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seeker
Joined: 26 Nov 2008 Posts: 89 Location: Indiana, USA
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Posted: Tue 30 Jun 2009, 10:03 Post subject:
Puppy-Win32-Installer Subject description: Distribute your Puppy as a one click install.exe for Windows |
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For Puppy distro developers and enthusiasts,
Puppy-Win32-Installer makes it very easy to distribute a Puppy derivative to Windows users as a single file they can click on to install, or uninstall with their Windows 'Add or Remove Programs utility'. The install supports the installation of multiple Puppies, as well as their individual removal.
Your Puppy will be installable on Windows 98, 2000, and XP.
The advantages for Windows users are numerous.
No ISO to burn.
The install does not modify the master boot record of a hard drive.
Grub is not installed to the MBR.
It is a frugal install compatible with SFS files.
Easy Puppy system backup, copy the pup_save file.
No CD or USB required to boot.
User can remove the installs from their drive and even remove the Grub boot screen so their computer boots straight into Windows again.
System requirements for Puppy-Win32-Installer build environment.
Puppy or other Linux, or Windows 32 bit OS.
Wine, if using Linux.
Free disk space (or pup_save space) equal to 3 times the size of the Puppy derivative to be packaged.
The Puppy to be distributed must support installation to a directory: Puppy 3 series or newer.
Download Puppy-Win32-Installer 2.5 MB
The package includes:
The GRUB4DOS boot loaders, grldr and grub.exe
Install helper binaries
Install helper source code under Simple Public License (SimPL) 2.0
Project template (just add your Puppy files initrd.gz, vmlinuz, pup_xx.sfs)
A readme file to include with your Puppy install
GP-Install compiler with GUI
Tutorial (very easy)
To see just how easy it is the tutorial is online here
Thanks go to Brian Grainger for developing the Lin'N'Win install method.
Lin'N'WinNewB Project
This installer uses the Lin'N'WinNewB Project method as the basis for installing, but is not associated with the Lin'N'WinNewB Project or Puppy Linux in any manner.
Seeker
Edit: July 5 2009
The original template file pup-inst-tpl had an incorrect path. If you downloaded before today please download it again to get the correct one.
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Updated pup-inst-tpl file
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Filename |
pup-inst-tpl.tar.gz |
Filesize |
1.67 KB |
Downloaded |
1858 Time(s) |
Last edited by seeker on Sun 05 Jul 2009, 10:01; edited 7 times in total
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Hugh

Joined: 24 Jun 2006 Posts: 137 Location: Imperial Warmongering Dystopia of Amerika
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Posted: Tue 30 Jun 2009, 23:28 Post subject:
Win-Pup Installer |
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Seeker,
Many thanks!!
While I'm still a 'newb' experientially, I'm fascinated by this and eager to give it a try.
This could surely make the frugal install procedure, which is my modus operandi, a real easy task.
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reckrhodes
Joined: 30 May 2007 Posts: 116
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Posted: Wed 01 Jul 2009, 03:15 Post subject:
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Thank you so much seeker.
I had successfully followed the steps in creating this file (pup-installer-pl421.exe). Mine is Puppy 4.2.1.
Now I can share this to some windows user to test the power of linux or puppy linux in particular.
Hope they will become a loyal puppians like me.
Last edited by reckrhodes on Sat 04 Jul 2009, 08:02; edited 2 times in total
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ecomoney

Joined: 25 Nov 2005 Posts: 2183 Location: Lincolnshire, England
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Posted: Thu 02 Jul 2009, 07:27 Post subject:
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Congratulations Seeker on this new release! It really has made it EASY to switch so there really is no excuse!
May I suggest www.download.com or some windows sites for posting the resulting .exe files, or pm me and I would be happy to mirror. I would love to get my hands on one of those .exe's so I can send links to my Linux-uninitiated friends.
A windows installer for the Puppy 4.2.1 release would also to handy to offer as a download from www.puppylinux.org
_________________ Puppy Linux's Mission
Sorry, my server is down atm!
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mikeb

Joined: 23 Nov 2006 Posts: 11100
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Posted: Thu 02 Jul 2009, 12:42 Post subject:
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Well glad this finally came to fruition
There used to be a windows installer with the one series but had no recent mentions.
My thoughts are if this tests out ok that puppy should be offered in this format officially. Better a puppy specific solution rather than falling back to unetbootin.
mike
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reckrhodes
Joined: 30 May 2007 Posts: 116
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Posted: Sat 04 Jul 2009, 07:37 Post subject:
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Hello everyone.
Just want to share this.
http://www.teradepot.com/jbnu22hjnhu3/pup-installer-pl421.exe.html
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ecomoney

Joined: 25 Nov 2005 Posts: 2183 Location: Lincolnshire, England
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Posted: Sat 04 Jul 2009, 20:17 Post subject:
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Oh heck...after five years now Im gonna have to install windows just to test this
_________________ Puppy Linux's Mission
Sorry, my server is down atm!
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ecomoney

