EasyOS Scarthgap-series version 6.6.7

[BarryK]

Scarthgap 6.6.7, April 19, 2025
viewtopic.php?p=147203#p147203

Scarthgap 6.6.3, February 19, 2025
viewtopic.php?p=143176#p143176

Scarthgap 6.6.2, February 7, 2025
viewtopic.php?p=142147#p142147

Scarthgap 6.6.1, February 4, 2025
viewtopic.php?p=141926#p141926

Up until version 6.5.6 of the Scarthgap-series, this has been the announcement and feedback thread:

viewtopic.php?t=12973

However, as have now moved permanently to the 6.12.x Linux kernel, decided to start afresh with a new thread.

Scarthgap 6.6, January 29, 2025
Blog announcement:
https://bkhome.org/news/202501/easyos-s ... eased.html

[BarryK]

If you are running Scarthgap 6.5.6, with the 6.12.10 kernel, there is a bug, a change that Caramel discovered was introduced with the 6.8 kernel. It causes Scarthgap 6.5.6 to think all drives support TRIM.

Running 'fstrim' on a drive that doesn't support TRIM will fail, but I have read that it could damage the drive -- but I'm not sure about that, would have to read more about it. What is the result of running 'fstrim' on a HDD?

Scarthgap 6.6 fixes TRIM support detection.
But does more than that; attempts to support running 'fstrim' on USB SSDs, which was not supported before.

[Vverve]

Hi @BarryK
Frugal scarthgap here ,update went fine from 6.5.4.2 to 6.5.6 , could not find anything wrong with 6.5.6, until yesterday ,
checking packages in ppm , hmm , no ibiblio repo ;
# ppm
ls: impossible d'accéder à '/root/.packages/Packages-oe-scarthgap*': No such file or directory

Ok , saw you got 6.6 out , easy-update = no ibilio either !!?
mv: impossible d'évaluer '/tmp/easy_version/2025': No such file or directory;
fsync: can't open '/tmp/easy_version/scarthgap': No such file or directory
Sorry, there was an error probing the online repository, aborting script.

No access to https://distro.ibiblio.org ....
even link in bkhome.org to them wont work ?!? 404

edit ; only had success with https://ftp.nluug.nl to manualy download delta and upgrade to 6.6
_______________
Now , 6.6 from a fresh new .session , repo all seems good + links in bkhome.org , dont ask what happend ,wont be able to tell
exactly , you might know .

Thumbs up BK ,
easyos is a trusty workhorse,
the beast limps? check his hoof,
just got to know how to be the farrier ,
if the need for a new horseshoe arises.
Vv

[anilraj]

Thank you for new release. I continue to have same problem that started with 6.5.4.2.

#1 Network Manager issues
First, it does not start and has errors as follows.
Trying to enable NetworkManager has same errors.
bus-manager: cannot connect to D-Bus: Could not connect: No such file or directory

I used sns and could connect to the internet. The damn sns takes 20 seconds to conenct, while network manager used to do that in 2 seconds.

#2 No sound. Not sure, whats the problem, but errors are as follows.
I took a quick look at /usr/lib/firmware directory and apprently this version has more fiels than 6.5.4.2. So seems not the case of missing firmware files.

snd_soc_avs 0000:00:1f.3: Direct firmware load for intel/avs/tgl/dsp_basefw.bin failed with error -2
snd_soc_avs 0000:00:1f.3: request firmware failed -2
snd_soc_avs 0000:00:1f.3: firmware boot failed -2

No solution yet for me. I see blacklist.conf which I dont see in earlier version (6.5.4.2)
Trying to understand this problem.

Regards,

[FeodorF]

Hi, @BarryK

I did some fresh installs of easy-6.6 to USB sticks (32 GB USB 2.0 as well as USB 3.0) for my Lenovo BIOS PC (USB 2.0 boot able only).
While booting I'll get an error message.

Finding drives
Working-partition: sda2
... (lower the better): 89
SG_IO: bad/missing sense data , SB[]: 70 00 05 .. .. (numbers are one line in total)

The PCI-E to USB 3.0 card is not installed during the test, but it works well with easy-6.6 kernel 6.12.11 now.
No other drives are connected.
I can not detect any faults beside the error message.

Any idea?

Regards,
Feodor

[BarryK]

Hi, @BarryK

I did some fresh installs of easy-6.6 to USB sticks (32 GB USB 2.0 as well as USB 3.0) for my Lenovo BIOS PC (USB 2.0 boot able only).
While booting I'll get an error message.

