Fatdog64 630rc2 (24 December 2013) [CLOSED]

[gcmartin]

The PET tested in 630 ===> ThreadGet

Works.

[Packetteer]

Hi gcmartin

Some information. I am booting FatDog64 off of a usb flash drive.
The savefile is also saved on the flash drive.
The save file is ext4 1gig in size
The app that I used is the one found in the control panel under the
Utilities tab. SavefileArgumentBuilder.

The command is
append savefile=ram:uuid:BB25-9ADC:fd64save.ext4
Which I added to the end of the syslinux.cfg file.

Best Regards
John

[jamesbond]

Thanks for all kind words, comments and those who help to answer questions while we're not around. Your help is very much appreciated.

If a Remaster is started from the FATDOG menu, will the final outcome (ISO) be a FATDOG with devx built into the filesystem?

If you have done a remaster yourself you don't need to ask this question. The answer is you can choose whether or not to include devx as part of the remaster.

Would the devx bring any negative impact to the scene for general system use and FATDOG package manager operations with its packages?

Not that I know of. I generally run Fatdog with devx attached at all times. I would however like to hear from others about this.

@kitten, it used to work in previous versions. Nowadays I don't have a second monitor to test that scenario, so I can't confirm and/or troubleshoot the issue. That being said, this sometimes is caused by Xorg regressions (bugs that happen in newer version but don't exist in older versions); and we have newer Xorg for release; so my only (admittedly unhelpful) is to wait for the next release and see if it gets fixed. Perhaps others can help too?

Not a pressing priority but now that MTP has come of age in PUPs the need for current JDK serves both users and developers alike.

What does JDK have to do with MTP? But yes, having and updated JDK SFS is nice. When my internet connection gets better I will do it (unless someone else already beat me to it).

[prehistoric]

Hi Guys,

I've been lurking here, and have run into a problem already reported on my machine with AMD processor and nvidia graphics (ASUS M2NPV-VM): the labels under icons don't always show up. I'll try the modesetting fix, and report results. Added: Worked like a charm.

A second problem likely has to do with that change in handling USB devices. I can move the cursor with a PS2 mouse or USB mouse plugged into the machine directly at start up, but cannot use a USB mouse plugged into a KVM switch that handles USB. This works on Fatdog 620, 621.

Overall, I have to say I'm impressed with the speed and the ability to configure automatically.

I would however echo comments about the humongous initrd by Ted Dog and gcmartin.

The final version will likely become my new workhorse.

[Ted Dog]

On fresh CD install, (beautiful) Fatdog64 630rc2 & zarfy figure out they need...

Code: Select all

LVDS1 3f 0 48 1366 768 0 1200 1
VGA1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
HDMI1 40 0 49 1920 1200 0 0 1
DP1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
VIRTUAL1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0

and all is well, as recorded in

Code: Select all

/root/.zarfy/:0/outputs.conf

But when I return and cable up again, zarfy can only display the laptop screen, and mirror its image to the big screen, without acknowledging big screen's presence. By then the outputs.conf file only shows...

Code: Select all

default 17e 0 180 1366 768 0 0 1

Using Acer One 756 z, 4GB mem, similar to Acer Chromebook

I think I have same laptop.. if so I can confirm same issues and was posted prior with a workaround.. Also have a new EFI boot method which works well with our setup. Flashdrive based all files editible and NO bootloader mods to layout. a fat32 flashdrive WILL act like a large EFI partition without installing anything. Just a EFI folder. Was able to consolidate all my FatDog setups to one large flashdrive. Freeing up a number of smaller flashdrives to play with new Quirky6s and still be able to use flashdrive as is with windows and Android ( its double sided USB and Android phone microplug)

[gcmartin]

What does JDK have to do with MTP?

Answer: "Apps!" built on a PUP can transfer now with greater user transparency of the MTP device's filesystem. Depending on how one looks at this, there is a direct/indirect relationship in the services of these 2 subsystems.

With the speed of FATDOG's operations, I can foresee coupling JDK and eClipse to build MTP device apps that further couple FATDOG with the management of things that the smartDevice brings to our plate.

Some of the other distros, I sure you already know, as well as subsystems reports have shared how to build and test apps on x86 architectures for Apples/Windows/Androids smartDevices.

And there are other IDEs also which are gaining maturity for user x86 development of Apps for smartDevices .

I hope these subsystems extend usefulness of the FATDOG and Puppy distros in such a way as they make Puppy Linux distros more attractive to more and more users as time goes on.
P.S. MTP for PUPs upgrade mentioned here
Edit: single word correction

[Ted Dog]

cool cool cool I would love to develop my own apps for Andriod with the RAW speed and distributed compile system that Fatdog64 and ARM offer. You are right, Fatdog has a maturity that would be ideal for some projects. Never understood the whole windows needed to develop Android which is Linux based.
I am new to tbe whole APP scene but there is a great need for freer and more transparent code. When I heard the flashlight mode has the largest spying settings, I freaked-out. How does some simple action expose so much of tbe Android phone.

