Q4OS Forum

FlexQ4

Member

Registered: 2017-02-19

Posts: 170

My particular experience with Q4OS-2.7 - Scorpion

Built up a new pc lately, a Z77e MB hosting the well known Core i5 3570K (with an Intel HD-4000 internal Graphics).
Besides Win(XP) i installed Q4OS - Scorpion for a dual boot, here my experiences & impressions:

1) No Q4OS Boot at all:
In a configuration with a fixed RAM assignment (of 512 MB) to the Internal Graphi, Q4OS-Linux did not boot.
Not from USB, nor later from disk.
Even worse: It does not give any error meassage to state what's going wrong there. That costed me hours.

2) Wrong Time in Q4OS:
At the first login it shows an incorrect Time - it's one hour ahead.
Even worse, and to be honest, somewhat impudent - it also sets that wrong time to the system, so,
after a later boot back into Windows, it shows the wrong time too.

3) Still a Dangerous Konqueror.
In Orion's Konqueror i observed an unorthodox (or maybe more precize: faulty) behavior. This persists in Scorpion:

- Double-Click on "My Computer" to start Konqueror.
- Click the "Folders" button: the system tree is shown.
- Click on "Home Folder" in the tree (the content of (home/<user> is shown)
- Click on the [+] before the node "Storage media: the sub-tree opens
- Select a partition under "Strage Media" by a click on the node
- Click the "Back" button (in the toolbar menu)

The tragic result: the partition node (in "Storage Media") is highlighted in the tree left, whilst the content of /home/<user> is shown in the right pane.

Sorry, that is inadmissible.

4) No suitable screen resolution:
Using an aged but still exquisite Eizo S2110W Monitor with a native resolution of 1680x1050 (16x10 - rather standard).
Unfortunately the fonts and everything is a bit too small for my old eyes, the native 1680x1050 res is not an option.

But luckyly, this Monitor has excellent interpolation capabilities, so i'm able to enjoy a res of 1440x900. In Windows.
Q4OS - unfortunately - does not offer practical resolutions in my case. Neither 1440x900 nor 1280x800.

5) Weak Window-resizing capabilites
Modern OS's GUI's base on (rectangular) windows. Every now and then one may want to change the size of these windows.

In Q4OS / Trinity the lower right area one must hit (to be able to resize a window) is 12x12 = 144 pixel
In Win-XP this area measures 22 x 22 = 484 pixel.

Which means: XP is about 3 times more comfortable and user friendly when it comes to the "window-resizing" discipline.

6) Missing DNS in the Netwok Manager.
Empty entry of a DNS in the NM for the wired Lan initially. My manual entry of (Open-) DNS in the NM was needed, to get my browsers connected to the internet.
Not 100 % sure, but i think that was a glitch already in "Orion"

I'm not willing to embarrass anyone at all. In contrary: I'd like to leave Windows-OS in favor of Q4OS - today preferred instead of tomorrow. But these (sorry: partial hair-raising) bugs, glitches, and disadvantages posed above make a change to Q4OS impossible for me at this state.
I'm very fine with Trinity, no need for Plasma or any other desktop in q4os at all, and no need for other modern gadgets neither.
But, please please please: get these things above corrected, sorted out and improved in "Gemini".

Good luck & success to you guys and
Thank you very much for your highly appreciated work!

svx-biker

Member

Registered: 2017-05-31

Posts: 3

Re: My particular experience with Q4OS-2.7 - Scorpion

Are you serious?

You build a new PC in 2020 and install Windows XP?? You know that XP is no longer supported and doesn't get any update?

Instead of XP I would strongly suggest Linux - whatever version. If you have troubles with Q4OS you might try MX Linux (also Debian Based) or ZorinOS (Ubuntu Based). ZorinOS is often recommended als a good start for Users who want to switch from Windows to Linux.

Good luck!

jim21mex

Member

Registered: 2018-09-14

Posts: 13

Re: My particular experience with Q4OS-2.7 - Scorpion

Why have you choosen Scorpion?? Centaurus has more improvements and corrections, even it's more stable than Scorpion with the trinity desktop enviroment.

