antiX 19.3: BIG delusion

[Member noip]

Hi,
I decided to give new life to my Notebook (Samsung N130 with CPU Atom N230, RAM 2Gb, SSD 240GB).
I downloaded anitx19.3, put it on a Usb key with Rufus under Windows 10. Then moved to the Samsung notebook and booted. Everything is ok.
I was able to configure WiFi and get access to Internet.
So I decided to install it on my HD (actually a SSD). The disk layout was set up by me with 8Gb boot, 4Gb swap and the rest to root. The first disappointment came when trying to configure the keyboard: I have an an Italian keyboard with 88 keys but such device is not present in the list of accepted keyboards, morevover there is no way to test it typing some characters in a box: [{ ]} and èé +*;, -_\| and so on, just to be sure the keyboard is usable; of course the selected keyboard is not working as expected (terminate installation, open terminal, type some chars wrong!), start again.
Eventually the keyboard reached an acceptable compromise: the US keyboard always works well. –
Configure the WiFi: this is a real nigthmare. There at least three entriees in the menu to configure a WiFi network, only the first one works. When trying to configure the WiFi some rows appear in a terminal window. One must pay a lot of attention since there at least two blocking errors: a file (/run/wpa_supplicant/wlan0) which can’t be deleted and the directory (/run/wpa_supplicant). Why they can’t be deleted by the proc?
No hope: the wpa_supplicant seems to finish correctly but there no way to get an address from DHCP nor to set a fixed address: no response from DHCP (on CentOS linux) and 260 minutes stuck on updating initrams when setting a fixed address (what? initrams? why?). Besides that the WiFi configuration hangs up the notebook: no mouse, no keyboard, Alt-CtrlDel displays a panel but without keyboard is useless. Only exit Power down. The DHCP system, a CentOS 7 Linux shows no entry in the log, it looks as the notebook can’t access the Wifi. Yes, the wpa_supplicant terminated correctly. IFCONFIG shows the adapter as UP with no IP address.

I am now considering to give it up, the idea was interesting, but the practice shows an implementation with poor error checking and a nature to the SEATTLE mind( I do know what is right for you and I’m doing it).
Regards,
Stefano

[Forum Admin anticapitalista]

Helpful

Up

0

::

Good luck with finding another linux that works for you – there are plenty to try. Bye.

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

antiX with runit - leaner and meaner.

[Member PPC]

Helpful

Up

0

::

@noip – if you want help to solve your issues, simply ask here in the forum. There are thousands of people that use antiX all over the world- I myself use it on 3 computers, with Portuguese keyboard layout, and ethernet and wi-fi, without any problem… There is no “poor error checking” on this OS, and I have no idea with “SEATTLE mind” means, nor will I waste time searching for that reference on-line… Considering that both anticapitalista (the OS main developer) and me are both from Europe, we are fairly certain that there’s no problem with non English keyboard layouts…

On a computer with ssd and 2 gig of RAM, antiX, correctly configured (as it usually is, out of the box), should fly… If you don’t want antiX, there’s plenty of fish in the sea of Linux distros… if you want help, please, ask for it in a polite way, not heavy criticism…

Edit: I even took some seconds to google the italian keyboard layout and test it under antiX, after I run, on the terminal, the command to change the keyboard layout:

setxkbmap it

…that took about 2 minutes to do (true, I’m on antiX 19.2, the 19.3 version may have some strange bug)
How long to do you think it would take to solve your keyboard problem permantly and internet connection, if you bother to ask for help? antiX comes with 2 different connection managers and a GUI to change between them, just in case a connection is having problems working with a particular connection manager…

P.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 5 months ago by PPC.

[Member fatmac]

Helpful

Up

0

::

Maybe a bad download, was it checked(?).

Linux (& BSD) since 1999

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

Helpful

Up

0

::

I frequently have to boot in either failsafe or safe mode in order to keep the X server from getting stuck when starting, but knowing this, I’m always able to get in and boot. I’ve not seen video resolution issues that others have seen, but again, knowing these possibilities, it’s never been a problem after 1-2 tries to successfully boot and use the system. Also, if I choose to install it, once the image is installed, I do not see these issues; the X server apparently uses the mode in which I’ve accessed the system from which I successfully enter graphics mode and then install.

--
Brian Masinick

[Moderator BobC]

Helpful

Up

0

::

I’d have rathered the guy succeed without getting frustrated. It’s not always possible, but we should try to improve the odds if we can do it easily.

A while back, PPC and Xecure did make a Welcome to antiX pop up that had a Connect WiFi button as well as answers to the most common obvious problems that normal people have starting out with antiX. The only thing I saw missing was a checkbox to say don’t show this again. It’s not up to me, but it would be an easy way to reduce the frequency of those common first time issues, and if nothing else, we could just answer “click that button”. Maybe it needs a button for choose a different language too. Put it right there in front of them where they can’t help but see it. Dave suggested a place to store in desktop-session.conf if they clicked the don’t show again box.

Just my 2 cents worth

• This reply was modified 2 years, 5 months ago by BobC.

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

Helpful

Up

0

::

@BobC: I like your idea.

I also believe that when possible it’s good to be helpful and encourage those who visit.

Ideally both our visitors and regular members are polite and patient. None of us are perfect and it’s been a challenge for many people this year.

I’ll do my best;. I have had a few moments of impatient behavior too. Thanks for the encouragement!

--
Brian Masinick

[Moderator christophe]

Helpful

Up

0

::

Yes. I agree with you both.

noip seemed to lose it over confusion in configuring wifi. But I agree with PPC, too. He should have asked for help instead of being insulting.

Regarding wifi, I have an idea (going forward):

Perhaps in antiX 21, a different network configurator would be good on 64-bit systems– my thought is to use the one MX uses — it just connects (in my experience). And even older 64-bit systems generally have enough memory to use it (like the Core2Duos I have). I have had only very minimal issues with connman (in the beginning), but I see that others have had more.

And perhaps keep to ceni on all 32-bit versions, to be frugal with memory resources. (I’ve always found ceni to work without any problems.)

Just my thoughts…

confirmed antiX frugaler, since 2019

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

Helpful

Up

0

::

I have had pretty good success the past year with Connman but I had a brief first time failure with it earlier this week but have not replicated the issue.

The MX network manager has been flawless and it is as easy to use as the best network manager programs. I like the idea of using it for 64 bit systems and choosing between Ceni and Connman for 32 bit systems.

--
Brian Masinick

[Author]

Posts