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Salix Operating SystemWritten by Darrell Anderson. (December 2009) One of the areas that has always left me frustrated with the stock Slackware is the lack of graphical administration tools. Die-hard Slackers will scream that graphical tools or wrappers are “not the Slackware way.” Ptooey. Such tools add important value for non-technical users. Often I have wanted to install Slackware for other people, but I never do because of the lack of graphical administration tools. Non-technical users are focused on the applications they use. I cling to no illusions that non-technical people will embrace the command line except in emergencies. Most don’t want to bother with system administration. When they must deal with such issues, as non-technical users they expect point-and-click solutions. Slackware provides nothing like that. Some Slackware derivative systems provide such graphical tools. I never grew fond of these derivatives because most are Xfce systems and the developers tend to stray from the Slackware design. I am a KDE user and make no apologies for that, but I do want to see graphical administration tools for non-technical users. Some Slackware derivatives I just do not like. I always perceived Vector as a hobbyist system with ASCII art and crude attempts at humor during the installation. Hardly a show-stopper, but I stand firm against the Vector developers’ practice of installing packages in /usr/local. That file system location is mine — end of discussion. I will not tolerate any system installing files in that location contaminating my local files. Although more professional looking, Zenwalk is another Xfce system. I never grew warm toward that system although I always have had hope for Zenwalk. Although modeled after Slackware, the Zenwalk team tends to stray from the basic Slackware design. The Zenwalk developers do provide some graphical administration tools. Yet I have found the Zenwalk maintainers somewhat domineering in their style, at least with respect to their responses in the Zenwalk forums. I respect that they have their vision of what they want a computer operating system to be, but I have not found them always receptive to ideas or criticism. There also has been a long-standing debate about the availability of source code for Zenwalk packages. Unlike the stock Slackware tree and mirrors, finding all the source code for Zenwalk packages historically has not been easy or straightforward. Apparently some of the Zenwalk developers agree with those observations. Several months ago several developers left the Zenwalk platform and began their own Slackware derivative project called Salix. According to one of the Salix developers, Salix is not a fork in the sense the developers started with Zenwalk as a base and forked into another direction. The developers returned to Slackware as a base. The developers’ primary goals:
The developers “love Slackware and want to use Slackware,” believing Slackware to be “the most stable distribution” available, but “want to be able to have our mothers using Slackware (through Salix).” Browsing the Zenwalk and Salix forums shows the Salix developers are knowledgeable and usually friendly. The Salix developers offer the following claims: One application per task on the installation ISO. Unsurprisingly with Zenwalk roots, the Salix developers follow the one-app-per-task philosophy. Similar to Absolute Linux, the Salix version number indicates using Slackware as a base. Although Salix is Yet Another Xfce System, certain features interest me. One is the full backwards compatibility with the stock Slackware. Although many Zenwalk packages tended to be backwards compatible, the Zenwalk developers never offered such a claim. This backwards compatibility means Slackers who prefer Xfce now have access to a noteworthy repository for Xfce/GTK apps. The stock Slackware does not provide an abundant collection of Xfce/GTK apps that provides a comparable full desktop like KDE. Many Slackers will welcome Salix for this reason. The Salix folks provide several tools I believe are essential for non-technical people. Foremost is the gslapt graphical package manager. (A graphical KDE package manager is available too.) Other tools may be categorized under the general heading of graphical administration tools. The gslapt package manager has been available a long time to Slackers who want a graphical package manager with the stock Slackware, but not so with many of the other graphical tools offered through Salix. The stock Slackware is not a full-featured multimedia machine out-of-the-box. Additional packages are required and some stock packages must be recompiled. Being based on Slackware, I wondered whether Salix provides full multimedia support out-of-the-box. With that in mind I decided to install Salix 13.0.1 to a virtual machine. I wanted to see the stock Salix in operation and then test the Salix graphical administration tools. The Salix installer scripts use the same baby-diaper green color as Slackware rather than Zenwalk gray colors. The Salix installer is based upon the Absolute installer rather than Zenwalk. During the installation I was prompted to provide a password for root and then prompted to add a new user account. Normally for basic testing in a virtual machine I don’t add any user accounts but previously I had read that Salix disables root logins when in the default run level 4. Allowing root logins should be my decision and not developers. That tends to smack of Ubuntu-ism and other religions. This is a philosophical issue, of course, but one I don’t embrace. Regardless, some users will be locked out of the system if no user account is created during the initial installation because no root login is the default. Some users might know enough to toggle to another console, but some might not. Not a significant concern but one of those small annoyances. I found the user account questions for phone numbers and other information superfluous, especially for a system that is intended for basic desktops. That information might be useful in a business environment, but I don’t see home users caring. (Note: Requesting this information was removed in the 13.0.2 release.) The adduser tool is a tad confusing because there is an Exit button. Initially I presumed the button was for exiting the installation process. According to one developer, the Exit button should be renamed in a future release. After the installation rebooted I confirmed I could not login as root. I knew next that I would be staring at a 800x600 screen resolution. I would need to install the VirtualBox guest addition drivers. To add the VirtualBox guest addition drivers I would have