antiX transformation pack – antiX FT 10

[Member PPC]

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Beta version 1.4.b3 is out:
Changes:
-Calendar Alarms, if activated remain always on, even across reboots, until the user turns them off. Minor changes on the Calendar Alarms on/off “notification” (I have to implement a similar feature in the Visual Effects, I noticed that was not working).
-On the technical side of things, scripts that the “Calendar Alarms checker (slarm3.sh)” and the cpu/ram indicator, no longer produce a “sleep” process (that always bothered me, when measuring system resources usage, seeing “sleep” processes popping on and off)

The only report I got (thanks for that, Marcelo) seems to point that the new script to configure and add features to zzzfm is working perfectly, so probably that should be included on the final version that will be ready in a few days… I have to solve some minor problems and implement some localization changes

P.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 2 months ago by PPC.
• This reply was modified 1 year, 2 months ago by PPC.
• This reply was modified 1 year, 2 months ago by PPC.

[Member madibi]

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it’s the 2nd day that I’m trying the new beta, and It works with no probs.
The unique little obstacle is when I do the commend “sudo apt install FT10xxx”: I always forget to change the file as executable. Is it possible to provide the file also with this characteristic? I am not an expert, and I thinh that people less expert than me will follow in this trick.
(I remember a couple of weeks ago a guy asking help for the installation of a chess program that he couldnt do, only because of this flag).

As far as adv on ft10, I wrote a review on distrowatch where I described what ft10 does
🙂

m

PS: I also installed a bluetooth keybord that worked fine since the very 1st try

• This reply was modified 1 year, 2 months ago by madibi.
• This reply was modified 1 year, 2 months ago by madibi.

[Member PPC]

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@madibi – thanks for the report and it seems that you are making a small “mix up”- .deb packages do not have to be “executable”- in fact, all the .deb ft10 packages I generate and test on my systems are not. They are not executable because they are not, in fact executed- they are like .zip files, that the “apt” application reads and decompresses, placing every file on the correct folder and checking if it conflicts with any other package or requires any dependency not in the system…
So:
sudo apt install --reinstall [full/path/to/package.deb]
always tries to install the .deb package (but you do have to point it to the correct file- the easiest way, like I advised on a previous post, is dragging and dropping the .deb package after you type the first part of the command.
The “–reinstall” part of the command makes sure that, if another version of the package is already installed, it still tries to install the currently selected .deb package over it (useful, when I forget to change the package version number on the description of the .deb package I generate, OR when you want to downgrade a package, for some reason)

Edit:
In your particular use case- on your “Mac Os” like antiX, you can benefit from all Ft10’s extras, without the need to activate it- just install FT10 and you have the Weather, news, translator, Cloud, etc, applications available to you.
If you go to the terminal and type:
f10-fm-config.sh
You get zzzfm configured just like it is in FT10 (with Trash Can, Recent Files, etc, etc)

P.

P.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 2 months ago by PPC.

[Member madibi]

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Dear PPC
I was so convinced on what I wrote to you yesterday, that tonight coming home a bit late, I did anyway a new fresh install.
And I was wrong!! Following your instructions, everything worked fine.
Many thx for the detailed explanation about my conceptual mistake that I did during last installation of the .deb

Many thx also for the hint concerning the extras that I can get installing FT10: I’ll try for sure in the next few days.

Many thx also for your usual kindness 🙂
m

[Member madibi]

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@PPC
some thoughts for the next release
Win habits, other than linux

I think that some habits of former win users must be changed (e.g. the absence of the sudo command), while others may be let up to the end user.

For sure antix is more security oriented than most of linux distros, and of win of course.
I wonder whether in ft10 may be possible:

1. to disable the internet adblock that in antix is on by default;

2. to let to use internal hd, this means to disable the udevil block for the internal hd, according to your recent post

Edit as root the file /etc/udevil/udevil.conf
sudo geany /etc/udevil/udevil.conf>>
and change the commented line # allowed_internal_devices to:
allowed_internal_devices = *

3. to find a way to let the FM to found the smb shares, like thunar in xfce. Antix procedure is more complicated.
On this latest point I read an older tread whose result were that in antix this is not permitted. After your yesterday’s post I went to look inside the file /etc/udevil/udevil.conf and searched the keyword “smb”. I am not technically able to investigate more in depth,but I think that looking at row 160 and following, this problem may be solved and inserted in FT10.
This is not what win refugées are used to, because for them every pc in the lan is both client and server. At least they will find lan shares in an easier way.

Many thx for your attention 🙂
m

• This reply was modified 1 year, 2 months ago by madibi.

