User Feedback :: my dsl experience



I have installed dsl to hd non frugal with grub on a dx2-66mhz with 48meg ram..on 420 meg linux boot with secondary 130 meg linux personal and 130 meg swap on a second drive..I used a soundblaster card,fm8818 33.6 modem with rockwell chipset and advance logic vid with 24bit. this is a linux box..no dos partions, non boot cd rom and a floppy. boots to X desktop.
with some greater understanding via the forum, The install is easy and the desktop is very nice and customized to my likeing.

I chose the following dsl extensions:
Opera6.1.2 (7 had font issue)
dia (drawing program)
imagemagick (for resizing pics etc)
wmdrawer (nice hidden menu)
wmrack ( for lighter cd playing)
pclock ( like wristwatch )
wm calc ( only alternate to calco)
wm pinboard (only sticky like option)
xscreensaver (nice to have)
eboard, gammon, mahjongg, penta

Opened singularly expect the following wait times in secs on this configuration:
nano=3, xzgv=3 +3-5 change pic, beaver=7,
xpdf=3 +8sec page turn, xpaint=6-10, dillo=8
imagemagick=8, sylpheed=10, dia=16, eboard=12
xmms=20, opera=15+20=35, siag=31, calco=32
calendar=35+.
Dockables open fast and work well except calc and pin are simply to small

eboard is slow and runs alone but allows a match with the computer. I had install issues,, from peer/ play engine..choose generic engine tab and replace gnuchess with crafty and click ok..should play..or goto /var/lib/crafty and copy the book.bin and books.bin to home/dsl/eboard..this also worked. On this config. do any preference changes as a seperate task..during play may cause a freezeup.

I love the dia program, there are few freeware drawing programs for win95. this alone compells me to play on  this machine.

Opera6 opens faster than firefox and offers greater functionality on this machine but has limitations that must be adheared to. Opera7 did not work. choose nano to save text and exit..opera used alone and waiting for pages to load fully, proved to access web mail and allow general search and surf. long sessions and copy with bever in tray caused spontainious freezeups..when signing out of hot mail opera closed completely but when reopened with no page allowed continued surfing..My suggestion would be to limit opera use and choose Dillo..although Dillo can not access forums and webmail it is a very powerful browser for general use.


I had no issues listening to music on the cd dockable and playing games ( except chess) or checking the mail via sylpheed or viewing pics in xzgv..or drawing in dia..however as example: tunes, mail and attempt to view pics could be problematic..memory limitations are likely to blame. I suggest testing these limitations and enjoying what you CAN do.

On older machines wait times are expected..5 to 10 seconds is fairly common..larger programs like opera take longer to open but are often worth the wait. some however are not functional waits. the items below are things I found unacceptable or unavailable for use with dsl on this configuration.

1- The calc options for dsl are calco which opens in 36 secs or the dockable which although it opens instantly is to small for quick fuctionality.although at 640 resolution it is a little more bearable it is the greatest issue for dsl on older machines. No operating system should be without quick access to a calc and notepad.

2- The pdf viewer although it opens and provides access to files instantly, unfortunately turns a page in 8-10 secs..acrobat3 on95 opens slower but turns a page instantly..I hesitate to transfer the 200+ books and manuals to dsl for this reason.

3- internet dict. req. connection. on single line reduces freedom..

4- no alarm clock for wake up and reminders

5= the calendar, like pdf opens instantly however to see a month one waits 34 sec to display in viewer and another 6 to reduce to full view at 800*. and offers print and the current...with no printer dsl cal lacks usefullness

These are my greatest issues with dsl and suggest the following dsl extensions for basic functionality on older machines..all handy adds for newer aswell.

simple fast basic calc I can see.dsl

good offline dictionary.dsl

repeating alarm that has off button.dsl

note calendar.dsl..like the one on the wall..opens to full month..click day and add note. shows current. with the alarm.dsl can act as pim for older machines

I suspect speeding the page change in xpdf is unlikely. so will likely have to accept.

all considered dsl does power a dx2 with 48 meg ram with X. wise program.dsl choices and mutitasking limitations fully tested, it can offer basic functionality even on a yardsale computer.with the calc being the biggest exception.

