Can't boot/install Puppy in Vaio PCG-GT1 (dual boot XP)

[lurching]

I still have my ISO of Slacko 5.6.4 non-PAE if you want to try it.
Wiz

Sure, let me know where I can download it

By the way how do I get rid of the list of iso's that are not working/inadapted in the LICK boot options?

[Wiz57]

See if this link works....
https://1drv.ms/u/s!Ao-_qqv5iz91gS_gcmd ... j?e=sgeHCr

As for the extra entries, you should have a menu.lst file in your C: directory, open that in Notepad or other
test editor to remove unwanted entries.

Wiz

[lurching]

https://archive.org/details/pup4.311gli ... 794sserev1
Thread: viewtopic.php?f=119&t=551

Thanks Darry, this pup4.311 seems to be the best so far, it's the most reactive. Seamonkey is not stable and crashes as with Phoenix so it's not iso-specific, and this machine is not designed to browse the web anyway, it's not what I intend to do with it.

Next: I've installed fuse for ntfs read/write and my LaCie 1Tb firewire400/800 drive came up like a charm, and Puppy brings real life extension to the machine just by the ability to backup at hi-speed on this USB1.0 era machine (on XP the drive is not recognized and no driver to be found).

The next step in the project (simplest step) is to install wine and see if by any luck I can have the camera application work if I can install the drivers which I was told can be possible. No idea yet on how to do this.

[lurching]

I created a rudimentary blog for this project, available here: https://sonyvaio-gt1.blogspot.com/

[mikewalsh]

Hmm, a machine that old, with that little RAM, you may not be able to boot a newer Puppy. You might
be able to boot one of the derivatives, such as TazPup or CorePup, maybe even a Slackware based one,
Try ScPup 32. However, getting it installed and booted may be all it will do, don't know if I would call
it "running", maybe crawling??? That was my experiences even with WinXP with 256meg RAM.
Once you try doing anything in a "modern" type setting, such as web browsing, that tiny bit of RAM
leads to almost constant thrashing of the hard drive I set up with Linux swap!

Wiz, ya wanna try running XP with only 128 MB of RAM! That was what ye anciente Dell lappie originally came with when we bought it back in late 2002.....that, and a tiny, 20 GB Hitachi HDD (and to top it all off, a Netburst-gen single-core "Celery"). 'Snail's pace' comes to mind, as I recall; how it ran at all I will never, EVER understand..!

A proper P4, 1.5 GB of RAM, and a 64 GB PATA SSD have at least kept her usable with Puppy.


Mike.

[lurching]

Hmm, a machine that old, with that little RAM, you may not be able to boot a newer Puppy. You might
be able to boot one of the derivatives, such as TazPup or CorePup, maybe even a Slackware based one,
Try ScPup 32. However, getting it installed and booted may be all it will do, don't know if I would call
it "running", maybe crawling??? That was my experiences even with WinXP with 256meg RAM.
Once you try doing anything in a "modern" type setting, such as web browsing, that tiny bit of RAM
leads to almost constant thrashing of the hard drive I set up with Linux swap!

Wiz, ya wanna try running XP with only 128 MB of RAM! That was what ye anciente Dell lappie originally came with when we bought it back in late 2002.....that, and a tiny, 20 GB Hitachi HDD (and to top it all off, a Netburst-gen single-core "Celery"). 'Snail's pace' comes to mind, as I recall; how it ran at all I will never, EVER understand..!

A proper P4, 1.5 GB of RAM, and a 64 GB PATA SSD have at least kept her usable with Puppy.


Mike.

Yup looking at a 128GB PATA SSD for the GT1, already discussed it's install. What do you use to duplicate the disk as is?

[lurching]

There's now a whole new challenge: succeed to activate the side camera and be able to capture from it.

A quick look at Gtkam doesn't seem to be successful to find the webcam, but it's also not the first purpose of the app.

