SOHO BETA4-4.1 bug reports and observations

[vector]

I have just put up  a new set  of iso's for testing. These are based on kde4.4.1 which was the latest release. I also had to update/rebuild about 100 packages so everything would work correctly. I have tested the boot CD on every machine I could get my hands on so hopefully this boots for everyone. So everyone jump in and test this I think we are getting close to the rc stage then we can smooth out the wrinkles for a final release. We have a new openoffice.org that JohnB316 was kind enough to do and spellcheck works correctly other functions need testing tho. If you have a camera could someone please test out Digikam which was one of the major rebuilds. Guess thats it............here are the iso's:
http://vectorlinux.osuosl.org/veclinux-6.0/iso-test/VL6.0-SOHO-B4.4.1.iso
http://vectorlinux.osuosl.org/veclinux-6.0/iso-test/VL6.0-SOHO-B4.4.1-CD2.iso
I may do deltas a bit later but again I don't think there will be a big savings do to the amount of changes.
Happy testing,

Vec

ps here are the md5sums:
http://vectorlinux.osuosl.org/veclinux-6.0/iso-test/VL6.0-SOHO-B4.4.1.md5sum
http://vectorlinux.osuosl.org/veclinux-6.0/iso-test/VL6.0-SOHO-B4.4.1-CD2.md5sum

[retired1af]

Gonna take about 4-5 hours to get both ISOs. First one is already in progress. Will get it installed later tonight and report back.

[TLM]

Install of 441 went without a hitch using the graphical installer. Machine specs as follows:
Biostar K8VGA-M Motherboard-via chipset
AMD Athlon 64 3400+
2 gig DDR
250 Seagate SATA
GeForce FX5200 Nvidia
M$ Wireless Mouse
GearHead PS2 KB
15" Vison LCD Flatpanel
Floppy Drive
LiteOn DVD Burner

Upon second boot the wicd states that the wicd daemon had stopped, and shows status in the tray as Not Connected, even tho I am actually connected (typing on it right now). KNEMO shows connected. What happend to the other icon themes in KNEMO? Don't really care for the text theme.

MAJOR problems mounting partitions. My partition table is as follows:
sda1-XP
sda2-WIn7 Beta (yes mine still works)
sda3-extended
sda5-VL Classic
sda6-Swap
sda7-ISpup431 (custom remaster of PuppyLinux)
sda8-FAT32 storage
sda9-VL SOHO 4.41
sda10-PCLinuxOS 2009.2
sda11-ZorinOS
sda12-JavanOS (another custom PuppyLinux)
sda13-PCLinuxOS2010 Beta1
sda14-FAT32 storage

I went into VASM and told it one by one to mount each of these at boot time. However after rebooting they still do not appear in Dolphin. I can find the folders in /mnt except for sda14 which is in /mnt/win. sda8 is nowhere to be found. I can access all my files by opening the folders in /mnt, however shouldn't they automatically appear in the left hand pane of Dolphin without my having to add them as a place?

Still a very annoying batch of .pcf fonts in the fonts directory, and not as many useful fonts as would be expected. I am not saying PCLinuxOS is better, but one should check out the selection of fonts in the PCLinuxOS 2010 Beta release.

Firefox is still 3.5.7, even tho 3.6 is available. However 3.6 has been known to break the jre (Java) unless update 18 is installed. Do not know if that would be the problem in VL or not.

Flash 10.0 r32? That is rather outdated.

Installation went smooth. Desktop seems snappy. But issues persist....using VL Classic for now, and PCLinuxOS when I want KDE4. Will use VL for my KDE4 when the time comes.

[toothandnail]

  Announcement came at the wrong time for me (the middle of the night on one of the nights I acctually get to sleep instead of work). Now I've got a 12 hour shift to go before I can even download the isos.

Oh well, tomorrow (my time) I may get to try installing it....

Paul.

