Cinnamon respin

[armakolas]

I am trying to create a fast Cinnamon respin, based on Sparkylinux-5.3-x86_64-minimalcli.iso but some things don't work as I expected.
One thing is that the iso file does not seem to keep all my settings as it is supposed to. I installed the cinnamenu applet and placed it in Cinnamon's default menu applet's place, and although it works perfectly in my development installation, it is replaced by Cinnamon's default menu applet when booting from the usb that i create from the iso. Does anyone have an idea to try? Here is a screenshot of my development installation.https://eydaimon.wordpress.com/linux/

[pavroo]

How did you make your respin? via command line or backup gui?

[armakolas]

The respin works perfectly! Congratulations to Pavroo for the great work that has been done in Sparky and Sasdthoh for the remaster guide.
Here is a screenshot: https://eydaimon.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/tv_2018-05-20_1920x1080resized1024.png
The iso size is 1.5gb up to now (libreoffice is included) and it will not grow a lot bigger. It is early for releasing it to the public demand, so please wait.

The problem that prevented Cinnamenu from being added to the iso file and, therefore, from working, was my fault, not Sparky's. My fault was that I added my home folder's files to /etc/skel before i pressed the clear option at Sparky Backup System, which removes all copied files from the working directory (and, as you can guess, from /etc/skel/ too).
The answer to Pavroo's question is that I did it via command line. The problem, as i have just explained, was in the order of my procedure's list.

[armakolas]

The other problem that I have not solved yet has to do with the usb booting. I can not make the computer, that I use to create the Sparky Cinnamon Respin iso, which, of course, uses Sparky Cinnamon, create a bootable usb disk that will enable me to test the iso from this same computer. I have tried Unetbootin, dd command, cp command, gparted (with and without the boot flag, and with fat32, ext4, ntfs filesystems), sparky live usb creator and sparky usb disk formatter.
When I copy the iso to my tv computer (which uses an other debian derivative) and create the bootable usb there, by using Unetbootin, it works correctly. Though, creating the bootable usb in an other computer is embarassing for the Sparky Cinnamon remix that I am trying to create. How can i check whether the fault is in the computer, that I use to create the Sparky Cinnamon Respin iso?

[pavroo]

If the iso can be copied onto an usb using other machine, means the iso and usb disk is fine.
A problem can be with usb port, I guess...

[armakolas]

The usb booting problem with unetbootin is solved. It had to do with the ancient version of the deb file that the official unetbootin page was providing for debian based desktops. I used the ubuntu version instead, which is several versions newer. It also had to do with a very old usb cable I was using.  Usb creation speed got improved too. Now the horizon is open again for testing. Here is a screenshot of the system with the file manager slightly differently themed:
https://eydaimon.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/screenshot_2018-05-27.jpg

[armakolas]

SparkyLinux 5.4 Cinnamon respin is out had to be delayed!
Estimated release date: End of July or early August.

[armakolas]

Please stay tuned. SparkyLinux 5.4 Cinnamon Remix is worthy of your patience.

[armakolas]

SparkyLinux 5.4 Cinnamon respin is out!

SparkyLinux Cinnamon remix is a Linux distribution created on top of SparkyLinux operating system. It is built around Cinnamon desktop environment and it is fast, easy and beautiful.

SparkyLinux Cinnamon remix is both beginner-friendly, due to Cinnamon's maturity, and powerful, due to Sparky's APTus smart tools.

Highlights:
-Debian based for its speed, lightness, widespread use, big package-base and stability.
-Testing repository based, for always up to date applications and system.
-Rolling release, so that it will never need reinstallation.
-Cinnamon desktop based, as it is mature, smart and productivity boosting.
-Preinstalled programs that are among the best of their kind.
-SparkyLinux repository with a large set of additional applications

Features:
Cinnamon desktop environment with the perfect Cinnamenu applet as default menu
Firefox with Ublock Origin and Text Contrast for Dark Themes, LibreOffice, VLC, Nemo file manager, Transmission torrent downloader, Brasero dvd writer, Qmmp music player, Nomacs image editor, Evince pdf viewer, Gparted partition manager. Applications are chosen for their effectiveness, instead of their specific toolkit or design.
Sparky APTus provides lots of major apps for easy, one-click installation and the outstanding Sparky's advanced tools.
Carefully selected application settings for being ready to use and theme settings (dark theme, bigger fonts), so as to be the easiest on the eyes.
Anydesk deb file ready to be installed, for easy and fast remote desktop.
Easy hard drive / USB installation with Calamares installer and Sparky Advanced Installer.
ISO only 1,5GB! Not heavily customized, not bloated, just kept simple.
Fast. Responsiveness and speed comparable to light desktops.
For 64bit machines with more than 1GB of memory.
UEFI and BIOS motherboards supported.
Continuously updated due to Rolling release scheme.
Latest versions of all programs, with no compromises in stability, due to Testing repository.
"Unofficial" spin, not made by SparkyLinux "dev" team members.
Username and password for the live session: live, live
Full system upgrade from Debian testing repos as of 25th of August 2018