FlexQ4

Member

Registered: 2017-02-19

Posts: 170

Re: My particular experience with Q4OS-2.7 - Scorpion

Why have you choosen Scorpion??

I had a usb stick prepared with it last year availible here.

Centaurus has more improvements and corrections, even it's more stable than Scorpion with the trinity desktop enviroment.

You're welcome to clarify if one of the 6 issues above have been improved or corrected in Centaurus.
I didn't play much with it, but didn't observe one single stability problem in "Scorpion" at all.

tekkaman

Member

Registered: 2020-02-13

Posts: 12

Re: My particular experience with Q4OS-2.7 - Scorpion

Are you serious?

You build a new PC in 2020 and install Windows XP?? You know that XP is no longer supported and doesn't get any update?

Instead of XP I would strongly suggest Linux - whatever version. If you have troubles with Q4OS you might try MX Linux (also Debian Based) or ZorinOS (Ubuntu Based). ZorinOS is often recommended als a good start for Users who want to switch from Windows to Linux.

Good luck!

Currently posting from XP-64 here
XP can be used. I use it with Eset AV and Palemoon with Ublock. I have autoruns and Task Scheduler disabled. I haven't been infected with virus/spyware in years. You can harden XP even more with a limited account and good gpedits and common sense. Microsoft is a business. They need to scare you to make you update to their data collection. Any Windows installation by default is unsecure and specially if you use Microsoft web browsers that are the most targeted. The only real problem is hardware drivers. My motherboard from 2014 came with all the drivers for XP-64 so I can enjoy it as it's supposed to. But if this motherboard fails I'll have to look for one from that year if I want to keep using XP64. This problem is on purpose from Microsoft. If "Plug and Play" worked as it's supposed to where the OS idenfies a hardware and just works we wouldn't have this problem. But that's one of the ways Microsoft gets money. Even if you run a pirated version of Windows they get money from the printer you just bought because the manufacturer has to certify the driver with Microsoft. And starting with Windows Vista it's almost impossible to boot with a driver that's not certified by them. It's a shame that if you buy a computer you can't install any OS you want. There's always some complication to be able to do so.

Now as for the problems of the original poster. On Linux is best to try the latest version of the OS. Some bugs might be fixed already.

Last edited by tekkaman (2020-02-23 03:04)

FlexQ4

Member

Registered: 2017-02-19

Posts: 170

Re: My particular experience with Q4OS-2.7 - Scorpion

Currently posting from XP-64 here

So do i

XP can be used.

Of course it can!

I use it with Eset AV and Palemoon with Ublock. I have autoruns and Task Scheduler disabled. I haven't been infected with virus/spyware in years. You can harden XP even more with a limited account and good gpedits and common sense.

So, i suppose you are using the lates XP-builds of Palemoon (New Moon) from Roytam too?
Here: not only autoruns and Task Scheduler disabled but a bunch of other services as well, like Messaging-Service, Netwerk-DDE-services, Remote-Services, Routing/RAS and so on.
The 'SMB1' Protocol can (an should) be disabled as well.

The only real problem is hardware drivers. My motherboard from 2014 came with all the drivers for XP-64 so I can enjoy it as it's supposed to. But if this motherboard fails I'll have to look for one from that year if I want to keep using XP64.

That's exactly why i opted for an 'Ivy Bridge' MB (7-Series) lately: it's intel's last micro-architecure that fully supports Windows XP (and - not relvant for me at all - up to Win 10).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivy_Bridg … hitecture)

With pure conscience i can recommend you my solution: go and get a second (identical) mobo as a fall back.
Even better: get processor, RAM and a (cloned) hd/ssd as well, and enjoy the sense-of being of that extra safety!

To get really OT: maybe you may like to follow this guy here who got XP working on a Ryzen System lately:
https://community.hwbot.org/topic/18977 … -on-ryzen/

Now as for the problems of the original poster. On Linux is best to try the latest version of the OS. Some bugs might be fixed already.

