Salix Live Xfce 13.37 beta

[JRD]

After some time correcting the alpha version (http://www.salixos.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=2439), the Live team is proud to present the first beta version of Salix Live Xfce 13.37. This version is only available in 32 bits as 64 bits needs some extra time to build and the alpha was enough to test it. But be sure that the final version will be both in 32 and 64 bits.
This version is build using SaLT (Salix Live Technology), a new system of Live tools for Slackware-based distros: https://salix.svn.sourceforge.net/svnro ... alt/trunk/ (See the README for all the features)

This includes the same applications and packages as the regular Salix Xfce 13.37, 32 or 64 bits, with the following additions:

• isomaster, for managing ISO files;
• gparted, for managing partitions;
• grub2, for a beautiful boot menu and options;
• remmina, for connecting to RDP server (like Windows or VirtualBox 4+), VNC server, NX server, SSH/SCP;
• salix-live-installer, for installing Salix on a hard disk;
• persistence-wizard, for creating a persistence file in order to keep changes upon reboot in the live environment;
• liveclone, for creating your own custom live CD/USB.

Some boot options are not yet been included in the grub2 boot menu. So here are the missing ones:

• identfile, to change the file looked into the live CD. Only useful for those who remaster this beta version;
• savefile, to change the file looked for the persistence file.

The grub2 menu can now help you select the root password at boot and set a network proxy.

The default root password is live.
You don't need a password for the regular and auto-logged in user one.

The startup guide is still being written and can be found here http://people.salixos.org/tsuren/doc/Sa ... draft3.pdf

You can download the ISOs from here:

• 32bits:
  • http://enialis.net/~jrd/salix/salixlive ... 3-1135.iso
  • http://enialis.net/~jrd/salix/salixlive ... 35.iso.md5

There is also a way to boot the LiveCD through PXE. For this, you need a special initrd. Here it is, for 32 bits:

• http://enialis.net/~jrd/salix/salixlive ... 23-1135.xz
• http://enialis.net/~jrd/salix/salixlive ... 135.xz.md5

A wiki page will be created to explain how to boot from PXE. For now you can read the documentation already present in our subversion repository:

• https://salix.svn.sourceforge.net/svnro ... tra/README

What have been corrected since the alpha:

• Improve USB support using syslinux (or extlinux): no need to have the gap before the first partition anymore;
• Support partitionless USB disk;
• Fix the problem for keyboard layouts synchronisation on X11 starting;
• Fix the problem for gdm autologin on start up;
• Missing loadkeymap in grub.cfg;
• Improve proxy support;
• Grub2 "embed.cfg" use a separate partition detection than SaLT;
• Ibus option in the grub2 menu;
• "no sound" option in the grub2 menu;
• root password option in the grub2 menu;
• proxy option in the grub2 menu;
• Special cheatcode for dealing with special USB keyboard configuration (no menu yet);
• Packages updated;
• Remmina replaces rdesktop.

Thanks a lot to all the people who had tested the alpha version.

[Shador]

I commited a small fix for the genlocale Makefile to svn, to prevent the updatetrans target to add fuzzy translations with msgmerge. Look e.g. at the German cheatcode menu. Many duplicate entries, which don't hint anything about the actual entry and give an overall impression of failure. Could you somehow remove all those automatically generated fuzzy entries, or just revert the po files as necessary and run 'make updatetrans' again? I have no time for it, as I'm again departing this evening for another holiday trip until the 2nd September.
We also need translations for the boot menu, but the Transifex files are not up to date. Could you also look into that? Thanks a lot.

Apart from a quick VBox test menu, boot, localization, keyboard and shutdown seem to work. Great job.

Edit: Pushing the new version on my USB to take on my holiday, I noticed another small issue: In the install-on-USB.sh script you changed the call to /bin/sh "some shell commands". The line should look like this to work: CMD="/bin/sh -c '....'"

