Things to do after installing antiX 19 (beta2)

[Member PPC]

Howdy.

I’m just using this post to think out loud… feel free to pinch in with any idea…

In my case, for now I’ve been running antiX19b2 live on machines, trying to pave the way for a definitive install:

In a very arbitrary order:

1- Take care of the looks:
Change IceWM theme to BlueDay, change desktop to IceWM (no rox or spacefm managing icons…) / Change to JWM with Black style- RAM usage on idle is now almost the same- also change to my personal conky

2- Update and upgrade system – I found out and tweaked a bit a GUI only system updater, still needs some work, but its light years away from my original try to create a GUI updater… I know how to do it via cli, but I should not have to do it (yeah, I know I can do it via synaptic)

3- Turn on firewall

4- Get Ungoogled Chromium browser running

5- Get all my files from my backup copy

6- Install WPS office, just in case I need it

7- in my office: configure my printer/scanner

8- get java (I need it for work)

9- get some cool apps to view ebooks (calibre and foliate – MX 19 deb file, with the needed dependency), also a comic book reader may be handy

10- get teamviewr, deadbeaf player, set up google drive access

11- install fonts and codecs (I have not needed any extra codec running mpv or gnome-mpv… but.. just to be on the safe side)

12- set SpaceFM as the default FM, configure the drives/partition names to show up first, add google drive support menus (using my how-to, because my memory sucks)

13- install surf web browser

14- get a pdf editor (master pdf 4- I sometimes need that for work)

15- install complete grammatical corrector and install my native language UI in LO Writer

16- on my desktop, install compton, if I feel to waste ram looking at some eye candy, I run it, never add it to my startup

EDIT:

17 -install Audacity and GIMP

With all this and some stuff that I’ll probably will add later, antiX is the perfect OS, for work and leisure…

Any more suggestions?

P.

• This topic was modified 3 years, 9 months ago by PPC.

[Anonymous]

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Or, alternatively, you just get yourself Ubuntu updater. This one got installed in Wheezy times and still works flawlessly, despite 2 upgrades.

[Member fatmac]

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Generally, I install the Base version, make Fluxbox default, change background to plain black, alter conkyrc to show my /home partition, make sure wifi is working.

Add my extra software, audacity, openshot, PySolFC, xpat2, (& sometimes muse).

If this is on a new machine, install my old .mozilla directory, (bookmarks & browser add ons), load all my music, videos, etc., & I’m ready to go. 🙂

Linux (& BSD) since 1999

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

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As you can clearly see in this excellent topic, there are many ways to configure your personal system and one of the best things about antiX is that it’s one of the easiest systems to modify to suit the interests of a wide range of hardware and software.

Perhaps distributions based on Ubuntu and Mint offer compelling features for users. I have no issues with this. However my hardware (even when “new” to me) tends to be stuff near the end of the sales cycle, so it trails the performance curve. Run whatever you want with any *buntu variety and then run the same thing with Debian, MX, or antiX and you will notice a clear performance advantage of antiX.

We don’t lead in default appearance or “sexy” features, we lead in support of the aging technology, yet support fairly recent technology too.

I highly recommend and endorse our “sweet spot” whether you describe it similarly or vastly different than what I appreciate.

Hats off to anticapitalista and the development team!

• This reply was modified 3 years, 9 months ago by Brian Masinick.

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Brian Masinick

[Moderator BobC]

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noclue, How would ubuntu updater help?

I use a program called aptik to save my setups and home data. I created a program that compares all the packages installed on my current antiX version, and after I install aptik, then I make a list for the new antiX version of what other packages I would need to install. I then cull the list, and run it to install all the missing ones. On a major version upgrade I would need to copy the pristine home directory to preserve new things that I do want, like IceWM’s new preference file, for example. I then use aptik to load in my setups. I then need to tweak in anything that my restore overlaid that I really want to keep. This isn’t perfect by any means, but is much better than doing it all by hand, and I tend to get it right on the first try because I’m so close to the goal line already…

[Anonymous]

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2- Update and upgrade system – I found out and tweaked a bit a GUI only system updater … I know how to do it via cli, but I should not have to do it (yeah, I know I can do it via synaptic)

noclue, How would ubuntu updater help?

noClue.

