tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-474321140763590831.post5178020684306116233..comments2024-03-26T17:37:35.499+00:00Comments on Linux notes from DarkDuck: Porteus 1.0: On the Trail of SLAXDarkDuck (m)http://www.blogger.com/profile/06273784224243667602noreply@blogger.comBlogger30125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-474321140763590831.post-53260645674978955442012-01-13T22:58:15.417+00:002012-01-13T22:58:15.417+00:00@Anonymous:
I think SLAX, Nimblex and Porteus are ...@Anonymous:<br />I think <a href="http://linuxblog.darkduck.com/search/label/slax" rel="nofollow">SLAX</a>, <a href="http://linuxblog.darkduck.com/search/label/nimblex" rel="nofollow">Nimblex</a> and <a href="http://linuxblog.darkduck.com/search/label/porteus" rel="nofollow">Porteus</a> are the smallest distributions you can get with KDE. They are all from the same root - enabling of Live version for Slackware.<br />SLAX was frozen in development for some time, but I recently got <a href="http://all-things-linux.blogspot.com/2011/12/slax-7-is-on-way.html?spref=tw" rel="nofollow">news</a> that its author wants to come back and release a new version.<br />Of course, there are smaller Linux distributions like TCL and DSL. But their hardware support is much worse. And they are definitely not KDE-based.DarkDuckhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16128579430145372138noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-474321140763590831.post-25826873546455407462012-01-13T12:42:45.855+00:002012-01-13T12:42:45.855+00:00hi thanks for developing Porteus 1.0, I came from ...hi thanks for developing Porteus 1.0, I came from third world country which the average speed from dial up networking only reach average 10kbps could you help me suggest to developer around the world so i can get linux iso image with latest kernel and kde within it basic configuration or minimum kde linux system so later on I can upgrade it slowly one by one or software by software maybe the iso file under 150mb. I estimated download time this iso image file can takes 3-4 hours. thanks for the helpsAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-474321140763590831.post-77255724097963590092011-09-26T14:26:44.032+01:002011-09-26T14:26:44.032+01:00@LinuxLife:
Thanks for so long and detailed commen...@LinuxLife:<br />Thanks for so long and detailed comment. Looks like separate review actually. )))DarkDuckhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16128579430145372138noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-474321140763590831.post-20722521982234815592011-09-26T14:22:24.359+01:002011-09-26T14:22:24.359+01:00My main OS which i use daily is Puppy Linux - havi...My main OS which i use daily is Puppy Linux - having never tried slax i decided to give Porteus a go (both 32 & 64 bit versions). I used a manual install into the linux partition on which i have a number of different puppy linux's frugally installed - the install consisted of copying two directories from the porteus.iso and adding a new grub entry. (pretty straight forward)<br />Much like the Op upon first boot i was surprised to see my B43 wifi detected - however i also suffered the same problem with lack of touch pad scroll (to get scroll to work enter the command: synclient VertEdgeScroll=1 )<br />When booting from a linux partition Porteus doesn't require a save file to be created like puppy, the changes are just saved to the Porteus directory, which is a nice touch as you don't have to monitor save file space.<br />Media / music / flash play right off the bat - the default web browser is firefox 4 which is fairly old considering it is up to version 6 or 7 now.<br />Windows managers - 32bit is Trinity / Lxde and 64bit is KDE / Lxde - to be honest Lxde in both felt like it was tacked on last minute, Trinity/KDE application and setting are still in the menu but are not relevant to lxde - missing menu icons and pretty drab themes.<br />Trinity / KDE worked ok - but seems to be a strange choice for a small light weight modular and portable OS - i imagine by removing the Trinity / KDE modules from the .iso and switching to GTK apps you could probably trim the .iso down by 100mb.<br />An alternative for KDE eye candy is Enlightenment 17 - it also lacks the bloat of Trinity / KDE.<br />Overall i found system resource to be high - maybe i am spoiled with Puppy Linux that uses less than 50mb of ram where as porteus 64bit KDE straight after boot when idle was 380mb and lxde was 180mb booth seem to be unreasonably high for a light weight portable OS in my opinion.<br />To conclude, i like Porteus, it is a fairly young project so most of the bugs and quibbles can be put down to this - what i would like to see in Porteus future is hopefully a light in .iso size and light on system resources version.LinuxLifenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-474321140763590831.post-23710682348472522262011-07-23T23:51:38.906+01:002011-07-23T23:51:38.906+01:00@brokenman:
I did not use Ubuntu for Porteus exerc...@brokenman:<br />I did not use Ubuntu for Porteus exercises. Only Debian and Mageia.DarkDuckhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16128579430145372138noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-474321140763590831.post-60221799805488344712011-07-23T03:34:18.130+01:002011-07-23T03:34:18.130+01:00Seems to work ok now. Darckduck, i think you are u...Seems to work ok now. Darckduck, i think you are using ubuntu? This bug with udisk is seen on ubuntu. It mounts as read only, hence mounting the device manually, you were able to execute the script.brokenmanhttp://www.brokenman.co.nznoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-474321140763590831.post-1779535660892874462011-07-07T23:00:34.985+01:002011-07-07T23:00:34.985+01:00@Ahau:
"Contact us" on porteus.org does ...@Ahau:<br />"Contact us" on porteus.org does not work: SMTP Error! Could not connect to SMTP host.DarkDuckhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16128579430145372138noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-474321140763590831.post-9566557274220968872011-07-07T22:59:32.265+01:002011-07-07T22:59:32.265+01:00@Ahau:
I did as you advised.
