Search Results for 'boot from iso'

[Member return of could be]

Oooooooo! Failsafe boot! Thank you, that works. I’d forgotten that that’s there, further down the menu. I had tried Safe Video Mode and it didn’t help, then I gave up.

So I’m fine, but FWIW: antiX-19.2-runit-sid_x64-core.iso, usb. With default or with Safe Video Mode, it doesn’t really hang, it still responds to keyboard such as CapsLock and Raising Elephants. But text and cursor disappear, after “Waiting for /dev to be populated…” I waited 5 minutes but it didn’t sort itself out. I was expecting the text must be going to the wrong video card, but when I tried setting the other card default in BIOS, it didn’t seem to matter.

Thanks ac, thanks all!

• This reply was modified 2 years, 7 months ago by return of could be.
• This reply was modified 2 years, 7 months ago by return of could be.
• This reply was modified 2 years, 7 months ago by return of could be.

[Member anilkagi]

Thanks Seaken64.

seaken64 wrote:

Why limit to the BASE version? It is also appropriate for the FULL version.

Some mention of the different versions that can be downloaded may be appropriate. There are 32-bit and 64-bit versions.

After the iso is burned to CD/DVD or written to USB, and the computer is shutdown and rebooted, the resulting new OS is now LIVE. It is not installed to the Hard Disk yet. Some mention of the Live system prior to install may be appropriate. There is a choice in the install routine to save the Live changes. You talk about updating and setting up the wifi, etc. This is all done in the LIVE system prior to install.

Can’t agree more. These suggestions will make the document wholesome, covering all aspects. I will edit accordingly. Thanks for the suggestions.

seaken64 wrote:

I’m not sure but I don’t think Synaptic is installed by default in the Base system any more (maybe I am wrong on this but it seems I remember this from my last couple of BASE installs). The Control Centre launcher for package management goes to cli-aptiX instead. Synaptic is installed by default in FULL.

Yeah, Synaptic is not installed by default, in Base but is there by default in Full. Now, when we make this a general guide, not limited to Base, we can mention it.

seaken64 wrote:

You can “copy” a .desktop file easily and then edit it to launch a newly installed program. Then run menu update. This would be better than editing a system file.

I will try this out and put it into the document.

Thanks for the suggestions.

[Member seaken64]

Thank you anilkagi, well done.

I have just a few comments (I read thru all the comments and some of this was already mentioned. Maybe you have already considered some of this for edits).

Why limit to the BASE version? It is also appropriate for the FULL version.

Some mention of the different versions that can be downloaded may be appropriate. There are 32-bit and 64-bit versions.

After the iso is burned to CD/DVD or written to USB, and the computer is shutdown and rebooted, the resulting new OS is now LIVE. It is not installed to the Hard Disk yet. Some mention of the Live system prior to install may be appropriate. There is a choice in the install routine to save the Live changes. You talk about updating and setting up the wifi, etc. This is all done in the LIVE system prior to install.

I’m not sure but I don’t think Synaptic is installed by default in the Base system any more (maybe I am wrong on this but it seems I remember this from my last couple of BASE installs). The Control Centre launcher for package management goes to cli-aptiX instead. Synaptic is installed by default in FULL.

You can “copy” a .desktop file easily and then edit it to launch a newly installed program. Then run menu update. This would be better than editing a system file.

Again, thank you for a job well done.

Seaken64

[Anonymous]

:^) kudos for taking the initiative in drafting a howto

Download the ‘antiX-Base ISO image’ from the website: https://www.antiXforum.com

did you intend to write antixLINUX dot com ?
.

USBMaker-git

I’m unfamiliar with a tool by that exact name, and I am aware that some of the “maker” tools available from various distros will render a pendrive which, yes, is bootable… but is unable to support antiX persistence features.

This tool, developed in-house (by “BitJam”, an antiX developer) is what we should recommend.
Curiously, the live-usb-maker tools is not mentioned on the “download” page.
It is available for download here, as a zipfile (or tar.gz?): https://gitlab.com/antiX-Linux/live-usb-maker
and that page provides “documentation” for its usage.

Verifying md5sum
Verifying sha256sum
Verifying signature
I worry that. for a noob, “all that” poses a loooooong and intimidating reading session.
For display here in the forum (all within a single post), I recommend nesting the entire “VERIFICATION OF THE INTEGRITY OF THE ISO FILE” section inside its own B-QUOTE box, along with a (?)subtitle line under the allcaps line, stating
(these verification steps are optional, but are recommended)

CREATING THE BOOTABLE USB

live-usb-maker will take care of any necessary partitioning, formatting of the target USBdrive.
Its menu also walks the user through available options, inviting advance creation of persistence files, etc.
.
If the person is starting out from a Windows system, the tool I would recommend for creating the antiX bootable pendrive from a downloaded ISO file is Rufus, from https://rufus.ie/

You can create a separate /data partition to store all your documents safe.

hxxp://download.tuxfamily.org/antix/docs-antiX…
paraphrasing the brief explanation in the antiX FAQ:
“During liveboot, you can use the Live-usb-storage/ directories (which don’t even require persistence)”
^— live-usb-maker can create Live-usb-storage directories on the bootable pendrive, or user can request their creation as an option from the antiX liveboot menu. Upon entering liveboot desktop session, each user will see a ~/Live-usb-storage symlink within their home directory.

You are on ROX-IceWM, so single click is what you need to launch applications.

double-click can be specified via the Rox } Options configuration UI.
(FWIW, some of the users I support locally are motor skills impaired.
I set double-click as the default across ALL the machines that I maintain.)

——-
For now, I’ll defer from making suggestions about the details covered regarding desktop setup/customization

[Member olsztyn]

Anonymous wrote:

When booting a frugally installed antiX system, “fresh and clean” at each boot isn’t the only option.
During each boot, you can choose whether or not to enable persistence.
ref:
http://download.tuxfamily.org/antix/docs-antiX-19/FAQ/boot-params.html#_frugal_install

My understanding is that Anilkagi is fully aware of various persistence options for booting Frugals, that can be specified on each entry in Extlinux.conf and ‘No-Persistence’ Frugal was adopted on purpose as one of such options.
Considering that the quoted original documentation appears to assume one Frugal only in any given partition, such limitation is not in reality a requirement and you can have multiple Frugal installations as presented by Dolphin_Oracle using Grub entries or using Extlinux boot entries documented by Christophe.
The capability of having multiple Frugals in partition, each with their own persistence specification is very powerful and the quoted original documentation seems way behind what Dolphin_Oracle presents in video, what Christophe documented as Extlinux procedure and what has been implemented in practice by Anilkagi.
These powerful capabilities are unique to antiX for the main reason that:

– antiX Frugals are enclosed in compact linuxfs files containing the entire system in half the size, which means faster read on slower speed media.
– antiX provides all the tools to manage Live and Frugal instances, such as Live USB Maker, Remaster, ISO snapshot, which means replicating of Frugals or Live instances a piece of cake. This completeness of important management tools is not typically provided with other distros…

One capability that is critical for Live USB antiX installs, which does not seem to have been implemented for Frugal installs is encryption. I have not yet done experimenting with such implementation but perhaps antiX team would like to chime in whether such encryption of Frugal instances is possible to accomplish?
Thanks and Regards…

• This reply was modified 2 years, 8 months ago by olsztyn.

