Installing Tahrpup to hard drive (how to boot it???)

[Mike Walsh]

Evening, all.

Need a wee bit of advice with something I attempted once before...

My main OS is Ubuntu. I started with Linux back in May, and have been running all sorts of combinations; some distros on the main hard drive, some on external HDD, some on flash drives.

I want to install Puppy on a partition on my main workhorse's hard drive. I've had plenty of experience using GParted over the last six months or so, and seem to be getting rather good at it..!

I've been using various 'Puppies' over the last 2-3 months; 'Precise', 'Slacko', and now 'Tahrpup' (which I think is brilliant). I've always run them as USB installs, and have had absolutely no issues with doing that.

I attempted to install one of the 'Puppies' to a partition on the HDD once before, alongside 2 or 3 of the 'buntu 'flavours'. The problem I ran into was that having installed the Puppy to the partition (successfully, for all I know.....because I was never able to find out) was that, running 'sudo update-grub' in Ubuntu didn't seem to work; the version of GRUB that the buntu's use just WILL NOT 'see' Puppy.

So; what's the answer? I read one of today's recent posts in the 'Beginner's' section earlier today, and the suggestion appears to involve using the 'Grub4DOS' program that's installed. Does this actually work with an all-Linux set-up; or is it specifically configured to work with an MS/Linux dual-boot?

Regards,

Mike.

[mikeb]

I believe to keep ubuntu happy you need to keep using grub 2

grub 2 sucks but if you get to grips with searching this forum there is information on how to get puppy to boot using the pile of geek twaddle ..no wizard that I know of for it either.

Would not touch it with yours but thats the basic gist

Mike

[Mike Walsh]

I believe to keep ubuntu happy you need to keep using grub 2

grub 2 sucks but if you get to grips with searching this forum there is information on how to get puppy to boot using the pile of geek twaddle ..no wizard that I know of for it either.

Would not touch it with yours but thats the basic gist

Mike

Hey, Mike.

'Geek twaddle';.....is this a case of the pot calling the kettle black, or what?

Huh. That's about what I thought. I managed to get it installed to a partition, but I couldn't even access it after that, to do anything with it!

Of course, you can select DEVICES in your boot menu; but you can't select partitions.....can you? And here was me thinking that only M$ tried to 'lock' you into doing things THEIR way (*sheesh*)

Anyway; thanks for that, mate. I'll carry on running 'Tahrpup' from the flashdrive.....it's QUITE happy where it is!

Cheers!

Mike to Mike.

[mikeb]

geek twaddle = unnecessary complications

one example is action script 2/3 in flash.... it used to be a nice straight forward language but now its pretty incomprehensible ...to do the same thing! I assume its some form of elitism by trying to make programming a form of black art rather than a way for ordinary humans to use a computer to do something.

You can add puppy to grub2...its just not that friendly.... and ubuntu I believe wants it for when they update the kernel.

I am but a simple child.... and I am now full of asda pastry bargains cos I went late but got a puncture for my trouble...oh well

mike

[bigpup]

Grub4dos bootloader, that comes with Puppy, is suppose to be able to make a boot entry for Ubuntu.
You run Grub4dos bootloader config to install it.

It is also suppose to be able to boot to Grub2, if you keep Grub2 installed.

From Grub4dos help:

Find Grub2

(Add for v1.6)
Some of recent Linux uses 'Grub2' instead of legacy grub. The Grub4Dos and Grub2 can coexist. If your Linux installed Grub2, and you are not contented with bootup directly from the Grub4Dos, you can chain load the Grub2 from the Grub4Dos by selecting 'Find Grub2' from the boot menu. This menu is not available with the legacy compatible menu.

[Mike Walsh]

Grub4dos bootloader, that comes with Puppy, is suppose to be able to make a boot entry for Ubuntu.
You run Grub4dos bootloader config to install it.

It is also suppose to be able to boot to Grub2, if you keep Grub2 installed.

From Grub4dos help:

Find Grub2

(Add for v1.6)
Some of recent Linux uses 'Grub2' instead of legacy grub. The Grub4Dos and Grub2 can coexist. If your Linux installed Grub2, and you are not contented with bootup directly from the Grub4Dos, you can chain load the Grub2 from the Grub4Dos by selecting 'Find Grub2' from the boot menu. This menu is not available with the legacy compatible menu.

Hi, bigpup.

Well, just to report what's happened, I took the plunge, and went ahead and installed 'Grub4DOS'. I was apprehensive, 'cos I've spent the last 6 months getting 14.04 'Trusty Tahr' just how I want it!

