SAM Linux Desktop - Community Forums

Mon, 9/8/08 12:12PM

I finally burned and booted the SAM Linux LiveCD iso I downloaded last week. WHEW! What a delightful change! I've already appreciated and enjoyed PCLinuxOS 2007 for several weeks. I find SAM menus are organized, clean and clear; less rifling through a disarray of submenus in search of a text editor (before noticing 'Recently Used' apps). Configuration options seem consistent, better organized and intuitive.

Wbar is the neatest thing I've seen in a -long- time! For years I've used a clumsy array of folders and shortcuts to create a menued taskbar-toolbar in Win-blows, trying to achieve a crude version of what Wbar does. Whoever came up with this 'zooming-icon application-access toolbar' - Thank YOU so much! It's my favorite feature of SAM (so far...), with the Xfce interface configuration a -close- second!

Much applause, but onto my issue... Dazzled by all the eye-candy, I forgot I had booted the LiveCD and began tweaking interface settings to my liking. Now I want to perform the install, but don't want to lose what I've tweaked from the LiveCD.

I Googled for help, and used the 'find' command to pipe a list of all 'conf' files from last 72 hours [find / -atime -72 -iname '*.conf' > Lxcfg], then manually edited-out files pertaining to my existing Win-blows and PCLinuxOS installations, saving as a new file [Lxcfg2].

I'm sure there's a way to use this file with a commandline command, such as 'for %v in [filename] do <cp?> %v [to] /union/media/{thumbdrive}/folder (and verify?)'. I don't know the best command(s) to achieve my objective in SAM; I'm not even certain the *.conf files will contain -all- the settings I wish to preserve. I am hoping the text file (below) will allow me to restore these files into an installed SAM and have my settings 'just work' (after a restart).

Many thanks in advance to anyone who could advise me on this.

--tb01

{-- file list text generated by find command [Lxcfg2] --}
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
/changes/home/guest/.pyNeighborhood/options.conf
/changes/etc/modprobe.conf
/changes/etc/ntp.conf
/changes/etc/resolv.conf
/changes/etc/X11/xorg.conf
/changes/etc/X11/imwheel/startup.conf
/union/home/guest/.pyNeighborhood/options.conf
/union/etc/modprobe.conf
/union/etc/ntp.conf
/union/etc/resolv.conf
/union/etc/X11/xorg.conf
/union/etc/X11/imwheel/startup.conf
/initrd/etc/udev/udev.conf
/initrd/etc/modprobe.conf

.

that's are very interest, thank you for this output here!!!

I think, that this should incoming into our development on the next version.

THX

Please correct me, but does the live-CD not keep the performed settings? I think yes, because the 3D graphics is pertained as well as the network settings. So probably no prob at all.

Greetz
Yogibaer

Call me paranoid, but after 27yrs of watching M$ blow up, I -really- need to backup my current config before performing the HD install.

I'm glad my question is interesting (who wants to be boring?), and I'm glad this situation may be addressed in future releases, but I need to address my current situation -now-. With many other things I must do today, I'm stuck waiting for a clear answer before I can restart that Redmond crapware (M$) and get on with life.

Could someone please just tell me how to do what I am trying to do, instead of telling me 'it might be okay by itself?'

If you don't know how to do this, or don't understand what I'm asking, please say so. I'll be happy to discuss where and how a read-only LiveCD attempts to save modified config files another day.

I don't mean to appear to be another 'pushy American'. I'm sorry to press on this, but I do have a deadline in two hours (involving 30 mins work) which requires I restart -this- computer. And as I've said, 27 YEARS of corrupted, exploding and cannibalized file systems have made me this way. (grin) Please, just humor me and tell me how to do this...

Thanks again, in advance.
--tb01

ok, to be fast I don't know how to find all the config-files. And as I mentioned, I think this is managed by the system. But if you want to be sure and get that done within the next two hours, I am not the right person to help you, now. Sorry for that.
And, we are 5 people here who take care on SAM, so we are also not always around. I don't believe that you will get the right answer in time.
But take a look in the /home-folder. Make the hidden files visible and you see also several config-files for the desktop and so on.

Thank you Yogibaer, for giving me a straight answer. I'll take my chances with hacking together a command on my own. I thought it might be simple get -at least- a SAM-specific commandline to perform the actual copy, now that I've located some of the files - apparently not. Seems this learning curve will be steeper and sharper than I anticipated... but I've always been willing to learn on my own.

I admit I should not have started configuring from the LiveCD - but I truly was ecstatic when I saw SAM booted, and literally forgot I was running from a CD!

