VoidPup32 and VoidPup64 Discussion

[rockedge]

@jamesbond I think there might be Void Live images here ->

https://voidlinux.org/download/

https://alpha.de.repo.voidlinux.org/liv ... 210930.iso
https://alpha.de.repo.voidlinux.org/liv ... 0-xfce.iso

Just make sure that you have /usr/lib32 listed inside your /etc/ld.so.conf and all will be good.

That is the nice thing about Void. It is mostly really simply put together. Yes that is the solution.

[Duprate]

Friends!
Thank you very much for the replies sent. Calmly, I will read all the material sent! I can improve something...

Luckily, and after working late into it(yesterday), I ended up putting together a package that was tested and where all the Windows programs I have worked satisfactorily. It should be noted that these programs were used in Windows XP.

Wine32-VOID64, is a ROXapp that, by clicking on it, creates symlinks wherever needed. It contains: wine-3.3_v.2.1_7.0.8.6 + 32bit-compatibilty-fossa64.sfs. Several were tested 32-bit compatibility packs, from other puppies. The only adjustment I needed to make was that the 32bit libs of 32bit-compatibilty-fossa64, are inside /lib/i386-linux-gnu/ and to work on VoidPup64 I had to copy the files Id-2.31.so and Id-linux.so.2 to /lib/.

It worked fine for me because when I was using Windows I kept a backup of all the registry entries of the installed programs. I don't know why I did it and I only found out when I moved to linux (lucid puppy 528) and installed Wine. Just copy the PortableApps platform backup (where you installed these programs), and copy (manually) the registry entries to /root/.wine/system.reg

This is how I kept my favorite Windows programs running as if nothing had happened.

At first, Void Linux seemed strange, kind of alien. But after being tamed by "Peebee" he became a very tame puppy. Now, it remains to teach him some tricks!

Here are some screens to illustrate the work....

[mikewalsh]

@Duprate :-

^^^ Nice! Love those custom Puppy .DirIcons, too....

Mike.

[Duprate]

Thank you Mikewalsh! I want to prepare a wallpaper pack, with royalty-free images to be available....

Here, a clearer image of PortableApps....

[mikewalsh]

@Duprate :-

Nice to see somebody else uses the PortableApps Launcher, too. I've been using PortableApps for quite a few years, but only tried out the 'Launcher' around 18 months ago. To my pleasant surprise, it ran perfectly....makes things a bit easier, keeping everything together in one place like that.

Mike.

[mikeslr]

This may have been previously mentioned, but I figured it deserves a post with a name which the Forum's Search engine could find.

https://voidlinux.org/packages/ provides a Search box. It's engine is smart enough to return the names of binaries and applications which exist in Void's repositories; and to some extent applications within a category. For example, entering "video" returned a long list of what might be relevant packages, while "video player" returning a shorter list that did include mvp, but did NOT include vlc. A specific search for "vlc" or "media player" revealed that it was available. Similarly, "media player" found mplayer, but not mpv.

You'll still have to do some preliminary research and analyze the search results to figure out what you want. But an important aspect of using the Search engine is that it returns the names of packages as they exist in Void's repository, i.e., names you can supply as the argument when using "vpm i NAME-OF-PACKAGE".

[mikeslr]

As I’ve mentioned previously, I have several Puppys: my ‘daily-driver’, a couple I occasionally boot into for some special purpose or ‘old-time-sake’ and a couple which have only recently been published that I am trying out and fleshing out with the expectation that someday one will become my ‘daily-driver’. This would be intolerable if I had to ‘flesh-out’ each Puppy from ‘scratch’. That makes me a Big Fan of applications which can be run under several Puppys, to wit: fredx181 and MikeWalsh’s portables, AppImages, SFSes, and applications written in bash.

So in exploring Vpup, I tried to run those applications I frequently use (packaged in those formats) and if they didn’t run try to figure out why by (a) running them from a terminal and (b) examining their binaries using listDD.

To make a long story short I’ve uploaded an SFS which contains libraries not available in Void’s repo. It’s packaged as an SFS so has low priority and won’t conflict with any file Vpup will install. You can download it from here, https://www.mediafire.com/file/9kr5suwq ... 1.sfs/file. This screenshot shows its contents: mostly Qt (NOT Qt5). Even if you don’t need all those libraries, mounting the SFS to extract ones you do need may be the fastest way to obtain them.

included libs.png (52.94 KiB) Viewed 3064 times

With the SFS loaded, MikeWalsh’s XVidCap portable ran and several versions of masterpdfeditor became functional. Dukto-5 provided by grey for Fossapup64 also ran.

