XenialDog 64bit (Ubuntu 'Xenial Xerus' LTS, 64-bit)

[mikeslr]

Hi Fred & zagreb999,

First, thanks again zagreb999 for the suggestion to use frisbee. It worked and I'm posting from Xenialdog64 now because it did.

To download frisbee from Xenialdog64's repo while running under a different OS, I had to cut and paste (not paste and go) the link to XenialDog64's ISO from the post into a webbrowser, backspace to reach folders on github rather than download the ISO, and then hunt around.

Of course, once you're on the internet, doing that isn't necessary because synaptic works. But it could still be convenient to people like me who (a) have problems with wifi-box, and/or (b) mess around a lot so like to keep commonly used packages in storage for when I screw up and have to start from scratch. For example, I've got a weird monitor. It's factory specs suggest that its maximum resolution is 1680 x 1050 and booting into a fresh 0S uses that. But the display results in the 1/5 of the screen (usually on the left, but sometime half on each side) being blank. 1600 x 1200 fills the screen. But I have to remember to set refresh rate to 60. Auto tries at 75 and on reboot I get an "out of range" notice and nothing else. Forgot this time and had to delete the Changes folder to boot into XenialDog64.

Short version: it may help if a specific link to the repo was on XenialDog64's first post -- just in case.

The first thing frisbee did when I installed it was remove wifi-box. So I'm not sure "first removing" it may be necessary. But I'll try. Actually, I guess I'll have to try a variation of the instructions to remove frisbee. But I wonder if that should be the case.

I know the general preference in Linux is efficiency: one application for one purpose. But there's a lot to be said in favor of resiliency: Alternatives having slightly different abilities for when "one" just doesn't cut it.

At any rate, I'll test Wifi-box and report back.

One other thing, also --and I stress-- no urgent need to address it. Now that I've modified my screen resolution, the desktop drive-icons are about an inch and a half above the task bar. That current placement isn't aesthetically pleasing. I like the convenience of desktop drive Icons; but can live without them -- as I do when using xfce-thunar. I've tried different choices under Desktop Manager and different settings under each choice. But I haven't found anyway to turn them off or move them. Any ideas?

Thanks again for your efforts.

mikesLr

[belham2]

One other thing, also --and I stress-- no urgent need to address it. Now that I've modified my screen resolution, the desktop drive-icons are about an inch and a half above the task bar. That current placement isn't aesthetically pleasing. I like the convenience of desktop drive Icons; but can live without them -- as I do when using xfce-thunar. I've tried different choices under Desktop Manager and different settings under each choice. But I haven't found anyway to turn them off or move them. Any ideas?

mikesLr

Hi Mike,

I am not sure if I am understanding correctly what you're saying about the 'desktop-drive-icons', but in case I am, have you tried just 'right-clicking' which ever icon you want to move? You get back a full control dialog letting you do whatever you please with the icon (you can even make it disappear via the commands, eliminating automount)?

Here's a pic of what you get when you right-click on a desktop-drive-icon:

[fredx181]

Short version: it may help if a specific link to the repo was on XenialDog64's first post -- just in case.

The first thing frisbee did when I installed it was remove wifi-box. So I'm not sure "first removing" it may be necessary. But I'll try. Actually, I guess I'll have to try a variation of the instructions to remove frisbee. But I wonder if that should be the case.

There is already link to the repo in first post:

XenialDog custom packages repository: Here

Ah, you installed frisbee already, assuming you have working internet connection now you can just install wifibox with apt-get and frisbee automatically will be removed again.
better remove possibly old config files from wifibox, (if there are any left), so altogether:

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# remove old config files
rm -f /etc/network.conf*
rm -rf /etc/wpa
apt-get update # might be required
apt-get install wifibox # will install latest version 1.0.5

You will need to setup wireless again (choose network, enter password) because wifibox works different)

Edit: I had no connection at some point when I tested this (first installed frisbee over wifibox, then again installing wifibox over frisbee) , solved it by resetting my router (turned it off, waited 10 seconds and turned back on again)

Fred

[mikeslr]

Hi belham2,

Thanks for the instruction about moving the drive icons.

Hi Fred,

Installing wifi-box automatically removed frisbee. But I ran the commands you suggested anyway.

Then, as Wifi-box still wouldn't connect to my network, I followed your suggestion to disconnect my router for 10 seconds. Wifi-box still doesn't accept my WEP password and reports "ip address failed on eth0". Edit preferences shows the same, and editing preferences doesn't.

By the way, as long as your working on wifi box I have a request to change its Graphical User Interface. I find double-clicking difficult. Would much prefer to select a network (high-lighting it) and then click a connect button.

