ProducerPup421

[PupGeek]

I have mentioned it in other threads, but didn't want to start a thread of its own until it was ready for release. I have finally named it ProducerPup. It is based on Puppy 4.2.1, and has many graphics and multimedia programs. Included are:

• GIMP for photo editing
  Blender for 3d modeling and rendering
  Audacity for audio and multitrack recording
  Hydrogen software drum machine
  Kdenlive for video editing
  LMMS for sequencing
  oh and almost forgot:
  WINE in case you're not ready to ditch your 'doze apps

I also have other apps I am working on but will not include in this puplet, because of its already large size (~250Mb). I will, however make them available as what I like to call "Hassle Free Roxapps", which I will explain further as I release them.

Also, this puplet is not perfect by any means. It has its bugs, and one such bug is that not all the LADSPA plugins will work in Audacity. This is because one set of plugins was made for an older version of Audacity. I intend to fix this bug eventually, but I only have limited time to play around with it. I am about to upload it now and I will post a follow-up as soon as I confirm its availability at the site.

[amigo]

I'm interested to see what kind of ROX apps you come up with.

[PupGeek]

Many of them are the apps listed above for those who do not wish to download the entire iso file... They are "hassle free" because they include all dependencies (some will even install OpenGL if necessary) and the application files and directories are contained in a squashfs so that they will work from any location -- even vfat drives

[raffy]

the application files and directories are contained in a squashfs so that they will work from any location -- even vfat drives

Bingo - that is really what I have been looking for.

Good luck to your project.

[PupGeek]

here is an example script for the "hassle free" roxapp. This one is from FreeCiv

Code: Select all

#!/bin/sh

#       This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
#       it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
#       the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
#       (at your option) any later version.
#       
#       This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
#       but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
#       MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
#       GNU General Public License for more details.
#       
#       You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
#       along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
#       Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston,
#       MA 02110-1301, USA.

# This script will run the freeciv roxapp. It was created for use with Puppy
# 4.2.0 and newer. All files and directories related to this app are contained
# in the .sfs file. When this script is run, a directory is created in /mnt and
# and the .sfs file is mounted in that directory. If needed, some files may 
# be linked into your main system directories and are removed upon exit.
# I have chosen to package the files in a .sfs file to save space and so that
# the application will run from any location in any filesystem (Most apps
# contain symlinks, which cannot be created or copied into vfat filesystems.
# This may cause programs to fail, citing missing files or directories).


# Creates the $APPDIR for the program and mounts the squashfs
# The squashfs uses the 'roxfs' suffix because they do not always have the same
# directory structure as .sfs modules.
mkdir /mnt/freeciv
mount -t squashfs -o loop `dirname "$0"`/freeciv.roxfs /mnt/freeciv

# Exports all variables and paths
export APPDIR=/mnt/freeciv
export PATH=$PATH:$APPDIR/bin:$APPDIR/share
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:$APPDIR/lib

# Creates links necessary for app to run... These links are removed upon successful exit.
ln -s $APPDIR/share/freeciv /usr/local/share

# Finally executes the program. Note the lack of the 'exec' command as there are further instructions after exit
su -s /bin/bash spot -c $APPDIR/bin/civclient

# Removes links created, unmounts and removes the $APPDIR
rm /usr/local/share/freeciv
umount $APPDIR
rmdir $APPDIR

[PupGeek]

ProducerPup is available!

Whether you are a photographer, recording artist, aspiring filmmaker, or just simply want to experiment with it all, ProducerPup is sure to have all the tools you need. It includes tools to edit video, record and edit audio, program accompaniment rhythms or drum lines, and edit photos.

The best part? Its all in one convenient LiveCD that operates with the efficiency only Puppy can provide. You can get it right here:

http://puppyisos.org/isos/2009-07-to-12/

Special thanks to MU for providing the space.

Edit: Removed filename from posted url because username and password is required

username: puppy
password : linux

[russoodle]

Thank you PupGeek, sounds good..

