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Re: What would you use if Porteus was not available?

Posted: 16 Jul 2017, 00:32
by fulalas
@Tonio, I see that you explained what's happening, but my question was about why it happens, especially considering how Windows works (does any one know about MacOS X?).

Re: What would you use if Porteus was not available?

Posted: 16 Jul 2017, 00:59
by Bogomips
^ Have a suspicion it's to do with the linking. That the relative addresses of kernel functions would always vary from one kernel to the next. Then if driver called a function at relative address x for kernel a, the function would in kernel b not necessarily be at x, but be at y. Assuming the kernel module's external references would be given as relative addresses within the kernel, could be one explanation. Not quite sure if this type of linking scheme is followed for kernels and drivers in Linux.

Re: What would you use if Porteus was not available?

Posted: 16 Jul 2017, 02:36
by Tonio
fulalas wrote:@Tonio, I see that you explained what's happening, but my question was about why it happens, especially considering how Windows works (does any one know about MacOS X?).
You have asked a great question! Say you are running kernel 4.9.26, but all of a sudden you get a newer kernel 4.9.27. It is a newer kernel, it may have been compiled with glibc, and gcc the same as previous kernel 4.9.26. The drivers would be at /lib/modules/4.9.26/ vs the other ones at /lib/modules/4.9.27/, when you boot the 4.9.27 kernel, the nvidia.ko, ati.ko, or whichever driver must be there, otherwise an error/mistake/kernel panic will occur.
A good example from experience is a modem driver called slamr.ko, and ungrab-winmodem.ko, as built using a pbuild script that lives in the howtos here, the driver is built against a running kernel, I tried to get dkms working, but did not truly succeed :( see url below for example
http://www.porteus.org/component/conte ... dems.html

Even the powerful windowsOS is not free from problems after updates
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/win ... 5b7ba2eea0
Cheers!

Re: What would you use if Porteus was not available?

Posted: 16 Jul 2017, 17:52
by brokenman
Even the powerful windowsOS is not free from problems after updates
No it certainly is not. Last night I found I couldn't hold off on the creators update any more. I need to do some work. I turn on my computer and am told I must wait (and it will take SOME time) which turned out to be an hour and 20 minutes. Seriously, there must be a better way to issue updates. I would prefer regular small updates than having to wait over an hour and being told I can under no circumstances turn off my computer during this wait.

It spurred me to work on the update system of Porteus to avoid this type of thing.

Re: What would you use if Porteus was not available?

Posted: 16 Jul 2017, 18:05
by stallix
Sorry if it is not relevant anymore but I wanted to list distributions that I would have used if porteus wan't available. I am a working from RAM kind of user so there are not many distributions to choose from: puppy derivatives (i would prefer slacko or fatdog out of them), there is alpine which is great and is a big competition to us, porteus users. There is Tiny Core Linux and Knoppix but the former is very unfriendly to simple users but the latter isn't. Knoppix is the only debian based distribution that I like. I don't appreciate deb format. Arch flavoured and Void linuces have a very nice package format and build systems, slackware is ok too, but all of them don't work from RAM which is a bummer. Alpine, somewhat like porteus-kiosk, managed to become a server system while being a RAM distro, it's quite a feat and it has a very nice package manager which boosts alpine's adoption. Slackware's and Porteus' package managers are ok for me but infuriate a lot of people. I myself wrote bash scripts to manage my modules. It's kinda roll your own package manager :). I like it very much but many do not :(. If I embark on a course in Computer Science this summer, I am planning to write my paper on RAM distros with the focus on Porteus. I have an idea on how to improve a package manager and a new algorithm for saving changes. However, I will probably need to build my own distro (I will choose porteus as a base) but I want to give any useful features that I will make to porteus community. The own distro thing is to look better when I am going to defend my paper. I don't know if I find any supervisors though XD, but I spoke to a few people.

Best regards,
Stallix

Re: What would you use if Porteus was not available?

Posted: 16 Jul 2017, 19:05
by Ed_P
brokenman wrote:an hour and 20 minutes. Seriously, there must be a better way to issue updates.
Not an update, ie a file or subsystem, rather a whole system replacement. Then the updates to the new system. And on my wife's netbook this is taking HOURS!!!

Re: What would you use if Porteus was not available?

Posted: 18 Jul 2017, 00:38
by fulalas
Bogomips wrote:^ Have a suspicion it's to do with the linking. That the relative addresses of kernel functions would always vary from one kernel to the next. Then if driver called a function at relative address x for kernel a, the function would in kernel b not necessarily be at x, but be at y. Assuming the kernel module's external references would be given as relative addresses within the kernel, could be one explanation. Not quite sure if this type of linking scheme is followed for kernels and drivers in Linux.
It makes sense, but at the same time, why Windows doesn't behave like that?

Re: What would you use if Porteus was not available?

Posted: 19 Jul 2017, 04:40
by Evan
How To: Build A Read-Only Linux System
https://www.logicsupply.com/explore/io- ... nux-system

Almost as confusing as a script by Bogomips and Ed_P. :)

Re: What would you use if Porteus was not available?

Posted: 19 Jul 2017, 14:37
by Bogomips
Evan wrote:How To: Build A Read-Only Linux System
https://www.logicsupply.com/explore/io- ... nux-system

Almost as confusing as a script by Bogomips and Ed_P. :)
Oh, great! Someone actually reading the script!
Hint: Might help to use either Geany or Kate for this. ;)

Re: What would you use if Porteus was not available?

Posted: 19 Jul 2017, 14:49
by francois
Ed_P? You mean bogomips`. Brokenman seems to read very well the prose of bogomips. :wink:

Os-X:
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/344 ... sd-related

Re: What would you use if Porteus was not available?

Posted: 19 Jul 2017, 23:18
by Evan
Bogomips wrote:Oh, great! Someone actually reading the script!
I read everything you post , i just don't necessarily understand it because i'm an idiot. :wink: :D

Re: What would you use if Porteus was not available?

Posted: 21 Jul 2017, 20:36
by Tonio
Evan wrote: I read everything you post , i just don't necessarily understand it because i'm an idiot. :wink: :D
Don't worry about your difficulties in mathematics, I can assure you mine are greater.

Code: Select all

$ sed -e 's/Mathematics/Linux/g'
In the eyes of God we are equally smart, equally stupid. Two powerful quotes by Einstein.
I don't understand many things in life, but I won't let that make me feel more stupid than anybody else.
For a user that wanted a copy2ram livecd, if he/she does not know, they can check out AUSTRUMI.
Cheers!

Re: What would you use if Porteus was not available?

Posted: 22 Jul 2017, 08:23
by Evan
Tonio wrote:they can check out AUSTRUMI.
Cheers!
I always wonder with these names how they supposed to be pronounced. :)

To me it looks like Oz -Strum-Me