topic title: Rolling my own
Posts: 1,081
OU812
Joined: 29 Sep 2007
#31
Hey, anti.

Would you please post a how-to on uninstalling apps? When do I use purge, autoremove, etc. How do I use grep (like you described that one day to help me remove rox)? What are your trade secrets?

Also, I think installing gnumeric and abiword brought in some unexpected depends such as evince. I think I can remove evince, but I was wondering if there's anything else I can remove?

Thanks!

john
Posts: 215
macondo
Joined: 14 Sep 2007
#32
OU812 wrote:Hey, anti.

Would you please post a how-to on uninstalling apps? When do I use purge, autoremove, etc.
The
========= SCRAPER REMOVED AN EMBEDDED LINK HERE ===========
url was:"http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/apt-howto/"
linktext was:"APT-HOWTO"
====================================
is my bible, especially section 7.

I use 'dpkg -P' (man dpkg) to purge packages, then debfoster and deborphan, also 'locate' to finish it up, 'apt-get clean' and finally 'apt-get autoremove'. And still have to eliminate some by hand with pcmanfm.
Posts: 1,081
OU812
Joined: 29 Sep 2007
#33
Installed gnormalize using steveo's package. So I also installed gdebi and the patched gksu package.

Package list is nearly complete - just some control center apps and perhaps xsane. Maybe im.

Cleaning up the icons in the control center and dealing with the layout. About to remove unwanted apps.

It's getting close.

john
Posts: 1,520
eriefisher
Joined: 07 Oct 2007
#34
What I usually do is use locate or something similar. After using all the apt tools I will:

Code: Select all

#updatedb
#locate <packagename>
Once I have a list of left over files I then one by one:

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rm <filename>
It can be a little tedious but you now your not wasting space on useless config files and docs. Once I think I removed everything I will again:

Code: Select all

#updatedb
#locate <packagename>
Just to make sure.
Posts: 1,081
OU812
Joined: 29 Sep 2007
#35
Thanks for the tips. I think I'll wait on the binge and purge project for a bit.

except for perhaps xsane and a couple of network apps, it looks like the application set is complete.

I'm working on the control center. It's got a different layout than antix. I really would like a localization button with options for keyboard and locale. I tried using the slitaz apps, but they didn't seem to work. The good news is that I got further with their apps than I did with puppy's. I think I'll continue to work on this problem for awhile longer.

john
Posts: 319
impuwat
Joined: 13 Sep 2007
#36
One of the slitaz apps that really grabbed my interest is"tazlito"....the ability to create a customized iso and therefore livecd based on your preferences. I haven't played with it yet to see how well it works but this is something I've been interested in for awhile. I think a similar feature for antiX would be super!
Posts: 319
impuwat
Joined: 13 Sep 2007
#37
Actually Zenwalk's LiveClone might be more of what I would like to see. Apparently it will save your personal information and customizations to a livecd. I have not tested it but Zenwalk's latest livecd ran flawlessly on this computer, (sound, network, etc.) which is an accomplishment. Might have to load it on a test machine and play around with LiveClone.
Posts: 1,081
OU812
Joined: 29 Sep 2007
#38
Change Log:
1. added ndisgtk and wpa_gui
2. added mountpy and luckybackup
3. added gtklp (printing) and xsane
4. new antixcc layout

To do:
1. remove unwanted apps and ob themes
2. add ob desktop icon apps from slitaz
3. clean up start menu
4. clean up right-click menu

Misc:
1. gnormalize seems a bit buggy - change your mp3 settings, change tabs, settings are gone. may replace with asunder, especially since it rips and encodes simultaneously. However, I would also want to include an app for converting formats. Possibly. Or replace audacity with rezound if it has some editing tools.
2. trying to decide on whether or not to include games. and which ones to include.

john

P.S. It's coming soon - perhaps by the end of june
Posts: 1,081
OU812
Joined: 29 Sep 2007
#39
Hello. I flirted with the testing repos and installed vlc. I'm not really happy with the qt version in testing. So here's what I'll do:

1. remove vlc
2. install streamtuner + aqualung as the music managers
3. install the gui for mplayer and use mplayer + gxine for video needs

john
Posts: 1,081
OU812
Joined: 29 Sep 2007
#40
Some nice new tools coming to lxde: lxinput for configuring mouse and keyboard and lxtask for a task manager. After some thought:

1. new control center layout.
2. installed lxde full (might need to remove a few). now users have a choice of lxde full and lxde light.
3. replaced thunderbird with claws and xpn.
4. will add the clipboard app used in latest antix - forgot the name.
5. fully updated packages.
6. still need to purge a few apps.
7. am thinking of installing xfe - got the idea from the vector linux light project which installed xfe and pcmanfm.

john
anticapitalista
Posts: 5,955
Site Admin
Joined: 11 Sep 2007
#41
Sounds like it is coming on well OU812.

