Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

[sickgut]

[sickgut]

pasted from the announcements section of this forum:
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i was hoping i wasnt going to have to do this but im having to take an extended break for a while, not specificly from puppy/ pussy and stuff but from computers in general in an attempt to prevent a reoccurring problem with some form of epilepsy that isnt currently being treated very well.

the computer screen etc and reading text and looking at bright moving and flashing objects all day is only part of the problem, the thing that is causing the most problems is a stressful life style. I had to give up work in a computer full retail plus shipping business due to stress and ever since then i have not been able to strike a good balance between boredom/ learning new things/ and working myself till something breaks. It seems that for the last year maybe ive been putting as much effort into computer related linuxy type stuff as a real job, with none of the benefits, ive basicly been working and suffering work related stress on the mind and body (24 hour shifts of intense coding at times) with none of the actual benefits of real employment. I wasnt well enough to be working before but now im basicly working again and im falling prey to the same things that was happening to me before (big surprize). When im in a cycle like this im driven by boredom and a sense that i am not accomplishing anything. Then i decided to start a small business or throw myself into doing something then i over extent myself and have to take time off and the cycle begins again.

after the most recent relapses i thought i would be back and at it within a few days or at most a couple of weeks, but that has turned into months and this problem isnt going to get any better unless i adopt a more stress free lifestyle.

this isnt a bitch about linux, doing stuff for free or whatever, or the community here or the puppy vs pussy thing or whatever. its more of a realization of a problem and finding a solution. For me i think the solution is to take a break and return a little fresher and without strange siezure type things that have been worsened to some extent by stress and too long sessions in front of a computer.

so im letting you all know that i wont be around much for a while but i plan to return maybe in a more balanced fashion that is part of a more balanced lifestyle.

i will return after maybe a couple or a few months or so. I dont think the current project im doing will die over night, even if it fades a little im sure it can be resurrected once ive returned and released a new version that is updated and better.

in the mean time i would like to thank saintless, jbv especially for holding down the fort while i have been absent in recent months.

ok ppl, bbl i promise.

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im not abandoning pussy, i just need to get my life in order and ill be back soon to work on pussy. Most likely ill start a new thread when i get back. Thanks to saintless for posting his new squashfs that has all the recent fixes, i think ill add this to pussy in an official manner so when people download pussy they are running something that is at the catting edge of meowyness,

altho i wont be actively developing pussy for a bit, i will still check my murga messages and also my email: sickgut@gmail.com and also ill be checking the forum here and will help out where i can.

if anyone has any other improvements / files that are pussy related (or just linux related but run on pussy ok) that you would like to make available at the pussy website then please, PM me and ill supply you with a ftp login so that you can upload to the site, then PM me again when the upload has finnished and ill move them to the webserver dir of the server, please include documentation like a readme.txt or instructions for installing and or using your package etc. Packages can be any format you like zip, gz, squashfs... whatever., as long as instructions for installing are provided its all cool.

i want to remind everyone that i dont mind people developing pussy, if you want to remaster it or fork it or whatever its all good. Also no one has to check with me to release packages, fixes etc at all as this is a community project. I will actively encourage people to do whatever the hell they want with pussy and please do not wait on me to return to make changes, suggest things here or release stuff.

in essence ill be around if im needed and ill check in and help with questions etc here, but it will be maybe a few months before im under the hood again and we start on the next release.

[sickgut]

apparently drinking 5 or 6 litres a day of water gives you siezuires.....

i was just drinking when i was thirsty and it wasnt till i measured the water i was drinking that i realized that it could possibly be causing the problems. I seem to get super thirsty but its some other cause not diabetes or anything. Docs always saying "You can never drink too much water..."

i just realized this recently when i was too sick to move much from a flu type thingy and i didnt drink anything all day and surprize surprize, no siezure type thingies. Now im over that flu thingy and ive moderated my water intake to 3 litres a day max and no problems with seizure type things for a week now.

aparently being extremely thirsty doesnt mean you need to drink water

now i finally have a handle on what has been happening with my health and now im able to look at a screen much better than before. Ive still got some residual after effects that will take a little time to get rid of but i think ill be back and working on pussy soon but in a much more balanced way than before, no more 24 hour coding sprees and subsequent burnouts.

see yall soon

[aarf]

[greengeek]

.
Good to see you back. Pussy needs to keep ticking along but put your health first.

[saintless]

Nice to read you feel better, Sickgut.
Welcome back

[gcmartin]

Great that we, sometimes, feel that prayers work.

Welcome back

[jpeps]

Could also be too much pussy.

