XOpup Interest Group. Puppy Linux for the OLPC XO-1 laptop

[eowens2]

I have used all of the boot options ("acpi=off", "irqpoll routeirq", "acpi=noirq", "acpi=force", "acpi=strict", "pci=biosirq" and "pci=nosort") on Puppy 4.31 on the XO-1 using ALSA-1.0.23, and the only difference I could see is that sometimes the boot process seemed to slow.

As before, "aplay -l" and "alsamixer" could not find the device. And as before, alsaconf could find the card identity and post the alias info to the end of modprobe.conf (I deleted the tail of modprobe.conf before running alsaconf to be sure it was posting freshly obtained info). Too bad the system can't seek the counsel of modprobe.conf as to the identity of card0!

And yes when I try to play an actual file I get the same output as Mavrothal. Mavrothal, your "lspci" output from Lupu-508 is interesting. Lupu-508 must be using a newer version of busybox or an "lspci-FULL". What version of ALSA is in lupu-508? And busybox version?

When a new version of Puppy is released (i.e. 4.12, 4.31, Lupu-xxx), especially if a new kernel is present, do the developers typically compile anew major components (i.e. ALSA, X-windows) "under" or "against" the new kernel?

[mavrothal]

Too bad the system can't seek the counsel of modprobe.conf as to the identity of card0!

On a related issue:
Using the tinycore-xo alsa/alsaconf (that works fine with this kernel) gets through without any ALSA issue.
However, at the end it says

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Starting sound driver: snd-cs5535audio  
WARNING: Deprecated config file /etc/modprobe.conf, all config files belong into /etc/modprobe.d/.
WARNING: All config files need .conf: /etc/modprobe.d/sound, it will be ignored in a future release.
WARNING: Deprecated config file /etc/modprobe.conf, all config files belong into /etc/modprobe.d/.
WARNING: All config files need .conf: /etc/modprobe.d/sound, it will be ignored in a future release.
WARNING: Deprecated config file /etc/modprobe.conf, all config files belong into /etc/modprobe.d/.
WARNING: All config files need .conf: /etc/modprobe.d/sound, it will be ignored in a future release.
WARNING: Deprecated config file /etc/modprobe.conf, all config files belong into /etc/modprobe.d/.
WARNING: All config files need .conf: /etc/modprobe.d/sound, it will be ignored in a future release.
WARNING: Deprecated config file /etc/modprobe.conf, all config files belong into /etc/modprobe.d/.
WARNING: All config files need .conf: /etc/modprobe.d/sound, it will be ignored in a future release.
amixer: Mixer attach default error: No such device
Setting default volumes...
amixer: Mixer attach default error: No such device
Saving the mixer setup used for this in /etc/asound.state.
alsactl: save_state:1502: No soundcards found...

with the same result

What version of ALSA is in lupu-508? And busybox version?

cat /proc/asound/version says 1.0.20 but /root/.packages/woof-installed-packages says alsa-base and alsa-utils 1.0.22
For busybox woof-installed-packages says 1.16.2

[mavrothal]

Although XOpup's sound remains elusive ( ), wrestling with it from different angles I came up with a couple of interesting tidbits.

OLPC kernels (the original or the ones made in Fedora machines-like the ones I have posted), because of their "funny" naming scheme, do not report the correct KERNELSUBVER(sion), eg "31", in puppy scripts so puppy thinks is an old (2.6.28 or earlier) version. As a result, defaults to squashsf version 3, so version 4 sfs files can not be loaded.
You need to edit 3 scripts, initrd.gz/init, /usr/sbin/bootmanager and /usr/sbin/filemnt to fix that. You just need to add underscore in the KERNELSUBVER string so will look like that

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KERNELSUBVER=`echo -n "$KERNELVER" | cut -f 3 -d '.' | cut -f 1 -d '-' | cut -f 1 -d '_'` #v423, mav:add underscore for OLPC kernels

Then it correctly recognize the olpc kernel version and auto-mounts v4 sfs files (I guess would be nice if included in the official puppy/woof).

