Puppy 4.3.1 -- bug reports and suggestions

Please post any bugs you have found
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8-bit
Posts: 3406
Joined: Wed 04 Apr 2007, 03:37
Location: Oregon

#31 Post by 8-bit »

Puppy 431 scsi frugal kernel 2.6.30.5
I cannot seem to save snapshots with Paint.
I could with Puppy 43 scsi beta 3.

Edited:
Never mind. I found out that you cannot manually edit the path in the top window.
That kills the save of the program in the bottom window.

slackali
Posts: 9
Joined: Tue 18 Aug 2009, 13:00

boot times worse?

#32 Post by slackali »

Boot times, on LiveCDs, from typing pfix=ram, to the first boot prompt e.g. 'Keyboard Layout': my most powerful (?) machine boots the slowest.

My ten-year-old Thinkpad T20 P3 w/ 512MB Ram and 512MB swap boots LiveCDs much faster than my Dell Dimension 9100 Pentium D (two P4 3GHz CPUs), 3GB RAM, no swap space. But things have degraded on the Thinkpad in recent Puppies.

-- On the Thinkpad T20, puppy 2.17.1 and 4.1.2-2.6.25.16 both take approx 1m30sec to boot. In 2.17.1, the "loading *.sfs to RAM" line takes 40sec; in 4.1.2, it takes 50sec.

On 4.3.1-2.6.25.16-intelmodems, loading the sfs file to RAM takes 60 seconds. The whole boot (from pfix=ram to Language prompt) takes 2:00 seconds, not 1:30.

-- In contrast, on the Dimension 9100 Pentium D:
p2.17.1 -- 60 sec to load RAM, 2:55 total boot time
p4.1.2 -- 70 sec to load RAM, 1:45 total boot time
p431-2.6.25.16intel -- 90 sec to load RAM, 1:58 total boot time
p431-2.6.30.5 -- 80 sec to load RAM, 1:50 total boot time

-- Quite different: on a Dimension E310 w/ one P4 processor & no swapspace, loading time has been pretty consistent and quick from puppy 4.1.2 to 4.3.1 -- about 60 seconds total.
Enabling / disabling hyperthreading in BIOS on this machine makes very little difference in this case.

So why does the Pentium D (two P4 3.0GHz), 3 GB RAM boot so much slower than the Pentium 4 2.8GHz, 1GB RAM machine? And, why does puppy431 boot 33% slower on the Thinkpad than most previous Puppies?

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ecube
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Partview Free space in drives

#33 Post by ecube »

I have improved(?) the partview function of Puppy 4.3.1rc2.

When you run the program, the free space of mounted partitions are first shown. After that, you have the option to show the free space of all partitions (including not mounted ones).

If you install the included Partview.pet in Puppy 4.3.1 the existing version of partview will be replaced.

You can run the program from "Utility: Partview" or by klicking the icon besides "Show Desktop" in the bottom list.
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DemostiX
Posts: 46
Joined: Fri 24 Apr 2009, 15:17

Puppy 4.3.1 -- bug reports and suggestions

#34 Post by DemostiX »

1. Feel like I spent hours trying different old save files to discover one which would find an Xorg video setting with 4.3.1 booting either from CD or from USB stick. This with a Thinkpad T42 with which all previous puppies from 4.20 and many unofficials as well as other distros have had no problem. (Old setting was 1024 x 768 x 24).

I haven't noticed this reported much in archives. Does a maven suggest leaving behind a save file with modest, near VGA, video settings to avoid this problem? (It can occur with another OS video subsystem if downgrading monitors)

2. Suggestion: A single screen or notebook of many alterable Puppy settings for newbies. I'd like to know for example, which save file is in use; and to have the option of NOT saving or of saving to new file. I'd also like options on some of what goes to the save file, without ad hocing on such as browser profiles and the browser caches and downloads. Only the last is usually straightforward to user-alter. Been through this with OS/2, browser updates, and profiles.

