Official-Microwatt-R10-Info

[biffster]

****EDIT****
Microwatt R10 has been released...go get it and play! . Blog post is here http://planetwatt.com/new/index.php/2016/09/23/microwatt-r10-released/

Downloads are here http://planetwatt.com/new/index.php/downloads/

YouTube video overview is here - strongly suggest watching for initial tips https://youtu.be/cU0Efw1kfos

Will be sending pertinent info to distrowatch tonight...will likely/maybe get posted in the next 24-48 hours also. Look for other notes and ramblings shortly.

**known issues**

The installer issues/notes are the name as R10 LXDE
The USB device issue (mice/keyboards) should not be an issue here
The additional software installs should not be an issue here (at least in the testing done - with other software from the repos like VLC, etc - all seemed to behave as expected)
The default icon set in Microwatt "Delta" is an old ICON set and not fully complete, so you may seem some strangeness with it as root and as sudo in some apps, but its very lightweight, and its presumed most will change to what they want. (more details on that tomorrow)
keyboard shortcuts are important obviously....The youtube video will help until the website and wiki get updated. Will really try to make sure important stuff related to Microwatt gets done tomorrow for the wiki so people can navigate. the basics below help most for moving around.

+++++++++++++++++will also post an update on the "why" behind what we have done with Microwatt (EG. why so minimal, and lacking some creature comforts)++++++++++++++++++

Microwatt - basic help file info -
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The "windows" symbol key
is the "mod" key for the shortcuts listed.

Pressing the mod key and then the second key
will initiate the action indicated.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
mod+g - opens a run dialog where you can enter a
program name (with tab completion for hints) to
launch the corresponding application.

You can run programs as root here also by prefacing the command with gksu - for example 'gksu synaptic' will prompt for a password then launch the software manager with root privileges to install software.

mod+f - opens the file manager
mod+b - opens the web browser
mod+shift+f - opens a root(admin) file manager
mod+l to lock the screen
(then just enter password directly to unlock)
mod+shift+Q - closes any focused window
(focused windows are one with your mouse over it)
mod+f9 to turn off touchpad on laptop
mod+f10 to turn on touchpad on laptop
mod+number key (1-10) will make another desktop
that you can switch to
mod+shift+number key will move focused window
to that desktop
mod+shift+e will log you out of the session
mod+shift+p will power down immediately
**no prompts just shutdown...be careful**

lower right corner has network manager you can
click on to configure network/wireless

mouse pointer over status bar "VOL" letters
and mouse wheel up/down adjust volume


****EDIT****


Look here for the Microwatt info. I previously stated R10 would be released by the 19th (today). Looks like I might be a day or two tardy. Wrapping up 32bit today and 64bit tomorrow. Little QA and testing then release. So expect another update tomorrow or late tonight. There are some differences with Microwatt obviously, and I will expand on that in a blog post and here in the forums. (both technical and philosophical )

tks....biff

[Mike]

Looking forward to it! Tried i3 in the past and liked it. I've been thinking more and more lately about going back to a tiling wm and this will likely hit the spot.

[bob]

Thank you.
Waiting for it.

[ajlec]

I, too,am looking forward to a new microwatt. R9 has been working great on my old dell wiyh 512 ram. It is much faster than windows 10 (which, on a 4 gig ram machine took 2 hours to update and of course was unusable for 2 hours).

[biffster]

Good news...All done...ISO's are ready...too tired tonight to get them uploaded, update the website links, write the blog, seed the torrents, and send the details to distrowatch, etc...So look for them tomorrow along with details

tks...biff

[bob]

Yay, you're awesome.
Thank you.

[biffster]

Microwatt is done...The unpublished draft blog and updated download pages are done (again unpublished for a couple more hours). Torrents are starting to be seeded. But I am not going to publically post the links and blog post and details until the ISO's are completely uploaded and the seeds get a little further along, and that will take another hour or two. I will be updating/sticky a post once its "really" released this evening (EG I have finished the uploads and collated a few notes for external consumption).

The basics of the blog post and message for this version of Microwatt is its the "do what you want" release. It has less of everything included so you can take it from a barebones install (with some basic quality of life/usage tools) and then install what you want rather than undo someone elses work/preferences. I will explain more a little later tonight....enjoy!

biff

[bob]

Posting from Microwatt 64bit, thank you biff.

