'Puppy' Linux Corner.....

Hi, all.

Just to let ya know the thread's still alive, guys. Reason I haven't posted anything recently is because I've been taking a break from building & packaging stuff. For the last few weeks, I've simply been using my Pups as intended - for a change.

That, and I've been doing a lot of 'tinkering' & 'tweaking' throughout the kennels; re-organising & modifying small stuff in a lot of apps.....and re-doing a lot of my personal 'visual' customization. Trying to achieve a more 'unified' look across all my Pups, and integrating cross-Puppy access to external stuff somewhat better.

Annnd.....I think I've succeeded!

I don't care what anybody says. I still maintain that a well-fettled 'Puppy' is a perfectly usable daily driver, and if you LIKE 'tinkering', then Pup is perfect for that. And if you want something a bit more like a mainstream distro, the Void-based 'Airedale' Kennel Linux is coming along splendidly.....all thanks to the tireless hard work of rockedge, wiak & DebianDog developer fredx181, with contributions from sundry other members.

https://forum.puppylinux.com/viewtopic.php?t=5215

See what y'all think of it.

Mike. 

Edited by Mike_Walsh, 26 May 2022 - 12:15 PM.

Glad to read that you're keeping this "sub-forum" alive. I do check in here once in a while, but use the (rockedge) puppy forum daily.

Morning, gang.

Just wanted to let y'all know that I haven't "abandoned" this thread by any means.

My personal life/caring duties have taken centre stage now for several months.....not entirely unexpected, given that Mama's not far off 90. I also haven't been creating much in the way of new packages, etc., 'cos I haven't really had the time.....and I'm getting rather short of space across my 3 cloud a/cs. (I've been debating for a while quite how to approach this angle, which also adds to the uncertainty for me).

Plus, for months now the entire Puppy forum has been been pre-occupied with two main issues:-

• How best to present the current "state-of-play" on Distrowatch (it was discovered that the Puppy entry had in fact gone 'dormant'!)
• An explosion of entirely new experimental releases, based on a completely new build-system; we're still trying-out & attempting to 'debug' much of this, so there honestly isn't much to report ATM.

And the quirky 'face' of Puppy is slowly but surely changing. Since most 'users' expect to download/install a polished, finished product, we don't want to make any major announcements until this has all been finalised, so.......stay tuned!

Mike. 

Edited by Mike_Walsh, 23 November 2022 - 07:10 AM.

Thanks for the update, Mike.

Hope all goes well at home.

John.

Morning, gang.

We've just had some marvellous news. Community member peebee has just been awarded the SourceForge "Award of Excellence", for his unstinting work on the Slackware-based SPups. SourceForge sent him this message:-

"Hi PeeBee,

Mike. 

Well, this is an "eye-opener", and NO mistake.

I'm currently posting this from 64-bit Opera.....running in 32-bit Xenialpup 7.5. How, I hear you ask? Well, pin your lugs back, get comfortable, and Uncle Mike will explain.....

---------------------------------------------------------------------

64-bit Puppies have always made use of what's known as the '32-bit_compat_libs' SFS package, to allow 32-bit apps to run correctly under a 64-bit OS. This is Puppy's answer to the standard, multilib architecture employed by most mainstream distros, and it works very well.

We all know that a 64-bit OS can run 32-bit apps, when set-up properly. However, under normal circumstances, you cannot run 64-bit apps under a 32-bit OS. At least, Puppies haven't been able to.....until now.

Obviously, this requires a 64-bit CPU for it to function. Not an issue, really, because the last 32-bit-exclusive CPUs were made at least 15 yrs ago, and to be frank, there's very few 32-bit only machines still functional. It also requires a 64-bit kernel; again, not an issue for Puppies, because with the modern Pups having a 'modular' build, kernel swaps are dead easy, and take perhaps 2 minutes to carry out.

The team over at SliTaz were experimenting with this kinda stuff a few years ago, and I've kept half an eye on their progress, because the concept has always intrigued me. The more so, since Google -  in their wisdom! - took it upon themselves to deprecate the 32-bit Widevine DRM module a couple of years ago. Until the first year of the pandemic, I was always able to watch NetFlix in my 32-bit Pups.....the more modern of which are still totally usable as 'daily' drivers even now.

Browsers are the one real sticking-point for 32-bit OSs these days, since there are very few outfits still creating 32-bit builds, and the choice is getting smaller and smaller, day by day. And to my way of thinking, an OS that cannot get its user online is about as much use as a chocolate teapot.

