KLV-Spectr-RT with full real-time kernel 6.1.38-rt13c

[geo_c]

Boots to desktop on my chromebook and then I don't know how to get a terminal or anything else! BTW what is the 'MOD' key?

Airedale RT works as expected.

Mod key is Super, known as the 'windows' key. If you're using @rockedge's iso MOD+z brings up a splash screen with keybindings. which I made, but checked against the iso, and I don't think they are all incorporated, but many will work.

If you look at the file /root/.spectrwm.conf, the bottom of the file will have any added keybindings, and there's a section above that defines some keys to certain applications. Seen at the lines below click to enlarge:

EDIT: I noted the missing keybindings here: viewtopic.php?p=101452#p101452
ALSO: use MOD+d to open the Rofi application menu to launch programs

and this contains a section with default keyiindings, many which have been changed, but many left in. As a rule if they have not been redefined in spectrwm, then the defaults are still present. I'm working on getting us on the same page with the keybinding situation:
https://github.com/conformal/spectrwm#readme

[Sofiya]

Boots to desktop on my chromebook and then I don't know how to get a terminal or anything else! BTW what is the 'MOD' key?

Airedale RT works as expected.

[stemsee]

My chromebook's MOD key is just beneath the TAB key, with a search icon on it! I actually pressed loads of combo keys, but I will try again now after reboot.

[geo_c]

The attached zip contains the files:
/root/.spectrwm.conf
/root/.config/spectrwm/scripts/Spectr-hotkeys.sh
/root/.config/spectrwm/scripts/Spectr-version.sh
/root/.config/spectrwm/scripts/Spectrwm-STOCK-hotkeys.txt

Spectr-Keys.tar.gz

(5.89 KiB) Downloaded 75 times

All in a directory structure so you could easily just create a squashed layer to add to the version of KLV-Specrwm-RT found here: viewtopic.php?p=95259#p95259

or just copy the files manually.

I unsquashed a fresh rootfs and modified the .spectrwm config, so if you boot it up fresh it should be nice and pristine.

You will get all the relevant and tested keybindings with a matching splash. MOD+z to bring up the splash, all keybindings are included. I've also added a text file created from the github spectrwm manual listing all the default keybindings with the ones we've redefined or nulled commented out for comparison.

It's my hope that we could work from a common base of keybindings so that new users aren't confused.

[geo_c]

file uploaded to the above post,

All keys tested and working well.

I can really get around this OS without a mouse now. I added the floating window resizing and moving keybindings. They work great.

[Sofiya]

I’ll add the “ [module/title] ” module, with a screen resolution of 1366x768 the title line in the “modules-left = ewmh xwindow” mode is displayed completely and because of this my clock with the date is hidden

And with the mode "modules-left = ewmh title" the line will be incomplete and then nothing will be hidden.
Not everyone has a screen resolution of 1920x or more, so this module will be useful.

/root/.config/polybar/config

Code: Select all

[module/title]
type = internal/xwindow

; Available tags:
;   <label> (default)
format = <label>
;format-prefix =

; Available tokens:
;   %title%
; Default: %title%
label = "%title%"
label-maxlen = 25

; Used instead of label when there is no window title
label-empty = Desktop

format-foreground = ${colors.foreground}
format-background = ${colors.background}

#################################################################

[Sofiya]

[Sofiya]

added a clock icon to the module "[module/date]", and will also add the module "[module/sysmenu]"

Code: Select all

[module/date]
;https://github.com/jaagr/polybar/wiki/Module:-date
type = internal/date
; Seconds to sleep between updates
interval = 1
; See "http://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/io/manip/put_time" for details on how to format the date string
; NOTE: if you want to use syntax tags here you need to use %%{...}
date = " %Y-%m-%d%"
date-alt = " %d-%m-%Y"
time = "  %H:%M"
time-alt = "  %H:%M:%S"
format-prefix = " "
format-prefix-foreground = #c1941a
format-underline = #c1941a
format-foreground = ${colors.foreground}
format-background = ${colors.background}
label = %date% %time%

#################################################################

[module/sysmenu]
type = custom/text
content = "  " 

click-left = ~/.config/spectrwm/scripts/powermenu.sh &

content-background = ${colors.background}
content-foreground = #FF0000
content-underline = #FF0000

#################################################################

[geo_c]

added a clock icon to the module "[module/date]", and will also add the module "[module/sysmenu]"

Out of curiousity are you working off the iso @rockedge posted at the first post of this topic, or are you in CE-1?