Couple of notes, if you're dual booting with Windows 7/8/10 - you can't access there drivers, it says you're not permitted to access the drive. I can see USB drives mounted though.
And 2nd: Again, if you're on Windows 7/8/10 and you use Rufus to create the bootable media, it doesn't boot and will load you straight in to Windows instead of booting from USB.

I use this:

https://sourceforge.net/projects/usbwriter/

Ran as admin and created the bootable media that way in Windows 10.

Any idea on accessing the Windows drives, biff?

EDIT1: Ok, so install this:

sudo -i
root
sudo apt install gnome-disk-utility.

still in terminal as root:

gnome-disks

click the mount button and you can see your windows files.

EDIT2: After I restarted my PC, I can now access both of my hdd's. I disabled auto mount and the settings are:

http://imgur.com/a/OIlUM



EDIT3: If you want to use dual monitors or triple, add something like:

exec --no-startup-id xrandr --output HDMI1 --auto --left-of DP1

edit for your monitor settings, you can check with:

xrandr.



EDIT4: as you can see from my screenshots, I am using dual monitors.

[biffster]

Thanks Bob...keep playing....FYI for dual monitors. lxrandr is included in microwatt. So if you launch lxrandr and choose the settings you want with a gui (like monitor position, resolution, etc). I tested with a dual monitor setup on a laptop and lxrandr seemed to work fine (and its included). When you first apply it, it makes the wallpaper goofy, but once done a logout/login fixes that, or rerun feh which is what handles the wallpaper.

Happy hacking away

[billwho]

This is my first time using i3.

Microwatt R10 32-bit installed
Firefox and Sylpheed installed

I tried to use the File Manager to go to '/usr/share/applications'
'Preferred Applications' (gui) to change the defaults:
Terminal Emulator to xterm -- mod+enter STILL opens 'sakura'
Web Browser to Firefox -- mod+b STILL opens 'surf'

mod+g 'xterm' works
mod+g 'firefox' works
selecting 'Firefox Web Browser' from 'Applications' works

Changing:
File Manager > Edit > Preferences > Advanced > Terminal emulator to 'xterm' -- F4 works to open xterm

Is this a 'bug'?

Bill

[bob]

Not a bug, no. you have to manually set it to open firefox.

so you should:

unhide files in your home dir.
open the config folder
open i3 with leafpad or your text and/or nano.

replace this:

bindsym $mod+b exec surf https://www.startpage.com

with:

bindsym $mod+b exec firefox/iceweasel

you're good to go.

[billwho]

Thank you, changing i3 works.
But you do not need to hard code the bindings to firefox or xterm.

To get i3 key bindings to respect Preferred Applications:

bindsym $mod+Return exec exo-open --launch TerminalEmulator
bindsym $mod+m exec exo-open --launch MailReader
bindsym $mod+f exec exo-open --launch FileManager
bindsym $mod+b exec exo-open --launch WebBrowser

[bob]

You can bindsym other apps too if you want to open them quicker instead of using dmenu.

Thanks again, biff. I installed Microwatt on all my systems and they're running great. I was also cheeky, I copied your i3 config file and i3blocks and installed them on debian stretch so I could run it on my chromebook. thanks again! looks awesome now, cheers.

PS: if anyone needs help with i3, I'm all ears.

[billwho]

I prefer to toggle the touchpad on/off, also spares one F-key.

edit ~/.config/i3/config

Code: [Select]

bindsym $mod+F9 exec "synclient TouchPadOff=$(($(synclient|grep -io touchpadoff.*|grep -o [0-2])&1^1))"

+ get the current TouchPadOff state ( 0 or 1 )
+ mask bit0 ( &1 is bitwise and )
+ toggle bit0 ( ^1 is bitwise xor )

[billwho]

Bob all ears

Do you know if i3 has a workspace switcher like alt+tab,
that is, a way to toggle the two most recent workspace?

I know several methods to change to a specific workspace,
but it would be nice to toggle between two when using the eeepc SMALL screen.

Edit: I found it! circular and toggles

Code: [Select]

# workspace switcher
bindsym $mod+Tab workspace back_and_forth
workspace_auto_back_and_forth yes
bindsym $mod+n workspace next
bindsym $mod+p workspace prev

Bill