antiX-23-alpha1-runit-full (64bit) for testing

[Member sasa_]

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demo@antix1:~
$ inxi -b
System:
  Host: antix1 Kernel: 4.19.0-256-antix.1-amd64-smp arch: x86_64 bits: 64
    Desktop: IceWM v: 3.3.1
    Distro: antiX-23-runit_x64-full Grup Yorum 3 February 2023
Machine:
  Type: Desktop Mobo: ASRock model: H110M-DGS R3.0
    serial: <superuser required> UEFI: American Megatrends v: P7.10
    date: 07/18/2017
CPU:
  Info: dual core Intel Pentium G4560 [MT MCP] speed (MHz): avg: 2414
    min/max: 800/3500
Graphics:
  Device-1: NVIDIA GK208B [GeForce GT 710] driver: nouveau v: kernel
  Display: server: X.Org v: 1.21.1.6 driver: X: loaded: modesetting
    unloaded: fbdev,vesa gpu: nouveau resolution: 1366x768~60Hz
  OpenGL: renderer: NV106 v: 4.3 Mesa 22.3.3
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet
    driver: r8169
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 115.56 GiB used: 8.6 MiB (0.0%)
Info:
  Processes: 151 Uptime: 41m Memory: 7.75 GiB used: 2.38 GiB (30.7%)
  Shell: Bash inxi: 3.3.19
demo@antix1:~

Work !

Attachments:

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   anydesk.jpg
   

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

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Anti says: “About kernels – I’m not sure what to default to.
One idea was to use 4.19 as our legacy and a 6 series kernel for ‘modern’. At the moment there is no antiX 6 series kernel though.
We could ship 5.10 as legacy and a 6 series kernel as modern.
Another idea is to use the series in this alpha an not ship with a 6 series (it is very likely to be much more RAM/CPU intensive than previous versions).”

It’s probably good to default to the 4.19 kernel so as many “old” systems are able to use antiX as possible. Personally I’d love to either see a 6 series kernel or a late vintage 5.18+ kernel so that I can use this on my HP-14 as well as my Dell laptop; otherwise I’ll get it on the HP eventually but in testing it’s extremely difficult to retrofit the necessary changes repeatedly without at least a 5.18 kernel and the right WiFi. updates; with a newer kernel I can bring updates in easily.

This is running pretty lean; memory usage only increases when using a browser.

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Brian Masinick

[Member calciumsodium]

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In terms of responsiveness, there is a little lag in using the wifi when launching a web site.

Comparing my antiX21 system with antiX23 a1

Test system:
Browser: google chrome v 109
Kernel: 6.1.9-2-liquorix-amd64
Machine: Dell product: Inspiron 530
Network: Realtek RTL8188FTV 802.11b/g/n 1T1R 2.4G WLAN Adapter type: USB
driver: rtl8188fu

After google-chrome is launched, using antiX21, I don’t see any lag in launching any website.

But with antiX23 a1, when I try to launch a website, there is a pause (sometimes). When there is a pause, I don’t see any signals in the icewm monitor in the bottom right system tray of the screen.

In those cases, I get around it by launching the connman system tray, disconnect, and then reconnect again. Then I get wifi again.

On the same machine using antiX21 and antiX22, I don’t see this behavior with this kernel and network driver. But I see it in this antiX23 a1 test system.

Sorry to report this for this system.

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

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I’m using a LOT of default memory because I specified the boot option ‘toram’:

free -h
               total        used        free      shared  buff/cache   available
Mem:           7.7Gi       2.0Gi       5.5Gi       1.6Gi       2.0Gi       5.7Gi
Swap:          8.0Gi          0B       8.0Gi
demo@antix1:~

I’ll reboot without this setting; I’m not finding any delay on my system as calciumsodium is experiencing.

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Brian Masinick

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

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We are indeed using more memory in this version – straight from boot, on my Dell I’m using

$ free -h
               total        used        free      shared  buff/cache   available
Mem:           7.7Gi       457Mi       6.9Gi        52Mi       611Mi       7.3Gi
Swap:          8.0Gi          0B       8.0Gi
demo@antix1:~

The HP-14 running installed with a 6.1.9 kernel uses 300-320 Mi most of the time; it does vary between the xanmod1 and Liquorix kernel slightly, but it’s nearly 200 Mi smaller. That’s the price of the latest stuff I guess!

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Brian Masinick

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

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Just to see how another distro that uses antiX does on the same hardware, here’s Legacy OS right after booting:

free -h
               total        used        free      shared  buff/cache   available
Mem:           7.7Gi       209Mi       7.2Gi        40Mi       296Mi       7.2Gi
Swap:          8.0Gi          0B       8.0Gi
masinick@LegacyOS:~

I’ll do antiX 22 here too for comparison.

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Brian Masinick

[Member calciumsodium]

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calciumsodium wrote:

… wifi …

I replaced cmst in /usr/bin with an older version. And tried launching many different websites in google chrome. Looks like it works with the older cmst. Immediate response when I open different websites.

BUT,

when I closed google chrome and opened it again, the wifi is out.

So this problem is repeatable, even with different versions of cmst.

