antiX-13-beta3 full isos available for testing in 32 and 64

anticapitalista · posted: 2013-04-28 16:28

'''28 April 2013'''

'''antiX-13 full flavours available for testing.'''

antiX-13-beta3 full isos available for testing in 32 and 64 bit. (c670MB)

*3.6.11 antiX kernel for 32 bit
*3.7.10 antiX kernel for 64 bit
*3.8.10 antiX kernel available in the repository for those who want/need a more up to date version.

* Dist-upgrade to 28 April 2013
* Debian Wheezy repo.
* Iceweasel-20.0-1 browser.
* Default window manager is IceWM with a Rox desktop. Fluxbox, JWM, wmii and dwm are available.
* SpaceFM desktop option at boot.
* Better boot menu integration for unetbootin live usb.
* Installer improvements.
* 32 bit uses older flash for PII/PIII.
* Double entries removed from menu.
* Various under the hood bug fixes.

========= SCRAPER REMOVED AN EMBEDDED LINK HERE ===========
url was:"https://sourceforge.net/projects/antix-linux/files/Testing/"
linktext was:"https://sourceforge.net/projects/antix- ... s/Testing/"
====================================

Since we have added a few more features, we need users to test them out.
In particular, checking the Fn key options work when running live,
including live usb or frugal set up using UNetbootin.

Please test that custom boot 'cheats' carry over to install and F7 save
does save customised boot options when using live usb or frugal install.

Enjoy!

BitJam · posted: 2013-04-28 17:16

LiveUSB please test

Static Root Persistence
Root persistence uses up ram to save file system changes while you are running which limits what you can do (but it is very fast). Static root persistence doesn't use ram so you are only constrained by the size of the rootfs file you create. Unfortunately static root persistence can be painfully slow on some systems. You don't have to choose which one to use until you boot and you can switch between them (at boot-time). To try static root persistence scroll down to the"Root Persistence" entry and add",static" or",s" to the persist parameter so it becomes:

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persist=root!,home,static

The easiest way to enable persistence on a LiveUSB is to go to Control Centre --> Live --> Set up live persistence.

Clean Shutdown
Static persistence can only work if we umount the live filesystems very carefully, so in order to enable static root persistence we made major changes to how we shutdown. In theory, our method of shutting down the live system could be superior to the way most distros (including Debian) shutdown but it is possible we forgot something or made a mistake.

Every time you shutdown (or reboot) an antiX-13-beta3 Live system, you are testing our shutdown code. If an error occurs, it will be highlighted in red and the shutdown/reboot will pause waiting for you to hit <Enter> right before the system actually shuts down or reboots. Ideally, no one will ever have an error, but if you do, please report it. Bonus points if you can reproduce the error.

Here are some extra cheatcodes you can use to get a closer look at the shutdown process, but none of these are needed because the process will become more verbose if an error is detected.

prompt Always prompt the user before the actual shutdown/reboot.
uverb=7 make our shutdown messages more colorful
uverb=8 and make them more verbose
ubp=e open a shell if an error occurs
ubp=a open a shell at various stages of our shutdown process

Again, you don't need to use any of these boot parameters to test our new shutdown code. Simply report any umount-live errors that occur during shutdown/reboot. If an error occurs the system should pause so you have a chance to read the error message before the screen goes blank.

Sorry for the delay in posting.

rokytnji · posted: 2013-04-28 17:33

Errrr, on my 64bit beta1 installs with separate /home.

Can I keep /home intact/leave alone or do I copy over what I want to keep on external drive?
Edit: Same on 32bit Beta 2 install on my Netbook also. I have a seperate / and /home on it also.

Eino · posted: 2013-04-28 17:35

One little issue withe the sound card that was an easy fix. Here is the new install.

