Upgrading Sparky Openbox to v. 4.2

[dhinds]

I used Sparky APTUS to update the package list and Safely Upgrade the System.

What else do you suggest to put my system up to date?

Thanks in advance

P.S.
Unfortunately, upgrading as stated above caused the appearance of my Conky to become less appealing  (a minor issue) but I also lost my WiFi connection.

[paxmark1]

Did your conky go from 1.09 to 1.10?  Huge change to a default lua script.   If so, maybe look on the Bunsen forums about the change, or the conky website. 

wifi - what chipset?   

If you always stop at "Safely Upgrade the System" you negate the purpose of using Debian Testing.  To get the new libraries and the advances you must do a full upgrade either via "Upgrade the System"  or in the command line.  A recent thread on the Bunsen forums about Sid and Bunsen would be quite applicable to testing and Sparky.  A full upgrade should be probably done at least once a week, excepting huge transitions like the c++ transition last August. 

https://forums.bunsenlabs.org/viewtopic.php?id=101&p=6

I discovered openbox via CrunchBang and now Bunsen.   It has lots of info about openbox - it is a good alternative place to search for conky and openbox info and support. 

[dhinds]

Did your conky go from 1.09 to 1.10?  Huge change to a default lua script.   If so, maybe look on the Bunsen forums about the change, or the conky website.

I'll check what the change consisted of when I turn that machine back on.

I'll see if I can get recover the original Sparky Conky script

Aside from Sparky Openbox I have CrunchBang PlusPlus (#!++) installed, which is another offspring of #! (RIP). I haven't tried BunsonLabs (and it was still being developed when I installed #!++.  I am aware that corenominal  wanted the #! name to retire along with himself, which never seemed reasonable to me). The #!++ installation seemed very similar to #!'s except it's based on Jessie (which had just come out.) It may have been an install only iso, rather than a live session, though.

wifi - what chipset?

Realtek. (Although Lenovo called it a ThinkPad chipset when I bought it. An intel was offered for 10 dollars more and I would have chosen that if Lenovo had been truthful).

If you always stop at "Safely Upgrade the System" you negate the purpose of using Debian Testing.  To get the new libraries and the advances you must do a full upgrade either via "Upgrade the System"  or in the command line.  A recent thread on the Bunsen forums about Sid and Bunsen would be quite applicable to testing and Sparky.  A full upgrade should be probably done at least once a week, excepting huge transitions like the c++ transition last August. 

https://forums.bunsenlabs.org/viewtopic.php?id=101&p=6

I see someone recommending #apt-get upgrade rather than #apt-get dist-upgrade, to be prudent.

I have to get the wifi working first though, or bring it to where I can plug it in via ethernet.

I discovered openbox via CrunchBang and now Bunsen.   It has lots of info about openbox - it is a good alternative place to search for conky and openbox info and support.

I came to understand Openbox through #! but found Sparky Openbox to be much better (faster and with more options - it was Ultra openbox 3.1 or 3.2., then). The #! forums were very active and enthusiastic, though - although pavroo has been extremely helpful also. The #!++ forums are on reggit, which has a sketchy format but can be helpful also.

I booted into recovery mode and things are more or less normal except this error message:

E: /var/cache/apt/archives/lxsession_0.5.1-2_amd64.deb: trying to overwrite '/usr/share/locale/zh_CN/LC_MESSAGES/lxsession.mo', which is also in package lxsession-data 0.4.9.2-1+siduction2

[pavroo]

All the packages with 'siduction' in their names have to be removed.
Lxsession and lxpolkit are not in use in Openbox edition anymore.
Remove the package: lxsession-data 0.4.9.2-1+siduction2

[dhinds]

All the packages with 'siduction' in their names have to be removed.
Lxsession and lxpolkit are not in use in Openbox edition anymore.
Remove the package: lxsession-data 0.4.9.2-1+siduction2

Got it!

Should that be mark for removal or for complete removal?

I am starting with removal only.

But I'm still getting the same error message.

I fixed that by manually removing the offending file, reinstalling some things and eliminating others, which let me fix the broken packages, update the system and mark all updates, which are being installed at the moment. I'll check the linux-image when that is done. Is the current version 4.2 or 4.3?

I have 4 linux-images installed:

3.3.16.7

4.4.5-1

4.4.3.3-2 and

4.3-70

[pavroo]

I have improved a Wiki page of base edition, can be helpful:
http://sparkylinux.org/wiki/doku.php/sparky_base

What else is wrong?

p.s.
The 'Full System Upgrade' is recommended way to keep the system up to date, as paxmark1 mentioned.
There is also 'Upgrade System' tool (sparky-aptus-upgrade package) which will do it automatically for you.

