VL-LIGHT Dev thread

[nightflier]

try changing xfe to $EXPLORER and then set the file manager in .bashrc

No.. that leaves an empty space. I'm playing with grep.. "set | grep BROWSER=" yields "BROWSER=pcmanfm".. I just need a way to get rid of the BROWSER= and pass the remaning info to the next step.

[uelsk8s]

how bout "explorer"  it should be there

[nightflier]

Heh, that's what fatigue does.. I meant "EXPLORER" 

Anyways, it's a new day and the coffee is starting to kick in!

[uelsk8s]

I know you mean EXPLORER, but there is a program called explorer. try that 

[nightflier]

I can't find any programs by that name. However, I came up with this syntax that works in a test script:

Code:

#!/bin/bash
EXPLORER=`set | grep EXPLORER= | sed 's/EXPLORER=//'`
echo $EXPLORER

It returns only the name of the executable, but I can't figure out how to inject it into the vl-hot script. Besides, that's Joe's baby, maybe he could audit it?

EDIT 1: I found "explorer" on my VL 5.8 box and copied it over. It works! 
EDIT 2: explorer does grab the EXPLORER variable when launched from xterm. Otherwise it defaults to the first one it can find on it's list of fallback programs, where xfe is listed. If I add pcmanfm before xfe, it uses that one. By using explorer and adding all the included file managers, there is a good chance that one of them will work even if the user changes his settings.

[uelsk8s]

VL5.9-Light-A2.3 is ready for download here: http://vectorlinux.osuosl.org/Uelsk8s/iso-test/VL5.9-Light-A2.3.iso 332mb
there are also some small deltas here: http://vectorlinux.osuosl.org/Uelsk8s/iso-test/
Thanks to some heavy work done by Nightflier we have a good looking and usable system.

additions kdm, gqview, gtkam, sdl, gtk-engines, and lots of other config fixes.
In the tests we have ran kdm uses more memory that xdm, until they load the desktop, and at that point their is no difference.
I am using 40mb ram here with kdm+fluxbox with desktop icons, and vl-hot handling auto mounting.

Thanks,
Uelsk8s

[nightflier]

Login managers:

I have also found that once logged in, there is almost no difference in memory usage between slim, xdm and kdm. I like kdm the best. Slim comes in last place. It's main selling point seems to be small installed size.

[Witek Mozga]

VL5.9-Light-A2.3 is ready for download here: http://vectorlinux.osuosl.org/Uelsk8s/iso-test/VL5.9-Light-A2.3.iso 332mb

When I try to login to 'Default session' nothing happens. Fluxbox and JWM are OK.

[uelsk8s]

KDM's 'Default session' is KDE since it is  not installed there it doesnt do anything.
we could disable it in the config so it doesnt show, but then it wouldnt work if anyone decided to install kde.

[lagagnon]

Great improvements to A2.3, still some very minor things:

1) during install of veclinux.tlz the install screen says "...of 948MB". It is more than that as it stays at 99% for some time while it installs the rest. The "SETUP.CONF" file on the ISO needs size editing I think...
2) fluxbox: place same desktop background as on JWM? Also fluxbox menu needs xine and hardinfo added
3) jwm: needs gqview added to menu
4) missing a PDF viewer - xpdf seems to have been removed and I couldn't find another - maybe I'm blind...
5) I like the mount CDROM icon, maybe we should add a mount FLOPPY icon as this might be installed on older computers. I wouldn't use it and it can be done from xfe anyways, but just a thought....

Larry

[nubcnubdo]

RE: VL 5.9 Light A2.3

My hard drive is nominally 6.4 GB, with a 400MB swap and df shows 35% disk usage, so 0.35 x 6000 = 2100 MB. So I calculate the size of the installation is 2.1 GB. If there is a better way to calculate this, let me know.

Suggestion: Instead of mounting just a single drive type (CD-ROM) with the Mount icon, why not scan all the storage devices, namely, optical drives, usb device, floppy drive. Or rather, clicking the Mount icon should present user with menu and user decides which device to mount by clicking on that devices icon.

CBC Radio stream plays okay in xine (from Run) and the MPlayer plugin (click provided link). (I guess that's the MPlayer plugin, anyway.)

XFE dragbar still inaccessible.

