LastOSLinux and General Progress update

[Glenn]

I am not happy with the transitional period we are in with regards to Wayland, so I've not bothered making different editions of LastOSLinux like I initially intended.

On top of this the ones I am happy with are not able to be built in the way I need them to (at this stage), BigLinux is refusing to make the ISO so I've asked in their community and the solution they gave did not work, so when I followed it up they've ghosted me, as such I wont be pursuing them as if you can't get support for the fun/hard stuff, then they wont help users who ask with the easy stuff.

Nobara is a really good release and I am able to build the ISO BUT he's not released the new versions base OS )v42), I've left him a message at github but am yet to hear back, similar thing I guess, if he can't support the OS then you have to fall back to Fedora's support, so I might just use Fedora directly and make up a repository of fixes like he has in Nobara.

I am going to check out Garuda again today as it was good and has been updated recently, it offers a cinnamon version but I am expecting it to be x11 based, so not any better to using the Mint version I already have as the newer kernel/graphics drivers really require wayland to be taken advantage of properly. But there is a KDE version I suspect is wayland, so I have both to test and see how it goes.

Like I said, right now there isn't any certain focus for LastOSLinux, all I know is I need to get on to Kernel 6.15 or above so we can all start using the 570+ Graphics Drivers, to achieve Variable refresh rates, multi screens, HDR and modern tech. Because without these there is no reason to move away from Mint.

As I am not willing to start my own Distro (repositories and upgrade paths) I can not use some of the base distro's like Arch, I am just one man and know that it would be too big of a project to do so.

So that is why things have been delayed and why it's stalled, I really didn't want to touch LLStore again until I had a break from it and tested it on all the Distro Bases to get the last bugs fixed. As I had the cold and back/shoulder pain I was away from my PC and more recently I've had some family things to focus on. So LastOSLinux isn't stopping, it's just on a break while things get better for me and the Platforms mature a little more.

The reason I want Kernel 6.15 is the fixes they have done it it have given a HUGE performance increase and I really don't see a reason to not require this! Once the new Base OS's release I'll have another go at doing what I originally intended and in the mean time I'll keep sorting out the things I have been. I got my bookmarks down from over 4000 to about 300, my subscribed youtube channels is under quarter of what it was, My TB's of backups are sorted properly now and I've removed a lot of the old Windows modding things as I do not intend to play with Windows for much longer.

So I've cleared the way to have another run at making Distro's that people want to use and I'll continue to share my journey so others can follow along or learn the tricks I discover as I go. As Linux is so open and has so many choices I am considering changing direction and making things more standard so they can be adopted by all Distro's, giving users yet another choice. But I have such a large collection of LastOS history, I don't really want to do that.

As it stands:

LastOSLinux is based on Mint v22.1 and works fine for most cases (except the x11 limitations mentioned above)

Windows 10 IoT is the OS I use when needed and the one I install for any PC's that do not have TPM 2.0

Windows 11 I have been using the vanilla OS and selling it as is, I don't intend to support it for anyone - I do disable Bit Locker, OneDrive, Copilot (if they dont want it) and Widgets, offering StartAllBack to people. Obviously this if for TPM 2.0 hardware so I no longer install it bypassing the hardware requirements.

It's so sad watching things getting worse for windows, tools now requiring online access and subscription checks, a business first design and turning us into the product, via Data collection from their "AI" cover they use. I am so over the updates in windows, it's not worth my time, I hate how it's quicker to install an OS from scratch than to apply updates! take me back to the good old days where you'd find 30 updates that were under 10mb each and would be applied in a few minutes.

I guess we'll all see what the future holds. I don't intend to even install Windows 11 25H2 with the intent of modding it, I don't see a point to even try anymore.

 

[vanTorX]

I need to get on to Kernel 6.15 or above so we can all start using the 570+ Graphics Drivers, to achieve Variable refresh rates, multi screens, HDR and modern tech.

I suppose this is nothing for the old iMacs (2009, 2015) and old MacBook Pros (~2010) I am installing LastOSLinux on? Probably that is for relatively newer hardware.

Thanks for the update and roadmap for the future. As for me personally, I still have to much to digest that I didn't even think of any progress beyond the current LastOSLinux Mint.

