LxPup : a Puppy with LXDE as its desktop environment

[David Andrew]

1. Do NOT include wl.ko in /lib/modules OOTB.

Hi rcrsn51 - thanks for your comments - that probably is a good idea - I'll think about the best way to implement it - I'd like a prompt to appear at 1st boot to give people guidance on how to load the wl driver if they have Broadcom wifi.

I've created a wallpaper for this pup. A couple of others will follow soon

Hi David - thanks for your various wallpapers and your openbox themes - wallpapers are very personal taste items so I try to include in the iso a few simple ones that are not too big and are maybe not too exciting but also not too 'marmite' (translation: you either love it or hate it - marmite).

When I get around to it I'll add an LxPup Backgrounds page to http://lx-pup.weebly.com/eye-candy.html and include your backgrounds so that people can download them if they want to.

Cheers
peebee

I'm an artist, but wallpaper creation and design is admittedly not my forte. These are amongst my first attempts, so I agree. These are probably a bit too amateurish and cartoony for the average linux user.

In any case, glad the W8 themes are good enough to be included, (luckily not based on my own design.)

[peebee]

I wonder how many people try LxPup, cannot get their WiFi to work because of the Broadcom wl conflict, and abandon it. Here is a suggestion.

1. Do NOT include wl.ko in /lib/modules OOTB.

2. Make an installer for wl and put it in an on-board location like /opt/Broadcom.

3. Make a desktop shortcut that installs wl just for the users who want it.

Here is a pet to implement rcrsn51's suggestion.

It is for LxPupTahr pae version only - i.e. with kernel 3.14.20-pae

http://www.filepup.net/files/Tq0Ov1430060498.html

The pet deletes the wl.ko that currently comes in the iso and then tries to detect whether there is a Broadcom device on the system and if one is detected it puts an icon on the desktop which will activate the wl driver.

Recommendation for any testing is to do it on a pristine frugal install so as to not mess up your personal save space.

I would be interested to hear from people with Broadcom wifi as to whether it is detected and whether the desktop icon appears.

Conversely I'd be interested to hear from people without Broadcom wifi as to whether an icon appears when it shouldn't.

The detection test is to look for the word "broadcom" in the dmesg output so false detections may occur if you have broadcom devices that are not wifi.

If anybody knows of a better detection test please let me know.

A reboot is needed after activation, so this change would mean that any devices that need wl will not work from live cd - if anybody thinks this is a problem, let me know.

Cheers
peebee

[rcrsn51]

The pinstall.sh script needs to run "depmod -a" after deleting wl.ko. Otherwise, there continues to be a conflict for non-Broadcom machines.

[peebee]

The pinstall.sh script needs to run "depmod -a" after deleting wl.ko. Otherwise, there continues to be a conflict for non-Broadcom machines.

Ok - added, reuploaded, link above updated - of course the pinstall is only there for this test pet - if this approach is built into the iso then wl.ko won't be in /lib/modules... in the first place.

[rcrsn51]

The detection test is to look for the word "broadcom" in the dmesg output so false detections may occur if you have broadcom devices that are not wifi.

How about:

Code: Select all

lspci | grep "Network controller" | grep Broadcom

[peebee]

The detection test is to look for the word "broadcom" in the dmesg output so false detections may occur if you have broadcom devices that are not wifi.

How about:

Code: Select all

lspci | grep "Network controller" | grep Broadcom

usb wifi dongles??

[rcrsn51]

USB is not a problem. The wl module only applies to internal PCI devices.

Broadcom USB adapters would be using a different driver, probably ndiswrapper.

[peebee]

see later posts

[peebee]

Backgrounds page:

http://lx-pup.weebly.com/backgrounds.html

[johnywhy]

EXPERIMENTAL LxPup15.05 is available .

Possible to upgrade? Or do you recommend a fresh install?

Thx!

[peebee]

Possible to upgrade? Or do you recommend a fresh install?

Thx!

Haven't tried it but should upgrade ok from 15.03 or 15.04 - maybe backup your personal save area first?

[peebee]

LxPupVivid-15.05 is available to test:

http://lx-pup.weebly.com/upup-vivid.html

VividPup is at Beta2 status, so this LxPup version is similar.

As it's based on VividPup which has many extra applications compared to a traditional Pup - e.g. LibreOffice, Thunderbird, Gimp to name just a few, this is a BIG iso (c. 520MB).

The Broadcom wl wifi driver in this version has to be "activated" before use as recommended by rcrsn51.

Cheers
peebee

[Shep]

I have been using LxPupTahr for a couple of weeks. There are a few observations I can make that might be of interest to anyone considering using it.

A number of times after booting it has, in the lower right corner, 2 identical network icons and 2 identical HDD green cylinders. This seems to have no negative consequences, though it's a bit disconcerting.

The browser it comes with is Pale Moon, and some sites complain that it is not up to date and offer a Firefox update link. I much prefer an up to date Firefox browser so installed it.

The file manager does not allow me to rename a file and include a slash / in the new name. I'm accustomed to using this as an easy way to relocate files to new directories, but am stymied here. The file manager does not have a Delete option, just Move to Trash. A lot of times it says it can't move the file to trash and instead offers the Delete option. Three mouse clicks for every file deletion is a bit wearing!

After one boot there was a window already opened with retrovol, so I clicked to minimize it. A few hours later I was investigating why the system was so sluggish and I discovered that retrovol was responsible for about 40% CPU resources! I killed it and the system returned to its normal responsive behaviour.

