Hello all,
I've been playing around with Puppy Linux now for a few days and I've decided that I want to persist with it on one of my old laptops, however with the laptop only having 112MB RAM, I've decided that installing it to the HDD would be the best way to use it.
I've been reading around the forums and even had a few failed attempts at installing it via the Universal installer and now I'd like to hear some peoples opinions and suggestions about the best way to start a fresh install of Puppy Linux.
My Laptop is an old Fujitsu Siemens, 633MHz, 112MB RAM, 14GB HDD. No floppy, but it does have a DVD drive.
In order to create the most native environment for Pups would it be best to make an Ext2 (I think this is what Linux uses mostly) partition on my HDD? Or should I stick to Fat32 (vFat)? which seems to be used in most other examples I have found online(Although these are mostly for dual boot systems).
Secondly, what's the best way to set up a HDD for installing Linux, I understand that Linux requires a seperate partition as a swap disk, I'd be happy to set aside ~1GB for this, is there a specific way to go about this?
Any help and suggestions would be greatly appreciated, or if you know of a really straight forward way to get Puppy Linux installed on a HDD as the only OS, and without using a Floppy, please let me know.
Cheers,
Blaise.
Installing Puppy Linux to a freshly formatted HDD
Hi,
Here are some pointers:
First, don't stay with vfat. For a HDD installation I'd recommend ext3 as it has journaling.
Second. I recommend a frugal install. I've written some detailed instructions.
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 2013#50643
Follow them using of course your own partition names. These instructions have worked every time for the users that I've sent them to.
Here are some pointers:
First, don't stay with vfat. For a HDD installation I'd recommend ext3 as it has journaling.
Second. I recommend a frugal install. I've written some detailed instructions.
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 2013#50643
Follow them using of course your own partition names. These instructions have worked every time for the users that I've sent them to.
[url]http://rarsa.blogspot.com[/url] Covering my eclectic thoughts
[url]http://www.kwlug.org/blog/48[/url] Covering my Linux How-to
[url]http://www.kwlug.org/blog/48[/url] Covering my Linux How-to
Thank you Rarsa, I think I've come across one of your posts before on this subject, can you explain to me exactly what a Frugal install is? It seems to me that it's like running the OS from the CD, but on the HDD, will it still put everything into memory? In which case I'd rather it didn't as with 112Mb I experience slow-down when I open laerge applications from the LiveCD currently.
Seamonkey grinds my machine to a halt literally!
If I want Puppy Linux to be my only OS, what is the point of a Frugal install?
Cheers,
Blaise.
Seamonkey grinds my machine to a halt literally!
If I want Puppy Linux to be my only OS, what is the point of a Frugal install?
Cheers,
Blaise.
Couldn't have said it better my self.Blaise wrote:Frugal install is? It seems to me that it's like running the OS from the CD, but on the HDD, will it still put everything into memory?
Totally agree. 112Mb is not enough to get the advantages of a frugal install.Blaise wrote:In which case I'd rather it didn't as with 112Mb
That's why I only use OperaBlaise wrote:Seamonkey grinds my machine to a halt literally!
In your case with 112MB, none.Blaise wrote:If I want Puppy Linux to be my only OS, what is the point of a Frugal install?
If you had 128 then these would be the advantages I've experienced:
- Faster response: Applications included in the LiveCD run from RAM
- Easier upgrade: Just copy three files from the CD to the HD when upgrading.
- OS, Data and personal settings completelly separate: By backing up pup_save, I have a 100% recoverable system. If something goes totally wrong, I just need to delete the bad pup_save and copy back the backed up file.
- Less power consumption: You'll barely hear the HDD spinning. This one is mainly an advantage for Laptops
- Less wear and tear of the HDD: Same as above.
And those are just the ones I had on the top of my head.
