(old)Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

This is an Acer Aspire E15 Win10 laptop with 4GB RAM and a puny Celeron N2830 CPU. The Windows was pretty slow, but I wanted to save it and dual boot with the Starter Kit. This meant keeping the UEFI/GPT configuration. The primary boot would be from a Linux EFI which could optionally chainload the Windows EFI.

1. The crucial first step in Windows is to disable hibernation. This ensures that the machine completely shuts down at the end of a session and there are no side-effects with Linux. Read here.

2. From Windows, back-door into the UEFI setup and disable Secure Boot. This machine has a quirk - you need to set a supervisor password before you can modify Secure Boot. Then you can set the boot device order and boot off a UEFI flash drive.

3. Run Gparted and shrink the main Windows partition by 10-20GB. Make a Linux partition in the new space.

4. Run the Stretch-Live-Frugal-Installer and install the Starter Kit into the new partition. Translate its GRUB menu entry into GRUB2 syntax.

5. Now for the UEFI bootloader. Identify the FAT32 EFI System Partition (ESP) used by Windows. Rename its EFI folder as WIN-EFI. Copy the Linux EFI folder off the flash drive.

6. Build a grub.cfg file using the code from Step 4. For Windows, add an entry like:

How to make a squashfs module for Youtube-DLG

Note: These instructions are for the 64bit Buster Starter Kit ONLY.

1. Read here for details.

2. Download the Ubuntu .deb package from here.

3. Set up a CleanMode environment.

4a. Start a third-party build: repo2sfs youtube-dlg_0.4-1~webupd8~bionic9_all.deb
4b. Include the Extra package: python-twodict
4c. At Pause B, go to /tmp/repo2sfs. Drill down to usr/lib/wx/python.
4d. Open a terminal and type: ln -sf wx3.0.pth wx.pth

5. Finish the build. Look for Youtube-DLG in the Internet menu.

Hint: Download files using a generic format like mp4[360p]. These will play nicely in PeasyMP3.

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CPUtemp updated here.

How to make a squashfs module for FocusWriter

FocusWriter is a Qt app. Start in a CleanMode setup so you get all the dependencies.

This is a regular repo2sfs build. Use Package name: focuswriter.

For spellchecking, include a dictionary package on the Extras line, like: hunspell-en-ca.

To change some default properties like the font, look under Settings > Themes.

How to make a squashfs module for SMPlayer

The Debian repos have SMPlayer, so you can do a regular repo2sfs build. But if you want the latest version, go to the SMPlayer website, get a .deb package and do a third-party build instead. If you also want some optional packages like smplayer-themes or smplayer-skins, you need a work-around:
1. Go to the Debian repos and download the packages. Do NOT install them!
2. Start the build. At Pause A, drop the files into /var/cache/apt/archives.
3. Finish the build.

How to make a squashfs module for wxMaxima

wxMaxima is a GUI front-end for the open-source Maxima symbolic math system. It is in the Debian repos, so you can do a standard repo2sfs build.

Use the Package name: wxmaxima
And the Extra package: gnuplot-x11

At Pause B, go to /tmp/repo2sfs and make two changes:

1. Go into usr/share and delete the mime folder.
2. Go into usr/bin, open a terminal and type: ln -sf gnuplot-x11 gnuplot

Finish the build. Look for wxMaxima in the Education menu.

When the program starts, it pops-up a Hints window that may be hiding behind the main screen. You must close it first.

See below.

rcrsn51 wrote:Here is a little stand-alone app that converts MP3 files to WAV format (or vice versa).

Works a treat in my DebDog mklive spin (just a quick test); converted an 8.3 Mb/192 kbps mp3 into ---> a 61 Mb wav file incredibly fast (3 seconds or less!). Didn't even have time to catch/read/follow any of the terminal info... Of course, converting the other direction (wav ---> 128 kbps mp3) took longer, but not much (about 6-7 seconds).

I see one can change the default destination directory @ line 46, and choose the mp3 bitrate using the -b flag (replacing -h) @ line 14 (those changes worked for me, anyway...).

Neat little tool - thanks, rcrsn51!

Bob

Thanks for testing. Regarding the defaults: I considered handling them with a config file, but it didn't feel like it was worth the trouble.

Audio Converter

This little app converts audio files between MP3, OGG, FLAC and WAV formats. The dependencies are lame, vorbis-tools and flac.

It primarily works with single files. But if you paste in the path of a folder, it will batch-process all the audio files inside.

Update: V1.3 has several new features.

1. A Config button that uses the file ~/.audio-converter. For example, use it to change the quality of MP3 encoding. Set: 2. Convert MP3-MP3. This lets you recode an existing MP3 at lower quality and smaller filesize.

