tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-124287822024-03-16T16:56:22.123-04:00Brian Masinick BlogI an a retired software enthusiast. I enjoy operating systems and user interfaces. These are some things I did before I retired: compile kernels, though I have not modified one. I would often test systems, especially their installation, configuration, and initial usage. My goals were to help systems to become easier to install and use every day.Brian Masinickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06328692313376102421noreply@blogger.comBlogger226125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12428782.post-42219118672158247142024-03-16T16:55:00.002-04:002024-03-16T16:55:32.649-04:00Popcorn, UNIX brain storming, System V, BSD, then Linux!<p> <span style="background-color: #f2f2e0; color: #3a3a3a; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 14px;">Glad there are a few people who can see my blog. Maybe it’s time to write something recent and current on it.</span></p><p style="background-color: #f2f2e0; border: 0px; color: #3a3a3a; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px;">As far as writing, not only have I written a few blogs, over twenty years ago I was published a few times. Extreme Tech had a Linux distribution review series for a while back in the early 2000s and I wrote for them twice. I think I also wrote a few articles in Linux Review and maybe one or two elsewhere.</p><p style="background-color: #f2f2e0; border: 0px; color: #3a3a3a; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px;">My longtime friend, dating clear back to 1985 in Merrimack, NH, Jon “maddog” Hall used to write books and magazine articles about Linux. The most recent article I read from him was only four years ago, so it’s possible that he STILL writes – this one was called “Maddog’s Doghouse @LinuxProMagazine.com. In fact, Jon specifically mentions “In 1986, I took a VAX computer with Ultrix-32 down to Richard Stallman so the GNU project could port its software to Ultrix”.</p><p style="background-color: #f2f2e0; border: 0px; color: #3a3a3a; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px;">Around that same time, Jon and I ran into one another several times in the afternoon next to the popcorn maker near a coffee station. There, we’d share our ideas. I happened to be a member of Digital’s Telecommunications Systems Engineering Group, and we would sponsor development groups to write device drivers for new PDP and VAX systems in order that AT&T divisions and spin-off companies could run genuine UNIX System V on Digital Equipment computers. John wanted to go further than that: he wanted to unify features from BSD based UNIX systems, which Ultrix-16, Ultrix-32m and Ultrix-32 were at the time; that vision resulted in Digital UNIX; we both worked in that organization in the middle nineties, but by that time, both of us realized that large server systems were on the way out, to be replaced by Intel and AMD hardware running Linux! Naturally that was NOT a popular point of view, because about $200-300 Million per year was invested in each of Digital’s operating system groups; layered software products also had significant product investments.</p><p style="background-color: #f2f2e0; border: 0px; color: #3a3a3a; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px;">It didn’t take very long; by the end of the first decade in 2000s, while UNIX wasn’t gone, it certainly was no longer bringing in a 20-30% or greater market. Even by 2000, many major companies, particularly IBM and Hewlett Packard, and later Dell, were bringing in 20-39% of their total server revenue from their Linux server business; desktop Linux never exceeded 1-2% ever, but when Google released Chrome at the beginning of the next decade, after making huge strides with their search engines in the early 2000s, that put Linux software squarely in both server and desktop configurations, though not always directly; Google stuff used Linux KERNEL components, not Linux-based window or desktop configurations.</p><p style="background-color: #f2f2e0; border: 0px; color: #3a3a3a; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px;">Today, we have all kinds of stuff that has either a UNIX or Linux derived kernel; Apple products use system kernels derived from BSD-based UNIX kernels. Google still uses parts of the Linux kernel in many of their products. Automation manufacturers and automotive applications often put UNIX or Linux derived components into their software firmware that goes into many of their devices. Software from both UNIX and Linux communities, and also Linux-like code even in real time systems, is much more common than it was twenty or more years ago. Why completely reinvent something when you can use or reuse it? Some companies that want to copy WITHOUT acknowledging or recognizing the original source CAN sometimes do that with a BSD-based license, whereas that is never possible with Linux – you CAN use it, but you MUST cite the Linux license, which is the sticking point and why it’s not used even more.</p><p style="background-color: #f2f2e0; border: 0px; color: #3a3a3a; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px;">I bring up the past and this history because all that is going on has evolved from the work that has taken place. The contested software licensing between 1984 and the period between 1989 and 1991 led to at LEAST four distinct branches that sought to protect themselves from AT&T or other expensive kernel licenses, which could be $3000 (on an individual small computer), or much more on larger servers at that time. With the cost of hardware plummeting, that was a major incentive to develop cooperative free licensed software. FreeBSD, NetBSD and OpenBSD were three BSD-based free approaches. Apple poached from parts of these; Linux, at nearly the same time, was written because those non-Microsoft licenses were prohibitive, as was Microsoft Xenix (the Unix license they once sold themselves). Torvolds couldn’t afford buying one; that’s what led him to write his initial simple kernel and share it.</p><p style="background-color: #f2f2e0; border: 0px; color: #3a3a3a; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px;">Hall became familiar with all of these activities and sought to get Digital much more involved; he pretty much did so without much help and it eventually happened; once HP bought Digital some of the big companies finally realized that Linux in almost any form could be profitable; the servers were still definitely the main money makers, but as Google helped others see, there are MANY different ways to make money; the best way is to get into as many of them as possible, which has clearly taken place.