Besides these two factors, I found it incredibly easy to install a fully functional linux system in just about ten minutes.  The documentation is well written in the required files for moderation.  On a side note, it is very handy to the user to have a handwritten list of repo sources on hand for easy access.

The only gripe I have with this distribution is that AntiX does not have any images optimized for 64-bit machines.  All in all, AntiX-Core is my main go-to distribution for 32-bit systems, because it is minimalistic, contains no bloat, and easy to install and individualize.  I am very satisfied with community’s work on this distribution and would highly recommend this to experienced linux users who want a minimalistic 32-bit machine.

New Year New Life

My life has changed drastically since last year of December, which marked my departure from windows and entry into Linux.  Fed up with windows and its cumbersome ways, I found myself in the realms of linux and created my first home in Crunchbang.  Everything was snazzy and I had tons to learn.  The community provided me all the basic knowledge I needed to enjoy a full linux environement without any reliance on windows.

A few months down the road, I am a regular user on the forums and IRC who helps new users find their home in linux.  I even wrote two linux guides that fully explain how to setup a perfectly working linux environment.  Yet, I am still amazed that I went from a GUI (Graphical User Interface) environment to an almost all CLI (Command Line Interface) environment.

As of December, I wrote another linux guide in the crunchbang forums about how to setup a conveniently functional CLI environment for Siduction with scrotwm as the default window manager.  For this year (2011), I am grateful for having a PC the way I like it and the many new friends that I have found via linux.

As for the new year to come, I hope to accomplish the following.

1. Enrich my nursing and linux knowledge.
2. Become a better cook.
3. Be a more compassionate person.
4. Learn how to build a fileserver.
5. Learn how to fix several things in a car.
6. Learn how to maintenance my own bike.
7. Make lots of money from my occupation and my hobbies
8. Convert some windows adverts to linux mentors.
9. Make life easier than 2011.
10. Survive 2012.

Unfortunately, the openbox environment looks like it hasn’t been tweaked or fleshed out at all.  It is like the openbox you get from installing it straight from the repos.  No fancy menu, openbox config, or anything.  Even tint2 is not installed.  However, none of these should matter, because they are easily fixed with a simple command from the terminal.

Also, I wished siduction could make their isos more minimalistic, because all of their isos are significantly bigger than the smallest iso from aptosid.  The siduction LXDE iso is approximately 675mb whereas the aptosid XFCE version is about 475mb.  For most users, the default apps would be most appreciated by the general public, but not by those who just want to keep a small footprint on their harddrives (although a debian netinstall can easily fix this issue).

My other complaint is the web browser installer. For some odd reason, the root partition cannot be any smaller than 1 gb for it to be recognized by the installer, even if the user has dedicated partitions for /home /usr /var /tmp.  The aptosid installer does not care but siduction does. I hope this issue can be resolved in the future releases.

On the plus side, I found it relatively easy to find and purge almost everything I did not need, althought my purge list goes up to 3 lines of text or more.  To my surprise, the dist-upgrade process was simple and did not require huge amounts of data to be downloaded from the repos for the very first dist-upgrade.  In aptosid, I would need to download approximately 400mb or more on the first dist-upgrade, whereas my siduction install only needed about 23mb of data.

Overall, the siduction distribution looks very promising and I am certain that I will be using their distro for a long time to come.  Right now, I can only hope for something like a siduction-core iso where it is only a wm (openbox or scrotwm), drivers, terminal applications, and the kernel.

Siduction site: http://siduction.org/

Upon boot of the live environment, I am greeted with the standard puppy introduction screen for setting my locale, time, keyboard configs.  After those settings are saved and Xorg is restarted, one is left with an openbox environment with a minimal conky in the lower left corner, displaying the time with a CPU and RAM usage bar.  There is nothing more on the screen besides a black wallpaper.

The openbox menu is cleverly minimal, since most of the options are stashed away in the puppy control panel.  Connecting to wireless access points (APs) was painless.  The preinstalled apps were snappy upon launch too.

However, I had a few qualms with this distro.  Although the selection is fantastic, there are too many preinstalled applications that accomplish the same function in all of the categories.  Being a new user to puppy linux, I could not figure out how to uninstall their packages in spite of using the provided package manager.

