How to move Puppy frugal install to a new computer? (SOLVED)

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sarakay · #1 Post by **sarakay** » Mon 20 Mar 2017, 16:50

Hi, I've been using Puppy for years but have a beginner question.

I have a Puppy frugal install of Tahrpup running well on a Thinkpad T61. I've bought a new-to-me Thinkpad T420. Will be installing a new SSD in the T420.

Can I do a frugal Tahrpup install on the new laptop, then move the savefolder over to it and just tweak the settings?

I'm also running VirtualBox from an sfs on the old computer. After copying the sfs to new new computer, can I move my virtual XP machine or will it have to be reinstalled?

Thanks!

ally · #2 Post by **ally** » Mon 20 Mar 2017, 21:12

I suspect you will need to create a new savefile for the new machine, however, try, it won't hurt

bigpup · #3 Post by **bigpup** » Mon 20 Mar 2017, 21:33

The difference in hardware may give you problems.
Really depends on how different they are.
Video driver setup and network are usually the big issues.

Only way to really know what will happen is just do it.

Same for the VirtualBox sfs and the virtual XP machine.
Hardware differences will be the issues how well it corrects to at least get it running.

Check all setup and config settings.

nic007 · #4 Post by **nic007** » Tue 21 Mar 2017, 02:20

Could work but you may have bootup problems because of different hardware setup. You will probably have to run xorgwizard at bootup. If you can't get it to boot, it may be worth a try to delete the /etc directory in the savefolder first before booting. Your savefolder must be on a linux partition on your new machine.

8Geee · #5 Post by **8Geee** » Tue 21 Mar 2017, 02:33

JMHO

I would consider booting off the CD/DVD rather than migrate. Save your important stuff on a USB stick (the newer the better) including browser bookmarks.

Regards
8Geee

sarakay · #6 Post by **sarakay** » Tue 21 Mar 2017, 18:18

OP here. Thanks folks, it doesn't seem to be looking good for just moving the save folder, does it? Thought I would do it to save time, but it might take more time to tweak it and solve problems than it would to just reinstall everything.

Side note: new-to-me laptop has Win10 preinstalled. Can't wait to get rid of it!

Take care,
Sara

Burn_IT · #7 Post by **Burn_IT** » Wed 22 Mar 2017, 11:42

I have done something similar several times in the past and Puppy seemed to cope quite well.

mikeslr · #8 Post by **mikeslr** » Wed 22 Mar 2017, 13:18

Same experience as Burn_it. Usually works. Worth trying. Worse case scenario, it doesn't and you have to start from scratch, having wasted a couple of minutes.

mikesLr

rockedge · #9 Post by **rockedge** » Wed 22 Mar 2017, 13:36

I just move the save file /folder to the new install....works 99% of the time for me. It matters it seems, what format the drive with the original copy of the savefile is, and that the new drive the save file is being moved to matches.
Other than that I think just moving the save file will work.

Marv · #10 Post by **Marv** » Wed 22 Mar 2017, 14:06

I move frugal installs between several quite different hardware setups often. Pretty much exclusively on the 'newer' pups in my signature. I clean/edit and filecheck the savefile before moving as follows (make a copy, rename it and mount it to edit, unmount and filecheck it).
Delete the following files:
/~/.flsynclient #avoids problems with different screen & touchpad resolution and capabilities
/etc/asound.state # avoids problems with different sound cards
/etc/udev/rules.d/70-libmtp.rules #avoids IO port renumbering
/etc/X11/xorg.conf #overall config, autogenerated in newer pups
/etc/pwf/pwf.conf #I use PWF 4.1 for connections, Re-setup of Frisbee etc. will usually be necessary as port naming often changes

Going from memory here but I don't think I've left any out. Without this minor cleanup lockups are common. With it, seldom to never on my machines. Lots faster for me than generating new savefiles with my setup on each class of machine I use.

rockedge · #11 Post by **rockedge** » Wed 22 Mar 2017, 15:22

Hey @Marv Thanks for this information...very valuable stuff!
totally helpful....

Mike Walsh · #12 Post by **Mike Walsh** » Wed 22 Mar 2017, 16:15

Can't see a problem with that at all. As Burn_IT & mikeslr have said, shouldn't give any issues. If I'm going to 'migrate' between machines, I simply copy the entire partition the Puppy 'frugal' sits in.....not just the save-file/folder.

I've done this many times, and 99 times out 100 it goes OK. If this works going from an AMD 64-bit dual-core set-up on an old Compaq desktop to an Intel, 32-bit single-core setup on an even older Dell laptop, I don't think you'll have a problem; your two machines are far more closely-related than my own two.

In any case, Pup will auto-detect the hardware before it loads the kernel modules, so you're pretty much certain to have the right hardware config.

Just my tuppence-worth, from my own experience.

Mike.

sarakay · #13 Post by **sarakay** » Thu 23 Mar 2017, 00:27

OP here. You guys are giving me hope. I'm going to try it. The SSD is already in the new laptop, formatted ext3 just like the drive where puppy is currently installed. The new laptop has a second HDD caddy, so I will remove the HDD from the old laptop, put it in the new one's second HDD caddy, and just copy everything over to the SSD via Tahrpup running off a USB drive. We'll see how it goes. Thanks!

EDIT: It worked! Thanks again.

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How to move Puppy frugal install to a new computer? (SOLVED)

How to move Puppy frugal install to a new computer? (SOLVED)