I thought I had posted a sort of how to remaster help somewhere, but maybe not.

1. To reduce the size of the iso, you might want to remove all the files in /usr/share/doc or only keep ones that you know users will find useful.

2. In /usr/share/info only keep the dir file.

3. In /var folder remove the following

/var/lib/dpkg the .old files
/var/lib/apt/lists/ all the files, but not the partial folder

4. You may want to limit the locales to a few languages. Install localepurge, reconfigure locales to the ones you want users to use and then localepurge will remove unwanted language files (this can save quite a lot of MBs, but localepurge is pretty aggresssive)

5. Use deborphan to remove unused files. See knoppix for help:


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url was:"http://www.knoppix.net/wiki/Knoppix_Remastering_Howto"
linktext was:"http://www.knoppix.net/wiki/Knoppix_Remastering_Howto"
====================================
" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false

Can't wait to try out your remaster
Posts: 1,081
OU812
Joined: 29 Sep 2007
#42
Thanks for the help; I will be referring to your posts frequently as I finish both the xfce and lxde versions.

I resisted installing lxde for the longest time thinking that my"light" version would be almost the same anyway; it turns out I was wrong. For example, it looks like I can have different wallpapers and icon sets. I can also have customize lxpanel differently for each environment. I'm not sure how far I can go with the different customizations, but I can also have different startup apps run. I'll see how far I can go with it. One nice thing is that it's easy to tell which environment you're in since the menu start buttons are different.

1. added conky to lxde startup (took some searching for this)
2. edited lxpanel so that lxde uses lxde-logout to logout of the session and openbox uses exitantix to logout (joined the forums for this trick)
3. trying to decide if I should keep lxde's terminal and pic browser. they are both lightweight and do things a bit differently than the apps already installed, so it's a tough choice. will more than likely keep the pic viewer since it is fun to use.

Next week is the last week of school. I'm done writing the exams and I'm almost finished grading. I'm finished teaching - just reviewing now. Even still, at night it's about the family. So about two more weeks.

john
Posts: 1,081
OU812
Joined: 29 Sep 2007
#43
It seems that there are two mepis respins that are similar to what I'm doing: lxde and xfce. Both are available at the mepis forums. So, I think I'll go back to my original vision for my respin of antix:

1. Based on stable repos
2. openbox + lxpanel
3. fluxbox + lxpanel
4. pcmanfm manages the desktop (if I can get it to play nicely with fluxbox)

I may still need to install lxde since there may be some common components that I could use - I'll install it and then strip out the parts I don't need, which are mostly gdm and lxsession.

I would like to be able to have removable devices show up on the desktop, but I don't know how. I read some posts at lxde that focused on hal, but some of the links to other scripts were dead. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

john
Posts: 1,139
masinick
Joined: 26 Apr 2008
#44
I have seen the mention of those respins. Other than Danum's respin, I have not gotten to the others. I have not really been reading the threads closely. If they add some art work and some collection of specific packages for specific reasons, then there are reasons to grab the respins, but if it is just a matter of installing LXDE, XFCE, or whatever it may be, heck, a lot of us do that already.

In the case of what you come up with I know that there is quite a bit of thought going behind it (I am not intimating one way or the other on the respins announced at MEPIS Lovers - I know Danum has GREAT stuff with his KDE respin, and we have a lot of great people in this greater community, so if I had to guess, the other respins are probably very good too).

I do especially look forward to your respin; your contributions to anticapitalista's work were immediately and positively noticed and recognized. The art work that Impuwat, Sakasa, and others have contributed and the great localization work has been really excellent. I love this community.

I'll be very much looking forward to testing your respin, John, regardless of which environment you ultimately decide to use. I may test some of the other MEPIS community respins too, but other than SimplyMEPIS and antiX, yours gets next priority on my list! Good luck with it!
Posts: 1,081
OU812
Joined: 29 Sep 2007
#45
I found some ubuntu thread and now I finally have a clearer vision for my antix - Bandito Linux. Here it is:

1. stable repos (with perhaps some apps from testing and unstable)
2. a slightly different set of apps
3. lxde as default environment for robust systems
4. openbox + fbpanel for a lighter environment (with a couple of mods to make it as functional as lxde)
5. slightly modified control center
6. different look to desktops
7. boot splash
8. if I can, I would like to find a way to have icons on the desktop for mountable and usb devices

There may be some changes coming up related to #8. I like using pcmanfm to manage the desktop, but it is very limited with the icons - it doesn't look as though you can move the icons or change their size. So perhaps rox or idesk may be better choices. But again, it also ties in with #8.

I still need up to week to put some finishing touches on what I have so far and to figure out the remaster script. Changes relating to #8 will wait until later releases. So I will concentrate on polishing what I have now.

john