Void Linux

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tlmiller
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Void Linux

Post by tlmiller »

Anyone ever used it?

I'm testing it out right now on my T430. Downloaded the minimal live iso (cli), wrote using Etcher, booted without any major issues (failed first time, but succeeded second time). Installed without a single issue in UEFI successfully. Booted to a cli (again, minimal install since there's no option for a KDE installation).

I've got it just about working, I've got KDE working, SDDM autolaunching upon boot, but something still missing with the plasma session, as I get a black screen with the plasma mouse, but it never finishes loading a full desktop.

From what little I've been able to use it so far, I'm not overly impressed. The root account is SUPER bare-bones configuration, like the shell is even configured with no tab autocompletion, no history recall, etc. The default user shell has all of it enabled. I also can't figure out how to uninstall sddm and use lightdm (they conflict, so can't have both installed, but uninstalling sddm seems to want to uninstall KDE5). And finally haven't yet been able to get NetworkManager to actually connect to anything. But also only able to use nmtui so far, since obviously I don't have a working X session.

Joined their forums to get some help, definitely not a very well documented OS. Still, it's fast from what I've been able to test, so might be worth sloughing through the issues to get it working.
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tlmiller
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Re: Void Linux

Post by tlmiller »

So got nmtui to work (using sudo nmtui instead of attempting to connect as my normal user). Annoying workaround, but given that nmtui can't use polkit (to my knowledge), then it's not an unforgiveable issue for a smaller distro since how many people actually will want to use nmtui. And it connects just fine as a user after creating the connection using sudo, so good enough.

Seems from their forums that qt5.10 might be broken, and that's the issue that's causing me to not be able to get to a desktop. Still waiting to hear if/how it can be worked around until such a point as the package gets fixed.

Seems I'm not the first to find that someone created the package for KDE with a dependency on SDDM, there is a wishlist already open for having KDE rebuilt without that dependency so that you can use other display managers than sddm with KDE.
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crosscourt
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Re: Void Linux

Post by crosscourt »

Just found a review for those of you not familiar with Void Linux, www.linux.com/learn/intro-to-linux/2017 ... hool-linux

Definitely not a distro for newbies but the experienced crowd may enjoy this old school approach.
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tlmiller
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Re: Void Linux

Post by tlmiller »

No, no this is definitely NOT for a newbie. I'm beginning to suspect I'm not going to be able to test it on a desktop due to the issue with QT5, read some links in their wiki I was pointed to, and it's appearing that until they rebuild their qt5.10 package, unless I can find an older version of qt5 packages, I'm not going to be able to use it, since using another desktop simply isn't something I'm willing to do.
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crosscourt
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Re: Void Linux

Post by crosscourt »

What prompted you to try Void Linux?
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tlmiller
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Re: Void Linux

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My T430 doesn't really get enough battery life to use outside my house, so no reason to keep a distro that I know on it. So been looking for a while for something else to try on it, that's not based on my usual OS's that I know well. I tried OpenSuse but still can't bring myself to like it or get it working smoothly, so I was looking for something else and this was talked about in a thread over on linuxquestions.org, so figured I'd try it out. Has a tiny little 330MB download for the live iso, so didn't take but a minute or 2 to download, burn, and try it out.

The package manager overall isn't bad. Not the most intuitively designed, but seems to work fine. I've actually got most of my desktop applications installed (just can't test them). The init system I actually REALLY like. It's crazy simple to understand and easy to manage. Not sure about how easy it would be to add something manually that didn't create the files needed, but for anything coming from the package manager, totally simple. Boots fast, seems efficient with downloading updates (much faster than some distro's, probably using diffs), so it seems like it would have possibilities. But unable to log into a desktop definitely presents a challenge to wanting to keep it! :D
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crosscourt
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Re: Void Linux

Post by crosscourt »

That could be a problem, LOL!
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tlmiller
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Re: Void Linux

Post by tlmiller »

I came to a realization, Void linux is the Arch linux of circa 2003. It's fast, it's not terribly popular yet but gaining popularity, mostly well known among highly technical users that don't mind all that goes into it, and it's nearly constantly broken!!

Also, someone sent me some cache files to downgrade my qt installation, so as soon as I get the chance, I might just get this working!!
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Re: Void Linux

Post by crosscourt »

Nearly constantly broken, :lol:
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Re: Void Linux

Post by tlmiller »

So, looks like my adventures in Void are over. The maintainer that had done qt5 & KDE 5 I'm being told is probably going to abandon it because the qt5 packages are so badly messed up, which means no more KDE in Void. No more KDE, no trinity = no desktop for me to use.
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