PepperFlash .PETs

[Mike Walsh]

Hey, Belham.

Just out of curiosity, what are you using to 'un-archive' with? I'm asking because I use a utility by don570 he calls his 'right-click' .pet. Once installed, the right-click context menu on any file will show a number of small utilities considered to be useful for that particular file-type.

It's one of the handiest things I've ever installed.....and one of the things it includes is UExtract. This thing beats X-Archiver hands-down, no discredit to whoever wrote X-Archiver, that's just how it is..!

Link is here, if you're interested:-

It seems like nothing happens when you install (except for a yellow window that comes up in a foreign language - French, I think - but it's easy enough to follow. You need to click OK to finish the install.) You don't see anything at all.....until you right-click on something. Then you see what it's all about.

Highly recommended, if you fancy having several very useful little utilities at your fingertips, instead of searching through the various sub-menus to find them.

You sound like a veteran with FF. It's only ever been a 'back-up' browser for me.....so I've never really dug around 'under the hood', as it were. Couldn't tell you half of what it's capable of. I tried the 'beta' release of Chrome, back in summer 2008, and I was hooked instantly. Used it as my main browser pretty much ever since; that, or Chromium. Like all browsers, however, it's bloated over the years....

I'm in Precise 571 right now, running Chromium 36.0.1985.143, from 2 1/2 years ago.....with 32-bit Pepper 22.0.0.209, released yesterday!

Installed LupuSuper2 a couple of months ago. The newest Chrome that'll run there is 26.....the glibc won't support anything newer. Jeezus H.... I'd forgotten just how blisteringly fast Chrome used to be in the early days....and why I liked it so much. It's got a lot to do with the sand-boxing they use nowadays; it's much 'heavier' and more 'aggressive' than it used to be; the need for it probably driven by all the nasties out there in 'never-never land'..!


Mike.

[Belham]

Hi Mike,

Yeah, I either use UExtract or X-archiver. For the past six months, I've mainly stuck to the four pup distros of Fatdog, Tahr, Quirky8.0 and DebianDog---all 64-bit. I wanted to force myself to do this, because I knew eventually I'd have to say goodbye to 32-bit. Them stinkers at Google actually gave me the push when they nixed 32-bit Chrome (I used Chrome to watch Netflix, which weirdly I haven't watched in a long time because I binged on everything it had the first 3 months, haha).

But I gotta tell ya, I miss 32-bit when specifically talking about anything related to the pups. As I have---how do I say this nicely without my machines getting all worked up & thus starting to pull voodoo stuff on me ----I have slightly...ummmm...cough, cough, older machines. I remember you do too For mine, it's not the newest stuff, but equally it's also not the oldest. I do have some old Pentiums and AMDs (and the still functioning motherboards and memory--from the early-to-mid 1990s, but my wife made me give those up because of the noise-racket they make when I am booting 'em up, with loud IDEs attached, a PSU that sounds like a Suburu's in the driveway, and well, you get the drift. Basically what I am trying to say is that I don't care what anyone tells me about 64-bit being the future and blah, blah, blah (yes, I know it is, that's why I am making myself go there & stay), but puppies in 32-bit versions just stinking fly compared to 64-bit when on a reasonable system.

This "flying" really hit me like an anvil one day when I was talking with 8Geee (on the murga-forums here back in March or thereabouts), and I noticed he had put up his own Precise 5.7 32-bit version. Since I was a longtime fan of Precise 5.7, what caught my eye was he stuck to FF27. I thought, ok, what the heck, I've been using 64-bit pups for about 4 months now, so as a treat, I download his 5.7 version to have some old memories, and then told myself I would delete it after a few days of fun.

After downloading and installing it, it was, as you aptly describe, a full-on "JeezusH-MotherHe!!" moment for me. I mean, I had forgotten. Before I even got my finger off the mouse click of opening FF267 (8Geee whacks at FF like I do, changing a lot of stuff in its config files)...but before I even got my finger off the mouse, FF27 popped up on my screen like some meerkat on steroids. It was so fast that for a second I thought I did something wrong, lol.

I don't know, maybe if I ever get new motherboards and new chips, any of the 64-bit stuff I use will do the same. But it is hard to throw away machines running Athon II X2 Regors, with a decent amount of ram, good, sturdy motherboards, when they still can run quite well (I'm a non-gamer) for my needs. even my 6-8 year old laptops still do quite well. I'm not saying 64-bit pups are slow, it is just when putting them beside a 32-bit, on my machines, they will get left in the dust easily. Heck, my old rigs still even run well when I've got to Handbrake a video or two one of the family members has created.

