Below you will find essential information about PostX-Audax Gnu/Linux (was Audax until 0.2.5) that might still somehat valid. For the latest information navigate towards PostX 0.2.5 info page.
Disclaimer: You use Audax at your own responsibility. The author of techtimejourney.net (JJ Posti) or any other party is not responsible if any kind of damage or harm will occur . NO WARRANTY is given and the user therefore agrees to use this software at his/hers own risk.
Audax is a 32-bit Linux distribution based on Debian Wheezy (Debian 7). Audax uses only free software and is build around Debian’s main repository. Audax also has its own repository, which holds wallpapers and other system tweaks, which are Audax specific. Audax aims to be Debian binary compatible but do keep in mind that if you add the Audax repository to your pure-Debian system you might not want to upgrade base-files package. Base-files overwrites Debian specific modifications and might also break some things while doing so.
Clarification 19th of March 2015:
Audax repository is automatically added by the system but can also be added manually by copying the line
deb https://techtimejourney.net/audax-initial/ audax main
to the respected sources.list file.
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Audax uses only free software and since its iso image occupies 504 megabytes of space (since v. 0.2) it can be burnt to a single cd or a usb stick. The overall system is designed to be lightweight and as such it uses low amounts of RAM and remains suitable for an older hardware.
If you use usb (fat32 formatted): “burn” Audax to it by executing the following command under terminal client:
sudo dd bs=4M if=Audax-0.2.iso of=/dev/sdb && sync
Warning: Make sure that /dev/sdb is your actual usb drive – it might be something else. Do not mount the usb stick or otherwise the above example will fail. A good way to get things unmounted and check the usb drive address is to run gparted as a root or a sudo.
The live-mode:
You can run Audax directly from a media to test it without installation. By default Audax is writing itself directly to RAM during the live-boot, which means that the live system should be fairly fast even with a bit dated computer. Since Audax should get written directly to RAM at live-mode you can also remove any boot media you used during the initial boot procedure. Be advised that the RAM boot might fail if a sufficient amount of memory is not available. If RAM boot fails the system should proceed to boot like any other live media and read the data directly from the used media source
Below are the default login credentials for the live-mode:
username: audax
password: live
To start Audax use the above values and also input the username audax to the menu setup script if you are using live-mode. Under the normal circumstances the menu setup script runs only once but can be activated again by running: sudo sh /usr/share/menuset.sh under a terminal client.
The live cd keyboard defaults to English. Audax supports Finnish, English and Spanish keyboard presets by default and If you want to change your keyboard quickly to any of those you can press:
Windows key (Super-key) + u for English
Windows key (Super-key) + e for Spain
Windows key (Super-key) + f for Finnish
Keyboard will reset after computer reboots and live session ends.
If you want to install something during the live mode do sudo apt-get update to sync the repositories.
By default Audax does not supply wlan drivers. Audax also presumes that your wired interface is named as eth0. If a command sudo ifconfig (written within a terminal) shows that you have, for example, eth1 then copy the following to the terminal:
sudo sed -i ‘s/eth0/eth1/g’ /etc/network/interfaces
sudo sed -i ‘s/ifup eth0/ifup eth1/g’ /etc/rc.local
Notice: WordPress seems to format some markings incorrectly these ‘ ‘ should be replaced with these on the above
and the two commands should look like these:
Next, restart network and the interface with the commands below.
sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart
Stricktly speaking only the above command could be enough but we play it safe and add the ones below as well.
sudo ifdown eth1
sudo ifup eth1
Now you should have network access. You can replace eth1 with Wlan entries like wlan0 or wlan1. Read more about networking and wireless setup within Audax from here.
Added 1st of April 2015: If you have absolutely no idea what is your network card’s name then open a terminal client and type:
sudo iwconfig
The results should be similar to below (where eth1 is the wired network card we are looking for):
lo no wireless extensions.
eth1 no wireless extensions.
iwconfig is usually used when configuring wireless cards but the command can also be used to figure out wired card locations – like above.
Notice. Audax live-mode seems to add duplicate entries to /etc/network/interfaces, which prevent network from being restarted correctly. Remove the duplicates and network should restart normally. This issue is only concerning the live-mode and cards other than eth0. Audax should configure eth0 cards correctly when entering to the live-mode Read further details from: Appendix: Audax live-mode and duplicate network lines (concerns cards other than eth0)
Installing Audax.
Audax installer should be fairly easy and painless but do keep in mind that you should always backup every piece of important data before installing. Since the release of Audax 0.2. the Debian installer is abandoned and replaced with an installer derived from Linux Mint Debian’s Installer. If you are unfamiliar with the installer take a look at this video on Youtube from 4:07 to 8:32.
To start Audax installation press Windows+I during the live-mode
or open a terminal and type:
sudo live-installer
or hit F2 key and type:
gksudo live-installer
Keep in mind that if you are coming from Osx or Windows 8, you will need to recreate your partition table completely during installation with Gparted (from Gpt to msdos). If you would just format your hard drive then Grub would be unable to boot. To create a new partition table during the installation choose Device–> Create a partition table and finally selected msdos as a type.
