Rapid Pup V2 Released 1st May 2015 64-bit

[ETP]

Rapid Pup V1 Released 7th March 2015
(See Page 2 for Rapid Pup V2 Released 1st May 2015 but read the first 2 posts in this thread for background information)

Overview:

This Pup is based on BarryK’s Quirky April 7.0.1 x86_64 k 3.17.4
Its main attributes are:

1. Speed.

2. Straight to HDD/SSD install, with boot provided by a separate 4MB hybrid ISO image.

3. The Main image is in tar.gz form and is to be copied onto an empty 10G f2fs partition (sda8 in the screenshots) then simply extracted in situ.
Boot is from a 4 Meg hybrid ISO that contains the kernel. The ISO can be written to any old USB stick/SD card > 4Meg or CDR if preferred.

4. Simplicity of install with no need to modify any existing bootloader.

Slideshow:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/ ... slide=id.p

No Items Were Removed From Quirky April:
Any future service packs issued for Quirky April can therefore be installed.

Items Added:

Pets/debs:
• service_pack-7.0_TO_7.0.1-april64|upgrade Quirky from april64 7.0 to april64 7.0.1
• google-chrome-stable_current_amd64|Access the Internet - version: 41.0.2272.76
• conky-1.6.1-pe-1-amd64|conky for x86-64
• fontwizard-0.0.1-1|Configure fonts for LCD. created by 01micko.
• PopcornTime-0.3.7.2-LINUX64-V3|Watch Movies and TV Shows instantly
• PupControl-2.5|Control panel by radky
• Pup-SysInfo-2.5.2|System information utility by radky

Other:

• Utility to update google-chrome-stable_current_amd64
• BarryK's update to get flash
• Manual install of Thunderbird 31.5.0 (Release channel)
• Additional libs & symlinks to satisfy the dependency requirements of all of the above
• Various scripts & cosmetic changes. (The Popcorn Time pet includes MS Core Web Fonts)

Where to obtain the files, installation and setup procedures:
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id= ... sp=sharing

Final Thoughts:

Hybrid boot ISOs for sda4 to sda10 inclusive are available. More can be provided upon request. A hybrid ISO provides the best chance of booting from any BIOS.

If you wish to test for bootability you can first download just one of the ISOs and test without the tar.gz. If the kernel (vmlinuz) attempts to load before falling over you will be able to do so!
The ISO is read only so you can safely then power off.

Rather than an xz compressed .img file this Pup is provided as a larger 483MB tar.gz file. This is a trade off to enable a simple install. It is not too bad considering the extras that it includes.

[ETP]

Reserved for Additional info, tips & FAQ:

1.
For anyone needing to use a boot code, a utility (boot_code_utility.img) has been uploaded. It is a 16 Meg image that can be written to a card or stick with win32diskimager or dd.
OOTB all the lines in syslinux.cfg are commented out, so it will need to be edited before booting from it.
It has support for booting from a tricky bios and contains the kernel.
Syslinux.cfg reads as follows:

Code: Select all

# Rapid Pup Boot Code Utility - ETP  March 2015
# (syslinux.cfg)
#Please uncomment & modify the desired line before booting from this.
#Change sdaX to match the target partition. e.g. sda9
#Multiple codes can be entered as follows: quirky acpi=off qfix=fsck
#or
#quirky qfix=fsck, nox
#
#
#default /vmlinuz root=/dev/sdaX rw quirky acpi=off
#
#default /vmlinuz root=/dev/sdaX rw quirky qfix=nox
#
#default /vmlinuz root=/dev/sdaX rw quirky qfix=fsck
#
#default /vmlinuz root=/dev/sdaX rw quirky qfix=bak

2.
The latest info on Google Chrome releases can be found here:
It is worth bookmarking.
http://www.googlechromereleases.blogspot.co.uk

[ally]

mirrored here: http://archive.org/details/Puppy_Linux_Rapidpup

[ETP]

Optional but Recommended Pet.

RapidAlert-V1.pet (788k) is now available in the download folder.
In a similar fashion to Blue Pup, it provides a visual and spoken alert at boot time of
the availability of new pets or service packs.

NB
For testing purposes it has been turned on & will remain so for 72 hrs.
@ally
Thanks for the mirroring.

[Billtoo]

I made a sda4 F2FS partition and burned the
sda4-hybrid-boot-rapid-pup.iso to a DVD.
I'm testing radky's (soon to be released I think) FbBox-2.0 so I
installed that and it is working great.
Added Smplayer,Smtube,Umplayer,(+ dependencies) and Libreoffice 4.11 stable.

