Mintpup (THREAD CLOSED)

[wanderer]

saintless

do you have a download link for your new base

looks fantastic

thanks

wanderer

[saintless]

Edit 17.07.2015: The iso image replaced with new initrd1.xz and scripts fixes for porteus-boot to keep the same system structure as Debiandog.

Just to make clear for everyone I'm not going to improve or update this MintPup-Porteus-base-01-hybrid.iso. It is just a base for anyone inetrested to use it for building something better.

My maintained build based on the same iso can be downloaded here:
http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... 889#857889

Hi, Wanderer, William.

Edit: To make the testing easier all files replaced with hybrid iso version:
MintPup-Porteus-base-01-hybrid.iso
You can make bootable usb using the example from here.
md5sum.txt
Example boot codes for frugal install

initrd.lz is for mint (casper) boot.
initrd1.xz is for porteus-boot.

What is not included in the menu is available in /opt/bin and /usr/local/bin
Some commands available only from terminal:

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remaster-mint-cli #will use different location for work-dir depending on the boot method.
mk-save #make save file (not encrypted).
makepfile.sh #make save file (encrypted or not).
mnt-img <path-to-sfs> #will mount/unmount squashfs/sfs/2fs/3fs/4fs file.
loadsfs <path-to-sfs> #will load/unload squashfs/sfs (there is drag and drop icon on the desktop also).
addnewuser #create new user accounts
audio-setup #run it in case you don't have sound

On first boot you will autologin as root to desktop. For user account exit X and type login and press enter. Login as puppy with password puppy (or root with password root).

The package locales is included and all /usr/share/locale files are included in the main module. /usr/share/man, doc and info files are zerosized.
Alsa-base, alsa-utils, mtpaint, xarchiver, gpicview included.
-/Startup directory added - executable script or link inside will be auto-started as in Puppy and DD.
Some wallpapers for each desktop added in /opt/wallpapers. You can change them by editing the virtual desktops section in -/.jwmrc file.

Still no easy way to configure wireless. I had some troubles to make frisbee work but I will try again. Installing wicd with apt-get is easy but it has many dependencies.
I think save on Exit typing reboot from console and from terminal does not work yet and with sure many other problems will be found later. Rox needs much work to be configured properly. I don't know if systemd works with porteus-boot. Seems the systemd package and setup is different from Debian.
Still can't find a way to mount or make visible /cow (copy on write) - this means no option to create module from changes with official mint boot yet.
Ubuntu is different from Debian and more difficult to be shaped (or atleast I feel it this way).

The kernel is the same SMP 3.13.0-37-generic as in Linux Mint 17.1.

Test, improve and share what works and what not. I will check out the thread if I can help you to configure this base better.

Toni

[darry1966]

Why not use Ceni instead - very simple nice pearl script for managing networking much better than Frisbee.

[saintless]

Hi, darry1966.

We have deb package for DD:
http://kazzascorner.com.au/saintless/De ... 31_all.deb
If someone can test if wireless works using ceni with this MintPup base it could be included. I don't have wireless and can't test it. For frisbee we have many reports it works well with wireless in DD.
Still I think wanderer is the one to decide what to include. The base module at the moment has nothing to do with LinuxMint look. It is more like very small Ubuntu with Jwm and Rox.

Edit: The problem with ceni at this point is it adds 29Mb perl dependencies:

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mint ~ # dpkg -i /mnt/sda1/FTP-LAST/DebianDog/Packages/Extra/ceni*
Selecting previously unselected package ceni.
(Reading database ... 31445 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../Extra/ceni_2.31_all.deb ...
Unpacking ceni (2.31) ...
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of ceni:
 ceni depends on perl; however:
  Package perl is not installed.
 ceni depends on libcurses-ui-perl; however:
  Package libcurses-ui-perl is not installed.
 ceni depends on libexpect-perl; however:
  Package libexpect-perl is not installed.
 ceni depends on libterm-readkey-perl; however:
  Package libterm-readkey-perl is not installed.
 ceni depends on resolvconf; however:
  Package resolvconf is not installed.
 ceni depends on dhcpcd | dhcpcd5; however:
  Package dhcpcd is not installed.
  Package dhcpcd5 is not installed.