[Member PPC]

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@madibi :
you seem to have given up on your first item from your wish-list, so about the other two:

2- enabling access to other internal partitions to non root users: a script to do that will probably be no harder to make than any other script that editing a config (which many of the scripts FT10 use do), so I’ll try to experiment with that- the main difference to other scripts sued by FT10 is that, to produce effects this does need a system restart, so if I implement this, I’ll probably put, at the end of the script a window asking if the system should reboot instantly or if the user wants to reboot it later…

3- Access to shared folders – I never used shared folder in Linux – when someone made a similar suggestion, I tried to, but creating a shared folder in antiX does not seem to be a thing that non technical minded users can do – I’m a very technical minded user and I was not able to do it when I tried it for the first time- following a tutorial that was something like: “Doing this is easy, just install so and so packages and you are done… after you launch this service and that, and edit this config file to include your user then…”. My thoughts about this one- either I failed to locate an easy to follow tutorial that can be converted to a script or this is not for the common FT10 user… If you have an easy way to create and make available a shared file, please share it here. I can try it out and see if it works, and if it does, how can I create a script to automate it…

P.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 2 months ago by PPC.

[Member PPC]

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Last night I finished the latest FT10 beta. It’s available here: https://gitlab.com/antix-contribs/ft10-transformation/-/raw/main/packages/ft10-transformation_1.4.b4_all.deb
Changes:
-includes some bug fixes on the update reminder and the zzzfm configuration script
-a “Shared Folders” script, with a .desktop, already added to zzzfm bookmarks – at first run, this script offers to install the needed dependencies- you’ll have to rerun the script for it to start after that. If the dependencies are already installed, the script scans your network and displays all shared folders (if they use samba > v.1). click the shared folder that you want to connect to and a window to enter the credentials (user and password) will be displayed. If you shared folder does not require any password, simply click the “ok” button (or press enter) to ignore that step – the selected shared folder will be instantly displayed in zzzfm (I hope this works for you madibi 🙂
P.S.- please note that this script DOES NOT allow you create shared folders, only to access already existing shared folder on your local network. This script can be considered the connectshares younger and fully GUI brother…

To do’s:
– improve localization – but I probably won’t include the automatic translations Robin so kindly provided- I don’t have time to test them…
– improve some details, and after that, the final v. 1,4 will be made available…

P.

[Member madibi]

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Many thanks @PPC
I’ll try later in the afternoon the new version, included facility for the samba shares.
I’ll have to handle my grandpa’s job first 🙂
m

[Member Robin]

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PPC wrote:

– improve localization – but I probably won’t include the automatic translations Robin so kindly provided- I don’t have time to test them…

These translations need to get updated to your most recent FT10 version anyway. I do hope you didn’t change to much of the marked source strings in the script (e.g. a replacement of a single dot by a comma will break all translations of this very string already). So I believe it is a good idea to package ft10 in the most recent final version without the translations. Then we can install it, and create the needed master translation files (.pot) from this final version, avoiding something is changed last minute breaking the translations again. This way we can go on easily with checking whether everything works fine with the translation files before updating the resource file set at transifex and fixing all differences.

This would mean, the translations will have to come in an update of the final version of your upcoming FT10 package only. And for sure, we’ll do our very best to check the language files to be working as expected.

Windows is like a submarine. Open a window and serious problems will start.

[Member madibi]

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I’ve just finished the test of the 1.4.b4 version, on a fresh install. All was fast and with no problems at all.

I followed your tips in order to install also your samba utility to “automagically mount samba shares” and in my private lan with antix shares + (old) LXLE shares, everything was fine.

In the next few days I’ll try some more experiment and I’ll let you know.

As always. thx for your precious job 🙂
m

• This reply was modified 1 year, 1 month ago by madibi.

[Member PPC]

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@madibi – thanks for the feedback! I always appreciate it!

a new beta version is out: https://gitlab.com/antix-contribs/ft10-transformation/-/raw/main/packages/ft10-transformation_1.4.b5_all.deb

Change log:
Since I’m getting very near to the final version, only some marginal improvements:
-changed the World Calendar GUI, so other time zones do not display seconds- that bugged me, seeing to many things change on the screen;
-solved a bug on the debinstaller .desktop file and improved it’s localization- using zzzfm you can right click a .deb file > Open With > “All applications” tab > Select “Debinstaller” and, if you wish, on the bottom of that screen choose to make this the default app for this kind of files;
-improved the shared folders script, now if the dependencies are not installed, the script will ask to install them and then continue running, no need to restart

Tip: for non English speaking users – if you are trying to install a .deb file, and use debinstaller- select the text of the package’s description and, on the Ft10 menu/antix menu run the “Translator”- a window showing the description of the package in your own language will pop up in a couple of seconds (that is, in fact, the reason I began creating the Translator script, to use it with debinstaller)

As always, all feedback is welcomed!

