slaxworkshop

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Kommando-Installer Progress

Status of each Tab
Commercial Tab
Works
Install Package Button
Install All Packages Button
Search Filter
Descriptions
Module Install Location function

In Progress
Nothing in progress

Not Working Yet
Dependancy and Prerequisite Check Boxes
Update List Button

SLAX Modules Tab
Works
Install Package Button
Update List Button
Module Install Location function [in progress]

In Progress
Nothing in progress

Not Working Yet
Dependancy and Prerequisite Check Boxes
Descriptions - Need a list of descriptions from somewhere... How to approach this...

Custom Tab
Works
Install Package Button
Install All Packages Button
Search Filter
Descriptions
Module Install Location function

In Progress
Nothing in progress

Not Working Yet
Dependancy and Prerequisite Check Boxes
Update List Button

GPL Tab
Not Working Yet

All Tab
Not Working Yet

Search Tab
Fully Functional

Logs Tab
Fully Functional

Kommando Tab
About SubTab
Fully Functional

Update SubTab
Not Functional

Help SubTab
Not Functional

Preferences SubTab
Not Functional

Package Status
Commercial Packages - GoogleEarth4, RealPlayer10GOLD, FlashPlayer7, JRE-1.5.0.6
ALL SLAX Modules

Progress so far...

1. Fine tuning of the Package Profiles.
2. Worked on making template Package Profiles.
3. Sample Commercial Installers work (GoogleEarth4, RealPlayer10, FlashPlayer7, JRE1.5.0.06)
4. Updated SLAX Module Master List.
5. Added 3rd form of ftp to install qualifiers. Now there are conf, ftp, http.
6. For Commercial Tab: added Module Install Location Box with custom option box, /tmp, and /boot/modules Radio Buttons.

Need to add:

1. Interrupt Traps for scripts for clean up
2. Add space calculation
3. Add package multi-select
4. Dependancy and Prerequisite CheckBoxes dont do anything yet.
5. Nothing in the Kommando Tab does anything
6. GPL and All Tabs dont have anything in them.
   

posted by TheGuardian  # 9:47 AM 0 comments

Kommando-Installer Progress

Status of each Tab
Commercial Tab
Works
Install Package Button
Install All Packages Button
Search Filter
Descriptions

In Progress
Module Install Location function [in progress]

Not Working Yet
Dependancy and Prerequisite Check Boxes
Update List Button

SLAX Modules Tab
Works
Install Package Button
Update List Button
Module Install Location function [in progress]

In Progress
Nothing in progress

Not Working Yet
Dependancy and Prerequisite Check Boxes
Descriptions - Need a list of descriptions from somewhere... How to approach this...

Custom Tab
Works
Install Package Button
Install All Packages Button
Search Filter
Descriptions
Module Install Location function

In Progress
Nothing in progress

Not Working Yet
Dependancy and Prerequisite Check Boxes
Update List Button

GPL Tab
Not Working Yet

All Tab
Not Working Yet

Search Tab
Fully Functional

Logs Tab
Fully Functional

Kommando Tab
About SubTab
Fully Functional

Update SubTab
Not Functional

Help SubTab
Not Functional

Preferences SubTab
Not Functional


Progress so far...

1. Fine tuning of the Package Profiles.
2. Worked on making template Package Profiles.
3. Sample Commercial Installers work (GoogleEarth4, RealPlayer10, FlashPlayer7, JRE1.5.0.06)
4. Updated SLAX Module Master List.
5. Added 3rd form of ftp to install qualifiers. Now there are conf, ftp, http.
6. For Commercial Tab: added Module Install Location Box with custom option box, /tmp, and /boot/modules Radio Buttons.

Need to add:

1. Interrupt Traps for scripts for clean up
2. Add space calculation
3. Add package multi-select
4. Dependancy and Prerequisite CheckBoxes dont do anything yet.
5. Nothing in the Kommando Tab does anything
6. GPL and All Tabs dont have anything in them.
   

posted by TheGuardian  # 9:47 AM 0 comments

Thursday, September 21, 2006

Kommando-Installer Progress

Progress so far...

