Quirky Xerus 8.6 (Aug. 16), Beaver 8.7.1 (Sept. 21), 2018

[Flash]

My remastered Quirky Xerus 8.1.6 DVD won't boot. The BIOS simply passes it by and says it can't find anything to boot.

I can clearly see that about a quarter inch of stuff was burned to the DVD. The disk can be mounted and shows these contents in Rox:

[FeodorF]

There is one funny error about the keyboard. Using the .ISO to boot up 8.1.6 :

As soon as you change the keyboard language you are loosing: the cursor keys, the Up and Down keys, Pos1 and End Keys ... As soon as you do a X-server reboot this problem disappears. The language you pick does not matter. Changing your keyboard layout after a x server restart via: QuickSetup first run settings will break the keyboard again.

Add up: The keyboard works fine in Xerus 8.0 final. Used the .ISO to boot up 8.0

[linuxcbon]

There is one funny error about the keyboard.

Using the .ISO to boot up 8.1.6 :

As soon as you change the keyboard language you are loosing: the cursor keys,
the Up and Down keys, Pos1 and End Keys ...
As soon as you do a X-server reboot this problem disappears.
The language you pick does not matter.

I also noticed this, but it doesn't matter since restart X is always done

[FeodorF]

The Galculator scientific calculator does not work. xerrs.log shows:
galculator: error while loading shared libraries: libquadmath.so.0: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

Add up: Galculator works well in the Quirky SlaQ 8.1.6 x86_64 release; works fine in Xerus 8.0 final too. Used the .ISO for testing.

[FeodorF]

pMusic 5.2.4 does not play any audio. Tried /root/puppy-reference/audio/....au/ ...wav xerrs.log shows:

diff: /root/.pmusic/storage_playlist/playlist1: No such file or directory
/usr/local/pmusic/func_player: line 146: /root/.pmusic/tmp/ffmpeg_filter_NORMALIZE: No such file or directory
/usr/local/pmusic/func_player: line 26: 2702 Killed $APPDIR/func_player -playing "$2"

Next to the play button there is a speaker symbol button. If you click on this one the next pop up will show you: Sound processing - pEqualizer is not installed. Same Puppy audio files ...au/...wav/...ogg play very well with: mhWaveEdit

Add up: pMusic 5.2.4 works well in the Quirky SlaQ 8.1.6 x86_64 release; works fine in Xerus 8.0 final too. Used the .ISO for testing.

[FeodorF]

Menu -> Desktop -> UrxvtSet setup terminal emulator does not work. xerrs.log:

Current Urxvt terminal settings
#000000000000
#f8f8f8f8f8f8
#ffff00000000
80x25
14
Nimbus Mono L:Regular
Off
85
Off
/usr/sbin/urxvtset: line 99: yad: command not found

Add up: Urxvt Setup - v0.5.1 works fine in Quirky Werewolf64-7.4; works fine in Xerus 8.0 final too. Used the .ISO for testing.

[eowens2]

I concur with Feodorf.

On my 11 inch laptop screen, the urxvt font size is so small as to be almost unreadable without magnification. It sure would be nice to increase the font size.

Also, is the selection of "Run apps as spot" in "Quick Setup first run settings" sticky? When I re-run the setup, settings of language, location and keyboard persist, but the previous selection for "spot" has become un-checked.

[FeodorF]

You can not grab the menu in: MP console text editor. After Ctrl + a it will display at top: 'File Edit Search Go to Options' but nothing will pop up.

Add up: MP console works well in the Quirky SlaQ 8.1.6 x86_64 release. Used the .ISO for testing.

[belham2]

This post below was in response to another thread http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=109454 where someone was posting a "bug" thread for Barry's Quirky 8.1.6 Xenial. It is not a "big, and this I am posting this here to help others:

Hi Kafshiel,

First, do as Flash says...doing so will help other people. Also, if you're going to boot Barry's creations "frugally", you have to be aware that a 'Q_ID" file is required in whatever folder (or top directory if it is a sole install). Without the 'Q_ID' file, you get the exact boot message your are describing. Read Barry's blog:

http://barryk.org/news/?viewDetailed=00298

ETP said/explained it best in his thread http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=106944:

"Barry first introduced the idea of a new flag (Q_ID) who's location
on a fixed partition or stick when found at boot time, indicates the presence of both the main sfs (q.sfs) and the save file (s.sfs).

