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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Fatdog702 ISO re-uploaded
Due to the CVE-2015-7547 scare that hits glibc recently, plus the fact that it is not easy to update glibc, I've decided to re-upload Fatdog64 702 that was uploaded a few days ago with a new set of ISO, devx, and nls SFS that contains a new patched glibc.The CVE patch itself comes from the Debian team (since the official patch only applies cleanly to latest glibc - not to glibc 2.19 that 702 uses). Thank you Debian.
The new packages md5sums are as follows:
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c7bff729fc3a6100246020466e94e6af Fatdog64-702.iso
54cc4ef28741e9e9844ab6f5ca66d41c fd64-devx_702.sfs
975d127442a8a336ec14dc743d51ad61 fd64-nls_702.sfs
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Fatdog64 ISO builder is released
Fatdog64 ISO Builder is a tool to make custom Fatdog64 ISO.It's similar to Puppy Linux "woof", except that this builder specifically builds from Fatdog64 self-built packages only. Since it works with Slackware-style packages (.txz), you may be able to tweak it to work from Slackware packages as well, though that has never been tested.
Announcement
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Fatdog64 702 Final is released.
After the planned two weeks of RC stage, 702 is finally released.Release notes
Forum announcement
Get it as usual from ibiblio or one of its mirrors: aarnet, uoc.gr, and nluug.nl.
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Fatdog64 702rc is released
Maintenance update, mainly fixes and a few updated packages.Release notes
Forum announcement
Get it as usual from ibiblio or one of its mirrors: aarnet, uoc.gr, and nluug.nl.
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Updated savedir support on FAT
"Save directory" (savedir for short) is way of persistence whereby the user-modified files are stored in a directory somewhere, as opposed to "savefile", in which they are stored to a big loopback-mounted file.Savefile is very convenient and reliable method of persistence and it works across many different filesystems including networked, non-POSIX ones, because we can always choose the filesystem inside the savefile - usually one that is POSIX compatible.
However savefile has a minor irritation - you are limited by its size. Sure you can always resize it if it gets full, but it's a hassle. Savedir on the other hand doesn't have this limitation, but it must be located on a POSIX filesystem. Well not really, but if not, then you'll get a lot of odd behaviours.
Fatdog64 has supported savedir since version 620 (April 2013), this includes support for non-POSIX filesystems too such as NTFS and FAT.
The support for NTFS was upgraded in October 2015 to support true POSIX permissions made available from recent versions of ntfs-3g. NTFS is pervasive and is good compatibility filesystem for Windows OS, so this is an overdue update (although I personally still recommend that you use savefile on NTFS).
I've now upgraded the support for savedir on FAT as well, using posixovl; this gives savedir on FAT some support for rudimentary POSIX features, such as permissions, device nodes, and fifos.
However using posixovl as the base on savedir isn't without problem. For one thing, it cannot be unmounted cleanly - so you must always run fsck at boot ("dofsck" will do this for you). On another front, posixovl emulation of POSIX on FAT isn't perfect, and you will sure notice some oddities. And the last point is - FAT is much more corruption-prone as compared to modern filesystems (including NTFS). But if you're happy to play with fire, then - yeah, why not?
As a bonus, I also make posixovl to work with CIFS too - so now you can enjoy network-based savedir with full POSIX features (plus some unwanted oddities, as I said above).
I've made the usage of posixovl for FAT and CIFS not obligatory. You can always fallback to old method of using FAT and CIFS directly - which will unmount cleanly, but you will have to live with the limitations of non-POSIX filesystems (e.g. all files turned into executables; permissions are lost, etc). Or of course, just use savefile
This will be in the next release of Fatdog, whenever that will be.
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Fatdog64 lives on
There has been no posts about Fatdog64 lately. But it does not mean that its development has stopped. On the contrary, it is still actively maintained. I've received a lot of help from Puppy Linux forum members such as SFR, step, and L18L, to mention a prolific few.If you want to follow what has been updated recently, you can look at an overview of the changes since 701 release here.
Also, recently somebody asked me what Fatdog could do, so I decided to write an article about it here.
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Bluetooth support for Cubox-i
Bluetooth was the last feature of FatdogArm that wasn't working on Cubox-i (it works on the Nexus 7). The last time I looked on it was on April this year. My main problem was I always get the message "can't set hci protocol" near the end of firmware upload, when using the built-in hci driver with brcm_patchram_plus (similar message when using the external hciattach).There were a lot of people who reported these, and only got the shrugs ... "works for me" type of replies. Most of the "solutions" to this problem concerns about variation of parameters to use on brcm_patchram_plus, as well various links to different versions of .hcd file dumps. However, most of the messages ended there. There were no confirmation whether or not the fix works, and whether there are possibly other causes. And no-one said anything about the kernel.
As it turns out, the kernel *was* the problem. The bluetooth host hardware in cubox-i is connected via MMC SDIO, using the serial interface. To support serial bluetooth devices correctly, the kernel needs BT_HCIUART_* to be enabled. The default defconfig from SolidRun 3.10 kernel did't enable these
, and there were no notes whatsoever saying these configs are needed at all 
. I have been using Solidrun's defconfigs (= manufacturer knows best, etc) - and badly beaten by it, wasting hours on unnecessary debugging 
Curiously, SolidRun 3.14 kernel defconfig *does* have these enabled - so they *do* know. Why this isn't documented elsewhere - I have no idea. Go and ask them.
Anyway, as soon as the kernel is rebuilt, bluetooth works. I tested it by getting it paired and connected with a bluetooth speaker and bluetooth keyboard. Both works nicely.
I have integrated these findings into a package called imx6-bluetooth, and have uploaded it to the repo. However, it won't work unless you use a kernel with those configs enabled.
I'm going to upload a new kernel for cubox-i later. If you're interested to use it *now*, then leave me a message.
With this, the FatdogArm platform support for cubox-i is considered complete.
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Fatdog64 701 is released
Maintenance update, mainly fixes and a few updated packages. New features including USB/bluetooth tethering, working bluetooth send/receive files, MTP browser, and Find'N'Run, and a few others.Release notes
Forum announcement
Get it as usual from ibiblio or one of its mirrors: aarnet, uoc.gr, and nluug.nl.
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