EasyOS version 2.3.2, June 22, 2020

[BarryK]

I used the multi sound card wizard, which creates /etc/asound.conf
It put this in the file:

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defaults.pcm.card 1
defaults.pcm.device 0

It should be this:

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defaults.pcm.card 1
defaults.pcm.device 0
defaults.ctl.card 1

It needs the ctl line to set the default mixer

Without the ctl line, pnmixer doesn't work (crashes if you try to use it)

Alsamixer works, but that is because it is a script that figures out what the default sound card should be and starts the alsamixer binary using that option. If the ctl line is in the asound.conf file, you do not need the alsamixer script, the alsamixer binary starts and shows the correct default sound card.

Thanks for finding that. I have edited the script in the 'mscw-3.0.pet', with acknowledgement and link to your post, bumped PET to version 3.1.

[BarryK]

ok, I fixed the Home and End keys in urxvt.

I put this in /etc/inputrc

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"\e[7~": beginning-of-line 
"\e[8~": end-of-line

inputrc is the readline config file.

Thanks again, the change has gone into /etc/inputrc in woof.

[BarryK]

I downloaded both the EasyOS 1.0.92 .iso and .img files. I burned the .iso file to a DVD with Burniso2cd. The DVD booted to a desktop in my laptop and everything worked except the audio. I couldn't get that to work. Easy doesn't seem to have a sound to use for testing, such as the barks that Puppy used to make, which makes troubleshooting problematic.

If sound works, it will bark at first bootup.

The barks are at /usr/share/audio

[BarryK]

Ive gotten Easy installed and I'm trying to customize it but I've run into a problem. I searched, but i might have missed an answer in the prior 100+ pages of comments in this thread.

Two main questions about SFS files with Easy.

1) When I download SFS files from the repo and I place them in the directory on my drive
they dont show up in bootmanager thing where I can enable them like I did before. What did I do wrong? The dialog says you can place SFS files in that directory.

I have now put some information into the SFS GUI that SFSs from Puppy will not work. You need to create them using the 'dir2sfs' script in Easy.

[BarryK]

Barry,

Some obs from brief test of 1.0.92 ISO booted from USB stick.

There's a word missing in the middle line of the select keyboard instructions before desktop starts.

I can't see what word is missing.

[BarryK]

Cool, thanks for the info. I'll try my hand at making one for me with Slackware whenever you get time to finish up 2.0 and upload it. I'm unhappy with some of the decisions Canonical has made about Ubuntu, so I dont know if I want to hitch my wagon to them as the saying goes.

That's ok, Easy Buster is built with Debian DEBs, not Ubuntu.

Ubuntu use the debian "testing" repo as the basis for their distro, and they do make changes and additions.

[BarryK]

Some little notes on the fly:

• Multi-screen/Zarfi:
  - When a window is maximized, it occupies the entirety of both screens and does not remain confined to the screen where it is located.
  - It doesn't seem possible to have any regrets (LXRandR for example, applies the settings for a few seconds and then keeps the original settings if they do not fit). So Zarfi must be restarted, then settings modified... if the previous "bad" settings allow it...
  - The desktop drive icons are hidden at the bottom of the screen and if I put them a bit higher to see/be able to use them, their position is not retained at the next session.
  
  Gimp: right-click on an image ("Open With"... Gimp), opens a new Gimp session each time instead of opening the image in the current one.

A subsidiary question: Is a USB stick installation supposed to work on any machine, which was possible with Puppy by booting without a pupsave file and possibly creating a new one for each?

Cordialement.

Zarfy started life in 2009, created by 'jemimah', a brilliant lass who made many contributions to Puppy. There is a forum thread, with ongoing discussion:

http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=47603

The same usb stick can be plugged into different computers without problems. I do this regularly on 3 or 4 of my PCs and laptops.

[BarryK]

Just a note for Barry and others that may be interested.

I've been talking online with a number of linux people over the last decade. And more and more in the group are those that use linux and run from usb memory sticks. A general consensus was that a most of them have problems with the cheaper memory stick brands.

