MX Linux Forum

The unofficial respin of MX 15, which adds a customized KDE Jessie 4.14 desktop, plus keeps their theming from stepping on each other's toes, has been fully updated and migrated to the MX 16 base. All MX 16 homebrewed applications are also present, and the xfce desktop is the default MX 16 dark theme. No changes were made to the customized KDE desktop from the MX 15 respin. Firefox and Thunderbird were updated to the latest releases just before the remaster on March 8, and keepnote was added per a user request.

Known minor issue: the GRUB menu screen after installation refers to "*MX" instead of MX-16. I also had to manually edit /etc/default/grub so it would point to the MX 16 beach background after installation before I did the remaster--otherwise, the live session would show the beach, but it would switch back to 15's Squam Lake after the install.

Unlike the other remasters, this one is in a zip file, which contains the ISO, hash files, and the signature file. The zip archive make the total download a few 10's of megabytes smaller.

Woot!

Oh, by the way, I didn't set KDE up with a trendy modern Flat-looking window theme, but the included Kvantum Manager makes it simple to change KDE/Qt 4 apps to one of its included flatties, including a Breeze clone, along many style choices.

how to download this respin???

http://mxrepo.com/snapshots/Community_Respins/

The name is MX16_KDE_added.zip

thank you

Runs beautifully. I just made two changes:

1. Installed baloo. This enables the indexing of files and dolphin's "Recently accessed" and "Search For" functions in its left pane. On my AMD A8 7600 FM2+ CPU, fairly capable machine, I do not notice the indexing at all.

2. In Desktop Effects Advanced I changed Render to OpenGL 3.1 to enable more of the effects such as the cube.

Thank you, Stevo.

+1
Thanks Stevo ,looking forward to having fun with your new work.

Hello Stevo!

Last night I installed MX-16 Official and today I saw that you did the KDE and with my suggestion, very kind on your part

I am downloading your respin now. But I have an old Intel SSD and I have to create a partition in the normal Hard Disk (MX-16) to install the SSD Tools only for Windows 7, I thought I could live Windows free, but not yet. But as soon as I prepare the SSD and figure out how to install your KDE in it, I will.

Thanks a lot Stevo!
Regards
joejac

MX installs a "cron job" which performs a trim operation on SSD drives once a week to keep them healthy. I have to say I don't know much in depth about SSDs; is there something more in those tools you need to keep yours running well?

Maybe we can come up with a list of "5 tweaks for the KDE respin after installation" that would make a good MX Blog entry. I kept the xrender desktop effects backend as default to work in as many situations as possible, but they can be a lot better with openGL available.

I fixed mx-tools, it should not display Xfce-only items if not running in Xfce (Tim will have to upload the new mx-tools in the repo).

Stevo wrote:MX installs a "cron job" which performs a trim operation on SSD drives once a week to keep them healthy. I have to say I don't know much in depth about SSDs; is there something more in those tools you need to keep yours running well?

Maybe we can come up with a list of " 5 tweaks for the KDE respin after installation" that would make a good MX Blog entry. I kept the xrender desktop effects backend as default to work in as many situations as possible, but they can be a lot better with openGL available.

Trim options are also beyond my knowledge. Aa far as the indexing after first run I believe it is only incremental.

Xrender is compatible with most systems and is probably the correct default setting.

Thanks for doing that update for MX Tools! I have heard some murmuring about a MATE respin, too. I don't know much about setting a good MATE desktop at all, though I could port over MATE 1.16.1 from my OBS repo to ours, if some MATE maven can set up the desktop.

Hello and thanks,

I lost hours trying to install Win7 with no luck, I used Gparted and gave it a 300BG partition, Win7 see it but it do not want to install, it gives the error: "Setup was unable to create a new system partition or locate an existing system partition", the solution requires no other OS in the HD, and I have already restored my 400GB laptop information in the desktop, and I do not want to ruin my MX-16 installation in the hard disk.