DemostiX
Posts: 46
Joined: Fri 24 Apr 2009, 15:17

Partview revision

#35 Post by DemostiX »

The user want to get at a single glance his balance of space. So the free space text should be within the bars, where the eye is drawn by a graphic and where the gaze will often coincide with the actual amount of free space.
So, the total size should be exterior to the bars. In other words, the positions should be reversed. I think this is non-controversial GUI standard.

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ecube
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Swap labels in Partview

#36 Post by ecube »

DemostiX :Labels are in the wrong place in the recent .pet
Good point!

Anybody else of the same opinion?

/Olov
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Minnesota
Posts: 326
Joined: Thu 11 Sep 2008, 11:25

Still very confusing

#37 Post by Minnesota »

" Quote: DemostiX :Labels are in the wrong place in the recent .pet
Good point!
Anybody else of the same opinion?
/Olov
Yes... this is very confusing....first you read the right side... as that is where they eyes go... and it says xxxx... free... OK.. then you go to the left... and there is little separation between the drive designation and the size of the entire drive. Once you see to the right of the drive designation... you have to mentally calculate the ratio of free to non free.....

I would much rather see two bars to the right... or label each of the right segments to indicate size. YOU have tons of extra space... so please try and make this a lot easier to read. Even two colors.. will help.... something so it is easy to determine the total drive size verses the free space.


G[/quote]

dogle
Posts: 409
Joined: Thu 11 Oct 2007, 12:41

#38 Post by dogle »

wuwei reported some problems upgrading 421 to 431 on a frugal install.

Doing the same version upgrade (to 431small) on a multisession I find that the 421 wallpaper is maintained, the excised 'save' icon is maintained and functional, and the remaining desktop icons have become 'generic'. Prior to the version upgrade process 431 on the multisession-burned disk was OK.

Hmm, do I have a one-off, in which case I need to start from scratch as wuwei has done, or has anyone else experienced this and found a fix?

tlchost
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Desktop Icons resist moving

#39 Post by tlchost »

Desktop icons for lock, zip, trash and save do not stay in new positions when moved and ystem is rebooted....their positions interfere with Pwidgets.

Thom

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vtpup
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#40 Post by vtpup »

System:
Asus mb 2.4 Ghz Pent 4
Upgrade from 4.1.2 frugal.
iso image MD5sum checked.
s4sfs loaded:
Wine 1.1.24
Open Office 3.0

Problems:

1.) I get error messages in rxvt on opening. Screenshot attached.

2.) Both NicoEdit and Geany don't start from menu.

3.) Rox dropdown "Open as text" doesn't work.
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nubc
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Location: USA

#41 Post by nubc »

I think Puppy has reached a point in popularity and usefulness where it could stand a little polishing.

1. The last dialog in Puppy Universal Installer asks user whether to finish or to redo Grub config. That dialog should be worded so that the answer is "YES, finished", rather than the counterintuitive "NO, finished". I believe this final dialog is responsible for much confusion about grub config, and often leaves the new user hanging and uncertain that installation is complete.

2. I'm on the East Coast of USA. When booting liveCD it seems that default settings apply to this location. So I can hand a Puppy CD to a friend and say, Just boot it up and accept default values. EXCEPT for the time zone, which is like +8 hours. So user must hunt for New York/Montreal time zone, or just page down to the bottom of the list and come up several values to Eastern Time (-5 hours). If we are gonna set up default values for East Coast USA, then let's go all the way and set the default time zone to ET (-5hrs) as well.

3. I have a slow laptop. I havent figured out the settings to make the touchpad immediately responsive, and consequently there may be lag between click and action. I try to close a browser page by clicking the "X" in the upper right corner, nothing happens, so I instinctually click again. The page finally closes, but the second click is remembered and applies to the lock icon which is unfortunately located by default in the upper right corner of desktop. Why is the desktop lock icon located under the browser page sizing/closing functions? Couldn't it be located (by default) elsewhere? IMHO there should be no clickable icons in the upper right corner of desktop, because of typical browser design.
Last edited by nubc on Wed 21 Oct 2009, 19:10, edited 2 times in total.

slackali
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Joined: Tue 18 Aug 2009, 13:00

liveCD uses more and more RAM

#42 Post by slackali »

System: Thinkpad T20 P3 700MHz, 512MB RAM w/ 512MB swap
Puppy: 431-2.6.25.16-intelmodems, LiveCD booted with "pfix=ram".

