antiX-forum

I've had problems with the Mepis Network Tool as well. AT&T recently changed DNS and failed to notify my wireless internet provider. They discovered the problem and notified their customers to change their DNS settings.

Mepis Network Tool would not allow me to maintain static DNS numbers. It would consistently change back to another DNS number that would not work. I finally used Ceni to change to static IP and then Mepis Network Tool to change the DNS. That worked for a few weeks until my IP changed their gateway address. Then I was back to the drawing board again with similar problems....Mepis Network Tool does not keep the settings I place in it.

I've switched back to DHCP automatically determining the IP settings but it will not keep the DNS settings. Sometimes I boot up and have the network and sometimes I do not. Usually I can go in and fiddle with the settings and get it up again but I'm getting tired of doing it.

This is the first time I've ever had any problems maintaining the network with antiX. The Mepis end has always been bullet-proof but no longer. The problem started occuring with M7.2. It continues after my clean install of M7.5. I would appreciate any insight into the problem as well.

Sorry to hear about that.
Maybe you should manually edit the /etc/network/interfaces file.
Have you tried wicd?

I have not tried wicd. I will take a look. I'm keeping my fingers crossed but haven't had any problems since my last post.

My internet provider is high-speed wireless. A small antenna on the side of my house connects into an ethernet switch, which I use to access the internet. So from my computer's perspective I access via wired ethernet. For some reason I had it in my head that wicd was wireless but I see after checking that it is a wireless and wired network manager.

Thanks for the pointer.

*.avi is set in run action to open with leafpad

On the subject of Auto Generated & Updateable menus in Fluxbox, the new version of Linux Mint Flux has just been released and that (Apperently) has exactly that.... menus that are both auto generated & auto updated whenever new progs etc are installed. May be worth taking a look to see what they're using & how it's done. I've got the iso here & i'm going to fire it up in the next day or two & see how it all goes.

DJiNN wrote:On the subject of Auto Generated & Updateable menus in Fluxbox, the new version of Linux Mint Flux has just been released and that (Apperently) has exactly that.... menus that are both auto generated & auto updated whenever new progs etc are installed. May be worth taking a look to see what they're using & how it's done. I've got the iso here & i'm going to fire it up in the next day or two & see how it all goes.

See if you can determine what the script there using is and maybe post it for a look.

I've been looking at Mint-fluxbox and although it has some nice touches, it is not what antiX is about (or at least tries to be about).
To me Mint-fluxbox is really Mint using fluxbox rather than say xfce or gnome or kde, whereas antiX is a fluxboxed Mepis/Debian. See the difference?

Anyhow, I tried the livecd and then installed Mint-fluxbox in Virtualbox with RAM set to 256MB.

Observations/comparisons with antiX.

1. Both livecd and installed, antiX boots MUCH faster
2. antiX uses a lot less RAM either as livecd or installed.
3. Once booted (live and installed) both performed as well as each other, or differences were minimal.
4. antiX installs a lot faster than Mint-fluxbox.
5. Livecd and install didn't set screen resolution correctly. (This is a problem on my box with all Mint distros though)
6. On installing Mint-fluxbox, I chose to set a root password. Big mistake! I then replaced gdm for slim login, installed a few apps to see how well the auto fluxbox menu worked.
First problem was rebooting into slim. I couldn't.
Second problem was that the auto fluxbox menu didn't work.

Now, I don't like to diss distros, in fact I have incorporated a lot into antiX from other distros (as has OU812 with the antiXCC from TinyMe etc) and I wish Mint-fluxbox all the best.
But it is not my cup of tea and the way I see a lite-end distro should be.

Give it a try and convince me otherwise!

OU812 I'd love to have that screen! How do i get the bottom colour icons up ? jeffjohn

@jeffjohn - Sorry, but I don't understand.

john

In vbox I could run xcam but from livecd and install, the app segfaults. I am trying to use a Logitech pro 9000 camera. If appears that AntiX recognizes it with no problems.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Chris

EDIT: Hmm, it works if I unplug the webcam!

Clivesay:

I'm running a test version of Antix 8 and I've also had a lot of problems with xcam (with my built-in laptop camera). I finally tried cheese and that seems to work...sometimes. There are times when it does not want to do anything and I have to reboot. I've given up wasting time trying to get it work consistently (as I don't really need it), but I hope that you have more sucesss.

BTW, cheese is in the repo's so apt-get install cheese should work.

good luck!

Pedro

anticapitalista wrote:I've been looking at Mint-fluxbox and although it has some nice touches, it is not what antiX is about (or at least tries to be about).
To me Mint-fluxbox is really Mint using fluxbox rather than say xfce or gnome or kde, whereas antiX is a fluxboxed Mepis/Debian. See the difference?

Anyhow, I tried the livecd and then installed Mint-fluxbox in Virtualbox with RAM set to 256MB.

Observations/comparisons with antiX.