Today, before reinstalling Mint on that iMac with 5k retina display (to partition the disk correctly, make mount points and reduce the mac os partition to give most space to linux), I started several games and I was surprised that even when they run in full screen, the graphics of even the old games like Dungeon Master II from ~1994 are not that bad. But I had problems with controls, even how to exit back to linux, ctrl-F4 did the trick but then I found about dosbox controls. Not knowing how to control the game itself was another thing, didn't know ho to use weapons in combat and got killed, and that is in game that I played back then like a champ. Prince of Persia II also need to look up manual, it pops you into the game right into a combat, after I died many times, I couldn't figure out how to quit the damn thing

Need to find the place here on forum where I believe you said something about changing games resolution or something like that. Or was it recovering back desktop resolution after game switched it to some other one?
Maybe switching dosbox to windowed view (I think Alt-Enter) might do the trick. Anyway, those older games from mid nineties could use being run in smaller size.

 

[Glenn]

I made some key combos written in the manual, they will exist and revert the screen resolutions etc


Global Shortcut Keys

(Open Keyboard App to see more)


Ctrl + Alt + Backspace: Log Out Instantly


Ctrl + Alt + Escape: Restart Cinnamon

Ctrl + Alt + L: Lock Screen

Ctrl + Alt + End: Shutdown


Ctrl + Shift + Escape: Gnome System Monitor

Ctrl + Alt + Delete: Gnome System Monitor

Ctrl + Shift + F4: Kill all WINE Apps/Games and restore to Desktop Resolution

Ctrl + Break: Kill all WINE Apps/Games and restore to Desktop Resolution

Alt + Break: Restore to Desktop Resolution


Alt + =: Screen Brightness Up

Alt + -: Screen Brightness Down


Ctrl + Alt + T: Open Terminal Window

Super + E: Open home folder

Alt + F7: Move Window


Ctrl + Alt + Shift + R: Toggle recording desktop


Ctrl + Alt + F1 - F6: Open Terminal TTY

Ctrl + Alt + F7: Switch back to GUI

 

[Glenn]

I install Manjaro Cinnamon edition and it's perfect, has latest Kernel, uses my favourite desktop environment, has a good base and repository...

I just discovered that my scripts don't fully work with it yet as it uses the desktop name of cinnamon-wayland which is just weird, now I have to update all my scripts to offer that, I'll test to see if the x11 has a different name also first, do them in one go.

-EDIT-

cinnamon-wayland
cinnamon2d

Seems I need to add 2 more, x11 is just cinnamon and software is 2d.

I've also found there is a single # in the conf files to remove to get AUR repositories to be used, so this will be easy to add too, Chrome isn't in the default repo, but EVERYTHING is in AUR (almost).

-EDIT-

DE:
cinnamon-wayland
cinnamon2d
anduinos
anduinos-xorg
lightdm-xsession (Debian) - Mate
deepin
COSMIC - make sure it's uppercase
KDE - make sure it's uppercase
ubuntu-xorg
zorin
default (SUSE)
OS ID:
almalinux
deepin
garuda
pop
regataos
cachyos
zorin
argent (Gentoo)


This is the full list of changes, I am sure there will be many more to add eventually, but this is the majority of the ones people should be using in the near future.

-EDIT-

I've added it to the Template scripts but now have to go back through all my existing packages to add the extra distro's and DE's, many of the issues I had were from them not being detected and skipping over the scripts.

One major issue I have is on some distro's there is no sudo, I can't do anything with those right now. as well as some will request over and over for the sudo password opening a new terminal each time. this also needs looking in to.

But I can say, Ubuntu, Mint, Fedora, Nobara and Manjaro are all working properly and don;t have this issue, except manjaro didn't have it's DE in the list so was skipped in WINE install etc.

-EDIT-

Still going, I have updated some but have 89 left to go, I'll upload them all at once and update the builder once it's tested with them. Then I'll make a Manjaro Cinnamon ISO for public release as I am very happy with how it is going.

-EDIT-

Half done, half left, will get to them after work.

 

[Glenn]

Phew, got to the Wine one and noticed I MISSED biglinux in the list of known Distro's that work with it, so I had to update all of them again, just as well I hadn't uploaded them yet.

