I'm running Debian where I simply installed the core (command line only) version that I then booted and added xorg, jwm and rox to (and subsequently loads of other stuff such as mtpaint .... etc.). That in effect is the same as a Puppy, I could for instance copy across all of the jwm files/structure from a Puppy over to that. I however opted to just use a single .jwmrc file and set it so that the menu button launches pcmanfm menu://applications as that presents a menu (that automatically reflects what's been installed/added/removed).don570 wrote:To Rufwoof...
Can you use the start menu when you use a repository?
Can be very similar to a Puppy, but that uses the Debian repository (has access to its 50,000+ programs). Best of both worlds (single provider and stable/security patched).
I like my menu bar/panel at the top of screen so the relevant part in my .jwmrc has
<Tray x="0" y="+1" height="24" border="0">
rather than y="-1" as per the more usual choice to have the panel at the bottom of the screen. And my menu button simply launches that pcmanfm (filemanager) opening menu://applications
(clickable thumbnail)
as part of that setup I have a bookmark to /usr/share/applications in the left main frame so that a single click also shows all applications from there. And rox-filer is also still available.
After having installed and setup to a HDD partition, I just create a sfs of that and install live-boot, so that it can be booted with the more usual three file arrangement (initrd, vmlinuz, filesystem.squashfs (sfs)). I actually quite like systemd so I prefer to boot using that, but that does mean that saves are limited to being to either partition or file (no directory based saves catered for) ... at least not without modification. I'm content however to just use a partition based save, and use the same partition to where the initrd/vmlinuz/filesystem.squashfs files are located ... and I save just changes to the /home folder tree only (calendar/brower/personal configuration ...etc. changes only preserved). But that means to apply any updates (security patches provided by Debian) I have to extract the main sfs and set it to fully saving (all changes) before applying the updates and then reforming the main sfs again (a bit like a remaster of sorts). The live-boot (sfs) choice however does mean a layered setup is being used, so you can load other sfs's ....etc. in a similar manner to Puppy.
Mostly I've stuck with pure Debian stable, but have imported kodi and the more recent jwm version (jwm 2.3) from what Debian call 'Backports' (newer versions that are stable and likely to be in the next release of stable, brought back from the more recent version that will become the next stable release). Which involves adding the backports repository (edit /etc/apt/sources.list and add a line
deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian jessie-backports main
and then use apt-get update; apt-get -t jessie-backports install jwm .... or whatever command line choice, or the graphical synaptic (like puppy package manager) to install programs).
The nice thing about that is that it should just evolve over time. As Debian bring out the next release (current Jessie stable becomes old-stable and is superseded by Stretch being the stable), you just run a apt-get dist-upgrade after changing the repositories (edit /etc/apt/sources.list and change all jessie entries to stretch) ... and (after a half hour to hour of upgrading) ... you're running under that later release. I have pre-run that and in effect switched from Jessie stable to Stretch testing and it worked OK for me, there were however a few flaws apparent still so I switched back to stable again. Nice to know however that the upgrade to the next Debian stable looks easy enough.