Window Maker Live (Linux distro)

[wmlive]

ah sorry. I mean copying and pasting between the QEMU virtual machine and host machine.

I fear there is nothing i could do about this as this is outside of wmlive's scope.
I assume this to be rather a matter of the underlying virtualization environment.

[jeffburg]

Yeah, I think it's pretty optional because it's a niche use case. But I mention it because in normal debian it works out of the box. It appears that its related to this package

https://packages.debian.org/bookworm/qemu-guest-agent

[wmlive]

Yeah, I think it's pretty optional because it's a niche use case. But I mention it because in normal debian it works out of the box. It appears that its related to this package

https://packages.debian.org/bookworm/qemu-guest-agent

The qemu-guest-agent package is usually always included with any wmlive release and doesn't appear to provide any kind of copy/paste functionality between guest and host.

Further investigation shows that another package named spice-vdagent provides this missing functionality when installed within the guest:

Code Select Expand

# apt-get -m -t bookworm-backports install spice-vdagent
To make it actually work after installation, it is required to add a channel in the host's virtmanger to the guest VM as follows:


If com.redhat.spice.0 is already in use, just increment its number to com.redhat.spice.1 to use it with qemu-vdagent. Maybe an equivalent configuration needs to be performed in the UTM qemu frontend?

While it seems possible to paste from host to guest by simply choosing a listing entry in the parcellite clipboard application, the usual keyboard combinations don't seem to have any effect. Also, i was unable so far to figure out the reverse copy/paste direction from guest to host.

In any case, that's an interesting approach i wasn't aware of before! Usually i apply a shared screen session to exchange copy and paste data, since i typically access guest hosts via ssh connection. So i was not even missing this specific functionality before.

Thanks again, Jeffrey! You particular perspective helps a lot broadening wmlive's scope! Keep it coming if you are not already tired of it. 

[jeffburg]

As a non-linux user, I am happy to provide uninformed opinions 🥴

[wmlive]

An updated ARM64 ISO containing a few improvements and corrections (with special thanks to @jeffburg) has been uploaded to sourceforge.net/projects/wmlive/files/wmlive-bookworm-12.12/aarch64_experimental/, replacing the earlier version.

Nevertheless, the graphical installer must be dispensed with until further notice. As it turned out, when the graphical installer was forced to activate using the kernel parameter DEBIAN_FRONTEND=gtk, this unexpectedly causes the carefully configured preseed configuration to be simply ignored.
Unfortunately, this is fatal for our purposes, as it means that an absolutely essential comprehensive custom script cannot be executed at the very end of the installation before the first boot.
This certainly warrants opening a bug report at Debian.

Other than that, installation via serial console functions as designed and both the live session and installed system works as normal as can be expected.

Has anyone (apart from @jeffburg) already been able to test the previous ARM64 version and would like to share their thoughts? I am mostly aiming at (preferably negative) feedback from third parties providing a different user perspective than my own.

[Rhetorica]

Has anyone (apart from @jeffburg) already been able to test the previous ARM64 version and would like to share their thoughts? I am mostly aiming at (preferably negative) feedback from third parties providing a different user perspective than my own.

Looks like you have a fan over on Reddit who yearns for HiDPI support.

Should we invite them here?

[wmlive]

Should we invite them here?

Sure, why not.

[wmlive]

I've finally come around to set up a fundraising site to help making wmlive-trixie become reality:

https://ko-fi.com/wmlive

Based on the outcome, this will also serve to estimate if it's still worth the time working on wmlive.

Please spread the word!

[jeffburg]

@wmlive I boosted and it actually got some good reach (for me). I don't have many followers or anything but it got a few boosts by some prominent people and a few likes. No promises but I hope some donations come your way

https://jeffburg.social/@jeff/115455074572897144

BTW Guy English pictured in the boosters screenshot is a super great guy and was a NextStep/OpenStep developer before switching to being a Mac OS X Developer.

Similar story with Michael B Johnson. I can't remember his story exactly but he worked at Pixar (I think) and he used to run Next oriented meetups at the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco.

[wmlive]

Here is a short demonstration video of the wmlive-trixie desktop options as seen from the perspective of the first login after installation.
Some details are still subject to change for the final release version.
https://vimeo.com/1133130552

[wmlive]

Good news for users of old i686 Pentium class machines:
It is perfectly possible to build a Franken-wmlive for 32-bit with (almost) all the bells and whistles by combining the Bookworm installer/kernel with the current Debian/Trixie i386 software pool.
While a few packages (e.g., opensnitch) are not available, everything seems to work as usual.
So, unless a showstopper suggests otherwise by mid-November, there will also be an i386[1] version of wmlive.

[1] In Debian parlance, i386 refers to the generic CPU architecture, while the associated linux kernel and userland as a bare minimum require hardware with i686 CPU capabilities.
So, effectively, actual i386 and i486 machines are not supported anymore since long time already.

[jeffburg]

Did Debian trixie drop support for i686? And switch to 64 bit only?

[wmlive]

Did Debian trixie drop support for i686? And switch to 64 bit only?

Yes, at least when it refers to the kernel and the installer. Here are the relevant details:
www.debian.org/releases/trixie/release-notes/issues.en.html#i386-reduced-support

From our hardware nostalgia point of view this certainly is a bit unfortunate, while understandable from the developer perspective.
Just like it is also the case for qemu, most Linux distributions are not aiming at supporting retro technology.

My theory is that a new generation of developers has grown up in a world already devoid of any of the hardware we older guys grew up with, and therefore there is no historic memory nor any nostalgia or interest regarding what us oldtimers constructed the open source world with. When i started with computers and Linux in 1995, the IT landscape was a completely different world from now. This is a memory all those youngsters never had a chance to gain.

[wmlive]

Window Maker Live based on Debian/Trixie 13.2 has been released!

For the first time, it is offered for all three architectures i386, amd64, and also arm64.

Find all further details at https://wmlive.sourceforge.net

Since the fundraiser at ko-fi.com/wmlive was quite a deception, i've decided to make only the i386 ISO freely available for everybody, and offer the amd64 and arm64 variants as encrypted 7z archives requiring a password to unpack. Before this password will be publicly disclosed at the end of the year, for the time being, only former and future donators will be provided with it.
Also fellow open source developers will be freely given this password upon request.

As an added bonus, any of our forum members who is interested in more than just the i386 variant of wmlive, please contact me privately to receive your free password.

[ZombiePhysicist]

It looks great! Congrats!