Anyway, if anyone spots any issues with the apps, let me know so I can fix them up.

I'll do a new build and attempt the Manjaro build - Keep in Mind Xojo IDE doesn't work on Fedora, so I'd assume Manjaro may be the same, we'll see, I'll actually install my main PC with it to give it a full test before I release it publicly as my machine is very fussy, so if I can get it happy here, then it should be solid for you guys - When Mint fails to work, you'll have this Arch based distro instead. well you can use Nobara and BigLinux as well - which I highly recommend, but I can't generate a ISO installer with them yet, so you'll manually have to install LLStore and pick what you need to make it more LastOS-ish.

 

[Glenn]

GREAT news!

I just installed Manjaro Cinnamon and then I installed every single app I have on my portable HDD (that I know works in Mint) and they all 100% worked in it, even though I was in a VM I had no issues with it at all, yet mint does sometimes in VM's. As well as that even items like Atlantis Word work properly in Manjaro and it doesn't in Mint.

So to say I am impressed is an understatement. Of cause the Wayland not stretching BUT you can drop back to x11 (WHICH DOES WORK FINE) or install gamescope, it's in the repository (I've not tested it yet as I am on a VM without any vulkan support it needs, but the fact it's in there should mean it's a lot easier to get it working than on mint.

So I am thinking the flagship for LastOSLinux moving forward will probably become Manjaro Cinnamon edition and the Mint Edition will just be used to support older hardware devices, because really you need the newer kernels/drivers and features to do the cutting edge development (os modding) and Mint just made me feel like I had reached the limits of what it provided (not to say it wasn't enough - I am still using it as my OS, just I want to use my multi monitors, wayland etc etc and Mint has NOT offered that to me

-EDIT-

OMG, Penguins Eggs is in the repo and it actually building a ISO of my current VM I am testing on, if it works then this will be a quick update, just a few issues to fix and ready to go. I am going to try to boot and install it and be back once I know more.

No issues at all making an ISO with the squishfs in place to boot/install from, I even seen it apply the live user successfully to the boot image, so looking like a go so far.

-EDIT-

Doesn't boot, so tomorrow I'll attempt a manual build, I may just have to remake the build scripts to support it. I'll be back.

 

[Glenn]

Next day and I did the manual egg build and it's booted into the Live OS off the ISO and is currently installing to the VM, so I will need to update my builder, but it is working

-EDIT-

Well it failed to boot after the install, I'll attempt to use their own calamares modules as they obviously work for the original, but as it stands eggs fails to build a installable ISO for manjaro cinnamon right now, I have read xfce works, but I don't want that.

-EDIT-

I've successfully built a ISO and it's installing now, it doesn't have penguins eggs used as I need it to be as stable as the original and offer the nVidia choices, meaning I built the OS as a Mock OS and chroot into it, instead of capturing an installed OS, it does offer overlays and I managed to split the Build and ISO building steps, so I should be able to include LLStore on the ISO as well as so essential apps. The OS should be able to use the overlays to put LLStore pre configured and other things, I've not ran any scripts on the chroot OS yet to see if I can automate that but ChatGPT seemed hopeful towards doing it.

I'll be back once the install completes, then I'll attempt to make it LastOS-ish and see how it goes

-EDIT-

OS installed and booted successfully, so I am happy with that, I planned on not including the office tools being offered at install time, but they can be added with a switch easily if I change my mind.

Re-edited the preset to use Full instead of Minimal, this offers Samba and 7zip, codec x264 etc etc, so 3.5gb for the complete base, I may remove some components if needed as I think wine uses 500mb on it's own, so it'll reduce the toolset I can include if it gets too big.

-EDIT-

The Full ISO installed and boots fine - now to try and customise it Nobara can also be done in this way, but I'll get the Manjaro one done as I prefer it now.

Having an issue getting packages to install like this, the gpg keys are not detected as correct, I am not use if the timezone is incorrect in the chroot or what, lots of fun learning all this, time to watch a few youtube videos on the matter I guess as everything else is working, just not able to use the package manager.

