pandian - MARK3 - beta


onpon4 said:
Say, question: how does Pandian handle the Pandora's blob requirements? Does it have the wireless blob installed from the Debian non-free repository, or is it a separate add-on that has to be removed manually? And if it's the latter, what has to be done to remove all proprietary software which has been added?


Asking because it looks like Pandian will probably serve my purposes better than SuperZaxxon.
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The binary blobs for wifi are the official ones. I just create an debiab-package to maintain it. The debian-repository is hosted on openpandora.org.
 
onpon4 said:
Alright. If I were to run vrms, would that detect the package as non-free? (And if not, what's the package name?)
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Well, output of vrms on Pandian with WiFi firmware says:
Code: 
No non-free or contrib packages installed on pandian!  rms would be proud.
Whether RMS's pride is something to care about is another thing... ;)
 
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So all the Pandora additions are in one repository. Can I suggest doing as upstream does and splitting libre and proprietary software into separate repositories? (Even better if you can do so in such a way that vrms is compatible with it, or modify vrms to recognize the Pandian non-free repo if necessary.)


Otherwise, I'll long-term have to remove the dedicated Pandian repository from my sources.list. I'd much rather still have the libre software in that repository available to me, without having to always check what repository a package is coming from and possibly whether it's libre or not.
 
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On creation of the debian packages i dont think about the free and non-free stuff. But yes, we need to take care of. Until now, its only one non-free package ( with the wifi blob ) so we need to check how this vrms-thing works and add these flag to this package.


Move this package to another sub-repo is also not a problem
 
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Okay found it. Need to add the "section: non-free" to the control file of the debian Package
 
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4cd9e4a79eb4679ac2ef6f2c345c53eb.jpg



I try to upgrade pandian to the latest packages, to check the wifi problem... jeah Hotel wifi is... aaargh
 
stackshadow said:
I try to upgrade pandian to the latest packages, to check the wifi problem... jeah Hotel wifi is... aaargh
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Yeash, I thought my Pandora Wifi speeds were slow... 
 
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I'm having trouble getting a USB wireless dongle (this one) to work with Pandian. Not sure about SuperZaxxon as I haven't tried that, but I'm only interested in Pandian at the moment.


I'm guessing that the Pandora's kernel is stripped down to only the parts necessary for the Pandora's hardware, right? So that means I can't expect to just plug it in and expect it to work, like it does for my laptop. But I figure it ought to work if I install the appropriate firmware files, so I did that (following the instructions on this page, with the modification that I copied the files to /lib/firmware from an SD card rather than using wget on the Pandora). But it doesn't.


I've made sure that the USB host is enabled (tested with a wireless mouse) and tried both connecting the adapter directly to the Pandora's USB port and indirectly through a USB hub (in the latter case, it's the same one I tested the mouse with). It doesn't seem to be recognized either way. I should also note that I rebooted the Pandora before even trying.


Is there something else I need to think about, maybe something special about the Pandora's kernel that needs to be taken into account? I can deal without wireless if necessary by using apt-offline, but I'd much rather have wireless.


Huh, that's odd. Did I maybe experience something like the USB host crashing? It worked when I tried again on another reboot, but did things differently...


So, different question: what should I do to prevent problems with the USB host?
 
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Yes and no. Ive used the default setting of the pandora kernel. If i remember correct, the most of the kernel stuff which is needed, for example for usb-drives, is compiled as module, which you can find in /lib/modules
 
Looks like you responded before I edited! Looks like I crashed the USB host or something, because on the next reboot, it worked.


Man, I got this dongle for the sake of freedom, but it's so much better even on shallow practical grounds than the Pandora's built-in wireless! I'm actually getting through an apt-get update now!

They say they need the Kernel 3.5 but the pandora is on 3.2
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No, that's talking about the TPE-NUSBDB. I have the TPE-N150USB; that one only requires version 3.2. Anyway, as I said, I didn't have a problem with it; it seems to have been some sort of problem with USB. :)
 
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stackshadow said:
Cool, thanks. Hope we will hear some experience about this piece of hardware
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The dongle? I did an apt-get upgrade just now, and the speed varied between 1 Mbit/second and 1.4 Mbit/second, for the most part. This was from my room, which isn't especially far away from the router, but it's on a different floor. To be clear, my laptop from the same location gets around 12-15 Mbit/second (which is about our Internet connection speed). I don't know for sure if the limiting factor is just the source of the download (Pandian's and Debian's repositories vs. Trisquel's repository) or if the dongle can't go faster than it did this time; maybe I should check with something else later. But regardless, I'd say I'm quite satisfied with it.


EDIT: Further tests (below) showed that indeed, the slower speed was because of the different repositories; downloading another large file was just as fast as on my laptop.
 
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onpon4 said:
stackshadow said:
Cool, thanks. Hope we will hear some experience about this piece of hardware
Click to expand...
The dongle? I did an apt-get upgrade just now, and the speed varied between 1 Mbit/second and 1.4 Mbit/second, for the most part. This was from my room, which isn't especially far away from the router, but it's on a different floor. To be clear, my laptop from the same location gets around 12-15 Mbit/second (which is about our Internet connection speed). I don't know for sure if the limiting factor is just the source of the download (Pandian's and Debian's repositories vs. Trisquel's repository) or if the dongle can't go faster than it did this time; maybe I should check with something else later. But regardless, I'd say I'm quite satisfied with it.
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www.speedof.me

reliable flash free connection speed testing. give it a try.
 
KickAss said:
www.speedof.me


reliable flash free connection speed testing. give it a try.
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That requires JavaScript code, which I don't like in the first place. That by itself is not a deal-breaker for one-time usage, but I also checked said JavaScript code, and at least some of it is proprietary (the script I checked was under CC BY-NC). So I'd rather just find a big file, start downloading it, and see what rate it downloads at.


EDIT: Did another test, and it indeed seems the slower speeds I experienced with APT were because of the servers. Downloading the Trisquel ISO, the speed was about the same as with my laptop (varying between our Internet connection's advertised speed of 15 Mbit/second and slightly lower).
 
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xset works for me although I've never turned it off. what is the output of "xset q"?

You could try a very large number for "xset s" to be effectively never, as in "xset s 86400" (blank after a day of inactivity).
 
Thanks for the suggestion! That solution works satisfactorily (and my tests show the command works as it should).


EDIT: Or not... it's still blanking after only about 10 minutes, even though xset q suggests it should be almost 6 hours...


Meh, I'm giving up for now...
 
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Well, I think I've found out how to get the screen to stop blanking. I've let my Pandora sit for around 15 minutes, and it didn't blank in that time. I used these two commands:

Code: 
xset s off
xset -dpms
 
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