4.1 Alpha 7

[linuxcbon]

Can be downloaded at
http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/dis ... 4.1alpha7/

Notes from Barry's blog:
The 2.6.25.16 kernel is configured as what I will call a "compromise kernel". What I am particularly interested in, is those people who tested the "normal" and "conservative" kernels in alpha6 and experienced that their computer only booted or shutdown with the conservative kernel -- how will you fare with this compromise kernel? I would prefer to release 4.1 with just the one kernel (plus some SCSI kernels for those who need to boot from a SCSI drive), but if it turns out that we do have to offer the conservative kernel as well, then so be it.


You can post : Reports, tests, bugs here .

[veronicathecow]

Just wondering if there are any reason you could not have the latest kernel but set to boot with these problem options off so they all can at least boot. Then when it gets installed to HDD have a GUI to set what advanced options you want to boot with? Perhaps also for CD boot you can have two boot options there?
Cheers
Tony

[Lobster]

The first time I booted the mouse and keyboard locked up
then tried booting with 'puppy nosmp pfix=ram'
and got an error during boot up

Code: Select all

BUG: recent printk recursions

then tried a third straight boot and got the enclosed image . . .




OK about to try on another machine . . .

[Béèm]

I am still confused about the kernel approach.
There was talk about the kernel supporting dual (more?) processors.
Are one of these doing this now?
Was the 406 already supporting it?
Is there a boot option to be used to activate the smp support?

[eprv]

very nice, most things are just working

pmount still not working for me (Epia-V booted with USB stick),
thought it is related to my xfs partition so tried again after modprobe xfs and even after mounting it manually.
here is the output:

# pmount
/usr/sbin/pmount: line 246: 6912 Terminated yaf-splash -font "8x16" -outline 0 -margin 4 -bg orange -text "Puppy Drive Mounter

Please wait, probing hardware..."
/usr/sbin/pmount: line 251: 7347 Aborted /tmp/gtkdialog_pmount --file=/tmp/pmountdlg.txt_${MYPID} --center >/tmp/pmountdlg_${MYPID} 2>/tmp/pmounterr
# modprobe xfs
# pmount
/usr/sbin/pmount: line 246: 7915 Terminated yaf-splash -font "8x16" -outline 0 -margin 4 -bg orange -text "Puppy Drive Mounter

Please wait, probing hardware..."
/usr/sbin/pmount: line 251: 8309 Aborted /tmp/gtkdialog_pmount --file=/tmp/pmountdlg.txt_${MYPID} --center >/tmp/pmountdlg_${MYPID} 2>/tmp/pmounterr
# mkdir /mnt/sda1
# mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/sda1
# pmount
/usr/sbin/pmount: line 246: 9572 Terminated yaf-splash -font "8x16" -outline 0 -margin 4 -bg orange -text "Puppy Drive Mounter

Please wait, probing hardware..."
/usr/sbin/pmount: line 251: 10021 Aborted /tmp/gtkdialog_pmount --file=/tmp/pmountdlg.txt_${MYPID} --center >/tmp/pmountdlg_${MYPID} 2>/tmp/pmounterr
#

[NathanO]

Tested 4.1A7 on both my tower and laptop. The base system and internet worked, including chat.

gzine still has a problem of freezing up every so often. I am sure this is a gzine problem, not a Puppy problem. It happens most of the time when you are listening to music and change the visiualazations. Some time you can restart, some times you have to reboot.

Tried the PETget. Doenloaded FireFox okay. Tried mpalyer, 4.x version twice. Both times it said it was missing libavformat.so.51 and did not know where to get it. puppylinus.ca has several libavformat, but none show the .51.

[zigbert]

Scanner works , but NOT from menu. /root/.jwmrc points to xsaneshell which does not exist.

xsane menuitem is moved from graphics to multimedia

.... else.... just GREAT!!!!!


