Built and Testing Brand New woof-CE Fossapup64

[rockedge]

I have successfully built a stock Fossapup64 with woof-CE using a minimum of changes, using the currently available configurations.

The kernel it was built with was a series 5.XX.XX which has been swapped with @ozsouth's kernel 6.8.1 which so far has shown excellent performance in this latest woof-CE generated stock Fossapup64.

This ISO is available to test out and experiment with the link below. On a DELL PowerEdge 210 II it is very quick and responsive. This ISO is the stock version with the 6.8.1 kernel.

Further pushing this test, I have added in almost all of the updated packages collected by @mikeslr that match with the most current upstream Focal Fossa updated packages.

So far almost everything is working except of course this build does NOT have yet all the features that the original Fossapup64-9.5 and the later F96-CE_4 have.

Somehow now this base model will need to be outfitted. Question is try to alter the woof-CE recipe to build more of a ready to go F96-CE_5 or go with the proven method of taking this base version and using remaster techniques to achieve a production ready F96-CE_5?

Download -> Experimental Fossapup64 code named F96-CE_5-alpha4

[rockedge]

I am now installing and switching over to pipewire - wireplumber from pulseaudio

Installed the PPA using pkg and followed through with installation of the packages with pkg

now to see if I can get the pipewire working!

Info -> https://pipewire-debian.github.io/pipewire-debian/

[Jasper]

@rockedge

You have been busy and well done

Is the PPM working?

Could you include your Remaster a Puppy Linux ISO script somewhere within?

viewtopic.php?t=11160

[dimkr]

Maybe you'll be able to get apt working out of the box if you set BUILD_BDRV=yes in _00build.conf. Trying this now.

[rockedge]

@dimkr I didn't even think to try that out! I will definitely build one now to also test out the results.

Plus I can get more familiar with changing things to build from recipe....learning the curve so to say

[Jasper]

@rockedge

Was the previous iterations of FP96-CE all "done by hand"?

I mean a manual remaster that is.

[dimkr]

@rockedge apt works! Only need to add BUILD_BDRV=yes and fixmenusd in PETBUILDS, so the JWM menu is updated automatically after apt install of an application (otherwise, one needs to fixmenus and jwm -reload).

[Jasper]

I am posting from this now and it feels snappy.

WiFi, sound and Bluetooth all working.

My one issue is that it does not seem to recognise another USB flash drive and an external SSD drive connected on a different port/s.

Anyone else experience this?

PupMTP picks up my phone via USB

Is the base for this offering?

ubuntu-20.04.6

Luckily for me, I removed the FDRV and only had to install my WiFi driver Intel-WiFi-7625.

[rockedge]

@Jasper
For F96-CE_5-alpha4.iso -> SHA1-MD5.txt

Was the previous iterations of FP96-CE all "done by hand"?

I mean a manual remaster that is.

It's a combination. Most of the base was a woof-CE build then some polish was remastered.

[ozsouth]

@Jasper - did you have usb issues BEFORE you removed the fdrv? It may be needed for some usb.

@rockedge - I've made a 6.8.6 lolat kernel today, but with the more-compatible gcc 10.2 & glibc 2.30. See forum Kernels section.

[rockedge]

@dimkr while building with bdrv enabled I received this error :
WARNING: debootstrap is missing. Press ENTER to continue build without apt support or CTRL-C to abort the build:

I did let one build finish, but it runs wobbly and the second run I bailed out on at the warning.

Now installed debootstrap_1.0.118ubuntu1.11 to see how it goes now!

I am building locally with F96-CE_4 with the 6.0.12 kernel.

UPDATE: Build went smoothly and completed successfully. This version has bdrv enabled,

System start and run through is next step.

[rockedge]

System starts with bdrv SFS loaded and APT working. Tested an install using apt-get install neofetch which worked nicely.

I ran into this problem before that the wallpaper can't be changed and the menu selections are greyed out and non-functional. I do not remember off-hand what we did to fix it.

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[rockedge]

I installed JWMdesk and now have better control of the desktop customization and installed Thunar with the Synaptic Package Manager.

Thunar is running but no network capabilities yet.

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Screenshot(3).jpg (29.59 KiB) Viewed 2795 times

[Jasper]

@ozsouth

I downloaded the ISO late last night after a long day and maybe there was a gremlin lurking.

The report regarding the ports was before I changed anything so the original files where intact.

I have tried again this morning and the USB3, flash drive/SSD are all functioning if the initial ADRV.

Also, thank you for the 6.8.6 64bit LOW-LATENCY NON-USRMERGE Kernel Aufs/Overlayfs.

I swapped over and this works well

WiFi connects instantly, which is perfect on my FP95 &96.

[dimkr]

I wonder how many packages installed through apt will break in a Puppy built without USR_SYMLINKS=yes (aka usrmerge). I know that Debian has some packages that fail at runtime in a non-usrmerge system because they assume something exists in /bin while in reality it's there only when /bin and /usr/bin have the same contents. Ubuntu packages can assume usrmerge because Ubuntu is usrmerge-only, and I don't remember if it was 20.04 or 22.04 that made usrmerge mandatory with usrmerge migration when upgrading from previous LTS release.

[ozsouth]

From what I can see, there is a package to convert Ubuntu 20.04 to usrmerge, but it was not a default until 22.04. Article linked below dated 22/03/2024 refers: https://linux-packages.com/ubuntu-focal ... e/usrmerge

Note: this could possibly have changed as of latest updates.

