New Sparky OpenBox Installation

[dhinds]

I installed Sparky Openbox 3.6 on a Lenovo Thinkpad W520 today and installed Sparky-Wine and Sparky-codecs with no problems except:

1.- I wasn't asked (or missed) to create a root account and hope there's a way I can rectify that;  and

2.- I prefer my Tint2 Panel above (not below) but haven't found away to change that; and

3.- I don't recall how to add a second keyboard layout (a problem I had when I installed v. 3.2 on this same computer).

4.- Also, due to the high resolution of the monitor I want to enlarge the size of Conky's letter and haven't found a way to do that either.

Aside from these details the important issues were realized smoothly and the work that's been put into making Sparky the highest ranked Debian Testing Derivitive (after Kali, which is a specialized distro), really shows.  Congratulations, pavroo.

However: Another problem arose just now when I tried to save my IceDove Setttings using Sparky-Backup-Apps on the desktop machine running an upgraded version of Sparky Ultra Openbox:

Code Select Expand

/home# sparky-backup-apps
/usr/bin/sparky-backup-apps: line 457: /usr/lib/sparkybackup/sparky-icedove: No such file or directory
/usr/bin/sparky-backup-apps: line 402: 25871 Killed                  $DIALOG $TITLE"$TITLETEXT" --no-buttons --progress --pulsate $TEXT"Copying $SKELUSER Icedove settings now. \nPlease wait."
root@cmgx58i7:/home#


And no file is written.

Thanks in advance for providing the solutions to all 5 problems.

[pavroo]

It's a new installation so:
1. The live-installer doesn't ask for root pasword, it uses your passwoed. So you use the same password to your account and root as well. Of cource you can change it after.
2. The tint2 config file is located in:

Code Select Expand

~HOME/.config/tin2/tin2rc
Change the line from:

Code Select Expand

panel_position = bottom center horizontal
to:

Code Select Expand

panel_position = top center horizontal
I never tried that but should works. It needs to relogin or reload the panel after.
3. Try to search our forum, I think I saw something like that
4. Run Sparky Conky manager and use Edit option.
All the font size can be foun as, for example:

Code Select Expand

TEXT
${goto 20}${font dodger:bold:size=15}${color3}SparkyLinux${color}${font}
where 'size=15' is the font size.
There are many different font sizes dependig of a line so check all of them.

The problem with 'sparky-backup-apps' is solved (hope so), there is a newer version 0.1.7 in our repos now.

[dhinds]

It's a new installation so:
1. The live-installer doesn't ask for root pasword, it uses your password. So you use the same password to your account and root as well. Of course you can change it after.

Years ago I used the user password for the root account, but I stopped doing that in order to use a very light user password.  As I understand you, there are no root accounts now then, just sudo.

2. The tint2 config file is located in:

Code Select Expand

~HOME/.config/tin2/tin2rc
Change the line from:

Code Select Expand

panel_position = bottom center horizontal
to:

Code Select Expand

panel_position = top center horizontal
I never tried that but should works. It needs to relogin or reload the panel after.

3. Try to search our forum, I think I saw something like that

I'll find it.

4. Run Sparky Conky manager and use Edit option.
All the font size can be foun as, for example:

Code Select Expand

TEXT
${goto 20}${font dodger:bold:size=15}${color3}SparkyLinux${color}${font}
where 'size=15' is the font size.
There are many different font sizes dependig of a line so check all of them.

OK. It needs to be 20.

The problem with 'sparky-backup-apps' is solved (hope so), there is a newer version 0.1.7 in our repos now.

That worked.  On reloading the repos the new version appeared. icedove-backup.tar.gz is 2.6 Gb.

I want to make two other points:

No long ago a quarrel occured in which someone accused you of not doing enough to support Sparky, which you said wasn't fair.  You were right.  No one does more to support users of any Linux Distro than you do (and I've used a lot of them).

A month ago Makulu announced a new version as follows:

"MakuluLinux LxFce combines both LXDE and Xfce to bring a `best of both worlds' desktop environment to the end user, making use of the LXDE backend allows the system to run smooth and snappy no matter how much RAM is being used. Xfce frontend brings more user friendly front end applications to manage your system. The combination has been designed to compliment each environment offering strengths on both sides and none of the weaknesses."

But it's built on Ubuntu.

I think the concept is valid however.

After I make the changes on the new Sparky OB installation, I'll modify this post to report on the results.

Thanks for the helpful instructions.

(According to the NY Times, Poland just voted in a right wing government).

[pavroo]

As I understand you, there are no root accounts now then, just sudo.

No, you can use both su and sudo, and root account is active, but uses the same password then you.

2.6 Gb of icedove dir archived? Really biiiiiiig.
I thought that my icedove backup 250 MB is big :)

According to the NY Times, Poland just voted in a right wing government

I hope so too, but the time will show.

[dhinds]

As I understand you, there are no root accounts now then, just sudo.

No, you can use both su and sudo, and root account is active, but uses the same password as you.

In that case I will change the password to something stronger, than create another user.

2.6 Gb of icedove dir archived? Really biiiiiiig.
I thought that my icedove backup 250 MB is big :)

Since all my accounts are now imap, it seems large to me also - But a couple months ago I transferred my Thunderbird profiile (and they are they same accounts in both cases) but the space required was over 5 Gb.

So differences must exist between IceDove and Thunderbird.  And this time I was asked to supply the passwords for every account, afterwards - which was never necessary for Thunderbird or IceDove via Backup-Apps before.

Everything else worked fine (moving the Tint2 Panel to the top and changing the size of the Fonts used in Conky) except for toggling between two keyboard layouts.  In fact, even if add Latin American Spanish and eliminate US English I still can't get the layout to change.  (I added something -xfce settings, I think- that is supposed to let me toggle using a key combinmation but it doesn't work.  It does on my upgraded Sparky Ultra OpenBox, though).

I hope so too, but the time will show.

I'm not aware of any problems with the present government - they are in the vanguard on some issues, such as a ban of Genetically Modified crops (which provide no benefits to farmers or consumers and are in fact hazardous to the environment and public health), for instance.  But a friend of mine here in Mexico married a Polaca who is in Warsaw with their kids and he told me last night that she was in favor of a change, although I am not aware of any right leaning government that was good for the majority of its citizens.

Politicians as a class have proved to be disappointing (with the exception perhaps of those that have spent time in jail).

Thanks for the pointers. I will keep looking for a way to fix the keyboard layout problem.