Barrys News

EasyOS with Excalibur-backports and 7.2.6 kernel

September 20, 2026 — BarryK

One of the EasyOS testers reported a missing ethernet driver, that is available in the 7.1 kernel. So, I felt motivated to build Easy with a later kernel; Easy 7.4.x currently has the 6.12.x kernel.

Then thought also, why not also build with the Trixie/Escalibur "backports" package repository. Running it right now. Here are the backports packages that were brought into the build:

alsa-ucm-conf                   1.2.16.1-1~bpo13+1
at-spi2-common                  2.61.90-1~bpo13+1
btrfs-progs                     7.1-1~bpo13+1
curl                            8.21.0-2~bpo13+1
dhcpcd-base                     1:10.5.2-1~bpo13+1
firmware-intel-graphics         20260810-1~bpo13+1
firmware-intel-sound            20260810-1~bpo13+1
fonts-opensymbol                4:102.12+LibO26.8.0.3-2~bpo13+1
gir1.2-atk-1.0                  2.61.90-1~bpo13+1
libasound2-data                 1.2.16.1-1~bpo13+1
libasound2t64                   1.2.16.1-1~bpo13+1
libatk-bridge2.0-0t64           2.61.90-1~bpo13+1
libatk1.0-0t64                  2.61.90-1~bpo13+1
libatopology2t64                1.2.16.1-1~bpo13+1
libatspi2.0-0t64                2.61.90-1~bpo13+1
libcurl3t64-gnutls              8.21.0-2~bpo13+1
libcurl4-gnutls                 8.21.0-2~bpo13+1
libcurl4t64                     8.21.0-2~bpo13+1
libdw1t64                       0.196-1~bpo13+2
libefiboot1t64                  39-2~bpo13+1
libefivar1t64                   39-2~bpo13+1
libegl-mesa0                    26.1.2-1~bpo13+1
libelf1t64                      0.196-1~bpo13+2
libgbm1                         26.1.2-1~bpo13+1
libgl1-mesa-dri                 26.1.2-1~bpo13+1
libglx-mesa0                    26.1.2-1~bpo13+1
libldb2                         2:2.11.0+samba4.24.7+dfsg-1~bpo13+1
libnghttp3-9                    1.15.0-1~bpo13+1
libngtcp2-16                    1.22.1-1~bpo13+1
libngtcp2-crypto-gnutls8        1.22.1-1~bpo13+1
libngtcp2-crypto-ossl0          1.22.1-1~bpo13+1
liborcus-0.21-0                 0.21.0-4~bpo13+1
liborcus-parser-0.21-0          0.21.0-4~bpo13+1
libpipewire-0.3-0t64            1.4.9-1~bpo13+2
libreoffice-base-core           4:26.8.0.3-2~bpo13+1
libreoffice-base-drivers        4:26.8.0.3-2~bpo13+1
libreoffice-base                4:26.8.0.3-2~bpo13+1
libreoffice-calc                4:26.8.0.3-2~bpo13+1
libreoffice-common              4:26.8.0.3-2~bpo13+1
libreoffice-core                4:26.8.0.3-2~bpo13+1
libreoffice-draw                4:26.8.0.3-2~bpo13+1
libreoffice-gtk3                4:26.8.0.3-2~bpo13+1
libreoffice-impress             4:26.8.0.3-2~bpo13+1
libreoffice-l10n-de             4:26.8.0.3-2~bpo13+1