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System:    Host: antiX1 Kernel: 3.7.10-antix.2-amd64-smp x86_64 (64 bit) 
           Desktop: IceWM 1.3.7 Distro: antiX-13-beta3_x64-full Luddite 28 April 2013
Machine:   System: Compaq Presario 061 product: ER919AA-ABA SR1820NX NA620 version: 0nx1411RE101NAGAM00
           Mobo: ASUSTek model: NAGAMI version: 1.02 Bios: Phoenix version: 3.11 date: 09/19/2006
CPU:       Single core AMD Athlon 64 3400+ (-UP-) cache: 512 KB flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3) clocked at 1800.00 MHz 
Graphics:  Card: NVIDIA C51 [GeForce 6150 LE] X.Org: 1.12.4 driver: nvidia Resolution: 1024x768@75.0hz 
           GLX Renderer: GeForce 6150 LE/integrated/SSE2 GLX Version: 2.1.2 NVIDIA 304.88
Audio:     Card: NVIDIA MCP51 High Definition Audio driver: snd_hda_intel Sound: ALSA ver: k3.7.10-antix.2-amd64-smp
Network:   Card-1: NVIDIA MCP51 Ethernet Controller driver: forcedeth 
           IF: eth0 state: down mac: 00:17:31:10:58:e8
           Card-2: Ralink RT2800 802.11n PCI driver: rt2800pci 
           IF: wlan0 state: up mac: 68:1c:a2:04:21:cc
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 750.4GB (0.4% used) 1: id: /dev/sda model: ST3750528AS size: 750.2GB 
           2: USB id: /dev/sdb model: USB_SD_Reader size: 0.3GB 
Partition: ID: / size: 686G used: 3.1G (1%) fs: ext4 ID: swap-1 size: 2.17GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap 
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 40.0C mobo: N/A 
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A 
Info:      Processes: 105 Uptime: 1:21 Memory: 414.7/2446.4MB Client: Shell (inxi-gui) inxi: 1.8.45

anticapitalista · posted: 2013-04-28 19:17

roky - best to copy/save your home stuff to a stick and after installation, copy it back.

nadir · posted: 2013-04-29 03:25

I downloaded the iso, used unetbootin to put it on a SD-card, and it worked fine.
I didn't ever use persistent mode, and got no clue about it (hence can't check that).
I may try to boot the SD on my laptop too, but see no reason why it shouldn't work there too.
(I used space-icewm, but barbarian as am see no difference to pure icewm ... ).

BitJam · posted: 2013-04-29 04:51

nadir wrote:I didn't ever use persistent mode, and got no clue about it (hence can't check that).

If you are interested or curious, go to Control Centre --> Live --> Set up live persistence.

You can set up home persistence which just saves changes in your home directory (and any other directory under /home) or you can set up root persistence which lets you install and upgrade packages. You can also do both.

Root persistence uses up ram to save file system changes while you are running which limits what you can do (but it is very fast). Static root persistence doesn't use ram so you are only constrained by the size of the rootfs file you create. Unfortunately static root persistence can be painfully slow on some systems. You don't have to choose which one to use until you boot and you can switch between them (at boot-time). To try static root persistence scroll down to the"Root Persistence" entry and add",static" or",s" to the persist parameter so it becomes:

Code: Select all

persist=root!,home,static

Even without root persistence you can set things like your timezone, language and default desktop via the bootloader menus and then use the"F7 Save" menu to have those setting saved. This is the easiest way to customize a LiveUSB (or in your case LiveSD) that I'm aware of.

If you have gobs of ram that you aren't using then you can use the"toram" option in the"F4 Options" menu to run the entire OS out of ram. This consumes almost 700 Meg of ram (with antiX-full) and it takes a few seconds to copy to ram when you boot but after that it is extremely fast.

nadir · posted: 2013-04-29 18:00

Thanks for all the info. Don't take me wrong: I doubt i will check persistence anytime soon. To me it looks like fiddling, and i really don't need it (I got enough PCs to install to in case i need persistence). But if i want to i know where to look. Again thanks.

Bad news. I plugged the SD card in the internal card reader of the laptop, and it didn't boot. Surprise ...
Here is the error message:

Scanning usb,cd devices for antix/linuxfs
retrying
Fatal Error
Could not find linuxfs file"antix/linuxfs"
p = poweroff
r = reboot
Select one of those

I used an external card-reader, as a first test, and it immediatly worked (Next surprise here).

