Getting used to frugalForum: User Feedback Topic: Getting used to frugal started by: malanrich Posted by malanrich on May 23 2008,17:51
Hi all,I'm a long-time Mepis user, brand-new DSL user. First I'm amazed and delighted that I'm writing this from my frugal install of DSL on my ancient Compaq desktop: 167 Mhz cpu with 28 MB's of RAM (!!). And it works *well* (not just as an emergency back-up but as a usable system). As I said, amazing. I still need to figure out details on the frugal install. I basically understand the workings, but I'm not sure whether I can still get some procedures to "stick" without doing a remaster: (like getting system time to persist without having to do "gettime.lua" at each boot, or getting glinks properties to stick from session to session). But these are small things, easy to live with. Meantime, I need to get hold of the _Official DSL_ book to learn the details. One question: Anyone have an idea of how long the book info will stay current? Posted by lucky13 on May 23 2008,19:06
The wiki has information about using the included tools to retain settings, backup, etc.:< http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page > Pay attention to the following subjects: Starting Programs at Boot Saving Your Settings Posted by curaga on May 23 2008,19:11
Well, the book is current for the 3.x series, and only partially after that.
Posted by roberts on May 23 2008,20:29
The main difference between 3.x and 4.x is the icon manager.3.x uses xtdesk and 4.x used dfm. Many of the core applications and concepts remain the same. Posted by malanrich on May 23 2008,23:38
Thanks for the responses, guys. I'll slowly work through the details of the wiki and maybe pick up the book too. Meanwhile, I'm okay with feeling a little dopey. dopiness #1: I don't think making system time persist at reboot will work since I'm not online when I boot. (But I'll check more into this). dopiness #2: I think I've understood the wiki on "Saving Your Settings," but I still can't figure why the glinks options file gets overwritten at each boot. I've enabled the Grub boot entry that includes mydsl, restore, persistency, etc., and mydsl, restore, home, and opt directories are designated as hda3. Since the glink options file is in the home/dsl/.links directory (also ramdisk/home... and mnt/hda3/home...), I can't see why the glinks options file isn't preserved. Also, adding the directory for that file to filetool.lst fails to prevent the options file from being overwritten. I'm sure I'm missing something very simple. Not a huge problem, since dillo satisfies pretty much all my online needs (plaease keep dillo!). Posted by jpeters on May 24 2008,04:05
I've never used glinks, and see there's a glinks.uci extention that Robert compiled in 2005 you might try. If there's a particular file that gets overwritten when it installs, you can always save the file somewhere and copy it over during boot by adding the instruction to /opt/bootlocal.sh (using the "cp" command). Posted by malanrich on May 24 2008,05:53
It is indeed glinks.uci that I'm using. So if I place a copy of the options file in my home directory, what exactly would be the syntax for this in /opt/bootlocal.sh (so that it would be copied into the right directory for launching glinks?). I noted above that the glinks options file appears in three different directories, and I'm assuming that the one in home/dsl/.links and the one in ramdisk/home/dsl/.links are just links to the persistent one in mnt/hda3/home/dsl/.links (right?). So I need to direct bootlocal.sh to look in mnt/hda3..., right? Sorry to be such a noob about this. The comments here are great. It's not that I'm married to glinks but that I'm learning alot about the DSL file system. Thanks... Posted by jpeters on May 24 2008,06:54
I just tried it. What's happening in that the files in /home/dsl/.links are removed when glinks.uci uninstalls. Copy the .links folder somewhere on your /mnt/hda3 disk, and then overwrite the one installed when glinks.uci loads (assuming you have it in your mydsl folder so it installs on bootup.) So in /opt/bootlocal: rm -R /home/dsl/.links cp -R /mnt/hda3/.links /home/dsl edit: Don't forget to back them up when you make a change! note: For a grub install, /home/dsl is generally on the ramdisk, which then can be backed up (e.g., to /mnt/hda3). Posted by malanrich on May 24 2008,19:16
Success! Thanks to jpeters for the tips on preserving the options file. I'm writing from glinks now, and all my configuration settings remain intact. The only glitch is getting the mydsl menu to boot glinks from the right directory (I think). There's a glinks executable (glinks.app) in the mydsl directory. That, and the glinks entry in the mydsl menu, executes a glinks that seems to be without any configuration at all--just a glinks gui. But the glinks executable in the opts/glinks directory calls up the right one with all my settings. It's some kind of path problem that I'll figure out. Meanwhile, I'm happy with what I've got working. Thanks for the help. Posted by lucky13 on May 24 2008,19:21
If you're using a persistent home partition (edit: or backing up) so your settings carry over, you can add your own menu entries to launch things as you see fit. For example, setting up glinks to open by itself, to open to the DSL Forums, or to whatever site(s) you want. That can be done in the standard DSL menu or you can set up a separate menu and bind it to either a keystroke, a mouse key, or both and then launch applications however you want.(My .jwmrc bears no resemblence to the original.) Posted by jpeters on May 24 2008,20:46
Edit the options (homepage, etc) directly from the /.links/options file and it will work. For some reason, changes from within the program aren't writing to the file. The mydsl menu is correctly loading the program from /opt/glinks/links -g EDIT: It does work correctly, but you have to "save options" in the "setup" menu after changing them. Note: This is a handy little browser. Besides being 1/3 the size of FF, the virtual memory difference is huge: FF 33124, Glinks 3760. Posted by malanrich on May 25 2008,00:04
Yes, Glinks is very handy. I've struggled with it because I want to see just how "low" (in system specs) DSL can go and still let me get my work done. I've been reading through whatever posts I can find comparing Glinks with Dillo, FF, and Opera.So far, Dillo and Glinks are pretty close, but I'd thought Glinks would have an edge by enabling javascript. But I don't find that I get a whole lot more access to webpages using Glinks over Dillo. On my minimalist system, Opera uci will gradually load and open webpages, but with great pain. FF will grind on forever without loading. Here's my current conclusion: When I stick with Dillo for websurfing and with the efficient apps bundled with DSL (sylpheed, Ted, etc), I can actually get faster overall system response using this 28 MB box with DSL than with my bigger Dell machines running full-blown Linux distros. Heh heh. |