[idahoclint]

Just a heads up. LiveClone still fails but now it creates a small iso of 34KB in size. A message box does pop up that informs that the CD has been successfully completed. After the message box closes, the LiveClone box stays on the desktop with the message "iso file successfully completed..." but never closes. I also determined that the liveclone python script never terminated. Took about 2 hours to run on the same machine that only took an hour with the previous Live XFCE CD (1.3.2). The liveclone directory on the failed build is 641.8 MB in size with 282 items (2 folders).

Another item, it appears that the persistence utility doesn't work either as when I opened it, there were no mounts listed to select from. Further, I created an salix.xfs file on a USB drive under 1.3.2 and it was not recognized on boot by the beta LiveCD.

If I can be any help on resolving these issues, let me know.

[ikke]

After some time correcting the alpha version (http://www.salixos.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=2439), the Live team is proud to present the first beta version of Salix Live Xfce 13.37..

Congratulations. And thank you very much!

We had to wait for a long time but it appears it was worth it.
Have been able to do a poor man's install and test the LiveCD.iso for an hour. At first sight everything works as expected. (But didn't try LiveClone nor persistence.)

Will now try to make modules for the programs I am using a lot (opera, ruby, gvim). Found the 'optional' directory is not there, nor the 'activate' commands. But guess the '/live/salt/sdc1/salixlive/modules' will do,

Thank you very much indeed. The ideal tool to show how nice and powerful Linux can be! Am very grateful

[ikke]

At first sight everything works as expected.

Wish to confirm that making modules is as expected. Am only wondering what the meaning of the '-Xdict-size '50%' ' option is.

Up to now had only one bad experience : the 'opera' module I made (opera + seamonkey libs) makes the desktop icons and the desktop image disappear. Very strange ... Anything I can do?

Once more : thank you for providing this nice LiveCD.

[JRD]

Wish to confirm that making modules is as expected. Am only wondering what the meaning of the '-Xdict-size '50%' ' option is.

-Xdict-size <dict-size>
Use <dict-size> as the XZ dictionary size. The dictionary size
can be specified as a percentage of the block size, or as an
absolute value. The dictionary size must be less than or equal
to the block size and 8192 bytes or larger. It must also be
storable in the xz header as either 2^n or as 2^n+2^(n+1).
Example dict-sizes are 75%, 50%, 37.5%, 25%, or 32K, 16K, 8K
etc.

50% is a relatively good value.

the 'opera' module I made (opera + seamonkey libs) makes the desktop icons and the desktop image disappear

Weird. Perhaps xfdesktop has crashed for some reason. Try to relaunch it, in a command line for exemple to see if there is an error message.

[ikke]

[Try to relaunch it, in a command line for exemple to see if there is an error message.

Thank you for kind reaction.
Did as you instructed me. Nothing changed.

Code: Select all

root[one]# xfdesktop
xfdesktop[4433] is already running; assuming --reload
xfdesktop[4433]: starting up

Even the menu icons of gvim are not showing :

Code: Select all

root[one]# gvim

(gvim:4650): Gtk-WARNING **: Error loading theme icon 'document-open' for stock: Unrecognized image file format

(gvim:4650): Gtk-WARNING **: Error loading theme icon 'document-save' for stock: Unrecognized image file format
...

Thank you for attention

[gapan]

You should definitely not run it as root.

[Andyun]

No reboot:

Code: Select all

*** Live system cleanup ***

* Untweaking target distro
* Synchronizing memory data on disk
* Killing remaining process
INIT: no more processes left in this runlevel

If Ctrl-Alt-Del:

Code: Select all

INIT: cannot execute "/sbin/shutdown"

[ikke]

You should definitely not run it as root.

Running as user 'one' gives the same result (and doesn't solve the problem)

Code: Select all

one[~]$ xfdesktop
xfdesktop[4292] is already running; assuming --reload
xfdesktop[4292]: starting up
one[~]$ gvim

(gvim:4315): Gtk-WARNING **: Error loading theme icon 'document-open' for stock: Unrecognized image file format

(gvim:4315): Gtk-WARNING **: Error loading theme icon 'document-save' for stock: Unrecognized image file format
--- 

Thank you.