repository for binary packages, and a GUI front-end for that. AppCafe I think? As for the ports system, that is identical to FreeBSD.

ps:
I always use the ports system (and configure apps before I compile them), because in my opinion ever binary package manager (FreeBSD, PC-BSD, Linux etc) is seriously broken - they always have way to many unnecessary dependencies.

...essentially forces users to use ZFS, which takes over your whole hard drive because that is the only way the installers will work.

Strange. That is then a shortcoming of their GUI installer, not of ZFS, because here I have whole and partial hard-drives using ZFS.
As for forcing users to use ZFS - well, that is just a good thing because ZFS is the best file system around at the moment!    I will never trust my data on any other file system again, other than ZFS. Yes, we did 3 months of serious testing on various file systems. I have a root ZFS solid-state boot drive which hosts the OS, and a RAID-Z2 4 disk array for 9-10TB of data storage. I have a cron job which checks the file system status, schedules a scrub once a week and emails me if any errors are detected. No, it's not overkill. This is my business machine and I've lost valuable source code before because of Linux file systems suddenly going corrupt for no apparent reason.

One PC-BSD developer is developing an entire desktop environment called Lumina.

I had a brief look at that (tested it on my FreeBSD system). They still have a long way to go, but I like the idea. Why must all desktop environments be so damn Linux centric. Either way, it doesn't bother me too much, I don't use desktop environments - I run a slick window manager (JWM) that requires a whopping 8MB RAM, don't get in my way and does everything I need. :-D

Your processor is in the Ivy Bridge series, which is pre-Haswell. They work fine. As far as I know, only the Haswell series isn't supported.

Ah okay. I did a quick Google search. As far as I can see FreeBSD 11 should have support for Haswell GPU. Alternatively get a cheap NVIDIA card like I did. They outperform all Intel integrated GPU's, have very good driver support, and the one I have (GeForce GT 730) is even fan-less, so no extra noise in my system.

[Signal]

As far as I know they have there own repository for binary packages, and a GUI front-end for that. AppCafe I think? As for the ports system, that is identical to FreeBSD.[/quote]

They also have the EasyPBI system, which is used to build ports for the AppCafe.  http://wiki.pcbsd.org/index.php/EasyPBI2/10.1

AFAIK, everything repository related is PC-BSD, not FreeBSD. If I recall correctly, users are warned not to mix repositories. Personally, I think they try too hard to isolate their users from realities of dealing with FreeBSD.
 

Ah okay. I did a quick Google search. As far as I can see FreeBSD 11 should have support for Haswell GPU. Alternatively get a cheap NVIDIA card like I did. They outperform all Intel integrated GPU's, have very good driver support, and the one I have (GeForce GT 730) is even fan-less, so no extra noise in my system.

Yes that would be the way to go for someone making his living developing, which I'm not. It's not an option for me. I retired my noisy nVidia equipped tower machine for a near silent little desktop box with no expansions slots and equipped it with an SSD and low power i3 Intel Haswell processor. I was disappointed to find out that FreeBSD did not fully support the Haswell series, unlike just about every Linux distro. I mentioned this so that anyone following your advice that might happen to be running a Haswell processor knew up front about the lack of support.

Other than the Haswell problem, I like FreeBSD. I think PC-BSD tries too hard to be different while claiming to be the same and not quite getting the job done that it has set out for itself. 

[MorbidFractal]

Laz/FPC is a complex development environment that takes some time just to learn the basics of, let alone master. A number of people have bent over backwards to try and assist you. Your response is both childish and churlish.

In part appreciated and understood.

a complex development environment that takes some time just to learn the basics of, let alone master

Perhaps you should break it harder so I would give up from the outset. As a novice I would not be 'trying' unless I thought there might be a glimmer of a hope. For the moment becoming a 'Master' appears to involve learning 'basic' Pascal. Poking the IDE to find out what it thinks it might be moaning about. Avoiding the bugs generated by others and using the correct flavour of Linux. I might imagine Windows/Other World is not much better?

A number of people have bent over backwards to try and assist you.

I think I would partially classify that one as being bollocks but I will qualify that statement with the recognition that people with more knowledge than myself have given me the opportunity to use this thing and it does, or might work. Problem is I would not wish to write 'production software' using it. It in itself comes with bugs and then, apparently, it is not even 'Cross Linux' let alone 'Cross Platform'... Someone else's fault.

You can 'rape me' for using the term 'production software' in respect of anything I might care to produce. Obviously I am not there yet and perhaps never will be but if the tools are broken I will never get there. I might as well just join FaceAche safe in the knowledge that Zuckerburg has thrown InvestorCash™ at someone to kludge a workaround to the shit that his developers use.

It might not seem sincere but that is an apology. I'll ruin it by saying.

