EasyOS version 2.3.2, June 22, 2020

[Rodney Byne]

Hi to belham2,

I am very appreciative of your hard work to create
those 7 steps to install Easy.

Reading them time and again made me realise
they are too much for me to take in and put into
practice, so I will "pull the plug" if you don't mind.

It also made me think that if Easy is ever to curry
favour with the general public, then Barry will have
to radically simplify the whole install process.

I recall a blog line in which he commented that people
had made mistakes with their attempts at dd install
script lines.
So it's not an easily understood process, except for
compilers who thoroughly understand code.

Over-ambitious designs like this would make me welcome a
return to simple modernised stable pups with a self-updating browser.
Having very much less than ridiculous half-a-gig isos.

They're very slow to download on an ADSL phone line miles from the exchange.
Easy is a killer in that regard!

But thanks again for your efforts.

[don570]

I can't find "filsystem" at bootup in 0.5, I must have fixed it.

I have checked Easy linux version 0.5 and it's still there during bootup.

I use a usb thumb drive and when booting up there is a message with a blue background --->

The message says I can have a normal bootup or I can have a 'Filsystem check'

When I select 'Filsystem check' It does a quick check and reports back
that it has changed the dates of a lot of files.
___________________________________________________________

[smokey01]

@Barry the psip (puppyphone) binary from fatdog64-710 works in EasyOS.

[scsijon]

Easydd seems to be reading from my hard drive by the repeated drive noise it's making, any chance of it loading the file being written out in ram first?

other than that it seems to be working ok.

EDIT: started it up on the Wacom Tablet with the new download, but it got stuck at the same place as last time.
Shut it down and found an old usb hub so the usb memory stick and a keyboard could be both plugged in, then realized there was a second usb port (thought it was a full sized hdmi) so used that instead.
Told it on it's startup menu to do a test instead (2nd menu item) it displayed:-
(colour is white unless marked at start of line otherwise)

(in Purple) Finding Drives:
sda sda sdb
Boot partition: sdb1 Working-partition: sdb2
[ 4.238219] EXT4-fs error(device sdb2): ext4_mb_generate_buddy:756: group 172, block bitmap and bg descriptor inconsistant:32768 vs 32767 free clusters
(in purple) Filesystem operations are to be performed on the working partition: sdb2
(in purple) Performing filesystem check on request...
easy2: 57/1855952 files (1.8% non-contiguous), 232148/7412864 blocks
filesystem check completed!
(in purple) Mounting read-only layer of layered filesystem
copying q.sfs to RAM, then mounting
mount: mounting /dev/loop0 on /q_ro/q.sfs failed Invalid argument
(IN RED) ERROR: failed to mount q.sfs
Have now dropped into a shell in initramfs
Note1: Type "exit", the init script will attempt to continue, however,
only an expert who is debugging the bootup should do this.
Note2: On some PC's the keyboard does not work at this stage of bootup.
PLEASE HOLD DOWN THE POWER BUTTON TO SHUTDOWN
/bin/sh: can't access tty: job control turned off
/#

----
same thing happened trying it in another machine so i'll take it it's a crook usb stick for now and i'll dd another when I have time.

although the error message also said /init: line 110: can't create /mnt/sdb2/.session/.fsckme.flag: Structure needs cleaning before the first EXT4-fs error

EDIT2:

Yep, the "old" memory stick apparently had an attach of the memory fails, more showed up each time the test was run!. My only spare 32gig one too!

Upon starting again, it has unfortunately only got me back to my previous failing point on the previous page though!
I wonder if it's that .sfs problem we use to have, but I don't remember the workaround other than a full install and I haven't looked at easy in that manner..

However, having learn't about configuring with this, I may just try something left-field and see what happens.

[L18L]

easy-0.5 dd' on 4 GB usb pendrive (sdc).

Booted OK after my usual addition of

Code: Select all

drm_kms_helper.edid_firmware=edid/1920x1080.bin

to all kernel lines in syslinux.cfg.
Very convenient that it is directly writable.

Used gparted to make new ext4 partition on my external gpt usb disk (sdb10).

copied content of sdc1 to a new directoty EASY under existing EFI partition (boot,esp).

After adjusting BOOT_DISKID in file BOOT_SPECS
reboot to EASY on hard disk worked.
Boot EFI\EASY\BOOTX64.EFI from EFI1

Triggered by:
https://medium.com/@manujarvinen/settin ... a1fcf8d502
Helpful: http://www.rodsbooks.com/efi-bootloaders/

-------
EDIT Oct 8
glad that easyos-now-using-refind-boot-manager

[belham2]

Barry or all,

Can anyone answer the question posted here?
http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... &start=225


Also, a very crazy question: excluding 'frugal' installing Easy, which I've given up upon because of Container issues, is it possible (if you've fully installed Easy to a USB thumbdrive) to then run Easy (from that thumbdriv) completely in RAM? Say, using the grub4dos entry of "pfix=ram"? Or is running fully in RAM not possible given how Easy is structured and such?