Joined: 25 Nov 2005 Posts: 2183 Location: Lincolnshire, England
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Posted: Sat 04 Jul 2009, 23:25 Post subject:
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I have just tried this on a XP (TinyXP V 0.9 to be precise) and it worked a charm!
Here is a mirror from the company webserver, without download restrictions etc
http://www.ecomoney.eu/puppy/winstaller/pup-installer-pl421.exe
PLEASE TEST!!!
Seeker some great work here! How possible would it be to include an .exe on a Puppy CD that would install under windows (perhaps linked from an "autorun.inf" file that runs when the cd is inserted in a Windows PC). Would this take up much space if the installer used the pup_xxx.sfs/initrd.gz/vmlinuz files from the CD itself?
I had forgotten what a pain Windows is to install...perhaps Puppy does actually meet its primary mission objective after all!
_________________ Puppy Linux's Mission
Sorry, my server is down atm!
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seeker
Joined: 26 Nov 2008 Posts: 89 Location: Indiana, USA
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Posted: Sun 05 Jul 2009, 09:37 Post subject:
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ecomoney wrote: | How possible would it be to include an .exe on a Puppy CD that would install under windows (perhaps linked from an "autorun.inf" file that runs when the cd is inserted in a Windows PC). Would this take up much space if the installer used the pup_xxx.sfs/initrd.gz/vmlinuz files from the CD itself? |
I've given this some thought for a couple of weeks now and I think it would be very easy to do. The install.exe and autorun.inf file amount to 753 KB. A small front end for the installer that would ask the user if they wanted to install now, or later, and some code to copy the files from the CD/DVD would be needed. That would add about 40 KB more.
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ecomoney

Joined: 25 Nov 2005 Posts: 2183 Location: Lincolnshire, England
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Posted: Sun 05 Jul 2009, 17:19 Post subject:
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So were talking about 0.8mb in total to enable Puppy Linux to be tried alongside and its speed/technical superiority compared on Windows on 63.5% of desktop computers in the world....92% if you get vista support added.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_desktop_operating_systems
Given that statistic, and the fact that Puppy should "install easily onto hard drive media" as well as "be friendly to Linux Newbies", no one could possibly object to having an .exe included on the Puppy Linux CD?
Could they?
_________________ Puppy Linux's Mission
Sorry, my server is down atm!
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seeker
Joined: 26 Nov 2008 Posts: 89 Location: Indiana, USA
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Posted: Sun 05 Jul 2009, 20:03 Post subject:
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ecomoney wrote: | So were talking about 0.8mb in total to enable Puppy Linux to be tried alongside and its speed/technical superiority compared on Windows on 63.5% of desktop computers in the world |
Well, the whole point of my Puppy-Win32 installer is to enable a Puppy to be safely installed and uninstalled like a regular Windows application, without having to burn a bootable CD etc.
That being said, if all you wanted to do was to frugal install from the CD to a pre-defined directory and set up a GRUB4DOS boot menu, I believe the files could be less than 200KB. Maybe even in the neighborhood of 100 KB. You would lose the Windows uninstall ability but you could still provide a means to uninstall, with safety checks, from the CD too. BTW these sizes do not include the grldr and grub.exe. Those add about 450KB.
Quote: | ...92% if you get vista support added. |
Sure, I would like to add Vista support. To even begin to do this I would need the active cooperation of someone with a Vista OS.
Any volunteers?
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ecomoney

Joined: 25 Nov 2005 Posts: 2183 Location: Lincolnshire, England
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Posted: Mon 06 Jul 2009, 10:42 Post subject:
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Count me in
This is the one time that its possible to use Windows to Promote Linux. Ive got a Dual Core Behomoth that was donated by the Seamans Mission that given another gig of RAM would probably run Vista adequately (it "only" has 1gb).
I will have to get hold of a copy, will let you know when I have.
_________________ Puppy Linux's Mission
Sorry, my server is down atm!
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rcrsn51

Joined: 05 Sep 2006 Posts: 11889 Location: Stratford, Ontario
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Posted: Mon 06 Jul 2009, 11:02 Post subject:
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The Vista boot mechanism is quite different from that of XP. You should look at EasyBCD for some ideas.
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mikeb

Joined: 23 Nov 2006 Posts: 11100
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Posted: Mon 06 Jul 2009, 14:11 Post subject:
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this is the approach for vista from grub4dos
http://grub4dos.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Grub4dos_tutorial#Booting_GRUB_for_DOS_via_the_Windows_Vista_boot_manager
mike
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seeker
Joined: 26 Nov 2008 Posts: 89 Location: Indiana, USA
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Posted: Wed 08 Jul 2009, 11:40 Post subject:
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Thanks for the support and input. After spending a good deal of time researching this my inclination is to pass on Vista. Too many hurdles and pitfalls for me.
Sometimes I get the feeling that MS is going out of it's way to put up road blocks for the average Joe wanting to contaminate their computers with another OS. The good news is a Puppy CD can clean a system that's contaminated with Vista.
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