linux "slitaz" caliber install problem

[DaveHayler]

I have attempted to use the install drections on the caliber website, all I keep getting is the error tar: invalid option J.
It strikes me this will be a fairly simple fix, but my knowledge of linux is very limited, though I will keep trying to escape windoze.
Thanks Dave.

[aleyx]

Sounds like your version of tar doesn't support the -J option, which is weird. What Linux distribution do you use, and which version?

EDIT: In addition, can you type "tar --version" in a terminal and copy/paste it here?

N.

[signum]

The slitaz version of Linux seems to have been put together so that it would run smoothly on older systems, i486 even, with a minimum of 196M real memory. Often, smaller work-alike programs are used in these distributions to minimize resource use. Your "tar" may be one of those.

If you are indeed using 10-year-old (or older) hardware, you should first find out if it has the "SSE2" instruction (from the command line, run "hwinfo | grep -i sse"). Current versions of Calibre won't run without it, no matter what version of tar you use to install.

Otherwise, find another Linux distribution (there are several) for small systems with a "tar" that supports the -J option and install an older version of Calibre (previous to v. 2.0) that doesn't require the SSE2 instruction.

I'm sympathetic to your efforts. My home network has a full Linux-Apache-Mysql-Perl (LAMP) headless server running on a 256 MB 1.2 GHz Celeron. Calibre 1.48 is installed on it (which is old enough to not require SSE2) and it runs fine, albeit slowly. Calibre hasn't been updated on the server since Calibre started requiring SSE2.

[DaveHayler]

Thanks for quick response.
Answers to both the above :
Command line: tar --version

BusyBox v1.18.4 (2012-03-14 03:32:25 CET) multi-call binary.

Usage: tar -[cxtzjaZmvO] [-X FILE] [-f TARFILE] [-C DIR] [FILE]...

Create, extract, or list files from a tar file

Operation:
c Create
x Extract
t List
Options:
f Name of TARFILE ('-' for stdin/out)
C Change to DIR before operation
v Verbose
z (De)compress using gzip
j (De)compress using bzip2
a (De)compress using lzma
Z (De)compress using compress
O Extract to stdout
h Follow symlinks
m Don't restore mtime
exclude File to exclude
X File with names to exclude
T File with names to include

dave@slitaz:~$ hwinfo | grep -i sse
/bin/sh: hwinfo: not found

[itimpi]

Busybox has a cut down implementation of tar which is why you are having problems. It is typically used on systems that are severely RAM limited. It seems highly likely that the distribution you are usiing may well be incapable of running Calibre.

[DaveHayler]

Also hardware is Acer Aspire 7520 running slitaz linux 2.6.37

[PeterT]

Actually busybox does support the -j switch; it's just an option that has to be selected when busybox is built.

[DaveHayler]

i don't know enougth linux to know if this means I have sse2
Thanks again.
root@slitaz:/home/dave# cat /proc/cpuinfo|grep -w sse2
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 ht syscall nx mmxext fxsr_opt rdtscp lm 3dnowext 3dnow extd_apicid pni cx16 lahf_lm cmp_legacy svm extapic cr8_legacy 3dnowprefetch lbrv
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 ht syscall nx mmxext fxsr_opt rdtscp lm 3dnowext 3dnow extd_apicid pni cx16 lahf_lm cmp_legacy svm extapic cr8_legacy 3dnowprefetch lbrv

[BetterRed]

@DaveHayler -SSE2 is a processor attribute - nothing to do with Linux per-se. Wikipedia has a good article on SSE that lists the processor architectures that support SSE2 - which is pretty much all those made in this century.

I'd be mighty surprised if the Acer Aspire 7520 processor (I think its an AMD Turion 64 X2) didn't have SSE2.

Given what other's have said about slitaz being targeted at small systems (i486/196MB), and the specs of the Acer Aspire 7520, and that you're just starting out with linux I wonder if it might be better for you to use one of the more popular linux distro's.

You might also be interested to read what Kovid Goyal (author of calibre) wrote recently about Linux Linux definitely has more problems than any other OS

BR

[gbm]

He might want to try Puppy Linux. My suggestion is to get a 32gb usb stick and install a full Linux Distro on it to try Linux out.

