Setting up puppy fo kernel compiling

[Rossco]

Hi

I realise there will be a simple solution to my problem but have been unable to find anything through searching, hope someone can help.

I want to patch the puppy kernel (for low latency audio, as mentioned on another thread) and whilst the patching process itself seems fairly straight forward, I am having trouble setting up puppy to allow me to do it.

The problem so far has been that once I have installed the devx-213.sfs tools and upacked the kernel sources I am almost or completely out of memory. I have 374mb of memory with a hard drive install. I have tried to extend memory using a swap partition. I have tried installing a number of times changing the swap partition size to as high as 2gb, but no matter how big it is the toolbar icon never shows more than around 680mb. If I boot the livecd it seems to recognise the full size of the swap partition.

Can anyone advise on how best to set up my system for the patching process?

I also want to run my patched puppy from a CF card in an IDE adaptor - so perhaps I am better to patch using a frugal install on the card? or is it easy enough to transfer from HD to CF?

Thanks.

[rarsa]

What memory are you running out of? HDD space I assume by your description of the problem.

What I do is unpack the kernel source to an external partition (outside pup_save) and then create a symlink from that folder to the corresponding location under /usr/src

I don't think your problem is RAM as I can compile the kernel with 198MB RAM

[SirDuncan]

In my experience the memory bar does not show the total space you have available with a HDD install. On my desktop I run with a 2g partition a 2g swap partition and 1g of RAM, yet it only shows the space remaining on the partition that I have installed Puppy to. Remember that Puppy was designed to be primarily used by booting from a CD or USB drive, so its tools are geared towards that. Also, if I understand the workings of Puppy correctly, when you are running off the hard drive it uses your hard drive space for files (such as the compiled kernel) and uses RAM for, well, RAM. In short, you must have the hard drive space. You seem to be trying to solve memory problems when (if I understand your problem) your problem is physical storage.

Let me know if that didn't make any sense. If anybody who actually understands how Puppy handles memory notices that I have said something incorrect, feel free to correct me.

[Rossco]

I dont have hd space problems - 120gb. Think creating a seperate partion to un pack the source will do the trick, thanks for the tip. I have always just followed how-tos which do not discuss unpacking anywhere other than /usr/src, which I believe runs in ram as default when it is used regardless of whether it is the live cd or hd install.

I am unable to really explain the problem any better than saying that when I was patching the kernel the memory icon went to 'none' and the operation would not complete reporting that there wasnt enough memory.

When I boot with live cd it shows 1.9gb on the icon, which I presume is the ram + swap.

[SirDuncan]

I didn't think that Puppy loaded that much into RAM when running off the HD. It would explain your problem though. Still, with a 2g swap partition it should have worked. Well, I hope the symlink works for you.

[GuestToo]

no, if you have a pup_save.3fs file, when you write to /usr, you are writing to the pup_save.3fs file and you are limited to the space in the pup_save file system ... everything that is written to any directory in / (/bin, /sbin, /lib, /etc, /var ... etc etc etc) is written to the pup_save file

if you have a full install to a partition, then anything you write to directories in / is written to the partition

if you run Puppy only in ram (boot option: pfix=ram) then writing to directories in / will write directly to ram (and a swap file or partition, if there is one)

[paulh177]

so if you have a full hd install BUT also somehow managed to acquire a pup_save file on your hd, will puppy always default to the pup_save? and thus ignore all that space on your hd?
(sorry I haven't read the "how puppy works" but i think this happened to me)
maybe thats the OPs problem? maybe he's got a pup_save kicking around that he can rename or delete?

[GuestToo]

if you have a full hd install, Grub should be configured to boot Puppy as a full install ... if you have a frugal install, Puppy should be configured to use a pup_save file ... the difference is whether initrd.gz is used as the initial ram drive, or whether Puppy is started by executing /sbin/init on the hard drive partition (a full hd install does not need or use initrd.gz ... it is the boot scripts in initrd.gz that mounts the pup_save file)

if you boot from the cd, Puppy should use the pup_save file

[paulh177]

thank you, that is beautifully clear

[Rossco]

GuestToo thanks for the further explanations.

I followed a combination of HD install howtos posted by rarsa, specifically this one http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=14703 and another linked in that thread. It requires copying of the initrd.gz to the mounted partion, so not surprisingly the pup-save file is initiated. However, using the GUI universal installer to install to the HD seemed to do the same thing.

The real problem for me here is why doesnt my hd install recognise the full swap partition? I would prefer to do the compilation using the pup save file as this is how I will be running the system once I have patched the kernel.

Im creating the swap partition using cfdisk rebooting and then using mkswap - when I install to hd I do not get the full size of the swap - I believe the memory icon should reflect the combined ram/swap size? linking using ln to a directory on the partition may be a work around, but should I not be able to implement a swap big enough to complete the patching process?

[HairyWill]

Open a terminal and type "free" that will tell you how much swap you have.
If you are using a pup_save file then the memory widgit will show how much storage space you have inside the pup_save.
If you are running in RAM only then the applet shows free RAM + swap.

[Rossco]

Tried the 'free' command. it lists my full 1gb swap file, but says I am using none of it. It also states that I only have 143mb free of my 384mb of physical memory. The 'widgit' states that I have 491mb, can anyone clarify where the additional memory shown in the widgit is coming from? How do I enable the swap file useable with RAM?

[rarsa]

I think that it was already explained that the widget in the taskbar shows the space in your pup_save file, not in RAM

[GuestToo]

if typing free shows that the total swap space available is not zero, then your swap file or partition is available to the system, and will be used if the space is needed ... but the space will not be used until it actually is needed

almost all of the ram should be allocated and used after using Puppy for a short time ... most of the free space not being used by running programs will be allocated by the kernel for buffers and caches ... the kernel will usually leave a small amount of space for immediate use by drivers, about 5 megs ... ram that is not being used is wasted ram

Xosview is a useful program to see what is happening in the system
http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?&t=12538

[GuestToo]

duplicate post