There are 2 options basically

1/ To install Wine and have the Sony Smart Capture software run in it after installing the camera drivers

I tried to find Wine through the package installer but it's apparently not the way to install it. Then, as a light wine user, I don't know how to install a driver in it.

2/ Even better to attempt at making it work natively, through an app like cheese. Which apps can I install in Puppy to attempt to do that.

Please note on this machine the camera gear has a specific secondary bios, if that can help. http://www.iitk.ac.in/LDP/HOWTO/Webcam- ... dware.html also seem to be useful reference material.

Edit: lsmod supplies a large list of entries, including:

Code: Select all

video_dev
v411_compat   videodev

Edit 2: Here's the full list contents from console...

Code: Select all

# lsmod
Module                  Size  Used by
hcfpcihw                8780  0 
hcfpciserial           20356  1 hcfpcihw
hcfpciengine          959920  2 hcfpcihw,hcfpciserial
hcfpciosspec           65516  3 hcfpciserial,hcfpciengine
snd_pcm_oss            37440  0 
snd_seq_dummy           2608  0 
snd_seq_oss            27648  0 
snd_seq_midi_event      6892  1 snd_seq_oss
arc4                    1612  2 
snd_seq                48464  5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi_event
ecb                     2508  2 
snd_mixer_oss          15820  1 snd_pcm_oss
rt73usb                25584  0 
rt2x00usb              11308  1 rt73usb
rt2x00lib              29388  2 rt73usb,rt2x00usb
input_polldev           3764  1 rt2x00lib
led_class               4112  1 rt2x00lib
mac80211              166056  2 rt2x00usb,rt2x00lib
cfg80211               64972  2 rt2x00lib,mac80211
crc_itu_t               1836  1 rt73usb
battery                10032  0 
snd_ymfpci             30944  0 
snd_opl3_lib           10252  1 snd_ymfpci
evdev                   9472  0 
snd_hwdep               6864  1 snd_opl3_lib
snd_mpu401_uart         6860  1 snd_ymfpci
snd_rawmidi            20960  1 snd_mpu401_uart
snd_seq_device          6968  5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_opl3_lib,snd_rawmidi
gameport               11032  1 snd_ymfpci
snd_ac97_codec         98604  1 snd_ymfpci
ac97_bus                1516  1 snd_ac97_codec
snd_pcm                72496  3 snd_pcm_oss,snd_ymfpci,snd_ac97_codec
snd_page_alloc          8852  2 snd_ymfpci,snd_pcm
snd_timer              20340  4 snd_seq,snd_ymfpci,snd_opl3_lib,snd_pcm
snd                    56516  13 snd_pcm_oss,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_mixer_oss,snd_ymfpci,snd_opl3_lib,snd_hwdep,snd_mpu401_uart,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq_device,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm,snd_timer
serio_raw               5168  0 
soundcore               6912  1 snd
pcspkr                  2284  0 
ohci1394               30108  0 
videodev               36768  0 
v4l1_compat            14032  1 videodev
ieee1394               85076  1 ohci1394
rfkill                 10672  0 
efficeon_agp            6240  0 
i2c_piix4               9788  0 
apm                    16808  1 
agpgart                34188  1 efficeon_agp
i2c_core               23776  1 i2c_piix4
fuse                   53800  2 
aufs                  137092  1 
nls_iso8859_1           3724  0 
nls_cp437               5356  0 
usbhid                 26112  0 
usb_storage            51584  0 
squashfs               22928  1 
yenta_socket           23544  1 
rsrc_nonstatic         11276  1 yenta_socket
uhci_hcd               21564  0 
usbcore               138160  6 rt73usb,rt2x00usb,usbhid,usb_storage,uhci_hcd

Edit: It's connected on the PCI controller, lspci:

Code: Select all

00:0b.0 Multimedia controller: Kawasaki Steel Corporation ELSA72002 Motion JPEG (rev 01) 

NOTE: how to I boot up with my saved session from Lick? I don't want to have to re-do all of the steps each time.

