EasyOS version 2.3.2, June 22, 2020

[rufwoof]

To Rufwoof...

Can you use the start menu when you use a repository?

I'm running Debian where I simply installed the core (command line only) version that I then booted and added xorg, jwm and rox to (and subsequently loads of other stuff such as mtpaint .... etc.). That in effect is the same as a Puppy, I could for instance copy across all of the jwm files/structure from a Puppy over to that. I however opted to just use a single .jwmrc file and set it so that the menu button launches pcmanfm menu://applications as that presents a menu (that automatically reflects what's been installed/added/removed).

Can be very similar to a Puppy, but that uses the Debian repository (has access to its 50,000+ programs). Best of both worlds (single provider and stable/security patched).

I like my menu bar/panel at the top of screen so the relevant part in my .jwmrc has

<Tray x="0" y="+1" height="24" border="0">

rather than y="-1" as per the more usual choice to have the panel at the bottom of the screen. And my menu button simply launches that pcmanfm (filemanager) opening menu://applications

(clickable thumbnail)


as part of that setup I have a bookmark to /usr/share/applications in the left main frame so that a single click also shows all applications from there. And rox-filer is also still available.



After having installed and setup to a HDD partition, I just create a sfs of that and install live-boot, so that it can be booted with the more usual three file arrangement (initrd, vmlinuz, filesystem.squashfs (sfs)). I actually quite like systemd so I prefer to boot using that, but that does mean that saves are limited to being to either partition or file (no directory based saves catered for) ... at least not without modification. I'm content however to just use a partition based save, and use the same partition to where the initrd/vmlinuz/filesystem.squashfs files are located ... and I save just changes to the /home folder tree only (calendar/brower/personal configuration ...etc. changes only preserved). But that means to apply any updates (security patches provided by Debian) I have to extract the main sfs and set it to fully saving (all changes) before applying the updates and then reforming the main sfs again (a bit like a remaster of sorts). The live-boot (sfs) choice however does mean a layered setup is being used, so you can load other sfs's ....etc. in a similar manner to Puppy.

Mostly I've stuck with pure Debian stable, but have imported kodi and the more recent jwm version (jwm 2.3) from what Debian call 'Backports' (newer versions that are stable and likely to be in the next release of stable, brought back from the more recent version that will become the next stable release). Which involves adding the backports repository (edit /etc/apt/sources.list and add a line
deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian jessie-backports main
and then use apt-get update; apt-get -t jessie-backports install jwm .... or whatever command line choice, or the graphical synaptic (like puppy package manager) to install programs).

The nice thing about that is that it should just evolve over time. As Debian bring out the next release (current Jessie stable becomes old-stable and is superseded by Stretch being the stable), you just run a apt-get dist-upgrade after changing the repositories (edit /etc/apt/sources.list and change all jessie entries to stretch) ... and (after a half hour to hour of upgrading) ... you're running under that later release. I have pre-run that and in effect switched from Jessie stable to Stretch testing and it worked OK for me, there were however a few flaws apparent still so I switched back to stable again. Nice to know however that the upgrade to the next Debian stable looks easy enough.

[rufwoof]

One problem identified was how to specify extra sfs file to load, either in the main filesystem or in containers.

Hi Barry. The structure Debian uses is the main sfs is in /live folder and any files in that folder with a .squashfs suffix (they use that longer format rather than .sfs) are loaded in alphanumeric sorted order at bootup. Unless a filesystem.module file also exists in that folder in which case only the sfs files named in that file (one per line) are loaded and in the order presented in that filesystem.module file. man live-boot shows the detail. That has been useful in that if you remaster a live system (current overlaid image) to a new main sfs you can set that with a version number of some kind and then edit the filesystem.module file to change to use that new version instead of the old/prior version - so that as the next reboot you're running with that new main sfs version (when I used that I just added a additional script to the startup to delete the older version).