It was commented that most can handle fat32 and ext2, but fail with anything more complicated. I'm wondering if you and others (I will be) could try building an extra img with just these two as well as your usual fat32/ext4-without-journal build. I'd love to be able to report back on what we find when we next have our online meeting in the middle of September. Others are also doing the same test with their versions. Maybe this will be a way of not wasting those lower grade memory sticks.

Yes, some of the really cheap usb flash sticks are rubbish.

Some brands are better than others. I have been happy with the SanDisk range -- they sell a range, from very cheap to expensive.

Their mid-range "Ultra" usb3 stick is good, fast, and reasonably priced. Available from BigW here in AU.

I also own one SanDisk "Extreme", which is very fast.

[BarryK]

(2) booting via a USB stick which already has a working/saving-partition may cause some (minor) problems if, for example, stored video settings conflict with the graphics card of a different machine on which you would like to use the same stick. So, you may be required to run xorgwizard.

Easy retains the capability in Puppy of detecting at bootup if video hardware has changed. So it will automatically reconfigure for different PCs.

You can find out how it is done in /ust/bin/xwin

[BarryK]

@ Argolance

after some rethinking, I had a second (third, fourth ...) look at Barry's posts about the installation options of the easy-1.0.92-amd64.img file onto a flash-stick, just to discover that we should pay more attention to his helpful instructions!!

On a USB-stick which is prepared according to this 'simplicity' method, at first boot, EasyOS fills the left space with a partition that, by default, serves as working- as well as save-partition and therefore must be left inserted after boot-up.
However, via modifying the kernel parameters at start-up (press the Tab-key to interrupt the automatic start and add the parameter <wkg_device=zram0>) this 'limitation' can be overrun ... and EasyOS will run TOTALLY in RAM for this session. It's just what we wanted.

The remaining problem (how to make persistent the settings of such a RAM-session, while keeping the 'totally in RAM' option) seems to be manageable. An additional look at Barry's previous posts is expected to help!

I think that should be "wkg_dev=zram0"

There are probably lots of interesting possibilities with those overrides.

[zygo]

Barry,

Reading the initrd from the 1.0.92 iso in scite or textadept.

line 1212 omits the word 'be':-
Choose the closest match, there will BE an opportunity to fine-tune

Line 8859 does not.

[lp-dolittle]

@ Barry
@ Argolance

Thank you for your answers and for your support
Maybe, the following observations are of interest to you, to Barry most probably no surprise!

Experimenting with dumping the easy-1.0.92-amd64.img onto an externally attached HD (IDE; 20 GB), in analogy to the USB stick method and in order to test the totally running in RAM option, I became aware of some noticable facts:

(1) In principle, the installation worked as expected, i.e. at first boot, EasyOS expanded, encrypted and populated the second partition. The first session settings proved to be persistent (surviving reboots), and the <wkg_dev=zram0> command at the kernel command line had the 'running in RAM totally' effect. This situation remained unchanged when I shrank the working/saving partition which previously was expanded to fill the entire space of the external HD, to a capacity of ca. 10 GB.

(2) Expecting that removing of the entire working/saving partition would create a 'pristine' situation which would be responded by a spontaneous re-expansion and re-population of a re-created partition, I was surprised that this did not happen. Instead, I noticed an interesting side effect. EasyOS now spontaneously boots into the 'totally running in RAM' mode even if no additional parameter is added to the kernel command line.

(3) Creating a new ext4 partition and placing an 'easyos-persistent-iso' file onto it seems to be 'ignored' by EasyOS. I'm pondering on how to manage this issue by appropriately modifying the boot parameters at the kernel command line, in order to make a 'totally running in RAM' session's settings optionally persistent.

Am I right to assume that the 'partition-expansion and populating' step of the EasyOS installation is a one time only option?

kind regards

lp-dolittle

[Argolance]

Bonjour,
@barry
Thank you for your great support!

