EasyOS version 2.3.2, June 22, 2020

[rufwoof]

In 1.0.11, Firefox downloaded from the repository doesn't run when its desktop "New" container is clicked.

Incidentally this 64.0 is an old version and repository should be updated to a Quantum 65.0.1

Let's hope 1.0.12 is better.

I use Fred's portable firefox quantum inside the easy container, which auto updates.

Barry does a great job of producing new ideas and sharing those around with others, I for one greatly appreciate that, both learning new things and enjoying the ride. There's a tremendous amount of effort that goes on behind the scenes to get a working package, leaving it to others to polish that off for their own particular requirements/hardware. Have a read through James' FatDog blog article for instance. You shouldn't expect a out of the box quality end product - that's simply not the intent. Unless that is you are prepared to do the polishing and share that around with others and support it - despite more often taking flak for the things that don't work.

[lp-dolittle]

@ rufwoof

agreed, speaking of an iso.image, I created confusion. Sorry!
At least partially, we seem to speak at cross purposes.

As far as I can understand, the alternatives which you mention have the limitation that the boot medium cannot be removed while EasyOS is running; read/write processes between the boot medium and the RAM continue. Solely leaving untouched the internal HDD is not my only intention. I would like to have an option that allows to remove the boot medium as soon as the OS is loaded into RAM.

thank you for paying attention to my issue!

kind regards

[rufwoof]

Forgot to mention that the .img.gz is a hybrid I believe anyway, so can be used to burn to optical.

One option to ram load might be to move the easy.sfs inside initrd and tweak init to set it up as though it were frugally installed, but that was running in ram. Changes wouldn't be preserved obviously, but could be preserved if a storage device were added and had the .session flushed to that (or a snapshot of the changes created/stored).

[lp-dolittle]

@ rufwoof,

thank you very much for this specifying comment!

I will ponder on the mentioned options, despite being unsure whether I will be able to successfully apply your proposals, in view of my layman limitations!

thank you again and kind regards

[rufwoof]

Bugs still evident in 1.0.11

1.
Open easy container
Change the background wallpaper
Exit the container
Re-open the container
... and the background/wallpaper has reverted to the original

2.
Open Easy container
Open Rox-Filer
Create a file in the default /mnt/wkg/home folder
Exit the container
Create a snapshot
Restore the snapshot
Open the container
... and the file previously created in /mnt/wkg/home has been lost.

What I did to resolve 2. was to cp /mnt/wkg/home to /mntwkghome prior to the creation of a snapshot, as /mnt is excluded from the snapshot and that way /mntwkghome is preserved within the snapshot sfs. Then as part of .control easy I added a test for the existence of /mntwkghome and if present move it to /mnt/wkg/home

[don570]

WKG_DIR='easy/'
Also fails in upgrade and frugal installation.

Reading thru the instructions Barry wrote for mele computer...

The little tweak that you can do is open BOOT_SPECS in a text editor and specify a directory for WKG_DIR:
WKG_DIR='easy'

_____________________________________

[rufwoof]

The boot and working partitions can be the same. I have vmlinuz, initrd and easy.sfs installed on sda1 in a /easy/1.0.11 folder (and boot using grub4dos).

If using ext4 however and desiring encryption ??? Then I guess they'd have to be separate partitions.

[rufwoof]

Is youtube-dl working in 1.0.11 ? (I suspect not, but presently I'm booted into 1.0 and doing a big/long mp4 conversion so I can't test it currently). Not seen it work in any post 1.0 version so far. I tend to use OpenBSD for that, as its reliable. Given that youtube-dl changes often I believe they pull the executable down (???). Looking at their code within youtube-dl ...

Code: Select all

#!/usr/local/bin/python3.6
# EASY-INSTALL-ENTRY-SCRIPT: 'youtube-dl==2019.1.17','console_scripts','youtube-dl'
__requires__ = 'youtube-dl==2019.1.17'
import re
import sys
from pkg_resources import load_entry_point

if __name__ == '__main__':
    sys.argv[0] = re.sub(r'(-script\.pyw?|\.exe)?$', '', sys.argv[0])
    sys.exit(
        load_entry_point('youtube-dl==2019.1.17', 'console_scripts', 'youtube-dl')()
    )

[jd7654]

Manual frugal install to HD, copied files out of 1.0.11 img file from an within older Easy OS.

Couldn't figure out why was failing to boot, until I realized the UUID I was pasting in was upper case and the BOOT_SPECS needs lower case letters. Maybe can add a tr A-Z a-z to that.

Couple of sound issues on two different systems.

One system sound works fine, Intel Skylake with Sunrise Point-LP HD Audio. But keep getting a pop-up window and cannot make go away, says:
"PN Mixer Error"
"Warning: Connection to sound system failed"

Didn't have this problem with Easy OS Ubuntu, only with Pyro.

Another system has sound problems with all Linux I tried, not just Easy OS, with an es8316 chip. But in Easy OS Ubuntu, Xine played a video file, just without sound. In Easy OS Pyro, Xine refuses to play video file with error "The audio device is unavailable. Please verify if another program already uses it."
Don't know if this is a compile option for Xine to ignore or not? But I do need to fix the es8316 issue anyway.

