Ben, create a folder in your home folder called something like "installed_sw" Then run "pdbv "--dir=/home/yourusername/installed_sw" and you can click on the index.html file from within the installed_sw folder. Personally, I don't care for converting RPM's directly with alien (I like to see if they work, first, then I repackage them). Say one of the package names is foobar, the command line (after you su) is "dpkg-repack foobar" The DEB will be placed in the cwd

If you already have all the OpenOffice RPM's installed, it will be a simple matter to dpkg-repack them. You'll gain new Spidey powers, trust me. :-)

Also, if you need some prompting or have some questions, feel free to call me (206) 850-1596

The only problem is that there are about 40 RPM files in the OpenOffice package, and they all have longish arcane names. The opportunities for me to make a serious typographical or syntax error are endless. I guess it's too much to hope for that there is a gui front-end for dpkg-repack or alien ? I figured these files would be good candidates for conversion, since they were already successfully converted by Xandros Networks, using alien, so I know they work after conversion. I Have added a couple of new categories to the How tos section. I thought it might be a good isea to set up a page similar to your hardware compatibility page, for users to list unsupported software which they have installed and run under Crossover. In time it could become a comprehensive, searchable list, which would be a very good reference. Efforts have been made several times to create such a list, but they always get bogged down in conversation and you wind up having to read dozens of unorganized pages trying to find out if a particular program will work. The wiki is a better platform for organizing and presenting that kind of data.

That is why pdbv is such a great tool, you can copy the longish OpenOffice names from their pdbv listing as viewed in a Web browser. Then you can type "dpkg-repack" and a space, and then press [Shift]+[Ins] to paste the longish name in your terminal window. Using alien _after_ they have already been converted to DEBs _and_ installed is a bunch of extra steps (_and_ you can convert _any_ RPM with alien, but that doesn't guarantee that the resulting DEB is even installable), and with dpkg-repack you at least know if the thing you are repackaging actually was working on your system "as installed." (where are the OO RPMs?) *** The CrossOver list sounds great. Should organizing it be left as simple as is possible (alphabetical by software title)?

As to the Crossover list, I was thinking of maybe a half-dozen categories, such as games. graphics, multi-media, productivity, utilities, and misc., with titles arranged alphabetically under the appropriate sub-heading. I may try dpkg-repack again, if I can figure out where the output fom pdbv is going. When I invoke it, it appears to run, but the output just vanishes into the ether. As for using alien on the installed files, that was not my intention. I still have the original RPMs saved to disk, I was trying to convert those. I figure if XN can convert them and they work fine, I should be able to convert them myself, using alien, and the resulting DEBs should work fine.

just use the --dir=/home/myusername/somefolder command to tell pdbv _where_ to put its stuff. Like: "pdbv --dir=/home/wallyw/installed_sw" Then there is no question.

There is never a guarantee that _any_ RPM file conversion with alien will work...even when it spits out a DEB file. That is why the full testing regime for installing an RPM file is to run it after the install. If it runs then alien worked and you can successfully repackage a usable DEB file. If it doesn't run (which happens all the time) then there is no sense is doing anything except removing the offending package.

To find your pdbv output search for "list_bydate.html" and open that folder...then open the index.html file that is in the same folder as list_bydate.html. It is likely somewhere in /var

No luck, I searched every file on this blessed machine, with nary a sign of it. Trying to think about doing anything from the command line makes my head hurt. I'll reconsider that option next time I am in a manic phase. I once actually got pretty good on the command line, on my old Amiga 1000, circa 1985, but that was a looooong time ago.

Sorry it took so long to get back to you on this, as I've been very busy building rpositories, and have neglected the wiki for a while. The problem with using converted RPM's is: 1. Ofter stuff installs into different directory paths, therefore making some or all of whatever is installed non-functional ( not always, but certainly much of the time). 2. dependencies are not resolved, so it's very important to use an RPM that is LSB compliant. Mandrake packages are usually LSB compliant, for example.

