Grafpup-2.xx third alpha release

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Nathan F
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Grafpup-2.xx third alpha release

#1 Post by Nathan F »

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Fast approaching beta but still a lot left to do. I haven't tested an upgrade from a previous alpha so I would recommend booting it with "pfix=ram" if you already have a graf_save file on your computer, since there are some pretty major changes made. Also I realized after uploading that I had accidentally left out puppysearch, so just know that it will be there for the next release (and the final). I will be compiling a list of bugs and known issues over the next few days but expect it to be fairly small.

The forum at grafpup.com has open registrations again so feel free to post feedback there or here. The "official" bugtracker is at http://bugs.grafpup.com and it is being used now.

Someone suggested I create a more stripped down version for those who like the look and feel but want a more "normal" selection of applications. Actually a few people have requested it. So a basic edition without a big browser or the heavy graphics applications is coming, maybe around mid week. It should come in at around 65-70MB and provide a good base for custom remasters. I think I can get it a bit smaller with some tweaking.

Release notes:
Third alpha snapshot 20070305
The second snapshot in the Grafpup-2.xx evelopment tree stabilized a great deal of bugs present in the various utilities and setup scripts employed in Grafpup. In this third release I have gone back to the drawing board on a few things as well as added some real functionality and brand new applications. Being an alpha release there are most certainly still some bugs to work out, but the list is steadily decreasing every day now.

The first addition that will be readily apparent to most users is the addition of the Slim graphical login manager, which enables a user to log into the system graphically right from the first bootup. In addition, the boot process has been improved to the point that it is now perfectly possible to run as a non-priviledged user even on the first run. Anyone who is at all security concious will see this as a dramatic improvement over previous releases. Still todo is a control panel module which will allow the advanced user the ability to configure how they want to boot into Grafpup, whether that be via the graphical login, a text-mode login, or booting straight into root the way Puppy Linux does.

An area that still needs work is the Xvesa video wizard, which is still only functional for the root user on the system. I intend to do a total rewrite, probably incorporating the new wizard right into the current Xorg wizard as a module. This time around it will probably be written as a CLI based dialog program. Once done you will be able to use either X-server with the login manager, and run X with Xvesa without having to be root.

I have somewhat expanded the functionality of the Gpkgtool package manager in this release to handle local package installation, and now have a working installation method for PET packages. The Packages application located in /usr/local/apps/Utility can be placed on the desktop and used as a shortcut. Also, you can now drag a package to the icon to install it. If you are not root at the time you will of course be prompted for the root password. The underlying software installer, pkgtool, has also been upgraded for better reliablity and improved dependency handling. An exciting new feature is the ability to update the list of available packages in the repository, enabling the user to take advantage of the latest software packages made available for Grafpup.

The cd burner Grafburn now has the ability to copy cd's or dvd's directly, without having to rip or copy them to hard drive first. There have also been various user interface improvements.

A few things have changed in the default desktop configuration. I have replaced LXpanel with FBpanel because there are some pretty extreme bugs in the plugin implementation. Specifically, a crashing plugin will make it impossible to run the panel at all. FBpanel is the codebase that LXpanel was built on and their appearance is virtually identical. Basically the only reason I had been using LXpanel rather than FBpanel was to make use of the extra panel plugins, so without that draw FBpanel is a better choice because of it's much smaller size. The functionality of the missing panel plugins is being supplemented in various ways, the preferred method being with a few small applications that run right in the system tray. Right now we have the network monitor Blinky and Freememapplet, both taken from Puppy but reworked somewhat to run in any system tray. Both of these programs as well as minixcal are now compiled against gtk2 rather than gtk1, to better match the desktop.