I am quite sure that i already put *iso's on an SD card with Unetbootin and could boot them from the laptop, internal card reader, too (Ya all know how it is with"being sure" ... but it is not that long ago I did it).

As i don't know the structure of liveCD's well (syslinux and what else is there), that is all i can say.

anticapitalista · posted: 2013-04-29 18:09

I forgot to mention that this beta3 release has connectshares scripts from SamK.
For those of you with samba and/or NFS shares.

BitJam · posted: 2013-04-29 20:16

nadir wrote:Bad news. I plugged the SD card in the internal card reader of the laptop, and it didn't boot. Surprise ... [...] I used an external card-reader, as a first test, and it immediatly worked (Next surprise here).

How do devices that are plugged into the internal card reader show up in /dev?

The easiest way to get this information is to plug an SDcard into your internal reader while Linux is running and then run:

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dmesg | tail -n 20

When I run that here after plugging in a usb stick I get:

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[14041.004048] usb 2-3: new high-speed USB device number 5 using ehci_hcd
[14041.146131] usb 2-3: New USB device found, idVendor=13fe, idProduct=3600
[14041.146138] usb 2-3: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[14041.146142] usb 2-3: Product: USB DISK 2.0
[14041.146145] usb 2-3: Manufacturer:         
[14041.146147] usb 2-3: SerialNumber: 07B2170705044FC9
[14041.148760] usb-storage 2-3:1.0: Quirks match for vid 13fe pid 3600: 4000
[14041.148796] scsi9 : usb-storage 2-3:1.0
[14042.177663] scsi 9:0:0:0: Direct-Access              USB DISK 2.0     PMAP PQ: 0 ANSI: 0 CCS
[14043.555568] sd 9:0:0:0: [sdc] 7831552 512-byte logical blocks: (4.00 GB/3.73 GiB)
[14043.556949] sd 9:0:0:0: [sdc] Write Protect is off
[14043.556955] sd 9:0:0:0: [sdc] Mode Sense: 23 00 00 00
[14043.558314] sd 9:0:0:0: [sdc] No Caching mode page present
[14043.558318] sd 9:0:0:0: [sdc] Assuming drive cache: write through
[14043.576686] sd 9:0:0:0: [sdc] No Caching mode page present
[14043.576691] sd 9:0:0:0: [sdc] Assuming drive cache: write through
[14043.597767]  sdc: sdc1
[14043.613569] sd 9:0:0:0: [sdc] No Caching mode page present
[14043.613575] sd 9:0:0:0: [sdc] Assuming drive cache: write through
[14043.613580] sd 9:0:0:0: [sdc] Attached SCSI removable disk

and i see it was assigned to /dev/sdc.

If that doesn't work, you can try doing an"ls /dev" before and after plugging an SDcard into your internal reader.

rust collector · posted: 2013-04-29 20:31

My acer aspire one has 2 card readers built in, but it is not setup to boot from them.
It will boot from usb, so an external reader works fine... Just saying

BitJam · posted: 2013-04-29 21:36

rust collector wrote:My acer aspire one has 2 card readers built in, but it is not setup to boot from them. It will boot from usb, so an external reader works fine... Just saying

There are two different problems. The first is if the SDcard does not show up on the BIOS list of devices you can boot from. This sounds like your problem. Nadir does not have this problem because the error message they reported is from our /init script which means the boot started fine but our /init script failed to find the SDcard device (in /dev). I think this is because I'm only looking for /dev/sd* and /dev/sr* devices and nadir's card reader is showing up with another name. If I know the name of that device then I can add it to the list of devices we check and it should start working on nadir's internal card reader and on any others that use that same naming convention.

dolphin_oracle · posted: 2013-04-30 01:50

fooled around with the unetbootin menus in grub. Looked good. I chose the"modeset" option under F4 to get the eeepc to boot and specified the native resolution. the save feature worked fine. I fill try out the HP Mode tomorrow on the HP laptop.