The computer seems very responsive, especially graphics / scrolling in app windows & GUI responsiveness. Overall 431 seems terrific. (For the record.)

I started & quit many programs (one at a time) and I never heard the CD spin up a second time.

However, regarding RAM usage:

1. After each program I started & quit, the amount of free RAM shrank (as reported by 'top'). I wasn't using the programs -- just starting them & quitting them -- but the used RAM stayed used. Also true of buffered and cached RAM, when they increased.

2. I tried mounting drives & using files on them. Using them used RAM as expected, but even when I quit the program & closed all windows, the newly used RAM was not released. If I then unmounted the drive, the RAM was immediately released.

tests, etc:

Test A). I opened Aqualung (free RAM shrank a bit) & then browsed a mounted ntfs drive (more RAM used while browsing the partition. Using a GUI to browse files used RAM in other apps also, such as Rox.)

When I selected & opened the mp3s, maybe 30MB more free RAM was used. When I stopped & quit Aqualung, no RAM was freed up. But when I unmounted the ntfs partition, the 30MB mp3-related free RAM immediately returned. (not the other Aqualung-used RAM.)

Test B). Not just Aqualung nor NTFS -- I mounted the liveCD and typed 'cat /mnt/sr0/pup-431.sfs' in a console window (musical fun!). Free RAM shrank by -- not 100MB, but close... but stopping the 'cat' window (verified stopped in 'top') did NOT release the RAM back to free RAM. When I unmounted the CD, the RAM was immediately freed.

The freememapplet display did not change in either test ("763M").

On the other hand, when I created a 100MB local file, free RAM and freememapplet both shrank by 100MB, and when I deleted the file both monitors immediately regained the 100MB.

-- One last note, FWIW: restarting JWM or X server didn't free any RAM. Exiting to prompt and restarting via 'xwin' (with or without running xorgwizard) didn't free any RAM either. Typing 'top' while exited to prompt showed free RAM (temporarily) increased by only 10MB.

PaulBx1
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Location: Wyoming, USA

#43 Post by PaulBx1 »

Anybody else of the same opinion?
I found all the partview examples confusing.

The graphic essentially shows used space, yet the text talks about free space. Moving the free space text into a graphic displaying used space is even more confusing.

I would move all text out of the graphic, and have the text area say "25GB of 80GB free". Also, left-justify it, or justify it "by columns".

Or, if you want text in the graphic, put "sda1" in there, not anything to do with sizes.

Another idea might be to keep it as you have it, but put the "free" text to the right of the graphic, since the free area in the graphic is on the right side. In other words, for sda1, show "sda1: 18G total", then the sda1 graphic, then "8.78G free".

A modification of that would be just to have column headers "Total size" and "Free space". Then the line for sda1 would show only "sda1: 18G", then the graphic, then "8.78G".

Also, I think we only need 2 significant figures, not 3. In other words, "8.8G" rather than "8.78G". One can have too much information...

You might use a different color in the graphic to indicate mounted volumes. Since green dots are used in the icons, might use green for mounted volumes. Then no need for a button to switch back and forth between mounted only and all volumes.

BTW I am pleased with 431 because it cleaned up two major problems with 412: corrupted text display in forums, and my sound card choking half-way through a movie. At least I think that is cleared up.

slackali
Posts: 9
Joined: Tue 18 Aug 2009, 13:00

Magic 20-second delay mounting drives or starting ROXwindows

#44 Post by slackali »

System: Thinkpad T20 P3 700MHz, 512MB RAM w/ 512MB swap
Puppy: 431-2.6.25.16-intelmodems, LiveCD booted with "pfix=ram".
---Or: 412-2.6.25.16 frugal install,
---or: 412-2.6.25.16 from liveCD w/ "pfix=ram".

