Trying to Add IceWM to antiX-19.3 CORE – Stuck

[Member seaken64]

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Anonymous wrote:

My goal is to learn more about
[..]

sudo apt install strace ldd
read the manpages, and develop a habit of using strace, lsof, ldd and similar utilities
(discovered via “apropos <whatever>”) to gain X-ray vision and similar superpowers

compgen -c | wc -l
https://www.cyberciti.biz/open-source/command-line-hacks/compgen-linux-command/
In a typical “desktop GNU/Linux operationg system”, we have 2000+ preinstalled tools at our fingertips !

I will do that. I clearly have a lot to learn.

[Member seaken64]

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Xecure wrote:

See how to install desktop-session-antiX (in buster):
https://antixlinuxfan.miraheze.org/wiki/Desktop_Session#Installation

Once you finish setting things up things, would you mind helping complete this wiki thread?
https://antixlinuxfan.miraheze.org/wiki/IceWM

I’ll be glad to help with the wiki. As soon as I know what the heck I’m doing! 🙂

[Member seaken64]

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Brian Masinick wrote:

I’m sure you’d want to also include Xecure.

Since
dolphin-oracle
anticapitalista
skidoo

were mentioned, it is appropriate to add Dave, bitjam, SamK at a minimum to this list. I hope we didn’t accidentally forget anyone else; if so, please add them in.

Agreed – Xecure, Dave, Bitjam, and SamK are most definitely on my “thank you” list. I started with the names in the threads I have been reading on this topic of building up from CORE. But all the developers here and on MX have also been very helpful to me and I have learned a lot about Linux from these great people who are volunteering their knowledge and time. I hope I can continue to contribute even though I am a dolt when it comes to programming.

Seaken64

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

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@Seaken64: As I have also mentioned, there are many ways to contribute without having an ounce of development or coding skills. Sharing community tips, promoting the distributions, helping other people, encouraging activities that give others ideas are but a few of the ways to help and you have certainly done so.

As a clear and obvious example of what you have done for this distribution, consider the many topics to which you have contributed that pertain to somehow coaxing rusty old pieces of iron to resurrect from the dead and become useful – systems well over a decade old. You may not be the only person doing this, but from what I can tell, your collection of oxidizing tin equals or surpasses what most of us have handy, so you definitely matter here.

Add your own name to this list and at least one credit is: validating systems over 10 years old that work with various releases of antiX. If I remember correctly, we’ve discussed some that WILL run with antiX 19 and a few that need either antiX 17 or even antix 16; you’ve got that end of things covered well indeed. Thank you very much; it IS appreciated!

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Brian Masinick

[Member macondo]

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Hi seaken64: I guess I don’t understand what you’re doing, are you trying to re-create the original antiX?
Because ‘core’ in my opinion is all the opposite. It’s a way to install a bare-bones distro with only the apps you want, hopefully with light ones and NO eye-candy and ONLY the properties the ORIGINAL developers wanted for lightness and speed. The object is to create a distro light and fast. You want a menu? apt-get install menu. Remember: you starting from scratch: apt-get install xorg icewm menu xfe hexchat scrot …etc, etc

https://www.antixforum.com/forums/topic/howto-icewm-basic-configuration/

antiX Core 64 Bit Runit IceWM

"Sometimes a man finds his destiny on the road he took to avoid it."

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

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macondo wrote:

Hi seaken64: I guess I don’t understand what you’re doing, are you trying to re-create the original antiX?
Because ‘core’ in my opinion is all the opposite. It’s a way to install a bare-bones distro with only the apps you want, hopefully with light ones and NO eye-candy and ONLY the properties the ORIGINAL developers wanted for lightness and speed. The object is to create a distro light and fast. You want a menu? apt-get install menu. Remember: you starting from scratch: apt-get install xorg icewm menu xfe hexchat scrot …etc, etc

HOWTO: IceWM basic configuration

<iframe class=”wp-embedded-content” sandbox=”allow-scripts” security=”restricted” style=”position: absolute; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);” title=”“HOWTO: IceWM basic configuration” — antiX-forum” src=”https://www.antixforum.com/forums/topic/howto-icewm-basic-configuration/embed/#?secret=Gl73dssZPF&#8221; data-secret=”Gl73dssZPF” width=”600″ height=”338″ frameborder=”0″ marginwidth=”0″ marginheight=”0″ scrolling=”no”></iframe>

Hi Macondo!