3. Extract the audio track from an MP4 video file and save as an MP3. This uses ffmpeg, which you MUST provide separately.
Hint: Make a squashfs module of ffmpeg that you can load on-demand.

4. Convert WebM audio files to MP3, using ffmpeg.

5. Support for the FLAC codec. You can do FLAC-WAV, WAV-FLAC or FLAC-MP3.

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How to use a modem in the Starter Kit

This is a simple dialing program that runs wvdial in a terminal window. It has been tested successfully with a USB analog modem and should also work with cellular modems. The dependencies are wvdial and usb-modeswitch.

If your modem initially presents itself as an optical or USB device, it should be automatically converted into a modem by usb-modeswitch. If necessary, unplug/replug it.

Run: wvdialconf
This creates an initial config file /etc/wvdial.conf.
Edit /etc/wvdial.conf and insert your connection data.

Run PeasyDial from the Internet menu.
Wait for "--> local IP address aaa.bbb.cc.dd".

Leave the terminal window open or minimized. When done, end the connection by typing Ctrl-C. Press Enter to close the window.

As a quick test, run: busybox ping -c5 www.google.com

Netsurf is an excellent light-weight browser for working over dial-up. Use repo2sfs to build a squashfs module from the Stretch repos.

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This is an old Thinkpad T61 laptop. It has a 1.8 GHz Core2Duo CPU, 3GB RAM, Intel Mobile GM965 graphics and Intel WiFi.

Everything works except for the Conexant modem. It has enough power to run Youtube video at 720p.

This is a refurbished unit with a clean install of Win7 that I wanted to keep for a while. So I split off a Linux partition sda3, did a frugal install, put Legacy GRUB on sda3's PBS and flagged sda3 as bootable. Windows boots from the GRUB menu on sda3 by chainloading.

As a test, I reduced the RAM to 1GB. It still runs OK.

How to make a squashfs module for Osmo 0.2.14

This is a standard repo2sfs build. But if you want spellchecking, you must include an Extra package like: hunspell-en-ca.

People who use Osmo regularly might want to auto-start it at bootup.

1. Copy the squashfs module into the "live" folder of your frugal setup. Or just do a regular apt-get install of Osmo.
2. Run: ln -sf /usr/bin/osmo /root/Startup/osmo
3. Under Preferences > General > System Tray, select Start Minimized.

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This is an old DOS game running through a squashfs module of DOSBox. Since I no longer own any gameport hardware, it's keyboard-control only. But it may be possible to emulate a USB joystick as a gameport device under DOS.

Updated 2019-10-13.

I have updated the combo package of additional WiFi drivers to include the Realtek USB 8811cu/8821cu.

Read here.

Here is a set of 64bit SANE scanner backends.

Note: You CANNOT install these package with apt because they overwrite existing files.
a. Download and extract the debbi tool below. Copy it to /usr/local/bin.
b. Run, for example: debbi sane-backend-pixma_1.0.28_amd64.deb

Pixma: The updated scanner driver for Canon Pixma printers. It is from SANE v1.0.28 and supports new models like the TS series.

Xerox_mfp: An open-source substitute for the Samsung vendor scanner driver and others.

Genesys: The SANE v1.0.28 driver for the Canon LiDE series of scanners. Download it here.

Epkowa: The original Epson driver from the vendor's Debian package. Epson appears to have discontinued epkowa in favour of a more complicated scanning system. But epkowa still works for me.

If you have a newer model that is not detected by epkowa:
a. Run lsusb to get its vendor:product ID codes
b. Go to /etc/sane.d and open the file epkowa.conf
c. At line 25, add a line like: usb 0x04b8 0x1114

You may have conflicts between epkowa and the older epson/epson2 drivers.
Open /etc/sane.d/dll.conf and comment out the ones you don't want.

To set up scanning to a networked Epson unit, use the epkowa.conf file and a "net" entry.

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This is a tray applet that runs the vnstat network traffic monitor. The dependency is vnstat.

The default interface is eth0. Look in /etc/vnstat.conf to change various settings.

If anyone wants the 32bit version, post a request.

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How to build a squashfs module for Blender

This is a routine (but large) build using repo2sfs.

However, it needs (naturally) mesa accelerated graphics, which you can load from a separate module.

It also appears to want jack audio, but starts without it.

rcrsn51 wrote:This is a tray applet that runs the vnstat network monitor. The dependency is vnstat.

The default interface is eth0. Look in /etc/vnstat.conf to change various settings.

If anyone wants the 32bit version, post a request.

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I installed this and then rebooted.

Should I be seeing a tray app?

I looked in the task manager and there is a "vnstatd" task running. Running "vnstat" from terminal works.

Am I missing something?

Running DD Stretch with systemd and slim enabled. Internet connection is eth0.