Audax 0.2 release highlights. For a full package listing see here.
* Re-designed wallpaper set with integrated short-key instructions. See a screenshot.
*Linux kernel 3.14.33.
*Fluxbox v.1.3.7 bringing more stability.
*Five Fluxbox themes,which are all released under GPL and made by JJ Posti from techtimejourney.net See screenshot gallery
*Thunar is not shipped with Audax 0.2. The auto-generated package listing shows Thunar because of metapackage left-overs (settings etc.) Emelfm2 v.0.91 replaces Thunar as a default file manager.
*Irssi v.0.8.17 becomes the default IRC-client for Audax. Latest version of ircii (20141122) is also within Audax repository. Nevertheless, Audax 0.2 ships with Debian’s ircii as an alternative client (xterm -e ircII). The previous is because ircii found within Audax repository is a bit more bare bones than Debian’s and as such it might not perform as intended on all scenarios.
*Audax size drops to from 583 to 504 megabytes.
*Abiword returns as flickering issues seem to fixed with a new kernel
*Sysmanager2 Gui program for common tasks. See a (development) screenshot.
*Wall selector replaces Nitrogen as wallpaper handler. See a screenshot. You can skip the “Setup” step if you are running Audax – since the program works out of the box.
*Simple mount (located within Sysmanager2 Gui) is the new mount program. Simple mount replaces previously rather unstable mount from Thunar. See a screenshot. Note. Never mount the same device to two mount points at the same time as it might cause issues.
*Wlansetup (screenshot) v.0.3.1-Audax for Wifi setup. By default Audax does not include non-free drivers. If you desire to use wireless cards see more from here.
*Audax sound selector revision B which enables easy sound configuration for Alsa. See a screenshot.
*Volume key notification support for all programs: Increase, Decrease, Mute/Unmute. Volume keys are integrated with Xfce notifications and Volti.
Further information.
Emelfm2 trash-bin is located under
(Bookmarks icon –> Trash)
Audax has its own repository (deb https://techtimejourney.net/audax-initial/ audax main), which contains packages designed to improve the overall system. Go here for sources and here for .deb packages.
Xmms2, Xmms2d and Lxmusic are removed from 0.2. Vlc is now the only media player. Xmms2 keys play/pause and prev/next can still be enabled within .fluxbox/keys file by simple removing the comment mark #.
Conky is not also installed anymore by default. The .conkyrc file shipped prior to Audax 0.2. is still with the distribution (/etc/skel or user’s home) in case you would like to re-enable conky. If you want to use conky then you should (maybe?) install calmwaters-wallpapers or audax-walpapers (default set prior to Audax 0.2). You can also find many brand/label free wallpapers from my gallery pages.
Notice. Do not accidentally upgrade your base-files package to a higher Audax version – unless you desire Audax specific modifications. Audax modifications may not as intended with your specific system so be cautious.
If you do not have Windows key on your keyboard you can launch find Audax programs with /usr/share directory (for example sysman2.sh). Also, you can also take a look at .fluxbox/keys file within your home directory if you need to adjust short.keys.
List of the essential shortkeys enabled by default in Audax Gnu/Linux
Troubleshooting: Setting wireless touch keyboard locale correctly.
If you use wireless touch keyboard devices (like Logitech k400r) then you will likely to need to set your keyboard locale manually within .xinitrc file (localeted under /home/username). The previous is due to a Linux driver issue, which still makes touch keyboard devices to behave a bit undesirably. To find the correct keyboard locale take a look at the values file inside /home/username (for example by typing geany values within a terminal client). The values file is also available here.
Once you find your keyboard locale then add it to the beginning of a hidden .xinitrc file in your home directory. Open .xinitrc via terminal as follows: geany .xinitrc
Once inside .xinitrc file add for example: setxkbmap fi &
The problem described above does only seem to apply to an actual scenario where mouse and keyboard are integrated with each other (meaning that the keyboard actually comes with a touchpad acting as a mouse).
About Emelfm2 outlook.
On live-mode Emelfm2 defaults its look settings. The program also experiences some stability issues due to live-mode. The final outlook of Emelfm2 after the installation should look like below:
Common programs within Audax that you can use to open files with Emelfm2 (Open with…)
feh for images
geany for text files
abiword for text files
vlc for videos and music
xpdf for pdf
file-roller for archives
About souces list.
Sources list file is located under /etc/apt/sources.list.d/audax.list
If you wish to include contributed (contrib) or not free (non-free) software modify the sources list file as a sudo by adding the entries contrib and non-free as follows:
deb http://ftp.fi.debian.org/debian wheezy main contrib non-free
Remember to add the contrib and non-free entries to all the lines except to the one concerning Audax repository. After you are done save the file and do sudo apt-get update
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