Fossa64-bas - CLOSED

[amethyst]

But if there is some holdup at startup wouldn't that be evident every single time you start the browser (which isn't the case)?

I get the feeling that the browsers initially spend quite a bit of time exploring the capabilities of the hardware and i guess they make a config file dependent on what works and what doesn't. Once that process is over the next run is much quicker to start.
(In my case I get the slow start after every boot because it's always a pristine boot without anything saved from last run)

I am impressed with the very quick start up of Dissenter browser though - noticeably quicker than any of the others.

Brave also starts very quick. Dissenter is a fork of Brave.

[amethyst]

Actually running Brave as my main browser now. Taken some time to set up the configuration just as I want it. Changed the search engine to DuckDuckGo, the Brave search engine isn't too great. Have Opera as a backup. Both much lighter on resources than Firefox which really puts strain on an old machine. To be honest, one should do well with any of the Chromium based browsers but Brave does startup a bit faster.

[greengeek]

This post relates to the "big1" version (which has ffmpeg pre-installed in the iso)
Not relevant to the "basic" version.

I use ffmpeg for all sorts of video transformations so I wanted to test whether or not my usual ffmpeg "one liners" would work here.

In particular I needed to rotate a video that came off my Samsung camera but when viewed on computer was in landscape mode instead of portrait.

Different versions of ffmpeg use different vf filters and filter syntax so I had to try a few different commands to get the correct rotation. But the following syntax worked to rotate the video 90 degrees clockwise:

Code: Select all

ffmpeg -i inputfile.mp4 -vf "rotate = 6.28" -acodec aac -strict -2 -b:a 384k outputfile.mp4

(Rotates video 90 degrees CLOCKWISE)

Just to explain the detail - the rotate angle is specified in radians so "6.28" represents 2xPi.

Initially I used "rotate = 3.14" as I thought that should represent a 90 degree turn to the right - but in fact it turned it ANTIclockwise and left the image upside down.

Anyway - with the right syntax ffmpeg was able to give me the video output I needed so big tick from me.

[ozsouth]

I examined Slimjet & Midori in more depth. Midori is good & at 61mb, was able to see most things (not all my paid streaming services). It did not require ffmpeg to be installed. Slimjet did not impress me any more than Chrome.

[ozsouth]

I had trouble printing from Firefox & Chrome & discovered today that my gtk3 .pet was at fault. Fixed version linked in 1st post.

[amethyst]

@ozsouth I have downloaded version 9, now I have the same issue as mentioned before. mikewalsh's portable browsers won't run.

[ozsouth]

@amethyst - did you add the apulse-gtk3-fixed-fl.pet in 1st post? Is essential for bigger browsers. Must uninstall old one first.
I do have a 223mb version with apulse-gtk3 & all my small .pets installed. Still has palemoon as an adrv & no ffmpeg, but that's all to add if you wish (and a bigger browser, if desired). I can pm you a link if you want to test it.

[amethyst]

@amethyst - did you add the apulse-gtk3-fixed-fl.pet in 1st post? Is essential for bigger browsers. Must uninstall old one first.
I do have a 223mb version with apulse-gtk3 & all my small .pets installed. Still has palemoon as an adrv & no ffmpeg, but that's all to add if you wish (and a bigger browser, if desired). I can pm you a link if you want to test it.

Oh yes, forgot about the extra libraries. You know I have just checked again and I can play ALL my streaming sites (DRM, everything) without installing the ffmpeg package and using mikewalsh's portable Brave browser with the gnome-mplayer .pet package installed..and last time I checked I could play all my video and audio files with this gnome-mplayer as well. This is going to cut a a big chunk out of the size of my base system not needing ffmpeg. Quite amazing the functionality one can get with such a small system.

[ozsouth]

Well there's an amazing discovery. By using ScPup64's ffmpeg, I needed way less libraries. I've made a 7.5mb ffmpeg, tested OK with my paid streaming services & other media. Sometimes it pays to dig deeper. See 2nd post.
I've now made a 229mb pup with lots of .pets installed - still testing.

[amethyst]

My base sfs (ydrv and other installs included) is 117MB and has everything I need for day to day computing. If I swap in the Tahr kernel, my Basic Fossa will be less than 150MB (everything included besides the browser). Max xz compression.

[ozsouth]

OK, I think this is as far as I can advance this, so I intend to stop work on it. I've made a more complete version, MID, 258mb - has most of my small .pets & can stream & print OOTB. See forum announcement.

[amethyst]

OK, I think this is as far as I can advance this, so I intend to stop work on it. I've made a more complete version, MID, 258mb - has most of my small .pets & can stream & print OOTB. See forum announcement.

For me this has achieved its goal. I wouldn't want to make my version any bigger because then you may just as well use the standard, official release (without much more functionality, for me, anyway). Thanks for the work on this, must have been quite an effort to remove all those libraries without breaking the system. Nice job.