[TLM]

OK, just updated Firefox to 3.6.2 and it did not break anything that I can tell. Java still works and flash still works.

Also I have not had any more issues with the wicd daemon stopping.

[TLM]

Just logged in as a normal user instead of root. It is still asking for root password to start wicd everytime. Very annoying.

[monfen]

Hello!
I am new with the Linux world and in the last two weeks I have tested for a while Ubuntu 9.10, Linux Mint 8 (Main and Fluxbox), PCLinuxOS 2010 beta2, Sabayon 5.2, Fedora 12 and PC-BSD 8.0.
Yesterday, I read in Wiki ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Linux_distributions#Slackware-based ) that Vector Linux is based on Slackware and that Vector Linux is "A lightweight distribution designed to be easy to use even for new users. Generally considered well-suited for older hardware" and I liked that very much, because I have heard that Slackware is the oldest and one of the most stable and secure Linux Distributions available but hard to install and not appropriate to new users.
I took a look at the download section on your site and decided to download and install the VL 6.0 Standard Edition Gold or VL 6.0 Kde-Classic Edition. I installed the Standard Edition and was very surprised with the comprehensive and easy to use Vector Installer! Really Great Work!!! The Experience with the already installed VL was amazing!
But, today, early in the morning I wanted to search for a new version and found on the first page link to the forum and there I saw this article and the annoncement of the BETA4-4.1 version of VL SOHO and I decided to test it, too.
And this time, believe me or not, I was happier to see that the Vector Installer has become even more beautiful and updated.
After the installation process of the two CDs I finally entered into the magical world of the SOHO Family!
I was very pleased to see how many usefull and important programs and games have been already installed!!!
I LOVED THAT VERY MUCH!!!
And the dessert- my system was still fast, stable and beautifull!!!
I am very happy that I finally found your Vector Linux OS and think It is one of the best distributions available today and the best for me and my PC.
Thank You and All the people behind this project! Your work is amazing and unique!!! Keep it that way!

PS: I wish the two iso files turn into one bigger and then to write it on my 2 GB flash drive with Unetbootin and to install VL from it, using no CDs and not being afraid of the dust and the scratches on the surface of the disks.
The installation is even faster.

[MikeCindi]

I've not had problems with installing and that is still the case. I did try a different method which is much faster for me. I booted with the CD but then selected the iso image on my HD (a different drive/partition than the one I'm loading VL onto). Using an image was the "standard" way for me to install but I had not done this yet with any of the SOHO testing.

Now KDE automounts my USB drive (ntfs) and flash stick (fat32).

Wicd still asks for a root password on startup. While I rarely have to reboot this is annoying.

At this point, for me, there would be only one other issue (but I'll keep trying ) which is cosmetic. During the boot process the text is not centered within the graphic frame (I don't like the progress bar look so I remove the appropriate line in lilo). It is centered during the install process on the first reboot but not on subsequent boots.

[caieng]

 

Considerably improved!

Still has a couple of problems with the installer, however, good progress has been made.

Disk now boots up in all three test machines.  Good.

Installation HALTS with the oldest of the three test machines:  IBM thinkpad a21.  This machine is not the easiest to work with.  It does run xp well, after upgrade to 512 mbytes memory.  It also dual boots very well with Vector Lite 6.0, though the install was not effortless.  Current problem:  reach the Install screen, but then message (pressing Escape key) indicates difficulty finding stable clock source, whereupon system kicks out cdrom and reboots.

Situation is rather different with machine 2, also a Celeron 800, with bus 100 MHz, 512 Mbytes SDRAM.  This desktop computer uses a Via chipset PLE 133, Trident video controller, SATA hard drive.  Boots fine.  Installation commences:  hurrah!  That is progress, compared with earlier beta releases.