Thanks so much for DSL..look forward to more .dsl extensions in the future

some handy tips most from the forum: many thanks:

1-Turn on dma in grub - emelfm super - boot/grub/menu1st
click menu1st - view file - see titledsl - see no dma - backspace "no" save file exit reboot

2-read the help file. it is available in cpanel
fix dillo patched - emelfm super - click "H"  shows hidden files
open xinitrc - see dillo add "#" in front (#dillo.....)save. the"#" stops dillo at boot. Goto home/dsl/fluxbox/menu scroll down see (dillo patched) ( blablabla) replace with (dillo)(/usr/local/bin/dillo)save. Goto dillo desktop icon and click properties change command to just command: dillo
this will restore dillo to normal.

3- to turn off desktop stats and workspace boxs goto home/dsl/xinitrc and "#" torsmo and fluxter.save. restartx, remove the # to restore.

4- push alt+ left or right mouse buttons to move and resize windows.
alt+left to move, alt+right to resize

5- split and cat - file split and rejoin for floppy storage. in fm type  split or cat --help for info. click the directory the files are in.
ie: split -b 1380000 /home/dsl/eboard.dsl chess
this should give chessaa, chessab, chessac.
ie: cat chessaa chessab chessac > eboard.dsl
Note: test join before storage. if the file size is not correct try refresh by exiting the directory and reopening..

6- add pppdial icon to desktop - click icon tool from  desktop menu.click add. choose icon from list and type sudo /usr/sbin/pppdial in full path. type name choice in icon label, click ok

7- save files to and access a directory on a second partition from dsl -
command line= chown dsl.staff /mnt/hd<b1>/<directory> where b1 is the drive and partition number and directory is the name of the directory you wish to access from dsl.

9-add jpg wallpapers to home/dsl/fluxbox/backgrounds and change via desktop menu wallpaper

10- convert your favorite icons to .png and add to home/dsl/xtdesktop then choose them via icon properties or icontool if creating a new shortcut.

For those who think it does not matter, something to consider
http://www.ciber-runa.net/guide/BetterUpgrade--ActivistGuide.html
Wow!  Great review!

Brian
AwPhuch
Nice review.  Sounds like you might be better off with good old xcalc

You might be able to get a better calc program by enabling apt and type:

sudo su
apt-get install xcalc

As for the calendar and alarm issues, please give jpilot.dsl a try.  It is intended for Palm Pilot and compatible PDA users, but it also works as a decent standalone desktop computer PIM system.

If you want your appointments to make noise and not just appear as popup windows, you can configure a shell command to do something like "echo" a control-G (computer beep sound), or play an mp3 file, or even play an audio cd.
Like I said calco or wmcalc are the options. you can not apt-get install xcalc
..to install xcalc one has to apt-get install xbase-clients which includes the following:
Unless a command will extract only the xcalc and required files I think not..thanks though for jpilot..a nice addition to a dx2 install..debian searchs show no available english dictionary amoung other freeware I hoped to replace

Package: xbase-clients (4.3.0.dfsg.1-14sarge1) [security]
miscellaneous X clients

An X client is a program that interfaces with an X server (almost always via the X libraries), and thus with some input and output hardware like a graphics card, monitor, keyboard, and pointing device (such as a mouse).