Oh well, I've gotta stop talking about 32-bit, otherwise I am going to convince myself to unlearn that past 6 months, ditch everything, and go back to Precise 5.7 and LxPup (or the recent XenialPup that I am REALLY trying hard, lol, to ignore every time I log into murga).

Hey, thanks for the link to the archiver...right clicking to pick what we want sounds great. I'll give it a whirl and see if I can get it running on one of the 64-bit pup systems. also, I'm still goofing around with SlimJet. I like having diff browsers for diff purposes (and even diff websites)

[Mike Walsh]

Hi again, Belham.

'Right-click' pet does work on the 64-bit Pups; it certainly does in Tahr64 and Slacko64. Talking of which, I'm glad I stuck at it with Slacko64.....it really is shaping up to be the spiritual successor to 570.

Like you, I'm not a 'gamer'; graphic design has been my hobby for decades. I used to do everything by hand in the early days; when computing began to be capable of handling vector graphics, it was so much easier to do that stuff on one of these things; you could chop and change to your heart's content.

I run WINE in my Pups, mainly for two graphics apps; Mooi's 'PhotoScape', and Adobe's CS2 Photoshop. It's a very old version, but still a highly capable piece of kit. There was a lot of excitement around a couple of years ago, when Adobe were finally shutting down the CS2 activation servers for good; for a short period, you were able to get hold of it for free (which, for Adobe, was unheard of..!), by pulling a stunt to register for an account, making them think you were a professional who'd 'mislaid' their copy, and wanted to re-install. They provided not only the download, but even the activation key (which, like an MS activation key, was the bit that you actually paid through the nose for). I think MS got the idea for the subscription model from Adobe, who moved to it quite some years ago. It certainly hasn't upset their balance sheet to any noticeable degree.

I'd fancied a copy of Photoshop for a long time, but honestly, their prices were eye-watering; I don't use it like some people do, just for mucking around and 'Photoshopping' images to fool other people. I actually use it for serious image work, alongside the GIMP (they're not so very different, really), so I grabbed the chance with both hands. I'm a big believer in the principle that everybody should have access to good-quality, free software....

I then found an article on OMG! Ubuntu, about how to get it to run in WINE. I spent a couple of days tracking down all the necessary components, and a specific version of WINE (1.7.51), put it all together, and....well. It actually runs faster in Puppy under WINE than it ever did in XP; and absolutely everything works, too! I was well chuffed.

I've used Mooi's 'PhotoScape' since it, too, was in beta, back in early 2009. I've got so handy with it, that I can't imagine not having it around....and it also runs flawlessly under this particular version of WINE. I've got both installed in all my Pups (a mixture of 32's and 64's), so that it doesn't matter which one I boot into (usually a case of 'Eeny,meeny,miny, mo...'; no, seriously!) , I can just get on with whatever the current project is, since all my files are on separate data partitions, sym-linked into every Pup's /root folder. It's a good set-up. I use PhotoScape for roughing-out a project, before switching to either Photoshop or the GIMP, to put some 'meat on the bones'. They each have unique features that the other lacks.

Anyway, I couldn't get WINE to configure its /root/.wine folder; until you do, it's useless. Took me a while to realise that 64-bit WINE has not only /usr/bin/wine/winecfg, but /usr/bin/wine64/winecfg. That's all that was holding me up. Old 32-bit Puppy habits die hard!

That's what I like about Puppy. My hardware is all elderly, but built like a brick outhouse. I mean, this stuff was intended to last; especially the Compaq, which is a genuine Compaq business machine, made just before HP got their grubby hands on them, and relegated them to a product label in their line-up.....a sad ending for a firm which had an unassailable reputation among the business community for sturdy, long-lasting, innovative machinery which was 100% reliable. Ç'est là vie, I'm afraid.

And on here, the 32-bit Pups are so responsive, and so fast, it's almost unreal. Even the 64-bit Pups, while not quite so fast, are even smoother. like a deliciously thick, creamy cappucino. (Sorry, I'm getting carried away now..!)