Live antiX Boot Options (Previously posted by Xecure):
https://antixlinuxfan.miraheze.org/wiki/Table_of_antiX_Boot_Parameters

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

Anonymous wrote:

One great advantage of Frugal install is, you can tweak, mess with your system, however you want, without worrying about breaking your system. Once you restart, your system is as it was before, fresh and clean, lean and mean. It is the best setup to learn Linux.

clarification for the benefit of future readers:

When booting a frugally installed antiX system, “fresh and clean” at each boot isn’t the only option.
During each boot, you can choose whether or not to enable persistence.
ref:
http://download.tuxfamily.org/antix/docs-antiX-19/FAQ/boot-params.html#_frugal_install
and
The Most Extensive Live-usb on the Planet!

Just so people appreciate this, I’ve been using Live CDs and other live media (more recently the small pocket-sized USB devices) to have a live booting experience. One of the reasons I latched onto MEPIS was that it was a relatively light distribution that ran quite well with a Live CD, considering the size and speed of hardware and the capabilities of distributions at the time.

When antiX was introduced, it was even more nimble than MEPIS; both were excellent systems to run in Live mode; today MX Linux and antiX remain excellent examples of “live” system technologies and our distribution has come up with additional names for the capabilities – “persistence”, Frugal, and the ability to handle persistence at the root system level, the home folder, or both. Though our distributions are not the only ones capable of “live” operation, and some also include persistence, these features have been improved over the years and are mature and reliable. Frugal systems are convenient, flexible, generally fast, and portable (easy to carry in a pocket).

Though I have used both live systems and the frugal systems with persistence, I have not necessarily made them an every day thing. I also have a lot of time, effort, and resources that have been expended on systems with several different distributions installed on the disk. I have recently added a freely available USB utility called Ventoy, and I have copied several ISO images (from which distributions are built) onto the Ventoy system.

I did a bit of work with antiX in that configuration; to me the Ventoy is a great way to store and recall numerous system images, but it’s not ideal for the effective use of persistence; for that I recommend a device devoted to the live instance, coupled with Frugal and/or persistence capabilities. Since I work with all of these technologies, that’s why I do not devote all of my time to frugal and persistent images – I definitely USE them, just not every day. When I am either traveling or I am experimenting, those are the most likely times I will use a pocket-sized system image and take full advantage of antiX and it’s many great persistence features. Right now I’m using antiX in another effective way – permanently installed on my multi distribution computer system.

--
Brian Masinick

The capitalist would want to make more money by coaxing the consumer, to buy new and improved products, the consumers would get themselves busy trying to become a ‘greater’ consumer. The capitalists encourage the consumer to yield and the consumer perseveres to yield. However there are some people who do not want to participate in this Cat & Mouse game. They neither want to be the Cat nor the Mouse.

How many people want the latest, hi-tech hardware that can run the latest software? I presume, most of them just get carried away by the current and trend. Most home users don’t have to change their Hardware. They can ply on what they have. However, Microsoft and Apple want to offer us new things, better things, but the question is, are they necessary for everybody. They are not. Manufacturers make it inevitable. They stop support for older platforms, and bring newer versions which require newer machines. An average home user can continue to use the ten year old computer, for his simple home use tasks. Why should they buy new hardware and the new software? This is where Antix, comes in. What Antix says on its FAQ page is very much true.

antiX should run on most computers, ranging from 192MB old PII systems with pre-configured 128MB swap to the latest powerful boxes.

antiX-core and antiX-net will run with 128MB RAM plus swap, but don’t expect miracles!

192MB RAM is the recommended minimum for antiX. 256MB RAM and above is preferred especially for antiX-full.

antiX-full needs a 5GB minimum hard disk size. antiX-base needs 3GB and antiX-core needs 1GB. antiX-net needs 0.7GB.  

I have two machines one almost 30 years old and another 10 years old. Both run smoothly on antiX, and do their job without posing any problems. Moreover I have another one with latest hardware, which will soon be outdated and useless by market standards in a few years. If I go by the trend I will have to throw it away and buy a new one. Thank to antiX, I need not.

The OS on any newest machine would also loose support in time.

FLOSS development is a revolution.

When, Eric S. Raymond said “Every good work of software starts by scratching a developer’s personal itch” in his book “The Cathedral and the Bazaar”, he was wrong.

The “FLOSS developers” does not start working on a software, to scratch his personal itch. They do it to keep themselves self reliant and others who join hands with them.

However, Eric S. Raymond was right in saying “Given a large enough beta-tester and co-developer base, almost every problem will be characterized quickly and the fix obvious to someone and a large user base leads to rapid code improvement and effective debugging.”. That’s the advantage of the benevolent FLOSS revolution.

Is antiX, good?

You have to try it to know it.

Of the 4 flavors, Full, Base, Core and Net, I have tested and am using Full and Base.

Full is for those who want a ready-made, out of the box system.

Those who want to go through a bit of learning process and install applications they want, they can go for Base. Though it is a bit of a learning curve to those who are totally new to Linux and antiX, it is fun to learn and tweak. I had set up a Base system and it worked fine. If you need, I have given a step by step HowTo guide to install antiX, here (https://www.antixforum.com/forums/topic/step-by-step-guide-to-install-antix-base/). Additionally, you have the fantastic forum, that is ready to help with any issue.

FRUGAL INSTALL
Moreover, there is the most interesting option, apart from all the above, the Frugal install. Though I was aware of this, I simply felt, it is not for me, without even testing it, before @Olsztyn, whom I can’t thank enough, initiated me into it (https://www.antixforum.com/forums/topic/how-to-create-isolated-underprevileged-but-standard-user-accounts/). I just love its speed and crispiness. Can you imagine? It boots up in less than 38 seconds flat, on my computer with an early i3 processor. With a Frugal install you should certainly look at changing to Extlinux or Syslinux, as the bootloaders. They are simple and just do what they are intended to do. @Christophe and @Olsztyn have given guidance here (https://www.antixforum.com/forums/topic/booting-antix-frugal-only-from-hdd-without-any-full-installed-os-with-extlinux/) to setup Extlinux and Syslinux.

One great advantage of Frugal install is, you can tweak, mess with your system, however you want, without worrying about breaking your system. Once you restart, your system is as it was before, fresh and clean, lean and mean. It is the best setup to learn Linux.

Moreover Frugal install is secure. Malicious programs cannot do permanent damage to your system. Once you restart, it is fresh as before. Read Olsztyn’s posts in this (https://www.antixforum.com/forums/topic/how-to-create-isolated-underprevileged-but-standard-user-accounts/) discussion.

Thank you antiX team and all the members of the forum.

Thanks & Regards

• This topic was modified 2 years, 8 months ago by anilkagi.

Below is the step by step guide to install the crispy, nimble, lean and mean antiX-Base for computers ranging from 30 year olds to the latest.