libreoffice-l10n-en-gb          4:26.8.0.3-2~bpo13+1
libreoffice-l10n-es             4:26.8.0.3-2~bpo13+1
libreoffice-l10n-fr             4:26.8.0.3-2~bpo13+1
libreoffice-l10n-pt             4:26.8.0.3-2~bpo13+1
libreoffice-l10n-ru             4:26.8.0.3-2~bpo13+1
libreoffice-l10n-tr             4:26.8.0.3-2~bpo13+1
libreoffice-l10n-zh-cn          4:26.8.0.3-2~bpo13+1
libreoffice-math                4:26.8.0.3-2~bpo13+1
libreoffice-report-builder-bin  4:26.8.0.3-2~bpo13+1
libreoffice-style-colibre       4:26.8.0.3-2~bpo13+1
libreoffice-uiconfig-base       4:26.8.0.3-2~bpo13+1
libreoffice-uiconfig-calc       4:26.8.0.3-2~bpo13+1
libreoffice-uiconfig-common     4:26.8.0.3-2~bpo13+1
libreoffice-uiconfig-draw       4:26.8.0.3-2~bpo13+1
libreoffice-uiconfig-impress    4:26.8.0.3-2~bpo13+1
libreoffice-uiconfig-math       4:26.8.0.3-2~bpo13+1
libreoffice-uiconfig-writer     4:26.8.0.3-2~bpo13+1
libreoffice-writer              4:26.8.0.3-2~bpo13+1
libsmbclient0                   2:4.24.7+dfsg-1~bpo13+1
libspa-0.2-modules              1.4.9-1~bpo13+2
libtalloc2                      2:2.4.4+samba4.24.7+dfsg-1~bpo13+1
libtdb1                         2:1.4.15+samba4.24.7+dfsg-1~bpo13+1
libtevent0t64                   2:0.17.1+samba4.24.7+dfsg-1~bpo13+1
libuno-cppu3t64                 4:26.8.0.3-2~bpo13+1
libuno-cppuhelpergcc3-3t64      4:26.8.0.3-2~bpo13+1
libuno-purpenvhelpergcc3-3t64   4:26.8.0.3-2~bpo13+1
libuno-sal3t64                  4:26.8.0.3-2~bpo13+1
libuno-salhelpergcc3-3t64       4:26.8.0.3-2~bpo13+1
libwbclient0                    2:4.24.7+dfsg-1~bpo13+1
libxkbcommon-x11-0              1.13.1-1~bpo13+1
libxkbcommon0                   1.13.1-1~bpo13+1
mesa-libgallium                 26.1.2-1~bpo13+1
openssh-client                  1:10.3p1-1~bpo13+1
openssh-server                  1:10.3p1-1~bpo13+1
openssh-sftp-server             1:10.3p1-1~bpo13+1
python3-ldb                     2:2.11.0+samba4.24.7+dfsg-1~bpo13+1
python3-samba                   2:4.24.7+dfsg-1~bpo13+1
python3-talloc                  2:2.4.4+samba4.24.7+dfsg-1~bpo13+1
python3-tdb                     2:1.4.15+samba4.24.7+dfsg-1~bpo13+1
python3-uno                     4:26.8.0.3-2~bpo13+1
samba-common-bin                2:4.24.7+dfsg-1~bpo13+1
samba-common                    2:4.24.7+dfsg-1~bpo13+1
samba-libs                      2:4.24.7+dfsg-1~bpo13+1
samba                           2:4.24.7+dfsg-1~bpo13+1
smbclient                       2:4.24.7+dfsg-1~bpo13+1
transmission-common             4.1.3+dfsg-1~bpo13+1
transmission-gtk                4.1.3+dfsg-1~bpo13+1
uno-libs-private                4:26.8.0.3-2~bpo13+1
ure                             4:26.8.0.3-2~bpo13+1