pet peeve: is there a way to set the spell checker in ice-weasel to the language specified at boot-time? I get an en_us installed system but I think its checking an es_gt dictionary. You can change it manually in about:config and search for spell.

nadir · posted: 2013-04-30 08:00

BitJam wrote:
nadir wrote:Bad news. I plugged the SD card in the internal card reader of the laptop, and it didn't boot. Surprise ... [...] I used an external card-reader, as a first test, and it immediatly worked (Next surprise here).
How do devices that are plugged into the internal card reader show up in /dev?

/dev/sdb*
I am not sure why that matters. Isn't the point of using Unetbootin that it will use any dev? I never had to tell unetbootin if card or stick is sdc or sdb or sdd or whatever.

Ups, being the boy that i am i posted before i fully understand. You wrote this:

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Nadir does not have this problem because the error message they reported is from our /init script which means the boot started fine but our /init script failed to find the SDcard device (in /dev). I think this is because I'm only looking for /dev/sd* and /dev/sr* devices and nadir's card reader is showing up with another name. If I know the name of that device then I can add it to the list of devices we check and it should start working on nadir's internal card reader and on any others that use that same naming convention.

I never experienced a stick or card being called anything but /dev/sd*, hence couldn't even think of it (Still my fault).

I am very sure that the inernal card reader is /dev/sdb. But let me check that again, to be really sure. Is it possible that the boot-menu (from the laptop, after hitting <F12>, names it different than the OS ? ).
Edit: Check done. /dev/sdb

BitJam · posted: 2013-04-30 09:16

nadir wrote:I am not sure why that matters. Isn't the point of using Unetbootin that it will use any dev? I never had to tell unetbootin if card or stick is sdc or sdb or sdd or whatever.

As I tried to explain to RC, the error message you got with the option to poweroff or reboot is a message I wrote. That means I am the one who will have to fix the problem. Unetbootin did its job but then I dropped the ball.

I never experienced a stick or card being called anything but /dev/sd*, hence couldn't even think of it

Some SDcards show up as /dev/mmcblk*. If SDcards plugged into your internal reader were assigned to a device name like this then my program would not have searched them to find the /antiX/linuxfs file.

Check done. /dev/sdb

Well that's too bad. I was hoping that by simply adding /dev/mmcblk* to the list of devices I check would fix the problem.

Ah, I have a guess as to what is wrong. I bet the internal SDcard reader is not on a usb bus. By default we only check usb devices and cdroms and dvds. This prevents us from mounting all the internal hard drive partitions looking for the /antiX/linuxfs file. All that mouting is very rude IMO because it can screw up the last-mount times since we don't have a working clock so early in the boot process. If there are other installs on those partitions then the screwed up last-mount times can cause a bunch of spurious error messages when booting those other installs.

If you add the boot parameter"from=hd" then we will look at internal drives. Give that a try. If you want us to check everywhere, use either"from=all" or"from=usb,hd,cd".

Whether that works or not, assuming an SDcard plugged into the internal reader is /dev/sdb then I would like to see the output of:

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udevadm info -a -p $(udevadm info -q path -n /dev/sdb)

It might be a little long so maybe it would be best to send it to me in a private message.

Another solution is to add a partition label to your SCcard and then use the boot parameter"blab=$LABEL". If you are lucky it might already be labeled. You can do an"ls -l /dev/disk/by-label" to see. If it is not already labeled then the easiest way to add a label is to run the gparted program (as root). Open up /dev/sdb (upper right hand corner of the gparted window) and then right-click on the first partition. There should be an option to change the label. If you change the label to"antiXLive" then you would use the boot parameter"blab=antiXLive". You may still need to set"from=hd" but by using a label you prevent us from mounting any of your other internal partitions.

You could also use the uuid of the partition using"buuid=$UUID". Every partition already has a uuid so you don't have to add one. The downside is they tend to be long and random so they are a pain to type in.