Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

[gyro]

Using this software, if I click on the "Linux" icon under Windows XP, the system reboots into Puppy Linux. If I click on the "WinXP" icon under Puppy Linux, the system reboots into Windows XP.

One of the things I particularly like about Puppy Linux is the ease with which it can be added to a Windows XP machine, with a frugal install directly onto the NTFS partitioned "C:" drive. (The details of how to do this is another story.)

The thing I didn't like about this dual booting setup, was the boot menu. Too often I would miss the few seconds available to boot to the non default operating system. (I prefer to switch my attention to something else while the machine is booting.)

So I cobbled together a couple of scripts, a VBScript for Windows and a bash script for Puppy Linux. Both of them perform all the copies defined in the config file named by the parameter, and then reboot the system.

The software is available as two downloads, http://www.users.on.net/~wrags/ClickOtherOS-2.2.1.exe, and http://www.users.on.net/~wrags/ClickOtherOS-2.3.pet. I recommend that you install the Windows version first.

Install the Windows version by double-clicking on the downloaded "ClickOtherOS-2.2.1.exe". This will add an icon called "Linux" to the desktop, and several entries to the Start menu. Click on "Start->Programs->Click to Other OS->Readme file" to obtain more detailed information on setting up this software.

Install the Puppy Linux version by clicking on the downloaded "ClickOtherOS-2.3.pet". This adds three Rox applications into "/root/my-roxapps". Right-click on anyone of these icons and choose "View 'readme' file" to obtain more detailed information.

Enjoy!

gyro

Edit: Windows version is now 1.0.1. The change is only to the way it handles the attributes of "boot.ini".

Edit2: Upgraded to v2.2. Changed the download url's above.
Main change is that it now supports multiple copies. It requires a single parameter which is the name of a config file that defines the copies.
Readme: http://www.users.on.net/~wrags/ClickOtherOS-2.2.1.html

Edit3: Updated windows version to make a couple of filenames more consistent. Also improved the windows 'readme' file.

Edit4: updated Puppy version to v2.3
Added onDesktop files to /root/Desktop
Readme: http://www.users.on.net/~wrags/ClickOtherOS-2.3.html

[HairyWill]

This is an interesting idea. Of course for the newbie the easiest way still is not to muck about with the boot loader and use the CD when they want to boot puppy.

Sometimes I reboot and lose concentration in time to select the non-default boot option in grub (maybe I should just increase the timeout)

I think your app will only work for people that use the windows boot loader. Personally I use grub to boot and then use a grub entry
chainloader +1 if I want to boot windows.

How about posting the source for your vb project.

[gyro]

[HairyWill]

[ICPUG]

gyro

As the author of the Lin'N'Win method I am very interested in your technique and will get round to having a look at it.

I think our respective methods are directed at slightly different types of user.

I thought I would air some thoughts but please bear in mind I have not looked at your tool yet so I may be talking completely out of my hat!

With your tool if I want to start Puppy and the last time I used my PC I was in Windows I have got to boot up Windows and then click other OS? If so I have got a (slow) Windows boot followed by a reboot into Puppy. With Lin'N'Win I just select Puppy on boot and go into a single (fast) Puppy boot.

With Lin'N'Win I can expand the menu.lst grub configuration file to have multiple Puppies or other compatible OS as options. Is this possible with ClickOtherOS?

Like HairyWill I would like to see the source vbscript so I hope you can respond to his comment on getting it out of the exe.

Great new idea. I look forward to looking at it. I see a combination of Lin'N'Win (for quick boot of Puppy) together with ClickOtherOS (for quick OS change) as a good fit.

[potchan]

I just coming from this page:

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?p=252751#252751

HairyWill diverted me here. So I go with d'adventure.

Some questions regarding my needs:

1. If I use this windows button and Linux button on two systems - does it write something on BIOS ? or overwrite it ??

2. What if I put my files on "D" instead of "C" (due to where place is enough) ?

3. Watta solutions from another system than Windows or Linux ?

4. Is a frugal boot on Puppy is more or less reliable than CD boot ?

Thanks.

[gyro]

1 ) Is it better than a boot menu?
It's more convenient for me, if it's not for you, don't use it.

2 ) How to get the vbscript out of the .exe?
On XP machine, install it. (Its a fairly well behaved Windows application, and removes everything when it is uninstalled, except a copy of "C:\boot.ini" called "C:\CopyOf_boot.ini".) It's installed in "C:\Program Files\Wrags\ClickOtherOS\".

