Puppy 4.3 Final -- bug reports and suggestions

[charlie6]

Hi,
iso md5sum verified
1. got pup430_small.iso frugal installed on Medion PIII 600MHz 192MBRam + 10GB HDD (sda1 ext ... /sda2 swap/sda3 fat32); GRUB on MBR
- on ext4 sda1 : no success ; the pupsave.2fs is proposed to be only installed on the sda3 fat32; boot do not work
- sda1 reformated to ext3: if pup-430.sfs saved on /puppy430 then boot crashes with "kernel panic: attempetd to kill init - no syncing" error message
- sda1 reformated to ext3: boot OK if pup-430.sfs sved to "/" (no /puppy430 or else folder) together with the pupsave.2fs file.

2. when booting from live-cd:
- this happens 'randomly': at bootup end the tray bar is well displayed whereas the background stays black . Needs to restart Xserver to get the back ground displayed
- this happens also with the full.iso

3. GXine opens when clicking on its icon at first time but suddenly shutdowns; needs a second click on icon to get it keeping running.

Hope this help
cheers
Charlie

[Jim1911]

Installed 430 on an old Sony laptop with only 64MB ram and it runs fine. It is a full HD installation on an ext4 partitition, created by 430's Gparted.

Now all that's needed for complete ext4 support is to correct the initrd.gz, or whatever, so that a frugal installation is recognized and booted properly when installed on an ext4 partition.

Thanks,
Jim

[turbodig]

Is there an 0pkgs_db-4.31 available anywhere for use with pet-be-gone?

[mawebb88]

streamtuner-0.99.99.pet

DO NOT install this! It screwed up 2 frugal installs on 2 different machines. The install does not proceed normally (no flash box indicating a successful install) and then the dependency checker does not start nor the opening of any text files!!

Just about to search for a newer pet.

Rgds

Mike

[ttuuxxx]

streamtuner-0.99.99.pet

DO NOT install this! It screwed up 2 frugal installs on 2 different machines. The install does not proceed normally (no flash box indicating a successful install) and then the dependency checker does not start nor the opening of any text files!!

Just about to search for a newer pet.

Rgds

Mike

My versions works http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=38590
that is whats in 4.31 puppies
ttuuxxx

[James C]

Ttuuxxx beat me to posting again.........I installed his pet in the "official" 4.30 and it works fine.

[cichlasoma]

Hi.
I'd like to repeat my bugreport/question already raised in connection with Puppy 4.25 - is it all right, Puppy doesn't search for savefiles on other drives when it boots from a USB flash disk and finds one or more savefiles on it? 4.21 did search other drives as well. Similarly, 4.30 doesn't ask where to create a savefile when it has booted from USB FD for the first time (and creates it on the same USB FD it has booted from). 4.21 did ask.
(I find 4.21's behavior much more convenient.)
c.

[rerwin]

If a pupdial user checks the Stupid Mode box or unchecks the Auto Reconnect box for Account 1, those changes are not retained across dialup connections or for a subsequent pupdial session. This problem was introduced during 3G-wireless implementation and is easily fixed.

An ongoing concern regarding the wireless modem support has been that at least one ISP requires addition of a dialer command to permit connection. This forces the user to edit a file within the dialup structure, which should not be required of new users. In particular, VirginBroadband aborts a connection if the "chap" form of authentication is attempted. Forum member 01micko finds that adding "-chap" to the /etc/ppp/options file prevents the attempt and allows connection to that ISP.

I have added a simple, generic fix that adds the content of a file named for the ISP (matching the APN) to the wvdial files as it is copied to /etc/ppp/peers for each connection. The particular file resides in /etc/wvdial_options. Users who discover a need for a special dialer command can add an appropriate file to that directory. This implementation associates the use of the command to each account.