root@darkduck-laptop...@Ahau:<br />I did as you advised.<br /><br />root@darkduck-laptop:/# mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt<br /><br />root@darkduck-laptop:/# <br /><br /><br /><br />root@darkduck-laptop:/mnt/boot# ./lin_start_here.sh<br /><br /> _.====.._<br /> ,:._ ~-_<br /> '\ ~-_<br /> \ \.<br /> ,/ ~-_<br /> -..__..-'' PORTEUS ~~--..__<br />--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==<br /> Welcome to Porteus-v1.0 <br />--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==<br /><br />[1] Check for Porteus update<br />[2] Read Porteus requirements<br />[3] Read Porteus installation instructions<br />[4] Read Porteus cheatcodes<br />[5] Read about bootloaders<br />[6] Install Porteus to EXTx partition (extlinux)<br />[7] Install Porteus to FATx partition (syslinux)<br />[8] Install Porteus to any partition (lilo)<br /> no graphical - only text menu available<br />[9] Quit this application<br /><br />Please choose a menu item ...<br />7<br /><br />/mnt/porteus /mnt/boot<br /><br />-e \e[36mChecking md5sums - wait a while...<br /><br />[: 41: 2fc88f67f4d67999fee2a929c4bd3f0f: unexpected operator<br />-e checking md5sum for ../boot/vmlinuz \e[31mfail!<br />[: 41: eef4c7d9e410d4099171ac083eda0cef: unexpected operator<br />-e checking md5sum for ../boot/initrd.xz \e[31mfail!<br />[: 41: bb530ef1b0d9f714ba3ba707525690d1: unexpected operator<br />-e checking md5sum for ./base/000-kernel.xzm \e[31mfail!<br />[: 41: daf2b3afdb61e305b1fd3f62a2682e13: unexpected operator<br />-e checking md5sum for ./base/001-core.xzm \e[31mfail!<br />[: 41: bd15c3b7aebb3f1e5a490d49296d312b: unexpected operator<br />-e checking md5sum for ./base/002-xorg.xzm \e[31mfail!<br />[: 41: 494ac56997d995eb0be1af3bb4bee858: unexpected operator<br />-e checking md5sum for ./base/003-lxde.xzm \e[31mfail!<br />[: 41: be6268a95287a4e9aa0b62eceec22289: unexpected operator<br />-e checking md5sum for ./base/004-kde.xzm \e[31mfail!<br />[: 41: c47dcad4fdc2df7c9ba16d6acd51ebd0: unexpected operator<br />-e checking md5sum for ./base/005-kdeapps.xzm \e[31mfail!<br />[: 41: 8950543bff042c6d4cc48b1ea80bb1e4: unexpected operator<br />-e checking md5sum for ./base/006-koffice.xzm \e[31mfail!<br />[: 41: 56f555d51b13ea46877745bd07297261: unexpected operator<br />-e checking md5sum for ./base/007-devel.xzm \e[31mfail!<br />[: 41: 52e4f1541450eaf9312a43345110b628: unexpected operator<br />-e checking md5sum for ./base/008-firefox.xzm \e[31mfail!<br /><br />-e \e[31mSome md5sums doesn't match or some files from default ISO are missing,<br />please check above...<br />-e \e[31mBe aware that vmlinuz, initrd.xz, 000-kernel.xzm and 001-core.xzm<br />are most important and booting wont be possible when they are missing.<br />-e \e[36mPress enter to continue or ctrl+c to exit<br />read: 54: arg countDarkDuckhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16128579430145372138noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-474321140763590831.post-34123870686685420422011-07-07T19:58:41.664+01:002011-07-07T19:58:41.664+01:00@DarkDuck I have not set up Porteus on a stick yet...@DarkDuck I have not set up Porteus on a stick yet, but I have several sticks with Slax on it. I can't remember all I did, but I have it so it can boot several modes of slax AND The Ultimate Boot CD for Windows. A live USB stick with Slax / Proteus is a real life saver.Elder Geekhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06276170020717589768noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-474321140763590831.post-32063340381408458732011-07-07T16:35:59.620+01:002011-07-07T16:35:59.620+01:00@Ahau:
I think you're right. Simptoms are very...@Ahau:<br />I think you're right. Simptoms are very similar to what I see.<br />I'll do what you wrote here later in the evening and will write here.<br />(or you want me to write you an e-mail - just e-mail me first then)DarkDuckhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16128579430145372138noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-474321140763590831.post-39884746844932191282011-07-07T16:34:44.004+01:002011-07-07T16:34:44.004+01:00@Elder Geek:
That is the standard way to install S...@Elder Geek:<br />That is the standard way to install SLAX, Porteus or Puppy onto computer. And it is OK to have rescue mode just under your fingers.<br />What about having separate USB stick or CD just for this purpose? You can also use this CD for super-secure payment transactions.DarkDuckhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16128579430145372138noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-474321140763590831.post-10369240858804482992011-07-07T16:32:06.549+01:002011-07-07T16:32:06.549+01:00@Athenroy:
Puppy has so many puppets that it can o...@Athenroy:<br />Puppy has so many puppets that it can only compete with Ubuntu in number of derivatives. 8-) (bearing in mind that LuPu is Ubuntu derivative to some extent).<br />I am happy that MacPuppy is best for you.DarkDuckhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16128579430145372138noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-474321140763590831.post-50909714914529005642011-07-07T15:56:24.183+01:002011-07-07T15:56:24.183+01:00DarkDuck,
I think I may have found the problem wi...DarkDuck,<br /><br />I think I may have found the problem with lin_start_here.sh, and I have to apologize, because if this is the issue, then it is my fault that your install didn't work properly -- back in April, we discovered that a change in the udisks package (as of version 1.0.2 or greader) makes it such that any FAT or NTFS device will be mounted with all files being non-executable. This affects flash drives that are automounted by your desktop environment, and would appear to affect Debian Wheezy (or newer) and Mageia 1 (or newer).<br /><br />I wrote a note for the install guide to address this, *however*, that note apparently did not make it into the final draft of the install guide. This is the text present in that note:<br /><br />"*NOTE* Some modern linux distributions, such as Ubuntu, Fedora, Mandriva, etc, use 'udisk' to automount usb drives from within KDE/Gnome/LXDE, etc. In versions higher than 1.0.2, udisk will not automount these drives with executable permissions (attempting to run the script will result in an error stating that permissions have been denied), and you must mount your device manually as root in order to execute the script. For example:<br /><br /> mkdir /tmp/media<br /> mount /dev/sdXY /tmp/media<br /> /tmp/media/boot/lin_start_here.sh<br /><br /> (where sdXY is the device and partition to which you are installing Porteus)"<br /><br />If you wouldn't mind, please try the following:<br />1) delete all of the porteus files (/boot and /porteus) from your flash drive -- you may reformat if you wish.<br />2)unmount your flash drive, and remount it manually as root.<br />3) copy the /porteus and /boot files back to the flash drive from the ISO (using the debian archiver or by mounting the ISO on a loop)<br />4) check that the lin_start_here script in /mnt/yourdevice/boot/ is executable (checking .../boot/tools/bootsyslinux.sh might also be a good idea, but I think as long as you get one you get all of them)<br />5) run the the lin_start_here.sh script as root<br /><br />Hopefully that will work...and then you should be able to edit the porteus.cfg from inside porteus once you create a .dat container -- I still don't know why that file came up corrupted for you...<br /><br />Thanks again for your patience -- I feel really bad about this mistake in our documentation and will resolve the issue as soon as I get confirmation that this was in fact the problem.Ahaunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-474321140763590831.post-34602739291702008632011-07-07T14:56:29.960+01:002011-07-07T14:56:29.960+01:00Porteus gives me all the power of slax with suppor...Porteus gives me all the power of slax with support for modern hardware. I keep a folder with Porteus on every windows install. I rename NTLDR to NTLDRXP and install Grub 4 Dos and rename GRUB.EXE to NTLDR. At that point I can set up a menu.lst file that looks like:<br />======================================================<br />timeout 5<br />default 0<br /><br /># Boot XP by finding and loading ntldr<br />title Microsoft Windows XP (Choose Me)<br />find --set-root /ntldrxp<br />chainloader /ntldrxp<br /><br /># Boot 1st CDRom Drive<br />title Boot from first CD-ROM<br />kernel /slax/memdisk<br />initrd /slax/sbootmgr.dsk<br /><br /># Boot Slax from C:\Slax Folder<br />title Boot Slax<br />kernel /slax/vmlinuz ramdisk_size=6666 root=/dev/ram0 rw copy2ram autoexec=xconf;telinit~4<br />initrd /slax/initrd.gz<br />======================================================<br /><br />I have x11vnc and ssh set to run automatically. Any time I want to backup or