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Oracle VirtualBox

March 27, 2014, 12:56 pm
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4MLinux 8.1 (and later) supports a fully automatic installation of the vanilla version of Oracle VirtualBox. This is one of so called "downloadable extensions" (i.e. optional software in 4MLinux, which is installed in the /opt directory by default).

1) Select VirtualBox from the Extensions menu:
 



2) 4MLinux will download and install VirtualBox for you:
 



3) Time to configure your new application:


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LibreOffice suite.

April 27, 2014, 5:03 am
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LibreOffice is is one of so called "downloadable extensions" (i.e. optional software in 4MLinux, which is installed in the /opt directory by default).


1) Choose LibreOffice from the Extensions menu:



2) You must confirm the installation:



3) Now 4MLinux will download and install the newest LibreOffice for you:




Note: 
LibreOffice suite integrates with the rest of the 4MLinux desktop, meaning that you will be able to open your documents with any of the following file managers: Midnight Commander, Path Finder, and X File Explorer.
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Live CD to compile programs

May 28, 2014, 5:30 am
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Devel Live CD includes a development toolchain from 4MLinux which makes it possible to compile the Linux kernel and other software written in C and C++.

Note: Devel Live CD boots in the same way as 4MLinux does (this was described here).

1) Select Installer from the Devel Menu:



2) Confirm the installation by choosing 'y' and pressing Enter:


 
Now you have the minimum required to compile programs written in C and C++. A big collection of additional development software has been installed, too (enough to compile all programs, which are included in basic version of 4MLinux).

3) You can also download additional "alien" (i.e. not 4MLinux native) packages:



HINT:
All the file managers, which are included in Devel Live CD (Midnight Commander, Path Finder, and X File Explorer), are able to open rpm, deb, and other archives. Please refer to this post for details.


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Development packages

June 28, 2014, 9:12 am
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4MLinux 9.0 (and later) supports a fully automatic installation of the set of development packages needed to compile the Linux kernel and other software written in C and C++. This is one of so called "downloadable extensions" (i.e. optional software in 4MLinux, which is installed in the /opt directory by default).

1) Select Development from the Extensions menu:
 


2) 4MLinux will download and install development packages for you:
 
 


3) You can open the /opt directory to find out what has been installed:



4) Now you have enough to build the Linux kernel, all the programs that are included in the basic version of 4MLinux, and Wine. It is also possible to install the "vanilla" version of Clang with  LLVM just in one click:



5) If you are going to compile programs written in Qt, you should download Qt Online Installer:



Note:
After installing Qt, don't forget to copy its executables, libraries, and headers. For example:
cp -fr /usr/lib/qt/5.3/gcc/bin /usr
cp -fr /usr/lib/qt/5.3/gcc/lib /usr
cp -fr /usr/lib/qt/5.3/gcc/include /usr

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Skype for (4M)Linux

August 22, 2014, 3:54 am
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Skype is is one of so called "downloadable extensions" (i.e. optional software in 4MLinux, which is installed in the /opt directory by default).


1) Choose Skype from the Extensions menu:



2) You must confirm the installation:



3) Now 4MLinux will download and install the newest Skype for you:





4) You may need to adjust capture items, using either AlsaMixer or QasMixer:




Note: 
4MLinux supports UVC and gspca webcams out of the box.
Drivers for other devices are available at www.4mlinux.com
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Playing and recording webcam streams

October 10, 2014, 2:15 am
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4MLinux 10.0 (and later) includes an improved support for webcams, which makes it possible to play/record video streams from your device.

Note:
If you are going to use your webcam with Skype, you may also have a look at this post.

1) Open your terminal and execute the "webcam" command:



2) Let's try to play (with "webcam play"):




3) Time to record something (with "webcam record"):



Note:
The only proper way to stop recording is pressing "q". Any other method may hang your system!

4) The output file can be found in the Videos directory:
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Printing and scanning

November 26, 2014, 12:16 pm
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4MLinux 10.1 and later includes support for many printers and scanners. This is a short guide on how to use and manage these devices in 4MLinux.

1) Virtual PDF printer. This feature is enabled out of the box. Just try to print any document. The printout will be saved in your home directory:










2) CUPS web interface. 4MLinux uses CUPS web interface to manage printers. You will need root's password (which you can generate/update in your terminal with the "passwd" command). Now click on the printer icon:





3) Scanners. The list of supported devices can be found here. All you have to do is click on the scanner icon and follow the instructions:





4) Additional drivers. Visit the download section of 4mlinux.com. You will find the link to additional drivers there. After downloading, you can install them with the "zk" command:




These drivers provide support for all HP printers/scanners as well as for many other devices listed here. Use the Administration section of CUPS web interface (see: point 2 above) to add your printer.
 