to install the kernel sources as that package is not installed with the default Salix. Fortunately, because Salix is derived from Slackware 13.0, and I maintain a local mirror, I could install that package without wasting bandwidth for downloading. I am using VirtualBox 2.0.8 on my office system. I have not updated VirtualBox for the simple reason that version 2.0.8 works for me, is stable, and the newer versions offer features I haven’t yet needed to use. I could not install the version 2.0.8 VirtualBox guest additions in Salix because the VirtualBox installation script did not recognize the latest version of X. Hardly a big deal but I had to download and install the 3.1.2 guest additions. Thereafter I finally could use Salix in a resolution larger than 800x600 and I also then had an integrated mouse. Working in a virtual machine at 800x600 is frustrating. I wish developers would install the VirtualBox guest addition drivers automatically. Testing in a virtual machine is fairly standard practice nowadays. The only system I have tested where I saw those drivers built in was PCLinuxOS 2009.1. To me, pre-installing the VirtualBox guest additions is common sense. However, the Salix developers are focused on end-users and not testers, and the guest additions are unlikely to be added. The kernel sources also should be installed as part of the default system. They are needed by people who want to install the proprietary NVidia drivers, or people who want to install VirtualBox. I’m sure Salix is configured to check for such dependencies, but the sources are a large package to download (approximately 50 MB). As the Salix ISO image is 512.5 MB in size, there remains plenty of room for the sources package. Placing the sources package on the ISO image would save people time and avoid a minor inconvenience. Yet again, the focus is on end-users and not testers. People who want to install software that depends upon the kernel sources will have to burn bandwidth at a later date but not while downloading the ISO image. Nowhere in the installation was I asked to configure the network card. Odd, but the reason is that I had selected a “Full” install, which is designed by the developers to install and auto-configure the wicd tool for dhcp. I accept that dhcp is common these days, but I think the installer should support people who use static addresses. Many people use static addresses because they are behind a router and do not connect directly to the ISP. With any new system, working as root is required to perform initial administrative tasks. I reconfigured the login manager to allow root logins. I am not going to waste time in a testing environment by typing a password every 10 minutes. I also have no fear about working as root, which I do often for a variety of reasons. When I logged as root I was greeted by a special black wallpaper with red letters warning me I was logged in as root. Removing the wallpaper requires about 10 seconds, but I don’t care for that kind of treatment. People who want root logins are not going to be intimidated by such theatrics. The phobia that some people have about working as root is silly. I’m not against the idea of reminding users. When logged in as root I use a different background color. I long ago configured Konqueror and Kate with a pink background to help remind me when I work as root. I also use conky to remind me. I just don’t like being screamed at. Gently remind the user rather than scream at users with large fonts. Redesign the unflattering wallpaper — treat users like adults and not imbeciles. I noticed during several reboots that I was not provided any boot splash. I thought that odd knowing Salix is rooted in Zenwalk. Later I realized the problem was related to my installation choices and not configuring the lilo boot manager for framebuffer video. I added an appropriate video mode to the lilo configuration and then saw the boot splash. Thanks to the backwards compatibility, the splash package (and dependencies) should work with a stock Slackware. Most non-technical users recoil from watching boot messages to stdout and are more quieted seeing a graphical progress bar. Like many splash images, exposing the stdout messages is as easy as pressing the Esc key. I was disappointed the Salix developers selected lilo rather than grub as a boot loader. For virtual machine testing I don’t mind using lilo, but I would not bother if I installed on a physical machine. I prefer grub. Being based upon the stock Slackware I am not surprised by the decision. I know that many Slackers prefer grub and wish grub was a direct option during installation rather than a separate package installation. The boot manager splash and basic desktop wallpaper are artistic and professional. I disable desktop wallpaper because I find such backgrounds distracting when I am working. I am kind of a vanilla ice cream person with respect to desktop art work, preferring instead to work without wallpaper. Nonetheless I think the Salix art work is quality work. Salix is packaged with some nice graphical administration tools, which is the primary focus of my testing. That aspect alone makes this Slackware derivative worth testing. I found the following important graphical utilities: Dotnew I am not surprised these tools are available in Salix because the Salix developers at one time were primary Zenwalk developers who created or improved these tools. Yet not all of these tools are from Zenwalk and those that are, have been overhauled, adapted, and localized for Slackware. The dotnew tool seems intended to find any *.new files installed by package updates. These files are installed when updating certain Slackware system packages. This tool is an original Salix tool. The keyboard layout tool provides a graphical means to changing the keyboard mapping. This looks like the same ncurses tool used in the stock Slackware installation but oddly is not installed. I often have thought that the stock Slackware should install that tool. The gslapt tool is a front-end for slapt-get, a third-party Slackware package manager modeled after the Debian apt-get tool. The gslapt tool is configured to provide package dependency checking, something many Slackers don’t want but non-technical users need. Dependency checking can be disabled if desired. Among Slackware users, opinions vary wildly regarding apt-get and gslapt, but such tools are needed by non-technical users. The gslapt tool is maintained and supported by Jason Woodward and is not a Zenwalk or Salix original tool. Startup services provides a handy graphical portal to control rc.d startup scripts. Much like the stock Slackware ncurses tool, the Salix graphical tool does not list certain critical