Dazed and Confused New Old User

[Chuck E]

I know I've got a lot of reading to do but I just need to vent about my frustrations at this point.I've used a Knoppix version 5 something to recover some lost files and more recently was using a version 7.1? on a 16GB flash drive to get some use out of a Dell Latitude D610 laptop that I can't afford to fix properly ($ is an issue in my life).

That version of Knoppix started going weird when the task bar at the bottom of the screen disappeared and was not to be found anywhere. There was some kind of pulsing activity at the bottom of any screen which caused any menu that needed another mouseclick to make a choice disappear. So I saved my documents to a different flash drive and found Knoppix 7.4.2 and tried that out.

I used UNetbootin 1.1.1.1 to get it on the drive and selected a persistent space of 5000 mb even though I'm not sure if this works for Knoppix as usually the first time I run the drive it gives me about 10 seconds to enter an amount for the space I would like for files to be preserved through boots. None of my attempts (I'm up to about 6 now) have been able to make a drive that remembers anything between uses.

I've been using the Universal-USB-Installer 1.9.6.0 for the more recent attempts and still no luck. I'm not a programmer and don''t have a lot of experience editing boot files so I'm looking for a simple solution for this issue. I know I've got a lot of reading to do and it's going to take more than 5 minutes for me to get up to speed.

I'm impressed and confused with the amount of things in this version and can't figure out why I can't see any of the files when I put the drive in a windows machine. I can't figure out why the Xscreensaver keeps telling my at boot that my screen saver (which I disable anyway) is out of date and that where ever I got my "distro" from is doing me a disservice.

At nine hours to download (2 times now) I take it from where I can get it which turned out to be England (I'm in the US).

Another issue I have is that the Synaptic package manager seems to be wonky. I try to update the list of packages and get :

An error occurredThe following details are provided:W: There is no public key available for the following key IDs:9D6D8F6BC857C906W: There is no public key available for the following key IDs:7638D0442B90D010W: There is no public key available for the following key IDs:9D6D8F6BC857C906W: There is no public key available for the following key IDs:7638D0442B90D010W: There is no public key available for the following key IDs:7638D0442B90D010W: There is no public key available for the following key IDs:7638D0442B90D010W: There is no public key available for the following key IDs:7638D0442B90D010

After the above messaged is closed and the screen loads again the following message comes up:

An error occurredThe following details are provided:E: The value 'wheezy' is invalid for APT::Default-Release as such a release is not available in the sourcesE: _cache->open() failed, please report.

When that message is closed Synaptic Package manager explodes and will not run again without the wheezy error again.So it's been weeks now that I've been messing with this. On the positive side, with version 7.4.2 I don't have to set the computers time ahead four hours to make it read Eastern Standard Time.... :-)


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Little format by mod

[Harry Kuhman]

I can't solve your problems, have been having more and more myself with Knoppix lately and have switched to Linux Mint for a lot of uses. Hopefully someone else will help.

As to the two nine hour downloads, that can depend greatly on your Internet connection and maybe you really need to take 9 hours (I remember when downloading the CD took 24 hours if I was lucky). But I expect that you are not downloading from the torrents which are much faster than from the mirrors and much much more reliable (no reason to ever download the same file from the torrents twice). If you are not using the torrents to download then download a torrent client and start using them, or at least embrace your 9 hour download times and refrain from complaining about them when you could be downloading a lot faster.

One hint on using the torrents. Don't panic when you see an estimate of the download taking even more than 9 hours as the client first starts and abort the download. The client will start slow but then pick up speed. The download time estimates should pick up speed and finally level off. Watch the numbers and ten to fifteen minutes in to the download you'll have a much better idea of how long things are going to take.

Learn to do the checksum test too if you are not doing that. If the md5 checksum matches then don't bother downloading again, your results will not improve.

If you are using the torrents and it is still taking 9 hours, please post back what download speed you are paying for and the name of your ISP. You might have something seriously misconfigured. Or your ISP might be deliberately slowing torrent downloads on you.

[Werner P. Schulz]

Another issue I have is that the Synaptic package manager seems to be wonky.Have a look at
Debian release changed (http://knoppix.net/forum/threads/31408-Debian-release-changed?p=132327&viewfull=1#post132327)

See also Documentation (http://knoppix.net/forum/threads/31091-Knoppix-Forums-Documentation) → "Hard drive installation" how to install Knoppix.

Either update or purge the screensaver.

Formatting suggestion:
Use double "new line" for new section.

