Wishlist for porteus 3.1

[francois]

I have asked if there would be any wishlist for porteus 3.1. The answer came from fanthom: just start a thread in the developement section.

Porteus 3.1 rc1 is scheduled for october. To see the detailed schedule:
http://forum.porteus.org/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=3668

What would be your wishlist for porteus 3.1? These wishes could be as much software requests as general guidelines? Be creative!!

[Blaze]

Hi. I wish Pantheon desktop environment for Porteus

[tome]

My first wish is to create data directory next to changes, so it could be only selected (symlinked) changes persistent (even on nfts/fat) and add:

Code: Select all

# Get booting device and link to data
bdev=`grep -A1 "Booting" /var/log/porteus-livedbg|tail -n1|sed 's^//^/^g'`
pdat=${bdev}/data
ln -sf $pdat /mnt/data

to startup scripts. Then it could be created for example never broken (sdxY) symlink "/home/guest/Desktop" to "/mnt/data/guest-saved/Desktop"

Or another very similar (more logical) solution.

[dstarke]

My wishlist is for a combined 32/64bit environment that uses 32bit software with the compatibility library for 64bit. The advantage is that such a OS on a stick drive (or whatever they are called today) can be taken to any computer and the beautiful, personalized Porteus system run. The reason for the 64bit kernel would be to utilize the higher memory in >4gb systems out there. The reason that the software would remain 32bit is that my research suggests that there are very few software packages that run significantly (faster, better) when compiled as 64bit executable. It also is much easier if the kernels can share the same filesystem. Other have suggested having multiple porteus installations on the same drive, but that makes upgrading and changing software more difficult and involves changing the locations of all the common data folders. Besides, it creates two of everything, which is, IMHO, inelegant. Knoppix has run as a dual 32/64 bit OS for many years (selectable at boot).

This would be a dream come true as I have been trying to remaster Knoppix for quite a while (Klaus Knopper uses many non-Debian tricks to make his dvd work). Porteus is so versatile and easy to alter, but many, but not all, of my systems are 64bit with 8gb memory or more. I would like to be able to walk up to any of my machines and others at work and elsewhere and boot into MY OS built MY way, utilizing all the power of each computer.

What say brokenman? Can you make my dreams come true?

I have a system running which is ninety percent there, except that the non-free 32bit video drivers bork the X-session when running 64bit .

TIA for considering this.

[biotec]

Hi!

Here are two wishes and a bit of information.

1 - Adding touchscreen support is my main wish. At least, a virtual keyboard and decent mouse emulation.

Many new portable computers come with a touchscreen, and some are conceived to be used like a tablet or are a real tablet. I am successfully running porteus on a Surface Pro from a microsd without touching the viral OS that comes from factory, and the only big trouble is that I have to attach permanently the keyboard, and that the touchscreen capabilities are mostly useless.

I use Porteus for teaching Biocomputing in a Biotech degree, an I distribute to my students a customised installation. In addition to provide a decent environment for them to perform homework and exercises, I also want to promote that they could switch smoothly from the prevalent OS to Linux/Unix, or at least, grab the essentials - not and obvious thing for most. For this it is essential for me doing it in a way that they may use it in their personal PC computers with as little changes to their previous OS as possible, and also, it is important getting the overall experience pleasant enough.

2 - Native dual-boot support (the same iso to be able to boot automatically from both legacy bios and uefi).

It is not (anymore) a personal wish for me, because, like some others, I have solved the problem for myself the hard way , but I think it is important to include at least (u)efi native support for the future of Porteus, so that newcomers can get it running in recent laptops. Obviously, this is only relevant for the 64-bit version.

After trying several options, including grub, elilo and gummi, I selected refind, but the others may be valid working solutions too. For distribution among students, I have prepared an usb with a single VFAT partition. No need of special partitions as some webs suggest, at least, in my hands 8) . However, the real test will be in a few weeks when I give it away and confront a greater variety of computers.

Regards,
Ricardo.

PS: GREAT thanks to the Porteus team for such a wonderful work

[francois]

Maybe lots of you folks did not read this thread. Or is it that porteus is in its mature phase, close to perfection? 8)

[francois]

I would like a debian (ubuntu) or archlinux clone of porteus. Just to show to the world how intelligent is porteus. It could come in only one desktop flavor.

[Ed_P]

I would like to see network support built in or available like printer support. Many/most pcs are connected to others; laptops to desktops, spouse to spouse, parent to kids, work to home, etc.

Maybe a security module would be useful/desireable, with a firewall and an AV included.

And I agree with biotec's #2. point.

And I would like to see the number of developers double. The current ones are getting over worked.

[dafan]

I would like to move the boot subdirectory under the porteus subdirectory, so that only one subdirectory under the root directory of ISO/USB is needed.

