Lucid Puppy 5.1- A Full-Featured Compact Distro

[James C]

It probably is just because I'm on the P3 . Putting "chrome" in a terminal gets

# chrome
Illegal instruction

I'll try it out on the 2.0 ghz Athlon XP box later.

[Béèm]

I've had absolutely no luck with Vlc or Pidgin.. sorry

How far did you get. Iw as able to get VLC to configure and start compiling, but every time it failed with an error message about utf8.

Hmmm.. yes I get to the same stage with vlc. Annoying, but it is documented. Forum member Gedrean had similar issues.

Pidgin borks at SSL, which is essential for most chat services!Cheers

For quite some time now I have pidgin 2.6.1 as a sfs.
I have no problems in lucid 203.

[Béèm]

mplayer-1.0rc3 released a little over a week ago.
http://www.smokey01.com/01micko/lucid/m ... 3-i486.pet .. the latest release compiled in Luci, not much different really, seems to work ok Give it a spin Béèm.
Cheers

Wow, quite a spin.

EDIT
Installating the pet took 9MB of the save file.
As SMplayer crashed, I uninstalled it.
I only got 5MB back and wonder now where the other 4MB has gone to.

This is the kind on thing, which happens often in puppy. Loosing space in the save file and not knowing where it went to.
So after a while it comes to the point that the save file has to be increased.

[playdayz]

Here's what I would really like.

On first boot everyone boots directly to a graphic screen--but it is a vesa screen so there are no problems with the video driver. It is a Welcome but on the screen are several sets of controls or windows. Each set of controls or window is for one of the questions that is currently asked on first boot: Country, Keyboard, Time zone, local or universal time, and then a selection of video resolutions as with the last question asked on first boot now. There is also a button that says Start or Go. So people would boot, and if there were no changes they wanted to make they could hit the Go button. Otherwise they could click click click and select their country, keyboard and so forth all one the same page, nicely designed. Click Click Click and Go!

In the background the same code as now is running to select keyboard, country, time zone and so forth--the code will have to be adapted of course to the gui. I be the same code and variables could be used with not too much adaptation.

This is the best solution I have come up with to the problem of booting directly to the desktop or going through the current questions. Everyone would boot to the graphic desktop, but because it is vesa there are no black screens. Then the code writes the xorg.conf file just as now, and all that has to be done is to restart the X-server, so no one need ever see a prompt. The best of both worlds with as few of the disadvantages as possible.

This is not trivial, but I think it could be done--not be me--at least not in this century. It's a chance for some good code. I wish I could mock it up to communicate my excitement--but I think it would be cool--and it would give Lucid Puppy some distinction for staying true to its roots of giving people control of their machine but also coming up with a creative new solution.

OK maybe when I sober up it won't seem like such a great idea. But maybe it will. Thanks.

I think it is important to have only one screen with the minimum number of choices no more than 5 and the Go button. Maybe radio buttons so each one can be chosen with one click.

I think we know how to have everyone boot to a vesa screen--and then to restart the x-server when they click Go. So we just need someone to write the screen using the existing code.

I think sets of controls is a better phrase than windows. I think they should all be against the same background--not a bunch of individual separate windows. Maybe.

The vesa screen could be like a kiosk--it wouldn't necessarily need even a windowmanager. There would be just the 5 choices: Country (Choose One) - Keyboard (Choose One) and so forth and hit Go at anytime.

[8-bit]

Well, what I would like to see and I know others would too is to see a stable update of Puppy 500 made with the same programs that came in the original.
It had Gxine and now you want to switch to Mplayer?
Keep the base and release an update or more to be used with the Update button in Quickpet.
I have yet to see ANY updates available using it!

While I am at it, for those with low sound volume, you can open GXine, click on audio, and move the amplification slider up to increase volume.
That is a hidden volume increase I thought I would pass along.
And I already have given you a fix for no administrator username and password for CUPS administration settings.