I installed the rapid alert pet and it speaks to my every time I boot.

Thanks for this new pup.

[ETP]

Hi Billtoo,

Thanks for testing this new Pup. I have just re-uploaded the RapidAlert-V1.pet having increased
the audio volume slightly. The annoying click at the end of the message has also been removed.

I am looking forward to radky's FbBox-2.0 and it is good to learn that it suits this Pup.
The transparency on the taskbar gives a more professional look.
Please let me know if you had any issues with the setup or installation instructions or any
suggestions for improvement.

Thanks once again. You may wish to uninstall the original Alert pet & then install the revised one.

[ETP]

Google have today issued google-chrome-stable_current_amd64 41.0.2272.89
The inbuilt utility can be used to update to this new version.
Instructions are in the download folder but are also reproduced below:

How to update Google Chrome within Rapid Pup V1

• As and when required:
  
  1. Use PPM (Puppy Package Manager) to uninstall the existing version of Google-Chrome-Stable.
  
  2. Click on the JWM Network menu “Get Latest Chrome Version

[dawg]

(edit: nevermind)

[ETP]

Service Pack

On Friday 13th March Google changed their security mechanisms on Google Drive.
As a result, false alerts of new pets/service packs have since been generated at boot time and upon restarting X.

Please install the attached service pack pet to rectify this issue.

[ETP]

BarryK has released the service pack to upgrade to Quirky 7.0.2

19 March 2015
Quirky 7.0.2, codenamed "April", has been released

See my blog announcement and download links:

http://bkhome.org/news/?viewDetailed=00181

Feedback for 7.0.2 begins at page 16 of this thread:

http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... 501#834501

To trigger the upgrade visit Setup/Puppy Package Manager or Filesystem/Quirky Upgrade Manager.

Rapid Alert has been turned on & will remain so for 72 hours.

EDIT - Fri 20th March
The Google Chrome stable channel has been updated to 41.0.2272.101 for Windows, Mac and Linux.
Please see post dated 10th March for instructions on how to update to this latest version.
(google-chrome-stable_current_amd64 41.0.2272.101)

[ETP]

Revised Utility to update Google Chrome within Rapid Pup V1

On 14th April Google issued google-chrome-stable_current_amd64_42.0.2311.90.
Whilst 42 contains many improvements it also means that running as root is more difficult and the current inbuilt utility within Rapid does not produce a working version of Chrome.

A new version “GetLatest64bitChromeVersion-V4.pet

[johnywhy]

hi, noob questiion

is this pup intended to be faster than Barry's Quirky April?

or simply Barry's Quirky April with your fave apps on top? plus some new features you created, like the update-alert?

thx!

[ETP]

Hi johnywhy,

Quirky April itself gives the best blowfish score of any Pup I have tested.
What has been tweaked in this Pup is the boot method in order to improve the boot speed.
In addition as far as is possible, the Chrome & Thunderbird settings have been preset to
give of their best.
Best performance is to be expected when installed to an f2fs formated SSD partition.

On a negative note I have noticed that substituting another windows manager for JWM results
in some loss of snappiness. (See last couple of slides)

You may wish to give it a try and then report back.

[johnywhy]

Thx, I will try it.

On a negative note I have noticed that substituting another windows manager for JWM results
in some loss of snappiness

Carolina and vanguard both seem a bit sluggish at times, unfortunately. Hoping some bright dev out there will figure out a way to make xfce run quick (and install easily) on puppy, Cuz it of the light wm's I think it has the best features.

Thx!

Edit: i think i'll wait to try until the install process is simpler (hoping it will be like other puppies

[ETP]

BarryK has released a service pack to upgrade to Quirky 7.0.4
Please see his blog announcement:
http://www.bkhome.org/news/?viewDetailed=00195
To trigger the upgrade visit Setup/Puppy Package Manager or Filesystem/Quirky Upgrade Manager.

Rapid Alert has been turned on & will remain so for 72 hours.

[ETP]

Rapid Pup V2 Released 1st May 2015
(Please read the first two posts in this thread for background information)

Revised Slideshow:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/ ... slide=id.p

Main Changes since V1:

• JWM & radky’s FbBox-2.0 (Switch between them)
• Custom GTK & JWM themes
• google-chrome-stable_current_amd64|Access the Internet - version: 42.0.2311.135 (Issued 28th April)
• Thunderbird 31.6.0 (Release channel)
• Revised utility & custom pets

Where to obtain the files, installation and setup procedures:
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id= ... sp=sharing

Final Thoughts & FAQ:

1. What is a hybrid ISO?
A small modification to a normal ISO that allows it to be written to optical media, SD cards or USB sticks.
Many modern laptops/netbooks are not fitted with optical drives but ISOs can still be used in this manner.

