Porteus

Clicked on the entry in the start menu (LXDE), Vbox builder, tried to install it...

First warning:

> No development module was found on your system. You will need to activate it or download from the server before you can continue.
> Would you like to download it now?

then I would click on activate it and it would say:

>05-devel.xzm: This is not a valid module

Furthermore, then it would say

>No kernel source module was found on your system. You will need to activate it or download from the server before you can continue.

I downloaded it by clicking the ok button, but then it wouldn't activate either!

> crippled_sources.xzm:This is not a valid module

This is not a valid module

corrupt download?
md5sums:
e3733096e1fd66604fbb9716facfb908 05-devel.xzm
5397660a1332fd6949bd95874ef21a11 crippled_sources.xzm
if so, they can be got directly by delving into one our mirrors http://porteus.org/porteus-mirrors.html

I'll try it, ty!
Why is the module called so anyway?

And while we are at it, I got problems with mirrors in USM. (See USM mirror problem and the webchat app.php/mchat). Can it be interconnected with the Virtual box issue? Any ideas?

As for corrupt download, I tried it multiple times restarting the PC, so there must be something really wrong I suppose...

n33b wrote: ↑

30 Oct 2018, 13:16

Why is the module called so anyway?

my take on it is: module alludes to the modular nature of the frugal installed, loop mounted, layered, live filesystem..
.xzm = xz compressed module , which is a package or packages are installed to a fakeroot and xz compressed using squashfs.
in slax they're called software bundles(.sb) and puppy, the standard .sfs (squash file system?)
any amount of configuration can be added and things can removed(binarys,libs,headers,locales,man etc) in the process..

n33b wrote: ↑

30 Oct 2018, 13:16

Any ideas?

on the surface, i wouldn't think it's related(usm database updates have a history of problems)
i can't say i remember ever having a "not a valid module" message, certainly not for official modules..
check out the "Browser Selection and Update Tool" in the network menu and see if that works for you (the latest firefox(63) is on the server)

I got all kinds of problems now. One time when I started Porteus in RAM mode (I have to do it because I get terrible freezing in regular graphics mode, and I mean *terrible* - even though I have a pretty good hardware) there was no internet connection... Then I started it in regular "graphics" mode, and it kept freezing all the time, not responding for half a minute, everything was pretty unusable, and the system would complain that modules vboxdrv, vboxnetadp and vboxnetflt were not found in the directory /lib/modules4.16-r/porteus. Another time I tried to start the system in graphics mode it wouldn't even startx automatically for no apparent reason... There are also some weird ext4 errors (the flash drive is formatted in ext2)
I decided to delete the vbox module from the /modules folder to prevent it, and downloaded it anew. Now I'm getting +: Module must end with .xzm every time I try to activate it
I would appreciate any help with this, anything at all...

I just tried the menu's Vbox Builder and it doesn't work for me either. The activation of the 05-devel.xzm module in the /tmp folder fails with "This is not a valid module". Checking the /tmp folder shows there is no 05-devel.xzm module present.

n33b wrote: ↑

31 Oct 2018, 12:52

I decided to delete the vbox module from the /modules folder to prevent it, and downloaded it anew. Now I'm getting +: Module must end with .xzm every time I try to activate it
I would appreciate any help with this, anything at all...

Where did you download the module from? Pls provide a ls listing of your /modules folder.

Ed_P due to an unknown bug both cripple and 05 something modules got corrupted(did I tell I once got scary ext4 inode warnings?), their size is zero. Think that was why virtualbox stopped working for me again.
Be that as it may, the major problem I have is terrible freezing in graphics mode. Output of top being refreshed twice in a minute, file transfer rates in 100kb/s and that on a flash drive!


I figured I must solve that first, cause PCS at my uni are only 4 gbs RAM and i can't afford loading everything in RAM all the time. Not to mention the inconvenience of not being able to profit from automatic saves to /changes folder when using RAM mode.

Any ideas on why Porteus may behave that way when in graphics mode?

Are you trying to download the modules with Porteus or Windows? If Windows it's security system may be blocking the downloads. In fact, maybe the security system of the Internet system you're using is blocking the downloads.

As for your graphics problem, imo something is running in the background that is interfering with your system. If you're connected to the 'net that something could be an app trying to connect to the 'net or a 'net app trying to connect to you. Need to know what you're running, ie the ls of your /modules folder. Try running in Always Fresh mode and see if you still have the problem. If not then the problem is something you've added.

As for saving changes, I save mine when I exit Porteus by using the changes=EXIT cheatcode and the save file is on a FAT32 drive. By saving them when I exit there is no writing to the drive while I'm using Porteus. And my system is 4 GB also.

n33b wrote: ↑

31 Oct 2018, 16:17

Ed_P due to an unknown bug both cripple and 05 something modules got corrupted(did I tell I once got scary ext4 inode warnings?), their size is zero. Think that was why virtualbox stopped working for me again

note: virtualbox doesn't need devel or crippled sources to run, only to build.
and it seems the downloads weren't corrupted, but nonexistent due to a bug in the script(or incorrect file location on the server)

the freezing sounds to me like slow write speed on your usb stick..
so as Ed_P suggests: changes=EXIT cheatcode which goes on the APPEND line in <your usb>/boot/syslinux/porteus.cfg
(downside to this: if you experience a crash or power outage, you'll lose your current session's changes)

the freezing sounds to me like slow write speed on your usb stick..

It should be okay. The only potential problem is that it's formatted in ext2.
I mean, it's not THAT slow. And those terrible transfer rates don't last forever, after a while it gets semi okay.

Ed_P: i'm using Porteus as my main OS now, loading it from the USB stick.

Here is the ls output:

ls /mnt/sdb1/porteus/modules
/bin/ls: cannot access '/mnt/sdb1/porteus/modules/crippled_sources.xzm': Structure needs cleaning
/bin/ls: cannot access '/mnt/sdb1/porteus/modules/000-kernel.xzm': Structure needs cleaning
000-kernel.xzm crippled_sources.xzm
05-devel.xzm palemoon-28.1.0-x86_64-1.xzm
chromium-69.0.3497.81-x86_64-1jay.xzm usm-latest-0.0-noarch-1.xzm

you shouldn't have 000-kernel in /mnt/sdb1/porteus/modules, it's already in /mnt/sdb1/porteus/base .
i wouldn't keep 05-devel and crippled_sources in /modules either, since they're only needed for compiling and such..(not needed to run vbox)
better to put them in /optional and activate them only when you need them.

You don't need usm-latest-0.0-noarch-1.xzm in /mnt/sdb1/porteus/modules either. USM is part of Porteus.

All modules in the /modules folder get loaded and occupy RAM whether used or needed. And may contribute to conflicts with other modules which can cause unexpected results. I recommend you just have your browser modules there at this point.

ncmprhnsbl wrote: ↑

31 Oct 2018, 23:25

so as Ed_P suggests: changes=EXIT cheatcode which goes on the APPEND line in <your usb>/boot/syslinux/porteus.cfg
(downside to this: if you experience a crash or power outage, you'll lose your current session's changes)

True, but when you get your system configured the way you want; bookmarks, timezone, wallpaper, etc. you exit Porteus and make a backup of the porteussave.dat file when you restart. And maybe name the backup porteussave.xzm.

n33b wrote: ↑

30 Oct 2018, 09:55

then I would click on activate it and it would say:

>05-devel.xzm: This is not a valid module

n33b this problem has been resolved. Try Vbox Builder again, no need to manually download anything.

Thanks for bringing it to our attention.