How to copy new module from /tmp?

[Mike_Walsh]

Hi, guys.

Long-time Puppy Linux veteran here.

I had a wee play with Porteus back in February. Had to put it to one side, and.....well, it kinda got forgotten about. I've only just discovered the flash-drive in my drawer of odds'n'ends and realised what was on it. Never really did anything with it at the time, so I'm having a more concerted session with it now.

Question:-

I'm using the KDE version of Porteus v5.0. Now, I'm trying to set Chrome browser up, OK? Having run the installer script, and created the module itself, it's now telling me to copy the .xzm file from /tmp to the 'Modules' directory. I can find the 'Modules' directory just fine.....but in the name of all that's holy, how on earth do I get into the file system?

Puppy's ROX-filer is SO simple to use. A single click on the 'Up' arrow at the far left of ROX's menu bar, and you're straight into the file-system from the homeuser 'root' directory. I haven't had much to do with Dolphin for nearly a decade, but do you think I can get INTO the file-system? Dolphin seems to have absolutely no way to access it; I appreciate that this is fine, and for the 'protection' of inexperienced Linux users, but in Puppyland we're used to going into the file-system and manipulating stuff all the time. To come to summat else besides Puppy, and to find you don't have the same freedoms we take for granted with our favourite canine is a wee bit galling, to say the least.

(I'm having to post this from Puppy because I can't find a way of getting the browser up-and-running..!)

Or am I simply over-reacting? Is it a case of the solution staring me in the face, but I cannae see the wood for the trees? Advice would be most appreciated, guys. Perhaps this old fart can STILL learn new tricks after all.....

-----------------------------

I'm kinda wondering if there's a way of converting the 'portable apps' I've been building for Puppy the last few years into .xzm modules. I mean, they're basically squash file system items, after all, and SFSs have been a staple of the Puppy 'way-of-life' right from the beginning, nearly 20 years ago.....

What do y'all reckon? Do-able? What kind of unionfs setup does Porteus employ; Aufs? Overlayfs?


Mike.

[Ed_P]

Perhaps this old fart can STILL learn new tricks after all.....

You open the file manager.
At the top of the file manager window you replace /home/guest with /tmp and press Enter
You put your cursor on the file you want to copy.
You right click on the file and select COPY, NOT Cut.
You then find the /porteus/modules/ folder.
You then open the /porteus/modules/ folder.
You then right click on the opened folder and select Paste.

It's not that hard Mike. You can do this. I have faith in your old abilities. Unless you're booting an ISO on the USB stick, then we'll need to talk more.

Added in 1 minute 57 seconds:

I'm kinda wondering if there's a way of converting the 'portable apps' I've been building for Puppy the last few years into .xzm modules.

Is Puppy based on Slackware? Porteus is.

[Mike_Walsh]

A-ha. Manual entry, huh..? Christ, I haven't had to do that for years. It IS possible to get so used to a particular file-manager that you forget how all the others work; like I said, I haven't used Dolphin for what must be 9 going on 10 years.

Let's have another try at this. THEN maybe I can get the 'save' set up...

Mike.

[donald]

@Mike
How to get a filesystem entry:
open dolphin > right click on the word 'places' > add new entry > look at the screenshot:

click OK ...done.

[Vic]

Hi Mike.

Over in puppyland your posts have helped many people over the years. I hope you find Porteus as much fun as puppy.

I use Slacko and tweaked it as close as I can to Porteus KDE. Lots of fun.

This forum is great so you should have a good time here.

Vic

[ncmprhnsbl]

yeah, well, dolphin is one of those new-fangled filemanagers that like to obfuscate the filesystem to somehow protect the user from themselves..
not sure you can do what Ed suggests, but you can click on the left-most 'arrow-thingy' of the 'address' and a little popup should show the upper directory tree.
or what donald suggests (probly will add that to the defaults)
also, in the browser updater tool, at the bottom, there's a file icon, that should open a root instance of dolphin at /tmp.

I'm kinda wondering if there's a way of converting the 'portable apps' I've been building for Puppy the last few years into .xzm modules. I mean, they're basically squash file system items, after all, and SFSs have been a staple of the Puppy 'way-of-life' right from the beginning, nearly 20 years ago.....
What do y'all reckon? Do-able? What kind of unionfs setup does Porteus employ; Aufs? Overlayfs?

porteus uses Aufs and a puppy.sfs = a porteus.xzm, so just renaming .sfs to .xzm will work, no guarantees what's in them will work

[Mike_Walsh]

Hi, all.

