Using the search function

[james100]

Hi

I am just introducing myself as the newest member of this forum.

I have been using Linux for several months (since early February). I tried out various Linux distributions and for various reasons I concluded that Debian is most likely to meet my needs. I do not have access to the interent on my own PC, so I recently purchased the 5 volume DVD set of Debian Lenny. I understand that this gives me access to most (?all) of the Debian repositories, although I expect that there have been updates issued to many of the packages on the DVD set that I am unaware of. Using the DVD set has been much easier than downloading packages from the repository onto my USB (on another PC), and then trying to install them from that USB to my PC at home.

So, at present I am very happy with Debian, not that I feel that it requires my imprimatur, and look forward to learning more about it. I will probably have many questions in the future, as I try to break free from the way of doing things for many years on Windows, so I will ask for your indulgence now for any future questions that may appear to you to be unduly naive or not fully thought through.

At the moment I have one question that I would like to ask about using the forum. When I use the Search facility it usually presents me with several possible responces. At present, if I select one of those responces, I cannot find a way of returning to the list of responces to look at the next responce. Instead I get a message telling me that the session is finished, so I have to rerun the search to continue my research (no pun intended). I am probably overlooking something very obvious, but is there a way to return to my search list without having to rerun the search?

[Lavene]

At the moment I have one question that I would like to ask about using the forum. When I use the Search facility it usually presents me with several possible responces. At present, if I select one of those responces, I cannot find a way of returning to the list of responces to look at the next responce. Instead I get a message telling me that the session is finished, so I have to rerun the search to continue my research (no pun intended). I am probably overlooking something very obvious, but is there a way to return to my search list without having to rerun the search?

Never seen that before. Back-button works perfectly in the browsers I've tried. What browser are you using? Have you turned off caching or something maybe?

A workaround is of course to open the link you click on in a new tab or window (middleclick in most browsers).

In any case, welcome to the forum

[james100]

[Back-button works perfectly in the browsers I've tried. What browser are you using? Have you turned off caching or something maybe?

Sorry for the delayed response. As I mentioned in my earlier email, I don't have access to the internet on my own PC so I can only log on from time to time.

I am currently using Interent Explorer 7 on a friend's PC, as a consequence I am reluctant to alter any of his settings. It is quite possible that he has a cache turned on. I tried using the back-button originally, but instead of returning me to the search list it presented me with a screen saying that the session is finished, pressing the back-button again returns me to the forum.

However, your suggestion of just opening a new tab is a simple workaround that I can live with. I don't know why I didn't think of that myself but I didn't. At least I now know that my problem is a system issue and not a forum one.

Thanks for the help.

[julian67]

If you want better search you can use google

Code: Select all

<your_search_string> site:forums.debian.net

This works better than forum search tools.

[emariz]

Unless you have edited/created relevant settings using about:config, I'd check the cookie settings. Either you're not accepting cookies (the third-party ones aren't needed) or you navigate the board for a long time before pressing the back button and the cookie expires (in my case, a couple of hours).

[james100]

Julian67

Thanks for the suggestion, I will try that next time and see how well it works.

em4riz

Thank you for your help also. I think that your suggestion regarding not accepting cookies is highly likely to be the cause of this problem.

As indicated I am using my friend's PCwhich he bought this new a few weeks ago. He is not the sort of person who would be interested in altering any default settings unless he really had to. However, as he had the PC built for him, it is possible that the people who built it entered certain settings into the configs. I don't know anything about about:config, but I did check his internet security and privacy settings, and both are set at medium, so it is possible that many third party, and some first party cookies are being blocked. As this is not my PC, I am reluctant to change these settings to see what effect that would have.

Regarding the time that I was on the board before pressing the back button - the problem occurs even if I do a search, select an item, and then immediately press the back button, so it woulld seem that your suggestion regarding the PC not accepting cookies from the forum site is more likely to be the cause of my problem.