------------------------------------

peebee, a powerhouse of the Puppy community, an insatiable developer, and the recipient of the above-mentioned richly-deserved award from SourceForge a couple of weeks ago, has taken it upon himself to engineer the 'inverse' of the 32-bit_compat_libs SFS package.....the 64-bit_compat_libs package. It's possible, because unlike mainstream distros which use separate lib32 and lib64 directories to achieve multiarch functionality, most 64-bit Puppies use 'lib'.....with 'lib64' sym-linked to it. 'Lib64', per se, doesn't actually get used by Puppies as a functional, separate directory. So peebee's package, along with use of a 64-bit kernel and some very clever scripting, gives 32-bit Puppies the ability to run 64-bit browsers (and other apps if you want them).

All of which means that you've then got the full choice of available browsers, since most of 'em are coded to expect the 'standard' lib64 directory anyway. My range of 64-bit 'portable' browsers will run without issue.....and it means I can once again enjoy using my 32-bit Puppies and STILL be able to watch NetFlix when the urge takes me.

Win-win. Yay!! Thanks, Peter; this is an excellent achievement for you, AND the community as a whole.

-----------------------------------------------

If any Puppy users are interested in taking a look at this, head over to this thread at the Puppy forums.....where all will be revealed, along with links to the relevant packages (hosted at SourceForge, naturally!)

Never let it be said the Puppy community is not "innovative".....

Mike. 

Edited by Mike_Walsh, 15 January 2023 - 01:55 PM.

Very surprised that SourceForge have opted for such a association with Puppy Linux given the ongoing atrocities in Ukraine.

Morning, gang.

Now then. I wasn't expecting to see this for some time yet.....but then, I never realised just how long ago Puppy Linux appeared on the scene.

Early 'Puppy' time-line...

v0.1 was released - by Barry - on June 18, 2003. So; Puppy turns 20 this year. Quite an achievement for our wee canine, and shows she must still have some relevance in this modern day & age.

We're wanting to do something a bit special to mark the occasion, though we're not sure yet quite what form this will take. Whatever happens, one thing needs to be said.....and that is, quite simply,

"Happy 20th birthday, Puppy!"

Mike.   

Edited by Mike_Walsh, 10 April 2023 - 07:21 AM.

Boy, it's been a long time since I was here.

I mainly wanted to share some statically-compiled items with y'all. The first are 'statically-compiled' builds of ffmpeg, which so much multimedia stuff depends on. Normally, this entails a dynamic build of ffmpeg itself, which is then dependent on around 20 different dependencies being exactly the correct versions. It's a right PITA to upgrade, too.

A guy by the name of John van Sickle has been producing 'static' builds of ffmpeg for quite a while now:-

https://johnvansickle.com/ffmpeg/

Yes, they're pretty large compared to Puppy's normally quite minimalist ffmpeg, but then they DO have absolutely every dependency included at build time.....and they're transplantable between Pups of several different generations, since they don't have to hunt around the system to find what they need. It's all there, already!

---------------------------------------------

Now; compiling is NOT my "strong suit", I'll be the first to admit this. However, I've just this afternoon created a 'static' build of the very newest LTS release of OpenSSL (with libcrypto3/libssl3 'built-in').....the cryptographic libraries and binary that enable much secure surfing, because the newest version is required by the most up-to-date CA-certificates package (which I've obtained from the 'Miscellaneous' section of the Debian 'Bookworm' repos).

I've packaged these two up together into a single .pet, and this is usable as a simple 'drop-in' upgrade for 64-bit Pups going all the way back to Tahrpup64 (the first-ever 'official' 64-bit Pup from a decade ago). I've been using the upgrade for several  hours already, and since it's working so well I'm more than happy to share. If anybody's interested in taking advantage of this upgrade, you can find it here:-

https://www.mediafire.com/file/hpg2i4b7t02r2m0/openssl_static-3.0.9%252Bca_certs-amd64.pet/file

Or you can find it by digging around in the second link in my siggy - "MORE packages" - and looking under 'Utilities' -> 'OpenSSL_CA-certs upgrade'. Hope it proves to be useful.

Sayonara, mes amigos. Uncle Mike signing off.....

Mike.

Edited by Mike_Walsh, 23 November 2023 - 08:41 AM.

Thanks Mike. 