I for one am not skilled enough to recover packaging problems if they fail after alien conversions.:(

Good news! I now have Xandros 3 & Xandros 4 repositories up and running with way more in them than is available by download link, including updated multimedia stuff like codecs & 139 specially built dependency packages contributed by BoyLinux!
For reading ease, I will post the new repository addresses in another post below...

Xandros 3 repository:
deb http://www.geekconnection.org xandros3 main

Xandros 4 repository:
deb http://www.geekconnection.org xandros4 main

Once again, you guys have been doing a fantastic job!
I'm currently in the process of attempting to recruit lpbear to help build a gaming section for the wiki...I'll let you know how that goes when he responds... it would be kewl, if he helped us out! :)

Ben, open a terminal window and type "mkdir installed_sw" then type "pdbv --dir=./installed_sw" That will put it in the new directory. It is that easy. Then you can open the ./installed_sw/index.html file

That repository stuff sounds great.

Ok Wally, that worked great! I now have a list of all the packages in OpenOffice which were converted by XN, so now I should be able to use the dpkg-repack command on each of them one at a time, to generate a DEB file, correct? If I succeed, I will test install the new OO package on a VM, and if it works, I'll tar it and upload it to Geek Connection. Ben

I look forward to your upload! :)

I just couldn't let it go...sorry Ben. :-) *** You can select each package (on the left) and then in the right panel you can highlight-and-copy the name at the top. Then, in a terminal window you can type "dpkg-repack" and press [Shift]+[Ins] to paste the package name, then press [Enter] to make it do your bidding. *** I should make a pdbv How to, eh? ;-)

Ben, I forgot to tell you that the DEB packages you create with dpkg-repack will be in the same directory as your terminal window's pwd (just type "pwd" to see the working directory if you aren't certain).

Wally, I'd love to see a nice step-by-step how-to of your instructions. :)

I've just added a couple of useful wiki pages on how to add repository sources, and a page of Xandros 3 & 4 repositories with a link to the previous page on how to add them. Please check it out and let me know what you think!

LOL! I don't even remember what the heck I'm typing in my terminal window...I'd have to stop and think about it, and that would ruin everything. :-)

The repositorey stuff looks great Gene, but I think the links should be at the top of the software category, before the articles on installing DEBs and RPMs. That is a kind of "Read Me First" information.

Yeah... I was putting them together in a big hurry, and pondered the same question. I thought about under Misc., but changed my mind...I've been busy building a Launch button changer/installer that will work from a right-click on the Launch menu or can possibly be changed from a control center applet (Not sure about that one yet, but BoyLinux is getting some config and linking info for me). You're w3elcome to move them if you like. :)

Gene, I'm going to wipe my VirtualBox How to for now (it's saved on my own system though)...I need to better define it before I continue. *** I'll put together a "Command Line Utilities that Every Desktop Linux User Should Have," and include pdbv and others that I think could make other folks' lives a bit easier. *** Of course, I'm in the final weeks of my statistics class nightmare, so I'm slow.

Ben, I'll go over your installing Windows in VirtualBox How to whenever you give the word.

The article is finished Wally, take a look at it any time you want. I did not mention in the article that it was based on installing Win2000, and the procedure for other versions may vary a bit. If you find any confusing or unclear points, or factual errors let me know. I probably should put a disclaimer at the top, stating that the steps shown were for installing Win2k, and that other versions may vary, although it really doesn't delve into the process of installing Windows, since I figure that most windows refugees already know how to do that. I concentrated on getting the VM set up, and ready for the installation of the OS. What do you think?

Wally, after reviewing my article on installing Windows, I'm thinking I should rename it "How to Create a New Virtual Machine In VBox", since it really does not delve into the actual Windows install, but only the virtual machine creation and preliminary setup, prior to installing the OS. Once your article on installing Win98 is complete, I can link to it from mine, as I expect you will be covering the actual install of Windows, as you discussed earlier. What do you think? Also, I completed the dpkg--repack procedure as you instructed, and I now have a folder full of DEB files for OpenOffice. I installed it once in X4 OCE running in VBox, but it was not a pristine install, since the current version of OO was already installed from the RPMs and apparently I did not get it all removed before trying to install, so I am not sure if the problems I experienced with some of the apps in OO were due to a faulty install, or faulty DEBs. Anyway I am going to do a clean install of X$ in VBox, and try the OO install again. If it all checks out, I'll upload the package to Geek Connection. It's likely to take 2 or 3 days though.

