PCLinuxOS Openbox Bonsai 2010.11<s>.13</s> who wants to test ?

[jlf001]

Hi Jeff,

I still need to figure out for the 4 desktops. I'll reduce to 2 and we will see what goes on at first login in live. The progress is to be credited to Parnote who gave me the idea to externalise scripts additionally to delay the start for pcmanfm and lxpanel.

You can look at theses scripts in /usr/local/bin and how they are started in /home/guest/.config/openbox/autostart.sh

The move to top and background without pain is due to... if I remember, I removed an applet that was not available.

Best regards,
Mélodie

I'm in VirtualBox at present and saw the changes in the autostart.sh file and will look at the scripts in /usr/local/bin.  Thanks Parnote.  Other than the two items I mentioned previously, I have yet to find anything else.  I think it's time to boot up the live CD on my old HP and see how it goes there,

I'll get back with you,

Jeff

[parnote]

melodie,

It's looking quite nice. I'm actually typing this from a LiveCD session in Midori. Quite quick and responsive.

Sorry to admit, though, that the lxpanel thing has me baffled. It **should** be working. At least the pcmanfm issue is resolved.

parnote

[jlf001]

Mélodie,

Success!   HP is up and running using ndiswrapper.  Wall paper and My Documents icon are all there. Nothing new to report at this time.  My next step will be a hard drive install on this old laptop.  However, I need to find a replacement drive, as I know this one has bad sectors all over it.  It's also infected with something called Windows 98.   I'll get back with you tomorrow.

Great job,

Jeff

[melodie]

Mélodie,

Success!  HP is up and running using ndiswrapper.  Wall paper and My Documents icon are all there. Nothing new to report at this time.  My next step will be a hard drive install on this old laptop.  However, I need to find a replacement drive, as I know this one has bad sectors all over it.  It's also infected with something called Windows 98.  I'll get back with you tomorrow.

Great job,

Jeff

Great job Jeff.
Didn't you notice there is only one desktop on the pager instead of 4 and they are back when you logout/login ?

For the drive, you might want to try the Seatools (if it fits your brand hard drive). They can be found either in Ultimate Boot CD (UMBC), or at the constructor's site.
http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

melodie,

It's looking quite nice. I'm actually typing this from a LiveCD session in Midori. Quite quick and responsive.

Sorry to admit, though, that the lxpanel thing has me baffled. It **should** be working. At least the pcmanfm issue is resolved.

parnote

Hi Parnote,

I reduced the desktops to 2 in today's version. I didn't try it yet, just got up, and ended at 2 am or a bit later. So I have no idea if that helps to fix it. On the other hand maybe an update of the panel would be to be done ? There is a new version out.

I look forward to testing _3 when I get home. I attempted to install _2, but the installer crashed either because of not enough hdd space (4gb) or not enough ram (128mb with 4gb flash drive swap). I'm going to put in a 20gb drive and try again.

Galen

You do not need much space, the actual install uses 938 MB before remastering. What is "128mb with 4gb flash drive swap" ? Do you have a swap on the hard drive where you install to ? About 750 MB swap should be ok, I think.

Today's version is here:
pclinuxos-openbox-mini-2010-09-10.iso
pclinuxos-openbox-mini-2010-09-10.md5

I wish now to ask to all who test to try to change the default DNS and see if the DNS given by dhcp are ok after one reboot or if they are gone. At the beginning of the tests, I have modified /etc/resolvconf/resolvconf.d/base to ensure the connection didn't jump away after each reboot. I think this would be nice to test it again now. Just in a root console, either edit it with mcedit, or with leafpad, use the one you prefer. Comment out the nameserver line with a '#' at the beginning of the line. If DHCP doesn't do the job well, do the DNS you configure hold after a reboot with static IP ?

Thanks,
Mélodie

[gseaman]

I look forward to testing _3 when I get home. I attempted to install _2, but the installer crashed either because of not enough hdd space (4gb) or not enough ram (128mb with 4gb flash drive swap). I'm going to put in a 20gb drive and try again.

Galen

You do not need much space, the actual install uses 938 MB before remastering. What is "128mb with 4gb flash drive swap" ? Do you have a swap on the hard drive where you install to ? About 750 MB swap should be ok, I think.

