antiX-Libre 21 respin – less than 700mb ISO’s, 32-bit PAE and non-PAE

[Member andyprough]

I’ve seen a couple of posts where I thought people could benefit from a sub-700mb 32-bit ISO in order to install antiX 21 on older systems from a CD. This respin is in response to those (and for my own use on my 13-year-old mini-tower), and includes only 32-bit ISO’s. Versions are as follows:

PAE kernel versions (for most 32-bit CPU’s with Physical Address Extension capability), using Linux-libre kernel 4.19
– a smaller version without a primary web browser
– a larger version with Trisquel’s fully libre Abrowser as its primary web browser (Firefox fork that is similar to Icecat and Librewolf) (ISO should still be sub-700mb)

non-PAE kerenl versions (for older 32-bit CPU’s without Physical Address Extension capability), using Linux-libre kernel 4.9
– a smaller version without a primary web browser
– a larger version with Trisquel’s fully libre Abrowser (ISO should still be sub-700mb)

These ISOs do not contain non-free firmware, so unless you have an Atheros wifi card your wifi probably will not work. Atheros usb wifi dongles and cards are super cheap on ebay and you can check on the h-node website to see which ones work with free software. I’m using one right now that seems every bit as fast as a laptop with a newer wifi card with non-free firmware. YMMV.

I’ve placed the ISO’s on Mega.nz for direct download: https://mega.nz/folder/XF0WUJyI#n596RzyiwzUYvkaalLoung

Passwords are antix/antix and root/root

Let me know if you have any trouble with the ISOs. You definitely need to backup any important data on your hard drives before using or installing these, as they are strictly experimental.

[Moderator caprea]

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Thanks andyprough, I completely missed your respin fits on a CD.

[Member ModdIt]

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@andyprough,
thanks for hard work and isos, also especialy for pushing the tip with Atheros WIFI hardware,
I keep telling users,
Instead of wasting days in frustration change the card or buy a decent dongle.

Especially Broadcom hardware is the biggest wifi con on the planet. JUNK, I hate it

[Member andyprough]

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ModdIt wrote:

Especially Broadcom hardware is the biggest wifi con on the planet. JUNK, I hate it

Oh that’s funny, brings back some very bad memories. I’ve stuck with atheros as much as possible the last few years, usually a good experience. I like to get ones like this with an external antenna.

If they say their for Kali Linux, you know those Kali pen-testing guys always want to get a strong signal.

[Member andyprough]

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caprea wrote:

Thanks andyprough, I completely missed your respin fits on a CD.

My antiX 19 Libre Respins did fit on a CD, but my earlier version of the antiX 21 Libre Respin with my customized JWM desktop did not fit on a CD. With this version, I was hoping to get back to sub-700mb as I have a mini-tower on which the only way I can install anything is with a 32-bit installation CD.

One cool thing about this is that if you run it on a 64-bit machine, you will probably see it start up with less than 80mb of memory in use by default, and you can go downward from there if you are creative in removing a few packages. And it’s still very quick and responsive.

[Member calciumsodium]

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Hi @andyprough,
I tried your lightest antiX-Libre 21 respin non PAE. I stripped it down even further. For example, in the usr/share/locale there were 188 MB of localizations that I do not use, so I deleted all the localizations except for the one folder that I use. Also, I only use the AntiX theme in usr/share/slimski. So I deleted all the other themes. I also deleted many of the icons in /usr/share/icons. In return I was able to install dosbox and some chess programs. I was also able to install seamonkey as a browser. Altogether, I was able to create a less than 600 MB antiX-libre 21 respin with this chess programs and seamonkey. I was able to put this system on an old 650 MB CD RW. Booting up from this CD is surprisingly very fast on this Toshiba. Very happy about how fast this system is and its performance.

Several questions:
1. How does one update the 4.9.309.gnu1.nonpae kernel when the time comes to update it?
2. How does one install the Abrowser? I will try to see if I can fit the abrowser and seamonkey both into this 650 MB CD RW.

Thanks

• This reply was modified 11 months, 4 weeks ago by calciumsodium.