While I'm happy using frisbee, let me know if you want further tests regarding wifi-box.

[zagreb999]

Hi fred

I tested wifi box. It is very unstable.
In remastered iso with quick remaster

Wifibox can not reconnect automatically.

I noticed this fact: network manager
From trinity desktop from q4os and
From pclinuxos trinity work perfectly.
You can tray this one in debiandog.

regards.

[fredx181]

Hi mikeslr and zagreb999,

Pity wifibox still doesn't connect, thanks for testing anyway!

I'll have to give up on it until I can test myself with WEP.
Added to Changes and Fixes list bug report and recommendation to install frisbee

Fred

[mcewanw]

It appears that the program 'wifibox' hasn't been tested well enough (probably only with WPA).
It's taken from Slitaz, and William and I have been working on it to adapt it for XenialDog.

Hi, just downloaded XenialDog 64 and it booted up fine and found and connected to my wifi without any problem. However, as I now realise, I also only have WPA and have only ever tested using that. I'm afraid I also don't have any means to test wifi-box with WEP encryption, sorry.

I'll keep using this for a while at least and will report any problems I have or find of course!

Cheers, William

[mcewanw]

Hi Fred,

All running well and smoothly thus far. My only complaint is that you put me to the trouble of having to install wex and weav from the repository! ;-)
Good news is that wex worked perfectly (including perfectly synced embedded webcam) - just like in XenialDog32. Of course I also needed libav-tools (which provided avconv/ffmpeg functionality) - used the sfs version of that. I'll continue to report back more if anything crops up.

Cheers, William

[mcewanw]

Hi All,

I had trouble getting my XenialDog64 clock to display correctly on my "Linux dual-boot with Windows OS" system - a common problem we've come across before, I know...

Indeed, there have been many posts about system time being displayed improperly, and especially when using a dual-boot with Windows system. Unfortunately, many of the 'possible solutions' provided have been more confusing than helpful because the methodology used to set system time seems to have changed on more recent Linux systems (or certainly in Xenial using systemd - I'm not sure about sysvinit systems but the following worked for me on both default XenialDog32 and XenialDog64 systems). Note that there was no more need to play about with files in /etc hierarchy such as /etc/default/rcS (e.g. setting UTC=no in there no longer works in these systems I tested...):

My menu.lst was as follows:

title PorteusDog Xenial64 openbox (sda7)
root (hd0,4)
kernel /xenial64/casper/vmlinuz noauto from=/xenial64/ changes=EXIT:/xenial64/casper/
initrd /xenial64/casper/initrd1.xz


STEPS TO FIX YOUR CLOCK IN XENIALDOG...

SUMMARY:

BEGIN
During Boot, set your RTC (BIOS) clock to your actual local time.
Boot into XenialDog and set your timezone (e.g. using XenialStartMenu -> Settings -> Set TimeZone).
Then open a terminal and run the command:

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timedatectl set-local-rtc 1 --adjust-system-clock

Finally, save your new settings with save2flash or similar.
For further info (e.g. to instead change Windows to use UTC...) see here:
http://ubuntuhandbook.org/index.php/201 ... indows-10/
END - All should now be fine...

NOTE: Having written the above, I've since discovered "The Flying Cat" briefly pointing to almost the same solution for Time setting.

http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... 657#928657

EDIT: I originally included some details using the timedatectl command on its own to show the various results at each stage, but I made a mess of it and lost the correct results. The main thing is that when you run timedatectl on its own the last line may originally indicate: "RTC in local TZ: no" when what you usually want is "RTC in local TZ: yes". The commandline:

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timedatectl set-local-rtc 1 --adjust-system-clock

arranges that RTC localtime "yes" for you.

William

[fredx181]

Thanks William!

To add:
There's also built in timeserver for systemd, I made it by default disabled on XenialDog, to enable back again:

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timedatectl set-ntp true

See also here:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/systemd-timesyncd

Btw, I personally never set timezone, always make sure the time in the BIOS is set to my local time.
But as Flying Cat says, it's better indeed to set the timezone as it might be required for e.g. Twitter.

Fred

[mcewanw]

Hi Fred,

I'm trying to puzzle out how systemd starts up X in XenialDog64, but I so far haven't been able to determine that. Somehow, somewhere, .xsession (symlink) has to be called, but I have no idea how. Any idea?

I'm becoming interested in systemd and want to understand it better, but this is a bit of a stumbling block. Is it simply falling back to using rc files in /etc/init.d or what? I was expecting something about graphical.target (not that i know what happens then anyway.

The command

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systemctl cat graphical.target

did print out some info including saying wants display-manager.service, so I tried:

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systemctl cat display-manager

but reported back "no files found for display-manager.service and in /etc/systemd/system, display-manager.service just seems to be a dead symbolic link.

