Bento RC (almost finale) ready to get - Who wants to test?

[melodie]

Hello,

Since Saucy was out, and while it is a transitional version towards the next LTS, Bento (Ubuntu Remix) is still a 12.04.3 version and is now really at the end of it's journey!

Here is a full presentation, with the links to the ISO images and screen shots arranged in a gallery, and the list of the applications default provided. I needs to be tested thoroughly, including but not only, the video, the access to the content of your cameras, the management of your pictures, activate some of the ppa provided as additional sources, from there install one of the latest Libreoffice…

Please discover it all here! →

In case some wonder about the version with the Fake-PAE installed, here is what it allows doing:

Code: [Sélectionner]

[ubuntu@ubuntu:~]$ uname -a
Linux ubuntu 3.8.0-33-generic #48~precise1-Ubuntu SMP Thu Oct 24 16:31:16 UTC 2013 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux
[ubuntu@ubuntu:~]$ ls -lh /isodevice
total 2.0G
-rw-rw-r-- 2 1000 1000 676M Nov 13 09:05 bento-ubuntu-remix-RC-linux-3.8-fake-pae-i386-2012.04.3.iso
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4.0K May  2  2013 boot
drwx------ 2 root root  16K May  2  2013 lost+found
-rw------- 1 root root 687M May  4  2013 lubuntu.iso
-rw-rw-r-- 2 1000 1000 676M Nov 13 09:05 second.iso
[ubuntu@ubuntu:~]$ cat /proc/cpuinfo
processor : 0
vendor_id : GenuineIntel
cpu family : 6
model : 13
model name : Intel(R) Pentium(R) M processor 1.70GHz
stepping : 6
microcode : 0x18
cpu MHz : 1700.000
cache size : 2048 KB
fdiv_bug : no
hlt_bug : no
f00f_bug : no
coma_bug : no
fpu : yes
fpu_exception : yes
cpuid level : 2
wp : yes
flags : pae fpu vme de pse tsc msr mce cx8 sep mtrr pge mca cmov clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss tm pbe bts est tm2
bogomips : 3396.98
clflush size : 64
cache_alignment : 64
address sizes : 36 bits physical, 32 bits virtual   # 36 bits physical --> PAE capable
power management:

[ubuntu@ubuntu:~]$
As some of you might know, after the 3.2.0 series, in Ubuntu there aren't anymore kernels which don't have the PAE flag, which means that certain types of machines are unable to boot with the Ubuntu distributions or remixes provided with, for example, a 3.8.0 as above.

And among these machines some are very decent P4 which would otherwise work very well and do have pae capability : but for some technical reason (I don't know what they are) they can't be booted with the actual Ubuntu syslinux which induces the /proc/cpuinfo to not return a "cpu flag here!" message.

This fake-pae solves the issue at least for those machines: therefore the above output shows clearly that in this case, a "3.8.0-33-generic" (which is *with* PAE in the kernel configuration) does boot and the cpuinfo does show the pae in the list of flags provided by the CPU. If you wonder about machines *really* not providing a pae feature in their CPU, my bet is that fake-pae won't invent it and the system will not boot.

DOWNLOAD LINKS

Since Nazral, who owned tyruiop.eu moved abroad and closed his server, we have moved the files to two new places, one provided by the crunchbang-fr.org owner and his tech assistant Goodbox, and the other provided by phillw, who has been a long time Lubuntu helper, and who is still involved, though less lately for he needs some time for himself.

Thanks to all them three!
Get our ISOS here:
http://linuxvillage.org/Downloads/ISOS/
http://phillw.net/isos/bento-ubuntu-remix/

[Jeff]

Hi mélodie,

Bento RC up and running in virtualbox.  I've not had any luck in getting the non PAE version and the fake PAE version running on my old Pentium boxes.  I'll try a couple of other options tomorrow evening and get back to you.

Jeff

[Jeff]

Hi mélodie,

Here's an update for you.

Unable to get Bento RC, non PAE version, up and running on Pentium IV machines.  Live CD works on both, however, after installing to the hard drive, both machines crash on boot up. 

Bento RC Live CD, PAE version, works on Intel Core 2 Duo, including wireless network.  However, after installing to the hard drive the wireless network is not accessible.  Still looking into why that happens.

Jeff

[Jeff]

Hi mélodie,

I finally got one of the old Pentium IV's, with your non PAE version, up and running.  It's a Dell Inspiron 8600 from 2004.  I needed to set a delay upon booting.  Setting the Grub screen to display for 5 seconds was enough for everything to catch up and start working.  I'll get back to you, once I've done further testing.

