can systemd do ANYTHING other systems can not do? Can you transition to wayland?

NO!

NO, what? To which question, both?

Then what is the problem with systemd or replacing it with another system?

The quick answer is NO, but in reality one must be able to match the resources of IBM/x-RH to chase behind this dog when this dog does its best to try to shake all tailgaters away from it.  “It” wants to run throughout the system, from bios/efi/boot-loading to every click you make on the desktop with your mouse or finger touch to the touch-screen.  PRECISELY what google has done on android, for which we have no say it is a private non-open non-free system.  Monkey see, monkey do, monkey governments enforce its use, monkeys conform.  Fuck you google and fuck the state that mandates its use (I wonder if North Korean sites have google apis in them, RT do!).

HOW does this work?

Joborun vs Obarun linux

The surface:

obarun  stands for OpenboxRunit … but has been the home for arch based s6 implementation with tools (currently 66) to make s6 less hostile to MOST users of linux.  Runit only lasted a few weeks before s6 was implemented and runit dumped.  Currently featuring a graphic installer of base, openbox, jwm, xfce4, and plasma desktops and a setup of s6/66 to get you going.

joborun stands for JwmOpenBoxObarunRunit, so it is everything Obarun can be, plus runit that can coexist and alternatively boot instead of s6/66, but also replaces most core Arch pkgs with ones built in vaccuum of systemd/logind/udevd.   Currently not including an installer, or an iso image, but an old fashioned tarball of the base and instructions on how to make it a bootable system within minutes.  Joborun is basically a source based distro, although it provides 2 tarballs, base system, and builder system, and binary repositories of all packages it provides source for.  You always need a binary system to build your binaries, joborun just makes the process easier and quicker, without frustrating fails.

Openbox tweaks and tricks – no {dbus,ck2,elogind,dm} no user services needed

Although this was created with Obarun/Arch based distros in mind it works pretty universally for nearly all distro that have openbox available (nearly all except for Adelie that is).  About building and installing obmenu-generator there is an older article here.

Originally published in the Obarun Forum, so here is a copy:

Openbox tweaks and tricks – no dbus – no ck2 – no user services

Minimalist tricks and treats

To start you need xorg-xinit and openbox installed:

From AUR download, build, and install obmenu-generator

You can use pacopts or cower if you don’t have something else as an AUR helper, ask for help if you want details, especially if you want to install yaourt, the best AUR helper ever created which was taken off AUR for a second time in less than a year.  I wish they would make their minds up!

No systemd, no elogind, no consolekit, no dbus – what did I miss?

Many reviews of linux distros you may read tell you what you need  to have (systemd – elogind – consolekit, – dbus : SECD from now on) to use the distro.  It is rarely seen or heard whether you can have an effective graphical interface, a desktop, a window manager, and not use any of the above.  Sometimes for a rarely used or never used utility you need one of those monsters, but hardly ever anyone goes out of his way to tell you “this is the ONLY instance you need this, otherwise you can do without”.  So the question on this topic should be obvious, “what can I do and have installed, or even if it is installed have it running, without the use of the SECD?”.  The less obvious question to the one questioning is “why?”.  Does anyone still ask why anymore, or have we (linux users) generally turned to fashion monkeys?

New Obarun live image based on all new 66 0.4 edition

A new Obarun live image has become available on July 10th 2020 and it brings many updates and changes.  From the live JWM session you can install a base system, Openbox, JWM, XFCE4, or KDE-Plasma with corresponding setup of 66 root and user service structure already set-up.  All recent (July 9th 2020) stable Arch-Linux upgraded software based and a much improved installer is onboard.  You can run the live system off of a CD (still fits) or Dvd or USB stick, or a virtual machine as a common disk system or a RAM only system from its syslinux editable boot menu.

NOTE:  Previous Obarun images and installer may not work without manual intervention to incorporate the new GPG keyring for Obarun.  Therefore older versions of pacman will not upgrade or install software, hence the net-install process will fail.

Mabox – Manjaro + OpenBOX – new distribution

Since dealing with non-systemd distributions, apart from Obarun and Antix, has become a bit disappointing lately, or boring, either or both, to take a change of environment I picked something NEW.  It is called Mabox Linux and it is based on Manjaro, it uses Openbox and LightDM, as gui base, and displays many tricks in converting a minimal window manager (WM) into a full desktop of your own.  Mabox is not just an alternative setup for a standard Manjaro system, it has its own repository, packages, and includes a harmonious wide variety of software and software environments (flatpak, snap,..).  Its website is pretty nice and is available in English and Polish.