Finding drives
Working-partition: sda2
... (lower the better): 89
SG_IO: bad/missing sense data , SB[]: 70 00 05 .. .. (numbers are one line in total)

The PCI-E to USB 3.0 card is not installed during the test, but it works well with easy-6.6 kernel 6.12.11 now.
No other drives are connected.
I can not detect any faults beside the error message.

Any idea?

Regards,
Feodor

Does it still bootup and run ok, despite that error message?

[FeodorF]

Hi, @BarryK

I spent the last 12 hours troubleshooting my very old PC. It is a first generation Intel E4500 Core2 Duo (Allendale Q3/2007). It had a broken main switch, broken power supply as well as a broken micro switch. Now it is running for more than an hour on EasyOS. The same strange error message shows up on this PC as well - but it is not failing in any kind of way.

No wonder with running a master piece of software.

The 'Sct' option in 'Display Control' is a nice working feature. It came in handy for this old PC in order to dim down the brightness.

Code: Select all

-Version-
Kernel				: Linux 6.12.11 (x86_64)
Version				: #1 SMP Tue Jan 28 04:16:42 AWST 2025
C Library			: Unknown
Distribution			: EasyOS Scarthgap64

-Current Session-
Computer Name		: EASYPC26052
User Name			: root (root)
Home Directory		: /root
Desktop Environment	: Unknown (Window Manager: JWM)

-Misc-
Uptime				: 59 minutes
Load Average			: 0.03, 0.01, 0.00

-BIOS-
Date				: 11/30/2007
Vendor				: American Megatrends Inc. (www.ami.com)
Version				: 0605

-Board-
Name				: P5B-MX
Vendor				: ASUSTeK Computer INC. (SEAGATE, www.seagate.com)

-PCI Devices-
Host bridge			: Intel Corporation 82946GZ/PL/GL Memory Controller Hub (rev 02)
VGA compatible		: Intel Corporation 82946GZ/GL Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
Audio device			: Intel Corporation NM10/ICH7 Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 01)
PCI bridge			: Intel Corporation NM10/ICH7 Family PCI Express Port 1 (rev 01) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
PCI bridge			: Intel Corporation NM10/ICH7 Family PCI Express Port 2 (rev 01) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
USB controller		: Intel Corporation NM10/ICH7 Family USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 01) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
USB controller		: Intel Corporation NM10/ICH7 Family USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 01) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
USB controller		: Intel Corporation NM10/ICH7 Family USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 01) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
USB controller		: Intel Corporation NM10/ICH7 Family USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 01) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
USB controller		: Intel Corporation NM10/ICH7 Family USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 01) (prog-if 20 [EHCI])
PCI bridge			: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge (rev e1) (prog-if 01 [Subtractive decode])
ISA bridge			: Intel Corporation 82801GB/GR (ICH7 Family) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 01)
IDE interface			: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) IDE Controller (rev 01) (prog-if 8a [ISA Compatibility mode controller, supports both channels switched to PCI native mode, supports bus mastering])
IDE interface			: Intel Corporation NM10/ICH7 Family SATA Controller [IDE mode] (rev 01) (prog-if 8f [PCI native mode controller, supports both channels switched to ISA compatibility mode, supports bus mastering])
SMBus				: Intel Corporation NM10/ICH7 Family SMBus Controller (rev 01)
Ethernet controller	: Qualcomm Atheros Attansic L1 Gigabit Ethernet (rev b0)
USB controller		: Renesas Technology Corp. uPD720201 USB 3.0 Host Controller (rev 03) (prog-if 30 [XHCI])

-USB Devices-
Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Pixart Imaging, Inc. Optical Mouse
China Resource Semico Co., Ltd USB Keyboard
Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Silicon Motion, Inc. - Taiwan (formerly Feiya Technology Corp.) USB DISK
Silicon Motion, Inc. - Taiwan (formerly Feiya Technology Corp.) Flash Drive
Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub

Running-kernel-6.12.11-on-2007-PC.png (37.82 KiB) Viewed 15039 times

dmesg-ps2-on.txt.gz

(44.48 KiB) Downloaded 8 times

[don570]

Review EasyOS Scarthgap 6.6
Frugal install - booted with limine.cfg
running on HP EliteDesk 800 G3 SFF Desktop Intel Core i5-6500 Quad-Core 3.2GHz Processor, 8GB DDR4
_________________________________________

Note that easy-6.6-amd.img would open with a double click in rox filer
or Extract 4.14 will extract the contents as well

______________________________________
1) Shotcut video editor appimage will work if I installed libwayland available
2) Krita paint appimage
3) avidemux video editor appimage
4) audacity 3.6.2 appimage
5) gimp 2.10 appimage
6) wine-easy-5.11c_amd64.pet works so I can edit mp3 files with mp3DirectCut for PC
7) Blender 4.3.2 download
Also checked pclock countdown and SAMBA worked with my chromebook
Excellent work!!!
___________________________________________________

[BarryK]

Thank you for new release. I continue to have same problem that started with 6.5.4.2.

