Fatdog Update
Well, I'm still here. I've been busy with life, moving houses, making arrangements, etc. Too much things to do, too little time. I wouldn't bore you with all that mundane things, since what most probably you're here for Fatdog.Anyway.
Fortunately for all of us Fatdog64 lovers, it has not been so quiet for Fatdog64 under the hood. Our two new members, "SFR" and "step", have been busy at work - bug fixes, package updates, package rollback when the updates don't work :), package replacements, etc. You will find them in the Forum as well, helping other people.
I would say that recruiting them was the best decision we have done - the dynamics works well between us so discussion is always productive.
In fact, we're nearing a release now. To be accurate, however, we have been "near a release" for a few months now - there are so many changes we'd like to share with you; but there is always "one more thing we would to before release to make it better" - and the it's back to the kitchen
. So this release may happen soon or may be a bit later (or a lot later) - cross your fingers!
But seriously, all in all, things are looking good on Fatdog64 side. The team has done lots of exciting improvements. As usual, it may not be perfect, but there is a always the next release
.
It has not been so well on the ARM front. I'm really the only one who works on FatdogArm, and my lack of time to do anything with it means it gets left behind; and it shows. No new platform supported, packages not updated ... although, all in all, it still runs pretty well, for an aged OS.
Well, that's about it for now. On my other FOSS article, I have published two parts. It's actually a four-parter, so there are two more parts to publish ... I'll get that done very soon.
Cheerios everyone.
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Fatdog64 build recipes
I've just uploaded the build recipes for all the official packages of Fatdog64. They are available here.They are tarballs, containing the recipe proper, and other supporting files such as patches, desktop files, icons, etc.
They have previously been available in the binary packages (every official Fatdog binary package contains the build recipe tarball inside); but to make it easier for people to search and re-use; we have decided to extract them and upload it in separate place.
The recipe itself is just a shell script, to be used with Fatdog's pkgbuild system. If you want to use it to build it as is, you need that build system which you can get from here. Warning: only tested to work in Fatdog. However, if you just want to examine how the build is done; you can just look at the recipe - it's simple enough to understand.
Note: If you're already on Fatdog64, don't bother getting that. pkgbuild is already included as part of Fatdog's devx.
These build recipes will be updated from time to time; but I can't guarantee any "freshness" of any of these recipes. And oh, they come as totally unsupported - feel free to use them as you see fit, but the risk is all yours. And while I'd be glad to hear suggestion and/or patches for them; please don't come to me for support. My hands are already full of other things.
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Real-time Kernel for Fatdog64 710
I built and uploaded real-time kernel for Fatdog64.It's based on Linux 4.4.52 - the latest as of today; and from the same branch as the 710 kernel (4.4.35); and one of the LTS (long-term-support) version; patched with 4.4.50-rt63 patches.
I could manage only the "Basic RT" (PREEMPT_RTB) configuration. This is somewhat between "low-lateny" and "fully preemptible" configurations. I tried the "fully preemptible" (PREEMPT_FULL) configuration but while it gave me a kernel binary; it didn't work satisfactorily --- too many lockups at too unpredictable times.
It has been a very long time since I built an RT kernel (the last one was probably around Linux 3.4 days) which can run in fully preemptible manner. The RT patches aren't always stable either; depending on the kernel version they can be good, okay, or just bad; so I suppose for today, this is the best I can get.
Apart from changing the pre-emption level to PREEMPT_RTB, I made two more (unrelated) changes:
- I increased timer frequency to 1000 Hz.
- I added SDA_HWDEP support.
The first change is done because I plan to use the RT kernel for some audio work that requires lower latency and higher timer resolution.
The second one is done because by tweaking the codec's amplifier I could make my laptop speaker louder by using HDA Analyzer (which requires HDA_HWDEP support); but it turns out to be wishful thinking.
Anyway, enjoy. If you need a guide on how to use the new kernel, look here. There is a new way to test kernels without having to do all above, but it hasn't been written yet. I'll write it when I have time (and motivation) - basically you use "extrasfs" boot parameter to load the kernel-modules.sfs instead of replacing the kernel modules inside your initrd.
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Fatdog64 is now listed in Distrowatch
I have been notified of this for a while, but because of my other stuff I forgot to announce it here.Distrowatch is basically a site that monitors various Linux distributions and their updates; as well as news about what's new; what's coming up; and other interesting stuff about Linux distributions. If you haven't been there already, you should check it out.
