Squeezed Arm Puppy

Version 5.105, 19 July 2012
This pup is codenamed "sap", meaning "Squeezed Arm Puppy" and is built specifically to run on the Raspberry Pi. Version 5.105 is the fourth alpha-quality build that I am uploading for others to test. it is looking good, perhaps I could have released it as "beta quality".

Puppy Linux enthusiasts know that their pup is remarkably small, and this new port is no exception. It is built from Debian Squeeze armel binary .deb packages (plus many that I compiled) and the download SD-card image is only 87.1MB -- compressed of course, the image expands to fit a 4GB card.

In that tiny size you get "the works", including a comprehensive suite of configuration apps, Chromium web browser, Abiword word processor, Gnumeric spreadsheet editor, mtPaint image editor, InkscapeLite vector drawing editor, Osmo personal organizer, Ayttm multi-protocol chat client, Notecase notes organiser, Gnome-mplayer media player, Sylpheed email client, Planner project manager and so on -- checkout the menu, you will be amazed!

There will likely be more uploads of "sap" in the coming weeks, as bugs are fixed. To follow what is happening, please monitor my blog:

http://bkhome.org/blog/

Release notes

  1. Printing?
    I have not tried it. This pup has everything, cups, ghostscript, foomatic-filters, all of the gutenprint drivers. But does it actually work? If there are any problems, this may be one for a CUPs guru to tackle. UPDATE: two reports that printing works!
  2. Sane scanning?
    Again, untested. This pup has Xsane GUI and hundreds of sane drivers. UPDATE: one report that scanning works!
  3. Digital camera?
    Again, untested. This pup has libghoto2 and my very own PupCamera app. It is supposed to auto-detect when you plug in a digital camera to usb port.
  4. devx
    Puppy can be transformed into a complete compile environment by the installation of just one file, that we refer to by the generic name of "devx". In this case it is 'devx_sap6_5.105.sfs'. Normally, the Bootmanager can be used to install and uninstall SFS files, however due to the manner in which Puppy is installed on the SD card, it is necessary to click on the devx file to open it, then copy all the files into "/" -- see instructions at http://puppylinux.com/hard-puppy.htm. Note that as well as C/C++ support, the devx has Vala, Genie and BaCon compilers, see http://bkhome.org/genie and http://bkhome.org/bacon -- BaCon is enhanced BASIC and is our recommended language for all newbies who want to be able to create fast and small compiled apps. Note, there is also an IDE for BaCon, and a GUI RAD under development, but not yet included in the devx.
  5. config.txt
    The first partition on the SD card has this file, with "hdmi_force_hotplug=1" in it. This overrides autodetection of the monitor, and if you are not using a hdmi monitor then you will want to comment-out this line. In Puppy Linux, this is very easy to do -- click on the partition#1 drive icon on the desktop, then click on 'config.txt' file icon -- don't forget to click the "close" box on the partition#1 drive icon afterward to unmount it.
  6. Sound
    Very flakey. The correct driver module, snd_bcm2835 is loaded at bootup (see the BootManager in System menu) and script /etc/init.d/11alsa_raspi forces output to the analog audio jack (the round socket) -- many people not having much luck with sound to hdmi. Volume control is poor, sound quality poor. For convenience, QuickSetup now has a GUI for choosing sound output to analog or hdmi.
  7. Filesystem check
    If there is an abnormal shutdown, such as power failure, Puppy will perform a filesystem check on the main partition at next bootup. This is done by /sbin/init, however it is currently broken.
  8. Shutdown failure
    Sometimes at shutdown, Xorg does not terminate and there is just a blank screen, system has hung. The program 'xinit' has tried to kill the X server but was unable to do so. I don't know why this happens nor how to fix it.

Sources repo

I try to keep all sources available in my sources repo:
http://bkhome.org/sources
Us#er#na#me#: pu#pp#y Pa#ss#wo#rd: li#nu#x

Further notes

  1. For a quick check of all packages in this pup, look at file /root/.packages/woof-installed-packages
  2. Puppy has the PET package system. Package files have the extension .pet. If you compile an application and would like to create a PET package, see: http://puppylinux.com/development/createpet.htm

Feedback

There is a thread on the Puppy Forum for feedback: http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?p=637941#637941


Regards,
Barry Kauler
19 July 2012