Maybe it’s only my ability to read.

Maybe only “why computer if my ancient typewriter and walkman can do?” …

Or maybe just because I read somentin’ like “improve”, “more modern”, “Linux for human beings”, “sanity for the humanity” …

But, Terminal will do as well, as the primitive MX “green-box updater” or the ugly antiX repo manager.

See yourself. Costs? 0 resources and good looks.

* The later is probably the best reason against using it. There’s a big danger that OS could become more user friendly, which we don’t wanna risk.

[Moderator BobC]

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I see. I misunderstood. I thought it was to solve his list of problems, not just number 2, and so I didn’t understand.

I realize its not entirely applicable, but I like how Eric at Arco installs things from scripts because it makes results repeatable.

Thanks

[Moderator BobC]

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PPC, this might help with a lot of that… I may have tweaked the script since then if you need it, but it worked there pretty much I think.

https://www.antixforum.com/forums/topic/dotfiles-management-backup-deployment-strategies/page/2/#post-18538

[Member PPC]

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@BobC- Thanks, I’ll try to check that later!

One more essential thing: use CC -repo manager to select the fastest servers… (thanks for reminding me of that, Noclue!)

I only use Google cloud services and have that perfectly configured, but a good way to mount almost any kind of “cloud storage” is using rclone and rclonetray… I tested it in antix 19 with Google Drive- it works fine but sits around draining about 200 Mb of my precious RAM…

During last night I tweaked a little bit more the “Full UI antiX updater”, and because of the attention this part of my post got, I decided to add it here, for anyone that’s too lazy to use the command line to update antiX, like me 🙂 .
Download the script and run it using gksudo. For a full GUI experience, it needs a .desktop file or a icon to start it from the desktop/toolbar/menu… In a pinch something like Menu-Run- “gksudo ~/Downloads/antiX-updater7-final.sh” will do.

-Note; I did not write this yad script, I just edited it a bit- I reduced the main menu to a sort of confirmation window only, changed the “apt update” to almost instantly begin showing a progress bar- note the percentage always remains in “0%”, but the bar “pulses”, so the user does not think that the updater froze… I also changed the title bar, the icon and the buttons to GTK… Many thanks to the original developer of the script, Milos Pavlovic, for making it available (it was based on Linux Lite update tool)…

Personal note, off-topic:
I still believe one such GUI application would be a nice addition to the Control Centre (that and not offering a real way to set time and date are, in my opinion the only thing lacking in CC), or even merit a fixed icon in the taskbar (I did do that, to the old version of my “antiX GUI updater”), just so the users see it and don’t forget to check for updates… (I ran antiX for months without even thinking about updating it, it was the first system that I used that did not have a update notifier- I got used to the OS reminding me to update…)
I don’t think antiX usual kind of crowd needs to spend system resources on auto checking for updates, but, for example, having a simple way for the user to check a box after install, and when antiX boots, it asks if the user wants to check for updates would be a nice fail safe for stupid rook mistakes like mine… (I don’t like adding stuff to my system start, but then again, I’m not really a newbie user).

P.

PS: the forum did not let me upload my script, so here it goes. Copy and paste it to a file, and make it executable

#!/bin/bash
# Licensed under the GNU GPLv3.
#.%%...%%..%%%%%%...%%%%...%%..%%...%%%%.._.
#.%%%.%%%....%%....%%......%%.%%...%%..%%.2.
#.%%.%.%%....%%.....%%%%...%%%%....%%..%%.0.
#.%%...%%....%%........%%..%%.%%...%%..%%.8.
#.%%...%%..%%%%%%...%%%%...%%..%%...%%%%..3.
# Bash/YAD Debian Package Updater based on Linux Lite update tool
# ------- Change log ------
# Switched to YAD and adapted to Debian
# Added: a main dialog loop, log, option to purge the lists, about dialog
# Added: a check for exclusive lock
# -----------------------------------
# Note:
# -----------------------------------
# Milos Pavlovic
# Slightly edited for antiX 19 by PPC -18/7/2019 (changed "apt update" part of the "Update" Function  and  reduced the "Main menu" turning it into a confirmation menu only)