The below guide has been edited to incorporate the suggestions by experts after scrutiny. There is a section under the heading “CHANGING THE DEFAULT SETTINGS”. It is recommended that the default settings be maintained. If you do not want to change the default settings, you can skip this section and directly go to the next, ‘USER SETTINGS’ section. Still if anybody feels that the default settings need to be customized to fit their needs, they can attempt the changes as given under the section, while taking note of the caveats there in.

Normally you should be able to setup a working antiX system with the help of this guide. Still if you face any difficulties, feel free to discuss them on the forum by creating a new thread mentioning your issue in the topic heading. Please kindly give a link to your new thread here that you have created seeking solution to your issue, and post here briefly describing your issue. Suitable changes can be made to this guide depending upon the discussions in that new thread of yours, so that others who face the same issue can benefit from it. Let us together keep this guide dynamic and evolving.

I personally have created more than 20 threads till now to seek solutions faced while installing antiX and using it and to understanding the working of antiX. Many honorable members of the forum, who have been using antiX for a long time, the moderators of the forum and the antiX team have guided me into learning to use antiX and it is the education recieved from them, that has enabled me to compile this guide. You too can find solutions to any of your issues on the forum. The enthusiastic members of the forum and the antiX team are highly benevolent and would help.

I thank all the honorable members for suggesting improvements in the guide through their meticulous scrutinizing efforts.

How to Install antiX-Base
*****************************

Index

DOWNLOAD
VERIFICATION OF THE INTEGRITY OF THE ISO FILE
Verifying md5sum
Verifying sha256sum
Verification of signature
CREATING THE BOOTABLE USB
BIOS SETUP
PARTITIONING THE HARD DISK
INSTALLATION OF THE OPERATING SYSTEM
Starting Internet
Update and upgrade
Choose the partitions
Setting Language & timezone & Username
SETTING UP THE NEW antiX OS
Package Installer
Synaptic package Manager
Avidemux
CHANGING THE DEFAULT SETTINGS
Desktop right-bottom tray
Desktop left-bottom
Conky disabling
Menu updating – manual
Menu updating – system
USER SETTINGS
Desktop Background/Wallpaper
Screen blanking
Ad blocking
Sound problems
User Accounts
A WORD ON DESKTOPS
A WORD ON FRUGAL INSTALL

DOWNLOAD

Download the ‘antiX-Base ISO image’ from the website: https://antixlinux.com.

Also download the corresponding md5, sha256 and sig files to check the integrity of the downloaded ISO image.

Place all these files including the ISO image in the same folder. It helps to verify the integrity of the downloaded ISO image.

After download verify the integrity of the downloaded ISO image as bellow:

VERIFICATION OF THE INTEGRITY OF THE ISO FILE

Verifying, any one of the md5sum or sha256sum will be enough.

The below documented procedure can work on a Linux system. However if you are on a Windows system now, I have given a link below where the procedure to do verify the integrity of an ISO file on windows is given.

https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=291093

Verifying the integrity of an ISO file on any Linux system:
Find the path to your downloaded folder. If you go to the downloaded folder with the help of SpaceFM file manager (or any File manager, depending upon the current Operating System, your computer is installed with.), the path to your downloaded folder is given on the toolbar when you open the downloaded folder. If suppose your ISO file is downloaded to the ‘Downloads’ folder, the path would be ‘/home/your-username/Downloads’. If you have saved your ISO file somewhere else, it would be different.

Let us say, the names of the files that were downloaded are as below; (Yours could be different.)

antiX-19.2.1_x64-base.iso.
antiX-19.2.1_x64-base.iso.md5
antiX-19.2.1_x64-base.iso.sha256

Note, the first alphabet ‘a’ in ‘antiX’ is small letter and the last letter ‘X’ is in capitals. That’s how the antiX OS is named.

Open a root terminal (Menu > Applications > System > Root Terminal.) and go to the folder where you downloaded the ISO by typing ‘cd’ followed by the path to your folder in the terminal, as shown below;

cd /path to your downloaded folder/antiX-19-2-1-x64-base

(Here I have given the example file name. Yours could be different. Also change to the name of the file that you have downloaded.)

Now you are inside the downloaded folder.

Verifying md5sum

Verify the md5sum of the iso file, by typing the command in the Terminal as shown below;

md5sum antiX-19.2.1_x64-base.iso

Do not forget to change to the name of the file that you have downloaded.

You will get a number as output, as shown below (yours may be different); (Do not close the terminal yet.)

53ec93c66f0ba7231f5a2aaf2fcb312b antiX-19.2.1_x64-base.iso

Verify this number with the number given inside the antiX-19.2.1_x64-base.iso.md5 file. Both should be the same. Otherwise your downloaded image may have been compromised or got corrupt. So you have to download again.

Verifying sha256sum

Next, verify the sha256sum of the iso file, as shown below;

sha256sum antiX-19.2.1_x64-base.iso

Do not forget to change to the name of the file that you have downloaded.

You will get a number as output, as shown below (yours may be different); (Do not close the terminal yet).

1bdcd8c460bb7b0dd498588c6f459906e06eea24e2048f63815a14c6f54cb959 antiX-19.2.1_x64-base.iso

Verify this number with the number given inside the antiX-19.2.1_x64-base.iso.sha256 file. Both should be the same. Otherwise your downloaded image may have been compromised or got corrupt. So you have to download again, preferably from a different mirror.

Minimize the Terminal.

Now verify the signature as follows.

Verification of signature

Open a new terminal.

To check the signature type the command to import the key in the terminal;

gpg --keyserver hkp://keys.gnupg.net --recv-keys 4A0C4F9C

And then in the terminal of the ISO folder, the one that you have minimized, type this command;

gpg --verify antiX-19.2.1_x64-base.iso.sig antiX-19.2.1_x64-base.iso

Again do not forget to change to the name of the file that you have downloaded.

The result would be similar to this;

gpg: Signature made Sun 29 Mar 2020 08:52:05 PM IST
gpg:                using RSA key 30AA418A0C723D937B50A986A80582E000067FDD
gpg: Good signature from "anticapitalista <antiX@operamail.com>" (unknown)
gpg: WARNING: This key is not certified with a trusted signature!
gpg:          There is no indication that the signature belongs to the owner.
Primary key fingerprint: 30AA 418A 0C72 3D93 7B50  A986 A805 82E0 0006 7FDD

If the above fails, do this;

To check the signature type the command first to import the key in the terminal;

gpg --keyserver hkp://keys.gnupg.net --recv-keys B9B6375C 0679EE98 892C32F1

And then in the terminal of the ISO folder, the one that you have minimized, type this command;

gpg --verify antiX-19.2.1_x64-base.iso.sig antiX-19.2.1_x64-base.iso

Again do not forget to change to the name of the file that you have downloaded.