I'll surely try out 'Gemini' later this year, when it's become official.
But it would be nice to be assured that at least some of the issues mentioned above have been corrected. Especially 3) and 4) are extremely annoying for me - not only as a spoiled XP-user.

Last edited by FlexQ4 (2020-02-23 13:29)

wove

Member

From: Minnesota

Registered: 2019-12-31

Posts: 67

Re: My particular experience with Q4OS-2.7 - Scorpion

I do not use Konqueror as a file browser, however there is anomolous behavior in the Dolphin file manager using the Pinebook Pro 2.7r6 testing image as well. If you are views the contents of a mounted volume in Dolphin, then unmount or remove the volume the contents of the Dolphin window do not change, but continue to display the contents of an unmounted/removed volume.

That is somewhat trivial although it is expected that the once a volume is removed the contents would disappear. This anomoly might well be a glitch in the Trinity Desktop and not be something specific to Q4OS or even something within the control of the Q4OS developers.

One of the aspects of Trinity Desktop that I really like is using Control Panel > System Administration > Screen Scaling to set the dpi of the display. That allows one to keep the native resolution of the monitor while making Desktop UI larger and easier to read.

bill

FlexQ4

Member

Registered: 2017-02-19

Posts: 170

Re: My particular experience with Q4OS-2.7 - Scorpion

Hi Bill,
tbh, the behavior of konqueror makes me somewhat insecure: if one clicks the Back-button - and the content of the ,last' viewed folder is shown in the rigkt pane - why at all the tree in the left get's no corresponding update as well?
Did the developer forget this? Did no one did observe that later? Do they think "Oh, the tree doesn't correspond to the content shown after clicking "Back" - but: who cares..."
I really cant't follow this fact at all...

One of the aspects of Trinity Desktop that I really like is using Control Panel > System Administration > Screen Scaling to set the dpi of the display. That allows one to keep the native resolution of the monitor while making Desktop UI larger and easier to read.

Thanks for this hint - i did check this tweak and indeed, it works. Tbh, it works well, but the interpolation of the Eizo works definitely better.
The line-thickness remains 1 dot when scaling up th dpi-value, so the fonts get a bit ,thin'.
But anyway, Thanks again for the hint, definitely e a first step forward!

Flex

q4osteam

Q4OS Team

Registered: 2015-12-06

Posts: 4,501

Website

Re: My particular experience with Q4OS-2.7 - Scorpion

@FlexQ4

1. The issue seems to be hardware dependent, moreover we are not able to reproduce and so ivestigate it. Anyway, it seems not to be Q4OS specific, more likely a Debian bug. It would be helpful, if you would report it as a Debian bug https://www.debian.org/Bugs/

2. Again, it's the default Debian configuration, as it expects UTC time in BIOS unlike Windows. You only need to set the correct universal UTC time in BIOS as well as correct timezone in Q4OS. Alternatively, you can force Debian to use a local timezone using the command:
$ sudo timedatectl set-local-rtc 1

3. You have specified the issue in perfect detail, thaks for that. However, it's not Q4OS, but Trinity specific as the upstream. So it would be helpful, if you would report it the same way for Trinity developers https://mirror.git.trinitydesktop.org/gitea/

4. Again, Debian specific, most likely hardware dependent, please report at Debian.

5. Trinity specific, please report at Trinity, see point [3].

6. We are not able to reproduce the issue on a quite common LAN configuration, DNS records assign correctly and wired network works out of the box. Have you configured LAN some uncommon way ?

FlexQ4

Member

Registered: 2017-02-19

Posts: 170

Re: My particular experience with Q4OS-2.7 - Scorpion

Many thanks for your reply!

@FlexQ4
1. The issue seems to be hardware dependent, moreover we are not able to reproduce and so ivestigate it. Anyway, it seems not to be Q4OS specific, more likely a Debian bug. It would be helpful, if you would report it as a Debian bug https://www.debian.org/Bugs/

Yes, i agree it's probably hw-specific, so i'll put this back for the moment.

