MU-Toolbox - for Puppy-newbees

[MU]

I'm working on a program, that shall help people new to puppy.

It is a kind of "mini-installer", listing some programs I personally find helpfull as addons for Puppy.
It does (far) not list all programs yet that I think should be listed, as I'm getting sleepy.

But the concept gets visible.
The installer installs the chosen program inclusive required dependencies.

Screenshot:


To install it, download these 3 dotpups, and click on them in Rox-filer (100 kb):
http://dotpups.de/dotpups/System_Utilit ... getdir.pup
http://dotpups.de/dotpups/System_Utilit ... st04MU.pup
http://dotpups.de/dotpups/System_Utilit ... oolbox.pup

Mark

[GuestToo]

looks good ... i think Ubantu has something that is a little bit like that called Easy Ubantu

that's one thing i don't like about complex package managers ... they may be more powerful than most newbies need, and too difficult to use ... i think maybe something simple, for the Puppy newbies, is probably a really good idea ... and probably easier to implement than a full-blown complex package management system

actually, the more i think about this, the more i like the MU-Toolbox ... nice concept

[Lobster]

It is a nice concept.

Launcher and installer combined. Is a third column showing if a program is installed a good idea?
Is it part of .pet?
http://puppylinux.org/wikka/DotPet

[MU]

yes, good idea.
But I'd rather add it as a sign to the icons at left , that is easier to program, as the lists C-code currently only supports 2 columns.

No, it installs .pup , not .pet, but that would be simple to add.
But this program currently is not intended as a "universal installer", only as a tool to "sort/collect" my programs cluttered around dozends of forum-messages.

A universal tool would list 5 filemanagers, this one only 1, my personal favourite.
Most programs listed will even not be ones programmed by others, just tools I wrote for Puppy myself.

But I will make it so flexible (it almost already is), that everybody can create his own Toolbox.
Simply by editing the "tools.rc" (Packagedescription), and moving it to a different folder like "/usr/local/Lobster-Toolbox".

Just some minor final Code-cleanup is required for this.

Mark

[MU]

I made some "internal" modifications (did not add new programs yet).

Now you easily can create your own Toolbox, for example if you create your custom Puppy-Iso, and want to add a small Package installer.

instruction

Install my dotpups again.
Copy /usr/local/MU-Toolbox somewhere else, for example to
/root/Lobsters-Toolbox
Rename the startscript "MU-Toolbox" to "Lobsters-Toolbox".

That's all, now you can click on it to run it.

To customize the packagelist, edit resource/tools.rc

Every program has such an entry:

Code: Select all

icons/gtktheme.xpm
Gtk Themeselector
Gtk-Themeselector
/usr/local/MU-Gtk-Themechooser/MU-Gtktheme
http://www.murga.org/~puppy/viewtopic.php?t=10616
u1
u2
------------

What do these lines mean?
1.) the icon displayed in the list.
You MUST add a valid icon, or the program crashes.

2.) the "Name" that appears in the list. May contain spaces or special characters (Unicode).
3.) the KEY. I'll explain it further down. May NOT contain spaces or special characters.
4.) the program to run.
Can be a program in the PATH like "leafpad", an absolute path like /usr/local/myapp/start or a Roxapp.
For a Roxapp, use this notation:
roxapp /root/my-roxapps/Dotpup-Wizard-06
This will not run the app, but check if it exists, and then open the roxapp-folder.
I made that, because many roxapps require Drag'n'drop.
If you want to run a roxapp directly, use the full binary like
/root/my-roxapps/Dotpup-Wizard-06/AppRun

A special case are programs, where you first must "cd" to the program-folder.
Look at Xdesktopwaves as an example.

5.) this is the URL of the corresponding Forum-message
6.) unused, reserved for future
7.) unused, reserved for future
8.) seperatorline

It is important, to use 8 lines for every package, or the program gets confused.

Now when you change such an entry, the program might not start.
You MUST add a textfile with the text, that is displayed when you click on it.
Herefore we need the "key".
If you use a key "leafpad", then you must create a textfile
shortinfo/leafpad.txt

You optionally can create
longinfo/leafpad.htm

That file would be displayed in Dillo, if you click on "Details".

Finally you should add
installlists/leafpad.txt
This has the URL of the dotpup with leafpad.
This file can include several dotpup-URLs, so you can add programs or libraries it depends on.
The installer automatically checks, if they were already installed or not by "asking" the pupget-registry.

Mark

[amish]

xarchive wouldnt make a tar.gz for me, so i'm trying to make a pup besides, i've had trouble with downloading non-zips on occasion, which is partly why barry made dotpups in the first place.

so i found your dotpup creation wizard, and now i'm going to take my chances with it

but i found this while searching for the dotpup howto also. had to comment, because of all the gui utils i've seen for puppy so far, this one is the prettiest

[Pizzasgood]

For the record, GuestToo made the dotpup system.

[amish]

For the record, GuestToo made the dotpup system.

i'll have to add him to the list of people i'm in complete awe of then.

i think the future has linux in it, and i'm not interested in a future that doesn't. since the late 90's i've been watching linux, TRYING to make it work, swearing, developing hypertension, becoming grouchy and bitter, and swearing some more.

when things are hard, i know that i can probably squeeze another year out of win98. i hate doing it, and i have removed it from one machine that only runs linux. i have two machines with windows that have puppy- one never runs windows even tho i haven't removed it. i'm still uninstalling things from windows that i have working in puppy, although the tao/dao burner thing really cheeses me off- i rely on that for backups. i could install nero again, but i wanted to get rid of it for so long (omg bloat on bloat) that i hope it never comes to that.

i still use windows for a few things, (internet) but even with the last distro i tried, (ubuntu) installing software the "easy way"...packages, just didn't work. .pup files are the first thing that made using linux- useful. so barry's a hero, (best distro ever) and mu's a hero (several reasons) and to be certain, guesttoo- too. dotpups completely rule. one of puppy's strongest, most impressive, most reliable features- cheers.

[Lobster]

dotpups completely rule

They do.

Looming on the horizon is the new .pet (Puppy Extended Tarball)
which emulates the simplicity of dotpup and adds
checksums and info for installers

http://puppylinux.org/wikka/Puppy213
check the Developer News link

This Toolbox program is rather amazing
If anyone is up for following Marks suggestions . . .
(given time I may get around to it)
Here is a list of what I consider first choices for new users
Browsers, Window Managers etc
http://tmxxine.com/tmx008/tmxxine.html

[ahem - at present Puppy and Linux Tmxxine are 100% compatible
always will be]