This type of frugal install allows for the Pup to load from a fast partition on a HD or SSD but then runs entirely in ZRAM with the option to save at any point during the session and/or the option to save or not at the end of the session."


Also, thanks to escucha, it is also helpful to know this about 'frugal' installs:

The other way to frugally boot any of Barry's quirky creations is to use grub4dos and write your boot entry this way:

title QuirkyXenial (or Slaq) 64 8.1.6 (sda1/"your-folder's-name")
kernel /"your-folder's-name"/vmlinuz install_specs=UUID=yoour-install's-device's-uuid-found-by-running-blikidin-terminal":ext4:"your-folder's-name"
initrd /"your-folder's-name"/initrd.q

Please know, as far as I am aware (Barry, can you confirm this?). if you do your grub4dos entry this way, and you also have no 'Q_ID' file existing in the folder of the furgal install, despite creating a savefile your first time booting, Quirky will always boot into a fresh installation (w/o the savefile) because there is no 'Q_ID' file present. At least this has been my repeated experience. In essence, Quirky will not load the savefile you created on your first boot no matter what. The 'Q_ID' is crucial and needed, otherwise, getting a savefile to load is futile.

If it helps anyone, the Q_ID file for:

Werewolf-74 = 201512101229

Quirky 8.0 = 201604210401

QuirkySlaq = ?????????????? (Barry or someone, what is the Q-ID?)

Quirky 8.1.6 Xenial = ????????????????? (Again, the magic Q_ID # please?? )



[UPDATE]
Ok, discovered that the 'Q_ID' file is located in the initrd.q...stupid of me not to look there first Or, if you're running a quirky-live, look in /initrd/q_rw/rw/boot/initrd-tree

Here they are for QuirkySlaq 8.1.6 & QuirkyXenial 8.1.6:

QuirkySlaq8.1.6 = 201701111649

QuirkyXenial8.1.6 = 201701140115

[belham2]

Whoa, hold the saltines: even with the Q_ID file properly placed, Quirky Xenial (Slaq too) 8.1.6 cannot load a savefile (assuming you are frugally installed & created one) on subsequent boots after savefile's 1st creation.

Does this have something to do with the errors linuxcbon noted above? I am seeing the same errors during boot, though she will boot up to the live-desktop every time, she's throwing errors I've never seen before in Quirky boots. For the savefile, during the loading and layering, there is no hope of that previously created savefile being seen. It is like it doesn't exist, almost what Flash is describing above after he did a remaster. Hmmmmm........

Barry, where can I dig at this to fix it?? In the initrd.q initrd-tree?? Is there a script error in the loading process during init?? Or is something not being transferred/passed correctly after the savefile is created curing the first initial run of a live-session? I'm stumped.

(by the way, this same problem is also appearing in Quirky Slaq 8.1.6; anyone else seeing this?

Also want to ask: why is there no YAD in these two Quirkys (Xenial and Slaq)? Had to drag over YADs from other Quirky installs, made/makes it a bit of a pain when installing something like urxvtset package from PPM if there's no YAD by default in the OS).

[eowens2]

I am having trouble getting Seamonkey up and going. Is anyone else having this trouble?

In Quirky Xerus 8.1.6, ‘/usr/bin/seamonkey’ and ‘/usr/bin/seamonkey.bin‘ link to ‘/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/seamonkey/seamonkey’, which is not present in my copy of Quirky.

Linking them to ‘/usr/lib/seamonkey-2.46/seamonkey’ seems to work well. I hope my change doesn’t break something else!

[belham2]

PLEASE NOTE: for many of the above problems being described above, try this fix to see if it resolves them. I've had some resolved since implementing this fix.




This post is to follow-up for those of you that want to 'frugal' install this latest Quirky-Xenial and also have the ability to have a savefile recognized during boot. Currently, this latest edition (this goes for QuirkySlaq too) cannot see the savefile you created on the 1st frugal boot, and thus won't load it.