In Puppy Package Manager, under FUN for Puppy 5, I am shown gweled as one selection.
It is NOT available.
Also, gnome games lite looses a file after a few runs that asileriot solitare needs to run.
And the download site selection is confusing as to if the site has the file or files one is trying to download.
I have did what a number of Puppy users do and update my version as I find fixes and updates for it.
But for those that do not have that knowledge, how about starting to make update packages for use with the Update button?

[01micko]

Pidgin-2.7.1

Another stocking filler (you know we celebrate Christmas at this time of year in Australia )

http://www.smokey01.com/01micko/lucid/p ... d-i486.pet 15 M

md5 and petspecs http://www.smokey01.com/01micko/lucid/pidgin.txt

Notes
Now this is compiled in Puppy 5 .... SSL is ok. (so MSN, Yahoo and such *should* work). There is plenty of stuff disabled but all the NLS and DOC stuff is in the pet. Be interesting to see if it works in luci-20X. SSl seems to be the achilles heel of 20X at the moment.

Video and audio is disabled.. I don't use Pidgin, and if I wanted to use video and audio I wouldn't use a chat client, I'd use Skype or Linphone... hmmm... Linphone might be next .

Please test in Puppy 5 and if you can in the latest luci-20X dev releases.

Cheers

[Béèm]

Pidgin-2.7.1
Another stocking filler (you know we celebrate Christmas at this time of year in Australia )
Cheers

After having finished my turkey dinner , I'll try it.

EDIT
As I was so eager to try, I left the turkey in my plate and made a sfs out of the pet.
And guess what.........it works. lucid 203.
Thanks micko.

The pidgin being with locale support, it's now in Dutch on my laptop, it is strange. Not used to it. Wish there was a gb_BE@euro locale.
Also I am at 100% volume, sound events are not played very load.
I use mplayer to render the sound events.

[nooby]

playdayz , your suggestion seems okay to me.

With one minor remark or comment. One reviewer at a Computer Mag here in Sweden misunderstood the Country to be a localization app to give him every thing Swedish. Menu help text and so on. So maybe one need to spell out it is currency and local time and such.

[playdayz]

I've tried to install the Chromium 6 pet three times, it appears to install but will not launch. From the terminal it returns "command not found".

James C, I tested in 202 and 203. Better abandon it and I will check later today. Thanks.

[playdayz]

One reviewer at a Computer Mag here in Sweden misunderstood the Country to be a localization app to give him every thing Swedish. Menu help text and so on. So maybe one need to spell out it is currency and local time and such.

Yes nooby, we will have the space to do that if I can interest some people in creating the vesa screen. Thanks.

[playdayz]

Well, what I would like to see and I know others would too is to see a stable update of Puppy 500 made with the same programs that came in the original.

Why the same programs? Concerning a "stable" release: are there any reports of the software in Lucid Puppy crashing and causing data loss?

It had Gxine and now you want to switch to Mplayer?

Yes. With very limited manpower we have a chance to create a Lucid Puppy that is ***dramatically*** better than 5.0.1.

I have watched the problem reports closely and here is what *I* have seen. After we responded very quickly to the black screen problem (8 days I think) there have been very few bugs reported on the base software, Abiword, Gnumeric, and so forth. The base software that has received the most problem reports in gxine.

Another category of problem reports are things that are common to Quirky and Woof as well as Lucid Puppy--those are things we cannot do much about.

Another category of problem reports is when people try to add software from various sources from the PPM and from pets found in the forum. For 5.1 we are working on a reorganization of the PPM so things go much smoother and when it says that a program will install and run then the program will install and run. And then pets from the forum is something that Puppy users generally handle themselves.

So, one issue, gxine, that will be fixed in 5.1. Another issue, PPM, that will be fixed in 5.1. Given the problem reports that I have mentioned there are only about 3 or 4 bugs that can be fixed in an update--your improvement to cups being one of them, the shutdown fix being another.

