Test Pup 1.0.7alpha released

[Leon]

Congratulations and thanks for Xorgwizard. It's nice and user friendly.

Here are some remarks about my experience with Puppy 1.0.7a.

1. Unfortunately a wheel of my Logitech USB wheel mouse don't work in Xorg mode. Don't had any problem with it since my first Puppy, I think it was Puppy 1.0.3. Fortunately it works fine in Xvesa mode.

2. When I click Stop button in Roaring Penguin PPPoE ADSL window to stop connection, X exits to prompt. It s not a bug but it's annoying.

3. Menu fonts in some applications are not clear enough on my 15" LCD at 1024x768 dpi. I attached a screenshot from unmodified Puppy 1.0.7a in Xorg mode.

I described how to set nice font display in Puppy at:

http://www.murga.org/%7Epuppy/viewtopic.php?t=4437

In Puppy 1.0.7a I made this changes:

- Switched to Xvesa mode.

- Copied libfreetype.so.6.3.8 to /usr/lib/.

- In Rxvt made symlinks:

Code: Select all

cd /usr/lib
ln -fs libfreetype.so.6.3.8 libfreetype.so.6
ln -fs libfreetype.so.6.3.8 libfreetype.so

- Replaced /etc/fonts/local.conf with modified local.conf.

You can see results on a screenshot attached to my post at http://www.murga.org/%7Epuppy/viewtopic.php?t=4437 and compare them with screenshot from default fonts in unmodified Puppy 1.0.7a in Xorg mode attached to this post.

When I was typing in AbiWord I also noticed that libfreetype.so.6.3.8 is not compatible with Puppy 1.0.7a in Xorg mode. Some characters simply disappeared.

[BarryK]

When I was typing in AbiWord I also noticed that libfreetype.so.6.3.8 is not compatible with Puppy 1.0.7a in Xorg mode. Some characters simply disappeared.

Leon,
It's a good thing I was cautious and decided to stay with the libfreetype that came with Xorg.
Unfortunately, it also means that I won't be able to, at least not right now, change to 6.3.8 with the enhanced rendering.

[BarryK]

1. Unfortunately a wheel of my Logitech USB wheel mouse don't work in Xorg mode. Don't had any problem with it since my first Puppy, I think it was Puppy 1.0.3. Fortunately it works fine in Xvesa mode.

"a wheel" ...does it have more than one wheel? what do they do?

2. When I click Stop button in Roaring Penguin PPPoE ADSL window to stop connection, X exits to prompt. It s not a bug but it's annoying.

There is a new version of Roaring Penguin.
I forgot to put it into 1.0.7alpha, but will do for the next release.

[MU]

I think wheels are treated as buttons in x.org.

Search /etc/X11/xorg.conf for
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"

in
Section "InputDevice"

Try higher values, I think "5" represents a 3-button-wheelmouse.

Mark

[BarryK]

I think wheels are treated as buttons in x.org.

Search /etc/X11/xorg.conf for
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"

in
Section "InputDevice"

Try higher values, I think "5" represents a 3-button-wheelmouse.

Mark

Yeah, when 1.0.7alpha is booted the first time and it asks you if you have a wheel mouse and you answer yes, the Wizard is supposed to uncomment that line "Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"" in xorg.conf ...hmm, maybe I better check that that is working.

Also the Mouse/Keyboard Wizard will do that, that is, comment-out or comment-in that line.

Ah, I just looked at my own xorg.conf. I ansered yes to the wheel mouse question, and that line is uncommented, so that much at least is working.

So Leon, we get back to MU's point about whether that "4 5" is right for your mouse.

[kethd]

It is very exciting to learn of the upgrade to Xorg, and possible improved FrameBuffer support! This has been the biggest issue for me so far in terms of trying to get cozy with Puppy. All of my early efforts failed, and I had to step back and take it much more slowly, hoping to finally understand Puppy well enough to get it to work.

Us newbies with Dell Latitude CP/CPi laptops with NeoMagic MagicGraph 128XD video chips need "out-of-the-box" FrameBuffer support, to have good early experiences with Puppy.

(I am sorry to just be discovering Barry's interesting pre-Puppy legacy material on goosee.com just as it is being taken down. Some is preserved on archive.org, but far from easy to browse.)

So, I guess I'll need to either slog through the snowstorm we are in the middle of here in the US NE to the library to try to get the iso download, or try to get it tonight -- how many hours at 28.8kbps?

[pakt]

Us newbies with Dell Latitude CP/CPi laptops with NeoMagic MagicGraph 128XD video chips need "out-of-the-box" FrameBuffer support, to have good early experiences with Puppy.

Barry and kethd: I just bought a cheap Dell Latitude CPi laptop (D300XT) at an auction, mainly as a Puppy testing machine.

Just tested Puppy 1.0.7alpha on it and...Xorg wizard works like a charm! No problem handling the NeoMagic MagicGraph 128XD video chip. Worked immediately at 1024x768x16. Well done Barry

Now to do a little more testing...

Oh yes, almost forgot. The Labtec PS/2 optical wheel mouse worked right away, including the scroll wheel.