</p><p style="background-color: #f2f2e0; border: 0px; color: #3a3a3a; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px;">As for what we do, we carve our own niche; it’s not a money maker; it’s a money saver for those who are keeping old hardware alive.</p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Brian Masinick Blog at http://brianmasinick.blogspot.com/</div>Brian Masinickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06328692313376102421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12428782.post-51089102443695974112024-01-10T15:57:00.003-05:002024-01-10T15:57:23.393-05:00 Ungoogled Chromium<p> <b><u> Ungoogled Chromium</u></b></p><p><em style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1f2328; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", "Noto Sans", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji"; font-size: 16px;">"A lightweight approach to removing Google web service dependency"</em></p><h2 dir="auto" style="background-color: white; border-bottom: 1px solid var(--borderColor-muted, var(--color-border-muted)); box-sizing: border-box; color: #1f2328; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", "Noto Sans", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji"; font-weight: var(--base-text-weight-semibold, 600); line-height: 1.25; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-top: 24px; padding-bottom: 0.3em;" tabindex="-1">Objectives</h2><p dir="auto" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1f2328; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", "Noto Sans", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji"; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-top: 0px;">In descending order of significance (i.e. most important objective first):</p><p><em style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1f2328; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", "Noto Sans", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji"; font-size: 16px;"></em></p><ol dir="auto" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1f2328; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", "Noto Sans", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji"; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-top: 0px; padding-left: 2em;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: var(--base-text-weight-semibold, 600);">ungoogled-chromium is Google Chromium, sans dependency on Google web services</span>.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0.25em;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: var(--base-text-weight-semibold, 600);">ungoogled-chromium retains the default Chromium experience as closely as possible</span>. Unlike other Chromium forks that have their own visions of a web browser, ungoogled-chromium is essentially a drop-in replacement for Chromium.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0.25em;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: var(--base-text-weight-semibold, 600);">ungoogled-chromium features tweaks to enhance privacy, control, and transparency</span>. However, almost all of these features must be manually activated or enabled.</li></ol><div class="blogger-post-footer">Brian Masinick Blog at http://brianmasinick.blogspot.com/</div>Brian Masinickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06328692313376102421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12428782.post-42928264502023480142023-10-17T13:07:00.001-04:002023-10-17T13:07:28.445-04:00antiX 23 releases <p> The antiX project continues to grow and offer a variety of choices.</p><p>For the antiX 23 release, there are four distinct release choices:</p><p>1) <span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">antiX-full (c1.7GB) – 4 windows managers – IceWM (default), fluxbox, jwm and herbstluftwm plus full libreoffice suite. x64 versions come with 2 kernels. Legacy 5.10 and Modern 6.1.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">2) </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">antiX-base (c1GB) – 4 windows managers – IceWM (default), fluxbox, jwm and herbstluftwm.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">3) </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">antiX-core (c520MB) – no X, but should support most wireless.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">4) </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">antiX-net (c220MB)- no X. Just enough to get you connected (wired) and ready to build.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">These four choices have </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">iso files for sysVinit or runit.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">They are also available for 32-bit or 64-bit systems, so there are a total of sixteen images available.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;">Known issues.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;">IMPORTANT IF INSTALLING GRUB TO UEFI/ESP</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;">Before installing<br /><code style="border: 0px; font-family: Monaco, Consolas, "Andale Mono", "DejaVu Sans Mono", monospace; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">sudo apt update && sudo apt dist-upgrade</code><br />This will update the gui and cli installers and bring in missing efivar and efibootmgr</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;">Alternatively,<br /><code style="border: 0px; font-family: Monaco, Consolas, "Andale Mono", "DejaVu Sans Mono", monospace; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">sudo apt update && sudo apt install efivar efibootmgr</code></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;">antiX-23.1 will have this fixed</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;">On antiX-base versions:</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;">1. the browser may not open from the menu or toolbar/taskbar.<br />Fix: Open Control Centre > Preferred Applications > Web-browser > Select first SeaMonkey option > Apply</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;">2. ps_mem.py tool doesn’t open<br />Fix: sudo apt install python-is-python3</p><div>Also, The default repos for antiX and Debian are reported to be extremely slow.</div><div>Use Repo-Manager in full versions or manually edit /etc/apt/sources.list.d/antix.list to a more reliable one.