[url]http://rarsa.blogspot.com[/url] Covering my eclectic thoughts
[url]http://www.kwlug.org/blog/48[/url] Covering my Linux How-to
[url]http://www.kwlug.org/blog/48[/url] Covering my Linux How-to
hello blaise,
i'd like to add to rarsa's comments. with 112 M ram, and a swap partition, puppy should fly. there's no need for 1Gig swap though, as the general rule of thumb is 2X the amount of ram you've got. (i've got 64M ram & 200M swap & puppy performs well in either full or frugal modes).
with seamonkey slowing things down, i was experiencing similar problems with firefox, but less so upon changing to swiftfox. but this is after hours of browsing, and the solution is just Control-alt-backspace, & then restart a freshened browser.
i'd like to add to rarsa's comments. with 112 M ram, and a swap partition, puppy should fly. there's no need for 1Gig swap though, as the general rule of thumb is 2X the amount of ram you've got. (i've got 64M ram & 200M swap & puppy performs well in either full or frugal modes).
with seamonkey slowing things down, i was experiencing similar problems with firefox, but less so upon changing to swiftfox. but this is after hours of browsing, and the solution is just Control-alt-backspace, & then restart a freshened browser.
Hi Blaise and welcome. Here's some hopefully helpful sources:
Index of resources for beginner's forum: [ http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=597 ]
Wiki Main Page: [ http://puppylinux.org/wikka/PuppyLinuxMainPage ]
Raffy's HDD Guide: [ http://www.ph-islands.net/pupinstall ]
A HDD Guide: [ http://puppylinux.org/wikka/HardDiskInstall ]
Another HDD Guide: [ http://puppylinux.org/wikka/HardDriveInstall ]
How to use puppy wiki: [ http://puppylinux.org/wikka/HowToUsePuppy ]
Puppy 2.10r1 Manual:
[ http://www.puppy-linux.info/en/manual/p ... /main.html ]
Each puppy user has their own preference for using puppy in different situations. For my machines, this is a PII 233/192RAM, I prefer the full, bootable hdd install in order to hopefully free up RAM for surfing, a 500mb (remember puppy's small) ext2 partition for just the puppy operating system (OS), next a 200, 300 or 500mb (500 wont hurt on your 14GB HD) swap partition, and then a separate 'data partition' (mine's 1GB) for all non-os stuff (this makes updating versions easier and reduces 'clutter' in the OS partition and therefore probably speeds the performance of the OS). I'd recommend using ext3 rather than ext2. Ext3 has an automatic self-fixing aspect called journaling. Fat32 is generally only recomended when and where there is some need to be compatible with windows
and a masochistic desire to have to scan & defrag the partition. Just say "NO". In machines with a lot of ram (maybe 160 / 192 + ?) the fastest performance is to run entirely in ram. This would also be true if you're frequently opening and closing programs. I usually just open a program and stay there. 
Also, if you make partitions, then remember to format them. Its a separate process. (No, really, I didnt learn that the hard, frustrating, gosh-why-won't-it-work-this-time way)
.
Index of resources for beginner's forum: [ http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=597 ]
Wiki Main Page: [ http://puppylinux.org/wikka/PuppyLinuxMainPage ]
Raffy's HDD Guide: [ http://www.ph-islands.net/pupinstall ]
A HDD Guide: [ http://puppylinux.org/wikka/HardDiskInstall ]
Another HDD Guide: [ http://puppylinux.org/wikka/HardDriveInstall ]
How to use puppy wiki: [ http://puppylinux.org/wikka/HowToUsePuppy ]
Puppy 2.10r1 Manual:
[ http://www.puppy-linux.info/en/manual/p ... /main.html ]
Each puppy user has their own preference for using puppy in different situations. For my machines, this is a PII 233/192RAM, I prefer the full, bootable hdd install in order to hopefully free up RAM for surfing, a 500mb (remember puppy's small) ext2 partition for just the puppy operating system (OS), next a 200, 300 or 500mb (500 wont hurt on your 14GB HD) swap partition, and then a separate 'data partition' (mine's 1GB) for all non-os stuff (this makes updating versions easier and reduces 'clutter' in the OS partition and therefore probably speeds the performance of the OS). I'd recommend using ext3 rather than ext2. Ext3 has an automatic self-fixing aspect called journaling. Fat32 is generally only recomended when and where there is some need to be compatible with windows
and a masochistic desire to have to scan & defrag the partition. Just say "NO". In machines with a lot of ram (maybe 160 / 192 + ?) the fastest performance is to run entirely in ram. This would also be true if you're frequently opening and closing programs. I usually just open a program and stay there. Also, if you make partitions, then remember to format them. Its a separate process. (No, really, I didnt learn that the hard, frustrating, gosh-why-won't-it-work-this-time way)
.