Edit: I'm writing this now using Puppy 1.0.7alpha on the Dell Latitude. It took only 5 sec to start Mozilla on this 300MHz machine - amazing!

[PeterSieg]

Hi. Gxine give segmentation fault under xorg only?! xvesa is ok!

Anybody else having this behavier?

PS

[Ted Dog]

I installed 107a to the NTA terminal, and had same type of error reported earlier.

[J_Rey]

It's a good thing that this is an alpha release... I barely got X.Org working! Xvesa/XFree86 worked fine though.

OK, I have a i810 chipset with shared video memory. After going through the Xorgwizard with my first selection it tried a video mode that my monitor couldn't handle but was listed as supported, the rest of the time it was either a completely black (i.e. good video signal) or black with a some vertical and/or horizontal lines and a cursor that wouldn't move. At those times where it wouldn't continue, I tried to move the mouse, caps lock, then Ctrl-Alt-Bksp then Ctrl-Alt-Del. Most of the times it wouldn't even soft reboot and I had to push the reset button on the front of my computer. A few times Ctrl-Alt-Del worked though. 640X480X24 was the only one I've gotten working (I think after reboot not immediately after xorgwizard). Which, BTW, at that small of a resolution a some of the menus were cut off and the icons in the upper left were all in a pile.

Now this problem (after xorgwizard tries new video mode only Ctrl-Alt-Del works unreliably) is more of a hassle than you would think. Because after reboot and attempting to load the previous pup00x fs then it will load the new display settings and possibly freeze again! So to avoid creating new pup00x files (like I did) after a bad selection could there be a kernel parameter (e.g. STARTX=0) or something that would have Puppy *not* load whatever X server is installed to allow xorgwizard or xvesa to be accessed again?

Also, I tried Gxine with an AVI file and it worked but the top 10-15 pixels of the video was scrambled. No seg fault with first run for me, tho. That's all for me for now then.

[BarryK]

J_Rey,
Have you tried the xorg682 dotpup?

I wonder if Xorg supports the i810 chip?

[pakt]

I wonder if Xorg supports the i810 chip?

Barry, I didn't have time today to check 1.0.7a on one of my "i810" PC's, but will do so tomorrow (it's Saturday evening here) and post my results...

[bombayrockers]

i810 + Xorg requires the i810 driver for Xorg. Without the driver it only supports vesa. I am using Xorg.pup + i810.pup

[pakt]

I am using Xorg.pup + i810.pup

I don't recall seeing a i810.pup. I did a search of the forum for "i810.pup" and got 697 hits...

[Flash]

...I wonder if Xorg supports the i810 chip?

My computer has the Intel 815T chipset which I beleive is part of the i810 family and uses the same drivers or modules or whatever they are. Anyway, Xorg didn't seem to want to work the one time I chose it when I booted the 1.0.7a CD. My experience was very much the same as J Rey reported, but it could have been because I don't have a clue what I'm doing. I test using boot option 3 (no pup001 file) so no problems with bad settings cropping up on reboot.

[Leon]

"a wheel" ...does it have more than one wheel? what do they do?

The mouse has only one scroll wheel. In Puppy with Xorg mode enabled a contents of window does not move when turn the scroll wheel button. Other functions of the mouse are working fine. I never had any problem with that in previous versions of Puppy or in Puppy 1.0.7a in Xvesa mode.

This is a setting from my /etc/X11/xorg.conf:

Code: Select all

Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5" #scrollwheel

About Logitech B69 Select 3-Button Optical Scroll Mouse:
http://digitalmedianet.dealtime.com/xPF ... h_20302435

There is a new version of Roaring Penguin. I forgot to put it into 1.0.7alpha, but will do for the next release.

The problem about exiting X when stopping connection in Roaring Penguin already existed in some previous versions of Puppy, then in some versions disappeared and in some others reappeared. It not exists in Puppy 1.0.6.

It's a good thing I was cautious and decided to stay with the libfreetype that came with Xorg. Unfortunately, it also means that I won't be able to, at least not right now, change to 6.3.8 with the enhanced rendering.

Libfreetype.6.3.8 with enhanced rendering could be enabled when user switch to Xvesa mode. It would be nice if something like 'Enable enhanced rendering' check box would be available somewhere through Control Panel menu and then some script would make symlinks to Libfreetype.6.3.8 and change settings in local.conf file.

Yesterday I had a chance to try my enhanced rendering settings on other computer with 17" LCD monitor at resolution 1280x1024x24 in Xvesa mode and I was very impressed. Fonts are thin, crisp and clear no matter from which angle we look at the screen what is very importent at LCD monitors.

[pakt]

i810 + Xorg requires the i810 driver for Xorg. Without the driver it only supports vesa. I am using Xorg.pup + i810.pup

This is strange as 1.0.7a's Xorg works out-of-the-box for me on my notorious Dell Inspiron 510m with the i810-family chipset.

