Blue Pup V6 Released 11th Oct 2014 32-bit

[ETP]

@ gcmartin,

Question
Should the PPM be used after the pop-up? Or, how should one proceed after viewing the popup?

The message ends with “See forum thread.

[ETP]

THUNDERBIRD

Version 24.5.0 is now available. The simple procedure to update it is descibed in the second post of this thread.


PETALERT-MK1.PET (Released 27th April)

For testing purposes the server based trigger is still currently turned on. It will be turned off on Friday which means that any alerts received after that day will be genuine.

[gcmartin]

My laptop, a Dell Inspiron 6000 does NOT go to sleep when cover closed. Please advise.

Thx

[ETP]

My laptop, a Dell Inspiron 6000 does NOT go to sleep when cover closed. Please advise.

Thx

Hi gcmartin,

The various ACPI elements and key binding tools were never include in QT and are therefore not in Blue. It was commented in the QT thread that it was not really an issue given the speed of shutdown and boot. I do not think that BarryK has ever been a fan of sleep/hibernation preferring the certainty of zero battery drain that shutdown gives.

The various tools are available via PPM if this is a major issue for you and you wish to experiment having first created a snapshot.

[step]

This is an optional dotpet for all versions of Blue Pup. In QT 6 BarryK introduced a feature to check for new service packs. The check could be selected as a menu item or was carried out automatically if PPM was launched.

This pet checks automatically for new pets or service packs at each boot-up without any user intervention.
If either of the above is available an audible and a visual alert will be triggered.

For testing purposes the server based trigger is currently turned on.
Please let me know if this .pet performs as expected. Test by re-starting X.

Here it doesn't work as expected. You say it should alert on boot-up. It didn't on two boot-ups. When I restarted X it did alert - due to Thunderbird's availability. But restarting X isn't the intended usage for this pet.

[ETP]

This is an optional dotpet for all versions of Blue Pup. In QT 6 BarryK introduced a feature to check for new service packs. The check could be selected as a menu item or was carried out automatically if PPM was launched.

This pet checks automatically for new pets or service packs at each boot-up without any user intervention.
If either of the above is available an audible and a visual alert will be triggered.

For testing purposes the server based trigger is currently turned on.
Please let me know if this .pet performs as expected. Test by re-starting X.

Here it doesn't work as expected. You say it should alert on boot-up. It didn't on two boot-ups. When I restarted X it did alert - due to Thunderbird's availability. But restarting X isn't the intended usage for this pet.

Good morning step,

I don’t understand what you are getting at here. The alert has been turned on for testing purposes since I issued it on 27th April. I will be turning it off in 12 hours time.

What that means is that if you have installed the dotpet anytime after 27th April an audible and visual alert should be triggered at every subsequent boot-up or reboot. It will also be seen and heard if you simply re-start X. Upgrading T’Bird will not stop the alert.

Triggering it by re-starting X is just a quicker way of testing it rather than re-booting having installed the dotpet. If you do test it by re-starting X it should trigger after the Metro live tiles appear.
When exactly did you install the pet?

[step]

Hi ETP,

I was just reporting the results of my testing the dotpet, which I had installed on April 28th. On May 2nd - after you had issued the TB update - I expected for the dotpet to alert me on each boot-up. I booted up twice. It didn't alert me. Then I restarted X and it did alert me. I think the test failed, because the dotpet should have alerted on boot-up. Testing by restarting X is expedient, but it doesn't reflect the intended usage (boot-up), according to the description you gave of the dotpet.

This is an optional dotpet for all versions of Blue Pup. In QT 6 BarryK introduced a feature to check for new service packs. The check could be selected as a menu item or was carried out automatically if PPM was launched.

This pet checks automatically for new pets or service packs at each boot-up without any user intervention.
If either of the above is available an audible and a visual alert will be triggered.

For testing purposes the server based trigger is currently turned on.
Please let me know if this .pet performs as expected. Test by re-starting X.

Here it doesn't work as expected. You say it should alert on boot-up. It didn't on two boot-ups. When I restarted X it did alert - due to Thunderbird's availability. But restarting X isn't the intended usage for this pet.

Good morning step,

I don’t understand what you are getting at here. The alert has been turned on for testing purposes since I issued it on 27th April. I will be turning it off in 12 hours time.

What that means is that if you have installed the dotpet anytime after 27th April an audible and visual alert should be triggered at every subsequent boot-up or reboot. It will also be seen and heard if you simply re-start X. Upgrading T’Bird will not stop the alert.

