Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

See blog announcement:

https://bkhome.org/news/202106/easyos-d ... eased.html

Feedback welcome!

ok, i'm first, woopee humbug!

However>

I installed it as an update using barry's upgrade instructions and it worked first time. WOOF~woof.

The problems with celluloid have 'almost' gone away, everything starts and runs now without fixes from the default. The only problem seems that the individual disc's information is appearing under /, a 80-113K directory per disc, i'm sure it should be somewhere else, like /home/media .? or /root/.config/celluloid so it's out of sight? i'll leave it up to those that know where to sort that bit out and advise us.

Still the cd-drive problem of auto-closing though to sort out, and, no i'm not bitching as i don't believe I gave barry enough time to look into the problem before this release. Something for his to-do list }

I shall test further tonight and see what appears.

UPDATE1>
Ok, To start with, from a new easyos startup, I started seamonkey for the first time and came to the Board Index < EasyOS page (from the seamonkey default page). It showed an old directory of topics, I had to go back up to the Board Index and come back to EasyOS to find this Topic, just reloading the webpage didn't work so I supect there is a cached page somewhere that needs removing.

Music settings are not quite right still, had to go into mixer and change some settings (Igain, speaker, vol) to sort it out

Using menu, desktop, screensaver control directly only seems to set it for the current session, you need to go via JWM Desktop Manager, Screen Save to turn off the screensaver permanently (and turn it back on), don't know if it's on purpose or not as i always turn it off as my graphic monitors have inbuilt edge controls for that function.

And a late one, IPinfo(, network configuration, statistics) the space between the local address and foreign address columns need increasing for ip6, they are touching for me, the others are ok.

have a good night all.

Testing EasyOS Dunfell 2.8.1
Gpptp PPTP VPN client
Testing connection to vpnbook.com free VPN servers
(also tested with freevpn.me)
In the file /etc/ppp/options.pptp
Line 22 needs to be require-mppe-128
(not simply "mppe-128")
Otherwise the connection does not work.
Actually though, there is something else after connecting
Dozens and dozens of {yaf-splash} processes appearing in Pprocess and causing CPU to get rather hot.
UPDATE - More stuff is coming back to me now
The program also requires the old binary form of yaf-splash in /etc/ppp
(Rather than a symlink to gtkdialog-splash)
This can be a symlink to old yaf-spash in /usr/X11R7/bin in older Puppies
Without this, it can't display its notifications so we run into problems
Maybe jafadmin can advise as I believe he is the maintainer?

OscarTalks wrote: Fri Jun 11, 2021 10:37 pm

Testing EasyOS Dunfell 2.8.1
Gpptp PPTP VPN client
Testing connection to vpnbook.com free VPN servers
(also tested with freevpn.me)
In the file /etc/ppp/options.pptp
Line 22 needs to be require-mppe-128
(not simply "mppe-128")
Otherwise the connection does not work.
Actually though, there is something else after connecting
Dozens and dozens of {yaf-splash} processes appearing in Pprocess and causing CPU to get rather hot.
UPDATE - More stuff is coming back to me now
The program also requires the old binary form of yaf-splash in /etc/ppp
(Rather than a symlink to gtkdialog-splash)
This can be a symlink to old yaf-spash in /usr/X11R7/bin in older Puppies
Without this, it can't display its notifications so we run into problems
Maybe jafadmin can advise as I believe he is the maintainer?

Yes, it was an unfortunate decision I made, way back then, to put yaf-spash as a symlink to gtkdialog-splash.

I'm wondering if I could locate all scripts that use yaf-splash, expecting it to be a symlink, and replace with gtkdialog-splash. Then we can bring back the old yaf-splash without a name clash.

OscarTalks wrote: Fri Jun 11, 2021 10:37 pm

Testing EasyOS Dunfell 2.8.1
Gpptp PPTP VPN client
Testing connection to vpnbook.com free VPN servers
(also tested with freevpn.me)
In the file /etc/ppp/options.pptp
Line 22 needs to be require-mppe-128
(not simply "mppe-128")
Otherwise the connection does not work.
Actually though, there is something else after connecting
Dozens and dozens of {yaf-splash} processes appearing in Pprocess and causing CPU to get rather hot.
UPDATE - More stuff is coming back to me now
The program also requires the old binary form of yaf-splash in /etc/ppp
(Rather than a symlink to gtkdialog-splash)
This can be a symlink to old yaf-spash in /usr/X11R7/bin in older Puppies
Without this, it can't display its notifications so we run into problems
Maybe jafadmin can advise as I believe he is the maintainer?

