KLV-Airedale-rc10.1 with Void Linux Kernel 6.1.8_1

[rockedge]

KLV-Airedale-rc10.1
Kennel Linux Void Airedale Release Candidate 10.1 786 MiB download size ↓
KLV-Airedale-rc10.1
SHA1-MD5.txt

Added the symlink gtk2dialog that targets the binary gtkdialog-8.5 which is compiled against GTK2 which gives access to either gtk2 or gtk3.

Complete system update/upgrade and outfitted with a Void Linux kernel 6.1.8_1, Firefox v109.0

@fredx181 has repaired a bug in save2flash and modified swapper.sh to adapt for the /mnt/home device showing directly in Thunar and on the desktop. swapper.sh activates any swap partitions available to KLV-Airedale during system start.

From a suggestion by @wiak added in a modification to w_init that will display icons for /mnt/home partition in Thunar and on the desktop.

New and improved tuning of the /boot directory boot stanza's. improving the reliability of booting in QEMU, Ventoy and S2SG.

Improved and rebuilt initrd.qz including expanded support for SD cards.

Routine system update/upgrade. And wallpapers from @Sofiya are included, replacing some of the stock xfce4 backgrounds.

@wiak has again done more work improving the boot system menus and further improvement to the initrd.gz boot mechanisms :

The iso config file boot/grub/menu.lst is used to boot from cdrom using that internal to iso provided menu.lst (i.e. he currently uses grub4dos for that purpose).
The iso config file boot/grub/loopback.cfg is used (per usual) to provide the boot menu for SG2D
The iso config file boot/grub/grub.cfg is used by Ventoy (but included no Ventoy-compatible entries until my alterations below)

I have made some modifications to all of the above (though have left previous entries in place for later experimentation and possible modification or deletion).
In particular I have provided the ability when booting via SG2D or Ventoy of using the FR modes:

a. RAM0 for session changes in RAM only (i.e. no save persistence)
b. RAM2 save on demand mode back to upper_changes folder (or ucimg savefile) in same directory iso is stored (or in subdirectory if symlink manually made to iso).
c. RAM2 save on demand mode back to upper_changes folder in, Clarity suggested, partition with LABEL 'Persistence' and directory 'Sessions'
d. Direct save (not in RAM) back to upper_changes folder (or ucimg savefile) in same directory iso is stored (or in subdirectory if symlink manually made to iso).
e. Direct save (not in RAM) back to upper_changes folder in, Clarity suggested, partition with LABEL 'Persistence' and directory 'Sessions'

No editing of the presented SG2D or Ventoy boot menus will be required to achieve these most useful FR initrd modes. User just needs to put the KLV iso in BOOTISOS (or wherever it is put usually) and boot...

starting of the pulseaudio system for any user that is logged in has been fixed and improved. Thanks wiak, Sofiya and fredx181 for the exact steps.

Upgraded to a new version of @fredx181 's save2flash, and set LANG=en_US.UTF-8 in /etc/environment as default localization.

Thanks to @Sofiya for the poorercputemp and Display Control packages that also have been added to desktop.

• Grub4Dos is now included in the System menu. Making KLV-Airedale capable of setting up a boot-able device using GParted and Grub4Dos.

• CUPS starting as a service has been added and is working thanks to @rcrsn51 spotting missing components!

This is constructed from KLV-Airedale-beta27->rc1->rc2->rc3->rc4->rc4.1 and is equipped with a Void Linux kernel version 6.0.12_1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC constructed with @wiak 's scripts that will extract the Void Linux kernel for KLV. Also has had a system wide upgrade. Uses an initrd.gz based on the FirstRib skeleton initrd.gz constructed by the kernel/module creation script. Firmware SFS is from a woof-CE kernel-kit built huge 6.0.0-1 kernel.

KLV-Airedale-rc5 is just as at home on FAT32, NTFS prtitions as it is running from ext2/3/4 formatted partitions.

Also included is wiak's generate a set of boot stanzas script. fredx181's mksplash has a menu entry and the remaster script is installed.

With the addition of a xfce4 desktop tiling configuration. A tip from wiak for configuring Tiling windows done with the Super (Windows) key and an up, down, left, right, home, pgup, pgdown or end key.

gxmessage in the default rootfs.

save2flash has been expanded to handle persistence on FAT32 and NTFS partitions.
The mksplash GUI utility to create splash notification banners.