Triggering it by re-starting X is just a quicker way of testing it rather than re-booting having installed the dotpet. If you do test it by re-starting X it should trigger after the Metro live tiles appear.
When exactly did you install the pet?

[ETP]

Hi step,

You can only report what you find and from my perspective reports of failure are more important than reports of success. The lack of an alert on two occasions may have been due to an internet problem but obviously further testing is needed.

The alert is currently turned off but I will later today issue sp2 and turn it back on when I do so. Service pack 2 is in no way related to the petalert-mk1.pet but affords the opportunity for further testing of the alert.
Many thanks for continuing to test.

[ETP]

This is a recommended pack. It includes a number of minor tweaks to scripts to improve performance when multiple windows are open and to tile arrangement if the browser has actually been closed.

Given its issue, the alert generated by the optional petalert-mk1.pet has been turned back on and will remain so until late next Friday.
This will allow for further testing of that option.

[step]

Hi ETP,

when I move my mouse pointer to hit the right screen edge and so raise the button panel, the pointer reappears at the top left corner of the button panel. Effectively the pointer warps from the extreme right of the screen to the far left. This spatial dislocation annoys and confounds me. Most of the times, as I'm mentally in the process of retracting from the right edge by dragging the pointer to the left I find the warped pointer hitting the left edge and so raising chrome, which ins't what I want to do. Does it happen to you too?
Can you do something to your scripts to avoid the warping effect? Ideally the mouse pointer should stay in the same position where I drag it, or at least in proximity, regardless of the screen edge. Thank you for your consideration.

[ETP]

Hi ETP,

when I move my mouse pointer to hit the right screen edge and so raise the button panel, the pointer reappears at the top left corner of the button panel. Effectively the pointer warps from the extreme right of the screen to the far left. This spatial dislocation annoys and confounds me. Most of the times, as I'm mentally in the process of retracting from the right edge by dragging the pointer to the left I find the warped pointer hitting the left edge and so raising chrome, which ins't what I want to do. Does it happen to you too?
Can you do something to your scripts to avoid the warping effect? Ideally the mouse pointer should stay in the same position where I drag it, or at least in proximity, regardless of the screen edge. Thank you for your consideration.

Hi step,

That mouse movement was a deliberate feature for use with the right hand windows key but I can see how it could be annoying when using the “hot sides

[gcmartin]

Good morning step,

I don’t understand what you are getting at here. The alert has been turned on for testing purposes since I issued it on 27th April. I will be turning it off in 12 hours time.

What that means is that if you have installed the dotpet anytime after 27th April an audible and visual alert should be triggered at every subsequent boot-up or reboot. It will also be seen and heard if you simply re-start X. Upgrading T’Bird will not stop the alert.

Triggering it by re-starting X is just a quicker way of testing it rather than re-booting having installed the dotpet. If you do test it by re-starting X it should trigger after the Metro live tiles appear.
When exactly did you install the pet?

OK, sorry for the delay @ETP.

I did install the PET as instructed, and nothing happened. Then I restarted the X desktop and still, nothing happened. This PC has not been rebooted in weeks.

Maybe I should reboot to see if the available service announcement occurs. Maybe it should behave like my dogs do...anything new, Bark-bark!

I return when I reboot the system.

[ETP]

@ gcmartin & step,

In order to get to the cause of the missing alert issue can you please both perform the following test?

1. Open up the “Startup

[Billtoo]

I haven't used Bluepup for a couple of weeks but today I moved my 16gb
flash drive install to an hp desktop.
video-info-glx 1.5.3 Tue 6 May 2014 on Quirky Tahr 6.0.5 Linux 3.12.6 i686
2.0 VGA compatible controller:
Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200 v2/3rd Gen Core processor Graphics Controller (rev 09)
oem: Intel(R) Sandybridge/Ivybridge Graphics Chipset Accelerated VGA BIOS
product: Intel(R) Sandybridge/Ivybridge Graphics Controller Hardware Version 0.0
X Server: Xorg Driver: intel
X.Org version: 1.15.0
dimensions: 3840x1080 pixels (1013x285 millimeters)
depth of root window: 24 planes
direct rendering: Yes
server glx vendor string: SGI
server glx version string: 1.4
OpenGL vendor string: Intel Open Source Technology Center
OpenGL renderer string: Mesa DRI Intel(R) Ivybridge Desktop x86/MMX/SSE2
OpenGL core profile version string: 3.3 (Core Profile) Mesa 10.0.1

Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-3550 CPU @ 3.30GHz
Core 0: @1600 1: @1600 2: @1600 3: @1600 MHz

I added arandr to setup for 2 monitors and also added xbmc 12.3 from
PPM.
I added petalert-mk1.pet and restarted X, it notified me with a visual
that there was a service pack available, also an audio alert spoke to
me.
After downloading and installing the bluepup-sp2 pet I rebooted.
Seems to be working well.

