Backpack

It looks like HostGator upgraded a few things that killed this subdomain. I've fixed that and apologize for it. And on the update front, the computer that I've been using to build this had the power supply go out. Until I get a little extra cash (have to pay for college first), there probably won't be any upgrades. I do want to continue this project, and hope it can be in the near future. I do need that computer for other things too... it'll be back.

I had hoped to have at least a 32-bit alpha CD release completed by now, but Xorg (7.1) keeps dying with a message about being unable to find the font "fixed." The web is littered with ways to fix this for 6.8/9, but not for 7.x that I have found. If anybody knows which file it is looking for or which package, please post it as a reply to this news entry and it will speed up the next release! Otherwise I'll have to continue using the process of elimination which takes longer. In the mean time, I am moving which is going to remove me from the internet for a week or two or three. I'll get back to the release as soon as possible. Thanks!

Just wanted to let everyone know that things are still moving. Dropline Gnome 2.18.3 appears to be complete for Slackware 12, so I'm slapping packages around and trying to get them to play nicely. With the new kernel and other changes in the current Slackware release, things should require less modification from the stock system. Nevertheless, some of the boot scripts have changed and I would like to add some new features such as Synaptics. Backpack hasn't gone away!

The 64-bit version has been in the works for a while, and there is finally an alpha release for testing purposes! It sports an SMP kernel, Slamd64 11.0, Dropline Gnome 2.18, as well as a little more functionality than the previous release of the live-cd thanks to a LZMA compression. There is still more to do before the 64- and 32-bit official releases, so please report any bugs or improvement ideas. Despite the normal doom-and-gloom associated with alpha releases, I think this should work well. I've been using it as the build environment for 64-bits as well as to upload the disk image to the server (What good is a work environment if you can't work in it?). If you're interested in testing, please go to the alpha-testing page.

Hey guys, I tried to be a little too clever with a couple Drupal hacks, and ended up preventing anybody but myself from downloading files (everything was "Forbidden"). They should be fixed now. New downloads of the live-cd will have the xdelta patch already applied to them (should have fixed that ages ago), and thanks to a question on the forum by squidfish there is also a download link for the DVD version. I'm sorry for the confusion and problems, and am still here working on the site and the upcoming v0.5 release.

There are a couple things still holding up a release, but in the mean time we've set up a new site (http://backpack.epicvoyage.org/), new forums on that site, and a brand new Backpack-devel mailing list. You can submit bugs anonymously, but to post on the forums or to join the mailing list you will need to register on the site.

We hope that this will help us help you to get Backpack working the way you need it to.

Hey guys, a new website is being set up, and direct access is becoming the main way to download the Backpack .iso images. Better bandwidth is the way to go!

Hey, sorry that I haven't written an update lately. There are two issues that are currently preventing release. The first is that the Live-CD is about 60 MB too large to fit on a CD (not too hard to fix, right?), and the other is that I really, really, really want 64-bit support to be available. As I write this, the 64-bit kernel is compiling, so hopefully neither objective is too far away. Sorry for the long wait, and we're still aiming for a release. Just want it to be worth releasing :-)

The live-cd is booting and we've been working on reorganizing the scripts as well as the Slackware packages inside the modules (thumb drive usage is getting closer!). A few bugs are still being worked out of Gnome, but it seems pretty stable. We've also added several new programs like WeeChat, fdupes, testdisk, Music On Console, and Gweled. We aren't quite done yet, so stay tuned. There's more to come!