415: Cups, Gutenprint upgraded
cups 1.1.23-patched1Not a version upgrade, just a patch provided by kirk to enable a print job to be cancelled in the web interface.
gutenprint 5.2.3.99.1
Puppy 4.1.2 has version 5.0.1. This upgrade of course supports more printers, but one thing I don't like is the move to XML format for the printer definition files (see /usr/share/gutenprint/5.2/xml/escp2/model) -- this is a very inefficient way to store large amounts of data, and results in a much bigger PET package.
Anyway, I have built the latest "416-alpha-preliminary" and printing works. I tested printing to my Brother HL2040 laser, which has a foomatic driver. I also tested on the latest acquisition from that opportunity shop, an old 64MB PC with Epson Stylus C41SX printer, and that works too, with a gutenprint driver.
Working with the 64MB PC, I am finding usability issues. There was the 'depmod' thing, solved, now I'm going to work on an improvement to swap file creation -- will do that Sunday/Monday.
I'll try and target 416alpha for upload in about a week from now.
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Busybox depmod works
I reported recently that the 'depmod' utility in the 'module-init-tools' package is a resource hog:http://puppylinux.com/blog/?viewDetailed=00859
It does not work in a PC with 64MB or less of RAM and no swap file/partition, in the situation where there is also a tmpfs requiring some of that RAM. Even big apps like Xorg and SeaMonkey can run in that much RAM, but not depmod.
Anyway, I'm starting to grumble again, so moving on. I found a solution. I downloaded Busybox 1.14.2, which has the 'depmod' applet.
I tested on my 64MB IBM Aptiva, and it works. No need for any workaround that I had previously implemented. It just works.
So, I have implemented a permanent solution for all Woof builds. This Busybox 'depmod' applet now replaces that "full" depmod in all future Woof builds. Hey, this makes a change, I'm usually going the other way!
Note, I tested 'modprobe' and 'modinfo' from module-init-tools and they are happy with the 'modules.*' files that the Busybox 'depmod' has created.
You might wonder why not go all the way and use 'modprobe', 'modinfo' and 'insmod' from Busybox. Well, on previous tests, the Busybox modprobe did not work properly -- does not handle aliases as the passed parameter -- but then, the last I tested was Busybox 1.8.2.
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Now on dialup with Puppy!
I'm using the other PC that I mentioned awhile back, that I picked up from an "opportunity shop", a Compaq Presario, with a PCTEL winmodem. Works like a dream with PupDial. I'm running the upcoming '416'.Ah, it's nice to have a "good" keyboard. It's one of those old clunky things, makes a lot of noise, a genuine IBM brand. But I like the very definite clicking action and long travel. No missed keys when I type fast, unlike my laptop.
The problem that I had before was the external modem. Back in the days when I was on dialup, before I progressed to satellite, I had an external modem that developed a sticky relay -- it has an actual electromechanical relay inside it -- and it only worked sometimes.
So I progressed to another that I had picked up for $5 at a community "swap meet" (I remember the price because the sticker is still on it!). That's the one I was trying to use yesterday, but something is wrong with it. I have a vague memory from before that it had a problem. Maybe lightening damage, which is something that happens here.
But, I have no complaint about this internal PCTEL modem, and it sure is pleasant when Puppy detects it and everything is automatically setup, PupDial even gets the initialisation string right.
Er, except for one small detail... the line has dropped out. I just notice, I'm offline, only after a few minutes of being connected.
Back again. This thing about getting dropped out, it has been reported many times on the forum. It would be good to resolve why this happens. 'pppd' is probably to blame?
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module-init-tools trouble
Puppy has trouble booting on PCs with 64MB or less RAM. I narrowed the problem down to the 'depmod' utility in the 'module-init-tools' package.I'm testing with 415, which has module-init-tools version 3.3-pre11. Well, not quite. We have a history of trouble with module-init-tools, and in Puppy4 the PET package has the 'insmod' utility from module-init-tools version 3.2.2, as 'insmod' in 3.3 crashed.
Testing on my IBM Aptiva, a PC that I particularly like as I reckon it is "nicely built", I get an "out of memory" report and the kernel kills depmod, then bootup succeeds. X starts up and all is fine. Running 'df' and 'free' shows plenty of free space. Exiting from X, then run 'depmod', the computer hangs, then after awhile the error log reports "out of memory" and it is killed.
So, I have compiled module-init-tools version 3.6:
# ./configure --prefix=/ --sysconfdir=/etc --localstatedir=/var --build=i486-pc-linux-gnu --enable-zlib
Tried it on the Aptiva, same problem.
So, still on the Aptiva, I loaded a 100MB swap file, then 'depmod' worked. Very annoying that they have designed depmod to be such a resource hog. I have grumbled about this before, so will curtail the complaining.
