EasyOS version 2.3.2, June 22, 2020

[don570]

Maybe the user could make a choice about basic keyboard layout, such as azerty, qwerty or qwertz, then enter the password.

This makes sense to me.

Apparently there is a large number of dvorak keyboard layouts, however
anybody who can use a dvorak keyboard layout can use azerty, qwerty or qwertz.
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[lp-dolittle]

@ Barry,

in order to spare you complex modifications of the EasyOS setup, I'm thinking of a pragmatic alternative. In fact, a simple alerting notification might do.

I imagine an obvious hint which points out that the initial password-setting follows the US-keyboard layout and that users of other keyboards, in view of ensuing boots, strictly should remember the SEQUENCE of the keys, including the SHIFT- and ALT-combinations, which were hit when the encryption password was set. This way, everybody later can feel free to 'translate' the password according to any currently used keyboard's layout.

At the same time, I again would like to mention that the XKB Configuration Manager's 'third level chooser'-option might be a source of confusion, as for the EasyOS container-specific ALT+F6 command.

kind regards

[don570]

If the password was a seven digit number i.e. the user's telephone number
then it wouldn't matter if azerty, qwerty or qwertz.
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Or maybe six numbers (or eight) --> the person's birthday

08/18/18

08/18/2018
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[Cu Chulinux]

I installed Easy 0.9.6 to USB and it worked fine.

I upgraded my hd install of Easy and for the second upgrade in a row it did not cleanly boot. It refused to boot to X. Boots to console fine, I ran xorgwizard and tried a number of options but still no X screen.

I tried renaming the .sessions dir and rebooting to a pristine install - still no joy. This time it booted to a gui but with a solid grey background and three choices in window menu: xterm, reboot, and exit I think. Looked a lot like the old twm or maybe fvwm. There was a panel on the bottom but no menu there.

I also installed Quirky 8.6. It works well as long as I don't change the display DPM. If I do that the screen will freeze after a few minutes.

[rufwoof]

EasyPyro 0.9.6

Would be nice to have user rover set as a member of the audio group by default

Code: Select all

adduser rover audio

Also extend /usr/bin/seamonkey to include rover in addition to spot i.e. changing the code snippet ....

Code: Select all

NAMEOFUSER="$(id -n -u)"                                                        
if [ "$NAMEOFUSER" == "spot" ];then                                             
 HOMEDIR="/root/spot/.mozilla/seamonkey"                                        
 NAMEEXE='seamonkey.bin'                                                        
else #called as seamonkey or mozilla...                                         
 HOMEDIR="/root/.mozilla/seamonkey"                                             
 NAMEEXE='seamonkey'                                                            
fi

to

Code: Select all

if [ "$NAMEOFUSER" == "spot" ];then                                             
 HOMEDIR="/root/spot/.mozilla/seamonkey"                                        
 NAMEEXE='seamonkey.bin'   
else
 if [ "$NAMEOFUSER" == "rover" ];then                                             
  HOMEDIR="/home/rover/.mozilla/seamonkey"                                        
  NAMEEXE='seamonkey'   
 else #called as seamonkey or mozilla...                                         
  HOMEDIR="/root/.mozilla/seamonkey"                                             
  NAMEEXE='seamonkey'                                                            
 fi
fi

As that eliminates the long delayed orange coloured message box and sets things up correctly for rover.

Having a /home/rover/.profile that

Code: Select all

export DISPLAY=:0

would also help.

With the above, starting the desktop and running the container console (icon near the top/middle of screen) ... to open a containered root cli, and then

Code: Select all

su - rover

so as to invoke rover cli (dash is important as that ensures rovers profile is run) ... and then running

Code: Select all

seamonkey

... has seamonkey start with sound enabled (rover being a member of audio group as above) i.e. running seamonkey in a container as a restricted userid with very low levels of permissions/authority (running capsh --print as rover in the sh0 (console) container shows a empty 'Current=' set of authorities )

I've noticed that if you open up the easy version control (under the Filesystem menu) and select the sh0 drop down option in the bottom "Containers" section, then even with a 'empty' selection (no snapshots having been created), clicking Rollback clears out the browser session so its back to a nice clean version again. Otherwise even if you rollback the main 0.9.6 and reboot, former browser stuff under sh0 container still persists from earlier usage.

