"Testing" Sensei & Sensei64

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efgee
Posts: 34
Joined: Thu 08 Apr 2010, 19:56

#31 Post by efgee »

Didn't try your OS yet but will definately download it and give it a spin.

I've read that Arch based distros are rolling distro's and because of that they tend to break from time to time.
So I welcome your attempt to minimize brekage with using self contained sfs files - which I concur is a nice solution.

Also wanted to mention that Manjaro has nice graphical installer forked from Linux Mint and adapted for pacman.
Maybe you want to look into it and use it for your OS. So you don't have to reinvent the wheel.

Now where is my download button...

Keep up the good work!

stifiling
Posts: 388
Joined: Sun 30 Dec 2007, 03:56

#32 Post by stifiling »

@efgee

Appreciated! the installation procedure is not hard like Arch's installation, it's the same like how a lot of users would install Puppy. and that's by simply dragging and dropping the sfs files from the iso, onto their hard drive...and adding a grub entry to boot the system.

I added the pacmanexpress gui package manager and save file dialog to the other isos so they are now all the same.

I need someone with an ati card to try it out and let me know if 'X' is working. If not, hopefully help me nail down the solution to getting it working....then i'd feel comfortable removing the 'Testing' off the title.

If there's any other questions, or issues, or "what the heck is this?" type of thoughts....please leave feedback.

efgee
Posts: 34
Joined: Thu 08 Apr 2010, 19:56

#33 Post by efgee »

Wanted to run the 64-bit version in Virtualbox, but the iso stopped running during install of the modules. Oh well...

Next, burned a real cd and it loaded fully (on real hardware).

Wow, it looks like the little brother of Manjaro, pretty cool. 8)

Didn't have much time to play with it but here some info:

Wi-Fi was not recognized, so it didn't work.
It's a Centrino Wireless-N 1000 BGN.

Also the cpu fan ran at high speeds most of the time.
But don't feel bad, Sensei64 is not the only distro where this happens.

If the kernel is the culprit:
Manjaro 0.8.5 doesn't have this problem, it has the 3.8.5 kernel.
Sensei64 uses the 3.0.3 kernel...

Will surely test more over the weekend.
(just need to get Wi-Fi working somehow...)

Good Job

stifiling
Posts: 388
Joined: Sun 30 Dec 2007, 03:56

#34 Post by stifiling »

efgee wrote:Wi-Fi was not recognized, so it didn't work.
It's a Centrino Wireless-N 1000 BGN.
The other issues you mentioned, i'll see what can be done to hopefully get them resolved. Maybe trying a updated kernel just might do it. The isos work fine in my VirtualBox though.

This one that i have quoted is what's taking precedence at the moment. Do you know which module your wireless adapter usually uses? could you try the command:

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iwconfig
and see if you see wlan0 or eth1. if not, try the commands:

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modprobe iwlagn
iwconfig
and then see if wlan0 or eth1 shows up. if not then could you run the command:

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dmesg
and see if there's any errors regarding iwlagn, or firmware, or anything that looks 'odd' and may be stopping the wireless adapter from reading...

meowcats
Posts: 31
Joined: Sun 14 Apr 2013, 04:59

#35 Post by meowcats »

attempting to load savefile with latest PAE and non-PAE causes kernel panic...

btw I have an ATI 4850, and X works though it only loads VESA and not the radeon module... so I cannot use full 1920x1200 resolution.

Cannot get the save file to work at all, so i cannot add "radeon" to modules in rc.conf to test.

nancy reagan
Posts: 544
Joined: Thu 22 Jan 2009, 14:20

kernel panic savefile

#36 Post by nancy reagan »

meowcats wrote:attempting to load savefile with latest PAE and non-PAE causes kernel panic...

btw I have an ATI 4850, and X works though it only loads VESA and not the radeon module... so I cannot use full 1920x1200 resolution.

Cannot get the save file to work at all, so i cannot add "radeon" to modules in rc.conf to test.
Same here; thought due my full noobness.

Made clean savefile, that is, after having done nothing went straight to "save file" 500mb ext3 etc.

stifiling
Posts: 388
Joined: Sun 30 Dec 2007, 03:56

#37 Post by stifiling »

meowcats & nancy reagan,

kernel panic on loading the save file....i'm guessing u're booting from a external USB drive.....am i correct?

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Marv
Posts: 1264
Joined: Wed 04 May 2005, 13:47
Location: SW Wisconsin

save file issues

#38 Post by Marv »

There were some save file issues resolved between alphaOS 1.0 and 2.0. They generally were with lack of persistance, not kernel panic related in my experience.

See here: http://alphaos.freeforums.org/savefile- ... l-t13.html
Pups currently in kennel :D Older LxPupSc and X-slacko-4.4 for my users; LxPupSc, LxPupSc64 and upupEF for me. All good pups indeed, and all running savefiles for look'n'feel only. Browsers, etc. solely from SFS.

