Install Puppy to USB without burning to CD first

What features/apps/bugfixes needed in a future Puppy
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acefsw
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Install Puppy to USB without burning to CD first

#1 Post by acefsw »

I've been using Puppy for a few years now, (but not a regular poster), and one of the things I would like to see is Puppy distributed so that it can be installed directly to USB, rather than having to burn it to a CD first. Puppy is great for devices like netbooks and low end laptops. Unfortunately, most of those devices do not have CD drives and therefore I think having to make a cd makes it more of an undue burden on those types of users There are versions of Linux that provide ISO images that can be burned to CD/DVD or directly written to a USB stick, so I am wondering why Puppy could not do the same. I realize that one can use unetbootin or similar tool, but I think making it easier to install to usb, the better.

On a side note and somewhat related, I am using my phone as an emulated usbhd to boot several flavors of Linux, no need to carry a usb around. It would be very cool if Puppy could be added to the list of distros that can be downloaded and used for such purpose. Most likely, I will look and see if I can use isohybrid to convert Puppy so it can be used on the emulated drive. If not I will create a blank emulated usbhd and install via unetbootin or Rufus.
I just like the idea of making Puppy as highly distributable as possible. It is still my favorite Linux distro and it started me on the path to exploring more Linux distros.

Thanks for your consideration.

Sylvander
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#2 Post by Sylvander »

How To Do A USB Install Of Puppy Linux Slacko...
Methinks this method will work for various Puppies.
It worked for me first time.
You don't need an optical disk in a drive with this method, only mount the ISO file and copy the files that are inside it.

acefsw
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#3 Post by acefsw »

Sylvander wrote:How To Do A USB Install Of Puppy Linux Slacko...
Methinks this method will work for various Puppies.
It worked for me first time.
You don't need an optical disk in a drive with this method, only mount the ISO file and copy the files that are inside it.
Thanks, but not the point, I will have no problems getting puppy on the emulated usbhd on my phone.

I am talking about making it distributable as an iso that can be written directly to usb without having to use any software. In the case you just posted, one already needs to be running Linux. My idea is to have it distributable so that new users do not have to find a CD drive, a software solution, or already be running a Linux distro, (and if they are they don't likely need help).

I know that other distros have this capability, hence why not puppy?

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mikeb
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#4 Post by mikeb »

hybrid iso can be dd to usb...some distros use it.

The windows 32 installer here is excellent but made to dual boot and run from windows. Could easily be expanded to usb but Unfortunately the lack of official support means thats not likely.

Would be nice to have something in house rather than resorting to 3rd party tools.

Reason...politics.

mike

acefsw
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#5 Post by acefsw »

mikeb wrote:hybrid iso can be dd to usb...some distros use it.

The windows 32 installer here is excellent but made to dual boot and run from windows. Could easily be expanded to usb but Unfortunately the lack of official support means thats not likely.

Would be nice to have something in house rather than resorting to 3rd party tools.

Reason...politics.

mike
Yeah, more and more distros are creating hybrid isos and using dd. I had no idea politics would be an issue. I thought the easier it is to get out there and used the better. Puppy is a great little distro, if not the best compact distro out there. My favorite was puppeee by jemimah, used to run it off an SD card on my old eeepc after the hard drive went south. I still have a copy somewhere.

Anyway, thanks for the reply.

acefsw
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#6 Post by acefsw »

BTW, Alpha OS is a hybrid based on arch, so can use dd to USB.

tlchost
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#7 Post by tlchost »

acefsw wrote:BTW, Alpha OS is a hybrid based on arch, so can use dd to USB.
SOme time ago Fluppy13 was distributed as a zip file....windows users could extract the zip to a usb drive, run a batch file and have a bootable usb drive.

I've made multi-puppy bootable usb zip files and given them to friends....

The one I'm using now has 5 puppies on a usb drive...all selectable via a menu

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mavrothal
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#8 Post by mavrothal »

acefsw wrote: Yeah, more and more distros are creating hybrid isos and using dd.
I believe the next woof-CE puppy (most likely Slacko-5.6.7 or something) will be a hybrid iso.
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dancytron
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#9 Post by dancytron »

In Windows, the program Universal USB Installer works great.

http://www.pendrivelinux.com/universal- ... -as-1-2-3/

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mikeb
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#10 Post by mikeb »

In Windows, the program Universal USB Installer works great.
exactly...shame the in house version is not pormoted/supported which would make good sense. Being tailored for puppy is a good thing since there are many permutations that a third party tool might miss.

mike

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rcrsn51
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#11 Post by rcrsn51 »

Hybrid ISOs are a great idea. But now that flash drives are multi-GB in size, it seems a waste to use a one-distro-per-drive procedure.

