Go grab 1.5!
Forum: Site News
Topic: Go grab 1.5!
started by: John
Posted by John on Sep. 07 2005,05:38
Proof that 50MB can be useful, functional and beautiful, 1.5 is so much more that DSL's humble beginnings. Like all the other releases over the last two years, Robert has again worked very hard to increase the functionality and ease of use of Damn Small. Now you can pretty much install DSL from any media to any without needing net access.Ke4nt added some much needed documentation into the start page.
Clivesay, Ke4nt, and SaidinUnleashed did lots of testing for this release so you don't have to ;-).
Special thanks to Damir from Slovenia (known at DeviantArt as ~love1008) for allowing us to use his fantastic background image.
His home page -> < http://love1008.deviantart.com/ > -- fantastic stuff!
BTW, our own SaidinUnleashed made the Fluxbox/XMMS theme for this release.
...regarding icons, just click once, or you will be seeing double :-).
Notes:
< http://damnsmalllinux.org/notes.html >
Screenshot:
< http://damnsmalllinux.org/dsl-1.5.jpg >
Posted by SaidinUnleashed on Sep. 07 2005,05:40
Also new with this release is the Official Launch of the latest incarnation of the DSL Documentation Project.There has been a complete overhaul, and we have moved to a much, much nicer MediaWiki setup.
Check it out at < http://damnsmalllinux.org/wiki >
-J.P.
Posted by John on Sep. 07 2005,05:59
Yes, and thank you SU for maintaining it!
Posted by adssse on Sep. 07 2005,13:03
Great work guys, many thanks.
Posted by Max on Sep. 07 2005,13:22
FYI...current.iso and dsl-1.5.iso have checksums matching dsl-1.5.iso.md5.txt
However, current.iso.md5.txt is different.
Posted by green on Sep. 07 2005,14:24
Once again, you guyz amaze me!!!Thank you for all your hard work!
The Revolution marches on.....
Posted by clivesay on Sep. 07 2005,15:01
One thing to note is there are changes to .xinitrc so if you have that file in your backup, you'll want to update it. Lots of really cool stuff in this release. The calendar and stats apps are very useful! People ask constantly why we stay under 50mb. One reason I see is when you draw a hard line like 50mb, it forces you to think out of the box and be more innovative than if you always know you have unlimited space and can put your OS on a 4gig DVD if you like. The 50mb rule has provided good discussions amongst TeamDSL itself. Lua and FLTK may not have ever been discovered without this guideline along with other space saving ideas. In case you haven't noticed during the past few releases, DSL had actually been getting smaller while adding more features!!! These discoveries now have allowed us to do all types of installations without net access as just one example. Look at how many other distros are now adopting 'extensions'. DSL does not follow, it leads and others imitate. As they say, that's the sincerest form of flattery.
So as it's been said many times, DSL is a 50mb distro FIRST and everything else is secondary. I'm proud to be part of the DSL team and part of this community. Stay tuned as we continue to create and innovate.
Chris
Posted by roberts on Sep. 07 2005,15:30
Thanks Max, I had forgot to update that md5.It is now corrected.
Posted by roberts on Sep. 07 2005,15:38
The best way to experience all the new features is to boot with the norestore option.The are some files that need to be updated that may be in your backup which will overwrite these new files in /home/dsl/
1. .fluxbox/menu -- new items and adjustment
2. .xtdeskrc -- is no longer used
3. .xtdesktop/ -- new features
4. .dillo/dillorc -- needed for matching system font
5. .xmms/Skins/xmmsSkin.tar.bz2 -- the new theme
6. .xfiletool.lst -- new entry
7 .xinitrc -- added the dock apps here
As root, you can simply copy over the new files/directories from /etc/skel
Posted by SuperLou on Sep. 07 2005,15:40
Thanks a bunch for making Grub included, my stupid computer can't connect to the internet and I love Grub. Is there any way to make Emelfm alternate between root and user accesss with-out opening a new session?
Posted by clivesay on Sep. 07 2005,15:46
SuperLou -I don't think that's possible but you can add a root access as a right click feature on the desktop icon which is handy.
table Icon
Type: Program
Caption: Emelfm
Command: emelfm
Icon: .xtdesktop/Emelfm.gif
MenuCommand1: Emelfm as Super User: sudo emelfm
X: 203
Y: 5
Status: anchor
end
Ke4nt showed us this one the other day. Now you can right click on the icon fo r root access instead of using the menu. I hope this helps some.
Chris
Posted by Max on Sep. 07 2005,17:20
Thank you very much for the tip on the emelfm icon. I don't know how many times I've traversed that menu!
Posted by cbagger01 on Sep. 07 2005,18:58
I love this xtdesk right-click feature.It would be nice if the
MenuCommand1: Emelfm as Super User: sudo emelfm
could be added to the next release of DSL along with a
MenuCommand1: XTerminal as Super User: sudo aterm
for the Xterminal desktop icon.
This way, you could just Right-click on either icon in order to bring up root terminals and file managers.
Posted by clivesay on Sep. 07 2005,19:04
It is a good feature to have. I think the icons that benefit most from right clicking to root is Emelfm, XTerminal and Beaver.Chris
Posted by mikshaw on Sep. 07 2005,19:42
7. Added grub to base system8. Added frugal_grub and pendrive installs to base system.
13. Updated Set Date/Time to start with system time.
14. Moved dock apps to .xinitrc for better user choice.
16. Improved shell environment - /etc/profile sourced only upon login.
Thank you! *smooch!*
Posted by Your Fuzzy God on Sep. 07 2005,20:13
2. .xtdeskrc was moved from ~/.xtdeskrc to ~/xtdesktop/xtdeskrc
Posted by adssse on Sep. 08 2005,05:02
I seems that alot of significant changes have been made. Is there a particular method to follow when upgrading my frugal install to 1.5? I ask because I remember 1.3 had many changes and was kind of a tricky upgrade for me, so I just wanted to get some advice before going forward. Thanks in advance.
