Introducing April64 (and April i686 on page 12)

[gnomic]

At present I am getting on the internet via a 3G modem. Alas I have never been able to use a Puppy to do so. Used to the ease of use with the dread NetworkManager as seen in many distros which incorporates a database of ISPs from round the world thereby simplifying the task of working out what is required to be inserted in that multitude of boxes. Typically in a Puppy of late the modem is seen (usb_modeswitch is go) but remains unusable as I can't work out what to tell it to make it go. Is there some guide to Puppy 3g modem usage for dunces, or is there some hope that wvdial in April will be usable by mere mortals? Comments anybody? Perhaps somebody who has managed to make this go?

Two aspects here I think, how to make a specific modem model connect, and what ISP specific info is required. The only 3g dialer (aside from NM) I have seen which works for idiots such as myself is sakis3g.

The modem is a ZTE model, don't seem to be able to get the current Debian live session to tell me exactly what model, and the ISP is called 2Degrees here in Aotearoa.

[BarryK]

Yes, Wary64 has it's own thread:

http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=97699

Wary64 6.98 (7.0RC) has been released.

[peterw]

Hi gnomic

If you have a Puppy with the Puppy Network Wizard then it is easy after you have done it once. This reference gives you the information you need. If you manage to use your 3g modem with a Ubuntu then the settings you want are the same.
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=91082

As an alternative to 3g modems you can use an Android phone and tether you machine to it. I usually do this by a usb cable, but you can also make your phone as a wireless modem.

peterw

[Volhout]

Will it boot secure under UEFI ?

No.

I have experimented with UEFI booting, not secure boot though.

I decided there are too many hassles. I could comment a lot more about it, but am restraining myself.

April/April64 and upcoming Wary64 all require "legacy boot" to be enabled on the PC.

This is far simpler.

There are various sites on the Internet that explain how to do it.

Thank you for your response. I understand that this is currently outside the focus.

If my knowledge of the UEFI boot proces (secure) is correct this rules out all new Win8.1 systems as test platforms for April64. Enabling Legacy boot to boot April64 will disable booting into Microsoft (it is not possible to choose between Linux and Windows), unless Win8.1 is re-installed under Legacy boot.

I am not sure (honestly: too scared to try) if switching to Legacy boot makes you loose the pre-installed Win8.1 permanently. But even when not, modifying the boot method every time you change between OS'es is discouraging.... (exactly what Microsoft wants...I guess).

Please continue developing April64 and make it into a good product. When time comes, there may be a secure UEFI boot enabled version of it. I look forward to this time.

[Jasper]

Re: the information problem reported above, two days ago, by BarryK see http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... 286#827286

Pup-SysInfo-2.5.2.pet (from radky) will provide most of Hardinfo's info, plus more.
It is available here (see the last app from the extensive list)
http://www.smokey01.com/radky/PupMates.html

[Billtoo]

Installed to a 32gb sdhc card, pc is an Eee PC 701SD netbook.
video-info-glx 1.5.3 Wed 11 Feb 2015 on Quirky April 6.94 Linux 3.17.8 i686
2.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/GMS/910GML Express Graphics Controller (rev 04)
oem: Intel(r)915GM/910ML/915MS Graphics Chip Accelerated VGA BIOS
product: Intel(r)915GM/910ML/915MS Graphics Controller Hardware Version 0.0

X Server: Xorg Driver: intel
X.Org version: 1.16.2
dimensions: 640x480 pixels (169x126 millimeters)
depth of root window: 24 planes


Intel(R) Celeron(R) M processor 900MHz
Core 0: @Intel(R) 1: @630 MHz

April 6.94 32bit runs well on this netbook.

[scsijon]

Does anyone know how to setup a midi interface and check it's connection on these beasts. I have the midi-usb cables and an old casio 110 for source/speakers, i'm just getting no response from the systems, so I suspect something is either missing ( like a driver) or set wrong.

The MIDI Interface is a Ashton usbmd.

And, no I don't totally know what I am doing in this case as my own keyboard has it all inside (usb) and is automatic set and just plain works.

The casio is set for midi i/o and works with Precise 571 so the problem doesn't seem to be on that end, it seems to be something with April.

Any ideas where to start would be appreciated as it's all suppose to be going down to my niece for her use at uni at the end of the month and i'd like to have April loaded for her to brag about. She is NOT getting mine!

[BarryK]

Will it boot secure under UEFI ?

No.