Additional preinstalled packages:
mint-x-icons for extra variety
DEBiTool for easy deb file installation (GDebi alternative)
grubc for color checking. Small, simple and effective command line color checker. No need for gui equivalents.

Get it now and spread the news!
Download from: https://sourceforge.net/projects/sparky-linux-cinnamon-remix/files/latest/download

[armakolas]

The new live/install iso image of SparkyLinux 5.5 Cinnamon remix "Nibiru" is available for download.
Sparky 5 follows rolling release model and is based on Debian testing "Buster".

SparkyLinux Cinnamon remix is a Linux distribution created on top of SparkyLinux operating system. It is built around Cinnamon desktop environment and it is fast, easy and beautiful.

SparkyLinux Cinnamon remix is both beginner-friendly, due to Cinnamon's maturity, and powerful, due to Sparky's APTus smart tools.

Changes:
-Full system upgrade from Debian testing repos as of September 20, 2018

Highlights:
-Debian based for its speed, lightness, widespread use, big package-base and stability.
-Testing repository based, for always up to date applications and system.
-Rolling release, so that it will never need reinstallation.
-Cinnamon desktop based, as it is mature, smart and productivity boosting.
-Preinstalled programs that are among the best of their kind.
-SparkyLinux repository with a large set of additional applications

Features:
-Cinnamon desktop environment with the perfect Cinnamenu applet as default menu
-Firefox with Ublock Origin and Text Contrast for Dark Themes, LibreOffice, VLC, Nemo file manager, Transmission torrent downloader, Brasero dvd writer, Qmmp music player, Nomacs image editor, Evince pdf viewer, Gparted partition manager. Applications are chosen for their effectiveness, instead of their specific toolkit or design.
-Sparky APTus provides lots of major apps for easy, one-click installation and the outstanding Sparky's advanced tools.
-Carefully selected application settings for being ready to use and theme settings (dark theme, bigger fonts), so as to be the easiest on the eyes.
-Anydesk deb file ready to be installed, for easy and fast remote desktop.
-Easy hard drive / USB installation with Calamares installer and Sparky Advanced Installer.
-ISO less than 1,5GB! Not heavily customized, not bloated, just kept simple.
-Fast. Responsiveness and speed comparable to light desktops.
-For 64bit machines with more than 1GB of memory.
-UEFI and BIOS motherboards supported.
-Continuously updated due to Rolling release scheme.
-Latest versions of all programs, with no compromises in stability, due to Testing repository.
-"Unofficial" spin, not made by SparkyLinux "dev" team members.
-Username and password for the live session: live, live

Additional preinstalled packages:
mint-x-icons for extra variety
DEBiTool for easy deb file installation (GDebi alternative)
grubc for color checking. Small, simple and effective command line color checker. No need for gui equivalents.

Get it now and spread the news!
Download from https://sourceforge.net/projects/sparky-linux-cinnamon-remix/files/latest/download

[armakolas]

The new live/install iso image of SparkyLinux 5.6 Cinnamon remix "Nibiru" is available for download.

SparkyLinux Cinnamon remix is a Linux distribution created on top of SparkyLinux operating system. It is built around Cinnamon desktop environment and it is fast, easy and beautiful.

SparkyLinux Cinnamon remix is both beginner-friendly, due to Cinnamon's maturity, and powerful, due to Sparky's APTus smart tools.

