Feedback for Porteus version 2.0 RC2

[fanthom]

Hi everyone,

This is the feedback thread for rc2 of upcoming Porteus-2.0. You can find the announcement and changelog here: link.

At this point we have fully working PPM which means you can grab modules from official Porteus repo. Pretty much everything what you need is there.
One big item which is missing is libreoffice which is not updated to slackware-14.0 yet.
I have reported it upstream (link) so hopefully alienbob produce fully working packages soon.
Taking this opportunity i would like to thank to all crews from:
- slackware.com
- salix.org
- slacky.eu
- slackers.it
- slackbuilds.org
- ponce (Matteo Bernardini)
- alienbob (Eric Hameleers)
for maintaining packages which are being used in Porteus.

Please test rc2 and report bugs/suggestions in this thread as usual. Your feedback is very important in the road of making Porteus-2.0 the best release ever
We have no plans for another rc so please report all remaining bugs as soon as it's possible.

Thank you.

[kadalka]

1/ Just take the time before releasing 2.0 final, unless you would like to create something like 2.0.1 etc.
However, I would prefer that it comes as soon as possible ...

2/ I've seen bugs in the razorqt RC1, so I hope this is just for RC1.
If I've seen the issue again, then I would send it here...

3/ Change the front page announcement : Porteus-2.0 RC1 to Porteus-2.0 RC2 with the correct link.

4/ Is it possible to send to us informations about news, especially new distro ?
(You've got our mails...)
I do want that feature...

[godzilla]

I would like to report a problem with Truecrypt, the same problem happens in Porteus 1.2. I tested both, in Porteus1.2 is even a bit more difficult because you have to download sudo for Truecrypt to work, but this is no longer the case in Porteus 2.0 RC2.

I download Truecrypt from modules, run it and when I attempt to mount an external encrypted device entering the right password, Porteus then asks me for the administrator password to mount the drive, which is obviously toor but I enter it I get the error below saying that it failed to obtain administrator privileges. To this date I have been unable to use Truecrypt in Porteus, it can not mount any encrypted device due to a permissions problem, I wonder if anyone is using Truecrypt and how do they do it.

PS: I am running the 64 bit version, XFCE desktop.

(images removed)

[godzilla]

Another problem I found, still running Porteus 2.0 RC2 64bit XFCE, is that I installed Kvpnc from modules and it shows up inside System in my menu but when I click on the logo nothing happens, I am wondering if this could have anything to do with me running the XFCE Porteus version and Kvpnc being for KDE or if it is something else.

Right now I can't make it work even though it shows as installed, when I click on the icon nothing happens.

[godzilla]

I though it had been agreed in another thread that the Firefox setting "Tell websites I do not want to be tracked" would be on by default in the next release, this setting can be found in Firefox>Edit>Preferences>Privacy tab and it is still unchecked.

[ncmprhnsbl]

KDE4 64. ext4 usb install ... copy2ram changes=/dev/sda5/porteus2-rc2 ...nouveau video....
..so far, a couple of things...
The installer, launched directly from the menu, installed, but left the usb drive unbootable. Reinstalling via 'settings-centre' works.
Might also be worthwhile making it clear that the copy2ram option messes up the installer(goes through the motions,reports sucess,but installs nothing)

Qmmp crashing ...i think this is the relevant section:

Code: Select all

startkde: Starting up...
Connecting to deprecated signal QDBusConnectionInterface::serviceOwnerChanged(QString,QString,QString)
QDBusConnection: session D-Bus connection created before QCoreApplication. Application may misbehave.
and..
process 2452: arguments to dbus_message_iter_append_basic() were incorrect, assertion "_dbus_check_is_valid_path (*string_p)" failed in file dbus-message.c line 2539.
This is normally a bug in some application using the D-Bus library.
  D-Bus not built with -rdynamic so unable to print a backtrace

gnome-mplayer and sound work normally.
package manager works lovely.. installed gimp no probs...
loaded all repos except debain...so far

[injector]

In 32-bit version of Razor impossible to add/remove language
If it is possible can you..
-Add to Razor kwrite
-Add to XFCE gedit

[brokenman]

@Godzilla
Please try to run kvpnc from a terminal to see any error output. Did you download the module through the package manager so it resolves dependencies?
Regarding the firefox setting "Tell websites I do not want to be tracked" ... we will look at it for final. Personally i think there is a reason firefox ships with the box unticked and is given the name it has, instead of being ticked by default and having the name "It is OK for websites to track me". Not everybody is overly paranoid.