However, you make some sense and I will start thinking about preparing an update with whatever fixes we have. we are making such good progress towards a superior 5.1 though, it is hard to take time away from that.

Just to recap. For 5.1 we have the graphics (video drivers) working totally for the first time ever, with a basic graphics option and a high performance option for all graphics cards. Trying to put that in an update would almost certainly break some things. Also, mplayer seems to be working far better than gxine ever did. If I can interest someone in coding the vesa screen that I discuss above then 5.1 is going to be awesome.

One other thing is that any update is a risk--and so the question is, "Do the rewards of the update outweigh the risks?"

.

[rhadon]

Hi,

just a small thing: if I mount or unmount iso or sfs files in ROX, I see no more message about mounting/ unmounting. This happens with lucid 202 and 203. With 201 and lupu it works as usual.

~ Rolf

[playdayz]

just a small thing: if I mount or unmount iso or sfs files in ROX, I see no more message about mounting/ unmounting. This happens with lucid 202 and 203. With 201 and lupu it works as usual.

~ Rolf

Yes Rolf, That started in 203 I think, maybe 202. it was when Barry changed Woof from using the old yaf-splash to display such messages to the new gtkdialog-splash. You have seen that the format of the messages has changed. I think he should get that in the next update to Woof, and that would be reflected in a development release of luci soon after that. Thanks.
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SMPlayer is looking better already. Surely someone can do better than this. here is a pet for qtconfig-qt4. You can install it and then its in the menu under desktop Settings or in a terminal qtconfig-qt4. Then you can choose Tune Palette and Highlight color. File Save when you are done and then open SMPlayer to see. SMPlayer also has some options under Preferences -> Interface.

http://www.diddywahdiddy.net/Puppy500/qtconfig.qt4.pet

[tubeguy]

FWIW, luci 202 is superb at everything so far on my lappie. Also, and this is the best most happy fun thing about it, I was, for the first time in any puppy, able to install and run the latest Aqualung with no crashes, errors or freezes. Updated repos, used PPM to install, spent about 15 minutes getting extra libs and viola, my favorite music player is running perfectly, with LADSPA plugins installed and working. I'm sure whatever changed from 5.0.1 to luci 202 is over my head, but thanks to all responsible!

[playdayz]

latest Aqualung with no crashes, errors or freezes. Updated repos, used PPM to install, spent about 15 minutes getting extra libs and viola,

If you remember and have a chance we could use what you did, what you had to add etc., in order to make a pet to put in the repository and make available to everyone. If not then no worries--letting us know that it works is a big help. Thanks.
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01micko, Thanks once afgain, it looks like the sleep 10 you suggested for the script I kiped from sns to test whether there is an internet connection and open sns only if not, worked.
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And maybe this is better for SMPlayer; it matches some other colors in Lucid Puppy.

[tubeguy]

latest Aqualung with no crashes, errors or freezes. Updated repos, used PPM to install, spent about 15 minutes getting extra libs and viola,

If you remember and have a chance we could use what you did, what you had to add etc., in order to make a pet to put in the repository and make available to everyone. If not then no worries--letting us know that it works is a big help. Thanks.

Heck yeah I'll do that- I've been trying to compile from source for weeks but the learning curve is apparently too much for me so far, the Aqualung site evens warns that if you haven't compiled before don't start with this.

I don't remember all the libs, but I'll do a pfix=ram and go through it again and keep track of what goes into it.

What I originally wanted to do was create 2 pets, a stripper with just basic functionality and a Out house-sink version with all the bells and whistles. The one I have now is whatever the Ubuntu version is, most but not all the options enabled. Anyway I will do it ASAP, love to see a fresh Aqualung pet someday.

[Snail]

Playdaze wrote:

Why the same programs? Concerning a "stable" release: are there any reports of the software in Lucid Puppy crashing and causing data loss?

