Salix KDE 14.1beta1

shanek54
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Re: Salix KDE 14.1beta1

Post by shanek54 »

Hi,
I am not the most organised person in the world, so I like working to a plan. I searched the Salix web-site for a plan/guidelines/article/note on what you want beta-testers to accomplish for each release, but I found nothing.
I guess the assumption is that someone who is prepared to beta test knows how to do it, is organised enough to make a coherent report, and knowledgeable enough to test the "right" things...

All of which is a fairly long-winded way of saying that perhaps some guidelines or a plan or set of tests to carry out would be helpful to beta-testers (and those making the distribution versions also?)

I am thinking along the lines of:

Installation:
Core, then basic then full
in 1) VM , 2) Bare metal
for UEFI and legacy

Post-install:
Software tools (e.g.) package management tools (slapt-get, slapt-src, codec installer - basically the Salix tools
Software categories (e.g) any packages that were expected to be in a category but are not, and vice-versa
Software within categories for basic yes/no tests like does it start, does it have the usual defaults, does it behave sensibly?
and so on.

I realise the above are rather vague, and I am sure there are better qualified people than me to improve upon them, but guidelines or a test plan for new or casual beta-testers to follow may just tip one or two into doing some tests instead waiting for others.

I can be used as an alpha tester for any plan/guideline etc that you guys come up with, if that is at all useful?

Hope this helps,
Regards,
Shane
djemos
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Re: Salix KDE 14.1beta1

Post by djemos »

Thanks shanek54. Testing iso images, will be very useful.

I will write also some thoughts also even if you already have mention some of them above.

Testing beta iso images (installation or live cd/dvd).

A. test Installation iso images in 1. core, 2. basic 3. full modes for 32 or 64 bit images.
Users who have a UEFI/EFI system can test the installation in virtual box (it is safe) or in real hardware.
B. while on core, basic or full run from menus as many programs to test if they are come up. Otherwise a dep is missing.

Live images
A. test live-installer of Live iso images in 1. core, 2. basic 3. full modes in in 32 or 64 bit
Users who have a UEFI/EFI system can test the installation in virtual box (it is safe) or in real hardware.
B. while on core, basic or full run from menus as many programs to test if they are come up. Otherwise a dep is missing.

C. Do a frugal installation while running the live cd/dvd to a usb stick using the live installer.
Then boot from liveusb to test booting and test also the persistence mode (e.g. persistence is to install new apps not already on live iso or write a doc file and save it. When reboot it has to exist on system as in a real installed system)

About kde : KDE iso images include only native KDE apps. Except wicd, gslapt
About openbox, fluxbox etc: These isos have to be 700MB max to fit in a cd, installation or live iso. If possible the 32 bit images, will include both pae and non pae kernels.

Any other reports or opinions, users can have in mind will be helpful.

Note: Live images are very useful, to boot and save critical data from damaged windows pc's.
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mimosa
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Re: Salix KDE 14.1beta1

Post by mimosa »

shanek54, thank you, that's very helpful. If you have time to digest your post and djemos's into a wiki page, it will be easier to find and something that could be linked to for every beta release.

I would only add that any one tester may not have time (or the right hardware) to go through all those permutations, but anything that does get tested is still useful. Looking back over the thread, you might see that there hasn't been a report about, say, Basic, and choose to do that.

Testing on UEFI is a particular need.

More generally, different potential testers' level of experience, available time, systematic mindset, hardware, etc, will vary; but it is all good. In particular, it is still also useful if someone just installs it and uses it, reporting any issues. In a VM is fine but a real install on a spare partition is better if you can, because some problems will only appear IRL.

Another idea we had when thinking about this a while ago was some sort of interactive website where testers could record their results, or just the fact that something had been tested with no apparent problems. Then looking at it, you could easily see areas that had received less testing.
shanek54
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Re: Salix KDE 14.1beta1

Post by shanek54 »

Hi Tim,
I will put something together for the wiki over the next week or so, time permitting.
I am thinking that a "proscribed testing schedule" will just put people off - and it appears that there aren't that many to begin with - so I will concentrate on simple steps any user can take to test a beta, then on steps that could be of use in a "well, that still works" way and then onto a more formal approach for anybody with the time, hardware, expertise and inclination to follow that outline.
As you say, any testing is good, but if the devs can note areas of particular change/concern then those could be pointed out in the announcements as areas for beta testers to concentrate on. ( most announcements already have this, but as part of the general text and not really highlighted, I think.)

A web site might be nice, but the usual caveats apply - i.e. who's going to build/run/maintain it, and who's going to collate results etc?

Anyway, let me get something down so we can all have a look and contribute/re-arrange/re-write it to the satisfaction of all.

