Can Manjaro replicate the utility of Knoppix persistent?

Non-technical Questions
16

Manjaro Wiki

By the way, you can find the link to the Wiki at the bottom of every forum page. :arrow_down:

2023.05.23 - 12:24 - Spectacle
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Be sure to also regularly visit the forum and subscribe to notifications for the Stable Updates category. Every major update always comes with a dedicated announcement thread, which will also highlight the potential gotchas and how to work around them.

In addition to that, the forum also has a by now already substantial collection of community-submitted Tutorials. :arrow_down:

And if you then still have any questions, then there’s also this… :arrow_down:

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Always do a search first before posting. Many (if not most) people do not, with as a result that we get loads of duplicate threads from different people about the same thing, and then we’re constantly having to point people at the same solution — one that quite often can be found on the pertinent Stable Updates thread, which they (of course) didn’t read. :grin:

17

Ok. Thank you very much for all that information! Now of all the ISOs, which Distro has the most exhaustive menu-submenu in its panel, so that every GUI application/program is found on the list?

Moreover, I also want a Distro which allows custom Menu-items on the menu-list and also in the right-click drop-down menu-list.

Further, I desire the Menu List to be completely customisable, in the sense that I should be free to add menu-items, if required, by hand, linking scripts and commands, especially with adding menu-items on the Menu list accessible by right clicking on a free area on the desktop outside of a program window, so that the said command/script could be launched then itself from there.

OpenBox is no longer in active development. The Mailing list isn’t vibrant. I can’t add customised menus. There isn’t support which I require very much.

I am wary. Suppose I begin with OpenBox WM and have a menu. Later I learn that I can use a better WM. But the trouble is that the Menu created during installation is the most comprehensive. Later on, new WM addition doesn’t properly port all the menu-items from older to newer.

I prefer a LXDE (or Doze) type Menu like Start Menu ⟶ Program Categories ⟶ Program Link with every link on the list, or allow me to include those that aren’t listed.

Any suggestion based on these two aspects would be welcome.

18

dude, i was only giving my impression based on what you told me about knoppix. It could not be considered slander if i say i don’t see any use for a distro like that. Or that it’s development has stalled as the creators stop and new ones don’t take over because other developers might have similar opinion as i.

To your last post: you seem to put emphasis on the right click menu, so while many if not most DE:s support editing it, there is one that is almost designed around a workflow around it: enlightenment.

1 Like
19

All of them.

Each of the three official Manjaro editions comes preinstalled with all of the necessary tools and software titles. And if you need something that isn’t part of the freshly installed system by default, then you simply pull it in from the official repositories. It will then automatically be added to the chosen desktop environment’s main menu.

In addition to this, there might be software that you like but that isn’t in the official repositories — or at least, not yet — but then chances are huge that you can install it from the AUR, albeit that you have to keep in mind that the AUR is not officially supported and that Manjaro can as such not guarantee that anything installed from there will work, or that the uploader is to be trusted — unless the uploader of that particular AUR package also happens to be one of the Manjaro team members, of course. More information about the use of the AUR can be found in the Wiki.

On top of that, Manjaro also provides you with the necessary tools for installing and running Snaps, FlatPaks and AppImages.

I have no idea what you’re talking about here, sorry. :man_shrugging:

I don’t see why that would be impossible in any of the Manjaro editions when it’s also possible in other distributions. And as the matter of fact, it is possible, and especially so in the Plasma edition, because that’s what I myself use and therefore have the most experience with.

The Manjaro OpenBox edition is a community edition, and its maintainer is @linux-aarhus, who is an active contributor to the forum — he has already contributed many more tutorials and HowTos to the Tutorials section of the forum than anyone else here.

@linux-aarhus has only just released a new LXQt spin .iso today. :arrow_down:

LXQt is very MS-Windows-like in look & feel — it is a version of LXDE that uses the qt widget libraries instead of gtk, and it includes many components from KDE Plasma, such as the kwin compositing window manager.

20

Thank you for engaging with me, Mr. varikonniemi and Mr. Aragorn. Please remember that you are engaging with a perpetual novice. So I would request your tolerance and patience and offer apologies in advance.

Please Sir, no rhetorical sentences and generalised statements would help me. Moreover, I don’t know enlightenment.

No. I emphasised on my requirement of having the ability to add any arbitrary menu-item to the menu-list with link to a custom script/command. Especially, on the Right-click Drop-down menu-list, including sub-menus.