In other words what is the latest?

My daily Spectr is the one without pipewire. Built from the rootfs released around 2023-07-02, and which I PFI'd around 08-17.

But I also have installed the system rootfs from 10-18 which I used to edit and post the .spectrwm.conf with the key-bindings. Is that what you guys are working with?

[rockedge]

@geo_c I will have some time in a bit to check it out and get you the latest rootfs

[Sofiya]

added a clock icon to the module "[module/date]", and will also add the module "[module/sysmenu]"

Out of curiousity are you working off the iso @rockedge posted at the first post of this topic, or are you in CE-1?

In other words what is the latest?

My daily Spectr is the one without pipewire. Built from the rootfs released around 2023-07-02, and which I PFI'd around 08-17.

But I also have installed the system rootfs from 10-18 which I used to edit and post the .spectrwm.conf with the key-bindings. Is that what you guys are working with?

I work in CE-1 with Pipewire

[Sofiya]

I didn't like the volume icon and the clock icon, we will make it cooler

Fonts: https://gitlab.com/sofija.p2018/kla-ot2 ... line=false

[wiak]

added a clock icon to the module "[module/date]", and will also add the module "[module/sysmenu]"

Out of curiousity are you working off the iso @rockedge posted at the first post of this topic, or are you in CE-1?

In other words what is the latest?

I also must say that I am finding myself confused. It is 'normal practice' that the first post of any thread about a distro is the one that contains the download (or downloads) and so that's where I always go when wanting to try whatever is discussed. I understand that the limitation is that only the person who posted that first post of thread can change its contents, but that's usually fine since they can act as leader of that distro topic and manage its creation in a smooth way. In general, if there are alternate versions of same distro then these are surely better in their own thread?

In summary I think it is a problem that some distros (be they in the forum of iso or build script or f_plugin) are published in other than top post of thread or at the very least have their download location linked in first post of relevant topic thread. Notice that even those involved in the development are getting a bit lost at time as to what or which version is being posted about!

[Sofiya]

I don’t know how you can get confused here, in other words, I’m working in my version of KLV-Spectrwm-CE-1.0. And I provide the material for work, and it’s up to you to decide (whether to add this material to your collection or not)
Since this is such a booze, I'm finishing development, good luck in development

[wiak]

I don’t know how you can get confused here, in other words, I’m working in my version of KLV-Spectrwm-CE-1.0. And I provide the material for work, and it’s up to you to decide (whether to add this material to your collection or not)

I don't have time to read every post in these threads Sofiya, but I do my best to view what is going on. Someone who hasn't been using KL distros, or only rarely are even less likely to spot posts that contain actual downloads.

What I'm saying is that it is pretty much standard practice on the forum to put downloads of actual distros in first post of a thread (has been for decades), which makes sense to me. Since you have your own CE variant, I feel you should put the download for that in its own thread - that's all. You can always put links to the download in main overall Spectr-related developement thread back to where your download item is. It has also also been common practice for there being actual download threads for people to comment about the result itself as a product, as well as additional development thread. That was to limit confusion, which certainly is the result of mixed thread with alternative downloads.

If it ends up that the result is one version of this distro that's fine, but at the moment there are more than one download variants, which is also fine, but only top post version tends to get noticed and used by most people, which may not be best here.

[wiak]

@Sofiya

Certainly there is no 'rule' or no rules to say where download link is most usefully put, but fact is most people will only download top post version since that is almost always the main variant of each distro that has ever been published via this forum.

Since that may in this case not in fact be the most recent and best developed version (and it probably isn't...) then the most highly developed variant is effectively missing out. You can do what you want and publish what you want and wherever you want, but I am sure people who might have used your version may end up missing it.

[rockedge]

There are 2 versions. One is @Sofiya 's KLV-Spectr-CE-1 and the other is my KLV-Spectr-RT. The both CE-1 and RT version can also use a general purpose Void Linux kernel made for KLV or other kernel variants.

I am using some of the CE-1 parts, and I think at some point we can merge the 2, especially using Sofiya 's configurations
and @geo_c 's key bindings.

[wiak]

There are 2 versions. One is @Sofiya 's KLV-Spectr-CE-1 and the other is my KLV-Spectr-RT. The both CE-1 and RT version can also use a general purpose Void Linux kernel made for KLV or other kernel variants.