Thank you in advance for your help!

[lurching]

Hi all, trying to make my way forward, solving problems one by one.

I have following questions linked to what I'm trying to enable with the GT1, 5/ is most pressing (how to start a saved session)

Question: Puppy setup
1/ At boot, 1024x768 x 16//x24 : (unconfirmed maximum for monitor ok for card) // (unconfirmed for monitor ok for card) > which one to choose?

2/ ymfpci - found by Alsa configurator (yamaha soundcard) seems successful to determine and drive the soundcard, but there is no app where microphone input mix appears (not present in alsa mixer)
Sweep sound recorder, works although sound level is low (microphone level to be adjusted, but doesn't appear in Alsamixer)

3/ sony VISCA Video Camera drivers library https://sourceforge.net/projects/libvisca/

4/ C environment install seems requied (for VISCA library compilation) > devx_431.sfs http://openlab.jp/puppylinux/download/devx/
(required for library compilation) file here: https://sourceforge.net/projects/anitao ... s/download
But according to the link in the forum, it's required that I am able to start a saved sesion which I havent succeeded yet (see 5/)

5/ Required loading of saved sesssion doesn't appear in LICK boot menu
run the BootManager to choose what SFS files you want to be loaded at bootup, then reboot. (I don't see an option yet, only save ("normal", nothing indicated)/without save). Does it has to be entered in command line? I see no documentation of it. Can someone tell me how it is done?
>4th post, http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... 5c9e80f00f

I really need to be able to restart a session, as for the moment I can only work on one issue by one for one time.

Thank you in advance for your advice!

[lurching]

See if this link works....
https://1drv.ms/u/s!Ao-_qqv5iz91gS_gcmd ... j?e=sgeHCr

As for the extra entries, you should have a menu.lst file in your C: directory, open that in Notepad or other
test editor to remove unwanted entries.

Wiz

I'm on it right now, it's the best looking iso but it couldn't find a swap partition at startup, hence it's quite slow except for the basic menu it's responsive but not verified yet it seems it takes a lot of memory. Also it recognizes the ATI card and enables it thus result is really nice.

I'd like to stick to it, but there's too much of a performance issue as of how it functions now.

Do you know how to startup lick with a saved user session? I don't know how it's done.

[Wiz57]

See if this link works....
https://1drv.ms/u/s!Ao-_qqv5iz91gS_gcmd ... j?e=sgeHCr

As for the extra entries, you should have a menu.lst file in your C: directory, open that in Notepad or other
test editor to remove unwanted entries.

Wiz

I'm on it right now, it's the best looking iso but it couldn't find a swap partition at startup, hence it's quite slow except for the basic menu it's responsive but not verified yet it seems it takes a lot of memory. Also it recognizes the ATI card and enables it thus result is really nice.

I'd like to stick to it, but there's too much of a performance issue as of how it functions now.

Do you know how to startup lick with a saved user session? I don't know how it's done.

To setup a swap file with older Puppies, try Swap File Manager 4.6 from here
http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=58615

As to Lick starting with a save file, not sure, I haven't used Lick (have it downloaded though JIC)
but if I remember correctly, this can be controlled via menu.lst, will investigate and let you know
unless someone with a bit of LICK experience jumps in.
I setup my pupswap.swp file using ScPup's builtin utility in PupControl...but not sure ScPup will
boot on your Vaio...my netbook is Acer Aspire One AO150, Intel Atom N270 CPU, 1.6gHz, 1 gig RAM,
120 gig HD, 1024 X 600 resolution, multiboots various Puppies and Windows XP Home, all 32 bit,
the CPU only supports 32 bit. Puppies installed to directories (folders) on the NTFS formatted HD
drive C: in frugal manner. No problems in years of usage (used Slackware based Slax this way as
well) My swapfile is located on C drive as C:\pupswap.swp, and is found with each Puppy at boot.
Each Puppy has its own save file, like scpup32save.2fs, in its own directory (folder) and is usually
loaded at boot time, though in menu.lst I have the option to not load savefile (for testing, etc.)
The file C:\menu.lst is created when the Grub is installed.
Wiz