Hi. Occasionally my computer enters an odd mode: mounting or unmounting drives, or opening a ROX window (e.g. from the Menu button) incurs a 20-21 second delay in whatever window / GUI I used. The computer otherwise remains perfectly responsive during the delays, and 'top' shows no spike in CPU or RAM usage.

If I click on a desktop drive icon to mount it, there's a 20-second delay before the green dot appears next to the icon... and then another 20-second delay before the ROX window opens for the drive. If I click on the desktop drive icon (w/ Rox, etc. closed) & choose 'unmount [partition | optical drive]', there's a 20-second delay before the dot disappears.

If I just open a ROX window for the _root_ folder, from the Menu button OR from command line, there's a 20-second delay before the window appears.

If I __mount a drive from the command line__, the command takes 20 seconds to 'finish' (return to the prompt). The desktop icon dot also takes 20 seconds to appear. But if I open another console, I can browse the contents of the mounted drive right away, while the original 'mount' command is still in its 20-second delay.

Once the computer enters this mode, I can't get out of it without rebooting. Clearing the ROX thumbnail cache*, restarting JWM &/or X server, even switching from Xorg to Xvesa &/or vice versa has no impact. After I exit to prompt, mount/umount commands finish right away, but restarting X returns to delay mode.

Unfortunately I can't figure out what events OR what code might be causing this. I will try to see if I can reproduce it on other computers or kernels.

* often I don't use thumbnails so the thumbnail cache is nonexistent

slackali
Posts: 9
Joined: Tue 18 Aug 2009, 13:00

unclear instruction in Xvesa Wizard

#45 Post by slackali »

A small note:

When using Xorg, if I choose Menu > Setup > Xvesa Wizard, the response is:
'Can't run while in Xorg; run Xorg Wizard to switch to Xvesa.'

Is this outdated advice? Xorg Wizard doesn't say any of its choices allow switching to Xvesa. Maybe the Xvesa wizard should say:
'Choose `Menu > ... > Exit to prompt` and then run Xorgwizard again, but choose Xvesa at first prompt instead of Xorg'?

Or even better, offer to do that automatically?

PaulBx1
Posts: 2312
Joined: Sat 17 Jun 2006, 03:11
Location: Wyoming, USA

#46 Post by PaulBx1 »

Just got around to actually trying an upgrade, from 4.1.2 (from which I had uninstalled all pet packages). Wow, the upgrade process is seriously broken. :(

Here is a screenshot of my icons, including folder icons in a rox window. Also note the missing menu icons, and that there is no yellow dot on sda2. The bootmanager/icon issue shouldn't be a problem here because I am not loading anything with the bootmanager:
Image

Here is another. In this one I was looking for the versioncleanup directory in /tmp. I found it in /initrd/pup_rw/tmp, but not in /tmp. This tells me unionfs is not working right:
Image

Another item is that I had set up a root password in 4.1.2, but this did not come across in the upgrade. In other words, I was automatically logged in as root without password, the standard Puppy setup.

This is a shame. Booting pfix=ram looked very good for me. Not sure what to do now.

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`f00
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Location: the Western Reserve

#47 Post by `f00 »

For my limited use it's all pretty much good to go - as a bugfix to p430 'ironed out'. About the only minor nits for me are
1) some uncommenting of /usr/bin/restartwm, wmexit, wmpoweroff and wmreboot (3 lines towards or at end) to enable plogout, etc without having to 'kick' action with ctrl+alt+bs .. thanx for the hint from elsewhere, runtt21 :) - could this be an issue for anyone else?
2) maybe wakepup2 could be updated to see other fs than fat16/32? or .. was trying to boot to thumbdrive (formatted .3fs) without liveCD as part of the ongoing adventure in trying other ways (old BIOS only has floppy, CD and HDD) and I finally gave up (stepping thru little things like 'does the name need an _ rather than a -' and commands I haven't much clue about gets old quickly for me :| )
3) remaster went fine, was fairly simple to fix the 'upgrade'/restoring 'official' stuff .. and this time I even got acpi=force into isolinux.config so a full poweroff is standard on my vintageware