I am using some of the CE-1 parts, and I think at some point we can merge the 2, especially using Sofiya 's configurations
and @geo_c 's key bindings.

That's fine. Good to know. I was just getting a bit lost; just woke up at the time so half asleep and needed sudden guidance. Having my coffee now and all is good.

[geo_c]

There are 2 versions. One is @Sofiya 's KLV-Spectr-CE-1 and the other is my KLV-Spectr-RT. The both CE-1 and RT version can also use a general purpose Void Linux kernel made for KLV or other kernel variants.

I am using some of the CE-1 parts, and I think at some point we can merge the 2, especially using Sofiya 's configurations
and @geo_c 's key bindings.

And I'm aware of the CE-1 thread, which is why I asked the question. I seem to remember you mentioning that there were issues to iron out and better to stick with this version for awhile. Otherwise I would have begun working with CE-1 right away as @Sofiya tends to take these things and run with them and make the most of them.

But what looks like is happening is that we're getting the polishing files, like polybar and such here in this thread, which I have been incorportating into my now ancient Spectr. And they work GREAT btw! I'm totally happy with this old OS pre-pipewire and use it as a daily driver everywhere now, kind of like I do with Airedale-SR2.

So all is good, but eventually I will rebuild with a new pipewire version (and as I said the one from this thread I have already installed and booted), just waiting to build with all the bells and whistles when they are completed.

And if I can contribute things like key-bindings and splashes, best to know where to put them.

[rockedge]

@geo_c I keep adding the modifications as they come and the intent is to keep KLV-Spectr-RT equipped with a full real time kernel and also have an identical rootfs in both KLV-Spectr-CE-1 and KLV-Spectr-RT. Basically the KLV-spectr_rootfs should be able to be portable enough to be easily shared.

@geo_c one machine I have is dialed in well with pulseaudio, with no reason to change that, and the others are using pipewire. That's one of the beautiful features, it's easy to have both versions that are still very close in construction, yet use the different audio schemes.

[geo_c]

@geo_c one machine I have is dialed in well with pulseaudio, with no reason to change that, and the others are using pipewire. That's one of the beautiful features, it's easy to have both versions that are still very close in construction, yet use the different audio schemes.

Since I have it installed, I'll be working with setting up the pipewire version now. The deal with me is I don't really boot up OS's simply for testing. I pretty much start using them right away and set them up with everything. So I choose which ones to invest in carefully.

Seems to me it might be a cool idea to explore the multi-instance approach, if a separate layer could reside in each instance, there could be a common rootfs that resides in the parent install, then a unique audio layer residing two separate instances, and thereby providing an option to boot either one.

I don't know if that's feasible or if only upper_changes can be present in each instance.

[rockedge]

I don't know if that's feasible or if only upper_changes can be present in each instance.

This will work! instance0 can be the "real" system and instance1 and instance2 are all symlinks from instance0. Only instance0 needs to modified to effect changes across all the instances symlinked to it. Have instance1 use it's own upper_changes and instance2 using it's own upper_changes then just add into the instance1 a layer like a numbered directory 45audio-pulse and in instance2 perhaps 46audio-pipewire. Both can be SFS or uncompressed directories.

Each instance in KL-multi setups will function like an actual frugal install but be only around 2000 bytes in size before anything else is added.

[wiak]

Seems to me it might be a cool idea to explore the multi-instance approach, if a separate layer could reside in each instance, there could be a common rootfs that resides in the parent install, then a unique audio layer residing two separate instances, and thereby providing an option to boot either one.

Yes, it would be great if you would experiment with that approach since it potentially has a lot of unexplored scope. Certainly there may be some issues since we have to bear in mind keeping the integrity of the package manager database intact. My feeling is that the best approach to that might be to make the separate layer you are talking about not 'visible' to the package manager database at all; for example starting with an empty upper_changes and adding the audio components you want, but then purposively simply removing the /var package manager database part that was written into that upper_changes. Finally then making that upper_changes a numbered shareable sfs (or numbered uncompressed dir).
i.e. something like I once described making a similarly 'invisible to package manager' firefox kind of portable here: viewtopic.php?p=84173#p84173

Whether that 'trick' proves necessary of course is a different matter. I haven't myself had time to do the sort of experiment you are suggesting, so you may find it works withouet so much trouble. Of course any 'instance0' can be pre-configured first and any other instance then configured with its own and very different upper_changes; that much at least we do know - and all these other instances can be made to inherit whatever instance0 has been built up into, hopefully...