In order to mount the XO-1's internal NAND you need the memory technology devices (mtd) missing from puppies. So from an F11-running XO-1 (eg running the new official os851) copy /dev/mtd* or rsync them from updates.laptop.org to puppy's /dev. This will copy mtd0, mtd0ro and mtdblock0. To mount the XO-1 NAND type in terminal

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mount -t jffs2 /dev/mtdblock0 /mount_dir

I usually make /mnt/xo-nand as mount directory but can be anything you want. You can even edit /etc/fstab and add the line

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/dev/mtdblock0  /mnt/xo-nand jffs2 defaults,noauto 0 0

so you'l just need to type "mount /mnt/xo-nand" to mount it. However, I do not recommend automounting or even mounting the NAND at all, unless is absolutely necessary! Puppy has trouble cleanly unmounting file systems and can mess-up your XO-1's nand (did it to me a couple of times...)

I also managed to get power management and brightness and (I assume) sound keys working in XOpups. For pm I used OLPC's powerd and olpc-switchd and supplied the missing strace, rtcwake and yet another device, rtc. For the keys I used the actkbd daemon and a bunch of little scripts from other XO builds. Again the /dev/input/even4 the actual XO-1 keyboard device was missing...
The scripts were started in rc.local and the XO-1 is now even more usable with Puppy, but still silent I have the feeling that the sound issue is also a device issue rather than alsa, I just don't know which, and various I tried all failed. Any device/udev expert out there?

BTW I wonder why the "whereis" command in not present in puppies ??? Is very useful specially with all the extra scripts and the occasional "non-standard" location of things. I guess everyone knows where things are in puppy ...

[mavrothal]

Looks like that sound works in XOpup
Check it out here
I'm away at the moment but is someone can tide it up would be great.

[mavrothal]

Update 3 Sep. 22 : XOpup has a new build and thread, and is updated to 1.0_RC.
Please look at the new thread for more.

You can still find the old builds HERE



(Check the "visual history" of XOpup HERE)

[cobyhoff]

I have been lurking here since you announced your intentions on OLPCnews forums. I have been lurking there since Nov '07 (original G1G1). I am so excited to see your success here! I have been running puppy on my Gecko Edubook (www.norhtec.com, www.deviceonchip.com) since I got it, and have been even more excited about the possibility of Puppy on the OLPC. I wish I could have helped the process, but my lack of Linux experience has kept me from volunteering.

Again, Thank you!

[rrolsbe]

Now that it boots into Puppy using the OLPC 1.0 computer, hopefully the user community can make further improvements. My OLPC computer (using Puppy) performs better than anything I have used prior. I knew running out of RAM would be better. I am sure there is a slow down while it decompress the binaries in the RAM disk but you can't have everything.

Thanks Again to all who made this happen.

Regards, Ron

[mavrothal]

A new improved version is available.
See original post above.

Now that it boots into Puppy using the OLPC 1.0 computer, hopefully the user community can make further improvements.

Let's hope. Though most of the things run fine.
What does not work is the chromium browser (you need to install the lupu501 version from here), the luvcview webcamera (probably needs recompiling for the XO-1) and most notably xrandr that does not support screen rotation and alternative resolution (the modified xorgwizard in the new version takes care of that). A proper, tray, battery monitor would be also nice.
Hopefully these and other things will get some attention.

[mavrothal]

Added a pet in the original post above that enables "aggressive" power management on inactivity and can considerably increase battery life in casual use.
It actually works better than in the official F11/Sugar 0.84 version

[hailpuppy]

Hi Mavrothal, ttuuxxx and all the other dedicated developers who made this happen,

Thank you all for not giving up on what we were all awaiting so eagerly.Of course I could not join the development team due my lack of knowledge in linux development but I too kind of feel happy as I personaly contacted Mitch to draw his attention to this project . Mavrothal and ttuuxxx you two have been really impressive and guys I am most grateful to for you two for not giving up even when the going got very very tough.

One more thing Mavrothal? Is it now more speedy ? Will you be able to post a video of our most anticipated Xopup?

[mavrothal]

There is a v3 for the XOpup (check original post above) and a permanent home site
There you can find the build, sources, docs and a couple of pets, including a slightly modified Chromium-5.0.342-Lucid.pet that will install and run on XOpup fine.

