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EasyOS Excalibur-series version 7.0.34 released

December 04, 2025 — BarryK

Version 7.0.32 was released on November 19, see blog announcement:

Here are the highlights since 7.0.32:

Download:

https://distro.ibiblio.org/easyos/amd64/releases/excalibur/2025/7.0.34/

The "combo-kernel-modules-firmware-k6p6p118" PET package is just "putting a toe in the water" (before jumping in). You can install it; do a search for "combo-" in PKGget, then reboot, and do save the session at shutdown. Next bootup will be running the 6.6.118 kernel.

This is for anyone who suspects their computer might be happier with an older kernel.

Revert back to the default kernel, currently 6.12.57.1, by uninstalling the "combo-*" package.

This is for experimenting. At next EasyOS version update, the kernel will revert to the default. To keep the old kernel, you would need to copy /boot/vmlinuz-6.6.118 to /mnt/wkg/vmlinuz

If we like this ability to run a different kernel, will need to think of a formal mechanism to support it. Perhaps the Shutdown menu could have "Choose kernel". And of course whatever you choose, it would have to persist across a EasyOS version update.

Forum discussion welcome:

https://forum.puppylinux.com/viewtopic.php?p=161211#p161211

Have fun!   

Tags: easy

usbutils and mesa-utils packages added

December 04, 2025 — BarryK

I don't always mention in a blog post, when packages added to the build, but today have added 'usbutils' and 'mesa-utils' packages. In response to requests by FeodorF:

https://forum.puppylinux.com/viewtopic.php?p=161110#p161110

https://forum.puppylinux.com/viewtopic.php?p=161131#p161131

Easy 7.0.34 will be released soon.    

Tags: easy

Combo-kernel-modules-firmware PET package

December 04, 2025 — BarryK

If you suspect that your installation of EasyOS might work better with a different kernel version, perhaps an older version, it is now easy to change.

I have created a PET package 'combo-kernel-modules-firmware-k6p6p118-20251204-excalibur.pet' that has the 6.6.118 kernel and modules, as well as firmware suited to that kernel version.

Al that you will need to do is install the package, via PKGget, then reboot, remembering to save the session.

After reboot, you will be running the 6.6.118 kernel. To revert, go into PKGget and uninstall the package, and reboot, again remembering to save the session.

Session-save is of course not required if you are running Easy with direct-save to the working partition.

This will be available in the next release of Easy, coming very soon.  

Tags: easy

Meanderer trike wheel knuckle, take 2

December 03, 2025 — BarryK

This is another go at designing a simpler wheel knuckle. See earlier blog posts of the Meanderer trike project:

I have constructed the wheel knuckles, and have prepared a video for YouTube.

Here are 3D pictures of the design in SolveSpace:

img1

img2

And some dimensions:

img3

Here is a link to the SolveSpace design:

https://bkhome.org/news/202512/images/wheel-knuckle-15f.slvs.gz

Built, but not quite finished, as need something on the ends of the wheel axles to stop the wheels from falling off. Will think about that over the next few days.

Have uploaded the video to YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGCWQEl6mtA

img4

Learning experience, had three videos and joined them together with ffmpeg. Problem was, the middle one was upside-down. To cut a long story short, I used ShotCut to join them then plinej's yff (see the Multimedia menu) to process it to a smaller size. With yff, just dropped in the video from ShotCut, accepted all the defaults, and end result a considerably smaller video, 358MB down to 209MB.      

Tags: light

Glasses with wind protection

November 30, 2025 — BarryK

Wasn't sure which category of my blog to post this; these glasses will be used on my trike, so posting in the "light" (traveling light) category.

March 2025, had an operation; a growth was removed from the right lower-eyelid and a graft taken from inside of the left arm. Posted about it:

"Surgery on eyelid"
https://bkhome.org/news/202503/surgery-on-eyelid.html

The end result is ok. The lower eyelid now sits lower-down, so the eye is wider than the other one. Also, only a few eyelashes left. A side-effect is that the eye sometimes weeps; in particular if there is a breeze, more particularly, a cool breeze.

So, wondered about glasses that offer wind protection. That is, more so than normal wrap-around glasses. I do have motorcycle goggles, bought from Kmart awhile ago (and I notice they are no longer sold by Kmart). But, want glasses for just walking around, going on the train, etc. Want them to look like normal wrap-around glasses, not like goggles.

A search online, discovered that there are many types made for cyclists and motorcyclists, with builtin extra wind protection, from breezes coming in around the sides of the glasses. Yeah, plenty of goggles, but also some fairly normal-looking glasses.

Made a choice, bought these:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006502708373.html

img1

...got the grey lenses. Total price including postage and GST was AU$7.07

So, need to give a mini-review. What do I think of them?