Changes:
-Full system upgrade from Debian testing repos as of December 12, 2018.
-Arc is the new default system theme, instead of Arc Dark, because it was too dark.
-Firefox's extension "Text Contrast for Dark Themes" got removed because it is not useful with the bright default theme (Arc).
-The applet "Graphical hardware monitor" is installed on the system panel, which is the best way to be always informed about cpu and memory usage. It is very light on resources and it is set to open the task manager (lxtask) with a single click.
-Libreoffice follows system theme's settings and no longer looks grayish, due to the installation of "libreoffice-gtk3" file.
-Libreoffice's menu icons are shown correctly now. They used to look pixelated because the system font multiplier was set to 1.3.
-All system fonts are set to 10 pixels and multiplied by a 1.2 scaling factor, so as to ease reading, help focusing and minimize eye strain.
-The font size of the default Cinnamon theme is expressed only in "ems" now, and not anymore in "pt". In practice, this improvement made all fonts scalable. Font scalability keeps the desktop experience uniform and easily adaptable to big tv screens or small monitors.
-Cinnamenu applet got removed from the taskbar. The default Cinnamon taskbar menu is easier and faster for clicking on Favorites and Logout shortcuts.
-Xfburn replaced Brasero for writting CDs and DVDs. Although Brasero is able to create a video dvd and is able to accomplish more tasks than Xfburn, it was proved unreliable compared to Xfburn. When creating backups, reliability is the top priority, and not plurality. Strangely, K3b was worse, because it was closed unexpectedly whenever the "burn" button was pressed.
-Nemo file manager sorts the files alfabetically by default and not in inverted order any more.
-Pluma text editor is installed as a replacement to Gedit. The reason is that Gedit uses a very impractical GTK+3 window border which, when the window is maximized, requires the user to target accurately on it's close button, and not aproximately on the top right corner. This way it cancels the unofficial top right hot horner that all users are used to for decades. Gedit is not removed because it is a Cinnamon's dependency.
-Atril pdf viewer is installed as a replacement to Evince. Evince got removed for the same reasons that led to Gedit's replacement.

Highlights:
-Debian based for its speed, lightness, widespread use, big package-base and stability.
-Testing repository based, for always up to date applications and system.
-Rolling release, so that it will never need reinstallation.
-Cinnamon desktop based, as it is mature, smart and productivity boosting.
-Preinstalled programs that are among the best of their kind.
-SparkyLinux repository with a large set of additional applications

Features:
-Cinnamon desktop environment. It is the simplest of the modern ones.
-Firefox with Ublock Origin, LibreOffice, VLC, Nemo file manager, Transmission torrent downloader, Xfburn dvd writer, Qmmp music player, Nomacs image editor, Atril pdf viewer, Pluma text editor, Gparted partition manager. Applications are carefully selected for being effective and coherent.
-Sparky APTus is the most precious suite of applications. It provides lots of major apps for easy, one-click installation and the outstanding Sparky's advanced tools.
-Default application settings are mindfully crafted so as to maximize usability.
-Anydesk deb file ready to be installed, for easy and fast remote desktop.
-Easy hard drive / USB installation with Calamares installer and Sparky Advanced Installer.
-ISO less than 1,5GB! Not heavily customized, not bloated, just kept simple.
-Fast. Responsiveness and speed comparable to light desktops.
-For 64bit machines with more than 1GB of memory.
-UEFI and BIOS motherboards supported.
-Continuously updated due to Rolling release scheme.
-Latest versions of all programs, with no compromises in stability, due to Testing repository.
-"Unofficial" spin, not made by SparkyLinux "dev" team members.
-Username and password for the live session: live, live

Additional preinstalled packages:
mint-x-icons for extra variety
DEBiTool for easy deb file installation (GDebi alternative)
grubc for color checking. Small, simple and effective command line color checker. No need for gui equivalents.

Get it now and spread the news!
Download from https://sourceforge.net/projects/sparky-linux-cinnamon-remix/files/latest/download

[kris]

i have tested and copy it to usb ,but its the same it wont load on real hardware tested more than once , and even for proof ..
if you tested with etcher for example it say there are no boot tables , and if the copy is finish it dont boot ,  ???
yes works one vmware 15 ,virtualbox 6.6 and even gnomeboxes , but it wil not stat up like the official sparky iso ,

like i have say before the efi is not suported like in for example pinguy builders that is something that must look in to that really...

[armakolas]

The new live/install iso image of SparkyLinux 5.7 Cinnamon remix "Nibiru" is available for download.

SparkyLinux Cinnamon remix is a Linux distribution created on top of SparkyLinux operating system. It is built around Cinnamon desktop environment and it is fast, easy and beautiful.

SparkyLinux Cinnamon remix is both beginner-friendly, due to Cinnamon's maturity, and powerful, due to Sparky's APTus smart tools.

