How to run Puppeee in a netbook with no hard drive

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akatz712
Posts: 6
Joined: Fri 16 Mar 2012, 13:31

How to run Puppeee in a netbook with no hard drive

#1 Post by akatz712 »

I am using Puppeee Linux which was based on Puppy Linux 4.4. I think. Anyway, the main file is eee-514.sfs. on an Asus EEE pc 901 9 inch netbook.

A friend of mine gave me a Dell Inspiron 910 9 inch netbook whose SSD no longer worked.

My research once again made me choose Puppy, so I can boot and run everything off of a USB flash drive. I have a 2GB one.

Anyway, the instructions said I had to burn a CD first, which I would rather not do.

So, I did the following.

1. Download an iso file of the latest Puppy. I found out that this is the Slackware version slacko-5.3-MAIN.iso
2. I used the Gparted program. MSDOS partition table, Format the USB flash drive as a ext2 filesystem.. Set the boot flag.
3. Mount the iso. I use ROX-Filer FileMnt. Find the mount point under /mnt.
4. Copy all of the files contained in the iso to the USB flash drive.
5. Run Grub4Dos. I have version 1.7. This is the key step which I did not find in the instructions.

The main point of this post is to say that I did not have much success using either 'BootFlash install Puppy to USB' or the 'Puppy universal installer'. My guess is that I somehow trashed the MBR of the USB Flash drive and Grub4Dos is one way that the MBR is redone.

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Aitch
Posts: 6518
Joined: Wed 04 Apr 2007, 15:57
Location: Chatham, Kent, UK

#2 Post by Aitch »

Am I right in thinking this was a Grub4Dos success?

Aitch :)

akatz712
Posts: 6
Joined: Fri 16 Mar 2012, 13:31

#3 Post by akatz712 »

Aitch wrote:Am I right in thinking this was a Grub4Dos success?

Aitch :)
I tend to think so. But it was a trial and error thing. And I am thinking it only works if I have the MSDOS partition table.

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Aitch
Posts: 6518
Joined: Wed 04 Apr 2007, 15:57
Location: Chatham, Kent, UK

#4 Post by Aitch »

I think people have it working with NTFS, and ext2/3 too

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=54360

Aitch :)

gcmartin

#5 Post by gcmartin »

Saw this post. Nice approach and layout in the Opening Thread.

Question
Would you mind posting your Grub4Dos configuration (menu.lst)?

Thanks in advance

akatz712
Posts: 6
Joined: Fri 16 Mar 2012, 13:31

menu.lst it creates it automatically

#6 Post by akatz712 »

gcmartin wrote:Saw this post. Nice approach and layout in the Opening Thread.

Question
Would you mind posting your Grub4Dos configuration (menu.lst)?

Thanks in advance

Code: Select all

# menu.lst produced by grub4dosconfig-v1.7
color blue/cyan yellow/blue white/black cyan/black
timeout 10
default 0

# Frugal installed Puppy

title Puppy slacko 5.3 (sdc1)
  find --set-root --ignore-floppies --ignore-cd /puppy_slacko_5.3.sfs
  kernel /vmlinuz    pmedia=usbflash pfix=fsck
  initrd /initrd.gz

title Puppy slacko 5.3 (sdc1) RAM mode\nBoot up Puppy without pupsave
  find --set-root --ignore-floppies --ignore-cd /puppy_slacko_5.3.sfs
  kernel /vmlinuz    pmedia=usbflash pfix=ram,fsck
  initrd /initrd.gz

# Windows
# this entry searches Windows on the HDD and boot it up
title Windows\nBoot up Windows if installed
  map (hd1) (hd0)
  map (hd0) (hd1)
  map --hook
  errorcheck off
  find --set-root --ignore-floppies --ignore-cd  /bootmgr
  chainloader /bootmgr
  find --set-root --ignore-floppies --ignore-cd  /ntldr
  chainloader /ntldr
  find --set-root --ignore-floppies --ignore-cd   /io.sys
  chainloader /io.sys
  errorcheck on

# Boot from Partition Boot Sector

title Puppy slacko 5.3 (sdc1:PBS)
  uuid 847a3908-b5c0-4975-a28d-baf3ba1adafe
  chainloader +1

# additionals
title Bootup from HDD\nBootup from the master boot record of the hard disk drive
  map (hd1) (hd0)
  map (hd0) (hd1)
  map --hook
  chainloader (hd0)+1

title Find Grub menu on HDD
  map (hd1) (hd0)
  map (hd0) (hd1)
  map --hook
  errorcheck off
  find --set-root --ignore-floppies --ignore-cd /menu.lst && configfile /menu.lst
  find --set-root --ignore-floppies --ignore-cd /boot/grub/menu.lst && configfile /boot/grub/menu.lst
  find --set-root --ignore-floppies --ignore-cd /grub/menu.lst && configfile /grub/menu.lst
  errorcheck on
  commandline

title Find Grub2\nBoot up grub2 if installed
  find --set-root --ignore-floppies --ignore-cd /boot/grub/core.img
  kernel /boot/grub/core.img

title Grub4Dos commandline\n(for experts only)
  commandline

title Reboot computer
  reboot

title Halt computer
  halt

User avatar
Karl Godt
Posts: 4199
Joined: Sun 20 Jun 2010, 13:52
Location: Kiel,Germany

#7 Post by Karl Godt »

I have even managed to boot Puppy from 8GB MP3 player vfat formatted .

I used grub-0.97 first , but that did not boot ..
Also the MP3 -Player started but said "DAT SYS ERROR" and would not play anything nor navigate .

I rebooted to one of the main OS on the HD, mounted the MP3-Player, rescued the DATA by cp command to another partition , unmounted it and used gparted to format new with vfat fs .

Then installed grub4dos to the MBR of the MP3-Player .

That worked both to boot and to use the MP3-Player .

The mbr created by grub-0.97 is different than the one from grub4dos /"grub4dosconfig by shinobar" , as ` file mbr.x.x.x.backup shows .

I am not sure, but that might be related to a own compiled grub-0.97 which i was experimenting with after detecting, that debian grub-0.97 does not support ext4 fs (puppy grub-0.97 does) .

Happy with that :D

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