May the rest of my earlier statements to you, Mr. varikonniemi, be ignored. I too have.

May please my rest post be perused. Very essential for me.

This section appears to impart an impression to me that I have not been able to explain my need emphatically or clearly enough.

I was not talking about all necessary tools and software titles. I talked about comprehensive listing of all applications/programs that is included during installation be faithfully reflected on the Start Menu ⟶ Program Categories ⟶ Program Link, with every links to every programs installed in the system, on the list, or allow me to include those that aren’t listed. In menu, sub-menu, sub-sub-menu, and so on … . A comprehensive list missing out nothing.

As I wrote the above to Mr. Aragorn, I talked about my having the ability to add any arbitrary menu-item to the menu-list with link to a custom script/command. Especially, on the Right-click Drop-down menu-list, including sub-menus.

Sir, I didn’t say LXDE. I said “like” LXDE or Doze (I meant the old winXP or WinVista type), i.e, Start Menu ⟶ Program Categories (i.e., sub-menu and further sub-sub-menu) ⟶ Program Link with every link on the list, or allow me to include those that aren’t listed. With Full Flexibility. Maximum Rights.

I am Not At All particularly interested in LXDE, LXDE-type, Doze or Doze-type interface. I mentioned them only as examples. I am interested in a generalised fully flexible and comprehensive Menu-based program-links with a starting point (like the Start Menu ⟶ Program etc.) wherein I could add my own customised scripts and commands.

The Original LXDE is now as good as dead. The OpenBox WM is as good as dead. May be I am jinxed. The ones which I touch go dead. So be it. I would like a vibrant environment, any of the Manjaro projects, the one which is the most vibrant. With (I repeat) Start Menu ⟶ Program Categories (i.e., sub-menu and further sub-sub-menu) ⟶ Program Link with every link on the list, or allow me to include those that aren’t listed.

In the end, are all of these distros Live? Can be booted and run from the ISO directly? Then I could have a real ‘feel’ of some of them.

21

I also used Knoppix for a long time. (since it was delivered with c’t)

Now manjaro is my home.

There are several ways you can go:

1. You can use any manjaro ISO (on CD or USB) and install programs non-persistent

  • After a restart the iso is clean (like Knoppix)
  • It runs out of RAM (so you need a lot if you install things)
  • You can switch (roll) to the next ISO at any time
  • At some point in time it will be necessary to roll to the next ISO
  • You keep your data on your hdd
  • if you want some things to persist, you can link-mount them or use some overlay-fs

2. With Alma you create a USB-Installation with persistence

  • This starts (like Knoppix) with a full installation, but is able to be used on any PC
  • You need to roll with manjaro !

3. With Btrfs (+snapper/timeshift) you install manjaro with the possibility to rollback

  • This is a complete install
  • you can modify what you need
  • You need to roll with manjaro !
  • If something bad happens, you are able to roll back :wink:
You can find good Information about Btrfs in the wiki

and in

4. mix your own way :wink:

Be aware !

  • manjaro is NOT knoppix (you need to learn some basics, so keep reading the forum)
  • manjaro needs maintenance (maybe except 1. )

:footprints:

22

Thank you, Mr. andreas85, for sharing your experience and wisdom with me.
Presently, I am trying to have a hang of things and at present at the post No. 20.
I will follow your rest steps when I am a little experienced with Manjaro.

23

I’m not sure about that, but if you really like it I would suggest Mabox* based on Manjaro.

* Note that Mabox is not Manjaro and they have their own support forum.

24

That depends on what style of menu you choose. In Plasma, you can have multiple styles. However, the default will indeed be a cascading menu with categories.

As for the items that aren’t listed, normally there wouldn’t be any, because every interactive application will be listed in the menus.

I still don’t know what you mean by “the Right-click Drop-down menu-list”. I presume that this would be something specific to the user interface you were using earlier.

Menus can either way be customized.

Yes, all of them are live images, and we will often advise people with damaged systems to repair their systems from within a live USB/DVD/CD session.

25

I would draw you attention to the four snapshots, two from LXDE lxsession, and two from LXDE OpenBox.

These are tiny files. You could download them and check them one by one minutely to notice the difference.

If noticed carefully, in lxsession, right click, the Sub-menu “Debian” doesn’t appear.

In each of lxsession and OpenBox, right click on empty area, the Applications Sub-menu, sub-sub-menu, etc., are the same.