You can use the "Go Advanced" button to have more abilities to format the posting; before sending your posting use "Preview" to see how it looks like.

If "noscript" (within Iceweasel/Firefox) is active for http://knoppix.net/forum/ disable it for this website; otherwise you cannot use the format abilities. Do not use Chrome/Chromium!

Below the editor area is the "Additional Options" area. With "Attachments → Manage Attachments" you can upload images and after this insert them in your posting.

[Chuck E]

Thanks for the replies and suggestions for formatting. I don't use the torrents and I imagine my ISP would throttle me anyway so I don't mind the wait. I'll keep reading and studying or just go back to the other version but this new one has a lot of interesting features that I would prefer if I can get it to remember sessions and my settings. If it's too much trouble I just have to deal with it.

[Harry Kuhman]

Thanks for the replies and suggestions for formatting. I don't use the torrents and I imagine my ISP would throttle me anyway so I don't mind the wait.....
My ISP is pretty evil (AT&T) but they don't throttle me, I download many Linux ISOs in less than an hour. Not sure I remember how long the last Knoppix download took, but if it was more than an hour it was less than two. Of course, along with your speed, this depends on how many people are feeding the torrents, which depends on when that version of Knoppix was released. If you try to get it in the first hour it can take longer (but not that much longer). There are other reasons to use the torrents too, as there is automagic error recovery built in (while it seems like there is automatic corruption built into some of the Knoppix mirrors). You can also stop and restart the download, or even restart after a crash without downloading everything again. Takes five minutes to install a torrent client, and not much more than that to learn to use it. I'll never use the problem prone mirrors again. Just thought that I would mention it since you were complaining about it, but if you refuse to learn new things enjoy the wait.

[Werner P. Schulz]

An easy to use BitTorrent client is "Transmission (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transmission_%28BitTorrent_client%29)" (within the Knoppix DVD).

From the Wiki (http://knoppix.net/wiki/Cheat_Codes#Download_Knoppix):

Download Knoppix


Using Torrents

Download the wanted .torrent-file (http://torrent.unix-ag.uni-kl.de/). After this start your Torrent client (for example Transmission) and open the .torrent-file with it.You can use the standard settings of Transmission. Wait and watch the progress messages. That's all.

[itman007]

Chuck E, your issue with. "An error occurredThe following details are provided:E: The value 'wheezy' is invalid for APT:default-Release as such a release is not available in the sourcesE: _cache->open() failed, please report."
Can be easily resolved by editing the file /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/00knoppix
add the # to the beginning of the line APT:default-Release "wheezy" ; or remove the word wheezy.
All will work fine with synaptic after you have saved this edit.

[Chuck E]

Thanks itman007. I found the file and made the change but get the error "Can't open file to write" when I try to save it. I'm still learning and still haven't found out how to get a persistent overlay going so I don't have to make these changes everytime I boot up. I have been able to get my desktop background file to stay put but have to change it everytime. Until I figure out how to make changes stay (like I said, I'm not a programmer) I'll keep reading. Before long I'll know my wireless password by heart. It's nice to drive a nice car but it's a shame to have to build it and tune it up everytime you want to drive. :-)

[rajibando]

Dear chuck E, Greetings!
You could save your file only if you are the root.
I was puzzled by the bloated writing. Skimmed to find your problem with synaptic and problem with persistent.
I have two posts on these very specific issues. For the first, you may like to find persistent ext4 usb, for the second, new user old image instal remove package.
You may like to follow the contents.

[Chuck E]

Thanks rajibando. I may have fixed the persistent problem on my own. I read somewhere about installing to flash disk and being able to select a persistent space but couldn't figure out how to do that. Then I saw "install to flash"' on my desktop so I installed to another flashdrive and was able to select a space of 6419 mb on a 16 Gig drive installing the DVD iso. It booted up OK but I haven't re=booted yet to see if it worked. As for being the root I still have reading to do. I'll look for your posts, also. Any suggestions on tutorial posts would be helpful. Sorry for the bloated writing as I can get scatterbrained when trying to describe my attempts and try to provide as much info as possible. Thanks to all who replied again.

[rajibando]

root is nothing out of the world. It is opening a terminal or a file manager with root privileges. See accessories / root terminal.
If you have solved your problem there is no need to look into my posts.
Good wishes.

[buymystock]

I know I've got a lot of reading to do but I just need to vent about my frustrations at this point ...
Hi Chuck E,

Have you ever disassembled the Dell Latitude D610; this Dell
model seems to be about 10 years old or more. I see the reviews
online for this Dell model when it first arrived on the market
for sale; it had Windows XP installed from the manufacturer.
I have had tons of problems with (some) laptops getting too
hot because of their design flaws.They will gather together plenty
of dust within their tiny structure and this causes problems;
overheating is one of those problems that dust accumulation
causes.