Now, I hasten to add, I don't have a clue really what I'm doing - just playing with some systemd commands/explanations I've read about, but a bit lost in no-mans-land so far...

Please (anyone) let me know if you have any better clue about this, since understanding XenialDog64 boot process in some detail would make me happy since I hate to feel so ignorant...!

William

[fredx181]

Hi William,

I'm trying to puzzle out how systemd starts up X in XenialDog64, but I so far haven't been able to determine that. Somehow, somewhere, .xsession (symlink) has to be called, but I have no idea how. Any idea?
....

X is not started by systemd on XD.
It's startx, part of 'xinit' package. startx is called from /etc/profile
Have to say I don't know much about systemd, but AFAIK systemd will start at boot any display-manager (if installed and chosen as default) e.g. slim or lightdm

Also, in case you wonder about how autologin is done in XD, the configuration is in /etc/systemd/system/getty.target.wants/getty@tty1.service

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ExecStart=-/sbin/agetty --noclear -a root %I $TERM

So official "systemd" way would be to install a display-manager, edit /etc/systemd/system/getty.target.wants/getty@tty1.service (remove the "-a root") and remove the last block (containing startx) from /etc/profile .

Fred

[mcewanw]

Thanks Fred,

I forgot X could have been started via /etc/profile - also thanks for the autologin info.

William

[mcewanw]

I have a weird bug, but this could well be something wrong with my old HP Elitebook 2530P laptop (maybe keyboard sticking or something). However, I've only noticed the problem thus far when using XenialDog64 and only in Firefox (the one provided I think) and when using Facebook. So I'm posting just in case there is a bug that anyone else has encountered. What happens is that if I click on a Facebook photo post to see it bigger size etc, then Facebook keeps cycling back and forth into the small size then the big size every second or two, on and on... I'm currently back in XenialDog32 (rather than XenialDog64) trying to see if the same issue comes up, but not so far. I'll report back if the issue persists and seems to be OS rather than my laptop... So if anyone else has come across such an issue please let me know. I'm betting on it just being my laptop though... though possibly the version of Firefox?

Cheers, William

EDIT: Seems to be a bug on the system right enough - though don't know yet if it is Firefox (version used in XenialDog64 is 27.0?). After googling, I came across the following forum thread about same issue. The first post gives a Facebook link that illustrates the issue (at least on my system). I don't think it a fault on my laptop and I have no Firefox extensions at this time:

https://forum.palemoon.org/viewtopic.ph ... 7b69ee22a4

The last page of that palemoon thread suggests they came up with a fix.

I'm going to try upgrading Firefox to latest version (rather than continuing to use 64bit version of Firefox 27.0) to see if bug goes away...

[mcewanw]

Have now upgraded to Firefox ver 45.0.2 (not the latest version) and the infinite reloading in Facebook photo posts seems to have gone away on XenialDog64. I'll upgrade now to the latest FF I can get and I expect that should be fine too.

William

EDIT: Yeah, that was fine too (with 64bit Firefox ver 51.0.1) so looks like there is an issue with earlier 64bit Firefox 27.0 at least.

[mcewanw]

Hi Fred,

An 'almost' irrelevant issue:

I tried remastering, and quick-remaster from the commandline works great, thanks. However, I see no menu item for it from Start Menu and the old, provided, StartMenu -> System -> RemasterDog (or if that command entered on commandline) comes up with following apparent error messages -I don't know if they matter, and since quick-remaster is faster anyway, not a big deal - except nicer to have quick-remaster as the default one provided from StartMenu:

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root@xenial64:~# remasterdog
sda5 sda6 sda7
Copying files to /mnt/sda5/remast...
/usr/local/bin/remasterdog: line 140: COPY*100/TOTAL: division by 0 (error token is "TOTAL")
tail: cannot open '/tmp/remasterdog_progress' for reading: No such file or directory
/usr/local/bin/remasterdog: line 167: [: : integer expression expected
Check now for any left over process ID's from rsync, should not show any below
2175 2182 2183 

I'm really enjoying using XenialDog64 by the way - it was the Dog I was always hoping for...!

William

[fredx181]

Hi William,

Yes, thanks for reporting about remasterdog, indeed the progress bar display is broken (for the rest it still works by creating squashfs though)
Upgrade to newer version 1.0.2 will fix it, added to Changes and fixes list

quick-remaster from the commandline works great, thanks. However, I see no menu item for it from Start Menu

It's under "Module Tools" in the Menu, BTW, the GUI has more options.