I certainly appreciate getting a reply at all, and I'm -incredibly- impressed that only five people have designed and constructed the wonderful and charming experience I find in SAM Linux. I hope to contribute as much as my time constraints and occasional frustration with learning Lx will allow. (grin) I've wanted to make this transition for over a decade, and I'm certainly glad to be doing that now. I look forward to enjoying a long and productive experience with Lx.

Thank you again for your assistance.
--tb01

11:18:55 PM Monday, September 08, 2008

Another interesting find! - 'SAM| System| Notepad' invokes an emulated Windows 'Notepad' applet! How cool! I had been missing that F5 key in Mousepad...

..... >>- any chance of getting F5 (date/time stamp in Notepad) added to Mousepad? -<<

This afternoon, I got the '.conf' files and what appeared to be crash files/core dumps copied from the LiveCD filesystem (ramdisk?) to my thumb drive, with much sweating of brow and gnashing of teeth. (grin) In the process I got to use chown and cp, as well as write a (rather inelegant) bash script - the ninth of which actually worked, sort of.

With that done, I booted XP () & completed my tasks (just in time! - ), then came back to install SAM - which refuses to boot from hard drive... () The LiveCD comes up great every time, and I can see the Lx filesystem on the system partition (hda8) and on the /home (or is it /usr?) partition (hda10). It seems SAM blew out my previous GRUB menu for dual-booting PCLinuxOS 2007 and 'that Redmond crap'... (changed pointer in MBR?). Gosh, it seems I do a TREMENDOUS amount of guessing here in Lx-land! (grin)

So for now, I must put -this- thread on hold, until coaxing SAM to behave, after which I can return here and proceed as intended. I will (hopefully, remember to) come back to -this- thread to provide results and updates, after SAM boots and I can check results and generate an update.

{...I fear I'm developing an emoticon addiction!} (grin)

--tb01

Hi Tb01,

Now that I've read your thread posts here I think I have a better idea of what you were getting at when you emailed. Like I said, slim pickings here, but to the best of my knowledge, the most recently installed 'nix OS always wants to take over GRUB. So if you went MS, PCLOS, then SAM - it will be the SAM boot.lst you see when you start your computer. You said SAM kernel panics when you boot? Do your other OS's still boot ok?

Re your config stuff being saved - I've done it. It stays after the install. No worries, really. But in your tweaking in the LiveCD, is it possible something got borked and is keeping it from booting now(no offense, welve all done something like that before )? Also, really, an install only takes a half hour or so, even on my old celeron, wonky-burned-out RAM desktop. Not the end of the world, and I guess chalked up to experience.

My two cents.

-Eric

Hey Eric!

Fancy bumping into you here!

Yeah, I definitely recognized the green GRUB of SAM, vs the blue of PCLOS. Before I even installed SAM, I expected SAM would snatch control of GRUB from PCLOS - it just made sense to assume that ahead of time. Still, GRUB is so VERY easy to edit, I never gave it a second thought. I really like GRUB a lot.

XP boots fine, though I haven't tried to boot back into PCLOS yet - just now (9:50AM) getting back to SAM install issue. Figured I'd make a new post on the install problems before starting the hack-back on my VoIP service. How do I wind up with so many dang projects at one time? All the time? Maybe I just don't move as fast as I did in my younger years... (grin)

As far as saving my settings, maybe I could have said that more clearly. My issue was not with any settings AFTER a HD install, but rather (stupid me...) I'd spent a good deal of time configuring and tweaking the UI settings (color scheme, window style, coordinating with Firefox, etc) while booted from the LiveCD! (dumb, dumb, dumb!)

I ~really~ need to get sleep on occasion; maybe that could help circumvent such bone-head maneuvers!

I surely expect a HD install to retain settings (aside from PCLOS/dsl {and other Lx distros} networking issues...), but from a read-only LiveCD, where could those settings possibly be saved to? -Before- the HD install, there's no automatic process to backup anything (to my knowledge and understanding). The LiveCD refused login as root (as it should), and I couldn't find the right combination of magic dust and chicken blood to waive in the air to convince SAM to let me su - repeatedly refused to accept 'root' as the root password! (bug?) My only option seemed a manual copy to thumbdrive, as HD access was clearly not going to be allowed. I tried... I really tried!

My tweaking in the LiveCD was NOT any kind of alteration of the iso image or any direct manipulation of system/ config files. I downloaded the ISO, verified the MD5, and (a week later) burned the image file to CD. Should not have been -any- chance for corruption since I avoided booting Windows on that system for the entire week. (grin) We all understand and agree that Windows is the *true* source of -all- evil in the world, don't we? (big grin, lol)

I was trying to save the UI settings I had configured, using only the system applets loaded by the LiveCD (so distracted by how wonderful SAM is, I didn't realize I was on LiveCD!). Those settings had not yet seen a HD install, and were stored only in RAM/ ramdisk, and would -surely- disappear forever on reboot. Amazingly, everything (that I've seen) in SAM works flawlessly from the LiveCD!!! Truly an amazing work of art, science and engineering - not to mention attention to detail! Don't know when I'll be able to stop applauding this effort in this distro!