[prehistoric]

I'm close to full functionality.

One problem turned up when I used to SFS loader to install Google Chrome. It loads correctly, and runs, but even when I check the "load on every boot" box it does not load on reboots.

Is this supposed to be handled by the SFS manager instead? I'm getting confused about where we are in development.

[WillM]

Hi prehistoric.
The SFS Loader is the correct tool. A few times I had forgotten to mark the check box in the lower left pane that says: Load at every boot. So then had to reload the .sfs file.

[prehistoric]

Still not getting the Google Chrome SFS loaded when I reboot, even with the box checked. Ideas?

First idea I tried, maybe it needs a link in the subdirectory where my vmlinuz and initrd reside. Not the problem.

Here's my grub entry for the new Fatdog:

Code: Select all

# Linux bootable partition config begins
  title Fatdog Linux 630 beta2 (on /dev/sda2)
  root (hd0,1)
  kernel /FD630/vmlinuz savefile=direct:device:sda2:/FD630/fd64save.ext4 
  initrd /FD630/initrd
# Linux bootable partition config ends

Found the bug! You have to check the box before you load the SFS file. I ended up unloading the file, then checking the box and reloading it. When this works you get a dialog box saying the file will be loaded at next boot.

If each individual SFS file has a flag indicating "load at next boot" we probably need a more detailed user interface to show this.

Added: Minor bug in Fatdog package manager. Message says "Downloading $1". Looks like a simple problem of quoting in a script.

Now running Fatdog 630 on an HP elitebook 6930p with no apparent issues. Intel Core 2 duo T8400 with Centrino technology, 2 GB. DDR2 RAM. Intel wireless does have WPA2 even though wizard asks if it does.

[Fabio T]

I report that Google Chrome breaks CUPS 1.5.4. (Interan Server error) that is in FatDog64,

After unistall Goggle Chrome Chrome turns bak to work.

Any idea (perhaps an upgrade of CUPS?)

[prehistoric]

This is not a bug report, just a suggestion for a problem that I keep getting into.

I"m currently experimenting with an HP elitebook 6930p laptop running W7 by default. This laptop was once a high-end business model with a special security package. It has a built-in fingerprint scanner on the palmrest, which I'm checking out. It also has a slot for a MMC or SD card, which I'm putting Fatdog on.

My goal is to run W7 unmodified with the SD card out, while being able to boot Fatdog from the SD card, with all my personal files removable.

At present, the BIOS is pulling the usual stunt of insisting it can't find anything bootable on the SD card when I select boot from SD on the boot menu. If I don't have any better ideas I may end up creating a mini-DVD with just enough to load Fatdog from the SD card. Booting the entire system from DVD is slow. Built-in security will tolerate booting ISOLinux from DVD, but complains about flash cards.

What I'm suggesting is that the menu on the DVD contain an entry for "boot Fatdog from hard disk" which will allow me to choose a device like a USB drive which already has Fatdog, but has had the boot loader clobbered by various "features" of other systems intended to provide "security".

Make sense to anyone else?

[Ted Dog]

if you remaster you can select small inird that places the squashfile outside of first booting load and the kernel drivers will load the squashfile faster then slower speed used during bootload.
Also my SDcard is slow to boot from. I find that if I go to BIOS settings then exit it gives the hardware enough time to boot from SDcard. On a fast laptop and a slow SDcard that may work.
Same remaster above will save time on SDcard but not as dramatic improvement as with DVD.

[jamesbond]

What I'm suggesting is that the menu on the DVD contain an entry for "boot Fatdog from hard disk" which will allow me to choose a device like a USB drive which already has Fatdog, but has had the boot loader clobbered by various "features" of other systems intended to provide "security".

Make sense to anyone else?

Yes, but it's not quite feasible to do it that way - because bootloaders are quite limited; syslinux (the one used in Fatdog for DVD/USB BIOS booting) especially is unable to boot from anything other than the partition where it is installed. And if you wonder why I don't use grub4dos (which is way more flexible although it still can't do what you in mind) - it is because grub4dos does not support hybrid iso.

[prehistoric]

...Yes, but it's not quite feasible to do it that way - because bootloaders are quite limited; syslinux (the one used in Fatdog for DVD/USB BIOS booting) especially is unable to boot from anything other than the partition where it is installed. And if you wonder why I don't use grub4dos (which is way more flexible although it still can't do what you in mind) - it is because grub4dos does not support hybrid iso.

I agree, but I'm still looking for a way to have a recovery tool on the ISO image that will allow me to chain to the SD card or a hard drive partition if the blankety-blank BIOS has other ideas, or the expletive-deleted OS takes makes a pre-emptive strike against the bootloader I'm using.

I agree with TedDog that I can remaster to make life via DVD more reasonable. It would still be very nice to be able to resurrect an already configured Fatdog which is temporarily indisposed by circumstances beyond its control.