Enjoy
P.

[Member PPC]

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I have a question for you FT10 testers/users:

FT10 includes many features that are usually found on android devices -since most people use those devices I though it would be good idea if antiX offered most of the default amenities that android offers- like Weather, Timer… and even a Stopwatch.
The stopwatch included in the Clock Ft10 application is not ideal – I patched together a small cli script and made it run on a tiny window – but it lacks basic features like pause or stop buttons. When compared to all other scrips included in Ft10 it’s subpar.
I found, on the repository the excelent “kronometer” package – it’s a fully featured and localized GUI application, easy to use, and an excelent stopwatch. Once installed it takes less than 900kb.
I’m thinking I will replace the default stopwatch script with kronometer (making kronometer a depedency of ft10, that is installed automaticly). Another, more complex option is keep the default tiny stopwatch script and add kronometer as one of the extra apps that can be installed from the FT10 activation menu. If kronometer is installed, clicking the stopwatch button on the Clock window will launch kronometer, if it’s not, the default cli stopwatch will be launched.
What do you folks think it’s best?
1- keep the current stopwatch
2- replace the current stopwatch with kronometer
3- make kronometer installable from the FT10 activation window and use it as default stopwatch if it’s installed (the options that is harder to implement)

I’m well aware that most people don’t ever use a stopwatch in their lives, much less one on their computer… But what can I say… I’m a perfectionist.

Since I’m on the subject of applications available in FT10 – I recently checked out “Gnome maps” (available in the repository as gnome-maps ) – an acceptable map application, if you need to find some place on a map and don’t want to use google maps on your browser… I recommend anyone that needs that feature to try out that package

P.

[Member madibi]

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@PPC

May be your question has an ounce of indeterminacy.
I will answer thinking about: <<What is better, with the aim of not distorting the philosophy of antix >>.

I tried both Stopwatch and Kronometer on my new installation from yesterday morning, and I must say that Kronometer is much better, more beautiful in graphics and with all the functions that a stopwatch should have.

On my system, according to conky, it weighs about 8M more.

In all my pc (s) after 2007, this represents almost “no cost”, included an Asus aspire one, 1 Gram (like the one you just reviewed 🙂 ).

So, based on the installations I’ve been doing in the last few years, and on the PCs I usually work on, my answer is: number 2.

I don’t know the answer from older hw users, I can imagine that they prefer to renounce to some service or some beauty.

Anyway I think that before proceeding you have to answer the following questions:
– how many of these “small” features do I still want to include in FT10?
– how much do I want FT10 to be lighter / heavier than original antix?
– how back in the time pc, my FT10 should support?

and then proceed accordingly.
——————–
Slightly OT:

The friends to whom I have installed FT10 are very happy, as at the first impact with the linux world they are not in a different situation from the one they are used to.

The only observation, which comes later, once the fear of being in “terra nondum cognita” has passed, concerns the fact that they consider the graphic environment a bit Spartan.

Do you think it possible to offer some more colors, in addition to black and white?
Have you ever seen what Q4OS does? They did some themes very similar to the win 10, xp, vista, and so on. So they claim to soften the passage to the linux world

————————————-

In any case I encourage you to proceed in this road that you have undertaken.

m

[Member marcelocripe]

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3- make kronometer installable from the FT10 activation window and use it as default stopwatch if it’s installed (the options that is harder to implement)

I liked option 3 better, but I suggest that the decision is made according to the majority of the answers, as if it were a vote or poll. Why have a stopwatch when you can have both?

– – – – –

Eu gostei mais da opção 3, mas sugiro que a decisão seja tomada de acordo com a maioria das respsotas, como se fosse uma votação ou enquete. Por que ter um cronômetro se é possível ter os dois?

[Member PPC]

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The idea behind FT10 is to make antiX have most of the features users of most modern OS take for granted, and also make it look a bit more up to date…
It took more than a year, many, many hours of work (I’m not a professional in anything tech related) and multiple versions (most of them were not released to the public) for FT10 to become what an user told me is almost a “Desktop Environment” – I consider that the 3 floating window managers that antiX includes out of the box, combined with all the features, scripts and default applications, all combine to make what is for all intents and porpoises, a real Desktop Environment.
FT10 merely adds a customized alternative toolbar and a customized alternative menu (the default menu of the window manager is still available when users right click the desktop), plus a few other small extras.

