How to install Puppy via USB onto old Asus netbook?

[bigpup]

reformatted a 4 GB flash drive in preparation for tomorrow.

You probably are going to need to flag that partition you formatted as boot.
Whatever you used to do the formate should offer the option to set flags.

I assume the USB flash drive has one 4GB partition.

[cthisbear]

" cthisbear, why do you need more than one OS? Just curious. "

I fix computers occasionally and I want a multiboot so I can
boot various Puppies plus the Falcon Boot cd.

An example >>I have a Sandisk Cruzer Facet 8 gigs

amongst many other usbs.......looks like this

https://www.officeworks.com.au/shop/off ... sdcz5532gb

I was given a HP Compaq nc6400 over a year ago.

The only usbs that boot on that piece of work are the Sandisk 8gig
and an old LG one Gig..

4 other brands failed me.
Yet they boot other PCs.

Some motherboards remember the boot order and many don't.
My desktop Gigabyte has to configure the hard drive order every time.
F12 never works.

Your Eeepc should work every time after setting it up correctly.

:::

And I always leave Windows there....but enjoy Puppy.
Trust me....you might just want it once.

Remove all the antivirus.
Only install Malwarebytes antivirus free edition.
Turn off updates.
Use an old Ccleaner version...I mean from a year ago because Avast stuffed it up...and clean the hard drive.
It can also remove all the unnecessary startups.
Windows autoruns is good for that as well and removing dead registry entries.

Use my fix Windows manually remove the crap from here halfway down

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-re ... ?t=1198871

and your machine will speed up quite a bit.

:::::::;

usb booting issues....a few of my posts

http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... 407#973407

http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... 452#884452

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 925#773925

Chris.

[DavidSpector]

Chris, wow. 32 GB, and so cheap too. I expect to see a 1 TB flash drive someday soon, maybe not too affordable at first. Thanks for all the other interesting stuff. Every once in a while I search for articles on speeding up Windows or Firefox; every one is worthless. No one has discovered why XP runs so slowly in its old age.

I sped it up a lot by deleting from Firefox the bloated history database, which contains much more than just a URL and a date--it has the URL and position for every entry in a tab's history. What a poor design. And the data for the extra caching of favicons and DNS entries are repeated in several of FF's databases.

But soon it got slow again for some other reason I can't find.

I was a software engineer in the old days on DEC computers where you had 256 or 512 words for each device driver. To fit a dumb disk driver supporting bad sectors into that space (minus the table of initial bad sectors that came from the formatting program) required using instructions as constants and many other tricks.

In the early days of Multics (which was the inspiration for Unix) we got a quota of 10 MB for our account, so we had to delete old segments (files) manually sometimes. In those days there were no videos, no images, no sound files, so we didn't need so much primary and secondary memory...

[Sailor Enceladus]

@DavidSpector: So how is installing puppy going?

Thanks! I will back up anything needed from the old computer. If the Windows recovery partitions are untouched, I might even be able to restore Windows in case of disaster.

cthisbear, why do you need more than one OS? Just curious.

But there is also no point discussing recovery when I've already said I don't need Windows on that computer.

I think your posts have conflicting information in them. Your 2nd and 3rd post should not have been made since you already have given a reason. Dual-booting XP and puppy is very easy to do, just follow the instructions by bigpup to put puppy on a USB, then when booted into puppy on the USB just use Puppy Universal Installer and grub4dos to add puppy to your hard drive (it will also add it to your boot menu). If you have any serious questions while doing the installation to USB or HDD, just ask.

[Mike Walsh]

Chris, wow. 32 GB, and so cheap too. I expect to see a 1 TB flash drive someday soon, maybe not too affordable at first.

I have half-a-dozen or so of these:-

http://www.argos.co.uk/product/4719823

Pretty cheap, and around the size of your thumbnail. I've used a pair of them to give me 256 GB of 'external storage' to a 15-yr old P4-based Dell laptop, via a PCMCIA 'CardBus' adapter with 4 USB 2.0 ports. (USB 3.0 running through a USB 2.0 port is much faster than USB 2.0 running through the same port. Try it for yourself.)

The other two ports contain dongles for wireless mouse & keyboard.

There are plenty of '1TB flash drives' swamping eBay & Amazon. Beware, though; most of these are 'fakes', probably cheap 8 or 16 GB drives 'masquerading' as much larger ones to fleece the gullible.

