KLV-Airedale-alpha Released for Experimentation and Improvement by the Puppy community

[wiak]

Pup-Sysinfo 3.1
Got it from here:
viewtopic.php?t=3557

I am using it as a SFS package, I made of the pet package, loaded by SFS Load.

But it is only providing about 50% of the info it usually provides.
Some items show nothing.

Pup-Sysinfo will just be a GUI frontend to some underlying commandline utilities some of which are likely not installed. Someone needs to check Pup-Sysinfo script to see what commandline utilities it is looking for (depends on) and then simply a matter of installing these I would think. You can also use xbps-install -S to install hardinfo package as an alternative - actually that may use some of same commandline utilities Pup-Sysinfo needs so maybe installing that will make Pup-Sysinfo work. I'm not sure what then happens if you thereafter remove hardinfo - I guess it would also alas then remove the utilities too... Hardinfo is pretty good though.

Once we become clever enough it would be great to have utility that converted simply frontend dotpet packages into Void package format - then removing things like hardinfo would not remove any shared dependencies (would be nice conversion utility to have anyway).

[wiak]

Just remembered another key reason I tend now to login to systems as non-root user. It is because I use wonderful Arch repos based system and package managers that want to access the Auch Users Repo (AUR) need to run as normal user, but I guess run-as-user type scripts would work then too. AUR use in Arch needs git installed though, but that is pretty handy to have nowadays anyway.

[Clarity]

Hello @rockedge
Corrections in order: Seems I had a corrupted alpha5 ISO file. Just tested via 'native' boot via QEMU. No issues.

QEMU ISO Boot via ISO file.jpg (12.07 KiB) Viewed 1379 times

Thus far, ONLY via QEMU, above, I have tested

• your Alpha4 & Alpha5

• @peebee Void32 Alphas

• WDL-Void-xfce4-rc4

I will test SG2D+Ventoy booting in QEMU as well as bare-metal boot of the ISO files this eve and report.

Sorry for the delays this week.

[mikewalsh]

I've added it to the main post concerning stuff that runs OK with KLV-Airedale:-

viewtopic.php?p=44437#p44437

Audacity-portable64

I built two new packages earlier today:- v2.1.2, from about 2 years ago, and v3.1.2, released less than a month since. 3.1.2 runs sweetly here in KLV.....the biggest overhaul you notice is the GUI itself, now brought into line with the Windoze version. I must admit, it IS an improvement from the old 'look'....but then, I've been getting used to it running recent Windows portable releases under WINE.

If interested, you can find it here:-

https://mega.nz/folder/TbIF3AwL#tNZwElT40MELAWDJApDCVQ

Mike.

[bigpup]

Just found this and will see how it works.
Totally new to me, so not sure how well it will work.

XDEB
https://github.com/toluschr/xdeb

Simple utility to convert deb(ian) packages to xbps packages. Written in posix compliant shell.

Update:
Followed the directions on the web site for installing XDEB and getting the needed dependencies to run XDEB.
Made XDEB executable.

Wanted to try installing PaleMoon browser.
It is not in the xbps repositories.
Used the suggested XDEB command to convert palemoon_29.4.3-1.1.gtk2_amd64.deb package to palemoon_29.4.3-1.1.gtk2_amd64.xbps package.
Used OctoXBPS program option (file->Install local package..) to install palemoon_29.4.3-1.1.gtk2_amd64.xbps package.

Posting this using this Pale Moon browser install.

So using this XDEB to convert a .deb package into a .xbps package.
The program can be installed using the OctoXBPS program.

So KLV-Airedale can install programs, that are released as deb packages, if you convert them to a xbps package.

[rockedge]

@Clarity I also am having success booting alpha5. Thanks for the update. Working on improving the /boot section considerably.

Starting to look into creating the mechanisms and tools needed to provide full support for the w_changes=RAM2 mode.

Will research topics in WeeDog that detailed some scripts fredx181 had written as well as others, that do some simple merges and write conversions.

@bigpup xdeb is working very well. Good find and I think I will include it the base build.

[wiak]

Just found this and will see how it works.
Totally new to me, so not sure how well it will work.

XDEB
https://github.com/toluschr/xdeb

Simple utility to convert deb(ian) packages to xbps packages. Written in posix compliant shell.

