Core, installed KDE, how to automatically start it?

[Member puter]

Hi,

I’m familiar with linux but no expert.

I’m testing antix in virtualbox. I want to create a minimal build. I installed antix core, did apt-get update and upgrade, then installed KDE with :

apt install –install-recommends kde-plasma-desktop

Rebooted and was presented with cli login screen.

I cant find how to start KDE.

I’d like it to start automatically at boot. Would be grateful for some help.

Thanks

[Moderator christophe]

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The following is the video tutorial installing kde onto antiX core live-usb. He covers it all, so I’m sure he has the info you need:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HAEb5LAnIE&list=PLTRkAa6x1htVkf5ObKGY2uFZfFwaIY7-W

confirmed antiX frugaler, since 2019

[Member puter]

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Thanks for your reply. I found that video after I posted. I tried installing the virtualbox guest packages as per the video:

apt install –install-recommends virtualbox-guest-dkms virtualbox-guest-x11 virtualbox-guest-utils

but it still boots to the cli login. In the video he reboots after installs and it starts KDE automatically.

What else do I need to do?

[Moderator christophe]

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The video installs with a slightly different command. But I’ll mark it all out step-by-step, just in case a small step turns out to be bigger than it seems. 😉
Basically, dolphin_oracle goes through this process to get the kde desktop in virtualbox on antiX core 19.1:

1. He’s making a live-usb in virtualbox. So the p_static_root is needed, to keep your changes. He’s using a 12 GB persistence file.

2. He removed the “disable=” line in the bootcodes. If there is a “3” at the end of the bootcodes, remove that, too.

3. Run sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade

4. sudo apt install --install-recommends kde-standard virtualbox-guest-dkms virtualbox-guest-x11 virtualbox-guest-utils

NOTE: he uses “kde-standard”, as opposed to “kde-plasma-desktop.”

5. He reboots, having to reset the bootcodes, because it is in virtualbox. (If you do this on a real live-usb, you can save the boodcode options, but on virtualbox, you cannot.)

As I’m sure you remember on the video, his kde desktop does load automatically…

I did this project once, and it did work out well. (A long time ago.) I did mine on a real live-usb, so I didn’t mess with the virtualbox issue. (Therefore, persistence was easy, etc.)

That was video #1 in the series. The others detail misc tweaks to the DE.

So see if any of those steps makes the difference…

• This reply was modified 1 year, 1 month ago by christophe. Reason: fixed code tags

confirmed antiX frugaler, since 2019

[Member puter]

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christophe wrote:

1. He’s making a live-usb in virtualbox. So the p_static_root is needed, to keep your changes. He’s using a 12 GB persistence file.

I’m not making a live-usb, I’ve installed on to a virtual hard disk.

christophe wrote:

NOTE: he uses “kde-standard”, as opposed to “kde-plasma-desktop.”

Yes I noticed. Does it matter? I tried kde-standard too but it reboots to cli just the same.

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

[Moderator christophe]

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Well, unless someone else may have an idea off-hand, I will endeavor to make a kde live-usb starting from antiX-21 core.
And hopefully I will be able figure out where the trouble lies, and how to fix it. 🙂

confirmed antiX frugaler, since 2019

[Member puter]

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Thanks Christophe, I appreciate your help.

If are going to try and replicate the issue, may I request you try an install on a virtual hdd rather than live-usb please?

[Moderator christophe]

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OK. 🙂

So, I installed it into a virtualbox VM. I have to say that it did work perfectly.
This is what I did:

1. Used the antiX-21 core x64 ISO. I booted up into a fresh virtualbox VM, 11 GB vdi for hard disk. I logged in as root. First thing I did was to run:
apt update followed by apt full-upgrade

2. I partitioned the virtual hdd — 10 GB ext & 1 GB swap. (Maybe there’s an easier way to do it, but (for some reason) the console font was HUGE.I couldn’t see the screen well – it was cut off on both sides. Maybe just my old computer. Anyway, I couldn’t figure out what to do, except to reach way back in my memory how to run ‘fdisk /dev/sda’. After it was partitioned & written to disk, I ran ‘mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda1’, to format it. Again, let me just say, that maybe there’s an easier way. But it did the job.)

3. Then I ran the cli-installer. That went easily, as expected. (At the point in the installation where it asks, I took care to adjust the console font to terminusbold at 8×14, and that fixed it to a viewable size.)

