How to mount my usb disk? How to update fluxbox?

Forum: Other Help Topics
Topic: How to mount my usb disk? How to update fluxbox?
started by: chooikw

Posted by chooikw on Dec. 25 2004,06:44

Hi,this is my first try on dsl. Can somebody please tell me how to use my usb disk in dsl? Is there something like "hot-plug&play"?

Secondly,i'm using dsl 0.9.1 but i found the fluxbox is version 0.1 . How to update it to the latest version?

Thanks.

Posted by mikshaw on Dec. 25 2004,20:50

There is a forum here covering USB issues specifically...you'll likely find an answer there.

You can install the fluxbox-0.9.11 extension found in the myDSL testing area. This is a separate application rather than an upgrade, so you can easily switch back to 0.1.14 whenever you like.
< http://www.ibiblio.org/pub....testing >

Posted by RoGuE_StreaK on Dec. 26 2004,00:38

RE: fluxbox, here's what I did so I can quickly change between the stable version included in DSL, and the 0.9.11 .dsl package:

Starting from a standard DSL boot, I installed 0.9.11 (using the .dsl package I'd included on my CD, using Fordi's MyDSL Maker, or adding under windows via UltraISO trial).

I then edited filetool.lst to include
home/dsl/.fluxbox-0.9.11/
home/dsl/.xinitrc

and edited .xinitrc so that I have both the lines:
fluxbox
#/opt/fluxbox-0.9.11/bin/fluxbox

Note that the line specifying the "unstable" version of fluxbox is commented out.

Then I ran the backup system to create a backup.tar.gz of these settings (which you can later rename whatever you want) on one of my windows partitions.

Rebooted back to windows to use UltraISO (I'm sure you could do the following somehow in DSL, but this is just the way I do it), edited my MyDSL ISO so that the new backup.tar.gz is in the root directory, so it automatically loads.
I have the fluxbox-0.9.11.tar.gz sitting in the "optional" directory of my CD, so that it only installs when I want it to. Saves some RAM if you don't want the new version every time you boot. But you can put it in the root directory if you want it every time.

Anyhoo, with the modified ISO burnt, boot into DSL, and I have the standard fluxbox, with all the settings for the "new" fluxbox ready for if I want to install it. If I want to use the new fluxbox, I just load the tar.gz through the "install optional extras", or through emelfm, then simply edit .xinitrc so that the comment is moved from the "opt/fluxbox..." line to the "fluxbox" - this will tell X to use the "new" fluxbox next time it starts.
Alt-Ctl-BackSpace to exit X, then "startx" to restart with your cool new fluxbox!

Of course, you could edit everything so that X uses the new fluxbox every time, but I've kept it as a kind of "optional extra" just in case, never know if different systems may have issues with something...

Posted by RoGuE_StreaK on Dec. 26 2004,00:53

PS. I use an 8cm RW disc for the initial stages, so that I can just erase it and keep messing with the settings untill I get a stable version that I like. THEN I'll use a 8cm CD-R, as my laptop can't read RW discs, and you never know what machines you might come across in your travels with similar issues.
Or I'll just use a cheap 12cm disk for my laptop. But the 8cm are much cooler, and you can carry them with you wherever you go.

PPS. For those in Australia, Harvey Norman stock a pack of 5 8cm CD-RW for $8-9, the CD-R are $6-7, I was amazed, Harvey Norman not only having great prices for a change, but better than virtually everywhere else!

Posted by chooikw on Dec. 26 2004,06:14

I still can't get fluxbox 0.9.11 to run:(
Here is what i did:
-Download the fluxbox from mydsl
-Untar it and move the fluxbox to /opt
-Edit filetool.lst to include home/dsl/.fluxbox-0.9.11/
the line home/dsl/.xinitrc is already there by default
-Edit /home/dsl/.xinitrc and replace the fluxbox with /opt/fluxbox-0.9.11

Then i restart and type fluxbox -version but it still showing that it is version 0.1.14

Posted by cbagger01 on Dec. 26 2004,07:09

For the USB stick:

1) Plug it in before booting up DSL. This will allow for autodetection and creation of a mountpoint for this device.

2) Move your mouse over to the Mount.app window in the bottom right corner of the DSL desktop. Use the tiny arrow buttons to bring up "sda1". Then press the button and the status color changes to Green. Your USB drive is now mounted and the contents are accessable inside the /mnt/sda1 directory.

Alternative method:
Open up the Emeflm file manager and navigate to the /mnt directory. Then Right-Click on the "sda1" subdirectory and choose "Mount" from the context menu. You will then have access to your thumbdrive files.

When you are finished reading or writing to your USB drive, you can unmount it by either pushing the button again on the mount.app window until the green light goes away or you can use emelfm to move up to the /mnt directory and then Right-Click on the "sda1" subdirectory and choose "Unmount" from the context menu.

When the action is completed, you can then safely remove your USB device.

Posted by RoGuE_StreaK on Dec. 26 2004,07:49

Quote (chooikw @ Dec. 26 2004,01:14)

-Download the fluxbox from mydsl
-Untar it and move the fluxbox to /opt

Don't know it makes a difference, but you can just download, find the file in emelfm, then click the "mydsl" button (or similarly labeled), this will automatically extract it to the right directory.