I shall keep using this old girl as long as I possibly can. It belonged to my sister, who Ebay'd with it, and played 'The Sims'. And that's all she did for over 10 years. It had a very gentle life. I've seriously upgraded most of the hardware this last 18 months or so, including swapping the single-core Athlon 64 for an X2....which made a huge difference. Puppy multitasks now like nothing else I've ever come across before....or since!

The now-departed Mikeb (late of these Forums) used to say that a well-fettled Puppy was exactly how a properly set-up XP should be.....and that the kindest thing you could do to XP was abort the update mechanism at birth! Update everything manually; get it set-up the way you wanted it....then just leave it the hell alone from then on. And it should 'tick-over' like a well-oiled pocket watch.....

It's all good fun, ain't it?


Mike.

[Mike Walsh]

***ATTENTION***

Apparently, the new version of Chrome released yesterday (Jun 20th), has fixed a 'Sandbox escape' by PepperFlash. For this reason, I would urge anybody using the current version of 22.0.0.209 (64-bit) to re-install the 64-bit version of Pepper. This only applies to Chrome.

I've re-uploaded the 64-bit .pet for Chrome.


Mike.

[Mike Walsh]

***NEW VERSION***

32 & 64-bit versions of 23.0.0.162 are now available. Link as above, in post #1.

Any probs, as always, let me know.


Mike.

[Mike Walsh]

***NEW VERSION***

32 & 64-bit versions of 23.0.0.185 are now available. Link as above, in post #1. Help yourselves as usual.

Any probs, you know where to find me.


Mike.

[Mike Walsh]

***NEW VERSION***

Puppians are advised to update Pepper as soon as they can; this release fixes a super-critical vulnerability.

32 & 64-bit versions of 23.0.0.205 are now available. Link as above, in post #1. Help yourselves as normal.

Any probs, you can always give me a shout. Remember, for anybody using it, my 32-bit version of SlimJet takes the same PepperFlash .pet as Oscar's Tahrpup version...placing it in /opt/google/slimjet/PepperFlash.

Anybody needing to upgrade in Chrome54 onwards, you don't need a .pet.....it's now handled internally by the browser's built-in updater, and should occur automatically. See the Chrome SFS thread for details.


Mike.

[Mike Walsh]

***NEW VERSION***

Evening, all.

32 & 64-bit versions of 23.0.0.207 are now available. Link as above, in post #1. Help yourselves as usual.

Any probs, give me a shout. Remember, for anybody using it, my 32-bit version of SlimJet takes the same PepperFlash .pet as Oscar's Tahrpup version...placing it in /opt/google/slimjet/PepperFlash.

Anybody needing to upgrade in Chrome54 onwards, you don't need a .pet.....it's now handled internally by the browser's built-in updater, and should occur automatically. See the Chrome SFS thread for details.


Mike.

[Mike Walsh]

***NEW VERSION***

Evening, all.

32 & 64-bit versions of 24.0.0.186 are now available. Link as above, in post #1. Help yourselves as usual.

Any problems, you know where I am. Remember, for anybody using it, my 32-bit version of SlimJet takes the same PepperFlash .pet as Oscar's Tahrpup version...placing it in /opt/google/slimjet/PepperFlash.

Anybody needing to upgrade in Chrome 54 onwards, you don't need a .pet.....it's now handled internally by the browser's built-in updater, and will upgrade all by itself. See the Chrome SFS thread for details.


Mike.

[Mike Walsh]

***NEW VERSION***

Morning, everybody.

32 & 64-bit versions of 24.0.0.194 are now available. Link as usual in post #1. Pick out what you need, as normal.

There is now a .pet available to upgrade Pepper in 64-bit Iron.

Any problems, you know where to find me. Don't forget, for anybody using it, my 32-bit version of SlimJet takes the same PepperFlash .pet as Oscar's Tahrpup version...placing it in /opt/google/slimjet/PepperFlash.

No need to manually upgrade in Chrome from version 54 onwards.....it's now handled internally by the browser's built-in updater, and will upgrade all by itself. See the Chrome SFS thread for details.

Enjoy.


Mike.

[Mike Walsh]

***NEW VERSION***

Afternoon, all.

32 & 64-bit versions of 24.0.0.221 are now available. Link as usual in post #1. Help yourselves as usual.

Don't forget, there is now a .pet available to upgrade Pepper in 64-bit Iron.

Any problems, you know where to find me. For anybody using it, my 32-bit version of SlimJet takes the same PepperFlash .pet as Oscar's Tahrpup version...placing it in /opt/google/slimjet/PepperFlash.