For cpu info type:

cat /proc/cpuinfo

into a Terminal.

Will give you a display like this:

Spoiler:

cat /proc/cpuinfo
processor	: 0
vendor_id	: GenuineIntel
cpu family	: 6
model		: 15
model name	: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU          6600  @ 2.40GHz
stepping	: 6
microcode	: 0xc6
cpu MHz		: 1596.000
cache size	: 4096 KB
physical id	: 0
siblings	: 2
core id		: 0
cpu cores	: 2
apicid		: 0
initial apicid	: 0
fpu		: yes
fpu_exception	: yes
cpuid level	: 10
wp		: yes
flags		: fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe syscall nx lm constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl aperfmperf pni dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr pdcm lahf_lm dtherm tpr_shadow
bogomips	: 4795.01
clflush size	: 64
cache_alignment	: 64
address sizes	: 36 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

processor	: 1
vendor_id	: GenuineIntel
cpu family	: 6
model		: 15
model name	: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU          6600  @ 2.40GHz
stepping	: 6
microcode	: 0xc6
cpu MHz		: 1596.000
cache size	: 4096 KB
physical id	: 0
siblings	: 2
core id		: 1
cpu cores	: 2
apicid		: 1
initial apicid	: 1
fpu		: yes
fpu_exception	: yes
cpuid level	: 10
wp		: yes
flags		: fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe syscall nx lm constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl aperfmperf pni dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr pdcm lahf_lm dtherm tpr_shadow
bogomips	: 4795.01
clflush size	: 64
cache_alignment	: 64
address sizes	: 36 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

benie

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by gbm

He might want to try Puppy Linux. My suggestion is to get a 32gb usb stick and install a full Linux Distro on it to try Linux out.
benie

on that bernie and...

Originally Posted by DaveHayler

flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 ht syscall nx mmxext fxsr_opt rdtscp lm 3dnowext 3dnow extd_apicid pni cx16 lahf_lm cmp_legacy svm extapic cr8_legacy 3dnowprefetch lbrv

BR

[signum]

My tar man page says that the "-J" option is a synonym for --xz. I presume you should try to replace the "-J" option with "-x -z", since it's unlikely to support "--xz" if it doesn't support "-J". "-x" simply means extract the files, "-z" says to use gunzip in the process. Try it out; you'll know pretty soon if it works or not. It can't hurt anything if it doesn't.

[kovidgoyal]

A -J option unknown means your distro is missing the xz-utils package, which is required for tar to have support for untarring xz compressed files. You will either need to get a modern implementation of tar and xz-utils compiled from source, or switch to another distribution of linux, or download the calibre linux tarballs on another computer and uncompress them manually then simply extract them in /opt/calibre and run calibre as

/opt/calibre/calibre

[signum]

I stand corrected about the "-J" option. However, there is another angle to consider. I looked up the specifications for the Acer Aspire 7520 and found that it has an AMD 64 x2 processor (64-bits, dual core), 2GHz clock, 2GB main memory, a 320GB hard disk and bundled with Vista. I got led astray by the choice of a severely crippled Linux distribution and assumed it was needed for a *really* old computer. You are going to have to re-learn your way about hardware, if you're going to become a Linux nerd. In the Windows universe, the Acer is close to obsolete (Vista? Pah!) In the Linux universe, this Acer is *prime* hardware for any current Linux distribution. I strongly suggest you cease your experiments with slitaz and use any other popular Linux distribution. Personally, I like Kubuntu, because it was rumored to be most like Windows when I made the choice several years ago. I haven't seen any need to change since.

I'd really hate to see you form any lasting bad impressions of Linux from your experience with a crippled distribution.

[aleyx]

Originally Posted by signum

I'd really hate to see you form any lasting bad impressions of Linux from your experience with a crippled distribution.

Agreed, on all points.

If lightweight distros are, if not required, at least wanted, you might want to look at Xubuntu or Lubuntu. Although if the point is to learn how to live without Windows, Kubuntu will do nicely.