------------------------------------------------------

To answer your other question to Chris about why so many operating systems, well..... For some of us, the attraction is more in getting the OS set-up and working, rather than actually using it! There's a very long-running thread on the Forum, the regular participants of which spend all their time doing nothing but try out one Linux OS after another.....

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=69050

Each to their own.


Mike.

[DavidSpector]

foxpup, this is a reply to your posting http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/postin ... e&p=977494 above.

You say that installation of puppy along with Windows is easy, then you give instructions that I find impossible to understand about partitions.

As I've said, I want to replace Windows, which is too slow for my wife's browsing. I don't really understand partitions or the tools that work with them.

This thread has grown, but I will continue to look past your early posting and see if someone has given instructions that don't involve partitions.

I'm running UNetbootin, which seems to have an easy-to-use interface but no Help file. Someone said to follow the instructions, but I see no instructions. I do see a button for putting the ISO onto my flash drive (it even has the Windows drive letter correct already), so I'm going to click it. I know you are all on my side, so I trust I'm doing the right thing.

[DavidSpector]

It copied files for awhile and finished. I'll look through the posts to see what I should do next (my memory is bad because of cancer treatments).

[foxpup]

foxpup, Your reply is typical of the help offered to beginners. Not one word actually answers the questions I asked.

Well, I did try to give you an answer. Sorry you do not understand it.

I am really looking for a way to download a Linux optimized for browsing without requiring any choices or other work on my part.

After downloading there is still some work to do: installing, that is make the computer understand it has to work with the downloaded system. The instructions I refer to just involve copying some files (4?), copying 1 file for backup, and adding some text to 2 files. All basic things. That is why I call it "easy". There are no partitions to make or installation programs to run. You know exactly what happens and can repair yourself if needed.

then you give instructions that I find impossible to understand about partitions

I am saying there that you do not need to do anything with partitions, but that you can do it all on the C: drive that is already there.
C: is a partition. You cannot ignore partitions, you can however avoid having to create, whipe or remove them.

It copied files for awhile and finished. I'll look through the posts to see what I should do next

Sounds good. I see you follow a slightly different road. You did step 1. from the 7 steps by mikeslr. Let us know how you get along.

[DavidSpector]

Success!

I've gone through the quick setup and had no trouble connecting to my home network and running Pale Moon and browsing to my nonprofit website.

Meanwhile, my wife has left to visit her son and family for her grandson's birthday.

So far, Linux/Puppy/Tahrpup has proved to be very smart about its setup--it immediately got screen, mouse, and keyboard running just fine.

This is just what I wanted! Thank you all.

It looks like each time I boot I will get the system already set up, although I haven't tried that yet.

If this will run noticeably faster if installed on the netbook's hard drive, then I should do that next. Too bad it can't be done by running a program or clicking a button, but I can't expect all of this to go so smoothly.

I will follow your advice to print out your instructions to follow them easily.

So somebody please get elected to give me detailed instructions for installing on the old computer's hard drive. No partition changes, please.

Or if this is already available on the web, just give me the URL.

[Sailor Enceladus]

Hi DavidSpector,

Glad you got Tahrpup working on USB. To put on hard drive, when you're in Tahrpup on the USB stick, click on Install icon on desktop, then select Puppy Universal Installer (top icon), Internal Hard Drive (probably the first icon on the 2nd section from the top), pick the partition you want, choose Directory, grab the vmulinuz from your USB, Frugal Install, and it should copy it to a folder on that drive. After that is finished, then run Grub4Dos bootloader config in the menu, and it will create a menu entry for Puppy next time you boot (without the USB stick plugged in). You can delete Windows XP later if you want, everything you need will be in the puppy directory on hard drive. Good luck!

[bigpup]

It looks like each time I boot I will get the system already set up, although I haven't tried that yet.

Now we are getting into how Puppy works.
That you will need to learn from using Puppy.
Puppy does do some things different from other OPS.

Yes everything is saved if you make a save file when you do the first shutdown.
You will be asked to make a save.
Select to put the save on the usb if offered a choice.
The shutdown process will walk you through making a save.
Any settings and stuff added are stored in the save.
It updates as things change while running Tahrpup.

Because you are using fat32 for the format on the USB flash drive.
The save file can only be up to 4GB in size.
When you first make it you are given choices about what size.
The save file stays that size until you use the resize personal storage file program to change the size.

Think of the save as the data storage location for Puppy.
Example:
save file is 2GB in size.
Tahrpup has stored 300MB of data in it.
The save file still has 1.7GB of free space left for storage.

