Quirky Pyro64 version 0.6 (alpha) -- and Pyro32 0.5

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BarryK
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Re: 32bit uefi test

#101 Post by BarryK »

scsijon wrote:
BarryK wrote:
scsijon,
I think you mentioned that you have a PC with 32-bit UEFI, and 64-bit CPU.

The Pyro64 0.5 8GB image file has rEFInd, with both 32-bit and 64-bit bootloaders in it.

Would you mind writing that image to a 8GB stick and test if it boots on a 32-bit UEFI -- proper UEFI boot, not legacy-mode.
Sorry,

Tried, but it failed after the menu autostarted with:-

Quirky Linux - Booting OS

Starting vmlinuz
Using load options 'root-PARTUUID=fc67e7dd-02 rootwait rw'
Invalid loader file!
Error: Not Found while loading vmlinuz

"hit any key to continue"

and that was all it said,

And with a check the partuuid is correct so that is not the problem.
Tried adding qfix=nox etc and a few of your other tricks from the past, but of course as it can't find a usefull loader it just bombs.

Let me know if you have any ideas to try, i'll monitor this thread.

EDIT1: woke up with a thought to try, so tried copying the 32bit BOOTIA eufi file from sdb1 to sdb2/boot but no change, it's definately going to sdb2/boot though as it's picking that menu and not sdb1's. Also tried putting the partuuid in the sdb2/boot/ config file but that also did nothing. back to bed, mowing tomorrow the grass is too long.
I somehow thought that with the correct 32-bit rEFInd bootloader, it will handle a 64-bit Linux kernel. But, it seems not.

Maybe will have to create a pyro32, with 32-bit kernel. The 4.13.11 Linux kernel in Pyro32 0.5 is not suitable, as I configured it without EFI capability.

EDIT
Quoting from here:
https://mjg59.dreamwidth.org/26734.html
Things get irritatingly more complicated due to a quirk of UEFI. UEFI is based on executing code in native mode. That means that 32-bit UEFI systems can't execute 64-bit code in firmware, even if the CPU is capable of it. A 64-bit OS can only boot on 32-bit UEFI if it has very ugly compatibility hacks, including having to rewrite structures and register state every time it makes a UEFI call. The only OS I'm aware of that implements this is MacOS X. Having looked into what it'd take to implement it in Linux, I decided that hammering rusty nails through my feet would be a preferable use of time. Thankfully, I went drinking instead.
OK, tonight I will recompile the 32-bit Linux kernel with EFI enabled.
Then build another Pyro32.

EDIT2
There was something nagging at my memory about this. Found what that was:

https://lwn.net/Articles/589193/

https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/EFI_MIXED.html

I have to recompile the 64-bit kernel with CONFIG_EFI_MIXED enabled, then Pyro64 should boot on a 32-bit UEFI.

Right, will do.
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Re: 32bit uefi test

#102 Post by jamesbond »

BarryK wrote:There was something nagging at my memory about this. Found what that was:

https://lwn.net/Articles/589193/

https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/EFI_MIXED.html

I have to recompile the 64-bit kernel with CONFIG_EFI_MIXED enabled, then Pyro64 should boot on a 32-bit UEFI.

Right, will do.
For whatever it is worth. I did this about 6 months ago. I got one of those "mini pc" from Aldi, which has some "Trail" CPU (can't remember whether it is of the Bay-variety, or the Clover one, or whatever). It came with 2G RAM and 32GB SSD, which of course means 32-bit Windows and 32-bit EFI. I went through the same hoops to get Fatdog64 to run on it; and EFI_MIXED worked great. I had to disable secure boot though, because there is no 32-bit shim.

I didn't hold to that minipc for too long however, because the kernel I was using at that time didn't support sound; and the BIOS isn't exactly supportive of having anything else as default other than Windows. Plus, I figured out, with a couple of dollars more, gumtree offers me a **real** machine with 8GB RAM or more, and 250GB or more of disk, with i5 CPU instead of Atom has-beens. And that approach will win me Sage's approval too --- so that minipc quickly found its way back to Aldi.
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gcav
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Re: Taking it for a spin...

#103 Post by gcav »

gcav wrote:Hi @Barry,

fsck was not working for f2fs on reboot or demand so..

fsck.f2fs was missing from Easy's /bin. and
modified sbin/fscheck as:

#GC f2fs
if [ "${DEV1FS}" == "f2fs" ]; then
echo "hey..a f2fs.. cool cleaning.."
fsck.f2fs -a -f /dev/${PDEV1}
else
e2fsck -p -f /dev/${PDEV1}
fi
#GC f2fs

gcav
Ooops... Needs a static compiled fsck.f2fs and remove the -F to avoid a long volume fsck.