First of all, they are a fairly tight fit either side of the head. This is on purpose, as they are for cyclists and motorcyclists, so must be affixed firmly and not prone to falling off. But, perhaps someone with a wide head might find them too tight.

The other thing, that I specifically want, is the wind protection. In the above photo, the foam can be seen on the inside. It has gaps, as some ventilation is required. In my case, the foam does seal around the eyes quite well; but again, it is going to depend on the shape of your head.

End result, I'm wearing them every day; for walks, trips into the city on the train, walk to the local shopping centre. There have been some windy days, and I have found the protection adequate.

The lenses are cheap plastic, but do have a UV coating, so good for here as it is summer. Yeah, like them, have got into the habit of picking them up every time I go out the front door.

Some information that might interest you, if you do not live in Australia, or perhaps don't venture outside an inner-suburban Australian city. We have a native bird, the magpie, and during nesting season they will guard their nests and may become quite aggressive. They will sweep down when someone walks underneath their tree. But worse, they may go for the eyes. It was in our local news recently, a girl was hospitalized.

Several years ago, I had a close call. Was standing at a bus stop. Noticed an interesting flower on the ground, and tilted my head down. Just at the exact moment that a magpie swept down from a tree on the other side of the road, aiming for my eye. Instead, the point of its beak went into the side of my head, just behind the eye. It would have been a severe jolt for the magpie, but it flew off.

What is particularly interesting, is that magpies are selective who they attack. Last year, there is a road where I ride my ebike, and a magpie swooped down when I passed. I mentioned it to a guy in a local shop, and he said that he rides his bike along that same path every day and the magpie never attacks.

That is very interesting; apparently they learn what is not a threat. Google AI says this:

Yes, magpies can learn and remember individual human faces, and they can hold these memories for years. They use this ability to assess threats and will often target people they perceive as a risk to their nest, especially those who have previously swooped them. Magpies are more likely to attack unfamiliar people or those with covered faces, as they cannot recognize them.

This is a nice read:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-08-31/make-friends-with-magpies-to-avoid-swooping-expert-says/8856438

Anyway, magpies during nesting season are another reason to wear wrap-around glasses.     

Tags: light

Keyboard shortcuts plugin for SpaceFM

November 28, 2025 — BarryK

SpaceFM file manager is builtin to EasyOS, see blog post:

"SpaceFM file manager-now in EasyOS"
https://bkhome.org/news/202507/spacefm-file-manager-now-in-easyos.html

Forum member MochiMoppel has created a plugin that lists all the keyboard shortcuts available in SpaceFM:

https://forum.puppylinux.com/viewtopic.php?t=14696

I converted the plugin into a PET, and it will be in the next release of EasyOS.

When SpaceFM starts, the new plugin will be listed along with the others:

img1

I personally never use SpaceFM, but have included it builtin for anyone who must have a multi-pane file manager.   

Tags: easy

Support for AVIF image format

November 28, 2025 — BarryK

This is discussed in the forum, starting here:

https://forum.puppylinux.com/viewtopic.php?p=160784#p160784

The 'shared-mime-info' package does not recognize the mimetype "image/avif" so I have added it in /usr/share/mime/packages/avif.xml

Image viewers such as Viewnior rely on gdkpixbuf plugins, and I have added 'libavif-gdk-pixbuf' package builtin.

mtPaint does not recognize avif images, Gimp does. Right-click on a .avif image and Gimp will be offered to open it. Left-click and it will open in Viewnior.   

Tags: easy

Purged old aufs whiteout files

November 25, 2025 — BarryK

EasyOS is no longer using aufs; we have moved permanently to overlayfs. The reasons are explained in earlier blog posts.

I run Easy daily on my Lenovo PC, an installation that has been there for a long time, and updated to new version many times. I just discovered that the session folder has lots of leftover aufs whiteout files. These don't have any purpose, not doing any harm being there. In fact, they aren't even needed if we were to switch back to using aufs.

Have put some code into file inc/07new-version in the initrd:

#20251125 have updated from older versions, have lots of leftover .wh. files...
if [ "$LAYERFS" == "overlay" ];then
 if [ ! -e /mnt/${WKG_DEV}/${WKG_DIR}.session/session1/var/local/purged-aufs-wh-files-flg ];then
  find /mnt/${WKG_DEV}/${WKG_DIR}.session/session1 -type f -name '.wh.*' -delete
  find /mnt/${WKG_DEV}/${WKG_DIR}containers/*/.session -type f -name '.wh.*' -delete
  mkdir -p /mnt/${WKG_DEV}/${WKG_DIR}.session/session1/var/local
  touch /mnt/${WKG_DEV}/${WKG_DIR}.session/session1/var/local/purged-aufs-wh-files-flg
 fi
fi

This purge will just run once, and somewhat later this code can be removed.   

Tags: easy