Most wont be running OpenSSL directly, but via other applications - that will use the shared libs, not have the static OpenSSL versions available to them. The operation/security of OpenSSL isn't addressed with just a simple static compilation 

Just because running openssl version in a terminal might indicate 3.x series (static version), doesn't mean internet facing apps will also be using 3.x, instead they'll be using perhaps outdated/vulnerable 1.x

Much of Linux is its single/central repo method, rather than Windows here-there-everywhere. Better to source upgrades via official repos than going windows-style - via third parties that don't know what they're actually doing.

Good to know.

I'm interested in ffmpeg.

Greetings, all. Thought it was time I added some new bits'n'bobs I've put together over the course of this last 12 months.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The first is a utility for 'awkward' audio chips (like my own). This will enable audio recording for anyone who has one of the newer Intel HD audio cards; these things function well enough under Windows, since most manufacturers will write custom patches to enable full functionality, but for some reason the Linux kernel appears to have issues with the API in use.....the 'loopback' function, essential for recording from the internal card, doesn't always show up.

Anyways; Simple Audio Recorder makes use of the kernel's ability to create a virtual loopback device, via the snd_aloop module. This works directly with the base ALSA layer; makes no difference if you're using PulseAudio OR the newer PipeWire, since both of these run on top of ALSA anyway. rcrsn51 and jamesbond (James Budiono of the FatDog team) both did some work on this issue, and essentially I've taken what I consider to be the easiest-to-use of the two scripts and built a nice simple GUI around it.

It will create either MP3 or WAV files, these being the two most common formats in general use. The 'Help' file will explain stuff in more detail, and further reading can be found here:-

https://forum.puppylinux.com/viewtopic.php?t=9774

If anyone's interested in trying it out, y'all can find it attached to the first post in the above thread.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Next on the list is something another member ( greengeek ) and I have been playing around with on and off for the past couple of years:-

CamRecord

https://forum.puppylinux.com/viewtopic.php?t=9532

This is essentially a way for anybody with spare webcams kicking around - I have several! - to make use of them, perhaps as a basic home security system. Via ffmpeg, you can simultaneously run a 'Live' feed from one camera, while at the same time perhaps recording from a second. Most importantly, each camera can still be 'monitored' while recording is in progress; I tried the same thing in an earlier incarnation using mplayer and its companion, mencoder, but the 'feed' would blank out while recording was in progress. And that meant you couldn't actually tell what you were recording.....

The basic GUI:-

.....and the 'media control' panel when in use:-

It works happily with the built-in ffmpeg in newer Puppies, or via the above-mentioned 'static' builds in older Pups. Instructions for using this from an alternative location - if required - are included in both the 'Help' file AND the above-mentioned thread on the Puppy forum.

If anyone fancies taking a look, y'all can find it here:-

https://www.mediafire.com/folder/vctx2uijg7hq4/CamRecord

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lastly, a wee utility I've just put together this last week or so. NvidiaTrayTemp is a tiny app that runs from an icon in the notification area on the right-hand side of the tray, and allows a direct query of the core temp of any Nvidia GPU. Yes, with the official drivers you get a smart GUI that lets you check this - after digging through the tabs! - and utilities like Bill Wilson's legendary gKrellM system monitor will let you display this information directly on the desktop (but you still have to return to the desktop to view it).

With this, a single click - regardless of what you're doing - will display the info for a few seconds in a gtk-dialog box at the top of the screen. It auto-detects whether the 'official' driver OR the in-kernel 'nouveau' driver is in use.....and, as the temperature rises, so the colour of the text in the box changes (from green, thru yellow, orange, and finally red.....thereby giving a visual 'clue', as well). When it's red, you KNOW it's "gettin' toasty"!

It's summat I've fancied doing for quite a while now.....but only recently have my scripting skills improved to the point where it was finally a feasible proposition! 

Anybody wants to try it, you can find it attached to the first post of the following Puppy forum thread:-

https://forum.puppylinux.com/viewtopic.php?t=9943

Enjoy, mes amis.

Mike. 

Edited by Mike_Walsh, 23 November 2023 - 05:21 PM.

As someone who occasionally struggles with audio recording on Linux, this tool for "awkward" audio chips really piques my interest. The ability to create virtual loopback devices and its compatibility with both PulseAudio and PipeWire is fantastic. I'll definitely check out the Puppy forum thread and possibly give it a try!