TazPuppy 5.0 RC12 (Slitaz-based Puppy hybrid)

[mistfire]

TazPuppy is a hybrid linux distro combining the Puppy Linux and Slitaz. It runs Slitaz on top while Puppy is running at the bottom.

Features

• Less crippled than Slitaz

• Smaller than average Puppy

• True multiuser support.

• The slitaz core scripts were modified to support Puppy backend

• Modular, high mobility, and flexible

• Improved wine integration

• Can load and use other linux distro from partition sandboxed

• Can use kernels and its zdrv modules from other Puppies

Package Management
TazPuppy primarily uses tazpkg for package management. Slitaz packages (.tazpkg) have better package curation and consistency due to centralized compiling server. But TazPuppy can also accept Puppy (.pet), Debian (.deb), Slackware (.txz), Red Hat (.rpm), and Arch (.pkg.tar.xz) natively.

Tazpkg documentation: http://doc.slitaz.org/en:handbook:packages
For latest slitaz package build see http://cook.slitaz.org

Modules
TazPuppy can load Puppy SFS modules, Slax modules, and Porteus modules.

Swapping kernels
You can use the kernel and ZDRV modules from other puppies:

• Just rename the ZDRV module of a puppy to zdrv_tazpup_5.0.sfs

• Put it beside the TazPuppy main SFS file

• Specify the kernel image of a certain puppy to be used on the bootloader settings (GRUB, LILO, SYSLINUX, ReFIND, etc)

Compiling Programs
TazPuppy can build its own devx module for compiling programs manually like puppy (Goto Setup>Make DEVX module). It can also use cookutils from Slitaz to build programs easily (just run setup-cooker on terminal before start using the Slitaz cookutils). Also TazPuppy is capable of hosting compiling server like Slitaz online cooker does.

Buildhost documentation: http://doc.slitaz.org/en:cookbook:buildhost

Building TazPuppy
TazPuppy has its own build system working on two modes:

• Local - Works without internet. But it requires to collect necessary packages first. Requires slitaz iso image and Puppy iso image

• Online - Build tazpuppy using slitaz packages from online repo. Requires Puppy iso image only

NOTE: Official TazPuppy was built from local mode and its highly customized. TazPuppy created from online mode will be based from Slitaz rolling packages.

Documentations:
Some parts of these documentation are applied to TazPuppy
Slitaz: http://doc.slitaz.org/en:handbook:start
Puppy: http://wikka.puppylinux.com

WARNING: Use this distro under you own risk. The developer has no liability and no responsibility for data loss from using this distro

Default account
Username: tux
Password: (blank)

Download: https://archive.org/download/Puppy_Linu ... -rc-12.iso
MD5 Checksum: 32f275ed42eec072b1ea3de4d53232f4

Build kit: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XBnQwu ... sp=sharing

Old versions: https://archive.org/download/Puppy_Linux_Tazpup

Special Thanks to these persons who helped to build TazPuppy (to be updated):
@wiak, @darry19662018, @s243a, @smokey01, @sage, @Marv, @peebee, @fredx181, @ally, @Terry H, @thinkpadfreak, @foxpup,
@greengeek, @anticapitalista, @rg66, @keef, @don570, @hamoudoudou, @8Geee

Screenshot-1.jpg (102.96 KiB) Viewed 8332 times

[mistfire]

TazPuppy 5.0 RC3 released
Changes
* Fixed cooker issue

[mistfire]

The thread from Cutting Edge subtopic will be moved here.

[GigaWatt]

@mistfire: Did you ever look into that VIA Chrome9 graphics issue? The forum is down, so I can't download the pic and reattach it here :-\.

[mistfire]

@mistfire: Did you ever look into that VIA Chrome9 graphics issue? The forum is down, so I can't download the pic and reattach it here :-\.

Could you please run these commands on terminal and post the output here

Code: Select all

busybox lspci
xorg-autoconf
cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log

[GigaWatt]

I can do it (probably) in a few weeks or so. The rig's at my workplace and I've taken a vacation.

Anyway, thanks for the prompt reply .