Thanks to 01micko's reporting of both issues, I attach a fixed pupdial and the new file for VirginBroadband, as well as difference files. Thanks, too, to gyro for raising the checkbox issue. I did not change the Reconnect default, but will wait to hear objections first and can update the attachment (to -2).

UPDATE 9/24/09: I have replaced the fix dotpet with better ones. Both dotpets have a more thorough implementation of the bug fix. Because the lines handled by that code are mainly entered by the user, the code ensures that the lines are entered only in the account sections of wvdial.conf and ignores such lines entered elsewhere in wvdial.conf.

The APN-specific option remains, except that the VirginBroadband entry is not to be included in puppy, instead being supplied by the user (who would know when the option may no longer be required). But the dotpet does create the file when the dotpet is installed.

To address purple_ghost's concern about Auto Reconnect being abused to keep a connection during long idle periods, I added support for a possible user-entered line: "Idle Seconds", which times out after a specified period of inactivity. I also added that item to the wvdial.conf help information accessible from pupdial. This allows protection from inadvertent wastage of connect time and cost, but also disables auto-reconnect. Setting this would prevent a customer from accumulating excessive connect times. However, the Auto Reconnect setting is not unchecked when reconnect is disabled. I am reluctant to change the default setting of Auto Reconnect, as I feel that is Barry's decision to make. But now turning it off (or having it disabled) yields the benefit of protection from runaway connect charges. (I originally hoped that "Idle Seconds" would leave auto-reconnect active, but that is not the case.)

The (-1) bugfix-only dotpet is provided in case Barry declines to accept anything beyond the serious bug fix for 4.3.1, although I hope he will consider taking the modest refinements, too.
Richard

[Doglover]

Had to run alsaconf to restore mixer levels after the upgrade, I have a Via 8235 chip.

[mawebb88]

streamtuner-0.99.99.pet

DO NOT install this! It screwed up 2 frugal installs on 2 different machines. The install does not proceed normally (no flash box indicating a successful install) and then the dependency checker does not start nor the opening of any text files!!

Just about to search for a newer pet.

Rgds

Mike

My versions works http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=38590
that is whats in 4.31 puppies

Many thanks ttuuxxx. Installed it and works perfectly. I like the Alsaplayer but have some streams which do not work but are ok in GxineI (eg http://radio.wavespeed.net/kissfm.mp3 but this seems to be down at the moment). I copied my ./root/.streamtuner from my previous work horse 412 and its all there. BTW I am also testing your 431.1 but for the moment need SM mail although not completely adverse to a change to Simple Mail so will watch your progress on 431.1.
Rgds Mike
ttuuxxx

[aragon]

as pointed out by aran: frequency scaling is not working in 4.30.

this is a problem for pup-430-small.iso. small seems to miss more modules than i thought. having a scaling-app but no modules is a bug i think.

the regular pup-430.iso does contain the modules in the zp430305.sfs.

by a quick comparison of the modules in the small-iso and the modules in zp430305.sfs i would state that there are more 'regular' modules missing but i haven't had time to do a full comparison.

aragon

[cichlasoma]

Curiously enough, when I boot from CD, I can run Xwindows only in Xvesa on two different machines (Asus EEEPC and ShuttleX), Xorg doesn't start. When I boot from USB FD created using the same ISO, I can run Xorg. I've tried to burn the CD twice (using different software) for test, it's the same in both cases.

Another issue is, when I boot from CD with pup-430.sfs file saved on HD, Puppy cannot see any network devices having loaded no modules. Deleting the .sfs file from the hard disk helps.

[aarf]

copying from rxvt can be done by highlighting and then clicking the scroll wheel of the mouse in the desired location BUT if you only have a touch pad you cant copy because ctrl+C doesnt copy any more.

[dio444]

That's standard behavior for cut-paste from a terminal in X. But there's one thing you didn't know. The middle mouse button can be simulated on a 2-button pointing device with a "chord click" of both buttons at once.