Needn't have worried. Grub4DOS installed like a dream, and I can now boot either 'TahrPup' or 'Trusty' (OR Lubuntu 14.04, installed on my external Seagate Expansion drive), depending on how the fancy takes me.

The only difference with Grub4DOS is that you get to see everything happening, where GRUB2 hides it from you..


Regards,

Mike.

[mikeb]

Ah goodly.... I did wonder about chainloading but I only setup up booting manually and have never touched grub 2 just know of it.

Well problem happily solved...

mike

[Mike Walsh]

Ah goodly.... I did wonder about chainloading but I only setup up booting manually and have never touched grub 2 just know of it.

Well problem happily solved...

mike

Yes, indeedy. Sometimes ya just gotta take the bit between your teeth... Okay, so GRUB2 LOOKS prettier than Grub4DOS; but who cares? It's functionality I'm interested in at that point of the start-up process, not eye-candy; it's not like I'm going to be looking at it for hours.....and it does 'precisely what it says on the tin'. I'm WELL chuffed with it! It's a good piece of kit.

Mike.

[mikeb]

A secret...you can make grub1 look amazing...with dancing penguins if you want all in full colour and decent resolution...there's a thread about it but its a one liner and a file if you want to play sometime

Mike

[Mike Walsh]

A secret...you can make grub1 look amazing...with dancing penguins if you want all in full colour and decent resolution...there's a thread about it but its a one liner and a file if you want to play sometime

Mike

Ah, right; thanks for that, Mike! I'll hunt it up sometime, and have a 'play' with it...

You CAN do the same sort of thing with GRUB2. Unfortunately, the 'Grub Customizer' supplied in the Ubuntu Software Centre, although it works extremely well for re-ordering things, and generally editing your grub.cfg file, doesn't work so well on the 'Appearance' tab; in fact, on my machine at least, it doesn't seem to work at ALL. So it's a long, complicated procedure, involving a LOT of command-line work... (Urrghh..!)

Cheers!

BTW: I take it 'Grub1' is what's referred to these days as 'Legacy' GRUB?

Mike to Mike.

[mikeb]

yes 'legacy' and gub4dos has grub1 as a subset of its functions so works for either..

I think a screenshot needed....booting my sandisk in QEMU

you add
gfxmenu penguins
to menu.lst near the top
and place this file
https://www.dropbox.com/s/7ujjbhmlt1yohhv/penguins?dl=1
in the same place as menu.lst
done
mike

[Mike Walsh]

NICE one..!

Mike.

[mikeb]

Actually credit to catdude who brought us the info on the forum ....there is instructions for making your own custom jobbie too.

No ugly pups in this corner of the world

mike

[bigpup]

Good to see it worked.

The Grub4dos in Puppy is very much a Puppy version of the boot loader.
You can modify it to have an image for the boot screen and to hide the boot process messages.
It explains how in the manual.

The thing about displaying the boot process messages.
Puppy has so many ways of running, that seeing the boot process is important to know if things worked.
There is a lot of good information about what is going on.
If there is an error, you see it, and it is a big clue as to what happened.
When the Puppy version of Grub4dos was developed. It became clear that showing the boot process was more important than hiding it.

[Mike Walsh]

Hey, bigpup.

Yes, it's definitely working. Couldn't be more pleased.

I was just a little bit concerned that I might not be able to access Ubuntu again without mucking about with 'Boot-Repair', and all the rest of it; because after about 6 month's worth of tweaking, polishing (and even a little bit of coaxing, at times!), I've finally got 'Trusty Tahr' to the point where I want to maintain it for the next 2-3 years.

Didn't fancy going through all that again!

But I needn't have worried; Grub4DOS installed without a murmur, and as a certain UK TV advert is fond of saying, 'it does exactly what it says on the tin'...

I'm very pleased with my current setup. Now I've just got to get the hang of working with Rox effectively. One question, if I may? I've noticed that if you're copying or moving with Rox from one drive to another, you see a readout of what's going on, all the way through. But if you're moving from one directory to another, within the same level, you don't. Why is that? Any particular reason for it?

Regards,

Mike.

[bigpup]

Rox has some options that control some of what you are talking about.

Right click on an open area of a Rox window and select options.

[Mike Walsh]

Thanks for that, bigpup.

I've come across the 'Options' window before (I've used the 'Pinboard' section to change font colours on the desktop, to suit a particular wallpaper), but I haven't really had a good look through it yet.

I will do so. Cheers!

Regards,

Mike.