Received error messages and denied access with the direct link, so deleted the file-name from the url and that worked - the login prompt popped up and now i'm downloading the iso

I'll also upload it and mirror it on my site but that'll take several hours as i can only upload using http at the moment - bah, humbug

[PupGeek]

Thanks russ for the error alert, I just edited the url so that it works now. Thanks also for mirroring the iso too. I hope a lot of people will find it useful.

[russoodle]

You're welcome, PupGeek...i'm looking forward to taking it for a walk

The mirror's finally up - sorry it's taken so long, days instead of hours, but my move to another server, instead of happening last week, was delayed and only completed this morning! Beyond my control but my apologies...

Anyway, the direct download link is:
http://puppylinuxstuff.meownplanet.net/ ... up_421.iso User: puppy Password: linux

A description is also posted on one of my download pages:
http://puppylinuxstuff.meownplanet.net/ ... roducerpup

Cheers

[PupGeek]

Kewl russ, thank you. I probably should have provided a screenshot. Also, I took the pic that is on the desktop myself and color enhanced it using GIMP to bring out the blue hues. If you like, you can check out my Hassle-Free Roxapps on this thread too:

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 003#371003

There are still a few bugs I need to work out but I would like as much feedback as I can get so I can perfect them.

Also, I have been using ProducerPup on a 10 year old 400 Mhz PII system with 320 MB RAM and a 1 GB swap partition. While trying to run GIMP on a much newer system with 512 MB RAM, it kept crashing.... I was confused until I remembered that my system has a swap partition... Once I mounted a swap partition, it worked fine even though the change in available memory did not register in the taskbar (I use no pup_save file). Anyways, a swap partition is strongly recommended for use with this puplet.

[PupGeek]

Due to a critical bug (will not create a pup_save file), I had to remaster ProducerPup. In addition to fixing that bug, I also added a couple of new packages (Ardour, faad, faac, Gslapt, and some newer swh_plugins for Audacity), so I reversioned it as well. when visiting the download site, please make sure you are downloading ProducerPupV1_1.iso and not ProducerPup_421.iso.

This remaster exceeds 256 MB in size so be sure to have at least 384MB RAM on your machine when trying it. Also, remember to create a recommended 1GB swap partition to avoid software crashes.

@ russoodle: Please update your host site as I would like this new version to replace the current one.

[russoodle]

<snip>...

@ russoodle: Please update your host site as I would like this new version to replace the current one.

Yep, all done....download link now points to new version and the update is noted in the description....cheers

[Dromeno]

For video editing this puppy may be asking for too much cpu...


I tested the producerpup on a toshiba laptop. After importing a .MPG video in Kdenlive I tried to play it. It took all the CPU the machine could deliver and the sound of the video became choppy.

The same video played in Gxine (same puppy, same machine) sounded OK.

The same video imported in WindowsXP and Cyberlink software (which came with the JVC camcorder) sounded OK too. Looks like this uses less CPU. Which is weird because XP is much heavier than Puppy...

Of course I would rather use PuppyLinux+Kdenlive than XP+Cyberlink so some advice would be handy!

[PupGeek]

If you are in live or frugal mode and do not have a swap partition, it would be wise to create one. I have tried the functionality of this puplet on old hardware but i had a 1 gb swap partition. It also depends really on your RAM as well..... 512MB is barely enough even with swap... the puplet exceeds 256 MB in size so it takes more than half of that ram to hold the pup421.sfs file, so a lot of ram is recommended for this... but then I may have overdone it a bit with the couple of extra apps i put into it this time. This puppy should really run well from a full HD install though.

[PupGeek]

I know there has been some issues with ProducerPup, but I would like to know if there have been any major or critical bugs in my latest version (1.1). I posted that one because of a critical issue (It would not offer to initialize a pup_save file, and froze at shutdown.) Does this problem still exist? Are there any other problems? I am thinking of posting a link to this puppy on the KVR Audio Forums, which consist of mostly 'Doze and Mac users. I feel that this puplet would be an ideal way to introduce anyone interested in media production to it using absolutely free software. I first would like to be sure that most major bugs are out of the way. If you notice any problems with this puppy, please bring them to my attention. Also feel free to post a solution or script you think might eliminate a problem. Knowing the hardware you are using may help out a good deal too.