@ncmprhnsbl
The installer, launched directly from the menu, installed, but left the usb drive unbootable. Reinstalling via 'settings-centre' works.
Might also be worthwhile making it clear that the copy2ram option messes up the installer(goes through the motions,reports sucess,but installs nothing)
Thanks for the catch. I'll check out why it fails from the menu and not from the 'Settings centre'. The package manager was given more love for this release so i will pay more attention to installer next time around.

@injector
In 32-bit version of Razor impossible to add/remove language. If it is possible can you. Add to Razor kwrite. Add to XFCE gedit.
Language support is not available in rc releases. It will be ready for final. I can add Kwrite to the package manager for 32bit but please be aware that it will want to pull large dependencies such as kdelibs and probably others. Perhaps you can try Wreads 32bit Porteus with KDE4 which should have kwrite by default.

[injector]

-I did not ask language support, I just want a possibility to remove some keyboard language.
-Where to take this "Wreads 32bit"?

[Probono]

The 'Instructions' messages were on screen for too short a period to read. Presumably it tells the default P/W is <toor>? {I guessed it}.
A GB k/b would seem essential, even in RC. Although the US has 5x more citizens, there are (guessing again) maybe 100x more using a GB k/b setting at some time. (Hope you're not defaulting to Mr Webster, too!).
An alternative background, even if plain blue or light grey wouldn't consume much extra code.
An email client is essential. Claws is best but big. Sylpheed is a bit lighter and still available. Alternatively, both Opera and SeaMoney-suite both include that function. Opera is the fastest browser but no-one likes its emailer, SeaMonkey is nothing like as popular as Firefox and the suite is patchy. EudoraOSE has been ported and looks a bit like Thunderbird now that Mozilla has acquired it but acts more like the old Eudora; probably the best interface even though it is highly US-centric!
Despite the above, it's a smart move to keep this distro down to ~200Mb .iso.
Otherwise rather impressive, thanks.

[Tonio]

FYI,

Testing RC2 with default KDE4 x86_64 spin.
Several thoughts:

1) Firefox is at 18.0.1 or similar, this RC2 has 17.0.1, I guess it is hard to keep up with too many firefox updates , Tomas M has just updated slax 7 to 7.0.5, and he had older versions of firefox as well on his previous versions'

2) A tad late, but rc1 with razor qt or whatever it is called I could not use it on an old laptop, but the old tried and true kde4 does work, strange. Sorry could not report error, there was nothing on the screen and the student who brought the laptop took it home as I was trying to repair it for him(or help him do it). Hard drive was bad, but porteus could not boot, had to use system rescue cd in that case.

3) I apologize for not reporting back, but I had been busy and had little time to get back. I have sinned too! as I was also testing Slax 7 and have not tested either system to the best of my abilities. I am torn between the two. Both are very good and both are missing the programs that I had grown to love, I know I can add them later, but I guess Tomas M and Fanthom/brokenman/Ahau all believe these programs are not needed*, I respect that decision and will not cry over spilled milk. I will try to build the programs that I use and submit a script that generates the package instead of posting it somewhere in hopes that it can become official. Thanks for making porteus I will be around and checking out some details. Please don't ask about the programs that I miss, but they make the cd bigger and I shall add these later if needed to a usb Don't worry!!!

[fanthom]

@kadalka

However, I would prefer that it comes as soon as possible ...

we understand but stable release delivered in longer time takes priority over one done quickly and being buggy.
just today Claude reported important udev bug which will be fixed for final.