Well, that's certainly very useful if it proves reliable. I have a couple of packages I want to try installing, that are not in Void repo but are in Debian's. Big packages though, so will be interesting to see if the Debian version will work correctly under Void.

[wiak]

I will test SG2D+Ventoy booting in QEMU as well as bare-metal boot of the ISO files this eve and report.

I note that rockedge now included a loopback.cfg file, but limited as yet so may or may not work much yet. Ventoy also needs special config included in the iso - but I will help with that later, but only once KLV nearer to stable release.

[wiak]

I'm having some pulseaudio related trouble. I'm trying to get precord working on KLV-airedale as a test. However, in the past, whenever pulseaudio was being used it was necessary to configure the audiodevice in precord to "pulse". Underneath that caused arecord to run with the option -D pulse, but that commandline isn't working here (but works in that way on my WDL_Arch64 under pulseaudio).

i.e.

Code: Select all

arecord -D pulse junk.wav

doesn't work

but if I use plughw:0,0 as the device all is fine, but I don't want that since then I need to know the alsa device name and I just want to say "pulse"!

I think I can leave out the -D xxxx part of the commandline altogether though, but then I'd need to re-write precord since it expects to be given a PCM device name! I'm not sure why different arrangement to Arch Linux, which works fine for me, as I say, with -D pulse. Unfortunately I don't know much at all about setting up pulseaudio, but something is definitely different here.

[bigpup]

One statement on the XDEB web site.

Don't ignore the logs! XDEB will notify you about package conflicts

Not exactly sure what logs they are talking about.

Wonder if this is indicating, a deb package converted to a xbps package, could over write important stuff, when installed?

Wonder if a simple GUI could be scripted to run XDEB

[rockedge]

Wonder if a simple GUI could be scripted to run XDEB

That would be a good addition. Definitely something to look into. XDEB has worked on every .deb I've tested so far.

Huge test coming up........going to attempt to install Zoneminder from the Ubuntu .deb package. See what happens!

Edit: Tried out the zoneminder install and it seems to have installed it, minus the web server components. I will later go through that installation of Apache, MySQL (mariaDB) and PHP7+ and see if it will all work. So far so good.

Installed the .deb from here -> http://ppa.launchpad.net/iconnor/zonemi ... oneminder/

Edit 2: the install seems to have knocked out rox-filer

[fredx181]

Tested alpha5. except for a delay at boot (see below) all working fine, new additions too.

The boot delay I have:
After "Booting the kernel" I see a blinking cursor for around 30-40 seconds, before it's starting the init script.
I blame it on the combination of the kernel (alpha3 had v5.4 and booted without delay) and my 14 years old laptop.
Tried adding 'w_debug=0' to see perhaps any messages about kernel module loading, but messages show only after the delay.
But strange... when I press a key and hold it (after seeing "Booting the kernel"), e.g. ffffffffffff, the init starts without delay, so seems to "trigger" it.
Can't explain why this is, just reporting (and no big deal for me personally, as this "trigger" works ok)

[rockedge]

KLV-Airedale-alpha6
Download links in the first post -> viewtopic.php?p=44012#p44012

@fredx181 I cleaned up the /boot directory and boot code. Hopefully works, and better than before. Any suggestions or examples of GRUB2 and GRUB4DOS boot stanza's will be appreciated. I really need to review whats really going on here during boot to insure the best speeds possible.

Added xdeb a tool to convert .deb packages to .xbps packages that can be directly installed into the system. I've tested some from Ubuntu and some from Debian and what I tried worked.

Installing Zoneminder as a .deb from an Ubuntu PPA, ended in breaking the system and I had to drop down to console and reboot via command line.

[wiak]

I'm having some pulseaudio related trouble. I'm trying to get precord working on KLV-airedale as a test. However, in the past, whenever pulseaudio was being used it was necessary to configure the audiodevice in precord to "pulse". Underneath that caused arecord to run with the option -D pulse, but that commandline isn't working here (but works in that way on my WDL_Arch64 under pulseaudio).

i.e.

Code: Select all

arecord -D pulse junk.wav

doesn't work

but if I use plughw:0,0 as the device all is fine, but I don't want that since then I need to know the alsa device name and I just want to say "pulse"!