Sage
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#104 Post by Sage »

...BIOS isn't exactly supportive of having anything else as default ... will win me Sage's approval
Be careful invoking YT here, jb, I'm an outsider with no IT quals in my cupboard. Maybe pity me instead as the slightly bemused recipient of a gifted Zotac Zbox with same unfortunate characteristics as your Aldi monstrosity*.

*PS. The only way to deal with those things is to strip them, remove the HD/SSD, reformat & reload a proper OS using your ever-faithful doorstop. [All the series inter-converters are, fortunately, available from our Asian friends on the Web.]

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#105 Post by BarryK »

ally wrote:dd'd to a usb stick running on a lenovo thinkpad x230 (4xi5, 8Gb ram)

first thoughts on the theme wasn't good but it grew on quickly, like it!

sadly running was 'sluggish', selecting a program took a couple of seconds to load, seemed ok when loaded, every selection took too long

will try from a cd in case my usb is the cause
Yes, running a full installation of Linux from a USB stick, the performance is very much affected by the speed of the drive.

Some cheap USB pen drives are awful. Brands that I have bought locally that fall into that "awful" category are Emtec and Verbatim.

If you buy a cheap USB3 stick, even running it in a USB2 socket, you will get much better performance.

The speed difference can be startling, especially write speed. A good drive may be ten times that of a bottom-of-the-rung drive.

Here is a test I did, comparing cheap Emtec and Lexar USB2 drives from BigW:

http://bkhome.org/news/201707/emtec-vs- ... ticks.html

And a cheap USB3 drive:

http://bkhome.org/news/201707/innostor- ... ticks.html

...though, I don't recommend those Innostor Hub 8GB drives from Woolworths anymore. I bought two of them, and something has gone wrong with both of them, can't boot from them.

I also have a Innostor Hub 16GB drive from Woolworths, and that continues to work. However, only ever saw one for sale, which I bought, none after that.

I was in Woolies a few days ago, they don't have any of those Innostor Hub drives anymore.
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Re: Quirky Pyro64 version 0.5 (alpha), Oct 28, 2017

#106 Post by BarryK »

ETP wrote:2. The nouveau driver lacked hardware acceleration as did Easy Linux 0.5 pre-alpha, released Oct. 02, 2017 and requires
the items detailed in this post: http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... 820#969820
I have just been reading this:

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ha ... celeration

...can't say that I am any less confused :?
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gcav
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bitbake core-image-quirky

#107 Post by gcav »

Hi Barry...

While playing with your oe-quirky...
Seems like Peter released a new Bacon version, and this needs updating...

recipetool create -o bacon_3.6.bb http://www.basic-converter.org/stable/bacon-3.6.tar.gz

This seems to break the whole compile.

I am new to bitbake so I'm learning who this whole thing works..
Just thought to let you know...

Thanks,
gcav

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Re: Taking it for a spin...

#108 Post by BarryK »

gcav wrote:Hi Barry,
Thanks for this latest release. I am testing it, and will probably migrate to if from slaq64...

I miss Quirky's F2FS boot and the speediness of it. This is by far
the fastest distro I have tested. TBH ext4 does not work nicely on a flash drive. Will F2FS be avaliable on -esp- syslinux boot?
Note that Quirky/Easy is using ext4 without-journal, to minimize writes to the flash.
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#109 Post by BarryK »

Keef wrote:BarryK

This is what I get:

Code: Select all

2.9G personal storage, free space 2.8G
The actual partition has about 73G free. This is with the frugal install (full install wouldn't boot up). The devx pet expands to just over 2gb.
With Quirky, the live-CD and frugal install run totally in RAM, in a "zram".

So, it doesn't matter how much hard drive space you have, you need to have enough free space in the RAM to install the devx pet.

Installation requires more space than the final installed space of the pet. The install script estimates how much space will be required based on the size of the pet, and this errs a bit over what will actually be needed.

If you have a PC with 4GB RAM you would be ok. Otherwise, you will have to do a full install.

