siduction 11.1 - what will it seduce?

siduction is a fork from the derivatives of Debian Sid.  Originally starting with the Kanotix project, the sidux project forked in 2006, but within three years, there was dissension, and the aptosid project was formed.  The software was good; the community was not, and that was the reason for forking yet again, creating siduction.

The aim of siduction is to build and regain a distribution that has the "feel" and similar software to what the sidux project once had, but with much more community involvement and guidance in what is produced.

It's not really a beginner-oriented system.  For those types, something like Ubuntu, or one of its derivatives, such as Linux Mint, may be more appropriate.

What siduction provides is an easy way to install and maintain software that comes from the Debian Sid repositories.  The siduction distribution, however, includes more rapidly changing Linux kernels, highly compressed ISO distribution images (that's what you can "burn" onto a CD, DVD, or other media), and packaging conveniences that many community members appreciate.

For someone who may already be using Debian Sid, I can't see that it offers much, other than the custom kernels, that provide much incremental value to existing Sid users, but for those who want to install a new system, it is a little more convenient than installing Sid, but otherwise is more similar to Sid in the software you actually use than something completely unique and different.

If you do like to try out a lot of Linux distributions, though, this is one of the more interesting ones to try out, if you already have a fair amount of experience, especially if a lot of it is Debian-based experience.

Don't expect anything earth shattering, but do expect a system that is easy to install and configure, a development and user community that is more helpful than its ancestors, and an overall experience that is likely to work well.

Using my customized antiX core system this evening

One of the operating system distributions that I talk about and write about a lot is the Debian distribution.  Central to well over half of the Linux-based software used today, Debian packages form the core of major well-known distributions like Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Lubuntu, Xubuntu, Ubuntu Studio, Linux Mint, Peppermint, as well as SimplyMEPIS and much lesser-known systems like ZevenOS, Snow Linux, Semplice, aptosid, siduction, and numerous others.

One of my favorite distributions is, in fact, Debian.  I especially like the Debian Sid distribution, and my current, every day system is one I built myself.  A couple of years ago now, I took an installable Debian Live daily build, specified a handful of extra packages to add to the custom system, had it custom built on the Debian Live server, and then had the Web page link, containing the location of the customized image mailed to me.

I downloaded that image, installed it, then further customized it, changing the default Debian repository from Testing to Sid (Unstable), then, over time, added more software to suit my specific needs.

Before creating this system, I backed up the entire image of the system I was replacing, plus I also backed up my home directory and the directories beneath it, so that I could use them to build my custom system.  I backed up the previous image in case my experiment failed.  (It was a great success, and I still use it today).

Once I had that custom system in place, I had a pretty good idea what I wanted to build when other customization opportunities became available, and that is where antiX core comes in.  The antiX distribution is a relatively small distribution.  Started in 2006, it was originally conceived to provide a smaller, lighter derivative of SimplyMEPIS, a modest, simple, but full featured desktop Linux system, which is also based on Debian software.  SimplyMEPIS uses the most stable Debian software from the Debian Stable archive.  The antiX distribution, by default, uses the Debian Testing archive, but lists the names of all three Debian archives, stable, testing, and unstable in the package configuration files, allowing you to select which ones you want to use, and to comment out the others.

As antiX developed and evolved, within a few years, a second antiX derivative emerged, one called "Base", which still provided a system kernel, the core Linux software utilities, packaging tools, and a basic graphical environment, but few software applications.  From this "Base", you could quickly and easily build your own custom desktop system.  I've used and customized several of these "Base" distributions, and I recently created another one, based on the current antiX M12.0 Test 2 development.

There is another one though.  Now a couple of years into its development, antiX core is even more fundamental.  The core distribution provides a system kernel, essential software packaging utilities, and that's it.  It is quite similar in concept to what Arch Linux has done with its packaging, but very different than Arch because it is based on Debian (and to a very limited extent, SimplyMEPIS).

The latest versions of antiX Full, Base, and Core, now include their own antiX Linux 3.3 series kernel.  Recently, I took my already existing antiX core setup and installed the latest antiX 3.3.1 kernel, then upgraded the Debian Sid-based software.  It has continued to remain solid, fast, flexible, and exactly what I built it to do, and that is, provide me with a light, custom system that I use mostly for Web-based writing and research.  For that specific purpose, I am hard-pressed to find anything that does a better job.  After all, I used excellent building materials, then assembled them precisely the way that I want them.  The result is highly satisfying.

For those who want their own custom system (which certainly can vary considerably in both appearance and function than the one that I created for myself), antiX core is one of the best ways to go, but if you want just a little bit more of a jump start, then antiX Base is also an excellent alternative, and antiX Full is an excellent, lightweight, but complete system.

Try them all out, if you have never done so before.  You can find out more about them at http://antix.freeforums.org/ - the antiX forum, at http://antix.freeforums.org/antix-m11-faq-t3178.html to get at least some documentation and help on previously released versions, at http://forum.mepiscommunity.org/viewforum.php?f=40 to get help in the MEPIS Lovers' Forum for antiX, at DistroWatch to get not only the software, but a variety of reviews of it.  The USALUG, Desktop Linux Reviews Forum, and the Newbies Linux Forum are a few of the places I visit, and I would be glad to discuss antiX or help you with it if you are interested.