This package provides a miscellaneous assortment of several dozen X clients that ship with the X Window System, including:

- startx and xinit, which initialize X sessions from the command line;
- xauth, a tool for controlling access to the X session;
- xedit, a text editor;
- xbiff, a tool which tells you when you have new email;
- xcalc, a scientific calculator desktop accessory;
- xclipboard, a tool to manage cut-and-pasted text selections;
- xcutsel, which exchanges selection and cut buffer contents;
- xconsole, which monitors system console messages;
- xditview, a viewer for ditroff output;
- xeyes, a demo program in which a pair of eyes track the pointer;
- xfd, a tool that displays all the glyphs in a given X font;
- xfontsel, a tool for browsing and selecting X fonts;
- xhost, a very dangerous program that you should never use;
- xkill, a tool for terminating misbehaving X clients;
- xload, a monitor for the system load average;
- xlogo, a demo program that displays the X logo;
- xmag, which magnifies parts of the X screen;
- xman, a manual page browser;
- xmessage, a tool to display message or dialog boxes;
- xrandr, a command-line interface to the RandR extension;
- xrefresh, a tool that forces a redraw of the X screen;
- xsetroot, a tool for tailoring the appearance of the root window;
- xtrapchar, xtrapin, xtrapinfo, xtrapout, xtrapproto, xtrapreset, and
  xtrapstats, a group of sample clients that use the XTrap extension;
- xvidtune, a tool for customizing X server modelines for your monitor;
- xwd, a utility for taking window dumps ("screenshots") of the X session;
- xwud, a viewer for window dumps created by xwd;
- oclock and xclock, graphical clocks;
- beforelight, a screen saver;
- atobm, a converter from ASCII to X bitmap (.xbm) files;
- bitmap, a monochrome bitmap file editor;
- bmtoa, a tool that converts a monochrome bitmap to ASCII text;
- cxpm and sxpm, tools for checking and viewing X pixmap files;
- dpsexec, a Display PostScript program that allows the user to interact
  directly with the PostScript interpreter through a command interface
- dpsinfo, a utility for displaying information about the DPS extension
  present in an X server or provided by a client-side DPS agent
- glxgears, a GLX demo that draws three rotating gears, and prints
  framerate information to standard output
- iceauth, a tool for manipulating ICE protocol authorization records;
- texteroids, a spinning text demo for the DPS extension
- xset, a tool for setting miscellaneous X server parameters;
- xmodmap, a utility for modifying keymaps and pointer button mappings in X;
- xsetmode and xsetpointer, tools for handling X Input devices;
- setxkbmap, xkbbell, xkbcomp, xkbevd, xkbprint, xkbvleds, and xkbwatch,
  tools for managing the X Keyboard Extension (XKB);
- xsm, a session manager for X sessions;
- smproxy, a session manager proxy for X clients that do not use the X
  session manager protocol;
- xgamma, a tool for querying and setting a monitor's gamma correction;
- appres, editres, listres, viewres, and xrdb, which query and update the
  X resource database;
- Xmark, x11perf, and x11perfcomp, tools for benchmarking graphical
  operations under the X Window System;
- fstobdf, which retrieves a font in BDF format from an X font server;
- xcmsdb, a device color characteristic utility for the X Color Management
  System;
- xstdcmap, a utility to selectively define standard colormap properties;
- xev, an X event displayer;
- xfindproxy, a tool to locate X proxy services;
- xlsatoms, which lists interned atoms defined on an X server;
- xlsclients, which lists client applications running on an X display;
- xlsfonts, a server font list displayer;
- xprop, a property displayer for X;
- xdpyinfo, a display information utility for X;
- xwininfo, a window information utility for X;
- glxinfo, a GLX extension information utility for X;
- xvinfo, an Xv extension information utility for X;
- ico, an X graphics demo using an animated polyhedron;
- dga, a demo program for the DGA extension; and
- xgc, an (unfinished) X graphics demo program.

xbase-clients also -- except on the s390 architecture -- contains the XFree86 X server configuration programs xf86cfg and xf86config, but in general the Debconf interface to the xserver-xfree86 package should be used instead of these tools.

The bitmap, editres, viewres, xbiff, xcalc, xconsole, xditview, xedit, xf86cfg, xman, xsetroot, and xsm programs use bitmap images provided by the xlibs-data package. xkbcomp uses the XKEYBOARD (XKB) extension configuration data provided by the xlibs package.

xrdb requires the C preprocessor (cpp) to process X resource files. The GNU C preprocessor's "-traditional" support misbehaves in early releases of the GCC 3.3 series; therefore, this package conflicts with those versions.