There is a report about the installer full-install being broken. I plan to test that tonight.
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#110 Post by BarryK »

technosaurus wrote:
You need only set TCLIBC = "musl" to enable building musl instead of glibc.
IIRC, Barry did an open embedded build with musl libc, but I cannot seem to find those results. Were they just discarded?
Must have been discarded.
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#111 Post by BarryK »

Keef wrote:Not had any luck with a full install though. Tried it with the installer script, and later using the universal installer from the frugal install. Booting with Grub4dos with the generated menu entry. It finds the kernel then hangs.
I have tested a full install, from a live-CD, it works.

Perhaps I know what your problem is. The Linux kernel has a bug. In menu.lst in GRUB, there is a line like this:

kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=PARTUUID=${DISKUUID}-${TARGETNUM} rootwait rw

That $DISKUUID is got from running "fdisk -l /dev/<drivename>".

Years ago, when this "PARTUUID" boot mechanism was introduced, it had a bug, it would not accept a partition number ($TARGETNUM) greater than "09".

I never reported this, as I thought it is such an obvious bug, it will get fixed. But, perhaps it hasn't been?

The installer script also has a bug: the "popup" utility, which gives reports of progress, like "Please wait...", segfaults. So, although the installer works, you don't get those progress messages.

popup is written in BaCon. BaCon is proving to be an ongoing problem. Well, I will take a look at it.
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Keef
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#112 Post by Keef »

BarryK

Yes that looks exactly like the cause. I originally installed it to sda10, but when I re-installed to a lower numbered partition it booted successfully.

Also,
As you noticed previously, the nouveau driver works for me on Pyro64, but with the 32 bit version I can only use Vesa.

VGA controller [0300]: NVIDIA Corporation G84M [GeForce 8600M GT] [10de:0407] (rev a1)

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Re: Quirky Pyro64 version 0.5

#113 Post by BarryK »

L18L wrote:Installed to 8GB USB pendrive
4install-quirky-to-drive-mbr running from Easy succeded.
4install-quirky-to-drive-mbr running from Fatdog failed.
Reason:

Code: Select all

SIZEBYTES=`echo "$FDISKINFO" | grep '^Disk /dev' | cut -f 5 -d ' '` #141104
no value because there was no Disk but Festplatte.
Suggest:

Code: Select all

SIZEBYTES=`echo "$FDISKINFO" | grep -m 1 "/dev/${TARGETDRIVE}" | cut -f 5 -d ' '` #141104
to avoid language dependance.
Thanks for that, fixed.
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#114 Post by Sage »

the nouveau driver works for me on Pyro64, but with the 32 bit version I can only use Vesa.
The Radeon driver is automatically offered & works OK in Pyro32. Change your video card?

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Re: bitbake core-image-quirky

#115 Post by BarryK »

gcav wrote:Hi Barry...

While playing with your oe-quirky...
Seems like Peter released a new Bacon version, and this needs updating...

recipetool create -o bacon_3.6.bb http://www.basic-converter.org/stable/bacon-3.6.tar.gz

This seems to break the whole compile.

I am new to bitbake so I'm learning who this whole thing works..
Just thought to let you know...

Thanks,
gcav
Unfortunately, the version that I used in OE, 3.5.4 I think, has problems also.

I posted to the BaCon forum yesterday about a problem with hug.so

But, testing the Universal Installer, found that the 'popup' utility segfaults. Using the "process=wait" option causes a segfault, for example:

Code: Select all

# popup "terminate=ok process=wait|this is a test message"
I did a test, compiled popup in Pyro64, using BaCon 3.0.2, and popup does not segfault.

That's annoying. ideally I should try and find why it is crashing, but a quick fix might be to roll BaCon back to 2.0.3 (released 2015, used in Quirky April64) in OE.
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Re: mimeinfo.cache needed for mypaint

#116 Post by BarryK »

don570 wrote:I discovered why mypaint 's external applications list doesn't form in Barry's Distros
as explained HERE and see image below..


It's because the file 'mimeinfo.cache' is needed to be placed in
/usr/bin/applications/

among the desktop files.

Mypaint uses that info to form a list. Other linux distros apparently have that file as explained here

I wonder could you run update-desktop-database when a new pet package is installed.

___________________________________
Thanks for the info.

That mime cache file is now generated when the distro is built, and updated when a package is installed.

