Need help installing pup on old IBM laptop(solved)

Booting, installing, newbie
Message
Author
toddyjoe
Posts: 122
Joined: Thu 23 Mar 2006, 21:07

#21 Post by toddyjoe »

Thanks to MU for the link to those files!

Just an update or amendment to my previous post: If you wish to eliminate the "Welcome to Puppy Linux!" message and the prompt to "Press any key to continue..." and have an uninterrupted Linux boot after selecting Puppy, revise step 8 above as follows:
_____________________________________________________________

(8) In the System Configuration Editor, select the "C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT" file window. At the very top of the file contents above the existing text, insert and add the following new text:

REM [Start additions for Linux]
GOTO %CONFIG%

:LINUX
BREAK=ON
C:\PUPPY\GRUB.EXE --config-file=(hd0,0)/puppy/menu.lst

:WIN
REM [End additions for Linux]

Do not change or delete the remaining contents of the "AUTOEXEC.BAT" file. Click on the "File" menu in the System Configuration Editor window and then select "Save".
_____________________________________________________________

User avatar
pelokwin
Posts: 137
Joined: Fri 31 Mar 2006, 13:28
Location: New Jersey, U.S.A.

#22 Post by pelokwin »

Toddyjoe,
Thanks for the info I am hoping to start to put puppy on the TP some time this week. wish me luck. MU thanks for the links
Pelokwin :twisted:
I'm just a passing thought in this world

User avatar
pelokwin
Posts: 137
Joined: Fri 31 Mar 2006, 13:28
Location: New Jersey, U.S.A.

#23 Post by pelokwin »

OK,
after a long night of setbacks I got to the reboot stage:
At the start up menu I get 3 choices windows,puppy, and 15???? I take puppy and it says
Usage:
GRUB--config-file=FILE
the options are case sensative you must use lowercase letters. Example: GRUB --config-file=(hd0,0)/boot/grub/menu.1st

so ......any ideas?
I'm just a passing thought in this world

User avatar
Sit Heel Speak
Posts: 2595
Joined: Fri 31 Mar 2006, 03:22
Location: downwind

#24 Post by Sit Heel Speak »

(EDITED)

I just now got it working on my own Thinkpad. I'm booting Puppy as a menu option from config.sys in Windows 98SE, using grub, with the added wrinkle that I have Puppy loaded not on the hard drive but rather on a USB flash drive (so, where your menu.lst says hda1, mine says sda1).

Open a DOS window and at the prompt issue these commands (or, run them as a batch file). Be careful to use a double right arrow on each line after the first:

C:>type c:\config.sys>c:\diagnose.txt
C:>type c:\autoexec.bat>>c:\diagnose.txt
C:>type c:\boot\menu.lst>>c:\diagnose.txt
C:>type c:\boot\grub\menu.lst>>c:\diagnose.txt
C:>dir c:\boot >>c:\diagnose.txt
C:>dir c:\boot\grub>>c:\diagnose.txt

If you have grub in a directory called C:\Puppy then substitute Puppy for boot in the above. Now either copy and paste c:\diagnose.txt here, or else attach it in a message. I will see if I can spot what you are doing wrong.

Sit
Last edited by Sit Heel Speak on Fri 14 Apr 2006, 15:18, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
pelokwin
Posts: 137
Joined: Fri 31 Mar 2006, 13:28
Location: New Jersey, U.S.A.

#25 Post by pelokwin »

To Sit Heel Speak,
At the start of this topic I wrote that I was a computer dummie. So with that being said I did what you said but nothing happaned???
Pelokwin
I'm just a passing thought in this world

User avatar
Sit Heel Speak
Posts: 2595
Joined: Fri 31 Mar 2006, 03:22
Location: downwind

#26 Post by Sit Heel Speak »

In Windows, use the mouse to click:

Start / Programs / MS-DOS Prompt

When the DOS window starts, a C:> prompt will appear.

Type the commands in, as above (don't type the "C:>" part). Make sure that every line after the first has ">>" not ">".

This will create file "diagnose.txt" in the root directory of your C: drive.

Type

C:>dir c:\ /od

(don't type the "C:>" part, that's the prompt)

and hit enter and you should see the file diagnose.txt at the bottom of the directory listing.

Open c:\diagnose.txt in Notepad.

Use Shift-downarrow to highlight all the text.