[longlivetheking]

Cannot boot in.
Tested on 2 laptops.

Got these errors:

Code: Select all

Booting "tazpuppy-5.0-rc3"
This may take several seconds
error: file /SLUG not found
Press any key to continue.

Code: Select all

Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(0,0)
CPU: 1 PID: 1 Comm: swapper/0 Not tainted 4.14.156-slim32 #4
Hardware name: GOOGLE Peppy/Peppy, BIOS MrChromeBox 07/14/2017
...
Kernel Offset: disabled
---[ end Kernel panic - not syncing VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(0,0)

[mistfire]

Cannot boot in.
Tested on 2 laptops.

Got these errors:

Code: Select all

Booting "tazpuppy-5.0-rc3"
This may take several seconds
error: file /SLUG not found
Press any key to continue.

Code: Select all

Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(0,0)
CPU: 1 PID: 1 Comm: swapper/0 Not tainted 4.14.156-slim32 #4
Hardware name: GOOGLE Peppy/Peppy, BIOS MrChromeBox 07/14/2017
...
Kernel Offset: disabled
---[ end Kernel panic - not syncing VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(0,0)

Does the MD5 Checksum of your downloaded TazPuppy matched with the given checksum?

[longlivetheking]

Yes, it matches.

[mistfire]

TazPuppy 5.0 RC4 released

Changes:
* Improved Xorg autoconfiguration
* Added notification if TazPuppy was using ramdisk as primary storage

Download: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wO3bPo ... AUk7ki9H-v
MD5 Checksum: 30561b0a97762be0c39e867fdc781f56

Build-kit: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ob-pM2 ... UoPeAYO-hj

[mistfire]

Yes, it matches.

Try to swap kernel and zdrv file using other puppies. Don't forget to rename the zdrv file as zdrv_tazpup_5.0.sfs

[mistfire]

I can do it (probably) in a few weeks or so. The rig's at my workplace and I've taken a vacation.

Anyway, thanks for the prompt reply .

Please try the latest revision of TazPuppy. I made some adjustments on Xorg autoconfiguration

[GigaWatt]

Could you please run these commands on terminal and post the output here

Code: Select all

busybox lspci
xorg-autoconf
cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log

I can't actually do that since this is the only thing I'm seeing in X.

SDC18179.jpg (48.36 KiB) Viewed 4340 times

How can I exit to terminal only (kill X and everything related to X)?

[mistfire]

@GigaWatt Did you try that using latest tazpuppy version rc4?

Boot tazpuppy without starting Xorg using pfix=nox boot parameter on your bootloader
If you are using syslinux press TAB key to override the boot entry then press ENTER to boot. For grub press E to edit the boot entry then press F10 to boot

[GigaWatt]

@GigaWatt Did you try that using latest tazpuppy version rc4?

Actually, now that you've mentioned it, the screenshot was done with RC2. I'll try it with RC4 and report back.

It might be worth noting that this is a small monitor (native resolution 1280 x 720 I believe). Everything worked just fine on a large Full HD (1920 x 1080) monitor. So, I believe the problem is the detected native resolution of the monitor and how X (or xfce) is trying to configure itself.

Boot tazpuppy without starting Xorg using pfix=nox boot parameter on your bootloader
If you are using syslinux press TAB key to override the boot entry then press ENTER to boot. For grub press E to edit the boot entry then press F10 to boot

I'm using a repacked ISO version that I did with isolinux 6.03 as the bootloader, but I've removed all other options from the boot menu. This is my isolinux.cfg config file.

Code: Select all

DEFAULT TP50RC2

LABEL TP50RC2
   MENU LABEL ^TazPuppy 5.0 (RC2)
   KERNEL kernel.dat
   INITRD ramdisk.dat
   APPEND pfix=copy,ram,fw_drv psubok=TRUE pkeys=us plang=en_US.UTF-8 pmedia=cd autologin

I only did the repack because TazPuppy (and Puppy as well) doesn't boot from multiboot USB/CD/DVD mediums. I just cpioed all of the sfs files into the initrd, so that init can locate them after initrd is copied in RAM.