The result would be similar to this;

(ak@ak-RV509 ~)$ gpg --keyserver hkp://keys.gnupg.net --recv-keys B9B6375C 0679EE98 892C32F1
gpg: key 13C74A22892C32F1: public key "Steven Pusser <stevep@mxlinux.org>" imported
gpg: key 70938C780679EE98: public key "Adrian <adrian@mxlinux.org>" imported
gpg: key 9B68A1E8B9B6375C: public key "Dolphin Oracle (mxlinux) <dolphinoracle@gmail.com>" imported
gpg: Total number processed: 3
gpg:               imported: 3
(ak@ak-RV509 ~)$  

Close this newly opened terminal, now.

Then type the following command in the terminal you have minimized, to check the signature;

gpg --verify antiX-19.2.1_x64-base.iso.sig

The result would be similar to this;

(ak@ak-RV509 antiX-19-2-1-x64-base)$ gpg --verify antiX-19.2.1_x64-base.iso.sig
gpg: assuming signed data in 'antiX-19.2.1_x64-base.iso'
gpg: Signature made Sunday 29 March 2020 08:52:05 PM IST
gpg:                using RSA key 30AA418A0C723D937B50A986A80582E000067FDD
gpg: Good signature from "anticapitalista <antiX@operamail.com>" (unknown)
gpg: WARNING: This key is not certified with a trusted signature!
gpg:          There is no indication that the signature belongs to the owner.
Primary key fingerprint: 30AA 418A 0C72 3D93 7B50  A986 A805 82E0 0006 7FDD
(ak@ak-RV509 antiX-19-2-1-x64-base)$ 

The warning in the last few lines is related to the trust that you put in the antiX signing key. The ISO image is still correct, and valid according to the antiX signing key that you downloaded.

CREATING THE BOOTABLE USB

You will need a minimum of 2GB SD card or USB drive for installation purposes. If you are aspiring to have a persistence USB live then you would need more. Refer to this link to know more about persistence: https://download.tuxfamily.org/antix/docs-antiX-19/FAQ/persistence.html.

You can even create it on a DVD. The same procedure for both.

Now create the bootable USB with the ISO image of antiX-19.2.1-x64-Base ISO image as follows.

For this you need a software called “USBMaker-git”. It is available on most Linux distributions, in the package installer. Install it if it is not already installed. I have verified this. This procedure can be done on many Live USB making software which are available on many Linux distros. Just try and verify which works for. Or else you can create the bootable usb on an antiX OS. There is a bootable usb maker which has been created by the antiX team, and it is installed by default in anitiX OS. Start it from Menu > Applications > antiX > Live USB maker. If you are on Windows OS, it suggested and recommended by experts that, Rufus USB making software is suitable.

After launching the USB maker, follow the simple instructions as follows. The process is similar on most of the USB makers. I am giving here the procedure on USBMaker-git.

Device
At the top, the device is the USB drive you have chosen to create the bootable device, namely the card reader and card inside it. You will need a minimum of 2GB sd card for this.

Partition scheme
Leave the partition scheme as MBR if the computer you are going to install is old with BIOS setup. If the computer is new with UEFI setup then you choose GPT scheme. Next choose the file system as FAT32.

Cluster size – default.

Volume label
Give a volume label of your liking, such that you can recognize what is inside the SD card.

ISO Image
Next click on the 3 dots button. Browse to the location of the ISO you have downloaded. That’s it. Click start. Your bootable USB will be created.

BIOS SETUP

Next you have to set your computer to boot from your installation USB. To do this you have to enter into BIOS setup section of the computer.

Most computers don’t need this setting up of BIOS to install an OS from USB. They are already setup to boot from USB as the first priority. So first try and see if your computer would boot into your USB. If it doesn’t then set up the BIOS to boot from USB as the first priority as mentioned below.

To setup your BIOS to boot from USB, restart your computer, and immediately after powering on the computer, start pressing, F2 or F4 or F8 or it could be other keys too. Each computer has a different key.

Once you enter BIOS, navigate to Boot section using the arrow keys. Read the instructions on the right thoroughly. There, set the boot priority to boot from USB as the topmost or the first option, then CD/DVD drive and then Hard disk. That’s it. Save and exit. You will be automatically booted into your Live USB installation, now. You will get a boot menu. Select the antiX OS and hit enter.

PARTITIONING THE HARD DISK

This is the most serious part. If you are going to use the entire Hard disk, no problem. If you have some partitions on which there is some data, you need to be careful. If you make the smallest mistake your data on the Hard disk can get corrupted or get washed clean. So make a backup of your HD. Do this with great caution. Take the steps only when you are sure enough. I recommend that you should watch some video tutorials or read some websites on ‘how to use Gparted to make partitions’, before proceeding.

Though it is possible to create partitions during installations I prefer to create partitions before installation leisurely, instead of doing it in the midst of installation process. Use Gparted to do it. If you are comfortable doing it during installation, no worries. It is a guided process. You can do as you prefer.

The Linux OS files are stored on a partition called as the root (/) partition, which holds all the system files. It must be formatted preferably as ext4 and mounted on /.

The Linux OS stores the user files like, Documents, Downloads, Videos, Music etc on a directory called /home directory (the forward slash ‘/’ is for root and the ‘home’ folder which houses the, Documents, Downloads, Videos, Music etc is placed inside the root partition). All the user settings & configurations are also placed in this /home folder as hidden folders.

It must be formatted preferably as ext4 and mounted on /home.

Some users prefer to keep this /home folder on a separate partition. Or you can choose to have no separate partition for home and choose to keep it as a directory in the root. You get an option to do this during the installation process. You can do as you prefer.

The Linux OS Does NOT need a separate partition called /home. /home is only needed in case you don’t want the user files to be stored in the /root partition or if you want a user accessible from different installed (Multiple boot) systems. The reason some people prefer to have a separate partition is, in case they wreck their system and have to go for a re-installation, they will not loose what is on their separate home partition. So the choice is yours. During installation, you can specify the /home to be inside root or as a separate partition.

The Linux OS optionally needs a partition called Swap for memory when your RAM gets all filled. It must be formatted as swap. SWAP is optional. If you are tight on RAM, you will benefit from having a swap partition. Or else it is not necessary.

Give about 10 to 15GB space for ‘root’ depending upon the type and size of applications you are going to use. Then, if you are creating a Swap partition, give it 1.5 times the size of your RAM for ‘swap’ (If your RAM is 3GB, your Swap should be 3×1.5=4.5GB). And keep the rest for /home.

If you choose to do the partitions during installation, almost the same procedure is to be carried out.

INSTALLATION OF THE OPERATING SYSTEM

Most of the installation process is automated. However, before going for installation you must setup the internet connection.

Starting Internet

Setting up the WiFi internet connection: Use the Connection-manager icon, the two arrows, at the right bottom to get it going. Right click the two arrows, and left click WiFi to turn it on. Next left click the Connection-manager icon and hold it down. It should pop up a list of available WiFi networks. Give it a few seconds to fill the list. Move to the one you want and then release the left button. It should pop up the password prompt. Type it in and click apply. You should see some yellow and red vertical bars in the WiFi network monitor to the right, and the little x next to the arrows on the Connection-manager icon will disappear. If you face difficulties, you can watch this video here – https://www.antiXforum.com/forums/topic/wifi-with-connman-antiX-19-2/.

If you have an Ethernet connection, just plug in the Ethernet cable from your modem, enter the username password given to you by your service provider.

