Precise Light by JRB

[jrb]

Doh! I rebooted and saved and the Internet Menu entry "Firefox-portable" doesn't work. If you can remember what drive you installed to look there for the folder "firefox_82.0_32" or similar. Go inside and click on "ff". That should start Firefox for you. The easiest fix is to drag "ff" to the desktop and start it from there. Try it with your present savefile. It should work.

[mikewalsh]

@jrb :-

Hallo, you old so-and-so! I thought we'd 'lost' you in the transition, mate...

Nice to see you're still alive & kicking. I shall expect plenty of input from you now....

Welcome back.

(Just to let you know, 64-bit Quirky April 'lite' has for months now been my 'go-to' Pup of choice as a 'daily driver'. Mind you, I shall still expect an update as to just exactly what you removed vis-a-vis the Mesa/OpenGL stuff. There's an awful lot of apps that would otherwise run were it not for this stuff missing..!)


Mike.

[jrb]

@jrb :-

Hallo, you old so-and-so! I thought we'd 'lost' you in the transition, mate...

Nice to see you're still alive & kicking. I shall expect plenty of input from you now....

Welcome back.

(Just to let you know, 64-bit Quirky April 'lite' has for months now been my 'go-to' Pup of choice as a 'daily driver'. Mind you, I shall still expect an update as to just exactly what you removed vis-a-vis the Mesa/OpenGL stuff. There's an awful lot of apps that would otherwise run were it not for this stuff missing..!)


Mike.

I had lots going on this summer, growing veggies, raising chickens and grandchildren, hiking, biking, that kind of stuff. I was a bit shocked and dismayed at John Murga's passing but since Puppy was already on the back burner I just let it slide. But winter is here, -12C yesterday and today, so sitting in front of a toasty computer feels pretty good. Glad to see you and the diehards have kept things going so well.

Happy to hear you're enjoying Quirky7 Light. The 32bit version is my main operating system now. I have Quirky8 Light (Pyro) running prettty well now but it needs a bit more refinement and testing before release. It's also a bit larger than Quirky7 (Which ain't broke, so why fix it?).

I made a reply about Mesa in the Quirky Light thread. Hopefully we can get the problem sorted out.

Cheers and thanks for the warm welcome, J

[stuvxz]

many thanks for your reply JRB, the videocall with facebook is working again with an old Firefox 52 esr pet package, the video image is perfect but the sound is lagging to the point it gets useless. komisch for with the old setup (precise-light + FF76) everything was running smoothly. so far this is the only pupplet which allows for videocalls out of the box sort of speaking with this old netbook I have. thanks

[6502coder]

Just an FYI for those of you running Precise Light on really old and weak hardware and seeking a usable browser. For a while now I've been using Pale Moon to watch YouTube vids on my 2003 Compaq laptop (1.3 GHz Celeron, 1 GB RAM) but the last couple of PM updates (28.15 and 28.16) have finally slid over the line from "barely usable" to "not usable." Also PM 28.16 is the last of the official 32-bit Linux builds of PM. So I went in search of an alternative.

I installed the latest SeaMonkey (2.53.5.1) and found that works quite well on YouTube, better in fact than Pale Moon ever did. The only complaint I have is that there is an absolute dearth of add-ons for SM 2.53--not even one decent ad-blocker.

BTW I did not install SeaMonkey via the Portable Browser Installer. Instead I grabbed the tarball directly from the SeaMonkey web site and used mikeslr's PETs from here:

viewtopic.php?p=3944#p3944

[666philb]

Just an FYI for those of you running Precise Light on really old and weak hardware and seeking a usable browser. For a while now I've been using Pale Moon to watch YouTube vids on my 2003 Compaq laptop (1.3 GHz Celeron, 1 GB RAM) but the last couple of PM updates (28.15 and 28.16) have finally slid over the line from "barely usable" to "not usable." Also PM 28.16 is the last of the official 32-bit Linux builds of PM. So I went in search of an alternative.