[RSH]

Yes, welcome back!

[saintless]

Sage on Pussy linux:
Tested with the base version. If you use the extra version the new installed packages will be less.

1. Download the ubuntu binary (32 or 64-bit) from here and follow the instructions there how to extract it:
http://mirrors.fe.up.pt/pub/sage/linux/index.html
There is a Readme.txt with instructions inside the archive.

2. Install these packages with apt-get:

[sickgut]

Future of Pussy Linux.

After re-evaluating my personal circumstances and what it is i can actually do and do well without too much demand on my personal health and also keeping regular healthy sleep patterns, i have decided to rearrange how i will be developing pussy.

The current Pussy will be updated with all the latest fixes and patches etc and be made available for download. At this point the Xtra version is taking priority. The base version will not be kept uptodate in the same way as the Xtra will. This saves me having to do everything twice. Best focus on one line of cats and pat them and feed them propperly than neglect them both equally. The Xtra version is by far the most popular and has the most potential to be a complete solution. This version will be fine for a while just how it is once its brought uptodate. Ofcause if any more fixes are discovered there will be patches etc released still.

Pussy will still be a live distro with HDD install not officially supported and only within the reach of those who can set up the grub and copy files themselves. Also the debian live iso is not bootable via grub once copied to the hdd like ubuntu is. I am quite sure than Debian themselves will sort these issues out eventually. I believe we are best to wait for this to happen as our in house solution will be a waste of time and probably completely junk compared to an official Debian Live side fix. Remember Debian Live isnt Debian, ... well it is... but the booting stuff is newer and is more beta-ish when compared to the normal Debian stuff. Debian Live is still in its infancy. There is a love hate relationship with Pussy being based on Debian, on one hand its the most reliable base with a large repo of excellent reliable software, on the down side we must wait for the debian live people fix stuff sometimes or we risk breaking 100% compatibility with them. We get almost a free ride being based on debian live but that ride does have its unique bumps.

After the Xtra version has been updated and re-released, i will be working on the FasterKill 64bit server base that will be based on Wheezy. This is a long term project to make the best base for the newer pussy that will be released when its ready to be. Also a development log will be kept uptodate every step of the way so that other devs/ users will have access to all the information you need to turn a debian live into a Pussy.
When this new base has been bought upto the same or better standard as the current Server Pussy then it will be released.

The current version of Pussy Xtra will be our flagship for a fair while and will also offer 32bit compatibility and will be kept upto date. When the FasterKill 64bit version has a GUI and everything that Pussy Xtra has, then it will be released side by side with the current Pussy Xtra.

So......

Pussy Xtra 32 bit (current version) will be kept up to date with bug fixes etc and or patches but no major redesigning or structural changes. Just fix it best we can, keep it working. If something breaks then we fix it. This is the choice for lower end computers and 32bit CPUs. This will be the flagship until the newer 64 bit FasterKill is built with a desktop environment.

FasterKill 64bit first the server version will be released, then development will start of a complete desktop OS. This may be a little more advanced than normal Pussy Xtra as it is made for newer computers.

Note this does not mean i am abandoning the current Pussy Xtra. Pussy Xtra will be the 32bit option while FasterKill will be the 64 bit option and also means we will have a more up to date and future proof OS that will last a long time as it will probably be quite a few years by the time wheezy has moved from testing to the new stable and then to oldstable and its no longer current. This also provides an opportunity to go back and do things better, keeping a log of all changes from the standard debian live base and this time the OS wont be spread over multiple squashfs files. I thought that multiple squashfs would save dev labour but it increased it 3 fold. Some things look great on paper but have no practical use in the real world. The synching troubles between all the separate squashfs files was a bad design flaw.

If anyone needs more info on this then hit me with a PM or post here its all cool.

[Aitch]

oops, comment was about p35...

Hey, Hydration is important! [So is the RIGHT salt!]

http://www.watercure.com/

http://kentfreedommovement.ning.com/profiles/blogs/salt-intake-is-a-global-deficiency

Aitch

[atv]

Hip hip hooray! Good to see you back!

[jbv]

Hi Folks,

Sorry this has taken a while since saintless first made reference to the fact that we are working on our own build, although given Sickguts recent announcement, it is probably appropriate that I give you a brief heads-up as to what we are trying to do.

Before doing so, I would like to state that we do not see our project as being a replacement for pussy, nor does it have the same goal(s). I would also like to thank sickgut for his work and wish him well, especially with regard to his health, which I am sure we all hope improves quickly.

