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Old 08-06-2019, 02:15 AM   #1
camorri
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HP printer not printing after kernel update to 4.19.63 on current.


As the title says, my HP printer connected to my Pi 3B no longer will print when I run test page.

I run this system as headless, so I have no idea if any other things are not working. From the cups page, when I try testpage, I see this:

Quote:
stopped
"Can't copy stdin to temporary file"
The printer kicks out 2 sheets of paper, one blank, and the other with
Quote:
ERROR:
undefined
OFFENDING COMMAND:
er
STACK:
--nostringval--
5
I re-installed hplip-3.19.6-arm-1, and went through printer configuration. The printer is a HP LaserJet Pro M203DW. It has worked well from the time I installed the Pi and the printer, about 6 months ago, until the update yesterday.

I didn't see anything in the change log that looked like it had anything to do with cups, or HPLIP.

For clarity, I ran slackpkg update, slackpkg install-new, and slackpkg upgrade-all. That went smoothly, no errors or problems. I then ran rpi-update. It looked normal, I rebooted and set the date. I don't have a TOD clock yet.

One thing I have not figured out, date show the correct local time, for time zone AST. I'm in eastern time zone. I think that should be EDT, however I have been unable to set it to EDT as it should be. I don't remember this being wrong before.

Is it possible to go back to a previous kernel and firmware? If yes, how is that accomplished?
 
Old 08-06-2019, 04:10 PM   #2
camorri
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Update, I managed to change the timezone to EDT, as it should be.

I have also got the printer printing again. After much more investigation, I discovered many files after the update were not deleted from /var/cache/packages/slackware/. I also ran slackpkg clean-system and removed some old packages.

I'm not sure I understand why slackpkg clean-system had so many old packages. I suspect as things filled up, the last update didn't have enough space to finish its clean-up. For now, this is solved.
 
Old 08-06-2019, 05:37 PM   #3
Exaga
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Quote:
Originally Posted by camorri View Post
Update, I managed to change the timezone to EDT, as it should be.

I have also got the printer printing again. After much more investigation, I discovered many files after the update were not deleted from /var/cache/packages/slackware/. I also ran slackpkg clean-system and removed some old packages.

I'm not sure I understand why slackpkg clean-system had so many old packages. I suspect as things filled up, the last update didn't have enough space to finish its clean-up. For now, this is solved.
It's never a good idea to use rpi-update. Slackware doesn't include rpi-update, or anything like it, and I don't personally think depending on it out of convenience is a viable option. Not even short-term.

I assume you'd be using rpi-update to "go back" to a previous kernel version. In which case if you ever need to do so, you might want to read this first: https://github.com/Hexxeh/rpi-update#options
 
Old 08-06-2019, 05:47 PM   #4
camorri
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Thank-you for the update. I have been using Slackware for several years. The arm version is different, and I am still learning the ins and outs.

I have not found good documentation on kernel updates. The file system is different to Slackware on a PC. I have been on the Sarpi site, and it is very good at helping getting your first Pi running.

Where do I find information on kernel updates on a Pi? Other than rpi-update. At lease an overview of best practice.
 
Old 08-06-2019, 07:01 PM   #5
Exaga
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Quote:
Originally Posted by camorri View Post
Thank-you for the update. I have been using Slackware for several years. The arm version is different, and I am still learning the ins and outs.

I have not found good documentation on kernel updates. The file system is different to Slackware on a PC. I have been on the Sarpi site, and it is very good at helping getting your first Pi running.

Where do I find information on kernel updates on a Pi? Other than rpi-update. At lease an overview of best practice.
When I first started using Slackware ARM I couldn't tell the difference between it and Slackware, except there was no 'lspci'. I'd been using Slackware for approx 7 years prior and was able to do everything, pretty much the same way, on Slackware ARM. It was a little strange for me, because the two were so identical I frequently kept forgetting which platform I was on. [I work remotely most of the time. DOH! ]

I could not disagree more on the file system being different between Slackware and Slackware ARM. Sure there's some ARM specific files required that you won't find in Slackware64, and vice versa, but that's to be expected. There really is very little [if any] disparity between the two systems in directory and file structure. Slackware ARM is built from Slackware so it's as close as you're going to get to the real thing.

########### End of Slackware ARM rant #############

For kernel updates on a RPi you get a free one-way ticket to the void of no-mans-land. On one side you have the Raspberry Pi Foundation who really don't give a hoot about Slackware ARM [even though as an educational Linux tool any version of Slackware beats Raspbian, even before it's been installed!] and on the other side you have the Slackware ARM developers who have no interest in supporting a device that requires closed-source firmware in order to boot it, and all that it entails.

