ManjaroPup64 25.01 RC 7

[mistfire]

Always good to hear of 'improvements', but a bit of a mystery when changelog usefully provided but doesnt actually say what the improvements are? Just curious, because always interesting to know what actual changes and developments have been done...

Actually I stated the actual changes in the changelog if I can recalled those changes that I made. I just make changes and improvements at my free time as a hobby

[wiak]

Always good to hear of 'improvements', but a bit of a mystery when changelog usefully provided but doesnt actually say what the improvements are? Just curious, because always interesting to know what actual changes and developments have been done...

Actually I stated the actual changes in the changelog if I can recalled those changes that I made. I just make changes and improvements at my free time as a hobby

Yes, all the work done is a hobby for all of us. I'm not criticising in any negative way - I fail terribly often in terms of not providing as much documentation as I wish I found time to. Key changes are usually not hard to document, but actually I myself sometimes fail to provide any change log at all, or a very brief list indeed.

I hadn't read the earlier posts in the thread just the:

Changes:
* Improved initrd
* Improved boot and shutdown process
* Improved autoconfiguration
* Added dconf-editor

so had no idea what the changes were, but was curious.

[oldaolgeezer]

Hi mistfire:

I thought I might try your ManjaroPup64 24.01 BETA 3 "Experimental Distro"
as my own first attempt at using any of the major Linux distros:

I downloaded your distro and decided to try it on my HP G70-463CL laptop
(Core2Duo T6500 2.10 GHz, 4 GB memory) which normally legacy boots
Bookworm from a 64 GB SDCARD (this PC has no hard disk nor SSD.)

I right clicked on your "ManjaroPup64 24.01 BETA 3" ISO and copied all the files
to my new ext3 formatted SDCARD and ran the traditional Puppy grub4dos to make it bootable.

This booted up and showed lots of new stuff to me !
(I remember reading in reviews of Puppy Linux on Distrowatch how experienced
Linux distros users were puzzled how to proceed after booting Puppy Linux
for the first time ! )

mistfire, If I could get this far, keep up your good efforts on
your ManjaroPup64 24.01 BETA 3.

[oldaolgeezer]

I have never used any of the major Linux distributions, so I might share
some of my early stumbling attempts to use ManjaroPup64:
(I have already shared how some reviews of Puppy Linux on Distrowatch by experienced
Linux distros users were puzzled how to proceed after booting our Puppy Linux
for the first time ! That was me now.)

The ManjaroPup64 SAVE folder or SAVE file is created at the beginning of the first
boot. (The prompts are very similar to "first run" Puppy Linux SAVE folder
or SAVE file dialog.)

Because I formatted my SDCARD to be ext3, I found that I needed to
choose ext3 for my save file creation.

My ManjaroPup64 internet connection the first time:

Although I found setting up my internet connection setup could be found
by clicking on the bottom left side of the screen
but that then did not seem to offer WIFI (only a CAT5 cable) setup.
But clicking on the bottom right side of the screen (on the square)
offered a pop up "WI-FI Networks" that offered "Available networks"
both CAT5 or Wireless internet connection choices.

The ManjaroPup64's default browser is SeaMonkey.
To launch, click on bottom left of the screen and on right half of popup window,
choose "internet", then choose "SeaMonkey web browser".
(I was able to install (import) into SeaMonkey my familiar bookmarks
from my Puppy Linux Firefox/Chromium previously stored (exported)
HTML bookmark files.)

To show me my previously made disk folders and files, (made before I tried
ManjaroPup64), as user: manjaro, I found I should click on bottom left
of the screen and start "File Manager" then toward the bottom left side
of the popup window, choose /mnt/home

(The folder and file names are shown as large icons by the file manager
default (change the "View" drop down from "Icon View" to "list View".
I seemed to need two clicks (not just one) to "open" the file icons.)

The "command line" utility is found by clicking on the bottom left side
of the screen and choosing "Terminal Emulator".

A Google search said Firefox can be installed using the Manjaro package manager
(also used by Arch Linux), using the command: pamac

pamac install firefox

I did a "switch user" and changed to user "root"

I used the "File Manager", choose my "63 GB Volume" and copied the directory
name in the "File Manager" window border
(it was: "/run/media/root/46831cd3-1b30-46d8-bb1a-5fcb83985ca2/" and
it was my own Puppy data directories that are mounted "/mnt/home" in Puppy)

I connected my WIFI again (as root) and then tried the terminal command:
pamac install firefox

... a number of files downloaded, but then I got this error messsage:
Download of firefox (130.0-1) finished
Checking keyring... [47/47]
Checking integrity... [47/47]
Loading packages files... [47/47]
Checking file conflicts... [47/47]
Checking available disk space... [47/47]
Error: hook /etc/pacman.d/hooks/trim-papirus.hook line 2: invalid value Install|Upgrade
Error: Failed to commit transaction: failed to run transaction hooks

I'm stopping for now, but maybe more experienced Puppy forum people can
get a chuckle from my above attempts and add comments.