1. Cleaned up Package Profiles to make them as generic as possible.
2. Worked on making template Package Profiles
3. Sample Commercial Installers work (GoogleEarth and RealPlayer)
4. SLAX Module Selection Download and Install works.
5. "Quick Search" Filters working
6. Search Tab Working with 4 options
7. Update still in the planning stage...
8. No Help Feature yet
9. "GPL" and "All" Tabs do nothing currently
10. Thought of Creating a Package Creation Tool to help make Kommando-Installer Package Profiles.
11. Adding "Custom" Option so you can put in your own List of software with its own tab, that way your software library can be made available and its list/package updated independantly

Need to add:

1. Interrupt Traps for scripts for clean up
2. Add space calculation
3. Add package multi-select
4. Right now, there are 2 forms of install qualifiers: conf and http. I need to add addition one- ftp. The addition should be simple enough to add to the code.
5. Dependancy and Prerequisite CheckBoxes dont do anything yet.
6. For Custom Tab: Custom Package and All Package install put custom modules into the proper location designated by Custom Install location option box.
7. For Commercial Tab: add Custom Install location option box and /tmp Radio Buttons.
8. For SLAX Modules Tab add a Custom Install location option box

posted by TheGuardian  # 2:28 PM 0 comments

Monday, September 18, 2006

NetWizard-0.28rc9.mo Now Available

NetWizard - a multi-panel Network configuration Wizard for NDISWrapper.This wizard can retrieve Network Drivers from the Internet. At the moment there are 4 known working adapter/driver sets that can be obtained automatically.

QuickNetWizard - a single panel Network configuration tool for NDISWrapper.

NetWizard-framework - a series of scripts and configuration files to help
setup network cards.

SLAX module (squashFS/UnionFS)
http://www.speedyshare.com/177831228.html

TarBall format
http://www.speedyshare.com/726594496.html

Directory Stricture for NetWizard:
NetWizard
|--.NetWizard-tree
`--.usr
....|--.doc
....|...`--.NetWizard
....|.......|--.BUGS
....|.......|--.COPYING
....|.......|--.DESIGN
....|.......|--.HISTORY
....|.......|--.INSTALL
....|.......|--.NetWizard
....|.......|...`--.Notes-on-NetWizard
....|.......|--.Notes-on-NetWizard-framework
....|.......|--.Notes-on-ndiswrapper
....|.......|--.QuickNetWizard
....|.......|...|--.Notes-on-QuickNetWizard
....|.......|...|--.QuickNetWizard.jpg
....|.......|...|--.QuickNetWizard.pdf
....|.......|...`--.QuickNetWizard.ppm
....|.......`--.README
....`--.local
........|--.bin
........|...|--.NetWizard
........|...|--.NetWizard.kmdr
........|...|--.QuickNetWizard
........|...`--.QuickNetWizard.kmdr
........`--.share
............`--.NetWizard
................|--.NetWizard-framework.tar.gz
................|--.device-db
................`--.driver-db

posted by TheGuardian  # 12:21 PM 0 comments

Kommando-Installer for Linux Live Distros

I started a new project, Kommando-Installer.

Since I have a new SLAX baby (soon to be announced), I have a real need for a way to make software available without actually distributing the software. Two types of software that fit this category are: proprietary and encryption. Both are essential parts of the Linux experience but they have issues with distribution for everyone involved. To cover everyone's tail, I have decided to create an installer that will download all the pieces, create the software, and make a SLAX module. The end user needs to do nothing but select a piece of software and single click.

Proprietary video drivers, for instance, can be downloaded, compiled for your Kernel release, and a module created with NO technical knowledge of any kind.

A cool side effect of Kommando-Installer is that this can be used to distribute modules. Just update the master software package list, create a profile with the URL, the installation instructions can be to install it into the modules directory, and that's it!

I will post the project files something soon.

Project Goals:

1) Create a generic GUI, Kdialog, and dialog, and CLI installer for free proprietary software.

a) The installer should be the same for all software.
b) An Installer Profile (configuration file(s)) for each package should contain ALL the information needed for installation into SLAX:

1. Download URL
2. Global Information (Package names etc.)
3. Package description
4. Dependancy Information (to compile, install, run) and Check.
5. Compilation Information, if needed.
6. Installation Information
7. SLAX module Creation Information
c) A master list of software available with name pointing to Installer Profile Information
2) SLAX module Creation
3) Simple to use: select a package- one click, and a SLAX module is generated.
4) Update capable so new and addition Installer Profiles can be obtained with a single click.

The configuration information can be as simple as downloading a tgz package from somewhere and converting it, then making a SLAX module- to a very involved dissection of a vendor's installer and then making a SLAX module.