[greengeek]

@oui - I've found a .deb for Midori 10.0.2 beta here: https://astian.org/wp-content/uploads/m ... beta-2.deb
Needs gtk3 from here: https://www.mediafire.com/file/fik7do6a ... l.pet/file
.......

The gtk3 link is dead so just wondering if there is a new gtk3 link or other pet or deb I missed?
Keen to try Midori in Fossa-Mid.
Cheers!

[ozsouth]

@greengeek - I've added new link to that post, but with Fossa64-Mid, all the needed libs including gtk3 are in the ydrv (Midori needs to run without apulse being used). Interesting test, as Mid has ffmpeg-sml in ydrv & Midori has it's own micro-ffmpeg.

[greengeek]

with Fossa64-Mid, all the needed libs including gtk3 are in the ydrv (Midori needs to run without apulse being used). Interesting test, as Mid has ffmpeg-sml in ydrv & Midori has it's own micro-ffmpeg.

Awesome, thanks. Yep, just tested the Midori deb you linked and it runs in Mid without any other additions. Excellent!

[amethyst]

As mentioned I can't get pEqualizer to work with this BASE version, HOWEVER, there is hope for an equalizer. MPlayer has a builtin equalizer so it is a matter of getting it invoked and getting the settings right for your setup. A relatively easy way is to specify the command in Gnome-Mplayer's preferences. To do this: Run gnome-mplayer > Edit > Preferences > MPlayer > place the command -af equalizer=0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0 in the Extra Options to MPlayer box. The zero's represent the values of the 10 sliders with the bass settings to the left and the treble settings to the right. So in this standard command everything is set to 0 which I presume will activate the equalizer with the "flat" preset (I think). So it's now a matter of setting the preferred values for your setup. Setting the 2 levels to the far left (for bass) and the 2 levels to the far right (for treble) is normally sufficient for me. With my very basic pc speakers I've set it as follows as an example: -af equalizer=7:7:0:0:0:0:0:0:3:3

[ozsouth]

Project CLOSED. Replaced by Fossa64-Less.

[amethyst]

Hi, Did someone perhaps download this pet package I originally posted here: https://forum.puppylinux.com/viewtopic. ... 164#p94164 ? I think it was called pequalizerB.pet. I made it specifically for this version but later pulled it because the sliders did not work correctly but it can still be useful, I think. This is the only pequalizer I got running but now I don't have a copy anymore. Please upload if you downloaded it at the time.

[williams2]

the sliders did not work correctly

If the equalizer mixer is alsamixer, then
the shell variables TERM and COLORTERM
need to have appropriate settings.

On my machine I have
TERM=rxvt-unicode-256color
COLORTERM=rxvt-unicode-256color

In /etc/asound.conf I have for analog sound:

Code: Select all

defaults.pcm.card 1
defaults.pcm.device 0
defaults.ctl.card 1

and in /root/.asoundrc I have:

Code: Select all

# mixer control:
# alsamixer -D equal
 ctl.equal {
     type equal;
   }
   pcm.plugequal {
     type equal;
     # Modify the line below if you don't
     # want to use sound card 0.
     slave.pcm "plug:dmix";
   }
   # pcm.equal {
     # Or if you want the equalizer to be your
     # default soundcard uncomment the following
     # line and comment the above line.
   pcm.!default {
     type plug;
     slave.pcm plugequal;
   }

To display the mixer type
alsamixer -D equal

[amethyst]

@williams2 I get this error when running the alsamixer -D equal command:
ALSA lib control.c(snd_ctl_open_noupdate) Invalid CTL equal. What is snd_ctl_open_noupdate, I can't find any reference to this doing a file search on the standard release version of this Puppy (the original Fossapup 9.5 release)?

[greengeek]

and in /root/.asoundrc I have:

Code: Select all

# mixer control:
# alsamixer -D equal
 ctl.equal {
     type equal;
   }
   pcm.plugequal {
     type equal;
     # Modify the line below if you don't
     # want to use sound card 0.
     slave.pcm "plug:dmix";
   }
   # pcm.equal {
     # Or if you want the equalizer to be your
     # default soundcard uncomment the following
     # line and comment the above line.
   pcm.!default {
     type plug;
     slave.pcm plugequal;
   }

To display the mixer type
alsamixer -D equal

Thanks for this. It seems to work for me when playing .wavs - but not with mp3's.
Is that what you experience?
Any idea why mp3 does not respond?

[amethyst]

@williams2 I get this error when running the alsamixer -D equal command:
ALSA lib control.c(snd_ctl_open_noupdate) Invalid CTL equal. What is snd_ctl_open_noupdate, I can't find any reference to this doing a file search on the standard release version of this Puppy (the original Fossapup 9.5 release)?

Okay, fixed it. The problem was the .asoundrc file, I only had a backup of that file (.asoundrc.bak). So renamed it and was then able to access Alsa's equalizer with the

Code: Select all

alsamixer -D equal

command and set the desired levels.