If you cannot connect to either the WiFi or the Ethernet, just tether your phone with a USB data cable and choose the tethering options in your phone. Your data must be ON. It will be easily connected. You must be aware that, the first update & upgrade will consume about 400 MB of data plus any applications that you would manually install.

Update and upgrade

Now update and upgrade with following commands, in the terminal. You can also use antiX Updater (Menu > Applications > antiX > antiX Updater) which does both steps in a single gui program.

sudo apt-get update

Hit enter and type your password when asked and hit enter. The default password in the antiX Live USB is ‘demo’. Your password will not be displayed on the screen. Just type it correctly and hit enter blindly. After the update is complete, type the following in the terminal;

sudo apt-get upgrade

Choose the partitions

On the desktop there is a shortcut to start the installation process. Single click on it. Remember, double click will bring error notification. You are on ROX-IceWM, so single click is what you need to launch applications. However, if you need the double click option, you can do the following.

Menu > Applications > System > Rox Filer > Right click on any empty space inside the file manager > Options > Filer windows > Disable “Right-click navigation”.

Next choosing the partitions, if you have already created the partitions. If you haven’t the guided process will take you through.

During the installation, choosing the correct partitions is a serious matter. Those partitions are formatted before installation by the installer. Even if you choose not to format the /home partition, you must format the /root partition. So you have to choose the right partitions. If you choose something else by mistake your data on that partition will be washed off.

Setting Language & timezone & Username

While the installation process is going on, click on the next buttons to set up your time, date, timezone, keyboard, username, password etc. No need to hurry, the installation process will wait till you have finished doing it. That’s it. The rest will be taken care of by the USB installer.

After installation, shut down the computer, remove the USB and start the computer. You will be booted into the new OS.

SETTING UP THE NEW antiX OS

Once you boot into the new OS, the first step is to update and upgrade, if you have not done it in the Live USB stick before installation.

Update and upgrade

You are automatically connected to the internet using your earlier setup during installation.

If you have not updated and upgraded before installation, now is the time to do it by the procedure described above, before installation.

Restart. It is always good to restart once after large system wide updates, upgrades or installations, you may not do this for small individual package installations.

Package Installer

Then open the package installer (The shopping bag icon) from the left bottom of the desktop. Select the applications you would like to install. Don’t forget to select “Synaptic” from Package-Management drop-down list. You will need this to install packages from several repositories.

Restart.

Synaptic package Manager

Now open the ‘Synaptic package Manager’ from the Menu > Applications > System

In the package manager go to;

Settings > Preferences > General > Select/enable ‘Consider recommended packages as dependencies’ > Apply & OK.

Next, search and select from the following packages, which you may find necessary for your daily work. The below list shows the most common applications used by the home user. If you need anything else, search and select, ‘mark for installation’. Though by default, antiX-Base has almost all the necessary packages, I am just giving a hint to get your system ready to do all the tasks a home user would do. Omit if you have already installed from the Package Installer.

Audacity – (To edit audio files.)
Catfish – (This is a good file searching software. There is a default SpaceFM search, if it is OK for you.)
Chromium – (Browser. You have the Firefox-esr by default.)
Gdebi – (To install debian packages.)
GIMP – (For editing images)
Gnome Disks Utility – (You may need it to create mount options for your other external partitions)
Ibus – (This is necessary to do typing in regional languages.) Ensure all the following dependencies are installed. You must configure Ibus by starting Ibus from Preferences > Yes > OK > The the IBUS preferences box will open. If it doesn’t you should start by right clicking on the icon in your right tray > Preferences > Input method > Add > Select your language. > Add. You will then have to copy and place your language ‘Fonts’ folder by downloading from the web, inside the /usr/share/fonts/truetype/. And then configure LibreOfficeWriter by going to > Tools → Options → Language settings → Languages Check Enabled for Complex Text Layout(CTL) and Choose your language in Default languages for Documents (CTL).

You may need to install the following ibus dependencies depending upon your language. Verify it from the web.
ibus-m17n
ibus-table-extraphrase
ibus-gtk
ibus-gtk3
ibus-qt4 (Ignore this if it is not available on the repositories.)
ibus-table
ibus-clutter
Kolourpaint – (Like MS paint)
Libreoffice – (MS Office like package)
Media Info gui- (To extract technical information of video files.)
VLC – (Video/Audio player)
Vnstat – (Command line Interface to extract Internet traffic information)
gnome-Screenshot – (To take screenshots. There is a default screenshot app, if it is OK with you.)
Virtualbox – (For creating Virtual machines.)
Zim – (This is a note making software.)

Avidemux – (To edit video files. Install if you do this kind of work.)

There is no Debian package for Avidemux application. There is a thing called AppImage. AppImage is a format for distributing portable software on Linux without needing superuser permissions to install the application. It contains an app and all the files the app needs to run.

You can download the latest Avidemux package here: http://avidemux.sourceforge.net/download.html.

If you want Tor Browser, you can see this (https://www.antiXforum.com/forums/topic/tor-browser-installation-signature-verification-failed/) link for a manual to do it.

These packages are enough for day to day functions. Select ones that you need and click apply. After finishing, restart.

Now that all packages have been installed, you can customize the Desktop and other settings.

CHANGING THE DEFAULT SETTINGS

An important information, before you go for changing the default settings:

It is preferred and recommended that you use the OS as it comes. However, every person has different requirements. The default applications shown in the panel to the left & right bottoms, could be subjectively appropriate for you or not. Like if you often switch between workspaces, having the workspaces on the toolbar really helps. If you do not, it simply holds space that can be given to other applications that you use every now and then. Similarly, other applications displayed on the toolbar. If you feel, it helps to keep some of the most often used applications there and remove the ones you use less often. You can do so by the following method. Here I will take certain examples and change accordingly. The same procedure applies to any application. You can follow that to your liking. However there is a caveat here;

Any change in the default settings, will be overwritten and return to default settings, if in future you install/upgrade/remove any program using the Synaptic, because of the special hook in apt. So whenever you do so, you will have to repeat these changes.

Keep that in mind.

If you do not want any changes to the default system, you skip these steps and directly jump to, USER SETTINGS, below.

Desktop right-bottom tray

If you don’t like the ‘CPU status’ and ‘Memory status’ (There is already Conky on the desktop doing almost the same thing. If you want to disable Conky and keep these, see below.) in the right-bottom tray and the ‘Workspaces switching buttons’ in Left-bottom, you can remove them by doing as below. Workspaces can be accessed with Control+Alt+right/left arrow mark keys alternatively.

Open the ‘Control center’ from the Menu. In the Control-center > Desktop > Edit IceWM settings > Preferences

The text editor will open.

Click on ‘preferences’. (Whatever you edit here, will take effect only after a fresh ‘logon’.)

Search for ‘# Show RAM usage in CPU status tool tip
# CPUStatusShowRamUsage=1 # 0/1’ in the search box given above. Change 1 to 0, like this ‘TaskBarShowCPUStatus=0’.