APPNAME="antiX Update Tool"
LOGFILE=/var/log/misko-update.log
UPDATELOG=/var/log/last-update-log.log
# dist-upgrade or upgrade, change next line
COMMAND=dist-upgrade
# Yad window icon ###PPC: I have to put a nice antiX icon here...
ic=/usr/share/icons/papirus-antix/symbolic/emblems/emblem-synchronizing-symbolic.png

# Make sure only root can run our script
if [[ $EUID -ne 0 ]]; then
	echo "This script must be run as root!" 1>&2
	echo "TIP: Use gksudo or a similar tool." 1>&2
	exit 1
fi

function log(){
	message="$@"
	echo '['$(date +%D\ %H:%M:%S)'] '$message | sed -r "s/\x1B\[([0-9]{1,2}(;[0-9]{1,2})*)?m//g" | fold -sw 76 >>$LOGFILE
}

function checklock () {
# Checks for exclusive lock and wait until package managers are closed
while  fuser /var/lib/dpkg/lock 2>&1 >/dev/null  ; do
	echo "# Waiting for other software managers to finish..." $"\n"
	if [ "$(pidof synaptic)" ]; then
		echo "# Waiting for other software managers to finish..." $"\nsynaptic"
	fi
	echo 1
	sleep 1
	echo 30
	sleep 1
	echo 60
	sleep 1
	if [ ! -z "$(pgrep gdebi-gtk)" ]; then
		echo "# Waiting for other software managers to finish..." $"\ngdebi-gtk"
	fi
	echo 95
	sleep 1
done | (if ! yad --progress --title="$APPNAME - close any open package managers" --percentage=20 --auto-close --button="Cancel:1";then killall $(basename $0); exit; fi)

}

function update() {
# Temporary file for error tracking
TMPLIST=$(mktemp /tmp/repos.XXXXXX)

APTUPDATE=$(grep '^deb' -c /etc/apt/sources.list) # Total number of repositories registered, this is approximated

apt-get update 2>&1 | tee $TMPLIST | yad --center --borders=15 --image=system-software-install --progress --pulsate --window-icon="$_ICON" --auto-close --no-cancel --width="320" --height="80" --title="$_APPNAME" --window-icon=$ic --title="$APPNAME"         --text="Trying to update system packages. Please wait, this may take a couple of minutes...\n" --text-align center --no-buttons --skip-taskbar 2>/dev/null
	if [ "${PIPESTATUS[0]}" -ne "0" ]; then
		err_msg=$(awk '/^(W:|E:)/{$1=""; print $0}' $TMPLIST | tail -n 1 )	#Get errors/warnings
		log "ERROR: $err_msg"
		unset APTUPDATE
		rm -f $TMPLIST
		unset TMPLIST
		yad --error \
		--title="Error" --text="$APPNAME couldn't fetch the package cache information lists.\nCheck the log for details"

		return
	fi

log "INFO: Software sources were updated."

unset APTUPDATE
rm -f $TMPLIST
unset TMPLIST

#  Temporary list of available updates
UPDATES=$(mktemp /tmp/updateslist.XXXXXX)

# Creates a list in /tmp/updateslist
apt-get --just-print $COMMAND 2>&1 | perl -ne 'if (/Inst\s([\w,\-,\d,\.,~,:,\+]+)\s\[([\w,\-,\d,\.,~,:,\+]+)\]\s\(([\w,\-,\d,\.,~,:,\+]+)\)? /i) {print "Name: $1 INSTALLED: $2 AVAILABLE: $3\n"}' | awk '{print NR,":\t"$0}' \
| tee $UPDATES  | yad --progress --window-icon="$ic" --pulsate --title="Calculating Updates" --text="Please wait..." --auto-close