Changes:
-Full system upgrade from Debian testing repos as of March 14, 2019.
-"haveged" package got installed as a solution for the slow starting after login screen problem
-Asunder got installed. Now everyone can save tracks as mp3, ogg, flac files etc.
-Cups virtual pdf printer is installed, for printing anything to pdf with ease.
-Linux kernel has been reverted to Debian's version from testing repos (amd64 / 686 non-pae) as default
-Qmmp starts in normal size window, not double sized.
-New collection of beautiful background images available (copied from Linux Mint tessa).
-Firefox settings changed

Highlights:
-Debian based for its speed, lightness, widespread use, big package-base and stability.
-Testing repository based, for always up to date applications and system.
-Rolling release, so that it will never need reinstallation.
-Cinnamon desktop based, as it is mature, smart and productivity boosting.
-Preinstalled programs that are among the best of their kind.
-SparkyLinux repository with a large set of additional applications

Features:
-Cinnamon desktop environment. It is the simplest of the modern ones.
-Firefox with Ublock Origin, LibreOffice, VLC, Nemo file manager, Transmission torrent downloader, Xfburn dvd writer, Qmmp music player, Nomacs image editor, Atril pdf viewer, Pluma text editor, Gparted partition manager, Asunder cd ripper, Cups virtual printer. Applications are carefully selected for being effective and coherent.
-Sparky APTus is the most precious suite of applications. It provides lots of major apps for easy, one-click installation and the outstanding Sparky's advanced tools.
-Default application settings are mindfully crafted so as to maximize usability.
-Anydesk deb file ready to be installed, for easy and fast remote desktop.
-Easy hard drive / USB installation with Calamares installer and Sparky Advanced Installer.
-ISO less than 1,7GB! Not heavily customized, not bloated, just kept simple.
-Fast. Responsiveness and speed comparable to light desktops.
-For 64bit machines with more than 1GB of memory.
-UEFI and BIOS motherboards supported.
-Continuously updated due to Rolling release scheme.
-Latest versions of all programs, with no compromises in stability, due to Testing repository.
-"Unofficial" spin, not made by SparkyLinux "dev" team members.
-Username and password for the live session: live, live

Additional preinstalled packages:
mint-x-icons for extra variety
mint-backgrounds-tessa_1.1_all for bigger variety of backgrounds
DEBiTool for easy deb file installation (GDebi alternative)
grubc for color checking. Small, simple and effective command line color checker. No need for gui equivalents.

Get it now and spread the news!
Download from https://sourceforge.net/projects/sparky-linux-cinnamon-remix/files/latest/download

[armakolas]

When installing Sparky Cinnamon 5.7 unofficial respin by using the Sparky Installer shortcut, which actually executes the Calamares installer, it is probable that the installation may end with an error and a not working installation.

The message it will show is this:

Code Select Expand

Error Boost.Python at task "packages".
Command 'apt-get --purge -q -y remove sparky-backup-core live-* calamares gparted mc' returned non-zero exit status 100.
Reading package lists... Building dependency tree... Reading state information... Package 'live-build' is not installed, so not removed Package 'live-config-sysvinit' is not installed, so not removed Package 'live-manual' is not installed, so not removed Package 'live-manual-epub' is not installed, so not removed Package 'live-manual-html' is not installed, so not removed Package 'live-manual-odf' is not installed, so not removed Package 'live-manual-pdf' is not installed, so not removed Package 'live-manual-txt' is not installed, so not removed Package 'live-task-base' is not installed, so not removed Package 'live-task-cinnamon' is not installed, so not removed Package 'live-task-extra' is not installed, so not removed Package 'live-task-gnome' is not installed, so not removed Package 'live-task-kde' is not installed, so not removed Package 'live-task-localisation' is not installed, so not removed Package 'live-task-localisation-desktop' is not installed, so not removed Package 'live-task-lxde' is not installed, so not removed Package 'live-task-lxqt' is not installed, so not removed Package 'live-task-mate' is not installed, so not removed Package 'live-task-recommended' is not installed, so not removed Package 'live-task-standard' is not installed, so not removed Package 'live-task-xfce' is not installed, so not removed Package 'live-wrapper' is not installed, so not removed Package 'live-wrapper-doc' is not installed, so not removed Package 'mc' is not installed, so not removed The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required: cryptsetup cryptsetup-bin cryptsetup-initramfs cryptsetup-run kpackagetool5 libboost-python1.62.0 libgtkmm-2.4-1v5 libkf5package-data libkf5package5 libkf5plasma5 libkpmcore7 libpython3.6 libpython3.6-minimal libpython3.6-stdlib libqt5positioning5 libqt5quickwidgets5 libqt5sensors5 libqt5webchannel5 libqt5webkit5 libyaml-cpp0.5v5 qml-module-qtquick-controls qml-module-qtquick-layouts qml-module-qtquick-privatewidgets syslinux-utils user-setup Use 'apt autoremove' to remove them. The following packages will be REMOVED: calamares* gparted* live-boot* live-boot-doc* live-boot-initramfs-tools* live-config* live-config-doc* live-config-systemd* live-tools* sparky-backup-core* sparky-backup-desktop* sparky-backup-sys* 0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 12 to remove and 71 not upgraded. 2 not fully installed or removed. After this operation, 23.0 MB disk space will be freed. E: Can not write log (Is /dev/pts mounted?) - posix_openpt (19: No such device) (Reading database ... 202938 files and directories currently installed.) Removing calamares (3.2.1~sparky5~3-1) ... Removing sparky-backup-sys (20180930) ... Removing gparted (0.32.0-2) ... Removing live-boot-doc (1:20180603) ... Removing live-config-doc (5.20180224) ... Removing live-tools (1:20171207) ... Removing sparky-backup-core (20181127) ... dpkg: warning: while removing sparky-backup-core, directory '/etc/skel/Desktop' not empty so not removed Removing sparky-backup-desktop (20181126) ... Removing live-boot (1:20180603) ... Removing live-boot-initramfs-tools (1:20180603) ... update-initramfs: deferring update (trigger activated) Removing live-config (5.20180224) ... Removing live-config-systemd (5.20180224) ... Setting up desktop-base (10.0.0) ... update-alternatives: error: cannot stat file '/etc/alternatives/desktop-background': Invalid argument dpkg: error processing package desktop-base (--configure): installed desktop-base package post-installation script subprocess returned error exit status 2 dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of gnome-control-center: gnome-control-center depends on desktop-base (>= 10.0.0); however: Package desktop-base is not configured yet. dpkg: error processing package gnome-control-center (--configure): dependency problems - leaving unconfigured Processing triggers for mime-support (3.62) ... Processing triggers for initramfs-tools (0.133) ... update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-4.19.0-2-amd64 cryptsetup: WARNING: The initramfs image may not contain cryptsetup binaries nor crypto modules. If that's on purpose, you may want to uninstall the 'cryptsetup-initramfs' package in order to disable the cryptsetup initramfs integration and avoid this warning. Processing triggers for hicolor-icon-theme (0.17-2) ... Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.28-8) ... Processing triggers for man-db (2.8.5-2) ... Processing triggers for menu (2.1.47+b1) ... Processing triggers for desktop-file-utils (0.23-4) ... Errors were encountered while processing: desktop-base gnome-control-center E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

Traceback:
File "/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/calamares/modules/packages/main.py", line 514, in run
    run_operations(pkgman, entry)

  File "/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/calamares/modules/packages/main.py", line 443, in run_operations
    pkgman.remove(package_list)

  File "/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/calamares/modules/packages/main.py", line 245, in remove
    "remove"] + pkgs)

  File "<string>", line 88, in <module>

The problem is probably in Calamares installer. A similar thread at Sparky Forums is "[SOLVED] Calamares error "Instalation Failed"" at: https://sparkylinux.org/forum/index.php/topic,4781.0.html

In case it occurs, the only solution for installing the Sparky Cinnamon 5.7 respin is to use the debian installer, whose shortcut is named "Sparky (Advanced) Installer". Although it's visual appearence is not cutting edge, it is quite easy.

[armakolas]

If you have made the updates that Sparky Linux suggests or if you have executed the "sudo apt autoremove" command lately, you may have noticed that it gives the information that "desktop-base" package suffers from the following problem:

Code Select Expand

update-alternatives: error: cannot stat file '/etc/alternatives/desktop-background': ...
dpkg: error processing package desktop-base (--configure):
installed desktop-base package post-installation script subprocess returned error exit status 2

and that errors occured while editing the package:

Code Select Expand

desktop-base
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

This problem should not worry the users, because it can easily be corrected. The reason for the problem is that, in order to provide the users with a beautiful desktop background image by default, the original sparky '/etc/alternatives/desktop-background' file had to be changed with a more beautiful image file.

To correct the problem, open the file manager (nemo) with administrator rights and go to "/etc/alternatives/" folder. Delete the "desktop-background" file. Rename "desktop-background.bak" to "desktop-background", by simply deleting the ".bak" part of the name. Now that it has taken the place of the previously deleted file, you are ready to execute "sudo apt autoremove" again. The "desktop-base" package will be easily deleted now. Selecting a desktop background image may be required.