I think I can leave out the -D xxxx part of the commandline altogether though, but then I'd need to re-write precord since it expects to be given a PCM device name! I'm not sure why different arrangement to Arch Linux, which works fine for me, as I say, with -D pulse. Unfortunately I don't know much at all about setting up pulseaudio, but something is definitely different here.

Turns out the tar.gz of precord and weX is not working on my WDL_Arch64 system either, so forget about above post for now - probably nothing to do with the distros but something I've done in my precord/weX assembly or something to do with gtkdialog gtk+3 version. I do have an alternative build of precord and weX running on a different WDL_Arch64 system (but using gtkdialog gtk+2 version I think) so I should be able to find what the difference is after some further detective work... EDIT: but can't be anything (I think) to do with gtkdialog since even when not using gtkdialog the line: "arecord -D pulse junk.wav" records successfully with pulseaudio running on other Arch system - something changed with pulseaudio (or maybe alsa) install via some upgrade maybe...??? Weird. I'll just have to use a fresh upper_changes on that older Arch install and see if I can 'break' it.

EDIT2: Hmmm. Turns out "arecord -D pulse junk.wav" is recording in latest WDL_Arch64 so there is something needing sorted out re: pulse/alsa in KLV Void. There are only a couple of differences in default.pa config file so I'll see if they make a difference.

[wiak]

Managed to get both Precord and weX running on KLV (both airedale/XFCE and Yeti/openbox-tint2). However, needed to specify plughw:0,0 rather than much more convenient "pulse" (so apparently connecting direct to alsa rather than via pulseaudio, which is annoying me). Yet pulse seems to be running. I prefer how I have this all working in WDL_Arch64, but I just cannot determine the config difference. But at lease it works (weX config window is scaled very large, GTK+3 issue I imagine, but nothing I can do about that easily and works otherwise anyway). Not so important right now anyway - just chose to try these two apps because tests audio and useful for me. I do think similar problems may crop up with other similar style of audio utilities - something just doesn't feel quite right about the way pulseaudio is configured right now.

EDIT: found possible config fix,, in etc/alsa, but too late to try it tonight - looks like could work, but maybe not. Makes logical sense tho. Will report back tomorrow

[rockedge]

@wiak There is the package alsa-utils installed because on the oldest systems I tested it needed it for pulseaudio to work.

There is also the alsa-pulseaudio-plugin installed which should be doing the job connecting ALSA machiines to the pulseaudio server. This is all not really configured I do not think but seems to work across all of the machines I have tested. Though I have not extensively gone into the audio setup because my main dev machine is the PowerEdge R210 II and it has no audio hardware at all so only the LogiTech web cam's internal microphone is seen and connects to the current audio system setup.

Also would like to add pfind from Puppy Linux or something similar.

Another odd thing is the screensaver locks up the desktop on the PowerEdge but not a DELL Optiplex 990. On the PowerEdge if I disable the screensaver and lock screen AND disable the system sleep lock screen in the Power Manager then the screen will still go blank after some minutes and re-awakes as expected. Mentioned before was the possibility that this is the screensaver (blank screen) from the Xorg server itself. Perhaps a conflict then in this case?

Just starting to look back at the oldforum and the Firstrib topics to track down the utility scripts that manipulated the /upper_changes, performing merges and folder creations. Which will now provide insight into building the tools needed to work with w_changes=RAM2 mode.

Also looking at the WeeDogLinux forum for more "cheat sheet" information!

https://oldforum.puppylinux.com/viewtopic.php?p=1034447
https://oldforum.puppylinux.com/viewtop ... 1&t=116070

[rockedge]

Found some gold. Scripts written by @rufwoof right here ->
https://oldforum.puppylinux.com/viewtop ... 5#p1035465

[bigpup]

Tried the hardinfo program by using OctoXBPS to install.

It is System Profiler and Benchmark, in the menu, under Applications->System.

It provides less info than the Pup-Sysinfo program.

So, if we can get everything needed for Pup-Sysinfo.
It looks like a better program to have.

Pup-Sysinfo will just be a GUI front-end to some underlying command-line utilities some of which are likely not installed. Someone needs to check Pup-Sysinfo script to see what command-line utilities it is looking for (depends on) and then simply a matter of installing these I would think.

