Precise Puppy 5.4.3

Please post any bugs you have found
Post Reply
Message
Author
User avatar
bigpup
Posts: 13886
Joined: Sun 11 Oct 2009, 18:15
Location: S.C. USA

#121 Post by bigpup »

I get similar problem with black screen, but not the exact same conditions.
I get a partial desktop GUI where the menu is blank and desktop icons are missing or partially there.
Seems to be caused by graphics driver being used.
My Nvidia hardware does not like the nouveau driver.
If I use the Vesa driver or use the boot option nouveau.modeset=0 , all problems are fixed and I get a normal desktop and menu.
The things they do not tell you, are usually the clue to solving the problem.
When I was a kid I wanted to be older.... This is not what I expected :shock:
YaPI(any iso installer)

artsown
Posts: 403
Joined: Wed 12 Sep 2012, 18:35

#122 Post by artsown »

Hi Barry.

Barking up the wrong tree? :)

I happened to have one "mostly black screen" Pup in a frugal
install on a old IBM NetVista. The Pup is Racy 5.3.90 The video
hardware is Intel and Racy is set for 1280 X 1024 The cpu is
a p4 2.0ghz and RAM is 512 meg.

I tried modifying both sleep settings in the .initrc from 0.5 to
various values from 0.1 to 6.0 None of the settings fixed the
problem. I verified that the ,initrc file was indeed modified by
checking it after each reboot. I could tell when the sleep was
set to a high value since the startup screen remained totally
black (except for cursor) for a seemingly long time before a gui
(or toolbar at least) appeared.

I may have to d/l Precise PAE again (dunno if I still have it
anywhere) to test it in particular. Meanwhile I do have Slacko
5.4 handy on a CD so I'll try it next.

BTW, thanks for your pursuit of and work on a wonderful idea.
Puppy Linux really rocks!

Art

artsown
Posts: 403
Joined: Wed 12 Sep 2012, 18:35

#123 Post by artsown »

As expected, Precise 5.4.2 PAE black screens with sleep settings up to
6. As previously mentioned, Retro Precise (non-PAE) does not have the
black screen problem.

However, the slacko 5.4 I happen to have is non-PAE (the so-called 4g)
and it has the black screen problem to some small extent. Increasing
sleep values up to 6 didn't help here either.

I've already posted early on that all four of my test machines are similar
in that they have P4 cpus with clock speeds of 1.7 to 2.0 ghz. They do
have different video hardware.

Art

User avatar
oldyeller
Posts: 889
Joined: Tue 15 Nov 2011, 14:26
Location: Alaska

#124 Post by oldyeller »

Hello Everyone,

I have been doing some testing with the repo that I did for OV-Precise and the pets and sfs's can be used on Precise 5.4.2

I am running the retro non-pae.

You can get pets and sfs's here http://smokey01.com/Oldyeller/pet_packages-upup/

Enjoy

artsown
Posts: 403
Joined: Wed 12 Sep 2012, 18:35

#125 Post by artsown »

Barry. I copied and pasted into Rox Terminal each of the grep lines you
requested. For the one containg "cpumhz" the report was 1993 which
makes sense for a 2 ghz P4 cpu

For the line containing "bogomips" the report was 3987

Art

User avatar
davids45
Posts: 1326
Joined: Sun 26 Nov 2006, 23:33
Location: Chatswood, NSW

black screens with PAE - totally black

#126 Post by davids45 »

G'day,

Just to add more detail for my particular problems with black screens and recent Pups (PAE and now the very latest 4G slacko):

No problem booting with the problem Pups - but after a few minutes, I get a totally black screen (no task bars) with no possible recovery (Ctrl+Alt+Bkspace does nothing) so I have to do a re-set. Computer does not freeze, just the display - happened once while Pburning a CD but I could finish the burn by hitting <Enter> by listening to when sr0 had stopped writing.

Graphics card is a Radeon HD5450 in a desktop. I recall once trying the proprietary ATI driver which also black-screened, but it's the default radeon driver that is in use when I get these black screens.

Full and Frugals both black screen - I have lately tried fewer Fulls as now if the Frugal doesn't behave itself, I don't bother with the longer install & setting up of a matching Full.

No pattern I can see when the black screen happens with regard to the running program - but I can't recall it failing when I haven't been doing something on the computer, that is, leaving it running with no input may be OK. But maybe also I haven't tried long or hard enough that way?

The one PAE exception for my computer could be pemasu's PAEs which seem to be free of this problem - again maybe I just haven't run his Pups long enough to crash the graphics? Hopefully he could give his ideas once he gets back from cross-country skiing.

Worryingly the latest non-PAE slacko has the problem as well as the earlier PAE slackos (I haven't tried the 5.4-PAE slacko).

Retros otherwise are all good so far, so I'm happy to use these for playing with the new Pups (e.g. posting from a trouble-free RetroPrecise-5.4.2 Full).

David S.

