Adding MX Linux tools to Debian

[sunrat]

I just tried adding mx-snapshot to a Buster netinstall with kde-plasma-desktop added and Nvidia driver. No problem installing it except for the repo key. Above instruction failed me but I manually downloaded the mx-19 archive key package and installed it.
Using mx-snapshot seemed to work although there were a few errors and it made an .iso file which booted ok but didn't manage to get as far as GUI login or desktop. I could log in as user or root in terminal though.
I can make another snapshot and log the error messages if anyone's interested.

[Head_on_a_Stick]

No problem installing it except for the repo key. Above instruction failed me but I manually downloaded the mx-19 archive key package and installed it.

How did it fail? I've just tried adding the key to my buster box using my posted method and it worked fine.

And how exactly did you download their key? I can't find a Release.key in the MX repositories

I can make another snapshot and log the error messages if anyone's interested.

Perhaps a new thread would be more appropriate for that. I think the MX devs would be interested in cross-platform support for their application if you can suffer their over-assertive administration team

[Bulkley]

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http://mxrepo.com/mx/repo/pool/main/m/mx19-archive-keyring/

[sunrat]

How did it fail? I've just tried adding the key to my buster box using my posted method and it worked fine.

Never mind - newbie error.

I can make another snapshot and log the error messages if anyone's interested.

Perhaps a new thread would be more appropriate for that. I think the MX devs would be interested in cross-platform support for their application if you can suffer their over-assertive administration team

Will do. A tool like this could be useful considering Systemback is defunct and Refracta I'm not sure. Currently trying to get my head around Debian live-build but brain is progressing slowly on that.
Main error while preparing to run appeared to be something about KIO not recognising "file" something which just seemed to not allow selecting a non-default location to save the snapshot. Guessing it's a KDE thing.

[Head_on_a_Stick]

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http://mxrepo.com/mx/repo/pool/main/m/mx19-archive-keyring/

Fantastic, thank you very much

I'm sure I tried installing the keyring .deb before without success but I must have tried a different package...

Refracta I'm not sure

The Refracta tools are alive and well, fsmithred is still maintaining them.

There is also live-sdk, which looks very interesting.

[sunrat]

The Refracta tools are alive and well, fsmithred is still maintaining them.

There is also live-sdk, which looks very interesting.

Looks interesting but they are both based on Devuan. My ultimate goal is a vanilla Debian system (which has systemd) with minimal Plasma desktop from kde-plasma-desktop with a bunch of audio production packages, with custom tweaks to optimise audio performance. Basically a live installable .iso of what I use for audio production.
I'll try mx-snapshot again for science and will look more into refracta-snapshot, but it looks like Debian live-build may be the right tool.

[sunrat]

Good news, everyone! Update - the mx-snapshot worked. As it booted to a console I figured it must be a graphics issue and maybe it wasn't loading the nvidia drivers I have on the installed system I used for the snapshot.
Added a simple GRUB option "xorg=nvidia" and it booted up to Plasma desktop.
Obviously if I make a snapshot to share it won't have nvidia driver installed.

[sgosnell]

When I installed the keyring .deb with gdebi it didn't work, for some reason, but dpkg did the job. I started reading the list of MX packages and my eyes glazed over. Most seem to be the same as Debian. Is there a list anywhere that has just the packages unique to MX, or that are significantly changed from the Debian package?

[sickpig]

Is there a list anywhere that has just the packages unique to MX, or that are significantly changed from the Debian package?

comment out everything else and just leave mx repo active then do

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apt list 

And you should start a new thread as your question is not really concerned with this howto.

[sgosnell]

It's pertinent to whether someone would consider it worth the trouble to do it. It's easy enough to pipe the list through grep, but that's just a list of all the MX package, which I already have. What's so new and shiny about the MX packages, that would tempt someone to go to the trouble of getting them? I admit I've never spent any time researching MX.

[sickpig]

I admit I've never spent any time researching MX.

Well if you do you will realize their utility.

[sgosnell]

Well that's why I asked. Just looking for a link to something that lists the packages unique to MX.