What do you define as "restart"? Do you restart X (alt-ctrl-backspace, then "startx" at the prompt), or restart DSL? If your .xinitrc is showing "/opt/fluxbox-0.9.11/bin/fluxbox" instead of "fluxbox", then by rights it SHOULD work. (NB: make sure the directory typed matches your installed version, there's been several releases in the past few months)

I'm thinking possibly the files haven't been extracted to the right path, but then if .xinitrc is pointing to that path it probably wouldn't work?
Double-check both the extracted files and the .xinitrc, and let us know, 'cause if they are both right I'm stumped (but then again, I'm easily stumped with this stuff...)

Posted by chooikw on Dec. 26 2004,08:54

Quote (cbagger01 @ Dec. 26 2004,02:09)

Move your mouse over to the Mount.app window in the bottom right corner of the DSL desktop. Use the tiny arrow buttons to bring up "sda1". Then press the button and the status color changes to Green. Your USB drive is now mounted and the contents are accessable inside the /mnt/sda1 directory.

This fixed my problem,thanks

For the fluxbox, i did click the mydsl button in emelfm and the .xinitrc is pointing to the right path. I restart it by shutdown and open again.It will hang if i choose "restart" from the powerdown.

Posted by mikshaw on Dec. 26 2004,15:44

Quote

-Edit /home/dsl/.xinitrc and replace the fluxbox with /opt/fluxbox-0.9.11

Then i restart and type fluxbox -version but it still showing that it is version 0.1.14

Is '/opt/fluxbox-0.9.11' exactly what you put in xinitrc?
It should be '/opt/fluxbox-0.9.11/bin/fluxbox'

When you type 'fluxbox' it uses the first fluxbox in your path. Fluxbox-0.9.11 is not in your path, which is why you need to add the full path to it in .xinitrc, and if you want to get the version you need to do '/opt/fluxbox-0.9.11/bin/fluxbox -version', although that's kinda redundant since the version is already displayed in the command.

Posted by ph00dz on Dec. 29 2004,05:00

Hey... on the usb stick front, what if you're running dsl embedded from the usb stick itself? Is it possible to build for oneself a safe space where dsl and windows can share files... like in a separate fat16 partition?

Posted by cbagger01 on Dec. 29 2004,06:45

You already have a safe space.

It's your existing USB drive partition.

This partition can be read or written to by MSWindows.

You can also access it from dsl-embedded by enabling a Windows network file share on the USB drive letter (E:\ for me).

Then you can either use smbclient to connect to the Windows share from inside DSL-embedded, or you can use the samba.dsl extension and actually mount it as a network drive in Linux.

Search the forums for more help. Specifically, search keyword "samba* AND embedded", search ALL FORUMS and FROM THE BEGINNING or NEWER.

Good Luck.

Posted by ph00dz on Dec. 30 2004,03:29

Hmmm... that's kinda clever. Remount the drive from windows to get at it that way.

Still, that's not what I really want... but maybe I'm retarded having this desire, so tell me if this makes no sense. I've got one of them 512 meg keychain drives... which is more than enough space to split into 2 separate partitions, if necessary. I'd like to put embedded/bootable dsl on one partition, but still have another partition open to both windows and dsl simultaneously.

I'll give it a shot... letcha know how it goes... and thanks, by the way. This is an interesting little project... and it seems like there's a lot of potential in it.

Posted by cbagger01 on Dec. 30 2004,06:07

You will be able to share files between your native DSL install and your Windows install.

However, you won't be able to get at your 2nd partition while running DSL embedded because your Virtual PC inside Qemu doesn't have any USB ports and is therefore not connected to your USB drive.

Posted by chooikw on Dec. 30 2004,08:04

I still can't get the fluxbox-0.9.11 to works. I'm installing the dsl on my hdd and can anyone please kindly give me the complete instruction to update it to fluxbox-0.9.11? I'm going to give it a fresh copy since it is quite fast to install.

Posted by ph00dz on Dec. 30 2004,13:03

Ahhh... very interesting. It's funny to think about -- the virtual machine, from which the os is running, can't go back and recognize the media on which it's being run.

I guess Qemu is limited in ways that I hadn't realized... still, it's a pretty neat approach.

Thanks again.

Posted by henk1955 on Dec. 30 2004,13:19

but...
if you would use the qemu for linux in dsl and then run an other os inside dsl., then you CAN use the real diskdrives from the inside os.

Posted by mikshaw on Dec. 30 2004,16:00

Quote

I have to say that since you are using a harddrive install there may have been changes to your system of which we aren't aware, so I'll just give the instructions for installing on a liveCD.
1) Read the info file.
2) Install the package using the mydsl system. You could use the click and load system, or type 'mydsl-load /path/to/fluxbox-0.9.11', or browse to the extension with emelfm, select the file, and press the myDSL button.
The program should have been automatically installed into /opt/fluxbox-0.9.11/.
3) Open up /home/dsl/.xinitrc in a text editor.
4) Change the line 'fluxbox' to '/opt/fluxbox-0.9.11/bin/fluxbox' and save the file.
If you are using the Nvidia extension you will need to add another line to this file, just before the fluxbox line:
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH="/usr/X11R6/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH"
There is only ONE space in that line. Save the file.
5) Exit the window manager, and then type 'startx'.

If this process doesn't work, then something unusual has apparently happened to your system.