I installed the latest SeaMonkey (2.53.5.1) and found that works quite well on YouTube, better in fact than Pale Moon ever did. The only complaint I have is that there is an absolute dearth of add-ons for SM 2.53--not even one decent ad-blocker.

BTW I did not install SeaMonkey via the Portable Browser Installer. Instead I grabbed the tarball directly from the SeaMonkey web site and used mikeslr's PETs from here:

viewtopic.php?p=3944#p3944

hi @6502coder
ublock do a firefox legacy version that works in seamonkey https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock-for-f ... y/releases
and here's an addon that gives access to hundreds firefox's legacy addons https://github.com/JustOff/ca-archive/releases

[8Geee]

Made 1st attempt of running Precise-572.2.4... Intel Atom N270 / 2Gb mem / ethernet (Ye Old ASUS EEE 900a)
Installed FF78.5esr to ~ and put the "distribution" folder in it... no updates

OMG... security nightmare
openssl 1.0.1 (AtomicPup 2020 = 1.0.2p) tttuuxx's version is 1.1.1b
wget 1.13x (AtomicPup 1.19.5)
curl 7.22 (AtomicPup 7.65)

Anyways, being a LiveCD went to Youtube and sound works.
Disconnected / no save.

The kernel used is a good non-PAE / arch.
I'll take a shot at this for AtomicPup-Precise... lotsa slacko security to try and the inevitable 400+ lines of browser repairs.
Plus tweaking geany and Leafpad, fonts, icons, wallpapers for netbooks (600x1024), etc.

But not today or near future, Mom of Age 96 1/2 in Nurse Home has tested positive, I have mega-paperwork to do, and triple-check if the worst happens.

Regards
8Geee

[rockedge]

@8Geee

Will be thinking of you and your mom and I'm crossing my fingers. Hang in there.

[mikewalsh]

@8Geee :-

@8Geee

Will be thinking of you and your mom and I'm crossing my fingers. Hang in there.

As do we all, I'm sure. Hold your breath, mate...............Mom just might get over it. You can't tell. A pensioner here in the UK has just celebrated her 105th birthday, mere weeks after recovering from COVID..!

Fingers crossed.

Mike.

[8Geee]

I got around to making a precursory AtomicPup version. As a stand-alone on my PC (Atom N270 32 bit) it runs well. FF 78.9esr installed and lightly configured. Puppy files as posted above not updated- using what came in the box.

Now about a remaster, to get an iso for this pup started... completely borked REMASTER scripting, NO ISO made in sda1 as promised, and a uefi version hinted at, very naughty. I tried this with BOTH an ISO and CD as start-point... niet. Pressing YES at the end does not generate the ISO (in fact the orange screen that usually appears 'blips', it usually logs for a few seconds) The usual delete/copy files with a dot in front of the name. Fix reletive linking to absolute links due to the TMP folder being in a different place Theres a few of these in the ROX folder in config. And if you add anything to root it will generally HAVE to be copied to TMP ROOT. Theres no absolute link to OPT or VAR, these arre necessary if putting the browser in OPT, and maintaining Printer abilities beyond a remaster for the VAR link. In Slacko 5.7 there is also a USR link. I've left out these last two for now.

So MY copy works well stored in MY machine, but an ISO backup would be really nice. Perhaps a 64-bit file or dozen got mixed into the 'older' mix, and uefi should be an option on REMASTER. I see theres an option for xz or gz compression, the latter runs much faster. The puppylivebuildcd file that is placed in sda1 is still extant, and shows a sfs size of abt 258Mb using gz compression. All files in the directory appear OK including z-drive.

Ouch what a nitemare 6 hrs, no ISO
passing on the pain hoping for a few fixes
8Geee

[8Geee]

An update...

I did an X-diff on the remaster script in precise5.7.2 vs. the remaster script in Slacko5.7 (as AtomicPup2020)

The ISO burn begins at Precise5.7.2 at line 727, which compares to Line 804 of the Slacko5.7 version. The DELTA is significant, and Precise5.7.2 points to efi dot img. The verbosity of SLacko5.7 makes it work.