I have experimented with UEFI booting, not secure boot though.

I decided there are too many hassles. I could comment a lot more about it, but am restraining myself.

April/April64 and upcoming Wary64 all require "legacy boot" to be enabled on the PC.

This is far simpler.

There are various sites on the Internet that explain how to do it.

Thank you for your response. I understand that this is currently outside the focus.

If my knowledge of the UEFI boot proces (secure) is correct this rules out all new Win8.1 systems as test platforms for April64. Enabling Legacy boot to boot April64 will disable booting into Microsoft (it is not possible to choose between Linux and Windows), unless Win8.1 is re-installed under Legacy boot.

I am not sure (honestly: too scared to try) if switching to Legacy boot makes you loose the pre-installed Win8.1 permanently. But even when not, modifying the boot method every time you change between OS'es is discouraging.... (exactly what Microsoft wants...I guess).

Please continue developing April64 and make it into a good product. When time comes, there may be a secure UEFI boot enabled version of it. I look forward to this time.

Enabling legacy boot does not disable Windows 8.1.

I have been through the exercise on a new UEFI Win8.1 Acer laptop, no problem.

I don't recall where, but I found a site with instructions. There is some kind of "fast boot" in Win8.1 that is supposed to be turned off. After that, hit the right key at bootup to launch what we used to call the "bios setup", and enable legacy boot.

I can't give any guarantees of course, but I have not read anywhere of enabling legacy boot causing Windows not to load.

EDIT:
Also, I don't have to change the "bios setup" anymore. The setup has a boot-check order, if a bootable usb or cd is not inserted, then it automatically boots Windows.

I purchased that Acer laptop recently, for a relative, but she has left it with me for awhile (actually, she has gone back to using her old laptop with Win7!). I am using it for testing.

[BarryK]

Does anyone know how to setup a midi interface and check it's connection on these beasts. I have the midi-usb cables and an old casio 110 for source/speakers, i'm just getting no response from the systems, so I suspect something is either missing ( like a driver) or set wrong.

The MIDI Interface is a Ashton usbmd.

And, no I don't totally know what I am doing in this case as my own keyboard has it all inside (usb) and is automatic set and just plain works.

The casio is set for midi i/o and works with Precise 571 so the problem doesn't seem to be on that end, it seems to be something with April.

Any ideas where to start would be appreciated as it's all suppose to be going down to my niece for her use at uni at the end of the month and i'd like to have April loaded for her to brag about. She is NOT getting mine!

You might be better off using Quirky Unicorn, with access to all the Ubuntu packages. Then you will have "off the shelf" solutions for midi.

[don570]

When I tried to compile gimp 2.8.10 in April64
I got the following error

Code: Select all

gimpfont.c:30:31: fatal error: freetype/tttables.h: No such file or directory

When I checked where this file should be located (in Precise Puppy)
It is located in /usr/include/freetype2/freetype/ttables.h (see image)



April64 apparently locates it one level up which causes the error.

______________________________________________________

[BarryK]

When I tried to compile gimp 2.8.10 in April64
I got the following error

Code: Select all

gimpfont.c:30:31: fatal error: freetype/tttables.h: No such file or directory

When I checked where this file should be located (in Precise Puppy)
It is located in /usr/include/freetype2/freetype/ttables.h (see image)



April64 apparently locates it one level up which causes the error.

______________________________________________________

I looked through my recent wary64 and april64 and april builds, have /usr/include/freetype2/ttables.h, don't have that "freetype" directory.

I was able to compile gimp in T2 and in a april64, don't recall any difficulty.

Anyway, try:

# ln -s freetype2 /usr/include/freetype

[don570]

I was able to compile gimp in T2 and in a april64, don't recall any difficulty.

I looked up the error on the Gimp forum and it's caused by an improper
version of python.

I will compile python properly on this distro and that should fix the problem.

____________________________________________________

[scsijon]

I have a 'new-to-me' 'Silver' Optima 4:3 LCD Monitor that can give me up to 1280x1024@75hz (cost all of $15.00 at a local country market), great for the eyes. The box it's connected too is an old Acer V58145 (v5800 WGV) that's been good with Puppy since I got it. It's video is an Intel 82945G/GZ on-board chipset. I nowadays use it as my main 32bit development box.

