Grafpup-2.xx fourth (and final) alpha

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SimonW
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#256 Post by SimonW »

I have had some success with bootable CF card creation so I'm writing the notes up here for others to follow. I'm now using the 2.0 beta iso.

As I have mentioned above, I had been trying to use the Superfloppy mode as I thought I had initial success with that on my hardware. With the recent isos I didn't have success with that mode (probably not due to anything in the iso itself, but human error.....).
I went back to using the standard partition-based arrangement (ie. not Superfloppy)and that works.

Below follows a set of instructions to make a FAT16 based bootable CF card:

* Begin with a CF card formatted with one FAT16 partition (I used my digital camera to format the card).
* Start the Puppy Installer.
* Select 'CF card which will be later moved to IDE adapter'
* Select the device that the card is present at (mine is sdc). Note that the 2.0 beta iso 'probedisk' still has an issue, it reports multiple devices as /dev/sd2. I recommend probedisk3 as posted above.
* The dialog regarding normal or Superfloppy mode now comes up. Select the Second button down (ie. to partition the card). The top button (Superfloppy) now does not work for me at all, even though 'I believe' it used to.
* Select '_vfat'. Again, I have tried the ext3 button but with no success.
* A dialog box now appears with "You have chosen to install Grafpup to /dev/sdc1 which has a vfat format and the size is M. Files will be written to /dev/sdc1 and Syslinux will be used to make it bootable." Note there is no free disk space reported, just 'M'.
* Press OK and tell Grafpup where the files are (I'm normally on CD).
* Press Enter as required in the orange window.

This should result in a bootable CF card (vfat mode). I guess the printing of just 'M' where a free space figure should be, needs attention.

In the past I think I had success with an ext3 format card, but I don't remember what I did! I was also using a 200703xx vintage iso.

msumner
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Location: Lincolnshire, England.

#257 Post by msumner »

Hi Guys, I was thinking of trying to boot from a new 2gh SD card.
( only about £8 from Dabs!)
I would like to use the built in card reader on my dell laptop, which is more convenient as I would not have to have an adapter plugged in. Can I do that or do I have to use an ide adapter? What is the procedure to install the latest probedisk3, and is it likely to pick up the cardreader?

Nathan, re. blender,I installed the xorg_opengl package:
sh-3.00# blender
Compiled with Python version 2.4.
Could not find platform independent libraries <prefix>
Could not find platform dependent libraries <exec_prefix>
Consider setting $PYTHONHOME to <prefix>[:<exec_prefix>]
'import site' failed; use -v for traceback
Checking for installed Python... No installed Python found.
Only built-in modules are available. Some scripts may not run.
Continuing happily.
Xlib: extension "GLX" missing on display ":0.0".
ERROR: Unable to open Blender window

EDIT wondered if you had seen this:
http://www.pythoncad.org/
Cheers, Mike

SimonW
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Location: UK

#258 Post by SimonW »

Hi Mike,
I was thinking of trying to boot from a new 2gh SD card.
I don't know if your bios will support booting from card slots, so check that first. If the bios only supports usb-boot, you will have to get a usb sd card reader anyway. Sorry!

On a laptop I doubt that you will be able to install an ide card reader either.

Anyway here are instructions if you can proceed with it:

Firstly, you will need to being up an rxvt terminal.
Insert an SD card and type 'probedisk' then Enter at the prompt to list the storage devices on your mahcine. You should see a line in the list which says " ... SD Card Adapter .... " or something similar. The /dev/xxx on that line will be the device name for the slot.

For example, my CF card slot is /dev/sdc

Older versions of probedisk can give strange device id's, which also affect the Puppy Installer script. So, it's worthwhile downloading the updated probedisk, which is here:

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... ch&id=3852

You'll need to save it into a temporary location (/home for example), then gunzip <filename>
Then you can type "/home/probedisk3" and observe the list of device names for your storage devices. You can find examples of mine in previous posts.

If that all works well, do "cp /home/probedisk3 /sbin/probedisk" You will need to be 'root' for that. That will update the system's copy.

Then you can run the Puppy Installer and specify that device to install to. (The installer misses off the /dev/ at the start for good readability). You can then follow my instructions in my previous post to make a FAT16 bootable card. I don't think too much will be different in the SD card case.

Hope this helps
.

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Dougal
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#259 Post by Dougal »

SimonW wrote:I think it said /dev/sdc but since I couldn't read it, I didn't want to post it. sdc is the correct address for the CF card that I was using.
I think the problem might have been the ext3/vfat problem.

Could you try checking that drive for it's fs? Try different utils and see what they give:

Code: Select all

disktype /dev/hdc

Code: Select all

/usr/lib/mut/bin/guess_fstype /dev/hdc
also what probedisk/probepart might show.

BTW, here's another update of probepart, might be a little faster.
Attachments
probepart3.gz
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plinej
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#260 Post by plinej »

Okay, here's pawdioconverter-0.8 for grafpup:

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... ch&id=3861

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Nathan F
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#261 Post by Nathan F »

OK, I've updated probedisk and probepart to the newest versions. I also grabbed Pawdio convertor to add to the tree. I'll see what I can do with the installer sometime soon.

