The new version of the Syllable Live CD includes updates to the ATA driver, i810 audio driver, DHCP client and VMware video driver. Best of all, you can now install the OS from the Live CD – see here. In other Syllable news, Chat 0.2.0 has been released (IM client) and Syllable has been featured in Linux User and Developer magazine (issue 39).
New Syllable Live CD, and more
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Eugenia Loli
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You really shouldn’t link direct to downloads, especially ones that claim to be text/plain when they’re not!
Does it still have a read-only filesystem?
I was wondering if, instead of a tmpfs, it could have a hybrid only-store-writes in ram type of filesystem; this would dramatically save ram?
The LiveCD is still read-only by definition, yes. You can however mount an AFS or FAT partition (Or even a USB flash drive) as read/write and copy data to that if you wish, or you can choose to install Syllable direct from the LiveCD which will obviously give you a proper Syllable installation with a proper AFS filesystem.
The system you describe, where you redirect writes to the read-only system and store them someplace could be done with some work.
The installation script does not work for me. I reach the point where I can choose the partition to format, but there are only two partitions listed:
…/hda/0 and …/hda/1
but I want to install on …/hda/2
There is another partition …/hda/3 which I currently use as swap space for linux.
Hope someone can help me. I really want to install Syllable and try it out.
Thank you,
Andreas
I downloaded the LiveCD and I created the ISO using Nero. I put the CD in and restart the computer, Windows XP loads, nothing happens. Syllable should have started. Yes, I have set my CD drive as a booting device. Any clues?
Let’s hope this one works for me because the last one didn’t
You can always try running DiskManager and seeing what partitions it thinks you have. That will at least tell us if it is a bug in the installation scripts, or a problem with your partition tables and Syllable.
DiskManager shows exactly the correct partitions. So I think it’s a bug in the installation script. In addition I tried to enter the right partition but the script does not accept it, because it recogniced only the first two partitions.
hmmh.. After noticing the LACK of a useable and quick UI, I got a crash when I was trying to set the resolution.. Thus ended my 5 minute testing run of the os.. Plus it doesn’t even start on virtual pc 2004.. What a waste of bandwidth/effort.
I found that applying new settings – regardless which type (resolution, keyboard, appearance…) lead to this behavior. The only solution is to reboot.
Hmm, is this one of the ‘not expecting a read-only filesystem’ type of crashes?
for me it’s: alsa soundcard drivers, portaudio and gtk
It’s a LiveCD. Syllable doesn’t expect to be run from a read only filesystem so yes, there are some problems which can cause it to crash.
The LiveCD might have problems but Syllable itself runs on Virtual PC. There is specific code in Syllable to work around some bugs in Virtual PC, and several people are running it fine on Virtual PC 2004. We even have an FAQ ( http://www.syllable.org/modules.php?name=FAQ&myfaq=yes&id_cat=6&cat… ) for both Virtual PC. There is also one for VMWare.
What a waste of bandwidth/effort.
What would you expect to see so that it wouldn’t be a “waste of bandwidth”?
Do you mean you would like to see features which are specific to ALSA or just that Syllable does not currently have a driver for your audio hardware?
As for GTK+ well, that isn’t going to happen, at least certainly not as an official Syllable project. GTK+ is an X toolkit. Syllable doesn’t use X and isn’t going to use GTK+ either.
“It’s a LiveCD. Syllable doesn’t expect to be run from a read only filesystem so yes, there are some problems which can cause it to crash.”
That is where I was directing my ‘write to ram, read from rom’ file system suggestion to. Not sure the approach that Knoppix takes though.
I wonder who will port or write all the different audio drivers to Syllable? Would it be possible to port Alsa to Syllable (or reuse the drivers in Alsa and port it to Syllable). I think a cross-platform audio interface is needed for Syllable, like portaudio or even better jack.
As for GTK+, there is a native port for Windows, that doesn’t need X11. I don’t want to see Syllable using GTK+, but a GTK+ port on top of the Syllable API would be cool.
This are all wishes. I know, if nobody will do it, it will not happen. 🙂
Of course, a Wine port is needed, too ;-)))
To be serious, I just wonder, if Syllable could become a viable platform for audio production.
I tried it again to install syllable on harddisk with the do_install.rb script. This time I was able to enter the right partition. Maybe the system needs a restart after one chenges the partition map?
But now the script stops after several minutes because of to many errors. The error is always the same: “Can’t access file xyz at …” Sorry I can’t remember the original phrase, but it looks like the script can’t read files from the CD.
I wonder who will port or write all the different audio drivers to Syllable? Would it be possible to port Alsa to Syllable (or reuse the drivers in Alsa and port it to Syllable).
Syllable currently uses a slightly modified and stripped down OSS driver interface, but then we have the Media Framework which sits on top of this and handles things like stream management and mixing. Syllable currently supports a total of 9 different audio chipsets, which equates to hundreds of different soundcards and onboard audio devices, so we’re not doing to badly. Common cards such as the SBLive! and Audidy are supported, and onboard audio from Via, Intel, SiS and other manufacturers.
Now it may be sensible to create an ALSA compatable API and replace our current drivers with ones from ALSA, but at the moment we have no plans to do this.
This happens again in Vmware. What a pitty, I don’t know what this happens. Hard Disk in onto IDE channel 1 and the CD-ROM on the second…
To boot in VMware, append the following to the kernel line in grub.
“disble_usb=true enable_ata_dma=false ata_pci_force_generic=true”
So the complete line should be:
“kernel /atheos/sys/kernel.so.gz rootfs=iso9660 root=@boot disable_config=true uspace_end=0xf7ffffff disable_usb=true enable_ata_dma=false ata_pci_force_generic=true”
After appending this, press enter and then ‘b’ to boot.
I tried changing the resolution of and it seemed to crash the LiveCD as well.
Cheers,
James
I’m working on the read-only problem, and it seems to work now.
You will fing some problems, cause I don’t have access to a 100 machines, I have to test it on my own.