...that "bpo13" identifies the package as a backport to Debian 13.

Have found a couple of things to fix, will build it again, then upload for anyone curious to try it.

Tags: easy

Evince PDF viewer rolled back to gtk2 version

September 19, 2026 — BarryK

I continue to be frustrated with Evince. This post from peasythope reminded me:

https://forum.puppylinux.com/viewtopic.php?t=17445

Yes, 1-pixel wide window borders, how useless. I also think the UI is poorly designed.

The old gtk2 version of Evince, on the otherhand, has normal system window decorations and a very sensible UI. Makes me wonder if there was a change of developers when moving to gtk3.

Anyway, I have decided to go back to the gtk2 Evince for the next release of EasyOS. It does lack support for some file formats, but handles PDF well, as far as I can recall.

Tags: easy

EasyOS Excalibur-series version 7.4.10

September 18, 2026 — BarryK

Changes since 7.4.9:

EasyOS 7.4.8 and 7.4.9 removed — September 18, 2026
Precaution when insufficient space in working-partition — September 18, 2026
Audacious rolled back — September 18, 2026
EasyClone alternate build path and progress — September 17, 2026
German users please stay with version 7.4.7 — September 17, 2026
Fix reading Xlibre server version — September 16, 2026
Chromium 153.0.8010.47

Download:

https://distro.ibiblio.org/easyos/amd64/releases/excalibur/2026/7.4.10/

Feedback welcome at the forum:

https://forum.puppylinux.com/viewtopic.php?p=176993#p176993

Have fun!

Tags: easy

EasyOS 7.4.8 and 7.4.9 removed

September 18, 2026 — BarryK

Decided to remove these from ibiblio.org, as too many issues. The latest version is now 7.4.7.

Doing this because thinking of newcomers.

I expect to upload version 7.4.10 soon.

Tags: easy

Precaution when insufficient space in working-partition

September 18, 2026 — BarryK

A couple of people have run into this problem, of having insufficient free space in the working-partition. There are various scenarios where this is a problem.

One of those is when do a version update; the latest 'vmlinuz', 'initrd' and 'easy.sfs' may push the free space below a reasonable value. One precaution that can be taken is to reduce the history-depth; that is, how many previous versions of Easy are kept. I have inserted this code into /inc/07-new-version script, at line 28:

 #20260917 check if enough space in working-partition...
 WPfreem=$(df -m /mnt/${WKG_DEV} | grep '^/dev/' | tr -s ' ' | cut -f 4 -d ' ')
 if [ $WPfreem -lt 3000 ];then #3GB
  if [ $DEPTH_MAX -gt 2 ];then
   DEPTH_MAX=$((${DEPTH_MAX}-1))
   echo -n "$DEPTH_MAX" > /mnt/${WKG_DEV}/${WKG_DIR}.session/session1/var/local/version-history-depth
  fi
 fi

That is one step, more checks can be done.

Tags: easy

Audacious rolled back

September 18, 2026 — BarryK

Having a bit of a saga with Audacious music player. Easy 7.4.7 has Audacious package from Easy Scarthgap. I have been gradually recompiling them in woofQ2, in Easy Excalibur; and that is the case for Audacious in Easy 7.4.8.

However, pp4mnk has discovered a plugin problem:

https://forum.puppylinux.com/viewtopic.php?p=176978#p176978

I have taken the easy way out, reverted to using the Audacious packages from Scarthgap.

Tags: easy

EasyClone alternate build path and progress

September 17, 2026 — BarryK

EasyClone is introduced here:

https://easyos.org/install/how-to-clone-a-easyos-installation.html

Forum member pp4mnk suggested it would be helpful to have a progress indication while the "EASYCLONE" file is being created. Forum member oliverjames wants an alternative path in which to build "EASYCLONE", if insufficient space in the working-partition. Discussion here:

https://forum.puppylinux.com/viewtopic.php?t=16721

I have implemented both. There is now a button to bring up a dialog window to choose an alternative path, see near bottom:

While creating EASYCLONE, there is a window on the desktop that has lines appended as the build progresses. Here it is at about 90%:

...this makes use of the 'popup' utility, which has the ability to append lines.

Here is the final window, showing the path, in a "temp4" folder where I chose to build EASYCLONE:

EasyClone is proving to be popular, this takes the usability up a notch.

Tags: easy

German users please stay with version 7.4.7

September 17, 2026 — BarryK

There is a bad "de" translation that breaks the desktop:

https://forum.puppylinux.com/viewtopic.php?p=176948#p176948

Please wait for Easy 7.4.10

Tags: easy

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