[bigpup]

Here is the Uextract program I made into a sfs package.

It seems to be working after loading it using SFS load.

It will be in applications->accesories

In Thunar file manager.
Right click on something that you want to extract.
Select open with other application....
Uextract will be a listed choice.
Note:
After selecting to use it on a specific type of compressed file/package.
If you right click on that type file/package
uextract will now be a right click menu selection.

Probably a way to set that right click menu to offer uextract for all compressed type stuff.

Only tried it on a few of the possible type files/packages it is suppose to work on.
So far, they all got correctly extracted.
I am sure, some specific type compressed stuff, is going to need some other dependency program, for it to work on that type.

It will UN-compress a pet package into a directory of all that is in the pet.
.

uextract-4.6_9.5.sfs

(84 KiB) Downloaded 45 times

[bigpup]

I am going nuts, turning pet packages of programs, into SFS packages, that can be loaded with SFS load.

Here is Pfind program

It seems to be working OK.

You will need to load 2 SFS packages to get it to work.
pfind sfs
pfilesearch sfs
.

pfind-6.3_9.5.sfs

(16 KiB) Downloaded 41 times

.

pfilesearch-2.2_9.5.sfs

(12 KiB) Downloaded 50 times

[bigpup]

PUC (puppy utility center)
https://www.forum.puppylinux.com/viewtopic.php?t=835

This is a huge collection of different utility programs all in one package.

It would seem to be a good place to look for stuff you could add to KLV-Airedale.

The pet of PUC turned into a SFS that loads ok.
But too much to test in a short time.

I would attach the SFS of PUC, but it is too large to attach. 808K

[wiak]

@wiak There is the package alsa-utils installed because on the oldest systems I tested it needed it for pulseaudio to work.

There is also the alsa-pulseaudio-plugin installed which should be doing the job connecting ALSA machiines to the pulseaudio server. This is all not really configured I do not think but seems to work across all of the machines I have tested.

As I said, I don't know much at all about alsa/pulseaudio-related configuration, though I did already note you had installed both alsa-utils and alsa-pulseaudio-plugin. The key to getting the likes of Precord and weX working is to make sure the following simple (pretty standard) arecord line works (meaning that it finds pulseaudio and uses it):

Code: Select all

arecord -D pulse testfile.wav

Unfortunately, despite alsa-pulseaudio-plugin being installed, it didn't find pulseaudio. But on my WDL_Arch64 system there is no such problem - it works fine.

So, on my machine I have temporarily copied Arch alsa-pulseaudio-related config scripts across to my KLV, and... (trumpets)... now it works, and so thus does Precord and weX as pulseaudio streams.

Like I say, I know next to nothing about audio configs, but note that Arch Linux uses folder /etc/alsa/conf.d to start various scripts including these related to pulseaudio whereas Void Linux doesn't have /etc/alsa, but instead uses a simple /etc/asound.conf file. So at the moment I have disabled /etc/asound.rc (by renaming) in my KLV and copied across the Arch Linux /etc/alsa/conf.d plus the symlink-related /usr/share/alsa/alsa.conf.d to my KLV install (i.e. a bit of black magic involved), and that is working for me. I think, on the basis of that, I can instead now make a simple change to Void's /etc/asound.conf to effect the same result, but I haven't tried that yet. It seems to me the Arch Linux alsa-pulseaudio-related config is more comprehensive so worth keeping in mind for any fixes that might prove to be needed. I'll come back about all this later once i've tested more.

[wiak]

Okay, I understand how alsa/pulseaudio streams basically work now, and have it 'fixed' on my KLV install. In general the alsa/pulseaudio configs in KLV-airedale seem to be fine, except the DEVICE name "pulse" hasn't been activated. Provision for that is already in KLV-airedale; it's the config file at /usr/share/alsa/alsa.conf.d/50-pulseaudio.conf, but you need to 'activate' that by doing the following:

Code: Select all

mkdir -p /etc/alsa/conf.d
ln -s /usr/share/alsa/alsa.conf.d/50-pulseaudio.conf /etc/alsa/conf.d/50-pulseaudio.conf

So please @rockedge add that to your future build procedure.

Then Precord and weX and any similar utils that use underlying alsa via "pulse" device to record their audio stream will work without issue via "pulse" audio device.