You may also want to review one of my earlier blog entries in this blog, at Creating your very own antiX core system from scratch if you want to try it out.  Some of the information may be slightly out of date, but following the essence of the work will help you get on your way, if you are serious about trying to build your own custom system.  I hope you try it; if you do, be sure to let me know!

Spending a little time with Sabayon

Sabayon has quietly started to emerge - to use a term that Gentoo Linux uses as the name of its system packaging update utility - as one of the more solid "rolling release" systems.  The term "rolling release" in Linux software refers to the ability to continually (or occasionally) perform software upgrades, without having to install a new release.

Over the past year or so, Sabayon has really refined this technique.  They get the absolute newest software from Gentoo Linux, and their primary developer, Fabio Erculiani, also participates in Gentoo Linux development, so he has a good understanding of how Gentoo Linux works, its advantages, and also some of its shortcomings.  He has created Sabayon Linux as a convenient way to either update from the actual Gentoo Linux source code, or to update using already compiled and tested code, that he packages in the form of weekly updates.

I have found his approach to work very well.  The only thing I'd like to see work better are the mirror sites.  Only one of them performs well for me, and it's not always available to me.  Fortunately, it is available to me today, and so I am taking the opportunity to upgrade my Sabayon system and work with it for a while.

So far, that has been proceeding quite nicely, and in fact, a rather large upgrade just finished.  I am going to refresh the package cache, see if any other new packages have arrived, then check out the resulting system.

Linus Torvalds Charlie Rose Interview (Part II) | The Linux Foundation Video Site

Linus Torvalds Charlie Rose Interview (Part II) | The Linux Foundation Video Site

Linus Torvalds Charlie Rose Interview (Part I) | The Linux Foundation Video Site

Linus Torvalds Charlie Rose Interview (Part I) | The Linux Foundation Video Site

An update on Mom

Some time ago now, I wrote an article about setting Mom, my Mom, up on the Internet using a Linux-based distribution called Linux Mint.  I had noticed previously that the system my Mom was using was an aging Dell Latitude D610, a good, solid system, but that it had an aging copy of Windows XP, and that the performance of that combination was not very good.  It worked, yes, but it took a long time to boot, a long time to login and gain access to Internet Explorer.  I discovered that all my Mom really needed to do was login to Hotmail, and on rare occasions, either read News or search on a topic for her Humanities class.  Certainly, any Web-based system could get the job done for her with those simple requirements, and plenty of alternatives could do a better job at it than Windows XP and Internet Explorer.

So I asked my Mom if she would be willing to use my computer, and I would set her up with a system that was a lot faster and just as easy as what she was using, and I would help her with it.  She agreed.

I already had Xubuntu 11.10 installed on that system, so getting an account for her on that one was no big deal, but Linux Mint 12 had just been released, so I decided to install it and create an account for her there as well.  It worked out quite well.  But other systems are even more responsive and sprightly than Mint, if all you intend to do with them is browse the Web.

Xubuntu 11.10 is one of those systems.  So after a month or two of using Mint 12 occasionally (not more than a few times a week), I set Mom up with Xubuntu and had her run it for a few weeks.  Like Mint, that experiment also worked out fine.

That got me thinking: if Mint and Xubuntu worked out, then it is not the operating system that matters for Mom.  What matters is a consistent interface to what she needs to access, namely the Web browser.  I have had her use Firefox in all of the cases mentioned.

Lubuntu 11.10 comes equipped with Chromium rather than Firefox, but that is an easy issue to handle.  Simply load Firefox from the package manager and install it on the system, then make sure that an easy to find Firefox icon is available.  I try to put application icons that are needed right on the Tool Bar or Task Bar, and that is precisely what I did in this case, and then I tried to get rid of as many other distractions as possible, so that logging in, accessing Firefox, and clicking the X to close the browser, then clicking on Logout or Shutdown were the only other considerations.  Making a clean system with those characteristics is easy with Lubuntu, so that is what I did.

My Mom has now been using Lubuntu 11.10 for a few weeks with the same degree of success as with the other systems.  She can get stuck pretty easily, because she only knows what she has been shown, but she follows directions well.  My oldest sister, a recently retired school teacher, gave my Mom very good instructions on how to get the computer to access Hotmail, so I simply modified those instructions to access Hotmail by logging into Lubuntu instead of Windows XP.

This sets the stage for when I am no longer staying with Mom.  I can install Lubuntu, or some other really light system, such as antiX, Puppy, or Peppermint OS, create some simple instructions, and put it on that aging Dell Latitude D610.  Now I know that it will work.

Speaking of the Latitude, I owned a D600, gave it to my son, and he still runs PCLinuxOS on it, has run sidux, PCLinuxOS, SimplyMEPIS, Kubuntu, and Fedora on it.  He installed Fedora on it, overwriting sidux, PCLinuxOS, and SimplyMEPIS, but I brought him a PCLinuxOS, and he installed it in place of the others.  I gave him enough information to manage the system using synaptic, the PCLinuxOS package manager, and he does that.