The latest initrd.gz brings vFat and NTFS formatted partition support to KLV, allowing persistence on NTFS/vFat systems as well as the usual /ext2/ext3/ext4/swap support.

• included htop, Grub4Dos, CUPS

• created a symlink /root/spot with the target /home/spot

• Auto login cleaned up.

• includes also the logout logic provided by fredx181 gives true mulit-user support.

• replaced loop.cfg to the most recent modifications.

• Debian kernel 6.0.0-3-KLV SMP PREEMPT DYNAMIC is used.

• added gtkhash

Plus the other important improvements contributed by the KLV team.

Added @fredx181's save2flash utility that can be used when KLV is started in RAM2 mode to perform session saves on demand for persistence.
This is similar to PUPMODE13 in Puppy Linux.

fredx181's swap partition enable script includes the latest revisions and also added are the packages

• mime-add-1.0_0.noarch.xbps

• edit-sfs-1.0_0.noarch.xbps

KLV-Airedale-beta25 is able to load squash SFS packages on the fly or during the boot sequence.
Squash files and ISO images can be opened from the file manager and the read the contents.

• can run with rootfs, 01fimware and 00module SFS files as uncompressed directories.

• Also able to load compressed and/or decompressed directories,
  once a 2 digit prefix is added to the file name.

• It is possible to mix using compressed squash files and uncompressed directories.

Also can be downloaded from https://rockedge.org/kernels in ISO->Kennel_Linux->Airedale

[Clarity]

There is one-remaining aspect of life (I'm exaggerating, of course) in Puppyland: GRUB2 utilities and, additionally, the embracing of @Shinobar's GRUB2 offering to the community for distro inclusion.

This, IMHO, will complete the full movement of the decades of work done by the worldwide community of developers, manufacturers, and user with the terminal-like ability that GRUB2 affords.

Yes, I know, the forum community is onboard, but, some attention to embracing these 2 could be helpful. I foresee a reduction of boot issues to surface in the future with all of the progress which started in late 2019 to now.

Just an observation and thought.

[rockedge]

@Clarity you need to take a walk and get some fresh air and relax. Grub2config will eventually make it into the root_fs once we get it working 100%.

[Clarity]

Download and booting VM to desktop in less than 1 minutes 35 seconds.

Code: Select all

qemu-system-x86_64 -enable-kvm -m 2G -vga std -smp 2 -device AC97 -net nic -net user -rtc base=localtime -name "KLV-Airedale-rc10.1 by Rockedge" -cdrom KLV-Airedale-rc10.1.iso

Allowed KLV to take all of its defaults...no Menu changes ... no hitting of any keys...nothing until desktop.

desktop

KLV-Airedale vRC10.1.jpg (82.54 KiB) Viewed 4775 times

[wiak]

@Clarity you need to take a walk and get some fresh air and relax. Grub2config will eventually make it into the root_fs once we get it working 100%.

Yes, despite Clarity's good intentions it is true that we all would like better installation/boot utilities, but luckily most already have grub2 or similar working on their systems or can easily arrange it via mainstream distros or indeed what is often provided in some Pups. Fact is automating the likes of grub2 installations comes with a fair amount of risk and not easy to implement if that side of things isn't something you have made one of your specialities. Better to take our time in any such implementation than unnecessarily risk users ending up unable to boot their systems at all! That's my approach anyway - I can boot already via grub2 so trying to implement or adapt existing mechanisms/utilities to do so takes low priority - better safe than sorry (I don't want to have to say sorry too often to people who download anything I produce so there is always a big DISCLAIMER anyway despite most everything working very well and safely most all of the time.

[Clarity]

This post's intent is to show KLV look depending on which VGA driver it finds.

Changing the VGA driver to the VM to 'cirrus' yields the following upon desktop arrival (everything else is the same as posted before)

desktop via cirrus VGA

KLV-Airedale vRC10.1(1).jpg (20.81 KiB) Viewed 4700 times

.
It should be noted that no matter the desktop upon arrivals, KLV behaves exactly the same for all of its applications (at least this is true for all of my tests, thus far.).

