"Testing" Sensei & Sensei64

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meowcats
Posts: 31
Joined: Sun 14 Apr 2013, 04:59

#46 Post by meowcats »

I have not been using grub. I use syslinux instead.

what do you think about providing a updated kernel?
murga and alphaos both use 3.8.x

stifiling
Posts: 388
Joined: Sun 30 Dec 2007, 03:56

#47 Post by stifiling »

meowcats wrote:what do you think about providing a updated kernel?
that's not a task that would be too difficult to accomplish. kind of conflicted on it though. what would really be a great reason for using an updated kernel, opposed to an already well tested one? My experiences with newer kernels have brought about unwanted hardware issues.

I notice Barry also never rolls out the new Puppy releases, with the brand spanking new kernel. I wonder if his reasons for not doing so are similar to mine.

I'm not against that idea. It 'sounds' like a good idea. But is it? what's the benefit? Like i said i've only come across, "oh no! my ____ doesn't work anymore. let me figure out how to get this back on."

meowcats
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#48 Post by meowcats »

Of course the flipside to unwanted bugs/issues are that an outdated kernel may not have support for some newer hardware. So instead of 'it doesn't work anymore' it becomes 'why won't it work at all'
Especially for a portable frugal install, IMO more driver support > occasional bug.

also, I tried latest sensei and save file indeed works!
However I added "radeon" to modules in rc.conf, and on reboot my ati4850 goes off and "monitor out of range"

stifiling
Posts: 388
Joined: Sun 30 Dec 2007, 03:56

#49 Post by stifiling »

meowcats,

could you try installing:

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pacman -S xf86-video-ati


and editing /etc/X11/xorg.conf changing line 3 from:

Driver "vesa"
to
Driver "radeon"

and see if that works...

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Tote
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Location: South Wales

#50 Post by Tote »

Hi stifling, going to show my ignorance here. I installed hardinfo using Pacman Express and I can run it by typing hardinfo in console, but is there an easy/obvious method I've overlooked to add it to Menu?

Many thanks.

stifiling
Posts: 388
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#51 Post by stifiling »

Tote wrote:Hi stifling, going to show my ignorance here. I installed hardinfo using Pacman Express and I can run it by typing hardinfo in console, but is there an easy/obvious method I've overlooked to add it to Menu?

Many thanks.
it should be in the menu category "System" by the name of "System Profiler and Benchmark"

meowcats
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#52 Post by meowcats »

Hi, yes the package xf86-video-ati simply needed to be installed. I had falsely assumed that given the large size of sendesk', that it was included.

meowcats
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#53 Post by meowcats »

Btw basic install with Radeon using 990Mb ram : o

stifiling
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#54 Post by stifiling »

meowcats wrote:Btw basic install with Radeon using 990Mb ram : o
WOW...so using the radeon video driver made it jump to 990MB ram? what's the ram usage using the vesa driver?

which sensei are u using exactly? pae, non-pae, or 64bit?

meowcats
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#55 Post by meowcats »

Using pfix=ram, free -m shows 770M used. That's just a default config that's loading with vesa

With 1GB save file and Radeon: 990M. using non pae because I need kernel 3.2+ for Carl 9170-fw

stifiling
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#56 Post by stifiling »

meowcats wrote:Using pfix=ram, free -m shows 770M used. That's just a default config that's loading with vesa

With 1GB save file and Radeon: 990M. using non pae because I need kernel 3.2+ for Carl 9170-fw
could you take a look in LXTask....and see which process is using the most RAM...under RSS. 770MB is also ridiculously high.

which kernel do u like from which puppy? i presently just yanks a prebuilt kernel from another puppy...and slams it in using this procedure...

I'm just wondering if that issue is being caused by the kernel though.

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James C
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Location: Kentucky

#57 Post by James C »

Tried Sensei64 while I've got a free minute ....... live cd booted to a prompt. Tried "startx" and "startxfce4" ...... got the prompt.
Did a quick frugal install booting with good old legacy Grub ..... same results..... only gets to a prompt.

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VGA compatible controller		: NVIDIA Corporation C61 [GeForce 7025 / nForce 630a] (rev a2) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
Out of time tonight but it appears that the senapps64_001.sfs and sendesk64-xfce_001.sfs aren't loading.Didn't notice any mention that would inicate they were loading during the boot process.

stifiling
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#58 Post by stifiling »

James C wrote:Out of time tonight but it appears that the senapps64_001.sfs and sendesk64-xfce_001.sfs aren't loading.Didn't notice any mention that would inicate they were loading during the boot process.
that's really strange. yes u should see that they loaded during the boot process. senapps and sendesk.

when u tried it, did u use "psubdir" in the grub menu entry? If so, and u have a chance to try it again, could u try it w/o "psubdir".

i really don't see why that would matter though. i don't see how the main.sfs is loading...but the other two aren't. as if they aren't in range. i can't reproduce that exact same behavior.

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Tote
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#59 Post by Tote »

stifiling wrote:
Tote wrote:Hi stifling, going to show my ignorance here. I installed hardinfo using Pacman Express and I can run it by typing hardinfo in console, but is there an easy/obvious method I've overlooked to add it to Menu?

