How to Make a Flash Drive Install Work Like a Hard Drive

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rcrsn51
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#21 Post by rcrsn51 »

Stripe wrote:the one thing I have noticed is that you cannot mount an iso stored on a usb,
I have a FAT32 flash drive with a bunch of ISOs. I can mount them successfully just by clicking on the file's icon.

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DaveS
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#22 Post by DaveS »

I ran pupmode 12 on the USB up till the release of Wary 5 at Christmas with no problems. That is about six months I think, but it is a good quality drive, Sandisk Contour.
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Stripe
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#23 Post by Stripe »

I have had problems mounting iso's stored on a few different usbs, I will have another look and see if I can work it out.

I am using kingston usbs

cheers

Stripe

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Bert
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#24 Post by Bert »

Thanks everyone and especially rcrsn51. This method worked perfectly! Only needed to do it once, which is exceptional given my personal failure track record :roll:

The only thing remaining was removing the "save" icon manually. That didn't take too long, I used the medium grit 120 sandpaper I always keep handy :lol:

I guess someone should ask Barry to consider adding this "usb/pupmode=12" install option by default? Or is it still too experimental?
[url=http://pupsearch.weebly.com/][img]http://pupsearch.weebly.com/uploads/7/4/6/4/7464374/125791.gif[/img][/url]
[url=https://startpage.com/do/search?q=host%3Awww.murga-linux.com%2F][img]http://i.imgur.com/XJ9Tqc7.png[/img][/url]

JaDy
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#25 Post by JaDy »

Slightly off topic, but may be a good option:

I run LUPU511 from USB memory stick with lupusave on the USB.
I turned off the periodic save; save on shutdown is good enough. But, ...

I'd like to have an option to have file changes stored on the hard disk, not in RAM.
And then, upon shutdown (and using the SAVE button),
save the changes to the USB in a manner similar to multi-session DVD.
Furthermore, a utility to combine all the session saves into a single file.
Felicitations & Facilitations, Rev. John G. Derrickson
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nooby
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#26 Post by nooby »

Jady we get off topic maybe.

But look here:
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=60678
and ask in that thread or make a new thread with your question.

Here is a pet that allow for choices on shut down.



PupsaveConfig the GUI


so the Dev of that one knows much about such.
I use Google Search on Puppy Forum
not an ideal solution though

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DaveS
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#27 Post by DaveS »

OK, its Jan 16, 2011. Just set up a USB in Pupmode 12 with spup. It went well. I will run this as my default and see if I can break it. Sandisk hardware.
Spup Frugal HD and USB
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Stripe
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#28 Post by Stripe »

hi all

11 months light usage and the flash drive is still alive, have just set another one up to run slacko 499.1

will keep you all informed

stripe

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DaveS
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#29 Post by DaveS »

Stopped using mine a couple of months back, but had had no problems. Will set it up again (same device) when current rate of Puppy devel slows again.
Spup Frugal HD and USB
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nooby
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#30 Post by nooby »

Very good news. HDD that runs through spinning the disk not only whines and click them get hot too. And worse. many actually do give up after some two years of service so sometimes one wonder if it is not better to have external such spinning hdd and the internal shall be a USB flash memory and then the only fan needed would be in the CPU and the Graphic card? So if one are a low resources person one could do without any fan at all only passive cooling and a silent computing. One would only hear ones own heart and the noise of the blood flowing in the ears and the humming from earth itself :)

I love this thread. Promise to never take it away. I should set up such a computer one day when I get tired of the clicking on my Acer D250.
I use Google Search on Puppy Forum
not an ideal solution though

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DaveS
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#31 Post by DaveS »

Just set up my USB again with Spup1. All fine.
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rcrsn51
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#32 Post by rcrsn51 »

In some new Puppies, the default behaviour is to NOT load the sfs file into memory when booting from a hard drive. So when you convert a flash drive to PUPMODE=12, you will get the same thing.

This means that the flash drive will boot faster but may run a little slower. You can fix this by adding "pfix=copy" to your syslnux.cfg file.

The original instructions state that you must format your flash drive as ext. This is because the editinit procedure cannot be done in a FAT32 environment. However, you can copy the initrd.gz into your home directory or another ext environment and modify it there. Then copy the file back to your FAT32 flash drive. It will work fine.

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DaveS
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#33 Post by DaveS »

rcrsn51 wrote:In some new Puppies, the default behaviour is to NOT load the sfs file into memory when booting from a hard drive. So when you convert a flash drive to PUPMODE=12, you will get the same thing.

This means that the flash drive will boot faster but may run a little slower. You can fix this by adding "pfix=copy" to your syslnux.cfg file.

The original instructions state that you must format your flash drive as ext. This is because the editinit procedure cannot be done in a FAT32 environment. However, you can copy the initrd.gz into your home directory or another ext environment and modify it there. Then copy the file back to your FAT32 flash drive. It will work fine.

Have it formatted to ext :). Will try pfix=copy, but it seems fast anyway. (actually extlinux.conf)
Spup Frugal HD and USB
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rcrsn51
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#34 Post by rcrsn51 »

DaveS wrote:but it seems fast anyway.
It probably doesn't make a big difference. In the case of your web browser, all the content that is stored in your profile has to be read from the pupsave file regardless of how the actual program code has been loaded. The former may have a greater impact on speed than the latter.

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DaveS
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#35 Post by DaveS »

Question: does the desktop 'save' icon have any effect in PUPMODE 12?
FWIW, just set up a cheapo tiny tiny USB this way with slackobeta to see how it goes. All good so far.
Spup Frugal HD and USB
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rcrsn51
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#36 Post by rcrsn51 »

DaveS wrote:Question: does the desktop 'save' icon have any effect in PUPMODE 12?.
I just delete it. I don't even know what would happen if you clicked it.

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DaveS
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#37 Post by DaveS »

rcrsn51 wrote:
DaveS wrote:Question: does the desktop 'save' icon have any effect in PUPMODE 12?.
I just delete it. I don't even know what would happen if you clicked it.
LOL... Nothing!
Spup Frugal HD and USB
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DaveS
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#38 Post by DaveS »

A funny thing happened on the way to the show: I set up a USB drive this way for Slacko, and when it booted, sound was missing. Running Alsa wizard returned no soundcards detected. Reverting to original initrd restored sound!
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rcrsn51
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#39 Post by rcrsn51 »

WFM. I created a standard PUPMODE=13 Slacko flash drive. The sound was working and I made a save file. I verified that sound was still working after a reboot, then switched to PUPMODE=12. I inserted the line after line 806. Sound still worked in the new setup.

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DaveS
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#40 Post by DaveS »

rcrsn51 wrote:WFM. I created a standard PUPMODE=13 Slacko flash drive. The sound was working and I made a save file. I verified that sound was still working after a reboot, then switched to PUPMODE=12. I inserted the line after line 806. Sound still worked in the new setup.
Haha.. moral of story... 'don't do this from within the Puppy you are modifying'. Booted from HD, modified initrd on USB from within a HD install, re-booted from USB, all fine. Off for a glass of wine now :)
Spup Frugal HD and USB
Root forever!

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