Examination of Already Video Editors: None were fully functional, some didn’t run at all, one complained of ‘something wrong’, another advised of the absence of the Preview Pane. Both Openshot and KDEnlive are in Void’s repo. I installed Openshot, but figuring out why it wasn’t functional was ‘above my paygrade’. Fortunately, as I reported earlier, Mike Walsh’s ShotCut-portable only complained about the absence of ‘jack’. Easily solved with

Code: Select all

vpm i libjack

For those not familiar with ShotCut, the Slant-Community now rates it on par +/- with Openshot and KDEnlive.

I had hoped that Void’s openshot would run as it would have installed many Qt5 libraries needed by other AppImages and portables. I’ll leave sorting out Qt5s for someone who knows what they are doing.

Void does not support Uget. I flinched it from Bionicpup64 using gnewpet, viewtopic.php?p=18174#p18174. I’m not sure how that uget differs from the only one I found on ibiblio, https://distro.ibiblio.org/puppylinux/p ... es-common/. But as that one is 10 years old my guess is the one in Bionicpup64 may be a newer compile. To run, it required two libs which I’ve included in the SFS.

Further Notes:
Thanks peebee for including PupControl. As a by-product of that now built-in is a method for figuring out what files installing pets placed in the system. Puppy Package Manager does not have a Menu-Listing. But Opening PupControl>Software>Package Manager reveals its presence. Uninstall still finds what’s been installed. I’d leave things that way so as not to confuse newbies. Untested is whether PPM's Uninstall works, and whether gnewpet can be used under Vpup for applications installed via pets or otherwise.

The AppImage file-type can be added to Right-Click’s ‘run-in-terminal’. Make examining AppImages easier.

osmo-2.0.10-dunfell64, https://distro.ibiblio.org/easyos/amd64 ... s-dunfell/ worked OOTB.

grub2config: I really like this application. It functions. But currently under Vpup it can NOT be used with UEFI computers. Vpup currently lacks efibootmgr.

Ran OOTB:
ListDD
UExtract – the latest version will extract packages packaged in xbps format; might as well also have JakeSFR’s latest packit.
pwidgets
gxlat [translate texts using Google's translate engine. It works from the desktop and obviates the need to load a heavy, java-script-supporting browser] https://oldforum.puppylinux.com/viewtop ... 21#p428057
CleanRAM – Vpup is very efficient. But restarting-x, then running CleanRAM to remove vestigial files will return it to almost fresh boot condition.

Wine-Staging AppImage: Discussed and link here, viewtopic.php?p=13634#p13634. I've previously mentioned that it creates a ".wine32" prefix/folder in /root taking up 800+ Mbs even before you install programs and wondered if that folder could be "externalized". It can:
Before executing a Save, Create a folder (suggested on /mnt/home AKA dev_save) and give it a meaningful name, e.g. Wine4Vpup. Drag the hidden .wine32 folder for /root into it and select Move. Drag it back into /root and select Link(relative). Not only does that work, but you can use the same installation with other Puppys, or if you replace Vpup64 with a newer version. Just drag the .wine32 folder into /root and select Link(relative). When you run the AppImage again, it will recognize that the prefix exists and won't again offer to download installation files such as mono.

[mikewalsh]

@mikeslr :-

Mike, assuming Voidpup is using the same Void build/repos as KLV "Airedale" - and I've no reason to assume otherwise - coaxing my Openshot-portable into life is a very simple matter. It's not the usual Python or Qt5 'shenanigans'.....it just needs the addition of one single dependency from the Void repo:-

libkeyutils

It's the same one I needed to add to a couple of older 64-bit Pups to get this running.....otherwise, the AppImage at the heart of the portable behaves itself admirably, unpacking into /tmp quite happily in the intended way for the duration of the session.

Just thought I'd let ya know, mate.

T'other Mike.

[mikeslr]

Thanks, Mike. I'll try that tomorrow.

