Ive inherited an important puppy linux system..

[greyworld]

..and its not well at all!

Running on a FAT formatted compact flash card, the system appears to decompress PUP_SAVE.3FS in to ram..

Watching it boot, there are lots of ext3 errors which indicate to me that the pup save file is corrupt. I know the system is over 10 years old.. (there is another pup_save on the card, but the errors relate to ext3, so Im assuming its relating to PUP_SAVE.3FS)

Ive tried adding pfix=fsck to the syslinux.cfg file on the CF card, but Im guessing this doesnt touch the decompressed pup save file, only the files on the CF card..

Help! I need to fix the save_file - it does eventually boot to a command prompt and I can get to a lot of the files - but I wanted to know:

Whats the best way to fix it? Should I try and get the usable files off from the ram disk, and remake the file? It says it is a v3 squash fs file but I cant copy it off the CF card.. Obviously I need a new CF card, but if the pup_save.3fs is corrupt, Ill be bringing the trouble with me

Any help or tips very gratefully received!

Best wishes and thanks for your help

[bigpup]

Ive tried adding pfix=fsck to the syslinux.cfg

This does have to be placed on a specific entry line to work.
You do not give use the info to tell if you did it correctly.

First, that is a really, really, old version of Puppy.

A lot has changed on how Puppy works, so not totally sure what programs it has for file system repair.

Does it first boot to a screen where you can hit F2 key to get boot options?
If yes.
Hit F2.
enter this option:

Code: Select all

puppy pfix=fsck

This is suppose to do filesystem check on save (and host partition)

Got more ideas, but waiting for your response on this idea.

Obviously I need a new CF card

You think!!

Could also be dealing with filesystem fragmentation of the Fat format of the CF card.

[bigpup]

Ive inherited an important puppy linux system

Just how important?

Got a way to make a new install, of a newer version of Puppy, on a new CF card or boot-able storage device?

What is the computer?
Make and model???

[greyworld]

hi

Thanks very much for your thoughts so far.

- Just how important?

Its a computer than runs a very large mechanical artwork in a prominent place in central London - Im a sculptor that makes interactive art.. (http://greyworld.org for lots of examples)

Yes, I should have an image of the CF card backed up It was created for me, and I didnt get a copy of the disk. Very Silly me.

This install is on a small single board computer - im not sure of the model, but its all working fine.

- Got a way to make a new install, of a newer version of Puppy, on a new CF card or boot-able storage device?

Yes I have. If I need to do this, wouldnt it be best to do that on the actual machine that will run the system? There is a cd drive connected..

In this instance, do u know of a way I can save as much as possible from the save file?

When it boots, there is no visual screen..

syslinux.cfg has one line:

default vmlinuz root=/dev/ram0 initrd=initrd.gz ide=nodma PMEDIA=ideflash pfix=fsck

Would u suggest I defrag the CF card?

[greyworld]

..Ive an HDDRawCopy image of the CF card in case I ruin whats left of it

[Mike Walsh]

Hi, greyworld.

You can take bigpup's advice to the bank; it's always sound, and he goes out of his way to help people who are inexperienced with Puppy.

Is there any way you could let us know what kind of specs your 'single-board' computer has? (CPU, amount of RAM, storage - HDD size - etc?) This would help enormously in suggesting what kind of Puppy would be suitable for upgrading with/to; CPU in particular, since it'll determine the vintage of Pup that will run okay with your hardware.....as bigpup has noted, 210 is ancient by Puppy standards.

Obviously, the best way to do this for you would be to create a new Puppy install alongside the existing one; we don't want to spoil the way your artwork is controlled, initially. Ideally, get a new Puppy operational, and then transfer control over to it.....

Your stuff looks quite interesting, by the way; especially that old red phone box! What, exactly, does it do? I'm just curious as to why the person who set this all up for you chose Puppy in the first place; most folks, round the time that 210 was current, would almost invariably have gone for XP.....

One last question. Are there any specific apps, programs, etc., that you need to use to control things? This will let us figure out whether you'll be using a native, Linux app, or whether it might be better to actually run a piece of Windows software under WINE; on occasion, depending on the software, this will run better than it would in its native Windows environment.....