BTW, in Precise5.7.2 I renamed the remaster script with a 3 at end, and put the Slacko5.7 version as the "2". Redbox Your Puppy is too old. And I fixed issue files to the kernel used 3.14.56. NoGo.

***EDIT: 2nd Update *** Note the following lines from xerrs log... if NOT uefi this needs fixing. Atom N270 CPU not uefi.

/usr/bin/isohybrid
isohybrid -u /mnt/sda1/custom-puppy-uefi.iso
/usr/bin/isohybrid: cannot open -u: No such file or directory

8Geee

[8Geee]

Loaded FF78.9esr and the sound works at youtube. Guess I'm stuck with a private copy.

[8Geee]

With thanks to perdido, I found this work-around that works just fine. One has to enter the full path for the source files.

Issue/bug/feature closed
8Geee

[8Geee]

Keeping this on CD for now. Tried QuickPup21.03... dead as Jacob and Bob Marley. 32bit-land is a jail.

JMHO
8Geee

[8Geee]

With the issue/bug/feature closed.... this DOES work a treat. Internal security not too good, but installing FF78.9esr more than makes up for it. Gdmap is reporting about 675Mb with browser and addons installed. Gparted shows 333Mb including partition space out of a 1Gb partition, so about 305Mb OS. htop with browser open 375Mb / 18% CPU. I'm using just a 256Mb save with plenty of room.

Regards
8Geee

[perdido]

Its a very useful operating system. The save folders upgrade combined with the ROX right-click utilities gives precise-lite the same feel as a later model 32-bit puppy. It can run a current mozilla-based web browser and depending on the version you choose it can be locked down hard.

I have a custom version on an old dell laptop, it uses the latest pale moon 29.1.1 as browser and seamonkey 2.49.5 as the email (have that set up hardened with ublock & noscript to safely follow the email links in seamonkey browser), Fred's dogradio, WPS, XFE, with a few other things borrowed from precise 5.7.1

One bug I found in the final 5.7.2-mk2.4 version is that the .iso boots fine from CD but if I install & boot from HDD it does not see my CD/DVD drives, probably has something to do with the later WoofCE used, similar to the remaster issue. Not an issue for me.

[8Geee]

With some bugfixes applied to the Remaster script, and some broken links in root fixed.AtomicPreciseXXI is now released. There are some hoops to jump through if remastering, as the script is still broken a bit. But, it works OK. Looks and feels like AtomicPup, but is intended for all 32-bit non-uefi audiences. Firefox is 78.9esr with youtube sound. Thus, no MPlayer installed. Also, no fomaticxxx by rcrsn-51 just yet, and there WILL be an update, as Firefox78.10 has found a 32-bit security bug. I have to say the browser is very locked down without much security changes. Just the familiar uBlock, ClearURL, and CSSexfil as the add-ons. For a better on-line experience AtomicPupxxi66 is a better choice, but intended for netbook users with the i915 video. AtomicPup2020 is fairly well worn out but still surfs quite well, just no more shopping due to web-page scripting, not security.

Why is it here? Its based entirely on PreciseLight-5.7.2-mk2.4. With many thanks to perdido, this can exist: the remaster script included DOES NOT generate an ISO for the non-uefi CPU's like the Atom N270 !

The text-file has sha256sum and remaster general process... but a lot of .file stuff has to be removed from /tmp/root then copied from /root. Its a Slacko5.7 thing. Moving tmp not such a great idea as relative links needed to be made absolute. Ubuntu stopped supporting 32-bit recenttly and removed their repo's. So basically, you can remove the ubuntu repo's from this distro/spin. Slackware should be allowed, but the original focus was/is ubuntu.

No, I'm not trying to take over, just offering help. These patches/bugfixes help.