[rufwoof]

As above (running container console and seamonkey), but changing it to use xephyr rather than xorg (Filesystem, easy container manager, selecting the sh0 dropdown and Edit to set EC_XSERVER='xephyr') and when you start the console container you get a black screen/desktop with just the console/terminal window. After starting seamonkey however you can ctrl-alt-F6 and see both the normal xorg X session with the console and seamonkey tray/taskbar entries.

Given that X is notoriously weak, potentially with a dark-hat able to see all other windows/key strokes, I assume that running under xephyr instead of xorg adds that bit extra protection ??? Raises the bar higher

[rufwoof]

Default (new) setup and the Main session desktop wallpaper looks fine. If I open the desk container however then the wallpaper looks wrong.

[rufwoof]

Had yet another case of the MMC/SD no longer booting - as though the flashstick/card had been overused/spent. Re-dd'ing and it works OK again.

Starting to suspect that it could be containers not closing down fully resulting in some file corruption such that a fsck is needed.

Seen one other (can't recall who) hereabouts who seemed to be encountering a similar problem so it could be a obscure bug.

[BarryK]

Due to popular demand (well, two people, in the last few months), here is a 32-bit Pyro EasyOS, version 0.9.6:

http://bkhome.org/news/201808/easyos-32 ... n-096.html

Need an i686 CPU and has 4GB RAM limit -- the PC can have more, but the extra won't be recognized.

[Cu Chulinux]

I got Easy 0.9.6 to work on HD. I had to start from fresh and boot to commandline and then rename /etc/11/xorg.conf.d/20-Intel-sna.confDISABLED to remove the "DISABLED". Then I could boot to X. Running xorgwizard didn't work and this laptop doesn't seem to like modesetting anymore. Initial bootups without making the change just went to a black screen with a cursor in the top left corner.

Problem is I have to re-setup everything all over again every time I upgrade, including manually setting sound in containers.

[slavvo67]

BarryK:

While I've gotten away from 32bit distro's, I like the idea of supporting them. I actually have quite a few old, old computers that are 32bit only!

Going to play with this one a bit and maybe enhance or add to the software. Which WoofQ did you use to build it?

Update: Just tried it. Welcome back "Green Screen!" Missed you! Noticed DEVX is 0.6.1. Still okay to use or is there a newer one required? I know usually the older are okay.

Thanks,

Slavvo67

[BarryK]

BarryK:

While I've gotten away from 32bit distro's, I like the idea of supporting them. I actually have quite a few old, old computers that are 32bit only!

Going to play with this one a bit and maybe enhance or add to the software. Which WoofQ did you use to build it?

Update: Just tried it. Welcome back "Green Screen!" Missed you! Noticed DEVX is 0.6.1. Still okay to use or is there a newer one required? I know usually the older are okay.

Thanks,

Slavvo67

Um, I will check that. Thought that I had uploaded 0.9.6 devx.

I also need to upload latest woofq, will do so and announce it.

EDIT:

The easyos devx 0.9.6 is there:

http://distro.ibiblio.org/easyos/x86/packages/sfs/pyro/

...um is "sfsget" looking in the wrong place? Maybe it is looking in the quirky repo on ibiblio, in which case, that's a bug.

Here is the latest woofq, 20180822:

http://distro.ibiblio.org/easyos/project/woofq/

[BarryK]

I received an email from someone who prefers to remain anonymous, regarding a bug in easyshare.

For connecting to android phone, you have to manually create folder /mnt/phone

Do that before running easyshare.

[BarryK]

Well, this is a pleasant surprise.

I have an old laptop, the first that I ever bought, an Acer Aspire 3681 WXMi, with 32-bit Celeron CPU, 512MB RAM, 60GB HDD, 1280x800 14.1 inch screen.

Dont recall what year I bought it. There is a reference to it in 2007:

http://bkhome.org/archive/puppylinux/ne ... 0b-300.htm

It has been in storage for years. Dug it out of the closet, connected power (the battery no longer holds a charge for more than a few minutes), plugged in EasyOS Pyro32 0.9.6, and it booted, everything runs, fast, a very nice experience.

It resurrects an old computer, so I can see why there is value in continuing to release a 32-bit distro.

Nooo, the usb mouse has stopped working! Touchpad still works. Oh well.

Replugged the mouse, it is working again. Interesting, anyone else ever had that problem?

