(old)Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

Hope it does the job Ted Dog...
I'm keen to hear any feedback - there are lots of refinements I plan to work on, but at least it's working reasonably well so far. (Could do with a prettier background and icon set )

Looking great so far, have a few mini-dvds burned to give out. Hope for some feedback as well. I like the fact its an overlay on regular puppylinux.

I keep tripping up on the lock desktop icon when I close a window. So would like to move that icon.

major issues with CD-less notebook ati is at 640x480 and attempts to change cause hard reset. can't lug the 'beast' main computer up to appt.
is there a pet of this try a newer version of puppylinux. How
do
I turn
off this
to make other changes

Sorry - no pet for this - it is manually assembled. Unfortunately I dont have any PCs using ATI video cards so it will be tricky to improve this. I will see if I can get access to some other machines. Are you able to give me some more clues about the model of netbook? thx.

kill -9 everything related to switchpup then I was able to use the xorgwizard without hard reset issue, to correct this. Works nicely now but still have odd interference. Like the random jumping of this textbox cursor to different lines.
If I could get with you on what

/ how this is done would like to try making this f64or 64 bit.

Hi Ted Dog,
I should really write up a changelog to identify the steps I took to set up switchpup so far. That way you could see what you might want to transport across to 64bit. I will start working on a list.

With regard to the netbook problems can I ask you some questions?
1) Are you using the Radarfirstrun iso or the Autostart iso? (I recommend you try both so we can compare the outcomes)
2) Are you testing this from a frugal install or do you have access to an external CD drive to boot direct fom CD? (My netbook sometimes has video setup failures when booting from HDD but not from CD for some reason)
3) Any chance of you trying Precise 5.6.1 (which is what this puplet is based on) to help work out if the problem is something I have introduced?
thanks in advance for any testing you can do...

.
Also - I have noticed that the video selection seems to be affected by the file "pupdesk.flg" being present on the first partition.

This file seems to be created during the "quicksetup firstrun" process and I find my netbook boots better if I delete that file (it seems perfectly safe to do so...)

Could you check whether or not you see that file sitting on your first partition after booting and try deleting it to see if it makes the next boot more successful please?

pupdesk.flg is a flag file in much the same way as fsckme.flg is a flag file - their purpose is to ensure that certain activities occur during the next boot. When I view the content of pupdesk.flg it seems to contain information relevant to the video driver.

I am working on understanding why this is happening and the best way around it. It might be unrelated to your boot problem but who knows - there may be some connection.

FEEDBACK from DR.s
1) the hardware/software solutions are very pricy
2) They are experimenting with tablets and speaking software.
3) The single switch control is the only way to communicate for those what use it. Speech is generally lost and the most necessary function for the single switch users.

Was directed to seek-out speech / communication therapist and given some others who could benefit contact information.

Gave out a few copies of both switchpup (demo-ed) and MouseCamv6.

Will be meeting with others (disabled and those who care for them) later in the week to show off the software again.

greengeek wrote:Hi Ted Dog,
I should really write up a changelog to identify the steps I took to set up switchpup so far. That way you could see what you might want to transport across to 64bit. I will start working on a list.

With regard to the netbook problems can I ask you some questions?
1) Are you using the Radarfirstrun iso or the Autostart iso? (I recommend you try both so we can compare the outcomes)
2) Are you testing this from a frugal install or do you have access to an external CD drive to boot direct fom CD? (My netbook sometimes has video setup failures when booting from HDD but not from CD for some reason)
3) Any chance of you trying Precise 5.6.1 (which is what this puplet is based on) to help work out if the problem is something I have introduced?
thanks in advance for any testing you can do...

A1) radarfirstrun (did not try other)
A2) netbook w/o CD for made flashdrive install (booting using ComboFormat flashdrive with FAT32)
A3) Yes Precise 5.6.1 had like issues with ATI so, choose modesetting, but some how those scripts died if radar was not stopped before leaving X windows. In unmodified Precise5.61 the choosing of video mode would not die until exited normally

Once worked around the reboot with save back to flash working, all OK as it did on my other desktop box.

Added a new version of radar-firstrun to first post on first page. Removed problematic "screenlock" icon and made some other changes that I consider make it more reliable/usable.

Added new version of the Autostart switchpup to 3rd post on first page. Fixes failure of second boot due to pupdesk.flg being incorrectly set. Couple of other fixes too.
Probably the last version for a while till feedback suggests any other required changes.

Thanks, will be burning those to dvds to give out. But will not be able to test much as I am getting ready to leave to demo this again to a new group and still need to get a treat to share from the store.

