Running with the 2.6.25.4 kernel

I'm running Puppy with this kernel right now!

Ok, various bits and pieces:

No-auto-launch of Pmount
I think it was kirk who requested that when a drive or CD is plugged in, to not have Pmount auto-start (just get the icon in the tray). Done. It is chosen in the preferences in Pmount.

cddetect_quick
I was using 'cddetect' in a 4-second loop to detect if a CD or DVD is inserted, however that is very slow and starts the drive motor each time.
Jesse is working on some probing code -- and he probably has an update for me via pm -- I haven't been to the forum today.
But anyway, I looked at the code for 'cddetect' and stripped out the guts and created 'cddetect_quick', that really is quick. It returns instantly (at least as far as the eye can see) with '0' if a CD inserted, otherwise returns 255.
'cddetect_quick' is now called in my 'pup_eventd' script.

Grammar, thesaurus
I reckon that grammar checking is so nice to have, it needs to be built-in to the standard live-CD. Even though it's 1.4MB uncompressed, I have put it in. Along with the thesaurus plugin, this makes Abiword a wonderful tool in the standard Puppy, no need to install anything extra.
We can really push this Puppy for writers.

Presentation plugin
Another very interesting feature of Abiword is the presentation plugin. This is something that has been missing from Puppy, unless you installed OpenOffice. It is very basic, just displays each page full-screen, like slides. Nothing else, no animation or dissolving. Quite ok I reckon though.
The presentation plugin was created by Martin Sevior, and here is his blog announcement:
http://msevior.livejournal.com/16244.html

Graceful exit from pup_eventd

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Comments

Thanks, Barry


More Thanks
Username: Greg
"Thanks for all the hard work and all the diligent work! I know you are having a ton of fun... but it is still nice to hear compliments! KEEP it up...:) How about auto print detect in the background... the more the system is user friendly the better for everyone. We are all lazy at heart.. Programmers will work hours to make something run in seconds :)/ I even have sensor lights so I don’t have flip a light switch. We as programmers have to keep in mind the user will use what we build millions and millions of times.. So the easiest we can make the system the better for everyone. Again, thanks for all the hard work... the system keeps improving!

Thanks
Username: dbs
"Many thanks for developing puppy linux. This one brought new life to my old computer (dell l667r/320 MB/7GB bought in 1999). I was thinking of discarding it but now it works really fast for normal browsing/email kind of jobs. As a token of gratitude, I donated through paypal today. Cheers. dbs

grammar
Username: eprv
"thanks, grammar and thesaurus are really needed, that is great for my work, hope the last Abiword 2.6.3 will be the standard.

grammar
Username: subito piano
"Hmm - good for the slideshow viewer, good for spell-check -- but grammar-check? I have never found that to be helpful but rather an annoyance and consistently turn it off. (Years ago someone threw Lincoln's Gettsburg Address into grammar-check, which proceeded to "shred" it.) You are probably wise to go with the majority opinion, but a question: will the various English-speaking countries encouter problems with either grammar-check or spell-check as included by default? Examples: in the US it's always question mark before the end quotation mark, but British practice is after; then there is color vs. colour, gaol vs. jail, etc. Hey, can i help it if we Americans can't spell correctly? :-)

Libertas firmware
Username: tempestuous
"Barry, I sent you a PM last night with Libertas firmware attached. No one on the forum has thus far asked for help with the new Libertas modules (libertas_cs, libertas_sdio, usb8xxx) so I see no point in making the firmware package publicly available for download. Once Puppy4.01 is released, hopefully the next person with a Libertas device who tries Puppy will find that the new module just seamlessly loads and works.

Grammar Checkers do not work
Username: Lobster
"Thesaurus - yeah! Presentation program - great news. Grammar checkers? More trouble than solution. I remember there was a version of Puppy with an Abiword that linked to wikipedia, it had all the trimmings and I did not download OpenOffice because Abiword had a thesaurus and was great for 10 - 20 pages. It was one of my favourite Puppys. The number one use of an OS is probably the browser followed by WP. :)

Grammar checkers - more
Username: vg1
"I welcome useful additions to puppy even at the expense of some bloat [to a certain extent, mind you], but would agree with Lobster in that grammar checkers generally don't work. The human thought is much too varied for that. But spell checkers are worse. There exist pages of text prepared for the purpose which are total rubbish when read, yet spell checkers pass them. My vote would go for Thesaurus instead.

re Abiword plugins
Username: coolpup
" I very much doubt that a professional writer would make use of a grammar checker plug-in. If I need to improve my grammar I would consult a grammar book. What is really useful is a competent thesaurus. You can see the state of development of these plug-ins on this web page (second table down). http://www.abisource.com/wiki/PluginMatrix I am confident that the 1.4MB can be put to better use. Thesaurus: Yes Spell checker: Already built-in Grammar checker: No

pmount change
Username: kirk
"Quote: "I think it was kirk who requested..." I have to plead not guilty on that count. :)

Tags: puppy