addendi-re to previous posts..
p1- @gerry, simply rename (example ._2fs) the extension works for me 100% of the time *oops*, tempting the gremlins ;) "..interesting" I've seen when the dog finds tasty savefile(s) on hdd or *wherever* and gulps without asking, gnz11 :lol:

user option of free or used displayed as % of available-total or #/# - gui can be tricky and displaying such for optical drives is probably better left to burner s/w, imvho

yep, nubc - one of the reasons I like to clear the deck (especially something like a lock or any encrypt/password/etc), when buttonmasks were working for jwm I even did the x as a Q to remind myself of the usual key

hmmz, /tmp/versioncleanup definite for me (with switch of 'dummy' 1st savefile to a copy/rename of p425's in another pup and then 2nd p431 boot)

mmya - there's a lot to be said for the (standard on liveCD multi) user-choice of save/no_save .. may have touched on that in ref to save2flash option on the last real testreport I did (p425?)

fwiw, I think the save for all the personal adds I did started back around .. maybe up476 and p431 suffers them well :)

Bruce_n_Duane
Posts: 71
Joined: Wed 02 Nov 2005, 01:40
Location: Washington State

OpenOffice Documents via ROX

#48 Post by Bruce_n_Duane »

I installed Pup_431.iso on USB Flash Drive.
Added OpenOffice_311_sfs4.sfs to /mnt/home

Have icons for OpenOffice apps on desktop.

How do I modify the system and/or ROX configuration to be able to click on the filename of an OO saved file and have it start OpenOffice and open the file?

I would like to support wordprocessor files (.odt, .doc, .txt, .docx ....)
spreadsheets (.ods, excel, ....)
and soforth for all savable OpenOffice file formats.

Please be detailed. Thanks,

I want to automate this so I can pass out disks of Puppy 431 with OpenOffice
to every Windows User I meet!!!

-Bruce.

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shinobar
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Re: Swap labels in Partview

#49 Post by shinobar »

DemostiX :Labels are in the wrong place in the recent .pet
ecube wrote:Good point!
Anybody else of the same opinion?
/Olov
I do agree.

We can do some as like:
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mawebb88
Posts: 246
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Location: France nr Lyon

412 to 431

#50 Post by mawebb88 »

PaulBx1 wrote:Just got around to actually trying an upgrade, from 4.1.2 (from which I had uninstalled all pet packages). Wow, the upgrade process is seriously broken. :(

Here is a screenshot of my icons, including folder icons in a rox window. Also note the missing menu icons, and that there is no yellow dot on sda2. The bootmanager/icon issue shouldn't be a problem here because I am not loading anything with the bootmanager:
Image

Here is another. In this one I was looking for the versioncleanup directory in /tmp. I found it in /initrd/pup_rw/tmp, but not in /tmp. This tells me unionfs is not working right:
Image

Another item is that I had set up a root password in 4.1.2, but this did not come across in the upgrade. In other words, I was automatically logged in as root without password, the standard Puppy setup.

This is a shame. Booting pfix=ram looked very good for me. Not sure what to do now.
I had the same problems as you in a 412 to 430 upgrade (I have since done also 430 to 431). I got the icons back by using the "Desktop Icon Switcher". I had not un-installed the pets in 412 like you before the upgrade but that's a very good idea. I had to in the upgraded 430 do the re-install of all my pets to get them into the package manager. I also lost my root password prompt at bootup so had to edit /etc/inittab.

Other than that most things work. The only major thing not working is ALSA which had no master volume and the volume icon on the system tray is always muted on boot up and does not change the volume either. This has been reported several time but no response so far. Also the Network wizard is still shaky for me so I still avoid this and use my own script (as I had to do in 412) to get WiFi/WPA working. A recent major improvement at least for me was to rename /etc/rc.d/rc.network to something else so it does not clash with my own script otherwise I was getting 2 wpa_supplicant sessions running.

Rgds Mike
EeePC901

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