An alternative would have been to directly edit /etc/asound.conf to include the stuff from 50-pulseaudio.conf, but that isn't so flexible and since the 50-pulseaudio.conf is already provided it is best to use the /etc/alsa/conf.d symlink method (which is also what Arch Linux does).

NOTE: Arch Linux comes with a lot more configured via /etc/alsa/conf.d, so if people have trouble with the likes of jack later, best probably to steal the config pieces out of Arch, which I can advise on later if needed.

[rockedge]

Here is Pfind program

It seems to be working OK.

Excellent work. I have it working as well. I am considering installing it in the rootfs. For now I have it loading at boot, but tried first using Load_SFS.

Also possible to customize the menu and include /usr/local/bin/go_loadmodule and /usr/local/bin/go_unloadmodule so when a right click on an SFS file will allow loading and unloading the SFS directly without the GUI.

pFind is working very well and it's one of the great Puppy Linux tools. I use it a lot.

[rockedge]

@wiak Totally interested in what you end up with configuring pulseaudio. Straighten and streamline the audio configuration in KLV-Airedale is another step closer to rc1

I had a LMMS appimage going nicely

Have rufwoof's save.sh and merge-changes.sh installed and am about to boot into RAM2 mode to see what happens when I run them!

Code: Select all

#!/bin/sh
# save.sh
# written by rufwoof
#
# Create a sfs of upper changes in ram so that changes persist across reboots
# nnchanges.sfs where nn is 02, 03 ... etc.  Starts from 02changes.sfs as
# 01.. filename is reserved for the main sfs layer filename

NEXT=1
for nextlayer in `ls *changes.sfs | sort -V | cut -c1-2`; do
       	if [ "$nextlayer" -ge 0 ]; then NEXT=$nextlayer; fi
done
NEXT=$(expr $NEXT + 1)
NEXT=$(printf "%02dchanges.sfs" $NEXT)  # add leading 0 if 2 to 9
mksquashfs /mnt/layers/RAM/upper_changes $NEXT -comp lz4 -Xhc -e var run mnt

Code: Select all

#!/bin/bash
# merge-changes.sh
# written by rufwoof
#
# Merge multiple xxchanges.sfs into one (02changes.sfs and all prior NNchanges.sfs
# changes sfs files are removed once merged)

# format of what we're looking to achieve .. (note that c is the lowest (first)
# i.e. should correspond to 02changes.sfs, b is the next lowest (03changes.sfs)
# and a is the highest (04changes.sfs)) ...
#    mount -t overlay overlay -o lowerdir=/mnt/L/a:/mnt/L/b:/mnt/L/c /mnt/L/m
# As we're mounting read only (to create a sfs from) we don't need upper or work
# Note that we mount each NNchanges.sfs to a mount point named the same
# i.e. /mnt/L/NNchanges.sfs, which are all merged into /mnt/L/m ... and
# we use that /mnt/L/m to create the new 02changes.sfs 

mkdir /mnt/L 
mkdir /mnt/L/m
unset lower

for addlayer in `ls *changes.sfs | sort -Vr`; do # sorted in reverse order
	[ -z $lower ] && lower=/mnt/L/${addlayer} || lower="${lower}:/mnt/L/${addlayer}"
	mkdir -p "/mnt/L/$addlayer"
	mount $addlayer /mnt/L/$addlayer
done
sync
mount -t overlay overlay -o lowerdir=$lower /mnt/L/m
mksquashfs /mnt/L/m CHANGES.sfs -comp lz4 -Xhc
sync
umount /mnt/L/m
umount /mnt/L/*changes.sfs  # release all mounted sfs's
sync
rmdir /mnt/L/*changes.sfs
rm -rf /mnt/L
rm *changes.sfs
mv CHANGES.sfs 02changes.sfs

[wiak]

@wiak Totally interested in what you end up with configuring pulseaudio. Straighten and streamline the audio configuration in KLV-Airedale is another step closer to rc1

I had a LMMS appimage going nicely

Many larger audio apps will work fine (alsa to pulseaudio stream) even without "pulse" device being provided. However, it is common for some utilities to use "pulse" as a way of indicating a named pulseaudio "device" to use, that's why it needs configured per my previous post.

