[SOLVED] frugal install 32-bit antiX

[Moderator christophe]

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dugin wrote:

I wish I could uninstall Synaptics so I’m not even tempted to try it again, that’s how I feel about it.

You could always run this:
sudo apt remove synaptic

I use the command line to install & remove. I also use cli-aptiX to search & find additional software:
sudo cli-aptiX
(Note the capital X in the command name.)

dugin wrote:

The last 5 times I tried to install programs (xfburn, locales-all) Synaptics has failed. I’m not going to try again.

Do this for xfburn:

sudo apt install xfburn

That has worked for me.

🙂

confirmed antiX frugaler, since 2019

[Member PPC]

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dugin wrote:

The antiX package installer should

Unwanted personal opinion:
Well, we all wish antiX was exactly like we wanted it to be, in all the smallest details, but, unfortunately, it’s a “one size fits all”, at least, out of the box. But, as you are well aware, you can customize it and burn a new iso, and make your antiX exactly what you think it “should” be.

More to the point:
antiX “full” includes all the tools the average computer probably needs,allows easy access, via Package Installer (P.I.), to the most used applications.
If you can’t or won’t use the full version, it’s not reasonable to expect every single feature (or, in your case, a particular package) that’s included in the full version to be available in P.I.- if you want to customize your system, you have to use the right tools- “Synaptic” is basically a GUI, a front end for apt – if “Synaptic” isn’t performing as it should, then use “apt” directly in the terminal to install what you need- you are not forced to use “Synaptic”- I rarely use it, I use P.I. or the terminal…
sudo apt install xfburn

will probably do the job…

Edit: since I felt this tab open for too long ( I suck at multitasking), before publishing my post, Chris beated me to it…

P.

• This reply was modified 1 year ago by PPC.

[Member dugin]

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demo@antix1:~
$ sudo apt install locales-all
[sudo] password for demo: 
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
Package locales-all is not available, but is referred to by another package.
This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or
is only available from another source

E: Package 'locales-all' has no installation candidate
demo@antix1:~

demo@antix1:~
$ sudo apt install xfburn
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
E: Unable to locate package xfburn
demo@antix1:~

• This reply was modified 1 year ago by dugin.
• This reply was modified 1 year ago by dugin.
• This reply was modified 1 year ago by dugin.

[Member dugin]

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I did a Personal remaster, and noted that the save dialog reads “save under /home”. That wording could easily be interpreted to mean, save to /home.

I did find a way to edit a geany file, but it’s indirect. User doesn’t have permission to create a geany file using Rox, so I created the geany file using Rox as root, gave it read and write permission. However, once created, I can’t open the geany file with Rox as root. I open the geany file using Rox, but it can’t be edited. If I then right-click the geany file icon, I get an option to Edit as root, but at this point I’m working with two windows. I edit and save the file as root in the edit window, and immediately get a dialog (in green) in the other window to Reload or Clear buffer. Selecting Reload sets the edit.
1. Why can’t I open (and edit) the created geany file with Rox as root, especially considering that root is owner?
2. Would it be possible to add to the File, Edit, or context menu for the geany file, viewed in Rox in the first instance, an option to Edit as root?
Just a reminder, according to wikipedia, Geany is a Text Editor, implying that text is meant to be edited. Why does it have to be so difficult?

• This reply was modified 1 year ago by dugin.
• This reply was modified 1 year ago by dugin.
• This reply was modified 1 year ago by dugin.

[Member Robin]

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Just my curiosity: What is a geany file? Does geany actually have its own file format?

I believe what you want to express is rather: I tried to open a file using geany. Since geany is like a swiss knife, kind of. It can open and edit many types of files, (To see what file types it can actually handle, just open geany, choose from menu “Documents” The entry “Set filetype” and scan the long lists in the submenus. Ok, now you understand my doubts; There is no explicit file type you could call geany file. All these are geany files — or not.

So what you basically describe: “I can’t open a file, I can’t write a file, (or also: I can’t execute a file)” is not a question of geany. Any other program you’d use would tell you exactly the same thing: You need to have the correct permissions to do something, Linux has a strict user and groups based permissions management of its file system, watched by the kernel. And remember: »everything is a file«, so you can granularily set the permissions for mostly everything on your system by simply editing the ownership and permissions of the respective file. Please make sure not to change permissions arbitrary on important system files (otherwise some functions might refuse to work properly: Some programs check whether the permissions of a file containing e.g. access information is protected correctly by its permissions and cease working when the permissions are set to read or write access for wrong owners (other than root) or to group or to everybody)

Having said this, you understand easily now that at least a basic knowledge of the user/groups and permission concept in linux is essential.