[Pazzo]

Hi Mistfire,

I've got here because of a reply you did on a Slitaz forum. Coincidently enough, I've been trying both Slitaz and Puppy (also many other light distros) on a few different hardwares. So I was a bit excited to see a mix of Slitaz+Puppy. Good job on that!

But I'm having a hard time with it. I downloaded this last one, RC4, checked MD5 (in more than one download) and already tried many different ways to flash it to a USB card (Unetbootin, Multiboot, Ventoy, Balena Etcher, Deepin, and even Chromebook Recovery Utility) and I'm not able to boot. I've tried on a netbook Asus Aspire One D250 (32Bit), and on an old Dell desktop Pentium IV (able to run 64Bit). Both were able to boot Slitaz (5.0 Rolling) and Puppy. Indeed, I installed Slitaz on the Dell (from which I'm writing this), and Puppy Slacko (6.3.2) on the Netbook.

When it was able to start booting, it gets to a point with a "Fatal Error!" "puppy_tazpup_5.0.sfs not found"

And that's it.

Don't know what to try next.

[mistfire]

Hi Mistfire,

I've got here because of a reply you did on a Slitaz forum. Coincidently enough, I've been trying both Slitaz and Puppy (also many other light distros) on a few different hardwares. So I was a bit excited to see a mix of Slitaz+Puppy. Good job on that!

But I'm having a hard time with it. I downloaded this last one, RC4, checked MD5 (in more than one download) and already tried many different ways to flash it to a USB card (Unetbootin, Multiboot, Ventoy, Balena Etcher, Deepin, and even Chromebook Recovery Utility) and I'm not able to boot. I've tried on a netbook Asus Aspire One D250 (32Bit), and on an old Dell desktop Pentium IV (able to run 64Bit). Both were able to boot Slitaz (5.0 Rolling) and Puppy. Indeed, I installed Slitaz on the Dell (from which I'm writing this), and Puppy Slacko (6.3.2) on the Netbook.

When it was able to start booting, it gets to a point with a "Fatal Error!" "puppy_tazpup_5.0.sfs not found"

And that's it.

Don't know what to try next.

Did you install TazPuppy on a folder? If yes then specify the folder name using psubdir=[folder name] boot parameter. Edit your bootloader config file to add that boot parameter.

[mistfire]

TazPuppy 5.0 RC5 released

Changes:
* Some fixes for file and folder permissions
* Improved user account management
* Improved Xorg auto configuration for nvidia and amd graphics cards

Download: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aqGRZb ... vNjkDbzMri
MD5 Checksum: 70ee3397a079df7385eb58f5614e4d7a

Build-kit: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ffoOnZ ... izawIhQshy

[Pazzo]

Did you install TazPuppy on a folder? If yes then specify the folder name using psubdir=[folder name] boot parameter. Edit your bootloader config file to add that boot parameter.

Thanks for the reply!

I may not have been clear, though.
- I've downloaded the iso and did checksum.
- Flashed the iso to a usb stick
- tried to boot the usb stick > never got passed that "Fatal Error!" "puppy_tazpup_5.0.sfs not found"

I didn't get closer to install anything. It never booted. And I've tried on different PCs.

I made several attempts, as I said before. The only method of writing the iso to the usb stick that I didn't try yet is a simple 'dd', because I'm not good at it. But I'll try to find out. I have a bunch of different OSs on different PCs here, so I have where to try (Ubuntu, Puppy Slacko, Slitaz, EasyOS, and even a Mac OSX).

Now I'll download the RC5 and keep trying.

[mistfire]

@Pazzo

dd-ing iso to usb stick is a bad idea. Disk image for CD is different from image for usb stick. Just use unetbootin

[Branton]

Now testing RC5 and it's working ok on many of my machines:

Intel NUC (legacy boot), Chromebox (CN60 / dev mode / Seabios) and others.

Very easy to burn to stick - used Rufus, and used the recommended ISO mode, not dd!

I did notice one thing though - when I echo'd $PATH variable, I saw about 15 lines of slackware-related directories, ranging from i-386 to i-786.

I shortened that up a little.