The problem is in the init script, which gets loaded from the initrd.q. This is how you solve it for now, until Barry can take a deeper look at why the latest changes in this 'init' script caused the problem:

1) It does not matter if you are booting into Xenial for the 1st time, or if you've already created a savefile and are stumped why it isn't loading on subsequent boots.

2) go into your /mnt (or your desktop shortcut, if it exists) and get to where the vmlinuz and initrd.q are located (they should be un-mounted)

3) Left-click on the initrd.q (it has the black& white puppyface)

4) Up will pop a yellow dialog box. It says:

initrd.q: expand?
Do you want to open up initrd.q, and optionally edit it?

(click yes here)

5) Then a mint green dialog box pops-up. It tells you it opened/epxpanded the initrd.q to: /root/initrd-expanded

Also, it is helpful if you leave open the file manager above that still shows the black&white initrd.q file. We're going to need it in a minute.

(click 'ok' in this mint green dialog box)

6) up pops Rox with the expanded initrd.q. Right-click on the "init" file, and choose "open-as-text"

(we are going to edit this file)

7) once it is open in Geany, scrolldown just barely, near the top, and you will see the following lines (without the # comment outs):


hwclock --hctosys --localtime #160427 from util-linux. assuming hw clock set to local

if grep -qw aufs /proc/filesystems; then
LAYERFS='aufs'
RO='=ro'
else
LAYERFS='overlay'
RO=''
fi

(put a "#" in front of each and every one of these lines, so the init script will ignore them).

Good. Now, go back to that Rox open window (we left it open) I mentioned to keep open above.

9) Left-click on the black&white puppy 'initrd.q' file in this Rox window

10) it will ask you if you want to save your edits to the initrd.q file:

initrd.q: update?
A CPIO-archive........./initrd.q?

(Click "Yes")

11) up will pop another mint-green dialog box saying:

initrd.q: success
File.........initrd-expanded.

(Click "Ok")

12) up pops a yellow dialog box:

initrd.q: finished
Do you want to delete /root/initrd.q-expanded? If in doubt, please choose Yes

(Defintely choose 'Yes' here)

13) That's it!! Close out any remaining Rox windows open, and either go about setting up your Quirky and the 'savefile', or just reboot (assuming you already have a 'savefile') and you will find that upon booting up, Quirky now sees your previously created 'savefile'.


***Please note: this exact same procedure will/should work in QuirkySlaq, as the inits are the same****



P.S. Barry, I just played it safe and had them comment out both the "hwclock" change you made, and also the offending "layer/aufs" section, that is causing both QuirkyXenial and QuirkySlaq to not see any savefile created after first boot. I tested, and once this stuff is commented out, my savefile files (on a frugal install) are now being seen at boot and loading up, plus many problems described by others above have disappeared (save for the Seamonkey 'spot" fix, noted in the QuirkySlaq thread and applicable here). Very Happy
Last edited by belham2 on Today, at 11:57; edited 1 time in total

[linuxcbon]

Quirky Xerus 8.1.6 for x86_64

- what is /lib/systemd/ for ?

- for rox , /root/Choices/ shoud be /root/.config/rox.sourceforge.net

- some useless folders :
/usr/bin/x86_64-linux-gnu -- empty
/usr/etc/ -- empty
/usr/games/ -- empty
/usr/local/share/ -- empty
/usr/lib/modules/ -- empty

[belham2]

Quirky Xerus 8.1.6 for x86_64

- what is /lib/systemd/ for ?

- for rox , /root/Choices/ shoud be /root/.config/rox.sourceforge.net

- some useless folders :
/usr/bin/x86_64-linux-gnu -- empty
/usr/etc/ -- empty
/usr/games/ -- empty
/usr/local/share/ -- empty
/usr/lib/modules/ -- empty

Here's a shot of what's in "lib/systemd", if it helps:

[linuxcbon]

Here's a shot of what's in "lib/systemd", if it helps:

are you joking ? I know how to use rox. The problem is that puppy doesn't use "systemd". Please don't post such answers when I report bugs.

