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newsToto Link wifi/ethernet router/repeater
In the Puppy Forum thread where we are testing Quirky Pyro64 0.6,
it was reported that Samba is not working. I wasn't much help, as I had
to admit that I have never used Samba. A bit embarrassing really,
considering what I "do".
Yesterday, decided that the time has finally arrived when I would
setup Samba. First though, I need a little local network. I access the
Internet via my mobile phone, no land line. So, wifi tethering turned on
in my Android phone, no problem connecting to the Internet for any of
my PCs.
I did wonder whether the phone itself could be used as a local wifi
network. That is, each of the PCs connected to the phone being able to
share files between each other. I have read conflicting reports about
whether that is possible.
Anyway, I have an old router, have put it back in service. This is a Toto Link N100R+ V2, picture here:
This is old technology, 150mb/s wifi, 100mb/s ethernet, but OK for now. My model is no longer sold, the latest is N100RE:
http://www.totolink.net/sub/product/detail.asp?product_num=100079
On my desk there are two PCs, my midi-tower and Mele mini-PC. The
latter dual-boots Linux and Windows 10, so I plugged it into "LAN1" on
the N100R and powered up, then went to the "http://192.168.0.1" in my
browser. Default login is "admin", "admin".
I clicked "Operation Mode" then the "Wireless ISP" radiobutton. Then
clicked "Wireless" from left side, then "Basic Settings" and the
"ScanAP" button. It detected my phone SSID and chose "WPA2-PSK" and
"CCMP", and entered the password. That's it, had Internet access!
On the Win10 mini-PC, was now connected to the Internet via ethernet.
In the "Setup", looked around a bit, but basically just enabled "Turn
on network discovery" and "Turn on file and printer sharing".
For the midi-tower, plugged an ethernet cable into "LAN2" on the
N100R, and fired up Quirky Xerus64. Fiddled around a bit, but
essentially just ran 01micko's Samba Simple Management.
Over on the Win10 machine, in the file manager, there is "Network" on
the left side. Clicked that, then right-clicked on the right-side and
chose "Refresh". Yay, got "PUPPYPC11067", which is my midi-tower.
Clicking on that, it asked for username and password, which is "root"
and "woofwoof".
Next step is to get it going on Quirky Pyro64...
Quirky Pyro32 0.6.1 released
Another one! Download Quirky Pyro32 0.6.1 from here:
http://distro.ibiblio.org/quirky/quirky6/x86/releases/pyro-0.6.1/
This is for 32-bit (i686) CPUs, with BIOS (not UEFI) firmware
PCs.
Tags: quirky
Quirky Pyro64 version 0.6 released
Quirky Pyro64 0.5 was released on October 29, announced here:
http://bkhome.org/news/201710/quirky-pyro64-05-released.html
And Quirky Pyro32 0.5 was released on November 5, announced here:
http://bkhome.org/news/201711/quirky-pyro32-version-05-released.html
Pyro64 0.6 is now out, testers are welcome.
Download:
http://distro.ibiblio.org/quirky/quirky6/amd64/releases/pyro-0.6/
...as usual, choice of three files. The 8GB image is interesting
for UEFI-firmware PCs, as it has rEFInd.
There is also a Service Pack for upgrading from 0.5:
...it is a bit large, due to many changes since 0.5, such as a
complete recompile in OE, updated kernel, icu and SeaMonkey.
Feedback is welcome here:
http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=110541&start=120
Tags: quirky
PPLOG now works in Quirky Pyro64
I had reported that PPLOG, our simple local personal blog, does not work. Now it does.
I am using this PET:
http://distro.ibiblio.org/quirky/pet_packages-noarch/pplog-1.1.3-1.pet
In OpenEmbedded, I had compiled these extra Perl modules and they are included in the Pyro64 build:
libdbd-mysql-perl
libdbi-perl
libxml-parser-perl
Yesterday I did a recompile in OE, and added these Perl modules:
libcgi-perl
libdigest-sha1-perl
libhtml-parser-perl
liburi-perl
libxml-simple-perl
PPLOG worked after I installed 'libcgi-perl' and 'libhtml-parser-perl' in Pyro64. Yippee.
I have decided to include all of these modules in the next release of Pyro64.
Tags: quirky
OE recompile, SM 2.49.1, kernel 4.14.1
I mentioned recently that some library packages compiled in
OpenEmbedded were too old. I ended up only bumping 'icu', 'nss' and
'nspr', to versions 58.2, 3.31.1 and 4.16. Then did a complete rebuild
in OE.
Built Pyro64 0.5.2, and compiled SeaMonkey 2.49.1, this time using
the system icu, nss and nspr, making the package considerably smaller.
The PET is here:
I also compiled the 4.14.1 kernel, and was most surprised when "make modules_install" did not create /lib/firmware. A quick google, and it seems the firmware is no longer in the kernel source tree.
I didn't know how to respond to this situation, but decided to take the /lib/firmware from the compile of kernel 4.13.11, for inclusion in the kernel PET. The PET is here:
The source, patches, and build scripts are here:
http://distro.ibiblio.org/easyos/source/kernel/4.14.1/
Plans for next Quirky Pyro64
I have been away. Here is a photo:
While on holiday I couldn't get into the mood of doing any Linux
development, but intend now to start putting together the next Pyro64.
The current release is 0.5.
0.5 has the latest LibreOffice, that I compiled in Pyro64, and I had
to use some inbuilt libs as some packages compiled in OpenEmbedded were
too old. Had the same problem with latest SeaMonkey. For example, had to
use SM's inbuilt icu, as the system package was too old.
The problem with this is that it makes the distribution bigger. So, I
plan to do a recompile in OE, and bump the versions of some packages.
Another thing, plan to compile some extra perl modules in OE, as
previously only had the base perl package. It seems that pplog, and
probably some other apps, need extra perl modules. I think that I have
figured out the extra modules needed.
Then, will build a new Quirky Pyro64, and compile the latest LibreOffice and SeaMonkey.
Also plan to upgrade the Linux kernel to 4.14.x, as this is LTS, supported for six years. Which is great.
So hopefully then I will build a Pyro64 which will also be a LTS. Might release it as version 0.6.
I previously mentioned creating a GUI wrapper for shellCMS and put
into Pyro64 as a replacement for pplog personal blog. Haven't got very
far with that.
Then there's Easy OS. Not forgotten, an idea is percolating.
Another photo:
SeaMonkey 2.49.1 compiled in Pyro64
I have compiled SeaMonkey 2.49.1 for the next release of Pyro64.
It is a bit bigger, the PET package is up from 44MB to 51MB. Mostly this is because I was unable to link against the system 'nss' and 'icu' packages, and had to use SM's inbuilt packages.
nss and icu compiled in OE are too old. SM requires nss >= 3.28.6 and icu >= 58.1
Sometime in the future, I intend to do a recompile in OE with
these later packages.
Tags: quirky
Xcalc crash fixed
In both Pyro32 and Pyro64 (versions 0.5), the xlib-based calculator xcalc crashes on startup, and also brings down Xorg.
When this was reported on the forum, I tested xcalc ...and it worked!
Later, in a pristine first-bootup of Pyro32 0.5, tried xcalc again, this time it did crash, as did Xorg. So, I tried in a terminal and got this message:
# xcalc -h
Warning: Cannot convert string "calculator" to type Pixmap
A bit of research, found that xcalc looks for file /usr/include/X11/bitmaps/calculator, which doesn't exist. In fact, /usr/include doesn't exist, and it may be the missing folders that brings down Xorg.
The missing file is in package "xbitmaps", which is in the "devx" PET. So, of course, it clicked in my mind. When xcalc did work for me, devx PET was installed.
Solution, click the "install" icon on the desktop to run the Package Manager, do a search for "xbitmaps" -- it is in the "oe-pyro" package. Install it, xcalc will then work.
Changing the subject. yesterday's upload of Pyro32 0.5 was about 2GB, the day before I uploaded all of the "oe-pyro" binary packages which was about 1GB -- that is 3GB, half of my $40 6GB monthly prepaid allowance!
I'm with Optus, might change over to Vodafone as they are offering 14GB for the same price. This is for my mobile phone, that is how I access the internet, phone as a wi-fi hot-spot. The downside with Vodafone is they don't have quite the same 3G/4G coverage as Optus.
Anyway, thanks again for the donations, it is covering this expenditure!
Tags: quirky