The attempt to make a crunchbangified puppy linux is well done, but I believe it could be even better by being more selective with the built-in applications.

References: http://slimpup.com

Download the Syslinux bootloader and extract contents to a new folder “BOOTLOADER” on a usb stick.

*UPDATE* – Download the openelec build that corresponds to your type of PC build (i.e. Intel, Ion, Fusion, etc).  Within this openelec file, there should be a folder with the title “target”.  Navigate into this folder and there should be four files, “KERNEL, KERNEL.md5, SYSTEM, SYSTEM.md5″.  Copy these files to a new folder “OPENELEC” on the same usb stick mentioned above.

By doing the above, we can avoid using the internet during the installation process.

STEP 2: CREATE PARTITIONS

Boot into the livecd/liveusb and launch gparted.  Shrink the partitions at the end so there is enough room for us to make two ext3 partitions at the very end of the Hard drive (HDD).  We are putting these partitions at the end, because we are not going to mess with them very much post-installation.  The partition can be of any type (primary or logical does not make a difference)

1. Open GParted
2. Make room for two partitions at the end (4gb is enough for typical users)*
3. Create 128mb ext3 partition at end of partition with label BOOT
4. Flag partition as boot
5. Create another ext3 partition to occupy the rest of the unallocated space with label STORAGE
6. Exit GParted

*NOTE 01* The amount of room we want to unallocate depends on how big we want to make the STORAGE partition, because this partition will house all the Music/Movies/TV Shows/Videos/Pictures and their respective libraries unless all of this stuff is on the network.  I typically recommend ~4gb for the STORAGE partition if one wants to use a locally indexed library for their multimedia.

*NOTE 02* Please double check the labels and flags are done correctly to avoid potential hours of headaches.

STEP 3: INSTALL EXTLINUX BOOTLOADER

1. Mount the BOOT partition via Slitaz’s file manager by clicking on the respective HDD icon.
2. Attach USB stick that has the extracted contents of the syslinux bootloader in a folder called “BOOTLOADER”
3. Open command line.


$ su
root password: root
$ cd /media/BOOT
$ cp /media/disk/BOOTLOADER/* /media/BOOT/
$ mv ./extlinux /usr/bin/extlinux
$ chmod +x /usr/bin/extlinux


Now we are going to test if extlinux works as an executable

$ extlinux

You should see some code detailing its options. If so, we can proceed to the next step.

$ extlinux -i /media/BOOT/

A successful installation will create a file called “ldlinux.sys” Do not touch it.

Now it is time to install the bootloader. (Please note that it is sda without any numbers at the end)

$ dd if=/media/BOOT/mbr.bin of=/dev/sda

You should see some output stating that a certain number of bytes was read and written to /dev/sda. Now you can delete mbr.bin

$ rm -rf /media/BOOT/mbr.bin

STEP 4: COPY OPENELEC FILES

While still in command line as root, copy the openelec files from the usb stick to the BOOT partition. The openelec files must be in the root of the BOOT partition.

$ cp /media/disk/OPENELEC/* /media/BOOT/

If you followed my instructions, there should be exactly nine files – We absolutely need them for openelec to work.

MANDATORY STEP FOR WINDOWS XP USERS

While in command line as root, edit extlinux.conf

$ nano /media/BOOT/extlinux.conf

Now edit the line “APPEND” under the Windows 7 section and have that line look like this:

APPEND boot 1

Now Windows XP should work. You can also change the Windows 7 label accordingly to reflect the Windows XP operating system.

FINAL STEP: TESTING THE BOOTLOADER

1. Reboot system and remove livecd/liveusb
2. Make sure system boots to HDD
3. Choose Win7/WinXP/Openelec from menu
4. Enjoy your dualboot!

Shoutout to MrSparklle at the openelec forums for doing a fantastic tutorial and helping people out in making this kind of tutorial.

*Will add pictures later.

Sources: Openelec Tutorial

For the time being, I’ll be experimenting with Opera and Chrome until I fix my Palemoon installation.

Info: Palemoon is a Windows optimized Firefox.