[lurching]

To setup a swap file with older Puppies, try Swap File Manager 4.6 from here
http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=58615

As to Lick starting with a save file, not sure, I haven't used Lick (have it downloaded though JIC)
but if I remember correctly, this can be controlled via menu.lst, will investigate and let you know
unless someone with a bit of LICK experience jumps in.
I setup my pupswap.swp file using ScPup's builtin utility in PupControl...but not sure ScPup will
boot on your Vaio...my netbook is Acer Aspire One AO150, Intel Atom N270 CPU, 1.6gHz, 1 gig RAM,
120 gig HD, 1024 X 600 resolution, multiboots various Puppies and Windows XP Home, all 32 bit,
the CPU only supports 32 bit. Puppies installed to directories (folders) on the NTFS formatted HD
drive C: in frugal manner. No problems in years of usage (used Slackware based Slax this way as
well) My swapfile is located on C drive as C:\pupswap.swp, and is found with each Puppy at boot.
Each Puppy has its own save file, like scpup32save.2fs, in its own directory (folder) and is usually
loaded at boot time, though in menu.lst I have the option to not load savefile (for testing, etc.)
The file C:\menu.lst is created when the Grub is installed.
Wiz

Ok I have first modified my lickmenu.lst file to delete the iso's that were not booting because non pae. But I don't see where to add the save file, nor which syntax to use, as I save them on an ext2 partition that was there before.

For the pupswap, I will try when I can save a session otherwise I will have to perform it each time, and I can't restart with the settings! It's especially useful for Slacko5.6-4G and another puppy (fluppy0.13) who are unable to start with a swap partition enabled and are sluggish. The rest of the pups are fine. I'd like to stick with Slacko though, since it natively recognizes the ATI driver, in case fixing the swap issue gives it more performance, notably also because vlc is installed and can supply some solution to capturing the main camera's feed. I didn't notice a c:\pupswap.swp file on my root in windows.

Question: would I have to recuperate the save files and put them into the start directories of each pup in c:\[pupdir] ? Then I'll have to do that from a pup booted since it is in an ext2 partition.

After trying the modified lickmenu.lst works fine.

Edit: SwapFileManager 4.6 doesn't seem to do anything on my system on Slacko5.6 4G, there is no disk activity. I'll try the earlier version now.
Edit2: After installing gtimer2, I have no swap file (size 0) but state=on and swappiness=60. I tried to reduce size to 384Mb (double my ram) from 512Mb but no effect so far, swapfile size in info still equals 0
Edit3: SwapFileManager 1.2.1 doesn't install a menu entry so I suppose the install has not been successful.

[lurching]

Sorry for the double post (again) but...

found this! Searching for PCI drivers, I don't know yet how to use it, normally it is a similar driver on the GT1 than on the Vaio picturebook, and good news too, as:
"This driver supports the ‘second’ version of the MotionEye camera ( which is the one installed on the GT1!)

The first version was connected directly on the video bus of the Neomagic video card and is unsupported.

The second one, made by Kawasaki Steel is fully supported by this driver (PCI vendor/device is 0x136b/0xff01): https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/v4.14/m ... /meye.html

[Wiz57]

"Question: would I have to recuperate the save files and put them into the start directories of each pup in c:\[pupdir] ? Th en I'll have to do that from a pup booted since it is in an ext2 partition. "

I have 6 (or 7??) Puppies frugally installed on my C drive, NTFS format, no Linux native partitions...
C:\ArchPup32, C:\ScPup32, C:\Slacko, etc..Each of those Pups have their own savefile stored in
the same directory. They all share the C:\pupswap.swp file (512 meg)...the way Puppies boot now
they will search for the swapfile on the top (root) directory of installation medium. You can
make adjustments via menu.lst (lickmenu.lst) using parameters. There are a number of these,
but the ones I utilize most often are psubdir (tells Puppy where to look for its files) and pfix
(tells Puppy to either load in RAM or perform file system checks, etc)...
You can "backup" your savefile by copying the file to another media, directory, partition etc...
example copy C:\Scpup32\scpup32save.2fs D:\Mysavefiles\scpup32save.2fs where C is my
hardrive and D is my USB thumb drive.

