New user (DSL) having trouble w/ backups

[I82mutch]

Hi Everyone

I am a new user to the world of linux, and are having problems with the save and backup on exit. I am using DSL as I want the portability of a o/s on a usb drive. So far I am enjoying the challenge of working this system out, reading forums how to's but have hit a problem I cant work out.

I can d/l apps from myapps and use them. No worries, but when I backup and exit (backup to sda1) I lose all my apps I have d/l. I can save settings like background but each time I reboot I need to d/l firefox,opera. But after I install FF it remembers my settings,bookmarks etc. I really want to save firefox and opera for now, so its there on reboot.

I would like to persist with DSL as so far I am enjoying this "non windows world". Anyway thanks to all in advance that can help me out with this problem.

Cheers
Mak

[sdimhoff]

It has been awhile since I was a DSL user, but I do have at least a suggestion or two.

1.) Since other settings were being saved, but the apps weren't, I would suggest that you look at your backup file list. This is in /opt/.filetool.lst and it controls what files are backed-up when you tell dsl to do its backup. You need to make sure that your downloaded apps get added to that (otherwise dsl doesn't know to back them up). You can use EmelFM to add those files using the Add2Filetool button.

2.) During any given session, it sounds like you can download firefox and/or opera and have them work. What I want you to check is whether or not, after a backup, the opera and/or firefox files are anywhere on your sda1 device. You may be backing them up, but not loading them on the next restart. If I'm not mistaken, the app file has to be somewhere in /opt. Although I think there are a few other places it can be.

3.) If neither of these yield any results then I suggest combing the wiki, or maybe posting that question on the DSL forums (they are very good for dsl specific questions).

Hope that helps!

[I82mutch]

Ok thats sounds great, something for me to look at. I will get DSL going again and have a fiddle with what you suggested. Thanks again

I originally tried to sign up as a new member with DSL forums but cannot seem to post any questions. In your opinion, is there a easier portable o/s to to use? Or is DSL as straight forward as they get.

Cheers
Mak

[rokytnji]

I had to email DSL forums a couple times and tell them I was a real person before they would add me to the forum. As far as a good portable O/S, I don't run USB live distros but you could check out Puppy Linux, AntiX, or Linux Mint 6 RC1 Fluxbox and also Unetbootin I guess.

[sdimhoff]

I have to admit that I have not explored that many portable OS's. I explored DSL on CD and USB for awhile and found it easy enough to handle once you mess around with it.

1.) I thought that it was of limited use as a live cd. It loads fast but doesn't have certain tools that I would need for say, repairing another installation.

2.) As long as you test it with a live cd first (to make sure your hardware is picked up correctly) it was/is one of my favorites as a harddrive install for old computers. So little processing power, so much speed...

3.) On a pen drive, it was handy to carry files along with the programs necessary to manipulate them.

4.) I found that I actually liked to use it running on windows via qemu. You could still have it on the pen drive with all your files, but now it would run with windows instead of rebooting into dsl. This was nice for situations where you didn't want to reboot someone else's computer.

Eventually I realized that I don't really need to have that kind portability, so I never tried any other mini distros.