User avatar
bigpup
Posts: 13886
Joined: Sun 11 Oct 2009, 18:15
Location: S.C. USA

#127 Post by bigpup »

Seems to me all these black screen, messed up desktop GUI, graphics issues are related to the graphics driver being used.
Sure seems to cure the problems for me. If I use a graphics driver that likes my hardware and my hardware likes that driver.
All problems are cured and stuff just works.
Vesa driver seems to be good fallback option to at least get to usable GUI.
The things they do not tell you, are usually the clue to solving the problem.
When I was a kid I wanted to be older.... This is not what I expected :shock:
YaPI(any iso installer)

artsown
Posts: 403
Joined: Wed 12 Sep 2012, 18:35

#128 Post by artsown »

Bigpup, it's difficult for me to get a solid handle on whether or not the
issues I've had are driver related or not. I just tried to force Vesa on
Precise 5.4.2 PAE and it refuses to work. I tried with Racy 5.3.90 and
had success for a while. It accepted Vesa at only 640 X 480 even though
I had set 1024 X 768. After eight reboots with no black screens, I made
the mistake of trying Xorgwizard again and setting 1024 X 768. It no
longer accepted Vesa at all, and my only recourse was to let it run with
a (Intel) driver. The short run of 8 OK reboots using Vesa is very
suggestive that it's a driver problem but it's not conclusive. I had
intended to reboot 20 times or until a black screen.

The Intel hardware details reported by the Pups using System-Hardinfo
hardware intormation - PCI devices:

VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 82845 G/GL [Brookdale -G]/
GE Chipset Integrated Graphics Device (rev 03) (prog-if 00[VGA controller])

I get the same report on two of my PCs, the IBM NetVista and the Dell
2350 that I've used for the above tests. I don't yet know how to compare
the Intel driver used on the latest Pups to the drivers used on earlier
Pups that work Ok for me.

If anyone can steer me to a older driver and instruct me on how to get
it properly installed on Precise 5.4.2 and maybe also Racy 5.3.90 I'd
certainly like to try it out.

In fact, I'd like to know how to compare the Intel driver Retro Precise
uses to the PAE one since Retro isn't a problem.

I've been trying to figure out how to change the wireless rt2500pci on
the new Pups back to the version that works for me on older Pups.
Wireless has also gone to pot for me on Pups using 3,X kernels :)
This is effort is mostly just my curiosity and desire to learn at work.

I also wonder if the "buggyness" I've experienced in general with the
latest Pups isn't suggestive of kernel problems.

Art

User avatar
oldyeller
Posts: 889
Joined: Tue 15 Nov 2011, 14:26
Location: Alaska

#129 Post by oldyeller »

I have updated the PPM and since I did that guess what?

puppy-precise no longer has any pets in any of the Categories. The file is blank. If you are going to update the Ubuntu repos skip the puppy-precise or copy it to another location before so you can move it back.

You will find the folder packages in root it is a hidden folder for those who do not know hit the eye to reveal the hidden folders.

Cheers

EDIT: Even with coping it and moving it back it will still not show any pets what so ever. So don't update the Puppy-precise repo file.

User avatar
666philb
Posts: 3615
Joined: Sun 07 Feb 2010, 12:27
Location: wales ... by the sea

#130 Post by 666philb »

i've made a .pet & .sfs of mypaint 1.0.0.

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=82727
Bionicpup64 built with bionic beaver packages http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=114311
Xenialpup64, built with xenial xerus packages http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=107331

aragon
Posts: 1698
Joined: Mon 15 Oct 2007, 12:18
Location: Germany

#131 Post by aragon »

@bk regarding mc
Please look at the desktop file of mc, there might be a line like terminal=true. If you delete that line and use rxvt -e mc as exec it might work.

Aragon

artsown
Posts: 403
Joined: Wed 12 Sep 2012, 18:35

#132 Post by artsown »

Concerning my "black screen" problems with PAE Precise 5.4.2, I was
able to fool the Pup and transplant a frugal from one machine to another.
The target machine is the one that would not start up Precise but it does
run the transplanted frugal. I had to fix sound, of course but it automatically
chose a "nv" driver and 1440 X 900. It generates error messages both
starting up and shutting down but otherwise it works well.

I did 15 hard reboots of the machine and Precise never black screened.
That's the first time I've ever seen Precise PAE go more than just a few
startups without a black screen. The hardware/driver report is:

VGA Controller: nVidia Corporation NV6[Vanta/Vanta LT]

So it does appear that the kind of black screens I've been seeing are
video driver (version) related. Retro apparently has more older driver
versions.

Art

User avatar
don570
Posts: 5528
Joined: Wed 10 Mar 2010, 19:58
Location: Ontario

polytonic Greek

#133 Post by don570 »

A puppy user in German section of forum
noticed that the older version of Greek (called 'polytonic')
is missing from Precise but it is in Slacko

http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=82718

___________________________________________

User avatar
Terryphi
Posts: 761
Joined: Wed 02 Jul 2008, 09:32
Location: West Wales, Britain.