[Member calciumsodium]

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I have tried this antiX21 Libre respin. I have tested it extensively for about the last two months. I like it. It turns out the wifi card on the machine that I was testing this respin was optimized for the libre kernel drivers. The wifi experience was very good.

Big thumbs up!!

[Member andyprough]

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calciumsodium wrote:

Several questions:
1. How does one update the 4.9.309.gnu1.nonpae kernel when the time comes to update it?
2. How does one install the Abrowser? I will try to see if I can fit the abrowser and seamonkey both into this 650 MB CD RW.

Thanks

Hi @calciumsodium, sorry I did not see these questions when you posted them, but I saw in another thread that you did solve the questions yourself, so great job!

I wanted to post the answers to these questions for others who read them in the future:
Here’s what you wrote about updating the 4.9.309 kernel in this thread – https://www.antixforum.com/forums/topic/what-are-you-here-with-today/page/6/#post-84241:

I also learned how to update the libre kernel. @andyprough’s iso had the 4.9.309-gnu1 kernel. I was able to update to the 316 kernel and purge the 309 kernel.
Basically I had to sudo apt install
linux-firmware-image-4.9.316-gnu1 linux-image-4.9.316-gnu1 linux-libre-4-9
and then sudo apt purge
linux-firmware-image-4.9.309-gnu1 linux-image-4.9.309-gnu1
This kernel update and purge of the old kernel produced an iso snapshot of 637 MB.

Regarding how to install Abrowser on antiX (or on Devuan), we created a script for it on the Trisquel forum in this message: https://trisquel.info/en/forum/state-web-browsers-debian#comment-164779
And be sure and read my next message which shows how to make a change to the script to install a 32-bit version of Abrowser: https://trisquel.info/en/forum/state-web-browsers-debian#comment-165331

• This reply was modified 10 months, 3 weeks ago by andyprough.

[Member calciumsodium]

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Hi @andyprough,
Thanks for publishing these directions. I think they will really help users who are interested in trying out the linux libre kernel.

I was able to find another Atheros wifi card that would be optimal for the linux libre kernel. I had bought that wifi card (this one had 3 antennae sticking out of the card in the back of the computer) several years ago together with a desktop with a core duo 2 processor. I paid $12 USD for the whole working computer plus wifi card at the local Salvation Army store. Looking back, what a fantastic deal. Now, I have two setups with the linux libre 4.9.316-gnu1 kernel, the Toshiba laptop that I had mentioned in a separate post and this latest one. Both setups run the wifi very well. When the wifi card is optimized for the linux libre kernel, the wifi is very fast and efficient.

There is a third setup that has a very interesting story. This is a system that I have previously installed antiX 19 and antiX21 32-bit. The problem I have is that in both antiX systems with this older computer, the i915 driver does not get loaded on installation. I had given up that the integrated graphics card on this old computer is too old to run newer versions of kodi. For example, kodi 17.6 would run on antiX19 on this system, but not kodi 18.9 nor the newer kodi 19.1. When I run ytfzf, mpv only uses the older xv video output, and not the newer gpu video output. So the system is old.

Interesting, on this old system, when I booted my custom antiX 21 libre respin with the linux libre kernel using the live CD which had already had kodi 19.1 installed, booting up automatically loads the i915 driver. Fortuitously, kodi 19.1 ran successfully! I was very excited about this. But I did not have another Atheros wifi card to access the internet. The linux kernel does not recognize that particular usb wifi already on this system. But I knew that the regular antiX 19 and antiX21 kernels do recognize this usb wifi. Then I thought the following. What if I switch the libre kernel to the regular kernel on this system that I have just demonstrated that kodi 19.1 can run successfully. Will kodi 19.1 still run after the kernel switch? Well, I did that experiment:
I downloaded the .deb antiX kernels and
sudo apt install linux-headers-4.9.0-294-antix.1-686-smp-pae_4.9.0-294-antix.1-686-smp-pae-1_i386.deb
sudo apt install linux-image-4.9.0-294-antix.1-686-smp-pae_4.9.0-294-antix.1-686-smp-pae-1_i386.deb
then
sudo apt purge linux-image-4.9.316-gnu1
sudo apt purge linux-firmware-image-4.9.316-gnu1
sudo apt purge linux-libre-4.9
and rebooted.
After reboot, I was able to get wifi without any installation. Furthermore, kodi 19.1 still ran successfully! Using the antiX21 libre respin allowed me to solve my long-standing problem! However, when I run ytfzf, mpv still uses the older xv video output on this modified system, and not the newer gpu video output. Beggers can’t be choosers.

