TV/PVR Xenial Pup V4 (32bit) - Released 5th July 2017

[ETP]

Alternate black leather effect wallpaper:

The above is now available in the downloads folder.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... sp=sharing

[ETP]

Optional pet plus OB setting:

If using the alternate black leather effect wallpaper mentioned in the
previous post you may also wish to run vlc without windows decorations or borders.
In retrospect when running in a window as opposed to full-screen, it is pretty ugly
having the stream name accross the top of the window.

To get that effect:

1. Access the "Desktop Appearance" menu from the launcher on
the left hand side of the screen and then select Openbox theme followed by "Appearance".
Untick the first item - "Windows retain a border when undecorated".

2. Install the attached pet which contains a revised OB rc.xml file.

3. Reboot ensuring that you save the session.

Full sized example screen-shot here: (Press F11 to toggle into full screen then click on link)

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view ... 2hVOW5XMFE

Alt+F4 / Ctrl+q / right click menu/ - Can all still be used to close an undecorated vlc window.

[ETP]

Version 2 of TV/PVR Xenial Pup (32-bit) tvpvrpupv2.img.xz (439MB) & md5sum can be found here:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... sp=sharing

Main changes:

1. The two TV news icons on wbar now launch the channel in non-decorated windowed mode as opposed to full-screen.
The icons on the TV panel continue to launch in full-screen mode.
In both cases the keyboard letter "F" can be used to toggle between the two states.

2. All previously optional pets have now been incorporated.

3. Thunderbird updated to version 45.4.0

4. Minor tweaks to scripts plus various cosmetic improvements including changes to file type colours in Rox.

5. To permanently engage the on-screen display of IP address(s) move the conkyipstart script from the /root/ex_startup folder to the /root/Startup folder then restart X.
If you only require a temporary display leave the script in ex_startup and just left click it to execute. The IP display should appear after 12 seconds.

6. Additional programs utility in Kodi to perform housekeeping on cache, thumbnails & old packages.

Installation:
Remains as detailed in the original post. STEP 3 is revised as follows:-

3. Then use the following command in a terminal to place the extracted image on the unmounted stick:
(This may take up to 40 minutes with just a flashing cursor as feedback until it finishes)

Code:

Code: Select all

dd bs=4M if=/root/Downloads/tvpvrpupv2.img of=/dev/sdx && sync

If the stick is seen as sdb1 you would target the device /dev/sdb NOT the partition number sdb1.
Anything on it will be wiped.

[ETP]

Service Pack for V2: (sp1.pet)

The BBC have now changed all of their video stream URLs.
Please install the attached pet in order to resume normal service.
It contains 10 modified scripts.
Once installed click on the desktop "save" icon. There is no need to reboot or restart X.

Finally a sneak preview of a possible V3 for next year which adds Chromium plus other features.

[ETP]

.
VERSION 3: - (tvpvrpupv3.img.xz (588MB) & md5sum can be found here:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... sp=sharing

As with the original V1 this Pup has the ability to record anything playing in Kodi or CBSN.
Anything playing in YouTube may also be downloaded using the "Complete YouTube Saver" add-on within Pale Moon.

BBC national channels may also be viewed and recorded via the TV panel.
BBC regional radio and TV channels may be viewed and recorded within Kodi.

Please see the original post in this thread for more details.

Main changes in V3:

1. All previously optional pets have now been incorporated.

2. Chromium browser added plus apps for casting anything that has been recorded to smart TVs & Chromecast dongles.

3. A new ultra modern look and feel using the Chromium "Infinity" extension.

Installation:

Remains as detailed in the original post except for STEP 3 which is revised as follows:-

• 3. Then use the following command in a terminal to place the extracted image on the unmounted stick:
  (This takes approx 20 minutes if writing to a USB2 stick)
  

  Code: Select all

  dd bs=4M if=/root/Downloads/tvpvrpupv3.img of=/dev/sdx status=progress && sync

  If the stick is seen as sdb1 you would target the device /dev/sdb NOT the partition number sdb1.
  Anything on it will be wiped.