[step]

5. Post the contents of the terminal window.

Code: Select all

# sh popupmk1
--2014-05-07 05:42:06--  https://googledrive.com/host/0B_iVVJCd9q09dGo5V2ZZOV90UWs
Resolving googledrive.com (googledrive.com)... 173.194.116.11, 173.194.116.10, 173.194.116.12, ...
Connecting to googledrive.com (googledrive.com)|173.194.116.11|:443... connected.
WARNING: cannot verify googledrive.com's certificate, issued by ‘/C=US/O=Google Inc/CN=Google Internet Authority G2’:
  Unable to locally verify the issuer's authority.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 7 [text/plain]
Saving to: ‘/root/Startup/0B_iVVJCd9q09dGo5V2ZZOV90UWs’

100%[======================================>] 7           --.-K/s   in 0s      

2014-05-07 05:42:06 (129 KB/s) - ‘/root/Startup/0B_iVVJCd9q09dGo5V2ZZOV90UWs’ saved [7/7]

Playing WAVE '/root/noob/files/alert.wav' : Signed 16 bit Little Endian, Rate 44100 Hz, Stereo
# EXIT="Exit on timeout"

I did see the temp file and the blue popup window.

BTW Are you still not seeing or hearing any alert at boot time?
If not, is your audio working & do you have any other apps or utilities set to run automatically?

I'm still not seeing or hearing alerts at boot time. My audio is working. I do not have any other apps set to run automatically - other than the stock provided with Blue pup.

[step]

B: Install attached dotpet to revert mouse to impulse drive.

Thank you. It works well. I much prefer mouse impulse drive, even when right+win is pressed.
p.s. sent you a PM.

[ETP]

Hi step,

Thanks for posting the output from your terminal. It eliminates a number of possibilities and indicates that the script is working correctly and there are no internet issues.

I'm still not seeing or hearing alerts at boot time.

This seems to be a timing issue which I will return to. Let us first try to sort out the audio mute/volume issue.

AUDIO PROBLEM (The sound of silence?)

1. Open the folder /root/noob/files then left click on the file "alert.wav". It should open and play in a VLC window.
If you hear nothing do not change the level in VLC which should show 100%. Instead right click on the speaker icon in the tray
and then left click on the "Full Window" item. Adjust the levels of the PCM & Master bars playing the alert.wav again
between adjustments until the level is satisfactory.

2. Leaving the Retrovol window open, open a terminal window within the /noob/files directory then type aplay alert.wav
Repeat this a few times whilst adjusting the levels in the Retrovol window.


BOOT PROBLEM (No sound or popup)

My best guess at present is that this is a timing issue. Try editing the popupmk1 script in the Startup folder.
Begin by increasing the sleep from 14 seconds to 60 seconds. Save the file then re-boot. If that does the trick reduce
it to 30 then re-boot again. Settle for the lowest value that gives consistent results.

[step]

1. Open the folder /root/noob/files then left click on the file "alert.wav". It should open and play in a VLC window.

2. Leaving the Retrovol window open, open a terminal window within the /noob/files directory then type aplay alert.wav

BOOT PROBLEM (No sound or popup)

Begin by increasing the sleep from 14 seconds to 60 seconds....

OK, I did 1 and 2, alert.wav plays at an audible volume level. I increased the sleep to 60. I will come back after next reboot. Thank you.

[gcmartin]

Hello @ETP

Did as you prescribed without rebooting. I now get the experience you allude to; both audio and video. Thanks. I have not rebooted this distro is weeks.

One options that I had referred you to, earlier, was the manner in which LH64 makes service available, where it is a selectable item (clickable) for installation. I thought that I have remembered that @BarryK had done similar.

But, considering how members could find that as an unwelcomed approach, this manner is acceptable. Maybe a pointer in the popup, in the future, could be added so that unfamiliar members would know where on the forum to look. Just tossing out an idea.

"code BLUE." ... nice

[step]

@ETP, a 60 second sleep fixed this issue. I didn't even try a shorter sleep as there is no point in hurrying to receive an update alert.
Fyi, when my PC boots it takes about 20-25 seconds overall to get an IP address for eth0 first and then for wlan0. I don't know how typical those timings are - they seem reasonable to me.