I'm now running Voidpup64-22.02RC+0.
For anyone making that upgrade please be advised that not only will you receive a warning about the hazards of using an old SaveFile/Folder, after supposedly making the necessary changes none of the contents of the old SaveFile were on the system. So I shut down without Saving and started from scratch.
Tip: Starting from scratch isn't too bad if you've placed the pets installed into the previous version in one folder.
I can confirm that the 'partial externalization' of wine worked well.
I can also report that PupControl>Software>Package Manager>Uninstall does uninstall pets (and probably anything else installed which it has knowledge of. Use with caution.
In corporate America it's great to have to bosses. You can usually avoid doing work one wants by claiming to have pressing work for the other; especially if your bosses don't speak to each other.
But an operating system with two bosses which don't communicate can be hazardous. "Uninstall" removes files; even the ones installed by the other installer if both installed files of the same name and location.
Kind of like the Fed having one goal and the Department of Treasury having another.
Best to keep your selection of pets to install into Vpup to those which are in all ways foreign to Vpup.

[peebee]

dimkr's themes in a .pet as mentioned: viewtopic.php?p=47777#p47777

[peebee]

Wow - I'm impressed!

Code: Select all

xpm i flatpak
flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
flatpak install flathub org.pitivi.Pitivi

Needs a bit of searching to find the thing to run:
/var/lib/flatpak/app/org.pitivi.Pitivi/x86_64/stable/active/export/bin/org.pitivi.Pitivi

Experiment prompted by an entry on @BarryK blog......

BUT............. /var/lib/flatpak is 4.6 GiB with 76085 files!!

[peebee]

libkeyutils

It's small - I can add to build

[amethyst]

@Duprate
Can you make the wine compatibility package available as an sfs add-on please? Thanks.

[mikewalsh]

libkeyutils

It's small - I can add to build

Peter :-

Quite why "J.T" thought a video editor should need a secure file authorization dependency beats me. On second thoughts, it's probably more to do with 'fuse' access for the AppImage itself if I'm honest....

....but, there ya go.

BUT............. /var/lib/flatpak is 4.6 GiB with 76085 files!!

And folks wonder WHY I prefer AppImages to Snaps or Flatpaks. It's that "framework" that's the killer....especially for us here in Puppyland.

(*shrug*)

Mike.

[Duprate]

@Duprate
Can you make the wine compatibility package available as an sfs add-on please? Thanks.

Good Morning! I will provide and return information...

[Duprate]

Good afternoon! As promised ....
32bit-compatibilty-VoidPupp64:
It's the 32bit-compatibilty-fossa64.sfs package,
with minor modifications.
Works fine with wine-3.3_v.2.1_7.0.8.6 .

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... sp=sharing

Please report if there is a problem with the download. Good luck!

[amethyst]

Good afternoon! As promised ....
32bit-compatibilty-VoidPupp64:
It's the 32bit-compatibilty-fossa64.sfs package,
with minor modifications.
Works fine with wine-3.3_v.2.1_7.0.8.6 .

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... sp=sharing

Please report if there is a problem with the download. Good luck!

Thanks. So how does this work, do I need to load my wine 3.3 32-bit sfs too? Goodness, but it's HUGE!!!

[Duprate]

Thanks. So how does this work, do I need to load my wine 3.3 32-bit sfs too? Goodness, but it's HUGE!!!

I added wine-3.3_v.2.1_7.0.8.6, in my folder along with 32bit-compatibilty-VoidPupp64. I use both in a single package, in a ROXapps, which is on another partition on the HD. It's actually pretty big, almost 1GB. When I click on it it installs symlinks. It doesn't take up memory. Works fine for me, why don't I use savefiles. When I turn off the PC, everything dies together. Minus the changes that were made to windows programs (savegames).
You can assemble your ROXapps! just unpack your wine, in a HD partition, add the 32bit-compatibilty-VoidPupp64 files and an "AppRun" + .DirIcon file. I will make these files available for you to assemble yours. Everything inside ROXapps, has to have the same permissions, (as spot or as root).
If you can't, I can also send you a finished ROXapps, but I'll have to delete my registry entries!

[amethyst]

Thanks. So how does this work, do I need to load my wine 3.3 32-bit sfs too? Goodness, but it's HUGE!!!

I added wine-3.3_v.2.1_7.0.8.6, in my folder along with 32bit-compatibilty-VoidPupp64. I use both in a single package, in a ROXapps, which is on another partition on the HD. It's actually pretty big, almost 1GB. When I click on it it installs symlinks. It doesn't take up memory. Works fine for me, why don't I use savefiles. When I turn off the PC, everything dies together. Minus the changes that were made to windows programs (savegames).
You can assemble your ROXapps! just unpack your wine, in a HD partition, add the 32bit-compatibilty-VoidPupp64 files and an "AppRun" + .DirIcon file. I will make these files available for you to assemble yours. Everything inside ROXapps, has to have the same permissions, (as spot or as root).
If you can't, I can also send you a finished ROXapps, but I'll have to delete my registry entries!

