First Impressions[SOLVED]

Post here if you are a new Porteus member and you're looking for some help.
mdavies5
White ninja
White ninja
Posts: 12
Joined: 09 Aug 2014, 02:17
Distribution: 3.2
Location: Australia

First Impressions[SOLVED]

Post#1 by mdavies5 » 09 Aug 2014, 05:41

I use Linux Mint but wanted a portable system on a USB stick for maintenance on other computers. So I only needed some tools like GParted.
I was really impressed with the Porteus download process, selecting your software, language etc before downloading. The download was very small and fast. Using the install.txt file made installation a breeze, which I did wothout burning a CD first. I first tried a 2Gb USB stick but when when using it in live mode it soon ran out of space and gave various error messages. I then re-installed to an 8Gb stick partitioned as 6Gb ext4 and 2Gb Swap. After setting it all up I am only using 500Mb.
I did find a lot of problems which were mainly self inflicted but I notice that others have had similar problems so I will detail these here with the solutions:
1. I wanted to set up a new user so I added myself to /etc/passwd and in /etc/group I added myself to the root group. Then I made a mistake. Instead of adding myself the sudoers, I created myself in a file with "yourname ALL=(ALL) ALL" in /etc/sudoers.d folder (you can also use "yourname ALL=NOPASSWD:ALL" to avoid constantly having to enter the root password). In /etc/sudoers I uncommented the line "include /etc/sudoers.d". This is the preferred method in most deb distributions but in Porteus in created an error in the uncommented line and caused permission errors like not accepting valid passwords. It also meant that configuration changes were not saved. This was also due to another error I made. I copied the files and folders from the "guest" home folder to my new folder while in Linux Mint. Then I forgot to change the ownership of the files when I booted into Porteus. Once I fixed this most of my problems were solved but here are some that remain:
1. I checked that my BIOS was set to the correct local time and selected this option in the Time setup but my time was always showing UTC. I then went into Tie setup and checked "My System is on UTC time" (which it wasn't but this corrected the time displayed in the toolbar. However, when I reboot I must always reset as it defaults to "My System is on local time".
2. If you start porteus-settings-manager from a terminal, when you shut down it gives a message "Error: Line 870 Binary operator expected". It's not fatal but I suspect a small syntax error.
3. When the Network Manager pops up a notification it has a label "Don't show this message again" but the label is too small to hold the text and the Checkbox that presumably be checked is missing.
4. I couldn't get my basic HDA Intel ALC888 sound card to work but this doesn't concern me for my purposes.
OVERALL: Congrats to the Porteus team for producing a great portable OS, even better than Puppy.
Last edited by mdavies5 on 10 Aug 2014, 12:44, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
fanthom
Moderator Team
Moderator Team
Posts: 5666
Joined: 28 Dec 2010, 02:42
Distribution: Porteus Kiosk
Location: Poland
Contact:

Re: First Impressions

Post#2 by fanthom » 09 Aug 2014, 08:37

hi mdavies5,
I wanted to set up a new user
Porteus works the best with two users only: root and guest. adding new user is not a good idea as some settings for root and guest are hardcoded into porteus tools. (one may ask 'why?' answer: it's live distro and not fully fledged OS. admin and guest are enough for 95% of users)
1. I checked that my BIOS was set to the correct local time and selected this option in the Time setup but my time was always showing UTC. I then went into Tie setup and checked "My System is on UTC time" (which it wasn't but this corrected the time displayed in the toolbar. However, when I reboot I must always reset as it defaults to "My System is on local time".
if your hw clock is set to UTC then please add 'utc' cheatcode to your bootloader config:

Code: Select all

utc

... Tell Porteus that your hardware clock is set to UTC time and
not to localtime. Most computers that have Windows installed on
them use localtime instead of UTC time, but many UNIX machines
use UTC instead. This cheatcode is normally used together with
the 'timezone' cheatcode.
Example: 'timezone=Europe/Warsaw utc'
if that resolves this issue then i'll ask Hamza for adding 'utc' option to the desktop wizard
I couldn't get my basic HDA Intel ALC888 sound card to work but this doesn't concern me for my purposes.
'psinfo' raport would come handy in this case.

thanks for your feedback.
Please add [Solved] to your thread title if the solution was found.

mdavies5
White ninja
White ninja
Posts: 12
Joined: 09 Aug 2014, 02:17
Distribution: 3.2
Location: Australia

Re: First Impressions[SOLVED]

Post#3 by mdavies5 » 10 Aug 2014, 03:57

Thanks fanthom,
Adding the utc cheat code worked perfectly for setting the time.

I'm not too worried about the sound but if, like me, you like to solve problems then I have created a psinfo file. How do I upload it?

I have successfully created a new user. I could probably have achieved the same result by modifying the guest account but the exercise has helped me to understand Porteus better (I am an inquisitive bastard) :)

I have now successfully used USM to install Thunderbird. Very different from Linux Mint software centre but easy to learn. The more I play with Porteus the more I like it.

Cheers
Mike
Last edited by mdavies5 on 10 Aug 2014, 12:43, edited 1 time in total.

mdavies5
White ninja
White ninja
Posts: 12
Joined: 09 Aug 2014, 02:17
Distribution: 3.2
Location: Australia

Re: First Impressions

Post#4 by mdavies5 » 10 Aug 2014, 04:41

Hi fanthom,
I have uploaded to pastebin: http://pastebin.com/ktrkjQyu
This is valid for 6 days. This is the first time I have used pastebin so I hope i have done it correctly
Cheers
Mike

User avatar
fanthom
Moderator Team
Moderator Team
Posts: 5666
Joined: 28 Dec 2010, 02:42
Distribution: Porteus Kiosk
Location: Poland
Contact:

Re: First Impressions

Post#5 by fanthom » 10 Aug 2014, 08:33

hi Mike,

i see nothing wrong with your setup: Intel soundcard is set as primary so it should work out of the box. probably a matter of unmuting channels or selecting the soundcard in the settings of particular application.
if you dont need a sound then lets leave it like that.

thanks
Please add [Solved] to your thread title if the solution was found.

User avatar
Hamza
Warlord
Warlord
Posts: 1908
Joined: 28 Dec 2010, 07:41
Distribution: Porteus
Location: France

Re: First Impressions

Post#6 by Hamza » 10 Aug 2014, 08:43

Hi guys,

I've added support for UTC on Desktop Web Wizard.

Cheers, Hamza
NjVFQzY2Rg==

Post Reply