Wary 5.0.3 Beta

I have built yet another Wary, this time with 2.6.32.28 kernel (as announced earlier:
http://bkhome.org/archive/blog2/201102/long-term-kernel-263228.html)

This build has the simplified filenames, plus a separate 'zdrv' SFS file.

Download from here:
http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/quirky/test/wary-503beta/

Testing
I would like to get feedback on this kernel, what do you think about it. Does it fix any problem, that you had with an earlier Wary, for example sound?

I have what may seem like a strange request. After booting, the boot media has 'zdrv.sfs' -- can you open that directory in a terminal window and execute 'md5sum zdrv.sfs' and confirm that the md5sum is 'a3a7c54901fc09b296d284af625041fa'.

The reason for the above odd request is that I have a PC that gives the wrong md5sum sometimes, but only with the 2.6.32.28 and the 2.6.34.7+ kernels. I have booted up with other kernels and got the correct md5sum. I have not been able to determine the cause of this, but I am hoping that it is due to a hardware fault in the PC, and noone else will encounter it.
At this stage, I think a peculiar hardware fault is the most likely explanation, though why it should show up only with certain kernels I don't know. The 'tar' operation also misbehaves -- perhaps there is a dicky RAM memory bit that certain kernels are not using (but, I have used a memtest boot CD to test the RAM and it was ok).

The final Wary
I am thinking for the final release, probably version 5.1, I will do it like the "mix and match" that I did for Wary 070 (see http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/quirky/test/wary-070-mix-n-match/).

But, also have one ready-built live-CD ISO file with say the normal recommended kernel (2.6.32.28?).

Then there is the question whether I should go for the simplified filenames (vmlinuz, initrd.gz, puppy.sfs, zdrv.sfs) in the final.

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Comments

zdrv cutter
Username: technosaurus
I like the idea of separate kernel options in the zdrv because I use the zdrv cutter to cull the cruft. There are a couple of versions of the zdrv cutter that amigo helped me put together floating around these days. It cuts the zdrv down to ~2-3Mb. If you are interested I can clean it up and patch the installer to _optionally_ use it (with a big warning that they need to have all removable devices plugged in and working that they might use later) ... probably best suited for quirky - maybe even modify it to go directly to the save file? filenames short/long don't really matter too much as long as the psubdir etc... is settable (the unique identifiers tacked on to the end on the other hand seemed to make things a lot more complicated)

Re zdrv name
Username: BarryK
"In recent Woof-built puppies, the filenames are in /etc/DISTRO_SPECS: [code]#16-byte alpha-numeric ID-string appended to vmlinuz, puppy.sfs, zdrv.sfs and devx.sfs: DISTRO_IDSTRING='w503110208150552' #Puppy default filenames... #Note, the 'SFS' files below are what the 'init' script in initrd.gz searches for, #for the partition, path and actual files loaded, see PUPSFS and ZDRV in /etc/rc.d/PUPSTATE DISTRO_PUPPYSFS='puppy.sfs' DISTRO_ZDRVSFS='zdrv.sfs'[/code] ...so it doesn't matter what the names are, scripts can lookup DISTRO_SPECS to see what they are. Also can look in /etc/rc.d/PUPSTATE.

md5sum
Username: james c
"The md5sum of the zdrv.sfs matches here. # md5sum zdrv.sfs a3a7c54901fc09b296d284af625041fa zdrv.sfs #

md5sum
Username: broomdodger
"md5sum matches here also, acer travelmate 4670 notebook a3a7c54901fc09b296d284af625041fa zdrv.sfs -Computer- Processor : 2x Genuine Intel(R) CPU T2300 @ 1.66GHz Memory : 1025MB (173MB used) Operating System : Puppy Linux 0.50 User Name : root (root) Date/Time : Tue 08 Feb 2011 07:42:26 PM PST

md5sum
Username: broomdodger
"md5sum matches here also, dell inspiron 4100 a3a7c54901fc09b296d284af625041fa zdrv.sfs -Computer- Processor : Intel(R) Pentium(R) III Mobile CPU 866MHz Memory : 255MB (61MB used) Operating System : Puppy Linux 0.50 User Name : root (root) Date/Time : Tue 08 Feb 2011 08:40:53 PM PST

simplified filenames
Username: Raffy
"Yes, Barry, simplified filenames will be good especially for user-oriented documentation.

mixnmatch plus
Username: scsijon
"1/ just tested 502, problem listed there,will download 503 tomorrow and test. 2/ Since your talking about 5.1. I wonder if you could do a mixnmatch type package inside the iso, with a default (minimal) build to start it (with warnings), do a modprobe as part of the install routine, the results of the modprobe giving a list of suitable kernals and user asked which one to install with one of them marked as "most suitable for your hardware combination". and no, please for simplified filenames, it makes it too hard to work out what belongs with what, especially when having more than one version frugally installed on a single partition. thanks

Re simplified filenames
Username: BarryK
"scsijon, I know that having 'puppy.sfs' instead of 'wary_503.sfs' and 'zdrv.sfs' instead of 'z5033228.sfs' might seem to be a potential problem with getting them mixed up when different installations are in the same partition, however we already have 'vmlinuz' and 'initrd.gz' that have no version information. So, in practice, having the names 'puppy.sfs' and 'zdrv.sfs' should not make things any more difficult or confusing. But we do need some experience with this to verify.