[wiak]

I don’t know how you can get confused here, in other words, I’m working in my version of KLV-Spectrwm-CE-1.0. And I provide the material for work, and it’s up to you to decide (whether to add this material to your collection or not)
Since this is such a booze, I'm finishing development, good luck in development

Well I simply stated a fact: I was confused. I saw comments about the existence of CE version of the iso, but had no idea where it was. I now see it does have its own thread, but I didn't know that. If I had been answered with a link to the thread that would have worked to end my confusion, but I have noticed it by myself now so my confusion is finally over (at least till the next time I get confused, which happens in this world at times since my AI engine is imperfect).

[Clarity]

...
Seems to me it might be a cool idea to explore the multi-instance approach, if a separate layer could reside in each instance, there could be a common rootfs that resides in the parent install, then a unique audio layer residing two separate instances, and thereby providing an option to boot either one. ...

If this is of interest, there are about 3-4 mainline Linux solutions, 2 of which have been around for years. Docker is probably the most famous. @wiak, IIRC, mention one other recently somewhere.

In the forum, Barry's IMG provides this as well in his implementation along the lines of your post.

There are many offshoots that do this as well.

@wiak's utility for spawning folders is one other manner to achieve such that I find fascinating and useful to match.

My personal favorite in fascination is a distro that's been around for a decade: PROXMOX. It has taken the best of all these to a level of virtualization implementation beyond any others, IMHO...except VMWare.

This is just a couple thoughts to the lightbulb.

Lastly, although probably not what you might find of interest, is "KLs and QEMU". Spin up a VM and its audio will playback thru the Host's audio system. QEMU doesn't bring the management layers of those I've mentioned, it does get the job done and its done well in mimicking real PCs...virtually. If management is a desire, Linux's VirtMgr addresses that need.

[geo_c]

HOLY MOTHER OF CPU-SHEDULING, BATMAN!

I finally put a copy of KLV-Spectr-RT on my little Toshiba netbook with a single 1.6GHZ Intel Celeron and 2GB of RAM, and this thing now runs like all my other computers. Lighting speed.

It's still my ancient Spectr-RT with all of @Sofiya's polybar upgrades. So I have yet to build a copy of CE-2. Though not this weekend because I'm going out of town.

In fact that's why I dedided to fire up this little netbook, just to have something on hand in case I need to take care of some business while away hopefully relaxing.

At any rate, I still need to connect the wifi and try some browsing and audio. I'm sure the browsers will still push the limits of this little machine, but it's got to be better than it was seeing how it's running now.

I'll report back after further testing.

[rockedge]

Note:
I have been adding the exfatprogs package which seems to increase the level of KLV's ability to deal with exFAT partitions.

Code: Select all

xbps-install -Sy exfatprogs

[geo_c]

At any rate, I still need to connect the wifi and try some browsing and audio. I'm sure the browsers will still push the limits of this little machine, but it's got to be better than it was seeing how it's running now.

I'll report back after further testing.

Streaming video on a resource intensive website using LibreWolf, RAM is reported as 732M/1.8GB by HTOP.

The video pauses every 10-15 seconds as the single 1.6GHZ processor just can't keep up, but as the video plays, it's smooth, and audio is working great with no stuttering or pops. So basically, video/audio plays smoothly, then pauses until the processor catches up, then resumes smoothly.

Still great performance, as every bit of ram able to be spared by the desktop enviroment is crucial on a super low resource machine like this.

Unfortunately this old Intel Celeron does not support cpupower scaling, so I'm not sure how to tell if it's running top scheduling or not. Of course this processor always reaches 100% when streaming video regardless of whether F-95, F-96, KLV-airedale, or KLV-spectr, Spectr easily being the most responsive. KLV-airedale runs very fast on it also. Really I think these Void based systems perform really well all around.

As far as Spectr is concerned, being able to run the latest resource hungry Firefox and stream video from a bloated website while staying under 800M of ram seems practically a miracle.

Which transforms this little machine into a box completely suited to doing office work and net surfing that doesn't involve a lot of heavy video. Now it's perfect for carrying in my camper van.