Very old kernels
rcrsn51 posted in the Wary 0.7 feedback thread in the forum:I went back through some threads dealing with problematic old hardware and it seems like the best solutions were retro kernels such as 2.6.21.7 and 2.6.25.16.
...posted at http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=59514&start=30
The problem is, Wary cannot go any further back than 2.6.27, for these reasons:
1. Aufs2
As mentioned in a recent post, a reasonably new version of Aufs is needed, and the 2.x series only supports the 2.6.27 kernel and later (in fact, as from last Monday, support for 2.6.27 is dropped also).
2. Squashfs 4.0
I want all the kernels in Wary to support Squashfs 4.0, and the earliest backport patch that I have is for 2.6.27.
3. ext4
The earliest kernel that will support ext4 is 2.6.27 (and even this has possible limitations).
4. Linux-headers
Glibc is compiled against the header files of the source of a particular kernel version. Wary uses the headers of 2.6.27. This tells glibc what the capabilities of the kernel are. The problem with using an even older kernel is that you are telling glibc that the kernel is even less capable, and possibly even telling it things that may conflict with later kernels. I am somewhat guessing here, but think it unwise to use headers that are a long way behind the latest kernel that is expected to be used with the distro.
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Wary 0.7: modem fix
Rerwin has advised me that the last modem -7.5 PET was a step too far and may have broken things. My post on -7.5:http://bkhome.org/blog/?viewDetailed=01791
Rerwin has advised me what to roll back to fix it, so I have created a PET, modem_fix_wary070-1.pet, get it from here:
http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?p=448110#448110
I'm not sure, you might have to reboot after installing the PET.
NOTICE:
I'll be mostly offline for a couple of days, but will keep working on Puppy stuff. I will be continuing to help my relative paint a house. She does have a wireless Optus dongle so I can get online to read blog posts etc.
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Kernel 2.6.30.5 updated PET
I posted today about recompiling the 2.6.30.5 kernel:http://bkhome.org/blog/?viewDetailed=01794
The PET is here:
http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/quirky/pet_packages-quirky/linux_kernel-2.6.30.5-tickless_smp-11-p4.pet
This PET can be used for all Woof-built puppies based on the 4.x series (such as the various experimental 4.3.2 builds), or any Puppy that wants an older kernel.
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Simplified naming of Puppy files?
I have been playing with the concept of mix-n-match with Wary 0.7, and it certainly is interesting. There are four files that you use to build a Puppy, for example 'vmlinuz', 'initrd.gz', wary-070.sfs' and 'zw070341.sfs'. Of course, a Puppy can be built with the kernel drivers inside wary-070.sfs in which case the "zdrv" file does not exist and there are only three files. Further info on mix-n-match: http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/quirky/wary-070-mix-n-match/mix-n-match-readme.htm.Then I started thinking about the reasons why two of those four files (or one of three) has versioned naming. I am sure that there were good reasons, but right now I can't think of any, but I can think of good reasons not to.
After all, 'vmlinuz' and 'initrd.gz' are not versioned, so why not extend that to all of them?
So, perhaps the four files could be named:
vmlinuz
initrd.gz
puppy.sfs
zdrv.sfs
Note that if this does turn out to be a very good idea, then I can develop the scripts to work with both old and new naming schemes, although it might get messy. Also there are lots of scripts out there that are based on the old naming. Perhaps I would have to do this in Quirky first, and make the change completely, no support for the old naming.
Very interesting! Your thoughts on this are most welcome...
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Kernel 2.6.30.5: recompiled
I have recompiled the kernel used in Puppy 4.3.1, configured exactly the same so that it will still work with all the 3rd-party kernel drivers out there. The only change is that I have upgraded the Aufs (layered filesystem) driver.There are a couple of important reasons for this:
1. Direct save
When Puppy is installed to a Flash drive, the working top-layer of the filesystem is in RAM, however when a package is installed it gets written direct to the save-file on the Flash drive (at least this is how it works in all recent Woof-built puppies). Aufs needed to be upgraded to support this properly.
2. PUPMODEs 6/7
There are a couple of PUPMODEs in which the main Puppy SFS file (exs: wary-070.sfs, pup-431.sfs) is resident on one layer of the layered filesystem but also needs to be mounted via a loop device as another layer. Aufs needs to be especially patched to allow this.
The latest 2.6.30.5 source is to be found here, including an SFS source file:
http://bkhome.org/sources/kernel-2.6.30.5-20100904/
Username: p#up#py Password l#in#ux (remove the #'s)
The site also has a README:
http://bkhome.org/sources/kernel-2.6.30.5-20100904/2.6.30.5-README.htm
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Woof uploaded, September 3, 2010
This is the version of Woof used to build Wary 0.7 (070).For introduction and instructions to download Woof, go here:
http://bkhome.org/woof/
So, if you have previously downloaded Woof, all you have to do this time is run this in the Woof project directory to update to the latest Woof files:
# bones download
Note that playdayz has sent me some files to synchronise Woof with Lucid 5.1.2, but I have not applied them yet. Also, rerwin will have another upgrade for dialup analog and 3G modem support very soon. After I have applied both of these, I will upload Woof again.
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Wary 0.7 mix-n-match uploaded
This release of Wary is very interesting. You build your own Puppy with the kernel you want. Announcement page:http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/quirky/wary-070-mix-n-match/mix-n-match-readme.htm
Download:
http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/quirky/wary-070-mix-n-match/
Note that the latest Woof (to be uploaded today) is required to be able to build a Puppy that allows mix-n-match.
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Modem upgrade, -7.5
I have applied rerwin's 'modem_fix_pack_delta-7.2_to_7.5.pet' that he pm'ed to me.Note to rerwin:
My rc.sysinit already has the string "cumulative tx/rx", so your patch does not get applied. However I have applied it manually. It replaces my code.
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Pfind, Pprocess
Also upgraded to these latest of zigbert's apps:Pfind 4.19
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=15136
Pprocess 2.2.0
http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=23024
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Wary: Gnumeric 1.10.9
There was a report of Gnumeric crashing in Wary 0.6. I have compiled Gnumeric 1.10.9 and goffice 0.8.9. This will be in Wary 0.7.No comments - Edit - Delete