Hit Ctrl-C to put the text into the clipboard.

Reply to this message. In the reply box, hit Ctrl-V to paste the text from diagnose.txt in.

This will put your config.sys, autoexec.bat, and menu.lst plus the requested directory listings into the reply box.

Hit "Submit" and let's take a look.

User avatar
pelokwin
Posts: 137
Joined: Fri 31 Mar 2006, 13:28
Location: New Jersey, U.S.A.

#27 Post by pelokwin »

ok I am starting but the computer I am online is not the one I am puting puppy on. the laptop is a thinkpad 380ED w/ win95
wish me luck!!
I'm just a passing thought in this world

User avatar
pelokwin
Posts: 137
Joined: Fri 31 Mar 2006, 13:28
Location: New Jersey, U.S.A.

#28 Post by pelokwin »

I did not get far..."file not found autoexect.bat :?:.....never mind
I'm just a passing thought in this world

User avatar
Sit Heel Speak
Posts: 2595
Joined: Fri 31 Mar 2006, 03:22
Location: downwind

#29 Post by Sit Heel Speak »

Here is my own config.sys, autoexec.bat, and C:\boot\grub\menu.lst. If you are not sure how to modify yours to work like mine, then hire a guru to do all this.

Download the WakeUSB floppy image at

http://www.murga.org/~puppy/download.php?id=1277

and unzip it and use rawrite.exe to expand the .img file to a floppy. Make sure first that the floppy is freshly formatted and has no bad sectors.

Then, if the subdirectory c:\boot does not exist, create it:

(note: these instructions are only for Win 9x or 98SE users. These instructions are not applicable to NT, 2000, or XP. If you have these, don't try this.)


Start a DOS window, change to the directory C:\, do

md c:\boot

...now, copy the files A:\DRIVER\ASPIDISK.SYS and A:\DRIVER\USB\USBASPI.SYS from the WakeUSB floppy to your subdirectory C:\boot:

and then go to

http://grub4dos.freespaces.com/

and download

grub_for_dos-0.4.2pre4.zip

and unzip it to

c:\boot

...grub.exe should now be in c:\boot.

...there is a copy of menu.lst in c:\boot but this is not the one I use, instead I use one I created in c:\boot\grub.

Here is my c:\boot\grub\menu.lst:

timeout 0
title Puppy USB
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
kernel (hd0,0)/boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/ram0 PSLEEP=25 PFILE=pup100-none-262144 PHOME=sda1
initrd (hd0,0)/boot/image.gz
boot

(note: the Forum makes lines wrap. There are only six lines:

timeout
title Puppy USB
rootnoverify...
kernel...
initrd...
boot

)

(and second note: strangely, the above menu.lst works for booting from flash drive even though vmlinuz and image.gz are on the flash drive, not on hd0 the hard disk)

However, I have doubled the size of my pup100 file from its default value. For initial use with a fresh install of Puppy 1.0.8, change the "kernel" line to

kernel (hd0,0)/boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/ram0 PSLEEP=25 PFILE=pup100-none-131072 PHOME=sda1

so your c:\boot\grub\menu.lst reads:

timeout 0
title Puppy USB
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
kernel (hd0,0)/boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/ram0 PSLEEP=25 PFILE=pup100-none-131072 PHOME=sda1
initrd (hd0,0)/boot/image.gz
boot

Then, modify your config.sys and autoexec.bat to use grub.exe. Again, if you don't know what you're doing, hire a guru to help.


***
rem Sit Heel Speak's config.sys in Windows 98SE.
rem This gives the option to boot Puppy from USB flash disk.
rem Note: this still doesn't work for booting Puppy 1.0.8
rem through a USB 2.0 PC Card adapter, but does work when the
rem USB flash drive is in the Thinkpad's rear USB 1.1 port.