Locale settings still lost on upgrade
Username: Terryphi
"md5sum for zdrv.sfs as expected. Saved locale settings are still ignored on upgrade of warysave.2fs.

Re locale lost
Username: BarryK
"Terryphi, Are we talking about the same thing... I thought that I had fixed the LANG variable in /etc/profile so that it does not get overridden at an upgrade. Has the LANG= line in /etc/profile definitely been set back to en_US for you?

Locale
Username: Terryphi
"On upgrade the choose locale dialog appeared offering en_US. This suggests to me that the script did not work or did not like what it found in etc/profile. Is it relevant that I use en_GB.utf8? Does your script change in /etc/rc.d/rc.update make provision for utf8?

Wary 503 forum feedback
Username: BarryK
"The forum feedback thread is here: http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=64522&start=30 ...503 reports start on page 2 of the thread.

Frugality....
Username: Sage
"...never appealed to me - all those .sfs' to confuse the issue with their ever-changing nomenclature and enumeration! Same issue with folks who want to duel(sic) boot with 'doze (can you believe it?!) and run Wine. All we get on the Forum is their [i]whining[/i]! Time to liberate a few dozen old HDs from landfill, buy a few caddies, run one HD per distro. OK - keep one for Windydoze, too, if you really must. Notwithstanding, it's great fun to find out the consequences of mix'n-matching OSes that were never intended to meet (specifically intended to avoid such in the case of 'dozey) - I do it all the time for a laugh - but not, as some of the folks on the Forum imply, to run it on mission-critical (sole?!) box. That route is sheer folly and developers would save themselves a lot of tears by spelling it out. Exceptionally, Jemimah Jewel seems to enjoy rising to their every demand! Such is youth....

Hint needed
Username: FeodorF
"Barry, could you please give any hint about your PC with the wrong md5sum (CPU, ram-size, chip set). Thank you.

Simplified filenames
Username: ICPUG
"The argument put forward for simplified filenames, that initrd.gz and vmlinuz have always been simplified so why not puppy.sfs, seems irrefutable as a reason but not as giving any benefit. I personally favour some version tag on the filename because there is the benefit that you know what puppy distro it comes from without jumping through hoops executing some command to find out. What benefit is there for simplified filenames that we can trade off against? If the similarity of all filenames was the only benefit I would say add the version to the filenames of initrd.gz and vmlinuz rather than remove it from puppy.sfs! (This is said with tongue in cheek - just in case it is misconstrued as whining)

kernel choice
Username: carolus
"Found this somewhere, in connection with the wireless chipset in my newest computer: "Any distribution shipping a kernel >= 2.6.27 will have ath9k present but the ath9k driver on 2.6.32 is the oldest one recommended, anything older than that is completely unsupported"

simplified file names
Username: Raffy
"Newbies only try one Puppy at a time, so a simplified naming of files will help. Advanced users should be able to name/identify the psubdir where they put the files. But just in case, perhaps someone can hack a script that reveals the version number of Puppy files in a given folder?

this n that
Username: scsijon
"found cause or problem with 502 (and 503) above, see forum page 3 also ps comments on zdrv and pc may be of help would still like full filenames, I had to hash the puppy.sfs's to work out what had actually happened rather than just look at them. Note for others: I may add that initrd.gz and vmlinuz are linux independant, the names don't belong to any particular variety, there the linux standard. I can use my suse rescue cd to boot puppy by telling it where to look for them and believe the other varieties work the same. regards scsijon

AO751h
Username: Mark Forrest
"Thanks Barry, this is the first puppy apart from the updated 2.xx and Jemimah's fluppy that have boooted on my Aspire One 751h. Usually they stick at "loading drivers to access drives" I belive this is because it doesn't have a true Sata interface, but a Sata to Pata adapter! I'm having to use Xvesa due to the lack of Pouslbo drivers and sound isn't working yet, but at least I can play now. Cheers Mark

md5sum, sound, kernels - HP Pavillion 4473
Username: 785ljk
"Computer: HP Pavillion Model 4473. Processor: Celeron 400 MHz. Memory: 256 MB. Sound: Rockwell Int. Riptide (on motherboard). "zdrv.sfs" md5sum was correct as listed above. Sound worked. Possibly the following may help as far as sound goes for people who know much more than I do. On the above Pavillion machine using the following kernels with ALSA (various Puppies and other distros), the sound "card" seemed to be listed correctly in the PCI hardware; but ALSA could NOT recognize the card: 2.6.31.14 2.6.33.2 2.6.33.3 Again, with the same above Pavillion machine, sound WORKED with distros using the kernels below. ALSA recognized the sound "card": 2.6.29.1 Tiny Core Linux, ver. 2 2.6.30.5 Puppy 4.3.1 2.6.30.6 Slitaz 3.0 2.6.32.28 Wary Puppy 5.03b Thank you all for all your work. Take care. 785ljk

Re locale lost
Username: BarryK
"Terryphi, Ok, I think that I have fixed it, for the next Wary release.

Tags: wary