dpkg: error processing package ceni (--install):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Processing triggers for hicolor-icon-theme (0.13-1) ...
Processing triggers for menu (2.1.46ubuntu1) ...
Errors were encountered while processing:
 ceni
mint ~ # apt-get -f install
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Correcting dependencies... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
  dhcpcd libcurses-perl libcurses-ui-perl libexpect-perl libgdbm3
  libio-pty-perl libio-stty-perl libterm-readkey-perl perl perl-modules
  resolvconf
Suggested packages:
  perl-doc libterm-readline-gnu-perl libterm-readline-perl-perl libb-lint-perl
  libcpanplus-dist-build-perl libcpanplus-perl libfile-checktree-perl
  liblog-message-simple-perl liblog-message-perl libobject-accessor-perl
Recommended packages:
  libarchive-extract-perl libmodule-pluggable-perl libpod-latex-perl
  libterm-ui-perl libtext-soundex-perl
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  frisbee
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  dhcpcd libcurses-perl libcurses-ui-perl libexpect-perl libgdbm3
  libio-pty-perl libio-stty-perl libterm-readkey-perl perl perl-modules
  resolvconf
0 upgraded, 11 newly installed, 1 to remove and 85 not upgraded.
1 not fully installed or removed.
Need to get 5,497 kB of archives.
After this operation, 29.9 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] 

If perl is not added anyway ceni is much bigger alternative.
Frisbee has all dependencies included already in the main module and adds nothing extra. Works in general for me but I can't see the eth0 in GUI window and I can't find the reason yet. Even so the conection is working on boot for eth0 and restart dhcpcd button works to re-connect without problems.

Toni

[saintless]

To make the testing easier hybrid iso uploaded instead separate files (same files without changes from yesterday but inside iso image). Read the edit here:
http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... 903#854903

Toni

[mcewanw]

Hi Toni,

I had already downloaded the Kazzacorner casper directory contents, and didn't notice you had since uploaded the hybrid iso - are the contents the same or have you added anything extra in the hybrid iso (I don't want to download the iso unless necessary). Anyway, assuming just the same, I am happy to report that it all booted first time for me. I have only briefly tested it, and whilst there is certainly a lot of polishing to be done, it is all looking very good. The low resource usage is very impressive (on my system, after initial boot and running htop only 62MB RAM used and CPU at 99.7% idle!).

Another great system in the making. I would never have believed that in 2015 we would have apt capable (Debian and now Ubuntu/Mint) systems in under 200MB download). Terrific.

As you say, Frisbee doesn't seem to be working yet out of the box, but I'm sure that will soon be worked out, and plenty of work needed still on Menu system and Rox and so on (as was once the case with DebianDog). I hope we can get an openbox version running too.

I'm running with Porteus boot, cos that's my favourite, but have still to check saving on EXIT, but I will report back later.

Great work, and thanks also to wanderer for getting this one off the ground with his enthusiam and idea.

Cheers, William

[saintless]

...are the contents the same or have you added anything extra in the hybrid iso (I don't want to download the iso unless necessary).

Hi, William.
No need to download the iso. The content is the same. But with iso image it will be easier for others to use porteus-boot without troubles (just copy/paste the casper directory from the iso for frugal install).

Toni

[saintless]

Both xpns-tool_1.0.1_i386.deb and sns_2.1.1-1.deb work well for me without adding extra dependencies as frisbee alternatives.
I think some checking will be needed for conflicting files in ubuntu/mint repository but this can be done later with package mods to prevent conflicts.
I hope to get frisbee working without this messages but no luck yet. I guess it is the reason not to show eth0 in GUI window (oterwise the wired connection with frisbee works for me):

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mint ~ # frisbee
sh: 1: get_scan_results: not found
sh: 1: current_status: not found
sh: 1: current_ip: not found
sh: 1: get_interfaces: not found
sh: 1: get_dhcp_ignored: not found
sh: 1: get_static_ip: not found
sh: 1: get_mask: not found
sh: 1: get_gateway: not found
sh: 1: get_dhcp_auto: not found
sh: 1: get_dns1: not found
sh: 1: get_dns2: not found
sh: 1: save_pppoe_configuration: not found
sh: 1: read_telephone_value: not found
sh: 1: read_telephone_value: not foun

Edit: OK, solved. frisbee_1.2-20140602_i386.deb works fine. I just forgot to reconfigure sh to use bash instead dash We need bash anyway to make most Puppy and DD scripts to work.
Run this in terminal and choose No:

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dpkg-reconfigure dash

Then frisbee works without problems. I guess it was the problem with makepfile.sh and mk-save. I will see if the original dd line inside works now.

