Announcing nFlux Linux; a Fluxbox oriented trinity of distros!

ralcocer · 06-29-2010, 03:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by linus72

I agree;
I would like to maybe imitate the Slax layout
where the modules are Xorg.lzm, Base.lzm, etc
vs lib.lzm, usr.lzm, etc

you mean wbar vs fbpanel?
I just dont like that wbar has no menu button function
as fbpanel shows almost everything and maybe easier to navigate vs fluxbox menu...

mysteriously; the "upgrade" to squashfs 4.0 from 3.4 was disappointing
as I expected the resulting .lzm's to be more compressed and they aren't
the resulting builds are roughly the same size so I dont see the advantage

well; I would really like to have a/some collaborator(s) on nFluxOS.
Most all distro's have a Team of developers and thats why they are better
My biggest problem is getting non-free graphics drivers into them...
again; most good distro's come in livecd form with drivers so if you have this card or that card
it's automatically loaded at bootup or it asks user if they want to use reg driver or non-free

linuxgamers.net livecd is a good example having drivers
http://distrowatch.com/table.php?dis...on=linuxgamers

how do I get those in my arch/slack builds??

actually, your critique/feedback of any of the nFluxOS line as user is also great.

regarding the change to sq4 the problem is that it is not backward compatible, so the Slax modules are out.

I tried the slax-remix and everything I had to change (upgrade) all the modules.

I do have in my version everything like slax in modules and everything else in options.
The only thing is getting it working with the new kernel.

I also had a problem with the copy2ram and persistent, it will give me an error of not being able to load due to size.

I have a AMD duo 3g with 2G of memory and I use a 8G pendrive.

linus72 · 06-29-2010, 05:04 AM

hey ralconer

yes, you have to either convert the old slax modules to sq4(easy)
or make your own
to convert sq3.4 module to 4.0 module; just do

Code:

mkdir somename
lzm2dir nameoflzm somename

now the sq3.4 module is decompressed in "somename" folder
then using sq4.0 do

Code:

dir2lzm somename nameofnewlzm

with copytoram and persistent
which nflux are you talking about?
EDIT: persistence works with all of them as I am running from persistent usb arch64 version
writing this....
you may have to edit persistent isolinux/syslinux/grub menus as they are set for
changes=nfluxsave.dat
the nfluxsave's are in /nFluxOS_ARCH64/nfluxsave.zip of various sizes.

as for copy2ram; I only have 1gb and none of them will copy2ram for me
as I dont have enough ram

EDIT AGAIN:
Today I am going to install slackware64!

linus72 · 06-30-2010, 05:22 PM

The new nFluxOS iso's are now ready and much improved.
Many things have changed with all four and as predicted the Slackware version
is now the biggest and probably the best(!)
though I am partial to Slackware so that may be bias(gasp)

The Ubuntu version is now the smallest somehow, as some the icons were
taking up too much space. The ARCH follows in second lightest and Debian third
lightest in iso size.

Much improved is the Ubuntu version as I added Wubi and lupin boot-from-iso
support with Grub2.
Here's sample grub2 I entry I used to boot the iso from my debian lenny
ext3 partition(sda2)

menuentry "nflux bootiso Ubuntu 10.04" {
set root='(hd0,2)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 164d8b87-a312-4852-98f4-2eb07f1ae655
loopback loop (hd0,2)/nFluxOS-ubuntu-10.04-i686.iso
linux (loop)/casper/vmlinuz boot=casper iso-scan/filename=/nFluxOS-ubuntu-10.04-i686.iso file=(loop)/preseed/custom.seed quiet splash --
initrd (loop)/casper/initrd.gz
}

The changelog is here

http://multidistro.com/NFLUXNEW/SQ4/changelog

Here are the new downloads
http://multidistro.com/downloads/newdownloads.html

The debian and ubuntu versions are now .zipped and include 3 cool
free manuals

Getting started with Ubuntu 10.04
A newbie's initiation to Linux
GNU/Linux advanced admin

pics

arch bootmenu
http://multidistro.com/NFLUXNEW/SQ4/pics/nuarch.png

arch user desktop
http://multidistro.com/NFLUXNEW/SQ4/pics/arch.png

debian bootmenu
http://multidistro.com/NFLUXNEW/SQ4/pics/nudeb.png

debian user desktop
http://multidistro.com/NFLUXNEW/SQ4/pics/debdsk.png

slackware bootmenu
http://multidistro.com/NFLUXNEW/SQ4/pics/nuslack.png

slackware user desktop
http://multidistro.com/NFLUXNEW/SQ4/pics/slack.png

ubuntu bootmenu
http://multidistro.com/NFLUXNEW/SQ4/pics/nubuntu.png

ubuntu user desktop
http://multidistro.com/NFLUXNEW/SQ4/pics/rainman.png
LOL

you also gotta check out the kde 3.5.10 and sawfish desktops!
Any questions or need help please post!

lq_asking · 07-02-2010, 05:07 PM

@linus72

I have tried to reuse my knowledge from previous nFlux editions about german keyboard setting - please, see my earlier contributions to this thread - but any method I know of has failed in nFlux ARCH SQ4.