[rockedge]

I wonder how many packages installed through apt will break in a Puppy built without USR_SYMLINKS=yes (aka usrmerge).

Good point. I have been testing out a freshly woof-CE built Fossapup64 using several different low latency kernels, some full real time. And I have not yet run into a problem with usrmerge - non-usrmerge with newly installed packages using APT but expect too at some stage.

So far with kernel 6.8.6 from ozsouth the system is running very fast and everything I have installed worked and showed up in the menu.

This should be a huge moment in my opinion. Here we have a stock woof-CE built Fossapup64/F96 that is equipped with APT and the Synaptic Package Manager coming right off the assembly line.

[Jasper]

@rockedge

Given this positive devlopment, will you be in a position to upgrade the original offering with al the internal Ubuntu updates?

So potentially a larger ISO to be provided for testing?

[Jasper]

@Shloz

Does this mean that this OS could use "usrmerge" kernels if this application is applied?

[fredx181]

I know that Debian has some packages that fail at runtime in a non-usrmerge system because they assume something exists in /bin while in reality it's there only when /bin and /usr/bin have the same contents.

From my experience, I think that apt is smart enough to detect usr-merged or not-usr-merged when installing a package. (but perhaps that may change in the future)
Simple example, the busybox package from Bookworm has /bin as regular directory inside (not symlink).
I tested downgrading busybox by installing the bookworm busybox .deb package on my Sid install (which is "usr-merged" (/bin is symlink to /usr/bin)) and it worked ok.
But perhaps there are exceptions, don't know.

[dimkr]

From my experience, I think that apt is smart enough to detect usr-merged or not-usr-merged when installing a package.

apt itself - yes, packages themselves - no. For example, recent Ubuntu and Debian packages (what's in 24.04 and testing, respectively) moved things like grep to /usr/bin (aka DEP17), and now applications that hardcode /bin/grep can be installed on non-usrmerge systems but fail at runtime. For example, some autoconf scripts hardcode /bin/grep and you can't compile some packages on a non-usrmerge (otherwise 100% stock) Debian testing installation, until you symlink /bin/grep->/usr/bin/grep (and also sed and many other things). I don't know if Ubuntu 20.04 has this problem with some packages, because Ubuntu went usrmerge-only before Debian (13) and I don't remember if it was at 20.04 or later. If you want better compatibility with Ubuntu and Ubuntu packages, usrmerge is the safer bet (not the old layout) because that's what the majority of users has, in Ubuntu itself and all major distros.

[IdfbAn]

alpha2 is already out? What are the differences between it and alpha1?

[IdfbAn]

Using Ventoy 1.0.97, alpha2 doesn't work, at least on my computer. It seems to go through the boot process fine, but then it's just black.

[rockedge]

Using Ventoy 1.0.97, alpha2 doesn't work, at least on my computer. It seems to go through the boot process fine, but then it's just black.

There is a typo in the name of the zdrv in alpha2!!

rename zdrv_fosspup64-9.6.sfs to zdrv_fossapup64_9.6.sfs. Not sure if this will make a difference in Ventoy but no kernel modules will load during the boot stages if the name of the zdrv is incorrect

We'll have to work on the boot stanza's in the loop.cfg. Right now I am testing on bare metal using wd_multi to make many symlink frugal installs to test
with.

I do not have a Ventoy setup going at the moment so hard to test. Remember these are totally in development stage and changes are constantly happening. Already there is an alpha3 and that ISO might be shared later on today!

[fredx181]

If you want better compatibility with Ubuntu and Ubuntu packages, usrmerge is the safer bet

Hopefully Debian will support better "backwards compatibility", it would be a shame if not

[dimkr]

Hopefully Debian will support better "backwards compatibility", it would be a shame if not

Debian will probably follow Ubuntu's form of backward compatibility, which is forcing usrmerge when upgrading to the first version where it's mandatory.

[greengeek]

I have successfully built a stock Fossapup64 with woof-CE using a minimum of changes, using the currently available configurations....
Download -> Experimental Fossapup64 code named F96-CE_5-alpha1

Is this still available for testing?
I am unable to access the download.

CE5-experimentalNotFound.jpg (19.05 KiB) Viewed 1417 times

[wiak]

I have successfully built a stock Fossapup64 with woof-CE using a minimum of changes, using the currently available configurations....
Download -> Experimental Fossapup64 code named F96-CE_5-alpha1

Is this still available for testing?
I am unable to access the download.

CE5-experimentalNotFound.jpg

Just go to earlier in the URL link re rockedge site and check for latest. Looks like probably this one: https://rockedge.org/kernels/data/ISO/F ... alpha4.iso

[rockedge]

@greengeek There is an update to alpha4 with the download link in the first post of this topic.

[greengeek]

There is an update to alpha4 with the download link in the first post of this topic.

Thanks - testing now.
Boots and connects to the internet well on my Toshiba Satellite S500 but with some basic issues:
- Palemoon cannot properly display Fastmail homepage, runs very slow on Facebook and does not allow typing into Facebook fields. (even after updating).
(I have pretty much given up on Palemoon - in favour of Midori)
- Abiword seems fine (just very basic testing so far) - but after creating a pdf I was unable to view it
(Seems to be no default pdf viewer installed? Or did I not access it correctly? I tried to default to evince but after that my cpu ran hot for a long time and nothing happens)
- PupMTP menu icon is missing - however it worked just fine for me to connect to my Android.

Will do some further testing using Midori to get a better feel for how it is performing online.