Crunchbang your way to victory with the power of darkness

Gonna skip the basic stuff, but Crunchbang is essentially a “lightweight” minimalistic Debian linux that aims to Crunchbang your life(Use your imagination)!  All the necessary tools are there for maximum productivity without the fluff or breakage.

Interface: Openbox is provided by default, but XFCE is offered in the post-installation script.

Package Manager: Synaptic Package Manager

Possibly one the best managers that I have experienced first hand, unlike the other ones provided in the Ubuntus.  This package manager achieves its purpose by installing or “uninstalling” respective components and packages.  For the non-gui users, apt-get is a godsend within the command line interface (CLI)

Media Player: VLC

A multipurpose player that will play any video or audio file for the average Joe.  If those don’t suit your fancy, then jump to the command line or package manager and install your favorite player.

Web Browser: Chromium

It gets the job done and loads up fast.  Luckily, the ability to install iceweasel (aka. firefox) is easy, thanks to the community backing this distribution.  Just go into sources.list and comment out the crunchbang repo, enable the debian squeeze backports repo, and install away.  There might be a few steps that were missed out, but clear concise instructions are found within the FAQ at the forums.  Difficulty is very low.

Wireless Support: Excellent

Crunchbang supports most of the wireless adapters and cards out of the box, with the exception of my rosewill wireless n adapter (which uses realtek firmware drivers).  If you have a wireless card or adapter that uses realtek drivers, you might need to borrow another wireless adapter or connect via ethernet to install “firmware-realtek” from Synaptic Package Manager.  Other than that, it was smooth sailing for me.  My only qualm at the moment is that all of my wireless adapters seem to lose connection with my router after prolonged use.  I can only assume the cause to be overheated wireless adapters.  I will further investigate this in the forums at a later time.

General office applications: Good

Abiword is installed by default and openoffice is offered post-installation.  ‘Nuff said.

Stability: Rock Solid

Nothing breaks if the user sticks primarily to debian squeeze (stable).  The only time this system would crunchbang itself is if the user recklessly flies into infinity and beyond and Sid decides to break him or her into two.

Community: THE BEST

Yes, call it egocentric, but it is a fact.  Besides the awesome distro, the community atmosphere should be top priority on anybody’s distro list.  Skip the formal crap, the trolling, and the condescending “check the wiki or this thread for your problem” bull crap.  Five continuous months of crunchbang and frequenting on the forums have taught me that these guys got my back and know the meaning of teamwork.  Post a problem and the community will work with you, even if you’re a newbie who has only found linux today.  As long as you follow the house rules of proper netiquette (internet etiquette) and check the debian sources beforehand, the community will forever live on as a troll-free paradise.  Heck, the Crunchbang community is a crazy fun place to socialize and unleash your creative ideas.  All forms of life live at Crunchbang, which can lead to very interesting, witty and funny conversations.  We also like our alcohol, music and think that coffee is a food group.  If you disagree, voice your opinion in the forums and we’ll try to convince you with witty, constructive spot-on humor.  No harm intended.

Overall: FANTASTIC!

All of the required applications are at the user’s fingertips.  No issues were found with my 32bit/64bit systems unless I’m playing with Sid on my 32bit machine.  So far, Sid hasn’t blown my system up yet.  It is user-friendly but not nauseously friendly.  Out of all the distributions, this is a keeper.  Done are the days of distro-hopping.  I can get down to business and get things done right in the way I want it.  If something doesn’t agree with me, I can always crunchbang it into shape with my buds in the hood.  Don’t forget that the community plays a big part of the crunchbang experience, so be sure to check it out the fun you’ve been missing.

Past Experiences:

• Ubuntu
• Linux Mint (Ubuntu and Debian)
• Peppermint One, Two, Ice
• Windows (All of them) but no more

Link: http://crunchbanglinux.org

After extensive research with trial and error, this is what one needs to get Arcana Heart 3 working on Rebug 3.41.2  This post assumes that the user has already installed Rebug 3.41.2 on their PS3.