3 ) What does it do?
It's very simple, copies file A to file B and reboots the system. As released the script on Windows copies "C:\ClickOtherOS\Linuxboot.ini" to "C:\boot.ini". The Puppy script copies "/mnt/home/ClickOtherOS/XPboot.ini" to "/mnt/home/boot.ini". (With frugal install the windows "C:" is already mounted as "/mnt/home" under Puppy.)

4 ) Does it modify/override the BIOS setting?
No. (see 3 above)

5 ) Using with other OS?
The file names would be different, since booting is controlled by a different text file. In V1.0 this requires editing the scripts directly. If it ever gets released, V2.0 will store the file names in a config file, one copy per line. I have thought of creating a version for Fedora 9. But the big work would be sorting out all the Gnome stuff.

6 ) Using files on other hard drive?
If your are using grub4Dos's "grldr", then it and it's "menu.lst" should be on the drive that XP boot from. Where your Puppy Linux files are stored is defined in "menu.lst"

7 ) Boot from CD/DVD?
Grub4dos folk say that "grldr" can boot from CD/DVD. But I've never tried it.

8 ) Why not make it into a fully automatic frugal install using files from ISO?
This project is already 99% packaging, plus learning vbscript. And it's already fairly simple. Under XP copy a few files to the hard drive, edit a text file, install ClickOtherOS, edit a couple of text files, install ClickOtherOS on Puppy. Mmm... maybe I might think about making an .exe installer to put Puppy 4.1.1 onto an XP machine. (An installer that just copies files is easy, getting it to edit "boot.ini" files whilst making sure that the XP boot line is never altered, a bit more tricky.)

9 ) Is it for newbies?
I help a number of folk maintain their XP machines, I will use it with a frugal install of Puppy on their XP machines, and encourage them to click on the penguin and use the browser in Puppy Linux for secure Internet access. In that sense, yes.

10 ) Can newbies install it?
Maybe not without help. But once it's there it's easy.
But then again, any one who can successfully setup a machine to dual boot should be able to install ClickOtherOS.

gyro

PS: I've attached the XP executeable files as a ".zip" file

EDIT: I've sometimes referred to the file "grldr.exe", wrong it's just "grldr".

[potchan]

Great explaination ! I'll study it and come back in about a week to tell.

Please, if you have time - see stages 2,3, on my (unfinished) site http://potchan.org and relate to the possibility I can abandon the bootdisk of stage 3 using your option (with bootdisk files back on HD folder at "C" or "D" wherever user finds a place to put it).

Can I ???

[gyro]

I've just had a look at the Lin'N'WinB website, (wish I had found this sitebefore I setup my XP machine to dual boot), but it clarifies where ClickOtherOS sits.
If you have successfully finished Lin'N'WinB and want an alternate to the boot menu as a method of controlling which OS is booted, then ClickOtherOs might be for you. Instead of a boot menu, you have a "Linux" icon on the Windows desktop, and a "Windows" icon on the Puppy Linux desktop.

Currently ClickOtherOS requires the person who installs it to manually edit the copies of boot.ini. I have given some thought to automating this in version 1.1. But I have some reservations about doing so. The edits are very simple to anyone who has any inkling of what they are doing, so writing the program to do it is hardly worth the effort. Automating the edits may encourage folk to try it, who don't have a clue. If they do, and for some reason the resultant boot.ini is not valid, the nice copy of boot.ini made at the beginning of the process, is of no use to them. Unless they know how to boot the machine from media other than the hard drive.
So, if you can't boot Puppy Linux directly from a CD, or in an older machine from a "WakePup" floppy disk, then I suggest that you think seriously about not trying anything that requires boot.ini to be modified like ClickOtherOS, (or Lin'N'WinB).

gyro

[gyro]

[gyro]

[gyro]

[ICPUG]

Gyro,

Many thanks for your time in providing thoughtful answers to my and others questions. Special thanks for the zip file. That enabled me to look at the vbs file without running an unknown .exe.

Sorry you never got to see Lin'N'Win before you started running Puppy and Windows XP together. You are not the first. It is mentioned in the Beginners Guide to installing Puppy on this forum now but it is not mentioned in the Puppy User Manual. It seems that the author of the manual wants to take creating ext2 partitions as the default for Puppy whatever installation method is used. I don't agree with that but there is not much I can do.

I share your concerns on automating the process. I have deliberately not automated Lin'N'Win because I could never be sure what boot.ini might say so editing it automatically may be a little risky. I also like the transparency of a step by step method. The risk averse know what is happening before they do it and it is also educational in helping to understand the boot process.

Nevertheless, a lot of people like automated processes and I guess most average Windows users are not risk averse or they wouldn't be accessing the Internet with Windows in the first place!

[gyro]

See original post.

gyro