Squeezed Arm Puppy

Version 5.102, 9 July 2012
This pup is codenamed "sap", meaning "Squeezed Arm Puppy" and is built specifically to run on the Raspberry Pi. Version 5.102 is the third 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 86.7MB -- 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_5.96.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.
  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 htmi.
  7. Puppy Package Manager
    Or just "PPM". You can install DEBs from the Debian Squeeze repositories, however there are reports of some problems. High on my to-do list to fix, monitor my blog.

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
9 July 2012