(Strictly speaking, atobm does not depend on any X libraries, but it shares a manual page with bitmap and bmtoa, and so is grouped with them in this package.)
Other Packages Related to xbase-clients
= depends = recommends = suggests
cpp
The GNU C preprocessor (cpp)
libc6 (>= 2.3.2.ds1-21) [not alpha, ia64]
GNU C Library: Shared libraries and Timezone data
libc6.1 (>= 2.3.2.ds1-21) [alpha, ia64]
GNU C Library: Shared libraries and Timezone data
libdps1 (>> 4.1.0)
Display PostScript (DPS) client library
libexpat1 (>= 1.95.8)
XML parsing C library - runtime library
libfontconfig1 (>= 2.3.0)
generic font configuration library (shared library)
libfreetype6 (>= 2.1.5-1)
FreeType 2 font engine, shared library files
libgcc1 (>= 1:3.3.4-1) [hppa, m68k]
GCC support library
libgcc1 (>= 1:3.4.1-3) [not hppa, ia64, m68k]
libgcc1 (>= 1:3.4.3-6) [ia64]
libice6
Inter-Client Exchange library
or xlibs (>> 4.1.0)
X Keyboard Extension (XKB) configuration data and metapackage
libncurses5 (>= 5.4-1) [not s390]
Shared libraries for terminal handling
libpng12-0 (>= 1.2.8rel)
PNG library - runtime
libsm6
X Window System Session Management library
or xlibs (>> 4.1.0)
X Keyboard Extension (XKB) configuration data and metapackage
libstdc++5 (>= 1:3.3.4-1)
The GNU Standard C++ Library v3
libxaw7 (>> 4.1.0)
X Athena widget set library
libxcursor1 (>> 1.1.2)
X cursor management library
libxext6
X Window System miscellaneous extension library
or xlibs (>> 4.1.0)
X Keyboard Extension (XKB) configuration data and metapackage
libxft2 (>> 2.1.1)
FreeType-based font drawing library for X
libxi6
X Window System Input extension library
or xlibs (>> 4.1.0)
X Keyboard Extension (XKB) configuration data and metapackage
libxmu6
X Window System miscellaneous utility library
or xlibs (>> 4.1.0)
X Keyboard Extension (XKB) configuration data and metapackage
libxmuu1
lightweight X Window System miscellaneous utility library
or xlibs (>> 4.1.0)
X Keyboard Extension (XKB) configuration data and metapackage
libxpm4
X pixmap library
or xlibs (>> 4.1.0)
X Keyboard Extension (XKB) configuration data and metapackage
libxrandr2
X Window System Resize, Rotate and Reflection extension library
or xlibs (>> 4.3.0)
X Keyboard Extension (XKB) configuration data and metapackage
libxrender1
X Rendering Extension client library
libxt6
X Toolkit Intrinsics
or xlibs (>> 4.1.0)
X Keyboard Extension (XKB) configuration data and metapackage
libxtrap6
X Window System protocol-trapping extension library
or xlibs (>> 4.2.0)
X Keyboard Extension (XKB) configuration data and metapackage
libxtst6
X Window System event recording and testing extension library
or xlibs (>> 4.1.0)
X Keyboard Extension (XKB) configuration data and metapackage
libxv1
X Window System video extension library
xfree86-common
X Window System (XFree86) infrastructure
xlibmesa-gl
Mesa 3D graphics library [XFree86]
or libgl1
Virtual package
xlibmesa-glu
Mesa OpenGL utility library [XFree86]
or libglu1
Virtual package
xlibs
X Keyboard Extension (XKB) configuration data and metapackage
xlibs-data
X Window System client data
zlib1g (>= 1:1.2.1)
compression library - runtim
Hmm...

Maybe someone who has an old DSL cd nearby can boot it up and copy the xcalc file or better yet make an xcalc.dsl , xcalc.tar.gz or better yet xcalc.uci
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