FYI

[wiak]

For more than ten years old computers, openbox/tint2 (or similar) remains close to an optimal fit in my opinion. Yes, other desktop managers, such as JWM, are very slightly less demanding of resources, but not significantly, and the likes of openbox with tint2 panel offers more in usability (such as dragging file down to minimised app on panel to open up the app). I still like that combination. However, even on my core2duo 2008 vintage laptop, XFCE works pretty well and on my newer computer there just isn't really a great reason not to at least use XFCE as the Desktop Environment.

Worry would be the world moving to Wayland, but it seems there is good news that XFCE will likely end up also supporting Wayland (perhaps with next 4.20 release around end of 2024 - so not long really - and X is fine for now):
https://9to5linux.com/xfce-4-20-desktop ... nd-support

If you want Wayland at the moment, really you need to use Gnome or KDE Plasma (but Gnome ahead); well, you can use the likes of Sway just as a desktop manager, but for any kind of Desktop Environment; all the integrated components, Gnome is it - and that is simply too heavy still for my liking. But XFCE is nice. Great thing about XFCE is that it also helps make distro building much easier - being an integrated desktop environment basically means it comes, to a large extent, pre-configured. So main job todo in building a distro becomes the initrd and the creation of the main root filesystem followed simply by installing xfce and selection of its separately available 'goodies'.

Creating an openbox/tint2 distro, on the other hand, is much more work because the components all need to be added and specially configured to create a polished distro. Not so with XFCE - just install it and the DE is pretty much polished out of the box. That's why KLU-jam (with XFCE) was relatively easy for me to make and I really like using XFCE anyway so the end result is what I wanted.

So now we don't really need to worry about Wayland - either use Gnome for now (if your machine can handle that) or just be happy with wonderful XFCE as it is, and in a couple of years time, it will be automatically able to use Wayland alternative too. Why worry, be happy.

[dancytron]

Is the Openbox/pcmanfm/lxde taskbar combo like the basic Debian Dog a lot of work compared to XFCE too?

[wiak]

Is the Openbox/pcmanfm/lxde taskbar combo like the basic Debian Dog a lot of work compared to XFCE too?

Yes, pretty similar config work required as with openbox/tint2 (I think). Whole reason XFCE is not a lot of work is that it is a complete desktop environment and not just a desktop manager and separate panel; most all of the desktop environment side of things is done for you by the XFCE team, though everything else about the distro still has to be built and configured by its creator, which is still a lot of careful work, but nothing like so difficult overall. I've not actually tried lxde configuration compared to tint2 so my comment may be inaccurate, but I expect the config work needed is much more than the hardly any such required for XFCE.

I suppose it depends if you are using full LXDE or just adding the panel to openbox? I'm not sure of the ins and outs of the matter having never tried it. Time will be running out for trying anything that won't be moving towards Wayland compatibility - is LXDE? Not worth trying otherwise. LXQt involves QT I suppose, and I know nothing about that DE at all.

[wiak]

So you've got me curious about LXDE and LXQt now! But no time.

I suspect full LXQt system (all the components) will be a bit easier nowadays than say a basic Openbox/pcmanfm/lxpanel, but I don't know, and again will be a bigger distro with Qt libs I expect. Then again if planning to use Qt apps, no way round that anyway I suppose. Is LXDE still being developed? I find google reports about that somewhat old and conflicting. LXQt apparently moving to support Wayland eventually too though.

Easiest way to find out is just to take the KLV or KLA f_plug file and modify it for LX whatever (instead of XFCE) and see what build results prior to any extra work. Same goes for using JWM, but again the result is known to be a lot more work than XFCE.

I am though planning to try a quick GNOME build simply because I want to see how heavy that turns out in an otherwise small build - I've heard GNOME isn't quite so heavy as it used to be, but I don't know. It does have the advantage of fully supporting Wayland I believe (the best for that at the moment).

https://livingthelinuxlifestyle.wordpre ... -easy-way/

Difficult to beat the XFCE4 whisker menu I think though. Most of the work we need to do when building an XFCE-based distro for KL, really concentrates on making sure lots of utilities for save on demand, filemnt sfs files, gtkdialog-working, user permissions and sudo without password and stuff like that. A lot of that is same no matter the DE used.

EDIT: Just looking further at LXQt and likely Wayland support. I think a few years to wait yet!! Som interesting work going on - but not huge teams: https://desq-project.org/
My view is to just go with the flow, and currently for most machine XFCE fits the bill albeit using X for now.