[belham2]

Here's a shot of what's in "lib/systemd", if it helps:

are you joking ? I know how to use rox. The problem is that puppy doesn't use "systemd". Please don't post such answers when I report bugs.

Linuxcbon,

Sorry at my attempted humor. That's why I put the "confused" emoji at the end....like, what is this folder doing here, let alone having anything in it.

I wish there were better emoji(s) on these boards instead of the 20 we have. We need one that has a scratching-headlooking-like-what-in-heck-is-going-on emoji,a mong many others (not to mention replacing the ones we have).

[belham2]

Well D-A-M-N!

I just lost my retrovol, storage, bluetooth etc out of the jwm-tray again. Look at my previous pic---it was all there and everything was kosher. Then, I edited the time in "jwm-tray (in ~) and "POOF", they were gone again.

Argh, back to tracking this down now....going to see if a re-boot brings them back. If it does, my search for the problem narrows considerably.


[edit: spelling corrections]

[Kafshiel]

Creating an USB Live of Puppy Xerus 8.1.6 amd64 using Unetbootin, from Linux or Windows,
and using Rufus or other tool from Windows might fail.
So here's the process of how to do this from a Linux terminal.
If you don't have a permanent Linux installation on your computer (why not?),
rest asured that you can do this from your Puppy Live USB or CD/DVD.
So just open a Terminal, preferably on the folder where the Xerus 8.1.6 amd64 is, (Open Terminal here) or if you know how to
use a Linux Terminal, from /home just cd to the directory where Xerus 8.1.6 amd64 is.
It could be the download folder, that's for you to figure out!
This bug was solved by using the "dd" method to get the ISO onto an 8 GB USB pen drive.
So, from Xubuntu 16.04.1 terminal, I did:
Sudo is only needed if your Terminal ends with an "$" sign, if it ends
with an "#" sign you're already root, no need for sudo.
Code:

sudo dd if=xerus-8.1.6-amd64.iso of=/dev/sdb bs=1M && sync

Notice that my USB drive is /dev/sdb because I disconnected all other USB drives,
like external HDD's and other pen drives. I won't go into the identification of your drives here, it's too much talk.
If you disconnect all other USB external storage drives your Puppy pen drive should now be sdb.
And NOT sdb1 or sdb2! That will ruin the "dd" command. So just /dev/sdb ok?
If your drive is not formatted "dd" will take care of that but, anyway, in rare cases,
the drive won't have a proper partition table. So you either use Gparted from your older
Puppy and format it as FAT32 or just reset your USB drive like this:
Code:

sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdb bs=512 count=4096

After the first command is completed you can boot the PC and all works like a charm.
I never wanted to do a frugal install, I like to have my Puppies in pen drives,
so I can take them with me everywhere.
They're true Linux army knives and helped me save countless installations from my friends,
specially using Gparted to manage partitions, Grub4DOS to rescue many boots
and the File Manager to backup data between drives.
I must say that Puppy Xerus is absolutely gorgeous, out of the box,
I just installed the PET cursors-1.1 package because I prefer the Obsidian cursors.
So the bug is solved, now you can all enjoy a Live USB of Puppy Xerus 8.1.6!
My best regards to you all, enjoy and use your new Puppy and have a great day.

Code: Select all

[ETP]

Bug report:

An intermittent issue present in this version and also in previous versions is a hang
at boot time with the message "Recognising media devices.....optical". Only a hard reboot
fixes the issue which I would say occurs about 5 to 10% of the time.

The text comes from the block of code starting at line 566 in rc.sysinit and my gut feeling
is that it is some kind of timing issue.

[TeX Dog]

Here's a shot of what's in "lib/systemd", if it helps:

are you joking ? I know how to use rox. The problem is that puppy doesn't use "systemd". Please don't post such answers when I report bugs.

Linuxcbon,

Sorry at my attempted humor. That's why I put the "confused" emoji at the end....like, what is this folder doing here, let alone having anything in it.

I wish there were better emoji(s) on these boards instead of the 20 we have. We need one that has a scratching-headlooking-like-what-in-heck-is-going-on emoji,a mong many others (not to mention replacing the ones we have).

scary humor... You lost your Puppylinux street cred. til I read it was to be a joke..