Wiz

[bigpup]

This topic is getting full of a bunch of unsolved problems and getting very hard to follow.
I can offer fixes for your problems, but which one and in what order.
Any fix is going to have to deal with one specific Puppy version.

Please help us all!!

Start a new topic about one specific problem. Only talk about that one problem until it is solved.
Than start a new topic about some other problem.

So, Start a new topic.
Pick one specific Puppy version to talk about.
This is info needed:
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=218

THERE IS NO LIMIT ON NUMBER OF TOPICS YOU CAN MAKE!!

Very, very easy for all to follow trying to solve just one problem, answering one question, dealing with one specific Puppy version!!

Your very first problem seems to be booting a Puppy version installed by Lick installer and have it use it's save.
Make a topic and lets get that correctly working!!

[lurching]

Sure, sorry I got carried away. Let me prepare that. I need to prioritize the issues, but am also very busy on the side, so it may take a little while.
Thank you for the suggestion.

EDIT2: REDIRECT NOTICE: as suggested, new thread related to the GT1 camera operation: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=851&p=5719#p5719
Also for a simple walkthrough of the dual boot install, you can find it here, comments welcome! http://sonyvaio-gt1.blogspot.com/

I documented the advance of the troubleshooting on this machine, which could be useful due to the amount of not easily collectable info:

Edit: NEW ISSUES UPDATED: The following progress has been made, thank you for your assistance! After rehearsing, due to many solved issues wondering if a new thread is necessary. Feel free to tell me if yes. Thanks for everyone for leading this so far already

2 Main issues are now only focusing on the camera:
A/ checking if the WinXP/ME camera software can activate with Wine - some of it can be installed but the rest no. See point 4/
B/ finding a way to install the native linux camera driver that actually exist, wohoo but it requires a kernel I'm not sure can run on the GT-1. See 3/
There's also a small question in point 2/

I added the below just in case you want details on what has been done so far, and succeeded since some of the info was not easy to collect - thanks!

1/ SwapFileManager
Due to initial session being run without saving - in Slacko causes no swap file being created if no saved session. By successfully loading a saved session: issue SOLVED .

2/ User session. As of 1/ saved user session is confirmed loaded just by being copied in c:\[your_pup]
also if more than one file there's a prompt to choose between them, great! SOLVED

Just one question: how do you increase the user session size once saved? (I have a workaround but maybe there's a more orthodox way than moving the files around).

3/ Camera native linux driver
It seems there's an existing pci camera driver but the question is the kernel version
00:0b.0 Multimedia controller: Kawasaki Steel Corporation ELSA72002 Motion JPEG (rev 01) // (lspci result)
https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/v4.10/m ... module-use
However I can't find the driver itself, can someone help me to locate it & maybe check for non-pae puppy versions that would run on 192Mb Ram/Celeron hardware in terms of the kernel being compliant with the driver for the camera?
IN PROGRESS

More info:
Memory levels have been discussed on my XP lite version with and without capture software:
"Windows Task Manager says 130.880k/511176k 28 processes that's the basic Windows XP at startup; with the cam software1 (URecSight) enabled 148.772k/511176k capturing but not recording. And recording movie 156.xxxk thus well under the 192k of Ram alltogether. With the cam software 2 (Smart Capture) enabled 142.568k and recording 153.xxxk thus even better, more optimized (first one is full screen and uses japanese char, second is a floating window not fullscreen), since even lower than 192Mb Ram installed."
Under Slacko total 172k, used 169 with wifi on
Under Puppy total 173k, used 153 with wifi on