If you really want to keep up to date with the latest kernel shizzle, you would do yourself a favour by learning how to build your own.

SARPi tries to fill the void but barely manages to do justice to Slackware ARM. Bloody good Slackware ARM installer tutorial though! hahaha
 
Old 08-07-2019, 06:57 AM   #6
Exaga
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Quote:
Originally Posted by camorri View Post
Where do I find information on kernel updates on a Pi? Other than rpi-update. At lease an overview of best practice.
Just for you: http://sarpi.fatdog.eu/index.php?p=rpi-kernel
 
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Old 08-07-2019, 07:14 AM   #7
camorri
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Thank-you, that helps a lot.
 
Old 08-07-2019, 03:42 PM   #8
drmozes
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Quote:
Originally Posted by camorri View Post
Thank-you for the update. I have been using Slackware for several years. The arm version is different, and I am still learning the ins and outs.

I have not found good documentation on kernel updates. The file system is different to Slackware on a PC.
I'm not sure what you mean by that. What specifically is different?

Slackware ARM is almost identical to x86 once you get past the ARM boot loader.
If you were running it on one of the officially supported systems, you'd upgradepkg to the latest kernels and reboot, and all is taken care of.
You don't even need to run lilo/grub!

Last edited by drmozes; 08-07-2019 at 03:44 PM.
 
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Old 08-07-2019, 04:51 PM   #9
camorri
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Quote:
past the ARM boot loader.
I agree, it is identical past the boot loader.

What I'm struggling with is how to update the kernel and firmware, since rpi-update is not recommended for regular use.

On a standard system, you can download the kernel package, and installpkg it, edit lilo.conf, run lilo and you are done.

I don't understand why the files in the /boot directory are so different between slack on a PC and slack on an arm device. What is the recommended way to update the kernel, firmware, etc on an arm device?
 
Old 08-08-2019, 01:30 AM   #10
drmozes
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Quote:
Originally Posted by camorri View Post
What I'm struggling with is how to update the kernel and firmware, since rpi-update is not recommended for regular use.

On a standard system, you can download the kernel package, and installpkg it, edit lilo.conf, run lilo and you are done.

I don't understand why the files in the /boot directory are so different between slack on a PC and slack on an arm device.


I can't answer about the best practices for the RPi as I don't know about that; but for the supported systems (Orange Pi, Banana Pi, Trimslice and the previous generation of devices supported by earlier Slackware ARM releases), within /boot there's very little difference actually. There are some files added and some files absent (documented here) and it's of no real import.

The _reason_ why the files are different is because Slackware ARM (or any distribution) _inherits_ certain nuances from the parent, which in this case is the boot loader, and so it needs to meet the needs of the boot loader, which in turn needs to meet the needs of the ARM architecture itself.

For example, ARM has no BIOS - the Kernel cannot scan the system looking for hardware (as it does on x86), and so you maintain a 'map' of the hardware for each device. For the _standard_ ARM systems, this is achieved using the Device Tree Blob ('DTB') - there's a DTB for each system and the boot loader loads it from storage (for the supported systems, it will load it from the Slackware OS's /boot which needs to reside on an ext2,3 or 4 file system), then it'll load the RAM disk and Kernel files from /boot too.

At one point, U-Boot only supported ext2 file systems, so earlier versions of Slackware ARM had to cater for that, which necessitated placing /boot on a separate ext2 partition (as ext2 was old tech by then, so you wouldn't want the rest of the OS using it). U-Boot supports ext4 for some time now, so you don't need a separate /boot partition unless you're using a different file system for the root ('/') file system.

To make it as simple as possible and to abstract away the non-Slackware stuff, I put quite a bit of effort into making it so that once you set up the U-Boot boot loader, the process of updating the Kernels is as simple as using upgradepkg to update the kernel and kernel-modules packages, and reboot. This is one of the reasons why the RPi is maintained outside of Slackware ARM proper - because sadly, the RPi isn't standard in any way, shape or form.
 
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Old 08-08-2019, 04:50 AM   #11
Exaga
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Quote:
Originally Posted by camorri View Post
What is the recommended way to update the kernel, firmware, etc on an arm device?
OK. I spent ~half of yesterday morning rustling up a quick and dirty "RPi kernel how-to" for public edification. Perhaps a "RPi firmware how-to" is needed too.

Raspberry Pi firmware "how-to"... before you do anything at all, 'BACKUP' your /boot/ directory first!