4. Once the installer completed, I rebooted. After login, I ran:
sudo apt install --install-recommends kde-standard virtualbox-guest-dkms virtualbox-guest-x11 virtualbox-guest-utils

5. Once that concluded, I ran
sudo reboot

6. When the VM came back up, it went straight to the SDDM login screen. (Ta-Daaa!) I was able to log in.

So that’s the reason I tried to give as much detail as possible. Because it was basically the same as the video.

EDIT: If you think the problem stems from partitioning/formatting the virtual hdd prior to installing, I’ve figured out the easier (“intended”) way to do it. 🙂

If you have questions, please ask.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 1 month ago by christophe. Reason: minor clarification
• This reply was modified 1 year, 1 month ago by christophe.

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confirmed antiX frugaler, since 2019

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

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Yeah, @christophe:, while your method may not be the ONLY way to get there, I think that your method, including the –install-recommends option as you installed the VM and the key KDE-Plasma software, is a safe and reliable method. Had it NOT worked, I would have been surprised, and I would have suspected either defective hardware or software. Since your experiment DID, in fact work, I would suggest that those who want to create their own customized instance, (whether with KDE or some other personalized set-up), the steps are clear, similar to what you did, noted (perhaps even on paper), so that in the event of an issue, there is a “paper trail” that can be replicated in order to locate, isolate, and correct any issues that may arise.

Around a decade, maybe 12-14 years ago now, I took a simple antiX Core installation and put a basic, simple, fairly minimal Xfce desktop around it. So I had the lean, basic antiX beneath it, a capable desktop environment, but it wasn’t jammed full of gigabytes of software, it had only the essential X server, window manager, file manager, and primary desktop environment components, 1-2 text editors, file managers, and Web browsers, and the package management tools; that was it. That system was remarkably similar, but slightly simpler, than the very first instance of what later became MX Linux. I was NOT a contributor to that project, but my similar effort predated theirs by 2-4 years; mine was probably created somewhere between 2007-2009, maybe a year or two earlier, and lived on in a few other instances I created later.

I also remember remastering old versions of MEPIS. The default systems came with KDE back then; a few people used to remaster MEPIS with XFCE, LXDE, or some other configuration; I used to do that too, and my instances looked similar to what I did with antiX Core.

I’ve worked with VM instances from time to time, but I most commonly build my custom versions and remastered images with spare systems or extra disk partitions on the systems I’m using or remastered on removable USB devices.

--
Brian Masinick

[Moderator christophe]

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Brian Masinick wrote:

Around a decade, maybe 12-14 years ago now, I took a simple antiX Core installation and put a basic, simple, fairly minimal Xfce desktop around it.

Ya know, a few years ago, I read the web tutorial you wrote about that. I enjoyed it very much. 🙂
Was it a personal blog you were doing at the time (12-14 years ago)?

confirmed antiX frugaler, since 2019

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

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@christophe: I think that WAS a blog that I wrote; I probably STILL have that original blog somewhere near the beginning of my blog @ this location:
https://brianmasinick.blogspot.com/

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Brian Masinick

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

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https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/12428782/6272952026139823621 was the article about setting up antiX for my mother.

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/12428782/5622325173549730643 was one article where I mentioned my antiX Core build; I think it referenced my original work here:
https://brianmasinick.blogspot.com/2012/02/creating-your-very-own-antix-core.html

--
Brian Masinick

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

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Note that some of the original references in the prior works may be gone today or archived; my blog, however is still there; I found it to cite the references in my previous note.

--
Brian Masinick

[Forum Admin anticapitalista]

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I tested this with antiX-21-core 64 bit unit version.
Did the same as christophe except I didn’t bother with installing virtualbo-guest packages.
There were some runit service issues during instillation, but on reboot, all *seems* ok.
I can login and use apps.

Later: All is not fine it seems with runit as the init system.

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

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

antiX with runit - leaner and meaner.

[Member olsztyn]

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anticapitalista wrote:

Later: All is not fine it seems with runit as the init system.

I tested antiX 21 Runit KDE (not that I want KDE but just for testing out of curiosity):
– Live antiX 21 Runit installed to internal SATA hard disk on a modest old laptop Thinkpad X61.
– Installed KDE Standard/Plasma from Control Centre package installer.
– Remastered to make it permanent.

Resulting antiX 21 Runit KDE appears to work fine. Boots directly to KDE login screen. No issues that I can see.
Runit Service Manager works fine and shows correct services. Utilities and apps appear to work fine.
Memory footprint is much higher than antiX JWM, about 450M on initial idle. But this is expected, that KDE uses more memory than JWM…
Typing this from KDE antiX.

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

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