Hi guys.

I hope it's ok me asking two different questions at once. If it's a problem or you'd prefer them separate then let me know.

Firstly, I'm trying to get my wife to use Antix. She's stayed away from the computer since I moved from Windows XP to Linux. Just today she actually used the computer, but there were some things I had to"fix". When using Space FM, it worked well in general. But I couldn't see how to get the jpg icons to look like little snapshots of the image they contain. Now this works wonderfully well in Rox-Filer and I managed to work out how to get programs to open in my preferred applications (like having mp3's open in Guayadeque and getting .3pg video files open in MPlayer - although I don't know how to rotate some of the videos yet - maybe I have to make VLC the default video opener if it has that option). But since ROX-Filer is becoming the file manager of choice, I want it as a shortcut on the desktop. But when I go to /usr/bin, the rox-filer opener is a link to something else. Dragging it from that folder to the desktop gave an error message,

"move stopped"
"Renaming /usr/bin/rox-filer
Error: Permission denied"

I thought I read a guide that said to make a shortcut, you can drag such a file to the desktop and the shortcut would be made. I think I searched for"shortcut" on this forum and one piece of advice suggested that method. When I tried right-clicking in the desktop folder and selecting"New" and"Link" and typing in the target path of /usr/bin/rox-filer, a shortcut does appear, but when i click on it, it tells me to choose an application to open it.

So how do I make a shortcut for Rox-Filer?

The second question is shorter. Hopefullly in my signature, you see the specs of my machine and the version of antix I'm using. Is there a later version of antix I could or should be using? If there is, is there a way to install it without having to delete the files I have on my harddrive?

Thanks for any help you can give.
David

thumbnails in spacefm:
click"View" in spacefm toobar, then click"Preferences"
then tick the checkbox labeled"Show Thumbnails" then click"OK"

If dragging onto desktop isn't working for you, you could browse to /usr/share/applications (using rox-filer or using spaceFM) and
COPY /usr/share/applications/rox-filer.desktop (and/or any other .desktop files you want to add to your desktop)
then right-click the desktop and PASTE.

"I thought I read a guide that said to make a shortcut, you can drag such a file to the desktop and the shortcut would be made."
The default drag behavior for your file manager might need to be setup to match your expectations.
In spacefm: View}}Preferences}}Interface(tab) you'll find a selector for spacefm's default drag behavior.
In rox-filer: right-clicking a blank spot in the right-pane raises the preferences (er,"Options") dialog & you'll see a button linking to drag-n-drop settings.

As for which program opens which file(type), in the prefs for a given file manager you might find settings for"mime" and/or"preferred applications"...
...and, when you try to open a"yet-unknown" type of file, you're usually provided an option to"always use this program to open this filetype".

Thanks for taking the time to answer, Skidoo. I'll try them out when I get home.

If you don't mind, what did you think of the question about updating Antix in comparison to my system specs? Did you have any opinion on that?

Thanks again.

Go ahead and upgrade. Your specs are close to my IBM T23 laptop, though mine is a 1.2 GHZ processor.
If flashplayer breaks after upgrade. Just downgrade flashplayer.



^---- embedded YouTube-hosted video: https://www.youtube.com/K_O6A6tY_mM



after-updating-flash-does-not-work-anymore-t4860.html

A report is needed to see if your cpu has sse2 support for the latest adobe flashplayer that is pulled in on a dist-upgrade.

A report is needed to see what repos you are running. Remove any / in front of etc as the forum will say forbidden if you leave the / on.
It won't let you post. We know about this bug and live with it.

@hesedyahu, if your wife is coming from Windows XP then you should consider MX-14.4-non-pae instead of antiX. MX needs more resources but it might squeak by. MX uses the XFCE desktop environment and many people think the look and feel is similar to Windows XP. If you don't get hog tied by lack of resources (RAM mostly) then I think your wife would be more comfortable with MX. I've run MX on a machine with 512 Meg RAM and IIRC it was okay as long as I didn't try to do too much at once. Unfortunately the machine had problems with the video driver and could only run X at 800x600 (I think) which was too small for some of the programs.

Before committing to HDD install, you can test the newer antiX version (and/or MX-14) from a liveCD or liveUSB boot.
FWIW, the older antiX 13.2 contains a version of the linux kernel which seems snappier(?) on my hardware compared to newer kernels.
(This isn't specific to the kernel shipped with antiX. All linux kernel builds newer than v3.10 that I've tested have seemed 'less snappy')

Also, IIRC the browser is a"pre-australis UI" version of firefox/iceweasel (v24esr?), which I prefer
(save your breath, spare me the"gotta stay updated to stay secure" lecture)
because it too is 'snappier' compared to bloaty newer versions AND _all_ my installed, cherished, extensions are compatible with v24esr.

Geez, 512Mb ram. If the system can't physically accommodate additional RAM {hint: dirt-cheap on ebay}
regardless whether you upgrade O/S, check to ensure you've disabled all unnecessary startup services
and consider which of the"extra" components within the desktop environment (tray icons, etc.) you might forego in order to minimize the baseline ram overhead.

FYI: each"tray icon" (or panel-resident launcher, in xfce) adds an extra 1Mb to the session baseline RAM overhead.

All else aside, I'd encourage you to upgrade because the menuing system is greatly improved in newer antiX versions
and the"jessie" repository tracked by current antix contains many markedly improved (spacefm, etc.) software versions.

Thanks for your kindness in answering my questions.

If I were to update antix to the latest version (I think that's antix 15) or to MX14.4, would that format my harddrive? Or could I still keep the files that I have on the hard drive?

It will reformat your hard drive so you will need to save your files elsewhere.