Code:
root@slackbox:~# mkdir -p /tmp/build-dir
root@slackbox:~# cd /tmp/build-dir
root@slackbox:~# git clone --depth=1 git://github.com/raspberrypi/firmware/ firmware
root@slackbox:~# cp -avr firmware/boot/overlays firmware/boot/bcm*.dtb firmware/boot/bootcode* firmware/boot/COPY* firmware/boot/fix*.dat firmware/boot/LICENCE* firmware/boot/start*.dat /boot/
root@slackbox:~# reboot
Notice how you do not configure, compile or do anything other than just 'copy' the firmware files. This is proprietary closed-source firmware and, alluding to what MoZes wrote, it's another non-standard feature of the Raspberry Pi. You can play with the adjustable parameters and settings of the firmware within the configuration files. You cannot modify or change the firmware itself. This is only carried out by official Raspberry Pi maintainers/engineers.

If upgrading/installing the RPi firmware leaves you up the creek without a paddle, reinstate the 'BACKUP' /boot/ files which you [should have] prepared beforehand.

Quote:
Originally Posted by drmozes View Post
I can't answer about the best practices for the RPi as I don't know about that;
[SARCASM]
Give me 5 minutes of your time, a box of matches and some kindling, and I will gladly demonstrate 'best practices for the RPi' to you. Or, if we use a RPi4 we can just let it run for a while without any additional cooling and/or until spontaneous combustion manifests itself.
[/SARCASM]

Quote:
Originally Posted by drmozes View Post
This is one of the reasons why the RPi is maintained outside of Slackware ARM proper - because sadly, the RPi isn't standard in any way, shape or form.
Without any tongue-in-cheekiness or exaggeration, that's actually quite upfront and accurate.

Please apprise me on the official definition of "Slackware ARM proper".
 
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Old 08-08-2019, 05:28 AM   #12
drmozes
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Exaga View Post

[SARCASM]
Give me 5 minutes of your time, a box of matches and some kindling, and I will gladly demonstrate 'best practices for the RPi' to you. Or, if we use a RPi4 we can just let it run for a while without any additional cooling and/or until spontaneous combustion manifests itself.
[/SARCASM]
Please film it. I'd enjoy watching that! ;-)


Quote:
Please apprise me on the official definition of "Slackware ARM proper".
Anything that's included within any slackwarearm-<version> tree.
 
Old 08-08-2019, 07:18 AM   #13
camorri
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Thank-you both, the explanation helps a lot. I'm slowly putting the pieces together.
 
Old 08-08-2019, 09:33 AM   #14
Exaga
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Quote:
Originally Posted by camorri View Post
Thank-you both, the explanation helps a lot. I'm slowly putting the pieces together.
You're welcome. Sharing knowledge and experience is how we learn and grow.

Perhaps you are getting confuzzled because Slackware and Slackware ARM are so much alike [as they should be]; and therefore you may expect everything to be the same. For the most part it is identical. It's only when you get down to the nitty-gritty that you find out there are some subtle differences. You can put that down to the skill and workmanship of the Slackware [ARM] developers.

Unless you're working to develop software for the ARM platform or have some other reason to dive into the architecture's infrastructure then I wouldn't be concerned about it at all.

Sometimes the urge to update/upgrade is to satisfy the desire to have the latest and greatest running on your Slackware system. Other times it's required for software updates and security patches [etc.] which is a very sensible idea to keep on top of. The question should always be, "Is this update going to be beneficial to my system, or not?" In other words, are you wanting to update/upgrade for the sake of it or does your system actually need something the new software will provide? Mostly, from my experience, people install the latest kernels on their system(s) because they can, not because it's required. Sometimes, the results of which can be quite unexpected. One of the things I learned from using Slackware is, "If it's not broke don't fix it!"

[EDIT] on the Raspberry Pi it's always the best option to have the latest firmware installed.

Last edited by Exaga; 08-08-2019 at 09:36 AM. Reason: Shakin' Stevens ROCKS!
 
Old 08-15-2019, 06:39 AM   #15
Exaga
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Quote:
Originally Posted by drmozes View Post
Please film it. I'd enjoy watching that! ;-)
Just don't get all giddy and excited on my account when you see this...

http://sarpi.fatdog.eu/rpi3-disco_inferno.html

NB: This content is meant for MoZes and anybody else who views it does so in full knowledge that this was done to satisfy his request. The RPi3B used was smeared in petrolium jelly mixed with parafin and lard [I was thinking of using candle wax instead but lard was much cheaper in the store - plus I grabbed some Jaffa cakes at the same time]. The florescent-pink mankini shown, I was planning to send to MoZes but decided not to in case he took offence because it is a bit too revealing. I added the laser lights for that 'disco' effect as it was night time.
 
  


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