[Sofiya]

LXDE и LXQt
Outwardly, they are not much different, the settings are the same here and there.

[wiak]

LXDE и LXQt
Outwardly, they are not much different, the settings are the same here and there.

Yes, just LXDE seems to no longer be developed as much as LXQt

[fredx181]

@rockedge I could swear that I saw earlier a new topic from you presenting rc11, now not exist anymore, what happened ?

[rockedge]

@fredx181 YES! There was a post but @Sofiya ran into boot problems and extremely high CPU loads for some reason, so I pulled it for a few hours so I can check what happened to it.

I think I might have done something in a half asleep situation trying to get it out with the very current updates.

BUT rc11 boots fine for me on bare metal and in QEMU so maybe can you test the ISO if I make it available??

[fredx181]

@fredx181 YES! There was a post but @Sofiya ran into boot problems and extremely high CPU loads for some reason, so I pulled it for a few hours so I can check what happened to it.

I think I might have done something in a half asleep situation trying to get it out with the very current updates.

BUT rc11 boots fine for me on bare metal and in QEMU so maybe can you test the ISO if I make it available??

I tested now rc11 (had already downloaded earlier, but not installed yet) , regular frugal install, no problem with high CPU loads, but couldn't connect to WI-FI, found that it's caused by folder /lib/firmware inside the firmware .sfs, should be /usr/lib/firmware (as you know of course, even when you're full asleep ).

[rockedge]

@fredx181 I uploaded the fixed rc11 ISO. Can you please test if it boots and WiFi connects?

https://rockedge.org/kernels/data/ISO/K ... e-rc11.iso

[fredx181]

@fredx181 I uploaded the fixed rc11 ISO. Can you please test if it boots and WiFi connects?

https://rockedge.org/kernels/data/ISO/K ... e-rc11.iso

It boots OK, but firmware still not OK, fix is to rename the firmware sfs to 01firmware-6.0.12-FP.sfs (rather than 00firmware-6.0.12-FP.sfs), then should be fine from what I tested (WI-FI connects OK).

[Sofiya]

How it was loaded initially and loaded without changes.
no brightness slider in power applet.
and the fan goes to take off .
and yes, if it matters with this background, I didn’t have a download, I always loaded with the Xfce background.

KLV-Airedale-rc10.1 __ loading fine
l

[rockedge]

@fredx181 @Sofiya Thanks for the tests!!

I've uploaded a brand new rc11 at the same link -> https://rockedge.org/kernels/data/ISO/K ... e-rc11.iso
which should be better.....though the racing CPU is worrisome.

I will make one with the original 01firmware from rc10.1 and try that out also.

[fredx181]

How it was loaded initially and loaded without changes.
no brightness slider in power applet.
and the fan goes to take off .
and yes, if it matters with this background, I didn’t have a download, I always loaded with the Xfce background.

KLV-Airedale-rc10.1 __ loading fine
l

Hello Sofiya, you tested rc11 with regular frugal install or with e.g. qemu ?
I got the background as you show on the picture (didnt test power-applet, btw).
Looks like showing the correct (KLV) background still is a fragile thing.

[rockedge]

Clarity mentioned that after testing it appeared that the wallpaper loaded at first boot is dependent on the graphics device discovered. Determined by xfce4.

In rc11 xfce4 has some update.upgrades. I have loaded rc11 with both ISO's on QEMU so I did not see the failure at first.

[fredx181]

no brightness slider in power applet.
and the fan goes to take off .

Could have been caused by the missing all firmware issue

[wiak]

Clarity mentioned that after testing it appeared that the wallpaper loaded at first boot is dependent on the graphics device discovered. Determined by xfce4.

Yes, I don't like that effect that I notice with Qemu boots depending on graphics device configured. I have no idea what it is all about - I thought at first resolution of the image, but seemed to make no difference. All seems very odd to me.

[wiak]

fix is to rename the firmware sfs to 01firmware-6.0.12-FP.sfs (rather than 00firmware-6.0.12-FP.sfs.

Seems like you need your bed rockedge.

[fredx181]

fix is to rename the firmware sfs to 01firmware-6.0.12-FP.sfs (rather than 00firmware-6.0.12-FP.sfs.

Seems like you need your bed rockedge.

Yes, or ... or ... perhaps a long vacation on some paradise island.