Final Thoughts:

Thanks go to 666philb for the base Pup used here and to radky for his FbBox-4.0 plus custom theme.
With best wishes to all forum members for 2017.

[ETP]

.
A brief (Unlisted) taster YouTube video showing V3.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dcr0jtG ... e=youtu.be

Edit: 31st Dec 2016

A second (Public) taster video is now available via the YouTube link in my signature panel below.
(The 2nd video has also been added to the "Litter" playlist)

[simsha]

Happy New Year
ETP thanks for the release I thought it would be just the job to keep my wife happy watching iplayer when in France. However when I try to install it to hard drive something is wrong in that vmlinuz, initrd, puppy_xenial sfs and zdrv_xenial sfs file were not in the install partition and hence Grub4dos didnot put an entry in the boot menu.
I booted again from the usb and manualy copied the files from the usb into the partition ran grub4dos and it then put an entry in to the boot menu,
But when I boot it just boots into the xenialpup and not your highly moded version. Any ideas?
Apart from that it seems to work, I am running on a lenovo T400
simsha

[ETP]

Hi simsha,

Welcome to the forum and thanks for your query. The T400 although it does have a fast hard disc (7200-rpm) does
not have an i3 or i5 CPU plus fast enough graphics to handle HD streamed video (720p/1080p). I gather that it has
an Intel Core 2 Duo 2.53GHz T9400 processor with 2GB of RAM and a 256MB ATI Radeon Mobility HD 3400 GPU.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/161074/l ... _t400.html

You are also likely to struggle with reception of even SD iplayer quality in France if you do not possess a UK VPN
that gives a minimum bandwith of 5Mbps. (A minimum of 10Mbps is needed for BBC HD)

In the original post in this thread I wrote:

Subsequent transfer from a working stick to a HDD or SSD is possible if required.
If that is done you may then boot from the original stick or by means of a new entry in any existing boot loader configuration file.

To clarify and expand on that; manually doing so is only worth it if you favour faster startup, quick saves and prompt shutdowns.
It in no way improves running speed as this Pup runs entirely in RAM once booted.

If you are still inclined to transfer it to the HD from the working stick, a fully commented syslinux.cfg together with boot code examples
can be found in the /boot/syslinux directory on the first partition of the stick.

In order to then boot from the stick the syslinux syntax on the stick (for a boot from the hard disc) would be:

Code: Select all

default /vmlinuz initrd=/initrd.gz pmedia=atahd pupsfs=sda6:/puppy_xenial_7.0.4.sfs pdev1=sda6

(Change the two references to sda6 to point at the actual partition that you use. f2fs format is recommended for speed but grub4dos
does not recognise it.)

For the sake of completeness here is my own entry in my existing vesamenu syslinux.cfg (sdb7 is a 10GB f2fs SSD partition)

Code: Select all

MENU SEPARATOR

LABEL TVPVR
MENU LABEL TV/PVR Pup V3  sdb7  22/12/16
KERNEL /tvpvrpup/vmlinuz
APPEND initrd=/tvpvrpup/initrd.gz pmedia=ataflash pupsfs=sdb7:/puppy_xenial_7.0.4.sfs pdev1=sdb7

[simsha]

ETP thank you for the reply, it was the actual installation I was worried about at the moment, when we eventually get to go to France I shall have to get a more modern laptop, pehaps look to see what others have had sucess with.
I shall try again to install it later
Thanks again

[ETP]

Since V1 of this Pup was issued on 27th Oct only one issue has emerged in that PPM sometimes fails to launch with the bogus message that it is "already running".

Forum member mavrothal issued a pet to fix this issue in this post: http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 776#931776

A copy of that pet is attached and should be installed if you encounter this issue.

A separate YouTube taster playlist showing the current V3 of this Pup can be viewed here:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... 5vJBmrWOHd

[ETP]

.
Second Service Pack for all versions: (sp2.pet)

The BBC have again changed all of their video stream URLs.
Please install the attached pet in order to resume normal service.
It contains 10 modified scripts.
Once installed click on the desktop "save" icon. There is no need to reboot or restart X.

