Testing Salix

[woodsman]

Hi All,

Long time no see. My personal schedule has kept me out of circulation for a long time. Time to get back into the swing of things.

Seems Salix has matured in many ways since the original release. Pleasing to me is Salix no longer is strictly an Xfce distro. I'm intend to try the LXDE version on a Pentium I and II machine, and the KDE4 version on modern dual core hardware.

Some questions since I have been out of touch for a while:

* Is there a place to download "Salix Current"? As Salix is based on Slackware, I'm guessing/hoping there is such a beast that is available for testing. A full source and package tree would be better for me than CD/DVD images. I saw a forum link announcing a 13.2 Xfce beta, but I want to test KDE4 and LXDE too.

* As Salix is based on the upstream Slackware, I'm guessing the Salix sources and packages tree contains only the differences from Slackware. For years I have maintained a local (private, not public) mirror of Slackware sources and packages. On the weekend I run a cron job with rsync. Beats downloading full CD/DVD images and keeps my bandwidth usage lower. I'd like to maintain a local mirror to test Salix on a continuing basis rather than download full CD/DVD images. I presume my local Salix mirror would contain sources and packages for non Slackware packages only. I probably need to create a shell script of some sort to merge the two trees for making CD/DVD images, so please let me know how you folks keep Salix and Slackware in sync for your own testing.

* Do you folks yet have any sources and packages mirrors in North America? I did not see any at your download page. Just the DVD images as sourceforge. I probably could use those DVDs to initially populate my local mirror.

* Do you folks have a "dist-upgrade" script for updating Salix between official releases?

* Does Salix automatically create an initrd during the installation scripts?

Thanks.

[gapan]

* Is there a place to download "Salix Current"? As Salix is based on Slackware, I'm guessing/hoping there is such a beast that is available for testing. A full source and package tree would be better for me than CD/DVD images. I saw a forum link announcing a 13.2 Xfce beta, but I want to test KDE4 and LXDE too.

There is only the xfce beta for now. Other editions will follow only after 13.2 has been officially released.

* As Salix is based on the upstream Slackware, I'm guessing the Salix sources and packages tree contains only the differences from Slackware. For years I have maintained a local (private, not public) mirror of Slackware sources and packages. On the weekend I run a cron job with rsync. Beats downloading full CD/DVD images and keeps my bandwidth usage lower. I'd like to maintain a local mirror to test Salix on a continuing basis rather than download full CD/DVD images. I presume my local Salix mirror would contain sources and packages for non Slackware packages only. I probably need to create a shell script of some sort to merge the two trees for making CD/DVD images, so please let me know how you folks keep Salix and Slackware in sync for your own testing.

Yes, our repository doesn't include official slackware packages. You can sync it with rsync:
http://www.salixos.org/wiki/index.php/H ... lix_mirror

* Do you folks yet have any sources and packages mirrors in North America? I did not see any at your download page. Just the DVD images as sourceforge. I probably could use those DVDs to initially populate my local mirror.

No, there are no mirrors in North America as far as I know. The DVD images only include sources that were used for the specific DVDs, so it's not the entire repository.

* Do you folks have a "dist-upgrade" script for updating Salix between official releases?

A wiki page with upgrade instructions will be provided with every major release.

* Does Salix automatically create an initrd during the installation scripts?

No.

[thenktor]

* Is there a place to download "Salix Current"? As Salix is based on Slackware, I'm guessing/hoping there is such a beast that is available for testing. A full source and package tree would be better for me than CD/DVD images. I saw a forum link announcing a 13.2 Xfce beta, but I want to test KDE4 and LXDE too.

There is only the xfce beta for now. Other editions will follow only after 13.2 has been officially released.

Just use gslapt to install KDE, LXDE, ... Shouldn't be a problem.

* Does Salix automatically create an initrd during the installation scripts?

No.

Because it's not needed

[woodsman]

There is only the xfce beta for now. Other editions will follow only after 13.2 has been officially released.

I imagine time is the primary reason. Are there any technical reasons why KDE and LXDE versions are not released as betas?

Just use gslapt to install KDE, LXDE, ... Shouldn't be a problem.

As Salix is based on the upstream Slackware, what is involved to massage those versions into Salix? I'm asking to gauge how much work I need to provide to create a working Salix beta based on Slackware Current. I want to test KDE4 and LXDE but not the older versions of those desktops.