</div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #3a3a3a; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 17px;"><br /></span></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Brian Masinick Blog at http://brianmasinick.blogspot.com/</div>Brian Masinickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06328692313376102421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12428782.post-49031933115222373382023-08-22T12:38:00.001-04:002023-08-22T12:38:29.884-04:00antiX 23 update<p> The antiX 23 distribution was originally planned to be released in August. The primary developer, anticapitalista works in education, and the months of August and September have been particularly busy for him personally, and there were also a few issues that he wanted to resolve before prematurely releasing antiX 23.</p><p>The "relative", MX Linux, had also experienced difficulties with the boot loader configuration, but their development team is larger and they overcame their issues and released Version 23.</p><p>I have no problems with either of these distributions. Both of them emphasize reliability over other concerns and are excellent examples of what freely available software can accomplish.</p><p>Both operate using Debian software packages for the majority of their programs, and they build their own configuration management and appearance tools, as well as their own packaged images. The results are predictable, stable software like Debian, with the added value of better appearance, forum support, and distinctive distribution "use cases" - specific things that work well. For MX Linux, it is the desktop, for antiX it is the leanest possible stable software.</p><p>It's well worth the wait!</p><p><br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Brian Masinick Blog at http://brianmasinick.blogspot.com/</div>Brian Masinickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06328692313376102421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12428782.post-10289615099959507602023-06-13T16:58:00.002-04:002023-06-13T16:58:25.890-04:00Distro: antiX-23-beta2-runit_x64-full Arditi del Popolo 11 June 2023<p> I'm now using the next update to the antiX 23 test image;</p><p>if all works out as expected, this version will be upgradeable to the final antiX 23 Arditi del Popolo release.</p><p>I've had no trouble at all during the testing cycle so I look forward to the release with patience and positive expectations.<br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Brian Masinick Blog at http://brianmasinick.blogspot.com/</div>Brian Masinickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06328692313376102421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12428782.post-31349130438394824512023-04-22T11:10:00.004-04:002023-04-22T11:10:40.824-04:00Distro: antiX-23-beta1-runit_x64-full Grup Yorum 21 March 2023<p> I've been testing the upcoming antiX 23 release for a few months.<br /><br />Typically this distribution puts out a new release when there is a<br />Debian release - definitely when there is a major Debian release change,<br />for example from Bullseye (Release 11) to Bookworm (Release 12).<br /><br />While the upcoming Debian release effort is going well, in typical<br />Debian style, though they have a release planned, and it's been on<br />their calendar for at least a year, the last I looked, they STILL did<br />not provide a projected final release date, so I'm not 100% certain if<br />the antiX 23 release will WAIT for Debian's eventual release, or if<br />it'll release as the functionality freeze sufficiently stabilizes the<br />software enough to make it practical for antiX to finalize their own<br />release, with or without a final Bookworm release date. Time will tell.<br />There are still minor issues to work out in both releases; I'm not sure<br />if any of them are considered release blockers for either release or<br />not. If I see anything definitive about those matters, I may get an<br />opportunity to write about it and check into it.</p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Brian Masinick Blog at http://brianmasinick.blogspot.com/</div>Brian Masinickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06328692313376102421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12428782.post-36241393257996184402023-02-18T11:55:00.004-05:002023-02-18T11:55:51.268-05:00antiX 22 wtih updater and icon manager<p><span style="font-family: arial;"> I've been working with a couple of different antiX distributions. My main one is antiX 22. The others are Legacy OS 2023 and antiX 23 Alpha 1.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Legacy OS 2023 is a stable, good looking, minimal and useful antiX alternative for older systems. As such it doesn't work with my newest system, my HP-14 laptop, but it's especially good on my old Lenovo X201 and my Dell Inspiron 5558.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">As for the updater, PPC, an antiX contributor, has written several useful tools using yad with either Bash, Python, or a combination of both. yad-updater, icewm-toolbar-manager, icewm-quick-personal-menu-manager, yad-touchpad, and FT10 are several of the tools written by PPC.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Brian Masinick Blog at http://brianmasinick.blogspot.com/</div>Brian Masinickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06328692313376102421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12428782.post-88104570304249976422023-02-05T10:41:00.003-05:002023-02-05T10:41:32.449-05:00antiX 23 Alpha 1<p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span> The
first build for this year's version of antiX, a lean, efficient
distribution, is available. The first build was generated using "<span class="ILfuVd" lang="en"><span class="hgKElc">runit (is) <b>an init
and service management scheme for Unix-like operating systems that
initializes, supervises, and ends processes throughout the operating
system</b>."</span></span></span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span class="ILfuVd" lang="en"><span class="hgKElc">"</span></span><span class="ILfuVd" lang="en"><span class="hgKElc"><span>Why use runit?</span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span class="ILfuVd" lang="en"><span class="hgKElc"><span class="ILfuVd" lang="en"><span class="hgKElc"><span>"</span></span></span>Runit's simple collection of tools can be used <b>to build flexible dependency structures and distributed systems, or blazing fast parallel runlevel changes</b> (including the initial boot)."</span></span></span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span class="ILfuVd" lang="en"><span class="hgKElc">Regarding antiX - "(from 2017)</span></span><span class="ILfuVd" lang="en"><span class="hgKElc">
</span></span></span></span></span></p><header aria-label="Content" class="entry-header">
<h1 class="entry-title" itemprop="headline"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>The Most Extensive Live-usb on the Planet!</span></span></span></h1> </header><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>