Many thanks.
it should be in the menu category "System" by the name of "System Profiler and Benchmark"
Thank you, found it.

meowcats
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Joined: Sun 14 Apr 2013, 04:59

#60 Post by meowcats »

stifiling wrote:could you take a look in LXTask....and see which process is using the most RAM...under RSS. 770MB is also ridiculously high.

which kernel do u like from which puppy? i presently just yanks a prebuilt kernel from another puppy...and slams it in using this procedure...

I'm just wondering if that issue is being caused by the kernel though.
In LXtask it shows ~110mb used, but when option 'count cache as used memory' is checked, then it shows ~770mb.
free -m only shows the 770mb. A large portion is used by XFCE. ~120mb is used by X.

As far as kernels, the upup raring kernel, or fatdog 620. Both are modern kernels with lots of testers

stifiling
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#61 Post by stifiling »

meowcats wrote:As far as kernels, the upup raring kernel, or fatdog 620. Both are modern kernels with lots of testers
I haven't looked at the upup raring project yet. I'm assuming pulling the kernel out of it would be the same as the way i linked to a cpl posts up. So that shouldn't be a big problem.

the fatdog64 620 kernel though...a completely different ball game. In a previous thread, the argument was raised about how FatDog64 is more 'woof-like' than ArchPup was. ArchPup didn't come with rox, jwm, or the ppm...but it did come with an initrd.gz and an sfs file. FatDog64 does come with rox, jwm, and the ppm...but it doesn't come with an initrd.gz or an sfs file. So truthfully speaking, it's as far off the mark from a traditional woof-built puppy, as ArchPup was.

With that being the case...pulling the kernel from fatdog64 620, using the commonly known method, won't work.

I won't give up on updating the Sensei64 kernel, but presently....it's not a task that would be anything close to simple to do. Even though Sensei64 uses the older 3.0.3 kernel...all the apps are new as of 3/20/13. i feel as though being able to more easily get rid of apps you might not want, outweighs using a newer kernel. But if you have hardware that isn't working with it, then 'yes'...that's a good enough reason to put forth the effort to getting the kernel updated. So i'll try my best, and see if i can get 'both' requirements...inside of Sensei64.

i see you say u're using the non-pae 32-bit Sensei, but you have a 64-bit machine. Personally, i wouldn't feel comfortable using a 32-bit OS on a 64-bit machine. So once again, i will 'try' to get the Sensei64 kernel updated, in hopes that it'll correct the current hardware issue u're having.......'if' I can successfully get it updated.

meowcats
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#62 Post by meowcats »

Yes, I use it on 64bit machines especially for school work using R,octave,xppaut, but i also use it on multiple machines. a few are 32bit sadly.

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Tote
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#63 Post by Tote »

Hello stifiling, me again, (sorry).

Running senseifull non pae, manual frugal install on harddrive, T61 thinkpad, with a 2GB (ish) save file, and keep getting intermittent problem where I can't boot to desktop.

Without a savefile it boots okay. I thought my original savefile might be corrupted so deleted/rebooted started again, but same problem.

Boots as far as sensei login : root (automatic login) on tty1, and pauses. Tried entering xorgwizard but get not recognised, same with xwin. Will continue boot if I enter startx, but then frisbee fails to connect.

But, as I said, intermittent; sometimes it'll boot to desktop first time, other times it won't.

Had a search online, found something about editing /etc/inittab, (means nothing to me), I don't mind trying whatever, and if I totally bork it I'll just start over again, but wondered if you had any ideas. (I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer.)

Thanks in advance.

EDIT:: First boot this morning direct to desktop, no problemo. Second boot; automatic login. Then login again.

Watching the processes load, it gets as far as starting slim, then I either get the desktop or automatic login pause issue again.

cinclus_cinclus
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Joined: Sun 22 Feb 2009, 10:00

Dev.sfs

#64 Post by cinclus_cinclus »

1. Is there a devx.sfs?

(related to 1.)
2. Instead if devx.sfs which Arch-packages could replace dev.sfs?

stifiling
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Re: Dev.sfs

#65 Post by stifiling »

@Tote

when it doesn't make it to the desktop...your at a prompt? try running the command:

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slim
at that point and see if X will start normally. Slim is the login manager. If it's not starting X close to 100% of the time....maybe using the solution simargl used in ArchPup may be better. I liked the way ArchPup did it, but it made exiting X harder. which was the only reason i used slim. Exiting X is important sometimes and tried to include a moreso familiar way of getting it done. if it's problematic though...may have to come up with a plan B.
cinclus_cinclus wrote:1. Is there a devx.sfs?

(related to 1.)
2. Instead if devx.sfs which Arch-packages could replace dev.sfs?
I really should upload a devx.sfs. usually in arch linux you'd install:

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pacman -S base-devel
and that would be all that was necessary for compiling packages (kernel modules still need the kernel source). at this current moment though...i have the /usr/include files from all the currently installed packages which was taking a lot of space in the system. without those, compiling will probably be unsuccessful more often than....wanted. So i'll upload a devx today.

I've been trying to compile an updated 64 bit kernel for Sensei64. Almost got one working but....almost doesn't count.

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