[DavidSpector]

Sailor Enceladus, please explain "grab the vmulinuz from your USB".

I had fun with puppy live on the USB, now taking forever to save a 512 MB Save image.

I like this desktop so far, especially the fact that everything works and that the menu system is so compact. Too bad I can't use Linux for my "real work" since I have to be compatible with Windows. Also because I've grown dependent on the wonderful tools I've found under Windows: editor (although I woud probably love retirning to Emacs if you have it, PHP, good integration between those two, etc.

Probably I would need a more familiar name in Linux distros for serious development work, but this puppy seems perfect for my wife, who only does browsing and maybe someday Skype video.

Thanks all so much for your patience with me and your help so far.

[Mike Walsh]

@ DavidSpector:-

One word of advice. You won't notice any difference in speed during normal operation, whether you run from USB or whether you run from the hard drive. Puppy's operational speed is dictated by the clock speed of your RAM.....and it doesn't matter if loaded from USB or from HDD, that will not change.

What you will notice is a difference in boot-up and shut-down times.....but that is all.

----------------------------------------------------------

Since I haven't run Windows for years, I'm not the best person to give advice on what you want to do next.....I can't replicate your steps, so as to give relevant advice!

Sailor's instructions appear very straight-forward; however, if you need any clarification, don't hesitate to ask.

You won't need to make any partition changes; you will, however, need to specify the partition you want Puppy installed to. The Puppy Universal Installer won't be able to perform its job unless you do.

What you're contemplating is, to the best of my knowledge, only possible with Puppy.....since it is the only O/S, Linux or otherwise, which is capable of running from a directory/folder, rather than requiring a partition all to itself, the way Windows (and most 'mainstream' Linux distros) want.

Any problems, ask away. That's what we're here for! This isn't any harder than any other 'install'.....it's just different to what you're used to, that's all.

.....I would probably love returning to Emacs if you have it.....

Hah! The man's a glutton for punishment, too... (You don't happen to have a penchant for Vim, too, by any chance?)

It's certainly available if you really want it. I believe you would be able to get it through the Puppy Package Manager in Tahrpup (the PPM, for short).


Mike.

[foxpup]

Sailor Enceladus, please explain "grab the vmulinuz from your USB".

I had fun with puppy live on the USB, now taking forever to save a 512 MB Save image.

Sailor probably means that you click the file vmlinuz on your usb when the installer asks you to point where the system files are. The installer will give you the choice to indicate a directory or an iso file; choose directory and navigate to your usb and click vmlinuz on the usb.

The long save with the save file is probably just for making it. The first boot after that may take a little longer too. After that everything should be fast. Fastest will be to have the savefile on your hard disc and not on your usb stick.

[DavidSpector]

Mike,

Yes, I figured out that puppy saves into a partition just like a Windows device drive letter, rather than creating a partition.

My old computer has a C: and D: drive that are both partitions on the same hard drive (C: is outside for speed, and D: is inside). So I am using D: to save the live puppy settings. I guess that large first Save time was because it was formatting a customized Linux fs to fit the D: drive.

Well, if the only speed difference truly will be boot speed (because paging is done to the hard disk and/or because most paging will not needed because 1 GB of memory is enough), then maybe I'll just continue to use this as a live USB OS. The boot speed isn't bad at all. I'll see what my wife says when she tries this out. I wonder if the system will sleep if I shut the lid?

Wow--it sleeps faster than Windows! This is what we will use to get around the boot time (which is still faster than a Windows boot). No need, I guess, to install on the hard disk at all (except, maybe, to be nice to the flash drive, which has a finite writing lifetime).

If I had known about live USB puppy years ago, I would have set this up then, and not bothered with customizing Windows for my wife. So far, this is providing the browsing speed I was hoping for, and new life for the old computer (whose name is Charlotte, by the way).

I will definitely post this somewhere to help others put new life into old computers.

And I think I'm done here. Thanks to all and I will hang around if anyone has anything to comment about.

[foxpup]

What you're contemplating is, to the best of my knowledge, only possible with Puppy.....since it is the only O/S, Linux or otherwise, which is capable of running from a directory/folder, rather than requiring a partition all to itself, the way Windows (and most 'mainstream' Linux distros) want.

