Install antiX 13-core (xorg and openchrome from Wheezy)

eugen-b · posted: 2015-10-16 23:07

Hello,
I'm considering to install antiX on my infamous Via VX800 thin client. Yeah, I hear your sighs and see your heads shaking, but it won't help getting rid of me. __{{emoticon}}__ __{{emoticon}}__
So, this machines only is able to display proper resolution when the openchrome video driver is able to work. I found out by extensive testing that I need an xorg-core version <1.13.0 AND openchrome version < 0.3.0 in order to make my GPU work. Yes, I even tested a case of Porteus 2.1 which has xorg-core 1.12.. and openchrome 0.3.. and the graphics didn't work. Using vesa is not a long term option for me, because it can only display a resolution of 1024x768 and openchrome can display 1366x768.
I got the idea now to install antiX-15-V_386-core-libre.iso and then change sources list so I can install with forcing version from Wheezy, because the xorg and openchrome versions from Jessie wouldn't run.
Is it a viable way?
Or schould I better install antiX 13.2 or 13.1 core and use the Wheezy repo where other packages are compatible with xorg 1.12?
Thank you for taking time reading my post and I hope you can help me!
eugen-b

fatmac · posted: 2015-10-17 09:40

Probably best to use 13.2/Wheezy if indeed you need Wheezy packages to get what you want/need.
(I don't think Jessie & Wheezy play nice.)

rokytnji · posted: 2015-10-17 13:31

You did not mention your new requirements/druthers when I posted this

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But since you are limited in using vesa to give you any resolution you wish

Using vesa is not a long term option for me, because it can only display a resolution of 1024x768 and openchrome can display 1366x768.

my example where I ran vesa on a 23 inch LCD just fine and dandy with a larger resolution than 1024x768 but maybe that thin client VIA chip is just picky picky compared to what I was using.

used smxi in AntiX to generate that / etc/X11/xorg.conf file when I installed the vesa driver using smxi. Uninstalling the the open source driver first (like your open-chrome), then letting smxi install vesa.

Yeah, run 13.2 because the new xorg in AntiX 15 and the Open chrome/Sis/Savage driver developer don't seem to communicate or party well together anymore. Though I do not know how possible it is to down grade xorg in AntiX 15 and apt-pin that and then install the Open-Chrome driver from

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or,

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skidoo · posted: 2015-10-17 21:08

reading this might be useful to you

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eugen-b · posted: 2015-10-18 09:43

Thank you, guys!
@fatmac: That's what I'm thinking, too. I would stick with Wheezy, which is a very satisfactory system with antiX/MEPIS repos. I only wanted to know whethter it is possible to keep xorg block while moving on with other packages.
@skidoo: I remember that when I opened that page half a year ago it was an information overkill. I read it many times after that, but maybe now is the time to read it again. I tried once to compile the proprietary driver, but failed with too many errors. It looks like the code was for older compiler and many functions are deprecated.
@rokytnji: I don't understand how this particular xorg.conf is supposed to change resolution with vesa. When I boot with vesa (no need to remove other drivers, they are just not loaded when 'vesa' is set in xorg.conf) I get 3 resolutions to choose best of which is 1024x768.

I installed antiX 13.2 for a test drive. But the system was read-only after install. Maybe because I chose btrfs. I'll try with ext4. I also test-installed livarp just for fun. Cool French design, but xcompmgr doesn't run smoothly. (I know that compton runs ok with 'xrandr' backend but sluggish with 'glx' backend. I guess, xcompmgr rund son 'glx' backend.) It is also a bit too over-customized with many additional scripts making it anything but KISS.
So, will install antiX 13.x on ext4 (convert to btrfs later) and see how I can add an openbox session, or install openbox from scratch on core ISO.

fatmac · posted: 2015-10-18 11:34

Fluxbox is similar to Openbox in usage & is included, just change window manager from the menu.
If you do want Openbox, just apt-get update & update install openbox, but likely you will have to manually update the menus when adding extra software.
(You could even consider starting from 13.1 base, fluxbox with less software pre installed.)

eugen-b · posted: 2015-10-18 12:05

fatmac wrote:Fluxbox is similar to Openbox in usage & is included, just change window manager from the menu.
If you do want Openbox, just apt-get update & update install openbox, but likely you will have to manually update the menus when adding extra software.
(You could even consider starting from 13.1 base, fluxbox with less software pre installed.)