[menu]
menuitem=PUPPY, From USB drive.
menuitem=CD, Start computer with CD-ROM support.
menuitem=NOCD, Start computer without CD-ROM support.
menuitem=HELP, View the Help file.
menudefault=CD,3
menucolor=7,0

[PUPPY]
device=C:\WINDOWS\himem.sys /testmem:off /v
rem Load Panasonic v2.20 ASPI manager for USB mass storage.
rem This is copied from the WakeUSB floppy disk.
device=c:\boot\USBASPI.SYS /e /o /u /v /w /slow
rem Load Adaptec v4.01b ASPI disk driver.
rem It maps ASPI mass storage devices to DOS drive letters.
rem This too is copied from the WakeUSB floppy disk.
device=c:\boot\ASPIDISK.SYS

[CD]
device=C:\WINDOWS\himem.sys /testmem:off /v
rem the below drivers are not necessary on my Thinkpad.
rem device=c:\dos\oakcdrom.sys /D:mscd001
rem device=c:\dos\btdosm.sys
rem device=c:\dos\flashpt.sys
rem device=c:\dos\btcdrom.sys /D:mscd001
rem device=c:\dos\aspi2dos.sys
rem device=c:\dos\aspi8dos.sys
rem device=c:\dos\aspi8u2.sys
rem device=c:\dos\aspicd.sys /D:mscd001
switches= /F /E
dos=high,umb,noauto
device=c:\windows\emm386.exe noems 128 d=64 l=1024 x=a000-cfff i=d000-dfff Win=e000-efff /y=c:\emm386.exe /v
device=c:\windows\ifshlp.sys
device=c:\windows\dblbuff.sys
device=c:\windows\command\ansi.sys
break=off
buffershigh=4,2
fileshigh=68
stackshigh=16,512
lastdrivehigh=n
fcbshigh=5,0
set tmp=c:\
set temp=c:\
shell=C:\COMMAND.COM C:\ /p /e:512

[NOCD]
device=C:\WINDOWS\himem.sys /testmem:off /v
switches= /F /E
dos=high,umb,noauto
device=c:\windows\emm386.exe noems 128 d=64 l=1024 x=a000-cfff i=d000-dfff Win=e000-efff /y=c:\emm386.exe /v
device=c:\windows\ifshlp.sys
device=c:\windows\dblbuff.sys
device=c:\windows\command\ansi.sys
break=off
buffershigh=4,2
fileshigh=68
stackshigh=16,512
lastdrivehigh=n
fcbshigh=5,0
set tmp=c:\
set temp=c:\
shell=C:\COMMAND.COM C:\ /p /e:512

[HELP]
device=C:\WINDOWS\himem.sys /testmem:off

[COMMON]
rem End of Sit Heel Speak's config.sys


***********************************************************
rem Sit Heel Speak's autoexec.bat for booting Puppy from disk
rem where the Puppy files are on his USB flash drive.

REM [Start additions for Linux]
IF NOT %CONFIG%==PUPPY goto win98

:PUPPY
break on
c:\boot\grub.exe --config-file=(hd0,0)/boot/grub/menu.lst
goto theend

:WIN98
REM [End additions for Linux]

(...the rest of my autoexec.bat goes here)

:theend

rem End of Sit Heel Speak's autoexec.bat

*******************************************************
Last edited by Sit Heel Speak on Sat 15 Apr 2006, 21:27, edited 4 times in total.

User avatar
Sit Heel Speak
Posts: 2595
Joined: Fri 31 Mar 2006, 03:22
Location: downwind

#30 Post by Sit Heel Speak »

It occurs to me that I should also post my msdos.sys. The main thing is the BootGUI=0 line; I do not let Windows automatically boot the GUI, rather I start it from within autoexec.bat with a

win

line near the bottom. This way, Windows won't try to boot itself after you exit Puppy.


msdos.sys follows.
********************************
;SYS
[Paths]
WinDir=C:\WINDOWS
WinBootDir=C:\WINDOWS
HostWinBootDrv=C
UninstallDir=C:\

[Options]
BootMulti=1
BootGUI=0
DoubleBuffer=1
AutoScan=1
WinVer=4.10.2222
;
;The following lines are required for compatibility with other programs.
;Do not remove them (MSDOS.SYS needs to be >1024 bytes).
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxa
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxb
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxc
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxd
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxe
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxf
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxg
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxh
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxi
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxj
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxk
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxl
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxm
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxn
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxo
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxp
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxq
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxr
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxs
BootMenuDelay=2
BootMenu=1

User avatar
pelokwin
Posts: 137
Joined: Fri 31 Mar 2006, 13:28
Location: New Jersey, U.S.A.