Well Pbackup doesn't install properly

Sigmund

[Lobster]

Tried on Fujitsu Lifebook laptop - worked OK apart from connecting with pcmcia wi-fi card.- It was recognized OK as before.
Wifi connection software seems simpler to use . . .

Will try on another machine
http://tmxxine.com/wik/wikka.php?wakka=PuppyDingo41

[dogone]

My general first impression of alpha 7 is guarded.

- Wired network IP and Gateway addresses intermittently lost following reboot.

- Cranky volume control tray applet following ALSA wizard run until reboot. Thereafter, applet is slow to load. "x" mute indication and "Volume 0" displayed despite actual setting being non-zero. Open slider, click bar and "x" is cleared and all then works. Reboot and problems recur.

- SCSI scanner detected but not usable (see below). sane-find-scanner indicates scanner at dev nodes not available at Xsane device selection dialog (which is too long for display height and appears truncated).

- Rebooting (versus power-off) from 407 to 406 (w/separate pup_saves) may be causing minor video problems (Geforce 7300) . Not yet confirmed.

- Help -> Release Notes = "File not found".

I recall being very impressed with the way 406 first came up. I am not so impressed with 407's initial performance. The SCSI detection problem resolved, I would choose 406 over 407 for my quite recent hardware.

[JustGreg]

I was able to connect to my WPA2 (broadcast SSID) wireless network without a hitch using the network connection wizard (connect desktop icon). I only had to scan for the network, select the one found, press the WPA2 button and enter the pass phase. It worked without a hick up. Getting the wpa_supplicant status using wpa_cli showed everything completed and the correct information for the network. I booted from the CDROM to see if Puppy 4 alpha 7 would boot. No problems at this time.

Thank you l!!!

[PaulBx1]

Same audio problems as alpha6. Tried running a .wmv using gxine that I started from the command line this time; when I opened the file it ran the video with no audio. The rxvt window showed this:
[wmv3 @ 0x943b800]Extra data: 8 bits left, value: 0

The open file dialog window in gxine still opens partially offscreen (too far to the left).

I tried to burn the alpha7 iso using pburn (I was in alpha6 at the time) and pburn complained the CD was unwritable. Tried again using burniso2cd and it went through the motions but quit too quickly and the iso did not compare. I booted windows, used burncdcc and it worked perfectly first time. This is embarassing; how long has Puppy had a CD burner application?

I have found that my alpha6 problem with pfind was a combination of operator error and an unfortunate feature in pfind. The probablility of running into this is low. It's being discussed in the pfind thread.

My other alpha6 problem about seeing the browser "back" button erratically exercised had to do (I think) with the scroll bars I just discovered were in my touchpad. Haven't used touchpads much since my computer was an old thinkpad. I have no way to disable the scrollbars in either the BIOS or Puppy, although I can in Windows.

[Flapdoodle]

I had the same problem PaulBX1 had, but using Puppy 4.1 alpha 5. Had to use Windows and Burncdcc.

Alpha 7 CD gave an error something like "can not sync" and then kernel panic.

[zigbert]

I tried to burn the alpha7 iso using pburn

Will you please post the output of 'wodim dev=/dev/cdrom -toc' if CD, and 'dvd+rw-mediainfo /dev/cdrom' if DVD. /dev/cdrom is of course your burner. Please use a similar disc as gave message 'disc not writable'. Is this a RW disc or?? Please post Pburn stuff in the Pburn topic. I'm not monitoring this forum completely.

Sigmund

[pigshed]

Oh lordy - I'm glad I'm not Barry - it must be hell working out what's right and what's not ..

OK - from me .. Having suffered from Alpha power issues - this one shuts down fine, re-boots and the fan control is working correctly.

Hot pup still sticks icons on top of each other if you mount two at the same time - I know I've said this before and it may sound stupid, but it works fine in Dingo (using that as a general reference point) and a fix maybe in the works and just not have been incorporated yet.

How's the tooth ?