Consider the alternative here.
Last edited by rcrsn51 on Thu 16 Jan 2014, 00:38, edited 1 time in total.

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mikeb
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#12 Post by mikeb »

bootlace.com /dev/thing, a menu.lst and mount a few iso to copy a few files.... all seems so easy ... wizards are for kids stories and discworld games.

A windows program to make linux happen..a laymans dream.

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Ted Dog
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#13 Post by Ted Dog »

@acefsw
phone as an emulated usbhd to boot several flavors of Linux,...
could you explain more about how to set up a phone to do this...

Robin2
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#14 Post by Robin2 »

I know this Thread has been dormant for nearly a year - but I only discovered the joys of Puppy recently.

I have been a long time Ubuntu user and I found instructions somewhere for installing Puppy to a USB stick by downloading the ISO and then mounting it so I could copy some of the files from it.

It turned out that all I need to do to install Puppy on a USB stick (or a hard drive partition) is
A format it as Fat32 (I did not try other Windows options)
B use syslinux to make the drive (partition) bootable
C create a file called syslinux.cfg and put a line of text in it
D copy initrd.gz, vmlinuz and puppyxxxx.sfs to it

The only complicated part was getting those three files out of the ISO.

As far as I can see someone using Windows can also download and use syslinux.

So why aren't Puppies available as a .ZIP file with a simple README inside for people who don't need to used a CD?

...R

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rcrsn51
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#15 Post by rcrsn51 »

Robin2 wrote:So why aren't Puppies available as a .ZIP file with a simple README inside for people who don't need to used a CD?
If you are working from Ubuntu, the simplest way to get Puppy onto a flash drive is here.

Robin2
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#16 Post by Robin2 »

rcrsn51 wrote:If you are working from Ubuntu, the simplest way to get Puppy onto a flash drive is here.
Thanks, but that doesn't really address my point. There may be fewer steps in your approach compared to what I have in mind, but more people are likely to be familiar with a ZIP file and would feel more comfortable working with it. My idea is to have a system that almost needs no instructions because it uses techniques people are already familiar with. While I have been using Ubuntu full time for a few years I do not know enough about it to have figured out the steps your suggest.

...R

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Burn_IT
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#17 Post by Burn_IT »

I haven't created a CD for years.
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rcrsn51
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#18 Post by rcrsn51 »

Robin2 wrote:My idea is to have a system that almost needs no instructions because it uses techniques people are already familiar with.
Creating a bootable device is a non-trivial task - it needs more than a special ZIP file. If you Google "windows linux usb install", you will find all manner of solutions for Windows that use familiar techniques. That's how many Windows users get their introduction to Puppy.

Some of these tools have Linux equivalents.
While I have been using Ubuntu full time for a few years I do not know enough about it to have figured out the steps your suggest.
Linux is all about asking for help and learning new things.

slavvo67
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#19 Post by slavvo67 »

I'm not sure but you may want to look for the f2fs installer. I don't remember if I needed the cd for that one but I did successfully make a Tahrpup USB with it.

User Stemsee has also worked on StemseeS Remastering Suite. Not sure if it will get you there but it's an interesting (though slightly confusing) pet.


It just came to me... this is what BarryK has been doing with his latest distros. They are specifically designed with Barry's installer to be installed without burning an .iso file. Try Quirky Unicorn, his latest. Do not confuse this with Unicornpup, which is a different animal (or puppy :roll: ) It's an excellent distro except for the ugly lime green background. You may wish to change that.

http://bkhome.org/news/?viewDetailed=00093

Unicorn is the bottom file here:

http://distro.ibiblio.org/quirky/quirky6/x86/

You will probably want: "Install Quirky to drive" and "unicorn-6.2.usfs.xz"

Best,

Slavvo67

Robin2
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#20 Post by Robin2 »

rcrsn51 wrote:Creating a bootable device is a non-trivial task - it needs more than a special ZIP file.
Well I have created two or three bootable USB sticks in the past few days while I was first trying Puppy and it seemed a very trivial process.

A Format as Fat32
B use syslinux
C create syslinux.cfg
D copy the puppy files
E Boot

All of this could be done just as easily from Windows if (as I believe) there is a Windows version of syslinux.

Putting it (in frugal form) on my hard disk was a little more complex because I had to do stuff to make GRUB see it as well as Windows and Xubuntu.

...R

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