Need help with numlockx, ebook-tools, startx and TRIM

[tigerflag]

This is my first time installing Salix OS and I must say I'm totally impressed! It's Slackware but so much easier. I love Slack but when something goes wrong I don't know how to fix it. I couldn't even figure out how to install extra packages from SlackBuilds. For commandline, I really need step-by-step instructions. Slack documentation is usually way over my head.

With your kind patience, here are my questions:

1. I installed Salix Xfce 13.37 64-bit. Then updated the package list and did an upgrade. Did that put the version at v.14?

2. Do I need to do anything regarding TRIM for my SSD? The drive is formatted in Ext4 for / with a large separate partition for music and movies that's formatted in XFS. Lilo is installed in the MBR, if that's any help.

3. Can I put the /tmp directory into RAM so it doesn't continually write to the drive? How is that done?

4. I keep having to turn on numlock. How do I get it to turn on automatically and stay on? I've installed numlockx but it doesn't seem to be working.

5. I like to boot to runlevel 3 and type startx. Where's the configuration file that let's me change which window manager or desktop environment that startx will activate? Like, instead of startx starting Xfce, it could start Mate instead?

6. Has anyone gotten Calibre working? If so, how? I downloaded a program called ebook-tools but can't find it. It's not in the menu.

Please forgive me if these are too many questions. Thanks for making such a great distro!

[mimosa]

Welcome

Regarding SSD, here is a wiki page:

http://www.salixos.org/wiki/index.php/H ... une_an_SSD

The Salix Startup Guide, available on the main page, may answer some of your questions, for instance about package management. Short answer: no

There's an option during installation for whether Numlock is on by default (not good for laptops). I'm not sure how to change this afterwards.

If you're not fluent with the command line, it probably is easier to select your DE or WM from a graphical login screen. However, have a look at .xinitrc.

What is Calibre?

Good luck with your explorations. I hope you will find this forum is a friendly place. Please don't hesitate to ask!

[ElderDryas]

What is Calibre?!

It's a e-book catalog and reader app...and it works perfectly with SalixOS. Use:

sudo python -c "import sys; py3 = sys.version_info[0] > 2; u = __import__('urllib.request' if py3 else 'urllib', fromlist=1); exec(u.urlopen('http://status.calibre-ebook.com/linux_installer').read()); main()"

to install. This will give you the latest and greatest version.

[mimosa]

That will only work if your system is set up to use sudo - which it isn't unless you did. To use that command, remove "sudo" from the beginning, and run it as root.

However, it's probably not recommended to bypass the normal package management unless you know what you are doing. In this case though, the only disadvantage of doing so is probably that the package manager can't "see" you have Calibre installed.

Calibre is in the 14.0 repos, but not for 13.37. It sounds as though you tried to install it from Sourcery (or slapt-src, its command line equivalent). That would give you a working version, hopefully, just probably not the latest and greatest. That's what you get with Slackware: stability over recentness.

However, in this case, it looks as though you had some problems with dependencies. All that is taken care of when installing from the repos (Gslapt / slapt-get) but not necessarily with Sourcery / slapt-src. Calibre has quite a few, as you can see here:

http://slackbuilds.org/repository/14.0/office/calibre/

and the trick is to install these first. It's easier than it may sound (usually). Again, please see the user guide!

Also, it's always worth searching the forum. This actually looks like a relatively tricky one (depending what you already might have on your system). This thread will give an idea of the sort of troubleshooting process one might need to go through:

http://www.salixos.org/forum/viewtopic. ... it=calibre

EDIT

Actually, sorry:

http://slackbuilds.org/repository/13.37/office/calibre/

I think the dependencies are different (though I still don't see pyqt, pil and co.)

[tigerflag]

Welcome :)The Salix Startup Guide, available on the main page, may answer some of your questions, for instance about package management. Short answer: no

There's an option during installation for whether Numlock is on by default (not good for laptops). I'm not sure how to change this afterwards.

If you're not fluent with the command line, it probably is easier to select your DE or WM from a graphical login screen. However, have a look at .xinitrc.

What is Calibre?

Good luck with your explorations. I hope you will find this forum is a friendly place. Please don't hesitate to ask!

Thank you for the link to the Startup Guide; I'm embarrassed to have missed it. Will study the TRIM stuff this weekend and try to make the changes.

I did tell the installer to turn on numlock; don't know why it didn't or where to find the configuration file. It probably just needs a little tweak...

[tigerflag]

That will only work if your system is set up to use sudo - which it isn't unless you did. To use that command, remove "sudo" from the beginning, and run it as root.

However, it's probably not recommended to bypass the normal package management unless you know what you are doing. In this case though, the only disadvantage of doing so is probably that the package manager can't "see" you have Calibre installed.

Calibre is in the 14.0 repos, but not for 13.37. It sounds as though you tried to install it from Sourcery (or slapt-src, its command line equivalent). That would give you a working version, hopefully, just probably not the latest and greatest. That's what you get with Slackware: stability over recentness.

However, in this case, it looks as though you had some problems with dependencies. All that is taken care of when installing from the repos (Gslapt / slapt-get) but not necessarily with Sourcery / slapt-src. Calibre has quite a few, as you can see here:

I haven't tried to get Calibre yet. I tried to install a simple text editor from SlackBuilds when I had Slack 14 installed, and failed. The instructions in Slackbuilds leave out too many steps- they assume more skill than I have.

But I'm comfortable typing startx, and like doing it that way. Really liked Linux Mint, but it insisted on a graphical login and using sudo. I like the Slackware way better. Just wish I could learn commandline easier. (I'm not stupid, but I have a learning disorder.)

[mimosa]

Once you have installed the DE/WMs of your choice (which may not be entirely straightforward, especially in the case of the former) just run

Code: Select all

xwmconfig

to choose which one startx will call.

http://docs.slackware.com/slackware:beg ... ow_manager

[tigerflag]

Once you have installed the DE/WMs of your choice (which may not be entirely straightforward, especially in the case of the former) just run

Code: Select all

xwmconfig

to choose which one startx will call.

http://docs.slackware.com/slackware:beg ... ow_manager

That's IT! I'd forgotten about xwmconfig. Thanks!

BTW- pretty kitty