For containment, firejail is quite popular due to its simplicity. You can for instance run firejail firefox and it sets up a container where the session can only access Downloads and Desktop folders along with the .mozilla configuration folder. Add a --private to that firejail command and it sets up a whole new container (so like loading firefox from fresh).

That's evolving to be even easier as how labbe5 has outlined here

[lp-dolittle]

to don570 and Sage

Don't worry, it's not my intention to restart interfering, yet it might be useful to let you know the following documentation of my experiences with attempts at changing the keyboard-layout in Easy Linux 0.2 pre-alpha. And, as I noticed, Barry again is focusing on Easy Linux

After installing Easy Linux 0.2 pre-alpha on a 64GB SD-card as well as on a 32GB flashstick and setting the keyboard layout to Swiss German (on a Dell Optiplex 980 desktop), I tried to use them on 4 different laptops.

On 2 Laptops (Dell Latitude 6500; ASUS X 61S) the keyboard-layout was spontaneously reset to US (default), and regardless of whether I only had tested the settings by typing some characters in the console or had tried to reconfigure the settings, after each restart of X the setting again was US. Even worse, repeated attempts at resetting seemed to corrupt Easy Linux (mainly) on the SD-card.
On the other 2 Laptops (Dell Vostro 1720; Packard Bell Easy Note) everything worked fine; the sg layout settings remained unaffected.

Supposing that the issue might be due to the laptops' hardware specifications (graphics card), I add the hardware info of the 4 laptops as attachments.

Furthermore, when I reconfigured the keyboard-layout (that spontaneously had been reset to us) on the desktop, the SD-card as well as the flash stick worked again as initially; however, during booting the following message appeared:

sbin/rollback: .: line 12 can't open /mnt/sda2/.session/etc/rc.d/DISTRO_SPECS

I in fact unsuccessfully had tried to roll back, and the file DISTRO_SPECS in fact was in folder etc instead of rc.d.

I copied DISTRO_SPECS into rc.d ..... and Easy Linux started next time flawlessly, finally displaying the Quick Setup first run dialogue, everything seemed to be pristine

Do we have to accept that Easy Linux on a removable drive may get corrupted by a computer's hardware? How to prevent such interference?

Many thanks; ..... now, I will fall silent again

[BarryK]

Furthermore, when I reconfigured the keyboard-layout (that spontaneously had been reset to us) on the desktop, the SD-card as well as the flash stick worked again as initially; however, during booting the following message appeared:

sbin/rollback: .: line 12 can't open /mnt/sda2/.session/etc/rc.d/DISTRO_SPECS

I in fact unsuccessfully had tried to roll back, and the file DISTRO_SPECS in fact was in folder etc instead of rc.d.

I copied DISTRO_SPECS into rc.d ..... and Easy Linux started next time flawlessly, finally displaying the Quick Setup first run dialogue, everything seemed to be pristine

Thanks for finding that!

A typo, yes, the "rc.d/" should not be in the path. Fixed.

To anyone else reading this, the offending script is /sbin/rollback in the initramfs (file initrd.q).

[rameshiyer]

I have booted from Easy Linux from USB. However, I don't find any option install to my Internal HDD. No universal installer found in setup menu.

[ally]

http://barryk.org/easy/how-easy-works.htm

"Unlike most other Linux distributions, Easy is not deployed as as image for a CD disk (ISO file). Instead, Easy is an image for an external drive, such as USB Flash stick, SD-card or USB solid state disk (SSD)."

"Installation
This web page is describing how Easy works, not installation. There will be a separate page for that, however, it can be mentioned here how easy it is. Just install one of the free GUI tools for writing an image file to a drive, such as USB Image Tool for Windows, or Etch for Windows, Mac and Linux. Or, in Linux it is easy to do on the commandline (for the example of the external drive being /dev/sdb):
# gunzip --stdout easy-0.1.6-amd64.img.gz | dd of=/dev/sdb bs=1M
# sync"

[don570]

One user did report that he could use Easy linux in a full install with a few changes.
You need at least two partitions apparently.
http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... 207#948207

For now, I was trying something else. Tested with a VirtualBox install onto VHD, and that went fine, fully functional. Then with a few things tested there, did a manual hard drive install on the laptop. Copied boot and work files into existing Windows and Quirky partitions respectively, edited BOOT_SPECS, and looks to be functioning fine.(much faster than the USB)

___________________________________________________________

[BarryK]

I have booted from Easy Linux from USB. However, I don't find any option install to my Internal HDD. No universal installer found in setup menu.

