X-Tahr 2.0 + Dpup-stretch + Geofrrey's graphics adrv

For talk and support relating specifically to Puppy derivatives
Post Reply
Message
Author
belham2
Posts: 1715
Joined: Mon 15 Aug 2016, 22:47

X-Tahr 2.0 + Dpup-stretch + Geofrrey's graphics adrv

#1 Post by belham2 »

Hi all,

Have always really liked rg66's "X-Tahr-2.0" (here: http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=99849. And, for a graphics-based pup, I've seen nothing over the years that matches Geoffrey's graphics -specific adrv he made (here: http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?p=958148. One problem I always ran into was not being able to run a truly modern browser (i.e to get Netflix) in X-tahr 2.0. Then, after using radky's recent awesome dpup-stretch (here: http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=112125, I thought to myself, why not do a bit of Frankenstein-ing on a frugal install and put all these together with dpup's up-to-date kernel and drivers/modules.

So, this is what I did: I took Radky's latest Nov 2017 k4.1.47-i686-pae vmlinuz, initrd.gz and zdrv files, put them in a frugal folder. I then stuck in that folder the X-tahr-2.0's main puppy_sfs file "as-is". Next, I threw in geoffrey's adrv, and went about setting grub4dos correctly. And to my surprise (of course getting the file naming is crucial), it all booted up great and runs like a wild boar with an arrow in its a##. Better, I cannot find a single problem with it. Been using it days now, constantly, and it just runs. And it has worked across various machines, wired and wireless, basically everything I have thrown at it.

To complete the Frankenstein operation, I then installed (via PPM) Firefox Quantum 57.01, and after putting the required apulse libs in /usr/lib/firefox/ folder, I now have a modern browser that runs Netflix and every other thing, while also having the great XFCE DE from rg66, and at the same time having a complete & very fun set of graphics programs to play with any picture I desire.

Just wanted to let you know this (above) is possible, if any of you would like to give it go. rg66's x-tahr-2.0, based on Phil's tahr pup, except with the Xfce DE, has always been one of my favs. Having a modern kernel and drivers with it, just makes it better. And Geoffrey's graphics adrv, even if you are not a photographer (which I am definitely not), is just a blast & pleasure to use.


P.S. Be warned the Firefox-based Light browser (48) comes std in rg's x-tahr, so just delete it out. Also, be aware that geoffrey's adrv is ~300mb. So don't pop your eyes out if after doing everything above, with the new Firefox Qunatum too, you're looking a one quite fat puppy
:D

Here's a few pics, and Happy Holidays all! :
Attachments
image-1.jpg
(49.07 KiB) Downloaded 570 times
image-2.jpg
(57.68 KiB) Downloaded 558 times
image-3.jpg
(87.06 KiB) Downloaded 572 times

Dry Falls
Posts: 616
Joined: Tue 16 Dec 2014, 23:37
Location: Upper Columbia

#2 Post by Dry Falls »

And to my surprise (of course getting the file naming is crucial), it all booted up great
Just curious, but which file(s) did you rename? Been trying to do something like that with a few older pups without too much success. Specifically, using peebee's kernel packages because all his stuff boots great on my machine.

df

belham2
Posts: 1715
Joined: Mon 15 Aug 2016, 22:47

#3 Post by belham2 »

Dry Falls wrote:
And to my surprise (of course getting the file naming is crucial), it all booted up great
Just curious, but which file(s) did you rename? Been trying to do something like that with a few older pups without too much success. Specifically, using peebee's kernel packages because all his stuff boots great on my machine.

df

Hi df,

Sorry I'm getting back to you so late, evening fell fast here yesterday and next thing I knew it was 10pm & the urge to sleep became too strong :lol:

Ok, I've had success with this Frankenstein-ing (on other pups too) doing it two ways. On both examples, I am assuming you want to take a vmlinuz, initrd.gz and zdrv from one pup and make it go with a mainpup.sfs from another. And I can only vouch for these using "frugal-install" method.

In the first way, try this:

1) create a frugal folder
2) drag everything there you want, including an adrv and/or ydrv from any pup
3) go into another pup (or your great JL-64), and you're first going to go at the initrd.gz. Create a temp "initrd-tree" folder in same frugal folder. Drag the initrd.gz & copy it there.
4) I use SFR's UExtract, and extract it, then use any archive manager, and unzip it. (using terminal and cpio has for, some reason, been unreliable to me lately)
5) Modify the DISTRO_SPECS file, especially paying attention to DISTRO_IDSTRING, DISTRO_PUPPYSFS, DISTRO_ZDRVSFS, DISTRO_ADRVSFS and DISTRO_YDRVSFS. Modify these accordingly (I'm assuming you know how to use find the idstring using terminal & tail command).
6) then make sure that the idstring is thus the same for both the vmlinuz & zdrv and matches the mainpuppy.sfs (can use terminal and echo command here).
7) repack and re-create the new initrd.gz
8) delete the old initrd.gz from the frugal folder, copy this repacked initrd.gz to it and delete the initrd-tree folder.
9) now take the mainpuppy.sfs in the frugal folder & unsquashfs it.
10) make the exact same changes to /etc/DISTRO_SPECS file that you made in the initrd.gz
11) resquashfs the sfs (making sure the old mainpuppy.sfs is not used, so rename them before resquashfs-ing it.

That's it! You just make sure that your naming convention is the same all the way through both DISTRO_SPECS files, depending on which pup's convention you want to follow.


Now, this 2nd unofficial method, well, I've found it works most of the time, but be prepared for some fun. An example is best served.

1) I create a frugal folder
2) I drag over, say, radky's vmlinuz, initrd.gz and zrdv files and all of them are named "stretch_7.0.0a2.sfs--something or another.
3) I drag in rg66's mainpuppy.sfs which is named " puppy_xtahr-_2.0".
4) I then just rename this rg main.sfs to what was/is exactly used in radky's pup (since that is what the initrd and thus booting is looking for). So the main becomes: "puppy_stretch_7.0.0a2.sfs".
5) I drag in any adrv and ydrv I want to use, and similarly rename them using the "stretch_7.0.0a2.sfs" convention (look in that pup's, in this case radky's, mainsfs & go to /etc/DISTRO_SPECS and look for what the pup is expecting to find in terms of naming convention for adrv and ydrv)

That's it. This method is way simpler, but, like I said in the beginning, sometimes this 2nd method can produce so outright fun (in terms of weird behavior).

I've done a whole host of these Frankenstein operations---even using Peebee's stuff. In fact, my Frankenstein tendencies are all Peebee's fault! Last year I had found his old thread where he and jrb discuss doing all of this, with Peebee successfully creating them, and thus I was and have been off to the races. But, honestly, Peebee's (and all creators) pups are so good nowadays this all seems kind of crazy. The only reason I do it is because I love some of the old pups, would like to keep them going with a new kernel & drivers/modules (like rg66's great X-tahr-2.0), so I give it a go with Frankenstein-ing it (for me, using stemsee's great script to compile kernels, which is of course what I should be doing in a case like this, well, I still get a bit lost sometimes though I've had success with it since stemsee automated nearly everything).

Hope this helps.

Best of luck and let me know how it goes! :wink:

Dry Falls
Posts: 616
Joined: Tue 16 Dec 2014, 23:37
Location: Upper Columbia

#4 Post by Dry Falls »

thanks Belham2.

Post Reply