I must say that I didn't yet try settings from inside X in a persistent storage environment, because I know that they are likely to be overridden when rebooting.

linus72 · 07-02-2010, 05:13 PM

Quote:

I have tried to reuse my knowledge from previous nFlux editions about german keyboard setting - please, see my earlier contributions to this thread - but any method I know of has failed in nFlux ARCH SQ4.

you mean the modules you made or what?

you may have to remaster it or how exactly did you set it up last time?
if you have modules that wont load it's cause you gotta convert them to squashfs 4.0

linus72 · 07-02-2010, 05:35 PM

lq_asking · 07-02-2010, 05:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by linus72

you mean the modules you made or what?

you may have to remaster it or how exactly did you set it up last time?
if you have modules that wont load it's cause you gotta convert them to squashfs 4.0

Thanks for your reply. But no, I meant the settings I made in the rootcopy subdirectories for german keyboard settings.

linus72 · 07-02-2010, 05:46 PM

MMmmmm...
it could have something to do with the new xorg and the new /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d folder stuff?
or /etc/X11/xkb ?

and I only have the us locale stuff installed
and I will install all that too now

the kernel kit will allow you to fix all this natively
as you could then just remake it into what you wish?

so, all your stuff is just text files, etc in /rootcopy
not a .lzm?

linus72 · 07-02-2010, 05:49 PM

did you use a /etc/rc.conf in your /rootcopy stuff?
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Locale

lq_asking · 07-02-2010, 05:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by linus72

Thanks for all these links. Seem to be very helpful readings.
In the first link flux describes a method for the keyboard-mapping in X that I used before but doesn't seem to work in nFluxARCH_SQ4 anymore:

in ... rootcopy/etc/hal/fdi/policy/10-keymap.fdi
replace the obvious line by:

Code:

...
<merge key="input.xkb.layout" type="string">de</merge>
...

linus72 · 07-02-2010, 06:03 PM

Ok
the arch kits are ready lq_asking
make a German livebackup and tell me how it goes if you wish?
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...ml#post4022234

any other way i can help?

lq_asking · 07-02-2010, 06:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by linus72

did you use a /etc/rc.conf in your /rootcopy stuff?
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Locale

Thanks. This hints me at my error. Confused Slackware with ARCH. I shall try everything later ... Now it's bedtime here.

lq_asking · 07-03-2010, 05:42 AM

1. I have uncommented the de_DE-locales in /etc/locale.gen and then generated them by locale-gen.

2. added /etc/rc.conf in the rootcopy folder with suitable entries.

Now, when booting into persistent mode, german keyboard-mapping are working in console-mode.
But when starting X the system freezes completely indepently of the chosen Xserver (nv,vesa).

When shutting down from the console mode the system hangs always on:
(message)
/etc/rc.shutdown: line 164: /sbin/reboot: Transport endpoint is not connected
INIT: no more processes left in this runlevel.

linus72 · 07-03-2010, 06:20 AM

(sigh)
I know it's depressing...
for reference lq_asking I have submitted some questions to Ritchie at Slax forum who made the squashfs 4.0 linux live scripts that I used in the arch/slack versions
http://www.slax.org/forum.php?action...parentID=59545

I am sure he will try to figure it out and I will update evrything at that time

Now, from the last post there you see I'm asking about the persistent feature using a save file isn't working
and so I suspect you have your persistent save in a folder on your fat32 usb as I did?
Slax has always had an issue with fat32 and posixovl
and the workaround is to create a small ext2/ext3
partition on your usb and use that and then this should fix the reboot/shutdown issue
as thats how I fixed it on mine today

example usb
sdb1 fat32 bootable has live media nfluxos
sdb2 ext2,ext3 persistent saves to "named" folder

and you know change persistent syslinux.cfg/grub parameter to
changes=/name-of-folder/

so, make a folder named "mysaves" on sdb2
and
changes=/mysaves/

you know...

as for the Freezing, I am not sure...
your using the arch version?
xconf says it configured it right and it still freezes?

EDIT: ok dont use xfs, use ext2 or ext3 for persistent store
on usb

linus72 · 07-03-2010, 06:49 AM

If Ritchie can't fix those things I would have two options

1) regress back to former 2.6.33.3 kernel with squashfs3.4 (x86_64 versions would end)

2) strip the 4.0 squashfs patch and apply squashfs 3.4 patch from here
http://trac.pentoo.ch/browser/kernel/trunk/2.6/2.6.34
and compile new 2.6.34 kernel with squashfs 3.4

the cons to 3.4 are long creation time and slightly bigger size of finished iso
the pros are all slax modules, and persistency would be restored

so, what to do??