[BarryK]

Hi Barry,

am I right to suppose that your - hopefully not final - decision to abandon the .iso option also means that it no longer will be possible to run EasyOS in RAM exclusively (for example for security reasons, repair, etcetera)?

For sure, this option would be highly appreciated by many EasyOS users who would like to dd the iso-image on a flash stick; but, of course, EsayOS is your OS, and we respect your decisions.

Do you have in mind to offer an alternative, an option to run EasyOS totally in RAM without any additionally attached drive and in absence of an internal hard disk?

kind regards

Actually, the usb-stick did have an option for the working-partition to be in zram, which meant that after bootup you could remove the usb-stick.

I implemented it a few versions back, never mentioned it, but now I have made changes and that won't work.

It would be easy to bring it back, but users such as rufwoof are happy with just rolling back to last snapshot at every bootup, which is just as secure.
Also, rufwoof does some extra checking, see his post above.

[BarryK]

The working directoy was in my system:
WKG_DIR=' ' without '/' up to and including EasyOS 1.0.8.

But in EasyOs 1.0.11 it fails, both in upgrade and in fresh frugal installations.

WKG_DIR=' /' with '/'
Fails in EasyOs 1.0.11, in upgrade and in fresh frugal installations.

WKG_DIR='easy/'
Also fails in upgrade anf frugal installation.

Somewhere I'm doing something but what!.

OK, post the content of BOOT_SPECS.

For the partition where you have Easy installed, let's say sda3, return these results:

# blkid /dev/sda3
# ls /mnt/sda3

Or, if different boot-partition and working-partition, run 'blkid' and 'ls' on both.

[BarryK]

To Barry,
whoops sorry, I've just found from the petget download, SMPlayer
doesn't launch as it says the QT5 script is missing.

As happens I had QT5-5.10.1-pyro64.pet on a backup files usb,
so installed that and SMPlayer then ran OK.
Regards.

OK, I need to recompile smplayer. Gnome-mpv and VLC were fixed, but they might not work if you have that qt5 pet installed.

[BarryK]

Barry does a great job of producing new ideas and sharing those around with others, I for one greatly appreciate that, both learning new things and enjoying the ride. There's a tremendous amount of effort that goes on behind the scenes to get a working package, leaving it to others to polish that off for their own particular requirements/hardware. Have a read through James' FatDog blog article for instance. You shouldn't expect a out of the box quality end product - that's simply not the intent. Unless that is you are prepared to do the polishing and share that around with others and support it - despite more often taking flak for the things that don't work.

jame's post is quite long, I looked through it. Yes, that's it, when people are presented with an end-product, they often don't appreciate what went into creating it. Many months of work!

I will probably have to think about auto-updating of Firefox. Building a new SFS every time there is a new version, takes my attention away from working on improving Easy.

[BarryK]

Forgot to mention that the .img.gz is a hybrid I believe anyway, so can be used to burn to optical.

No, it was the ISO that was the hybrid, you could write it to a USB stick.

Incidentally, you can still use the 1.0.8 ISO to boot on a PC, and then use the files out of the latest easy-*.img.gz for doing a frugal installation.
---that's if your PC cannot boot from USB.

[BarryK]

If using ext4 however and desiring encryption ??? Then I guess they'd have to be separate partitions.

No, they can still be the same partition. Encryption capability has to be enabled in the ext4 filesystem, and I think that you can use Gparted to do that. It doesn't matter if it is an existing partition with other stuff in it.

However, you don't have to actually use encryption in the partition. You can selectively apply encryption to some folders, and that is what Easy does, to the 'releases', 'containers', 'home' and '.session', folders.

What Easy does at first bootup, is create those folders, and uses the 'e4crypt' utility to encrypt them. They have to be empty to do this.

From then on, a password is required to view the contents of those folders.

However, everything else in the partition is unaffected, unencrypted. For example, the 'sfs' folder is not encrypted.

In theory, you can create more encrypted folders in the partition, if you wanted to, you just have to learn how to use the 'e4crypt' utility -- study the 'init' script in the initrd to see an example of usage.

[BarryK]

Is youtube-dl working in 1.0.11 ? (I suspect not, but presently I'm booted into 1.0 and doing a big/long mp4 conversion so I can't test it currently). Not seen it work in any post 1.0 version so far. I tend to use OpenBSD for that, as its reliable. Given that youtube-dl changes often I believe they pull the executable down (???). Looking at their code within youtube-dl ...

Code: Select all

#!/usr/local/bin/python3.6
# EASY-INSTALL-ENTRY-SCRIPT: 'youtube-dl==2019.1.17','console_scripts','youtube-dl'
__requires__ = 'youtube-dl==2019.1.17'
import re
import sys
from pkg_resources import load_entry_point

if __name__ == '__main__':
    sys.argv[0] = re.sub(r'(-script\.pyw?|\.exe)?$', '', sys.argv[0])
    sys.exit(
        load_entry_point('youtube-dl==2019.1.17', 'console_scripts', 'youtube-dl')()
    )

Yeah, the youtube-dl GUI really should have an "Update" button.

