Create Debian 9 (Stretch) minimal ISO similar to DebianDog

[belham2]

Hi Fred, Rsrcn51, Dancytron & all (Happy Holidays to everyone ),

I've got a question, and apologies if this has been covered already.

I've an XFCE-Stretch-build, frugal-installed, that I've been running and using for (~4-5) months now. Today, trying to read several of the latest pages in this thread so I can somewhat keep abreast of things, I noticed this thread from Fred:

http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... 873#975873

Then I also noticed msgs from Rsrcn51 (on this page) about doing an kernel upgrade.


My question: on this XFCE-stretch-build of mine, I am still using:

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root@live:~# uname -a
Linux live 4.9.0-3-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 4.9.30-2+deb9u3 (2017-08-06) x86_64 GNU/Linux
root@live:~# 

Is it "best' (or strongly recommended) that I upgrade to the 04-kernel using the script, or is it ok that I stay using this kernel? I guess what I am trying to ask, is that currently everything runs great and I have no problems (and I keep everything 'updated' via Synaptic). But I am wondering if I "do not" upgrade to the latest kernel, I'll be faced with problems & issues down the road.

Thanks for any advice

[fredx181]

Hi Belham, happy holidays to you too !

Is it "best' (or strongly recommended) that I upgrade to the 04-kernel using the script, or is it ok that I stay using this kernel? I guess what I am trying to ask, is that currently everything runs great and I have no problems (and I keep everything 'updated' via Synaptic). But I am wondering if I "do not" upgrade to the latest kernel, I'll be faced with problems & issues down the road.

I'd say there's nothing wrong with staying on kernel 4.9.0-3 if all works fine for you.
It's still available in the stretch repos and I think if there would be security risk (or some serious other bug), the Debian maintainers would remove it from the repos.
The reason for me to change "upgrade-kernel' was to give support in case anyone wants to use the newest Stretch kernel.
(To be honest, I didn't investigate what are the changes in 4.9.0-4 compared to 4.9.0-3)

Fred

[belham2]

Hi Belham, happy holidays to you too !

Is it "best' (or strongly recommended) that I upgrade to the 04-kernel using the script, or is it ok that I stay using this kernel? I guess what I am trying to ask, is that currently everything runs great and I have no problems (and I keep everything 'updated' via Synaptic). But I am wondering if I "do not" upgrade to the latest kernel, I'll be faced with problems & issues down the road.

I'd say there's nothing wrong with staying on kernel 4.9.0-3 if all works fine for you.
It's still available in the stretch repos and I think if there would be security risk (or some serious other bug), the Debian maintainers would remove it from the repos.
The reason for me to change "upgrade-kernel' was to give support in case anyone wants to use the newest Stretch kernel.
(To be honest, I didn't investigate what are the changes in 4.9.0-4 compared to 4.9.0-3)

Fred

[EDIT]: Ooops, sorry, Fred, ignore this. I completely overlooked the fact that since I did a quick remaster this morning---man your remaster-scripts & options are light years ahead of puppy in terms of ease of use---that I needed to "reload" Synaptic. Haha, apologies again ....all the programs, and everything else, are there now.......]

Thanks, Fred!

Had another question: downloaded some pdf(s) the other day, went to open them, and realized I didn't include a pdf program in my xfce-stretch-build. So I opened Synaptic but I am confused: synaptic (which is updated and has all the debian repos appropriately check marked, I think) says that none of the pdf prgrams are available for download (atril, evince, okular and qpdf). ???

[fredx181]

Fix for "upgrade-kernel", new version 1.0.4, install from Synaptic (first 'Reload') or with apt-get:

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apt-get update
apt-get install upgrade-kernel

Previously (with v1.0.3) could upgrade the kernel from 4.9.0-3 to 4.9.0-4, but once 4.9.0-4 installed it couldn't upgrade to a newer (if available) (sub)version of 4.9.0-4
(seems like Debian maintainers stay now on 4.9.0-4, and upgrade (if available) to a new (sub)version number)
Upgrading to a new (sub)version of 4.9.0-4 should now be possible with upgrade-kernel.
(e.g. I had earlier upgraded to 4.9.0-4 with (sub)version number: 4.9.51-1 and now could upgrade to latest (sub)version number: 4.9.65-3)
(with v1.0.3 it said "already newest version" which was incorrect, fixed now)

Fred

[rcrsn51]

Hi Fred:

I ran mklive this morning. I manually updated my version of the script to "-4" and it ran fine.