[ETP]

A new 32-bit Chromium pet (chromium_56.0.2924.76_i486+pepper_24.0.0.194-etp) is now available
for this Pup via the following direct download link:

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=down ... HVUVlZlYVk

To upgrade:

1. Download the pet.

2. Use PPM to uninstall the existing Chromium pet.

3. Install the new pet, test and then if happy, click on the desktop save icon.

The new pet is based on Alien Bob's build and includes the final 32-bit Chrome widevine modules.
Netflix will hopefully work if anyone has an account to test that aspect.

Running as root with adequate sandboxing is continued using Iguleder's trick as brought to light by 01micko.

Edit: 11th Feb 2017

I feel that I must clarify the phrase "adequate sandboxing". It should really read "the appearance of adequate sandboxing!"
Iguleder's trick is just that, a trick. Chromium asks the question "Am I running as root?". It is falsely told NO so
assumes that you are a normal user and implements sandboxing. That sandboxing is however around root in effect negating
all sandboxing. Anyone breaching your system via the browser would have root access with all that implies.

Please therefore do not regard this method as safe for Internet banking. It is just a means of continuing to run Chromium
as root when using Puppy. It is not as safe as running as Spot.

[ETP]

Update:

Pale Moon Browser:

Version 27.1.0 (32-bit) was released on 9th Feb 2017.
The Palemoon-Updater item on the Internet submenu may be used to upgrade.

Flash:

NPAPI Flash as used by Pale Moon is now on version 24.0.0.221
To upgrade please install forum member rerwin's getflash-1.7 pet then use it to install the above.

The pet can be found here:- http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... 264#942264

Thunderbird:

This may be updated to thunderbird_45.7.0+build1. First update PPM and use it to
uninstall the existing version. Then use the updated version of PPM to install the
new build (thunderbird_45.7.0+build1)

List of Recently installed items:

• pkg_chooser_test-3.pet
  chromium_56.0.2924.76_i486+pepper_24.0.0.194-etp|Access the Internet
  sp2|Revised BBC stream URLs in 10 scripts
  thunderbird_45.7.0+build1|Email RSS and newsgroup client with integrated spam filter
  getflash-1.7|GetFlash - install Flashplayer
  flashplayer-24.0.0.221-i686|Adobe Flash Player browser plugin and Preferences

A separate YouTube taster playlist showing the current V3 of this Pup can be viewed here:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... 5vJBmrWOHd

[cifa]

amazing build!! a lot of talent & work on show here

i had to update to the new PaleMoon build as I could hardly see the light grey font in the youtube search function. fixed now (black again)

btw the youtube downloader works great

cheers

[ETP]

.
A new 32-bit Chromium pet (chromium-57.0.2987.98-i486+pepper_25.0.0.127-etp) is now available
for this Pup via the following direct download link:

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=down ... WVYSzdQYU0

To upgrade:

1. Download the pet.

2. Use PPM to uninstall the existing Chromium pet.

3. Install the new pet, test and then if happy, click on the desktop save icon.

[ETP]

.
Service Pack for V2 & V3 :- (sp3.pet)

Since V2 of this Pup the BBC & CBSN TV news icons on wbar have launched the channels in non-decorated windowed mode as opposed to full-screen.

This service pack (sp3) addresses the issue that vlc does not always launch center screen when run in windowed
mode and the window then has to be moved slightly to center it.

The pack contains 2 revised launcher scripts which both call a new script (/root/noob/center_active_window.sh)
which ensures that the launched window is centralised.

[ETP]

Chromium / Thunderbird / Pale Moon

A new 32-bit Chromium pet (chromium-58.0.3029.96-i486+pepper_25.0.0.171-etp) is now available
for this Pup via the following direct download link:

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=down ... nNiSlRZck0

• To upgrade:
  
  1. Download the pet.
  
  2. Use PPM to uninstall the existing Chromium pet.
  
  3. Install the new pet, test and then if happy, click on the desktop save icon.

As previously the new pet is based on Alien Bob's build and includes the final 32-bit Chrome widevine modules.
Netflix will hopefully work if anyone has an account to test that aspect.