Because it's not needed

Does Salix use some kind of huge kernel? Historically this never worked for me because I have an HVR-1250 TV capture card that needs to have the drivers loaded as modules rather than built-in. When built-in the system will not boot for about 15 minutes.

[gapan]

I imagine time is the primary reason.

Yes.

Are there any technical reasons why KDE and LXDE versions are not released as betas?

They will be released as betas when time comes, i.e. after 13.2 is officially released.

As Salix is based on the upstream Slackware, what is involved to massage those versions into Salix?

Nothing, except artwork and some default desktop customization. And then there are also the default apps that salix uses, but you're not in any way restricted to those, install whatever you like.

Does Salix use some kind of huge kernel? Historically this never worked for me because I have an HVR-1250 TV capture card that needs to have the drivers loaded as modules rather than built-in. When built-in the system will not boot for about 15 minutes.

Yes, it's the huge kernel. If you want the generic kernel you can replace the huge kernel with it after installation and you'll have to create a suitable initrd yourself.

[thenktor]

Does Salix use some kind of huge kernel? Historically this never worked for me because I have an HVR-1250 TV capture card that needs to have the drivers loaded as modules rather than built-in. When built-in the system will not boot for about 15 minutes.

Yes, it's the huge kernel. If you want the generic kernel you can replace the huge kernel with it after installation and you'll have to create a suitable initrd yourself.

And the huge kernel should not have drivers built in for TV cards. It just contains the drivers to mount the root file system (e.g. file system drivers and disk controller drivers).

[woodsman]

Nothing, except artwork and some default desktop customization. And then there are also the default apps that salix uses, but you're not in any way restricted to those, install whatever you like.

Do you folks have custom scripts to help you with massaging Slackware into Salix? Just curious. I suspect Slackware 13.2 is due Real Soon Now, which means all versions of Salix 13.2 should follow thereafter soon too?

And the huge kernel should not have drivers built in for TV cards. It just contains the drivers to mount the root file system (e.g. file system drivers and disk controller drivers).

I never have discovered what causes the problem. If I remove the card the huge kernel boots fine. When I install a custom kernel the system boots fine. Regardless, sounds as though I'll have to create an initrd or use a custom kernel.

[woodsman]

Just use gslapt to install KDE, LXDE, ... Shouldn't be a problem.

Hmm. So download the 13.2 Xfce beta, then download and install the KDE and LXDE suite of packages?

As I already have a local mirror of Slackware Current, I presume I can point gslapt to my local mirror?

After installing the packages, I presume the GDM login manager shows all desktop options based upon how /etc/X11/xinit is populated? Ditto for a run level 3 login with xwmconfig?

I ran across some info this weekend about LiveClone. Do I understand correctly that LiveClone can be used to create a new installation DVD/CD based upon a running system and not just Live CD sessions?

[thenktor]

As I already have a local mirror of Slackware Current, I presume I can point gslapt to my local mirror?

You can but you won't have dependency information then. I would not recommend to install KDE without them.

[gapan]

Do you folks have custom scripts to help you with massaging Slackware into Salix?

No. Just install slapt-get and use the salix repositories if you want to do that.

I suspect Slackware 13.2 is due Real Soon Now, which means all versions of Salix 13.2 should follow thereafter soon too?

Lets wait until 13.2 is released first. "Soon" may be a relative term.

Hmm. So download the 13.2 Xfce beta, then download and install the KDE and LXDE suite of packages?

Pretty much.

As I already have a local mirror of Slackware Current, I presume I can point gslapt to my local mirror?

Yes. Dependencies might be a bitch. Search the wiki on how to add dependency information on your local repo.

After installing the packages, I presume the GDM login manager shows all desktop options based upon how /etc/X11/xinit is populated?

Yes, but not anything to do with xinit files. Rather .desktop files in /usr/share/xsessions instead. If you install KDE, you'll also have KDM btw.

Ditto for a run level 3 login with xwmconfig?

That's the one that uses xinit files. Yes.

I ran across some info this weekend about LiveClone. Do I understand correctly that LiveClone can be used to create a new installation DVD/CD based upon a running system and not just Live CD sessions?

Planned. Not implemented yet. Works only with live sessions for now.