But I have a problem. I usually boot these from ISObooter which has always worked fine with all the dogs.

But this time, I get

mount: mounting aufs on /union failed: no such device
cant setup union (aufs) - read only filesystem?

Any suggestions?

Bill

[fredx181]

Hi Bill,

Probably that is because the -04 version requires different aufs and squashfs kernel modules. (downloaded from github and copied to the chroot).
So the problem is in your older mklive script, if you want, I can help maybe if you attach it and make some adjustments for supporting -04 kernel version (probably only needs a few changes for wget and cp commands).
EDIT: See also here: http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... 017#975017
(download, extract and copy of "dog-boot-stretch-20171123.tar.gz" (rather than "dog-boot-stretch.tar.gz") is required for -04)
EDIT2: Not sure, but I think you use older (customized) mklive because you like the simplicity of setting the packages list on top of script, just wanna say it's still possible with newest version, just change the standard as desired on top of script, run:

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./mklive-stretch -cli

Then skip the choice of DE config by typing 0 and the packages set on top of script will be installed.
Or:

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./mklive-stretch' -conf

Will create standard stretchlive.conf which you can modify
Then:

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./mklive-stretch -cli stretchlive.conf

Fred

[rcrsn51]

Excellent!

I updated my script by changing "dog-boot-stretch" to "dog-boot-stretch-20171123" and it worked perfectly.

I am now omitting Firefox from the build and replacing it with apulse. Then I just need to extract my own Firefox tarball into /opt and I have the latest browser.

Thanks.

Bill

[dancytron]

Excellent!

I updated my script by changing "dog-boot-stretch" to "dog-boot-stretch-20171123" and it worked perfectly.

I am now omitting Firefox from the build and replacing it with apulse. Then I just need to extract my own Firefox tarball into /opt and I have the latest browser.

Thanks.

Bill

Just a note, but just by editing the firefox-apulse.desktop file, you can put firefox and its profile anywhere (and get it out of the save-folder/remaster).

Built in update still works too.

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[Desktop Entry]
Name=Firefox-apulse
Comment=Audio in Youtube
GenericName=Web Browser
Exec=apulse /live/image/StretchLinked/firefox/firefox -profile "/live/image/StretchLinked/firefox/profile"
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Icon=/usr/share/pixmaps/updater.png
Categories=Network;WebBrowser;

[fredx181]

Just a note, but just by editing the firefox-apulse.desktop file, you can put firefox and its profile anywhere (and get it out of the save-folder/remaster).

Yes, nice !
Here's a similar setup, should be completely portable with apulse included:
http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... 010#978010

Fred

[rcrsn51]

Here is the HPLIP v3.17.9 print/scan driver in 32bit and 64bit versions.

The dependencies are cups, sane-utils and peasyscan.

[fredx181]

Here is the HPLIP v3.17.9 print/scan driver in 32bit and 64bit versions.

The dependencies are cups, sane-utils and peasyscan.

Thanks Bill !
Added to repos, I cannot test atm, but sure can be useful for many people, install from Synaptic "hplip-print-scan" or from terminal:

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apt-get update
apt-get install hplip-print-scan

Fred

[rcrsn51]

Hi Fred: I have built some WiFi drivers for the new "-4" kernel. They include the Broadcom vendor "wl" driver and my package of alternate Realtek drivers.

However, they need testing and feedback before going into your repo. If anyone asks, I will post download links.

Also, I have posted a new version of ISObooter-Stretch here.

And there is an update to PeasyMount here.

And PeasyPort is updated here.

[fredx181]

Thanks Bill !
Added new peasymount and peasyport to repo now.

And I wish everyone a GREAT 2018 !!

Fred

[backi]

Hi Fred and everyone !

Also a happy new Year !