4/ Wine install on Slacko5.6-4G and Puppy4.31 for running camera software
Wine on Slacko5.6 wine1.3.28 confirmed compatible, to be tested for camera software
download: https://distro.ibiblio.org/puppylinux/p ... es-slacko/
Note: trying on Puppy4.31 requires Gecko package (wine gecko installer: exe error msg,hangs, but wine configuration opens - wonder which windows ME/XP? since ME era pc).
Note2: on Slacko5.6-4G Wine installation sluggish but works fine without error message.
Wine itself works fine SOLVED
After trying both ME/XP compatibility I don't seem to be able to start the camera software through Wine on Puppy4.31 - Wine itself seems to run entirely ok though.
Not sure what to do next. Have to find both capture software's install (1of2 is ok but in Slacko it doesn't recognize the machine as a GT1 and interrupts the install process in wine)
In Puppy it's the same problem, need to find a workaround to the setup.exe machine verification process, as it cannot recognize it as a Vaio pcg-GT1
IN PROGRESS

5/ Swap: Slacko looks for swap on my /dev/sda6, fails as puppy swapfiles are on sda5/sda7
however after loading the saved session, SwapFileManager displays a 200Mb swap is running, setting to twice my ram (384Mb) and now something happens ("Working" window appears while it did not before when no file was there, it needs one to start working), so everytings looks like it's going ok. There is a swap now in Slacko SOLVED
Extending it to 384Mb - it worked out! SOLVED But not much more fluid, Puppy4.3.1 still best there, especially if Wine has to be used.
ISSUE SOLVED

6/ Still have no solution to boot from external media - except have now received an usb fdd that may allow a steady install (I saw there's a procedure Edit3: tried booting with plopboot but no activation of the floppy on boot...) - but I need to make a series of verifications on what I have before I risk such an install; also waiting for a pcmcia cd-rom for vaio which I assume will be bootable as well. I found some 128Gb PATA SSDs would improve the solution by providing following advantages 1/ reduced noise 2/ shock resistant 3/ higher speeds (see here: http://forums.sonyinsider.com/topic/310 ... romLogin=1 ) but I need a solution to CloneZilla the whole thing to the new drive. Might wait that I can have a full install, and need to check the software inventory that I have everything by first.
Edit 4: After checking on hardware, it seems that the GT1 is part of machines suffering from maker's boot restrictions allowing it to boot only from optical drive (ATAPI) thus only pcmcia and firewire.
Anyway a frugal install allows me to test much more easily by not saving sessions. This 6/ is not necessarily required to be answered here as it's not the place for it. Just informing.
IN PROGRESS

[greengeek]

What does your ATAPI connector look like? Is it like the external CD connectors on old Toshiba's?

[lurching]

What does your ATAPI connector look like? Is it like the external CD connectors on old Toshiba's?

Sorry for the delyed reply, only saw your question now.

There are two working ways on the VAIO to connect and ATAPI CD-ROM/CD-RW:
1. PCMCIA Connector, I found an old drive on eBay and it arrived, I can now boot a Puppy Linux CD
2. Firewire connector (very small, metal squarish one), I had once a drive but I can't seem to be able to find it, it lies somewhere, impossible to find another one online.

Edit: So if you ask, the connectors on the Vaio GT-1 are non proprietary. To the exception the Memory Stick slot. Apart from the ATAPI CD-ROM there are no other options to boot from external media on this machine, locked at ancient BIOS level.

Though as of the purchased CD-ROM drive, I'm able to boot from CD. But for now I'm remaining on Lick frugal install because even with the help of the forum (see this thread: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=851&start=40 ) we were yet unable so far to activate the camera with the available "meye" driver, maybe due to the specificity of the machine.