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4MRescueKit

January 1, 2015, 8:56 am
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4MRescueKit provides its users with software for antivirus protection, data backup, disk partitioning, and data recovery. It is distributed in the form of a multiboot CD, which includes four (extremely small) operating systems. Each of the systems tries to follow the UNIX philosophy (Small is beautiful. Make each program do one thing well).



1) Antivirus Live CD is a 4MLinux fork including the ClamAV scanner. Both Ethernet (including Wi-Fi) and dial-up (including fast USB modems) Internet connections are supported to enable automatic updates of the virus signature database. All partitions are mounted automatically during boot so that they can be scanned by ClamAV.


NOTE:
Detailed description of Antivirus Live CD can be found here.


2) BakAndImgCD is a very small (about 20 MB in size) 4MLinux fork, which has been designed to perform the following two tasks: data backup (via 4MLinux Backup Scripts) and disk imaging (using Partimage, Partclone and GNU ddrescue). The output files (archives and images) can be optionally compressed and sent to a remote FTP/SFTP sever.


NOTE:
Detailed description of BakAndImgCD is available in this post.


3) 4MParted includes GNOME Partition Editor (aka GParted), which in turn is a GTK+ front-end to GNU Parted.  The supported filesystems are: btrfs, ext2, ext3, ext4, f2fs, fat16, fat32, hfs, hfs+, jfs, linux-swap, lvm2 pv, nilfs2, ntfs, reiser4, reiserfs, and xfs.




NOTE:
If GParted cannot read/modify a newly created partition, just close this application. Then 4MLinux will try to force the Linux kernel to re-read partition table, and next it will restart GParted for you. 


4) 4MRecover includes TestDisk and PhotoRec, which are powerful recovery utilities. PhotoRec (the tool to recover lost files) is started automatically. Just close PhotoRec, and Midnight Commander will be opened so that you can manage your files. You can also execute "testdisk" (in Midnight Commander's shell prompt) if you are going to try to recover lost partitions.



NOTES:
Despite its name, PhotoRec is able to recover many file formats (not only images).
All operating systems described in this post can be safely closed by pressing the power-off button (acpi daemon will start a script to cleanly shutdown your computer).

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4MPlayer

January 6, 2015, 6:37 am
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4MPlayer can be treated as a small tool, which will turn your CD/DVD drive into a powerful CD/DVD player. 


1) Boot your copy of 4MPlayer:



NOTE:
After the boot, 4MPlayer ejects itself automatically. Now you can remove it from the tray and insert your favorite audio CD or video DVD.


2) MPlayer will be started. Click the right mouse button to open its menu:




3) Press the Escape button to open alsamixer (if you need to adjust sound volumes):


NOTE:
Just press the Escape button again to return to the MPlayer window.


4) You can also use MPlayer to play your collection of multimedia files:


NOTE:
You will find your hard disk in the "mnt" directory, while all your removable disks should be available in the "media" folder.

Have fun :-)
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4MDoom

January 18, 2015, 5:52 am
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4MLinux has always been a big fan of classic "shoot'em up" games. Freedoom is an amazing FPS, which is under continuous development, so no wonder that this game is getting better and better.


1) Boot your copy of 4MDoom:




2) The first phase of Freedoom will be started:



NOTE:
4MLinux will try to load dedicated display drivers for your video card. But if your GPU is  unsupported, 2D drivers will be used instead.


3) When you quit the first phase of Freedoom, the second one will be started for you:





4) And when you quit the second phase of Freedoom, alsamixer will be opened (to enable you to adjust the sound volumes):



NOTE:
Just press the Escape button to return to Freedoom.


Have fun :-)
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4MAbuse

March 17, 2015, 2:01 am
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Abuse is one of the most famous "run and gun" video games, and 4MAbuse is a very small LiveCD, which boots directly to this game.

NOTE:
If you are going to run 4MAbuse in VirtualBox, then make sure that Pointing Device (in System Settings) is setup to PS/2 Mouse.


1) Boot your copy of 4MAbuse:




2) The game will be started automatically:





NOTE:
4MLinux will try to load dedicated display drivers for your video card. But if your GPU is  unsupported, 2D drivers will be used instead.


3) When you quit Abuse, alsamixer will be opened (to enable you to adjust the sound volumes):




NOTE:
Just press the Escape button to return to Abuse.


Have fun :-)
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Web browsers in 4MLinux

May 9, 2015, 6:40 am
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1) Links is the default web browser in the basic version of 4MLinux, while Qupzilla is the default web browser in the full version of 4MLinux.




2) Mozilla browsers (Firefox and SeaMonkey) are available as so called downloadable extensions.





3) Chrome is a proprietary browser, and (like Firefox and SeaMonkey) it's one of the 4MLinux downloadable extensions.






4) All the web browsers (except Links) have the Flash Player support enabled out of the box.