No, thanks it's fine. How big is a wine 64-bit package, may be be better to just install the 64-bit versions of windows programmes and use a 32-bit puppy to run the 32-bit windows programmes? Wow, I think I need to reconsider this.

[Duprate]

Hi! I added one more package, Wine32+32bitscompat.tar.xz. it's ready to use! Put it on another partition where the system is not. Give it a click and it installs symlinks. Do not unmount the partition while using Wine! I don't think you should use it if you use savefile. Good luck!

Now, you can download just the 32bit compatibility pack, or just Wine 32, or the full set! Guarantees? It worked for me...

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... sp=sharing

Also available for download: Clamav-64bits, version 0.104.2 and ca-certificates.crt, required in /etc/ssl/certs/ for the purpose of updating the Clamav database. Works well on FatDog64, Vanilla Dpup64, Voidpup64 and other puppies...

I tested the download with the following browsers: Firefox, Vivaldi and Google Chome.
In Firefox, the download proceeded normally. On Google Chrome and Vivaldi, the download was denied. I followed the driver's instructions, made the suggested configuration changes, and the downloads proceeded normally. After all, it all depends on the user-defined settings in each browser.
Note: The drive is the only place I have access to make files and apps available.

[Duprate]

Good afternoon! All goes well with the RC version of VoidPup64. Enjoying it a lot! I would like to ask a question: Did any of the forum members manage to use Google Chrome in VoidPup64?

[Marv]

I don't run the devil himself but do run ungoogled-chromium Version 96.0.4664.110 regularly in VoidPup64 (LXDE via ydrv in my case). Works well in fossapup64 also. It's basically @mikewalsh portable here:viewtopic.php?t=1499&hilit=un+googled with a couple of tweaks so it uses my shared spot profile on my Data drive. I haven't bumped to the current v97 yet, busy with other things. Posting from v96.0.4664.110 now.

[mikewalsh]

@Duprate :-

I can't speak for Voidpup, though I AM running a "run-as-root" version of my Chrome-portable in KLV "Airedale", the other main Void-based offering under current development. This is achieved by running the '--test-type' switch on the Exec line, along with '--no-sandbox'.....which effectively drops you into 'developer' mode. Current coding will only allow '--no-sandbox' WITH the afore-mentioned option (and under NO other circumstances).

And before you ask, no.....I don't worry about security. Where's the point? I don't visit dodgy websites, I employ best security practices. Nothing ever happens to me, and if it DID I'm not bothered; regular backups ensure that recovery will be a cinch....

Mike.

[Duprate]

Thanks! Just curious... Vivaldi works fine on VoidPup64 and is way better and safer than its "rich cousin"...

[peebee]

Menu -> Internet -> Get Web Browser

downloads sfs for both Chrome & Chromium (& Firefox & PaleMoon) ....

direct link: https://sourceforge.net/projects/lxpup/ ... /browsers/

Chrome "runs-as-spot" and doesn't need the '--test-type' & '--no-sandbox' switches so is 'secure'.

[xenial]

I am rather dubious of vivaldi to be frank and i find their browser to be quite buggy,I am using chromium which is far more stable.

I can take the sandboxing with a pinch of salt as i have never come across a security incident at all.

[mikeslr]

Although I suspected as much, out of curiosity I just tested my collection: pretty much all the 64-bit Web-browser's you'll find here, viewforum.php?f=159. All the somewhat older Web-browser in SFS format and the current portables published by MikeWalsh & fredx181 run under VoidPup64, including Iron. Iron is my favorite for reasons touched on here, viewtopic.php?p=45934#p45934. You'll find threads on the Forum detailing how to harden web-browsers for privacy and security. This one provides the most detail, viewtopic.php?p=19203#p19203. Chromium and clones don't offer the same extensions as firefox; and the names used in settings are sometimes different. But that thread can serve as a guide.
Although all web-browsers opened, and Ungoogled-Chromium could open to the Forum's Index, it could not open posts. And only Slimjet and Vivaldi* could download from Duprates' google-drive. [They are kept unhardened just for such circumstances].
Usually it's the the settings for whether 'third party cookies' are permitted which can block downloads. I'm not sure what interferes with Ungoogle-Chromium's full functionality. Nor am I going to take the time to find out. My hardened Iron almost never interferes with downloads. So its inability to download the packages Duprate offered may have to do with the settings of his google-drive. About google-drive settings, I know nothing.