Thank you and all the other guys for keeping the "Dogs" alive and kicking .....they are getting better and better

Cheers !

[rcrsn51]

F3-flash-check uses the f3 tools to test the health of your flash media. It writes large dummy files to the device, then reads them back.

1. Mount the flash drive.
2. Run f3-flash-check from the System menu.
3. Select the flash drive partition.
4. Click the "Write to" button. When done, close the terminal window.
5. Repeat with "Read back".
6. Click "Quit". The temporary files are deleted.

If you just want to measure the write speed of a drive, run F3 for a minute and terminate it with Ctrl/C.

F3 can also be used as a non-destructive "bleaching" tool for flash drives because it writes random data over all the empty space on the drive.

Update: The documentation suggests the following strategy for some particularly deceitful flash devices.

1. Run the Write To phase .
2. Leave the program running.
3. Unmount, unplug, replug, remount the drive.
4. Run the Read Back phase.
5. Quit

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

The Advanced section runs the f3probe tool. It tests whether your flash device is genuine, and is faster than the full write/read procedure. There are some caveats:

1. It operates at the device level, not on mounted partitions.
2. It will DESTROY the contents of the drive!
3. You MUST reformat or repair the drive filesystem when done.
4. If you have lots of RAM (4 GB) you may be able to test the drive without destroying its contents.

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

The dependency is f3. Remove the fake .gz extension.

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

[rcrsn51]

Here is a simple file-sharing system for your home LAN. It uses Python to run a basic HTTP server.

1. Install the simple-python-http-server package attached below. The dependency is Python2. It adds a menu entry under Internet.

2. Set up a folder anywhere on your system and add the files you want to share. Subfolders will work too.

3. Run Simple Python HTTP Server. Note the IP address and port. Select the share folder. Click Start Server.

4. Go to a client machine and open a web browser.

5. Type in the server's URL and port

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http://aaa.bbb.cc.dd:8000

If a client doesn't know the server IP in advance, run PeasyPort and scan for Port 8000.

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

Read here, here and here for additional tools to use with the Python HTTP Server.

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

Setting MIME-type associations for audio files

Suppose that you have set up the server to stream audio files like MP3s. The client computer is also running a version of Stretch-Live with PeasyMP3 as the audio player and Firefox as the browser. In order that Firefox can recognize PeasyMP3 as a "helper" application, the client needs some configuring.

1. Make sure that PeasyMP3 works with locally installed MP3 files and is set as the default application. You can confirm this by looking in the file ~/.config/mimeapps.list.

2. Open /etc/mime.types and search for "mp3". The associated mime type is "audio/mpeg".

3. Open /etc/mailcap. Under "User Section Begins", add the line "audio/mpeg; peasymp3 %s"

4. Reboot.

5. Browse to the remote Python server and click on an MP3 file.

6. Select PeasyMP3 as the application.

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

[fredx181]

F3-flash-check uses the f3 tools to test the health of your flash media. It writes large dummy files to the device, then reads them back.

Nice utility, thanks !
I tested with several usb-stcks and sd-cards, what a difference e.g. in write speed !! , some had only 2-3MB/s others 16-20MB/s (and inbetween) (on usb-2.0)
Added to repos (also your simple-python-http-server package).

@all
New version of "Google-drive Filemanager" v2, it's a complete rewrite, added to repos "googledrivegui2" (previous package name was just "googledrivegui")
Install with Synaptic or from terminal with apt-get:

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apt-get update
apt-get install googledrivegui2

See more info, pet packages and portable appimage here:
http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... 148#979148

Fred

[rcrsn51]

F3-flash-check v6.1 posted above.

If you have enough RAM, f3probe may be able to test non-destructively.

[rcrsn51]

Touchpad updated to v1.4-1 here.

The instructions for Tesseract OCR are updated here.

[rcrsn51]

Attached below is the img2pdf tool used by PeasyPDF. It converts a folder of JPEG images into a single PDF file. The dependency is python.

Remove the fake .gz extension.

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

Here is the Timidity MIDI to WAV converter. The package contains a soundfont file and is ready to use in PeasyMP3.

TImidity is now in Fred's repo.
---------------------------