</span></span></span><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Back in 2009, the antiX devs foresaw that usb flash drives would be
the wave of the future for live Linux media. During the ensuing eight
years antiX has been refining their live-usb technology striving to
improve the live-usb experience and to find new and unique ways for
making use of fast read-write live boot media. During this same time usb
flash drives have got larger, more reliable, much cheaper, and much
much faster."</span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Regarding the new test image - </span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>"Just to give you a taste of where antiX-23 stands at the moment.</span></span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>
</span></span></span><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Do not use this on critical systems.<br />
The default Debian repos point to bookworm, but antiX ones to testing.<br />
This will change to bookworm once the Debian hard freeze begins.<br />
This is labelled an alpha as it will not be supported at all.<br />
It is only to help in testing, bug fixing etc.</span></span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>
</span></span></span><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Size of iso = approximately 1.6GB<br />
Includes 2 kernels – 4.19 legacy and 5.10 ‘modern’<br />
Defaults to zzz-IceWM ‘desktop’<br />
No ft10 transformaton pack, but PPC’s changes to zzzFM are included (eg trash option). Still single-click though.<br />
New wallpaper from Sakasa (thanks to roky for posting the links). I
reduced the size and made it smaller though since the original weighs in
at 9MB!"</span></span></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Brian Masinick Blog at http://brianmasinick.blogspot.com/</div>Brian Masinickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06328692313376102421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12428782.post-49087074850545843502023-01-26T23:00:00.000-05:002023-01-26T23:00:39.094-05:00Legacy OS 2023<p> I’m here on my old Thinkpad X201 with John’s adaptation of antiX called Legacy OS 2023.</p><pre><code>inxi -v4
System:
Host: LegacyOS Kernel: 5.10.57-antix.1-amd64-smp arch: x86_64 bits: 64
compiler: gcc v: 10.2.1 Desktop: IceWM v: 3.3.0 Distro: Legacyos-2023_x64
base: Debian GNU/Linux 11 (bullseye)
Machine:
Type: Laptop System: LENOVO product: 3249CTO v: ThinkPad X201
serial: <superuser required>
Mobo: LENOVO model: 3249CTO serial: <superuser required> BIOS: LENOVO
v: 6QET66WW (1.36 ) date: 05/31/2011
Battery:
ID-1: BAT0 charge: 78.1 Wh (98.5%) condition: 79.3/84.2 Wh (94.2%)
volts: 12.0 min: 10.8 model: Panasonic 42T4696 status: N/A
CPU:
Info: dual core model: Intel Core i7 M 620 bits: 64 type: MT MCP
arch: Westmere rev: 5 cache: L1: 128 KiB L2: 512 KiB L3: 4 MiB
Speed (MHz): avg: 1572 high: 1777 min/max: 1199/2667 boost: enabled cores:
1: 1413 2: 1469 3: 1777 4: 1632 bogomips: 21281
Flags: ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3
Graphics:
Device-1: Intel Core Processor Integrated Graphics vendor: Lenovo
driver: i915 v: kernel arch: Gen-5.75 bus-ID: 00:02.0
Device-2: Lenovo Integrated Webcam type: USB driver: uvcvideo
bus-ID: 1-1.6:4
Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.20.11 driver: X: loaded: intel dri: i965
gpu: i915 resolution: 1280x800~60Hz
API: OpenGL v: 2.1 Mesa 20.3.5 renderer: Mesa DRI Intel HD Graphics (ILK)
direct render: Yes
Network:
Device-1: Intel 82577LM Gigabit Network vendor: Lenovo driver: e1000e
v: kernel port: 1820 bus-ID: 00:19.0
IF: eth0 state: down mac: f0:de:f1:19:05:16
Device-2: Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel
bus-ID: 02:00.0
IF: wlan0 state: up mac: 00:24:d7:60:86:70
Drives:
Local Storage: total: 119.24 GiB used: 7.07 GiB (5.9%)
ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Toshiba model: THNS128GG4BAAA-NonFDE
size: 119.24 GiB
Partition:
ID-1: / size: 110.9 GiB used: 7.07 GiB (6.4%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1
ID-2: swap-1 size: 6 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda2
Info:
Processes: 172 Uptime: 19m Memory: 7.57 GiB used: 1.39 GiB (18.4%)
Init: SysVinit runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 10.2.1 Packages: 1920 Shell: Bash
v: 5.1.4 inxi: 3.3.24</code></pre><p></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Brian Masinick Blog at http://brianmasinick.blogspot.com/</div>Brian Masinickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06328692313376102421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12428782.post-12170043385196658552022-10-08T16:44:00.002-04:002022-10-08T16:44:36.868-04:00Xubuntu 20.04.5 LTS Live <p> </p><p> Running Xubuntu live:</p><p><br /></p><p></p><blockquote>inxi -b<br />System:<br /> Host: xubuntu Kernel: 5.15.0-46-generic x86_64 bits: 64 <br /> Desktop: Xfce 4.14.2 Distro: Ubuntu 20.04.5 LTS (Focal Fossa) <br />Machine:<br /> Type: Laptop System: HP product: HP Laptop 14-fq1xxx v: N/A <br /> serial: <superuser/root required> <br /> Mobo: HP model: 887C v: 59.11 serial: <superuser/root required> UEFI: AMI <br /> v: F.18 date: 11/26/2021 <br />Battery:<br /> ID-1: BAT0 charge: 40.6 Wh condition: 40.7/40.7 Wh (100%) <br />CPU:<br /> 6-Core: AMD Ryzen 5 5500U with Radeon Graphics type: MT MCP <br /> speed: 1100 MHz min/max: 400/4056 MHz <br />Graphics:<br /> Device-1: AMD driver: amdgpu v: kernel <br /> Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.13 driver: amdgpu,ati <br /> unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,vesa resolution: 1920x1080~60Hz <br /> OpenGL: renderer: AMD RENOIR (DRM 3.42.0 5.15.0-46-generic LLVM 12.0.0) <br /> v: 4.6 Mesa 21.2.6 <br />Network:<br /> Device-1: Realtek driver: rtw89_pci <br />Drives:<br /> Local Storage: total: 252.80 GiB used: 662.1 MiB (0.3%) <br />Info:<br /> Processes: 303 Uptime: 25m Memory: 7.10 GiB used: 1.58 GiB (22.2%) <br /> Shell: bash inxi: 3.0.38</blockquote><div class="blogger-post-footer">Brian Masinick Blog at http://brianmasinick.blogspot.com/</div>Brian Masinickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06328692313376102421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12428782.post-58309838992600337752022-08-27T13:39:00.001-04:002022-08-27T13:39:19.483-04:00Distro: antiX-21-runit_x64-full<p><span style="font-family: Open Sans;"> I'm here today with one of my longtime favorite distributions, antiX!</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Open Sans;">This edition is antiX 21 runit x64 full - breaking that apart, this is Version 21, using the "runit" process handling routines on the AMD/Intel 64-bit image, and this is the "full-featured" version of antiX, still quite lean and efficient, yet full in terms of providing all of the every day features that many of us use on a regular basis.</span><br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Brian Masinick Blog at http://brianmasinick.blogspot.com/</div>Brian Masinickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06328692313376102421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12428782.post-47827612317813137422022-05-29T13:55:00.001-04:002022-05-29T13:55:13.201-04:00siduction 21.3.0 Wintersky - Xfce<p> </p><p>I'm here today with siduction, using the 5.17.11-2-siduction-amd64 siduction kernel.</p><p>This
