Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

I carefully did it again on a new install
I did a copy of the fdrv name, then deleted the original and then copied the new on over and pasted the original name onto it.
I did a reboot and it did the same thing. It completely wiped out the /usr/lib/firmware except for those 3 files and wifi again no longer works.

Now, if I copy the contents of the new fdrv into /usr/lib/firmware and do a save/reboot, wifi comes up again, but display resolution still doesn't work.

So the new fdrv deletes everything in /usr/lib/firmware when it replaces the original.
Just copying its contents to /usr/lib/firmware again, makes it work like before.

I wonder what is happening.

I'm going to try again tomorrow and trace my steps again.

@JusGellin Now that is really odd!

Something might be happening with whiteout files but is it possible? Can you see the fdrv get loaded during the boot phases?

I will have to try this out and compare what is going on with what you are experiencing. I give it a test first with a Noblepup64 because one is available to test with.

rockedge wrote: Fri Nov 22, 2024 10:50 am

@JusGellin Now that is really odd!

Something might be happening with whiteout files but is it possible? Can you see the fdrv get loaded during the boot phases?

I will have to try this out and compare what is going on with what you are experiencing. I give it a test first with a Noblepup64 because one is available to test with.

Yes, I see fdrv loaded.

I did a complete reinstall of BW.
First I made sure it worked -it did
wifi connected - I set it to my home wifi.
/usr/lib/firmware was populated
I did a save on reboot.
It came up again ok and logged on to wifi

This time I rebooted into Ventory BW
I deleted fdrv and copyied the new one to it, giving it the proper fdrv name.

I rebooted into the local drive.
I saw fdrv was loaded
When it came up, it couldn't connect to wifi.
/usr/lib/firmware lost all the files in it.
dmesg indicated it couldn't locate the wifi firmware.

But now if I copy the files from the new fdrv sfs over to /usr/lib/firmware, it again boots up with logged on wifi.

It looks like the new fdrv loads, but loads firmware with nothing, so all the firmware files are removed.
Also, when I manually copied the files from it to firmware, they were still all there on the fdrv.

I emptied the firmware folder and selected fdrv, then selected Install SFS.
Nothing was added to the firmware folder.

I again manually copied files from fdrv sfs to firmware.
I again selected fdrv and then selected Install SFS.
I thought maybe it would remove the files this way, but it didn't

I did a test by installing KLV-vmHost-rc4 directly on my new laptop
Originally it connected to wifi and the display resolutions worked properly

When I replaced original 01firmware-6.9.1_1.sfs with then new renamed firmware and saved and rebooted,
when it came up wifi no longer worked.
dmesg indicated it couldn't find the driver any longer.
Looking at /usr/lib/firmware, it still had some folders in it but not all and nothing pertaining to wifi anymore.

I'll look further to see if I can see anything else.

Thanks

After it failed when replacing with 01firmeware-1.sfs renamed to 01firmware-6.9.1_1.sfs,
I copied the files from the new firmware sfs to /usr/lib/firmware, saved/rebooted.

It comes up ok again just like BW did.

Yes, remember that the KLV's do not use the same naming scheme as Puppy Linux!

The SFS's you want loaded at boot in KLV is done by adding the 2 digit prefix to the name like you did.

Puppy Linux -> fdrv_xxxx.sfs
KLV -> 01firmware_xxxx.sfs

I will look to see what list file is missing in the 01firmware.sfs that is causing it to not load properly in the Puppy Linux form!

It's not working for KLV-vmHost-rc4 either.

For both of these I renamed the firmware according to the naming scheme for the firmware sfs I replaced.

@rockedge
I know you will be able to figure out what the problem is for the firmware sfs that you are now looking at.

I have another observation and question for the BookwormPup64_10.0.8.
It is using kernel 6.1.106 and seems to have problems loading a graphic driver.
This prevents it from being able to select different resolutions and only having one.

This happens whether Ventoy is used or the iso is installed on a usb stick or on an internal drive.
But when I make this a virtual machine on the same laptop, it works perfectly OOTB.
Wifi works, the display is able to select different resolutions.
I reverified that the kernel it is using is still 6.1.106 - and it is.
Why does the virtual machine easily work and a bare metal install doesn't
I don't think this is due to the host, which is KLV-vmHost-rc4 which has a kernel of 6.10.10 -- or does it?
It makes me think that there must be a driver that will make BW work on an install to the internal drive on a laptop like mine.

This all is really interesting to me.
Thanks