#31 Post by pelokwin »

I wantto thank you for your help but I'm tired and can't see straight (it is 2a.m.) the puppy started to boot from livecd but then freezes I am begening to think that the comp is just not right but I need a fresh day
so it is good night for me
pelokwin
I'm just a passing thought in this world

User avatar
Sit Heel Speak
Posts: 2595
Joined: Fri 31 Mar 2006, 03:22
Location: downwind

#32 Post by Sit Heel Speak »

pelokwin,

If your Win95 installation does not have an autoexec.bat, then perhaps it is best that you not try to boot Puppy my way. I've been using DOS and Windows since dinosaur days and so am accustomed to booting Windows using a long, convoluted autoexec.bat and config.sys. I've been doing so for so long that I forgot, very few people have booted this way since Windows 95 was introduced!

Instead of messing with autoexec.bat and config.sys files, I recommend you boot to Windows, put the flash drive in the USB port, copy vmlinuz, image.gz, and usr_cram.fs from the CD or the extracted .iso file to the flash drive, and also copy pupxusb from the WakeUSB floppy and isolinux.cfg from your extracted .iso image to the flash drive. Then, try booting from the WakeUSB floppy.
Last edited by Sit Heel Speak on Sat 15 Apr 2006, 17:49, edited 2 times in total.

toddyjoe
Posts: 122
Joined: Thu 23 Mar 2006, 21:07

#33 Post by toddyjoe »

OK,
after a long night of setbacks I got to the reboot stage:
At the start up menu I get 3 choices windows,puppy, and 15???? I take puppy and it says
Usage:
GRUB--config-file=FILE
the options are case sensative you must use lowercase letters. Example: GRUB --config-file=(hd0,0)/boot/grub/menu.1st
so ......any ideas?
pelokwin, if you are getting a third "15" option, it sounds to me like you used the word "menuitem" instead of the word "menudefault" for the third line under "[menu]" in Step 9 of my lengthy post above. Only the first two lines under the "[menu]" header should use the term "menuitem". Double check to make sure this is not the case.

As far as the GRUB usage comment, it sounds like your GRUB line does not follow the syntax, capitalization and format exactly as I typed it in Step 8 above. Go back and make sure you have copied it exactly, including spaces, zeros and capitalization in all the same places.

The only other problem I could foresee if you are getting that GRUB usage error is if your "menu.lst" is not properly identified in the GRUB line or as an "lst" file. For one, make sure that your GRUB line and your "menu.lst" file both use the three-digit extension "lst" and not "1st". In other words, the first digit is the letter L and not a number 1. For two, make sure that you are using a valid "lst" file to create "menu.lst" and not simply trying to create a Text file called "menu.lst". It is easiest to do this by copying the "menu.lst" file from the link MU provided above and then simply editing it to have the language I described in my post.

User avatar
Sit Heel Speak
Posts: 2595
Joined: Fri 31 Mar 2006, 03:22
Location: downwind

Suggestions if unfamiliar with c:\autoexec.bat

#34 Post by Sit Heel Speak »

toddyjoe: as indicated above, pelokwin is not accustomed to dealing with an autoexec.bat file. Therefore our instructions for editing config.sys and creating autoexec.bat on the C: drive are mystifying and useless.

pelokwin: instead of doing it the hard way as toddyjoe and I do it, forget about creating an autoexec.bat and editing config.sys. And forget about using grub.exe.

Instead, either just burn a LiveCD from the .iso image and boot from that, or else do this:

From Windows:

1. Create a temporary directory C:\puptemp. To do this, start Explorer, navigate up to C:\, right-click in the right window, New, Folder, and then type

puptemp

in the new folder's namespace. Enter. Close Explorer.

2. Download the Puppy 1.04 Chubby Puppy or Puppy 1.0.8-Mozilla ISO image to C:\puptemp.

3. Extract the ISO image to C:\puptemp using ISOBuster or a similar program.

4. Copy vmlinuz, image.gz, and usr_cram.fs from C:\puptemp to the flash drive's root directory.

5. Download WakeUSBv01e-img.zip at http://www.murga.org/~puppy/download.php?id=1277 (right-click the link and choose Save Target As and navigate with the mouse to put C:\puptemp in the Save In box).

6. Extract WakeUSBv01e-img.zip using WinZip, EasyZip, TugZip or a similar program (my favorite is TugZip). Extract it to the same C:\puptemp directory as the ISO image above.

