Can Puppy run on Lenovo Laptop G40-30?

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sefcruz
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Can Puppy run on Lenovo Laptop G40-30?

#1 Post by sefcruz »

Hello Everyone,

Newbie here. I am trying to switch operating system from Windows to Linux because Windows update always get me in trouble. I use Lenovo Laptop G40-30 and I installed a Tahrpup 6.0 and Slucko Puppy and both had the same issue from a USB pendrive installation.

The installation went well and nothing seemed wrong but when Puppy has been installed, I could not do anything at all. The touchpad does not work, the keyboard does not work. I even tried using external keyboard and mouse to see if this would work but also did not.

Bios is UEFI
Legacy and Legacy first

I tried researching for answers but did not find any as well. I was hoping anyone can help me out :)

Btw, touchpad and builtin keyboard and other ports work well in Windows.

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bigpup
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#2 Post by bigpup »

First anytime you talk about a Puppy version you must be very specific.
Tahrpup 6.0 and Slucko Puppy
Slucko Puppy, I assume you are talking about Slacko Puppy.
Which one.
There are about 8 different versions.
Slacko 6.0
Slacko 6.3.2
Slacko 5.7
Etc....
All slightly different.
You could be trying to use a development, buggy version of Slacko.

To start, Tahrpup 6.0 is very buggy.
You want this version:
Tahrpup 6.0.5

Get the latest release versions of Puppy here:
http://puppylinux.com/index.html#download
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bigpup
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#3 Post by bigpup »

The touchpad does not work, the keyboard does not work. I even tried using external keyboard and mouse to see if this would work but also did not.
To make sure of what is happening.
Puppy boots OK to a desktop, but no input devices work?


The touchpad issue may just be it needs to be setup correctly.
menu->Setup->Mouse/keyboard Wizard->Touchpad.

Sure the touchpad is turned on?
Look for key that Enables/disables the touchpad.


External mouse and keyboards usually work with no problem.
Are you booting with those already plugged in?
Puppy needs to see them at bootup, to know they are there, and need to be operational.

The laptop keyboard should just work.
Got an off/on switch for the keyboard?
Last edited by bigpup on Sun 23 Jul 2017, 00:12, edited 1 time in total.
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:
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sefcruz
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Joined: Sat 22 Jul 2017, 17:22

#4 Post by sefcruz »

Yes, I am booting from a Lenovo laptop and I can't do anything after it booted up.

A "quick setup" appears as pop up after the boot and I can't navigate from there as the keyboard and mouse don't appear to work once Puppy has been installed.

Yes, I even tried booting with those plugged in but they don't get detected as well. I can tell because when I press the numlock or capslock, the light on the button don't appear.

Yes, touchpad is turned on. For some reason, there is no on/off button so I assume it works by default
Last edited by sefcruz on Sun 23 Jul 2017, 00:14, edited 1 time in total.

sefcruz
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#5 Post by sefcruz »

Sorry if I missed,

I used thard 6.0 and Slacko 6.3.0 which were both downloaded from the official website (I suppose) http://puppylinux.org/main/Download%20L ... elease.htm

Sorry for the typo as well.

I hope we resolve the issue :(

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bigpup
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#6 Post by bigpup »

I press the numlock or capslock, the light on the button don't appear.
The Puppy version may or may not do this. Turn the light on or off.
It is a minor bug in some versions of Puppy.

Sure the touchpad is turned on?
Look for key that Enables/disables the touchpad.

Same for the keyboard?

If this is a brand new laptop.
You may need a Puppy using a newer Linux kernel.
Try one of these:
Xenialpup 7.0.8.1
http://distro.ibiblio.org/puppylinux/te ... 1-uefi.iso

Slacko 6.9.9.9
http://distro.ibiblio.org/puppylinux/pu ... -PM-LO.iso
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)

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bigpup
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#7 Post by bigpup »

Sorry, but that web site is a little behind on Puppy development.
It is an all volunteer operation, and the person controlling it, is a little slow to update.