Have a great day,

Jeff

[melodie]

Hello Jeff !

You've been doing some good testing!

I would need a few more details, such as for each P4 machine the exact specs, versions tested and exactly what you see, when you boot to CD, and once it is installed.

Also if you had to setup 5 seconds for the Grub screen, does it mean the machines have very low ram specs?

I am astonished to read the PAE versions work better for you than the non PAE, which would mean I need to consider continuing to provide both? Is it the 3.8 version? Why the wireless is not seen anymore: not sure, however it might be something related to some packages automatically removed after install.

In the ISO there are some filesystem.manifest files, I'll do a diff and see what is removed. (Again, is it the version with the 3.8 kernel which you have tried?)

Some news! Since I posted this message, a new contribution has been done by sudodu, (Nio) a great contributor to the Lubuntu team. He has helped me with some testing, helped with a zram-config bug solved since:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1246664

and for which the linux kernel 3.2.0 (the generic is the one I am interested in) just arrived in the current repositories.

The other news is Nio put up a "grub-n-iso" from Bento, which is a tweak they have figured out among a few Lubuntu contributors, in order to allow some Pentium M and Celeron M machines (with P4 cpu) to boot, when the CPU has pae capability but is not seen by the system and shown in the cpuinfo flags.

the version I provided with fake-pae will help when the system is already installed, but when it is not yet installed it needs Grub to be there to boot it, instead of syslinux. This is where his "grub-n-iso" comes in the scene. One question regarding the issues you met, are the machines you are having belonging to this category?

I don't have any machine falling into that category, so I could not test it. But here is a start for detailed explanation: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Bento-fake-PAE

All necessary links are there, courtesy to Nio and phillw, and the image done by Nio is also available here:
http://phillw.net/isos/bento-ubuntu-remix/
bento-ubuntu-remix-RC-linux-3.8-fake-pae-i386-2012.04.3.grub-n-iso.img.gz     700M   
bento-ubuntu-remix-RC-linux-3.8-fake-pae-i386-2012.04.3.grub-n-iso.md5sum   

Let's see how it goes?

Have a good day too!

[Jeff]

Hi mélodie,

Thanks for bringing me up to date.  As it turns out, the problems I've encountered all seem to be grub related.  The non PAE ISO and standard ISO both run fine as a live CD.  Whoever, I've had to fix grub after a hard drive install on all three of my test machines, as none of them would boot.  I now have all three up and running Bento.  By the way, here are the machines I'm running:

1) DELL Inspiron 8600, Pentium M, 1.60GHz, 512 Meg ram
Had to use Non PAE Version
2) DELL Dimension 4550, Pentium IV, 2.40Ghz, 2 Gigs ram
Used PAE Version
3) ACER Aspire 3680, Celeron M, 1.50GHz, 1 Gig ram
Used PAE Version

I'm going to download bento-ubuntu-remix-RC-linux-3.8-fake-pae-i386-2012.04.3.grub-n-iso.img.gz and give it a try on the Pentium M, that needed the Non PAE Version.

I'll get back to you later this week,

Jeff

[melodie]

Hi Jeff!

The following files have a PAE capable kernel:
bento-ubuntu-remix-RC-linux-3.8-fake-pae-i386-2012.04.3.grub-n-iso.img.gz   
bento-ubuntu-remix-RC-linux-3.8-fake-pae-i386-2012.04.3.iso
bento-ubuntu-remix-RC-linux-3.11-i386-2012.04.3.iso

just the two with "fake pae" contain a script which allows by-passing an issue related to pae not detected in some of the machines coming with Pentium M/Celeron M CPUs.

The two following ISO's have a kernel withouth PAE:
bento-ubuntu-remix-RC-3.2.0-57-generic-i386-2012.04.3.iso
bento-ubuntu-remix-RC-linux-3.2.0-56_non-pae-i386-2012.04.3.iso

I think I should leave only two of them at the end. It might be the next generic 3.2.0-58 and a 3.8.x something (the 3.2.0 generic series are without PAE anyway, the other series of 3.2 generic kernels, ie 3.8 generic, are all PAE - this is a Ubuntu "thing" a bit confusing, I realize I'll have to be even more clear about it… )

I am looking forward to your next info.

[melodie]

By the way, here are the machines I'm running:

1) DELL Inspiron 8600, Pentium M, 1.60GHz, 512 Meg ram
Had to use Non PAE Version
2) DELL Dimension 4550, Pentium IV, 2.40Ghz, 2 Gigs ram
Used PAE Version
3) ACER Aspire 3680, Celeron M, 1.50GHz, 1 Gig ram
Used PAE Version

Hi again,

I tried a search on Dell Inspiron 8600 but didn't succeed finding your model, because it seems they have been produced several variants for it starting 2004 up to 2008. I have also found two variants of the processor for it, one would be "Banias", and the other "Dothan". (Not even sure this is one of the CPU used by your machine).

ie: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dell_Inspiron_8600#Inspiron_8600

and other places.

