Package Manager missing

[Amaya Nidjit]

Greetings all.
First post on this forum for me.
I am having trouble installing applications to Porteus. I have searched for information, but found nothing of much use.
I used the article "An introduction to modules" at:
http://www.porteus.org/component/conten ... dules.html
as reference but the information appears to be false for my edition Porteus 5 XFCE.

Direct quotes from the article are followed by my comments in square brackets.
Can someone please explain why I am getting these discrepancies? And how to fix them?

To activate a module you simply double click on it and it will be injected into the Porteus directory structure and all of the required files will be put in their place. To deactivate the module just double click on it again and all the files will be removed from the directory structure and packed back into the module..
[False. Double-clicking a module just opens the archive manager.]

...the 'Porteus Package Manager' utility... is included by default in all editions of Porteus.
[False. Not in my 5-XFCE edition - at least, not in any discoverable form using all the search tools provided.]

Thanks for your attention to this.

Amaya

[Ed_P]

Hello Amaya, welcome to the forum.

I used the article "An introduction to modules" at:
http://www.porteus.org/component/conten ... dules.html

That article is a little dated.

Try this thread: [Porteus 5.0's USM replacement] getmod: A wrapper for slapt-get to build modules
and this posting: [Porteus 5.0's USM replacement] getmod: A wrapper for slapt-get to build modules (Post by Ed_P #96310)

To activate a module you simply double click on it and it will be injected into the Porteus directory structure

If you're not signed in as root clicking on the .xzm module should bring up a window to Authenticate you as a super user. Once you enter the root password the module will activate. If you are signed in a as root clicking on the module should activate the module.

[ncmprhnsbl]

I used the article "An introduction to modules" at:

as Ed says, a little dated, to say the least.
here: http://www.porteus.org/faq.html or more exactly: http://www.porteus.org/faq.html#twelve is more up to date. or the onboard FAQ in the system menu. (note http://www.porteus.org/faq/desktop-faq.html was missed and is NOT up to date)
fixing the documentation is an ongoing project.

Double-clicking a module just opens the archive manager.

can't seem to reproduce that here using Porteus-XFCE-v5.01-i586 with the latest updates..

[Ed_P]

See: [Porteus 5.01's Package Manager] slapt-mod: to build modules

[Amaya Nidjit]

ncmprhnsbl wrote:
Try this thread: [Porteus 5.0's USM replacement] getmod: A wrapper for slapt-get to build modules and this posting: [Porteus 5.0's USM replacement] getmod: A wrapper for slapt-get to build modules (Post by Ed_P #96310)

If you're not signed in as root clicking on the .xzm module should bring up a window to Authenticate you as a super user. Once you enter the root password the module will activate. If you are signed in a as root clicking on the module should activate the module.

I was misled by the article I referenced into thinking the pkg format was same as Slack, so was double-clicking on *.tcz's.
Works properly with the correct file type! Still can't figure out how to easily find progs I want to use... not out of the woods yet.

I will look at the links you sent and respond later.
Thanks for this help.
Thanks also to Ed_P for responses.
Amaya

[Ed_P]

ncmprhnsbl wrote:

I don't think so.

[Amaya Nidjit]

Thanks to all who have tried to help so far.
Especially to those who do this in a language that is not their mother tongue so that us obligate anglophones can understand.

I have read all the associated info that was recommended, to the extent that I could understand it. So I understand a bit more about what should be working, but still don't know why it isn't.

Still I am unsuccessful in installing anything @ CLI using slapt-mod or other methods.

I have also been unsuccessful installing downloaded pre-compiled XZM modules from sites such as Tulavik's or Alien Bob's. When double-clicked, these install and insert to the file-system and to the menu as expected, but when clicked in the menu, are obstinately passive & unresponsive (don't run, no activity at all ensues).

I am quite baffled by how much trouble I am having with this. Usually when I try out a new distro I install a few favourite apps that I habitually use to keep notes and records of activities and system mods, installed and uninstalled software, bug notes, trouble-shooting etc, and also to access notes from other geeking, lists of my passwords etc, to use on the new distro.

Usually I use Abiword for all the notation. I also usually make a custom desktop background with one of my own photos, with a burned-on banner reminding me which distro/system I am working on and what the passwords are. For this, mtpaint or gimp.

These "work-like" activities provide a good way of giving a distro a serious trial. So far I have not been able to get to square one with porteus- I am crippling along making notes in plain-text, unable to read my previous notes in DOC format, and unable to amusingly tart up the desktop without an image editor.

slapt-mod properly downloads and compiles apps, and leaves the module for me to put into /porteus/modules, but when double-clicked (in the current instance) or rebooted into a new instance, the supposedly activated modules are not actually active.

The only apps I can install and run are browsers, via the provided browser-chooser applet.

Am using Porteus 5.01 XFCE

Any ideas what I am doing wrong?