Hi greengeek,

I finally got around to testing verion 4 which I downloaded some time ago and was going to report when I discovered you were now on version 8. So I downloaded, unpacked and attempted to boot into it. "Fresh install": No SaveFile. Booting appears to do everything until, rather than displaying a desktop, it ends with a black screen except for a white "underline" in the top left corner. I checked the mdsum and it's correct, so it wasn't a bad download. This didn't happen with version 4. I'm currently downloading version 7 to compare.

Relevant facts about my system:
Processor: 4x AMD Phenom(tm) II X4 945 Processor
Memory: 3375MB
ATI Radeon 3100 Graphics supporting 1600x900 pixels

mikesLr

mikeslr wrote:Hi greengeek,

I finally got around to testing verion 4 which I downloaded some time ago and was going to report when I discovered you were now on version 8. So I downloaded, unpacked and attempted to boot into it. "Fresh install": No SaveFile. Booting appears to do everything until, rather than displaying a desktop, it ends with a black screen except for a white "underline" in the top left corner. I checked the mdsum and it's correct, so it wasn't a bad download. This didn't happen with version 4. I'm currently downloading version 7 to compare.

Relevant facts about my system:
Processor: 4x AMD Phenom(tm) II X4 945 Processor
Memory: 3375MB
ATI Radeon 3100 Graphics supporting 1600x900 pixels

mikesLr

Opps, I guess its good no one left with a copy. Got some volunteers to test and provide feed back...

Thank you both for testing. I am wondering if some of the boot problems are related to the "pupdesk.flg" issue that I mentioned. BK has been experimenting with writing the pupdesk.flg file to the first (home) partition during the init and boot process and I have found that some recent versions of puppy leave this flag file sitting on the home partition and it mucks up the X server on next boot.

There has been some consternation that such a file would be left on the HDD, and that it could then affect subsequent boots - even the booting of a live CD using pfix=ram.

I did not realise this behaviour was present when I made my earlier versions of switchpup so it is likely that booting with an earlier switchpup may leave a "pupdesk.flg" file on the first partition. I have modified the firstrun008 and the Autostart005 versions so that they do not leave the pupdesk.flg lying around. HOWEVER, they may still be affected by any pupdesk.flg that happens to still be there from booting other versions of Precise or switchpup.

I have more work to do on this as it is very disturbing behaviour. I found various links that offer some detail about this, but this is probably the most succinct:
http://bkhome.org/blog2/?viewDetailed=00238

I do need to change the /usr/sbin/quicksetup script so that it is immune to the presence of pupdesk.flg, but I need to understand this issue further before I do any more tinkering.

In the meantime can I suggest that anyone having any issues check their partitions and rename or remove any and every pupdesk.flg file they find? (Bearing in mind that you may have some other installation that DOES use the pupdesk.flg in the way BK originally intended...). Please use caution. Personally, I think that it is perfectly safe to remove these flag files.

ALSO - in case there are other issues affecting the boot into X server I am very keen to know which machines work and which ones don't. I have done a lot of testing on 3 machines and they all work perfectly using firstrun008 and the Autostart005 so I am hopeful that a significant percentage of trial machines will also be fine.

mike - I think I can see the cause of your problem - you have 3GB of ram, which is clearly far too much. Can I suggest that you remove at least half and send it downunder so that I can test it at length for the next year or so?

Hi greengeek,

As visiting New Zealand is on my bucket list, if you'll mail me a ticket I'll be glad to hand-deliver lots of RAM.
I'd add a "smiley-face" but for some reason --current opera?-- they don't work right.
The specs are of my desktop which doesn't make me wait impatiently when I tinker with something. After building anything, I transport it to my Thinkpad T42 to give it a real test.
I'll hunt for the "pupdesk.flg" file.

mikesLr

Done.
Gotta love google images - it makes international travel so easy...

Hi greengeek,

I apologize that I can not deliver the promised commodity as quickly. My staff seems confused about the assembling requirements.

mikesLr

P.S. Couldn't find a pupdesk.flg on any partition. Booted without difficulty into version 7. Am posting from it now via frisbee. SNS saw but failed to connect to my network. Not an unusual occurrence.

Thats definitely a whole lot of ram, but Oh deer, Oh deer, Oh deer! They obviously didnt follow the insertion instructions correctly...


ps, I don't think the ram is new...looks a bit ewesed to me

LOL that is one confused Ram, his 'junk' is not even close to where it needs to be.