I'm convinced there must be a simple tool out there on the net to give me the equivalent of old-fashioned chainloading. I'll let you know if I find something that might be easily included.

I've already struggled with lilo, grub 1, grub 2, plus some bootloaders I would rather not remember. I haven't gotten into grub4dos, and on this machine I'm still hacking my old grub multiboot.

Incidentally this laptop was designed to have several forms of security for business users: encrypted hard drives, fingerprint reader, smart cards for authentication or "spare keys", and even face recognition software if you have a built-in video camera. Some messages on the HP forum are about how to defeat these measures when you get things locked up so that even the legitimate owner can't use it. I can imagine what happens if you call HP support after the device is declared obsolete.

[Sage]

Got to learn to live without the devil's OS - at all! After that, how about removing the HD, mount it in any old PC and install whatever flavour of Linux you prefer together with your favourite bootloader. Part dismantle the unit to enable severing the fingerprint detector and any other garbage. Re-assemble, maybe , and try a BIOS file from a similar earlier model - don't believe the hype about BIOS specificity - as long as you select an Award flash file for an Award BIOS and American Megatrends for ditto, it'll probably boot most of the basic functions to get it running. If you want to be uber-picky you can use a third-party BIOS utility to switch things ON/OFF and generally play tunes till you're happy or fed-up.
In this business nothing is sacrosanct - any HW can be modified with a suitable screwdriver, soldering iron, etc. If you get a bad flash there's a guy in Cardiff?Newport(Mons)? or somewhere over there that'll sell you another/reflash/w.h.y.
Broken record dept. : never buy a laptop - you heard it from me first.
After that it's just the eternal battle with SW - not my department, but I know a man who can.

[Ted Dog]

You could still boot a small initrd off DVD but copy fatdog sfs to harddrive (leave it out of DVD) it will search for it on HD and load from there. Should use a rewrite DVD for experiments. I have none this on accident..
Also the updated syslinux has a EFI boot method that allows 64bit EFI loader to boot 32bit which GRUB does not do.. Playing with the no touch EFI boot loader idea (currently can Quad boot, with a mix of syslinux and grub where syslinux boots 32bit Quirky and EFI grub boots FatDog64 from one Flashdrive. Just change my laptops boot loader from BIOS to EFI or back.

[prehistoric]

Easy Sage! I'm not doubting that I can brute force this, all I have to do to disable the fingerprint reader is to not install the software. This is where I've left it at the moment. I wouldn't mind using it to say it is really me booting whatever, either, if that is possible.

Ted Dog has a closer idea of what I'm looking for, a tiny OS that does nothing except chain to the one on the disk partition.

I have Android systems that act the way I want on a Nook HD+. To boot normally I just remove the microSD card. To boot the Cyanogenmod system I simply power down and insert the card, which takes control at the next boot. This leaves me with an unmodified system I can still sell, while letting me do my worst with a system on microSD card.

Unfortunately, N2A cards has started requiring Windoze to write their downloaded versions to the microSD card. (This seriously damages the convenience of paying them to configure a system. I have not installed their Android 4.4 "Kitkat" version because of this.)

Friends of mine have to keep running Windoze at home because their jobs are tied to organizations that assume everybody runs it. (Just try to change public school system IT. They are barely able to keep anything running. I found a problem where their support people were installing shortcut links so first graders wouldn't have to type long, complicated sequences of instructions, and then every night a security scan would remove these links as dangerous. This had been a deep mystery for support.) I keep one machine that will run W7 to deal with such problems. I don't intend to keep fighting with XP after it goes off life support.

Added: this problem with the laptop security is more of a challenge than anything else. From the material I have read it looks like they could offer really strong security by encrypting hard drives and requiring both a special smartcard key and biometric ID.

From omissions in available material, I'm guessing this depends on "security through obscurity". To use the smart card, they would need to turn control over to a program which would run the fingerprint scanner, etc. The BIOS must be looking for some special secret code which tells it to trust the SD card. They couldn't do this with CD/DVDs because standards for them were already set, so it is still simple to bypass the entire system, so long as you can boot common CDs/DVDs.

Oh, BTW, I got this machine cheap, because it defeated others who didn't get as far as I have already. So far, everything in the hardware works fine.

Still later: part of my confusion comes from not considering what they meant by "smartcard". It now appears they may have been talking about a custom card which fits in the expressbus 54 mm slot. This is in addition to the built in MMC/SD card slot on the front.

[Sage]

There are easier solutions. Change job, send 'the boys' over to Redmond, dynamite, etc. Lost count of the number of 'free gift' laptops I've declined this last decade - poison chalice in sheep's clothing! An HW solution is always best; seem to have omitted hammer from essential toolkit.

[gcmartin]

Hi @Prehistoric. On my PC, my DVD boots faster than my SD boots. Dont know exactly why, but it does. Once PUP reaches desktop, SD seems faster.

FYI