Yeah, that is not yet written.

[BarryK]

A progress report.

I am working on Easy, looking good.

The next release of Easy and Quirky, built with the OpenEmbedded packages, will have updated "firmware_linux_network" and "firmware_linux_display" PETs, with a huge collection of firmware. It should cover everyones needs.

As Easy is embracing SFS files and the layered filesystem technique, similar to Puppy, it is a good idea to think of some kind of GUI for choosing, downloading and "installing" SFS files. There could be a repository of them.

I have a vague memory that someone developed something like this for Puppy, an SFS-chooser GUI, but I can't find it. Does anyone recall anything like that?

[backi]

Hi Barry !

As Easy is embracing SFS files and the layered filesystem technique, similar to Puppy, it is a good idea to think of some kind of GUI for choosing, downloading and "installing" SFS files. There could be a repository of them.

I have a vague memory that someone developed something like this for Puppy, an SFS-chooser GUI, but I can't find it. Does anyone recall anything like that?

Maybe have a look here down at the Bottom of the Page :

http://puppylinux.org/wikka/SquashFS

Regards !

[rufwoof]

As Easy is embracing SFS files and the layered filesystem technique, similar to Puppy, it is a good idea to think of some kind of GUI for choosing, downloading and "installing" SFS files. There could be a repository of them.

I have a vague memory that someone developed something like this for Puppy, an SFS-chooser GUI, but I can't find it. Does anyone recall anything like that?

RSH's/LazyPuppy's Topless, Lazy, Lassie ???

Seem to recall the menu being dynamic and offering all possible sfs's available from its sfs repository via the normal puppy menu, and either loading the sfs if the latest version was already available locally (previously downloaded), or otherwise downloaded and installed from its repository. Which is part used sfs-plus ???

Basically loads of menu options, but initially most sfs's not being stored locally. If you clicked say Menu, Accessories, Geany it would check to see if geany.sfs was local and if so load it and run geany if geany.sfs were the latest version, otherwise it would download the latest geany.sfs, load it and run geany. A lot more complicated/clever than that, even had variable desktops/menus and I guess multiple programs within single sfs's rather than a single sfs for each and every program.

[rufwoof]

I'm not 100% confident about sfs layering myself. I suspect there are still some bugs that can result in problems. Never been able to pin it down but along the lines of more complex combinations of files/sym-links and repeated loading/unloading (processing/handling of the .wh files in some rare/special cases).

Personally I tend to stick with just a single layer, empty main sfs, everything stored in the save area (which for me is a ext partition at the / (root) level, so I can also boot as though a full install (handy for running updates such as kernel upgrades)). If you're content to run a read-only session then that can all be copied into the main sfs and just that alone booted (which is the way I run more often, but with /home set to be on another partition so that all user level configuration/diary/browser bookmarks ...etc are preserved across reboots). In effect the Debian repository is used as the main core, so other programs can be pulled into a read-only session from that main repository as and when needed for that single session only (or added to the local core so that the programs are locally available at each reboot).

For modular multi-sfs-layering sooner or later that could see problems IMO. Its also a headache having to maintain version control/updates of such sfs repositories (order of stacking/layering issues if the same lib/file has a older version present in a sfs that is layered higher up that causes a program that is layered deeper down the stacking that uses that lib/file to fail due to running with a older copy of the lib/file).

[don570]

backi has the info right about the developers of SFS add-ons

http://puppylinux.org/wikka/sfsload

http://puppylinux.org/wikka/SFSPlus

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[BarryK]

Hi Barry !