I've just realized that with April's i686 6.9.4 the screen is only running at 1024x768@60hz (I checked it with the inscreen display);
So I dropped out of X and ran the wizard and it allowed me to set it at 1280x1024 and 75hz;
So I exited and started xwin;
It's back displaying at 1024x768 and 60hz;
Used the menu to access xorg.conf and that says I should be running 1280x1024@75.02hz.;
I restarted X and no change;
And any settings greater than 1024x768@60hz are set in the xorg.conf ok, but don't happen on starting xwin or even if I do a full reboot.

But starting it with quirky 6.1.4 it runs all the matrix's up to 1280x1024@75hz, with no problems.

Any sugestions where to go from here?

[BarryK]

I was able to compile gimp in T2 and in a april64, don't recall any difficulty.

I looked up the error on the Gimp forum and it's caused by an improper
version of python.

I will compile python properly on this distro and that should fix the problem.

____________________________________________________

I think that I compiled gimp without python support, as Quirky (and Puppy) only has python if the devx is loaded.

[BarryK]

Ah, Fatdog64 version 700 has just been released:

http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=97855

I guess I had better think about Quirky/April64 7.0-final also.

Got a few things to fix and test. I am thinking can do it about Thursday this week.

All of this Wary/April naming will upset Ladislav at distrowatch.com. I might just announce it as Quirky64 and Quirky (32-bit) version 7.0.

...based upon April, will dump the Wary builds.

Wary is just a cut-down April, without all the llvm, mesa, xorg drivers, just has a very small selection of xorg drivers.

[Ted Dog]

As ISO files?? Liked Wary64 concept but lack of fast video keeps me from loving it.

[Smithy]

Currently trying Wary 64 CD.

Really good, cpu blowfish as fast as fatdog 64.

Just missing the firewall on/ off indicator (as with FD64)
and Xine comes up when clicking on DVD drive, a bit of messing around with the drive mounter and you can finally see contents of CD/dvd.

Is there a slackware(14?) repo or other that progs can be tried out, or does it all have to come from the April/Wary 64 repo?

One used to be able to dip into Ubuntu or Slackware packages?
Because pets don't seem to work anymore.

Maybe Mesa could be available as a package?

Good thing is it is easy to navigate and stable.

[JustGreg]

I have been running Fatdog64 for awhile now, but, decided to give April64 a try.

The Compaq CQ58, which I use, is a UEFI machine. I do not have Window$ l on it. The suggested method of using April64 can not be used.

However, the Fatdog64 changes using REFI and the new Grub do work. I have installed April64 and sort of having it running on the CQ58. Here is the Grub entry that I use:

Code: Select all

menuentry "Quirky 7.0.3 Test on sda3" {
	search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 07fdd8a9-efed-4de1-8b7c-#####
# above line searches for UUID and sets root to device with UUID
# savefile=direct:device:sda3:/fd64save.ext4 normal save file for fd64
# savefile=direct:device:sda3:/fd64save normal save directory only with 620
# 
	linux /vmlinuz 
	initrd /initrd
}

I did have to change the name of initrd.d to just initrd. April64 does boot and runs. However, it thinks it was started from a CDROM and runs in RAM. I have tried searching for the proper boot options, but it a case of too many items What are the proper boot options for April64? Thank you in advance for either the information or a web site where I can find the options. I hope this will be a help if I get it all working correctly.

[BarryK]

I have been running Fatdog64 for awhile now, but, decided to give April64 a try.

The Compaq CQ58, which I use, is a UEFI machine. I do not have Window$ l on it. The suggested method of using April64 can not be used.

However, the Fatdog64 changes using REFI and the new Grub do work. I have installed April64 and sort of having it running on the CQ58. Here is the Grub entry that I use:

Code: Select all

menuentry "Quirky 7.0.3 Test on sda3" {
	search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 07fdd8a9-efed-4de1-8b7c-#####
# above line searches for UUID and sets root to device with UUID
# savefile=direct:device:sda3:/fd64save.ext4 normal save file for fd64
# savefile=direct:device:sda3:/fd64save normal save directory only with 620
# 
	linux /vmlinuz 
	initrd /initrd
}

I did have to change the name of initrd.d to just initrd. April64 does boot and runs. However, it thinks it was started from a CDROM and runs in RAM. I have tried searching for the proper boot options, but it a case of too many items What are the proper boot options for April64? Thank you in advance for either the information or a web site where I can find the options. I hope this will be a help if I get it all working correctly.

You have posted to an old "retired" thread.

Please go here:

http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... &start=510

[mpanek60]