Materials Needed:

• Fixed Eboot for 3.41
• 3.41 “PSN” package
• game manager [Multiman/Open Manager/etc]
• Arcana Heart 3 game [internal/external]

Installation steps:

1. Replace Arcana Heart 3 eboot with fixed eboot.
2. Install 3.41 “PSN” package via package manager
3. Run rebug Hermes v4c payload
4. Use your preferred game manager client
5. Boot game as you would with any other game

Tested and verified on: Internal HDD/External HDD on Rebug 3.41.2

The PSN method absolutely does not work.  Don’t even bother copying the contents to hdd00/BLJM6024.  Running the XMB Arcana heart launcher will prompt you to a message “please update to 3.50″ and bring you back to the XMB.  The Arcana Heart 3 launcher in xmb is purely there to redirect the ps3 to the correct game location.  Modify param.sfo as needed for your firmware.

Resources:

http://ps3iso.com – search the forums for the materials stated above.

http://rebug.me – for Rebug CFW

*Disclaimer* Will only upload custom eboot and “PSN” 3.41 package if one absolutely cannot find it at ps3iso.com  Otherwise, please go to the forum and use the search function or support the creators by buying the game.

Also not tested with 3.60 version spoofer by Rebug team.

Therefore, I set off on a quest to find a bridge between the two and consolidate all of my online social life into one application.  After a couple hours of endless browsing and testing, I arrived to the conclusion of using an IRC client and Bitlbee.

Why use IRC (Internet Relay Chat) to combine the two?  Simply because IRC is the easiest and least distracting form of communication in contrast to any twitter convenience site or IM client (excluding miranda IM).  Additionally, IRC is not as fearsome as most people might think it is.  Also, IRC is very light on resources too (It’s just text).

Bitlbee is one of the cleanest and most useful service ever offered for online instant messenging and keeping up to date with twitter comrades.  Bitlbee can work as a standalone program on a server.  For those who do not know how to install it to a server or don’t own a server, one can register a account on any of the free Bitlbee servers and use it immediately.  Registering an account and setting it up is rather a painless process and the Bitlbee bot will walk the user through the whole process.  Right now, Bitlbee currently supports XMPP/Jabber (including Gtalk), Yahoo, MSN, AIM, ICQ and Twitter.

So far, Bitlbee allows the user to see the most recent activity of his or her twitter account since the last time that person logged in.  By most recent activity, Bitlbee will fetch all the twitter updates from one’s followers as well as the tweets that the user made.  Bitlbee will also tell the user what the current tweet of his/her username.  Although it is still undergoing development, one can still use the interface to make new tweets, retweet, reply, follow, unfollow, and update one’s twitter status.  As a result, I never had to go back to my browser or any other client to peruse through my twitter feed.

Bitlbee does not require any extensive IRC knowledge.  The only IRC lingo that one needs to know is how to connect to an IRC server.  That is all.  As far as IRC clients are concerned, I recommend using X-chat-2 since it is free and more user friendly than mIRC.  X-chat-2 can also be made portable with ease.

Bitlbee site: http://www.bitlbee.org

X-chat-2: http://silverex.org

It is not as great as I would have suspected, seeing how it is developed by the same creator of KMPlayer.   The internal codecs are definitely superior to KMPlayer’s internal codecs with the fact that it can playback just about anything without hiccups and without relying on external codecs.  On the other hand, KMPlayer requires an external codec like CoreAVC (for less capable machines) to playback 1080P movies, videos, etc.

However, there are still two things that I would like to see before jumping onto the Potplayer bandwagon.

1. Lack of subtitle options like real time playback support.  Hence subtitle karaoke effects are broken. (Not very good for music videos or animes)
2. Full english support, especially for the latest versions.

These impressions are currently based on PotPlayer1.5.23507beta (english version).

More info and download link available here

**UPDATE 11/09/10**

In reply to XenonMagazine, I have tried the latest beta for PotPlayer (Daum PotPlayer 1.5.24134) and the two features I mentioned above are still lacking from Potplayer.  Additionally, KMPlayer is still in active development and has a solid foundation to be on par with Potplayer.  When Potplayer incorporates real-time rendering of ssa/ass subtitle support, then I would most likely replace KMPlayer with Potplayer.  For those who do not need real-time subtitle support like karaoke effects, Potplayer is the obvious one step forward from KMPlayer.

Here is a better link to a more updated thread and download information for Potplayer.  Link