I was never concerned about time in reinstalling SAM - twelve minutes (including custom partitioning -and- formatting!) literally -flies- by, compared to the hour of waiting on M$, only to be terrorized by that annoying and inane 'Clippy', while entering that stupid Product ID key (which does NOT prevent pirating), dealing with 'Product Activation' (try -THAT- without a phone line, and you'll get eaten alive in -seconds- w/o antivirus & firewall to protect you from M$' -blatant- security holes) and then 'Registration' - all while being 'serenaded' (further annoyance...) with that musical theme song at FULL volume -and NO FRIGGIN' WAY TO SHUT IT OFF- short of ripping out the speaker plug from the sound card jack! How absolutely RUDE! I just don't care to have my computer hijacked - even by M$. And we !!!PAY!!! for this? Oi!

Then, after all that to -just- arrive at the desktop, I wind up with huge piles of useless garbage (also with LAME security) to weed out (MSN, MS Netmeeting, Windows Messenger, Outlook Express, Windows Firewall, Automatic Updates, etc), needed applets to install (QoS, .NET, Fax, NTBackup, etc) and still others to remove (Add/Remove Pgms - Add'l Win Components - I just don't remember them; I've done it so much I can do it in my sleep), then CCleaner, CleanUp! <restart>, RegScrubXP, NTRegopt <restart>, CCleaner and CleanUp! again <restart> - then Bootvis <two or three restarts>, another CCleaner, CleanUp! <restart>, RegScrubXP, NTRegopt <restart> before JKDefrag - THEN I can *finally* set a SysRestore point and create a 'base image' before fixing page file, Start Menu, Disk Management, Network Adapters, my GOD the list goes ON and ON and ON!!!

And by then, I still don't have -MY- everyday software installed - not one byte of it!

My point is simple: one single crash in 'Win-blows' (it really does) can cost me an entire week of sustained effort, not to mention the resulting corruption and loss of data and any work in progress.

Conversely, I boot a Lx LiveCD, run the install in TWELVE MINUTES - and it's ready to use! Secure and Lovely! Sure, the Synaptic update can take a while, but it's not like hanging your naked ass out the window of a car traveling through a crowd of punks with baseball bats - you know, like with M$. And Lx install/Synaptic update doesn't require the babysitting Windows does. It can run it's lil' brains out while I do laundry, change the cat box, build an antenna, change my oil - you know what I mean.

M$ is such a load of baloney! And for what? Oh - you've all heard me rant about M$ long enough already... I'll stop that. (grin) For now... I hate to admit I'm probably more angry and bitter than I sound...

I should probably be doing commercials for Lx! I kind of do already; just not filmed and broadcast on TV and radio!!! (lol)

Anyhow, (back to Earth for a moment...) I was just trying to grab my settings from RAM/ramdisk, so I could restore them into the HD install, after I was able to reboot and perform the HD install, without having to remember what I had tweaked (still just UI settings, using only the SAM-provided apps in Xfce...) and try to recreate what I was really happy with. I still don't know if I got everything saved which I needed to - currently stuck at the HD install - so, I'm off to make that post. Hopefully it will all be settled in and looking great (and custom) over the next few days.

This was ALL my own HUGE mistake. I'd never -knowingly- start tweaking from a LiveCD - it all goes away on restart! It was a dumb thing I did, probably due to sleep deprivation and sheer bedazzlement and joy at seeing SAM erupt into such wonderful loveliness on my screen! I'll try to remain more grounded for future SAM releases. (lol) And, I'll try to force myself into sleep mode more frequently so I am better-able to communicate clearly. (grin/wink)

Thank you, everyone, so very much, for taking the time to look at this for me. I'm still absolutely -bowled-over- that *five* people put SAM together, and maintain it! When I first booted the LiveCD for SAM '08, I expected at minimum, a full-time team of twenty or more! Awesome consistency, eye-candy, features, stability, intuitive navigation, and more! And then there's that Wbar! KILLER app for me, and still my favorite feature!

Eric, I promise I'll get to your second email asap... Probably shouldn't be doing conversations through the forum though. (grin) Okay - off to the install post! Then onto the phone hacking...
--tb01

2:19 PM 9/15/2008

I did what I did (using 'find' command), and got whatever I got. Do not yet know if I copied 'enough'.

Still working out problems to be able to install, and will update when I can. Have not forgotten!

--tb01