PCLinuxOS the distribution for everyone without systemd

You may think that we gave up and not “producing” anymore, but we haven’t.  We are still at it, but we are not under this “productive” insanity pressure most others live with.  If there is nothing interesting to report we will not waste your time.  When we try various distributions that we either disliked or found nothing of interest, just another tried recipe with a twist of personalization, we just scrap the installation and move on.  Then one day a couple of weeks ago we took on PCLinuxOS.  If that says something, we are still at it, on a HD installation.

Are you confused about debian/antiX/MX/devuan/Refracta editions?

Debian 10 Buster became stable a few months ago, the rest of the systems had to follow but took their time.  This is done every two years and creates a wave of confusion, especially those on forked versions of Debian, like antiX, MX, devuan, refracta, etc.  Even more dangerous and confusing it is if you are using testing and although testing during debian stretch was buster it now becomes bullseye, while your antiX/MX/Devuan is testing alongside Buster still.

After antiX announced 19 (Marielle Franco) as its current stable branch, MS followed its mothership the week later (a few days ago), while Devuan/Refracta are still chasing Stretch (Debian 9), what they call Devuan 2 or ascii.

So here it is, to take the confusion away from numbers and names:

Debian         *   Debian       *  AntiX/MX   *  Devuan
the last good1 *   7   Wheezy   *    13       *  0  beta-testing
old old stable *   8   Jessie   *    15       *  1 jessie (old-stable)
old stable     *   9   Stretch  *    17       *  2 ascii (stable)
stable         *  10   Buster   *    19       *  3 beowulf(testing)
testing        *  11   Bullseye *    21       *  4 chimaera (next testing)
unstable       *       sid      *    sid      *       ceres

What is so new about Obarun that makes May’s edition obsolete?

There are several new things about Obarun that make the last batch of isos seem like they came from a different distribution.  But it has been emphasized by its founder that Obarun is not a distribution but a modification of an arch-linux installation.  I don’t for how long would this description be accurate, Obarun now looks like its on its way of become a complete and independent distribution, still based on Arch-Linux.

A new Linux distribution is here with a new init system

For those who have never heard the name of the distribution and have not researched the late and current differences of init systems and service management and supervision, this may be a shock and major news.  For those who have really done their research, they have gone beyond the pop-ular polarization and fallacy of “systemd vs sysvinit” , there is nothing new here to read …

Latest Obarun installation/live images released (base, JWM, KDE Plasma)

Since the Fall of 2018 Obarun has committed to publish a new base iso-image (Obarun_x86_64-2019-05.iso) every month. The current installer updates itself from the obarun git repository when it starts.   The installer allows you the ability to select desktops and software during installation or install a base system, boot and customize on your own.   2-3 times a year a new live-desktop image using JWM is also published.  This is the latest iso with JWM published mid-April (Obarun-JWM_x86_64-2019-04-2.iso).

Since the major new release and change of repositories in April 2019, along with the introduction of Obarun’s own 66 management system over Skarnet’s S6 init, there have been minor refinements reflected in the new iso.  So if you have last month’s images there is no need to download the newer one. 

There is also an unofficial community edition of KDE-Plasma produced by an Obarun-Developer.  https://repo.obarun.org/iso/2019-05-Plasma (see note below on the list of images)

Although I never liked anything KDE myself I tested it and it works flawlessly.  For those who want to install plasma, although possible with the installer from other isos, it might be helpful to have the live image handy to see how user services are employed and handled by 66 and required for plasma.

Older images (before mid-April 2019) may require some attention and manual intervention to incorporate the changes in repositories, although the installer may take care of the change.

ArchLabs without systemd – Obarun s6 on top

You may ask what we are doing with ArchLabs when there is a tremendous amount of original non-systemd based distros on the list (our own lists for example).   “Originally a minimalist, Arch-based live distribution with Openbox, the latest release of ArchLabs Linux is a radical departure from the original concept as the distribution is now designed for users who like to customise their system during installation. ”  It may be coincidental but the installer is following a bit on the Obarun fashion where you install what you need and like and not what the distribution has chosen.