===============

hailpuppy,
just get a $1 USB stick, install, check for yourself and tell us what you think Detailed instructions, including stick formatting, is there!
Speed is perceived different by different people... But yes, is faster than other XO builds

[hailpuppy]

Hi Mavrothal, Thankxx man!!!! I just ran XOpup on my OLPC and its superb!!!! I got even Open Office to run on it using the attached SFS Linker.Well with Openoffice it was slow to then extent that it could not be used but well this is super cool. I even watched an video with .avi extention.the vedio was bit sluggish but it was definitely watchable. Im extremely low literate on linux systems and your detailed instructions was very helpful in setting this up. Web cam was not working for me (perhaps this is because i didnt upgrade the firmware???). These are just initial remarks but hey if we make variations of this XOPup (as its always been the case with puppy linux) we might be able to get even Openoffice to run in RAM by making the OS small?Perhaps one might be able to use different USB s with different variations of XOpup to get different uses from the XOlap?Well i see immense possibilities with all of your achievement. hey guys im so exited thats why I couldnt help upload these few comments to you guys . I will test this system the best way I can and report tp you its statuses. Again Thanks a lot to you all...

[mavrothal]

Hailpup,
I'm sure that XOpup can be improved. A LOT!
However I'm afraid that this may need the work of someone that actually knows what (s)he's doing... At this stage no matter how functional and fast is just patchwork...

We need to get rid of a lot of stuff, (useless for XOpup), without breaking the system. Rework some monster scripts that are trying to find out what the hardware is and configure it so Puppy can work, but are a burden when the hardware and optimal configuration is already known. Work out some puppy relics (pup_event/udev, xFree86) that are from the era that the XO-1 was not even in the planning stage. And finally recompile and reconfigure many things.
A lot, lot, lot of work...

For example the camera that does not work (luvcview) probably needs recompiling.
The poor video is most likely xserver configurations that does not support some of the geode features (avi video plays without problem in other XO builds), etc, etc.

Let's hope that someone will step up the plate.

[hailpuppy]

Hi Mavrothal,Hmm I guess we can start bugging some experts from now on again huh? Well now that the hardest part is over(i suppose!) thsi shouldnt be as hard as it used to be ?

[mavrothal]

Well now that the hardest part is over(i suppose!) thsi shouldnt be as hard as it used to be ?

Actually this IS the hardest part...
Think of it like that. What we have is a baby of a difficult labor.
But now we have to nurture it to become a really good grown up...
If you have kids you'll know what I mean

[hailpuppy]

Hi Mavrothal,
well im not that old yet to see my kids grow up;).Anyways i was just thinking what would you think if we include Openoffice to XOpup and see how well it works? Im helpless in this regard except to ask for help..I wish I could contribute to puppy in a better way but still im new to tricks of puppy.

[mavrothal]

There is a new version of the geode video driver 2.11.9, that is significantly better that the previous one. It is already in the Ubuntu Maverick repos but not in Lucid and is not clear if is going to be. So I compiled the source in XOpup with the lupu_devx_510.sfs and CFLAGS=" -Wall -O2 -g -march=i586" (experts pls advise...), stripped it and made a pet package.
It should also work in other than the XO-1, LX800/geode machines but was not tested in these.

In my hands it is really better.
Video playback  is smooth now (even at 24-bit depth!), web pages appear to render faster, PDF documents load pages faster and even flash works better. No, it still does not play flash video adequately ( :D) but some animations, picture transitions etc, are better.

So, download the geode-2.11.9.pet  from the host site and click-install it. Restart the X sever or reboot and enjoy.

Assuming that someone else uses it and reports improvements and no new problems (regressions) compared to 2.11.8, I could rebuild XOpup with this in it.

[hailpuppy]

Hi Mavrothal,in your next build would you try to get the web cam to work right?:) Will we be able to see skype and Openoffice running in XOpup Mavrothal in anytime sooner? I guess this might be ok because Xtraordinary OShttp://on-disk.com/product_info.php/products_id/978 is claiming to run all these software on it.?

[01micko]

mavrothal et al

I have had blinkers on these past few months and should have made more contribution to your effort.

I am grabbing the latest Xo-pup right now to take a look. Looking forward to it

Cheers

[mavrothal]

mavrothal et al
I am grabbing the latest Xo-pup right now to take a look. Looking forward to it

Cheers

No, I am looking forward to it
Is a messy build but the changelog should provide some good idea.
Also there is a bunch of devices not described anywhere. There are basically devices from the Fedora 11 builds for the XO-1.

With the new geode driver I *think* that now the original lupu video setup should work ok, but even on a fresh (test) build with the new drivers and some more cleanup, I can not find a way to bypass the xorgwizard anymore.
What file have I forgotten/changed that defaults to the wizard?