(old)Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

Wonderful. But I'm a little shaky with things bootable. Since I run 4.31 on a frugall install on a 4gb sd card, with no grub, where exactly should I put usbwait=1

Any other pointers for an sd card user would be much appreciated.

Looking very forward to this,
Jake

There should be a file called syslinux.cfg in the root directory of your SD card (or usb drive, they are the same thing). You can append extra parameters onto the end of the first line. It looks very similar to the grub configuration.

It is possible to boot from an SD card but put your save file on the HD, therefore skipping the usb wait, but avoiding the necessity of installing grub.

Another tip. If you have a Xandros EEE, you can use the existing grub bootloader to boot Puppy without messing up your Xandros install. Simply edit /boot/grub/menu.1st on sda1. To bring up the bootloader, press F9 during startup.

To get your Synaptics driver to work, you'll need to do this:

Some distributions come with an incomplete /dev directory. The driver needs the /dev/input/eventX device nodes. Try to create them manually if they don't exist already. (Look at /proc/bus/input/devices to figure out how many nodes you need.)

# mknod /dev/input/event0 c 13 64
# mknod /dev/input/event1 c 13 65
# mknod /dev/input/event2 c 13 66

Thank you for your very clear instructions. At this point, the boot commands copy the 431.sfs to my 4gb sda drive, and then throws that file into RAM.

This shaves a full ten seconds of the boot time; even better, it shuts down puppy in about eight seconds, far faster than my original sd card setup.

Some problems, however, with my eee 900:

1) no wifi. Even with your acpid pets installed (I uninstalled the pets of tempestuous), ath5k won't load with network setup error: "error inserting ath5k. Invalid module format. Try another module."

2) no sound and alsamixer won't start with this error: "function snd_ctl_open failed for default: no such device or address" So I can't test if volume control works. Fan control does work, however

3) significant decrease in touchpad response. Very inaccurate arrow moving, making the closing of an app/file difficult indeed

But this looks very promising, and thanks for your hard work,
Jake

Follow up: going with a fresh install (no pupsave file), I still have no wifi, network, and same error trying to install ath5k (without your pets installed).

Touchpad response still very poor.

Jake

Please post dmesg and lsmod output, and I'll see what I can figure out. Ath5k works fine on my computer so it's weird you get invalid format.

Hey are you sure you replaced the zp430305.sfs file? All the kernel modules are in there and if it's saying invalid format it seems like you are trying to load modules from the old kernel. If lsmod shows nothing and there are a lot of invalid module errors in dmesg, that is almost certainly what the problem is. I haven't tested this with 4.31 yet, but I can't imagine the kernel configuration changed much. Let me know if the fix for Synaptics I posted above fixes your touchpad.

Here you go, both outputs attached in txt file, zipped.

It's very difficult to do this, due to shaky touchpad. Any workaround for that?

Jake

Addendum: for touchpad, when I run the mknod commands, I already have those directories/etc. made. Should I be doing something else?

As for the zp430305.sfs file, I replaced everything with what I downloaded.

Also, can you give me the command to make a pupsave file. This is the only change I've made so far in boot commands:

kernel /vmlinuz pdev=/dev/sda1 pmedia=ideflash fastboot

But I'm not getting the opportunity to save session (since I'm now working with a fresh install)

Jake

It's definitely picking up kernel modules from the old kernel somehow. I wonder if 4.31 moves some kernel modules back into the main sfs. Can you try it with 4.30 instead? Make sure the old initrd and zp.sfs files are completely gone.


This is exactly what I do to fix the touchpad driver:
You need to restart X after doing this. Send me /var/log/Xorg.0.log if that doesn't work.

also if you're booting from flash you probably want:
Let's skip the other parameters until everything works. Their only function is to speed things up. It should ask if you want a save file. It might not if you don't have an available drive with a lot of free space.

Okay, I see one problem: the zp430305.sfs is incorporated into 431.sfs. I must've had it left over from a previous 4.3 installation.

Jake

It is possible to edit the new sfs to delete those modules out and put in the new ones. Do you want to try that? or just use 4.30? This wasn't supposed to be this difficult.

I've been researching Elantech touchpads found out some things. First, the old kernel doesn't seem to have the Elantech driver in it and my new one does. Second the Synaptics driver included with puppy is too old to know what to do with the Elantech driver. Did edge scrolling and stuff work for you on the old kernel? I've built a newer version of the synaptics driver that might fix your problem if the mknod thing doesn't do it.

xorg won't work in initial setup w/ 430/frugall fresh install/eee900 no matter what resolution is chosen.

Jake

Since 4.30 is somewhat history, and I'm having trouble even getting the video right, I would prefer to test 4.31 if possible.

Best,
Jake

You'll need this.
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=47469

I'll tar the modules for you and give you instructions soon. It would be helpful if you could find out what the error was for 4.30 by checking /tmp/xerrs.log You can probably boot into Xvesa to to check this.

Ok edit the main sfs-file and delete the /lib/modules/2.6.30.5 directory. I think that should be enough to make it load the zp.sfs file and see the new modules. If not, it might be best to wait until I upgrade to 4.31 so I can tell you for sure.

One thing--using this command:

kernel /vmlinuz pdev=/dev/sda1 pmedia=ideflash fastboot

Both my seamonkey browser and email are screwed up. I've lost the toolbar on both programs. It seems the apps are looking for something that isn't there when my pupsave is on the hard drive.

Since this is the only different command I'm using (other than my pupsave and os.sfs on the hard drive), is there something I can tinker with to make seamonkey act right again.

Jake

I need to know more about your setup. Is your save file on /dev/sda1 and is that an ideflash drive? Other that that I have no idea what's going on. Is everything else working now? Touchpad ok?

I was able to replicate the seamonkey error with 4.31 and stock kernels (but using your command in syslinux.cfg) and pupsave on sda1 so it's a frugal problem, not a kernel dillema.

I ended rebuilding sm browser/email via a new profile.

As for the touchpad, I never did get that working properly, regardless of mknod commands.

Jake

I think this should fix the touchpad and give you more features like a real touchpad.

Try replacing /usr/X11R7/lib/xorg/modules/input/synaptics_drv.so with the attached version. (I am assuming 4.31 does not update Xorg at all) Restart X and see what happens. It should load as a synaptics touchpad rather than a Logitech wheelmouse now. If this doesn't work, I might remove Elantech support from the kernel and go back to the old way.

I'm out tonight, but will try this tomorrow.

Jake