[stevie pup]

I've just had another go with Manjaropup. I attempted to install the available updates and one extra bit of software.

In both cases I got an error message which said "invalid or corrupted package (PGP signature)".

[mistfire]

ManjaroPup64 25.01 RC1 released

Changes:
* clean shutdown process. very rarely or no longer cause filesystem errors at all when performing shutdown/reboot (it outperforms non-systemd puppies for now)
* improved systemd boot and shutdown process
* basilisk browser replaced seamonkey
* recent manjaro packages
* sudo path fixes
* overhaul on puppy core files
* fixed sfs loading
* /initrd is now a symlink to /run/initramfs. All puppy modules and save files are now mounted on /run/initramfs
* improved initrd. Added modified linux live script, and added ability to build a new initramfs on /run/initramfs
* improved core scripts
* linux kernel 6.13-lxpup64

Download: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AX6Zph ... ZXE2ljDN77
MD5 Checksum: 43328b418e345d974c597beb3263f6b9

[josejp2424]

ManjaroPup64 25.01 RC1 released

Changes:
* clean shutdown process. very rarely or no longer cause filesystem errors at all when performing shutdown/reboot (it outperforms non-systemd puppies for now)
* improved systemd boot and shutdown process
* basilisk browser replaced seamonkey
* recent manjaro packages
* sudo path fixes
* overhaul on puppy core files
* fixed sfs loading
* /initrd is now a symlink to /run/initramfs. All puppy modules and save files are now mounted on /run/initramfs
* improved initrd. Added modified linux live script, and added ability to build a new initramfs on /run/initramfs
* improved core scripts
* linux kernel 6.13-lxpup64

Download: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AX6Zph ... ZXE2ljDN77
MD5 Checksum: 43328b418e345d974c597beb3263f6b9

Hi @mistfire

I’ve been testing the new ManjaroPup. I like it, but I noticed that it runs in live mode, which causes issues with tasks that require superuser privileges. I'm currently testing the base system with some modifications to evaluate and provide further feedback.

[mistfire]

ManjaroPup64 25.01 RC2 released

Changes:
* Fixed puppy-rc-sysinit boot priority, which caused NetworkManager failed to start.
* Added gnome-software for more user-friendly installation and management of flatpaks
* Added auto bookmark for mounted drives used by puppy

Download: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Wq5nsz ... dpxXFhqj_U
MD5 Checksum: fc807975dff6111e48db7ed4ac20babf

[josejp2424]

ManjaroPup64 Openbox
I like your manjaropup. I made a change to mine: kernel 6.1 and Openbox with lxpanel. This way I feel comfortable.

[mistfire]

ManjaroPup64 25.01 RC3 released

Changes:
* linux kernel 6.14-lxpup64 (with ntsync)
* save session now offers BTRFS-formatted savefile (experimental)
* updated firmware drivers
* sound now works on root account
* workarounds for gufw and modem-manager-gui
* trimmed down some bloat

Download: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jkiIvb ... cnv-C5_6cO
MD5 Checksum: 3805b79aec8c07b15f878f20d7bf1307

[Clarity]

@mistfire
I downloaded the ISO files: Checksums match your postings.

Booted this ISO file on bare-metal via SG2D. It stops during boot to ask for a save location; no matter that there is a SAVESPEC file present and/or a psave parm change to the boot-menu stanza. Probably the boot subsystem should use the file or the parm and bypass the 'pause request for save location" during boot.

AT desktop all seems well. In fact default background look nice...clean.

Questions

• Is there a utility to convert a PET to an installable on this distro?

• Is this 2501 distro built using WoofCE?

[mistfire]

• Is there a utility to convert a PET to an installable on this distro?

None. It required to build that.

[*]Is this 2501 distro built using WoofCE?[/list]

Nope, this is not build using woof-ce. The base was built manually by hand and chroot. Since manjaro is a rolling release, I just update the base system by launching custom script in a chrooted environment

[Clarity]

My ISO boot has not updated on a pristine boot. Package Manager throws up errors. Same true for the admin packages I use Here's what I tried that fails like the update fails.

Test for Admin packages used.jpg (57.92 KiB) Viewed 1039 times

Will try again tomorrow as this 'may' be related to the boot-time save request and setup, even though I have the SAVESPEC and PSAVE parm present on SG2D ISO booting.

This MP64 booted desktop's wallpaper is the same as QP64 RC6.

Tomorrow ...