Thanks again for the antiX21 libre respin. I very really customized it to my own needs. I have put it to good use.

• This reply was modified 10 months, 3 weeks ago by calciumsodium.

[Member andyprough]

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This is an awesome testimonial @calciumsodium, you are doing what antiX was meant for – adapting it to your ever-changing needs.Very cool that you are getting so much productive use out of these mature system.

[Member calciumsodium]

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I am still enjoying the antiX21 libre respin that Andy had created. I am now visiting the antiXforum using the Abrowser browser that came with one of those respin. I am visiting on a Live 650 mb CD that I was able to fit the abrowser, kodi, links, lynx, and some chess programs without deleting any of the programs that Andy that originally published with his respin. The individual iso came in at 649 mb, enough to fit into that CD. I found that the xz compression method really compresses the iso to a greater extent, but uses a lot of cpu power. The lz4 method does not compress the iso to the same extent, and uses less cpu. I have not tried the other compression methods.

$ inxi -b
System:    Host: antix Kernel: 4.9.309-gnu1.nonpae i686 bits: 32 Desktop: IceWM 2.9.6 
           Distro: antiX-21_386-base Grup Yorum 31 October 2021 
Machine:   Type: Laptop System: TOSHIBA product: Satellite C55-B v: PSCMLU-03X09J serial: <superuser required> 
           Mobo: TOSHIBA model: ZBWAA v: 1.00 serial: <superuser required> UEFI-[Legacy]: TOSHIBA v: 1.40 
           date: 07/25/2014 
Battery:   ID-1: BAT1 charge: 3.4 Wh (32.7%) condition: 10.4/31.7 Wh (32.8%) 
CPU:       Info: Dual Core Intel Celeron N2840 [MCP] speed: 2582 MHz min/max: 500/2582 MHz 
Graphics:  Device-1: Intel Atom Processor Z36xxx/Z37xxx Series Graphics & Display driver: i915 v: kernel 
           Device-2: Chicony TOSHIBA Web Camera - HD type: USB driver: uvcvideo 
           Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.11 driver: loaded: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa 
           resolution: 1366x768~60Hz 
           OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel HD Graphics (BYT) v: 4.2 Mesa 20.3.5 
Network:   Device-1: Qualcomm Atheros AR9485 Wireless Network Adapter driver: ath9k 
Drives:    Local Storage: total: 0 KiB used: 0 KiB 
Info:      Processes: 138 Uptime: 16m Memory: 2.85 GiB used: 891.5 MiB (30.6%) Shell: Bash inxi: 3.3.06 
antix@antix:~
$

[Moderator christophe]

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Hey guys. I just tried out this respin. I waited so long because I assumed my wifi wouldn’t work.
But it does!
Device-2: Ralink MT7601U Wireless Adapter type: USB driver: mt7601u

This dongle cost only slightly over $2 on ebay.

Excellent job, @andyprough!
Thanks for the hearty recommendation, @calciumsodium!

I’ll play with this for a while…. 🙂

• This reply was modified 8 months, 2 weeks ago by christophe.

confirmed antiX frugaler, since 2019

[Member andyprough]

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christophe wrote:

Hey guys. I just tried out this respin. I waited so long because I assumed my wifi wouldn’t work.
But it does!
Device-2: Ralink MT7601U Wireless Adapter type: USB driver: mt7601u

This dongle cost only slightly over $2 on ebay.

Excellent job, @andyprough!
Thanks for the hearty recommendation, @calciumsodium!

I’ll play with this for a while…. 🙂

Awesome! It’s weird how a bunch of different old wifi cards and dongles work with the basic wifi functions that are built into the kernel. You never really know until you try one, it seems.