There are 'live' installs for several mainstream distros, but they are (much) harder to get them running than Puppy, and they NEVER run as well and as fast as Puppy does. Puppy is made for running this way.
(I installed Knoppix, debian and slackware 'frugally', maybe forget some)

[DavidSpector]

Okay, I can't resist replying about Emacs. Emacs is the programmable text editor that even secretaries can and have learned to use (it is easy to learn one larger subset at a time). Everything about it is customizeable through two levels of customization, all based on an extension of the Lisp programming language. Every command has its own Help, right there where you need it (much better written than man pages).

Emacs can easily be customized to work with any desired keyboard map, so it can simulate other editors but go way beyond them in features with just a bit of programming. You can run programs and network from inside it, and do development work easily.

For example, I wrote a small extension so that you can create files containing a list, one per line, of all the directories, files, and commands associated with a task (such as fixing a bug in a product). To open any of these, you just locate the cursor to it and press a single key combination. I wrote another that can complete whatever word you are writing by looking back in the current file for words with the same prefix.

It is almost an insult to even mention Vim, Vi, Edit, Teco, Notepad, Notetab, or any other editor in the same sentence with Emacs. It comes out of the box easier to use than any of those (although, it must be admitted, with a bigger first-time learning hurdle than any other editor).

[bigpup]

Well, I was posting this before I read your last post.
See, Puppy on a USB flash drive is not so bad.

But, if you want to do the hard drive thing.


Before deleting Windows XP and taking over the hard drive.
Be sure that is what you want to do.

Tahrpup can be installed alongside Windows XP and have both on the hard drive.

You tell us for sure what you want.

Maybe just use Tahrpup from the USB flash drive and see if it really is what you want.

If you do not want Windows on drive.

You can keep the hard drive setup the way it is, but I would redo it before installing ONLY Tahrpup.

If you no longer want Windows on the computer I would reformat the hard drive to one single partition formatted ext3 and flagged boot.

menu>System>Gparted Partition manager can do this.
Start Gparted.
Choose the hard drive as the device to access. (Probably (sda)
If it shows only one partition on the drive.
Right click on the partition.
Select format.
Select ext3.
Press apply button at top right of window.
After the format process is finished.
Right click on the partition.
Select manage flags.
Select boot.
Select close.
You should now have a partition on the hard drive formatted ext 3 and flagged boot.
Close Gparted.

If it shows more than one partition on the drive and you only want one.
Right click on each one.
Select delete.
Apply.
Right click on the now unallocated space.
Select new.
(Only change the format selection to ext3. Other selections are OK the way they are.)
Select add.
Select apply.
The new partition will be made.
Right click on it.
Select manage flags.
Select boot.
Select close.
You should now have one partition on the hard drive formatted ext 3 and flagged boot.

Gparted is finished close it.

[bigpup]

It may seem like we are not directly answering your original question.
But we see too many people do something installing Puppy and it was not really what they wanted to do.

Running from the USB flash drive.
Puppy is installed on the computer.
Just a different storage device.

The first time Puppy makes a save file. It is slow to make it, but that is because of the make process.
The save file is important and needs to be 100% correctly made. Not something to do fast.
Using it will not be that slow.

[DavidSpector]

bigpup, you seem not to realize that installing puppy was exactly what I wanted to do. It solves my problem perfectly.

I don't want instructions on changing partitions because there is no reason to do so. My existing partitions are far larger than my wife will ever need for any purpose.

If you would just read my recent postings you would see that I am happy running the live puppy on flash memory, at least for now. Everything is faster than on Windows, as I expected. I just didn't expect I could do it with a live flash drive, and so easily. All the beginners instructions, all of them, are way too complicated for what beginners want.

Anyway, I've been playing around with puppy on USB and have some problems:

1. The screen goes blank after ten minutes. The screensaver controls are not part of the fs that is saved on the hard disk, so any changes don't persist across system restarts. I don't need a screensaver because my modern monitor doesn't need one.

This problem of losing customization of screensaver and power settings on reboot goes back to 2008, according to web searching, and has only clumsy solutions involving two startup processes. Why is this customization not yet fixed to be simple and persistent?

2. I want to install VNC (RealVNC) to view the old computer's screen and send keyboard events from other computers on my home network (the software is free). The problem is that VNC doesn't know about puppy, so it wants to install in /usr/bin and /usr/lib, which I think don't exist.

The VNC website says to download the installer and follow directions, but the "installer" is an archive of all their various Linux versions. An archive is not a program! None of the directories and programs in the archive are for puppy, of course, or for Tahrpup. Should I give up, because puppy was never designed to run any arbitrary app? It's okay, I don't mind giving up, I just want someone to tell me so.