Amaya

[Vic]

Hi Amaya

When I get no response I go to /mnt/live/memory/images/ and run the binary file typically located in /usr/bin in a konsole window. The error msgs usually tell all.

I run Porteux v-01 KDE but it should be the same difference.

Good luck

Vic

[Amaya Nidjit]

Follow-up...
Inability to activate some apps may be specific to something I am doing in Porteus-v5.XFCE.
I burned a new gigstik for Porteus.v5.openbox, and slapt-mod works as intended in that version.

Pkgs download and are compiled, module is deposited in /tmp, and when moved to /porteus/modules and dbl-clicked or rebooted, it works.
Pre-made XZM modules I tried from Tulevik or AlienBob however do not work in openbox version also.

Any ideas what to try in XFCE to correct?
Oops, hey, reply from Vic just came in as I was typing. Thanks Vic, I will try that and report back.

Amaya

Edited Nov 10 to correct spelling of Tulevik's name

[beny]

hi, if you have this system:Distribution: porteus-v5.0-i586 XFCE you have to use only 32 bit packages, here you can try to search packages: https://slackware.nl/slakfinder/ only the i386, also when you have to use slapt-mod take a look at the configure in /etc
https://download.salixos.org/i486/extra-15.0/
https://download.salixos.org/i486/15.0/
http://ftp.osuosl.org/pub/slackware/slackware-15.0/
ok try if work for you. when you have set the slapt-mod configure run: slapt-mod -u in terminal

[Ed_P]

Inability to activate some apps may be specific to something I am doing in Porteus-v5.XFCE.

I agree. And I like your persistence.

Any ideas what to try in XFCE to correct?

This link should help: Debug help for new users
Also how you are booting your XFCE system; grub2, Windows' menu, pc Fkey.

[Amaya Nidjit]

To beny, Vic, and Ed_P...
I have not had time yet to read all the suggested links, but thanks for those.
I will get to it, thanks.

...how are you booting your XFCE system; grub2, Windows' menu, pc Fkey.

@Ed_P ... I am not multi-booting Porteus, so it is the default boot setup, just as writ to the stick by the installer. For all 4 of the flavour instances I am now testing (Openbox, Mate, LXQT, XFCE), they are the default install each on a dedicated stick. When I look in the /mnt/sdb1/boot folder, they all seem to be boot-loaded by a standard syslinux setup with the fancy menu.
I *THINK* all instances are 64-bit, but I will check that later - don't know how to do that within the OS, the included Sysinfo util apparently can't tell me whether the OS is 64-bit or not.

FWIW, for this session I am signed in with the Mate-desktop version.
........................................................................................................Amaya.

[Ed_P]

@Ed_P ... I am not multi-booting Porteus, so it is the default boot setup, just as writ to the stick by the installer.

So the pc has no harddrive?

I believe beny's links are entries to be added to the slapt-mod config's SOURCE options in /etc/slapt-get/slapt-getrc. And the output of the terminal command "uname -a" will indicate whether your boot system is 486 or x86_64 but it won't tell you if your hardward/pc is.

[Amaya Nidjit]

When I get no response I go to /mnt/live/memory/images/ and run the binary file typically located in /usr/bin in a konsole window. The error msgs usually tell all.

I couldn't understand what the /mnt/live/memory/images/ part was about, so I didn't do anything there.

I ran the following command in the other directory suggested...

root@porteus:/usr/bin# abiword
bash: /usr/bin/abiword: cannot execute binary file: Exec format error

Above command was run under Porteus-MATE flavour.
It says exec format error, but this is the same module that works in Porteus-LXQT.

Amaya

[Amaya Nidjit]

@Ed_P ... I am not multi-booting Porteus, so it is the default boot setup, just as writ to the stick by the installer.

So the pc has no harddrive?

@Ed_P ... I have tested the live USB stix on 4 different laptops and a desktop. All of them have hard drives installed, but they are only used to keep a common note-file so I don't lose track of what has been said, tried, and discovered while swapping-and-booting the different stix. FWIW, the hardware it's running on does not make any noticeable difference to the way Porteus functions and/or malfunctions - that's consistent across all computers.

@Ed_P also wrote...

...the output of the terminal command "uname -a" will indicate whether your boot system is 486 or x86_64 but it won't tell you if your hardward/pc is.

Thanks for that, it will go in the notes file for future use. All of the Porteus flavours I have been testing are 32-bit (i686).
All the computers I have tested Porteus on are 64-bit.
The Abiword modules I have been using for tests are also 32-bit.
Current results of testing: the same Abiword module used in all flavours runs fine in LXQT, runs abominably in Openbox, and does not respond at all in XFCE and MATE.

This makes me suspect that I was using slapt-mod correctly in the XFCE flavour where I first tried it unsuccessfully - but that there is an issue somewhere else in the system.

More later. Amaya