Mike - about the glx problem, open up /etc/X11/xorg.conf and make sure there is a line like this:

Code: Select all

Load       "glx"
Also make sure it isn't commented out. It's possible it might not even run in Xvesa, too.

Nathan
Bring on the locusts ...

SimonW
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#262 Post by SimonW »

Hi Dougal,

Here is the output of disktype on /dev/sdc (my CF card slot, definitely with a FAT16 car d inserted). As you can see I can mount the card, and a Grafpup installation is there.

sh-3.00# disktype /dev/sdc
--- /dev/sdc
Block device, size 488.7 MiB (512483328 bytes)
DOS partition map
Partition 1: 488.2 MiB (511934976 bytes, 999873 sectors from 63, bootable)
Type 0x06 (FAT16)
FAT16 file system (hints score 5 of 5)
Volume size 488.0 MiB (511664128 bytes, 62459 clusters of 8 KiB)
Volume name ""
Ext3 file system
UUID 775A90AB-A419-40E3-BBDD-0F2C3B17AEDF (DCE, v4)
Volume size 488.7 MiB (512483328 bytes, 500472 blocks of 1 KiB)

sh-3.00# sh-3.00# fdisk /dev/sdc
Command (m for help): p
Disk /dev/sdc: 512 MB, 512483328 bytes
16 heads, 63 sectors/track, 993 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 1008 * 512 = 516096 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdc1 * 1 992 499936+ 6 FAT16
Command (m for help): q
sh-3.00# mount -t vfat /dev/sdc1 /mnt/flash
sh-3.00# ls -l /mnt/flash
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 87732224 May 2 22:53 graf_005.sfs
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 0 May 2 22:52 ideflash
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1298241 May 2 22:52 initrd.gz
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root 9776 May 3 06:52 ldlinux.sys
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 74 May 2 22:52 syslinux.cfg
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1833032 May 2 22:52 vmlinuz
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 18878464 May 2 22:53 zdrv_005.sfs
sh-3.00#


I can't swear that this card didn't ever have an ext3 fs on it, as I reprogrammed/formatted a lot of cards in a lot of ways. Perhaps there's a 'deleted partition' in the table which is being picked up on, or it's 'falling through' some logic.

And:

sh-3.00# probepart /dev/sdc
libcfdisk: unable to open /dev/sda
libcfdisk: unable to open /dev/sdb
libcfdisk: unable to open /dev/sdd
/dev/hdd1|ntfs|131074272|OS/2 HPFS or NTFS
/dev/hdd2|ntfs|143364060|OS/2 HPFS or NTFS
/dev/hdd3|ntfs|174080340|OS/2 HPFS or NTFS
/dev/hdd4|ntfs|39873330|OS/2 HPFS or NTFS
/dev/hdc1|vfat|28675962|Win95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/hdc2|ntfs|131395635|OS/2 HPFS or NTFS
/dev/hda|iso9660|0|PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-110
/dev/sdc1|msdos|999873|DOS 16-bit FAT >=32M
sh-3.00#

sh-3.00# /usr/lib/mut/bin/guess_fstype /dev/sdc
ext3
sh-3.00#

.... but .....

sh-3.00# /usr/lib/mut/bin/guess_fstype /dev/sdc1
vfat
sh-3.00#

So, if guess_fstype is used to look at /dev/sdc it says ext3, which is wrong since the card is partitioned, with the only partition being a vfat. Perhaps it can't cope with being called incorrectly (with sdc instead of sdc1)? guess_fstype is a binary so I can't have a look.

And your new probepart3:

sh-3.00# ./probepart3
/dev/hdc1|vfat|28675962
/dev/hdc2|ntfs|131395634
/dev/hdd1|ntfs|131074272
/dev/hdd2|ntfs|143364060
/dev/hdd3|ntfs|174080340
/dev/hdd4|ntfs|39873330
/dev/sdc1|vfat|999872
/dev/sdd|none|0
/dev/sdb|none|0
/dev/sda|none|0
/dev/hda|iso9660|0
sh-3.00#

I hope this helps you. I may try installing the probepart3 in /sbin and running the Installer.
Cheers,
Simon.

SimonW
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#263 Post by SimonW »

Dougal,

Installing probedisk3 and probepart3 in the /sbin directory, and running the Puppy Installer doesn't produce any improvements since I reported last. The dialog box showing 'what Puppy has found out about the drive' still shows sdc1 as having ext3 format.
It still completes ok as long as I follow the vfat instructions I posted before.

plinej
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#264 Post by plinej »

You'll need to remove the 3 from the end and replace the existing files in /sbin

msumner
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#265 Post by msumner »

Nathan,
Nathan F wrote:
Mike - about the glx problem, open up /etc/X11/xorg.conf and make sure there is a line like this:

Code: Select all

Load       "glx"
Nathan
Hmmmm, that was interesting :? There were 2 files called xorg.conf. One had the required line of code, and the other did not. I renamed the one without to xorgwrong.conf and tried blender from the terminal. It started and seemed to run ok, but put this message up:

sh-3.00# blender
Compiled with Python version 2.4.
Could not find platform independent libraries <prefix>
Could not find platform dependent libraries <exec_prefix>
Consider setting $PYTHONHOME to <prefix>[:<exec_prefix>]
'import site' failed; use -v for traceback
Checking for installed Python... No installed Python found.
Only built-in modules are available. Some scripts may not run.
Continuing happily.
Saved session recovery to /tmp/quit.blend

Blender quit
sh-3.00#

Mike

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Nathan F
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#266 Post by Nathan F »

Mike -

Blender currently doesn't support Python-2.5, which happens to be the version which is in the repo. What it is telling you is that it cannot find a python-2.4 installation, so some of the extra scripting capabilities will not work. Blender actually contains an internal Python interpreter already, so most of the functionality will be there even without installing Python.

I have considered offering a Python-2.4 package for compatibility. However, it would be largely a waste as just about everything else can use the newer version.

Nathan
Bring on the locusts ...

msumner
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#267 Post by msumner »

Thanks Nathan, I see what you mean.

Simon, thanks for the advice on the SD card.

You were right about the lack of facility in the bios to boot from flash cards. It would still be very handy to be able to use the built in cardreader for my sony camera card and for backing up, transferring files etc. with the sd card. Probedisk3 did not see it. :( Maybe it is a lack of driver?
Mike

SimonW
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#268 Post by SimonW »

You'll need to remove the 3 from the end and replace the existing files in /sbin
Yep, did that, thanks for the hint. I think the problem with the Installer identifying vfat/ext3 may not be dependent on probedisk/probepart.

Does the Installer use guess_fstype? If it does, and it uses 'guess_fstype /dev/sdc' then the FAT16 partition in /dev/sdc1 is not identified, and guess_fstype reports ext3. This is shown above in my post yesterday.


Mike,
It would still be very handy to be able to use the built in cardreader for my sony camera card and for backing up, transferring files etc. with the sd card. Probedisk3 did not see it. Sad Maybe it is a lack of driver?
Hmm. If they have put the cardreader hardware somewhere unconventional, ie. not on USB, then maybe a custom driver is required. You may not find one for Linux. I know nothing of laptops other than their hardware designs are often non-standard......

SimonW
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#269 Post by SimonW »

Last night I preserved a Static IP address over a reboot using a graf_save.2fs file on a HDD :-)

I shall test it on a CF card next. I believe the only way to go, to avoid the 'graf_ro2 is overlapped' error mentioned in a previous post, is to use a Save File rather than writing to the Partition.

Cheers,
Simon.

plinej
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#270 Post by plinej »

Nathan, a small bug I found was running pbdict as a regular user. You need to make /usr/local/PBdict world writable becasue the program makes a temp file inside that directory.

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Nathan F
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#271 Post by Nathan F »

OK, more bad behavior assuming a user is root. I'll look at the code and see if I can move the temp file into a users home directory, or perhaps into /tmp. I don't like making all sorts of things world writable all over the filesystem.

Nathan
Bring on the locusts ...

plinej
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#272 Post by plinej »

I agree. It should be easy enough, I'd look into it but I've got a few other things going right now.

SimonW
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#273 Post by SimonW »

Hi,

Trying to make use of a graf_save.2fs file on hda, where hda is a CF card, didn't work. In the shutdown process I spotted and error from '/usr/sbin/snapmergegrafpup: No such file or directory'.

I had configured and 'saved' a Static IP address setup and predictably it didn't restore on reboot. Looks like a script is missing?

The save file & restore Static IP worked on a desktop booted from CD though.

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Nathan F
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#274 Post by Nathan F »

OK that's courtesy of one bonehead developer (me). That should be snapmeregepuppy and explains a lot. The proper script was being called by the background daemon which runs and saves things periodically, but not at shutdown, so some files will have gotten saved and some not saved. Now fixed.

It would work from cd, with a save file on a normal hard drive, because then things are getting saved directly into the save file rather than being held in memory and periodically flushed.

I'll not be using Turma to replace text on important scripts anymore :oops:

Nathan
Bring on the locusts ...

SimonW
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#275 Post by SimonW »

Bonehead? Nope. It's amazing you know exactly the root of a problem 'just like that'.

In case you haven't already done it, I've attached a version of rc.shutdown in which all occurences of snapmergegrafpup have been changed to snapmergepuppy.
The good news is, now on the compact flash hda system, a static ip setup is preserved over a reboot! I did see a couple of chmod usage errors fly past on shutdown which I didn't get a chance to note.

While we're on the subject of things being flushed occasionally, if I run with hda as a memory card, do I have to take precautions to avoid excessive writes to the card? What's the flush rate? Does it only happen when changes occur?

I've previously used Unslung on a NSLU2 booting from usb key, and that avoids excessive writes to flash by keeping /var in a ramdisk, and uses 'noatime' on the root filesystem.
Bearing in mind that all Puppies run from Ram, there shouldn't be a real problem with flash wear - am I right?
Attachments
rc.shutdown.gz
(10.93 KiB) Downloaded 718 times

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