Fatdog64 has been recommended to Distrowatch for a quite a while, languishing in the "submission queue" for years. Apparently this year is the year - we finally are listed there: http://distrowatch.com/fatdog.
Yay!
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Time flies
Wow, it is now the third month of 2017. I haven't written anything for 3 months!Well, things do get quiet during the holiday season; and as usual there are real-life issues that I need to take care of.
In between, things have happened. Fatdog64 is now featured on Distrowatch: http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=fatdog, yay!
Also, we recruited new member, "step" from the Puppy Linux forum. Before joining, step is known as maintainers of a few programs used in Puppy Linux, such as gtkmenuplus, findnrun, and others. Welcome step!
Though this blog is quiet, the Fatdog development is not. It continues nicely in the background with comfortable pace: bug fixes, minor feature updates, etc. Bug fixes isn't always possible, but package updates are visible here. Also checks out Fatdog contributed packages thread.
On the other news, LFS 8.0 has been released and while it is tempting to conclude that Fatdog 800 will follow suit soon, it won't happen.
While 710 (which is based on LFS 7.5/CLFS 3.0) is getting older, it has no major problem as its program and libraries continue to be updated. Fatdog 700/710 has acquired a large number of third party contributed software and we plan to keep them usable for a foreseeable time to come, by supporting 700-series until at least the end of the year. There may be one or two more releases (720? 721? or 730?) but they will use the same base.
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Fatdog64 710 Final is released
The final version of Fatdog64 710 has been released. A lot of improvements since the last Beta release in August 2016; whose details you can see in the Release Notes.You can also leave your feedback in the Puppy Linux forum, where we made our Announcement.
Get it from the usual locations:
Primary site - ibiblio.org (US)
nluug.nl - European mirror
aarnet.edu - Australian mirror
uoc.gr - European mirror
It may take a while for the mirrors to update.
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Fatdog64 710 Beta Release
In development for over 3 months, this beta release contains many fixes and improvements since the last Alpha release. It is the continuing journey towards Final, which we aim to make it happen soon.During this beta period we are greatly helped by Jake SFR (from Puppy Linux forum) which contributes bug reports, bug fixes, and feature improvement patches; we were also helped by forum member step who, in addition to providing the bug report and patches, also maintains key Fatdog applications such as wallpaper-manager and findnrun, among others. The beta release would not be as good as it is were it not due to the effort of these two gentlemen. So our heartful thanks to them.
Release Notes
Announcement
Get it from the usual locations:
Primary site - ibiblio.org (US)
uoc.gr - European mirror
nluug.nl - European mirror
aarnet.edu - Australian mirror
It may take a while for the mirrors to update because ibiblio has been having problems recently.
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Fatdog64 FatdogArm double release
FatdogArm Beta4 is released.Release Notes
Downloads
Fatdog64 710 alpha is released.
Release Notes
Forum announcement
Downloads.
As usual you can find them on ibiblio's mirrors too:
uoc.gr, nluug.nl, aarnet.edu
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Fatdog64 710 builds 32-bit/64-bit wine
Fatdog64 710 passed its ultimate test this weekend: the ability to build wine that supports running 32-bit and 64-bit Windows applications.To support 32-bit Windows apps, wine must be built in 32-bit mode. To support 64-bit Windows apps, wine must be built in 64-bit mode. To build wine that can support both, it must be built in both 32-bit and 64-bit mode. That requires multilib support.
And that's the new, major feature of Fatdog64 710: Fatdog64 now supports multilib natively. Building wine in 32-bit and 64-bit mode is the final test that its multilib capability is complete, working, and correct.
Happy Easter everyone.
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Fatdog64 710 enters testing stage
Fatdog64 710 is the next generation of Fatdog64. It is still part of 700 series but considered as another branch; because it has a new build system (both for system and user packages) as well has other infrastructure changes which I prefer not to disclose for now. It share the common base as 700 thus many software packages will be largely backward and forward compatible between 700/710 although some may not, due to the usage of many newer libraries in 710.710 has been in the works for about a year, since the first 700 release went final, but it got stuck there as real-life priorities took over. Most recently, I have 710 ready for testing since early Feb this year but I had to postpone it because I need my laptop to be stable and can't affort running a test OS at that time.
Yesterday, however, I took the plunge and migrated my savedir to 710. The testing process has begun.
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