Network wise, it connects great - and the huge improvement for me is that so far after several re-boots - it's re-connecting 100% .

On the downside ... scrolling in Seamonkey has turned wormstyle again - and general screen refresh seems like it's re-drawing the whole screen from scratch constantly. Move up the menu - flash flash flicker flicker - same in apps. Close a full window - it's like watching time lapse of a clouds moving away as the icons re-appear.

I think they've been my main consistent feedback points. Hope this helps.

I've still not worked out why some versions have smooth screen update and some have jerky - the next time it's raining I should investigate.

Cheers, Adam.

[PaulBx1]

Sigmund, I posted in the pburn thread.

I have noticed folks recommending b43 or b43legacy drivers for broadcomm devices that do not work. However I have not found b43legacy. My device is not recognized by the boot process at all, although it is a bcm4311, according to Windows. I tried the b43 and bcm43xx drivers in the network wizard but they did not work. Maybe Puppy should include b43legacy as well so I can try that?

I then rebooted with a Belkin usb wireless adapter plugged in. The boot process did load the zd1211rw driver (I think it's a 1211b, IIRC) but I could not connect with that. However for some reason my old thinkpad with netgear pcmcia card does not work here either, even though it works for other APs, so maybe the problem is the AP here - I will investigate. So far the only way I've connected to the internet is ethernet.

[Béèm]

Like in Dingo 406, the pup_40x.sfs goes to the / of the partition where the pup_save is.
Up to Dingo 405 this was not the case.
Why this change?
It's annoying as I loose some 9xMB of precious space.

[PaulBx1]

I was just reading this thread, at the end of which rarsa mentions a fix put into rc.network at around alpha2. Yet, when I look in rc.network for alpha7, I find only two commented-out 'ifconfig "$INTERFACE" down', both in the section about static IPs. Is it possible we have an older version of the rc.network file in alpha7?

[prehistoric]

First tests on one problem machine (Compaq Armada M700) went well with the exception of the audio. There has been a change since alpha 6, but we're not out of the woods.

There have been no booting and shutdown issues so far on this machine and no problems with video. I have not tried the scanner, but I believe zigbert's fixes will work for me, as I can use the epson2 driver.

The audio on this machine is an old ISA bus based ESS 1968. I'm not surprised to have to run the ALSA wizard. This is not particularly important, except as a representative of a class.

There are some hidden problems caused by launching absvolume without a working mixer. This results in an occupied space in the tray with no icon, which can confuse people who don't look for such things. I used Pprocess to kill absvolume, then ran alsa setup. This succeeds and barks, but does not give me a volume icon. Restarting X brings up the mixer and icon.

After a frugal install to disk, using the universal installer, I shut down and save, using the change folder option to put pupsave in the new folder. (I think this might address Beem's problem. The install puts the system files in the folder, where I think he wants them. Saving files during shutdown doesn't give you an option to put other system files in a folder.) When I reboot, (and, yes, I did try for that third boot,) the volume control shows up muted and sound isn't working. Running alsa setup again brings sound back, for that session.

The problem is also present with 4.00 though I don't think behavior is identical. We have had other conflicts between audio related processes in 3.02 alpha which don't show up on many machines. I'm still scratching my head over anyone getting things to work while we had two mixers running.

My personal prejudice is that we have too damn many processes dealing with something as fundamentally sequential as sound.

[linuxblues]

Boot does okay system up and running!
Now for the bad news...
bcm43xx has loaded in past with 4.00 but now even with the module loaded no wlan. Tried bc43 and bcm43xx but still no wlan light on so there is nothing to scan with... While trying to use ndiawrapper the screen went black once we got into the windows folder. Had to restart x.
Audio good, display good

Thanks for all the hard work Puppy lovers

linuxblues

[BarryK]

Maybe Puppy should include b43legacy as well so I can try that?

Puppy does have b43legacy. It doesn't show up in the Wizard though. You could try just loading the module. Use the BootManager to load it and blacklist the others.