Search for ‘# Show CPU status on task bar
TaskBarShowCPUStatus=1 # 0/1’ in the search box given above. Change 1 to 0, like this ‘TaskBarShowCPUStatus=0’.

Search for ‘# Show memory usage status on task bar (Linux only)
TaskBarShowMEMStatus=1 # 0/1’ in the search box given above. Change 1 to 0, like this ‘TaskBarShowMEMStatus=0’.

Search for ‘# Show workspace switching buttons on task bar
TaskBarShowWorkspaces=1 # 0/1’ in the search box given above. Change 1 to 0, like this ‘TaskBarShowWorkspaces=0’.

Don’t close the text editor, yet.

Desktop left-bottom

Next if you don’t like the default applications given in the left-bottom. Instead, if you want Terminal, Notes (a note keeping software), Leafpad (Notepad equivalent), Calculator, Screenshot, Firefox, Chromium, ‘SpaceFM-File Manager’ and Unplug Removable Device. To change the current set and bring yours there in place of them, do as below.

In the same the text editor, click on ‘toolbar’. There is a list of apps there. The scheme of the settings is;

prog “app-name-to-be-displayed” path-to-app-icon app-executable

Just add a ‘#’ before those applications which you don’t want in the left-bottom of your desktop. And add any new ones you want to be shown there. I have added some and hashed out some. You can take this as an example and change it according to your requirement. The final edited set looks as below.

### Commonly used applications
prog “Terminal” terminal.png roxterm
prog “Notes” zim.png zim
prog “Leafpad” leafpad.png leafpad
prog “Calculator” galculator.png galculator
prog “Firefox” firefox.png firefox
prog “Chromium” chromium.png chromium
prog “File Manager” spacefm.png spacefm
prog “Unplug Removable Device” /usr/share/icons/papirus-antiX/48×48/devices/drive-removable-media-usb.png unplugdrive.sh
#prog “Software Installer” /usr/share/icons/papirus-antiX/48×48/apps/packageinstaller.png su-to-root -X -c packageinstaller
#prog “File Manager” /usr/share/icons/papirus-antiX/48×48/apps/file-manager.png desktop-defaults-run -fm
#prog “File Manager as root” /usr/share/icons/papirus-antiX/48×48/places/folder-red.png su-to-root -X -c rox
#prog “Web Browser” /usr/share/icons/papirus-antiX/48×48/apps/web-browser.png desktop-defaults-run -b

The path to the app icons need not be shown. The system knows where those are placed. Sometimes the system may fail to locate icons. If that occurs you have to find the icon and show the path to that icon here.

Conky disabling

There is the ‘conky’ (system details displayer) placed on the right-top of the desktop. If you want you can keep it. This is how you remove it.

Open ‘control-center’. Session > User Desktop session.

A text editor will open. Click on ‘desktop-session.conf’. Search for LOAD_CONKY=”true”. Change it to false like this;

LOAD_CONKY=”false”.

Conky will not be displayed after a fresh logon.

Now close the editor and the control-center and logoff and logon. All your changes must take effect. If they don’t, you have done something wrong or you need to show the paths. Re-edit and check. You can even copy from the above list given by me here, under ‘### Commonly used applications’, and paste in the toolbar.

Menu updating – manual

Now after installation of applications from the Synaptic or from outside the repositories, if any of the apps are not shown in the Menu, do the following. However, before that, it is recommended using the “Refresh Menu” (It’s on the Menu list) or the command “desktop-menu –write-out-global” if your applications was installed manually (after installing with gdebi, for example). If this doesn’t work for you do the following.

Open the ‘Rox filer’ file manager from the Menu > System, inside the /home/your-username/ folder, at the top, click on the ‘eye’ symbol to show hidden files. Open the ‘.icewm’ folder. Open ‘menu-applications’ by right clicking on it and clicking on ‘Edit as root’.

There is the list of applications shown in the Menu in different categories, in alphabetical order. Here too the scheme is as below;

prog “app-name-to-be-displayed” path-to-app-icon app-executable

Add this line under appropriate section.

prog “Application-name” application.png application

Save and close. Re-logon. Now your application will be in the Menu, under the section you added it.

Menu updating – system

Now after installation of applications from the Synaptic or manually from outside the repositories, (installing with gdebi, for example) if any of the apps are not shown in the Menu, do the following. However, before that, it is recommended using the “Refresh Menu” (It’s on the Menu list) or the command “desktop-menu –write-out-global”. If these steps do not work for you, do the following.

This is another way to update the Menu using the Control-center;

Menu > Control-center > Maintenance > Menu editor

In the box that opens;

Applications > Show > A list is opened > Choose the App that you want displayed in the Menu > OK > Refresh > OK > Close control center

USER SETTINGS

Desktop Background/Wallpaper

If you want to change the wallpaper on the desktop i.e. background, open ‘Rox filer as root’ from the Menu > Application > System. Go to /usr/share/wallpaper. There paste any wallpaper you want and close it. Then to choose that as your desktop background do the following.

Menu > Control-center > Desktop > Choose wallpaper > In the box that opens > Select picture > Select your picture and open > Apply

Screen blanking

There is the screen blanking setting in antiX. The screen will go blank after your set number of minutes. Do as below to set it.

Menu > Control-center > Session > Set screen blanking > Slide to, say 10 minutes, and click Apply > OK > close the Control-center.

Ad blocking

If you want to block ads do the following.

Menu > Control-center > Network > Adblock > In the box that opens, click OK > In the box that opens, select some/all the options and click OK.

Sound problems

If there is no sound do the following.

Menu > Control-center > Hardware > Adjust mixer > In the box that opens, set as below;

An “MM” means muted, and “OO” means unmuted. Press ‘m’ key on the keyboard to mute/unmute. Note that a bar can be 100% full but still be muted, so do check for this.

See that the AlsaMixer box that has opened has the following settings.

Master – 00 & 100
Headphone – As much as you want.
Speaker – As much as you want.
Mic – MM & 00
Mic booster – 00
Mic booster – 00
S/PDIF – MM
Capture – 40<>40
Auto-Mut – Enabled
Internal – MM & O<>O
Internal – O<>O
Internal – O<>O
Loopback – Disabled
Pre-amp – 11<>11
Pre-amp – 11<>11

Exit from alsamixer with the Esc key.

User Accounts

To create a daily-use user-account do the following;

Menu > Control-center > Maintenance > User manager > In the box that opens go to;

Administration > Add any username and password.

Then go to Copy/sync tab. A file navigator box opens. Close it. In the section under Copy between desktops, your Administrator name and the newly created name is displayed. If you want to just copy whatever changes you have just done on the new system to the new user account select copy. If you want to keep synchronizing any changes you will make in the future too, select sync. Under ‘What to copy/sync’, select ‘Entire home’ to take every change made to the new user account. Apply and close. In the same window you can select/deselect groups, in the Groups management tab. Groups give or take privileges to users.

Restart. Your system is ready. This will get almost all the home users going. Best wishes with your new antiX system.