-EDIT-

I have a working fix, that'll do the job I need. I'll make the Manjaro Cinnamon release very Default, it'll just include LLStore and be able to be used on PC's that don't like Mint. The Flagship has to stay Mint as none of the others support being captured or built in the way that I want, I do not want to run a repository to install from (at this stage), costs money and bandwidth and I don't want to spend the time doing it until I am better at using Linux.

-EDIT-
4.2gb with wine etc, so seems tomorrow I'll test it and see.

 

[Glenn]

I've got Manjaro working with wine and LLStore, so once I make a new readme for it and do a few other changes, expect a ISO soon

 

[Glenn]

I am still working on it, I've gotten a few features in that were missing, Like Sudo timeout to 60 minutes instead of 5, so it can do a OS build in one go. llstore and the global shortcuts is now added, it has the icons in the LiveOS and makes desktop shortcuts using the Auto Logon Script, changing the wallpaper as needed, the Lan IP address is now got correctly as the hostname -I fails in arch based distro's.

The context menu items are all in (except Sanitize as this will take a little more work to get embedded without using the install scripts.

Anyway, the main issue I am facing right now is it is often going to fallback mode on boot, so I'll need to figure out what is causing it to do this (it may just be a packaging issue right now and as they update them it'll go away again, but I'll try to press Windows + L to bring up looking glass next time I get the issue, because most of the time it's booting the LiveOS fine. doesn't affect the installed OS, which makes it even stranger.

It's amazing how many builds I've had to do to just get it to where I have, but at least it's being well tested. I'll hold out as long as I can from doing this ISO release as I don't want people to find bugs and be disappointed like the RC versions of the early Mint builds.

-EDIT-

Looking glass can't be called, so I am guessing it's a race condition, I don't plan on adding a delay, so I guess users may have to press Reload if it fails occasionally on some hardware. but it's always worked after that.

Also I've noticed my own builds do not boot on my Little laptop I was able to install the vanilla version on, which sucks as the newer packages are obviously less compatible than their public release ones, I am assuming it's the Mesa drivers as these are used by the AMD graphics and my NVidia main system is fully bootable also. So I may hold of for a week or two before I can release a proper RC1 release, did anyone want to test it as is, because I can upload it, just wont advertise it for testing except by those who have some understanding of the issues I mention... Let me know.

-LOL-

The issue was I was using linux kernel 514 (which is the default in the config file), I've updated it to 6.12 LTS Kernel, so should be a lot better now, should even solve the Cinnamon crashing issue. I'll report soon - new build in progress.

-EDIT-

YES - Fixed 100% now, so glad I noticed what the issue was. I'll stick with 612 as it's LTS and will be supported much longer than the 6.15 BUT you can easily update to 6.15 or even 6.16 if you choose, it's really really simple in Arch based distro's to move kernel versions and even have multiple available on boot.

-EDIT-

I am just touching up the nemo tweaks and putting on the Windows 10 Icon pack etc, it should be able to be pretty close to the LastOSLinux feel, it will be missing the Office Suite out of the box as I needed a bit more space to include the NVidia drivers optional on the boot menu, thus you would have to install it from the internet, I haven't added it to the installer as it is available from the LLStore.

I am quite happy with it now, no need to wait to release it, I'll do one more build with the latest fixes and upload an ISO for anyone to play with.

 

[Glenn]

ISO is uploading now, it's RC1 and reasonably well tested (not mac test yet): https://sourceforge.net/projects/lastoslinux/files/ISOs/

It'll be ready to get in a hour or two. I kept the same theme as I just want to get it fully functional before I spend time bringing a more cohesive theme to all LastOSLinux OS's.

I tested on a 2008 MacBook Pro and it doesn't seem to support Mixed Mode grub, so isn't able to show the boot menu. So no Manjaro on older Macs. There will also be a range of Laptop and Desktop PC's that are also 32 bit UEFI and wont be able to boot (nut not many). Results may vary though, so let me know if you get it working on a iMac or other devices.

-EDIT-

I've finished off the last of the OS Build transfer, it now has the full LastOS Theme including the mouse cursor, it has Check NTFS and LastOS Settings added, this leaves just under 200mb of space on a DVD 4.7, I'll keep working on it and Testing, so any feedback on this release is welcome, you can get settings and Check NTFS and the Theme using LLStore, so no need to upload the newer build, especially if anyone find anything I've missed and they need.