As a temporary stopgap until such things have been ported for running in the panel I have included the dockapps wmix and wmpower for controlling volume and monitoring battery status. Clicking on Freememapplet pops up a menu, which now has an item in it to configure your dockapps. The new dockapp manager will not only turn dockapps on or off, but the new configuration is automatically saved for the next time you log in without having to do anything more. Dockapps are small applications that can reside in a special dock near the edge of the screen in various window managers. Compliant WM's are WindowMaker, all box-wm's (fluxbox, openbox), pekwm, and icewm if you install the icedock package (coming soon).

Some very heavyweight optional packages have been added to the repository coinciding with this release. We once again have Wine available for those of you who just can't live without some Wndows programs, now using version 0.9.31. Also, the KDE desktop environment (3.5.6) has been added to the package repo and can be installed using pkgtool or Gpkgtool. Blender is also once again just a click away, and will hopefully at some point in time make it's way right into the live cd. A few more minor additions are the Netrik browser, various components of the ROX desktop, and the Gkrellm system monitor.

The user management program has been greatly expanded and is now capable of creating and deleting users, changing your password, and changing the root password on the system.

The final thing keeping this from being a beta release is the lack of a permanent kernel. The plan is still to go for a newer kernel with better realtime support for multimedia applications and the lzma patch for squashfs. In the process we may even acquire a bootsplash screen, which would make Grafpup completely graphical from the boot menu to the desktop. The biggest benefit to using the lzma scheme of compression is going to be around a thiry percent decrease in the size of the iso, with a corresponding decrease in RAM requirements. There is a bit of a tradeoff in terms of loading speed on older computers, but it will not be noticed by most users of newer hardware, certainly not on the types of computer one might normally try to run heavy duty graphics applications. This is the next thing I intend to sink my teeth into, so with any luck in two more weeks the first test of the new kernel will hit the mirrors.
Nathan
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Pizzasgood
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#2 Post by Pizzasgood »

I've played with it a little. Very nice. But I had to burn a disk to boot it. When I tried using a frugal install (with pmedia=satahd on SATA drive (/dev/sda5)), it would hang while booting after loading the swap.

Code: Select all

Loading swap partition /dev/sda2... done

ERROR, cannot find Grafpup on 'satahd' boot media
GRAFMODE=1  PDEV1=sda5
Exited to initial-ramdisk.... blah blah blah
Boots fine from the CD though.

The 5-8 character limit on passwords is annoying. Most of mine are 10+.

The color difference between the beautiful panel and the applets in it is also annoying.

Overall, it's very nice. I think if I didn't have Pizzapup I'd probably be a Grafpup user. When my sister gets a better computer in the fall, she'll definitely be a Grafpup user. Maybe before then, depending on when you finish and how it runs on her current machine (even Puppy's sluggish on it).
[size=75]Between depriving a man of one hour from his life and depriving him of his life there exists only a difference of degree. --Muad'Dib[/size]
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#3 Post by amish »

any idea what the final sizes will be like? i would feel a lot more odd asking if the standard release will be under 100mb if you hadn't mentioned the personal importance of keeping 104 deluxe under 400.

but that was a while ago- just asking, and i know it's not the biggest thing on your mind right now... but i really wanted to know.

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#4 Post by Nathan F »

This is the second time someone has had a problem with a frugal install, so I will look into it fully tomorrow. There is probably a bug left in /sbin/init in the initrd, or possibly in rc.sysinit. I might possibly have missed an instance of pup_xxx.sfs that needs changed to graf_xxx.sfs. Anyway, the other instance was an identical error so quite possibly the same bug.
The 5-8 character limit on passwords is annoying. Most of mine are 10+.
I would tend to agree. This is a byproduct of using tinylogin to handle that sort of thing, just as some busybox applets also lack a bit of functionality that their full size counterparts might have. Not a top priority but I will add it to the bug tracker.
The color difference between the beautiful panel and the applets in it is also annoying.
I would also tend to agree. The first two alpha's used the inbuilt plugins from Lxpanel, but they have a bad implementation and a crashing plugin will also crash the panel. I did some hacking on Blinky and Freememapplet to get them working the way I like, but I think I will take that a step further. Blinky has compiled in xpm images, which I can probably just swap out with Tango icons to match the rest.

Freemeapplet is another story. Really, I'm thinking it probably doesn't even need to be visible unless you're in the "red zone" anyway, as it's just eating up space. I think a good solution would be to only have it visible when you are running out of room, in fact that would make sense for Puppy as well.

BTW I switched from LXpanel to FBpanel for this release, since I wasn't using the LXpanel plugins, but FBpanel crashes periodically when closing windows, if running as root. So I'm going back to LXpanel for the next release, but with the panel plugins and associated image files removed to an extra package (the network and volume plugins use svg icons which are quite big). The two are visually identical, with the exception of a few extras that LXpanel offers.
any idea what the final sizes will be like?
My plan is to compile a new kernel with lzma compression and use the space savings to fit Blender into the iso, so the result "should" come out pretty similar to what it is now, maybe a little smaller actually. I won't know for sure where it will come out until I get the kernel in place and the lzma compression applied. However, enough people have asked for a stripped out version that I have also been working on it. That version might be around 50MB when all put together and will contain all the basic desktop and utilities, but without the heavyweight applications. Perfect for custom remasters by those who don't want to use unleashed.

Thanks for the feedback guys. I took a couple days off development to get some business taken care of but will be getting back into it a little later in the week.

Nathan
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#5 Post by Pizzasgood »

I might possibly have missed an instance of pup_xxx.sfs that needs changed to graf_xxx.sfs.
Heh heh. I spent last night doing that myself for Pizzapup, except this time I used ${PPFIX} rather than pza, so I could change it easier later. So far I think I got them all, and it boots. Tiresome process though.

Including blender in the main release will make my sister even more happy. It'll save me a little hassle too :)
[size=75]Between depriving a man of one hour from his life and depriving him of his life there exists only a difference of degree. --Muad'Dib[/size]
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#6 Post by Nathan F »

Here's a quick snap of the difference between the old Blinky (right) and the Tango hacked version (left). It's an even more glaring difference when they are active, since the Tangofied glows a soft blue shade but the old one goes a glaring green. Still have to get around to Freememapplet, though.

I created a patched initrd.gz which is so far checking out fine. Not only fixes the frugal install bug but updates the init script to be more in line with the current Puppy.
download

I moved from LXpanel to FBpanel with this release to save space, but a few people are experiencing random crashing of the panel so I'm going back to LXpanel for the duration.

Nathan
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#7 Post by Pizzasgood »

That did it. By the way, when rebooting, I noticed it complained about a unary operator [ at line 548 (I think) of rc.shutdown.
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#8 Post by Nathan F »

Yes, I saw it and found the problem. When I hacked the script the first time I changed the PUPMODE variable to GRAFMODE (don't aks me why, it just created more work as other scripts had to be modified to match) and then when I did the hack against the fresh copy I forgot to make that change. A side effect is that if you were to boot this without a save file it would not ask you to create one. I've fixed it in my development tree and am testing further now.

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#9 Post by Eyes-Only »

Hi Nathan!

Great job all the way around there! But I've always been a big fan of Grafpup anyway as you already know. ;)

The only two things which are bothering me, however, and one you've already hit upon it above so no need to rehash again if you don't want, okie? I'm likewise one of those who runs in "root", ergo I experienced the fbpanel crash on a frequent basis when testing this. So when that's fixed and this goes to full-release I can't wait to download and start using! (I seldom test things now but I couldn't resist here. ;) )

Secondly: I couldn't get into any of the repositories. I really wanted to try out that KDE.sfs in the worst way possible at the time. Sounds totally awesome! In fact, I was reading some on your forum of how you'd made a "KDE-centred Grafpup" just for a test and fun of it and was saying how you'd never seen KDE run so blooming fast. I was sitting here thinking of how I'd love getting my hands on THAT sweet .iso file. LOL! :D

Over-all Nathan: Excellent feelings over Grafpup 2! You've really gone and outdone yourself this time with a Masterpiece and as I'd said in the beginning: "It'll be well-worth the wait!" I can't wait for that final! :)

Thanks for reading and your time.

