EasyOS 3.1.9 NOT released

[BarryK]

Version 3.1.9 got pulled off the Internet only a few hours after being uploaded. I found Firefox behaved very badly on my Acer Aspire 1 laptop. Have fixed it, expect version 3.1.10 soon.

Quoting from my blog post:

Two very significant changes this time: firstly, both SeaMonkey and Firefox in the build, and secondly, have moved from an ALSA-only system to Pulseaudio, with Pipewire included in the build (but Pulseaudio set as the default).

I would have liked to bump the version to 3.2, but the move to Pulseaudio is bound to have issues that I have not yet discovered. So, we need one or two releases to find and fix these.

Well, there are other significant changes, not just those two. The kernel is now 5.10.77 and has been compiled with the 'wireguard' module, and the 'wireguard-tools' package is in the build.

Firefox can be run on the main desktop or in a container -- you will find "www" icons on the desktop for both of these. They are both very secure, as on the main desktop Firefox runs as user 'firefox' in its own sandbox.

Firefox supports automatic updating, but I have set it to ask first. You can do it manually: if you go to "Settings" and scroll down, there is a button to update.
A very curious thing: Firefox running on the main desktop, requires the "Restart to update Firefox" button to be clicked-on twice -- after the first restart, scroll down in "Settings" and you have to click that button again.
However, running in a container, the restart button only has to be clicked-on once. Very odd.

You will get the opportunity to update straight away, as the build has FF 93.0 and the latest available is 94.0.1.

It is great news that users can keep up with the latest version of Firefox.

Blog post, with links to release notes and download:

https://bkhome.org/news/202111/easyos-v ... eased.html

Here is direct link to the release notes:

https://distro.ibiblio.org/easyos/amd64 ... -notes.htm

Direct link to download:

https://distro.ibiblio.org/easyos/amd64 ... ell/3.1.9/

Jack audio server is also included in the build; however, it is part of pipewire, so you have to flip from pulseaudio to pipewire first, as explained here:

https://bkhome.org/news/202111/can-now- ... ewire.html

Feedback welcome!

[BarryK]

Aaargh!!!

I have just now updated my baby Acer Aspire 1 laptop from EasyOS Buster-series 2.6.2, to Dunfell-series 3.1.9.

Firefox hangs when it does an update. The entire desktop hung, had to d a hard power off.

Rebooted, deleted /mnt/wkg/.session/usr/lib/firefox and /mnt/wkg/.session/home/firefox, then rebooted.

Tried FF again, the update happened, seemed to have downloaded the update, then desktop froze again.

mikewalsh warned me about his experiences with firefox crashing!

I want a browser that works. SeaMonkey fails on so many sites, just want one that works!

I might use chrome instead. Might build 3.1.10 with chrome instead of firefox. That doesn't have automatic updates, so at least it won't crash trying to update.

If I could completely turn off FF updating, that would be good. Then I would just update when release a new version of EasyOS.
Don't know how to disable it though.

[Grey]

I want a browser that works.

Hello. Does linchrome work well in EasyOS?

[BarryK]

This link explains how to disable background updating:

https://winaero.com/how-to-disable-fire ... d-updates/

...by creating /etc/firefox/policies/policies.json
...but it doesn't work.

Anyway, FF is very slow on the Acer laptop, freezes for awhile, then comes good, the window goes blank, then comes back.

This probably has something to do with the fancy GPU DRM capability of FF.

But, SeaMonkey also has GPU acceleration, and runs fine on the Aspire 1.

I might pull 3.1.9 off of ibiblio.org, do some more experimenting on my collection of computers.
If FF doesn't come up to scratch, will try chrome instead.

Anyway, you are welcome to try 3.1.9. FF runs great on my Lenovo PC, so you might be in luck.
Will leave 3.1.9 on ibiblio for awhile.

[BarryK]

FF running in container does update, and behaves itself!

Hmmmm...

Have decided to pull it down, do some more testing.

[Raj]

@BarryK
EasyOS 3.1.9 works fine here on Lenovo T420s.

FF runs smoothly - upgraded to v94 without any issues.
FF works very well with "Reboot, lock down in RAM" + "Copy session to RAM & disable drives"
In fact I'm writing this post using "lock down in RAM".

I might use chrome instead.

Chrome doesn't work at all in "lock down in RAM" - so please don't!

Thanks for all your efforts.

[BologneChe]

link to download : 404 not found...

I tried to update from EasyUpdate. Version 3.1.9 is not offered.

[BarryK]

Raj,
You grabbed it just before I removed it!

Great that Firefox works for you, updating and in the "disable drives" bootup.

Works great on my Lenovo PC also.
Perhaps Firefox just hates the Acer Aspire 1 laptop, and others are OK...

There will be another release very soon. See blog post:

https://bkhome.org/news/202111/linux-ke ... piled.html

[TerryH]

Barry,

I just saw your blog post that you have removed EasyOS 3.1.9. I had just used the update process and successfully updated.

Thanks for including the rt286 in the release, unfortunately something is still missing. On first reboot after the update, I received a missing firmware mesaage, so I installed the missing firmware (IntcSST2.bin), rebooted, but still no internal sound. Multiple Sound Card Wizard, does now show the rt286 sound card. When testing the rt286 in MSCW the terminal output flashes on the screen too quickly to see what it displays, but when run from a terminal I get an error message aplay: main:828: audio open error: Invalid argument.

Following testing rt286 in MSCW , if I run dmesg there is an error for intel_catpt

Note: Following previous report I have been able to connect bluetooth earphones/speaker to EasyOS, so I can get sound working for locally stored files.

Code: Select all

# dmesg | grep rt286
[   43.022162] rt286 i2c-INT343A:00: ASoC: sink widget DMIC1 overwritten
[   43.022173] rt286 i2c-INT343A:00: ASoC: source widget DMIC1 overwritten
[   43.028858] input: broadwell-rt286 Headset as /devices/platform/broadwell-audio/sound/card1/input26
# lsmod | grep rt286
snd_soc_rt286          40960  2 snd_soc_sst_broadwell
snd_soc_rl6347a        16384  2 snd_soc_rt298,snd_soc_rt286
snd_soc_core          163840  4 snd_soc_catpt,snd_soc_rt298,snd_soc_rt286,snd_soc_sst_broadwell
snd_pcm                94208  11 snd_soc_catpt,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_soc_rt298,snd_hda_intel,snd_soc_rt286,snd_hda_codec,snd_compress,snd_pcm_oss,snd_soc_core,snd_hda_core,snd_soc_sst_broadwell
# 

Code: Select all

# dmesg|grep -i catpt
[   44.721006] intel_catpt INT3438:00: DesignWare DMA Controller, 8 channels
[  260.994686] intel_catpt INT3438:00: firmware ready timeout
[  260.994694] intel_catpt INT3438:00: boot firmware failed: -110
[  260.994703] intel_catpt INT3438:00: ASoC: error at snd_soc_pcm_component_pm_runtime_get on catpt-platform: -110
[  261.004906] intel_catpt INT3438:00: ASoC: error at snd_soc_pcm_component_pm_runtime_get on catpt-platform: -22
[  268.661922] intel_catpt INT3438:00: ASoC: error at snd_soc_pcm_component_pm_runtime_get on catpt-platform: -22
[  268.670388] intel_catpt INT3438:00: ASoC: error at snd_soc_pcm_component_pm_runtime_get on catpt-platform: -22
[  277.755175] intel_catpt INT3438:00: ASoC: error at snd_soc_pcm_component_pm_runtime_get on catpt-platform: -22
[  277.764009] intel_catpt INT3438:00: ASoC: error at snd_soc_pcm_component_pm_runtime_get on catpt-platform: -22
[  386.643998] intel_catpt INT3438:00: ASoC: error at snd_soc_pcm_component_pm_runtime_get on catpt-platform: -22
[  386.657482] intel_catpt INT3438:00: ASoC: error at snd_soc_pcm_component_pm_runtime_get on catpt-platform: -22
[  563.274755] intel_catpt INT3438:00: ASoC: error at snd_soc_pcm_component_pm_runtime_get on catpt-platform: -22
[  563.283551] intel_catpt INT3438:00: ASoC: error at snd_soc_pcm_component_pm_runtime_get on catpt-platform: -22
[  563.770696] intel_catpt INT3438:00: ASoC: error at snd_soc_pcm_component_pm_runtime_get on catpt-platform: -22
[  563.778597] intel_catpt INT3438:00: ASoC: error at snd_soc_pcm_component_pm_runtime_get on catpt-platform: -22
#

[scsijon]

@BarryK,
If you have your laptop still available, can you try these steps please
1- start the laptop and don't start a browser up;
2- go into /root and find the .mozilla directory;
3- rename it .mozilla.old1 (and create a copy as .mozilla.old2 which you set as readonly in case something fails).
4- shutdown the laptop, not just reboot
5- start it up again and then try starting firefox up, it should now create a new /root/.mozilla directory structure and configuration set that matches this specific laptop;
** you won't have any of your previously created settings left so it should configure it for this specific laptop**
(** you won't have your Seamonkey either at this point, but it's there in the /root/mozilla.old?**)
6- try it out as a basic browser, and if it works shut it all down so it 'sets' some of it's settings that are only configured when shutdown ocurrs;
7- start it up again and try to update, hopefully it should work then.

So what happens here, is that firefox has settings that are not written back into it's configuration system until it shuts down the system (always been that way) basically as individual machine settings similarly to that in the windows registry but in the linux equivalent. They can get locked up and become read-only if the system goes wrong, such as a crash, suppose to be a safety function, that of course therefore no longer allows full access. The above process is what we use to do to clear it out and I can't see what it won't work now.

And for your seamonkey, you can move the /root/.mozilla.old1/seamonkey directory to the new /root/.mozilla directory and after a reboot it should all be ok.

[BarryK]

@BarryK,
If you have your laptop still available, can you try these steps please
1- start the laptop and don't start a browser up;
2- go into /root and find the .mozilla directory;
3- rename it .mozilla.old1 (and create a copy as .mozilla.old2 which you set as readonly in case something fails).
4- shutdown the laptop, not just reboot
5- start it up again and then try starting firefox up, it should now create a new /root/.mozilla directory structure and configuration set that matches this specific laptop;
** you won't have any of your previously created settings left so it should configure it for this specific laptop**
(** you won't have your Seamonkey either at this point, but it's there in the /root/mozilla.old?**)
6- try it out as a basic browser, and if it works shut it all down so it 'sets' some of it's settings that are only configured when shutdown ocurrs;
7- start it up again and try to update, hopefully it should work then.

So what happens here, is that firefox has settings that are not written back into it's configuration system until it shuts down the system (always been that way) basically as individual machine settings similarly to that in the windows registry but in the linux equivalent. They can get locked up and become read-only if the system goes wrong, such as a crash, suppose to be a safety function, that of course therefore no longer allows full access. The above process is what we use to do to clear it out and I can't see what it won't work now.

And for your seamonkey, you can move the /root/.mozilla.old1/seamonkey directory to the new /root/.mozilla directory and after a reboot it should all be ok.

Seamonkey and Firefox are running as their own user names, so the paths are /home/seamonkey/.mozilla and /home/firefox/.mozilla

I was testing with a usb-stick, a new system, there was nothing prior in those .mozilla folders.

[BarryK]

Progress, sound fix:

https://bkhome.org/news/202111/audio-fix-at-bootup.html

[hundido]

Hi Barry,

I saw this got released after it got pulled. I'm looking forward to trying the updated version. I'm grateful you're updating the kernel to 5.10.77. I have high hopes I can use Easy as a daily driver on my newest computer with that.

I wanted to share a thought I had that might make Easy OS more functional and prevent a duplicate program from making the distro heavier. One of my nitpicks about Easy OS is that while its built in redshift works, I can't use the sct and the dim brightness at the same time. Radky's JWMdesk 3.2 allows me to sct to 1800 (candlelight is my most functional color temp) and dim the brightness. Have you thought about updating to JWMdesk 3.2 with the sct binaries instead of the included, I think it's YAD, icon?

Running 3.1 from a USB on my Acer 5738 and it's working pretty well. One other issue I had is I like to set the dpi really large, 132 is the largest it lets me choose, and that makes it impossible to click the okay or apply button in some of the programs because the buttons are off the screen(I'd have to go through for which ones, happy to do it if you want that info), and I can't resize the box so they're on the screen.

On some other programs, like the Easy Apps, the box can't be resized. Apps is still usable. Apps would be more usable if I could expand the box to full screen so I could see the programs without having to scroll a lot to see the program descriptions.

Thank you again for your beautiful work and I hope my ideas are useful,
hundido

[williwaw]

@hundido

I can't use the sct and the dim brightness at the same time

does this rshift-portable-64, viewtopic.php?p=3107&hilit=rshift+portable+64#p3107 work better for you in easy? It does for two different machines here.

[BarryK]

Hi Barry,

I saw this got released after it got pulled. I'm looking forward to trying the updated version. I'm grateful you're updating the kernel to 5.10.77. I have high hopes I can use Easy as a daily driver on my newest computer with that.

I wanted to share a thought I had that might make Easy OS more functional and prevent a duplicate program from making the distro heavier. One of my nitpicks about Easy OS is that while its built in redshift works, I can't use the sct and the dim brightness at the same time. Radky's JWMdesk 3.2 allows me to sct to 1800 (candlelight is my most functional color temp) and dim the brightness. Have you thought about updating to JWMdesk 3.2 with the sct binaries instead of the included, I think it's YAD, icon?

Running 3.1 from a USB on my Acer 5738 and it's working pretty well. One other issue I had is I like to set the dpi really large, 132 is the largest it lets me choose, and that makes it impossible to click the okay or apply button in some of the programs because the buttons are off the screen(I'd have to go through for which ones, happy to do it if you want that info), and I can't resize the box so they're on the screen.

On some other programs, like the Easy Apps, the box can't be resized. Apps is still usable. Apps would be more usable if I could expand the box to full screen so I could see the programs without having to scroll a lot to see the program descriptions.

Thank you again for your beautiful work and I hope my ideas are useful,
hundido

Thanks for the feedback.
I have written down your suggestions, will check them out, maybe not for next release, but will get onto them sometime.

[ga77a]

hi barry k , i hope your keeping well .

may i suggest librewolf or slimjet as the new browser's, they're both superior to most other browsers.

also in my current easyos (3.0) package dependency checking dosent seem to work, not to worry thou i will soon upgrade to 3.1/3.2
many thanks
gazza

[BarryK]

Barry,

I just saw your blog post that you have removed EasyOS 3.1.9. I had just used the update process and successfully updated.

Thanks for including the rt286 in the release, unfortunately something is still missing. On first reboot after the update, I received a missing firmware mesaage, so I installed the missing firmware (IntcSST2.bin), rebooted, but still no internal sound. Multiple Sound Card Wizard, does now show the rt286 sound card. When testing the rt286 in MSCW the terminal output flashes on the screen too quickly to see what it displays, but when run from a terminal I get an error message aplay: main:828: audio open error: Invalid argument.

Following testing rt286 in MSCW , if I run dmesg there is an error for intel_catpt

Note: Following previous report I have been able to connect bluetooth earphones/speaker to EasyOS, so I can get sound working for locally stored files.