1. Both livecd and installed, antiX boots MUCH faster
2. antiX uses a lot less RAM either as livecd or installed.
3. Once booted (live and installed) both performed as well as each other, or differences were minimal.
4. antiX installs a lot faster than Mint-fluxbox.
5. Livecd and install didn't set screen resolution correctly. (This is a problem on my box with all Mint distros though)
6. On installing Mint-fluxbox, I chose to set a root password. Big mistake! I then replaced gdm for slim login, installed a few apps to see how well the auto fluxbox menu worked.
First problem was rebooting into slim. I couldn't.
Second problem was that the auto fluxbox menu didn't work.

Now, I don't like to diss distros, in fact I have incorporated a lot into antiX from other distros (as has OU812 with the antiXCC from TinyMe etc) and I wish Mint-fluxbox all the best.
But it is not my cup of tea and the way I see a lite-end distro should be.

Give it a try and convince me otherwise!

I'm with you on this, Anti! Here is my take on Linux Mint.

I have used the default version of Mint on a couple of releases now. For those who do like using the GNOME desktop environment, I would rate it as one of the easier to install distributions, and I would also rate its collection of tools to administer the system as above average to well above average.

I rate the performance of Mint as average, neither the best (AntiX is very near the best, and definitely the best of any system that even approaches what I would consider to be a "full featured" desktop system). Mint ranks similar to Fedora in performance, somewhat better than Fedora in stability, and behind Fedora in selection of the latest features. Mint definitely ranks ahead of openSUSE in both quality and performance, but behind the SUSE versions in documentation, support, and sheer number of packages and alternatives available.

Compared to AntiX, I would say your comments are accurate. Taking a slightly different approach to it, I would say that Mint has done as well as AntiX in reaching a different kind of market, one more aimed at the general purpose user. I'd tend to rate the various respins of Mint as inferior to their parent. The main Mint project does an excellent job of hitting its target market. The respins, whether the KDE one (which I've used) or the various other ones (may have tried one or two, don't remember trying the Fluxbox variant) are little more than replacements of the desktop or window manager, with relatively little other changes.

In contrast, AntiX was built from the ground up to use and customize the behavior of Fluxbox. Over the past two or three releases, with the help of John (ou812) we have come up with an IceWM environment that is, in some ways, even more impressive than our Fluxbox environment because there simply are not many good alternative IceWM implementations out there, so ours really stands out and is superbly crafted.

I would not say that the Mint respins have anything wrong with them, per se. As a matter of fact, every Mint variation that I have used has worked rather well, which is a credit to their community. What I would say is that our MEPIS and AntiX variations, at least to me, retain their distinctive identity and to me hit their intended markets squarely. If there were something that could be sold, it would be relatively easy to market AntiX and MEPIS because their niches, to me, are very well defined.

I Agree with member ''capricornus'' enterely. I will echo him: ''If you want to attract newbies with olds computers to antiX; then the antiX-M7.5 is the magic formula to scare them away.'' I think if any body with an old computer, try antiX-M7.5, chances are that the computer ends in the trash can. I been using Mepis for more than 3 years, on 3 differents desktop computers without any dificulties and I love it, but I'm going to start thinking about a light linux other than ''AntiX''. No too happy with antiX-M7.2 I decide to upgrade to 7.5. As recomended, I used the script: ./antix-upgrader and I ended with a not functional fluxboxmenu. I Installed with the CD without any problem, but later when updating files with ''Synaptic'', it freeze and only manualy finished the task. After reboot, fluxbox is not by default, Wicd does not work, Wireless connection is down.....I keep you updated about the search.....................

Firstly, I don't think capricornus will be pleased with you attributing a quote that he/she did not say/write.
Now if _you_ think antiX is not noob-friendly, then you are welcome to your opinion.

Good luck with your search.

Added:

Just to test upgrading.

I installed antiX-M7.2 and used the antiX-upgrader script, rebooted and there was no problem with fluxbox, icewm and my sound, wired connection etc. wicd does not open in the control centre as its path has changed.

I then proceeded to upgrade to M8 by using the (under development) antiXupgrager2 script, did an update-grub, then rebooted with old kernel and all is working as it should including wicd entry in antiX control centre. I used meta-installer to install lxde, rebooted into the 2.6.27 kernel and logged in to lxde and again all is ok. Logged out and back into fluxbox and icewm, all fine.

So on my box there was a smooth (but long) upgrade from antiX-M7.2 to antiX-M8

If you're looking for a light-weight alternative to antix, then you'll be pleased to know that there are quite a lot to choose from. Several come to mind (that are as full-featured as antix): goblinx, fluxbox mint, vector, and zenwalk. I've had my share of problems with these distros, and others. For example, zenwalk, imho, is less newbie-friendly than antix; if you do a system update in vector, you'll crash the system (they also have a fairly slow release cycle); any flavor of mint seems sluggish on my old boxes; and goblinx doesn't seem to have as robust of an installer compared to most other distros.

But I understand what you are saying. You need to find a distro that does what you want - hopefully rotb. If not, then can you get it to the point where you want it with the skills that you have? For me, the answer to these questions is antix. Hopefully, you'll find your answers as well.

john