I posted earlier the official Puppy web site.
In fact, it is posted at the top of the forum.
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:
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sefcruz
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#8 Post by sefcruz »

I do hope this is just a minor bug issue.

I got this laptop around 2014 I think. The Windows installed on it gets slower and slower as days go by - looks like a countdown lifetime of the OS.

Thank you for sharing the download source. I'm downloading it now and I'll let you know how it goes as soon as I run it.

8)

I see. I didn't know about that. I just searched for the term "download puppy linux" and that website appear on the #1 spot.

I am downloading the 6.9.9.9 uefi btw. Looking forward for best result.

Will be sure to let you know how it goes.

Best

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bigpup
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#9 Post by bigpup »

The manual for the Lenovo G40-30 says there is an off/on switch for the touchpad.
Looks like F8
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The things they do not tell you, are usually the clue to solving the problem.
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sefcruz
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#10 Post by sefcruz »

I didn't know it was the on/off button. I also tried pressing this button a few times but as the keyboard itself does not work, this will not also work - the "F6" botton. In fact, all buttons I tried pressing but nothing at all.

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rufwoof
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#11 Post by rufwoof »

You might need later firmware/module in which case as suggested other choices of Puppy (later kernel) might better provide that.

Could be that the touchpad has defaulted to being off. Sometimes there's a key with a rectangle and a line ... that is supposed to indicate a finger touching the touchpad ... see if toggling that does anything [EDIT bigpup already jumped in with that suggestion as I was typing this]

The Puppy Quickstart (first run) does have some help for mouse not working, tab to here ... but if you can't even tab that's not much help. What is basically says is you need to edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf to enable mouse/keyboard .. but again that's not a great deal of help either. Pretty difficult to change that but if you could then something like a Input Section edited to

Code: Select all

Section "InputClass"
Identifier "Touchpad" # required
MatchIsTouchpad "yes" # required
Driver "synaptics" # required
Option "MinSpeed" "0.5"
Option "MaxSpeed" "1.0"
Option "AccelFactor" "0.075"
Option "TapButton1" "1"
Option "TapButton2" "2" # multitouch
Option "TapButton3" "3" # multitouch
Option "VertTwoFingerScroll" "1" # multitouch
Option "HorizTwoFingerScroll" "1" # multitouch
Option "VertEdgeScroll" "1"
Option "CoastingSpeed" "8"
Option "CornerCoasting" "1"
Option "CircularScrolling" "1"
Option "CircScrollTrigger" "7"
Option "EdgeMotionUseAlways" "1"
Option "LBCornerButton" "8" # browser "back" btn
Option "RBCornerButton" "9" # browser "forward" btn
EndSection 
might work. Quite involved to make that change however without an existing working Puppy/Linux (if you did have a working Linux already you'd have to extract the main sfs, edit the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file and rebuild the sfs again).
Last edited by rufwoof on Sun 23 Jul 2017, 00:47, edited 1 time in total.

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bigpup
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#12 Post by bigpup »

Maybe you need a newer Linux kernel.

If this is a brand new laptop.
You may need a Puppy using a newer Linux kernel.
Try one of these:
Xenialpup 7.0.8.1
http://distro.ibiblio.org/puppylinux/te ... 1-uefi.iso

Slacko 6.9.9.9
http://distro.ibiblio.org/puppylinux/pu ... -PM-LO.iso
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)

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8Geee
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#13 Post by 8Geee »

Hmmmm... the internal stuff dates to 2014, thats a check.
Is windows 8.1 stil in the machine, or did you upgrade to Win10?
I note this Lenovo has a "real" HDD, but no CD/DVD drive (the cutout is there tho).
Tend to agree, a newer puppy like Slacko64 6.3.2-uefi might handle the hardware issues.

Regards
8Geee
Linux user #498913 "Some people need to reimagine their thinking."
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peterw
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Lenovo with Puppy

#14 Post by peterw »

Hi Sefcruz and welcome to Linux and Puppy

I think you have put Puppy onto a usb and installed it from that onto your laptop. When you booted from the usb with Puppy was the keyboard working as it started to boot?