[sickpig]

"MX tools" they are what yast is to open suse. equally good.

[sunrat]

Be aware that MX tools were developed specifically for MX and mostly for their Xfce version for which they are quite functional and useful. They may not work at all or work as expected in Debian. Their recent KDE version has only a limited subset because of this.
MX also does not use Systemd as default and uses a custom GRUB so anything depending on these may be suboptimal. For instance the mx-snapshot of my Buster/KDE system takes ages to boot to login including some worrying instances of the screen turning entirely black for many seconds during boot sequence. It seems to work ok once booted though.
I have abandoned the Debian media respin I was attempting to create with mx-snapshot and plan instead to learn Debian live-build to create it sometime soon.

[Deb-fan]

When I installed the keyring .deb with gdebi it didn't work, for some reason, but dpkg did the job. I started reading the list of MX packages and my eyes glazed over. Most seem to be the same as Debian. Is there a list anywhere that has just the packages unique to MX, or that are significantly changed from the Debian package?

Feel compelled to comment, based on Debian ... "Debian based" basically means, Debian gnu/Linux renamed something else, while there's a bit more to it and not to take away from the enhancements or efforts whichever Debian based distro maintainers-devs include in the configurations of Debian they put out, plenty of really cool Debian based with useful features and things their userbases enjoy, not going to be found on Debian itself out-of-box ... so it's all good. Only yeah, they're bound to be 99.999% Debian gnu/Linux. Debian can easily be config'ed to do the same as any and/or all of them given the required effort, know-how and desire to set things up in such a way.

Never tried it but based on @Stevepussers efforts, things he's mentioned here/there and having seen the guy online many places, over many yrs and feel somewhat gotten to know him, imo he's a very competent nixer and a good guy, who clearly puts much effort into Mx and supporting gnu/Nix too, think it-Mx must be some Nixy goodness. Haven't read this tute either, though Head_on tends to really know his stuff so am sure it's valid and useful info. This has been a Debian fanboi moment, lol ... just keeping it real homies.

All hail Debian gnu/Linux, do it ! Do IT, ... do it ... NOW !!! Hail Debian !!! HAiL ! HaIl ! HAIL !!!!

Oops, post fanboi moment( DO IT ! ... HAIL DEBIAN !), if you've added or do add MX repo's, then supplemented via google search, surely in gnu/Nix there's an easy way to list out the pkgs in/from a given repo. Don't know the cmd involved off the top though. Shouldn't take much effort to find out how ...

[sgosnell]

If you read my posts above, I know how to list the packages in a repository. But there are thousands of packages. I was just looking for an easy way to find the unique MX packages, since most of them are identical to the Debian repository. I can easily list either, or both, packages, but that doesn't tell me what I want to know. That data may not exist, but I am interested in seeing it, because that would tell me whether or not it's worth adding it.

[sunrat]

You could go look in their repository in a browser. Only way I can think of to find the packages without adding mx to your sources.
Once you add and update the MX repo, there are several ways to check what is available from there. It can be removed from sources without installing anything if no packages pique your interest.
You can just use Synaptic in the Origin tab.
Or search with

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apt search mx

Or grep the local packages list

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grep -h "Package:" /var/lib/apt/lists/*mx*

Or list all available packages with "mx" in their title

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apt list --all-versions *mx*

Simples!

[Deb-fan]

^ Nice. had some funky, hacky junk running through mind, thanks for share @sunrat.

[sgosnell]

Listing the MX packages lists almost the entire Debian repository. It's useless. I've done it. It's a very long list of packages, and for most the difference between the Debian and MX package is that the name has mx added if it's from MX. I'm not going to compare more than a thousand packages to find this out.

[Deb-fan]

Again bottomline, if you cant figure something out regards doing just about anything gnu/nix, you simply need to google more. Have some rough ideas but not doing all the typing and testing to do something or show someone how to do something i really dont need- care about. This is a tute about adding Mx tools, not mx pkgs etc etc. Sorry @Head_on for participating in thread-jacking to this extent. Either way folks its not that big a deal, want Mx tools on Debian, Head_on has it covered.