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New to Porteus and Slackware

Posted: 04 Mar 2015, 16:47
by yldouright
Just installed Porteus on an old P4 system hard drive. Used the Firefox option in my CD installer configuration but the browser seems to be outdated. How can I update the browser? Do I also need to update the underlying Slackware?

Re: New to Porteus and Slackware

Posted: 04 Mar 2015, 18:51
by francois
1.0 Try this one depending on your architecture (have a look there are also chrome and opera browsers):
-32 bit :
http://dl.porteus.org/i486/current/modules/
-64 bit:
http://dl.porteus.org/x86_64/current/modules/


Usm package manager(will help you to build the necessary libraries or dependencies if necessary, what I would doubt):
- usm gui: the little blue square in the panel menu. You have to update all repositories.
or
- usm command line:

Code: Select all

root@porteus:~# su
password
root@porteus:~# root@porteus:~# usm -u all
root@porteus:~# usm -g package-name
where package-name = firefox.

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[b]In your case:
root@porteus:~# usm -g mozilla-firefox[/b]

2.0 Build it from source procedure:
Prerequisite to slackbuild is the devel.xzm package. Put it in the /porteus/modules folder and activate it with right click and submenu activate:
http://dl.porteus.org/i486/current/modules/

In your case you will have to use slackbuild procedure. There is an example in the following post for the pidgin package:
http://forum.porteus.org/viewtopic.php?f=81&t=4421
The sources:
http://slackbuilds.org/mirror/slackware ... a-firefox/
or
http://slackbuilds.org/mirror/slackware ... a-firefox/

:D

Re: New to Porteus and Slackware

Posted: 04 Mar 2015, 20:14
by francois
The 1.0 suggestion was corrected. Using usm is the way to go. I just built firefox most recent edition.

Report any problem. We will help you. :)

Re: New to Porteus and Slackware

Posted: 04 Mar 2015, 23:14
by yldouright
Thanks. I decided to build another OS without a browser and thought I would try tor instead of firefox. The tor browser downloads as a tar.xz and the archive manager doesn't open this. I could use a tar command but I would prefer to make it a module. The utility doesn't seem to treat a tar.xz like a txz so I can't convert. I am using XCFE on the Porteus 3.1.7 (slack 12.1) and am completely out of my element here, what do I do now?

Re: New to Porteus and Slackware

Posted: 05 Mar 2015, 00:36
by yldouright
I unpacked the tar.xz from the command line and built a module from the folder, then copied the resulting file into the modules folder and rebooted. I don't see the icon or anyway to boot the browser but the folder is still there so I'm trying to boot tor from the folder first. No dice, 17 minutes and it can't connect to a network so I'm going to reboot and pull the module out again in the event there is a conflict. Okay, tor works from the unpacked folder but not from the module. The tor folder has a pointer to start the browser which is in a nested folder (ie: tor_folder/pointer/tor_app). Could this be the reason the application doesn't boot from the module and if so, how do I fix it?

Re: New to Porteus and Slackware

Posted: 05 Mar 2015, 12:50
by Bogomips

Code: Select all

cp /mnt/sda1/Tor/tor-browser-linux32-3.6.4_en-US.tar.xz  tor-browser-linux32-3.6.4_en-US.txz  # Always worth a shot ;)
root@porteus:/home/guest# txz2xzm tor-browser-linux32-3.6.4_en-US.txz 
Verifying package tor-browser-linux32-3.6.4_en-US.txz.
Installing package tor-browser-linux32-3.6.4_en-US.txz:
PACKAGE DESCRIPTION:
WARNING:  Package has not been created with 'makepkg'
Package tor-browser-linux32-3.6.4_en-US.txz installed.