Given all of those systems that work on the D600, and the fact that I've tried other distros Live on the D610 and D620, I think that we'll be able to set something up.  Meanwhile, as long as I am staying with Mom, she is more than welcome to use my Lenovo, running Lubuntu 11.10 (or soon, 12.04).

Initial experiences with antiX 12.0 Test 2

For nearly six years now, antiX has been one of my favorite distributions. Started around 2006, antiX was originally based on SimplyMEPIS, returning the MEPIS base to a really light system, similar to the one Warren Woodford, founder of MEPIS, created back in 2003, before he later settled on using the full-featured KDE as the preferred desktop in place of the lighter IceWM (which is what I believe he started with, though my memory is a bit foggy on the details).

Anticapitalista (known in real life as Paul), sought to create a light distribution based on MEPIS that would run on older hardware. He started in 2006 by removing KDE and the full featured applications, replacing them with the light Fluxbox window manager and a variety of lighter applications that still provided plenty of usable software.

Over time, anticapitalista and the community that enthusiastically used, endorsed, and modified antiX, created their own variations of antiX, myself included. I tended to install other window managers, such as IceWM, fvwm, fvwm-crystal, and later Openbox and the desktop environments Xfce and LXDE. Anti took notice; he liked to experiment too. He created an antiX base image as an experiment, and in it, he included an X server and the Fluxbox window manager, but no application software, just Debian-based tools to make it easy to create your own customized system. Two of the excellent tools he added to ease the creation of custom systems were the metapackage-installer, which was used about five years ago by members of the sidux community. Along with it, he added another tool, also widely used in the old sidux community - a tool that later lead to a major splinter and sharp arguments within that community, the excellent smxi tool, authored by Harold Hope.

These two tools help make it trivial to customize any of the antiX releases into whatever you want.

For this particular experience, I grabbed the fuif ll Test 2 version of the antiX 12.0 software. You can get it at http://antix.mepis.org/index.php?title=Main_Page#News
Check out the forum for more details and comments, too: http://antix.freeforums.org/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=3602

The installation program used to install antiX is the familiar SimplyMEPIS installer. This installer has been around for a long time. Some people may prefer newer, fancier installers, but this one is quite functional; that means it works and does what it is intended to do in a fast and efficient manner. I could be wrong, but it also seems to have a few additional features that I do not remember (but it's been nearly a year since I installed either MEPIS or antiX using this particular installer, so I may have forgotten how it works). In any case, the installation program has everything you need to install a system in anywhere from five minutes to perhaps twenty minutes. I think it took me about ten minutes to overwrite my previous installation with the new one without repartitioning or erasing the data from the previous installation, simply replacing the old software with the new software. It worked flawlessly, though I did notice one omission, at least for me - the wireless firmware that I usually use did not seem to be there.

To get my wireless configuration working, I connected to the wired Ethernet network, then I visited the excellent Debian Wiki at http://wiki.debian.org/WiFi/HowToUse

I also visited http://wiki.debian.org/Firmware to tweak my wireless firmware (I have the Broadcom 4311 interface on the system where I installed antiX 12.0 Test 2), so I also visited http://wiki.debian.org/bcm43xx which helps me to get problematical firmware working on any Debian-based system. In a nutshell, I typically install

firmware-b43-installer. If that gives me any trouble, I open a terminal console as root and type in these commands:


modprobe -r b43
echo options b43 pio=1 qos=0 >> /etc/modprobe.d/local.conf
modprobe b43

With the firmware-b43-installer and these commands - if I even need them,
I have never had to do more. 95% of the time, I don't even have to do this much, but I mention it here, both for my sake, in case I forget these steps, and for others, should they run into any wireless configuration issues.

That aside, I also take the time to install wicd, but antiX comes with wicd, and that is one of the many things I appreciate about antiX.

With everything configured, I set out to take a look at my antiX setup. One thing that may either be a help or a hindrance, depending on your setup, is the option to reuse your home partition and the previous contents of your prior installation, if you have used antiX before. It may help because there may be fewer things to set up, but it may hinder you if you have customized things that have either changed or have been added or replaced. In that case, you may want to get rid of any prior configuration files - for example, IceWM configurations, particularly for menus that may have changed.

I like having my home directories available though because I install a lot of my own software in their own subdirectories, for instance, nightly Web browser builds, and sometimes custom versions of editors and development tools.

I encourage anyone who likes to test software to give antiX 12.0 Test 2 a try. Since it is in testing, this is a great time to get a system that already works pretty well, because it is solid enough to use, but not cast in stone, if there are any issues that you have with it. The feature set is fairly firm, though it may not be too late to suggest something, if you have a great suggestion.  If the suggestion requires significant change, it is a bit late in the game for that, but if the suggestion helps to improve the software, there is a good chance that the suggestion could make it into future efforts. Being a fairly nimble, community based effort, it may not be as long as you have experienced elsewhere before someone either suggests a way to set the system up according to your suggestion, or even creates the configuration suggested.

Visit the antiX forum and help test, find areas to further improve, or just thank the team for the fine work they've done for half of a decade.