Good Luck and regards
8Geee

[stuvxz]

Hello! Just wanted to drop by and show my appreciation for this wonderful little OS. I am still using it as my sole OS and everything is running smoothly. So far so good. Many thanks. By the way, I have tested (yet again) pretty much everything that's out there from TinyCore to MX, but also tweaked versions of XP, Vista, Lubuntu, Antix, Debian, Slackware, Porteus, Slitaz, etc., and many many puplets - and I have to tell that this Precise Light version of yours has been the most reliable and useful with the hardware I have. Thanks.

[stuvxz]

Hello! Recently updating the package manager stopped working. For instance, before I could easily install gnumeric or any other package but now it does not work anymore. Could you point me out an workaround for this issue? Thanks.

[6502coder]

This may be relevant:

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=119152

[mikewalsh]

This may be relevant:

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=119152

Mm-hm. I agree with this whole-heartedly. I performed this "hack" with pemasu's Raring 3992, and it brought the repos back online with no issues.

Canonical still keep every single bit of software they've ever produced for Ubuntu, dating all the way back to 2004. This includes all the various distro-release package listings, which is what the Puppy Package Manager uses, and reads from. These in turn will permit whatever 'buntu-based Pup you're using to access the appropriate parts of the main 'pool' archive & retrieve the selected, date-correct items for it to use.

@stuvxz :-

Ya gotta bear the following in mind. Precise-light is based on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS "Precise Pangolin". This was released in April 2012, and was the first LTS release to gain the full 5 years support package, OK? Officially, this OS hit EOL in April 2017.

Now, at EOL Ubuntu move the repos for any given release into the "old-releases" package archive pool. In the case of very popular versions (and "Precise" was very definitely one of these), the repos tend to stay in the normal location for rather longer. I remember, for sure, that the Precise repos were still functioning as of November 2019, shortly before the pandemic began to develop. This was almost unheard of, but it just goes to show that a great many people - including quite a number of enterprise users who had moved their office systems across to Linux during this time-frame - were STILL using it.

I would have been extremely surprised if things had continued in that vein for very much longer.

Follow 6502coder's link, and have a look. It involves locating, and opening, a normally unaccessed file in /root. It looks daunting, when you first open the file with your favourite text-editor, but in fact it only involves editing 3 or 4 lines & editing a small portion of the URL for each of them.

When you're done, you've double-checked, are happy with the result, and have 'Saved'/closed the file, don't forget to update the repos again so that they're reading from the new location.....

Let us know if you're successful, please? Thanks.

Mike.

[stuvxz]

Yes. I will. Thanks Mike. I did know the support had ended in 2017 for Ubuntu 12.04 - I will try the method at 6502coder's link.
Thank you 6502coder. I know I should be the one looking for stuff that has been already discussed in the forum. But to be frank, most of the times I can not find the relevant answer, or I find so many different suggestions that I end up overwhelmed trying different approaches that end up not working. (sorry for the broken english). E.g. An alternative would be to be able to create a save file from the current system which would load entirely into RAM. I suppose that that is something possible to do. And probably not hard to figure out. Well, I have been using Puppy Linux and derivatives since, at least 2005, and I haven't been able to accomplish that in spite of many many attempts. I have an old Acer, athom CPU, 512Mb RAM. This Precise Light by JRB works like a charm. But I cannot have much stuff installed due to lack of space. So I would install and uninstall depending on the circumstances and needs. I have also noticed that with this CPU a frugal installation ends up getting too slow. However if the system is loaded into the RAM it becomes fast enough for a daily use. Thanks. Cheers.

[6502coder]

@stuvxz

Not to worry. Stuff IS hard to find in the Puppy forums. I knew I had seen this repo fix discussed but when I to search for it to send you the link, I couldn't find it! Luckily I keep a notes file where I often record useful URLs related to Puppy tips that I think might be useful "someday," and I was able to find it there because I run Precise Light too and had made a note of the URL.

[xenial]

I am very much interested in precise light and have downloaded and shall have a tinker on my usb drive.Quite a few pups in my kennel now and love it.