[rufwoof]

Nooo, the usb mouse has stopped working! Touchpad still works. Oh well.

Replugged the mouse, it is working again. Interesting, anyone else ever had that problem?

Not with Easy, but in some other cases I've found that a USB mouse can repeatedly trigger interrupts (connected system messages). A cure for me (later (desktop) version of Acer Aspire) was to use a PS2 to USB adapter and have the USB mouse physically connected to the PS2 port. I've left it that way ever since and haven't seen any repeats of mouse issues.

[slavvo67]

BarryK:

I put together with help from the web, a mouse and keyboard reset and made a menu entry under Utility called Reset Mouse and Keyboard. If you F12 and arrow down to choose, it should reset the mouse without rebooting. Feel free to adopt as needed....

#!/bin/bash
Xdialog -center -title "Mouse Reset" --no-buttons -infobox "USB mouse resetting now..." 0 0 3000
mousie=`lsusb|grep -i "mouse"`
bus1=$(echo $mousie | awk 'BEGIN {FS=" " }{print $2}')
device1=$(echo $mousie | awk 'BEGIN {FS=" " }{print $4}')
device2=$(echo $device1 | awk 'BEGIN {FS=":" }{print $1}')
usbreset /dev/bus/usb/$bus1/$device2 &&
Xdialog -center -title "Keyboard Reset" --no-buttons -infobox "Keyboard resetting now..." 0 0 3000
keyboard1=`lsusb|grep -i "keyboard"`
bus2=$(echo $keyboard1 | awk 'BEGIN {FS=" " }{print $2}')
device1b=$(echo $keyboard1 | awk 'BEGIN {FS=" " }{print $4}')
device2b=$(echo $device1b | awk 'BEGIN {FS=":" }{print $1}')
usbreset /dev/bus/usb/$bus2/$device2b &&
Xdialog -center -title "USB Resets Completed" --no-buttons -infobox "USB resets completed..." 0 0 2000

[Sage]

USB mouse can repeatedly trigger interrupts

- it must do this because it's an 'hot-pluggable (unpluggable) device", although some of the early v1.1 were not entirely reliably h-p. USB is sometimes claimed to be just a direct development of the PS/2 plug with hot-pluggability. Like all things in this field, early adopters will always encounter early flaws and oversights in the technology! Some keyboards were claimed to be USB or PS/2, some were supplied with an 'adapter' - most of the early 'adapters' didn't work, although some of the dual-purpose k/b s did actually work.
As for Easy32, bit of another catch-22. Loads of 'old' 32bit kit, BIOS-only, were not able to boot to an USB fob or SD card. Various SW utilities were offered to achieve this but for non-SW literaties like YT these weren't always easy to operate, esp. as some require a FDD as well and these are/were a disappearing feature. ipso facto, - thanks for the 32bit offering, very grateful, but generally speaking an .iso might be more reliable on anything over 5yrs old? Seem to remember an .iso writer from a running Puppy system? Never used it as it seem a bit beyond my ability, although that contention may need testing!

[scsijon]

Need an i686 CPU and has 4GB RAM limit -- the PC can have more, but the extra won't be recognized.

quick thought

?4gig limit is 32bit, but maybe .....

extra ram => ramdisk

ramdisk => ram swapfile

ram swapfile could be set to be used before the hard drive swapfile, or disable use of hard drive swapfile if exists

can't remember what the program or lib was barry, but it was about the era of the mageia puppy's

regards

scsijon

damn class in ten minutes (teaching), got to go.

[BarryK]

For the 32-bit Easy 0.9.6, the desktop "sfsget" icon doesn't work.

You need to gunzip the attached and copy it to /root/.packages

It has a variable that specifies where the sfs files are on ibiblio.org.

[don570]

Replugged the mouse, it is working again. Interesting, anyone else ever had that problem?

I was having a strange freeze of my mouse in Fatdog64 linux 710.
I thought it was serious, but after a lot of effort I discovered that fatdog has
set the function keys (by default) so that 'Xscreenshot' is launched if the print key is pressed.
http://www.lightofdawn.org/wiki/wiki.cgi/Xscreenshot

So I was accidentally pressing the print key and a cursor was appearing that I couldn't move.
My keyboard worked though. I should have pressed the ENTER key to take the screenshot.
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