rc.d scripts. I understand why, but I prefer those scripts be listed in a ghosted form so non-technical users are aware those scripts exist (without using the command line). System language serves a similar purpose to keyboard layout to help users configure the underlying language locale. The tool lists the language module name and I’m unsure that serves any purpose to non-technical users. A simple list of locales should suffice. System clock provides a graphical way to adjust the default system language and clock settings, similar to the ncurses tool found in the stock Slackware. The tool also provides an option to enable the ntp daemon. The User profiles tool is from Zenwalk and is used for managing user accounts. I do not like the tool and never have. I find the KUser interface much easier and far less repetitive. Exiting the User profiles tool requires responding to several dialog boxes. The Salix folks intend to redesign this tool to remove the many layers now required. I believe KUser provides the correct model, but removing the many layers will improve the tool regardless. There is a system menu option to configure printers, but this is only a link to starting Firefox and the CUPS interface page. I remain convinced the KDE developers have the better idea with providing a native control center option for configuring CUPS. Most non-technical users don’t like the browser interface to CUPS. Untested in my survey of Salix, but needed for non-technical users is the salix-update-notifier tool. The tool provides a system tray icon and is intended to provide update notices when updated packages are available. The tool uses slapt-get as the foundation. Slapt-get is the underlying package manager engine for gslapt. The tool does not provide any automated balloons or other distracting interruptions. The user merely selects the icon with the mouse and a pop-up dialog box informs the user of any updates. If updates exist, then the user can choose whether to start gslapt. This notification process is consistent with the Slackware philosophy where packages are not automatically updated. These basic graphical tools are exactly what non-technical users need to render the stock Slackware more bearable and will be handy as third-party tools for the stock Slackware. Of course, this was part of the original Zenwalk charter too. The difference is that the Salix developers have designed these packages to be backwards compatible with Slackware. Because of this backwards compatibility these tools can be installed in a stock Slackware environment. I think the Salix developers should advertise that feature and perhaps submit the packages to the popular Slackware repositories. The only multimedia test I tried was playing a movie DVD. The Xfce desktop immediately recognized the disk and tried to play the movie automatically. I received an error message that the GStreamer installation was missing a plugin. As with so many useless error messages, I was provided no information about which plugin was missing. Often I have wondered why, historically, software developers provide such clueless messages. Regardless of the GStreamer developers’ gaffe, I immediately presumed the problem was a lack of necessary libraries and codecs. A quick check of installed packages showed that the libdvdcss package was not installed. I manually installed the package. The movie player again provided the same error message. This time I started the movie player from a terminal window to watch for error messages. I saw the error message Could not create video decoder element 'mpeg2dec'. I manually installed the libmpeg2 package. Same results. Although I was correct the problem was a lack of certain libraries and codecs, some quick surfing of the Salix web site revealed I needed to run a tool called salix-codecs-installer. That tool installs various libraries and so-called patent-encumbered codecs. To avoid the entire nonsense associated with this cantankerous issue, the developers have decided not to insert this option in the installation. The process is manual and only the end-user can run the tool. The salix-codecs-installer was slow on my virtual machine. I don’t know why. The tool remained at the Receiving package information… stage for several minutes. In the hope of seeing meaningful process messages, I toggled to another console to run the tool, only to discover the utility runs in X only. There is no command line equivalent. I again let the tool run for several minutes before the tool actually started downloading packages. Possibly something is not configured correctly in my virtual machine network setup although all of my other virtual machines work just fine and I use the same resolv.conf file in my virtual machines. In the end I was able to play the movie DVD. While reading the Salix web site I indirectly discovered the tool is available in the desktop menu options (Multimedia -> Install multimedia codecs). After all the required multimedia software is installed, the utility provides an option to remove the tool, which I presume also removes the system menu option. Although Salix is not a full-featured multi-media machine out-of-the-box, this kind of utility is another tool non-technical users will find useful to provide remedy for that common problem. I wish the tool was a tad more verbose, however. One regret about these handy graphical tools is they are GTK based. As Salix is an Xfce system I am not expecting QT versions of these tools to render them more native in KDE. I don’t know how much work would be involved to provide QT versions, but several of the tools would be a nice compliment to existing KDE admin tools. As KDE is a primary desktop with Slackware, seeing these tools in QT form, or a Salix-like system based upon KDE rather than Xfce, would be welcomed. Although I am not a GTK admirer or Xfce user, I might install Salix on one of my older systems. I have been wanting to create a simple web browser machine for people who want to surf the web while visiting me at my home. Granted, none of the graphical administration tools would be meaningful or useable to those people, but they would be useful to me. I also would install the xfe file manager because I don’t like Thunar. Other than the root desktop wallpaper and the default lack of a root login, I have no significant gripes about Salix. The backwards Slackware compatibility of the graphical administration tools leaves me feeling positive. I’m grateful these tools now are available for the stock Slackware. The backwards compatibility of the Xfce/GTK packages will leave many Slackers feeling positive. I hope the Salix folks continue their efforts. Finis. |
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