Thanks.

 

[Glenn]

Correction, it boots on a Mac fine, not tested installed but the 2009 model works

 

[vanTorX]

So I am thinking the flagship for LastOSLinux moving forward will probably become Manjaro Cinnamon edition and the Mint Edition will just be used to support older hardware devices, because really you need the newer kernels/drivers and features to do the cutting edge development (os modding) and Mint just made me feel like I had reached the limits of what it provided (not to say it wasn't enough - I am still using it as my OS, just I want to use my multi monitors, wayland etc etc and Mint has NOT offered that to me

So this Manjaro Cinnamon does installs on those 'older hardware devices' after all, or at least on some. I suppose that the Mint eEdition should now be used as a fallback upon when Majaro-Cinnamon will not install (or will not boot).

That was a good choice to leave office out in favor of including more technical features like Wine and such like that would be much harder for people to install and configure.

 

[vanTorX]

Installed LastOS Manjaro on iMac 24" (2007) no problem at all. Booted from Ventoy and chose grub2 mode (normal mode doesn't doesn't go anywhere on this iMac, same as with previous installs).
The install itself went fairly fast, after your notice about LastOS installing its stuff, there was some note about Flatpacks and that it needs reboot and to install updates before reboot...

I updated and rebooted but then nothing happened, maybe because I had to disconnect Ventoy, otherwise it automatically goes into booting it on restart (not that I complain about that).

I installed the second item in LLStore that has to do with Flatpacks (some base preparation for them) plus few other small programs and I can say, it feels overall better than Mint.

Only thing was, had to go into settings, Power and change pover button from suspend to give options when pressed. It defaulted on Suspend and the graphics get red hue and nothing doing for it but restart, your tip for opening and closing terminal or sudo command doesn't work on this hardware.
Sudo service Lightdmg restart
I got asked for login, I suppose that the login name, then pass but it didn't work, not sure if I got login or pass wrong. I chose acct and admin pass to be the same. Anyway everything that worked on Mint works now and I can see various new features on this Manjaro, so I give it

 

[Glenn]

Thanks for your time and feedback. I appreciate knowing the OS installs fine, I could only boot my USB while visiting my Mum as she runs the old 2009 MacBook Pro due to the really nice screen. She can stay on Mint though as its what she has got used to.

The information about the flatpaks not being enabled until reboot is the same for the Mint edition, I just haven't released a new ISO of it since I added that information. So many people would boot up the machine post install and then run LLStore try to install Flatpak items and they wont show in the menu (or sometimes not even install until after the reboot, so it's more a warning than something you have to do).

The red Hue will probably never go away for the iMac's due to it having custom made nVidia Graphics and the only time they ever worked in Linux was when the person who understood it all would patch each kernel release to have it work properly. it never got embedded in to the main kernel due to it causing conflicts with more devices, so the best option was to abandon it. The code is public, but I wouldn't have the skills to patch the kernel and make the newer things work with the patch, so it's best to disable screen sleep and suspend and make the system full shutdown only, that way it will never start with corrupted video ram making it draw wrong.

 

[Ryan Do]

I'm running into / and /home size issues again with my second Linux PC and I need to wipe and start again. I'm starting the download for this and will give it a shot later today! Wow, it's already done? Usually they take 40+ minutes to download from SF.

 

[vanTorX]

'size issues'
not good enough forward planning or some technical problems?

@Glenn, do you have a ballpark idea how much space all games installation take on system partition? I suppose that's where they install but maybe ppGames install on /Home partition?

I will reinstall my iMac flagship, the one with 5k display, 2015 model and can dedicate some 800GB space for Linux, leaving 200GB for Mac OS on the 1TB disk.

Or what would the space requirements be if I installed the whole LL repository? I would still probably do some selection and not install some games or apps that are significantly big in size and I know beforehand I wouldn't use them. It is tempting to have all games and apps at fingertips.