[tome]

@ dafan
Or maybe better is to move porteus to boot directory. Boot is more "universal" than porteus.

[tome]

Some next thoughts about possibilities:

2. Rebuild way of setting language so it could be option to choose prefered system language/locale while building iso in Porteus Wizard.

3. Add option to activate directories (Right Mouse Button) like xzm modules. If that directory contains .posixfs file (permission allowed only on posix filesystems - test for disable NTFS/FAT) then that directory could be activated, or similar solution.

4. Another way of announcing final release - it could be Porteus RCFinal name and if we have not found major bugs during 2-3 days it should be then only renamed to Porteus Final and announced.

5. from= cheatcode should search porteus directory and porteus parent directory for sgn and base modules (like v1.2) - no subdirectories needed (easier to manage). Now if someone want have two versions or architectures must have:

myos
porteus-3.0-i486
porteus
base

myos
porteus-4rc1-x86-64
porteus
base

but should work also:

myos
porteus-ver-arch
base

6. If we build xzm modules we must do it on parent (root) directory but sometimes we need only one directory (etc, opt, home/guest) so it would be nice if xzm builder could recognize name - that it has not parent directory and create main sup-directory(ies) while building for: etc, home, (home/)guest, opt, root, usr directory names. Or question: If you are building module from(for) parent(root) directory press "Enter", otherwise enter a missing parent path.

7. Right Mouse Button option - copy to memory/changes - it would be useful with changes-ro or EXIT: - if we need make modified file/directory persistant -> RMB -> Copy to persistant changes.
The same could be also for deleting files if they exist in persistant changes.

8. Add vmlinuz, initrd.xz (or vmlinuz-$v-$arch, initrd-$v-$arch.xz) and porteus-$v-$arch.sgn to http://dl.porteus.org/i486/current/ and http://dl.porteus.org/x86-64/current/. I think that also vmlinuz and initrd.xz should be moved from syslinux to porteus directory because syslinux is optional and vmlinuz, initrd (and modules) are always required and owned by Porteus.

9. Add to Firefox prefs.js:

Code: Select all

user_pref("browser.newtabpage.columns", 5);
user_pref("browser.newtabpage.pinned", "[{\"url\":\"http://www.porteus.org/info.html\",\"frecency\":200,\"lastVisitDate\":1411375584441571,\"title\":\"Porteus - Portable Linux - Info\"},{\"url\":\"http://forum.porteus.org/\",\"frecency\":2000,\"lastVisitDate\":1411069041487848,\"title\":\"Porteus - Index page\"},{\"url\":\"http://pastebin.com/\",\"frecency\":2000,\"lastVisitDate\":1411069279304375,\"title\":\"Pastebin.com - #1 paste tool since 2002!\"},{\"url\":\"about:preferences\",\"title\":\"Firefox Preferences\"}]");
user_pref("browser.newtabpage.rows", 4);
user_pref("browser.startup.homepage", "about:newtab");
user_pref("security.dialog_enable_delay", 10);

It could be also added '/usr/share/applications/mozilla-firefox-p.desktop':

Code: Select all

[Desktop Entry]
Exec=firefox -no-remote -p %u
Icon=firefox
Type=Application
Categories=Network;
Name=Firefox Profile Manager
Name[bn]=ফায়ারফক্স Profile Manager
Name[eo]=Mozilo Fajrovulpo Profile Manager
Name[fi]=Mozilla Firefox Profile Manager
Name[pa]=ਫਾਇਰਫੋਕਸ Profile Manager
Name[tg]=Рӯбоҳи оташин Profile Manager
MimeType=text/html;text/xml;application/xhtml+xml;application/vnd.mozilla.xul+xml;text/mml;x-scheme-handler/http;x-scheme-handler/https;
X-KDE-StartupNotify=true

10. Don't lost time to comment my post if something is wrong/impossible.

[dafan]

@ dafan
Or maybe better is to move porteus to boot directory. Boot is more "universal" than porteus.

Hello tome, I think /porteus is better than /boot. Porteus should not so universal but personalized. E.g. if I see the /porteus directory I can immediatly know it is Porteus, but if I see the /boot directoy, I must open it to know what is installed in it.

[phhpro]

...

[meisthfox]

I'd like to see something rather simple : In the KDE4 desktop, when using the Kickoff Application Launcher > Applications,
I'd like to see all the subheadings (applications) displayed as one hovers w/ the arrow over the headings (categories).

[francois]

@Peter:
It is really good to read from you. Though I realize that if get bored or nostalgic, I could always drop at your webpage and read some of your productions. I hope everything is going fine for you. If I ever happen to fly or drive to Mexico, I might drop by.