5) You can easily change  your system-wide default web browser.





Have a nice surfing :-)

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The 4MLinux Desktop

July 2, 2015, 11:53 pm
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The 4MLinux Desktop is a unique, highly customized mixture of JWM (Joe's Window Manager), Window Maker and PCManFM.

Note:
This post describes the features, which are available in 4MLinux 13.0 and later.

1) This is the screen, which you can see when you start 4MLinux for the first time:



Note:
It is very important for you to setup your language now. Otherwise 4MLinux will be "speaking" English only. This also means that it will be downloading/installing an English version of all optional software (Chrome, Firefox, LibreOffice, ...).


2) It is also a good idea to setup your local time now:



Note:
Follow this guide if you need to configure your Internet connection.


3) This is how the 4MLinux Desktop looks like:


Note:
JWM is the default window manager in 4MLinux, but the background image is controlled by the wmsetbg utility, which is a part of the Window Maker project.


4) You can change your wallpaper in two clicks:




Note:
You can use your own JPG image as a wallpaper. Just rename the image to bg.jpg, place it in the root directory, and restart JWM. 


5) Let's totally change the way in which the 4MLinux Desktop works. We can do it just in one click (on the IdeskON/OFF icon):




Note:
Idesk (Home) icon has been removed and PCManFM has been started, taking over the control of the wallpaper and the desktop icons. 


6) Are you going to watch high quality videos and/or play video games? If so, you should enable dedicated display drivers:



Note:
Alternatively, you can install AMD and NVIDIA proprietary drivers. They can be downloaded from the 4MLinux website.


7) 4MLinux will warn you if some additional drivers are needed to start a program. You can use the zk command (the 4MLinux package manager) to install the missing item:






8) And finally, customize 4MLinux to meet your needs. A huge collection of so called "downloadable extensions" is available from the Extensions Menu:




Have fun :-)


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4MLinux Legacy Installer

September 8, 2015, 10:28 am
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Legacy Installer (included in 4MLinux 13.1 and later) makes it possible to install 4MLinux on older computers (128 MB of RAM should be enough).

Note:
Before starting Legacy Installer, you must make sure that 4MLinux live CD (or live USB) is the only installation medium attached to your computer. 


1) Choose "Legacy Installer" from the Boot Menu.




2) The 4MLinux installation script will be started for you.


Note:
Refer to this guide to learn in details how to run this script.



3) If needed, it is possible to reboot/restart Legacy Installer by executing the "exit" command.




4) When the installation is over, you can boot 4MLinux from your hard disk drive.


Note:
Read this post, if you do not know how to log in into your new 4MLinux.



5) After logging in, you can execute "startx" to try to enter the X Window System:




6) Let's have a look at Conky. 4MLinux is now running happily on the machine with 117 MB of RAM in total.




Notes:
The Linux kernel in 4MLinux has PAE support enabled by default, meaning that you must have at least Pentium PRO (introduced 20 years ago!) or newer CPU.
Keep in mind that 4MLinux can be successfully installed on modern machines offering them full 3D support for the newest video cards. Additionally, PAE support is also important for those who want to setup the 4MLinux LAMP Server.


Have fun :-)

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4MLinux 14.0 Core BETA released.

September 13, 2015, 11:31 am
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4MLinux 14.0 Core running in VirtualBox

This is a core system (only a few MB in size) for the 4MLinux 14.0 series. The system includes: the Linux kernel 3.18.21, GNU C Library 2.21, and BusyBox 1.23.2. The 4MLinux 14.0 series uses GNU Compiler Collection 5.2.0 to compile programs designed for the i686 architecture.

Download link:
4MLinux-14.0-core.iso
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Mobile Broadband Modems

May 2, 2013, 9:19 am
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Are you using your mobile phone or USB  modem to connect to the Internet? Let's try to configure it now!

1) Attach your mobile phone or USB modem (these pictures were taken in my kitchen :-)




2) Select Configure from the Internet Menu:



3) A terminal window will be opened. You are configuring a dial-up connection, so you should choose '3' and press Enter:


4) Now you must insert the data required by your ISP (Internet Service Provider), for example:


Note:
'phone number' is obligatory, while 'username' and 'password' are not required by many network operators (if so, you can skip them by pressing Enter).

5) It's time to connect to the the Internet. Your modem will be configured and initialized automatically:





Done!
You can close the 'MODEM' window now.

Additional info:
1) If 4MLinux is unable to detect your modem, then re-attach this modem, wait a few seconds, execute the 'udev' command (in terminal), and try to connect again.
2) Location of configuration files in 4MLinux: the default network interface is defined in
the /etc/interface file. All other networking settings are stored in the /etc/net directory.


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Media players in 4MLinux.

November 1, 2015, 1:18 am
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Note:
This post describes the features, which are available in 4MLinux 14.0 and later.