Creating /home/guest/tor-browser-linux32-3.6.4_en-US.xzm
guest@porteus:~$ cp tor-browser-linux32-3.6.4_en-US.xzm  /mnt/sda1/Tor/

root@porteus:/home/guest# activate /mnt/sda1/Tor/tor-browser-linux32-3.6.4_en-US.xzm 
Updating shared library links:  /sbin/ldconfig
root@porteus:/home/guest# ls /tor-browser_en-US/
Browser/  Data/  Docs/  Tor/  start-tor-browser*

guest@porteus:~$ cd /tor-browser_en-US/
guest@porteus:/tor-browser_en-US$ ./start-tor-browser
./start-tor-browser: line 210: getconf: command not found
./start-tor-browser: line 213: [: -ne: unary operator expected

Launching Tor Browser Bundle for Linux in /tor-browser_en-US
...
Mar 05 13:27:11.000 [notice] We now have enough directory information to build circuits.
Mar 05 13:27:11.000 [notice] Bootstrapped 80%: Connecting to the Tor network.
Mar 05 13:27:11.000 [notice] Bootstrapped 90%: Establishing a Tor circuit.
Mar 05 13:27:11.000 [notice] Tor has successfully opened a circuit. Looks like client functionality is working.
Mar 05 13:27:11.000 [notice] Bootstrapped 100%: Done.
0 migrated.
Mar 05 13:27:14.000 [notice] New control connection opened.
Mar 05 13:30:27.000 [notice] Owning controller connection has closed -- exiting now.

Tor Browser exited cleanly.
There is one caveat though. As it stands changes to the Tor browser settings cannot be assumed to be saved, as the module is read-only, so something extra may have to be done to achieve this. Being not quite so au fait in this department (normally running from folder in real filesystem), will leave it to someone else, maybe francois, to explain.

Re: New to Porteus and Slackware

Posted: 05 Mar 2015, 13:46
by yldouright
Many thanks to Bogomips. I'd like to get a better understanding of what is happening here. The tor folder directory with the browser and all the supporting components sit inside the top level folder which presumably has the obfuscating pointer that makes tor do what it does. What you have done looks like a brute force way to make tor start, is there a way to have the start browser command in Porteus point to the "start-tor-browser" in the top folder when it is a module? This should allow changes made to the browser configuration stick even though it is a module, no? By the way, I have question about Studioware and the thread I found on it is a year old. Should I post my question in it or start a new one?

Re: New to Porteus and Slackware

Posted: 05 Mar 2015, 18:21
by francois
The use of the old thread on studioware is good. We try to use cumulative knowledge on topics instead of reinventing the wheel. But a new thread could be good also. You could refer to the old thread to say that it did not provide the solution.

Concerning TOR bundle, the `expert` is wread. He was able to get it going when we spoke about it:
http://forum.porteus.org/viewtopic.php? ... 5&start=15

You can reuse the old thread on tor or simply start a new one for the same reasons.

Re: New to Porteus and Slackware

Posted: 06 Mar 2015, 01:25
by yldouright
Noted. I will start another thread on Studioware and link the old one for continuity. Tor will stay as it is, booting from the home folder, until I get confirmation from wread that his method still works. Lots has changed since his solution and I'm still feeling my way around Slackware. I used the default 512MB save file for Porteus and I'm beginning to think the better option is to install it on an EF2 partition. I'm going to pull out an old P3 coppermine with a 1.6GB drive and 512MB of RAM for shits and giggles and test is out. By the way, Porteus won't install on a GPT disk unless you make a 100MB boot partition first. This was news to me and a source of wasted hours so I thought I'd convey that for another newbie should they happen to read here.

Re: New to Porteus and Slackware

Posted: 07 Mar 2015, 02:09
by francois
Good! We will meet you there. 8)

Re: New to Porteus and Slackware

Posted: 07 Mar 2015, 13:07
by yldouright
I am a little confused about the OS directories used by Porteus. The file system directory is separate from the volume directory and does not appear to hold the installed modules. This seems unorthodox and unfamiliar to me and I would like to understand why it is done this way. Would this be different if Porteus was not installed on a FAT32 disk?