restore a workstation all I need to do is set default=2 and reboot the computer. I can do all of this remotely. <br /><br />It is a good thing to have an emergency recovery environment on each computer that takes up less than 300 megs of space.Elder Geekhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06276170020717589768noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-474321140763590831.post-50635059075592914252011-07-07T14:47:52.123+01:002011-07-07T14:47:52.123+01:00If I was going to pick a "pocket version"...If I was going to pick a "pocket version" it would have to be Macpup, an e17 derivative of Puppy Linux. Looks great, Uses the same packages as puppy, has persistence with NTFS files and runs in RAM. Not much more to be said!Athenroyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07670511026902930428noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-474321140763590831.post-34618824251641367612011-07-07T09:48:31.296+01:002011-07-07T09:48:31.296+01:00@Ahau:
I tried to use default archiver in Debian a...@Ahau:<br />I tried to use default archiver in Debian and Mageia to extract the files. I also tried to mount iso image in Mageia using the command on Porteus site. In all the cases lin_start_here.sh script was not executable and I could not change permissions.<br />This is the same USB I used several times before to make boot images with Unetbootin and dd. They worked just fine.<br />I am not aware of any issues with USB mounting. At least, have not had any yet.<br />If you wish, I can give it another go:<br />1) Format USB stick<br />2) Copy files in Debian using archiving tool.<br />3) Run sudo bash lin_start_here.sh<br />then will tell you the outcome.DarkDuckhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16128579430145372138noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-474321140763590831.post-10995538709563458182011-07-07T07:10:00.020+01:002011-07-07T07:10:00.020+01:00DarkDuck,
Ok -- I'm not sure what the issue i...DarkDuck,<br /><br />Ok -- I'm not sure what the issue is then. I haven't come across this problem with any other users. As the author of the installation guide, I feel an obligation to keep trying to resolve this, in case others are having the same issue (so, my apologies for being so...persistent--pun intended!). I can't recreate your problem -- files always show up in FAT as 755, so I don't know why you weren't able to edit porteus.cfg from debian or run lin_start_here.sh, unless you weren't using sudo or su. If you have the time and could give me the precise method by which you copied the files from the ISO to the flash drive and attempted to run the script and/or edit porteus.cfg, I would appreciate it, though I understand if your patience for me has run out! I know some distros have had issues with automounting flash drives recently, which is why I suggested you unmount and remount manually as root.<br /><br />Thanks again for your time and consideration.Ahaunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-474321140763590831.post-23300921027981384322011-07-06T23:03:55.107+01:002011-07-06T23:03:55.107+01:00@Georgios:
Thanks! I amended post a little.@Georgios:<br />Thanks! I amended post a little.DarkDuckhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16128579430145372138noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-474321140763590831.post-56886792218244506952011-07-06T23:03:27.480+01:002011-07-06T23:03:27.480+01:00@Ahau: I checked md5 sum for my iso file from with...@Ahau: I checked md5 sum for my iso file from within Porteus: <br />bash-4.1$ md5sum Porteus-v1.0-i486.iso<br />9d34ab3b286bc9a770688fc56df805d4 Porteus-v1.0-i486.iso<br /><br />I verified USB stick and there are no errors. It has (and ever had) only 1 partition: 1GB FAT. I don't need to create additional partition for save file. If I wanted, I could do this with SLAX which was reportedly also stable when changes are saved to EXT2 partition.<br /><br />I used same stick and other sticks in Debian previously, never had an issue with read-only filesystem.<br />Somethig exclusive is in Porteus which drives it mad. 8-)DarkDuckhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16128579430145372138noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-474321140763590831.post-7502474443468717272011-07-06T13:26:09.095+01:002011-07-06T13:26:09.095+01:00Just a small correction. The character you refer t...Just a small correction. The character you refer to from the Greek mythology is Proteus and not Porteus (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proteus).<br /><br />Cheers!<br /><br />-GeorgiosAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-474321140763590831.post-19888939514207401962011-07-06T02:35:03.595+01:002011-07-06T02:35:03.595+01:00Darkduck,