The Intel SSD Tools are very good, but runs only on Win, in fact I miss 11GB of the SSD drive, that was the old root partition it had in 2012 but, I do not know how to recover those 11GB, despite I formatted de ssd drive and I installed MX-16 official in a single partition with no swap. I used a Win 7 in Virtualbox, it sees the SSD, shared resource, but Intel SSD Tools only sees Virtualbox disk, not the SSD.

I had many years without having to install Windows, today I realized more, how crappy is Windows compared with Linux.

I will try now with the KDE respin. Any idea is very welcomed.

By the way, Open Office Calc loaded in one second with the SSD with MX-16.

Best regards
joejac

@ joejac

I always use this Diskpart for a fresh install.

Booting and partitioning of GPT for Windows 8:
1.Boot from the Windows 8 install media (You must initiate this boot from a device labeled as a UEFI device, or the installation of Windows 8 will produce an error that the OS cannot be installed to a GPT partition) These UEFI boot devices will have a prefix UEFI: "name of your device", and show as a boot option in your UEFI.
2.After booting to the UEFI device you see the Install Windows 8 screen, press Shift + F10 to open a command prompt.
3.Type Diskpart, press Enter
4.Type List Disk , press Enter
5.Type Select Disk # (where # is the number your drive shows up as), press Enter
6.Type Clean, press Enter
7.Type Convert GPT, press Enter
8.Type Exit, press Enter.
9.Close the Command Prompt window.
10.Click the "Next" button.
11.Click the "Install now" button.
12.Put in your product key and click the "Next" button.
13.Accept the terms and click the "Next" button.
14.Choose "Custom: Install Windows only (advanced)."
15.Select the partition and click "Drive options (advanced)"
16.Click "New" and then click the "Apply" button. Four partitions should appear. Click the bottom partition.
17.Click the "OK" button and then click the "Next" button.
18.From then on follow the on screen instructions till you get to the desktop.
Note: If you can't boot after the install you need to make sure the boot is set to "Windows Boot Manager" in the UEFI. Also, important info

After using Diskpart http://i68.tinypic.com/2rbzcs2.jpg
From Linux install screen http://i68.tinypic.com/ekqecx.jpg
After Linux installed http://i66.tinypic.com/s4uj9w.jpg

This from my laptop with HDD dual boot win 8.1 & MX-16
Also used the same for my Desktop with SSD M2 dual boot win 8.1 & MX-16
Hope this is of some help...

Hello KoO

Thanks alot for your information, I am seeing your information right now, early this morning my son came with an unofficial Win7 copy :) and it installed perfectly with the standar installation, It did not accepted my valid Windows licence, but I still have 30 evaluation days just enough time to test my SSD with Intel Tools. I am fine know that I know everything is fine with my SSD after almost 4 year stored in a deposit with my desktop.

My SSD still have 100% usefull life, (with MX-16 KDE respin) I used only for one year. I did also a full diagnostic, and everything is fine. Grub was damaged but I will use Rescatux CD to recober my Grub.

I will take note of your complete Window installation proceedure, I hope not have to install Windows again.

Just for reference, I attached the Intel SSD Tool screen captures, they are in spanish.

Best regards
Joejac

I like it so far.

Shay2 wrote:I like it so far.