I just made an important observation...Links to wiki pages with parentheses () do not work correctly in the forums. I think it's a good idea to discontinue use of parentheses or any "special characters" in wiki page names. What do you think?

Is that the problem? I thought it was due to their length. If it's as simple as leaving out the special characters then Halleluja, I'm all for it!. It is a truly annoying problem.

Due to Kevin MacPherson's condescending hypocrisy and closing my Xandros Support account I see little reason to spend any more time trying to support something only to have my emotional state publicly questioned and my account closed. I am sorry, but the plans I had for participating in the Xandros world have been supplanted by the abuse of one of its employees.

Gene and Ben, if you want any of the files from my xandros.savagehamsters.com site, get them before the 15th, or let me know and I'll make arrangements to get them to you. If I find anything cool to compile, I'll send you a copy. Meanwhile, I'm going fishing...

Wally, I understand how you feel. I thought Kevin over-reacted grotesquely, especially when all you did was to disagree with him, calmly, and rationally without hurling any expletives or slander. He was extremely unfair, and unreasonable, and he owes you an apology. I do hope you will reconsider leaving, though. If the community falls apart, it won't hurt Xandros Corporate. If anything, it'll save them a few bucks worth of bandwidth, thereby warming the cockles of the bean-counters. Unfortunately, it will crush and demolish all the little people who need help getting their Xandros machines working, who do not know Linux, and have nowhere to go, but back to M$. I can't do that to the community which has been so good to me. Not if I want to sleep at night. Ben

Ben, truth-be-told, I'm still counting to 100. The thing with Kevin wouldn't have been so bad if he hadn't doubly-compounded it with more nonsense via Email. Earlier in the thread I referred to the mooing naysayers as "drama queens," and that _really_ bothered Kevin, but he never let me know via Email...it would have been _so_ easy to fix. Still, I _am_ going to go fishing. :-) Xandros is a good distro, and PCLinuxOS is really quite rough (and Mandriva-based). I'm not a Mandrake fan by any stretch. So, Xandros has always done right by me (both support and in being able to constantly be productive), is Debian-based, and I _really_ like it (and I've tried every distro out there). So, like I said, I'm still counting to 100, _and_ I'm going fishing. :)

I'm quite torn right now...
I still plan on keeping the Geek Connection & Wiki up, but I'm likely going to find another distro.

SimplyMepis is very much like Xandros, but without the "management" issues...plus, it is Debian-based (always a plus). I switched my two home computers over to it last night. The BS from Kevin was entirely too much for me to stomach and I'm not inclined to continue helping out his paycheck in the face of that. I won't, however, drop this wiki from my list of places to help with.

Ben, I've done what I can, and Macpherson simply will not reactivate my forum account. Worse, he's just a tad two-faced. Not much I can do, so I'm washing my hands of it. Clearly, Kevin Macpherson has some _issues_

Wally, geekydude and I, along with a lot of Xandrosians have switched to PCLinux 2007. It is a very nice distro, runs noticably faster than Xandros, and has tons more up-to-date apps in the repository, including virtually all the packages that we had to beg the packaging gurus on Xandros to build for us. The file manager is not as intuitive and easy to use, and the System Configuration and Network setup panels are nightmarishly complex, fragmented and user-hostile, compared to Xandros, but in all other areas pclos seems to be equal to or better than Xandros. Installing pclos hosed my Xandros boot screen, so I am not able to boot into Xandros, and am using pclos exclusively. pclos is RPM based, and uses Sybaptic as its package manager. You may want to check it out, or at least come visit us on the pclos forums.

http://www.pclinuxos.com/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=58

Hope to see you there. Ben