Thank you for any help/answers.

[technosaurus]

Barry or all,

Can anyone answer the question posted here?
http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... &start=225

I have no idea. Do you have your forum pages set to load most recent first or first post first? It changes what page the post is on and it may not even be on that page after a few posts. Its better to use the link on the top left of the post because not only does it bring you to the correct page, but the exact post - leaving no ambiguity as to what question you are referring to. The link looks like a little icon of a blank page in the upper left corner of the post body.

[belham2]

Barry or all,

Can anyone answer the question posted here?
http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... &start=225

I have no idea. Do you have your forum pages set to load most recent first or first post first? It changes what page the post is on and it may not even be on that page after a few posts. Its better to use the link on the top left of the post because not only does it bring you to the correct page, but the exact post - leaving no ambiguity as to what question you are referring to. The link looks like a little icon of a blank page in the upper left corner of the post body.

in all the years I've been here (as Belham1 and now 2), I never knew about that little box in upper left part of the post. I had always wondered about how when I clicked on some people's links, it went straight to their post in the middle of a long page of its thread. Now I know....thanks, Technosaurus.....so here it was:

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 971#969971

I went ahead, since no one answered, & I remastered without urxvt/rxvt. Haven't hit any bombs yet, but I'm sure something will pop up. urxvt/rxvt is really the pits compared to lxterminal/roxterm & sakura.

[technosaurus]

Question: will I break anything if I completely remove xrvt/urxvt before re-mastering? I hate rxvt/urxvt with a passion. I have Roxterm set up as my default terminal, and LxTerminal as 2nd terminal....both of these terminals are worlds better. in my experience, than rxvt/urxvt (like highlighting, copying and pasting and such, among other things).

Thus, the question: do other things in Puppy/Quirky/Easy use xrvt/urxvt that will break them if xrvt/urxvt is gone? I've already accounted for HTOP (LxTerminal has it now), but what else am I not considering? Or is there nothing to worry about?

Unfortunately yes, many puppy scripts make assumptions that you are root, have specific packages installed, use a specific window manager, etc... The best you can do is add a symlink to your terminal for any default terminal that you remove. Sometimes you need may a wrapper script instead of a symlink if certain command line options are different or missing (for instance: many scripts will have rxvt -e ...)

[BarryK]

EDIT Oct 8
glad that easyos-now-using-refind-boot-manager

Yeah, rEFInd is great, glad that I finally got around to checking it out.

The way it is setup in your photo, you will get two menus, firstly the one shown in your photo, then the Easy boot menu.

What I have done is merge them. So there is just the one menu.

This is done by launching the Easy vmlinuz directly from the rEFInd menu, with sub-menu choices (filesystem check, etc).

I know the GUI looks nice, but I have gone for a plain text-mode menu.

Expect to see this in 0.6 ...which, maybe, will be in a few days.

What excites me about this, is if you have a UEFI-firmware computer, Easy will have a built-in boot manager, just a couple of changes to the refind.conf config file, and it will autodetect all other OSs and add them to the menu -- this is so cool.

[BarryK]

For Easy to appeal to a wide audience, especially Windows refugees, the documentation has to be easy to understand and follow, and getting started with Easy has to be, well, easy.

I have simplified EasyDD, and written a new tutorial on how to download and write Easy to a USB-stick:

http://bkhome.org/news/201710/getting-s ... -easy.html

This should now be a simple process, for both Linux and Windows users. I don't know about Mac users -- anyone know of a simple Mac GUI utility to write an image file to a Flash-drive?

Some of the follow-on tutorials will have to be updated, as now using rEFInd, which, for UEFI-firmware computers at least, will greating simplify setting up dual-booting -- and in a non-invasive way, so the user can easy revert to the previous situation -- so people are less likely to get scared off by risk of wrecking their Windows installation.

Timeline now is to fix a few bugs, update the tuts, bring out 0.6. Not sure how many days that will take.

[BarryK]

Question: will I break anything if I completely remove xrvt/urxvt before re-mastering? I hate rxvt/urxvt with a passion. I have Roxterm set up as my default terminal, and LxTerminal as 2nd terminal....both of these terminals are worlds better. in my experience, than rxvt/urxvt (like highlighting, copying and pasting and such, among other things).

Thus, the question: do other things in Puppy/Quirky/Easy use xrvt/urxvt that will break them if xrvt/urxvt is gone? I've already accounted for HTOP (LxTerminal has it now), but what else am I not considering? Or is there nothing to worry about?

Unfortunately yes, many puppy scripts make assumptions that you are root, have specific packages installed, use a specific window manager, etc... The best you can do is add a symlink to your terminal for any default terminal that you remove. Sometimes you need may a wrapper script instead of a symlink if certain command line options are different or missing (for instance: many scripts will have rxvt -e ...)