Fred

[mcewanw]

Hi Fred,

Thanks. I'm currently experimenting to see if old supertuxkart (0.8.1) from Trusty works okay in Xenial, which it seems without issue so far to. Version 0.9.2 is too heavy for my system (used by the kids).

SORRY: I intended to post the following in XenialDog32 thread, since it mainly relates to that:

I simply added 'deb http://nl.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty universe' to my xenialdog32 /etc/apt/sources.list file. Then did an apt-get update, followed by apt-get -t trusty install supertuxkart.

Got an error about it needing the supertuxkart data file as dependency, but managed to resolve that with: apt-get -t trusty -f install

Maybe not considered too safe using trusty packages in xenial, but time will tell in this case!...

To cut my computer use, I'm trying to settle on just a couple of active distributions being XenialDog32 and XenialDog64. I'm not too keen on a multi-arch system so probably just boot one or the other depending on whether I particularly needing to run 32bit app or 64bit on occasion. The only thing I am planning to experiment with is systemd (maybe...) so XenialDogs fine for that purpose.

Like yourself, I am trying to get away from sitting too much at computer and spend more time with the family and in the garden and other aspects of non-virtual life!

Cheers, William

[fredx181]

Added to Changes and fixes list see 4.)

Bugfix for when using encrypted savefile:
If XenialDog64 is frugally installed and using "porteus-boot":
https://github.com/DebianDog/xenialdog/ ... rteus-boot
Replace initrd1.xz in the "casper" folder with the one from Here and encrypted savefile should work.

Fred

[The Flying Cat]

And I'm back! With 17.04! But before that I want to point out a few stuff. Also now I'm tracking only XD64, so I might've missed something.

Compton by default have a very slow fade in. It feels really sluggish even if you have no problems on hardware level. Open '.config/compton.conf' seek line 159 'fade-in-step' and set it to '0.064'. Higher the number faster the window will appear.

It might be nicer if shutdown window had a 'Cancel' button, in the left corner. Year ago I remembered something while already pressed the button and closed 'Save/NoSave' window. Turned out coundown still continued, and then saving, and then reboot

Sometimes when updating something, system generates kernel boot files in 'boot' folder (particularly annoying fat 'img' files). Original iso have only small 'config' file there. So I manually clean, when remember, boot folder. I think some additional cleaning in remaster scripts might be interesting but it might affect less frugal installs.

Upgrade-Kernel can actually auto purge old kernels. Or ask about it in a 'Y/N' manner. I mean it '.bak' old ones and Quick Remaster '.bak' old '.squashfs' anyway.

Zesty Dog 64
I was doing it for myself primarily out of curiosity and decided it's okay enought to share. Generally I was using rule 'simplest and fastes solution known to me'.
Features:
Almost everything removed, you can install stuff back via repository. Software & Updates installed. Chrome installed. Only XFCE. Did 'sh > bash', downgraded yad and swapped initrd1.xz Forgot to mention first time: Variety of themes and window borders. Full Faenza icon theme. Bleachbit installed. Xarchiver swapped with File Roller. Open Software & Updates - Other Software - mark 'Canonical Partners' if you want Skype
Bugs so far:
- Conky's font outline and shading is broken making font unreadable with transparency on, implanted Conky from Yakkety, works fine locked in synaptic. Unlock and reinstall via synaptic if you are interested in this bug.
- Thunar's icon hover glitched. Use PCManFM, Thunar needed only for 'Places' applet.
- Shutdown messages renders yellow font on white background (background color depends on theme - full dark will display dark background), making messages unreadable. This behavior was even on Jessies when installing big DE's.
- Adding PPA will result that distibution of this PPA will be set to 'xenial', which requires some manual fiddling prior installing from said PPA's. Software & Updates - Other software - Edit - swap 'xenial' to 'zesty'. Example and actual solution.
Notes:
XFCE menu (pops out with 'win' button) and clock are gtk3 now which looks like increased memory usage, can be replaced with built-in 'normal' versions. Shutdown buttons placed on a hidden panel in bottom right corner. Mesa 17 available, it's faster, but you can add ppa with it to XD. Original kernel 4.4 (due to broken on some systems 4.8 kernel) from XD64, can be upgraded to 4.10 (tried, runs fine, supposedly only bonus from it is support of newest Intel, AMD and Qualcomm cpu's). Open Software & Updates and set 'Download from' to 'main server' or someplace close:)

400 mb (xz compression), click flag on the bottom to change language.
https://yadi.sk/d/vYyZNfQe3H67Da

Better Edition (with 4.10 kern) http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... 224#952224

PS. Kinda sick right now so might missed (hopefully not messed) something. That is the reason of absent screenshots (scrot removed, gnome-screenshot not installed). Quick remaster is awesome!:)