Announcing PING Updates / Stable releases

[Natan]

Hi there,
the updated Beta of PING can be downloaded here.
The kernel has been upgraded to 2.6.26.6, and there are some more NIC drivers (Atheros).

Any feedback is still much welcome
I'm really impatient to fix more bugs so to make it an official release soon.
Regards
Natan

[Natan]

Can now be downloaded here.
Users experiencing problems with Dell boxes should probably give that release a try, so to tell me if we finally solved this issue.

Regards
Natan

[jhurd8025]

wow very nice update... Will try this out!

Still got ntfsclone on the roadmap ?

[briangraham]

Thank you again for your efforts on this product. I have been following this for years and it's fun to see it continue to progress.

You talked about fixmbr and such... and thought I'd share how I resolved a 'broken' GRUB MBR when I deleted my linux partition to resize it.

I just resolved some MBR issues using a tool called Super Grub Boot Disk http://www.supergrubdisk.org/

I'm no expert, but I believe it's fixes it by using the GRUB.exe kernel(hence the grub_device and aux_hd variables) and copying the syslinux.bin bootloader and then setting it to chainload the first partition

set aux_hd="hd0"
# dd SOURCE_FILE DESTINATION_DEVICE FILE_OFFSET DEVICE_OFFSET SIZE
dd $(grub_device)/boot/sgd/brs/syslinux.bin ($(aux_hd)) 0 0 300
dd $(grub_device)/boot/sgd/brs/syslinux.bin ($(aux_hd)) 0x1fe 0x1fe 2
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
makeactive
chainloader +1
boot

Just thought I'd share as it's an alternative to using the XP recovery disk to fix (or workaround) the MBR issue.

[Mark Phelps]

Just a quick "heads-up" on my trial of the recent v3.0 version ...

I have a system with one SATA drive and two PATA drives. Bad news is that the most recent PING update (v 19?) failed to find all of the drives, so I stayed with an older version. Good news is that v3.00 again finds ALL the drivers.

yea!!

However, it now insists on listing all the drives twice, that is, in the list of partitions, it lists (in order) all the partitions for drive #1, followed by those for drive #2, followed by those for drive #3 -- and repeats the entire list a second time. I've scrolled through the list slowly several times and the two sets of listings do appear to be identical.

I haven't had a chance to test selections from this list to see if there is any difference between selecting the first instance of a partition vs. selecting the second instance, and as long as either selection instance works the same, it's just an anomaly ... but is there any significance to the two lists? That is, is there supposed to be something different between the first instance of a partition in the list and the second?

[Natan]

Hi Mark,
Firstly, I'm glad the newly-compiled kernel brings about better results.

Concerning the double-listing, I would assume excesses of vodka are in cause, and I plead guilty
Else, I'd like to get the /tmp/x.log if you can get it. Even if you stop the script before its end.

TIA
Natan

[Mark Phelps]

Having problems getting the log file.

If I exit to a shell before running PING, I only get a very small log. Once I start PING, I can't find a way to exit to the shell. Pressing the asterisk key does nothing. I've tried various Ctrl-key combinations and nothing does anything. The only way to exit is a hard reboot (reset switch).

So, how do I exit from PING back to the shell once it is running in order to copy off the log file?

[Curtis8]

You would log into another terminal and kill the process that way.

[Natan]

Sure. Anyway, don't bother too much for that one, I've tested PING against a workstation that has 2 disk drives, and have probably found the bug that caused you to see the devices twice. A new beta is on its way.

Regards
Natan

[Natan]

And so, a new release is available here... The "double-view" bug should be fixed.

Please note that the new feature that can record the sizes and MD5 checksums of recorded files for a future incremental-like image creation is not useful yet. It's harmless, though.

Regards
Natan

[Mark Phelps]

You would log into another terminal and kill the process that way.

OK, I understand that process ... but when I'm running PING, I'm locked into the GUI display. I can't find a way to exit to the shell in order to run a command to get the PID and then kill the process.

So, even though Natan has a newer version, for future purposes, I'd still like to know how I can exit the PING GUI in order to get to the shell. As I said, I tried the usual Ctrl-key combinations and nothing happens.

[Mark Phelps]

Natan:

Thanks for the really quick response -- really!

I've downloaded the newest version and will give it a try tonight. Will get back to you.

[Natan]

Thanks Mark.

To have the possibility to exit the GUI, type 'x' when proposed to so to get a shell.
Then, log in as root and type /etc/rc.d/rc.ping to launch PING again.

You'll be able then to switch between terminals with Alt-F2, Alt-F3, Alt-F1 etc.
Regards
Natan

[Mark Phelps]

Natan:

thanks again. I'll try that as well.

[Natan]

wow very nice update... Will try this out!

Still got ntfsclone on the roadmap ?

Yes, definitely, as I've discovered that ntfscloned files can be mounted on a linux system (-t ntfs -o loop). Thus, browsed. I'm going to make some tests so to see if it's fast enough. Sounds good.

Natan