#1 Network Manager issues
First, it does not start and has errors as follows.
Trying to enable NetworkManager has same errors.
bus-manager: cannot connect to D-Bus: Could not connect: No such file or directory

The "good news" is that I am able to reproduce this problem on one of my computers.
It is an Acer Aspire 1 laptop.

The cause... I don't know, will continue to investigate.

It is very strange, dbus-daemon runs, without error messages, yet does not create /run/dbus/pid and /run/dbus/system_bus_socket
which is really odd.

[anilraj]

Thank you Barry. I had reached to the same point - Was checking /var/run links properly or not.
Another observation for this problem is on first boot, if we restart x, then networkmanager works. But subsequest reboots, it breaks again - with same errors I provided.

Also, for other problem, I checked old version and see that it uses snd_hda_intel driver, (6.5.4.2), but for 6.6, its trying to use snd_soc_avs.
Not sure why though-same laptop for both tests - 6.5.4.2 and 6.6

I modified /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf and added following, yet, sound does not work.
blacklist snd_soc_avs

[FeodorF]

Thank you for new release. I continue to have same problem that started with 6.5.4.2.

#1 Network Manager issues
First, it does not start and has errors as follows.
Trying to enable NetworkManager has same errors.
bus-manager: cannot connect to D-Bus: Could not connect: No such file or directory

The "good news" is that I am able to reproduce this problem on one of my computers.
It is an Acer Aspire 1 laptop.

The cause... I don't know, will continue to investigate.

It is very strange, dbus-daemon runs, without error messages, yet does not create /run/dbus/pid and /run/dbus/system_bus_socket
which is really odd.

Does the Acer Aspire 1 lapto use the realtek audio-network chip? That would point to a firmware issue.

[anilraj]

Hello. Dont think this is realtek firmware problem. I have this problem on Dell laatitude which does not use reltek network card.

I need help to resolve sound problem as well. I tried blacklisting snd_avs_soc module, but that does not work

[Caramel]

...
I need help to resolve sound problem as well. I tried blacklisting snd_avs_soc module, but that does not work

Yet it seems that this is the solution
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php ... 2#p2164192

Are you sure that it is blacklisted?
What are the error messages? Maybe while searching a solution you have changed something

[BarryK]

...
I need help to resolve sound problem as well. I tried blacklisting snd_avs_soc module, but that does not work

Yet it seems that this is the solution
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php ... 2#p2164192

Are you sure that it is blacklisted?
What are the error messages? Maybe while searching a solution you have changed something

I posted how to blacklist snd_soc_avs at my blog:

https://bkhome.org/news/202502/intel-so ... ature.html

Blacklisting fixed sound for me on my Acer Aspire 1.

However, I am tempted to recompile the kernel with AVS entirely disabled.

[BarryK]

Thank you for new release. I continue to have same problem that started with 6.5.4.2.

#1 Network Manager issues
First, it does not start and has errors as follows.
Trying to enable NetworkManager has same errors.
bus-manager: cannot connect to D-Bus: Could not connect: No such file or directory

The "good news" is that I am able to reproduce this problem on one of my computers.
It is an Acer Aspire 1 laptop.

The cause... I don't know, will continue to investigate.

It is very strange, dbus-daemon runs, without error messages, yet does not create /run/dbus/pid and /run/dbus/system_bus_socket
which is really odd.

Weird, when I fixed the audio, it also fixed dbus and NetworkManager now runs and I can connect to my wifi network.
I don't see how broken audio would also break dbus. Will do more experiments. maybe AVS has tentacles beyond just audio.
I'm currently testing booted a Easy 6.6 usb-stick, not an update.

[lobster]

I upgraded to 6.6 using it now.

Took a while to download and install. Not sure why. Iblio seemed ultra slow.
The important thing for me was my PNY USB 3 multi card reader, (SD and Micro SD etc) worked.
- I upgraded to the latest Firefox
- The PrivacyBadger extention was still installed
- Changed the default Search to the Brave Search engine
- Now trying to install Mullvad Browser (without success)

A tor project...
https://mullvad.net/en/download/browser/linux

Now going to read about the lastest security stuff for my GROWL program (you will have to go ye olde Murga forum to find that)
I have the latest 2.4 GROWL running in EasyOS and may adapt it for EasyOS

https://www.schneier.com/crypto-gram/

Anyways, Many thanks to Barry and contibutors

[anilraj]

Hello Barry and others.