[dhinds]

I have improved a Wiki page of base edition, can be helpful:
http://sparkylinux.org/wiki/doku.php/sparky_base

Great. I'll use that.

What else is wrong?

So far, nothing.

Good job, pavroo!

The 'Full System Upgrade' is recommended way to keep the system up to date, as paxmark1 mentioned.
There is also 'Upgrade System' tool (sparky-aptus-upgrade package) which will do it automatically for you.

Perfect. I'm using that (as well as Synaptic and Apt-get).

[dhinds]

As it turned out, a few problems did arise. First of all, the new Sparky Grub didn't appear. Regardless of whether I booted from one of the two hard drives or the other, the default Grub wasn't Sparky's so the new kernels weren't listed. Also, the Boot menu (not the Grub) was duplicated - each of the two hard drives was listed twice.

But the worst thing that happened is, the file managers won't let me mount my data partitions and if I open one as root, media/user doesn't show them.  I assume I am going to have to create a new user and give that use the appropriate privileges, but it's been a long time since I have had to do that and I don't remember how.

Additionally, there seems to be a problem with Wine, regarding my old Windows PIM, EccoPro.

I'm sure that all of these problems can be resolved, however - with a little help from my friends.

I am also updating and upgrading #!++, to see how that one compares, in terms of whatever problems do or don't arise. (Sparky is significantly faster, I believe; with a much newer linux kernel).

[paxmark1]

I am guessing that you have your wifi back up. 

To know more about the wrong grub(s) we need to know more about your system.  Do you have #!++ on a different hard drive, different partition or on a different computer.  The grub you might be starting out with might be from a different install than the sparky install.  How many different installs do you have on how many hard drives?     For me on one computer I have Windows 7 and Debian Stable on the same hard drive (/dev/sda) and Bunsen on another hard drive (/dev/sdb) with ONE grub install on the mbr of /dev/sda1. 

I can be blunt.  I see no value in you continuing on having #!++, especially if it is on the same computer.  IMO you will not learn anything new or better on #!++  than on the sparky openbox.  Last I saw #!++ was a one man show with his forum on reddit.

If you want a debian stable system with openbox as your rock solid stable option - debian8.2 with LXDE is openbox based as is Bunsen. 

But if you are in this to grow and learn, definitely keep the Sparky openbox  and the challenge of testing.  Read up on grub, find out if you have more than one one  grub install on your entire computer and how to update grub. 

Wine is picky or stubborn in 64 bit environments sometimes.   

[dhinds]

I am guessing that you have your wifi back up.

1.- The problem with WiFi disappeared on rebooting (and in any case, I moved the laptop into the room where the modem is located, for now).

To know more about the wrong grub(s) we need to know more about your system. 

All of my computers have 2 hard drives. I use bios based mbr installs only for grub2.  Each disk has it's own grub installed so that the default disk boots one OS as default and the other disk boots to a different OS as default, depending on what I want to use and which disk i boot from. Reinstalling grub (or a system upgrade) changes this periodically but I maintain it in the way that is most useful for me at the time. This setup also provides me with a backup operating system from which I can boot into any of the others, when one or the other works as it should.

Do you have #!++ on a different hard drive, different partition or on a different computer.  The grub you might be starting out with might be from a different install than the sparky install.  How many different installs do you have on how many hard drives?     For me on one computer I have Windows 7 and Debian Stable on the same hard drive (/dev/sda) and Bunsen on another hard drive (/dev/sdb) with ONE grub install on the mbr of /dev/sda1.

As I said, I have 2 hard drives etc. (as mentioned above).  Sparky is my preferred Debian Derivative but of course, since it is based on Debian Testing it can sometimes break - particularly since so many hardware / drivers etc. exist. I prefer Sparky because Pawel includes most of the same applications I myself use out of the box, has added many helpful applications and has been unusually responsive to my requests for assistance (without lecturing me regarding my own choices, which as I said, are based on my own experiences.  I am a rather busy user, not a developer).

On the other hand, Pawel's priorities are LX (De & Qt), and Openbox figures in that context. This is distinct from other distros that feature Openbox as a primary (or sole) DE (or actually DE replacement), such as Archbang, Semplice (which relies mainly on it's own repositories to keep things stable) and some of the Slackware Derivatives (i.e. Salix, Slackel, Vector).