Should be fixed for next release:

https://bkhome.org/news/202106/all-yaf- ... plash.html

I am intending to compile the real yaf-splash and it will be at /usr/bin.

I haven't fixed that line 22, we should refer this to jafadmin.

Anyway, there will no longer be a requirement for the /etc/ppp/yaf-splash symlink.

BarryK wrote: Sat Jun 12, 2021 12:48 pm

I haven't fixed that line 22, we should refer this to jafadmin.

Anyway, there will no longer be a requirement for the /etc/ppp/yaf-splash symlink.

I think there was a very peculiar issue with the symlink needing to be in that highly unconventional /etc/ppp location
I seem to recall it was there as some sort of workaround
I presume if it is needed it could be to /usr/bin/yaf-splash
The yaf-splash executable is called by the /etc/ppp/gpptp/*.route scripts, I think there are 3 of them (depending on which is selected in the GUI).
I also found that any exclamation marks must be removed from the texts within the splashes otherwise it gives an error (?).
There should be a green splash for VPN connection and a red splash for VPN disconnection. User is required to click the red one to complete return to non-VPN connection.
Hopefully jafadmin can take a look at this, I think the package may need these couple of tweaks.

Here is the gpptp PET:

http://distro.ibiblio.org/easyos/noarch ... 0522-1.pet

And here is the real yaf-splash, attached, with a false ".gz", remove that, set executable flags, but don't put it at /usr/bin because it will break other scripts that expect the symlink to gtkdialog-splash.

I suppose if it has to be at /etc/ppp, then put it there.

OscarTalks wrote: Sat Jun 12, 2021 5:55 pm

BarryK wrote: Sat Jun 12, 2021 12:48 pm

I haven't fixed that line 22, we should refer this to jafadmin.

Anyway, there will no longer be a requirement for the /etc/ppp/yaf-splash symlink.

I think there was a very peculiar issue with the symlink needing to be in that highly unconventional /etc/ppp location
I seem to recall it was there as some sort of workaround
I presume if it is needed it could be to /usr/bin/yaf-splash
The yaf-splash executable is called by the /etc/ppp/gpptp/*.route scripts, I think there are 3 of them (depending on which is selected in the GUI).
I also found that any exclamation marks must be removed from the texts within the splashes otherwise it gives an error (?).
There should be a green splash for VPN connection and a red splash for VPN disconnection. User is required to click the red one to complete return to non-VPN connection.
Hopefully jafadmin can take a look at this, I think the package may need these couple of tweaks.

Yes, 'pptp' creates it's own environment upon connection, so the link needs to be there to work. This is not a limitation that I set. This is how the pptp binary works.

I'll look into this.

The file /etc/ppp/options.pptp in the .pet package has the correct require-mppe-128 at line 43
This file is not the same as the the one in EasyOS, maybe this is a version from another package which has not been overwritten by the .pet? This option is needed in this form for the servers I tested.

Otherwise, if I place the binary executable yaf-splash in /etc/ppp (replacing the unsuitable symlink), then Gpptp works OK in my tests including green and red splashes on connection and disconnection respectively. The exclamation mark is not causing an error now.

I found where that other /etc/ppp/options.pptp is coming from -- it is in the pptp-linux package.

I have attached the package.

One way I could fix the problem is delete options.pptp in the pptp-linux package.

Open up that package (just click on it and choose Xarchive), let me know if anything else in /etc/ppp will conflict with gpptp.

I appended a false ".gz", as the forum doesn't allow attaching a ".xz" file.

Once the correct yaf-splash is in place, I find that the /etc/ppp/options.pptp from the pptp-linux package works fine, but only if the line 22 is edited. Alternatively if I substitute the file from the gpptp .pet package without editing anything, the tests of Gpptp work perfectly well also, so maybe the better strategy is to delete the former and use the latter if that is easy to do.