A WORD ON DESKTOPS

To keep the OS light, the antiX creates have adopted the strategy of giving the users a ‘File Manager-Window Manager’ combination and a range of varieties also to suit the different liking of the users. You get several different such File managers and Window managers like; ROX filer, SpaceFM, file managers and IceWM, JWM, Fluxbox etc and their different combinations with just a click of the mouse. Menu > Desktop > Other desktops will take you to more than 20 options to choose from, to fit your inclinations. Or you can press F6 during boot to choose your desktop. The default File Manager-Window Manager is ROX-IceWM. The SpaceFM file manager is available by default in Menu > Applications > System.

A WORD ON FRUGAL INSTALL

Frugal install is an interesting option. It is the same like the Live USB but it is on your Hard Disk. It is secure than the regular install, because any changes made are not retained. If you restart the system, everything fresh as before. It is an interesting instance, worth trying.

You can find details of Frugal install in the antiX FAQ page and in the following threads.

https://www.antixforum.com/forums/topic/the-philosophy-behind-my-attachment-with-antix-or-floss/

And in the posts of Olsztyn in the thread below;

https://www.antixforum.com/forums/topic/how-to-create-isolated-underprevileged-but-standard-user-accounts/

Changing to EXTLINUX/SYSLINUX as the bootloader for the frugal install is a very good setup. You can find the details of it in the below thread;

https://www.antixforum.com/forums/topic/booting-antix-frugal-only-from-hdd-without-any-full-installed-os-with-extlinux/

Take a look at these threads. They give a glimpse to the very interesting variation of antiX setup.

Thanks & Regards

• This topic was modified 2 years, 8 months ago by anilkagi.
• This topic was modified 2 years, 8 months ago by anilkagi.
• This topic was modified 2 years, 8 months ago by anilkagi.

[Member Xecure]

Good thing you got it to work with a kernel update. If most things could be solved like this it would be great.

realprogramminglol wrote:

1. The original linuxfs in antiX ISO is compressed by xz right? When remastering I always choose xz

You see the options there. Some are bigger but uncompress faster than the ones that ocupy less space. It is up to you to choose the one that works best for you (for slow CPU, the bigger less compressed is best, for example).

realprogramminglol wrote:

2. Current live system (toram) is booted via UEFI with GPT. Cloning this live system in Live USB maker to a USB drive (with GPT option), and booting it via UEFI went directly to grub (not grub rescue), which means it failed to find config file. However, this issue cannot be reproduced using antiX 19.2.1 base ISO with Live USB Maker (GPT option). Repair Linux Boot with Grub Rescue

Never experienced this. I will have to test at some point when i have the time. For now you could boot toram, create a snapshot, and then use Live USB maker using the .iso snapshot instead of the live/toram system.

realprogramminglol wrote:

3. Do you know how ISO snapshot will behave? If I ISO snapshot under BIOS/MBR scheme, can UEFI/GPT boot the USB drive made via Live USB maker with that generated ISO? and vice versa

I think there shouldn’t be a problem. I believe dolphin_oracle mentioned this in one of his videos, but I am not 100% sure.

realprogramminglol wrote:

4. Not sure if I am paranoid, but with Default settings (without persistence or frugal), I actually saw connman saved my wifi password and connect automatically (Not gonna retry this step though), maybe you can correct me

antiX live DOES save some things on the live system (mainly for easier wifi setup and other stuff, so that they don’t have to be configured each time).
I think this can be desabled with the nosavestate bootcode. You can also change what specific files are saved editing /live/boot-dev/antiX/state/general-state-files and /live/boot-dev/antiX/state/machine-state-files
Read more about boot parameters: http://download.tuxfamily.org/antix/docs-antiX-19/FAQ/boot-params.html

antiX Live system enthusiast.
General Live Boot Parameters for antiX.

[Member oops]

Are you booting the snapshot.iso in VBox?

Yes, maybe it is the problem … I have not tried with an usb key or a CD.

If so, does Safe or Failsafe menu option boot to desktop?

Yes but I have a black screen after (like a text editor as a msdos screen) (even with a single grub boot option) I have not the terminal/console.

[Forum Admin anticapitalista]

Are you booting the snapshot.iso in VBox? If so, does Safe or Failsafe menu option boot to desktop?

Philosophers have interpreted the world in many ways; the point is to change it.

antiX with runit - leaner and meaner.

[Member realprogramminglol]

Yea, I updated kernel to 5.5, now USB Tethering is working with Mi A3

[ 419.733567] usb 1-3: Product: Mi A3
[ 419.733570] usb 1-3: Manufacturer: Xiaomi
[ 419.733572] usb 1-3: SerialNumber: 677434b06a06
[ 419.747887] rndis_host 1-3:1.0 usb0: register ‘rndis_host’ at usb-0000:00:14.0-3, RNDIS device, e6:7b:8f:d8:0a:99

Well, so it was patched in newer kernel. Maybe one day I will understand it after learning how to git-send-email and Linux development
Write and Submit your first Linux kernel Patch (Watched it yesterday)

By the way, below are my experience and my doubts when using antiX:

1. The original linuxfs in antiX ISO is compressed by xz right? When remastering I always choose xz

2. Current live system (toram) is booted via UEFI with GPT. Cloning this live system in Live USB maker to a USB drive (with GPT option), and booting it via UEFI went directly to grub (not grub rescue), which means it failed to find config file. However, this issue cannot be reproduced using antiX 19.2.1 base ISO with Live USB Maker (GPT option). Repair Linux Boot with Grub Rescue

3. Do you know how ISO snapshot will behave? If I ISO snapshot under BIOS/MBR scheme, can UEFI/GPT boot the USB drive made via Live USB maker with that generated ISO? and vice versa

4. Not sure if I am paranoid, but with Default settings (without persistence or frugal), I actually saw connman saved my wifi password and connect automatically (Not gonna retry this step though), maybe you can correct me

Hello all,

antiX19-runit and .iso snapshot issue ?

I have tried the runit version for antiX19 buster x64, and with runit, it is really fast and light so I have played with it into a VirtualBox VM.

… Yes runit is fast and light, I have tried the antix19-runit standard buster x64 version, added lightdm, xfce, and some other apps … into a virtualBox VM … and tried to create a new iso via a snapshot (from antixcc.sh) then I successfully generated the iso.
… but after, impossible to boot via this(these) snapshot (lightdm or slim or even a grub single mode I do not have the console) into VirtualBox,

So is this behavior is normal with the runit versions (or maybe a workaroud exists) ?

PS and for information: the iso snapshot process works great into the antiX standard version, or MX version too.

See here too into the MX forum:
https://forum.mxlinux.org/viewtopic.php?p=596448#p596448

[Forum Admin rokytnji]

What I like about this thread. It gives one the opportunity to just shoe horn in what one needs on a low spec laptop to play dosgames.

Some folks can’t even boot a full iso < ram,storage, or cpu challenges >.

You would be surprised what antique gear boots on this iso.
It still serves my purposes. < I disregard the distrowatch discontinued message >

https://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=womp

Sometimes I drive a crooked road to get my mind straight.
Not all who Wander are Lost.
I'm not outa place. I'm from outer space.