 

[Glenn]

Last time I installed everything I had it's OS on 120gb of a 512gb so less than 360 to 370gb for everything, except I've added the EMUlation pack and sonic game is 9.5gb, so I'd say about 400gb for everything, including the largest items. I install XOJO, DaVinci Resolve and other manual items, so it's not easy to guess it

About proxmox, I booted it, installed a OS in it, decided it wasn't something I needed as my main rig with a USB disk holds all my VM HDDs and switching to Virt Manager instead of VirtualBox, so I don't have the IDs not matching issues when using VirtualBox. I guess if I had multiple main devices or users or hosting things I'd love proxmox though.

 

[Ryan Do]

Okay, so my thoughts after running the Manjero ISO for a few hours -
Install went smoothly without issue.
Obviously I'm used to Debian based commands, so that needs a little but of practice.
I really like the Add/Remove Software option, that works well and helped me find most of the software I needed.
Feels a little bit faster in some ways, a bit slower in others. I also like that you have the options for the newer kernels as well.
I did only install a few things from the LLStore (Photoshop, some runtimes, a couple games, etc.) and that all went smoothly.

I know we've had the secure boot discussion in the past, but I'm sad I cannot use secure boot. Maybe I can rig it with some MOK settings sometime.

I'll probably keep the Mint one on my primary computer though.
I like this so far. If there's anything you want me to test or provide feedback on, let me know.

 

[Glenn]

No problem, I'll request help as I find thing I am unsure of.

As for Secure Boot, it is not very secure, unless you have a bios password set anybody who want to take control of your boot process won't have a problem doing so. Although I don't run defender myself in windows that IS enough to block anything having enough power to make those kinds of changes to your UEFI things. As for Linux, because everything is repository driven you have very little chance of anything modifying your UEFI entries, that is what secure boot does, it blocks changes to your UEFI and boot images that call modded kernels (for windows and Linux), to date there has not been a public hack that attacks that level, most hackers are after business machines as these will pay off. So yes there is a slight risk, but really it doesn't matter if they get access to your PC so long as you have 2FA on your money and main accounts (google, Microsoft apple, etc) and if you keep backups off your machine on a portable USB (so they are safe).

I just don't see why Secure Boot is a big deal. The fact it can be bypassed anyway if you haven't encrypted your drives or if you haven't set a password on your BIOS, BOOT etc, then people can work around it anyway. That kind of security gives a false sense of protection. The same as putting an anti-virus program on windows 7, people think they can use it if they do, the fact is if it's a system level hole in the OS then it can be used without an anti-virus being triggered.

But I understand everyone has their choices and apart from accidentally losing your bit locker key, there is no harm having secure boot enabled for Windows. The fact that Linux has issues with it for kernel and drives means things you expect to work will misbehave, so if you do your mok signing fix on the graphics and don't run a vm, you can use secure boot on Linux fine, just re-enable it once you've finished installing everything, if it boots, you'll have what you want. If not, you can change it back to disabled.

Ubuntu/Kubuntu is signed and works with drivers etc. So if secure boot is a must have for you, LLStore works fine in that. I am just saying I gave up on secure boot as it was causing me headaches, things acting weird and I thought "for what" the. Disabled it.

 

[vanTorX]

While I had success installing Manjaro on iMac 24" 2007 model, I have problem installing on iMac 27" 2009 model (this one was problematic even with Mint but I was able to load preinstall OS and then after installation, I connected to external monitor and use the nomodeset for boot choice to solve black screen problem after installation).

I tried all boot menu choices in Ventoy, the first choice - Boot in normal mode - stalls, I can tell by the diode not blinking on my external USB drive. The second choice - Boot in grub2 mode gets me to more choices and both choices, Boot with open source drivers or the one with proprietary drivers seeming load up preinstall OS but with black screen and external monitor says there is no video signal.

I can tell the preinstall OS is there because hear pings when changing sound volume on keyboard (it has those multimedia keys) and num lock key lights the diode that signals it is switched ON.
Also tried Alt-Ctrl-F2 which on Mint opened terminal and when I do that, that numlock diode goes OFF, when I press Alt-Ctrl-F7 which closes the terminal in Mint, that numlock diode lights back up and sound volume keys again give off that sound. I believe I am in Linux PE but with black screen.