Here's my experience:
First feedback on Puppy 1.0.7a Xorg - worst case senario

Hardware:
Dell Inspiron 510m laptop with 852GM/855GM Chipset (i810 family)
External 17" TFT screen
External USB Swedish keyboard
External USB Logitech optical wheel mouse

- Booted 1.0.7a from CD-ROM (default boot)
- Chose "fi" keyboard map (BTW, no "se", but "fi"="se". "se" should be added to list)
- Mouse type USB, Scroll Yes
- Puppy Linux Video Wizard reports:
Supported - 640x480x16 and 640x480x24 (not true, correct is up to 1280x1024x24)
Monitor - Up to and including 1920x1440x24 (not true, only 1280x1024x24)
- I chose 1280x1024x16 but got 1024x768 at nan Hz
- Modified xorg.conf from:
Modes "1024x768"
to
Modes "1280x1024" "1024x768"
- X.org worked correctly. Desktop now at 1280x1024x16 on 17" TFT - Great!
- Mouse and scroll wheel work
- Basic keys are correct but not the Swedish keys. Adding Swedish .Xmodmap in /root fixed that.
- Checked that I get Swedish characters in terminal, AbiWord and Gnumeric - OK.
- No background image at 1280x1024. Using background wizard, only "exactfit" gives full image. "fillscreen" gives white bg, "fullscreen" gives white bands at top and bottom of screen. This was the case for all three images.
- On shutting down, approx 10s delay during "Shutting down PCMCIA services:" (although no PCMCIA devices present). Then proceeds without problems.

Barry, let me know if you want me to upload xorg.conf, Xorg.0.log and/or dmesg.

[kethd]

Success! Another rung up the ladder to heaven -- Puppy 107a usable display on Dell CPi D266XT laptop.

But the road is still a little rough. The process of setting Xorg is somewhat awkward/confusing -- but it does get the job done. It would be better for new folk if the wizard text about manually restarting matched a little more exactly the actions required:
"exiting from X" > choose "Exit to prompt"
"run xorgwizard" > "# xorgwizard"
(restart X-jwm) > "# xwin jwm"

Because there remain some issues with the Xorg wizard process actually working, it would be good if the msgs displayed were a little more complete, to give the user more hints when things go awry. The text displayed when the new display mode is tested is quite complete, lacking only the bit-depth, but because the clock is ticking the user is under pressure to just quickly verify the appearance and move on. On the next screen, when there is no time pressure, only the refresh rate is given. This would be a good place to show complete resolution and bit-depth info for the mode choosen, to help the user know what is really going on.

When I first booted the CD, I was presented with 6 plausible "__card" modes and some additional "__danger" modes. Which would be fine, except for the little detail that the last of the 6, 1024x768x24, is not actually plausible with only 2MB of video memory.

So, I chose the best available option, 1024x768x16. Things seem to go along OK, but even though I did get a Puppy desktop, the fonts were not right -- I was actually in 800x600, mapped to 1024x768, but the only way I knew something was wrong was from the appearance. So I then went through the process of exiting X, running the wizard, etc, over and over, on all the modes.

The modes run non-native -- they all map to the full screen, 1024x768.

640x480x16 is messed up. The background is plain black, and the icon fonts disappear, black on black. Windows ghost when they are closed. The icons in the upper right are squished on top of each other.

640x480x16, 800x600x16, x24 are all basically OK, aside from the font oddness caused by the pixel mapping.

1024x768x16 works fine. But there is something screwy about attaining this. The first couple times I tried, I ended up in 800x600. Then it started working. I'll have to experiment more to try to find out why it sometimes works and sometimes does not.

1024x768x24 is confused. It seems to fall back to 800x600. Which is kind of good, rather than just blowing up. But some things like beaver still think the screen is 1024x768, meaning it goes off the bottom of the screen, and there is no way to see that part of the window.

And, Caps Lock seems to be working right!
Good to see the boot menu (only sometimes?) but still Not Safe -- still seems to want to default to making a pupxxx on the hard drive without explicit permission. I had to power down in a panic in the middle of a reboot, frantically remembering that it might be about to do something to my hard drive. (I don't know if powering down was safe, but it seemed better than the alternative.)

What is our timeline for 107a feedback, the roadmap to final 107? Is there likely to be a beta -- when? (How long do I have to try to study 107a in more detail?)

Neomagic NM2160 MagicGraph 128XD

[GuestToo]

i think an lcd monitor will usually only work well in only a few of the video modes that might be available ... in fact, there might be only 1 mode which works really well

[GuestToo]

http://www.pupweb.org/puppy/news.htm

I placed this line into /root/.xinitrc:
[ -e /root/.fonts ] && xset fp+ /root/.fonts/ #v1.0.7
If anyone sees anything wrong with doing this, please let me know

my .fonts is symlinked to /mnt/home/windows/fonts
(on a vfat, not ntfs, partition)

i tried xset fp+ /root/.fonts/ and get this error message:

xset: bad font path element (#59), possible causes are:
Directory does not exist or has wrong permissions
Directory missing fonts.dir
Incorrect font server address or syntax

i ran mkfontscale then mkfontdir in /root/.fonts to create /root/.fonts/fonts.scale and /root/.fonts/fonts.dir

it seems to work ok now, with no error messages ... for example, the microsoft fonts show up in xfontsel, and beaver

i borrowed mkfontscale then mkfontdir from Vector Linux ... about 28k together