1) There are five general-purpose media players available out of the box: MPlayer with GNOME MPlayer (a front-end for MPlayer), mpv with Baka MPlayer (a front-end for mpv), and SMPlayer (which can act as a front-end for both MPlayer and mpv).


2) You can easily change your default media player anytime:



3) Audacious and VLC are not available out of the box. You can install them from the Extensions menu:




Note:
Audacious can be installed in the exact same way as VLC.

4) Let's make some tests now:






5) It is recommended (for MPlayer and VLC) or even required (for mpv and its front-ends) to enable dedicated display drivers:




Have fun :-)

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4MLinux 15.0

December 27, 2015, 7:45 am
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This post describes major changes in user space, which have been introduced in 4MLinux 15.0.

1) Default desktop.




2) Audacity (digital audio editor) is now available as a downloadable extension. I have built it with FFmpeg support. It works :-).




3) GNU GRUB can now be installed as a boot manager. Note: if you are running 4MLinux without X (e.g. the 4MLinux Server), you can still install GRUB by executing 'update-grub' in your shell.




4) LXRandR and LXInput have been added so that you can easily configure your devices. It was a challenge for me to make them work in 4MLinux: both the utilities generate input for my script, which creates the autostart file for JWM, and the rest is done by small X tools (xmodmap, xrandr and xset). Phew! 




5) Postfix package has been included in the 4MLinux LAMP Server. Its default role (in 4MLinux) is to handle emails send via PHP mail.




6) InfraRecorder is now a part of the Wine extension in 4MLinux. It's an open source CD/DVD writing program available for Microsoft Windows only. This is why 4MLinux uses Wine to run InfraRecorder. 



Have fun :-)

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File Archivers in 4MLinux

February 28, 2016, 3:35 am
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Note:
This post describes the features, which are available in 4MLinux 16.0 and later.

1) There are two general-purpose file archivers available out of the box: Xarchiver and Archive Manager (aka File Roller).




2) Xarchiver is the default file archiver in 4MLinux. You can easily change these settings:




3) Additional file archivers (PeaZip and 7zFM) are available as so called downloadable extensions:





Notes:
- 7zFM can be installed in the exact same way as PeaZip(you will find 7zFM here: Menu->Extensions->Wine).  
- 4MLinux uses Wine to run 7zFM for Windows (the Linux version of 7zFM exists, but it definitely lacks the stability, which  the Windows version has).


4) It's good to remember, that Midnight Commander can also be used as a powerful archive manager. It can easily open many uncompressed (ar, cpio, tar) and compressed (gz, bz2, xz, 7z, zip, rar) archives. Additionally, Midnight Commander can handle popular Linux packages (deb and rpm), ISO images and Java JAR files.



5) Basically, most of general-purpose file archivers are able to open ISO images. Nevertheless, by default, 4MLinux uses ISO Master, which is widely considered to be one of the best applications for creating and editing ISO images.


Have fun :-)

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The 4MLinux Desktop

July 2, 2015, 11:53 pm
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The 4MLinux Desktop is a unique, highly customized mixture of JWM (Joe's Window Manager), feh and PCManFM.

Note:
This post describes the features, which are available in 4MLinux 17.0 and later.

1) This is the screen, which you can see when you start 4MLinux for the first time:



Note:
It is very important for you to setup your language now. Otherwise 4MLinux will be "speaking" English only. This also means that it will be downloading/installing an English version of all optional software (Chromium, Firefox, LibreOffice, ...).


2) It is also a good idea to setup your keyboard layout and local time now:



Note:
Follow this guide if you need to configure your Internet connection.


3) This is how the 4MLinux Desktop may look like:


Note:
JWM is the default window manager in 4MLinux, but the background image is controlled by the feh utility (image viewer).


4) You can change your wallpaper in two clicks:





Note:
You can use your own JPG image as a wallpaper. Just rename the image to bg.jpg, place it in the root directory, and restart JWM. 


5) Let's totally change the way in which the 4MLinux Desktop works. We can do it just in one click (on the IdeskON/OFF icon):



Note:
Idesk (Home) icon has been removed and PCManFM has been started, taking over the control of the wallpaper and the desktop icons. 


6) Are you going to watch high quality videos and/or play video games? If so, you should enable dedicated display drivers:




Note:
Read this post to learn how to modify advanced X.Org settings in 4MLinux.Alternatively, you can install AMD and NVIDIA proprietary drivers. They can be downloaded from the 4MLinux website.


7) 4MLinux will warn you if some additional drivers are needed to start a program. You can use the zk command (the 4MLinux package manager) to install the missing item:






8) And finally, customize 4MLinux to meet your needs. A huge collection of so called downloadable extensions is available from the Extensions Menu:




Have fun :-)


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