Tom

[ARAN]

as pointed out by aran: frequency scaling is not working in 4.30.

this is a problem for pup-430-small.iso. small seems to miss more modules than i thought. having a scaling-app but no modules is a bug i think.

the regular pup-430.iso does contain the modules in the zp430305.sfs.

by a quick comparison of the modules in the small-iso and the modules in zp430305.sfs i would state that there are more 'regular' modules missing but i haven't had time to do a full comparison.

aragon

Yeah Exactly Aragon.

I have used the small ISO and the CPU is nearly burning down as all modules for CPU Scalling are for some reason missing !

I would suggest as first to dont use the small ISO.

Second problem is for me that even with the regular ISO from Ibiblio the modules for cpu scalling arent loaded and copied to "/lib/modules..."

I have this problem if i boot Puppy in full ram as follow.
"puppy pfix=ram"

Maybe this is just a Latop specific problem dont know.

I have solved the problem by copy the needed cpu scalling modules to the pupsavefile and used the cpu freq scalling gui.

[jakfish]

Since this error has been confrimed by Aran, I thought I'd post this in 4.3 bug section.

Although the cpu scaling gui sets things up wonderfully, in an Asus eee 900, only "performance" and "powersave" modules work.

The CPU scaling gui will setup in /root/startup an sh file modprobing ondemand, but when using "cat scaling_governor", "Performance" is the result, meaning the machine is constantly maxed to its top speed. Ditto results after modprobing and installing "conservative" in place of "ondemand".

"echo conservative > /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_governor"

Only "powersave" and "performance" can be used. Aran confirms this error. Can anybody else?

Jake

[gyro]

Noticed this strangeness in a frugal install of pup-430.iso:

Code: Select all

# losetup
/dev/loop0: 0 /mnt/tmpfs/pup-430.sfs
/dev/loop1: 0 /mnt/dev_save/pupwoof/pupsave.2fs
/dev/loop3: 0 /mnt/tmpfs2/zp430305.sfs
/dev/loop4: 0 /mnt/dev_save/devx_430.sfs
/dev/loop5: 0 /mnt/dev_save/my-apps-sfs4.sfs
/dev/loop6: 0 /mnt/dev_save/my-apps.sfs
#

the strangeness is "/dev/loop6" is still associated with "/mnt/dev_save/my-apps.sfs", even though it is not mounted.
"/mnt/dev_save/my-apps.sfs" should not be mounted since it is the sfs3 version of "/mnt/dev_save/my-apps-sfs4.sfs", which is mounted as it is supposed to be.
I guess something is not properly cleaning up loop devices.

Of course the only downside is that a loop device is being wasted, so it's not a big problem.

gyro

[mawebb88]

I found that in the exit section of /root/.jwmrc:

Code: Select all

<Program label="Reboot computer" icon="mini-turn.xpm">exec /usr/X11R7/bin/wmreboot</Program>
<Program label="Power-off computer" icon="mini-stop.xpm">exec /usr/X11R7/bin/wmpoweroff</Program>
<Program label="Restart X server" icon="mini-x.xpm">restartwm</Program>

wmpoweroff and wmreboot do not exist in /usr/X11R7/bin/. They are both in /usr//bin/ so I had to put symlinks in /usr/X11R7/bin/ for them both!

Regards

Mike

[rjbrewer]

Have tried "simple remaster" of 430 small iso.

Cd boots fine, but when trying to use it to make a full install,
I get "Error 2, bad file or directory, when rebooting.

Wireless connection is fast and easy using atheros cards on
430 full iso; takes 2 or more tries with small iso.

Rox files are listed vertically in small iso.

[rerwin]

01micko, gyro, purple_ghost, and other pupdial fans,
I upgraded my pupdial fix and refinements, replacing the dotpet I posted yesterday, here: http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 886#343886
I added the ability for the user to enter a connection-timeout value into wvdial.conf to protect against inadvertently running up excessive connect-time charges. See my earlier posting for details.
Richard