However, a problem develops immediately after the first install screen, when the message states that it cannot locate the installation medium!!!!  Wow.  The installer asks me to tell it where the cdrom is located....Hmm.  very strange....This machine has had both Slackware 13.0, and Vector lite 6.0 installed upon it, in the past, and currently has Puppy linux 4.3 running, all of them with no problems during the installation procedure.

Machine 3, another oldie but goodie, also 10 years old, PIII at 1.13GHZ, 512 mbytes SDRAM, S3 video controller, SATA hard drive.  Runs both xp and slackware 13.0 with kde 4.2.4 without problems.
Previously, this machine would not boot Vector SOHO beta xxx, then, with beta 4.1 it would boot, but not install.

Today, finally, the installation proceeded, quasi normally.  Hurrah.  Unlike machine 2, this time, the program experienced no difficulty locating the installation medium.  However, upon reaching the end of the first disk, I chose the option to conclude without installing disk 2, and perhaps that may be part of the subsequent problems:::?

Strangely, at least to me, strange, the installer asks the user whether or not to install Grub or Lilo.  Well, that's not the strange part, at least not to me.  The strange part is this:  If I choose Grub, then, the video resolution is available at 1024 x 768, but that resolution disappears, replaced with "Bootsplash high", upon choosing Lilo?  What in the world is that?  Why should the screen resolution depend upon the boot loader?  Even more peculiar, and in my opinion, DANGEROUS, the ONLY choice for Grub is installation to the MBR.  Wow.  Disaster.  So, I chose LILO, and took a stab at "Bootsplash Extra high", which, turns out to be 1280 x 1024, i.e. that's fine.

So, then what happened?  Ok, well, the bad news is that after completing the entire installation procedure, I rebooted, having removed the disk of course, and the login screen appeared.  Now, I don't like login screens, users, roots, etc, etc....BUT, most distros require a user and root both with passwords.  Here, I did assign a password to root, because the installation software insisted upon it.  I also created a user, (a single letter), and omitted any password.

Umm, so, when I reached the obnoxious login screen, (obnoxious only because I don't want to have to login as I did forty years ago, this is a SINGLE user SOHO environment of 2010), I entered the single letter corresponding to the user I had created.  I hit carriage return (Enter key for those who grew up in an era when typewriters had become obsolete--I still remember the absolute joy upon using for the first time an ELECTRIC typewriter, wow, so much easier!) and nothing happened.  ZIlch, nada.  Zero de conduite. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zéro_de_conduite)

So, I resorted to logging in, with a sigh, as bloody root.  OOPS.  I received an error message informing me that login as ROOT is disallowed.  

Now that's a first.  I never before encountered that message from any UNIX system I have ever used, going back to the late 70's, which prohibited logging in as root.

So, there remain some problems with the installation software.  Hope this helps, because there certainly has been a marked improvement since February....

Regards,
CAI ENG

[retired1af]

Took two installations to get it right, but it's up and running on the notebook.

First time around, when it came time to select the system options for x.org, I decided to manually set it. Ugh! On reboot, it decided to hang at hald. Rebooted. Then it decided to hang at rc.x - Going to multiuser GUI mode. **sigh** Reboot. Hangs at the same place. Reboot -> Reinstall with auto configuration. Success....

Extreme irritant #1. There is no option to input additional commands when you're setting up LILO or GRUB. I MUST have a "rootdelay= " on bootup, or the USB drive isn't detected and I get a kernel panic. There's no option I can see to input that during the installation using the GUI Installer.  And since it completely wiped out all my other LILO options on the Standard installation, I have to use the CD to do that first boot in order to get up and running.

And yes, requiring the root password for wicd is a pain as well. Hopefully it will remember it this time. We'll see on the reboot.

Now to refiddle the settings to get things back to the way I like 'em. Will report back later.

[retired1af]

**sigh** Not sure what's changed between the two beta's, but I'm having all sorts of issues to get this version to boot properly.