@Madibi:
– Probably not too many “extras” will be added to FT10 – I’m considering a couple of scripts, to help manage appimages and flatpaks. Any more extras would probably be additions to the FT10 activation menu – I’m considering including the option to install Kronometer and Gnome Maps and eventually some kind of “App Store” that works well – everything else I think antiX needs, if not already provided out of the box in the Full version, is installable from the Package Installer (like Pulseaudio). I was thinking of adding options to disable the Network and Volume icons on the toolbar, for people that don’t use them or prefer the interactive connman/volumeicon tray icons.
– In terms of resource consumption, the default FT10 settings use about the same resources as the default Rox managed Icewm desktop with volume icon and Conky…
the way I use Ft10 – with the “Fluxbox” desktop, without desktop icons, volumeicon and conky- uses a tiny bit less RAM that the default antiX desktop. On CPU consumption it’s about the same, and use a negligible amount of CPU more if use you use the CPU & RAM toolbar monitor and activate the Calendar alarms…
You can run FT10 with as many or as little extras as you want – you can run it without a conky (my default setup) or use FT10 with Conky, Calendar Alarms, Visual Effects, a Clipboard app, a Keyboard app and Nvidea drivers – and the idle RAM usage is still under 190mb of RAM and 1-2% of CPU on a single core computer…
– If antiX runs on your device with the default desktop, then it runs it with FT10 too. I had FT10 installed on an old 32bits/1gb of RAM desktop, and it ran fine- allowed me to surf the web, view full HD videos, work with LibreOffice, etc…
– Incredibly, I never heard any antiX user complain about the lack of “colors” on the default menu/toolbar – true that there are lots of themes that change those features… And I think the default, non activated Windows 10 does not even allow users to change the desktop… Thinking that some people may dislike the current trend of using “dark themes”, I made available the “white” (kind of blueish gray) theme – users are not stuck with the Dark Theme (right click the +/- icon > and toggle the Dark Theme off). I made the toolbar icons by hand so they are always visible, no matter if you use a light or dark theme… White colors hurt my eyes, that’s why Dark Mode is the default…
When I have the time (and the will, I can try adding a script that edits the non Dark theme- but that won’t probably happen any time soon). There are is a GUI way to edit the toolbar color (the menu automatically matches the toolbar color)- the default tint2 configuration tool – but it’s a bit overwhelming to use, that’s why I wrote/adapted scripts to manage the most common task I think a user needs…

I already altered the “clock” script so it used Kronometer if it’s available or the default cli chronometer if it’s not- I’m hesitating if I should include kronometer out of the box because I don’t want to make FT10 full of “bloat” or apps most people don’t need, but, at the same time I want it to have at least as much functionality as the cheapest android device in the market can offer…

Probably I’ll go to the choice that adds more features (and installs a couple of mb of dependencies)- for example: having compton and kronometer installed out of the box with FT10 does not use any system resources, other than about 1mb of disk space – that probably only impacts users that are running antiX live from a tiny USB device – for most cases, 1mb is negligible – and it adds the stopwatch and Visual Effects, if the user wants to use them… The same reasoning goes with the “translator” dependencies – probably it makes sense to install them as FT10 dependencies. But… some users, mainly English speaking users will never use the Translator, so, why force those tiny dependencies on them?
Edit: on the other handy I would never add, as default FT10 dependencies, the about 10mb of files that the script that mounts network shares requires – because most users do not use shared folders- those that do, can install those dependencies automatically when they run that script for the first time…

I consider FT10 to be a kind of testing grounds for scripts I feel should be included by default in antiX – like debinstaller, the CLI version of World Clock and even the Translation script – on the verge of what I consider should be or not included in the default antiX is the Cloud script… Please note that I wrote/used scripts that allow even users on extremely low powered devices to use web services without running a web browser:
-The Weather app is just a script that runs wttr.in, automatically localized and with a more precise localization, on a terminal window
-The News app loads news headlines from a CLI service and displays them on a simple yad window
-The Translator app automatically translates selected text to your own language, no need to open a web page with Google Translator or Deepl…
-The Cloud script mounts cloud drives on your file manager – so you can use the cloud without having to use a browser that is too slow…
Those scripts, coupled with the default Claws e-mail client (a light e-mail client, way faster than webmail, on slow devices) and Smtube (to stream YouTube videos without having to use a web browser, that does not run well on slow devices) or installing messenger applications (like pidgin, etc- to use instant messages), allow users of even 20+ years old single core 32 bits computers with less than 1gb of RAM to use services that otherwise would be unavailable to them. They can even use some websites on Links 2 web browser (provided by default) – handy for reading some news sites or blogs.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 1 month ago by PPC.
• This reply was modified 1 year, 1 month ago by PPC.
• This reply was modified 1 year, 1 month ago by PPC.

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