Unattended booting with live CD entirely in RAM

Using applications, configuring, problems
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zygo
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Unattended booting with live CD entirely in RAM

#1 Post by zygo »

I'm using 106 live CD entirely in RAM. I want puppy to get to the desktop unattended. How can I remaster puppy so that it boots without stopping to ask for a place to store personal files?

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Flash
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#2 Post by Flash »

Do you mean to boot Puppy on the same computer every time, or boot on different computers without asking?

zygo
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#3 Post by zygo »

Both.

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Flash
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#4 Post by Flash »

The first case is easy. Just let Puppy create a pup001 file on the hard drive and Puppy will find it automagically each time it boots.

I'm not sure what you mean by the second case.

Brian C
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#5 Post by Brian C »

If you used multisession puppy (provided all computers had CD burners) your settings could be saved to the CD every time you shut down, and Puppy wouldn't need to ask you anything at boot. Just set it to some settings that almost all computers will have (i.e.- 1024x768 resolution, etc.). Or you could save the settings to a USB drive.

One of the trickier parts is knowing if the computers you work on will use USB or PS/2 mice. Barry is working on getting Puppy to figure that out itself, but if you leave it set to one, and need to use the other, you're kidna stuck.

zygo
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#6 Post by zygo »

If there's a hard disk I would like puppy to not touch it. Just boot as if I'd pressed enter to the text (in red) at bootup which asks for a device name to store personal and swap files.

zygo
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#7 Post by zygo »

Brian

I have remastered the disk several times. My settings for my main PC are in the ISO.

Brian C
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#8 Post by Brian C »

Use the multi-sessoin Puppy CD. Get your settings saved once, and then puppy shouldn't look for anywhere to store anything again.

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Pizzasgood
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#9 Post by Pizzasgood »

You'll have to remaster to get it to auto-boot in option 4. It's actually very simple to do this.

First, you'll need to either mount the cd to /mnt/cdrom or the ISO that you downloaded to /mnt/cdrom. To mount a cd, just run MUT (the icon that says "drives" on the desktop) with your cd in the drive. Click "mount" on the cd section, then close the window it pops up in /mnt/cdrom. If you use an ISO file, type the following in a terminal, substituting PATH.iso with the path and name of the iso, such as /mnt/home/puppy-1.0.8-mozilla.iso.

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mount -t iso9660 PATH.iso /mnt/cdrom -o loop
Okay, now that it's mounted, run

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mkdir /tmp/iso
cp /mnt/cdrom/* /tmp/iso/
umount /mnt/cdrom
Now the contents of the cd are in /tmp/iso. Go in there and open the file isolinux.cfg. Where it says "default 1" change the "1" to "4". Save the file. Now go to a terminal and run the following

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mkisofs -o /root/puppy.iso -b isolinux.bin -c boot.cat -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -boot-info-table /tmp/iso/
That will make an iso file in /root called puppy.iso, that you can burn to a cd. It will default to option 4 rather than option 1.

You can also change the timeout if you want it to wait longer (or not so long). They are in tenths of a second, so 100 = ten seconds.
[size=75]Between depriving a man of one hour from his life and depriving him of his life there exists only a difference of degree. --Muad'Dib[/size]
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zygo
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#10 Post by zygo »

Thanks Pizzasgood. And Brian C, and Flash. The dilogue above made me understand my own question better. I worked out a slightly different method and I'm running it now.

I looked in the remaster script for the guidance on editing isolinux.cfg which suggests that a new option (no. 4) with no PHOME, PFILE or PSLEEP wouldn't try to mount a drive for personal/ swap files.

In your solution do you have no option 4 at all?

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Pizzasgood
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#11 Post by Pizzasgood »

In your solution do you have no option 4 at all?
Sorry, but I'm afraid I don't understand what you mean.

My solution makes Puppy use option 4 by default, so you can just hit enter when the boot menu appears, OR let it time out and boot. That way, if it's unattended it would boot without the harddrive. You can make it skip the menu entirely, but I don't know if you want it to do that. You just take out the prompt part, the default part, the lables, the content for the other lables (except 4), and the timeout. There might be more, I'm going by memory at the moment.

Sorry I didn't quite comprehend your question. I'll be back after supper, and maybe then it will click. :wink:
[size=75]Between depriving a man of one hour from his life and depriving him of his life there exists only a difference of degree. --Muad'Dib[/size]
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zygo
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#12 Post by zygo »

Isolinux.cfg in my remastered 106 did not have a menu item or label or any assignment code for option 4. I'm pretty sure that's how 106 was when I downloaded it. There was all the necessary terms (I think) for 1, 2, 3 and 5. 4 is completely absent.

That is until I added an option 4 without the 3 P assignments and all is well. :D

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Pizzasgood
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#13 Post by Pizzasgood »

Ohhh. 106. I was thinking 108. I knew I must have been missing something :roll:
[size=75]Between depriving a man of one hour from his life and depriving him of his life there exists only a difference of degree. --Muad'Dib[/size]
[img]http://www.browserloadofcoolness.com/sig.png[/img]

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