User Feedback :: Newbie to DSL



Hey there,
Finally got DSL installed on my usb drive. Seems to work fine, though its slow to boot.
I'm not new to linux, been using Fedora from core 4 to 7, though thats running KDE, so fluxbox is like a whole new world. However, i am mainly a windows user, due to software and game reasons.

No click and drag file selection, single click opens, right click is the menu, emelfm would be nicer as icons too rather than a list, or the option. Any way i can make it a more 'normal' (ala gnome/kde)? I'm guessing someones going to tell me to change distro/window manager.

Teal isn't my colour, so i've switched to another style, though it makes the desktops in the corner shoot up by about 150px and renders it unusable to click.
Can someone recommend a good theme also?

I used the HP format method with dsl embedded, is there any way to speed up booting?

Also, where do i install things to? I'm not sure what folders stay on the usb drive and the like. I'd like to be able to install apps and make changes, and have them stay on the drive and everything be there when i next boot.
Any way i can have it still load on ram and be able to keep settings on my usb drive?

It seems to load off iso's or something on the drive, not sure. For some reason my usb drive is /cdrom, though i suppose that goes from the cd version.

Well with those introductory questions, i've got a few other ones.
Can mplayer on dsl play xvid and other various file formats of video? Codecs etc?
How would i easily go about configuring a proxy server? Just configure it in Firefox? The wiki mentions editing a file, which is a little odd in my mind.
Can i remove some apps easily that i'm never going to use, eg dillo, and some others?

And last but not least, any tips for a new user?

Thanks in advance
"more normal" there is no such thing. You want it to behave just like Window$. Admit it.

You can make icons open with doubleclick, and jwm looks like Win95 (a start button opens menu..). DSL 4 alpha has drag-and-drop. But none of them is windows. None of them wants to be!

Mplayer plays most formats available. Much more than Windows Media Player btw.. Xvid is of course in.

About editing files, that's linux. There are some tools that edit the files for you, but not for all files..

You would have to do a remaster to remove apps, which might be a little too hard for a newbie..

Tip: use it. you will get used to it if you use it, heh
Tip 2: the wiki has lots of info, incl. how to install apps and make settings stay
There's also rox filer available in mydsl, though I have heard it doesn't integrate nicely with xtdesk (you'll have to use alternatives).  There's also the e17 desktop environment/suite that contains an iconic file browser.  But fvwm with the windows theme or jwm (that was already suggested) might give you a more explorer-like feel.  You could always download styles to your liking.

You're right about the 2 "big" DE's - gnome/kde not being used in DSL.  There's a reason why this distro is called what it's called.

Not to mention that you're complaining about your usb speed already :)
Check if your system's using usb 2.0, and there's cheatcodes (see wiki) that you could use.  Other tweaking methods might be too advanced.

To save your settings, read the first page that pops up under dillo.  You already want to remove dillo, but that page is particularly helpful.

Yes, /cdrom is just a name.  During boot it uses what you can call a compressed iso, but it's not the cd iso.

WMP from my experience can play just as much as any other player, though I prefer mplayer (even in windows).  Xine is also another popular package.

Quote
How would i easily go about configuring a proxy server? Just configure it in Firefox? The wiki mentions editing a file, which is a little odd in my mind.
I find it odd you'd think that using firefox would make system-wide changes.  It's fine if you just want the proxy settings in firefox though.  (I'm assuming you mean connecting to a server)
Quote
There's also rox filer available in mydsl, though I have heard it doesn't integrate nicely with xtdesk (you'll have to use alternatives).

It REPLACES xtdesk; it doesn't play well with fluxbox (use jwm or another window manager). Use rox --p=Default and you get an icon-based desktop starting with home; open it, browse up through the file system, pull out icons from filer to the pinboard (desktop) and then you have drag and drop and/or click to launch.

Go look at the screenshots I posted. All except the DSL 4 are rox on the desktop (pinboard) and panel.

http://lucky13linux.wordpress.com/dsl-related-pages/
Quote (curaga @ Aug. 03 2007,09:20)
"more normal" there is no such thing. You want it to behave just like Window$. Admit it.

No. I don't want it to look like windows. Why on earth would i want to do that? win95 look? No way. If i wanted it to look like windows, i would have asked. I mentioned KDE and i asked if anyone could recommend a nice color scheme.
I just wanted to know if there was any way to make it a little more like the more popular GUI's/window managers available. KDE imo looks quite different from windows, especially after using it for a while and gnome looks very different. I like both of them, as both are very easy to use.

Normal in my mind means to be more like other things, in this case KDE/Gnome. Then again anyone here is probably used to fluxbox and considers that to be normal.
I know why fluxbox is included, its very small and gets the job done well for its size. Never mind, i can try to adapt.

I said i have used linux since FC4. I prefer using KDE, but the terminal makes some things a lot faster, especially su related stuff. I do know my way around a bit in linux, so im not that much of a newbie.

I wanted to remove dillo because i really don't think i'll ever use it. I can access that page through firefox anyway. Once again, never mind, i'll ignore it.

I asked about mplayer because in Fedora and Ubuntu installing extra codecs was required for xine and gstreamer based things, mplayer also seemed to require it.

I know how to edit files in linux. I know its very common rather than using a gui, however to setup the box to use a proxy server by editing a file seemed a little odd, when most programs have it built in. I would add that to the wiki, but i suppose if it was wanted, it would already be there.
By proxy i meant internet proxy. Browsing only. I know it won't make it system wide, i was just wondering if it for some reason could be different for proxy settings, since the wiki only mentioned a system wide change.

I have a feeling the front ports of my linux box are usb 1.1. I'll have to check, that was probably why it was taking so long to start up.

Right, now with all of that out of the way, i'm still not sure how dsl is working off the flash drive.
It seems that it uncompresses an iso to ram and then works off that. So im assuming changes have to be 'saved'....
I'll read up on the wiki on my unanswered questions about this and the like, and see how i go, can someone point to the most simple way of persistence on a usb drive?

Rox looks nice, however if it could cause problems, perhaps i should stick with what i've got. Can you give more info on this perhaps?

Once again, thanks in advance for any responses.
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