Amicalement / In Friendship,

Eyes-Only
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#10 Post by Nathan F »

Fbapenl ahas already been swapped back out for lxpanel in the development tree. I removed the netstatus plugin from the lxpanel package and the total size is now smaller than that of fbpanel. Blinky is actually a better network monitor than the one included in lxpanel anyway, so no real loss there.

There is no kde sfs as yet, but there are packages that are installable through the package manager. You should be able to select kdebase for installation and it will grab kdelibs, arts, and whatever else is needed. Let me know if you have any problems doing so.

I haven't ruled out a kde build, but there were enough issues running it that creating the iso would not be totally straightforward. If I do it I want to remove all redundancy in the selected packages, so I would remove things like rox and rxvt. But to do that requires some retooling in some other areas, specifically a lot of scripts call either rxvt or xterm, so a script would have to be written to convert the oprions passed to rxvt into approriate konsole options. I could skip those sorts of things entirely, but I think it's good form to go ahead and make the changes if I'm going to release it to the general public. I would also have to get kdm integrated into swtartup and shutdown a little better.

Thanks again for all the support. It's good to know that there are some people out there who are getting some use out of my little pet projects. Currrently today I'm doing a hard drive installation and then recompiling the kernel. I'm also looking into what it would take to get Abiword into the iso, as several people have been asking for it. But no promises on that one right now.

Nathan
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#11 Post by toddyjoe »

I seem to recall some discussions not long ago about the choice of the X server for Grafpup, i.e., whether to stick with Xvesa only or incorporate Xorg as an option. Would I be correct in assuming this version is still Xvesa only? I have wanted to try Grafpup in the past but the older laptop I use for Linux is one of those that does not work with Xvesa.

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#12 Post by Nathan F »

No, I've had Xorg in there for quite a while now actually. I only stuck with Xvesa for one release after Puppy moved to including Xorg. Actually it's Xvesa that's giving me fits lately, but that's another story.

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#13 Post by ttuuxxx »

Nathan F wrote:No, I've had Xorg in there for quite a while now actually. I only stuck with Xvesa for one release after Puppy moved to including Xorg. Actually it's Xvesa that's giving me fits lately, but that's another story.

Nathan
Hi Nathan I'm building a new release of "Living Water" and I'm either going to use Icewm, or Icewm minus the taskbar and menu and use the latest LXpanel and menu. The reason why I would do this is the menu looks nicer and it has a real nice Blinky replacement.
Up above you made another Blinky replacement which looked nice I might add, but the link is dead now, And probably wouldn't work on dingo. What I'm trying to get at is could it be possible for you to do it again, Build a newer updated looking blinky with the LxPanel Icons for puppy 4.0?
below is a picture what it looks like when they both light up.
If I was able to figure it out myself I would, But I'm not that advanced yet. But I'm learning as I go. Anyways thank you for your time.
ttuuxxx :wink:

Ps
This is where I got the latest Lxpanel from
http://downloads.sourceforge.net/lxde/l ... g_mirror=0
it was part of LXDE window manager.

and this is a picture of LXDE and ICEWM working at the same time, Just a test rig.
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... h&id=10984
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http://audio.online-convert.com/ <-- excellent site
http://samples.mplayerhq.hu/A-codecs/ <-- Codec Test Files
http://html5games.com/ <-- excellent HTML5 games :)

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#14 Post by ttuuxxx »

Thanks anyways Nathan I managed too do it today :)
ttuuxxx
http://audio.online-convert.com/ <-- excellent site
http://samples.mplayerhq.hu/A-codecs/ <-- Codec Test Files
http://html5games.com/ <-- excellent HTML5 games :)

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