# Check if any updates are available, if there are none, script pops up dialog box saying 'No Updates Available', removes /tmp/updateslist.XXXXXX
if [  -z "$(cat $UPDATES)"  ]; then
	log "INFO: No updates are available."
	rm -f $UPDATES
	unset UPDATES
	yad --info --window-icon=$ic --title="$APPNAME" \
	--text="No Updates Available" --button=gtk-yes:0
	exit ### PPC- I put an "exit" command here and not "return" because now the main menu only confirms if the user wants to update. If there are no updates, there's no point to go back to the main menu
	#return
fi
	# Log available updates
    lst_upgrades=$(awk 'BEGIN { FS = "[ ]" } { print $3 }' $UPDATES)
    log "INFO: Updates available: $lst_upgrades"
    unset lst_upgrades

# Insert text into  /tmp/updateslist.XXXXXX
sed -i -e '1 i\List of available Updates' -e '1 i\Click Update to continue or Cancel to stop the update process\n'  $UPDATES

# Erase existing available info
sudo dpkg --clear-avail

# Call the yad dialog to show update list
yad --text-info --window-icon="$ic" --button="Update:0" --button="Cancel:1" --title="Available Updates" --width=780 --height=300 --filename="$UPDATES"

	# Continue script if no halt
	if [ "$?" -eq "0" ];then

		# Write log
		log "INFO: Update started."

		# Remove tmp file and unset variable
		rm -f $UPDATES
		unset UPDATES

		# Begin upgrade
		DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive apt-get  -o Dpkg::Options::="--force-confdef" -o Dpkg::Options::="--force-confold" $COMMAND --show-progress -y  2>&1 | tee $UPDATELOG | awk ' BEGIN { FS=" "; total=1;end_download=0} /upgraded/ {total= $1 + $3;FS="[ :]" } /^Get:[[:digit:]]+/ {printf "#Downloading %s %s %s\n",$7,$(NF-1),$NF;print int(($2 - 1) * 100 / total); fflush(stdout)} /^\(Reading / {if (end_download==0){print 100;fflush(stdout);end_download=1}} /^(Preparing|Unpacking|Selecting|Processing|Setting|Download)/ {print "#", $0; fflush(stdout)}  /^Progress/ {print  match($0, /([0-9]+)/, arr); if(arr[1] != "") print arr[1] ; fflush(stdout)}' \
		| ( yad --window-icon=$ic --progress --width=600 --text="Downloading package(s)...\nThis may take a while." --title="Downloading - please wait..." --percentage=0 --auto-close ; yad --progress --window-icon=$ic --width=600 --text="Installing and configuring packages...\nThis may take a while." --title="Installing - please wait..." --auto-close )

		if [ "${PIPESTATUS[0]}" -ne "0" ]; then
			err_msg=$(awk '/^(W:|E:)/{$1=""; print $0}' $UPDATELOG | tail -n 1)
			log "ERROR:$err_msg"
			yad --error \
			--title="Error" --window-icon="$ic" --text="Updates have failed.\nCheck the log for details."
			return
		fi

	# Halt updates script if user selects Cancel
	else
		log "INFO: User has canceled software upgrades."
		rm -f $UPDATES
		unset UPDATES
		return
	fi

log "INFO: Updates successfully installed."

PROCEED=$(yad --question --title="$APPNAME" --text="Updates have finished installing.\n\nWould you like to view the $APPNAME log?"; echo $?)

	if [ ${PROCEED} -eq 1 ]; then
		yad --info --title="$APPNAME" --text="Updates Complete."
		return;
	else
		yad --text-info --ok-label="Quit" --cancel-label="Cancel" --title="Updates Log" --width=700 --height=300 --filename="$UPDATELOG"
	fi

return
}

# Start the main loop
while (true); do
	selection=$(yad --list --radiolist --title="$APPNAME" --window-icon="$ic" --text="Please confirm" --height=150 --width=350 --hide-column=2 --button=gtk-no:1 --button=gtk-yes:0 --column="" --column="Function" --column="" \
	"TRUE" "update" "Update Packages"  --print-column=2) || exit
	selection=$(echo $selection | cut -d '|' -f 1)

	case "$selection" in
		update) checklock; update
		;;
		showlog) showlog
		;;
		purgecache) checklock; sudo rm -vfd /var/lib/apt/lists/*  || yad --error --text="Error while purging the cache\nTry doing it manualy sudo rm /var/lib/apt/lists/* -vf"
		;;
		about) about
		;;
		exit) exit 0
		;;
	esac
done

• This reply was modified 3 years, 9 months ago by PPC.
• This reply was modified 3 years, 9 months ago by PPC.
• This reply was modified 3 years, 9 months ago by PPC.

