4 questions i need help with please.

rjm65 · posted: 2014-01-20 20:46

I tried 15 or so distros and the only one that would boot live cd and install is AntiX... Thank you for allowing me to keep my old machine even longer... I have a toshiba portege 3110ct Pentium 2 300 mhz 128meg ram 6 gig hard drive.
I have installed the latest AntiX on it and it runs. My four questions are as follows...
1. How do I make a swap file???
2. How do I get my wireless USB to function??? (I watched the video on how to do this and no luck, i tried 3 different usb devices)
3. when I insert a usb thumb drive i get nothing, no autorun like windows, how can i find the drive and use it???
4. How can I permanently stop the screen from blanking I turn it off but when i reboot it is back to 10 minute blanking...

Eino · posted: 2014-01-20 21:11

Let's get the hardware issues out of the way first.
In the terminal run, and post the following with your usb wireless adapter plugged in.

Code: Select all

inxi -z -F

And

Code: Select all

lsusb -v

dolphin_oracle · posted: 2014-01-20 21:21

1. You will need to use gparted to make a separate swap partition.

2. see above.

3. removable media is usually found in /media. if you utilize spacefm for your desktop, you can get some autorun type features as well.

4. good question __{{emoticon}}__ I found that while there is some kind of issue with the"off" feature, setting a really long time (say, 360 minutes) is preserved between logins. The configuration file where the setting is stored is in /home/user/.antix-session/screen-timeout.conf.

Neil · posted: 2014-01-20 21:26

For Q#4 (an issue I once asked about), the solution that worked best for me was Eino's response in this thread:
viewtopic.php?f=49&t=4506&hilit=screen%20blanking

anticapitalista · posted: 2014-01-20 22:25

rjm65 - welcome.

Others have answered your questions. I want to ask one.

Are you using antiX-full version (with libreoffice)?

rjm65 · posted: 2014-01-20 23:29

anticapitalista wrote:rjm65 - welcome.

Others have answered your questions. I want to ask one.

Are you using antiX-full version (with libreoffice)?

Many thanks for the welcome, yes it had libre office in it, I have since removed it and have been trying yet another 6 distros today still no luck.... I am ready to reinstall AntiX... which version should I be installing??? I have version: antiX-13.2_386-full.iso which I downloaded from your site....

oldhoghead · posted: 2014-01-20 23:36

rjm65,

Welcome, and that is the most current version. When you install you will have the opportunity to create a swap partition.

cheers,
ohh

anticapitalista · posted: 2014-01-20 23:39

For a lighter experience, you may try antiX-base, antiX-13.1. It has less, uses fluxbox windows manager, but *might* be more suitable for your needs on your old box.

========= SCRAPER REMOVED AN EMBEDDED LINK HERE ===========
url was:"https://sourceforge.net/projects/antix-linux/files/Final/antiX-13.1/"
linktext was:"https://sourceforge.net/projects/antix- ... ntiX-13.1/"
====================================

rjm65 · posted: 2014-01-20 23:49

anticapitalista wrote:For a lighter experience, you may try antiX-base, antiX-13.1. It has less, uses fluxbox windows manager, but *might* be more suitable for your needs on your old box.

========= SCRAPER REMOVED AN EMBEDDED LINK HERE ===========
url was:"https://sourceforge.net/projects/antix-linux/files/Final/antiX-13.1/"
linktext was:"https://sourceforge.net/projects/antix- ... ntiX-13.1/"
====================================

Downloading it now says 5 minutes left to download and will try 13.1 base and see how it goes, I will try to make the swap file on install if I can figure it out... __{{emoticon}}__

rjm65 · posted: 2014-01-21 00:06

well i booted 13.1 base live off my usb, and I don't like it one bit, so i am going back to the full blown one now...

rjm65 · posted: 2014-01-21 02:03

Eino wrote:Let's get the hardware issues out of the way first.
In the terminal run, and post the following with your usb wireless adapter plugged in.
Code: Select all
inxi -z -F
And
Code: Select all
lsusb -v

since I can't get a thumb drive to work in this linux, i can't give you the information you asked for, since it is many many pages long the response those codes gave too me....

rjm65 · posted: 2014-01-21 02:09

let's see i got the swap file made during the install so one problem is done away with.... the machine runs nice now with that swap file engaged...
all 4 of my thumb drives when i insert them they don't light up and nothing happens, and they can't be found anywhere....

blanker still blanks after reboot, that is a big problem that the makers of this linux have to address and fix....

also they need to address wireless usb device issues all this stuff needs to work out of the box....