I explored using that nomodeset command for grub2 but not sure where to add that nomodeset command
I pressed E for edit

and got the following where I am not sure in which place to insert that nomodeset command (I seen no 'no splash', logLevel to indicate where that nomodeset should go.
Perhaps I should set the 'radeon.modeset=1' to '0' (zero)? Since the iMac has Radeon video.

Mind you, with Mint, I only needed to use this to see the installed OS, here we are talking about seen Manjaro preinstall OS

-----------------------------------------

I was fussing again with secondary monitor when I was in what I believed was ManjaroPE and to my surprise I got signal out and found I am at 'tty2' CLI, I logged in but now what do I do at the command line? Why am I not on Manjaro PE desktop?
I tried commands like install, boot, opened CLI help file for that install command but it is not helpful and I used exit to get back to the CLI as you see it here.

 

[Glenn]

Sorry I am not that well versed in that depth of Linux, in fact you have more experience than I do with it. I am not going to try and guess what you could do to fix it. That is the issue with Linux, so many users get Black Screens on hardware that isn't natively supported by Linux. I am sure that future updates could easily make it fail again, so it might not be worth using it on this kind of hardware that fights to work unless you really enjoy messing about and come up with your own solutions to it, the fact you've shared what you have discovered might allow others to contribute, but I don't have a 2009 iMac, so I can't contribute myself

 

[vanTorX]

I waited for your response not so much expecting help but more to know that I didn't miss out on something if I didn't ask. I rebooted to get from that Manjaro command line and followed up on my guess above:

Perhaps I should set the 'radeon.modeset=1' to '0' (zero)? Since the iMac has Radeon video.

I did that and lo and behold, click on F10 opened screen on scrolling lines of loading live Majaro and in no time I was on its desktop.

To re-track, this was after selecting 'Boot in normal mode', next screen selecting 'Boot with open source drivers' and clicking 'E' to edit settings for this menu choice. That opened to the lines in the above image where I changed radeon.modeset=1 to radeon.modeset=0 (which as I deduced is equal to 'nomodeset' setting I used in Mint), then clicked F10 to save it and start the installation of livePE

The installation is now in progress, had to correct two problems, first it couldn't format fat32 boot partition so I prepared that in gparted and ran the installation, second glitch was it couldn't set the Manajaro_Boot as boot/EFI partition label, so I made it just Boot and now it finished, going to reboot.

Had to explicitly select Boot-EFI disk of which there are now two exactly the same looking but I know Manjaro is the one on right...
It showed some activity and the monitor lit up but then I knew I had to switch to external monitor and finally I am on LastOS Manjaro desktop.

The immediate concern is to edit grub to use nomodeset again as I did that in Mint. I can't recall the panel Ryan pointed me to in the Administration section, the Grub Customizer panel. Instead the closest I found to it is this panel but it seems to be video driver installing, says something about video-modesetting but probably that is something else than grub settings. I clicked the 'Auto Install Open source Driver' and it offered to detect and install... I cancelled it for now, will have to search on what checkmarking those other fields does.

I edited the grub.cfg directly, added nomodeset in all three occurrences of 'quiet splash' and hands off reboot finally brought me directly to Manjaro desktop on iMac's display.
Still more permanent nomodeset is on my books but for now, I won the fight.

 

[Glenn]

Good show Glad you figured it out, I am having fun today building a KDE version of Manjaro, the ISO is the same size as the Cinnamon one, so I'll give it a VM and see how it goes - I have no plans to use KDE daily myself, but I am sure others would enjoy it. Manjaro offers many other desktop environments too, so I'll play to build all of them. Eventually I'll share the builder publicly, so anyone can have a play, it's all quite easy, but semi limiting compared to the Mint base as you MUST use packages instead of just overlaying and setting settings, due to it using chroot instead of OS capture like Penguins Eggs does.

I've come to find Manjaro is as nice as Mint to use, things that should work, do. Unlike the many other Distro's there are things that you can't get going in a sane way. I can understand people getting frustrated with Linux if they Pick say Nobara, Fedora and even Mint (when they have newer hardware). So Manjaro is a nice middle ground and I don't see myself distro hopping now I've found it. I mean it's arch based, so you could even say - I use ARCH BTW

-EDIT-

The ISO is actually just over 250mb bigger, meaning it's not fitting on a 4.7gb ISO, I'll have to trim it down some more.