Toni

[saintless]

Quick testing after frisbee shows it is easy to add pburn, gmplayer-portable, pfind, pup-volume-monitor, desktop-drive-icons and the menu system from DD-Jwm. Still nothing to do with Mint look. I can make later something very similar to DD-Jwm from it but I guess it is not exactly what wanderer has in mind. It is up to him what will become from this base iso as MintPup project.

Toni

[saintless]

Edit 17.07.2015: The iso image replaced with all files removed. You don't need this fix anymore.

One mistake I made with this base module is remastering while testing gnumeric sfs to see if loadsfs works. It doesn't work and will not create problems. But it takes extra space. The module will be 2,5 Mb smaller without it.
It will be removed in next update. To remove it now run/copy/paste in terminal:

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rm -fr /opt/lib
rm -fr /opt/apps
rm -f /opt/bin/gnumeric
rm -f /usr/lib/libgconf2-4
rm -fr /usr/share/gnumeric
rm -f /usr/share/applications/gnumeric.desktop
rm -f /usr/share/menu/gnumeric
rm -f /usr/share/pixmaps/gnumeric.png

And use remaster-mint-cli to remaster the system.

Edit: You can also remove the .cache files (15Mb uncomressed) left in /usr/share/icons after purging the Mint themes:

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rm -fr /usr/share/icons/Mint-X
rm -fr /usr/share/icons/Mint-X-Aqua
rm -fr /usr/share/icons/Mint-X-Blue
rm -fr /usr/share/icons/Mint-X-Brown
rm -fr /usr/share/icons/Mint-X-Dark
rm -fr /usr/share/icons/Mint-X-Grey
rm -fr /usr/share/icons/Mint-X-Orange
rm -fr /usr/share/icons/Mint-X-Pink
rm -fr /usr/share/icons/Mint-X-Purple
rm -fr /usr/share/icons/Mint-X-Red
rm -fr /usr/share/icons/Mint-X-Sand
rm -fr /usr/share/icons/Mint-X-Teal
rm -fr /usr/share/icons/Mint-X-Yellow

Toni

[wanderer]

saintless

am using your new base now
looks and works great

amazing work

thanks for doing all this

wanderer

[saintless]

Hi, wanderer.

To skip this message after apt-get update:

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W: GPG error: http://extra.linuxmint.com rebecca Release: The following signatures couldn't be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY 3EE67F3D0FF405B2
W: GPG error: http://packages.linuxmint.com rebecca Release: The following signatures couldn't be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY 3EE67F3D0FF405B2

install linuxmint-keyring:

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apt-get install linuxmint-keyring

To find and try special Mint utilities use:

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apt-cache search mint

I will post some more information about special Ubuntu/Mint structure different from Debian and Puppy. It will be useful later if you like to use scripts from DD or Puppy.

About copy on write (cow) with official mint (casper) boot we need to add showmounts to the boot code and keep it in the iso and any boot code examples. Booting with showmounts will make visible /cow and /cow-rw-backing (screenshot attached). The good news is /cow doesn't change the location using fresh boot, save file and encrypted save file. It is mounted always in /cow (in Debian Wheezy/Jessie it changes the location depending on persistence method and the same goes for the boot partition location).

Also new directory /casper appears with empty subdirectory with the same name as the squashfs module(s) in use on boot. Seems the overlay process in Ubuntu is somehow different from Debian. In Debian I can see the content of modules in use using showmounts parameter (in /live/module-name.squashfs in Squeeze for example).

Right click and Properties on /casper-rw-backing will give you the size of casper-rw save file in use.

/cow is the place where the system keeps all the changes from the session (and from the save file in use also). It makes possible to create module from changes only.

/cdrom is the boot partition (where /casper folder with main module, vmlinuz and initrd files is located).

Comparing the same locations in different live systems:

/cdrom (in Ubuntu/Mint) = /live/image (in Debian Squeeze) = /lib/live/mount/medium (in Debian Wheezy/Jessie but it could be different depending on the persistence method) = /mnt/home (link to /mnt/sdaX boot partition in Porteus) = /mnt/home (link to /initrd/mnt/dev_save or /initrd/mnt/dev_ro2 in Puppy).

/cow (in Mint/Ubuntu) = /live/cow (in Debian Squeeze) = /lib/live/mount/persistence/loop1 (or depending on persistent method /lib/live/mount/persistence/sdxx in Debian Wheezy/Jessie) = /mnt/live/memory/changes (or for changes on EXIT only /mnt/live/memory/images/changes-exit in Porteus) = /initrd/pup_rw (in Puppy).