No need to manually upgrade in Chrome from version 54 onwards.....it's now handled internally by the browser's built-in updater, and will upgrade all by itself. See the Chrome SFS thread for details.

Enjoy.


Mike.

[Mike Walsh]

***NEW VERSION***

Afternoon, all.

32 & 64-bit versions of 25.0.0.127 are now available. Link as in post #1. Help yourselves as usual.

Don't forget, there is now a .pet available to upgrade Pepper in 64-bit Iron. Any problems, you know where to find me.

No need to manually upgrade in Chrome from version 54 onwards.....it's now handled internally by the browser's built-in updater, and will upgrade automatically. See the Chrome SFS thread for details.


Mike.

[Puppus Dogfellow]

hey Mike, i've started mirroring some of your work in the browsers section of my repo--so far i've got chrome and your 64 bit iron and slimjet packages (i put the pepperflash pets in their browser folders and this seems as efficient a place as any to make the announcement--thanks for all your work).

as far as testing--i've got one machine running tahr 64 that runs all three fine. i've got an older machine doing the same but with autosaves disabled--that one can't run slimjet for some reason, but iron is excellent on it. both these machines have over five gig of ram. on a third running tahr64 with 1.8 gig, all three of these browsers run but i prefer the lighter palemoon.

thanks again (i've been making heavy use of slimjet on one machine and iron on another lately---it's nice that someone has taken this upon themselves.)

[Mike Walsh]

Hiya, Puppus.

That's very good of you! Mind you, it never hurts with all this stuff to have them in multiple locations. I use MediaFire as my main cloud a/c, with a secondary back-up of important stuff on my Google Drive. DataFileHost gets a look-in, too, since I sometimes use that for short-term sharing of individual items.

And that's on top of having a copy of everything on a USB Seagate HDD here at home, which I keep tucked away in the back of a cupboard.....

---------------------------------------------------------------

As for the browsers, well; Chrome has been my primary browser almost since the day it was released back in 2008. Oscar got me interested in SlimJet a while back, and Iron, too, a bit later (thanks also to slavvo67). Since I run 64-bit Pups (Tahr & Slacko), and Oscar appears to mainly do 32-bit stuff, I thought I'd take a crack at them... Glad to hear they're working for you!

Since they all work with yr Google a/c, that's why I use 'em all myself.


Mike.

[Mike Walsh]

***NEW VERSION***

Afternoon, all.

The new version of PepperFlash was released this morning. 32- & 64-bit versions of 25.0.0.148 are now available. Link as in post #1. Help yourselves as usual.

Don't forget, there is now a .pet available to upgrade Pepper in 64-bit Iron.

No need to manually upgrade in Chrome from version 54 onwards.....it's now handled internally by the browser's built-in updater, and upgrades all by itself. See the Chrome SFS thread for details.


Mike.

[Mike Walsh]

***NEW VERSION***

Evening, everybody.

The new version of PepperFlash was released this afternoon. 32- & 64-bit versions of 25.0.0.171 are now available. Link as in post #1. Help yourselves to whatever you need.

Don't forget, there is now a .pet available to upgrade Pepper in 64-bit Iron.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

No need to manually upgrade in Chrome from version 54 onwards.....it's now handled internally by the browser's built-in updater, and upgrades all by itself. See the Chrome SFS thread for details.


Mike.

[musher0]

Hello, Mike_Walsh.

I just installed your latest PepperFlash, for Vivaldi: works great!

Many thanks!

[Mike Walsh]

Hi, musher0.

Now you've got me wondering... I don't produce one specifically for Vivaldi, so,er.....just out of curiosity, which one did you use?


Mike.

[musher0]

Hi, musher0.

Now you've got me wondering... I don't produce one specifically for
Vivaldi, so, er.....just out of curiosity, which one did you use?

Mike.

Hi Mike.

I downloaded and successfully installed for Vivaldi your pet named
Chrome-PepperFlash-25.0.0.171-i386.pet, from here:
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/6sy2y7 ... 6iya8in8ix

As I said above, this one works great with Vivaldi, probably because
Vivaldi has a Chrome "heart"!

IHTH.

BFN.

[musher0]

Hello again, MIke.

BTW, I just updated my Vivaldi to v. 1.9, and
your pet works with the just out Vivaldi 1.9
as well as with the older guy, Vivaldi 1.7.