7. Format a floppy disk. If it has bad sectors, discard it and format another one.

8. Use rawrite.exe (it's in the WakeUSB .zip, in the subdirectory c:\puptemp where you extracted it to) to put wakeusb.img onto the freshly formatted floppy. The easiest way to do this is to run the MAKEDISK.BAT program which WakeUSBv01e-img.zip provides.

9. Copy pupxusb from your newly-created WakeUSB floppy to the root directory of the flash drive (the same place where vmlinuz, image.gz, and usr_cram.fs are), then copy isolinux.cfg from the subdirectory where you extracted the .iso image file to.

10. Shut down Windows and power off your computer.

11. With the flash drive plugged into the USB port and the WakeUSB floppy in the A: drive, turn on your computer.

This should result in the computer booting from the floppy drive; and then the computer will (once you hit the appropriate keystrokes which the floppy's boot program requests--I recommend you accept the defaults, and if that doesn't work then try choosing the "acpi=off" option) load and run Puppy from the flash drive.

If it doesn't work from USB flash drive, then repeat steps 1 through 11 except don't copy to the flash drive's root directory; instead, copy the three files vmlinuz, image.gz, and usr_cram.fs from c:\puptemp to the root directory of your C: drive (that is, C:\), and then rename pupxusb on the floppy to pupxide and copy the new pupxide (make sure there's no dot at the end of the name) likewise to the root directory of your C: drive. Then, Start / Run / notepad {enter}, open the file A:\autoexec.bat, and in the place where it says

sda1

change it to

hda1

and in the place where it says

PUP100

change it to

PUP001

Next, copy isolinux.cfg from the subdirectory where you extracted the .iso image to, to C:\, and edit the new C:\isolinux.cfg in Notepad and in the two places where it says "pup100" change that to "pup001".

And then, with the floppy in the drive, reboot your computer. This will load Puppy from your hard disk, and you're on your way.

Report back here any problems.
Last edited by Sit Heel Speak on Sat 15 Apr 2006, 17:54, edited 5 times in total.

toddyjoe
Posts: 122
Joined: Thu 23 Mar 2006, 21:07

#35 Post by toddyjoe »

toddyjoe: as indicated above, pelokwin is not accustomed to dealing with an autoexec.bat file. Therefore our instructions for editing config.sys and creating autoexec.bat on the C: drive are mystifying and useless.
In fairness, pelokwin seems to be pretty close to getting it working right. It cannot hurt to offer some feedback for him (or others trying this) in case he decides to give it one last try. It was only two or three months ago that I was a Windows 95 user with no Linux experience and no experience messing with "config.sys" and "autoexec.bat" files so I feel his pain. If I can figure this stuff out with a little patience and persistence (and swearing), perhaps pelokwin can as well.

One thing I know is certain, I am definitely learning a lot of additional ideas from your posts in this thread, Sit Heel Speak!

User avatar
Sit Heel Speak
Posts: 2595
Joined: Fri 31 Mar 2006, 03:22
Location: downwind

#36 Post by Sit Heel Speak »

pelokwin: are you still with us? I hope so; I admire persistence in the face of adversity ( :) )...

Here is what your isolinux.cfg on the flash drive (or in the root directory of your hard drive, if you boot that way) should look like to initially start Puppy 1.0.8ri. If you want to edit isolinux.cfg in order to attempt larger ramdrive and/or pup100 filesize, then I recommend you download P.J. Naughter's Windows editor Notpad, at http://www.naughter.com/notpad.html. Notpad is shareware but you can use it up to a month free, and its key advantage is that it respects the end-of-line-character(s) conventions in both Unix/Linux files such as isolinux.cfg and in MS-DOS files such as c:\autoexec.bat.

The below is an isolinux.cfg for a 130MB (1MB=1024x1024 bytes) ramdisk and a 128MB pup100 file. It's pup001 if Puppy is on the hard disk and pup100 if on the USB flash drive:

default 1
DISPLAY BOOT.MSG
SAY MENU: 2 No acpi 3 Choose HD (ENTER only or 10sec timeout for normal boot)
prompt 1
label 1
kernel vmlinuz
append root=/dev/ram0 initrd=image.gz ramdisk_size=13312 PFILE=pup100-none-131072
label 2
kernel vmlinuz
append root=/dev/ram0 initrd=image.gz acpi=off ramdisk_size=13312 PFILE=pup100-none-131072
label 3
kernel vmlinuz
append root=/dev/ram0 initrd=image.gz acpi=off ramdisk_size=13312 PFILE=ask
label 5
kernel vmlinuz
append root=/dev/ram0 initrd=image.gz ramdisk_size=13312 PFILE=cd
timeout 100