I need a workaround...
1. Don't run depmod
Horrible, but don't run depmod if the free RAM is below a certain amount ...I'll have to check but I think there was about 26MB free in the Aptiva.
2. Always load a swapfile
As Windows is nearly always present on an old PC, use the 'Win386.swp' Windows swap file. GuestTwo pioneered this,and found that when Windows was booted afterward it was able to repair the Win386.swp file.
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I'm on dialup!!!
Yes, I now have dialup Internet access at home. My Skymesh satellite connection will be coming soon, but I'm going to keep this dialup account going for at least another year.Reasons:
1. it's a backup
2. need to test dialup with Puppy
3. it's very cheap
How cheap? Only $7.49 per month if I pay annually:
http://www.netbay.com.au/forhome/index.php?sw=0
I have a problem though, which is a good thing I suppose, my first thing to fix, for the benefit of other Puppy dialupers.
I was able to connect to Netbay, everything seems fine, the nameservers got written to /etc/resolv.conf, the local IP address got assigned. It all looks good. However when I tried to look at a web page it failed.
If I 'ping' a domain name, it times out, if I ping an IP address, get responses but 76% of packets are lost. That was with an external serial hardware 56K modem.
Right now I'm running an old PC with Windows 98 and a PCTEL modem. Works fine. Connected at 21600 bps.
I've been online for about 4 hours, no problem at all, except of course a bit sluggish. I wasn't able to post to this blog with IE, but found that Firefox needs at least Windows XP or 2000. So downloaded SeaMonkey, 13MB which took about 2 hours!
Good impression of Netbay so far. Tech Support phoned me to let me know I was activated.
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415: new packages
See my previous blog post. Compiled in 415, these will appear in 416:wv-1.2.5-pup4.pet
wv_DEV-1.2.5-pup4.pet
abiword-2.6.3-pup4.pet
libpng-1.2.22-patched1-pup4.pet
libpng_DEV-1.2.22-patched1-pup4.pet
libgnomecups-0.2.2-pup4.pet (rolled back from 0.2.3)
libgnomecups_DEV-0.2.2-pup4.pet
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415: Abiword fixed
Thanks for the feedback on 415. Abiword crashes when an attempt is made to print. Running abiword from a terminal shows that a symbol is missing from libgnomecups. The following reads like one of those who-done-it TV shows...Right, well I had upgraded libgnomecups. That's the problem we run into when just some libraries are upgraded. The original Puppy 400 was compiled in T2. Since then we have been upgrading a bit at a time.
But not to worry, this is fixable. I am taking the opportunity to upgrade the 'wv' package. This provides MS Word import/export capability so is important. Puppy 412 has wv 1.2.4 and the latest is 1.2.5.
wv 1.2.5
# ./configure --prefix=/usr --sysconfdir=/etc --localstatedir=/var --build=i486-pc-linux-gnu
abiword 2.6.3
The other dependencies are already present, so no problem, however there is a bit of a trick required when configuring abiword. If you run the 'configure' script, the internal 'goffice' gets chosen, but that is wasteful as 41x already has goffice 0.6.3 package installed. This is what you have to do:
Edit 'configure', change "libgoffice-0.4" to "libgoffice-0.4":
GOFFICE_VERSION_REQUIRED='0.4.0'
goffice_modules="libgoffice-0.6 >= $GOFFICE_VERSION_REQUIRED"
# ./configure --prefix=/usr --sysconfdir=/etc --localstatedir=/var --enable-printing --enable-threads --disable-gucharmap --disable-scripting --without-ImageMagick
Configured to build on a Unix/Linux platform.
Configured with printing capabilities.
Configured with XFT support.
XML Parser: libxml2 in -L/usr/lib -lxml2 -lz -lm
zlib: zlib in -lz
PNG Library: libpng in -lpng12
popt: libpopt in -lpopt
WV Library: -lwv -lz -lpng -lm -lgsf-1 -lgobject-2.0 -lxml2 -lglib-2.0
iconv: system iconv
spelling: enchant
goffice: system
gnome-vfs: no (>= 2.2.0 not fulfilled)
gnome-ui: no (>= 2.0 not fulfilled)
libabiword: no
binreloc: no
Ah, but still had the crashing bug. Ttuuxxx reported that CUPS had to be recompiled, so I will do that too:
cups 1.1.23
# ./configure --prefix=/usr --sysconfdir=/etc --localstatedir=/var --disable-dbus --enable-openssl --disable-pam --with-logdir=/var/cups/log
...oh dear, won't compile, a missing symbol in libpng.