Today's version is here:
pclinuxos-openbox-mini-2010-09-10.iso
pclinuxos-openbox-mini-2010-09-10.md5

I wish now to ask to all who test to try to change the default DNS and see if the DNS given by dhcp are ok after one reboot or if they are gone. At the beginning of the tests, I have modified /etc/resolvconf/resolvconf.d/base to ensure the connection didn't jump away after each reboot. I think this would be nice to test it again now. Just in a root console, either edit it with mcedit, or with leafpad, use the one you prefer. Comment out the nameserver line with a '#' at the beginning of the line. If DHCP doesn't do the job well, do the DNS you configure hold after a reboot with static IP ?

Thanks,
Mélodie

This machine has only a 4gb hdd, with data that I need to save from win98. I was able to copy to a flash drive (thumb drive) using openbox-mini, but I couldn't run diskdrake or draklive-install, even from a console boot. So, I created a 'swap' partition on one of the thumb drives, just to try to get diskdrake and draklive-install to run. diskdrake worked, but draklive-install froze. I am going to put in a 20gb drive tomorrow and install. I have version _3 from earlier today. Is the link another new version?

Galen

[melodie]

Hi Galen,

It may not be about the drive size, but about it's speed (age ?) and/or about the RAM : graphical tools need RAM -- and cpu... how fast is the cpu of this machine of your's ?

Have you tried to start htop to see how the resources were used while using draklive-install ? It's in Menu>Applications>Monitoring

You may want to try a non graphical install... a newcomer with some talents at French forum just posted a tutorial on how to do that, for the cli.iso, I think if you switch to a tty with Alt+Ctrl+F1 and login there as root without starting a session from GDM, you might succeed with his method on this version of PCLinuxOS too.

He didn't comment the commands in English but in French and I don't have time to translate at the moment, but maybe someone else will be willing to do it ? Maybe someone could also pull a script to automate a cli install, out of this tutorial.
[TUTORIEL] Installation minimale de PCLinuxOs en ligne de commande

I confirm, the link is a new version. I tried to put 2 desktops instead of 4 to see if that could solve this : the first login provides only one desktop on the pager instead of 4. If this time you get 2 at first login, that means it's solved. (As for following logins the problem doesn't appear anymore.

[Rob]

I'm on my First full day of testing Openbox Mini ,though I don't know how well of a tester I can be , my knowledge of linux and openbox are extremely limited. But So far I have installed mini onto virtualbox with 256 mb ram , but have test run at 128 mb ram and even 64 mb ram. It runs acceptable at 128 mb,but running at 64 mb is entirely possible but need more ram to install succesfully. I'm at a loss to understand feh or PCmanFm. I' downloaded a wallpaper to try to use but when I tried to open it in the filemanager it need file association not sure how to do that . I'll try to do some more reading on openbox but My input will probably not be to technical . I will say that PCLinuxOS Openbox Mini is fast for the minimal apps that come installed.


                                                                                                      Thanks , Rob

[gseaman]

Hi Galen,

It may not be about the drive size, but about it's speed (age ?) and/or about the RAM : graphical tools need RAM -- and cpu... how fast is the cpu of this machine of your's ?

Have you tried to start htop to see how the resources were used while using draklive-install ? It's in Menu>Applications>Monitoring

You may want to try a non graphical install... a newcomer with some talents at French forum just posted a tutorial on how to do that, for the cli.iso, I think if you switch to a tty with Alt+Ctrl+F1 and login there as root without starting a session from GDM, you might succeed with his method on this version of PCLinuxOS too.

He didn't comment the commands in English but in French and I don't have time to translate at the moment, but maybe someone else will be willing to do it ? Maybe someone could also pull a script to automate a cli install, out of this tutorial.
[TUTORIEL] Installation minimale de PCLinuxOs en ligne de commande

I confirm, the link is a new version. I tried to put 2 desktops instead of 4 to see if that could solve this : the first login provides only one desktop on the pager instead of 4. If this time you get 2 at first login, that means it's solved. (As for following logins the problem doesn't appear anymore.

The cpu is a 500mhz celeron.  I tried draklive-install from a console login and there are errors concerning 'ugtk2', which tells me that it is attempting to run the X version? (These errors also exist with the console mode of the most recent lxde.) The hard drive is old, but it have not noticed any errors on it. I will install a larger drive today that has been running lxde for a while, so I know it should work. I installed a faster cdrom, which has made the livecd a little quicker.

Galen

[melodie]

I'm at a loss to understand feh or PCmanFm. I' downloaded a wallpaper to try to use but when I tried to open it in the filemanager it need file association not sure how to do that.

Nope, no file association. Just the full path to your wallpaper. Put it with the other one : at ~/.local/wallpapers, and then go to pcmanfm menu > Edit > Preferences > go to Desktop tab > Background, click on the drop down menu, browse to your file, and select it, then click on open - right button at the down part of the window - then validate, you're done.