#!++ is installed because (obviously) it is based on Debian Stable and (as I said), was available earlier. It is simply Debian with a set of installation scripts (using Debian's own repos) and as worked well. I have found it to be faithful to the concepts that motivated #!, without the intolerant religious zeal that apparently motivated corenominal to terminate that distro.  Sparky, Solus and others also rely on the vision and values of their creator.

I have not used and am not using Bunsen at present and see no need to do so in the near future (thanks anyway for your opinions/advice).

I can be blunt.  I see no value in you continuing on having #!++, especially if it is on the same computer.  IMO you will not learn anything new or better on #!++  than on the sparky openbox.  Last I saw #!++ was a one man show with his forum on reddit.

I've used the forum rarely but it has served it's purpose for me (getting wine to work, as I recall). Sparky is my preferred Debian System and #!++ is itś only backup at present.

I use only Openbox with the Xfce4-panel and some of the Xfce widgets and Xfce itself (Manjaro -which moved it's openbox version to the community area), Fedora and openSUSE, all of which are working well for me at present.

If you want a debian stable system with openbox as your rock solid stable option - debian8.2 with LXDE is openbox based as is Bunsen.

Yes it is. But I prefer the selection of widgets Xfce offers at present. (Budgie may prove to be an option, and Solus 1 should be ready tomorrow). Mate broke for me a couple of times and I changed to Openbox. Xfce has more support (people working).

But if you are in this to grow and learn, definitely keep the Sparky openbox  and the challenge of testing.  Read up on grub, find out if you have more than one one  grub install on your entire computer and how to update grub.

No, I am not in this to grow and learn so much as to use whatever works and also, demonstrate that free open-source software is the most viable option for everyone (only ignorant slaves use M$ - although a surgeon friend in Jamaica assures me that OSX fills his needs best at present, but sometimes runs Manjaro and Fedora in virtual machine).

Wine is picky or stubborn in 64 bit environments sometimes.   

Yes, but many systems have dropped 32 bit versions and with sufficient RAM, 64 bit systems are indicated.

Your suggestions may be well intentioned, but don't resolve the issues being faced at present.

The default system on this Lenovo Thinkpad W520 is openSUSE Leap 14.1 Xfce. If I boot to the other disk it's Manjaro Xfce which is also not booting since the Debian upgrades (both Sparky and #!++).

I have Calculate (a Gentoo deriviative) Xfce (which I like a lot) installed also, but it has a problem with the NVidia Graphics on this machine.

I've got to leave again, now.

[pavroo]

Your problem with mounting partitions (missing privileges) occured after removing lxpolkit, I suppose.
Have you added policykit-1-gnome to the openbox startup script as I told you before, using the Wiki page?
http://sparkylinux.org/wiki/doku.php/sparky_base
If so, show me your ~HOME/.config/openbox/autostart.sh file, please.

[dhinds]

Your problem with mounting partitions (missing privileges) occured after removing lxpolkit, I suppose.
Have you added policykit-1-gnome to the openbox startup script as I told you before, using the Wiki page?
http://sparkylinux.org/wiki/doku.php/sparky_base
If so, show me your ~HOME/.config/openbox/autostart.sh file, please.

I may have missed a step so I did it again, but I am still told that I'm not authorized to mount my data partitions. The autostart.sh file is as follows:

Code Select Expand

#! /bin/bash

nitrogen --restore && \
tint2 &
/usr/lib/policykit-1-gnome/policykit-gnome-authentication-agent-1 &
(sleep 6s && volumeicon) &
xscreensaver -nosplash &
xfce4-panel &
#conky conky &
##xfce4-power-manager &

[pavroo]

The autostart is fine.
Check do you have 'policykit-1-gnome' package installed:

Code Select Expand

apt-cache policy policykit-1-gnome
Did you log out and log in back (or reboot) after?

[dhinds]

The autostart is fine.

Since this is a laptop, I should probably uncomment the Xfce4-power-manager (unless another is being used)

Check do you have 'policykit-1-gnome' package installed:

Code Select Expand

apt-cache policy policykit-1-gnome
Did you log out and log in back (or reboot) after?

I did all that but I can boot to Sparky (which is unusable without access to my data partitions) and check it again.

Or log in as root and change the permissions. Or create a new user with the permissions I need.

[pavroo]

I found that.
Edit the openbox autostart script again, and change the line from:

Code Select Expand

/usr/lib/policykit-1-gnome/policykit-gnome-authentication-agent-1 &
to:

Code Select Expand

/usr/lib/policykit-1-gnome/polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1 &
then log out and log in back.