Does the whole system black screening and locking up solid immediately after clicking on the gxine descktop icon qualify as stable in your book? I have reported this and had it confirmed by another user.

http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... deda793f28

There seems to be a bug with the Puppy browser, which I also reported. Recently I had the unversal installer fail on an ext2 usb install.

What is the point of testing if our reports are ignored? I can't/don't want to demand fixes but it is extremely discouraging to read this.

[playdayz]

Does the whole system black screening and locking up solid immediately after clicking on the gxine descktop icon qualify as stable in your book? I have reported this and had it confirmed by another user.

I agree completely that's not stable. Do you know how to fix it? If so, please let us know. I am working on one way of fixing it--which is to change our multimedia player to mplayer. The preliminary results have been very good in luci-202 and 203. Would you begrudge the 3 weeks it will take to get 5.1 ready with its significant improvements, instead of working more on gxine which has been erratic in most or all puppies I have ever used.

However, every bug report helps and is important. And the things we hear in bug reports will be the things we test most carefully for in 5.1, so all of the bug reports are valuable. I wish I could fix every one the day I saw it, but even when I go to the bugzillas for Firefox or any other complicated software, I see bug reports that go back and have not been fixed yet.

IMHO the bugs for which we have fixes are not nasty enough bugs to run the risk of an update--and in my experience updating any operating system is a significant risk--when we get some more bug fixes it will be time for an incremental update, but I would ask for the short time to do something much more valuable in the long run.

And I just thought of it this way, Lucid puppy was released May 15, and has already had one very significant update. Having one update a month would be about what was expected in previous Puppies. We will probably fulfill that by having one more before we can deliver the substantial improvements of 5.1.

For the gxine bug I will spend the time this evening to prepare a pet of MPlayer--it is not a simple piece of software but I will give it a good shot. Thanks.
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I apologize. I should have thought of this sooner. It turns out I had done all the work getting it ready for 5.1.

So here are gnome-mplayer and mplayer. You neede to install both. Gnome-mplayer is a frontend for mplayer--gnome-mplayer has two problems we know about: 1) it does not do full screen properly, and 2) it does not do DVDs with Menus. Other than that it seems to work. On the plus side, it is drag and drop onto the desktop icon, or open the program and look for files of course. I haven't been testing on 5.0.1 but I just run through some quick tests and it played everything that the 5.1 version plays--which is everything I have tried.

http://www.diddywahdiddy.net/Puppy500/g ... -Lucid.pet
http://www.diddywahdiddy.net/Puppy500/m ... 1.0rc3.pet

I regard this as a hot fix for people who have been having trouble with gxine. But as I have said--no update is without some risk, so please back up everything important.

Oh yes, I think it will make Chromium 5 crash, so if you want to use both you should go to /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins and delete the 4 gecko-mediaplayer plugins.

Here is SMPlayer. It is much larger than gnome-mplayer and on luci-203 it plays full screen but not apparently on 5.0.1. It is also a front end for mplayer.

http://www.diddywahdiddy.net/Puppy500/s ... -Lucid.pet

Wonder if the problem could be related to the video drivers in some situations?

That sounds plausible to me, and indeed we have the video drivers already in much better shape for 5.1.

I'm all for a better multimedia player. Smile

Lobster makes the case that being drag and drop makes it better because it "just works" for the end user. Playing everything is a good sign too think


.

[James C]

FWIW, I'm running 2 frugal installs of 5.01 as well as the testing install (now 203) and I've had exactly zero Gxine crashes or lockups.But, I'm all for a better multimedia player.

Wonder if the problem could be related to the video drivers in some situations?

[Minnesota]

playdayz, 01micko, everyone:

Just a note to say.. it all takes time to debug and test programs.. I have been at this for over forty years. TRUST ME.. it takes time to do the job right. So THANKS to everyone involved.

KEEP UP THE GOOD Work; at your own time schedule.

Thanks!!