Just ask yourself: What kind of file do I want to edit, and what could be the reason it is protected from everybodys access by default. Should I change the permission, or should I rather edit it by temporarily gaining root privileges by means of sudo?

If you are absolutely sure you want to edit the file nevertheless (it’s your system, you are free to do what you like), there are means to do so without any struggle: There are many ways to edit files with root privileges. One of them: Just open it for edit using the “Edit as root” entry from spaceFM/zzzFM file manager by right clicking context menu… “edit as root” entry. Depending on the settings stored for the actual file type this will come up with the file open for edditing in leafpad instead of geany (you can change this behaviour using the open- choose… context menu entry in spaceFM/zzzFM). Another way could be to open geany itself using sudo from console or via Execute… entry in antiX main menu, choose “run as root” there, and than opening the file in question via geanys own file-open dialog from its menu bar.

Then you can open mostly every file on your system for write access (There are some rare files protected even from being written to by root, only for those you need special tools to access them). Be warned, you can easily damage lots of things doing so, but hey, this is linux, you are free to do it anyway. There are no things hidden behind complex disguise structures, you can everything reach and edit what you like, once you’ve understood the basic permissions management based on users and groups.
A fine and easy to read compendium on this theme you might find here: https://www.guru99.com/file-permissions.html

Take time to dig deeper into this theme, it is worth it. It will let you understand many things basic for easy handling of linux systems.

There is one additional pitfall you should know about:
In case the file system the file is stored on is mounted with read only flag by your system, you can’t edit files even if the permissions set on the file would allow you. You need to remount the file system with read/write access first, before you can edit anything stored on it. (same goes for the execute flag). antiX Live (and frugal) mounts all local hard drives by default as “read only” and “noexec”.

So, if this turns out to be the reason, either try to copy the very file to your personal home directory and edit it there (In your home directory you are the regent, you can read and write everything in there) Or remount the file system on your hard drive where the file is stored on with read/write flag.

All these precautions are taken to prevent unexperienced new linux users from damaging their installed OS on their hard disk when trying antiX Live (wouldn’t be nice for them to find their installed OS wouldn’t booot afterwards…) So these settings are meant to be changed by any experienced user who knows what he does (Then he’ll also know how to do this most probably)

Have fun while gaining knowledge about this important theme! All this is linux basics, not antiX specific.

P.S.: Concerning your specific questions about »Rox filer« file manager: Wait for somebody who knows this thing. I have never used it, since it never allows me to do what I need, everything important seems to be hidden from user by the user interface of this tool. I wonder how anybody can actually work everyday with it.

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

[Member PPC]

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Dear dugin – You seem to be discovering new “problems” at every corner…
That’s to be expected – when we are starting to use a system. It’s not my place (since I’m not a moderator here), but let me give you some free advice:

1- When given an advice on how to achieve something, try to follow it- you seem to have this mind set: “my system has to be exactly like i want it do be, and do stuff exactly the way I want”- That’s probably not true, not even if you build a system from the ground up – for example- I build the ft10 alternative antiX UI, and often I notice I wished it did more stuff- but any new feature, in any system, has to be implemented by someone- it’s way less work if we, users, learn how to use what already exists and works, for many people, sometimes dozens, sometimes millions of users work perfectly well with a tool we have problem with- who do you think it’s wrong- the user having problems or the Developer that built something that works for many, many users? So, stop wishing you system did something you want to do… and learn how to it- study, like Robin suggested, the theme you need to learn, instead of hoping that someone else develops an app, or an OS that does exactly what you want, exactly the way you want it to do it!
2- Do not pile up into a single thread- if you have several problems, the best way to find help is opening a new thread, with a title that describes exactly what’s its subject.
This serves 2 porpouses: people searching for help on that same subject can find the thread easily and, if it’s solved, they learn how to solve that problem! And also, people here, look a the subject of the thread, know what it’s all about and if, they know how to help you, they answer. right now, many people probably look at the title and think “Frugal install? I never used antiX in frugal mode, so I’ll skip this thread”… And right now you do not want help in anything remotely related to running a frugal system- you are having problem with permissions editing text files!
3- Learn the basics – once again, like some people suggested – study and learn what you need… “google” your problem and you’ll find out how to solve it, most of the time. That implies something important: you have to organize the way you think about a problem “edit a geany file” makes no sense at all (talking from a technical point of view) – geany does not have an exclusive file type- it can create and edit many kinds of text files. What you really want is to edit a text file (it may be some notes, a bash script, a python script, even a novel or any essay, subtitles of a video, whatever) using a text editor (in this case, Geany, it can be leafpad or vi, or any other). And your real problem is that you probably are not creating the file correctly and/or you are saving it to a partition with incorrect permissions- trust me, no one will ever change the way Linux permissions work just for you, or add new menu entries to a file manager, just for you! So, it’s probably better that you find out where your problem really lies and try to solve it, instead of saying “Hey, antiX should do this, or have this menu entry, or this app there, etc, etc…”- I don’t htink that you ever found a bug, or found nothing that’s really lacking in antiX – you simply don’t know how to do certain things! Suggesting the addition of new features to antiX won’t solve your problem- probably no one will ever do it. Do you do know what will solve your problems? Asking the right questions and following the advice given!

You are doing something that’s not for newbie Linux users- which you clearly are not. But, at the same time you seem to do not grasp some basic concepts needed to better achieve your goal!
So, please organize the list of your problems, try to search for similar problems on the forum or using a search engine, and, if you find nothing, try starting a new thread on the subject at hand- that will help you, help users that have similar problems in the future and help people that want to help you here in the forum!

P.

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

[Member iznit]

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»Rox filer«
everything important seems to be hidden from user by the user interface of this tool.
I wonder how anybody can actually work everyday with it.

a bit of a history lesson
https://opensource.com/article/19/12/linux-rox-desktop

rox desktop predates the existence (convention, per freedesktop.org) of “.desktop” files
rox desktop predates the freedesktop.org “desktop menu” specification
rox desktop predates freedesktop.org /home/[Documents,Videos,Downloads] directories naming convention

mouse-driven
drag and drop

file manager provides gui up/down/back/forward navigation.
icons in the file manager do expose commonly needed operations.
clicking or double clicking the icon of any non-executable file will open the file with its associsted “handler”.
icons placed on the desktop pinboard serve as DROP TARGETS for file icons dragged from file manager window.
rox-filer menu, via right click, is extremely configurable and extensible [[[for the benefit of advanced users….. and with the expectation that beginners should seldom if ever need to modify the menu]]]

[Forum Admin anticapitalista]

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@iznit – great post – someone other than me gets rox 🙂

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

antiX with runit - leaner and meaner.

[Member dugin]

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1. I create geany file with Rox as root. (I can’t create geany file with plain Rox)
2. I set permissions of geany file with Rox as root. (I can’t chenge permissions with plain Rox)
Logical and simple: expected
3. I open geany file in Rox as root by single left click or “Open with geany” or “Open As Text” from left-click context menu. (All 3 don’t work)
4. I edit geany file in Rox as root by selecting “Edit” or “Edit as root” from menu, or just change the text and Save it.
Illogical and convoluted: actual
3. I open geany file in plain Rox because I can’t view text content using Rox as root (with Read & Write permission)
4. I can’t edit geany file in Rox (Read only) until Rox has opened the geany file, then I can right-click the file’s icon to “Edit as root”
5. “Edit as root” produces an Edit window, I perform edit, then Save. Then the change has to be Reloaded to the geany file in Rox as follow-up.
6. In the end, I get to edit the geany file as root, but I have to stand on my head to do so. In a word, difficult.

• This reply was modified 1 year ago by dugin.
• This reply was modified 1 year ago by dugin.
• This reply was modified 1 year ago by dugin.

[Member Robin]

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@iznit and @anticapitalista Probably I should give it another chance. My perception dates form what was present in antiX 17 , and there I literally could not even find a way to configure it to do what I expected. Researched internet about it, but didn’d find anything useful. So I felt like enclosed in a sand box for children, without any way out, which caused me to never having opened this program again. Seems rox filer has improved meanwhile to something useful. Just have started it now and yes, you are right, mostly all of the things I’ve missed before are there now and accessible the one or other way. Thank you very much for making me look at this program a second time.