Today after boot there was no sound volume control in the lower right of the screen. I wasn't concerned because I found the media player still worked. But I saw that CPU usage was frozen on 100%. Investigating, I found that retrovol was indeed running and using 40% CPU usage and making Mplayer use high CPU usage too. I killed retrovol and the system returned to normal.

These anomalies mean that I would not recommend this version for newbies or non-PC people who just need a platform to run a particular software.

For my purposes it is doing fine. I'd like to thank those involved in its development. But I'm looking forward to trying another puppy.

[peebee]

I have been using LxPupTahr for a couple of weeks. There are a few observations I can make that might be of interest to anyone considering using it.

A number of times after booting it has, in the lower right corner, 2 identical network icons and 2 identical HDD green cylinders. This seems to have no negative consequences, though it's a bit disconcerting.

The browser it comes with is Pale Moon, and some sites complain that it is not up to date and offer a Firefox update link. I much prefer an up to date Firefox browser so installed it.

The file manager does not allow me to rename a file and include a slash / in the new name. I'm accustomed to using this as an easy way to relocate files to new directories, but am stymied here. The file manager does not have a Delete option, just Move to Trash. A lot of times it says it can't move the file to trash and instead offers the Delete option. Three mouse clicks for every file deletion is a bit wearing!

After one boot there was a window already opened with retrovol, so I clicked to minimize it. A few hours later I was investigating why the system was so sluggish and I discovered that retrovol was responsible for about 40% CPU resources! I killed it and the system returned to its normal responsive behaviour.

Today after boot there was no sound volume control in the lower right of the screen. I wasn't concerned because I found the media player still worked. But I saw that CPU usage was frozen on 100%. Investigating, I found that retrovol was indeed running and using 40% CPU usage and making Mplayer use high CPU usage too. I killed retrovol and the system returned to normal.

These anomalies mean that I would not recommend this version for newbies or non-PC people who just need a platform to run a particular software.

For my purposes it is doing fine. I'd like to thank those involved in its development. But I'm looking forward to trying another puppy.

Hi Shep

What are the specs of the computer you are running?

The system tray icon anomalies you describe may be connected to the speed of your cpu....also have you been logging out to the terminal in any way (like ctrl-alt-delete) rather than through the session manager?

If you want extended delete commands please install the optional right-clicks package.

There are many ways to copy files pretty easily using PCManFM - but Rox is still there as well if you prefer to use that for some operations.

Don't fall at the first hurdle - persevere and investigate the features available and I'm sure you'll find acceptable solutions to your work flows.

Cheers
peebee

[Shep]

What are the specs of the computer you are running?

P4, 2.2GHZ, 1.5GB

The system tray icon anomalies you describe may be connected to the speed of your cpu....also have you been logging out to the terminal in any way (like ctrl-alt-delete) rather than through the session manager?

No, I click on powerdown. (Though it doesn't power the PC off.)

Thanks for your reply, peebee. You didn't address the retrovol process. Tonight after booting I found retrovol running and using 82% CPU.

[rcrsn51]

@Shep: This may be a situation where you need to start a new savefile and see if you can replicate the problem.

Once you start having several odd boot-up behaviours, it suggests some kind of corruption.

[peebee]

Thanks for your reply, peebee. You didn't address the retrovol process. Tonight after booting I found retrovol running and using 82% CPU.

The retrovol problem is connected to the system tray icons problem - they are both something to do with svg icons which need processing power to be activated - retrovol gets "stuck" during that process.

Although I've seen these problems in the past, I haven't seen them for a long time now and yours is the first report of such problems.

One thing I didn't ask - which version of LxPupTahr are you running? And are you installed frugally - with a savefolder or savefile? - or a full install?

If you could test with a frugal install with a clean pristine new save area as suggested by rcrsn51 that would be good.

Cheers
peebee

[Marv]

What are the specs of the computer you are running?

P4, 2.2GHZ, 1.5GB

The system tray icon anomalies you describe may be connected to the speed of your cpu....also have you been logging out to the terminal in any way (like ctrl-alt-delete) rather than through the session manager?

No, I click on powerdown. (Though it doesn't power the PC off.)

Thanks for your reply, peebee. You didn't address the retrovol process. Tonight after booting I found retrovol running and using 82% CPU.

On some of my slower laptops (Pentium M 1.2GHz based) I had problems with how Retrovol loaded into the panel and used resources in LxPupTahr.
If you are in the mood to experiment, I attach a pet of gvolwheel 0.7, the last GTK2 version, from slackware. It is what I currently use in the LxPupTahr I'm running. It is started from a .desktop in /root/.config/autostart (included in the pet) and the panel icons have been modified to be white (originals are also included in /usr/share/pixmaps/gvolwheel in the pet). I install this and disable Retrovol. Your mileage of course may vary.

[Shep]

One thing I didn't ask - which version of LxPupTahr are you running? And are you installed frugally - with a savefolder or savefile? - or a full install?

If you could test with a frugal install with a clean pristine new save area as suggested by rcrsn51 that would be good.

Cheers
peebee

I boot from the CD. 15.03pae it says on the screen.

It will be a few days before I can do any tests.

[caiosama]

Guys, where can i find the KDE sfs for the last Lxpup Tahr? or some MATE?

I searched here but is gone

http://lxpup.weebly.com/kde.html

This Pup runs flawlessly in an old Dell 630, installed with the last GetFlash, the last Palemoon. Great great.