I'll be back ;)

Shane
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mimosa
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Re: Salix KDE 14.1beta1

Post by mimosa »

Thank you! :)

I entirely agree with your comments.
ikke
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Joined: 5. Feb 2010, 22:47

Re: Salix KDE 14.1beta1

Post by ikke »

First of all : thank you for providing a LiveCD. Nice piece of work. I downloaded the 64 bit version.

Here are my first impressions :
1. booting is rahter slow.

2. KDE is rather heavy (too heavy)
"free
total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 2033700 1902236 131464 0 140432 946964
-/+ buffers/cache: 814840 1218860
Swap: 4194300 0 4194300"
I am using for this test a 'Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T9300 @ 2.50GHz' processor with 2033700 kB internal memory.

3. Operation : also not very fast ...

But I repeat : nice piece of work. No major problems up to now.

Thank you.
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mimosa
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Re: Salix KDE 14.1beta1

Post by mimosa »

Thanks for testing. KDE *is* rather heavy on resources, but it's lovely if you have the hardware to take it.
djemos
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Re: Salix KDE 14.1beta1

Post by djemos »

ikke wrote:-/+ buffers/cache: 814840 1218860
Same results here. But to boot the live dvd need 2GB of memory. After booting need 814840. If you open other applications need more memory.
KDE is getting real heavy on resources, this is why i use openbox as my main system for everyday use.
But i made the KDE installation and Live editions for users who are funs of KDE and also have fast pc with a lot of memory.

Thanks for testing.
djemos
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Re: Salix KDE 14.1beta1

Post by djemos »

Boot Salix KDE Live Beta 14.1 from usb.
1. you will need syslinux installed in a running Salix system.
if you don't have it install it with

Code: Select all

sudo slapt-get -i syslinux
2. mount you iso image

Code: Select all

mkdir /tmp/iso
sudo mount -o loop salixlive-kde-14.1-32beta1.iso /tmp/iso
3. mount your usb

Code: Select all

mkdir /tmp/usb
sudo mount -t vfat /dev/sdb1 /tmp/usb/ (if it is formatted to vfat filesystem and your usb device is /dev/sdb1)
4. Copy everything from iso to usb

Code: Select all

sudo cp -r /tmp/iso/* /tmp/usb
5. Download one of these files or both install_on_usb.sh or bootinst.sh and copy them to /tmp/usb/boot/syslinux directory

Code: Select all

sudo cp install_on_usb.sh /tmp/usb/boot/syslinux
or /and

Code: Select all

sudo cp bootinst.sh /tmp/usb/boot/syslinux
6. Copy mbr.bin from syslinux to /tmp/usb/boot/syslinux directory

Code: Select all

sudo cp /usr/share/syslinux/mbr.bin /tmp/usb/boot/syslinux/
7. Go to /tmp/usb/boot/syslinux directory

Code: Select all

cd /tmp/usb/boot/syslinux
And run one of above scripts to install the boot loader on usb.

Code: Select all

sudo sh ./install_on_usb.sh
or

Code: Select all

sudo sh ./bootinst.sh
8. Umount iso and usb

Code: Select all

cd ~/
sudo umount /tmp/iso
sudo umount /tmp/usb
and reboot your system to boot from usb
aaditya
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Joined: 25. Feb 2014, 15:34
Location: India

Re: Salix KDE 14.1beta1

Post by aaditya »

djemos wrote:Boot Salix KDE Live Beta 14.1 from usb.
1. you will need syslinux installed in a running Salix system.
if you don't have it install it with

Code: Select all

sudo slapt-get -i syslinux
2. mount you iso image

Code: Select all

mkdir /tmp/iso
sudo mount -o loop salixlive-kde-4.10.5-32.iso /tmp/iso
3. mount your_usb

Code: Select all

mkdir /tmp/usb
sudo mount -t vfat /dev/sdb1 /tmp/usb/ (if it is formatted to vfat filesystem and your usb device is /dev/sdb1)
4. Copy everything from iso to usb

Code: Select all

 cp -r /tmp/iso/* /tmp/usb
5. Download one of these files or both install_on_usb.sh or bootinst.sh and copy them to /tmp/usb/boot/syslinux directory

6. Copy mbr.bin from syslinux to /tmp/usb/boot/syslinux directory

Code: Select all

cp /usr/share/syslinux/mbr.bin /tmp/usb/boot/syslinux/
7. Go to /tmp/usb/boot/syslinux directory

Code: Select all

cd /tmp/usb/boot/syslinux
And run one of above scripts to install the boot loader on usb.

Code: Select all

sudo sh ./install_on_usb.sh
or

Code: Select all

 sudo sh ./bootinst.sh
8. Umount iso and usb

Code: Select all

cd ~/
sudo umount /tmp/iso
sudo umount /tmp/usb
and reboot your system to boot from usb
Interesting.. :)
So can this method be used to install Salix Live on a USB without destroying the contents of the USB?
(and does the syslinux install mess up the MBR..)
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