(old)Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

I am doing so many workarounds it's hard to keep up with the issues. I want to stay with Wary Puppy 5.1.1, but issues are piling up. Throw in the latest "improvements" at YouTube, and I am totally confused what might be wrong.
1. The Rename dialog is not represented on the bottom taskbar. After a long session, I click Show Desktop and find three or four Rename dialogs that never got completed and therefore I lost those files. Very annoying, because if the dialog didn't recede behind all windows like it does, this wouldn't happen.
2. Windows, instances of Seamonkey, are disappearing. They are not tabs, they are simply not visible or available any more. If I reboot, and then restore the last session, there it is, the missing window(s). Very puzzling.
3. Just tonight, YouTube videos being played do not show up in the tmp directory. Yet if I refresh the page, the temporary flash file usually shows up. How can a video play if it doesn't download a file to tmp folder? I sure hope this is a temporary trend, the flash not showing up in tmp. Sometimes I have to refresh three or more times before it shows in tmp. If starting another instance of Seamonkey doesn't fix things, I may have reboot to restore normal behavior. What is going on?
4. My system's sound will fritz if I take a break to nap, or leave the computer idle for more than an hour. Infrequently, the sound goes into a terminal loop while it's playing a music video. Bummer, because this looping is locked in, such that the player no longer responds to normal controls, producing a very unpleasant sound that can last for half a minute. [Turn down the volume, leave the room, until it quits.] This has gotta be a bug, even if it's actually a connectivity issue. I've installed two different pci NIC cards in here: the 3com is a little better than the Linksys, but the problem persists.

Have you tried any of the alternate Wary 5.1.1 kernels?
An incompatible kernel can cause all sorts of problems.

To reedit up to date.

Nubc, how much RAM is in the computer?

775 MB DDR 2100 ram, 588 MB free
1.8 GHz P4
Asus mobo P4SE
onboard sound CMI-9738 (CMedia)
3com NIC
pci USB 2.0
DVD-RW

Well, I have no idea... It doesn't look like the problem could be due to a lack of RAM.

Can you give us some details about your ISP and internet connection? Also, are you aware of Flash cookies? And that SeaMonkey has a cache of its own, the default location of which is not /tmp? (In SeaMonkey, Edit -> Preferences -> Advanced -> Cache)

Time-Warner standard cable, Linksys router (wired). This is the same box and set-up on which I ran Puppy 2.17.1 for 3 or 4 years without a problem.

I'm taking an interest in Wary 5.1.1 with an older kernel. I am genuinely surprised that standard Wary 5.1.1 uses the same kernel as Lucid 5.25, because I couldn't even install Lucid on this box. I guess, the older the kernel the better, so first choice will be wary-511-k2.6.30.5, the kernel used with Puppy 4.3.1. However, this kernel isn't specifically mentioned on Barry's blog, so I wonder if someone else compiled it for Wary, or was it Barry? I also wonder what is the difference between wary-511-k2.6.31.14 and wary-511-k2.6.31.14uniproc-ide, and why was the latter needed?

nubc wrote:1. The Rename dialog is not represented on the bottom taskbar. After a long session, I click Show Desktop and find three or four Rename dialogs that never got completed and therefore I lost those files. Very annoying, because if the dialog didn't recede behind all windows like it does, this wouldn't happen.

You mean the file manager "Rename" dialog? They never show up in the taskbar -- they give the WM a "hint" telling it not to show them, which is standard practice.

nubc wrote:

I'm taking an interest in Wary 5.1.1 with an older kernel. I am genuinely surprised that standard Wary 5.1.1 uses the same kernel as Lucid 5.25, because I couldn't even install Lucid on this box.

You do have yet another option or two.
(The latter is continuously updated, with a slightly older kernel than Puppy Linux 2.17.1.)

@ Dewbie
Lucid 5.25 Retro is the version of Lucid that I could not install on this box, as was mentioned above. Classic Pup 2.14X is a worthy effort that I won't criticize, but just say that I prefer one of Barry's Puppies.

When the flash file is not being stored in tmp directory, you expect to find it in the Seamonkey cache. It's not there either, nor does it show up in a pfind search for "Flash*"

You mean the file manager "Rename" dialog? They never show up in the taskbar -- they give the WM a "hint" telling it not to show them, which is standard practice.

I'd like to give the WM a "hint" telling it to show the Rename dialog. How would I do that? In other Puppies I have used, the Rename dialog is represented on the taskbar. I can't say all of them, but most of them.

nubc wrote:

Lucid 5.25 Retro is the version of Lucid that I could not install on this box, as was mentioned above.