Hmmm It haden't even added LLStore properly, so I'm just gonna leave it bigger than a DVD 4.7, there is no way I can reduce 300mb from my base.

-EDIT-

All working, testing Installer now, but it's expanding so I don't see any problems occurring (I've said that before, but I trust Manjaro). I do need to update the firstlogin.sh script to change the default KDE theme as it still only had Cinnamon stuff in it, but everything else is in and works, Conky, WINE, Check NTFS etc. So I think once I add the KDE Tweaks and set the theme I'll have a ISO ready for public RC1.

... Works great, ISO installed.

 

[Glenn]

Done, just about to build the new ISO and see what it is like, I've changed the wallpapers, icons, Dolphin tweaks and set to dark mode.

I will look into changing the Mouse Cursor, but it's not as easy as a conf setting, many people change the symbolic link of the default cursor to point to the theme.index file instead - which I guess works, but still weird.

Uploading KDE ISO now, like I said, if you love KDE, get this, else Cinnamon is the better choice

-EDIT-

Starting on a GNOME build now, we'll see how that comes out.

-EDIT-

Yep Gnome is built and working, I just need to re-theme it as it's default Manjaro currently

-EDIT-

BLURYUK!! I can't stand gnome, it's the worst DE I've ever used, how do people like it?

Anyway, as they include a layout editor on the welcome screen and from the start "screen" I'll not enable desktop icons by default as I'll never use it myself and maybe those who like gnome would like empty desktops (as it has no context menu scripts etc anyway - so whats the point). I'll test this new build to make sure the theme sticks and upload it soon.

-EDIT-

Uploading the ISO, I did forget to add XED text editor to it, which means the ReadMe on the desktop isn't able to "Allow Launching", you can install apps with 'sudo pamac install xed', then eventually It'll get the icon and allow you to right click and allow it to launch - I never updated the readme to any of the releases (they are all Cinnamon) but as they are testing releases, I just thought I'd refine things once they were out in the wild for public testing.

I'll take a look at XFCE now as the final Desktop I plan to build with Manjaro, please use Cinnamon, they know how to make a desktop environment I like

-EDIT-

XFCE is uploading now, it isn't themed as it's harder to do that without replacing the original wallpaper, so just browse for one to use, they are in /usr/share/backgrounds.

Only Cinnamon and XFCE fit on a DVD 4.7GB the others are over by up to 500mb and can boot from USB fine but will not burn to a DVD 4.7.

After much testing and messing about with them all, Cinnamon is still the only one I intend to use, but I now have them based and can tweak them to get them all available depending on demand.

As I have been doing these tests and updated LLStore, Mint's update is due out within the month (or just after), so at that time I'll finalise Mint Cinnamon and Manjaro Cinnamon as the new public ISO's. by then I hope to have had time to address the requested changes to LLStore. In the mean time, please share any feedback or requests, as I add wanted features/fixes I learn and everybody gets a better public release.

 

[vanTorX]

I watched this YT video where the guy evaluates number of linux distributions (or what it should be called) and what we call Fedora with that iconic flagship wallpaper, he calls Budgie. It is an interesting overview especially for me as I have little perspective when it comes to linux flavors.

One of the highest ranked linux issues is KDE Plasma, no idea if that has anything to do with your "KDE version of Manjaro". I guess KDE is a desktop built or running either on Manjaro or on Plasma linux?

Linux is so forked with so many names that I must confess, I don't know anymore what is what. I mean what are the base OS names and what are the desktops for them, if that is even the right way to describe it. Maybe it is a broad base (kernel?) from which spring various child linux bases and each of these child bases can run variously named desktops...

I'd say, those YT video geared towards new, windows users don't get what a goulash that is for them. One has to become a pretty serious geek to gain at least some insight into what is what in linux world. On the other hand, most people don't have the need to know where they stand in the world of computing, they read some reviews, watch some YT videos and if someone seems trustworthy to them, they follow his advice and install what is recommended and don't look back or around, just use their linux for better or worse.