[Member fatmac]

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Huh, all that instead of
sudo apt-get update;sudo apt-get upgrade
I think I’ll stick to the commandline. 🙂

But, if it works for you, that’s OK too. 😉

Linux (& BSD) since 1999

[Anonymous]

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Hey fatmac, ever heard of ‘sane’ … sane-utils? 😉

Why sooo much text??? 🙂

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade

36:29 😉

I’m sure, some ‘crack’ here has a script for it which’ll be even shorter.

🙂 🙂 🙂

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

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fatmac wrote:

Huh, all that instead of
sudo apt-get update;sudo apt-get upgrade
I think I’ll stick to the commandline.

But, if it works for you, that’s OK too.

We each have our own way to get the results we’d like to get. In some cases we do things that may be done easier or quicker with another method, and in other cases we do things differently simply because we CAN, perhaps because we’re bored, comparing methods and techniques, or because we’re geeks.

Does it really matter? We share here to teach, to brag, or just to share ideas. Some ideas are better than others.

WAY back in the 1990s when I worked at a large company I had access to many computers and I would run stable software on some, mostly GNU software on another, and daily OS builds on an older machine that didn’t have an every day owner.

With so much hardware available I would frequently update all of the systems, so I needed a method to keep certain things available.

I created a file that had a list of everything I wanted to save and restore, anywhere on the system. Prior to a change I would run the script and copy each item to save onto a major server in our group, then I’d rebuild the system.

By mounting the server file system after a change, I could restore anything. If I remember correctly I may have even come up with a solution to run the script from the server, pushing the files to a workstation specified by an argument or an option selection in the script.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 9 months ago by anticapitalista.

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Brian Masinick

[Member PPC]

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fatmac wrote:

I think I’ll stick to the commandline.

That’s the beauty of open source software and Linux and antiX in particular- users can do whatever they feel it’s better for them!
I use the cli quite a bit and became proficient using it. But I do believe that a modern OS should not have to require users to use the terminal for simple tasks like updating. And to honest, I generally don’t like using the terminal, I use it when it’s more efficient or the only way to do something, I grew up ZX spectrum and DOS games, I typed enough! 🙂
Now seriously: my reasoning is this: most not geeky users don’t like the terminal much. And it is quicker to click a icon to launch a script than opening the terminal e typing… If you are into minimalism, you can run a one line script that uses the terminal , but in a more elegant way, that seems more friendly to people that don’t like or think they don’t know to to use the terminal, like this:

sudo -k && roxterm --geometry 90x20+150+250 --hide-menubar -z 0.75 -T " antiX Updater- Please don't close this window" -e /bin/bash -c "gksudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade; yad --button=gtk-yes:0 --center --height=100 --width=350 --text-align=center --title="Updater" --text="Done.""

Note: the sudo -k at the start is not really necessary. it acts as a fail safe, just in can the user clicked the update icon unwillingly, it always asks for the user password. If the user does not want to upgrade, it’s just a matter of closing the password window and the script ends up exiting. It takes longer to explain this than to write the script itself 🙂

Once again, I’m open to more ideas for making antiX 19 even better after installation…

P.

[Anonymous]

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You should know me by now and so, please excuse me for a little joke …

antiX and MODERN OS? You must be kidding! antiX is more a kind of ‘Trabant OS’!

To paraphrase:

The Trabant Was an Awful Car Made By Anticapitalists

Sorry and don’t take it too serious. 😉

Enjoy the Video!

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

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@PPC: on my current system, I don’t have roxterm. I had to experiment a bit, but came up with the following statement that at least works; it could be tweaked or modified to produce a simple, workable tool.

sudo -k && lxterminal -t " antiX Updater- Please don't close this window" -e /bin/bash -c "gksudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade; yad --button=gtk-yes:0 --center --height=100 --width=350 --text-align=center --title="Updater" --text="Done.""

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Brian Masinick

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