[drphysic]

I have a boot CD of ProducerPup, but cannot override the RAM load of the *.sfs file on a machine with only 256Mb of RAM, and clearly that is not enough to load ProducerPup. The laptop, a P Series Lifebook, has an HD installed Puppy 4.3.1 running, and I would expect eventually to run ProducerPup in the same manner, if I could get it to load. Any suggestions?

I wonder about simply replacing the files on the HD with those on the CD and rebooting...

[mikeslr]

I wouldn't recommend replacing 4.31 with producerpup until you're sure producerpu will run on you Lifebook. And you didn't indicate if you 4.31 is a Full or Frugal install. If the former, you can't just replace the files.

Before the producerpup CD starts its boot sequence, try typing the following:

puppy pfix=noramsfs

If that works, or even if it doesn't, you can try creating a frugal install with that boot parameter.

Since 4.31 will boot, try the following:

Boot 4.31. Create a producerpup directory (no more than one-level down). Place Producerpup CD in CD-Rom and mount it. Copy the following files to producerpup Directory:
initrd.gz, pup_421.sfs, vmlinuz. Browse to Grub's menu.lst. Open it in geany and "SAVE AS" menu_old.lst. (In case something goes wrong, you can boot using a 4.31 CD, and rename menu_old.lst to menu.lst). Close menu_old.lst. Re-open menu.lst, and copy your puppy 4.31 specs, pasting a 2nd version. Edit the second version to reflect producerpup's directory, (and, if different, drive/partition). I haven't had to use it, but I think "puppy pfix=noramsfs" (without the quotes) is to be included on the line beginning with "kernel /" (without the quotes).

If, and when, you get it working, you can delete a 4.31 FRUGAL install and revise your menu.lst accordingly. If you have a 4.31 FULL install, I think you'll have to use gparted to create of separate partition, install producerpup, letting grub overwrite your current grub before you delete 4.31. Or perhaps even better, but less easy to change, if your Lifebook can boot from its USB port, try installing producerpup to a USB Key, as a frugal install, and then use that to do a full install to your hard drive. One of the few advantages of a full install is that they use less ram. A disadvantage is that handling sfses is much more difficult.

mikesLr

[drphysic]

Thanks for the suggestions, was using "puppy pfix=noram" during boot sequence, will try the variation when I return from a class in El Paso.

Note that I have Puppy Linux running on 3 Fujitzu Lifebooks, 2 B series and 1 P series, the latter a full HDD install, the others frugal with Win2K or WinXP.

Hope to be able to setup any of them with your puplet. Thanks, drphysic

[PupGeek]

I had that same problem when trying to use MediaPup(based on puppy 4.1.2). My workaround was to boot up puppy 4.1.1. After startup, I loaded the MediaPup cd and copied the MediaPup sfs file to my HD, renamed it as a .sfs (e.g. Module_411.sfs) module and it loaded that way once i had a pup_save file created. It appeared to work very well that way. If you do a full hard drive install, it is supposed to install the whole puppy including any .sfs modules that are loaded and packages that are installed.

BTW, Don't bother trying this from Puppy 4.3, as it uses a newer .squashfs that is incompatible with the old ones. You would be better off using a live puppy 4.2 for this one..... But truly, the best way is to have at least 512 Mb RAM with a 1Gb swap partition.

[drphysic]

Based upon Pupgeek's comments, would this explain why trying the mods to my frugal install for pup4.3.1 didn't work, finding the following error on loading:

Performing a 'switch_root' to the layered filesystem...kernel panic - not syncing: Attempted to kill init!"

and then hung?

Note that I also installed Audacity in pup4.3.1 and though it appeared to install properly, it wouldn't run, either in a full HDD or frugal install systems.

drphysic