@jedi - nice

Work in progress:

Every now and again I need to check out the latest version of KDE/plasma.
plasma-X11 runs pretty smooth; plasma-wayland not so much.

Lasted about half a day, then back to fluxbox or i3.

^ Nice

Settled on fluxbox native taskbar and polybar -

Fluxbox on dual monitors. Since fluxbox, like openbox, just expands the desktop across the two monitors, there is some empty space at the bottom the second monitor.  I tried the:

Configure --> Toolbar --> On Head... --> All Heads

from the Fluxbox Menu, but didn't really like it set up that way. So added a simple, one line conky to the bottom of the second monitor for a bit of symmetry.

Aesthetically, it would probably look better with a tint2 panel and slightly rounded corners.

Edit - With some effort, this could look really good. Matching up the colors-transparency-widths will take some time and patience. Every piece of software calculates it differently. Or just go opaque.

QuoteWhat say you?  It most likely won't ever hit anyone but peeps like you and I and jedi, who are constantly in testing mode, I think I will add it just to make sure that people can see it could be an issue

Yes, this and the potential swapfile/partition issues should be pointed out.

I didn't run into the UUID issue since it was clean install on fully formatted drive each time.

I actually created a swapfile manually instead of a partition. Appears to be working.

Thanks
I have successfully installed twice to a clean drive and chroot in to update and install grub. So the How To for Method 3 is good.

@vastone

In Method 1

change:

sudo fsarchiver -v restfs vsido_23DEC2023.fsa id=0, dest=/dev/sdxx
to

sudo fsarchiver -v restfs vsido_23DEC2023.fsa id=0,dest=/dev/sdxx
can't have that space between "id=0" and "dest=/dev/sdxx"

It failed on me first two attempts, then I removed the space and it went to completion.

Your quick. The fixes look good.

I added a blurb about pointing out that US Central Tiimezone is preserved in the fsarchive, so users outside that zone will need to make a change manually.

For Method 1

Change:

sudo fsarchiver -v restfs vsido_23DEC2023.fsa /dev/sdxx
to

sudo fsarchiver -v restfs vsido_23DEC2023.fsa id=0,dest=/dev/sdxx
So it matches up with the SpaceFM command in image #3 but without the variable substitutions.

Take this line ahead of Step 8:

These things should be done once you boot and are logged into the new install the first time
and increase the font size or something so that the break between installing and post-install customizations sticks out.

Add change of timezone to the post install actions. I don't know about jed's install, but both times I installed the timezone was US Central Time (Chicago). I assume that's because fsarchiver preserves that information, and it's simply restored. I used this link - Set/Change timezone Debian 10. The Debian Wiki also has the info, but it's in this really, really verbose wiki page. Basically need to change a symlink.

Dual booting VSIDO and ArchLabs

Performed another install this morning. I guess it would be Method 3.

Method 3 - Install to clean, partitioned drive. Legacy BIOS system

Needed -
1. Live system with fsarchiver included. I used SystemRescue for this exercise. The VSIDO iso should also work.
2. The VSIDO fsarchive file on an accessible drive/partition.

Step 1 - Back up any data on the target drive

Step 2 - Boot the live session and use it to create a target partition for the install. For this install, I deleted all the existing partitions on the drive and created a new partition (sda1) for the install of VSIDO. Also created an additional partition to hold the VSIDO fsarchive file. Partitions were formatted to ext4

Step 3 - Log into an xsession and download the VSIDO fsarchive file. In this example I downloaded the file to one of the partitions I created in Step 2. I assume the fsarchive file could also be restored from an external drive or removable media.

Step 4 - Unpack the fsarchive to the target partition. Use Method 1 or Method 2 depending on tools available.

Before updating grub, the user needs to chroot into the system.

Mount the partition and file systems -

sudo mount /dev/sda1 /mnt

sudo mount --bind /dev /mnt/dev
sudo mount --bind /proc /mnt/proc
sudo mount --bind /sys /mnt/sys

chroot into the system

sudo chroot /mnt

update and reinstall grub

update-grub

sudo grub-install /dev/sda
sudo grub-install --recheck /dev/sda

exit chroot and unmount file systems and partition

# exit chroot
exit

# unmount
sudo umount /mnt/sys &&
sudo umount /mnt/proc &&
sudo umount /mnt/dev &&
sudo umount /mnt

Shutdown the system, remove the thumbdrive, and reboot into a VSIDO system.

I performed this install on a legacy BIOS system. I assume the procedure would be similar for a uEFI system, but more complicated to migrate the existing /boot and grub over to uEFI directory tree - /boot/efi.

Looks good.

Old eyes.

Command in terminal should be:

sudo fsarchiver -v restfs vsido_23DEC2023.fsa.fsa id=0, dest=/dev/sdxx
like the command in image #3 but without the variable substitution SpaceFM is using.

From the Quick Start section of fsarchiver home page.

fsarchiver restfs /mnt/backup/gentoo-rootfs.fsa id=0,dest=/dev/sda1
add -v for verbose messaging, change sdxx to target partition; sda7 in your example.

change:

sudo -v restfs vsido_23DEC2023.fsa /dev/sdxx
to

sudo fsarchiver -v restfs vsido_23DEC2023.fsa /dev/sdxx
and that command needs to be done before updating grub. So it would be better to have it ahead of step 7. More like Method 1 - use SpaceFm and Method 2 - use command line. Once fsarchive extracted, proceed to updating grub.

Install w3m and w3m-img and you can replace that penguin with your VSIDO logo icon 

Everything works out of the box installing from the fsarchive file. Had to manually reset my time zone to US Eastern instead of Central. Easy fix.

I use mostly mate tools now - caja, atril, and a few others. So .....

VSIDO with mate desktop: