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Doubts about Linux rolling releases

September 20, 2023 — BarryK

I have stayed away from rolling releases as I consider them to be inherently unstable, or prone to unexpected side-effects. However, have ventured into playing with Void Linux, see post a couple of days ago:

https://bkhome.org/news/202309/first-experiment-creating-a-void-rootfs.html

I even built "easyVoid"; EasyOS built from Void packages, and it works, with some issues. Installed LibreOffice from the Void package repository; works. However, installed Shotcut video editor, and at startup there was a popup window informing that "libjack0" package is missing.

Well, the version of libjack that it wants isn't in the repository. I had to get it from the Debian repo. Then Shotcut worked.

This has reminded me why I don't like rolling releases. Dependency management has to be very rigorous to work properly in a rolling release, and I have just got an indication that it isn't up to scratch in Void Linux. Unless I hit one very rare example.

But other, very serious, problems can occur, that versioned releases avoid. For example, a couple of years ago there was a version bump of the 'pango' package that caused many applications to misbehave. The misbehaviour might only get noticed sometime later, when users complain. A versioned Linux release might not eliminate that particular problem, but will greatly reduce its likelihood of occurrence or the severity.   

Tags: linux

Apps running as spot extra secure in Puppy

March 27, 2023 — BarryK

I watch what Dima (dimkr in the forum) is doing on woof-CE with great interest. In particular, the steps that he has implemented to enhance security for applications running as user 'spot'.

See his summary here:

https://forum.puppylinux.com/viewtopic.php?p=70405#p70405   

Tags: linux

Puppy Linux S15Pup 64- and 32-bit 22.12 released

December 12, 2022 — BarryK

It is over two years since the last official release of Puppy was announced on Distrowatch. There have been plenty of releases since then, and derivatives; however, none has been presented to Distrowatch as the latest "official" Puppy.

There has been lengthy discussion about what will be the next official pup, and finally, peebee's S15Pup was chosen. The discussion thread is here:

https://forum.puppylinux.com/viewtopic.php?t=7204

Here is the announcement on Distrowatch:

https://distrowatch.com/?newsid=11706

Announcement thread, also for feedback:

https://forum.puppylinux.com/viewtopic.php?t=7464

Snapshot:

img1

Feedback is very positive!   

Tags: linux

FydeOS alternative to ChromeOS works on PCs

October 28, 2022 — BarryK

Today I stumbled across someone mentioning FydeOS, and alternative to ChromeOS. Recalled briefly looking at it sometime ago, decided worth another look...

What attracts me to ChromeOS is support for Android and Linux apps, and FydeOS also has this support. A significant difference is that FydeOS can be installed on "Windows" PCs.

ChromeOS is only available on Chromebooks; however, a bit of online reading revealed that Google have ChromeOS Flex, that can be installed on PCs -- unfortunately, it does not run Android apps, and a bit of further reading indicated problems with Linux apps.

FydeOS website:

https://fydeos.io/

There is also an open-source variant:

https://openfyde.io/

Differences between FydeOS and openFyde are explained here:

https://github.com/openFyde/getting-started

...not quite sure if read it correctly, seems to imply that openFyde does not support Android apps.

Very interesting, a 2-in-1 tablet with FydeOS is planned:

https://fydetabduo.com/

The Fydetab Duo has a pretty good SoC:

https://www.cnx-software.com/2022/01/12/rockchip-rk3588s-cost-optimized-cortex-a76-a55-processor/

Reasonable specs:

https://fydetabduo.com/specs

...12.35 inch screen, stylus, weight with keyboard is 1.32Kg -- rather heavy.

It is being offered on Indiegogo:

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/fydetab-duo--2#/

Interesting. I could buy a Lenovo 2-in-1 Chromebook locally with similar specs, at about the same price.

It would be very interesting to install FydeOS to one of my PCs. They say it can dual-boot.    

Tags: linux

Vanilla Dpup and Upup progress

May 27, 2022 — BarryK

I have posted before that Dima (dimkr) and Mick (01micko) are developing the "testing" branch of woof-CE. In March 2021, I reported on Dima's work on a Puppy without an initrd, using "frugalify":

https://bkhome.org/news/202103/puppy-linux-without-an-initrd.html

They have also been developing a more traditional next-generation Puppy, pre-fixed "Vanilla-"; currently there is Vanilla-Upup and Vanilla-Dpup, based on Ubuntu and Debian packages respectively. These have an initrd.

I decided it is time to have a look how these Vanilla-* pups are coming along. Downloaded Vanilla Dpup 9.2.0 from here:

https://github.com/vanilla-dpup/releases/releases

Forum thread:

https://forum.puppylinux.com/viewtopic.php?t=6002

And downloaded Vanilla Upup 22.04.39 from here:

https://github.com/dimkr/woof-CE/releases

Forum thread:

https://forum.puppylinux.com/viewtopic.php?t=5290

Only did a quick play with each. Impression was, everything I tried worked. Very smooth, nice UIs, easy connection to my wi-fi. Overall: impressed.

Ha ha, I don't use optical media anymore, but for these took a trip down memory lane, burnt the iso's to CD's and booted them. In the case of Dpup, it took almost 2 minutes (117 seconds) to copy the sfs's to RAM. That would have been a few seconds off a USB-stick. So, reminded how clunky and slow CD's are.

One of the reasons that I have looked at these, is I wanted to see if the Puppy traditional PPM package manager and apt & Synaptic "talk" to each other. They are all installed.

Using Synaptic, I installed Scribus, that went smoothly. But the installed packages did not show up in the PPM. So the answer is "no", they don't talk to each other.

I am getting interested in installing apt and maybe Synaptic in Easy Bookworm, but only if can get it to talk with the PPM.

Just an observation: in my brief experience with installing Scribus, Synaptic did not bring anything superior compared to doing it with the PPM. I tested installing Scribus in Easy Bookworm 0.4, with Easy's own PPM, and it went smoothly, and Scribus worked. Just an observation.    

Tags: linux

Dpup next-generation Puppy progressing

February 05, 2022 — BarryK

I have posted about the development being done by Dima (dimkr on the forum):

https://bkhome.org/news/202105/puppy-moving-to-xwayland.html

Of course there other contenders for what will become the "next generation Puppy".

Dima has created a section of the forum for "Vanilla Dpup" and has itemized how his new pup differs from traditional Puppy:

http://forum.puppylinux.com/viewtopic.php?t=5044

...a very interesting read.

The new Dpup section in the forum:

http://forum.puppylinux.com/viewforum.php?f=183

It is about time that I downloaded the latest and gave it a run!   

Tags: linux

Puppy and EasyOS used in physics lab

October 14, 2021 — BarryK

Stuart is a professor at Lyon College, Arkansas, USA (lyon.edu). He has been using Puppy Linux, Precise Puppy, until recently, and is now using EasyOS 3.0.

Stuart is 'phdzaps' in the old Puppy Forum, posts back around 2011 - 2013. He has kept me updated via emails since 2018, about progress with using Puppy in a laboratory.

Today he sent me a link to a unit "Physics 241":

Not sure if that is allowed to be made public... Ah, it is OK, as able to reach this link via the physics.lyon.edu front page:

https://logcabinphysics.x10.bz/Courses/FA21/241/index.html

It is great that EasyOS is finding a practical use in a laboratory!     

Tags: linux