Nice work - thanks for doing this.

[Branton]

@longlivetheking :

Noticed that your laptop(s) are actually chromebooks running custom firmware. Your firmware load appears to be 3 years old, and wonder if updating to the latest would help test the RC.

Have you tested with the built-in onboard legacy-mode SeaBios, or does using the custom bios wipe out the possiblity of going back to SeaBios?

[Pazzo]

@Pazzo

dd-ing iso to usb stick is a bad idea. Disk image for CD is different from image for usb stick. Just use unetbootin

Ok, finally got it to work. Did nothing different than before, except that I used the last RC5 iso. Flashed with unetbootin and it worked. Don know why it didn't before.

Booted fine on both machines I was trying before, but due to lack of time, I was only able to keep testing on the Asus Aspire One D250 (32Bit) netbook.

Installed ok, frugal on a directoty, aside with 2 other Puppy installs, in a Xubuntu partition. Booted with Grub2 (it was there since Xubuntu was installed years ago). After the first long boot, all others took around 2min to be ready on. Nice for this machine. But so you know, the last Puppy Bionic 8.0 (19.03) 32Bits is loading in 1:40s

Now to a few reports and feedbacks:

- Upgrades:
On the first boot it showed up all the packages that could be upgraded, some 300 and so. Ok, done that. But on the next reboots it keeps telling me that there are 3 packages to update:
- libcomerr > 1.45.5
- libsasl-without-ldap > 2.1.27
- udev > 182

Ran the upgrade/install of all three, "copying package.. extracting package... and so on", and got as result message for each:
- Package "libcomerr3" (1.18) is installed.
- Package "libsasl-modules" (2.1.27) is installed.
- Package "eudev" (3.2.9) is installed.

(Just reporting so you'll know the exact names/versions shown)

Then... Oops... When I check for upgrades, the 3 pkgs kept showing up. Install, everything, again check for upgrades and... the 3 keep showing up. Rebooted, the notification showed up: the 3 packages to upgrade.

Move on...
- Slitaz Panel not loading from menu - it opens a window with "unamed name"

- When going through "Package Manager" it loads TazPanel - OK

- pSynclient Touchpad Setup not loading - the touchpad is working, but I wanted to setup the touch/click

- It got worse > I found a menu item "Setup > Simple Mouse Wizard", open it, nothing seems to happen but... the touchpad went away! Never got back, even after rebooting. I'm now using an old USB wired mouse. Weird as is, System Information is listing the touchpad in Devices>Input Devices, but now if I try to run pSynclient Touchpad Setup it now says "No Synaptics Touchpad found"

- Weird behavior of Tazweb > It loads, but shows no menus. The only buttons are 'Home Page' and ' Bookmarks', nothing else. Could not configure anything, nothing. Then I wrote an address and it opened ok. Tried 'Ctrl+t' to open a new tab > nothing.

- Since it's mixing 2 systems, I've noticed a few conflicts, like, I was trying to setup Leafpad as the main app for text files, so I went to the menu and found "Default Applications", which is Slitaz. Then kept looking for other setups and ran into "Preferred Applications", which just sets Browser and Mail client (those were already in the previous). But then again found "PuppyApps Default Applications Chooser", and end up not knowing who is in charge. ;P

- Used 'Time Zone configuration' to setup my time, ok. I know it was saved because I went on 'Utilities/Time.is' and it shows how much the computer time is off of the actual time for my location. But even after rebooting, I could not get it to set the correct time. And could not find an utility to sync with internet.

Ok. Those are good for now. I'll keep setting up and testing. But I'm very happy with it. Once again, good job!

[mistfire]

@Pazzo

Does your test laptop have synaptics touchpad?

udev shouldn't be update. But anyways, I'll try to fix that issue.

TazWeb is a very simple browser like Dillo. Use midori (builtin) or install a web browser. If you want a full-fledged browser

Puppy Applications Chooser only works for Homegrown Puppy Applications Only.

Also TazPuppy automatically syncs time in every boot if an internet connection was detected

[GigaWatt]

@GigaWatt Did you try that using latest tazpuppy version rc4?

