User Feedback :: DSL 1.3 Pre-announcement



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Upon reflection, I believe that these are the files and directories that should not be overwritten from an existing backup.
1. home/dsl/.emelfm/
2. home/dsl/xtdesktop/
3. home/dsl/.xtdeskrc
4. home/dsl/.fluxbox/menu
5. home/dsl/.fluxbox/init
6. home/dsl/.Xdefaults
7 opt/.start_synaptic

Therefore without introducing any new procedures, another way to move to dsl-1.3 should be as follows:

1. Boot up your existing dsl system as normal, i.e, with restore.
2. Open a root shell.
3. If necessary mount the drive containing your backup.tar.gz and rename it
4. Edit the existing xfiletool.lst to contain exactly the following
   Cache
   XUL.mfasl
   .xtdesktop
   .xtdeskrc
   .fluxbox/menu
   .fluxbox/init
   .Xdefaults
   .emelfm
   .start_synaptic

5. Notice that the 3rd thru 9th lines start with a ".". Save and Exit the editor producing a new xfiletool.lst
6. Now still from the root shell execute the following:
   filetool.sh backup noprompt
7. We have made a new backup.tar.gz that should work for the new 1.3 system.
8. This step is optional, to check the results execute the following:
   tar -ztf /mnt/hdXY/backup.tar.gz | less
Where XY is approriate for your system.    
You can use the up/down arrows to see that indeed those files and directories are not in this backup.tar.gz and all your other data is there! Use q to quit the less program.
9. Now do your normal shutdown.
------------------------------------------------------------------
10. Boot up your new dsl-1.3 and let the restore occur as normal.
11. Now we need to prepare for our first backup from dsl-1.3, since we will be manually doing a backup open a root shell.
12. Execute the following:
     mv filetool.lst .filetool.lst
     Now edit .filetool.lst and change any references of filetool.lst, xfiletool.lst, and webdata to have a leading '.'
13. You should not need to keep your exising xfiletool.lst, since we modified it to produce a selective backup in steps 4-5,
     rm xfiletool.lst
     If necessary edit .xfiletool.lst for any custom items you may desire to exclude.
14. Repeat step 12 for webdata.lst.
15. Now still from the root shell perform our first backup:
   filetool.sh backup noprompt
16. We have made a new backup.tar.gz that contains the new 1.3 system files and all our other data
17. This step is optional, to check the results execute the following:
   tar -ztf /mnt/hdXY/backup.tar.gz | less

In closing, DSL is extremely flexible, and not knowning how everyone might use their system, it can only be a recommendation for you to consider. Of course the safest way to move to dsl-1.3 is not to use your backup and start over. But I know that is not a desireable option.

My concern is that certain new features will not work if the system files are overwritten as listed above.
Stupid Dillo... Read the post below.
Quote (cbagger01 @ July 12 2005,22:46)
aterm definately improves the visual appearance of DSL with terminal window open and a semi-transparent view of the new wallpapers.

I am curious to see how aterm runs on very old hardware as compared to rxvt, however.

Aterm really hurts low ram boxes. At least as long as you have transparency on.

On my low ram box, I have changed the command that starts Aterm to "aterm +tr" wherever it is called with transparency on.
It actually uses less ram than rxvt while running, I think (something like 200k. Although I think it uses more while
loading. I really don't remember, because I haven't used rxvt in a long while). And it looks a lot nicer than rxvt, even
without the transparency.

In other words, aterm is nicer to older boxen than rxvt.

But just like the old default theme, the new default theme is PAINFUL on low ram boxes. I recommend changing to the minimal
theme ASAP on your first boot. We low ram guys have to let the big boys have their pretty pictures and borders. ^^
twm forever!!!

As far as the backup/restore issue goes, I have persistant home and opt. All of my settings files exist in /home, and
after a little tweaking, all the apps I use are in /opt, so I do not usually use backup/restore.

But for boxen that do, such as this little toshiba (the low ram box I use to test) which is using a 256mb cf card as hda
(no extra room), I just back up settings files, and a few other tweaks, so it's easier for me just to start from scratch
with the new backup. Mostly because I had to sort through all my scripts by hand for the move to aterm.

And I had issues with all the ways of upgrading that have been described. But I have a strong feeling that that is the
operator, and not the instructions.

anyways, this is a big jump for DSL. Enjoy the ride/dive/fall/whatever. ^^

-J.P.
Hmm...

Maybe we need to split up the fluxbox menu choices somewhat like this:

Aterm (transparent)     aterm
Aterm (black)              aterm +tr


or something like that.

Just a suggestion.
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