As Easy is embracing SFS files and the layered filesystem technique, similar to Puppy, it is a good idea to think of some kind of GUI for choosing, downloading and "installing" SFS files. There could be a repository of them.

I have a vague memory that someone developed something like this for Puppy, an SFS-chooser GUI, but I can't find it. Does anyone recall anything like that?

Maybe have a look here down at the Bottom of the Page :

http://puppylinux.org/wikka/SquashFS

Regards !

ha ha, yes, I see there is 'sfsget'. That is already in Quirky and Easy, at /usr/sbin/sfsget -- furthermore, I wrote it!

Wrote it in 2011. Very old, needs some fixing.

[BarryK]

Easy version 0.3 alpha is uploaded, see blog announcement:

http://barryk.org/news/?viewDetailed=00557

Testers welcome!

[Billtoo]

I installed to a 128GB SSD.

I installed the devx and rebooted, then compiled Gkrellm + a plugin.

When I try to run hardinfo I get an error, tried changing permissions
but still getting the error.

# report-video
VIDEO REPORT: Easy Pyro64, version 0.3

Chip description:
VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)

Requested by /etc/X11/xorg.conf:
Resolution (widthxheight, in pixels): 1920x1080
Depth (bits, or planes): 24
Modules requested to be loaded: dbe

Probing Xorg startup log file (/var/log/Xorg.0.log):
Driver loaded (and currently in use): intel
Loaded modules: dbe dri2 evdev extmod fbdevhw glx present

Actual rendering on monitor:
Resolution: 1920x1080 pixels (508x285 millimeters)
Depth: 24 planes

...the above also recorded in /tmp/report-video
#

That's it so far.

Thanks.

EDIT: When I did the first install I removed the SSD without entering the sync command, realized my mistake, put it back in and ran the command.
I just did another install to a 16GB SDHC card,ran the sync command properly and hardinfo runs okay.

[BarryK]

EDIT: When I did the first install I removed the SSD without entering the sync command, realized my mistake, put it back in and ran the command.
I just did another install to a 16GB SDHC card,ran the sync command properly and hardinfo runs okay.

Yeah, unplugging before running the sync could result in corrupting the drive.

I have tested hardinfo and it worked. That was on a pristine Easy. haven't tried it after loading the devx sfs.

Change of subject: have started a target i586 compile in OpenEmbedded. it is just on midnight here, so I will let it run while I sleep.
I configured the kernel for i586 but with symmetric multiprocessing enabled. There are a lot of 32-bit x86 CPUs with two or more cores. But, I do recall that there were some uniprocessor systems that did not like the SMP-enabled Linux kernel.
Chose 4GB max RAM.

[Billtoo]

I have tested hardinfo and it worked. That was on a pristine Easy. haven't tried it after loading the devx sfs.

Loading the devx in my SDHC card install caused hardinfo to not work, I
compiled Gkrellm + plugin then unloaded the devx, rebooted, and
hardinfo works again.

Computer
Processor 2x Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E8400 @ 3.00GHz
Memory 3921MB (106MB used)
Machine Type Physical machine
Operating System Easy Pyro64
User Name root (root)
Date/Time Mon May 29 12:49:44 2017
Display
Resolution 1920x1080 pixels
Vendor The X.Org Foundation
Version 1.19.1

[don570]

There is a very fast download site available for version 0.3

https://ftp.nluug.nl/os/Linux/distr/qui ... /easy-0.3/

The devx appears to have downloaded correctly as well . Very good.

There is a good site to find the md5sum online
http://onlinemd5.com/

The md5sums checked out fine.

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[Terry H]

Installed to a Patriot 8GB Flash drive. The firmware for my intel wifi card were not included in firmware.

I downloaded the latest iwlwifi-7265d-27.ucode from kernel.org. This wasn't found as the latest version that was searched for was 26. So I downloaded the previous version, which was loaded. Wifi working now.

All working very nicely so far on Dell laptop with Intel i3-5005 with 8GB RAM.