Thank you for all your help. The way I am blacklisting snd_avs_soc is as follows.
I just added entry as follows to /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf and rebooted.
blacklist snd_avs_soc

I even made that entry as first entry, yet does not help. I will try again.

Thank you,

[anilraj]

Hurray!!

Barry and others, both problems resolved.
I was blacklisting snd_soc_avs wrongly. Referred Barry's post and was able to blacklist this driver. Soudn is back!

And somehow...this also resolves NetworkManager problem.
I can see files unser /var/run/dbus as pid and system_bus_socket!

Cant udnerstand how its related to first problem or really not.

For now, I am staying on 6.6 with 6.12.11 kernel.

Thank you to you all!

[tammi806]

This is what I get at 1st boot up.

My install is on a PNY 16gb 2.0 flash drive.

Screenshot.jpg (62.22 KiB) Viewed 12578 times

[bugnaw333]

What's your Lenovo specs, RAM? Have you tried different USB stick?

[FeodorF]

Thank you @tammi806 for the picture.

Yes, exactly the same error message shows up on my screen.
The funny part about it - it doesn't affect the running system as far as I can tell.

Regards,
Feodor

[tammi806]

Thank you @tammi806 for the picture.

Yes, exactly the same error message shows up on my screen.
The funny part about it - it doesn't affect the running system as far as I can tell.

Regards,
Feodor

You're welcome.

Yes the install seems to work well as far as I can tell also.

[BarryK]

Version 6.6.1 is released.

Blog announcement:

https://bkhome.org/news/202502/easyos-s ... eased.html

[anilraj]

Hello all.

SG_IO - Bad/missing data error is there for me as well.
IT continues to boot withotu problem though.

This started only with 6.6.

[LHESTIA]

Good morning,
I updated towards Easy 6.6 then 6.6.1. Everything works well on my old Lenovot430.
Parcontre, at start -up, before asking me for the password, this information is displayed:
hdi_drive_cmd identify failed.
Then, after a few seconds, the request for the password appears and enclosed, everything is fine.
Is it dangerous for the Samsung SSD in which Easyos is?
Thank you for your answer.

[FeodorF]

Hello @BarryK

it's about the post from @LHESTIA

hdi_drive_cmd identify failed

This link will give a clue why 'hdparm doesn't read SSD? HDIO_DRIVE_CMD (identify) failed ...' fails.
https://superuser.com/questions/1412504 ... e-ioctl-fo

Arch Linux Forums fixed the problem.
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=197921

Regards,
Feodor

[Caramel]

The error messages SG_IO: bad/missing sense data, sb[]: 70 00... come from the command hdparm added for the detection of the trim capacity (https://bkhome.org/news/202501/hopeful- ... b-ssd.html)
The hdparm used at this time is the version in initrd (in /bin) (version v9.58)

Note to transform the numbers in english text , you can use sg_decode_sense available in the sg3_utils package of Deadalus. But it's not very useful

# sg_decode_sense 70 00 05 00 00 00 00 14 00 00 00 00 20 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
Fixed format, current; Sense key: Illegal Request
Additional sense: Invalid command operation code

There is no error message if the hdparm in EasyOS is used (version v9.65)

[tammi806]

The error messages SG_IO: bad/missing sense data, sb[]: 70 00... come from the command hdparm added for the detection of the trim capacity (https://bkhome.org/news/202501/hopeful- ... b-ssd.html)
The hdparm used at this time is the version in initrd (in /bin) (version v9.58)

Note to transform the numbers in english text , you can use sg_decode_sense available in the sg3_utils package of Deadalus. But it's not very useful

# sg_decode_sense 70 00 05 00 00 00 00 14 00 00 00 00 20 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
Fixed format, current; Sense key: Illegal Request
Additional sense: Invalid command operation code

There is no error message if the hdparm in EasyOS is used (version v9.65)

So as it is with the error is any harm going to occur to the USB flash drive or HDD or SSD.

[BarryK]

There is no error message if the hdparm in EasyOS is used (version v9.65)

Thanks for that info.
I will compile the latest hdparm statically for the initrd.

The old version of hdparm in the initrd worked for me with a couple of my usb-sticks, so I assumed that it would work for everyone.

To work with usb drives, hdparm requires the kernel CONFIG_USB_UAS, while is enabled now in Easy 6.6 and 6.6.1
That is also required for fstrim to work on usb drives.

However, USB_UAS does not work with all usb drives.
I presume that running "hdparm -I <drive>" and it fails, won't damage the drive. It is only trying to read information from the drive.

[BarryK]

Fixed an audio bug when boot usb drive on different computers:

https://bkhome.org/news/202502/fix-unmu ... io-hw.html