Yes, back when all of this was done in T2, November 2007, I patched libpng. The patched package is currently installed, it has been in 4.x all along, so I don't know what is wrong here. The patch was required because cups 1.1.23 needs a symbol (png_read_destroy) in libcups that is no longer exported. The patch fixed that. I do have that patched source, so might as well compile that:
libpng 1.2.22-patched1
# ./configure --prefix=/usr --sysconfdir=/etc --localstatedir=/var --build=i486-pc-linux-gnu
Yep, cups now compiles ok. Now for the moment of truth, selecting "File->Print preview..." in abiword... oh dear, still crashes:
abiword: symbol lookup error: /usr/lib/libgnomecups-1.0.so.1: undefined symbol: ippNewRequest
Okay, a quick little test. I had upgraded libgnomecups prior to releasing 415. The version in pup 412 is 0.2.2 and I had upgraded to 0.2.3. Substituting the original library file from pup 412... yes, abiword print-preview works!
So all the rigmarole above probably wasn't necessary. Yeah, but what is wrong with the libgnomecups that I compiled before? Trying again:
libgnomecups 0.2.3
# ./configure --prefix=/usr --sysconfdir=/etc --localstatedir=/var --build=i486-pc-linux-gnu
...nup, abiword crashes. Now trying the previous version:
libgnomecups 0.2.2
# ./configure --prefix=/usr --sysconfdir=/etc --localstatedir=/var --build=i486-pc-linux-gnu
ABIWORD PRINT PREVIEW NOW WORKS!!!!
The entire problem was the move from libgnomecups 0.2.2 to 0.2.3, where a symbol disappeared that abiword needs.
Alright, I'll probably put all of the above into the next pup, 416. It might look pretty tedious what I went through, and it was, but at least I have found that both the libpng and libgnomecups needed to be fixed.
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Size of upcoming 416
Ttuuxxx,I have built some code to optionally choose to strip all binary executables and shared library files, into Woof's '3builddistro' script. This will take care of any packages that may not be properly stripped. Note, I have always used the '--strip-debug' option when stripping shared library files, as I was told a long time ago on the Aussie Linux newsgroup (2003) that it was unwise to fully strip library files. I have stuck with that, but perhaps it isn't really a problem, so the stripping code in '3builddistro' has only the '--strip-unneeded' option.
Apart from the above, I have done some tweaking here and there, and the most recent build, complete with all the analog modem modules (including 536, 537 and Conexant hsf) weighs in at 99.66MB -- yay, under 100MB!
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Xorg i810 driver
Puppy 301 has Xorg 7.2 and the Intel video driver is named 'i810_drv.so', located at /usr/X11R7/lib/xorg/modules/drivers. Puppy 400 introduced Xorg 7.3 and this has a new Intel video driver, 'intel_drv.so'. Unfortunately, the new driver does not work properly with some Intel video chips.Teting Xorg 7.4 recently, things have got worse, but that's another story.
Forum member ICPUG recently reminded me of this problem, so I have decided to try an experiment. I am building Puppy with both 'i810_drv.so' and 'intel_drv.so' and will test on a range of hardware. I'm interested to see which one Xorg chooses on different hardware, and whether they can coexist.
Acer 3681 laptop
Xorg has chosen the i810_drv.so driver, and it seems to be working fine. My screen is 1024x800. The chips are:
Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/PM/GMS/940GML and 945GT Express Memory Controller Hub
8086:27a0, 8086:27a2, 8086:27a6
Classmate laptop
Again, i810_drv.so got chosen, and seems to be working the same as the intel_drv.so driver. The chips are:
Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/GMS/910GML Express Graphics Controller
8086:2590, 8086:2592
That's all I've tried so far. Perhaps Xorg is going to always use the i810 driver. Maybe I should just leave it like that and see if anyone complains.
...I wonder if anyone had the reverse experience. Moving from the i810 driver in 301 and earlier, to the intel driver in 400, fixed their video problems? I don't recall anything specific on that.
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NicoEdit 1.6
This is so exciting! Nicolas has fixed the problems that I mentioned in my previous blog post:http://puppylinux.com/blog/?viewDetailed=00829
http://puppylinux.com/blog/?viewDetailed=00810
Here is the snapshot again:
Nicolas left the version number at 1.5, the same as before, so I bumped it up to 1.6. The PET package 'nicoedit-1.6-pup4.pet' will be uploaded to ibiblio soon.
As before, the PET package has 'bk_compile' script to compile the source, and the source is included in the PET package.
NicoEdit is looking really good, and I was wondering what else it needs to replace Geany and Medit and become the only builtin text editor in Puppy. Perhaps this:
1. Optional line wrapping (remembered in .NicoEdit.rc).
2. Tabs.
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