Ubuntu works in all these areas and so does linux mint, it is a shame neither of them make a distro for old machines or that is what I would have.... thanks for the help guys.... I do appreciate it but I am getting frustrated after 4 days now and still no working OS...

jdmeaux1952 · posted: 2014-01-21 15:50

Let's back up a little and get looks what we have. As you can read from my signature, I have an old JUNKBOX which was nade from parts of several discarded computers, and I made it work. AntiX was made to work primarily with the older comptuers. Anticapitalista is one of the main developers with this, so he knows the system.

WHICH VERSION? I would suggest AntiX 13.1 for you to use on your machine. The full version includes several window managers and some desktop icons to help get you stared. The base version is limited with this stuff. You should read the AntiX main page at
========= SCRAPER REMOVED AN EMBEDDED LINK HERE ===========
url was:"http://antix.mepis.com/index.php?title=Main_Page"
linktext was:"http://antix.mepis.com/index.php?title=Main_Page"
====================================
and go down to the 2 June 2013 posting (about half way down).

I am wondering if you had tried it out as a LIVE cd before installing it. If you had, upon installation you would have been asked about the swap partition (1025 mb is plenty for our machines).

Anyway, once you have antiX going (even on a LIVE cd), you need to go to the terminal program ROXTerm and then type"inxi -z -F". You may want to widen the box to read it. Copy and paste the results and send it in your reply. ALSO, go back to the ROXTerm and then type"lsusb -v". Copy and paste in your replay. These 2 bits of information will give us here at the community an idea of what is going on with your machine, and can lead us on how to help you fix it.

I don't know a lot about your Toshiba. But we will try to help to get you going.

rjm65 · posted: 2014-01-21 16:07

dolphin_oracle wrote:1. You will need to use gparted to make a separate swap partition.

2. see above.

3. removable media is usually found in /media. if you utilize spacefm for your desktop, you can get some autorun type features as well.

4. good question __{{emoticon}}__ I found that while there is some kind of issue with the"off" feature, setting a really long time (say, 360 minutes) is preserved between logins. The configuration file where the setting is stored is in /home/user/.antix-session/screen-timeout.conf.

I figured out my problem after thinking about it a while I was running a pcmcia cardbus 4 port USB device and I guess linux did not like it or play with it well, whereas some things worked on it like my wireless mouse, other devices such as the usb wireless and thumb drives did not work...

I replaced it with a 7 port USB hub connected direct to the single usb port of the laptop, and now Wifi usb works, my wireless mouse works, and my thumb drive lights up and does show in the spacefm file manager, (BUT) that is all does it shows up, when i try to click on it, it scans it and gives me an error code.

rjm65 · posted: 2014-01-21 16:16

jdmeaux1952 wrote:Let's back up a little and get looks what we have. As you can read from my signature, I have an old JUNKBOX which was nade from parts of several discarded computers, and I made it work. AntiX was made to work primarily with the older comptuers. Anticapitalista is one of the main developers with this, so he knows the system.

WHICH VERSION? I would suggest AntiX 13.1 for you to use on your machine. The full version includes several window managers and some desktop icons to help get you stared. The base version is limited with this stuff. You should read the AntiX main page at
========= SCRAPER REMOVED AN EMBEDDED LINK HERE ===========
url was:"http://antix.mepis.com/index.php?title=Main_Page"
linktext was:"http://antix.mepis.com/index.php?title=Main_Page"
====================================
and go down to the 2 June 2013 posting (about half way down).

I am wondering if you had tried it out as a LIVE cd before installing it. If you had, upon installation you would have been asked about the swap partition (1025 mb is plenty for our machines).

Anyway, once you have antiX going (even on a LIVE cd), you need to go to the terminal program ROXTerm and then type"inxi -z -F". You may want to widen the box to read it. Copy and paste the results and send it in your reply. ALSO, go back to the ROXTerm and then type"lsusb -v". Copy and paste in your replay. These 2 bits of information will give us here at the community an idea of what is going on with your machine, and can lead us on how to help you fix it.

I don't know a lot about your Toshiba. But we will try to help to get you going.

If you read my post this morning which i was writing at the same time you wrote your post, you will see i solved most of my problems except the thumb drive and screen blanking.... I am running the latest version full version, and yes i booted live cd before installing it....