Youtube.com shifts the goal posts periodically, so as to thwart downloaders like youtube-dl.

[BarryK]

Couldn't figure out why was failing to boot, until I realized the UUID I was pasting in was upper case and the BOOT_SPECS needs lower case letters. Maybe can add a tr A-Z a-z to that.

I am puzzled by this. At bootup, Easy uses the busybox 'blkid' applet to read UUIDs and look for matches with $BOOT_UUID and $WKG_UUID

'blkid' returns all letters in lower-case. What utility shows them in upper-case?

[BarryK]

I am just about to embark on another iteration of rethinking how the initrd works, aiming for more simplification.

I will also have another look at the script that "fixes" BOOT_SPECS inside initrd, aiming for it to be automatic and accurate.

[Sage]

You shouldn't expect a out of the box quality end product - that's simply not the intent. Unless that is you are prepared to do the polishing and share that around with others and support it - despite more often taking flak for the things that don't work.

Completely missing the point. There are more putative users than fixit gurus. Innovative solutions are always welcome and appreciated, but distros cited on DW may reasonably be expected to function as advertised.
When Linux first appeared in the early '90s, it was hailed as a route out from the beast. But, it needed development and was unsuitable for the unwashed masses. There followed a long period of gestation in which gurus, mainly, academics, were accused of 'talking amongst themselves'. Whilst they were entirely entitled to so do, it didn't help the industry rid itself of the people's enemy. Eventually, matters settled and distros started appearing suitable for the masses. This was a major breakthrough, and more or less remains so. Fora like this were established wherein updates, fixes and helpful assistance could be had for those either less capable or utterly disinterested in back office machinations. These are your customers, they represent the vast majority. In mitigation, they are not asked for dollaria up-front, so there exists something of a dichotomy between hobbyists sharing their wares gratis and users eager to enjoy their offerings. The question remains as to where the great divide lies. Perhaps in a perfect world SW should be state-funded? That's how it started when GB invented computers at Bletchley and developed the technology at ICL long before our transatlantic allies, despite their claims, got a foothold having traded food for our IPR...

[blgs]

The working directoy was in my system:
WKG_DIR=' ' without '/' up to and including EasyOS 1.0.8.

But in EasyOs 1.0.11 it fails, both in upgrade and in fresh frugal installations.

WKG_DIR=' /' with '/'
Fails in EasyOs 1.0.11, in upgrade and in fresh frugal installations.

WKG_DIR='easy/'
Also fails in upgrade anf frugal installation.

Somewhere I'm doing something but what!.

OK, post the content of BOOT_SPECS.

For the partition where you have Easy installed, let's say sda3, return these results:

# blkid /dev/sda3
# ls /mnt/sda3

Or, if different boot-partition and working-partition, run 'blkid' and 'ls' on both.

See below as requested for EASYOS 1.0.8 and EASY 1.0.11.
I shall try again to upgrade to 1.0.11 .

QUOTE
EASYOS 1.0.8

BOOT_DISKID='0x02509f4a'
BOOT_PARTNUM=1
BOOT_FS='vfat'
BOOT_DIR=''
WKG_DISKID='0x02509f4a'
WKG_PARTNUM=2
WKG_FS='ext4'
WKG_DIR=''
INIT_DISTRO_VERSION=1.0.8
INIT_DISTRO_BINARY_COMPAT='oe'
INIT_DISTRO_COMPAT_VERSION='pyro'
INIT_DISTRO_TARGETARCH='amd64'
INIT_LANG='nl_NL.UTF-8'

# ls /dev/mmcblk0p2
/dev/mmcblk0p2
# ls /dev/mmcblk0p1
/dev/mmcblk0p1

# fdisk -l /dev/mmcblk0
Disk /dev/mmcblk0: 58,2 GiB, 62537072640 bytes, 122142720 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x02509f4a

Device Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type
/dev/mmcblk0p1 * 2048 1310719 1308672 639M ef EFI (FAT-12/16/32)
/dev/mmcblk0p2 1310720 122142719 120832000 57,6G 83 Linux


EASYOS 1.0.11

BOOT_UUID='1D44-5E30'
BOOT_PARTNUM=1
BOOT_DIR=''
WKG_UUID='63f3c28c-159e-4e8a-8dfd-8899e402d2cc'
WKG_PARTNUM=2
WKG_DIR=''
INITRD_X_GUI='yes'

# ls /dev/mmcblk0p1
/dev/mmcblk0p1
# ls /dev/mmcblk0p2
/dev/mmcblk0p2

# blkid
/dev/mmcblk0p2: LABEL="easy2" UUID="63f3c28c-159e-4e8a-8dfd-8899e402d2cc" TYPE="ext4"
/dev/mmcblk0p1: LABEL="easy1" UUID="1D44-5E30" TYPE="vfat"
/dev/loop0: TYPE="squashfs"

UNQUOTE