I appreciate your point of view and I acknowledge that many people will want to build the absolute minimum system that is possible and still have it contain their favorite features. Still, that is not the ONLY possible purpose for antiX Core. I still keenly remember the VERY first time Core was made available. At the time, I had been experimenting with the MEPIS of it’s day (along with some other people). Back then, we were creating MEPIS variations, first adding an additional desktop environment, for example, maybe Xfce, maybe LXDE, then we’d pull out the KDE components, add back any specific packages or applications we wanted, then we’d add our own art work.

When antiX Core first came out, the very first thing I did was add a half dozen or so meta packages that brought me in an Xfce configuration; I may have even done it using the smxi configuration tool; in any case, I created a reasonably light, nimble, efficient, and basically “rolling” instance of antiX Core, using Sid as my backing repo along with antiX, with Xfce. I used this configuration for several years, and also kept a more “standard” version of antiX, which, at most, I might alternate between Stable and Testing repos, but I’d typically replace those each time a different version came out. Anyway, even with Core, each person has the freedom to do whatever they want with it.

I now have a much newer instance of Core, and today’s version I have is indeed as you mention – quite lean and it has only the key software that I use. My point though is that Core doesn’t HAVE to be ONLY lean and mean. Heck, someone somewhere might want to add a KDE-Plasma configuration to it and someone else might prefer a huge GNOME desktop (though sure, you may as well use something else in that case). The point remains: it’s a flexible starting point that individuals can use in whatever way they want – maybe to experiment and break the heck out of it five or six times, then settle down and make a smooth, light, super simple system six months later; any of these scenarios is possible, and dare I suggest it: realistic.

Remember, software freedom also means freedom of choice; what’s great for me may be terrible for you and vice versa, but we appreciate and use the very same core software. Does this make any sense? (Maybe to some, yes, and others might respond: “Why would you EVER want to do that?”) ANSWER: to experiment, learn, and have fun doing so.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 4 months ago by Brian Masinick.

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Brian Masinick

[Member seaken64]

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macondo wrote:

Hi seaken64: I guess I don’t understand what you’re doing, are you trying to re-create the original antiX?
Because ‘core’ in my opinion is all the opposite. It’s a way to install a bare-bones distro with only the apps you want, hopefully with light ones and NO eye-candy and ONLY the properties the ORIGINAL developers wanted for lightness and speed. The object is to create a distro light and fast. You want a menu? apt-get install menu. Remember: you starting from scratch: apt-get install xorg icewm menu xfe hexchat scrot …etc, etc

HOWTO: IceWM basic configuration

<iframe class=”wp-embedded-content” sandbox=”allow-scripts” security=”restricted” style=”position: absolute; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);” title=”“HOWTO: IceWM basic configuration” — antiX-forum” src=”https://www.antixforum.com/forums/topic/howto-icewm-basic-configuration/embed/#?secret=Gl73dssZPF&#8221; data-secret=”Gl73dssZPF” width=”600″ height=”338″ frameborder=”0″ marginwidth=”0″ marginheight=”0″ scrolling=”no”></iframe>

Hi macondo,

It’s a learning exercise. I want to learn more about how antiX is created and how it differs from Debian. I thought I would learn a lot on this subject by attempting to “build” a similar system to antiX BASE.

I have previously installed IceWM on Debian and Sparky. In those installs I can clearly see the difference between what those IceWM default setups look like when compared to antiX. I have attempted to setup the menus in Debian and have had some success. I wanted to learn how antiX does it and try to learn from their example. I think antiX has the nicest default IceWM setup.

I have also setup Fluxbox menus in both antiX and MX. And I have used Puppy and TinyCore. I am learning about how all of these systems work with menus and I want to learn more about IceWM for my antiX installs.

Your threads have been very helpful for me. And several other forum members clearly know a lot more about how to setup antiX and IceWM than I do. But I like to learn by doing and this is another project I have started this winter. I have a lot of old computers on which I can setup antiX and other distros that are friendly toward older machines. I hope I can become better at setting up antiX and be of more help for others who are stuck using old computers. This is my next step in that process. Starting with CORE forces me to research and learn what is missing when compared to BASE and FULL. At some point I may try my hand at creating my own version of antiX and Debian. But I think antiX is fantastic the way it is and I want to learn more about it from the inside.

Thanks for your tips.
Seaken64

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

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@Seaken64: We must have been writing at almost the same time; I figured that you were just experimenting, and to that I say there is no right or wrong when you are experimenting. If you have the time, you might even want to stretch the corners and totally break things, as long as you have ways to make them all over again. Best wishes in your experimenting and learning!

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Brian Masinick

[Member seaken64]

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I made some progress with the menu. I have not yet copied over a menu from BASE, which I think I have found is already in my /etc/skel folder. I will learn more about that in the coming days.