Re: New to Porteus and Slackware

Posted: 07 Mar 2015, 13:38
by Bogomips
"Learning by Doing", it is called. The way I have come to get a better understanding of Porteus, was just through trying to get all my usual apps going, and then finding IMHO having to wean oneself from the system GUIs and resort to CLI. The only system GUI I now use is a File Manager. Anyway that's my 2 cents on getting to know Porteus. 8)

Re: New to Porteus and Slackware

Posted: 07 Mar 2015, 15:44
by francois
1.0 Smaller and portable.
The structure of living live scripts permits the creation of live cd and live usb into a modular compressed system. It takes less physical space on the devices and permits the use of these devices as portable systems that could be used across different computers, without installing the system each time to these different computers. A system on a key or on a cd is usefull to look and repair broken system, would they be linux or windows. There is many modules on living media because the use of bigger modules would take more time to bootup the same overall system (so you are usually better making smaller modules).

Porteus stock as a overall system weighs 200 MB, while other distributions will weight between 1 and 1.5 GIG.

The first section of the following howto for live usb media gives some additional advantages or possibilities of live systems:
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/How_to_c ... e_Live_USB

2.0 The double and triple file structure is needed to maintain that system compressed.
The system is represented as the usual linux structure and as the /mnt/live structure so changes to the system could be accounted and retained for the next bootup if desirable. These system changes would be too tedious and cryptic to be accounted by hand even by a knowledgeable user. At the same time some changes of the data on the different available devices is possible that do or do not pertain to the system structure. It is simpler and takes less time to provide a module for the changes than to repack all the information in each modules. By eliminating the changes module you get a clean and basic system immediately.

3.0 Installing packages on the fly.
A big advantage of using live media is the possibility to install a package on the fly. You just click on it and it is readily available for use. Because the package has been already compressed into a module or bundle, it is installed rapidly. The booting time of porteus is surprisingly fast because the basic system is minimalistic. You can retain that bootup speed if you do not load too much the /porteus/modules with additional modules. A provision for additional modules that could be activated if needed on the fly after bootup is usually in the /porteus/optional folder.

According to my humble opinion we have not yet use the great potential of this simple and fast installation of packages.

4.0 Having as many systems as you want on the same partition. I like to have another system handy in the case my regular system breaks. You could use other live systems (from live cd) in the same way as porteus is used if you want. Being able to install porteus in the same partition where stands a standard windows or linux partition.

5.0 Cheatcodes: additional flexibility.
With the intensive use of cheatcodes porteus provides additional flexibility. Do you need it really? See cheatcodes:
http://www.porteus.org/tutorials/26-gen ... -them.html

These reasons are also why I do use porteus on a hdd partition. :D

Maybe there is more in the preceeding lines than was asked for. I would like to read the devs on the subject.

Re: New to Porteus and Slackware

Posted: 07 Mar 2015, 15:46
by francois
To understand the porteus file structure have a look at the /mnt/live directory and into it subdirectories. :twisted:

Re: New to Porteus and Slackware

Posted: 07 Mar 2015, 16:22
by yldouright
francois
Thank you very much for your comprehensive post. The idea of having two systems, one frozen and one updating, is a brilliant concept and not a hardship when you consider how small this OS is. I am beginning to respect the accomplishment here. Looking deeper in the /mnt/live structure showed the pointers to the root and I think I'm beginning to understand now why it was done this way. At first glance it looks vulnerable to an exploit but if the handles are clean then maybe not. I want use the audio part and the photo part if it isn't too heavy. I have some graphic production experience but am completely ignorant of sound production. If I can learn the audio tools and concepts substantially well, I will then try to use the multimedia tools.
Bogomips
I use the CLI when I have to but it's too arcane and subject to typing error for casual use, that's the way I see it. Speaking of command line functions, I had a very bizarre situation with gparted being unable to control a drive under Debian Wheezy. I suspected the following problem: The drive was part of a spanned volume before it was attempted to be made a boot drive. I remember the tech using a command line to completely wipe the drive from the header forward but I don't recall the command and lost the notes where I had it copied. Would you happen to know this command?