Mike.

[perdido]

If the CF card is old then it is ~probably wearing out. CF cards have a limited number of writes so if you defrag it may damage it further. Just my 2centavos.

[greyworld]

Hi guys

So the specs of the machine are

VIA chipset, 667 mhz, about 98mb of ram...

As I say, it all seems happy..

So Ive tried fsck.msdos aimed at the cf card.. It doesnt seem to correct anything..

Whats the best options for that command to fix the cf card?

Assuming its not that, and the save file is corrupt - shall I boot in to it, and somehow, get the files off, for creating a new one?

So: old files off the card - new card - run a newer version of puppy on the machine using the cd rom drive - make a new save file on the new card - boot from the new CF card to run artwork - wait for applause?

It runs an app call pd - without a graphical front end - sending serial out of 2 serial ports to a serial dongle controlling lots and lots of mechanical flowers..

in a nine story atrium... See attached.

And thanks for everyones help so far. Its much appreciated.

[bigpup]

Does it first boot to a screen where you can hit F2 key to get boot options?

Answer this

[greyworld]

Hi

No it doesn't I'm afraid, it just starts the decompression of the savefile..

[bigpup]

VIA chipset, 667 mhz, about 98mb of ram...

Puppy 210 may just be the best version of Puppy for that hardware.

That is some old limited hardware!!

You can get the Puppy 210 iso file from here:
http://puppylinux.ca/vintage/2.10/puppy ... monkey.iso

To save what you have, hopefully.
The idea of getting a new Puppy install, on a new CF card or CD, and booting with it,
Make a copy of the old save.

The first time you boot with the new Puppy install and shutdown.
It will offer to make a save.
Do that.
Now reboot using this save.

Make copy of old save, but edit the name to say bak.save.3fs.
This is so it does not get used by the new install.

Now to figure out what this program is and how to install and setup.

It runs an app call pd

A search on Google brings up nothing for PD.
Got anymore clues as to what the program is called?

[John Alien]

pd is very, very likely pure data

https://puredata.info/

One of it's main uses is art installations

[greyworld]

Sorry, I should have said it is pure data, and I'm familiar with it...

So I'll burn a copy of 2.10 and start there!

I'll post here what happens..

Best wishes and sincere thanks


Andrew

[dancytron]

pd is very, very likely pure data

https://puredata.info/

One of it's main uses is art installations

They seem to have a pretty active community.

https://forum.pdpatchrepo.info/

They may be able to help you migrate your program to a more modern platform, like maybe a Raspberry Pi or similar.

[bigpup]

From a running Puppy, you can do a check of a save that is not being used.
Booting using: puppy pfix=ram option
or
Booting using a different save than the one you want to check.


The save file can not be in use.

Mount the partition the save is on.

Open a terminal, and enter:

e2fsck /path to savefile

For example:
e2fsck /mnt/sda1/pupsave.2fs

[p310don]

greyworld wrote

..Ive an HDDRawCopy image of the CF card in case I ruin whats left of it Very Happy

Why not put aside the dodgy CF card and load the HDDRawCopy onto a new card? If it works, it is simply a filesystem or hardware error, which happens on flash media over years.

Mucking around with the existing card is perhaps fun, mostly academic, possibly fruitless and certainly time consuming. If the copy runs fine, you get back up and running almost immediately. If it doesn't, then come back to finding the solution.

[greyworld]

hi

Trouble is that it runs, but something has happened to the scheduler - and so it runs intermittently..

Mind you, with a fresh CF card, I could perhaps remake that part.. Nice idea!

best wishes


Andrew

[Moose On The Loose]

From a running Puppy, you can do a check of a save that is not being used.
Booting using: puppy pfix=ram option
or
Booting using a different save than the one you want to check.

A couple of points extending from this one.

once you boot with pfix=ram, make a copy of the save file. You can do it as follows.

use FILES to go find the save file
right-click and make a new directory
right click and window-new window
on the new window go into the new directory
drag the save file in there and select copy
wait and wait and wait while it happens

Now if you click on the saved copy in the new directory, it should mount and show what files are in there.

Before any work on fixing the save file, copy any files you absolutely have to keep somewhere safe for later.