EDIT
As a temporary fix, for the purposes of building the next releases of Pyro64 and Pyro32, I have created PET package 'z-popup', just with the popup utility, compiled with bacon 3.0.2.
Last edited by BarryK on Thu 09 Nov 2017, 08:25, edited 1 time in total.
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#117 Post by BarryK »

Keef wrote:BarryK

Yes that looks exactly like the cause. I originally installed it to sda10, but when I re-installed to a lower numbered partition it booted successfully.
Another thing, as L18L reported, the installer misbehaves for a non-English locale (LANG variable). I have fixed that.
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#118 Post by BarryK »

BarryK wrote:
Keef wrote:Not had any luck with a full install though. Tried it with the installer script, and later using the universal installer from the frugal install. Booting with Grub4dos with the generated menu entry. It finds the kernel then hangs.
I have tested a full install, from a live-CD, it works.

Perhaps I know what your problem is. The Linux kernel has a bug. In menu.lst in GRUB, there is a line like this:

kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=PARTUUID=${DISKUUID}-${TARGETNUM} rootwait rw

That $DISKUUID is got from running "fdisk -l /dev/<drivename>".

Years ago, when this "PARTUUID" boot mechanism was introduced, it had a bug, it would not accept a partition number ($TARGETNUM) greater than "09".
I contacted Stephen Warren, one of the kernel developers, his reply:
For the partition number, are you using a value that's encoded in decimal or hexadecimal? Put another way, the partition numbers are 01, 02, ..., 09, 0a, ..., 0f, 10, 11, ...

From a comment in the kernel:

* Convert a name into device number. We accept the following variants:

...

* 6) PARTUUID=00112233-4455-6677-8899-AABBCCDDEEFF representing the
* unique id of a partition if the partition table provides it.
* The UUID may be either an EFI/GPT UUID, or refer to an MSDOS
* partition using the format SSSSSSSS-PP, where SSSSSSSS is a zero-
* filled hex representation of the 32-bit "NT disk signature", and PP
* is a zero-filled hex representation of the 1-based partition number.
* 7) PARTUUID=<UUID>/PARTNROFF=<int> to select a partition in relation to
* a partition with a known unique id.


I have validated that the code that parses the MSDOS/MBR partition tables does assign names using hex not decimal, and the values are compared as strings, and so the code is consistent with the documentation, so I believe this should be working fine.
Hex numbers! :lol:

OK, I will modify the installer to fix this.

How can I do a decimal to hex conversion in a script? The busybox printf applet can probably do it. Off the top of my head, can't think how.

EDIT
here is one way, using busybox dc applet, converting decimal 10:

# dc 10 16 o p
a

And using printf:

# printf "%x" 10
a#
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#119 Post by jamesbond »

Sage wrote:
...BIOS isn't exactly supportive of having anything else as default ... will win me Sage's approval
Be careful invoking YT here, jb, I'm an outsider with no IT quals in my cupboard.
Lol :lol: What I mean is - you would agree that it is better for me to find a hand-me-down computer from gumtree which is better in every sense of the word, rather than a new, but crippled, and much less powerful Aldi PC.
Maybe pity me instead as the slightly bemused recipient of a gifted Zotac Zbox with same unfortunate characteristics as your Aldi monstrosity*.
Well if it is a gift it's worth fighting for :D
*PS. The only way to deal with those things is to strip them, remove the HD/SSD, reformat & reload a proper OS using your ever-faithful doorstop. [All the series inter-converters are, fortunately, available from our Asian friends on the Web.]
That wouldn't be necessary, not yet. It was possible to boot Fatdog from that contraption. And I persisted I think I would be able to coax it to install to internal SSD, but taking over from Win$ instead of dual-booting. But since the wifi was horrible (wasn't supported by kernel 4.4.x - had to resort to a hack), and there was no HDMI sound (as so many has pointed out - the drivers wasn't ready back then). and especially because I was in "decision mode", I decided to do none of that - Aldi won't be too happy if the the boot logo is a dog instead of a square :twisted:

The one from gumtree (an 5-year old HP) on the other hand, works straightaway from first boot. And it came with a Full HD monitor too, so that was very nice to work with (no need to share the screen with the kids' TV).

Anyway, I'm digressing. Sorry Barry, I've been away from the forum for a while - just felt the need to socialise a bit. Ok, back to topic :)
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#120 Post by BarryK »

jamesbond wrote:The one from gumtree (an 5-year old HP) on the other hand, works straightaway from first boot. And it came with a Full HD monitor too, so that was very nice to work with (no need to share the screen with the kids' TV).
Ha ha, I also bought a PC via Gumtree!

A few months ago. It is a home-made gaming machine, bits and pieces put together. HP motherboard, with UEFI firmware, no USB3 (I bought a USB3 PCIe card), 16GB RAM, i5 CPU, NVIDIA card (Intel onboard video).

It's great!
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