4/ Is it possible to send to us informations about news, especially new distro ?
(You've got our mails...)
I do want that feature...

will do it but only for stable releases (not rc's) as dont want to disturb people who are not using Porteus anymore and are still figuring in our db.

@godzilla

I would like to report a problem with Truecrypt,

i have addressed this issue on mchat - please check the archive and report if provided workaround works for you.

I though it had been agreed in another thread that the Firefox setting "Tell websites I do not want to be tracked" would be on by default in the next release

we did not touch firefox module in rc2 so this setting left unchanged.
privacy is one thing but users comfort is probably more important. as brokenman stated - mozilla did not enable it by default and i would vote on following upstream in this case.

@ncmprhnsbl

Qmmp crashing

cant recreate here... please try in 'Always Fresh' mode.

@injector
not sure is 32bit kde4 is ready for porteus 2.x please ask about it in this thread:
link

@Probono

A GB k/b would seem essential, even in RC.

this is always a tough choice for us which mappings include by default.
i would advise to use 'kmap=gb' cheatcode.

An alternative background, even if plain blue or light grey wouldn't consume much extra code.

not sure which edition you are using but i will bring blue one from 1.2 release as an option to 64bit kde4 edition.

An email client is essential.

i still have some space in 64bit KDE4 so will introduce IRC, twitter and a simple email client for final.

@Tonio
will update firefox/flash for final.

thanks guys

[Probono]

this is always a tough choice for us which mappings include by default.
i would advise to use 'kmap=gb' cheatcode.

Many thanks for your helpful response.
Of course, although the Yankies still hate us for sending the Rebs guns, it would seem more logical to apply the GB k/b as standard since this is available to a vast audience of billions throughout Australasia, much of Africa as well as being understood in N America. Or was Mr Churchill correct in his assertion?!
Concerning 32v.64 bit, it'd be interesting to see the d/l stats. It's alleged that most of world+dog is likely to be on 32bit for another decade; moreover, Penguin fans are more likley to be messin' about with older kit.
Keep up the good work.

[Ahau]

@godilla,

Your problem with kvpnc appears to be an issue with using PPM inside Xfce. Here's what happens when I try to install it:
1)kvpnc shows numerous required packages (because it is intended to run in KDE and the KDE libs are not in the Xfce edition)
2)when I ask PPM to resolve these dependencies, it downloads the slackware database and then finds the package "compat32-libraries-2.0-x86_64-1sl"

We do not need the compat 32 libraries, we need the actual 64-bit libraries, so even after I download, convert and activate the compat libraries, kvpnc won't start due to (still) missing libraries.

For now, the easiest way for you to get kvpnc working is to download the 64-bit standard edition Porteus ISO and copy /porteus/base/004-kde.xzm into your Xfce installation. That module has all of the required deps and when it's present and activated, I get kvpnc working without anything else needed.

brokenman -- any idea what the issue is here and how to fix it in ppm?


@injector,

The Xfce edition already comes with mousepad, geany, and abiword. Are none of these suitable for your needs? Gedit also appears to require pygtksourceview which I am guessing would in turn require python and I would prefer not to add that much weight to the default ISO (of course, users could add it to their installations if they wish). I've also used medit in the past but it caused some trouble with Xfce so I dropped it in favor of geany.

@Probono,

Our aim is to support as many localizations as possible. All keymappings supported by Xorg are available in rc1 and rc2 (what will still be missing until Porteus 2.0 final is the localization files that support translations of the text within applications -- the files inside /usr/share/locale). Only one keyboard layout can be our default, and unfortunately the panel plugins that switch between keymappings have a built-in limit of 4 keymappings to store (which four can be changed by the user but we can only include four there by default). As fanthom pointed out, you can change your keymapping with the cheatcode, "kmap=gb" or through Porteus-Settings-Centre -> Keyboard settings. I selected the 4 layouts for xfce4-xkb-plugin based on the countries that had the most hits on our website.

[brokenman]

brokenman -- any idea what the issue is here and how to fix it in ppm?
Most probably the compat libraries are found first and taken as the required dep. I'll have to think of a way around this. Perhaps for now download via slackyd and see what it needs to pull.