Linux Registered User # 475019
How to Search for AntiX solutions to your problems

Silly antiX Toys – DOSBox-only live-USB:

A live USB that boots directly to DOSBox, to play all your old favorites. And when you exit DOSBox, the PC shuts down. That’s it. Good for getting some use out of old hardware – particularly (as in my case) where an old computer no longer can support modern web browsers very well. Or just to muck about.

A tutorial – just in case anyone finds themselves in a similar situation, with a mind to play around.
Just for fun.

Starting with: An old 32-bit netbook. Hard drive removed for a “more worthy” laptop.
Some old DOS games & a simple text batch-file menu to launch them.
And a fresh full-featured live-USB – I chose antiX 17 base, but will work with 19 just fine.

1. Booting the live-usb:
a. Choose F5 persist_home, F6 fluxbox (or pick another one — no rox- or space- or min- prefix). Then F8 Save.

b. Boot up & set only 300 mb for the home persistence file when asked. Believe me, you don’t need more than that.

c. Set up your internet connection.

2. configure antiX:
a. run in a terminal:
sudo apt update && sudo apt install dosbox
Apt will tell you you have many updates available, probably, but we don’t need them. We do need dosbox. So hit enter & continue to install dosbox & dependencies.

b. Turn off internet after this has been completed. Since I used ceni (in antiX 17), I reopened it & chose the wifi configuration again. It told me it is already configured – do I want to reconfigure or remove it? I chose remove. I don’t want wifi connection on this live-USB, going forward.

c. Open Control Centre – edit fluxbox settings:
In the “startup” file – after this:

# fluxbox startup-script:
#
# Lines starting with a '#' are ignored.

add this:
dosbox;desktop-session-exit &
This will start dosbox, and as soon as it is closed, the logout menu pops up. That’s all we want!
Save & close.

3. configure dosbox:
a. Run dosbox for the first time (& close it). This creates the basic config file in ~/.dosbox folder. Open the only file in that directory & edit it as follows (my recommendations):

[sdl]
#####
fullscreen=true
fulldouble=false
fullresolution=640x480
windowresolution=original
output=overlay
autolock=true
sensitivity=60
waitonerror=true
priority=higher,normal
mapperfile=mapper-0.74-2.map
usescancodes=true

And also, at the very bottom of the file:

[autoexec]
# Lines in this section will be run at startup.
# You can put your MOUNT lines here.
mount c ~/dos
c:
menu

The last line launches your menu program. Mine is called “menu.bat” – example to follow, in case you need to borrow it.

b. Dig out your old dos games from your archives & copy them to ~/Live-usb-storage/dos. Since we are using the Live-usb-storage directory, it is outside of the home persistence file. You can use (basically) the whole live-usb (minus some room to remaster).

4. misc optional tweaks – your personal preferences
a. Session tweaks: Go to Control Centre – Session – User Desktop-Session:
(1) under the “desktop-session.conf” tab, I set:

LOAD_CONKY="false"
STARTUP_SOUND_LEVEL="0%"

I don’t need conky for this, since DOSBox will be launched full-screen. And I don’t want sound always on – although you might…

(2) I chose a nearly all black desktop wallpaper. antiX 17 has “antiX-galaxy4.jpg” which I thought best suited what I wanted. Set this the usual way or edit the config file.

b. DOS batch menu (if you don’t have a dos menu and/or forgot how to do this sort of thing in dos) – place it in ~/Live-usb-storage/dos with your game files.

(a) menu.bat (main menu example – make a new file called menu.bat at put something like this in it:)

@echo off
@cls
@echo.
@echo.
@echo                                DOSBox Games
@echo.
@echo                 7 Card Stud Poker ....................... 1
@echo.
@echo                 Classic Doom ............................ 2
@echo.
@echo                 Royal Flush Pinball ..................... 3
@echo.
@echo                 Score Golf Solitaire .................... 4
@echo.
@echo                 Space Cadet Pinball ..................... 5
@echo.
@echo                 Windows 3.11 ............................ 6
@echo.
@echo.

(b) 1.bat (individual launcher example – name each one the number on the menu. Type [that number] & press the ENTER key to launch. So I have 1.bat, 2.bat, 3.bat, etc., as well as menu.bat):

c:
cd \7stud
7stud
cd \
menu

c. Edit the live-usb boot menu – edit as root: /live/boot-dev/boot/syslinux/syslinux.cfg
Make it look like this (optional, as I wrote above):

#--------------------------------------------------------------------
# This is the isolinux.cfg and/or syslinux.cfg file
# It controls the main menu in the bootloader on the live system.
# You can edit it to change the main bootloader menu on a LiveUSB.
# If you are not careful you can break the live system and prevent
# it from booting.
#--------------------------------------------------------------------

UI gfxboot gfx-cpio readme.msg
timeout 3000

default db

MENU TITLE   antiX Toys

LABEL db
    MENU LABEL DOSBox DOS & Win 3.1 Games
    KERNEL /antiX/vmlinuz
    APPEND quiet splash=v disable=lx desktop=fluxbox 
    INITRD /antiX/initrd.gz

“MENU TITLE” does not display after editing it. But the MENU LABEL does. I like it to tell me what is on the live-usb – this “toy” and not “real” antiX – in case I come across it, say, a year down the road, and wonder what the heck is on this thing…
I also comment-out the rest of the file with # in front of each line, so the original entries do not display on screen.
Note the “desktop=” parameter, where you can add another 1 or 2 antix toys in the future, by listing either icewm or jwm in this boot code… for example:

LABEL vb
    MENU LABEL WinXP Games Virtual Machine 
    KERNEL /antiX/vmlinuz
    APPEND quiet splash=v disable=lx desktop=icewm 
    INITRD /antiX/initrd.gz

LABEL og
    MENU LABEL Classic Games - Win32, DOS, Win16, PSOne, Misc
    KERNEL /antiX/vmlinuz
    APPEND quiet splash=v disable=lx desktop=rox-jwm 
    INITRD /antiX/initrd.gz

But if you don’t want to edit this, it will still work, so long as you saved your boot settings as directed in the beginning.

5. NOT OPTIONAL – remaster the live-USB (or you lose everthing you just did!)
Run the Remaster program: Control Centre – Live – Remaster-Customize Live, and follow the prompts. When asked, choose “personal” and include /home in the remaster. If you have the space on the usb, use the lz4 compression.
Once the remaster is finished, reboot.

6. End notes:
Your menu & saved games are all saved in your Live-usb-storage folder, independent of any persistence files, so persistence is really not needed. But I find that “persist_home” is nice, in case you decide to tweak some OS settings down the road. So I left it.

(For example, I like how the fluxbox bottom panel is tiny & unobtrusive – when you see it after you exit dosbox at the end of your session. If you chose a different window manager for this project, you may want to configure the panel/toolbar to autohide. Or you may want to change to a better wallpaper later.)

When we boot back up, we see dosbox go full-screen with the menu to choose each game. When the game exits, it calls the menu again, forever, until you type “exit” at the dos prompt. Then the desktop-session-exit program immediately offers you logout/reboot/shutdown options.

• This topic was modified 2 years, 8 months ago by christophe.

confirmed antiX frugaler, since 2019