I believe that file is something which the User may need to edit in accordance with the settings of the server being connected to, but in practice almost all the commonly-used servers will work if the file has the options as described above.

I am no expert, but I don't see anything else which might cause a problem for Gpptp. Connection is working, splash notifications are working, original normal connection is restored on VPN disconnection.

If anyone else wants to test using the free VPNbook service, go to www.vpnbook.com and click the PPTP tab. Connection details are all there.
Open Gpptp and type in the 3 fields:-
VPN Server - (choose one from the list of eight)
Login - (usually "vpnbook" without the quotes)
Password - (they change this every 3 to 4 weeks)
Then click the Connect button.

OscarTalks wrote: Mon Jun 14, 2021 10:33 pm

Once the correct yaf-splash is in place, I find that the /etc/ppp/options.pptp from the pptp-linux package works fine, but only if the line 22 is edited. Alternatively if I substitute the file from the gpptp .pet package without editing anything, the tests of Gpptp work perfectly well also, so maybe the better strategy is to delete the former and use the latter if that is easy to do.

I believe that file is something which the User may need to edit in accordance with the settings of the server being connected to, but in practice almost all the commonly-used servers will work if the file has the options as described above.

I am no expert, but I don't see anything else which might cause a problem for Gpptp. Connection is working, splash notifications are working, original normal connection is restored on VPN disconnection.

If anyone else wants to test using the free VPNbook service, go to www.vpnbook.com and click the PPTP tab. Connection details are all there.
Open Gpptp and type in the 3 fields:-
VPN Server - (choose one from the list of eight)
Login - (usually "vpnbook" without the quotes)
Password - (they change this every 3 to 4 weeks)
Then click the Connect button.

Some of the "route" scripts got changed from original, as did 'options.pptp'. Here is a .pet to fix all the issues you hunted down.

Easy Dunfell64 users can install the pet with one click and be on their merry way ..

Good, I have made a fixed pet.

Sorry, but another celluloid problem.
I have quite a number of discs that have multiple episodes on them rather than being a single movie, however only the first episode is started, yes the later will run if I start from within the first, but there doesn't seem a way to display the disc's indexes,and if i toggle playlist from the 3-horizontal-line menu, it just attaches a black column to the right side with playlist, but nothing in it.

Any ideas?

OscarTalks wrote: Fri Jun 11, 2021 10:37 pm

In the file /etc/ppp/options.pptp
Line 22 needs to be require-mppe-128
(not simply "mppe-128")
Otherwise the connection does not work.

Absolutely. This edit is the difference between a dead fish and a working VPN.

I am not getting the red/green pop-up boxes here in v2.0, 32-Tahr, but I am in France.

Other curiosity: the benchmarks report no speed (like 0.0 Mbps), but this is no slower than Tor Browser.

JASpup wrote: Sun Mar 27, 2022 9:41 am

OscarTalks wrote: Fri Jun 11, 2021 10:37 pm

In the file /etc/ppp/options.pptp
Line 22 needs to be require-mppe-128
(not simply "mppe-128")
Otherwise the connection does not work.

Absolutely. This edit is the difference between a dead fish and a working VPN.

I am not getting the red/green pop-up boxes here in v2.0, 32-Tahr, but I am in France.

Other curiosity: the benchmarks report no speed (like 0.0 Mbps), but this is no slower than Tor Browser.

@JASpup , @OscarTalks ,
Interesting. The latest EasyOS 3.4.4 has the same problem.

In folder 'rootfs-skeleton' in woofQ, there is etc/ppp/options.pptp with just this:

lock
noauth
nodeflate
nobsdcomp

However, there are TWO pet packages that overwrite this file. There is gpptp-noarch pet:

https://distro.ibiblio.org/easyos/noarc ... 210615.pet

I have attached the options.pptp with false .gz appended.

Note, there is also this package, that has the binary:

https://distro.ibiblio.org/easyos/amd64 ... -64.tar.xz

Then there is ppptp-linux package:

https://distro.ibiblio.org/easyos/amd64 ... -64.tar.xz

...it is that last one that overrides the others.