So again, in order to get around this, I have to launch the connman system tray, disconnect, and then reconnect again. Then I get wifi again.

I don’t know if it is just my system or if others can observe it also.

[Forum Admin anticapitalista]

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google chrome is not installed on the iso

Please just test with default apps for now – thanks

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

antiX with runit - leaner and meaner.

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

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free -h
               total        used        free      shared  buff/cache   available
Mem:           7.7Gi       204Mi       7.2Gi        35Mi       331Mi       7.2Gi
Swap:          8.0Gi          0B       8.0Gi
[antix22]/home/masinick: >

So antiX 22 and Legacy OS are similar, about 253 Mi less with antiX 22 compared to antiX 23 Alpha 1 on the same hardware.
I’m even using a newer kernel; I can compare older kernels and see if it’s similar; past tests showed using antiX with a 4 series kernel uses even fewer resources…

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Brian Masinick

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

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Comparing antiX 22 memory and antiX 23 Alpha with a 5 series kernel shows that the 5 series kernel uses less than the 6, (and as I said, 4 also uses less than 5 based on earlier tests) so antiX 22 overall definitely uses fewer resources.

free -h
               total        used        free      shared  buff/cache   available
Mem:           7.7Gi       170Mi       7.2Gi        28Mi       276Mi       7.3Gi
Swap:          8.0Gi          0B       8.0Gi
[antix22]/home/masinick: >

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Brian Masinick

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

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So that’s my resource comparison; as far as functionality, the first Alpha version is solid, very good first build quality; minor things to resolve, which have been previously mentioned by others and me.

Great effort!

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Brian Masinick

[Forum Admin anticapitalista]

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@masinick

Do the *default* antiX 4.19/5.10 kernels on antiX-23 alpha (live or installed) show any marked differences from antiX-22 or earlier?
I’m certain and if I understand your tests correctly that a 6 series kernel on *any* antiX will have higher RAM usage. – please confirm – thanks

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

antiX with runit - leaner and meaner.

[Forum Admin anticapitalista]

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Please test and report back on the following –

* opening various audio/video files in zzzFM / rox-filer
* opening various document/office/’excel’/’powerpoint’ files in zzzFM / rox-filer
* opening various pdf files in zzzFM / rox-filer

For those using/testing rox-filer, do the right click options work?

Thanks

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

antiX with runit - leaner and meaner.

[Member calciumsodium]

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roxfiler (in rox-icewm):

opens .docx file: good
opens .doc file: good
opens .pdf file: good
opens .mp4 file: good

zzzfm (in zzz-icewm):

opens .docx file: good
opens .doc file: good
opens .pdf file: good
opens .mp4 file: good

[Member fladd]

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Thanks for the alpha, it seems to work fine in a virtual machine here.

A bit sad to see that the default IceWM theme now reverted again to the Windows10-like “flat” look.
In fact, the visual defaults in general have, in my opinion, lately been the roughest edges around this otherwise wonderful distro. And I am not talking visually rough as in “does not look modern”. This should not be a deciding factor, since “modern” is just a trend that will be different next year anyway. What I am talking about are broad visual inconsistencies and shortcomings that directly affect usability.

1. Default IceWM theme (BlueDay)
Due to the flat look, there is no separation between elements in the task bar. There are several different “areas” in the task bar (menu button, programme shortcuts, open windows, notification area, date/time) which should be recognizable as such. Furthermore, due to too subtle styling, it is not clear which window is active by just looking at the task bar, they all look the same (I think technically the font is slightly brighter for the active one, but I am not sure, it is too subtle). This can be easily improved by using a different default IceWM theme, which is more ergonomic.

2. Default widget (GTK?) theme (Arc-EvoPro2)
Very similar issues here. Best seen in the file manager (zzzFM), where there is no visible separation between the left navigation panes and the main area (again, technically, there is a very subtle border, but this is barely visible). Buttons are flat and barely recognizable as buttons (they could also be just framed text labels for all we know, you have to click on everything to know for sure). This can be easily improved by switching to a more ergonomic default widget theme.

3. Mix of differently styled applications
When opening different applications, they might look entirely different. Ironically, this is not because they use a different toolkit (like back in the day where Qt and GTK applications looked differently), it is because they actually all use the same toolkit, GTK3, which explicitly allows for these inconsistencies (CSS, headerbar, etc.). And they are worse than Qt vs GTK ever was! For instance, the file menu in zzzFM looks completely different than in the terminal or other applications. The menu takes double the vertical space and so do all (selected) menu items for some reason. And then there is of course the archive manager, which is just completely out of place. It doesn’t have a menu at all…or even a window title bar for that matter (it technically does, but it is huge, with lots of stuff on top of it). The whole app is grey and hence looks like the application doesn’t even have focus (because the huge title bar is not the same colour does not follow the IceWM theme). Now take Celluloid, which has the same issues with respect to the title bar, but now the whole application (including the title bar) uses a dark theme, and looks again completely different to all other apps. You basically have to learn a new paradigm for interacting with each app, which is not very ergonomic. This can be easily improved by choosing default applications that follow server side window decorations and respect the user’s global settings.

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