Code: Select all

# dmesg | grep rt286
[   43.022162] rt286 i2c-INT343A:00: ASoC: sink widget DMIC1 overwritten
[   43.022173] rt286 i2c-INT343A:00: ASoC: source widget DMIC1 overwritten
[   43.028858] input: broadwell-rt286 Headset as /devices/platform/broadwell-audio/sound/card1/input26
# lsmod | grep rt286
snd_soc_rt286          40960  2 snd_soc_sst_broadwell
snd_soc_rl6347a        16384  2 snd_soc_rt298,snd_soc_rt286
snd_soc_core          163840  4 snd_soc_catpt,snd_soc_rt298,snd_soc_rt286,snd_soc_sst_broadwell
snd_pcm                94208  11 snd_soc_catpt,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_soc_rt298,snd_hda_intel,snd_soc_rt286,snd_hda_codec,snd_compress,snd_pcm_oss,snd_soc_core,snd_hda_core,snd_soc_sst_broadwell
# 

Code: Select all

# dmesg|grep -i catpt
[   44.721006] intel_catpt INT3438:00: DesignWare DMA Controller, 8 channels
[  260.994686] intel_catpt INT3438:00: firmware ready timeout
[  260.994694] intel_catpt INT3438:00: boot firmware failed: -110
[  260.994703] intel_catpt INT3438:00: ASoC: error at snd_soc_pcm_component_pm_runtime_get on catpt-platform: -110
[  261.004906] intel_catpt INT3438:00: ASoC: error at snd_soc_pcm_component_pm_runtime_get on catpt-platform: -22
[  268.661922] intel_catpt INT3438:00: ASoC: error at snd_soc_pcm_component_pm_runtime_get on catpt-platform: -22
[  268.670388] intel_catpt INT3438:00: ASoC: error at snd_soc_pcm_component_pm_runtime_get on catpt-platform: -22
[  277.755175] intel_catpt INT3438:00: ASoC: error at snd_soc_pcm_component_pm_runtime_get on catpt-platform: -22
[  277.764009] intel_catpt INT3438:00: ASoC: error at snd_soc_pcm_component_pm_runtime_get on catpt-platform: -22
[  386.643998] intel_catpt INT3438:00: ASoC: error at snd_soc_pcm_component_pm_runtime_get on catpt-platform: -22
[  386.657482] intel_catpt INT3438:00: ASoC: error at snd_soc_pcm_component_pm_runtime_get on catpt-platform: -22
[  563.274755] intel_catpt INT3438:00: ASoC: error at snd_soc_pcm_component_pm_runtime_get on catpt-platform: -22
[  563.283551] intel_catpt INT3438:00: ASoC: error at snd_soc_pcm_component_pm_runtime_get on catpt-platform: -22
[  563.770696] intel_catpt INT3438:00: ASoC: error at snd_soc_pcm_component_pm_runtime_get on catpt-platform: -22
[  563.778597] intel_catpt INT3438:00: ASoC: error at snd_soc_pcm_component_pm_runtime_get on catpt-platform: -22
#

That is unfortunate!

The upcoming Easy 3.1.10 has changes to the kernel, and to sound detection at bootup:

https://bkhome.org/news/202111/linux-ke ... piled.html

https://bkhome.org/news/202111/audio-fix-at-bootup.html

Hope one of those changes makes a difference for your audio chip.

[TerryH]

Yes, I read the blog post regarding the sound. As I have sound via bluetooth, it's an acceptable workaround.

[BarryK]

@hundido

I can't use the sct and the dim brightness at the same time

does this rshift-portable-64, viewtopic.php?p=3107&hilit=rshift+portable+64#p3107 work better for you in easy? It does for two different machines here.

Thanks for that link. I checked it out, and have created a rshift_tray PET based on Fred's rshift-portable, see blog post:

https://bkhome.org/news/202111/redshift ... y-app.html