If you are booting from a WakeUSB floppy, then you want to make sure that the "PFILE=pup100-none-" or "PFILE=pup001-none-" numbers in isolinux.cfg are the same as the "set pfile=PFILE=PUP100-none-" or "set pfile=PFILE=PUP001-none-" numbers in a:\autoexec.bat, and, the "ramdisk_size=" numbers in isolinux.cfg all equal exactly 102.4 times what a:\autoexec.bat specifies for XMSDSK size in megabytes.

If you are booting from hard disk using grub.exe, then the "PFILE=pup100-none-" or "PFILE=pup001-none-"number in menu.lst must match the "PFILE=pup100-none-" or "PFILE=pup001-none-"numbers in isolinux.cfg.

I am unsure whether Puppy 1 requires you to use a larger ramdisk size than your pup100 or pup001 file.

Feel free to post questions here. I'm off now to try running Puppy 2 Alpha with a 192MB ramdisk and a 1GB swapfile on the hard drive, using a pup100 (or, whatever the equivalent is in Puppy 2) filesize of 512MB...

Sit
Last edited by Sit Heel Speak on Sat 15 Apr 2006, 17:58, edited 1 time in total.

ckx
Posts: 9
Joined: Sat 15 Apr 2006, 12:30

#37 Post by ckx »

toddyjoe wrote:pelokwin, here is my promised explanation/tutorial. My Thinkpad 310ED had Windows 95 up until about three months ago so this explanation is geared toward someone like you with the same experience.
I'm having a similar problem aa pelokwin, trying to run Puppy Linux on old Thinkpad 310ED. Puppy runs fine, seems to detect the hardware all right up to the point "tmpfs done" (hard to say though, everything scrolls by real fast. Then I get a slew of messages "__alloc_pages: 1-order allocation failed (gfp=0x1d2/0). The next line says "VM: killing process init".

The Thinkpad has a 166Mhz processor but only 32M of RAM. It will boot DSL though and at present I've got DSL on a partition with a 64M Swap partition. I've got Win98SE on another partition. I was wondering if I could get Puppy to work by using the swap partition and just how to do that. I've tried Toddyjoe's solution using Grub but the same problem occurred. I'm using Puppy 1.08 BTW, same problems with 1.08RC1 and 1.06. The CD is fine, tested it on my desktop machine. I could enlarge the swap partition if that would make a difference although I've heard that twice the installed RAM is optimal and that a larger swap partition could cause problems. But could someone tell me first how to get Puppy to recognize the swap partition?

User avatar
Sit Heel Speak
Posts: 2595
Joined: Fri 31 Mar 2006, 03:22
Location: downwind

#38 Post by Sit Heel Speak »

ckx:

My Puppy experience totals less than three weeks now, so if I am under a misapprehension, then I hope someone will correct me, but it is my understanding that Puppy will automatically find and use any Linux swap partition that is present.

However, on the very front page http://puppylinux.com Barry says:

"...These are extraordinary goals, yet Puppy achieves them all. Obviously, some objectives have qualifications, for example, to load totally into RAM the PC must have either 128M RAM or failing that a swap partition."

So, I infer that the total of your RAM and your swap space must be at least 128MB.

So, try enlarging the swap partition to 128MB (actually, 96MB might do, since 32+96=128) and if that doesn't work then try 256MB. However be advised that I am unaware of any issues which may arise from the use of the swap partition by more than one distro.

If enlarging the swap partition doesn't work, then perhaps you might look at the thread "Linux recomendation for old 32 MB 75 MHz laptop" (sic) in the Miscellaneous section of the forum.

Or, perhaps you should take the suggestion of krumpli on page 1 of this thread and try running Puppy Alpha 2. As krumpli quoted:

"My suggestion, strictly a thought, is to try puppy2 alpha version and see if it loads. according to "how puppy works take 2"

Quote:

3. Works on PCs with very little RAM

Puppy2 will take advantage of more RAM, but if your PC is RAM-challenged, no problem.