system starts with Debian 12.1.0-2, adds it's own kernel, the Calemares
installation program, distribution-specific backgrounds and themes, and
a very fast job scheduler included in the kernel.<br /></p><p>Here is a listing containing the configuration and some of its capabilities:<br /></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">inxi -Fxz<br />System:<br /> Kernel: 5.17.11-2-siduction-amd64 arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc<br /> v: 12.1.0 Desktop: Xfce v: 4.16.0<br /> Distro: siduction 21.3.0 Wintersky - xfce - (202112231826)<br /> base: Debian GNU/Linux bookworm/sid<br />Machine:<br /> Type: Laptop System: Acer product: Aspire A515-55 v: V1.12<br /> serial: <superuser required><br /> Mobo: IL model: Doc_IL v: V1.12 serial: <superuser required> UEFI: Insyde<br /> v: 1.12 date: 09/07/2020<br />Battery:<br /> ID-1: BAT1 charge: 47.8 Wh (100.0%) condition: 47.8/47.8 Wh (100.0%)<br /> volts: 12.2 min: 11.2 model: LGC AP18C8K status: full<br />CPU:<br /> Info: dual core model: Intel Core i3-1005G1 bits: 64 type: MT MCP<br /> arch: Ice Lake rev: 5 cache: L1: 160 KiB L2: 1024 KiB L3: 4 MiB<br /> Speed (MHz): avg: 1113 high: 1195 min/max: 400/3400 cores: 1: 977 2: 1137<br /> 3: 1195 4: 1144 bogomips: 9523<br /> Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx<br />Graphics:<br /> Device-1: Intel Iris Plus Graphics G1 vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI<br /> driver: i915 v: kernel bus-ID: 00:02.0<br /> Device-2: Quanta HD User Facing type: USB driver: uvcvideo bus-ID: 1-5:3<br /> Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.21.1.3 driver: X: loaded: modesetting<br /> unloaded: fbdev,vesa gpu: i915 resolution: 1920x1080~60Hz<br /> OpenGL: renderer: Mesa Intel UHD Graphics (ICL GT1) v: 4.6 Mesa 22.0.4<br /> direct render: Yes<br />Audio:<br /> Device-1: Intel Ice Lake-LP Smart Sound Audio vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI<br /> driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 00:1f.3<br /> Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.17.11-2-siduction-amd64 running: yes<br /> Sound Server-2: PulseAudio v: 15.0 running: no<br /> Sound Server-3: PipeWire v: 0.3.51 running: yes<br />Network:<br /> Device-1: Intel Ice Lake-LP PCH CNVi WiFi driver: iwlwifi v: kernel<br /> bus-ID: 00:14.3<br /> IF: wlan0 state: up mac: <filter><br /> Device-2: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet<br /> vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI driver: r8169 v: kernel port: 3000<br /> bus-ID: 01:00.0<br /> IF: enp1s0 state: down mac: <filter><br />Bluetooth:<br /> Device-1: Intel AX201 Bluetooth type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8<br /> bus-ID: 1-10:5<br /> Report: hciconfig ID: hci0 rfk-id: 0 state: up address: <filter><br /> bt-v: 3.0 lmp-v: 5.2<br />Drives:<br /> Local Storage: total: 119.24 GiB used: 18.49 GiB (15.5%)<br /> ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 vendor: Samsung model: MZVLQ128HBHQ-00000<br /> size: 119.24 GiB temp: 26.9 C<br />Partition:<br /> ID-1: / size: 28.67 GiB used: 18.49 GiB (64.5%) fs: ext4<br /> dev: /dev/nvme0n1p6<br /> ID-2: /boot/efi size: 252 MiB used: 692 KiB (0.3%) fs: vfat<br /> dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1<br />Swap:<br /> ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 3.91 GiB used: 3 MiB (0.1%)<br /> dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2<br />Sensors:<br /> System Temperatures: cpu: 46.0 C mobo: N/A<br /> Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A<br />Info:<br /> Processes: 206 Uptime: 47m Memory: 3.63 GiB used: 1.81 GiB (50.0%)<br /> Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 11.3.0 Packages: 2046 Shell: Bash<br /> v: 5.1.16 inxi: 3.3.16</span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Brian Masinick Blog at http://brianmasinick.blogspot.com/</div>Brian Masinickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06328692313376102421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12428782.post-15318730198543004982022-05-19T11:27:00.003-04:002022-05-19T11:27:39.006-04:00antiX 21 "runit" Base<p>I’m here with antiX 21 runit on an old, but capable HP 5000 series desktop, specifically the model s5747c.</p><div id="d4p-bbp-quote-83321">
<p>I “think”, but I am not 100% positive, that this particular model and
series was “inherited” from the old Compaq 5000 desktop series that was
inherited from the assets that Hewlett Packard acquired from the
[Tandem, Compaq, Digital Equipment Corporation] acquisitions. It’s a
solid desktop and you can see that one of the modules in it came from a
2010 board, so my guess is that this machine was manufactured in late
2010-2011. It runs quite well with antiX 21 runit “Base”.</p>
<pre><code>`inxi -Fxz
System:
Kernel: 5.11.0-21.2-liquorix-amd64 x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 10.2.1
Desktop: IceWM 2.9.7
Distro: antiX-21-runit_x64-base Grup Yorum 30 October 2021
base: Debian GNU/Linux 11 (bullseye)
Machine:
Type: Desktop System: Hewlett-Packard product: s5747c v: N/A
serial: <filter>
Mobo: PEGATRON model: 2A6C v: 5.00 serial: <filter>
BIOS: American Megatrends v: 6.01 date: 09/29/2010
CPU:
Info: Dual Core model: AMD Athlon II X2 255 bits: 64 type: MCP arch: K10
rev: 3 cache: L2: 2 MiB
flags: lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4a svm bogomips: 12456
Speed: 3100 MHz min/max: 800/3100 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 3100 2: 3100
Graphics:
Device-1: NVIDIA C61 [GeForce 6150SE nForce 430] vendor: Hewlett-Packard
driver: N/A bus-ID: 00:0d.0
Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.11 driver: loaded: nouveau,vesa
unloaded: fbdev,modesetting resolution: 1024x768
OpenGL: renderer: llvmpipe (LLVM 11.0.1 128 bits) v: 4.5 Mesa 20.3.5
direct render: Yes
Audio:
Device-1: NVIDIA MCP61 High Definition Audio vendor: Hewlett-Packard
driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 00:05.0
Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.11.0-21.2-liquorix-amd64 running: yes
Network:
Device-1: NVIDIA MCP61 Ethernet vendor: Hewlett-Packard
type: network bridge driver: forcedeth v: kernel port: e480
bus-ID: 00:07.0
IF: eth0 state: down mac: <filter>