Can you tell us how you created the usb with Puppy aboard? I am puzzled because Puppy is very good at working with lots of different hardware. The only time that I have had issues is with one type of touchpad and even then the keyboard worked. It is especially weird because it should work with external keyboard and mouse even if it does not work with the internal ones. More recent Puppies have a better chance of working with your setup and one of the Puppy relations called Fatdog works with that difficult touchpad. You might want to give that a try http://distro.ibiblio.org/fatdog/web/

peterw
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Lenovo laptop and Puppy

#15 Post by peterw »

Further thoughts:

To toggle the laptop touch pad on and off it is actually F6 according to https://download.lenovo.com/consumer/mo ... es_hmm.pdf page 34.

That manual also mentions 3 types of password can be set on these machines page 28. Can these affect the use of the keyboard and touch pad?

I have read that Lenovo whitelist components so that only their approved spares can work on their machines. And on other models they disable some keys in the boot menu if you can get it up as a security measure so that you can't boot from usb, etc. I wonder if some UEFI BIOS setting is causing an issue.

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mikeslr
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#16 Post by mikeslr »

Hi sefcruz,

With the exception of FatDog, newer Puppies are built using the binaries (nuts, bolts & moving parts so to speak) created for other Linux distros. As examples, Tahrpup uses those from Ubuntu Trusty Tahr, while XenialPup uses those from Ubuntu Xenial Xerus. "DebianDogs" are created by repackaging the operating systems of debianlive (debian constructed to run from a USB-stick -- sort of like a Frugal rather than full install). Ubuntu distros, themselves, are to a large extent modifications of debian Linux. So, in creating MintPup (Trusty LTS) saintless was able to develop an essentially debian operating system which by default would access Ubuntu Trusty Tahr's repositories, but could be modified to access the repositories of Linux Mint (which is also sort of a debian/ubuntu hybrid). Unfortunately, MintPup is only a 32-bit operating system. It is becoming increasingly difficult to obtain web-browsers which do not require that they be run from a 64-bit system. Currently, work-arounds and special builds are available for Puppies. But for how long, your guess is as good as mine.

Why tell you about the above. Because in trying to find a Puppy or debiandog which will function properly on your computer it often is helpful to know what other Linux distros and which versions of those distros provided satisfactory performance.

So I googled "Linux Lenovo G40-30". I could only find one report of a version of Linux providing satisfactory performance. https://community.linuxmint.com/hardware/view/23674 It was for LinuxMint 17.1. MintPup, http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... 430#858430 would be the closest OS supported on this Forum to that OS.

I also found reports of some people having difficulty under Trusty Tahr setting up wireless. That actually is encouraging as it indicates they did not have difficulty with keyboards and other input devices. Problems with wifi, if they arise, can be addressed once you have an OS which otherwise functions.

As bigpup has already advised, I'd suggest that you try Xenialpup and the latest version of Tahrpup. It is unlikely that firmware for newer computers included in TrustyTahr/Tahrpup was not included in Xenial Xerus/Xenialpup.

I'd leave trying Slackos to last. I could find no reports, good or bad, about running the G40-30 under Slackware, whose binaries are used in Slacko. Slackware, in general, is very conservative about adding to its base system; and sometimes expects users to 'compile' things which Ubuntu simply provides.

Before trying Slackos, I'd see if you can obtain satisfactory performance form XenialDog or DebianDog - Jessie. Jessie was the debian version which played some part in the creation of LinuxMint 17.1. Debian -Stretch has only recently been published as "Stable" and DebianDog -Stretch hasn't been extensively tested yet. You'll find links to the 'DebianDog' ISOs on the Project Subforum. I didn't provide links as there are several versions, both 32 and 64 bit.

mikesLr

peterw
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Another thought

#17 Post by peterw »

You have Windows installed on the laptop. When you switched off to try Puppy did you power it off properly or did you put it into a hibernate or suspend mode? It needs to start from a power off state.

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