Tried with the latest RC4, same thing.

I ran into another issue on Intel HD Graphics 610 with the latest RC4. When X starts booting, it just hangs with a cursor blinking really fast at the upper left corner of the screen. Seems like the resolution is fine (tried it on a Full HD monitor, 1920 x 1080), since the cursor is really small, but the desktop environment doesn't load.

Incidentally, everything works fine on VIA Chrome9 and Intel HD Graphics 610 with TazPuppy Beta 46.

EDIT: Just saw you released a new RC. I'll try with that and report back.

[Pazzo]

@Pazzo

udev shouldn't be update. But anyways, I'll try to fix that issue.

Puppy Applications Chooser only works for Homegrown Puppy Applications Only.

Ok, got it.

Does your test laptop have synaptics touchpad?

Yes, and it was working before I messed it up. I was just trying to set the way it behaves. It shows up on Hardware info. I'll reinstall to have it back, and also test the setup from the live boot.

TazWeb is a very simple browser like Dillo

My bad... I haven't used it much before, thought it was a weird behavior.

Also TazPuppy automatically syncs time in every boot if an internet connection was detected

Ok, so I'm having a problem. It's not syncing. It boots with internet conected, no problem with that.

Thanks!

[mistfire]

@GigaWatt
I have an idea. If you still have TazPuppy Beta 46, Boot it on your computers that uses Via Chrome 9 and Intel HD Graphics 610. Get their respective /var/log/Xorg.0.log file, conf files located at /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d, and files located at /var/hwdata then upload that files here. This I will get more insights to me.

@Pazzo
Could please boot tazpuppy and get the files located at /var/hwdata and send also here.

[mistfire]

TazPuppy 5.0 RC6 released

Changes:
* Fixed package management
* Some tweaks for xorg auto configuration

Download: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zuZP0k ... OBCl7zpjua
MD5 Checksum: bb27f3dc872406ff75576f44227ada3e

Build-kit: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1geCAt6 ... 4OXMUkeXlN

[mistfire]

TazPuppy 5.0 RC7 released

Changes:
* Linux kernel 5.7.18

Download: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vZ6xmY ... pcUfsyQrGV
MD5 Checksum: 5e1acf6bd7066d95088d36098bcf5368

[TerryH]

New frugal install of RC 7 to usb flash drive (Sandisk Ultra Fit 32GB). The new kernel is a good inclusion, running well with low memory usage.
Issues observed are that the partitions of the internal SSD is not identified in pcmanfm Places, so I manually used mkdir & mount to access sda partitions successfully. On first shutdown I created a save folder on usb (sdb2). When I did a reboot any changes made as root including these and other changes, had not been saved. Changes made as tux were saved. I checked at shutdown and also manually running save2flash. I believe the root changes issue may have occurred previously, but can't remember how it was resolved.

When additional usb flash drives are plugged in, there is no indication that they have been inserted, but they can be manually mounted, as per internal SSD.

I also noticed that /etc/fstab appears to contain mounts and partitions which are not part of my system. I assume that these are what would be from the system that the imge was created on, as shown below.

I also checked the pcmanfm and saving changes made as root, utilising a pre-existing save folder. It was the same issues as a new clean install save folder.

Code: Select all

sh-5.0$ cat /etc/fstab
# /etc/fstab: Information about static filesystems.
#
proc          /proc        proc     defaults             0       0
sysfs         /sys         sysfs    defaults             0       0
devpts        /dev/pts     devpts   rw,gid=5,mode=0620   0       0
tmpfs         /dev/shm     tmpfs    noexec,nosuid        0       0
tmpfs         /var/lock    tmpfs    noexec,nosuid        0       0
/dev/cdrom    /media/cdrom iso9660  user,ro,noauto       0       0
#/dev/sda3     /home        ext3     defaults             0       2
#/dev/hdb1     /mnt/data    btrfs    defaults             0       2
#datasvr:/nfs/home  /home   nfs      tcp,nolock           0       0
sh-5.0$ 

I would also like to request that a new slitaz base be used for future releases. On the new install there are 377 package upgrades available when checked.