I'm intending keeping KLV-Yeti (openbox/tint2/pcmanfm) variant smallish (as a download core), so including vpm (for simple commandline package management via xbps), but not octoxbps (user can install that though) by default in order to avoid default inclusion of Qt5 (which again user can easily install anyway). As part of that strategy I'm including weX (for audio/webcam/screencast) use, along with scrot (actually scrox which is modified scrot needed by weX, scrot as symlink to scrox since works identically) and Precord as simple related audio record tool; that combination is tiny and doesn't need Qt. I'm installing these during the build_firstrib_rootfs build, via a simple tar.xz (which will also be available for using in KLV-airedale of course and could be packaged in alternative form) in the actual build (putting the binaries in /usr/local/bin rather than official Void Linux binary location /usr/bin of course). One issue with existing dotpets is that some might be using /usr/bin for their executables, which in theory could potentially sometimes/rarely-maybe cause filename conflicts with upstream repo deliverables.

[mikewalsh]

@wiak :-

Will, a query, if I may? I was trying to get the Wex-portable build I put together running in KLV earlier. Got the main, small GUI, but when trying to bring the bigger config GUI up just got a load of gtk-dialog errors. Sound familiar?

Am I right in thinking you modified your original set-up as first released, which was a number of small individual packages? And if so, that being the case, I'm probably right in thinking the 'portable' can't BE modified, yes?

(Merry Xmas, BTW.....)

Mike.

[wiak]

@wiak :-

Will, a query, if I may? I was trying to get the Wex-portable build I put together running in KLV earlier. Got the main, small GUI, but when trying to bring the bigger config GUI up just got a load of gtk-dialog errors. Sound familiar?

Am I right in thinking you modified your original set-up as first released, which was a number of small individual packages? And if so, that being the case, I'm probably right in thinking the 'portable' can't BE modified, yes?

Haven't changed weX itself really, but one big difference is the gtkdialog is GTK+3 rather then GTK+2 and, for me, I find the config GUi pops up ok (though maybe there are gtk warnings - I can't remember right now) and works fine, but it is huge GUI... not scaling properly anymore - I'm just living with that since it works well enough anyway - but thats a straight install - I haven't been trying your portable sfs version in my recent tests Mike.

As for Christmas, it is Boxing Day already here, and I didn't really get anything anyway - however... I did buy a couple of Arduino Mega 2560 kits for my two boys, with some electronic interfacing bits and pieces, so I fully intend stealing these for my own amusement whenever they are not looking.

[mikewalsh]

@wiak :-

Ah, okay; fair enough. It's no big deal; I have my XVidcap-portable package working, plus vokoscreen which I installed with xbps.....but I just like WeX, y'know? It's incredibly versatile (the more so since Fred re-compiled it all together with that ffmpeg package into a single binary.) And being able to add the webcam feed if wanted just adds the "cherry on the top", as it were.....

@rockedge :-

Now; I backed up my alpha 3 setup - just in case - and have swapped-over the main 07KLV-airedale_rootfs SFS from the new alpha 6. All running very sweetly. I guess I ought to remove the /root/Startup sym-link to 'wiakwifi' now, and see about setting-up the Network Manager on its own.....though it connected straightaway, with Network Manager showing the connection as up-and-running, so....

I'll have a play around with that a bit later, see what's what. Will report back.

Mike.

[mikewalsh]

Just reporting back.

Removed the 'wiakwifi' sym-link from /root/Startup, and re-booted to see what happened. Needn't have worried; Network Manager picked-up via the r8169 module and connected "eth0" immediately. So I'm well chuffed wi' that.

Looking good, Erik!

(BTW; I know it's not as widely used by the community, but HardInfo is in the Void repos. Mostly works fine, though for some strange reason I don't get anything showing on the 'Summary' tab... ????

Every other tab, however.....A-OK.)

Probably not the done thing, but I'm going to leave the business of constantly booting & re-booting & testing the new OOTB versions as they come out to others. Once I get an install running nicely - any install! - I tend to like to play around with it & refine it, and add-in bits & bobs from newer versions as and where possible/applicable...and this thing is already very sweet & stable. Further improvements can only make it better.

That's just me, I'm afraid. I'm not your ideal "tester", I'm sorry to say..! But swapping-over the 'core' SFS does seem to work nicely.

Mike.