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James C
Posts: 6618
Joined: Thu 26 Mar 2009, 05:12
Location: Kentucky

#39 Post by James C »

Manual frugal install of the non-pae version on my trusty Athlon XP box. Zero problems so far. Working and correct display,sound and internet on initial boot. No problem with savefile.

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Chip description:
VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation NV18 [GeForce4 MX 440 AGP 8x] (rev c1) 

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-Computer-
Processor : AMD Athlon(tm) XP 2400+
Memory : 1033MB (252MB used) 
Looking good so far.

meowcats
Posts: 31
Joined: Sun 14 Apr 2013, 04:59

#40 Post by meowcats »

Yes external USB flash drive.

nancy reagan
Posts: 544
Joined: Thu 22 Jan 2009, 14:20

#41 Post by nancy reagan »

meowcats wrote:Yes external USB flash drive.
Same here

stifiling
Posts: 388
Joined: Sun 30 Dec 2007, 03:56

#42 Post by stifiling »

@James C
Thanks for the good news. if you happen to have a machine with a 64-bit processor..could you give the sensei64 a whirl...

meowcats & nancy reagan,

I believe the save file is now working correctly when booting from USB (hopefully no kernel panic). i know the download is a little larger than usual...but i've made it abt 70MB lighter. If you want to try it again, and let me know your thoughts after...

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James C
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Location: Kentucky

#43 Post by James C »

stifiling wrote:@James C
Thanks for the good news. if you happen to have a machine with a 64-bit processor..could you give the sensei64 a whirl...
I've got several 64 bit boxes......kinda busy but I'll test sensei64 out in a day or two.

nancy reagan
Posts: 544
Joined: Thu 22 Jan 2009, 14:20

#44 Post by nancy reagan »

stifiling wrote:@James C

meowcats & nancy reagan,


I believe the save file is now working correctly when booting from USB (hopefully no kernel panic). i know the download is a little larger than usual...but i've made it abt 70MB lighter. If you want to try it again, and let me know your thoughts after...
Foremost: I am a full noob, thus my reports might be false, while I hope not. ..

Though no kernel panic, at end of session was'nt asked whether or not wanted to save. This while according to setting was going to be "prompted" whether or not save.

Tested with FF but no history to be found while set to "save".

stifiling
Posts: 388
Joined: Sun 30 Dec 2007, 03:56

#45 Post by stifiling »

i made some necessary adjustments to the 32bit isos for users interested in usb flash drive booting.



i believe the problem nancy, may be that:

you should make the directory on your flash drive /mnt/sdb1/Sensei and copy the sfs files from the iso into that directory.

also use the boot paramater in your grub entry

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psubdir=/Sensei
and there should be no kernel panic or session saving issues.

meowcats
Posts: 31
Joined: Sun 14 Apr 2013, 04:59

#46 Post by meowcats »

I have not been using grub. I use syslinux instead.

what do you think about providing a updated kernel?
murga and alphaos both use 3.8.x

stifiling
Posts: 388
Joined: Sun 30 Dec 2007, 03:56

#47 Post by stifiling »

meowcats wrote:what do you think about providing a updated kernel?
that's not a task that would be too difficult to accomplish. kind of conflicted on it though. what would really be a great reason for using an updated kernel, opposed to an already well tested one? My experiences with newer kernels have brought about unwanted hardware issues.

I notice Barry also never rolls out the new Puppy releases, with the brand spanking new kernel. I wonder if his reasons for not doing so are similar to mine.

I'm not against that idea. It 'sounds' like a good idea. But is it? what's the benefit? Like i said i've only come across, "oh no! my ____ doesn't work anymore. let me figure out how to get this back on."

meowcats
Posts: 31
Joined: Sun 14 Apr 2013, 04:59

#48 Post by meowcats »

Of course the flipside to unwanted bugs/issues are that an outdated kernel may not have support for some newer hardware. So instead of 'it doesn't work anymore' it becomes 'why won't it work at all'
Especially for a portable frugal install, IMO more driver support > occasional bug.

also, I tried latest sensei and save file indeed works!
However I added "radeon" to modules in rc.conf, and on reboot my ati4850 goes off and "monitor out of range"

stifiling
Posts: 388
Joined: Sun 30 Dec 2007, 03:56

#49 Post by stifiling »

meowcats,

could you try installing:

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pacman -S xf86-video-ati


and editing /etc/X11/xorg.conf changing line 3 from:

Driver "vesa"
to
Driver "radeon"

and see if that works...

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Tote
Posts: 237
Joined: Thu 19 Jan 2012, 07:53
Location: South Wales

#50 Post by Tote »

Hi stifling, going to show my ignorance here. I installed hardinfo using Pacman Express and I can run it by typing hardinfo in console, but is there an easy/obvious method I've overlooked to add it to Menu?

Many thanks.

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