Ubuntu Openbox Remix RC1_2

[melodie]

Hi,

Here is a new Ubuntu Openbox, this time done with Ubuntu Builder, which is a gui frontend written in... Gambas. http://code.google.com/p/ubuntu-builder

* Compared to the one before, now the Ubiquity installer has a normal background;

* The boot in live still ends on the login screen : put in "obubuntu" for username, then click in the password field, don't enter anything for a password and hit enter;

* Now the exit uses obsession from mimas;

The version is fully up to date, and a few more bloats were added, in hope some of the packages would help get it straight. And in fact some do:
*There is now a long list of languages shown at the start of the "try without installing";

* zram is started in the Live and in the post install and create one block device per processor, of 25% of the total amount RAM available in the machine. To do this, I configured some files under /usr/share/initramfs and also in /etc/initramfs, if I remember well (the files have "compcache" for a name), and I added a start command in /etc/rc.local (before the line "exit 0").(I grepped the place savagely to locate the files I was seeking for!)

So first, after boot, when you see a blue and black background with 2 little icons: press a key, anyone. Then choose your language and options if any. Then once at the login screen, well, login. Then it is possible with the Gnome language selector from the preferences menu, to switch from English to French and vice versa, just by doing a drag and drop of the sayd languages.

And for the keyboard, I added an entry to the menus with a command line which starts dpkg-reconfigure to setup the keyboard : because I had found lxkeyboard not working for me. (And I prefer something easy to use, but which works).

Here is the largest iso containing almost nothing, that has been produced since LinuxVillage started. 558M
http://tyruiop.eu/~melodie/Downloads/ISOS/Ubuntu/obubuntu-12.04-i386-RC1_2.iso
http://tyruiop.eu/~melodie/Downloads/ISOS/Ubuntu/obubuntu-12.04-i386-RC1_2.md5sum

There is one even larger now : RC2 567 Mo
http://tyruiop.eu/~melodie/Downloads/ISOS/Ubuntu/obubuntu-12.04-i386-RC2.iso
http://tyruiop.eu/~melodie/Downloads/ISOS/Ubuntu/obubuntu-12.04-i386-RC2.md5sum

The next target will be about finding why the boot does not end on the desktop. For this, there is the /var/log/lightdm/lightdm.log which can help, and perhaps comparing the scripts in /usr/share/xessions with the ones from other Ubuntu boxes. I think I will go take a look at Madbox again next.

Other Todo:
* find out how to create the "isolinux/init" file, which contains (it seems) the image for the live plymouth image;
* find out what can be safely removed without breaking anything of interest, to lower down the size;

* insert a script in the menus to start/stop zram-config at will after install time;

* work on the obubuntu slideshow, with the texts, and with the pics;

* make a few screenshots...


The actual looks a lot like the one before:


Not sure I have reinstalled all the same packages, as presented here, if not it will be done in a next version when the little issues will have found their solutions.

[konaexpress]

Downloading it now to test.

[melodie]

Hi,
In the meanwhile I have used the model of lightdm.conf setup from MadBox, and now the boot ends on the desktop! But I have found a new problem to use my teeth on : Synaptic does not let me display the menu to modify the sources. While testing, could you check this in the one version I uploaded ?

Thank you very much.

[konaexpress]

So far it looks kinda good, taking forever to install though. First thing I am going to do is delete Midnight Commander!!!!!!!!!!!

[melodie]

So far it looks kinda good, taking forever to install though. First thing I am going to do is delete Midnight Commander!!!!!!!!!!!

Then what will you use when you will need to edit files from the system as root ? I don't know a program better than mcedit (F4 in mc) for that, so easy to use and so easy to read!

And with mc you can also connect to remote machines with several protocols (fish and ftp at least).

[konaexpress]

I can use PCmanFM for root, works great.

This is taking way too long to install, it is like a net install......

What are you using for the logout manager? That is not the stock OpenBox way of logging out I don't think.....I like it.

[melodie]

Do you test in a real machine or in a virtual machine ? I am being testing the same version in Vbox just now and the menu "Configuration > Repositories" in Synaptic does not work, until I remove "software-properties-gtk" and it's depend. Then I get a classic presentation for it again.

What about you ?

[konaexpress]

Having problems getting it installed, killed it after a hour and not installed yet. I will try again later.

[melodie]

Is it a real machine or a virtual one ? Do you have the network working ?

[konaexpress]

It's in a VB as I run Linux on a Mac. Yes I have a Internet hooked up.

It is as if it is trying to update and do the install at the same time, this is a bad idea. It is faster to install and then do any updates.

[djohnston]

It is as if it is trying to update and do the install at the same time, this is a bad idea. It is faster to install and then do any updates.

Every *buntu I've tried with that option seems to end badly. I do the straight install, then do updates from the installation, just as you suggested.

[djohnston]

Synaptic does not let me display the menu to modify the sources.

I found in Debian, by trial and error, one of the software-properties packages is the one to install. Here's the description for the software-properties-gtk package:

This software provides an abstraction of the used apt repositories. It allows you to easily manage your distribution and independent software vendor software sources.

Probably similar in Ubuntu. However, I did find in Debian, after installing the correct package, I could not select the sources from the first tab unless I changed "testing" apt sources to "wheezy".

[melodie]

I have solved the problems, the one for the login, the one for the software-stuff-gtk too. I will test 2 new isos in vbox and send the best one if no other problem comes out from the last or the former one.

Konaexpress : recently I noticed the internet connexion said it was working but it was not, in virtualbox. finally I reverted from "bridge mode" in the vbox configuration, to "nat" then it worked correctly. A little earlier I did the install for this RC1_2 in vbox (in archlinux, on PC) and I had no problem at all, all worked well, and ended fine.

You don't need to tick "install the updates" in the installer: the isos are fully up to date.

[konaexpress]

I must not have seen that, is the update flagged by default?
Look forward to the new iso, let me know and I will download it.

[melodie]

Ok,

to get software-properties-gtk to not crash, this is necessary:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/software-properties/+bug/624927/comments/5

You have to recreate the file /etc/lsb-release
This file should pre-exist by default for some packages and commands.

For ubuntu precise 12.04:

gksu gedit /etc/lsb-release

and enter this text:

DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
DISTRIB_RELEASE=12.04
DISTRIB_CODENAME=precise
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 12.04 LTS"

Save and exit.

This is changed when changing the name of the distro in the Ubuntu builder setup. I'll try to digg there later, going through the casper configuration files where it is supposed to be changed.

So for now I'll follow the easy way to get it to work, even if the user name in the live will be just "ubuntu".

In order to get directly to the desktop from the "try without installing" boot option, the problem lies in the /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf file.

In MadBox, the file is different, and has "openbox" as "user-session", and there, the autologin works. I have followed his example.

I hope to be able to send a new one soon.