Fatdog64 620beta2 is released
Fatdog64 620beta2 was released a couple of days ago. Many thanks who helped to test beta1 and reported issues.Aside from the package-manager update, kirk did most of the work as I was busy with personal matters.
Highlight of this release would be Linux 3.7.10 kernel - which is supposed to fix the problem with bricking of samsung laptops; fixes with autochown on non Linux filesystems; and inclusion of the fix-usb.sh script I mentioned earlier here.
No comments - Edit - Delete
Re-claim USB flash drive space
Fatdog64 ISO image is an isohybrid. It can be burned into a CD or DVD, but it can also be "imaged" or "flashed" (or just dd-ed) to a USB flash drive like this:
dd if=fatdog.iso of=/dev/sdb bs=4M
Replace /dev/sdb above with your actual USB flash drive device name, and make sure it is pointing to your USB flash drive and NOT YOUR HARDDISK (otherwise irrecoverable data lost will happen). If you're not sure, don't do this - and you can ignore the rest of this post.
The problem is, due to the UEFI isohybrid structure, after you do this, the rest of the USB flash drive becomes unusable, because there is not partition table entry that provides access to this space. Easy, just create one, right? Yes, but the most common tool to do so, gparted, won't work (it won't recognise the hybrid MBR/GPT partition tables in the flash drive). fdisk will work, but it is too scary for most people.
I have created a simple script that will automate this process - behind the scene it will use sfdisk to create the partition (=partition 3). After using the script, you still need to make a filesystem on it, but after that you're good to go.
The script does some checking to ensure that you only target a USB flash drive (=making sure it is not removable, making sure it is connected through USB port, making sure that partition 3 on the target device isn't already exist.
Future version of Fatdog64 will have this script included in the ISO image (so you can run it from the USB flash drive you have just dd-ed), but for now, it is available here: fix-usb.sh
2 Comments - Edit - Delete
Bluetooth support
I have recently been experimenting with bluetooth support in Fatdog. Bluetooth is a complex interface with a lot of profiles (ie services) requiring many daemons to run.This is what I have managed so far:
1. Device pairing via gnome-bluetooth
2. BT mouse works immediately
3. Audio streaming to BT speakers
4. BT send files via OBEX (no receive yet)
5. BT modem access via BT DUN profile
6. BT network sharing via BT PAN profile
Modem access requires manual configuration such as editing /etc/bluetooth/rfcomm.conf, starting bluetooth PAN daemon (pand) etc.
I'm running out of time, I will provide more details when I am free. For those who wants to experiment, I have uploaded the pets (bluez, obexd and gnome-bluetooth) to the usual Fatdog64 package repository.
No comments - Edit - Delete
Fatdog64 620beta1
Finally, Fatdog64 620 beta1 is released, after about two months of internal testing. Other than the usual package updates and numerous bug fixes, a few notable things that I'm especially proud of in this release is:1. Fatdog64 now supports savefile located on LVM and mdadm software RAID partitions.
2. Fatdog64 can store its persistence in a directory rather than on a loopback savefile.
3. The obvious one: Fatdog64 now supports UEFI and Secure Boot systems!
For more details, please head off to http://distro.ibiblio.org/fatdog/web/latest.html
No comments - Edit - Delete
Testing LF preloader
Okay, I have played with Linux Foundation's preloader for a short time. It currently doesn't play nice with Matt's shim - shim requires signed binaries; while preloader (in its current state) does not accept signed binaries
The good thing is that they are working on it.No comments - Edit - Delete
Linux Foundation Secure-Boot compatible UEFI boot loader released
We have been using Matt Garret's shim since last December for our Fatdog64 testing purposes. Our general feeling is that while it works (and it works well), it is not user-friendly.Linux-Foundation's UEFI PreLoader fulfills the same function and needs are shim; and from what we can see it may be a bit simpler for those who just bypass Secure Boot (as opposed to shim, which intends to use Secure Boot to make Linux boots securely). But while it was conceived first, its release was delayed - shim got released first and that's why we use it.
But the news is in: It has been released!. This is good news, and we will probably play with it for Fatdog64. However, as Fatdog64 is so close to beta, we will have to make a decision whether to postpone beta or postpone the testing with the preloader.
We will see. Either way, Matt said that he and James Bottomley (the one who did the preloader) are planning to combine effort and merge their works. Meanwhile, let's just celebrate that we now have two alternative ways of working with Secure Boot machines. Ah, the joy of open source
No comments - Edit - Delete
Fatdog64 updates
We have an exciting activities in the last few days. After a long wait, we have finally moved our source repository to ibiblio.org, fully under our control, so we can quickly fix problems when it happens.We are gearing for 620 beta release. Fatdog64 620 will come with lots of bug fixes and improvements over 611; most notably is its UEFI and Secure Boot support based on shim (from Matthew Garret, rEFInd (from Rod Smith) and GRUB2 (including much needed Fedora patches).
To that end, Kirk has just compiled linux kernel 3.7.7 today, and I'm running it now! I've prepared Catalyst and Nvidia drivers and are uploading it to Fatdog64 pet repo in ibiblio.
Exciting things afoot ...
No comments - Edit - Delete
First post
Journey of a million words start with the first post.2 Comments - Edit - Delete