Posted by roberts on Sep. 08 2005,05:06
See my prior post in this thread for files and directories that may be in your backup that would overwrite the new updated files in /home/dsl Other than those listed it should be an easy "upgrade".
Posted by WoofyDugfock on Sep. 08 2005,11:12
Ta very much to all involved -- looking forward to driving it arounf the block :=)
Posted by Multitudes on Sep. 08 2005,15:35
First af all: Thanks for the new release! It has a great look (and feel).I'm having problems booting the LiveCD on certain machines.
It works on ThinkPad T4x but not on ThinkPad T2x.
The ThinkPads T2x has previously worked with no problems (they can still boot DSL ver. 1.4).
Could it be a problem with isolinux?
Regards
Multitudes
Posted by Your Fuzzy God on Sep. 08 2005,16:18
Exactly what kind of problems are you having when booting?
Posted by Multitudes on Sep. 08 2005,17:37
I get to the boot: prompt in isolinux. It loads linux24 and minirt24.gz but then I get a black screen - no baby tux.I have installed DSL ver. 1.5 embedded on a USB key and it boots fine. The USB key has syslinux ver. 3.06.
I have checked the md5 sum of my downloaded .iso image and it is also fine.
It seems that the problem is related to the ver. 1.5 .iso image.
Multitudes
Posted by clivesay on Sep. 08 2005,17:54
There is a syslinux iso. Did you use that one for 1.4?Chris
Posted by ke4nt1 on Sep. 08 2005,18:15
| Quote |
| I have checked the md5 sum of my downloaded .iso image and it is also fine. |
Bad burn from good .iso file ??
Burn speed too high ??
( some drives are better at reading HighSpeed burns than others )
Try the option "dsl vga=normal" at boottime ??
Let us know..
73
ke4nt
Posted by Multitudes on Sep. 08 2005,22:58
I hope that I have ruled out the possibility of a bad burn: I burned three copies - all of them can boot on a ThinkPad T4x.If I try to boot with dsl vga=normal I get:
"Uncompressing Linux... Ok, booting the kernel."
and a blinking cursor under the "U" in Uncompressing.
Then nothing.
Still puzzeled but thankfull for this release
Multitudes
P.S.
Did a little hacking: Switched modular drives etc. No effect.
Swung a black rooster three times widdershins above the docking station. No effect.
Enabled the HD in the BIOS and *that* did the trick.
The ThinkPad T2x BIOS needs to have the HD enabled (if it is installed) in order to be able to boot properly.
Sorry to have caused doubts about syslinux ...
Posted by Your Fuzzy God on Sep. 08 2005,23:12
Sometimes rooster voodoo takes awhile to reach it's full potential. You probably did that BIOS thing just as the rooster was taking effect. I've never heard of a BIOS giving anyone troubles before.
Posted by WoofyDugfock on Sep. 09 2005,14:28
Is it my imagination, or is dsl-1.5 more responsive/snappier than good ''ol dsl-1.1 (didn't upgrade for a while)?Seems more responsive to me on a toram boot!
Posted by roberts on Sep. 09 2005,18:12
It is not your imagination. The latest review at < gnuman > also noticed and mentioned this.Part of my reorganization was to not to use perl during the boot up to desktop process. Not loading an additional interperter, and a big one at that, helps make for a faster boot. Also the hack John did with single click icons make the system seem faster too.
Posted by clivesay on Sep. 09 2005,20:20
Running at toram DSL is really instant computing with many of the apps. It's such a pleasure. That is why I love DSL so much!Chris
Posted by jshaw on Sep. 12 2005,02:44
I must say the new fluxbox theme is great. This is the first time since I started using DSL that I'm using the default theme. I even have the desktop icons on now just to complete the look. DSL is definitely achieving a high amount of polish to compliment it's rock solid functionality. Great Job Guys!
Posted by adssse on Sep. 12 2005,03:36
I finally got a chance to install 1.5 this weekend (been busy with homework) and I have to say I am really impressed. There are definetely enoy the frugal_grub.sh, system stats and the calendar.
Posted by ryptyde on Sep. 13 2005,01:52
I had a chance today to finally burn the iso to a mini-CDR and it just seems to be getting better.Great job everyone.I just wish I knew more of the tech stuff to be of help.Phil
Posted by chaostic on Sep. 13 2005,03:39
Hey, love the new dsl. Just one thing needs to be fixed for the next version. the mydsl button/command in emflm, when you try using it on multiple dsl's at the same time, fails, and ends up leaving you with the first extension being zero'd out, ie the files there, but has nothing in it.
Posted by bicho_raro on Oct. 12 2005,17:53
A version 2.0 beta of dsl is made available on Softpedia today. I have seen no post regarding this release on this web site. Is it a "pirate-version" or is softpedia the site to download beta versions? Firefox is updated, but mydsl do not load properly from mydsl=sda1 nor do backups from version 1.5. Any comments?
Posted by SaidinUnleashed on Oct. 12 2005,18:03
2.0rc1 is available. Since it is a beta release, it is not announced here. Rather, it is announced in and should be discussed in the Release Candidates forum.