it sounds like either your filesystem o...Darkduck,<br /><br />it sounds like either your filesystem or your download was corrupted. If you didn't check the md5sum on your ISO, please do, and download it again if it doesn't match the md5 on the server. I actually suspect your flash drive is corrupted, and that is why it was mounted as ro instead of rw (or, maybe you didn't give your restricted user the proper permissions to mount USB flash drives as read-write--try umounting and mounting again as root, and check your mtab and fstab). This would explain your issue with lin_start_here, porteus.cfg, and perhaps language-selection-tool as well.<br /><br />You might seriously consider reformatting that flash drive. I prefer to put a FAT partition at the front of the drive for sharing files w/windows, then I have an EXT2 partition in the back with both editions of Porteus as well as Slax, Puppy, and SliTaz. That makes saving changes easier (i.e. automatic) in Porteus, and it saves perms and symlinks for any files I keep in my rootcopy.<br /><br />Cheers!-AhauAhaunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-474321140763590831.post-12349975357100331652011-07-06T00:24:43.359+01:002011-07-06T00:24:43.359+01:00@Ahau:
I tried "Language selection tool"...@Ahau:<br />I tried "Language selection tool".<br />As a result, I have system with half of it in Russian while another is still in English. Even WiCD has buttons "Connect" in English and "Параметры" in Russian.<br />I can now switch keyboard layouts without mouse, but only with Alt-Shift combination, although I have "setxkbmap -option grp:ctrl_shift_toggle". Weird... 8-)DarkDuckhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16128579430145372138noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-474321140763590831.post-46381762354761632952011-07-05T23:48:02.951+01:002011-07-05T23:48:02.951+01:00@Anonymous:
>Knoppix can be run from a flash dr...@Anonymous:<br />>Knoppix can be run from a flash drive with persistence. It may be "famous" for it's ability to run from CD/DVD, but it has a user-friendly tool for running from flash drive. Point and click.<br />Maybe I should give Knoppix another go. When I <a href="http://linuxblog.darkduck.com/2010/10/3-reasons-to-drop-penguin-and-no.html" rel="nofollow">first tried it</a>, it was very bad in terms of multi-language support.DarkDuckhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16128579430145372138noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-474321140763590831.post-76508753149477217622011-07-05T23:46:30.710+01:002011-07-05T23:46:30.710+01:00@Anonymous:
>I really liked SLAX until TinyCore...@Anonymous:<br />>I really liked SLAX until TinyCore and SliTaz picked up the pace with THEIR even smaller pocket oriented distros.<br />I tried TCL (though not put anything in the blog). IMHO it looks like guest from early-1990s. I understand that size is important here, but I would prefer little bit more size for better picture quality.<br />I tried <a href="http://linuxblog.darkduck.com/2011/01/unexpected-behavior-of-old-tux.html" rel="nofollow">Slitaz</a> too: it did not start at all.DarkDuckhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16128579430145372138noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-474321140763590831.post-631260716741047112011-07-05T23:43:22.466+01:002011-07-05T23:43:22.466+01:00@Ahau:
I tried to create .dat file again on my USB...@Ahau:<br />I tried to create .dat file again on my USB drive (FAT filesystem) and add it to .cfg file string, like advised on Porteus page.<br />When I did it from Porteus (terminal -> su -> kate), .cfg file became corrupted. There were some funny characters.<br />When I did it from Debian, I could not save changes, "read-only filesystem".<br />So, I am lost here.<br />I understand an idea behind multiple profiles etc, but I would still prefer automatic detection of save file, Puppy-style.<br />I have not tried language tool yet, will do later.DarkDuckhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16128579430145372138noreply@blogger.com