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System:    Host: mx16KDE Kernel: 4.7.0-0.bpo.1-amd64 x86_64 (64 bit)
           Desktop: KDE Plasma 4.14.2 Distro: MX-16 amd64 Migrated
Machine:   Device: laptop System: Dell product: Latitude E6430 v: 01
           Mobo: Dell model: 0H3MT5 v: A00 BIOS: Dell v: A17 date: 08/19/2015
Battery    BAT0: charge: 50.7 Wh 69.7% condition: 72.8/90.0 Wh (81%)
CPU:       Dual core Intel Core i5-3320M (-HT-MCP-) cache: 3072 KB 
           clock speeds: max: 3300 MHz 1: 1313 MHz 2: 1476 MHz 3: 1264 MHz
           4: 1334 MHz
Graphics:  Card-1: Intel 3rd Gen Core processor Graphics Controller
           Card-2: NVIDIA GF108GLM [NVS 5200M]
           Display Server: X.Org 1.16.4 drivers: nouveau,intel (unloaded: modesetting,fbdev,vesa)
           Resolution: 1600x900@59.99hz
           GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel Ivybridge Mobile
           GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 13.0.5
Audio:     Card Intel 7 Series/C210 Series Family High Definition Audio Controller
           driver: snd_hda_intel
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.7.0-0.bpo.1-amd64
Network:   Card-1: Intel 82579LM Gigabit Network Connection driver: e1000e
           IF: eth0 state: down mac: d4:be:d9:86:d8:c7
           Card-2: Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 driver: iwlwifi
           IF: wlan0 state: up mac: 24:77:03:df:1e:94
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 128.0GB (8.0% used)
           ID-1: /dev/sda model: TOSHIBA_MK1234GS size: 120.0GB
           ID-2: USB /dev/sdb model: Cruzer_Glide size: 8.0GB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 106G used: 5.5G (6%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1
           ID-2: swap-1 size: 4.58GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda3
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 53.0C mobo: N/A gpu: 49.0
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Info:      Processes: 206 Uptime: 58 min Memory: 960.6/7893.0MB

Thanks for the feedback! Are you going to try to use the Nvidia driver install tool to see if it can set up Bumblebee for your Optimus system?

Well, is not Bumblebee for multi video cards?

Shay2 wrote:Well, is not Bumblebee for multi video cards?

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 lspci -vnn -s 01:00.0
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: NVIDIA Corporation GF108GLM [NVS 5200M] [10de:0dfc] (rev a1) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
	Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:1534]
	Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 33
	Memory at f5000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16M]
	Memory at e0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
	Memory at f0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=32M]
	I/O ports at e000 [size=128]
	Expansion ROM at f6000000 [disabled] [size=512K]
	Capabilities: <access denied>
	Kernel driver in use: nouveau

Yes, but inxi says you have both an Intel and an Nvidia graphics device in your laptop. Perhaps you have some setting in the BIOS or UEFI setup that turns Optimus on or off

Maybe worth investigating. But the screen is about the best I have seen.
I see there are posts missing so
1. We are having to log into our routers after all start ups and reboots.
2 How do we get get rid of this home/demo , 2 of us have that and one did not.

Can you right-click the home/demo one and remove it? Or at least hide it?

I also remember that Gordon was asking about flat Kvantum themes--I know that it ships with at least 5 included, which can be selected in the separate Kvantum Manager application: KvArc, KvArcDark, kvFlat, KvFlatLight, and KvFlatRed. Some of the other themes may be flattish, too, but I didn't go through them all.

Stevo wrote:Can you right-click the home/demo one and remove it? Or at least hide it?

R-click > Remove did the trick. Thanks.

I prefer something like Tipsoo Lake.

https://scontent-ord1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/ ... e=59731A66

That's a great wallpaper, but I was talking about the style for the windows. The trendy style is for everything to look like it's on a phone or tablet--button's aren't 3D any longer, just simple colored rectangles. No 3D elements at all in the UI.

I see Distrowatch just savaged Jessie-based SolydXK in a review for looking "old" and so "2014", also for shipping the "old-looking" KDE 4 we also have. If they had used a flat style provided by Kvantum, they probably could have made the reviewer think that they were cool and trendy, since that reviewer was clearly clueless about how Debian releases work.

How do I see the comments for that review? They've got to be wonderful.

SolydXK caused a nightmare when I tried to get my NVIDIA card working. I tried every work around (including everything I could find on the forums) and couldn't figure it out, so if you can, let me know. The NVIDIA issue resulted in the second, third and fourth complete re-installs of SolydXK. So, finally I decided let's just use the Intel card.