#134 Post by Terryphi »

oldyeller wrote:I have updated the PPM and since I did that guess what?

puppy-precise no longer has any pets in any of the Categories.
Confirmed.
[b]Classic Opera 12.16 browser SFS package[/b] for Precise, Slacko, Racy, Wary, Lucid, etc available[url=http://terryphillips.org.uk/operasfs.htm]here[/url] :)

User avatar
Terryphi
Posts: 761
Joined: Wed 02 Jul 2008, 09:32
Location: West Wales, Britain.

#135 Post by Terryphi »

oldyeller wrote:I have updated the PPM and since I did that guess what?
puppy-precise no longer has any pets in any of the Categories.
Barry has now fixed this. The file 'Packages-puppy-precise-official' at ibiblio.org was zero bytes. He has re-uploaded it and it will be picked up when PPM is updated.

However, there is further scope for confusion. PPM shows Desktop category by default and there are currently no Puppy-precise-official packages in this category so it is easy to assume that something is wrong with PPM. Click to other categories and the available packages appear.
[b]Classic Opera 12.16 browser SFS package[/b] for Precise, Slacko, Racy, Wary, Lucid, etc available[url=http://terryphillips.org.uk/operasfs.htm]here[/url] :)

User avatar
oldyeller
Posts: 889
Joined: Tue 15 Nov 2011, 14:26
Location: Alaska

#136 Post by oldyeller »

I have just ran into another problem with the retro non-pae. on my dell D430.

When I went to boot precise I got more than just kernel panic on my screen I got a lot more.

Nothing was found on my computer at all. That was strange and I did not write anything down that was showing on the boot screen.

I booted into Manna on a usb stick and went into the precise frugal folder and all I saw was a triangle were the folder use to be. I did have two savefiles in it.

Also the other day booting I had another problem, You would think that after the first I would not try any more!! wrong. This is what Happened. When booting up it said that there was a problem with the ext3 partition.

So I booted in pfix=ram and made another savefile, That did not matter any way since it said there was a problem the partition. Again I did not write anything down, sorry. I went into Manna and opened Gparted and there was nothing wrong with the ext3 partition.

I know that with out the information that the boot screen showed this probably does not really help, But I thought I still would say something about it any way.

##########################################
EDIT: I have found the real problem my HARD DRIVE has bad sectors in it. So there is nothing wrong with any of puppies I have been using.
##########################################

Cheers.
Last edited by oldyeller on Tue 11 Dec 2012, 19:54, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
Ray MK
Posts: 774
Joined: Tue 05 Feb 2008, 09:10
Location: UK

#137 Post by Ray MK »

Now that’s interesting - I’m running a frugal precise 542 no-pae - flawlessly.
No hiccups - all seems extremely stable - etc.

However, when using precise 542-pae things were generally ok but wifi internet kept dropping connection - even when in active use, with both seamonkey and opera.

Exactly the same with very latest Wary. Strange?
Tried selecting vesa with wary - usually bullet-proof, ran fine but same wifi internet problem.
Do not use cable ethernet connection anymore - ‘cos wife hates the cables.

This is the first time for yonks that any puppy has hiccupped on my 10yr old Acer laptop.

Just thought I’d mention above for general info.

V best regards - Ray
[b]Asus[/b] 701SD. 2gig ram. 8gb SSD. [b]IBM A21m[/b] laptop. 192mb ram. PIII Coppermine proc. [b]X60[/b] T2400 1.8Ghz proc. 2gig ram. 80gb hdd. [b]T41[/b] Pentium M 1400Mhz. 512mb ram.

User avatar
earl
Posts: 32
Joined: Fri 21 Mar 2008, 00:37
Location: Halifax, Vermont, USA

Multisession on laptop

#138 Post by earl »

sorry if this is covered...

An older gateway laptop with a broadcom wireless modem(which now works fairly reliably), but has failed to multisession either a CD or DVD. Works very nicely on a thumb drive.

Can someone explain the issue with multisession on laptops?

Thanks

npierce
Posts: 858
Joined: Tue 29 Dec 2009, 01:40

DISTRO_ARCHDIR definition is empty.

#139 Post by npierce »

The /etc/DISTRO_SPECS file (in precise-5.4.2.iso -> puppy_precise_5.4.2.sfs) contains an empty definition of DISTRO_ARCHDIR:

Code: Select all

DISTRO_ARCHDIR=''
Because of this the new code in /usr/local/petget/installpkg.sh that fixes overwritten multiarch directory links does not execute.

I took a quick look at 3builddistro in Woof, but couldn't figure out why DISTRO_ARCHDIR is not being set properly.

Thanks to new Puppy user and forum member Repip for his patience and help in tracking this down. (See http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 448#669448 and http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 502#669502.)

scsijon
Posts: 1596
Joined: Thu 24 May 2007, 03:59
Location: the australian mallee
Contact:

#140 Post by scsijon »

grub4dos bootloader config appears in both System and Setup

Post Reply