Posts: 58
Urban
Joined: 26 Feb 2008
#1
I see a few posts about some of these topics already, but I feel these things need to be reiterated.

This is by far my favorite distro so far. For some reason I just click with it. I cannot entirely explain why. However, stock antiX is not very friendly to laptop users.

I just converted from Protech ONE (an ubuntu feisty fluxbox security based distro). The developers of antiX may want to take a look at Protech, which while not being as good as antiX has a few things that could be implemented in antiX.

Just a few comments, but I am just another peon programmer in training.
  • + wicd or some other wireless manager needs to be installed by default. Protech uses wicd (I know this is not Protech and I am glad it is not).

    + dhclient pounding eth0 on my laptop every boot was very annoying until I found this forum with a solution.

    ========= SCRAPER REMOVED AN EMBEDDED LINK HERE ===========
    url was:"antix.freeforu ms.org/dhcpclient-hangs-on-boot-t303.html"
    linktext was:"antix.freeforu ms.org/dhcpclient- ... -t303.html"
    ====================================


    + conkyrc needs to have a line that can just be uncommented to add the battery monitor or even better some way to see there is a battery during install and add the line for you (Protech has a script in ~/.scripts for the battery monitor which uses acpi even though it could just be added to .conkyrc).

    ========= SCRAPER REMOVED AN EMBEDDED LINK HERE ===========
    url was:"antix.freeforu ms.org/battery-monitor-t144.html"
    linktext was:"antix.freeforu ms.org/battery-monitor-t144.html"
    ====================================


    + Protech seems to update the program list after every package install (also using fluxbox), but antiX requires that you add things yourself to the config file (maybe there is a way to do this automatically that I have not found).
    fluxbuntu also does not always update the menu, but the user can run update-menus and have most of the new programs added to the menu. This does not seem to have an effect in antiX.

    + Unnecessary entries in fstab that fail during boot. These probably have a purpose I am not aware of.
    none /proc proc ...
    none /proc/bus/usb ...
    none /dev/pts ...
    none /sys ...
Overall, something about antiX just makes me feel at home.

By the way, is this
========= SCRAPER REMOVED AN EMBEDDED LINK HERE ===========
url was:"http://antix.mepis.org/"
linktext was:"http://antix.mepis.org/"
====================================
the only website? There should also probably be a wikipedia entry for antiX. I actually found simplymepis through wikipedia then found antiX through mepis.org.

If antiX keeps up its progress I may have two mirrors to add to your download list. One being mine the other I would be lobbying my LUG to host through our college (should not be hard considering the iso size of antiX).
anticapitalista
Posts: 5,955
Site Admin
Joined: 11 Sep 2007
#2
Firstly welcome to antiX, Urban.

I'll take another look at Protech ONE when I get the chance.

1. wicd will almost certainly be installed by default in the next antiX.

2. dhclient 'problem' has been fixed for next release.

3. About the conkyrc script- good idea!

4. The problem with having an automatic update of the fluxbox menu in Debian is that it will use the Debian fluxbox menu configuration, which IMO is pretty unintuitive. Using update-menu does work in antiX, but you would have to edit the /.fluxbox/init file.

5. Auto-removing those entries is being worked on. There is a manual way to do this. See this thread.


========= SCRAPER REMOVED AN EMBEDDED LINK HERE ===========
url was:"http://www.mepislovers.org/forums/showthread.php?t=9581&highlight=boot+errors"
linktext was:"http://www.mepislovers.org/forums/showt ... oot+errors"
====================================


6. The main website is here:

========= SCRAPER REMOVED AN EMBEDDED LINK HERE ===========
url was:"http://antix.mepis.com"
linktext was:"http://antix.mepis.com"
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7. Thanks for the offers of the mirrors. antiX is well and truly alive and in development. Keep your ideas coming.

enjoy antiX.
Posts: 58
Urban
Joined: 26 Feb 2008
#3
Thank you for such a fast response and the information.

It's good to know people are active in the development of antiX. I can see this project will not end up like Protech (essentially dead after one release).

There does not seem to be an irc channel. If it gets set up you can count on me to be there.
Only relevant topic I found was here:
========= SCRAPER REMOVED AN EMBEDDED LINK HERE ===========
url was:"antix.freeforu ms.org/antix-irc-t192.html"
linktext was:"antix.freeforu ms.org/antix-irc-t192.html"
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anticapitalista
Posts: 5,955
Site Admin
Joined: 11 Sep 2007
#4
At the moment the irc channel doesn't exist. If anyone wants to help set one up, be my guest. At the moment I have quite a lot of work on.

About the fluxbox menu. This is from the antiX site:


========= SCRAPER REMOVED AN EMBEDDED LINK HERE ===========
url was:"http://antix.mepis.com/index.php/Fluxbox_Tips_and_Tricks_Update_Fluxbox_Menu"
linktext was:"http://antix.mepis.com/index.php/Fluxbo ... uxbox_Menu"
====================================


Not very elegant, but it does the job.
Posts: 58
Urban
Joined: 26 Feb 2008
#5
So that configuration utility wipes out the customized parts. Good to know. I will just back up the original then run the tool and merge the differences.

I sent in a request for #antix on freenode.net we will see how that pans out. Considering the lack of information I gave them. They may not approve it.
Posts: 1,081
OU812
Joined: 29 Sep 2007
#6
as an alternative, you could install menumaker from source. Then do

mmaker fluxbox

in a terminal. Then issue the command every time you add an app to your system. menumaker creates a fairly organized menu. Here's one with some minor modifications:



johnImage
Posts: 47
n2j3
Joined: 19 Nov 2007
#7
Urban wrote: I sent in a request for #antix on freenode.net we will see how that pans out. Considering the lack of information I gave them. They may not approve it.
Registered #antix @ zoite.net

servers:

funky.zoite.net / sexy.zoite.net / affinity.zoite.net and laeta.zoite.net

SSL connections available on every server.
Posts: 58
Urban
Joined: 26 Feb 2008
#8
@OU812 I will look into mmaker as a solution for myself.

@n2j3 I've never heard of zoite.net until today. freenode seems to be the first choice people make, but whatever works. I will find my way into that channel after I add yet another irc server login.

freenode ##linux: 748 people
zoite #linux: 12 people

EDIT: I had long talk with the netadmin for zoite. He seems like a nice enough person. He assures me the servers are stable and there are few netsplits. The community of zoite seems to be fairly close knit. Most of the people in #antix seem to be ircops for now, but I am willing to see how well this goes. Server I am using is chat.zoite.net. As far as I understand that is the equivalent to having irc at the beginning of irc.freenode.net.
Posts: 1,081
OU812
Joined: 29 Sep 2007
#9
For the battery monitor, you may want to install gnome-power-manager from the repo.

john
Posts: 1,081
OU812
Joined: 29 Sep 2007
#10
Just for fun I followed anti's link to the wiki. I used the instructions to create a menu. Anti is right: The menu is horribly laid out. Menumaker does a much better job. There a couple of downsides though - there may be a small number off apps that you may consider to be placed in the wrong category, but that's easily fixed. The other problem is that menumaker adds a bit too many apps. So with a customized menu like anti's I'm not sure it's such a great idea unless you have issues with anti's layout.

john
Posts: 58
Urban
Joined: 26 Feb 2008
#11
While in irc I was talking to anti and a few others when I think I may have found a solution. I am not ready to reveal the information yet because I have not had time to figure everything out. I will post back here when I get a chance.

You are right though the menu that is created by default is not very pretty.