2. Again, it's the default Debian configuration, as it expects UTC time in BIOS unlike Windows. You only need to set the correct universal UTC time in BIOS as well as correct timezone in Q4OS. Alternatively, you can force Debian to use a local timezone using the command:
$ sudo timedatectl set-local-rtc 1

Yes, thank you - meanwhile i googled a bit and edited /etc/timeadj manally - that worked too.

3. You have specified the issue in perfect detail, thaks for that. However, it's not Q4OS, but Trinity specific as the upstream. So it would be helpful, if you would report it the same way for Trinity developers https://mirror.git.trinitydesktop.org/gitea/

Did not find any entries for "Konqueror" there, but i'll try to report it here:
https://bugs.trinitydesktop.org/buglist … search=ALL

4. Again, Debian specific, most likely hardware dependent, please report at Debian.
5. Trinity specific, please report at Trinity, see point [3].

I found discussions and topics on the net treating the ,resolution' topic. One has to edit/expand some etc/... files and calculate some corresponding horizonal and vertical frequencies. However, i'll tackle that later this year with a new Monitor (hopefully).

6. We are not able to reproduce the issue on a quite common LAN configuration, DNS records assign correctly and wired network works out of the box. Have you configured LAN some uncommon way ?

No, but during installation my neighbours wifi was fully amplified and detected (without antenna!), and i struggeld a bit to escape the Wifi-dialog at that point. Maybe this disturbed the overall LAN-configuration?
I'll have a more attentive eye on it when installing 'Gemini' later this year, and get Wifi deactivatedi in the BIOS during install.

Best Regards!
Flex

tekkaman

Member

Registered: 2020-02-13

Posts: 12

Re: My particular experience with Q4OS-2.7 - Scorpion

So, i suppose you are using the lates XP-builds of Palemoon (New Moon) from Roytam too?
Here: not only autoruns and Task Scheduler disabled but a bunch of other services as well, like Messaging-Service, Netwerk-DDE-services, Remote-Services, Routing/RAS and so on.
The 'SMB1' Protocol can (an should) be disabled as well.

The only real problem is hardware drivers. My motherboard from 2014 came with all the drivers for XP-64 so I can enjoy it as it's supposed to. But if this motherboard fails I'll have to look for one from that year if I want to keep using XP64.

That's exactly why i opted for an 'Ivy Bridge' MB (7-Series) lately: it's intel's last micro-architecure that fully supports Windows XP (and - not relvant for me at all - up to Win 10).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivy_Bridg … hitecture)

With pure conscience i can recommend you my solution: go and get a second (identical) mobo as a fall back.
Even better: get processor, RAM and a (cloned) hd/ssd as well, and enjoy the sense-of being of that extra safety!

To get really OT: maybe you may like to follow this guy here who got XP working on a Ryzen System lately:
https://community.hwbot.org/topic/18977 … -on-ryzen/

I've been using this motherboard:
Gigabyte 970A-DS3P with a Phenom 910e for low power consumption. But the idea of running Ryzen sounds very tempting. I'll keep both options you mentioned noted for the future. I've Been running here XP-64 dual booting with 7. But I mainly use XP-64. It's faster, rock solid and true multiple speaker support. When you have multiple speaker on XP-64 you get sound on all speakers on all programs including web browsers. On Windows 7 you only get multiple speaker sound on Windows Media player. I manager to get blu-ray playback with Macgo bluray player on XP-64. It works fine with a simple menu. I use Newmoon's Palemoon browser as you said. I got most website videos to play on it which was a problem that was on other firefox variants like Seamonkey.

Now getting Linux to work on this mother board is annoying. I had to do the following:
First plug my usb mouse and keyboard on a usb 3.0 port then. Install Linux. I had to edit grub with like this by opening a super user file manager window:

Only edit the empty quotes in this line to read: GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="iommu=soft"

If I don't do that all my usb 2.0 ports don't work.