Welp, I'm posting this from the latest Chrome right now; converted, moved, and loaded (sorry, "activated". I've got so used to "loading" stuff for years under Puppy). AND I've set up a separate 'Changes' directory beside the Porteus stuff on the same flash-drive partition (along with the relevant "cheatcode" in /boot/syslinux/porteus.cfg), so.....we shall see if THAT's working on the next boot.

@donald:-

Ah. Cheers for the tip. If I can set up a direct entry to the file-system, I shall be a happy bunny...

@Vic:-

O-kayyy.... Nice to know my scribblings have helped a few folks over the years! If you've been hanging around the Puppy Forums for any length of time, you'll know I've always been a bit of an 'oddball', if I do say so myself.

Apart from my initial 'distro-hopping' days - a rite-of-passage; we ALL go through it, I don't care what anyone might say to the contrary! - I've never had a lot of time for the mainstream stuff, much preferring the off-beat to the dead stable & boring.

Puppy, I've been with for almost a decade now. I had a year or so playing around with Slax back near the start of the pandemic, and found that most of my 'Puppy-portable' apps would run on there with minimal tweaking. I've had a full set-up of Klaus Knopper's masterpiece on a 64GB flashdrive for some time.....complete with Compiz AND the famous "desktop cube". I have ChromeOS 'Flex' set-up on a 32GB flashdrive - I found out about the way to save stuff when running from a flashdrive, 'cos Google make it awkward for you to do so unless you fully install the darned thing.....and the icing on the cake? HaikuOS, based around the advanced-for-its-time BeOS from the tail end of the 90s.

I've played around with Haiku, on and off, for years, but it's only since the release of R1 beta 4 that the thing has actually become stable enough to be a 'daily-driver'. And I do spend the occasional day with it, sometimes two on the trot....

I've been meaning to investigate Porteus for a long while, but just never seemed to find the time. I thought I had some time back near the beginning of the year, but as usual, life got in the way and jammed a great big spanner in the works! I might seem to be asking some daft, noob-type questions ATM, but that won't last long.....it's amazing how many similarities there are in the way many things work across the Linux eco-sphere. When I introduced the Puppy community to the concept of running websites in their own Chrome windows as a desktop app, I was graciously informed by one of our veterans that I'd managed to duplicate, for Puppy, what Peppermint OS had achieved a few years previously.

What goes around, comes around. Linux is no different...

@ncmprhnsbl:-

Ee, I like that. Dolphin.....'new-fangled'.

I know ROX-filer isn't everyone's 'cup-o' tea', but I've got so used to it I have a hell of a job making the change to anything else now. I only ended up with Dolphin because I wanted to have a play with a recent Plasma desktop. I haven't used one since Kubuntu 14.04, back in early 2015, and I have fond memories of how customizable it was.....


Mike.

[ncmprhnsbl]

also, forgot to mention, for a sane filemanager: open a terminal and type: mc

[Ed_P]

Sorry Mike my steps were for nemo not the file manager you were apparently using.

forgot to mention, for a sane filemanager: open a terminal and type: mc

I remember mc from a long time ago and liked a version of it in Windows. But I don't see the /tmp folder in it.

[Vic]

Hi Mike.

For the record I would like everyone to know more about your involvement with puppy. Many topics are relevant for linux in general and especially your portable apps collection.

I have benefitted many times while using Porteus and now Porteux.

Please share if you do not mind. Maybe start a new thread.

Vic

[Ed_P]

forgot to mention, for a sane filemanager: open a terminal and type: mc

I remember mc from a long time ago and liked a version of it in Windows. But I don't see the /tmp folder in it.

Found it. It was called PC Valet

[Rava]

But I don't see the /tmp folder in it.

⬤ When using mc you can either navigate through the folders like usual (double-click or press return on a folder, move up by doing that on the ".." entry)

⬤ or just type in the command prompt below the command

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cd /tmp

⬤ or start mc with the two folders you want to copy files in between.
Let's assume your module is in /tmp/ and you have a symlink that links to your main Porteus modules folder called /Porteus_modules
then just type

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mc  /tmp/ /Porteus_modules

Usually it would be enough to type

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mc  /tmp/ /P[tab]

since by default there exists no folder or file in / that starts with a upper-case P like your link /Porteus_modules does.
The [tab] then expands it to the only existing name -> /Porteus_modules

Yes, in some many cases using the terminal (and that includes mc) can let you do things quicker than a GUI equivalent especially when you use symlinks named in an easily remembered and unique way (as in: the first character of your symlink doesn't exist in that very folder aside from your symlink)