First Impressions[SOLVED]
Posted: 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.
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.