The black and blue skins selected for gmplayer and xmms are hard to read, especially on a dark desktop background. Particularly, the hardly visible Minimize-Maximize-Quit buttons in the upper right corner: dark gray on a black background. There is a "black hat" feel to this that is a little off-putting. I prefer function, good visibility and contrast over style.* In this case I would suggest light gray navigation buttons and panels for xmms and gmplayer, like in xine. The visibility issue will be critical for newbies: to learn how to use xine and gmplayer, a newbie must be able to easily see the controls.

*Take GoblinX for instance. Now that's an unattractive motif to look at...goblins. I would try GoblinX: it's Slackware-based, it's small, it's Brazilian. Rather than exemplifying sunny Brazil, the themes are macabre and ghoulish. I wouldnt wanna look at that as a steady diet, and I would wonder about the distro's proponents. This sort of death theater is not intended for mass appeal, to say the least.

Although I recall setting up a root account during installation, I can't access a root desktop as I might with VL Std. I login as root and get the login dialog again.

Good selection of apps, so far. VL Light is lookin good.

[Witek Mozga]

My hard drive is nominally 6.4 GB, with a 400MB swap and df shows 35% disk usage, so 0.35 x 6000 = 2100 MB. So I calculate the size of the installation is 2.1 GB. If there is a better way to calculate this, let me know.

1.7G on my machine, this is quite much as older machines usualy have small HD (I have a router on pentium2 with 1.6G drive for example)

I tried to analyze space used for directories
du -h (here path to mounted VLlight) | grep M | less 

I found among others:
/usr/doc takes 140M
/usr/lib/locale takes 236M
/usr/lib/qt-3.3.8/doc 25M
/usr/share/locale 106M
/usr/share/gtk-doc 40M

I guess these can be cut without harm to the system (total 547M)

Anyway I can`t help to say once again that creating a distro for older machines is an unfortunate idea as I cannot imagine anyone using such a machine for different usage as router/server. Xorg and GUI apps are useless on older hardware. Creating such a distro may be cool but it`s waste of time.

[Witek Mozga]

Although I recall setting up a root account during installation, I can't access a root desktop as I might with VL Std. I login as root and get the login dialog again.

You have to select session as flux or JWM (default sessioon doesn`t work)

[Sweet William]

[snip]
Anyway I can`t help to say once again that creating a distro for older machines is an unfortunate idea as I cannot imagine anyone using such a machine for different usage as router/server. Xorg and GUI apps are useless on older hardware. Creating such a distro may be cool but it`s waste of time.

Just what would you suggest we do with older computers? Land fill perhaps?

You guys are talking about a "Lite" version at 350MB. Maybe that is middle-weight but certainly not light. The target for a functional lite distro with an X desktop should be 100MB max (no dev tools of course). I have a hard time reconsiling the fact that Puppy Linux and VL are both derived from Slackware. Puppy weighs in at 50M to 80M and boots very much faster than VL (60sec against 150sec plus). The biggest problem with Puppy is it is not finished and never will be. The desktop of VL is smooth, polished, and consistent; Puppy is one very spotty dog. The only reason I'm comparing VL to Puppy is I'm using it until I get VL working the way I want.

Why don't the developers among you look at what Barry K. has done and flog some of his ideas. I have to say his ideas are good; it is just that he seems to lack the attention span to finish them off properly. At the moment the only way to make VL "fly" is a liberal application of $$ to the hardware factor of the equation.

Here is a quote from your own web site:

"VectorLinux is considered to be the fastest, non-source Linux distribution on the planet!"

Why not make that statement come true and you really will have a tremendous distro.

BTW just what is a "non-source Linux distribution"? I hope it isn't some sort of get out of jail free thing.

I like VL; I'd like to like it a whole lot more. How about it?
--

Sweet William

using VL-5.8-STD-GOLD

[rbistolfi]

Sweet William, VL is fast on my PIII @ 600 mhz, and is just amazing in my main desktop, which is a pretty decent computer for today standards. Many users report the same. Some people here is testing Light in a PII with 64mb, iirc. Less than that... I don't think the effort worth it.
If you put the dev tools on Pup you get a 200mb iso already. And if you "finish" it, you get the size of VL Light . Anyway this is a work in progress, and the size is not definitive.