LighthousePup 2.15 FINAL (Formerly 215 Beta5) ISO 182M

[tazoc]

Edit 2008-02-01: 215 Beta 5 is now Final but not re-labeled. No changes expected for 2.15 Series. See new thread for Lighthouse 3.01 based on Puppy 3.01 here: http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 013#173013 -TazOC
Lighthouse215SeaM_Beta5.iso

It's been a long time coming--more than two months of work since Beta4; most updates and new features are described at http://www.lhpup.org. Xvesa fixes and improvements. Desktop startup reliability and enhancements and quicker pup_dip shutdown script. Better Xonclock alpha-blending, both in Xorg and Xvesa, and when changing desktop background. Flash 9 is updated to 9,0,48,0. Also includes updated 'tips-lhp.htm' with frugal install changes for the additional file 'verify-md5-lhp' described below, additional troubleshooting and updated autostart information.

Updating from LighthouseBeta3/Beta4 to LighthouseBeta5
As usual please reboot with Lighthouse CD-Rom and at the boot menu enter 'ram' or 'lhp pfix=ram' or 'puppy pfix=ram' and copy or move your pup_save.2fs file to another folder before doing anything else.

If desired, you can try booting from the LighthouseBeta5 CD-Rom with your existing pup_save.2fs in place. However, for best results I recommend a 'clean install': boot into ram / livecd as above, move the existing pup_save.2fs to another folder, copy (overwrite) Beta5 files from CD-Rom: initrd.gz, pup_215.sfs, verify-md5-lhp, vmlinuz and zdrv_215.sfs and create a new pup_save.2fs at shutdown. After restarting you can open the folder with your backup copy of pup_save.2fs, right-click | Mount-data0 and restore any files that you need. My experience with upgrades is relatively limited; suggestions and feedback here are welcome

Download base ISO at http://www.lhpup.org/download.htm and optional Lighthouse Mariner SFS (Squash File System) Software Expansion Pack
lhp-mar-02_215.sfs designed to complement the ISO (FireFox and Opera 9.22 with Flash 9, OpenOffice 2.2 Full, CUPS Printing and more.

New installation file verification 'verify-md5-lhp' on the ISO allows checksum verification of base files from a running Puppy/Lighthouse even after the ISO has been burned or files copied to other media, if that file is copied also. How to use it? Just click on verify-md5-lhp and it will scan the current directory for the 4 installation files above, run md5sum on all of them and report the results. This could be adapted to any Puppy by editing the md5's and version/titles inside.

Edit-SFS-LHP: More refinements: additional user feedback and logging for the error conditions I've come across so far. Log window now opens with app and displays output during processing, start to finish. Not as much as I'd like, but better than before. Custom error codes 64-68 logged and included with exit command at completion of shell script.

New XMMS Recently Played recent tracks list app ideal for audio streams. The list uses cover viewer XMMS plugin. In Lighthouse the track list remains after XMMS is closed but are cleared at system shutdown--or by enabling 'Clear Tracks' and selecting 'Refresh' in the new application.

New Aero-BlackCoffee and Aero-BlackPearl GTK 1&2 Theme files. Fixed taskbar and title bar quirks in elox and IceVista-mod theme files. Fixed several missing icons in JWM menu system. Games--broken Shanghai replaced with Xmahjongg.

More Beta 5 Tips
On the taskbar click QuickLaunch (the rocket icon) | Advanced Settings | Open Autostart Folder.

Middle click on the new DisabledItems folder to open it in a new window. Now you can move items with drag and drop between folders to enable and disable autorun action as desired. You'll see that for Beta 5 numlockx-on and xmms-p are disabled by default. Right-click | Open as Text to see what an item is; or just click to execute.

Several tweaks to xonclock, desktop/Rox pinboard, Conky and Muppy icedock were implemented for improved reliability and appearance. One of the icedock apps wmfire-coronal, cpu activity indicator that reminds me of the inside of a furnace or pilot light sometimes refuses to dock, leaving a solid blue box along the left side of the display.

I found that switching wmfire-coronal to wmfire, without the subtle blue background coronal effect is slightly more reliable. You can see the difference with a right click on wmfire running in icedock. To switch back to wmfire-coronal at start-up, click Menu|Desktop|LookAndFeel Settings|Muppy-icedock-wizard|dockapps|OK|uncheck wmfire|check wmfire-coronal|OK|Cancel|Cancel. This switch is one of several changes I made to icedock and wmfire for this issue, so your feel free to experiment and let me know if it helps. You can disable wmfire entirely with the same method.
-TazOC

[tazoc]

Hi TazOC, welcome back from all that de-bugging, hope you're giving yourself some time off!
I've upgraded from beta4 > 5 and I'm very pleased: many minor fixes and it still works fine with K3B & Mariner add-ons.
I haven't torture-tested every app but so far so good, as I've said before: this is one very polished beta!
That irritating bug with the MAD Mpeg decoder in XMMS remains, but its hardly fatal. Consider mentioning it to the XMMS developers. The jitter while listening to RadioParadise and scrolling in Firefox appears to have disappeared - perhaps it was just one of those random ghost-in-the-machine type faults that comes & goes for no apparent reason.
One thing I've especially come to appreciate as I become more comfortable using it is the Rox tweaking you've done. I'd only previously known it as a simple file manager that was more graphical than some others, I hadn't appreciated its capacity to be a quasi desktop environment - sweet!
Again, thanks for a beautiful, useful Puppy variant that fits me like a glove - luv it!

Hi macadavy,
Thank you, hope you don't mind my replying here on the new thread. I think your comments might be helpful to others here. Very good to hear about your experience with Beta5 thus far.

That irritating bug with the MAD Mpeg decoder in XMMS remains... Consider mentioning it to the XMMS developers.

Yes, I'm afraid it bites me once in a while also. AFAIK XMMS itself is no longer in development, although I did find this on the FAQ at www.xmms.org:

Try and make sure this problem is not caused by third party plugins by removing them from the plugin folders in PREFIX/lib/xmms and HOME/.xmms/Plugins

I imagine we might either work on this a little more or try get Audacious to do most of what XMMS is set up to do now...

I'm very impressed with ROX-Filer. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ROX_Desktop I've tried to build on what many other Puppy developers have done with ROX to make the most of its many tools and features throughout Lighthouse.
-TazOC

[macadavy]

Thanks for transposing my remarks, I'd have posted here but saw your announcement in the old thread first and pounced!
I didn't know XMMS was no longer being developed, pity. I'm not that familiar with Audacious - Amarok is one I have used and its a good audio-only media player. It includes Streamtuner-like radio selection lists.
Is VLC media player worth considering, do you think? Like MPlayer and GXine its a multimedia player that does both audio & video.
But perhaps both these suggestions require all sorts of extra libraries, etc. that I don't know about, whereas Audacious, MPlayer & Gxine share a common set. Let's avoid bloat at all costs!
Meant to say thanks for choosing SKY-FM for your default IRadio station in XMMS btw - you've just returned the favour you said I did you by mentioning RadioParadise as I'd not previously heard of SKY-FM. Available in several flavours apparently (Jazz, classical, etc.) Good stuff!

[macadavy]

The Set Global Font Size is dandy but has no effect on SFS'd appies like OpenOffice and K3B. Btw - I'm referring to the user interface fonts - not, say, the document fonts in OO. For some reason the fonts in these appies is miniscule (8-9pt?) in 1024x768 resolution.
Can it be changed? Must one somehow edit the SFSs? Incidently OO has 'use system fonts' set in its configuration. Hope its as easy a fix (once you know how) as editing the XDG menus!

[Jactek]

Taz,

I finally got your new version downloaded, was out of town over the weekend
had no problems with startup. Only thing was I forgot to save bookmarks ill try to get them tonite.
Work great so far !!!!!

[Marcel]

Question from a non-newbie, but just as ignorant!
I'd like to try Lighthouse. I understand that I have to replace initrd, vmlinuz etc. Can I retain the pup_save.2fs I have from my frugally installed puppy2.17, so that I can retain my extras and personalisations? Or do I have to remove the old pup_save?

[tazoc]

Hey all,
Good questions, good comments, great feedback--you guys rock!
Thank you for your patience also...

Amarok is one I have used and its a good audio-only media player. It includes Streamtuner-like radio selection lists.
Is VLC media player worth considering, do you think? Like MPlayer and GXine its a multimedia player that does both audio & video.
But perhaps both these suggestions require all sorts of extra libraries, etc. that I don't know about, whereas Audacious, MPlayer & Gxine share a common set. Let's avoid bloat at all costs! Wink

I hear that, indeed. I really don't want to add much of anything to the base ISO, in fact I'd rather trim something out but can't find anything sizable I can do without right now.

I want to build some of KDE Control into my next SFS update of pgs_K3b, hopefully including Amarok and Audacious (no guarantees it might work and might not.). I've experimented with VLC in Lighthouse but had problems with it running as root. Running as user spot was better but if memory serves it didn't play right with my GTK themes and I couldn't read some of the black text.

Hmm, I wonder if any other players can integrate with Streamtuner besides XMMS and gxine?

I finally got your new version downloaded, was out of town over the weekend
had no problems with startup. Only thing was I forgot to save bookmarks ill try to get them tonite.
Work great so far !!!!!

Excellent! Thanks for the update.

Question from a non-newbie, but just as ignorant!
I'd like to try Lighthouse. I understand that I have to replace initrd, vmlinuz etc. Can I retain the pup_save.2fs I have from my frugally installed puppy2.17, so that I can retain my extras and personalisations? Or do I have to remove the old pup_save?

Good question! Might have me stumped.

Somebody jump in if I'm mistaken, but I don't think you have to replace initrd, vmlinuz etc. as long as you keep the LIghthouse CD-Rom in the drive whenever you want to boot LIghthouse, and remove it when you don't! So you can keep your existing Puppy, WinXX, whatever if you wish. Now in order to save your session settings and use an SFS Software Expansion Package with Lighthouse you will need a pup_save.2fs specifically for it. Lighthouse doesn't yet know how to differentiate between save files, but Puppy 2.17 does, so you might be able to boot from a Puppy CD-ROM into RAM ('puppy pfix=ram' at the boot menu,) copy your pup_save.2fs into a new folder called 'pup217', in the same place as the existing save file, and rename the copy to pup_save_217.2fs. Now remove the CD-ROM and shutdown without creating a new save file. Reboot as you normally do and see if Puppy stops part way to ask which save file you'd like to use this session?

If he does offer, guess which one? If we renamed them while we were booted in RAM it's easier to figure out. If he doesn't offer and you have more than one 'pup_save[whatever].2fs' within the boot drive directory, then unless you have GRUB installed--and it's not easy to do (and even easier to mess up,)--I'd probably stick with Puppy 2.17.1 or 3.00 for the time being.

The thing is, Lighthouse215 as you know is based on Puppy 2.15CE, so copying or converting a save-file from Puppy 2.17 to Lighthouse at this point is essentially a... downgrade? I think that's the term used. Anyway, I have no idea whether it can be done or not. Sorry if I'm repeating myself, just whatever you do, backup your save-file to another folder before booting into Lighthouse, in case it doesn't work and you decide to return to Puppy 2.17 or possibly a newer build of Lighthouse down the road. You can always disable a pup_save.2fs file by appending something to the end of it, say '_save': pup_save.2fs_save and Puppy won't see it at boot up. Best to do this after booting in RAM.

Even if you decide to take the leap, I recommend a trial: booting at least once into LighthousePup (or any Puppy derivative that you're interested in) LiveCD mode (type 'ram' or 'puppy pfix=ram') at the boot menu with your BIOS set to boot from the CD-Rom. Although it's a bit of a wait while the larger pup_215.sfs loads from the CD-Rom into RAM, you'll get the full base Lighthouse system to try out, and you don't need to wipe clean your existing system.
-TazOC

[tazoc]

The Set Global Font Size is dandy but has no effect on SFS'd appies like OpenOffice and K3B. Btw - I'm referring to the user interface fonts - not, say, the document fonts in OO. For some reason the fonts in these appies is miniscule (8-9pt?) in 1024x768 resolution.
Can it be changed? Must one somehow edit the SFSs? Incidently OO has 'use system fonts' set in its configuration. Hope its as easy a fix (once you know how) as editing the XDG menus! Wink

Miniscule is right! I have the same issue in Puppy. For OpenOffice you can make them somewhat larger though:
Open Writer | Click Tools | Options | View | on Scaling click and hold the zoom box up arrow until it gets to 130% | click OK. Should be larger now. I don't know how to make the Menu - UI fonts in OO any larger than 130%.

For K3b, try this patch script in the attached zip file. Choose 'save to disk', navigate to the zip file in Rox-Filer, click to open and extract the archive, open the folder inside and finally click on k3b-fontpatch-lhp and follow the prompts. If it works, open K3b and see how it looks. I'll try to fix the K3b SFS in lieu of the patch later.

From the patch installer prompts, you'll see how to tweak it some more if you want to, e.g., menu font larger: change
menuFont=Luxi Sans,12,-1,5,50,0,0,0,0,0
to
menuFont=Luxi Sans,13,-1,5,50,0,0,0,0,0

It won't hurt to run the script again and click yes; it will just show you the changes without applying them again.
-TazOC

[macadavy]

Thanks TazOC, the OO suggestion & K3b patch worked a charm! Fonts in both apps no longer make these tired old eyes fall out of their sockets after a few minutes use.
It never occured to me that I could make the font scaling in OO more than 100% d'oh! I encountered the same issue in other apps from the SFSs like FF, T-bird & Opera but was able to fool around with chrome files, etc to correct the problem. Yet other SFS apps seem to pick up the system settings no prob. Confusing!
I'm going to learn more about how Unix/Linux handles system-wide font size management. I believe its controlled at a fundamental level by the XWindows server itself (in X11 config file.), with an overlaid control level depending on the window manager/desktop environment used.
If I figure it out I'll report back here...
I'm no expert but advice I've seen suggests just renaming your puppy save file will work for upgrades. I'm not so sure about retro-grades (I wouldn't call what Marcel wants to do a down- grade as I think PuppyCE 2.15 & Puppy 2.17.1 are both great pups!) If he just wants to test drive Lighthouse then as you suggest, TazOC, "puppy pfix=ram" at boot is his best bet. Always ensure that somewhere (on another partition/hard drive/cd or usb flash) there is a copy of your puppy_save file and you'll make Puppy pretty much noob-boob proof. (Trust me - I've been there/done that .) You can always put things back the way they were - one more reason I love Puppy! Why not wait 'till LHPuppy gets out of beta before considering a frugal install? That's what I'm going to do. At the rate TazOC's been beavering away, and given that LH is almost ready for prime time 'as is' IMHO - 'twon't be long!

[macadavy]

Eureka! This font thing: its GTK isn't it?
Apps which 'know' GTK use it, apps that don't (FF, T-bird, Opera, OO) just don't 'get it' - n'est pas?

[tazoc]

Eureka! This font thing: its GTK isn't it?
Apps which 'know' GTK use it, apps that don't (FF, T-bird, Opera, OO) just don't 'get it' - n'est pas?

I think you're on to something there. GTK+ The GIMP Toolkit, is widely used in Puppy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GTK+

There are a number of GUI toolkits used to display widgets in X Windows, typically using Xlib, an X Window System protocol client library in the C programming language. GTK+, Qt (X11 version), and FLTK (X11 version). GTK+ versions 1 & 2 are the only ones I'm familiar with.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Widget_toolkit

Pango is a library increasingly used, e.g., Firefox for rendering internationalized texts in high quality. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pango

Qt is a cross-platform application development framework, widely used for the development of GUI programs and also used for developing non-GUI programs such as console tools and servers. Qt is most notably used in KDE, the web browser Opera, Google Earth, Skype, Qtopia and OPIE. It is produced by the Norwegian company Trolltech. Trolltech insiders pronounce Qt as "cute"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qt_%28toolkit%29

Exactly why some apps respect the GTK system font & color settings and some don't isn't clear to me. Sure would be great if all were consistent. In KDE, the KDE Control Center has some settings designed to cover both KDE and non-KDE apps. I suspect that it tweaks both Qt and GTK configurations.
-TazOC

[tazoc]

Hi tazoc,
I posted a query on the forum no response so far.
I really like what you've done with Lighthouse - usability improvements, making K3B available, Xmms, icedock etc. and I would like to continue using your beta5 as my day to day version of puppy.

However I find it difficult to work in the browser and email with the color scheme of gold on blue. Same for Rox windows. I would prefer a more traditional scheme to the gold on wavy-blue background.

(edit) --> found GTKThemeChooser. Not sure if H2O-Stardust theme works. No reply is necessary.

--Barburo

Thank you for your comments. Yes, it looks like H2O-Stardust is broken--will look into that.

I'm fond of darker backgrounds that are easier on my eyes than whites and pastels, especially working for long periods on newer high contrast ratio displays. So few usable dark themes are available it seems.

Glad you found the theme chooser! I know that it doesn't switch the ROX file type colors, though you can work-around this by un-checking the 'Colour files based on their types' in ROX | Options | Colours. A more permanent fix instead would be to edit the two or three brightest colors, reducing the value (brightness) about 15%. In fact I think I'll try that myself for a while, and maybe include it in next version.
-TazOC

[Bahurim]

Great stuff with this lhpup Tazoc!! My wife and I both really enjoy it. Lots of little stuff included that really makes work quick. Example is the MD5sumGUI tool.

I saw your short term plans for the k3b sfs file, and you may have answered this elsewhere, but I was wondering about your plans for long term? Do you plan on trying to upgrade to the 3.x series? Thanks again!

[KF6SNJ]

That is something I am also wondering. If lighthouse were to upgrade to the 3.XX series, I might consider it when I upgrade again.

[Bahurim]

Yes, I would even be interested in helping where I could. I am not a coder but know the CLI, basics of Linux, and am learning the guts of Puppy where I can.

[tazoc]

Great stuff with this lhpup Tazoc!! My wife and I both really enjoy it. Lots of little stuff included that really makes work quick. Example is the MD5sumGUI tool.

I saw your short term plans for the k3b sfs file, and you may have answered this elsewhere, but I was wondering about your plans for long term? Do you plan on trying to upgrade to the 3.x series? Thanks again!

That is something I am also wondering. If lighthouse were to upgrade to the 3.XX series, I might consider it when I upgrade again.

I appreciate your comments. I can't seem to stick to a schedule so I've been avoiding specific plans and roadmaps, etc. When I started working on Lighthouse I hoped to update it within a week of each new Official Puppy release! But most things worthwhile take time, and I like to do it as well as I can or not at all.

I've really been wanting a HiDef flat panel lately. My only TV is nearly 18 years old. I refuse to pay for cable/satellite every month, but watching ballgames through snow and ghosting with my 1st floor apartment indoor antenna is no fun. So lately I've been distracted from Puppy by research and shopping around for a good price on a 1080p HDTV to bring in the new local digital channels and double as a Puppy PC monitor. I configured and tested two monitors, a 17" CRT and 17" LCD simultaneously on my ATI video card with different resolutions and refresh rates in clone mode and dualhead, (side-by-side) with DRI / 3D accell'n enabled in LH Beta5 with something called MergedFB in Xorg. http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_Dual_Monitors

My Desktop PC is already a few feet from my TV in the living room. Now imagine LighthousePup 'HiDef' maybe on a 32" or 42" LCD@1920x1080 with a wireless keyboard or wired KB with a touchpad on my sofa! Prices are coming down but still out of reach on my budget. Maybe this winter or next year...

But I digress... Yes I'd like to build a new Lighthouse based on Puppy 3.0x. I was going to put some final touches on LHP215 first, but maybe I should just rename Beta5 to '215 Final' and save the rest for the new version. Let me know what you think. How shall we name it? LighthousePup 301 or 3.01 or something else?

[Bahurim]

I hear that on the big hi-def screen! Been wanting one of those myself!

I was going to put some final touches on LHP215 first, but maybe I should just rename Beta5 to '215 Final' and save the rest for the new version.

I would say that your beta5 is as good as any 'Final' I have seen out there. We run it with ATI x850 accelerated and also cups printing on a new Epson rx700 is working great too. Just those two items are more than can be said for quite a few premium full-bore distros.

How shall we name it? LighthousePup 301 or 3.01 or something else?

Stick with the theme you have going, nothing wrong with it. LighthousePup 301 works.

The reason I offered help was because I am curious on how to upgrade a puplet. Upgrading a normal Puppy install is straightforward, but how do you go about moving all the goodies, settings, etc... to a new base puppy? Is it a matter of edit-sfs, or do you just have to do all the work over again from scratch?

Oh and I also really like your version of puppy. That combined with the 3.01 features

[tazoc]

Not feeling well, painful right shoulder, just had an MRI today and still don't know exactly what is causing the pain. Afraid it might be rotator cuff. Constant dull pain and it's difficult to reach behind things or put on a shirt without sharp pain. X-ray was normal. Pain medicine doesn't help much. Just have to gut it out until my doctors figure it out and hopefully my co-pays won't be overwhelming if surgery is needed.

So it's slowing me down a bit.

Yes, I would even be interested in helping where I could. I am not a coder but know the CLI, basics of Linux, and am learning the guts of Puppy where I can.

I really appreciate that and will let you know what I can use help with. I want to finish up with LHP 215 and if you can still help once I get going with ver. 3xx I'll be more specific.

I hear that on the big hi-def screen! Been wanting one of those myself!

Hmm, those commercials for hi-def are getting the better of me. Guess it's really a 'want' rather than a 'need' and prices will likely keep falling as with most new technology. I did figure out a way to improve my analog OTA channel reception this week. Moved my antenna and preamp to the opposite end of my apartment.

I would say that your beta5 is as good as any 'Final' I have seen out there. We run it with ATI x850 accelerated and also cups printing on a new Epson rx700 is working great too. Just those two items are more than can be said for quite a few premium full-bore distros.

No kidding? Thanks!

How shall we name it? LighthousePup 301 or 3.01 or something else?

Stick with the theme you have going, nothing wrong with it. LighthousePup 301 works.

Ok, sounds good.

The reason I offered help was because I am curious on how to upgrade a puplet. Upgrading a normal Puppy install is straightforward, but how do you go about moving all the goodies, settings, etc... to a new base puppy? Is it a matter of edit-sfs, or do you just have to do all the work over again from scratch?

When I make a change to my LHP frugal install I copy the new/changed files to a work folder on another drive, /mnt/home/puppylivecdbuild. Then to merge them into an updated puplet, first I edit pup_nnn.sfs (nnn=base Puppy version) with Edit-SFS-LHP, add or replace files as needed, close and then test it rebooting off the hard disk with Grub installed from a prior Linux distro, then re-edit and re-test. My work folder also has the other base files from the ISO. When I'm happy with pup_nnn.sfs, I update the MD5 inside verify-md5-lhp (if necessary also editing boot.msg, isolinux.cfg) and create a new ISO with ISOmaster, then burn and test it booting off the new CD-Rom.

Now to rebuild with a new Puppy base version, I might try upgrading Lighthouse directly to Puppy 3.01 by mass-copying 'cp -ax' or cp -afx' everything in / to /initrd/mnt/pup_rw, then rebooting with that pup_save off the new Puppy 3.xx CD-Rom. Don't know if it will work, otherwise will start from scratch booting Puppy 3.xx then mount LHP's pup215.sfs in ROX, and mass-copy /usr and other system folders into /. If that doesn't work I'll have to just make one change at a time to pup_3nn.sfs with Edit-SFS as above, analyzing what is and isn't compatible with 3.xx as I go. The upside is I can probably 'trim some fat' along the way.

Oh and I also really like your version of puppy. That combined with the 3.01 features

Thank you very much. I've been trying to follow Barry's new RawPup development with great interest thinking I might use it to build LHP 3xx but assuming it only has Xvesa, I don't know how to add Xorg to it yet.

I want to try to get something accomplished on Lighthouse this weekend and/or next week.
-TazOC

[tlchost]

Lighthouse215SeaM_Beta5.iso

It's been a long time coming--more than two months of work since Beta4;
-TazOC

If I run the Live-CD version, is it possible to use:

lhp-mar-02_215.sfs 252 MB

Thanks

[KF6SNJ]

I don't see why not, provided you have enough ram.