torios team mailing list archive

[Nio Wiklund <nio.wiklund@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Israel and toriosadores,

I downloaded, checked and tested 'ToriOS-i386-beta2.iso'
and it has improved a lot from 'ToriOS-beta.iso' in only 2 days :-)
But I have some suggestions for improvements.

*Live Session*

1. *Larger fonts in the OBI* that is not full-screen

I suggest that you change the Exec line to

Exec=xterm -fa default -fs 13 -e /usr/share/OBI/starter

in the file /Desktop/obi.desktop

There is also an icon for it (to tell it from the full screen version),

Icon=/usr/share/OBI/02_obi-splash-icon.png

(to tell from 02_obi-hi-res-splash-icon.png)


2. *Improved help* 'partition-help.txt'

Nice that you make it dynamic :-) but there are two things I suggest
that you change

a. The file system in a shared data partition with Windows can be NTFS
too. I think it is the best option, at least for a big data partition on
a hard disk drive. If you want to share with MacOS, it might be limited
to FAT 32 or FAT 16.

b. You are showing the drive size and swap size in sectors (512 bytes).
I think you should show Mibibytes instead, which is used by gparted, so
divide by 1024*1024/512 = 2048
and tell the user that it is Mibibytes.

-----
You can install a system from a tarball into two partitions:

one root file system partition and
one swap partition

This way it is possible to create a *dual boot* device with an existing
(already
installed) operating system. It is also possible to create a separate
*data partition*, that can be used by linux as well as Windows. (Must be
FAT32 or FAT16)

# Comment: Can also be NTFS :-)

OBI detects 2 devices
sda sdb

Edit and create partitions

One partition should be labeled 'obi-root'
One (smaller) partition should be labeled 'obi-swap'.

These labeled partitions can be identified and selected automatically
Manual selection is also possible, if you do not want to temporarily
label them this way.

For example:
sda is 78140160
the swap should be around 4665248

# Comment: You are showing sectors (512 bytes).
# I think you should show Mibibytes instead,
# which is used by gparted, so divide by 1024*1024/512=2048
-----

c. I hardly noticed the window with this partition help text. I suggest
that you put a delay of 3 seconds before the script continues and open
gparted on top (and hides it). That way people will get aware of the
help text.

-----
...q
fi
sleep 3
sudo gparted && sudo "$path/obi"Is that by intention or a bug?
-----

d. I would also suggest displaying the 'partition-help.txt' with the
following string (one line, which makes it easier to see and read)

xterm -fa default -fg black -bg beige -fs 13  -geometry 80x26 -title
"Help to partition" -hold -e fold -sw 80 ~/partition-help.txt

The size of the window should be made big enough for the whole text. The
current text fits in 26 lines (including the final line feed). Modify
the size if you change the file.

or if you prefer zenity

zenity --window-icon="info" --title="Help for partitioning" --width=800
--height=600 --text-info --filename ~/partition-help.txt

It is possible to control fonts and high-light text in zenity (as I do
with mkusb).

I can tweak partition-help (text and display method) for the display
alternative that you decide to choose :-)


3. *nano is borked* segmentation fault

I removed and installed it with

sudo apt-get remove nano
sudo apt-get install nano

and it started working. But now the help text wants to be shown by less
(xdg-open). So you need to do something (according to 2d.)


4. *Desktop settings*

The desktop is black in the live session. Is that by intention or a bug?
I cannot change it. Nothing happens when I click on the icons to 'get
there'.


5. Description of OBI is on the desktop, but not the other two help
texts (OBI-quick-start-manual.pdf and README.pdf). Is that by intention?
That you think that help text is relevant, but not the other texts. I
realize that there is the ToriOS manual too.


*Installed system*

1. *Slow boot*

It was unually slow to get ready after installing in my IBM Thinkpad T42
with Pentium M. I thought it was borked, but finally it arrived at the
login screen. There was some information that it needed 'extra 60
seconds to configure the network'. I don't know, if this was a temporary
error, or if something has changed concerning network in the installed
system (the tarball that comes with the beta2 iso file). But without a
working network.

I started it with

sudo NetworkManager

and started the panel applet with

nm-applet

(I know it can be started with a menu option too.)


*Comments*

free -m --> 55 MB RAM without network and 68 MB RAM with network and
applet running !!!

df -h --> 1.6G (Gibibytes)

It is really light :-)


Maybe I find more things to discuss or debug ...

Best regards
Nio