There is no mention of Lucid 525 Retro in your previous posts, only this:

I am genuinely surprised that standard Wary 5.1.1 uses the same kernel as Lucid 5.25, because I couldn't even install Lucid on this box.

...which is why I provided the Retro link.

Classic Pup 2.14X is a worthy effort that I won't criticize, but just say that I prefer one of Barry's Puppies.

Just to clarify: Barry coordinates Quirky and Wary; 01micko and playdayz coordinate Lucid.

Lucid 5.25 Retro is the version of Lucid that I could not install on this box, as was mentioned above.

I was gonna say, "as was alluded to above" but I didn't wanna sound like a priss.

I am genuinely surprised that standard Wary 5.1.1 uses the same kernel as Lucid 5.25, because I couldn't even install Lucid on this box.

I actually tried unsuccessfully to install both Standard and Retro Lucid, although I spent more time (a week) trying to install Retro.

@ Dewbie
Sorry for the ambiguity. If I knew how to strike through "as was mentioned above" I would certainly do that. I was not trying to correct you, nor implying that you were duplicating information. What was "mentioned above" was that I couldn't install Lucid on this computer (not specifically Lucid Retro, as you point out). I was using the word "mention" interchangeably with the word "allude." When I cited Lucid without a qualifier I had in mind that I had tried or considered most variations of Lucid, including Retro which was my main choice in Lucid. I don't wanna try Lucid Retro again, especially not on this box. On the other hand, your suggestion that I try Wary 5.1.1 with an older kernel seems to be the best solution for my issues, and that is the way I will probably go. Thanks for the link to the ISO's.

allude - To make an indirect reference.

mention - An incidental reference or allusion.

nubc

Perhaps what you should really do, is a new thread posting your PC specs and asking which is the best Puppy to use, and get help sorting that out, as it sounds like you don't have the optimum choice there

There are youtube video downloaders, I believe, which might solve those difficulties
.....and, yes, they keep changing format!

Aitch

Been there, done that:
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=67825
I am satisfied with my current options. I'm sticking with Wary, but still open to suggestions.

nubc wrote:

You mean the file manager "Rename" dialog? They never show up in the taskbar -- they give the WM a "hint" telling it not to show them, which is standard practice.

I'd like to give the WM a "hint" telling it to show the Rename dialog. How would I do that? In other Puppies I have used, the Rename dialog is represented on the taskbar. I can't say all of them, but most of them.

I suspect this comes from the rename dialog identifying itself as _NET_WM_WINDOW_TYPE_DIALOG, so you probably need to modify the taskbar to show such windows.
The reason it changed between Puppy version is probably the move from JWM to Openbox+fbpanel...

nubc

I was offering help, but I've read that thread and still don't know what hardware you're using, in order to advise, other than you have 2 of them...?

Youtube problems can vary with date uploaded, and in use, from kernel type and version, video driver and accelerator, video and sound codecs, browser type and version, flash version, and whether you use Java, so that would need to be known, too

As well as which Puppies you've tried and whether with/without success

Information such as this cannot presently be found psychically with available dotpets

Aitch

my hardware given in the current thread:
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 720#544720

775 MB DDR 2100 ram, 588 MB free
1.8 GHz P4
Asus mobo P4SE
onboard sound CMI-9735 (CMedia)
3com NIC
pci USB 2.0
DVD-RW

Display card: Diamond STL S540 XTRM32M B2

I noticed that the hard-to-identify generic ASUS vid card had bulging caps, so I replaced it with the Diamond vid card. Both computers have the same ASUS motherboard and similar specs. This computer has a slightly older version of the ASUS mobo and requires a pci card for USB 2.0. It might have been possible to install Lucid Retro on this computer, had I stuck with it. However, I promote and sell (at cost) Puppy CDs in my business, so I'd rather promote a version that's easy to install to use for myself. That is why I found it remarkable that whereas installing Lucid was very problematic, installing Wary was trouble-free, yet both use the same kernel. I'm running standard Wary Puppy 5.1.1, with no significant mods. Seamonkey 2.0.11 with Ad Block Plus. Flash 10. Java enabled. Savage 4 (VGA compatible controller)

EDIT: I am experiencing another odd behavior: If I accidentally press the MS Windows key on this Dell keyboard, it closes all windows I have running, and I lose everything. Not reproducible. Grrr

nubc wrote:Been there, done that:
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=67825
I am satisfied with my current options. I'm sticking with Wary, but still open to suggestions.

Try Wary 512.

Youtube videos are in /tmp with 512, and with Lupu525, and Puppy4.31.

The saved files won't play back in 4.31 but will with the other 2.