[Member ModdIt]

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Hi calciumsodium, nice that you are making really good use of older hardware and pushing limits.

Regarding video output with mpv. have you followed the thread with subluminal on getting playback
improved. MPV is a wonderful tool, when using some config magic you may also be able to get your video
to use gpu.

WIFI, main reason many old adapters work better with linux is they have a rom memory and do not need
the load special blobs at runtime setup.

[Member calciumsodium]

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ModdIt wrote:

Regarding video output with mpv. have you followed the thread with subluminal on getting playback
improved. MPV is a wonderful tool, when using some config magic you may also be able to get your video
to use gpu.

Hi @Moddit,

Yes, I have been following that thread. What I do is create a ~/.config/mpv/scripts/ytdlautoformat.lua file. If you can get the antiX 21 libre respin to work on your hardware, ytfzf and mpv combination works very well. That is one of the reason why I like the libre respin.

In one of the recent post by @blur13, he noted that one has to have the most recent yt-dlp to work well. So I went back to my other antiX 21 systems and updated to the latest yt-dlp. Now all my antiX21 systems, libre or not libre, work very well. The lastest yt-dlp actually works well with the first version of ytfzf, which I like alot. In my experience, one can use any version of ytfzf, but you have to use the latest yt-dlp to get the best result. This assumes that you have to have an optimized mpv config file.

This is my ytdlautoformat.lua file. 30 frames per second is good enough for me:

--[[

A simple mpv script to automatically change ytdl-format (for youtube-dl)
specifically if the URL is Youtube or Twitch.

Options:
- To add more domains, simply add them to the StreamSource set.
- To adjust quality, edit changedQuality value.
- To enable VP9 codec, change enableVP9 to true.
- To change frame rate, adjust FPSLimit, default is 30.

For more details:
https://github.com/Samillion/mpv-ytdlautoformat

--]]

local function Set (t)
	local set = {}
	for _, v in pairs(t) do set[v] = true end
	return set
end

-- Domains list for custom quality
local StreamSource = Set {
	'youtu.be', 'youtube.com', 'www.youtube.com'
}

-- Accepts: 240, 360, 480, 720, 1080, 1440, 2160
local changedQuality = 360

-- Affects matched and non-matched domains
local enableVP9 = false
local FPSLimit = 30

-- Do not edit from here on
local msg = require 'mp.msg'
local utils = require 'mp.utils'

local VP9value = ""

if enableVP9 == false then
	VP9value = "[vcodec!=?vp9]"
end

local ytdlChange = "bestvideo[height<=?"..changedQuality.."][fps<=?"..FPSLimit.."]"..VP9value.."+bestaudio/best[height<="..changedQuality.."]"
local ytdlDefault = "bestvideo[fps<=?"..FPSLimit.."]"..VP9value.."+bestaudio/best"

local function getStreamSource(path)
	local hostname = path:match '^%a+://([^/]+)/' or ''
	return hostname:match '([%w%.]+%w+)$'
end

local function ytdlAutoChange(name, value)
	local path = value

	if StreamSource[getStreamSource(string.lower(path))] then
		mp.set_property("ytdl-format", ytdlChange)
		msg.info("Domain match found, ytdl-format has been changed.")
		msg.info("Changed ytdl-format: "..mp.get_property("ytdl-format"))
	else
		msg.info("No domain match, ytdl-format unchanged.")
	end

	mp.unobserve_property(ytdlAutoChange)
	msg.info("Finished check, script no longer running.")
end

local function ytdlCheck()
	local path = mp.get_property("path", "")
	
	if string.match(string.lower(path), "^(%a+://)") then
		mp.set_property("ytdl-format", ytdlDefault)
		msg.info("Current ytdl-format: "..mp.get_property("ytdl-format"))
		
		mp.observe_property("path", "string", ytdlAutoChange)
		msg.info("Observing path to determine ytdlAutoChange status...")
	else
		msg.info("Not a URL/Stream, script did not run.")
	end
end

mp.register_event("start-file", ytdlCheck)

• This reply was modified 8 months, 2 weeks ago by calciumsodium. Reason: spelling

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