2. Why install to a HD/SSD partition but boot from a small hybrid ISO on a card or stick?
Best speed is obtained when an OS is installed to a partition on a HD or SSD.
Many people do not wish to change their NT (Windows) or existing Linux boot loaders in any way and this method avoids having to do so.
Lots of existing hardware can be problematic when it comes to booting from cards or sticks which contain other types of boot images but 99%
are happy to boot from a hybrid ISO when placed on a card or stick.
Placing the hybrid boot ISO on optical media or a stick is simple & takes less than 10 seconds.
Shrinking an existing Windows data partition in order to create a suitable 10 GB Linux partition requires care and is covered in the install notes.
If you are not confident with doing that do not try this Pup.

Rather than an xz compressed .img file V2 is provided as a larger 543MB tar.gz file. This is a trade off to enable a simple install.
It is not too bad considering the extras that it now includes.
In addition to that file (rapidpupv2.tar.gz) the appropriate 4MB hybrid boot ISO for the target partition must be downloaded and installed to a card, stick or optical media.

Rapid Alert has been turned on & will remain so for 72 hours.

[johnywhy]

Best speed is obtained when an OS is installed to a partition on a HD or SSD.
Many people do not wish to change their NT (Windows) or existing Linux boot loaders in any way and this method avoids having to do so.
Lots of existing hardware can be problematic when it comes to booting from cards or sticks which contain other types of boot images but 99%
are happy to boot from a hybrid ISO when placed on a card or stick.

those all sound like excellent reasons. Thx for experimenting with new approaches, that's what keeps puppy progressing. Maybe ALL puppies should support hybrid install (as an option

question, is it possible to install Rapid with any of these non-hybrid ways I install puppy?

- run completely from the flash drive. (can i install iso to flash drive with isobooter?)

- burn iso to CD/DVD (using standard dvd burner tool?)

- frugal hard-disk install (by manually copying files to hard disk and run grub4dos?) Wouldn't this provide your same speed benefit?

thx!

[ETP]

Hi johnwhy,

- run completely from the flash drive. (can i install iso to flash drive with isobooter?)

Yes if I were to create a suitable img file that could be written to a flash drive.
That would however defeat the Pup’s primary purpose i.e. speed both in booting &
live running.

- burn iso to CD/DVD (using standard dvd burner tool?)

No, there is no intent to produce a normal ISO. The 4MB hybrid boot ISO can be burnt to a CDR or DVD.

- frugal hard-disk install (by manually copying files to hard disk and run grub4dos?) Wouldn't this provide your same speed benefit?

Possibly, if a copy of the kernel was placed on a partition type recognised by grub4dos.
It is the kernel that is able to read an f2fs partition. Perhaps a grub4dos expert could jump in here?
A syslinux boot from the 16MB boot utility image when placed on a stick or card is possible.
Once again we come back to boot speed as isolinux (as used in the hybrid boot ISOs) provides the fastest boot.

[johnywhy]

- run completely from the flash drive. (can i install iso to flash drive with isobooter?)

Yes if I were to create a suitable img file that could be written to a flash drive.

prolly my ignorance here, but isobooter does not require an img file (that i know of), you just put the .iso file on the flash drive.
http://www.bit.ly/puppy-isobooter

- frugal hard-disk install (by manually copying files to hard disk and run grub4dos?) Wouldn't this provide your same speed benefit?

It is the kernel that is able to read an f2fs partition. ...
A syslinux boot from the 16MB boot utility image when placed on a stick or card is possible.
Once again we come back to boot speed as isolinux (as used in the hybrid boot ISOs) provides the fastest boot.

ok then, a non-grub4dos hard disk install?
you're saying a flash drive boot for rapidpup will be faster than any kind of hard disk boot?

i am also thinking about the convenience of booting off hard disk, without worrying about losing/misplacing a flash drive.

thx!

[ETP]

Hi johnywhy,

If you have a hard disk as opposed to an SSD, Isolinux is so lightweight that a USB2 flash drive would IMHO be quicker to boot.

If you are familiar with grub4dos syntax you could try both methods.

I would suggest however trying the recommended hybrid boot ISO first though as you have yet to even try this Pup and it may not be to your liking.