PanDebian


I could not find the pndrun log. The card is named PANDORA64GB and my loopback file (pandebian) is in the root directory.

I have rebooted a few times and rerun Pandebian pandebian. I get the prompt for the admin password and some screen flash, but no joy.

When I execute the Pandebian pandebian command from terminal, it mounts the PND and then hangs at the "Starting the application ( launcher.sosume )". Same response if I run the command with sudo.
 
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Shenmue and ligenfr, have you both installed notaz's recent kernel update? I haven't yet and am wondering if it could affect Pandebian at all.
 
I have no problem running Pandebian alongside with SZ latest kernel update.  Heh, out of curiosity, PCSX from Debian repo even runs :)  but slow :) .  Anyway, this, as you've stated, run lots of other programs (not games) really well.  LibreOffice, Codeblocks, gedit, Iceweasel (can't get firefox to work) and loads of others very nicely.  I don't even notice I'm running debian inside SZ.  You can even activate the Panel and it's like you're running full debian on Pandora :)

lingenfr, maybe you should try the Direct method.  See if that works.
 
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I recommend direct, as that is what worked for me. I would also recommend checking the original pnd you downloaded in case it was corrupted.
 
I don't know about notaz's update. I have run the OS update within the last few days, so I should be running the latest that is available in the repositories.

Where can I find the pndrun log?

I may try direct, but I am not necessarily interested in card swapping for particular apps. That is why I was interested in Pandebian. I will delete and reinstall the pnd and do the whole process again. Are there any tricking instructions for this? I'll follow them, I promise.
 
It's stored in the /tmp folder after pnd launch.

I'm running the latest kernel with pandebian without issues, but it's already installed for me.
 
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There were three pandebian related .out files. I looked at each, there are one line about an ioctl error and failure removing a directory. I am not sure if that is a problem or not. What does success look like? Where is Synaptic installed? I have an icon in the upper left corner that has a Run and Logout option. How should it work?
 
Did you pick Squeeze or Wheezy when you perform the installation?  I used Direct and picked Squeeze.  I use my entire 64GB card formatted as ext3 for Pandebian.    When you first start, it will ask you to pick a place to install.  Browse to and choose that empty card and it will install everything there.  Let in run a while.  Forgot what the last message was, but it is something to the effect that its done.  You then close that terminal and it will continue to do its thing for a while.  It should say it is done at the end.  You should then restart your machine and then run Pandebian pandebian to activate that little icon on the upper lefthand corner.  There you should see the LXTerminal where you could use to upgrade squeeze to wheezy using the link Trashy provided.  You can also run "sudo synaptic" there to open up Synaptic Package Manager and start installing programs till your heart content.  You can also activate the Panel and it will have all your programs accessible via GUI if you want.  I wrote this from memory and my memory is not good so ... 

I am writing all this using rekonq webrowser running in Pandebian as we speak :)
 
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I've completed the installation several times. I selected squeeze and loopback. If I have to carry and swap cards, I'm not sure I'm interested, but  i may move some things around and try direct later. What filesystem did you use on the SD for direct?

I normally use OpenBox, but I've tried this with XFCE as well. What I end up with is the launcher that has two options, Run and Logout. Run does nothing (other than kill the applet) and Logout gives an error message. I did some looking, but I did not see how to add lxterminal to the menu options.
 
I've completed the installation several times. I selected squeeze and loopback. If I have to carry and swap cards, I'm not sure I'm interested, but  i may move some things around and try direct later. What filesystem did you use on the SD for direct?

I normally use OpenBox, but I've tried this with XFCE as well. What I end up with is the launcher that has two options, Run and Logout. Run does nothing (other than kill the applet) and Logout gives an error message. I did some looking, but I did not see how to add lxterminal to the menu options.
Well you are certainly close. I would perhaps try restarting the Pandora once after your first run. I installed a few apps once and they could be run from the terminal, but wouldn't show in the menu until after a reboot.

Try posting the contents of your .out files.

I have seen ioctl errors in a few places, but I believe the cause of them was usually filesystem issues and once I thought it had to do with running out of memory, but never tracked it down for certain. I just closed my other running programs and suddenly the PND started working.  

The failure to remove a directory usually isn't the source of a problem. I get that when a PND is closing and fails to unmount.

EDIT: I just checked the PND again where I received ioctl errors. Turned out I get those errors even when the PND runs fine. I think it has to do with mounting Java for that one. From one of the other threads I saw, that kind of error is "normal".
 
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Sorry for the double post. I just ran my copy of PanDebian, and the .out file does have the directory removal error. It didn't seem to have a negative effect. My run dialog works just fine and I can run "lxterminal" to open the terminal with no issue.

I am leaning towards this being a filesystem issue. How big of a loopback file have you created? I think the max file size on FAT32 is 4GB,

If you have another card formatted to ext2,3 it might do you well to try again with that one just to see if it is in fact an issue with your FAT32 card.

You could perhaps also try using the direct method, but create an additional partition for SZ. That way you can have a partition on your card dedicated to PanDebian, but then another partition dedicated to SZ. Not sure how well that would work, though.
 
I stuck with the default loopback file size of 2GB. Someone earlier said up to 4GB, but when I tried that, it wouldn't get past the filesystem check in the install process. When you look at your applet menu, are there also only two options (run, logout) or do you have a third option of lxterminal. Or do you click run and then enter lxterminal. I was thinking the same thing about partitioning. I am about out of interest on this as frankly it is us easier to use my Android devices. I will keep plugging a bit more maybe through the holiday weekend before I throw in the towel.
 
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There is a menu option for synaptic, root terminal, and lxterminal. Maybe something is going wrong during your install. If you try again, can you save the log of what happened so I can take a look? Not just the .out but the whole huge output made by the installer.


Sorry about your trouble. I understand yoir frustration. It is nice that the pandebian installer "just works" but when it doesn't it can be hard to diagnose.
 
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Pandebian runs in Openbox beautifully.  Way better than in XFCE as I can run all apps in fullscreen!  MonoDevelop even runs nicely here.  Finally C# on Pandora!  Yay!  This Pandebian is getting better and better :)

@ lingenfr:  Sorry about your trouble dude.
 
I would still like to know what file system you guys are using for your direct install, or did the installer take care of the partitioning and formatting?
 
I believe the installer reformatted my card. It looks like it created an unallocated 4.0 MB partition and the rest is ext3 called PanDebian.
 
You could probably use gparted to leave 4MB unallocated, create an ext3 partition of you desired size called PanDebian, and a third partition formatted to your liking for SZ. Then run the installer, choose direct, and instead of letting it format your card, select PanDebian as the partition to use for the install.


Edit: I would also make sure to delete all pandebian pnds, appdata, and loopbacks before trying to install again.
 
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Well I tried the direct install and ended up with the same thing. An icon with two options, Run and Logout. I think I'm done for awhile. Thanks for the suggestions.
 
Hmm... I don't know why you have so much trouble with this.  Let me go home tonight and try to redo every step on my other card and put all the steps here.

But can you give it one more try and make sure the wifi is on and connected to the internet when doing this because it will download stuff from the debian repo during the installation.

"Never Give Up!" :)
 
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