-=-=--
* Like xenial, I also have doubts about it. Compare this evaluation of Vivaldi, https://avoidthehack.com/review-vivaldi-browser with the recommendations for hardening Web-browsers, https://chrisx.xyz/blog/yet-another-fir ... ing-guide/ I used as a guide. Open-Source uBlock-Origin is likely to provide a less biased add-blocker than closed-source Vivaldi.

[mikeslr]

Full disclosure: I wasn't a big fan of adding a Places Launcher to the Taskbar when it was proposed. I thought that the bookmarking function of rox already accomplished anything useful that a Places Launcher might do.
Now that a Places Launcher has been implemented I find it potentially hazardous.
Both rox bookmarks and the Places Launcher can display Recently Visited files and locations. Restarting-x clears the former. It doesn't clear the latter. A Save will preserve the contents of the Places Recently Used display:

Screenshot.png (177.47 KiB) Viewed 2625 times

Not only does that waste space in a SaveFile, there may be some places you've visited and operations you conducted that you may not want to permanently be preserved for everyone obtaining access to your computer.
One of the '.xbel' files in /root/.local/share is the mechanism which generates the Places>Recently Used display. Deleting it will result in a display "recently-used.xbel not found' rather than the previous history. Deleting seems to do no harm as later used files and locations will appear.
But having to manually delete that file isn't a great solution --easily forgotten. And for all I know may have unknown and unintended consequences.
If the Places Launcher is to remain, I recommend one of the choices you could select from it is to "Clear Recent History".

But, while I'm gripping I'll ask again does a Places Launcher offer anything useful not already available?:
Home -- merely opens rox to /root.
System -- merely opens rox to /.
Network -- merely opens to /root/network where a rox-app will scan and/or configure networks without the guidance of the configuration application.
Downloads merely opens rox at /root/Downloads -- which is not where I configure web-browsers to download to.
Drives -- merely mounts partitions, (ignoring the convenience of Desktop Drive Icons) as will Menu>Filesystems>pmount. But unlike either of the other options, Drives does not Unmount partitions.
Web -- merely opens you default web-browser
And Help -- which is already on the Menu-- merely opens the help html in the default web-browser.

Unlike Rox Bookmarks, there doesn't seem to be a way to add to Places the actual places the User frequently uses.
Just removing the Launcher from the Taskbar would not be sufficient. The records are still being stored somewhere, and will be preserved when a Save is executed --unless where they are stored is in /tmp.
Maybe moving the record which is use to pupulate Places>Recently Used to /tmp, if possible, would suffice to address the principal concern.

[amethyst]

Unlike Rox Bookmarks, there doesn't seem to be a way to add to Places the actual places the User frequently uses.

You can add your favourite folders/files and name them whatever you like. I don't use Places but did check it out briefly the other day (I checked with Stretch 7.5 which has it in the menu). I was able to manipulate Places by editing the relevant section(s) in the /etc/xdg//templates/_root_.jwmrc file (or the Places template if there is one). This could be different with other Puppys, I've just checked Stretch. Also - It looks like one can add the location of a specific file and not only a folder (unlike ROX's bookmarks' function, I think). That of course can be useful for some. The recently used section of Places also shows paths to folders and files (unlike the bookmarks' recently used feature which only shows folder paths). BTW - You should be able to disable the recently used feature in Places by editing/deleting the revalant entries as mentioned.

[peebee]

I wasn't a big fan of adding a Places Launcher to the Taskbar when it was proposed.

Not specific to VoidPup.......

You can remove the Places menu item (however recently-used.xbel will continue to record recently accessed items so your privacy concerns are not 100% covered - although this is harder to find than the menu)

You can either edit:
/root/.jwm/jwmrc-tray2
/usr/share/jwm/tray_templates/xf/jwmrc-tray2
to remove the <TrayButton label="Places">root:8</TrayButton> line
and restart the Window Manager

or you can use tools:
Menu - Desktop - pTheme
Tray preset More
Tray-configuration - Setup Tray 2 - Menus - right click Places then middle-click to delete - Apply

[Later]
Found:

Code: Select all

You could cause any writes to it to be "thrown out" by linking it to /dev/null :

First remove it with
rm root/.local/share/recently-used.xbel

Then (symbolic) link to /dev/null with
ln -vs /dev/null root/.local/share/recently-used.xbel