Device-2: Ralink RT2790 Wireless 802.11n 1T/2R PCIe vendor: Lite-On
driver: rt2800pci v: 2.3.0 port: d000 bus-ID: 03:00.0
IF: wlan0 state: up mac: <filter>
Drives:
Local Storage: total: 698.64 GiB used: 11.1 GiB (1.6%)
ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Seagate model: ST3750528AS size: 698.64 GiB
Partition:
ID-1: / size: 681.18 GiB used: 11.1 GiB (1.6%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1
Swap:
ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 5.5 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%)
dev: /dev/sda2
Sensors:
System Temperatures: cpu: 25.5 C mobo: N/A
Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A
Info:
Processes: 138 Uptime: 3m Memory: 3.6 GiB used: 434.7 MiB (11.8%)
Init: runit runlevel: 2 Compilers: gcc: 10.2.1 Packages: 1253 Shell: Bash
v: 5.1.4 inxi: 3.3.06`</code></pre>
</div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Brian Masinick Blog at http://brianmasinick.blogspot.com/</div>Brian Masinickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06328692313376102421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12428782.post-15467046031082823732022-03-26T16:22:00.006-04:002022-03-26T17:10:24.597-04:00What is antiX? Here is how to try it out - or install it<p> If you have never seen antiX and do not know what it is, read the article at the link in the antiX Linux Forum: </p><p><a href="https://www.antixforum.com/forums/topic/what-is-antix-and-how-to-try-it-out-or-install-it/#post-79779">https://www.antixforum.com/forums/topic/what-is-antix-and-how-to-try-it-out-or-install-it/#post-79779</a></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Brian Masinick Blog at http://brianmasinick.blogspot.com/</div>Brian Masinickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06328692313376102421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12428782.post-10031565095262386562022-02-19T15:39:00.000-05:002022-02-19T15:39:27.195-05:00systemrescue-9.01 for amd64<p> I downloaded the systemrescue-9.01 for amd64 today, used the MX Linux Live USB Maker utility to install the contents on a removable USB drive, and now I'm using this software on my Acer Aspire 5 A515-55 laptop.</p><p>This is a handy image to have in the event of hardware or software issues, and it's also handy to carry around for remote use.</p><p>This image works with Wifi so it is portable, not only in size and capability, it's also handy. This used to be called SystemRescueCD, but since it's commonly used with either CD/DVD or other removable devices, such as the very common USB sticks, the name has been changed to simply systemrescue (or SystemRescue).</p><p><br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Brian Masinick Blog at http://brianmasinick.blogspot.com/</div>Brian Masinickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06328692313376102421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12428782.post-10267437147739591192021-12-21T11:26:00.002-05:002021-12-21T11:26:22.098-05:00Changed disk to SSD<p>I've had a solid, reliable Dell Inspiron 5558 laptop for 5-6 years now. Just over a year ago I bought an Acer Chromebook 715 and I was very happy with it. Like this Dell laptop, the Acer is a well-built system. Like most Chromebook models, it has solid state drive (SSD) technology. Unlike my previous Lenovo Chromebook N22 (which was a good unit too), the Lenovo was a low powered device; the Chromebook 715 is much more modern and fast.</p><p>A few months after I got the Acer Chromebook 715 I found another good deal on an Acer Aspire 5 A515-55. This model was an end of the model run, and was trimmer, thinner, and lighter than the Chromebook, but one thing it had in common with the Chromebook was the SSD.</p><p>With that background, back to the Dell - it's been a very good device and it's still solid, and it still works, but compared to the other systems, it's been getting to the point that only antiX with a lean window manager worked well (with reasonable speed and response). Though many distributions still run well, they show their age on the Dell. Processor-wise, it has plenty of process slots and plenty of memory, and gobs of disk space too, the perfect place to test. What it was lacking was speed.</p><p>I decided to get a Kingston A400 SSD; reportedly ten times faster than a standard 7200 RPM traditional hard drive. I know that this isn't the TOP END SSD; I rarely buy TOP END, especially now that I'm retired, but I do look for reasonable deals, and this one fit my budget.</p><p>Here I am today on the Dell - with the A400 SSD installed, and with 3-4 distributions installed. Now, with antiX 21 Base runit installed and using Ungoogled Chromium to write this, I can report that this system, while never to be confused with a super fast machine, is still the "stable workhorse" that I purchased, but now it has "new life". I kept the hard drive; should this SSD fail, I can always either get another SSD or reinsert the original hard drive. Meanwhile, this machine is running very well and boots much faster than it did previously.</p><p><br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Brian Masinick Blog at http://brianmasinick.blogspot.com/</div>Brian Masinickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06328692313376102421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12428782.post-22020147820872174412021-08-15T16:10:00.000-04:002021-08-15T16:10:12.623-04:00Debian 11 "bullseye" released<p> I am running right now on a Live instance of Debian 11 "Bullseye", which was released late in the evening of Saturday, August 14, 2021.</p><p>Quoting part of the release Email:<br /></p><div dir="ltr">------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /></div><div dir="ltr">The Debian Project <a href="https://www.debian.org/" target="_blank">https://www.debian.org/</a><br /></div><div dir="ltr">Debian 11 "bullseye" released <a href="mailto:press@debian.org">press@debian.org</a><br /></div><div dir="ltr">August 14th, 2021 <a href="https://www.debian.org/News/2021/20210814" target="_blank">https://www.debian.org/News/2021/20210814</a><br /></div><div dir="ltr">------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /></div><div dir="ltr"><br /></div><div dir="ltr"><br /></div><div dir="ltr">After 2 years, 1 month, and 9 days of development, the Debian project is<br /></div><div dir="ltr">proud to present its new stable version 11 (code name "bullseye"), which<br /></div><div dir="ltr">will be supported for the next 5 years thanks to the combined work of<br /></div><div dir="ltr">the Debian Security team [1] and the Debian Long Term Support [2] team.