I've had two HP TouchSmart tx2-1000 and 2500 models
get so hot that they would not boot up after I turned them off.
They both cost nearly $2000 or more when new. Someone gave
them to me, free, recently in 2014. They were "junk" when "new"
and they remain, permanently, in that category, along with any
other HP TouchSmart tx2 cloned contraptions. HP should be
ashamed, if they're, indeed, capable of sorrow at all. The
engineers knew, full well, the design flaws that caused these
laptops to run much too hot, even when new and without any
dust whatsoever in the machine case. Millions of people are, and
have been, complaining online for years about this HP Touch-
Smart tx2 not booting and not showing any video.

I took mine completely apart, all the way to the motherboard
and beyond, and cleaned any dust that I could find and also took
the central processing unit's (and the graphics processing unit's)
heat sinks off and reapplied the Arctic Silver paste between both
heat sinks and both processors. I cobbled both of these tx2
worthless rubbish back to their poorly contrived new condition
and they booted up just fine and stayed on for days. They both
were still getting extremely hot and way-over the danger zone
according to that "sensors" particular command in Linux. When
you see the very cheap quality level, and the very tiny size, of
the ventilation fan on these models, you will laugh out loud!!!

Your efforts to decode your many problems with laptops will
advance much better when you start with an apparatus that's
uncontaminated with years (or months) of dust. I sometimes use
an HP ze5000 laptop made in 2002, that was also given to me,
and it works good. It's been taken completely apart half a dozen
times or more. When you do it a few times, it gets easier and
easier. I often exhibit a sentimental yearning of a return to some
past period when I give work to this prehistoric appliance.



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Full quote deleted by mod.
Please select only the parts you really refer to.

[rajibando]

Don't worry, BMS :-) If he had successfully used Knoppix 5.something he could still use 5.something if he followed my instructions, even installing or removing packages made for that version of Debian.
Just the sources.list has to be changed a bit, which is not impossible, though tough, if he follows instructions, and has a perfect DVD for that version.
Regards

[Chuck E]

I put up with junk computers because I can't afford good ones. I have been into the 610 and also have a 600 but I like the 610 better because it has 4 USB ports instead of 2. With the 610 I had to remove the hard drive because it would take over an hour to boot up with Knoppix because it seemed to want to check out the hard drive before booting. Now I just use it for Knoppix because the battery charging system is junk, too. Even though the 610 has a CD/DVD RW drive it doesn't work when I need it to. The 600 has a bad screen but puts out a nice picture to an HD tv. I have a Sony laptop that originally cost me about $1500. but the screen started going bad on that one as well. It started by having a few vertical lines going through the screen and over time turned into larger and larger area but also still puts out a good picture to a TV or monitor. A Sony desktop with XP Media Center Edition started goingbut with sense errors on the hard drive. I've got that 99% restored to how it was when I bought it but the sense error keeps it from being 100% until I get a new hard drive for it. Thanks to Knoppix I was able to save a lot of updates, files and programs from all of my computers to a 1 GB external drive but also thanks to Knoppix and me accidently pulling the power plug on the 610 (with no battery) all of those files have been reduced to 3 huge files that don't look like anything. Data recovery isn't possible at this time because I need another 1 GB drive to recover them to and that's not happening any time soon. Sometimes I just want to trash everything and give up on computers altogether but I haven't yet.

[rajibando]

Pls don't vent your frustration onto the forum :-), Format your posts :-) :-).

Pls post how you recovered your messages and which postings helped you in the said recovery. Not just,
...Thanks to Knoppix I was able to save a lot of updates, files and programs... . It will help new users.

This is a "Free Help: forum. When you receive FREE OS and help you must also act responsibly and post your experiences in implementing solutions, properly formatted and easy to read form.

You must specifically say thanks to individuals and not just general thanks.

Knoppix is not Doze, pulling the power plug doesn't ruin your data in an ext3/4 or reiserfs . Test this profusely. Those three huge files mean nothing if you, at the time of plug-pulling, were not copying anything onto the drive while using Knoppix.

If in Doze, those files are as good as gone!

So, decide and prioritise.

[Porteño]

It worked for me...thanks, itman007! I'm using version 7.4.2 on a 16GB pendrive.