[wiak]

fix is to rename the firmware sfs to 01firmware-6.0.12-FP.sfs (rather than 00firmware-6.0.12-FP.sfs.

Seems like you need your bed rockedge.

Yes, or ... or ... perhaps a long vacation on some paradise island.

The latter is certainly what I'll be doing and I'm not sure if and when I'll be heard from again thereafter to be honest. I don't want to get anyone's hopes up though.

[rockedge]

@wiak In the whirlwind I was testing different size blocks for when compressing as xz in the SFS I just got crazy and lost track that I named it wrong.

I am also not sure exactly how the graphics device is effecting the background yet...a mystery.....more research needed

[wiak]

@rockedgeIf you are anything like me, the major problem we suffer is that computing and forum related matters in particular is an addiction. I'm not joking in feeling that sitting at a computer for most of each day is a serious danger to our health. No addiction is healthy behavior anyway. Trouble is, it is like coffee, I love it and hate it at the same time (well... I never hate coffee). Most of me does want to escape most of the public dev environment so I can more sensibly enjoy a healthier lifestyle before I do irreparable damage to myself.

I think it really is an addiction though and more painful than rewarding. What I really hope I manage to do is break away from the addiction effect entirely but continue to maintain and develop my work completely in the background. I also otherwise get annoyed, exhausted, distracted and make simple mistakes I wouldn't normally make.

Truth is I don't find dev publishing satisfying or rewarding at all. I had my career in engineering and in retirement have no desire for a new or extended one in that field. I actually don't myself value developments or developers, including myself. The status some give to it is dumb to me. Developers are two a penny. I'd rather not waste my life and health sitting too long on a chair. Certainly, Linux is great to use as are many of these little specially configured variants, but that is all the 'importance' I'd personally give them. Better the man or woman who has created a nice poem or a great novel, documentary or movie. Such work is forever admired and true legacy, if that is shat someone desires from their life. There is no real legacy in making a distro variant - that is just a cut and paste job and no one is any kind of God to do it. Dev play is really no more than a sometimes useful and enjoyable hobby. Makes no one 'great' in an shape or form (other than proudly imagined), the fame some attach to it is silly, but beware its danger as an overall pointless addiction.

I'm not a Buddhist, but I totally agree with their view that desire is destructive and pointless. Accusing some other of what that other neither feels nor cares at all is just a reflection of the person's own flawed thinking.

Nevertheless, this is, aside from addictions and jealousies and dumb status seeking, as good a hobby as any other, and very useful (albeit transient) results sometimes. But not something to make any meaningful history. Here for a few years, but one day soon irrelevant and forgotten in the scheme of legacy-memory or life. If a person simply wants to do something good without reward, then stop being conservative judgemental bigoted. Feed one of the all too many starving children in the world, but don't boast about it to your religious or otherwise friends.

Like I've said, computing dev work is like chess at the end of the day, hard to play well, and pointless really, but chess is better.

[Sofiya]

How it was loaded initially and loaded without changes.
no brightness slider in power applet.
and the fan goes to take off .
and yes, if it matters with this background, I didn’t have a download, I always loaded with the Xfce background.

KLV-Airedale-rc10.1 __ loading fine
l

Hello Sofiya, you tested rc11 with regular frugal install or with e.g. qemu ?
I got the background as you show on the picture (didnt test power-applet, btw).
Looks like showing the correct (KLV) background still is a fragile thing.

Hello ! @Fredx181, the usual lean setup

[Clarity]

One of the fallacies...no short comings... in life is teaching us what is an addiction? Regardless of the formal definition, LOVE IS an Addictions and it fits all of the checkboxes.

You, @wiak, are NOT the only one of us who admits to it. During the pandemic, I became aware of my own addiction and this forum had become ONE of mine. I now have several and it has had a detrimental effect on my life mentally and physically. At first I thought it was age (yes, I am old) but now see that my behavior is an add-on to my increasing age.

I THANK YOU for doing your post. Even as I know the way out, I have not been able to break the current cycle I am in. Each night, I leave reminders of steps I need to take as it will break the cycle, but by days end, I have gravitated to my additions before bed.

Thus, I too, am human no matter how much I aspired to be beyond what I see around me.

I must break this cycle: Cold Turkey might do it...OR...a new 'productive' addiction.