But what I did do has yielded one of the results that I was looking for. I wanted to have the “Applications” menu showing on the main menu. I added this line:

menufile "Applications" menu-applications /usr/share/desktop-menu/.icewm/menu-applications

and restarted IceWM.

That worked to put the applications menu on the main menu. All the applications installed from apt and/or cli-aptiX are on that menu. At the moment I don’t have a lot installed – just Rox-filer, Roxterm, spaceFM, mc, connectshares, and Icewmcc. But this is what I was missing. I knew antiX was “adding” to the menu, it just wan’t showing on the main menu. Now I can see what is happening. The default “menu” file was not setup to show any of the antiX created menus. Now I will go about fixing that.

I still need help on using my startup file and the Logout routines.

Thanks
Seaken64

• This reply was modified 2 years, 4 months ago by seaken64.

[Member seaken64]

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@Brian Masnick,

Yes, thank you. I am experimenting. But it is with a purpose. I want to be of more help for people who are stuck using old computers. I have been following many of the threads here that point out that many people can only get their hands on older computers. (I do not have that issue myself. I just happen to have a lot of old computers and have made a hobby out of it).

I think that antiX is a great system for old computers. But it does take some work on the part of the user to make it work for them. And many people of this current generation expect things to be glossy and plug-and-play. I intend to learn how to make antiX and Debian more attractive to those who really don’t have another option for an operating System. Rather than just be a curmudgeon and tell people to go buy a new computer! There is enough of that attitude already (but not here in antiX). There are a lot of people here who already know a lot about the inner workings of Linux and Debian and antiX. I just want to be better at the technical stuff than I am right now so that I can help contribute.

Seaken64

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

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@Seaken64: You are on the right track and you have an inspiring attitude

I wish you great success in your endeavors. Feel free to write here and you can send me a message or Email if you want to have any off line discussion or idea sharing conversation, especially if it would bore others.

I like your ideas and enthusiasm.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 4 months ago by Brian Masinick.

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Brian Masinick

[Member seaken64]

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I fixed the issue I was having with the ~/.icewm/startup file.

I was reading and it was said that the startup script was not provided by IceWM and you have to provide it yourself. I had done that. I created the file and added my xrandr command. But I think I must have done this as root, I’m not sure. At any rate I needed to use chmod to change the permissions on the file to executable. (I did not know at first what chmod did. It’s not permissions, it’s to change it’s executable property). I ran:

sudo chmod +x ~/.icewm/startup

and rebooted. It worked! Now my screen resolution is automatically adjusted according to what I have in the startup file.

Now I am still working on figuring out why the Logout menu is not working correctly. The Restart IceWM button works. But the Logout and Reboot and Shutdown buttons do not work. If I click on the main button “Logout” off the main menu it does close IceWM and places me back to the console. But the text on the console is VERY light and I cannot read it. I can see it move but it is too light to see what it says. If I use Ctrl-Alt-F2 I can get to another console and then if I go back by Ctrl-Alt-F1 the text is now clear. [Edit – the clear command also works to get back to the normal text] If I enter “sudo reboot” I can reboot.

Anybody know what I need to do to fix this? I tried installing exit-antix but it didn’t make any difference. I must have a script incorrectly set but I don’t know where it is.

Seaken64

• This reply was modified 2 years, 4 months ago by seaken64.
• This reply was modified 2 years, 4 months ago by seaken64.
• This reply was modified 2 years, 4 months ago by seaken64.

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

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Sounds like you did one thing that worked out for you. Just to be on the overly safe side, go into that same directory and make sure that your account is the owner of any and all files in both your visible and also your “hidden” files and directories – the ones with .file, such as .icewm, etc.

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Brian Masinick

[Member seaken64]

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Brian Masinick wrote:

Sounds like you did one thing that worked out for you. Just to be on the overly safe side, go into that same directory and make sure that your account is the owner of any and all files in both your visible and also your “hidden” files and directories – the ones with .file, such as .icewm, etc.

Yes, I will do that. I am learning how to do this in mc. mc is the file manager I used to create and move the files into ~/.icewm. I did not know how to create a new file in mc. I ended up using “cat > startup” at the command line. Then I opened it in mc for editing and saved it.

As it turns out it was not permissions but the executable flag. But I will make sure all the other setup files are properly set for my user ownership.

Thanks
Seaken64

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

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Excellent! It seems like you have already learned several things yourself and you are on the way to making something valuable for many people.

Keep up the good work!

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Brian Masinick

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