Zarfy started life in 2009, created by 'jemimah', a brilliant lass who made many contributions to Puppy. There is a forum thread, with ongoing discussion:

Yesn I saw this thread and left a comment a few days ago....

@lp-dolittle

Expecting that removing of the entire working/saving partition would create a 'pristine' situation which would be responded by a spontaneous re-expansion and re-population of a re-created partition, I was surprised that this did not happen.

I have indeed noticed the same thing during my various attempts to try to find a solution to my "problem" and I even thought about making a stick with the working partition deleted for occasional use on "alien" machines.
[EDIT2]

I think that should be "wkg_dev=zram0"

Yes, wkg_dev instead of wkg_device, that's absolutely right. So, now it is announced at the start of the session: "no persistent storage" See this message

Cordialement.

[BarryK]

Easy Buster 2.0 is out:

http://bkhome.org/news/201908/easy-bust ... eased.html

Testers welcome!

[Terry H]

It was really pleasing to read that the update method from your blog allows update from 1.0.x to Buster 2.0.x.

[Sage]

v.2.0: Seems to boot and run just fine on desktop (i C4/nV GeF - nouveau default detected), at least for basic setups (inc. wifi) and regular tasks. Used Dougal's SNS (personal preference). No interest in saves, flatpaks, containers, and all those fancy items for diagnostics, testing (HW) and demos.
Might we enquire about future .iso and or 32bit?!

[Keef]

Did a manual frugal install by extracting the image, then updating the initrd in Easy 1.0.14.
Running well, just found that neither mhwave edit or Audacious will start:

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 # mhwaveedit 
[apulse] [error] Z pa_operation_get_state operation is NULL
pa_context_get_output_info_by_name: Oops.
get_default_source_info: Oops.
[apulse] [error] Z pa_operation_get_state operation is NULL
pa_context_get_output_info_by_name: Oops.
get_default_source_info: Oops.
Segmentation fault

# audacious
ERROR plugin-init.cc:147 [start_required]: No output plugin found.
(Did you forget to install audacious-plugins?)
Aborted

Wifi working, but yet to reboot.

[EDIT] Wifi has connected after a restart.

---------------------------------------------------------------
PC Manufacturer: Dell Inc.
Product Name: XPS M1330

BIOS Vendor: Dell Inc.
Version: A15
Release Date: 12/26/2008

Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T7250 @ 2.00GHz
Min/Max Speed: 800/2001 MHz
Current Speed of Core 0:2000 MHz, 1:800 MHz

Network controller [0280]: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 4965 AG or AGN [Kedron] Network Connection [8086:4229] (rev 61)
• Kernel Driver: iwl4965
• Memory Used: 88.00 KB
• Path: /lib/modules/5.2.4/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/intel/iwlegacy/iwl4965.ko
• Driver Version: in-tree:
• Description: Intel(R) Wireless WiFi 4965 driver for Linux

[lp-dolittle]

@ Barry

just to make sure ...

after I repeatedly failed in trying to apply the 'easyos-persistent-iso' method which you have described in a previous post (15. July), I'm unsure whether you then only presented a meanwhile abandoned/replaced idea.

Is the automatic expansion of <sdx2> which includes the creation of a working/saving-partition after dumping an easy-XXX-amd64.img onto a flash-stick the replacing alternative?

kind regards

lp-dolittle

[scsijon]

?So your actually using Debian itself for EasyOS 2.0?

I don't know why but I thought you were using Devuan (deuvian.org), the non-systemd fork of Debian.

[Sage]

Got 2.0 working on CQ71 laptop - eventually. Very, very slow to boot up, seemed to go through whole fiasco of kb selection, etc anew but eventually got there.
It's intensely annoying that default 'tapping' is not preset (left - by convention), but got that running.
This pile of junk has an ath9k internal wifi, so we had the usual grief of not starting, saying it had connected when not, third attempt and WM restart and it decide to work (Dougal's SNS).
Otherwise, so far so good-ish...
The .iso would be magic as well as an RPi.