Yes, I wonder what alternative terminal emulators have compatible commandline parameters?
Then we could just pop in a "rxvt" and "urxvt" wrapper script.

Another possibility, probably not so satisfactory, is leave rxvt/urxvt installed, and add your own desired terminal, then change the desktop "console" icon to run your terminal emulator.
That should keep the scripts happy.

[BarryK]

Barry or all,

Can anyone answer the question posted here?
http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... &start=225


Also, a very crazy question: excluding 'frugal' installing Easy, which I've given up upon because of Container issues, is it possible (if you've fully installed Easy to a USB thumbdrive) to then run Easy (from that thumbdriv) completely in RAM? Say, using the grub4dos entry of "pfix=ram"? Or is running fully in RAM not possible given how Easy is structured and such?


Thank you for any help/answers.

You mean, so that nothing at all gets saved? So, you will bootup each time a pristine system.

Easy has a read-write layer which is a folder in the working partition (see /mnt/wkg/.session), so everything is automatically saved.

However, you can wipe it at every bootup, with the boot parameter "qfix=bak".

That will give you the same effect as running totally in RAM.

Actually, it is on my to-do list for 0.6, to tweak that "qfix=bak" a bit.
So that it doesn't roll right back to a first-bootup situation, but to last saved session.

In other words, setup your internet etc, save the session, then if you have "qfix=bak" it will just roll back to that saved session.
So, almost-pristine, but with your basic configurations so don't have to setup Internet etc at every bootup.

[lp-dolittle]

thank you Mr. Kauler for the Easy OS 0.5 release

running it from a pen drive on a Dell Latitude E6500 laptop (4GB RAM; Intel graphics chip), I'm impressed with the improvements since Easy OS-version 0.2, yet the previously reported keyboard setting issue is still present. The Swiss German layout only can be chosen via the XKB configuration manager, and is spontaneously reset after each restart of X. Remarkably, the setting only works if the choice 'ch Switzerland' is confirmed at least twice!! The same issue is present in Quirky Xerus64 8.3 final.
Furthermore, I notice ongoing frequent intermittent flickering of the pen drive even if Easy OS 0.5 actually is 'idle', i.e. if I'm not running a specific program. What about this pen drive activity; the drive was prepared according to the new EasyDD-instructions? Does it indicate, that Easy OS preferably should be installed on an internal hard drive? Does this permanent activity affect the pen drives durability?

kind regards

[L18L]

The Swiss German layout only can be chosen via the XKB configuration manager, and ...

Try sg for Swiss German please.

With Fatdog sg seems to be working for Swiss German.

Sango

Code: Select all

# setxkbmap sg
Error loading new keyboard description
# 
# setxkbmap de
# öäüß

[L18L]

What excites me about this, is if you have a UEFI-firmware computer, Easy will have a built-in boot manager, just a couple of changes to the refind.conf config file, and it will autodetect all other OSs and add them to the menu -- this is so cool.

Yeah really.
If old computers are those which are older than 3 years then it was really time to get puppies work out of the box with EFI and GPT.

What about EFI Secure Boot

Have a nice camping trip.

[Gyle]

Hi all,
Has anyone succeeded in downloading the devx-8.3-xerus64.pet these last days?
The download failed four times at these two links:

http://distro.ibiblio.org/quirky/quirky ... erus64.pet
http://distro.ibiblio.org/easyos/amd64/ ... erus64.pet

Thanks

[ally]

first link ok, second link 404

also available here: https://ftp.nluug.nl/os/Linux/distr/qui ... ges-xerus/

and mirrored here: http://archive.org/details/Puppy_Linux_Devx

[don570]

I tracked down the spelling error 'Filsystem check'

The reason why Barry couldn't see the problem was because he uses UEFI computers now.

I use an older IBM computer that uses syslinux and the text is
located in syslinux.cfg .
A simple change should be all that is needed.
Here's the old version....

Code: Select all

ui menu.c32

menu title Easy OS
default normal
timeout 100

label normal
menu label Normal startup
kernel vmlinuz
append initrd=initrd.q rw

label fsck
menu label Filsystem check
kernel vmlinuz
append initrd=initrd.q rw qfix=fsck

label nox
menu label Commandline only, do not start X
kernel vmlinuz
append initrd=initrd.q rw qfix=nox

label bak
menu label Rollback (delete read-write layer)
kernel vmlinuz
append initrd=initrd.q rw qfix=bak

[Gyle]

ally,
thank you very much.

Nluug: I stopped downloading the file to 364 M (devx = 334M) - speed 3 times higher than my limit.
Mirror: The other link does not display the correct devx.

I think my internet connection, or my machine, has a problem.
I'll try again in a few days.