The key point here is that the personal storage (I also refer to this as the persistent storage) partition or pup_save.3fs file is not loaded into RAM, only mounted read only, and only the "working files" are in RAM.

What you will have in a RAM-challenged PC is the kernel, initrd.gz (uncompressed) and the "working files" in RAM. Those "working files" are only new and changed files, so there will hardly be anything in RAM, meaning that we are going to find our Pup running on very minimal systems ....we have yet to find out how little RAM will work. "

Good luck,
Sit

User avatar
pelokwin
Posts: 137
Joined: Fri 31 Mar 2006, 13:28
Location: New Jersey, U.S.A.

#39 Post by pelokwin »

sit heel speak...toddyjoe..,
Hi, I needed some "not looking at a computer screen" time away. So I read the last post and well as far as sit heel speak man you are so above my understanding in around 1983 my mom sent me to computer classes and after a week of making the thing count to 100 gazillion I went out for the baseball team. But I am learning a little bit each day. Although this is frustrating at times I think it is worth it so even though I don't understand all of what you are saying it helps alot. Thank you for shar
ing your knowledge. Toddyjoe I am going to relook at every step you told
me. I am not sure I told you but I started the whole thing over from the start so I re downloaded everything and what do you know the live CD worked right up untill the part where pup asks you "Q's" then it froze. So Sunday night I will give it a look and I WILL PUT PUPPY ON MY LAPTOP!!! and learn some more about computers also. thank you.
pelokwin
I'm just a passing thought in this world

User avatar
Sit Heel Speak
Posts: 2595
Joined: Fri 31 Mar 2006, 03:22
Location: downwind

#40 Post by Sit Heel Speak »

pelokwin: just to give you a little encouragement: today I did succeed in booting Puppy 2 alpha on my laptop, downloaded from

http://www.pupweb.org/test/

and it has a much sharper look (better fonts, snappier performance) than Puppy 1.0.8. It also needs less memory.

I am booting Puppy 2 from my hard disk using grub.exe as described above. The menu.lst I am using, I give below. However, despite exhaustive efforts I have not yet succeeded in getting Puppy 2 to load from my flash drive, neither booting from floppy nor from disk--only gotten it to load from disk, booted from disk.

My skillset is in DOS/Windows and comes from years of practice (and suffering) as a user; I do not work in the industry. I am as much of a newbie in Linux as you are. When I see the posts of such masters as BarryK, GuestToo, MU, NathanF, Pizzasgood and others I feel very humbled and honored to have their help. And I have now learned just enough about Linux to suspect that getting Puppy to boot, load, and run reliably from USB devices is going to require that I re-develop my (very rusty) programming skills!

It is possible that the USB 1.1 controller on my Thinkpad is just barely within timing tolerance limits for Puppy 1.0.8 but cannot support Puppy 2. It is possible that the USB controller on your older Thinkpad cannot run Puppy.

Therefore, I would recommend that you keep trying to boot from CD and be more specific about what error message you are getting, and exactly what happened immediately leading up to the error, or else copy vmlinuz, image.gz, usr_cram.fs, and isolinux.cfg to c:\, put a pupxide file there also, and try booting using grub via either toddyjoes' or my method, called from a single-line autoexec.bat

c:\boot\grub.exe --config-file=(hd0,0)/boot/grub/menu.lst

using this c:\boot\grub\menu.lst:

timeout 0
title Puppy booted by grub and residing on hard disk
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
kernel (hd0,0)/vmlinuz root=/dev/ram0 PSLEEP=25 PFILE=pup001-none-131072 PHOME=hda1
initrd (hd0,0)/image.gz
boot

(PFILE= is on the same line as kernel...)

This menu.lst will work to boot Puppy 1.0.8.

To boot Puppy 2 from hard disk, with its files loaded similarly in C:\, use this menu.lst:

timeout 0
title Puppy USB
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
kernel (hd0,0)/vmlinuz root=/dev/ram0 PSLEEP=25 PFILE=pup001-none-131072 PHOME=hda1 PMEDIA=idehd
initrd (hd0,0)/initrd.gz
boot

I am unsure whether Puppy 2 needs the PSLEEP=, PFILE=, and PHOME= parameters, but this menu.lst does work. I am sending this from the new SeaMonkey browser in Puppy 2, booted using the above menu.lst with grub.exe.

Good luck,

Sit Heel Speak

Post Reply