So, the options.pptp by jafadmin looks ok. Should I remove options.pptp from the pptp-linux package?
Do we even need pptp-linux package?

Thanks for reporting this problem.

BarryK wrote: Sun Mar 27, 2022 10:31 am

So, the options.pptp by jafadmin looks ok. Should I remove options.pptp from the pptp-linux package?
Do we even need pptp-linux package?

Thanks for reporting this problem.

I will defer to @OscarTalks. Just a user here not too intimidated by accessible instructions.

What I notice from booting several pups is the dividing line between what should be maintained vs. an acknowledged error (correctable or not).

If I posted here that I was having a problem in Precise that is fixed in Xenial, others would try to get my Precise to work instead of pointing to Xenial (assuming I could use it). This is a general case but a real example would be Places showing up in 32 Bionic instead of the non-coder struggle to get it working in Tahr or Xenial, pages and pages later.

I imagine whatever gets the currently maintained os working out-the-box is the way to go. I still think of VPN not builtin to browsers as more of an advanced feature for the level of technical comprehension required.

I have booted into EasyOS 3.4.3 (not done the update to 3.4.4 yet).
If I substitute the options.pptp downloaded from the post above in place of the one in /etc/ppp then the connection to VPNbook works fine.
So I am not sure how the EasyOS build process works exactly, but I think the best way is to not exclude any of the packages, but make sure that this version of this file is the one that gets overwritten above any other version from any other package, if it is possible to do that.
EDIT:- Not seeing the yaf-splash notifications so something is not quite right, also on disconnection of VPN the normal connection is not restoring so need to investigate a bit more.

OscarTalks wrote: Sun Mar 27, 2022 4:35 pm

I have booted into EasyOS 3.4.3 (not done the update to 3.4.4 yet).
EDIT:- Not seeing the yaf-splash notifications so something is not quite right, also on disconnection of VPN the normal connection is not restoring so need to investigate a bit more.

@OscarTalks
Ah yes, Easy has the original yaf-splash, see /usr/share/doc/yaf-splash.htm in Easy 3.4.x

In ye olden days, we had /usr/X11R7/bin/yaf-splash, then a replacement using gtkdialog was developed, named gtkdialog-splash.
The pups gradually dropped the original yaf-splash and just created s symlink yaf-splash to /usr/bin/gtkdialog-splash

EasyOS has brought back the original yaf-splash, so it is not a symlink.

So it looks like gpptp is expecting gtkdialog-splash, which is not quite the same as the original yaf-splash, has some different command line options. I expect that if you go through the gpptp script and replace "yaf-splash" with "gtkdialog-splash", that should fix it.

I am a BionicPup32 user in Canada. As a test of vpn connection I use the Gpptp app to connect a vpn server in Poland. It looks like I successfully connected to the server (see attached screenshot). However when I check the ip location it still shows my ip location of Canada. It is supposed to show an ip address and location of Poland. However, when I use my Windows PC to do the same vpn connection I confirmed the ip location can be correctly switched to the vpn Server location. Question: how can I make sure my really connected to the vpn server?

jk_pup wrote: Thu Feb 15, 2024 2:59 am

I am a BionicPup32 user in Canada. As a test of vpn connection I use the Gpptp app to connect a vpn server in Poland. It looks like I successfully connected to the server (see attached screenshot). However when I check the ip location it still shows my ip location of Canada. It is supposed to show an ip address and location of Poland. However, when I use my Windows PC to do the same vpn connection I confirmed the ip location can be correctly switched to the vpn Server location. Question: how can I make sure my really connected to the vpn server?

any number of ways to tell who you are connected to. many out there like
https://dnsleaktest.com/

williwaw wrote: Thu Feb 15, 2024 7:40 am

any number of ways to tell who you are connected to. many out there like
https://dnsleaktest.com/

Thank you williwaw!
I quickly tested my vpn connection using the link you provided and I got the same result (w vpn & w/o vpn). Using vpn is supposed to hide my real ip. That's why I doubt if I really connected to the vpn.