"Do not offer me 'Beer As in Free'. Give me a pint worth drinking".

I am already hating myself for that last one.

[munair]

You cannot lump together "cross linux" and "cross platform". There are so many different Linux distros with just as many desktops that it is impossible for ANY software development system to run smoothly on all of them. Windows and OS-X are both consistent, Linux distros are not.

As I have said earlier, Linux gives you a lot of freedom, but with a price: you will have to find out for yourself which distro works for you. Linux distros are in constant and rapid development. What worked with one version may no longer work with the next. I even experienced that with the commercial XOJO (Real Studio), for which you have to pay 100 bucks just to get a personal license for the Linux edition. XOJO does not even fully support Linux and there are still bugs for which you pay your bucks. Lazarus is also not without bugs but it works much better on Linux than XOJO ever did. My advice: install XFCE and you can write production software as much as you like, as I do.

Cheers

[MorbidFractal]

You cannot lump together "cross linux" and "cross platform". There are so many different Linux distros with just as many desktops that it is impossible for ANY software development system to run smoothly on all of them. Windows and OS-X are both consistent, Linux distros are not.

As I have said earlier, Linux gives you a lot of freedom, but with a price: you will have to find out for yourself which distro works for you. Linux distros are in constant and rapid development. What worked with one version may no longer work with the next. I even experienced that with the commercial XOJO (Real Studio), for which you have to pay 100 bucks just to get a personal license for the Linux edition. XOJO does not even fully support Linux and there are still bugs for which you pay your bucks. Lazarus is also not without bugs but it works much better on Linux than XOJO ever did. My advice: install XFCE and you can write production software as much as you like, as I do.

Cheers

In part Amen.. It would seem that beyond bugs in Lazarus/FreePascal, and no doubt my own creations, my present and as yet undiscovered/undisclosed problems have something to do with 'Mint'. Apparently if I moved over to Windows everything would become 'sweetness and light'. That's my tongue poking out the side of my cheek as I pretend to...

My advice: install XFCE and you can write production software as much as you like, as I do.

Under force of 'The Sword of Damocles'  are you prepared to state that if I write and compile my 'shitware' under XFCE, presumably as instantiated under Mint then the result will work under 'all' Linux Distributions or will I have to field questions from prospective upset customers when the result does not work under their particular flavour of Linux/Desktop?

procedure borked();
var
Explanation: TStringList;
Count: integer;
begin
  Explanation := TStringList.Create;
  Explanation.Add('Assuming You can See This..');
  Explanation.Add('You are not running XFCE under Slackware');
  Explanation.Add('Sucks to be You');
  Explanation.Add('Please try, and fail, to continue at your own Peril');
  for Count := 0 to Explanation.Count - 1 do
  MemoYouAreFucked.Lines.Add(Explanation[Count]);
  Explanation.Free;
end;

end.

[Martin_fr]

@MorbidFractal.

Some of the answers (and that includes some of my answers too) may not help with your problems. Thats what it is for whatever Reason.
If they don't, *politely* express this, and explain your issue in more detail, or repeat the point that was missed.

On the point of the previous post:
Of course, if you want to write software (commercial or otherwise, that users should use on other flavours of Linux, it does not help if you switch do some other Linux to do the writing.

It does equally not help (as in not help you) if you throw around words like "shit". If that's what you think, well that's fine, you can think whatever you want.  There are enough people who think otherwise.

I don't know if Delphi does Linux by now. If so please go and spent 4000 bucks to find out if it is doing a better Job. If not, well find something else that is better.

Alternatively help by submitting well written, reproducible, polite bug reports and/or work around the issue until they are fixed.

To put it in a "beer phrase" as you seem to like to do
<sarcasm>
If you have anger control issues, and burnt your tongue a few times to often and lost the sense of taste, don't complain if even a good beer tastes like *** to you
</sarcasm>

The active team on Lazarus is about a dozen people, and after we finish with our day time job, there are just a couple of hours left for Lazarus. So testing every flavour and variation of Linux can only be a community achievement.
Overall (believe it or not) this works well.

You can join or you can leave. Your choice. You welcome to join if you wish. Put keep your abusive language to your self. (no problem with criticism, just language)

[MorbidFractal]

@Martin_Fr

Thanks. I was previously fuelled by Frosty Jacks and went to buy another one to answer. Deprecate me as you feel might to be appropriate.

If I interpret your 'franglais' correctly then other people have issues with my posts and are prepared to take up arms in order to protect 'The Bastille' whilst avoiding looking into their own 'detail'.

Simple *shit* is they should sort their code out and you, as an 'advocate', should sort the *linux* *shit* or tell them to sort their arses out and expect similar excuses.

Fuck Wank Toss Cunt.

[Martin_fr]

And you have successfully made it on my ignore list. Good bye