Before rebooting after the very first restart, I went into VASM and added my rootdelay option. Restarted the notebook and got an error regarding boot options and a kernal panic. Hmmmm.. Maybe I made a typo? Booted from the CD again, checked lilo.conf. Nope. append = " rootdelay=10". Perfect says I. Reboot.

Now I'm getting a LILO error 9A flashing across the screen. GAH! Reboot from the CD. Triple check lilo.conf. It's good. Ensure I write it to the boot sector of /dev/sdb. Reboot. Error 9A again. **sigh** Look up what 9A is.. 9A no second stage loader signature (LILO). **banging head on desk**

And wicd still isn't remembering the root password when I tell it to do so.

Daylight's a wastin' outside and I have fencing to get up, so I'll approach this again later this evening.

[TLM]

caieng,
If you are having problems logging in as root, this can all be managed by editing the kdmrc file. It is stored in various locations on different distros, use the Search function to find it. You need to set the Allow Root Login value to true. You can even modify it to log root in automatically, tho that is not recommended. The only problem you might have is that you will need permissions to modify your kdmrc file, so it must be done as root, or if you have a live boot distro or other Linux installed on your HD, you can access and modify the kdmrc of another distro by simply browsing to its location on the target partition. I have cleared up many annoyances with log in/out issues this way. Hope this helps.

[caieng]

Thanks TLM, I will try using a live distro, but, holy cow, why shouldn't that be set to TRUE, as the default?  And, more to the point, why was I unable to login as the single letter user with no password?

To my way of thinking, a good installer for SOHO, (I don't mean for a server, or even for "general usage" Linux), ought to ASK the user if he wishes to proceed with multiuser access to this computer, or proceed with the DEFAULT, which then would be SINGLE USER, hence, no need for the 1960's era, half a century old notions regarding permissions, logins, roots, users, etc, etc, ad nauseum.  SOHO:  acronym for Small Office Home Office, but we can also write:  Single One person Home Office!!!!

CAI ENG.

[retired1af]

Thanks TLM, I will try using a live distro, but, holy cow, why shouldn't that be set to TRUE, as the default?  And, more to the point, why was I unable to login as the single letter user with no password?

To my way of thinking, a good installer for SOHO, (I don't mean for a server, or even for "general usage" Linux), ought to ASK the user if he wishes to proceed with multiuser access to this computer, or proceed with the DEFAULT, which then would be SINGLE USER, hence, no need for the 1960's era, half a century old notions regarding permissions, logins, roots, users, etc, etc, ad nauseum.  SOHO:  acronym for Small Office Home Office, but we can also write:  Single One person Home Office!!!!

CAI ENG.

Single user installations (in other words, install the user as root) is one of the primary reasons why Windows has so many security issues. If Windows had adopted a similar stance regarding security and permissions, I don't think we'd see the issues the OS has as far as security is concerned.

Adopting a Windows standard for Linux would open up more issues than it fixes. You can set up a user login that doesn't require a password, but root should remain a completely separate login that does require a password. And if you really feel that strongly about it, you could always set the user with root permissions, although that's not something I'd recommend for anyone.

[TLM]

caing,

During setup, you had to provide a user account and password. You must use this password to login unless you enable logins with no passwords. This can be done in the Settings from the menu. Click on the Advanced tab and select Login Manager, and then select the Users and Convenience settings. HOWEVER, you must be logged in as root to make changes to the login manager. You can also achieve these same settings by altering the appropriate lines of the kdmrc file. The other method just lets you do it via the GUI as opposed to manually editing a text file.

I think you can log in to the GUI as root, by first logging into Text mode (cli) which should be in your LILO choices, unless you have deleted it. Once you are logged in to a prompt, see if you can type startx to launch the KDE environment, after which time you will be able to access the Login Manager as described above. Although if you can successfully edit your kdmrc first, then that should let you login as root as well.

Basically two methods of achieving the same result. Edit the kdmrc, or use the Login Manager settings under System Settings.