Yeah, I recently played with Openbox and found it nice. Fluxbox was a bit more difficult to understand. Do you know by chance, if it is possible to make the Fluxbox panel thicker and show the window buttons as icons without text? I managed to do this with tint2 and I liked the result: __{{emoticon}}__

Base ISO is a good idea, I also tend to it. It would be almost too simple to install LXDE with MX Package Installer (perhaps I need to install it on antiX first) and then use Openbox session.

skidoo · posted: 2015-10-18 14:21

You can peek here to see the configurable details for fluxbox
/usr/share/fluxbox/styles/*/theme.cfg

Yes, the toolbar panel can be set to omit text and just display click tiles for applications.
You would edit ~/.fluxbox/init and
session.screen0.toolbar.height
session.screen0.iconbar.mode (this setting is accessible via desktop context menu)

This page shows an example of fluxbox toolbar set to display at left-side instead of bottom

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eugen-b · posted: 2015-10-18 15:16

Thanks, skidoo! Much appreciated! I'll definitely give antiX 13.x a try at least on the CF card.

I'm also thinking about about simply installing LXDE with metapackage installer and using Openbox session. But having the chance to test to test other window managers in antiX is a temptation.

eugen-b · posted: 2015-10-19 10:04

I installed antix 13.2 full, tweaked Fluxbox a bit. The system is a bit laggy, I'll check partition alignment an other stuff. You can move the topic to antiX 13.4, because i is mostly about it.

eugen-b · posted: 2015-10-21 18:02

I played a bit more with Fluxbox, adapted the root theme to the user theme, but I wasn't able to adjust the iconbar to my liking. Maybe I should use a dock instead. Here is a link to the screenshot post43549.html#p43549

I installed an Openbox session on my MX-14 install. I clearly prefer Openbox for the moment, but I won't delete antiX 13.2; when I get tired of the other system I would come back to this. The link to my Openbox screenshot:
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eugen-b · posted: 2015-11-17 15:11

Reviving my old thread. I got a bit encouraged through my antiX 15 core install on the netbook, so I decided to try a antix 13 core install on my VIA thin client.
Maybe I shoud also have chosen to install task-lxde-desktop instead of installing task-desktop and several openbox parts. It is a bit of a PITA to find out what is missing on a custom install.
I'm in an easy position to have an SSD with MX-14 on the same machine, from there I downloaded firmware-ralink and ceni and copied it to the CF card where I'm installing antiX 13. I also colpied the Liquorix kernel 4.3-0 package, then installed the stuff with dpkg.
Then there were problems with Synaptic not starting, I needed to install a policy kit, but lxpolkit wasn't enough, so installed gnome-polkit and it is working.
Now I'm having trouble to add MEPIS GPG keys. I did

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$ gpg --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-key 81E77EAF14E225A0
$ gpg --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-key 0CA321713B07EE13

but I cannot export them with

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root@VIAntiX:/home/eugen# gpg -a --export 3B07EE13  | apt-key add -
gpg: WARNUNG: Nichts exportiert
gpg: Keine gültigen OpenPGP-Daten gefunden.
root@VIAntiX:/home/eugen# gpg -a --export 14E225A0  | apt-key add -
gpg: WARNUNG: Nichts exportiert
gpg: Keine gültigen OpenPGP-Daten gefunden.

So I thought it might be a good idea to create an own PGP key. I did it and signed the recieved keys with my own private key. Nevertheless I'm getting the same errors when updating Synaptic, so s.th. must be missing. But what? __{{emoticon}}__

eugen-b · posted: 2015-11-17 17:02

Tried this:

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$ LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8 sudo apt-get install -f checkaptgpg
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  checkaptgpg
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 9 not upgraded.
Need to get 0 B/9,342 B of archives.
After this operation, 61.4 kB of additional disk space will be used.
WARNING: The following packages cannot be authenticated!
  checkaptgpg
Install these packages without verification [y/N]? y
Selecting previously unselected package checkaptgpg.
dpkg: unrecoverable fatal error, aborting:
 reading files list for package 'policykit-1-gnome': Input/output error
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (2)

Such problems with a net install let my respect for those who manage to create a distro grows even more...

eugen-b · posted: 2015-11-27 19:43

Took another try with antiX 13.1 core. I was able to install a Liquorix kernel from the other hard drive as well as wireless firmaware and ceni. Then I installed task-lxde-desktop. During the update process I somehow got"infected" with systemd. Maybe I should have changed the antiX repos, because the URL has changed to

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deb http://antix.daveserver.info/stable stable main

I'm having some issue:
- some apps like Synaptic or obconf don't start from menu, need to gmrun them gksu or without it.
- I only have Cancel and Logout in session logout dialog. I also cannot issue

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# shutdown now

, I get logged out but then asked to press Ctrl+D and the computer simply waits in terminal shell. Reboot command works however.

I see once again that I'm not experienced enough for a net install, because I don't know what a system really needs to run.
Would it be a good idea to install everything which is also installed on anodther LXDE distro? I have wattOS in a subvolume on the same machine. How can I easily get the list of installed packages?