<br /></div><div dir="ltr"><br /></div><div dir="ltr"> 1: <a href="https://security-team.debian.org/" target="_blank">https://security-team.debian.org/</a><br /></div><div dir="ltr"> 2: <a href="https://wiki.debian.org/LTS" target="_blank">https://wiki.debian.org/LTS</a><br /></div><div dir="ltr"><br /></div><div dir="ltr">Debian 11 "bullseye" ships with several desktop applications and<br /></div><div dir="ltr">environments. Amongst others it now includes the desktop environments:<br /></div><div dir="ltr"><br /></div><div dir="ltr"> * Gnome 3.38,<br /></div><div dir="ltr"> * KDE Plasma 5.20,<br /></div><div dir="ltr"> * LXDE 11,<br /></div><div dir="ltr"> * LXQt 0.16,<br /></div><div dir="ltr"> * MATE 1.24,</div><div dir="ltr"> * Xfce 4.16.</div><p> I downloaded the edition containing a live instance with Xfce 4.16.</p><p>I have not yet experimented much with the released version, but I am running it live now, and I also used test versions of Debian Bullseye, antiX 21 a2 and b1, both based on Bullseye, and MX Linux 21 Beta 1, also based on Bullseye; all of them have worked well for me.</p><p> <br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Brian Masinick Blog at http://brianmasinick.blogspot.com/</div>Brian Masinickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06328692313376102421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12428782.post-36170191178694645292021-05-31T18:34:00.000-04:002021-05-31T18:34:12.439-04:00antiX releases: 19.4<p style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="background-color: white;">Earlier I mentioned that the antiX distribution had two releases in development, antiX 19.4 and antiX 21. The first of these has packages from the Debian 10 "Buster" release, which is mature and has many final release updates. </span></p><p style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="background-color: white;">Because of this, antiX 19.4 development completed and antiX 19.4 was released on May 22, 2021.</span></p><p style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="background-color: white;">DistroWatch.com has an article containing the announcement and release details at<span style="color: white;"> </span></span><a href="https://distrowatch.com/?newsid=11251" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #2b00fe;">Distribution Release: antiX 19.4</span></a></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Brian Masinick Blog at http://brianmasinick.blogspot.com/</div>Brian Masinickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06328692313376102421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12428782.post-44848706462814644792021-05-05T23:20:00.000-04:002021-05-05T23:20:01.232-04:00Two upcoming antiX releases: 19.4 and 21<p> antiX 19.4 and antiX 21 are currently test releases. The antiX 19.4 test is an incremental update to antiX 19.3. I do not expect that it will need a lot of work and testing. There are just a few things that need fixing; several of them have already been fixed.</p><p>The antiX 21 effort, on the other hand, also depends on quite a bit of reworked infrastructure involving major updates to the next Debian release, and also to the fact that the current Gtk release is updating to Gtk+ 3. The additional switch to Python 3 also takes a lot of rework, so this is a bit more of a work in progress. Nevertheless, something that is not new to antiX is that whenever there is a new test release, quite a bit actually works long before everything is perfect, so these are outstanding examples of solid systems. As good as they are, they'd be even better with more testing and testers to do the testing.</p><p><br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Brian Masinick Blog at http://brianmasinick.blogspot.com/</div>Brian Masinickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06328692313376102421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12428782.post-91573011572556481452021-05-04T18:03:00.001-04:002021-05-04T18:03:19.099-04:00Using antiX Live snapshot images<p> antiX has the capability to generate snapshot images and also has the ability to remaster an image.</p><p>You may either install these images to a hard drive or you can write them to a removable USB drive.</p><p>Sometimes I do both. My current images have been BOTH remastered AND snapshots have been created.</p><p>What's cool about these images is that they can serve as a backup for whatever you've done, especially when you create a USB copy.</p><p>There are also multiple ways to create them: you can save your entire working environment, including your personal files. This is good for the backup capability. Alternatively you can specify which directories to omit, or you can build only a "general" system version, plus combine snapshot and remastered images by repeatedly building copies as your system is changed.</p><p>This is the most flexible and practical way I've seen to combine backup and portable, movable images. Both antiX and MX Linux have similar capabilities, but antiX does more with the light snapshot and remastered images.</p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Brian Masinick Blog at http://brianmasinick.blogspot.com/</div>Brian Masinickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06328692313376102421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12428782.post-71804373243601911162021-03-17T16:34:00.001-04:002021-03-17T16:34:20.137-04:00Sparky Linux image: sparkylinux-2021.03-i686-rescue.iso<p> I'm here with a "rescue image" of Sparky Linux.</p><p>It didn't come with much, but since it is Debian-based, I ran an apt update, then an apt full-upgrade to bring the available packages up to date, then, to see what else I could get, I ran apt install firefox chromium and fortunately, both of them were available, so now I am here with Firefox 86.0.1 (32-bit). Most of the time I grab the 64-bit instance, but this is a 686 image, so it captured the 32-bit image, even though I have a 64-bit Dell Inspiron 5558 laptop.