Toni

[mcewanw]

Hello Toni,

I just noticed your post about frisbee. I was trying to get wireless working last night, first using frisbee and then I tried Peasywifi. In doing so I got what I knew was a bash-related error message (export -f not recognised by sh) and planned to report back to remind you that you had to make sh a link to bash rather than dash (though I forgot you could do much the same with command dpkg-reconfigure dash). So anyway, I did get both frisbee running and in a different attempt Peasywifi working. However, I still can't get wireless to work.

The problem is (as noted from dmesg) that the underlying wireless hardware itself seems to be disabled by the OS at boot time, and I don't know how to re-enable it. The message I get from dmesg following a reboot is:

RF_KILL bit toggled to disable radio

I also have the xfce version of Linux Mint as a live CD, and wireless connects fine with that. The difference seems to be that during booting Linux Mint first toggles RF_KILL to disable radio but later on nearer the end of booting re-toggles it to enable radio (dmesg shows this), and then wireless works. So something seems to be different even though MintPup should simply be a cut-down version of the same (isn't it?).

I am currently stumped on this. My wifi uses iwlwifi driver and the firmware and modules are all there and show up in lsmod list. But if I try to connect in either frisbee or peasywifi I always get error message saying wifi not enabled and the hardware wifi switch on the laptop doesn't make any different and nor does commands like ifconfig wlan0 up. Note that iwconfig reveals that wlan0 does exist but it is simply not enabled because, I think, of that RF_KILL disable at boot time.

Have you actually been able to connect via wifi or has anyone else?

Cheers, William

EDIT: I haven't yet googed "RF_KILL bit-toggled to disable radio" but will do now to see if anyone else ever had similar problem.

[saintless]

Hi, William.

I don't have wifi and can't test it. Initrd.lz is rebuilded from the smaller base module and has a patch to make encrypted save to work. Boot with the unpatched initrd.lz from here (it is the same as in Linux Mint 17.1 with only change mint to root user):
http://kazzascorner.com.au/saintless/De ... .1/casper/
Try first initrd.lz (official mint boot) instead porteus. If wifi doesn't work with unpatched initrd.lz the only reason could be purging some driver or firmware package. The kernel modules are the same as in LinuxMint 17.1. No changes there.

Toni

[saintless]

Just some links with similar wifi problem in Mint and Ubuntu:
http://billauer.co.il/blog/2014/08/linu ... eless-lan/
http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=53&t=142863
http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.p ... 53072.html
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2168840
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2168840

[mcewanw]

Thanks Toni, I'll try your suggestion shortly. I note now on googling about RF_KILL that there have been issues with this at other times, though I'm still to read more about what these messages say.

William

EDIT: Note that my laptop is an HP Elitebook 2530p, and some of the links about RF_KILL problem involve HP Elitebooks I notice. However, Linux Mint itself clearly works around the problem. However, I expect some of these RF_KILL-related links may contain a solution - I'm still reading... :-)

[mcewanw]

Haven't tried the original initrd as yet Toni, but I note that the command

rfkill list all

shows the blocked wifi card

and

rfkill unblock all

unblocks it, so frisbee 'should' work thereafter, but I don't have that installed again as yet, so not tested as working yet.

William

[mcewanw]

Hi Toni,

Rather than Porteus boot method I tried that alternative initrd.lz you suggested above, but result was the same - RF_KILL blocks my wifi during boot. Once again I could free the block using:

rfkill unblock all

Linux Mint official must do that or some other config elsewhere since the problem does not exist in official Linux Mint boot.

I'll keep looking.

William

[saintless]

Thanks William!

Checking both initrd.lz (patched and official) I see nothing different in files containing "rfkill" line. The smal base-minpup module and official Linux Mint 17.1 filesystem.squashfs has the same /lib/firmware and /lib/modules content.
It should be some special mint package or configuration file removed with apt-get purge, but I'm afraid you are alone in this fix searching. I can't help much without wireless.

Edit: Not a fix since wifi in official Mint works from boot for you, but interesting similar problem with Linux Mint 17 and the simple solution on page 2 pressing: Fn+F11 (airplane mode):
https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/forums/s ... Mint-17%29

Toni

[mcewanw]

Hi Toni,

I've been looking through Linux Mint 17 config files (best I can) but can't find anything. I presume MintPup and Linux Mint both use systemd, which I know nothing about. I wondered if systemd was somehow unblocking wifi in Linux Mint, but wasn't doing so in MintPup?

Anyway, I give up for now and will just use rfkill unblock all

William