[sbfree]

While the link at Debian release changed (http://knoppix.net/forum/threads/31408-Debian-release-changed?p=132327&viewfull=1#post132327) suggests a solution to resolving the update problems the information at Documentation (http://knoppix.net/forum/threads/31091-Knoppix-Forums-Documentation) indicates:
"cannot be upgraded (if you try it, you'll get chaos)". Do Knoppix users skip updates?

It also indicates that the install cannot be password protected. Are there ways to password protect the install so that it can't be started automatically as 'Knoppix User'?

[Werner P. Schulz]

You can update the list of available packages and their versions.
Upgrade actually installs newer versions of the packages you have.

[sbfree]

What is the proper way to update? apt-get or the gui package manager? I tried the later and ran out of room on the flash drive.
Thanks for pointing out upDATE versus upGRADE.
scott

[Werner P. Schulz]

To update the lists within '/var/cache/apt/' there is no difference whether you use Synaptic (→ Edit → Reload Package Information), "aptitude update" or "apt-get update".

[Chuck E]

I'm back again with similar issues and I'll try to dispense with the "bloated writing". I finally did get Knoppix 7.4 to work and enjoyed it along with 7.2 for a few years before 7.4 started acting up (on USB stick) and became unbootable. I then went back to 7.2 and was able to see, copy and edit files on the 7.4 stick and I've been putting up with that for a while until I found Knoppix 8.1. I've been trying to get that to work for about 5 months with limited luck. After about 40 attempts to get 8.1 on a 16 gb stick using UNetbootin-Universal Netboot Installer version 1.1.1.1 and Universal USB Installer version 1.9.8.0 (Pendrivelinux) I finally got one to work but not just right. Once I got one to boot (I forget which installer did it right) but not very well. I've since been working with two sticks using one that worked the best to keep trying to get one to work better. During one attempt I was offered to make the persistant overlay. The max was 10559mb but I was never able to move the slider to select a lesser amount until today. After about 10 attempts I now have one with a 4024 mb partition but the partition shows unknown file system. In all of the previous attempts I used gparted to format that partition as fat 32 but that would cause me to lose settings (like background image) between boots. I also decided to encrypt that section with a password but after formatting that partition I have to enter the password 3 times before it works. The current version I have now has /dev/sda1 fat32 /mnt-system KNOPPIX 10.50 GiB 4.23 GiB used 6.27 GB un boot and /dev/sda2 unknown (fs) 4.44 GiB
Because I haven't formatted the unknown partition like before I only have to enter the password once when booting. If I'm in file manager and select sda2 to try to get into that partion (with the unknown file system) I get "mount: /dev/sda2 is already mounted or /media/sda2 busy" . After most of the attempts I've made I'm able to see the wireless network I want to connect to and everything seems right it never is able to connect and just pops up with the password screen again. Some of the attempts worked with no problems for the wireless but nothing else worked right.

With Knoppix 7.2 and 7.4 when they were working were just what I wanted but I would really like to get a working version of 8.1 I don't understand why I can get a working version.

[Chuck E]

Still struggling with various versions of Knoppix. The usb with Knoppix 7.4 that I couldn't get to boot but contained all my files in the Knoppix-data section now boots but everything in the Knoppix-data section can't be mounted. With GParted that section shows up as reiserfs and is not mountable. I used to have a usb with Knoppix 7.2 that was the only way to read the data on the then unbootable 7.4 I tried to make into an 8.1 version so that's no longer an option to get my files. I downloaded some "free" windows file recovery program that was able to get to the files I want, would let you look at the names but wouldn't recover them until you paid them and that I refuse to do. I've been bouncing around trying to get a properly working version of 8.1 with no luck. Today my attempt to create one from a semi-working version using the "Install KNOPPIX to flash disk" on the desktop was not successful as usual. What I'm trying to get is a new blank version not a copy of the same non working version I have. Both the UNetbootin-Universal Netboot Installer version 1.1.1.1 and Universal USB Installer version 1.9.8.0 (Pendrivelinux) don't work properly and just give me partial results. It seems like when I get a version that's close to working things get changed that I can't account for. At some point I had a working version of 8.1 that would see the wireless network I wanted to connect to, connect, allow me to use the Chromium browser and remember settings between boots. After a while it would no longer connect to the network. I'm sick of it now and will be looking for a new type of Linux and hopefully someday Knoppix will be able to work again when someone finds a good installation program that works and you don't have to be a programmer to use. As for now I can still play Neverputt golf and do the educational games with the grandkids, use the great photo and video programs and a few other things so it's not a total loss.