The old "if it ain't broke, fix it" mentality.

Simple is what I prefer for my old eyes.

Stevo wrote:That's a great wallpaper, but I was talking about the style for the windows. The trendy style is for everything to look like it's on a phone or tablet--button's aren't 3D any longer, just simple colored rectangles. No 3D elements at all in the UI.

I see Distrowatch just savaged Jessie-based SolydXK in a review for looking "old" and so "2014", also for shipping the "old-looking" KDE 4 we also have. If they had used a flat style provided by Kvantum, they probably could have made the reviewer think that they were cool and trendy, since that reviewer was clearly clueless about how Debian releases work.

How do I see the comments for that review? They've got to be wonderful.

Darn, my screenshot of my theming (sprucing up the looks a little and making it more consistent with papirus and adwaita xfce dark for gtk apps) disappeared in the server corruption.

I was the one asking about the kvantum mgr flat themes. I couldn't find the option for selecting them in the manager UI .

Won't have time to mess around with the kde install the next few days though.

Click on the "Change/Delete Theme" section in the Manager, and that will expand. You should then be able to see a drop-down list of themes available, and pick another one. They won't take effect until you press "Use this Theme". The tips you will also be able to see are important, too.

Stevo wrote:Click on the "Change/Delete Theme" section in the Manager, and that will expand. You should then be able to see a drop-down list of themes available, and pick another one. They won't take effect until you press "Use this Theme". The tips you will also be able to see are important, too.

Ah so! Thanks.

KvGnomeDark theme looks almost identical to Adwaita-XFCE-Dark-Thick so it goes with the MX16 default gtk dark theme.

So after changing to above theme in Kvantum Manager, go to System Settings:
a) Application Appearance => Style tab => Widget style = Kvantum

b) Workspace Appearance:
Window Decorations tab => Oxygen
Desktop theme tab ==> Oxygen

I have tried to download this ( MX16_KDE_added.zip ) but for some reason the unzipped file is only 3.4MiB. See attached screenshot. Where can I download the correct file?

Finally my 'best half' allowed me to update her PC. As she was writing a book -now luckyly finished- the chance of any problem during the upgrade scared her. But finally her old MX-14 KDE could be upgraded to MX-16. For this purpose I used Stevo's unofficial remaster. As I did the upgrade of my own computer before this remaster was issued, my PC had been hacked to KDE the 'Joany way' (thanks again, Joany).

And wow, what a difference! not sure if Stevo's remaster has kept more or less Xfce packets that mine (I have a wider set of applications, so a comparison of used space can't be done), but this is a lot more effective and polished than mine. Of course, I had to prune many applications in the menu, and hide them on suitable folders, but this was a well deserved task.

So, once again I can say Kudos for your work, Stevo! and my sincere thanks to you and all the team.

Eduard.

chippy52 wrote:I have tried to download this ( MX16_KDE_added.zip ) but for some reason the unzipped file is only 3.4MiB.

I downloaded mine in March, and the size of the downloaded -und unzipped- file was 1 437 597 696 byte (circa 1,5 GB).

chippy52 wrote:Where can I download the correct file?

Mine was downloaded from http://mxrepo.com/snapshots/Community_Respins/ (MX16_KDE_added.zip) and, once unzipped its MD5sum was f74fecc2240629c8df8c0a86f175871b .

Thats where I was trying but for some reason it just wasn't downloading correctly. After 4 attempts I managed to get the complete file.

Added a 32-bit version with all the updates up to yesterday, it also has a zync file which can greatly reduce what you have to download if you already have an older ISO file. For example, using Adrian's March 2017 updated respin as the ISO to start with: It will compare the two and only download what's different between them --for that March ISO, it will start out at 62.3% already downloaded! This is really nice, since it will reduce both your downloaded total and the total load on the server--a win-win.