Project Milestones:

To package:

1) Package a pre-made installer type package sucha as GoogleEarth or RealPlayer [DONE]
2) A video driver (e.g. ATI's)
3) A sound driver (e.g. ???)
4) A Kernel driver (a network card in particular) [In progress]
With those examples, people can create there own Installer Profiles and they can be put in a central area. A person can click a button in Kommando-Installer and download all the installer profiles that are new. Then install some software.

Problems:

1) Proprietary installers can be a pain to reverse if they don't have cli equivalents.
2) Some instances where a company may state that you can't mess with there installer... (BOOOO!!). So far I haven't found anyone like that yet.

Current Status:

1) A working Generic Installer.
2) A configuration directory for each package.
3) A configuration file for each package.
4) Configurations for installing: GoogleEarth and RealPlayer.

Notes:

1) The kdialog, dialog, and CLI interfaces should be trivial since the installer really has 2 options and output. Options 1 is to select and install a package. Option 2 is to update the Installer Profiles. Output of all the stuff goes to a ListBox.
2) Need a place to review, discuss, and post Installer Profiles
3) Similar project are:
a) Klik... except they don't create SLAX modules... and I have never been able to really make Klik work.
b) Fink - VERY NICE!

Suggests:

Any suggestions???

posted by TheGuardian  # 11:56 AM 0 comments

Thursday, September 14, 2006

A new Blog for Kommander projects...

I started a New Blog - Cmdr-Kommander
It describes, in detail, the work I am doing in Kommander for the SLAX projects- the articles are called "Kommander Forensics:."
I am also working on some tutorials for Kommander called "Widget Playgrounds: ."

I will describe NetWizard and MySLAX Kreator in the coming blog articles. Look for articles called
"Kommander Forensics: NetWizard" and "Kommander Forensics: MySLAX Kreator"

posted by TheGuardian  # 7:50 AM 0 comments

Saturday, September 09, 2006

MySLAXKreator

I started another side Kommander project- MySLAXKreator. It pretty much is just a clone to MySLAXCreator but one of the differences may be the addition of package fetching through a network connection.

It will use Kommander as the GUI FrontEnd; make_disk.sh for USB and disk installation; and make_iso.sh and cdrecord as the backend processing tools.

posted by TheGuardian  # 8:56 AM 0 comments

Friday, September 08, 2006

NetWizard progress...

Netwizard

The First Release Candidate came out a few weeks ago and I am ready to release a Second Candidate.

NetWizard and QuickNetWizard can do the following:
1) Two, easy to use, Wizards (NetWizard and QuickNetWizard) for configuring network interfaces.
2) Fully supports NDISWrapper and NDIS Driver usage with both DHCP and Static IP Configurations.
3) Probes and Activates network adapter.
4) Creates SLAX module containing ndiswrapper-framework. I am considering changing the name of ndiswrapper-framework to NetWizard-Framework since it is close to supporting Kernel Drivers as well.
5) Supports WEP (I dont have a WPA Access Point/Router... when I get one, I will start on integrating that into the Wizards)

Tested with 4 Network Adapters: USB, PCM/CIA, Built-in.

Soon to be released features:
1) Database of known working configurations to allow "auto" config. This location of known drivers will be in the DB.
2) Auto driver download from known sites hosting drives. This is just an automated extension of #1's location information.

Future Features:

1) "Database" tool to allow adding to the configuration knowledgebase. Many contributors makes for rapid grown and for easier auto config for the populace at large.
2) Kernel driver configuration for: DHCP and Static configurations. Both existing supported drivers and newly compiled drivers will be supported.


Relook at the Project Benefits

A few good things should come from this project:
1) a good parameter based network configuration program is always a nice thing.
This is still a goal. Current implementation outputs a file usable for parsing. No configuration program created yet. All functionality is currently within the Wizard itself. Later, or other, incarnations will use a Generic Front-end and choosable backend.
2) The back-end parameter based network configuration program can be used with any front-end. See #1
3) The front-end Kommander project can be used with any backend program. See #1. Use of the current NetWizard is possible since it does create an output file.
4) The front-end Kommander project can be used as a template for others to learn from, hopefully helping people to make their own Wizards for SLAX. This is very possible. Other Kommander projects mentioned here will be also available and chock full of Widget goodness.
5) Features that I am not supporting (e.g. WPA encryption), can be added by someone with the need to add those particular features.
6) The parameter parsing code can be helpful for other scripts. Still planned.

posted by TheGuardian  # 10:30 AM 0 comments

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