With feh, just untick in pcmanfm, uncomment feh line in .config/openbox/autostart.sh, comment the pcmanfm line in the same file, and change the path or the file in the first feh line. If you use the second line you can have a random wallpaper among thoses you will put in the wallpapers directory. Don't forget to copy any files you would happen to change in /home/guest to /etc/skel for all users.

With feh : no icons on desktop. With PCManFM you can have icons on desktop (but no random wallpaper). Let me tell you : I don't understand feh either, I took theses two command lines (the ones that are in autostart.sh) as a gift from a more experienced user.

Hi Galen,

It may not be about the drive size, but about it's speed (age ?) and/or about the RAM : graphical tools need RAM -- and cpu... how fast is the cpu of this machine of your's ?

Have you tried to start htop to see how the resources were used while using draklive-install ? It's in Menu>Applications>Monitoring

You may want to try a non graphical install... a newcomer with some talents at French forum just posted a tutorial on how to do that, for the cli.iso, I think if you switch to a tty with Alt+Ctrl+F1 and login there as root without starting a session from GDM, you might succeed with his method on this version of PCLinuxOS too.

He didn't comment the commands in English but in French and I don't have time to translate at the moment, but maybe someone else will be willing to do it ? Maybe someone could also pull a script to automate a cli install, out of this tutorial.
[TUTORIEL] Installation minimale de PCLinuxOs en ligne de commande

I confirm, the link is a new version. I tried to put 2 desktops instead of 4 to see if that could solve this : the first login provides only one desktop on the pager instead of 4. If this time you get 2 at first login, that means it's solved. (As for following logins the problem doesn't appear anymore.

The cpu is a 500mhz celeron.  I tried draklive-install from a console login and there are errors concerning 'ugtk2', which tells me that it is attempting to run the X version? (These errors also exist with the console mode of the most recent lxde.) The hard drive is old, but it have not noticed any errors on it. I will install a larger drive today that has been running lxde for a while, so I know it should work. I installed a faster cdrom, which has made the livecd a little quicker.

Galen

You can not use draklive-install in text mode. Don't forget it. It's meant to be used in X environment only : X = Xserver=gui. This is why grosbedos's tutorial could interest you.

[gseaman]

You can not use draklive-install in text mode. Don't forget it. It's meant to be used in X environment only : X = Xserver=gui. This is why grosbedos's tutorial could interest you.

I read in other post's that it was possible to install in a non-graphical mode. I assumed draklive-install was like all of the other *drak* tools and has an "X" mode and an "ncurses" mode. I'll look at the tutorial and give it a try, if my flash swap is not sufficient to help me install. Thanks.

Galen

[Rob]

I logged back into openbox and tried to follow your instructions but I am at a loss on how to initiate either PCmanFM or feh . Could you explain a little more please? Am trying ,just not easy to get the hang of it.



                                                                                                                      Thanks,
                                                                                                                                   Rob

[melodie]

Hi Rob,

Go to /home/user/.config/openbox directory, once here open autostart.sh file with a text editor and read it. The lines starting with a # are not active, the ones without a # at the beginning are active. Now it's set to start pcmanfm -d.

For your wallpaper, just follow the instructions I gave you above, it's a step-by-step explanation.

[jlf001]

Didn't you notice there is only one desktop on the pager instead of 4 and they are back when you logout/login ?

Yes I did notice that.  At this point, I'm downloading the latest ISO and will test in VirtualBox.  As for the hard drive, I found one that will work on this old laptop and hope to have your latest ISO up and running soon.  I'll get back with you.

Jeff

[Rob]

duh  ! I just discovered I downloaded the wrong iso . The one I downloaded was from july ,I'm downloading september's now . hopefully I'll see a difference
 

                                                            Rob

[melodie]

Hi,

For information : I did 5 isos today, the 5th is being compressing file just now. I decided to get rid of the pager and removed it. So that the people who want it will configure it themselves once the system installed, therefore this problem does not exist anymore.

Now, lxpanel is started before openbox, from within a file named .xsession, which replaces .xinitrc : why is that ? That is because GDM does not see a .xinitrc, and he can see an .xsession, so I just renamed it, and that did the trick. (Simple test : try to start lxpanel from .xinitrc : you don't get a panel. Start it from .xsession, you get the panel).

pcmanfm is started from /home/guest/.config/openbox/autostart where one of the first lines call a shell script which is in /usr/local/bin...

I'll try the 5th iso in a moment.

Regards,
Mélodie