[Jeff]

Hi mélodie,

I've not had a chance to do much testing this last week, as work has kept me very busy.  By the way, the information you found on my old Dell Inspiron 8600, is accurate.  If I recall correctly, the processor is a Banias.

The only thing I tested this week was, bento-ubuntu-remix-RC-linux-3.8-fake-pae-i386-2012.04.3.grub-n-iso.img.gz and it works, as long as you have over a 1 gig of ram.  While in wouldn't boot from a usb thumb drive with only 512 megs ram, it worked once I upgraded to 1 gig of ram.

As for the programs with Bento, the ones I've tested so far work fine, including flPhoto.  I used FlPhoto with a Fujifilm XP and it worked fine.  Is there any particular item that you want me to test?

Have a great day,

Jeff

[melodie]

Hello Jeff!

While in wouldn't boot from a usb thumb drive with only 512 megs ram, it worked once I upgraded to 1 gig of ram.

I wonder why. Does the machine have USB 1.1 connectors instead of 2.0? Maybe the boot would have been slow to start (time needed to decompress the initrd and so on), and it would have finally booted?

I still have my laptop IBM T30, which can boot to USB, provided I set it up in the BIOS each time I want to perform a boot to USB, and it has only the old USB 1, and this is veeeeeeery slow.

But at the end, Bento was installed. This is why I ask you the question, wondering if you didn't just meet with the same kind of problem.

As for the programs with Bento, the ones I've tested so far work fine, including flPhoto.  I used FlPhoto with a Fujifilm XP and it worked fine.

Very good! When I installed it, it is because I remembered when we tested pclos ob mini you had a particular camera which could not be accessed as USB Mass Storage and remembered flphoto used to do the trick.

Is there any particular item that you want me to test?

I wouldn't know. Would you consider introducing Bento to people you know around you? I also thought I should create some special versions but I am not sure I will find time for that.

There is also a small list to be done to make it even better, which includes creating a slide-show for the installer (I would plan to take on the one from Lubuntu and modify it to match the programs installed in Bento : but of course it would have only the texts available in English and in French, at least for a start).

Are there other programs which you would think I should add or things to improve?

Have a nice day.

[Jeff]

Hi mélodie,

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.  I'll try to get back to testing, after the holidays.  Been a very busy time here.

Jeff

[melodie]

Hello!

Merry Christmas!

My connection has the flue these days, and the hard drive where I've been working on Bento died. However I saved the latest 2 ISOS so I will be able to restart from there, and soon produce a new test version, where the snow does not melt when starting Xsnow without removing prior the transparency effects, and I will probably remove the "check the disk" option from the live, as the Ubuntu Builder script doesn't produce the md5sum.txt file required for it to work.

I'll post more info when available, these days are also busy with other things around the festive season.

[melodie]

Hello,

I just uploaded the very latest ISO, up to date, with correction of a few little glitches (some minor details). I comes with the 3.8.0-35 kernel, the fake-pae, and all Libreoffice. For the rest, it is mostly the same as what is presented here:
http://linuxvillage.org/en/2013/11/bento-ubuntu-remix-rc/

William has started to work on creating an Ubiquity slideshow, which takes shape wonderfully. We are looking forward to it. It will bring Bento closer to the touch and feel of an officially branded version. Captnfab, from the Debian Facile community, is working on creating a Debian package for sid out of the obsession program; openbox-menu is already packaged by someone else and is in sid, all this means that when Trusty will be out the said packages will already be available in the repositories. I will next work on some minimal files for openbox-menu, in order to provide examples on how to set it up out of an already openbox-menu/obsession/xsnow etc. all made, so that it will be provided in the next openbox-menu packages in sid.

Once the slideshow will be ready, it will need translators.

The todo is not finished, other projects for improvements have been discussed.

[konaexpress]

Hi,

Tried to download Bento to see what you have been up to but all the links are dead.

John

[melodie]

Hi John!

Welcome back!

The links have been refreshed, at least here:
http://linuxvillage.org/ in the Downloads tab, and here: http://linuxvillage.org/en/2013/11/bento-ubuntu-remix-rc/ in this first full presentation.

You can see we have kept the name you have given to this spinoff.

PS: I just updated the first post of this thread, to provide the right links to the download spaces. Thanks for your reminder on this.