[mistfire]

ManjaropPup64 25.01 RC 4 released

Changes:
* Linux kernel 6.14.1-lxpup64
* Optimized manjaro base
* Fixed user password and root password persistence
* Even more reduced bloat

Download: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vX5Eot ... l4fmzizk7U
MD5 Checksum: c210dcf37e7538b79d15e8b2758d0e42

[mistfire]

ManjaroPup64 25.01 RC 5 released

Changes:
* Linux kernel 6.14.2-lxpup64
* Added Debian package installer and management tool (WARNING: For standalone packages only. Installing a Debian package might break the system. Use it as the last resort if third-party applications provides Ubuntu/Debian/Mint packages only)
 
Download: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1B5Q2U9 ... HZuCX5Ctzr
MD5 Checksum: bd6a8b073a3c0948c4ad64b3fc0c887b

[mistfire]

ManjaroPup64 25.01 RC 6 released

Changes:
* linux kernel 6.14.4-lxpup64
* Optimized boot process
* Even more reduced bloat
* Plenty of bugfixes

Download: https://1drv.ms/u/c/349c4d7a5f9d78cd/EY ... w?e=B3yeDK
MD5 Checksum: f1ba530ecb96f5bee1222c8fd1bd6f2a

[Clarity]

Booted ISO file via Ventoy on bare-metal with MP64's (Manjaro PUP) topmost stanza adding psave=Persistence:/Sessions/.

Problems

• When on desktop, I cannot find all the partitions of SDA drive.

• Gparted will not open

• my SWAP partition is not grabbed upon boot; instead using zram

  Code: Select all

  [manjaro@manjaro ~]$ free
                 total        used        free      shared  buff/cache   available
  Mem:         7023324     2190784     4098900     1026012     1998516     4832540
  Swap:        1048572           0     1048572
  [manjaro@manjaro ~]$ swapon -s
  Filename				Type		Size		Used		Priority
  /dev/zram0                              partition	1048572		0		100

fastfetch_2025-04-28_07-36-02.jpg (88.89 KiB) Viewed 249 times

[mistfire]

ManjaroPup64 25.01 RC 7 released

Changes:
* Fixed swap partition detection and mounting on boot process
* Fixed screensaver problem when using full screen application or watching videos in full screen
* Fixed Gparted launch

Download: https://1drv.ms/u/c/349c4d7a5f9d78cd/EU ... A?e=BDrHSX
MD5 Checksum: 002ed1263cadad71dd1293173082928f

[Clarity]

Nice @mistfire
Same environment as before: Gparted now opens. SWAP captured on boot, also.

Terminal_2025-04-28_23-14-42.jpg (34.58 KiB) Viewed 191 times

Curious

• Should the boot subsystem create a ZRAM SWAP when a partition for SWAP is available? m I missing that something in having both is a possible benefit?

[mistfire]

Curious

• Should the boot subsystem create a ZRAM SWAP when a partition for SWAP is available? m I missing that something in having both is a possible benefit?

Yes it is. zram act as a primary cache for swapping. It reduces the disk i/o on swap partitions

[Clarity]

thanks @mistfire

Curious

• Should the boot subsystem create a ZRAM SWAP when a partition for SWAP is available? m I missing that something in having both is a possible benefit?

Yes it is. zram act as a primary cache for swapping. It reduces the disk i/o on swap partitions

I seem to remember testing this idea of multiple devices for swap many years ago in both Unix and Linux. I dont have data handy to support this, but as I remember, the problem arises when the "primary" (fast device) exhaust and the secondary SWAP device begins in swapping use. Back then, the phenomenon had to do with wait time extension much beyond what was occurring before the secondary use started. overall, IIRC, secondary only performed much better overall, than a faster primary with a PCI secondary.

In those days, use of a single system drive device on the PCI bus outperformed overall use; than a faster primary with a slower PCI system drive secondary. IIRC is had to do with OS design when using both/multiple SWAP units together. They work, but, under increased RAM loads, the I/O subsystem seemed to become constrained when SWAP starts using the secondary to manage system workloads. It should be understood that if the SWAP on the primary doesn't saturate to case secondary use, the system DOES/did perform better.

If time permits, I will need to craft a test case environment to test again to present results. Namely, use of zram swap along with the system drive partition as secondary under load versus PCI system SWAP drive only under load.

If I find time to craft loading a system, and capturing test data of the 2 environment test-cases, I will report. Big change, today, versus years ago is that the browsers have become the life-blood of users use of desktops. So any test cases must consider that fact in design for this kind of tests.

Things are stable with using only the system drive. for now, allowing the system to use all available RAM memory for desktop operations with PCI system drive for SWAP.

I see no need to change at this time, without more data. Its simple enough, to know that it is occurring and I know the swapoff /dev/zram/ necessary to remove it from the list of swap devices.

P.S. In those days, we created RAM drives to use for fast-primary SWAP (versus today ZRAM is the technology to do so) for those test cases I draw attention to.