</p><p><br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Brian Masinick Blog at http://brianmasinick.blogspot.com/</div>Brian Masinickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06328692313376102421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12428782.post-71899236834192825022021-03-08T17:31:00.004-05:002021-03-08T17:38:51.032-05:00CloudReady by Neverware - Chrome OS old laptop alternative<p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;"> <span face=""Proxima Nova", sans-serif" style="font-size: 19.4712px;">Google's Chrome OS isn't available for consumers to install, so I went with the next best thing, </span><a data-component="externalLink" href="https://www.neverware.com/#intro" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" style="box-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px 0px 0px 0px inset, rgb(184, 0, 0) 0px -1px 0px 0px inset; cursor: pointer; font-size: 19.4712px; text-decoration-line: none; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: all; transition-timing-function: ease;" target="_blank">Neverware's CloudReady</a><span face=""Proxima Nova", sans-serif" style="font-size: 19.4712px;"> Chromium OS. It looks and feels nearly identical to Chrome OS, but can be installed on just about any laptop or desktop, Windows or Mac. And, although Neverware has paid versions for enterprise and education users, </span><a data-component="externalLink" href="https://www.neverware.com/freedownload" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" style="box-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px 0px 0px 0px inset, rgb(184, 0, 0) 0px -1px 0px 0px inset; cursor: pointer; font-size: 19.4712px; text-decoration-line: none; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: all; transition-timing-function: ease;" target="_blank">its Home Edition is free</a><span face=""Proxima Nova", sans-serif" style="font-size: 19.4712px;"> for personal use.</span></span></p><p><span face=""Proxima Nova", sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 19.4712px;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;"><span face=""Proxima Nova", sans-serif" style="font-size: 19.4712px;">Complete article on CNET @ </span><span face="Proxima Nova, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 19.4712px;">https://www.cnet.com/how-to/how-to-turn-your-old-slow-laptop-into-an-awesome-chromebook-for-your-kids/</span></span></span></p><p><span face="Proxima Nova, sans-serif"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 19.4712px;">Not just for kids; I got this working nicely on an old Lenovo Thinkpad X201.</span></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Brian Masinick Blog at http://brianmasinick.blogspot.com/</div>Brian Masinickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06328692313376102421noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12428782.post-70459181657132921142021-01-05T16:47:00.001-05:002021-01-05T16:47:53.163-05:00antiX Bullseye Alpha Testing<p> I downloaded and installed an early testing image using antiX with a new image that utilizes Debian's Bullseye Alpha.</p><p><br /></p><p>I also downloaded the Debian Alpha 3 build and installed it. The antiX one was super easy. The one I got from Debian was fine too, much bigger in size, took a while to copy, load, and install. It also took me three attempts because the first two builds did not include the "non-free" wireless firmware that most distributions include. I was careful to look for the "non-free" Debian 64-bit builds; then I was successful; I never have those problems when I install antiX or MX Linux, and I usually don't have problems when I get the right Debian images; guess it's been a while and I'm getting "rusty" at remembering the details; I guess it is because I run these things for a couple of years and sometimes forget the details needed to get it right the first time! Anyway, both Debian and antiX have at least one new build based off an early "Alpha" testing phase and the good news is that they both work fine.</p><p><br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Brian Masinick Blog at http://brianmasinick.blogspot.com/</div>Brian Masinickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06328692313376102421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12428782.post-58713343521430161052020-11-30T18:20:00.001-05:002020-11-30T18:20:26.959-05:00Changed Chromebook to the Acer Chromebook 715<p> On Sunday, November 22, 2020 I ordered an Acer Chromebook 715 after months of reviewing various Chromebook models, prices, and reviews.</p><p>The model I ordered was the</p><h1 class="prod-ProductTitle prod-productTitle-buyBox font-bold" content="Acer Chromebook 715, Intel Core i3-8130U, 15.6" Full-HD 1080p screen, 4GB DDR4, 128GB eMMC - CB715-1W-35ZK" itemprop="name" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: BogleWeb, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.5rem; letter-spacing: -0.02em; margin: 4px 0px 0px;">Acer Chromebook 715, Intel Core i3-8130U, 15.6" Full-HD 1080p screen, 4GB DDR4, 128GB eMMC - CB715-1W-35ZK</h1><div><br /></div><p>At the time I ordered, the sale price was $349. The lowest price I've seen was <b>briefly $329 </b>and the current price now has risen to <span class="price-currency" content="USD" face="BogleWeb, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" itemprop="priceCurrency" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 28px; font-weight: 600; position: relative; text-transform: uppercase;">$</span><span class="price-characteristic" content="479.99" face="BogleWeb, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" itemprop="price" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 28px; font-weight: 600; text-transform: uppercase;">479</span><span class="price-mark" face="BogleWeb, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 28px; font-weight: 600; text-transform: uppercase;">.</span><span class="price-mantissa" face="BogleWeb, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 28px; font-weight: 600; position: relative; text-transform: uppercase;">99, </span>the highest price I've seen for this model since my research began.</p><p>In the reviews at <a href="https://chromeunboxed.com/reviews/ ">https://chromeunboxed.com/reviews/ </a>this system has received positive reviews as a good system, and at the lower prices one of the best values in the $300-500 price range.</p><p><br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Brian Masinick Blog at http://brianmasinick.blogspot.com/</div>Brian Masinickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06328692313376102421noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12428782.post-49083175808985545492020-09-28T18:04:00.001-04:002020-09-28T18:04:53.689-04:00Two MX Linux 19.2 versions and two antiX 19.2.1 versions<p> I currently have MX Linux 19.2 installed in two instances, one with the default Xfce desktop environment, and the more recent instance with the KDE desktop environment.</p><p>I also have two instances of antiX 19.2.1 installed, a "Base" version customized with my preferred software, and a similar version with a different job schedule init service called "runit".</p><p>All of these systems easily install and run reliably, and are "well-maintained". The runit antiX distribution was a "proof of concept", yet I've never experienced difficulties with it.</p><p><br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Brian Masinick Blog at http://brianmasinick.blogspot.com/</div>Brian Masinickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06328692313376102421noreply@blogger.com0