The right-click, drop-down menu-list are different for LXDE lxsession and LXDE OpenBox session.

However, right-click, drop-down menu-list within pcmanfm filemanager behaves differently. I have not attached a snapshot for this menu.

The lxsession, start menu, left-click and sub-menu list is not comprehensive. Many applications don’t find their way in there.

My intent is to alter all these menu-lists and have them be exhaustive. So that I don’t have to search for application links. I also want to add custom scripts and commands on to these menu lists.
LXDE,lxsession,StartMenu,LeftClick|473x348

LXDE,lxsession,RightClick,Applications|435x500

OpenBox,RightClick,DebianMenu,submenu|690x227

LXDE,OpenBox,Applications,RightClick|376x500

Such blanket comment is dangerous for us novices. Suppose assured by your advice, I proceed to download and install only to find that I can’t customise the menus. Data costs money. I am not even considering the frustration for the wasted effort.

Presently, I can’t alter the menu list in Debian and am finding no reliable information source to do it.

This is a serious problem with Free and Open Source software. Everyone is forking and experimenting. Documentations aren’t numerous or checked for veracity. Which is why I am like once bitten, twice shy

26

That’s what the live mode of the .iso is for. You can experiment there. All this talk isn’t going to get you anywhere until you actually give it a try.

:man_shrugging:

27

Of course Sir, but which one, based on the first half of my post numbered 26? Which is why the first half of my post needs be addressed too. Each ISO is about 3GB in size. By hand option for menu editing to run programs, scripts and commands is very essential for me.

28

If you create a USB stick with Ventoy, then you can download all three of them and simply drag & drop the .iso files to the Ventoy folder on the stick, and then you’ll be able to boot into either of them by way of a menu.

That said, KDE Plasma is by far the most flexible and customizable of the three desktop environments. You can make it behave and look exactly as you want it, and if you cannot find what you’re looking for with Plasma, then I’m afraid nothing’s going to satisfy your needs — not in Manjaro, nor in any other distribution.

@Yochanan has also already pointed you at Mabox, a Manjaro derivative — not supported by Manjaro, however — with the OpenBox window manager, which is supposedly what you’re used to.

But you really do have to go and try it — you can add the Mabox .iso to the other ones on the Ventoy USB stick if the stick has enough room for it — in order to find out. We cannot make your decision for you.

:man_shrugging:

1 Like
29

Sir, please don’t sound like you have given up. If you are confident that Plasma will work, surely it will. My expectation is very ‘reasonable’. I am not asking for the moon. Only power to insert menus by hand, if need be.

Thank you Sir, I will download and run Ventoy and prepare a pendrive and do the needful. But I am sceptical about OpenBox, given the experience that I have had. Mabox is at a 2nd order of distance of separation from Arch, the primary source. Manjaro is alright as it addresses my objective of not having to learn so much to be able to just use a computer. Additional utility is that the forum is very vibrant. Like it was once in Knoppix.

But I won’t venture very far to Mabox. Not now. May be, in future.

But thanks for your support, Sir. Much appreciated.

2 Likes
30

Plasma does have a menu editor — see the screenshot below — as does LXQt for that matter, because it uses the same underlying KDE Frameworks as Plasma.

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Note: Out-of-the-box, Plasma does not look anything like in the above screenshot. Its default configuration looks a lot more like Microsoft Windows, but as I said earlier, Plasma is enormously flexible and customizable, so you can basically make it look & feel however you want it.

31

Okay, thank you Sir for the screenshot.
I am comfortable and assured that my objectives shall hopefully be met. I have been stuck with LXDE for too long a time to have experimented with other DE in Debian.

I have already begun downloading Manjaro Plasma. Your screenshot appears encouraging and enticing!

Just one last question: Could the Drop-down menus, sub-menus, sub-sub-menus, et al, of the file manager-browser, accessible by Right-Clicking a clear area of Plasma’s default file manager-browser, be added with customised menu-items also? I am irritated by the lack of information in case of pcmanfm file manager-browser in LXDE.

32

Yes, they can. :arrow_down:

33

Thank you Sir, Mr. Aragorn, for your kind support and the two links. It is time, I suppose, to close this thread. I would begin a new thread when I need the support of the forum.
Please accept my admiration for your continued conversation with me on this issue.
Best wishes,
Rajib

2 Likes
34

Best wishes on a successful Manjaro (Knoppix) USB project. Knoppix live CDs were how I got into Linux.

35

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