Professional (work) obligations have slowed our project a little over the last few weeks, although I expect things will return to normal by next weekend.

In a nutshell, our goal/intent is to take a 100% stock standard Debian Live distro and slap it into shape such that it looks and feels very similar to hotROXpussy. Along the way, we will document everything and do our best to create documentation to explain what needs to live where and why. Sometimes we will take one step forward and then 5 steps backwards, then re-evaluate before moving forward again. We have done a bit of this already and right now I think we’ve got a pretty clear idea of how to get to where we want to be. I should point out that this is for us and we really don’t have any grand plans to take over the world or create another whole distro.

While our individual goals are somewhat quite different, they are also somewhat aligned. My goal is to create the ultimate home/domestic NAS that “just works” as a home media/whatever server, whereas saintless’ goal is to create a near Windows experience for people who might be put off of *nix by the general look and feel.

We have thrown away limitations with regard to space required and raised the bar a little in what we consider to be the minimum machine requirements. To this end, we are thinking that the machine should have at least 128 if not 256Mb of RAM, and if it takes 500-600Mb of disk/USb space, then we can live with that too. However, that does not mean we are going to be sloppy with what we do as ultimately we are looking for very low resource usage (memory/cpu overhead).

Over the last few weeks (probably a month and a half now), we have looked at quite a few front-ends and pretty much reviewed everything we could find including things like enlightenment, bohdi, and many more ditros, window/screen managers. At the end of all of this, we have really come to feel that hotROXpussy was/is pretty much what we think is a good balance for where we want to be.

However, we also realised that pussy was built from an older version of Debian and therefore we have used debian-live-6.0.3-i386-standard.iso as our base. This alone has made our basic start-point somewhat larger than pussy. On top of that we are looking to use OpenBox as our Window Manager and while we will retain the ROX desktop, we will be using Adeskbar as our panel/menu system. We are looking to pull in the best bits of things like LXDE and other packages and ensure they all work harmoniously. While you will be able to load any standard Debian package to satisfy any individual tastes, we will be looking to use XFE as our primary file manager/navigator and Firefox as our Browser. We’ve looked at a few mail clients, but haven’t settled on any one specific one yet (that I can recall <g>), but whatever we choose will look and feel very similar to Outlook Express (and work). We won’t be using WICD as the network manager and while out networking is working out of the box, it may be a little while till we get WiFi running properly.

We have looked at a few Free Forums and the like, but haven’t found one that does not have a heap of advertising, so for now we just communicate via Email, although sometime in the near future, I may just spring the few bucks it will cost to host a website with our own forum.

Anyway, this is somewhat of a brief intro/overview of what we are intending – for us. Once again, this is not intended or meant to be a derivative of pussy, nor is it intended to be targeted at the same audience.

There has been a lot of work done although we don’t really have anything to show yet, and we will probably be restarting from scratch before we do have anything to show which may not be for another week or two. If you’ve looked at hotROXpussy and feel it could be something that may work for you and/or you are If you are at all interested, feel free to shoot either saintless or myself a PM or drop a note here.

Oh, our “codename” at the moment is FoxyRoxy and it will run either from a USB stick or HDD. While we will have support from NTFS, you won’t be able to boot from a NTFS HDD and write back to the NTFS partition. Once we get things running, I will peruse and get dynamically loading/unloading .sqf’s working properly in addition to “re-mastering”. Somewhere down the track (I can’t tell you where or when), I will do my best to address the restriction on only having 8 .squashfs load at boot time. I am already on-top of many of the architectural issues that I feel exist in pussy and how these will be addressed without breaking any compliance to the Debian way, although they haven’t been documented yet, but they will be shortly. So, yeah, we’ve got a long way to go, but this is what we’re up to.

Once again, I would like to thank sickgut for showing me "the light". While pussy may not have attracted any Puppy Devs as intended, I am confident that it has also sparked a few others. Like saintless, I am not abandoning pussy and if I/we can give anything back to pussy and sickgut with his endeavors, I/we will certainly be more than happy to do so.

Cheers

[sickgut]

Nice to see a post from you jbv

please do not worry about hurting my feelings in any personal or professional way... every linux minded person makes their own distro eventually, also do not feel you are obliged to continue to support pussy if you would really just like to work on your own project. I wish you and saintless all the best of luck and i hope you derive (and maybe other users will derive) satisfaction that is in an appropriate ratio to the amount of labour you put in.

really i would actually recommend anyone wanting to learn stuff about pussy and other debian based OSes do exactly what you are doing now, as making your own linux OS is about the best thing to do to learn about linux.