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

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

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If you cannot create files, regardless of which directory you are using, then the directory is either owned by “someone else” (maybe root) or the file and directory permissions are incorrect.

ls -al .
total 2028
drwxr-xr-x 35 masinick masinick    4096 Apr 29  2022  .
drwxr-xr-x  3 root     root        4096 Mar  8 15:02  ..
-rw-r--r--  1 masinick masinick     840 Dec 21 12:23  .alsaequal.bin
drwxr-x---  2 masinick masinick    4096 Dec 21 12:30  .android
-rw-r--r--  1 masinick masinick      46 Dec 21 12:24  .asoundrc
-rw-r--r--  1 masinick masinick     350 Jan 18 11:25  .bash_aliases
-rw-r--r--  1 masinick masinick     220 Aug  4  2021  .bash_logout
-rwxr-xr-x  1 masinick masinick    6500 Feb 11 14:20  .bashrc
drwxr-xr-x  2 masinick masinick    4096 Apr 12 12:41  bin
-rw-r--r--  1 masinick masinick   28406 Dec 29 17:54  bookmarks.html

As you can see in the listing above (which is a sample of the first ten entries in my ‘ls -al .’ listing. The . directory in my case is /home/masinick.
You can clearly see that I’m able to read, write, and execute in this directory, and my group name and others are, (in theory), able to read and execute files in my directory (of course, dependent upon access to my system, which predicates 1) the system is turned on and 2) I have permitted a valid user to access something.

Also notice that the directory immediately preceding mine, .., which is /home, is only writable by root, and readable by others with legitimate access to the system.
Clearly the root user created the masinick directory in the first place, based on this information.

Make sure that your own directory is set up in a similar way, of course using your own selected user name for the directory, but have the file and directory permissions, at least at the OWNER (first 3 flags, rwx) owned by YOU; otherwise you’ll always have to use root, and you really shouldn’t have to do that.

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Brian Masinick

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

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anticapitalista wrote:

@iznit – great post – someone other than me gets rox 🙂

Fear not, you are NOT alone. I’m quite sure that there are plenty of us who can use Rox and other tools.

Attachments:

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   ROX-screenshot.jpg
   

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Brian Masinick

[Member Robin]

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dugin wrote:

1. I create geany file with Rox as root. (I can’t create geany file with plain Rox)

Let us know please in which folder you try to do this. This is not default behaviour of ROX filer (or any other file manager) when being within your personal home folder or one of its subfolders.

1.) Make sure to create the file actually in a subfolder of your home folder.
Right click in the free space of the folder and chose “New, file”. No root should be required!
Name it myfile.txt for example and let it create.

2.) Now you should see the file icon in your folder. Right click on it and choose “Open with geany” from the context menu.
Again, you should not need root privileges for this at all.

3.) Enter what you like, and click “save”.
Also this should get executed fine without need of being root.

So, again, in which system folder do you actually try to create and save your file?

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   01-RoxFiler-Create-new-file.jpg
   

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

[Member dugin]

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The directory, and therefore the file, is not on /home. The directory is on a large ext3 data partition, logical drive sda2, created with Gparted. I’d say the directory has been in existence for 10 years. The test geany file was created today.

EDIT: I changed the directory’s permission to Read & Write, but it still doesn’t open in Rox as root. On the other hand, I’m not entirely sure that the set permission is persisting.

• This reply was modified 1 year ago by dugin.
• This reply was modified 1 year ago by dugin.
• This reply was modified 1 year ago by dugin.

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

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Text copied and pasted here from the text file Brian.txt:

This is Brian.txt.  I created it in the following manner.

1) Using Rox Filer from my home directory, first I pressed the right
click on my mouse button and selected New --> Directory

2) I chose the name ROX for my new folder, /home/masinick/ROX

3) Next, I clicked on ROX, which opened my newly created folder

4) Then I right clicked again, (Ctrl-N also works), selected 
New ---> Blank file, and wrote the name Brian.txt, which created
an empty file by that name.

5) Finally, I clicked on the file, and by default it opened Brian.txt
in the Geany text editor.  (You can select a different editor if you 
prefer something else).

6) I wrote this note and saved it.

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Brian Masinick

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