Thunderbird_45.8.0+build1 may be installed via PPM having first used it to uninstall any previous version.

Pale Moon may be updated to 27.3.0 (32-bit) via the Palemoon-updater item on the Internet sub-menu.
.

[ETP]

Optional pet - (HDEV_ScreenSaver.pet)

This pet provides a second manually invoked screen saver. It provides a live rotating HD feed from the 4 earth
viewing cameras aboard the ISS. Do not use it if you are on a metered internet connection!

The ISS is on a 90 minute orbit travelling at a speed of 17139 mph at an altitude of 256 miles.
For half that time it is therefore in darkness with no video.
The following link can be used to check on its current status and location:

https://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/ESRS/HDEV/
Edit 30th June:
The following link to the German "columbus eye" project is better than the nasa one above
for checking on the current status and position of the ISS.
http://columbuseye.uni-bonn.de/live/

The pet does not use the stream available in the above link but instead uses vlc to play the
720p stream intended for iphones. The keyboard letter "f" toggles between windowed and full screen mode.

Whilst intended for TV/PVR Pup which runs vlc in borderless mode it should work in any Pup that contains vlc.
A menu item is created on the "Desktop" menu and the desktop file itself may be dragged onto the desktop to provide
a quick launch method. It can just be used to impress the other dogs in the kennels rather than as a screen-saver.

If viewing in windowed mode in this Pup press ctrl+h to toggle the vlc control panel on/off in order to start
recording the stream or to take snapshots. ( Handy if you spot a UFO or flying pig)

Enjoy.

[ETP]

Another Optional pet - (startup_sound-mk2.pet)

(Use in any Pup with suitable modifications to the player)

This pet provides a choice of 4 startup sounds or clips.
OOTB clip1 is set as the default which plays the same jingle used by forum member "peebee" in some of his recent Pups.

The player is set as mpv but can easily be changed to another of your choice which has the ability to play then exit.
The script in question is reproduced below and is commented. Additional clips may be added.

An unusual feature of the script is that it will only trigger a sound clip if booting is complete AND a working
internet connection is present. Thus hearing the sound gives a double reassurance.

Code: Select all

#!/bin/sh
# This is /root/Startup/startup-sound  ETP May 2017 - (Based on an idea by forum member "peebee")
# NOTES:
#
# 1. Change sleep period if need be, so that the end of the played sound clip coincides with desktop completion & network establishment.
# 2. Change player using suitable syntax. For example in the case of vlc that would be:-       player=cvlc --play-and-exit
# 3. Add further clips to the list to reference additional sound clips of your choice.
#
player=mpv
clip1=/usr/share/audio/sys-login.mp3
clip2=/usr/share/audio/o95.wav
clip3=/usr/share/audio/halfunc.mp3
clip4=/usr/share/audio/Interface_complete.mp3
#
sleep 6
echo -e "GET http://google.com HTTP/1.0\n\n" | nc google.com 80 > /dev/null 2>&1
if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
        $player $clip1 # Change numeral to select another clip
fi

[ETP]

Chromium / Thunderbird

A new 32-bit Chromium pet (chromium-59.0.3071.86-i486+pepper_25.0.0.171-etp) is now available
for this Pup via the following direct download link:

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=down ... GZXUjFTWnM

To upgrade:

1. Download the pet.

2. Use PPM to uninstall the existing Chromium pet.

3. Install the new pet, test and then if happy, click on the desktop save icon.

As previously, the new pet is based on Alien Bob's build and includes the final 32-bit Chrome widevine modules.
Netflix will hopefully work if anyone has an account to test that aspect.

Thunderbird_52.1.1+build1 may be installed via PPM having first used PPM to uninstall any previous version.

Notes:

This and future versions of Chrome/Chromium require GTK3 which is already present in this Pup.
That may pose a problem for some Slacko based Pups which presently do not include GTK3.
The new GTK3 support should provide improved integration of GTK themes within the browser.