How to install Puppy from iso to USB flash drive without CD?

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Mets
Posts: 11
Joined: Sat 23 Sep 2006, 22:31

How to install Puppy from iso to USB flash drive without CD?

#1 Post by Mets »

Hi guys,

I'm brand new to Puppy and I'm trying to install it on a USB Flash Drive. I read somewhere that the way to do this was to download Puppy, burn the ISO, run Live CD, and then install from there. However, this seems like it defeats the point. Can somebody tell me/provide some instructions as to how to install Puppy directly to the Flash Drive? I've done it before with other distros, so I can't imagine it's impossible...

Mets

raffy
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Location: Manila

first

#2 Post by raffy »

Perhaps you'll be the first to tell us how to do it another way. Your description of how it's being done now is correct. :) Welcome to Puppy!
Puppy user since Oct 2004. Want FreeOffice? [url=http://puppylinux.info/topic/freeoffice-2012-sfs]Get the sfs (English only)[/url].

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WhoDo
Posts: 4428
Joined: Wed 12 Jul 2006, 01:58
Location: Lake Macquarie NSW Australia

Re: flash drive/usb install

#3 Post by WhoDo »

Mets wrote:Hi guys,

I'm brand new to Puppy and I'm trying to install it on a USB Flash Drive. I read somewhere that the way to do this was to download Puppy, burn the ISO, run Live CD, and then install from there. However, this seems like it defeats the point. Can somebody tell me/provide some instructions as to how to install Puppy directly to the Flash Drive? I've done it before with other distros, so I can't imagine it's impossible...

Mets
Hi Mets. Welcome to Puppy. To quote the Borg, "We will assimilate you!" :twisted:

I don't know what your current operating system is, but maybe there is a utility somewhere out there for that OS to allow you to "burn" or "unpack" your Puppy ISO image directly to the USB drive. Can Nero do that? I don't know.

Failing that, however, Raffy is right. Puppy will boot from USB but you have to get it there in the first place, and the current process described is the only way I know for sure.

Cheers.

GuestToo
Puppy Master
Posts: 4083
Joined: Wed 04 May 2005, 18:11

#4 Post by GuestToo »

you can copy 3 files from the cd or the iso ... vmlinuz, initrd.gz, and pup_210.sfs (if you are installing Puppy 2.10)

and that's it, Puppy is installed

the files in the iso can be extracted using Winmage or Isobuster, or the iso can be mounted using a virtual drive, like Alcohol

or the iso can be mounted -o loop if you have a Linux os running, like Puppy

there needs to be a boot loader to start Puppy. A boot loader like syslinux or grub can be installed on the usb drive (copy a couple of files, type "syslinux"), or your boot loader can be configured to boot Puppy, or Puppy on the usb drive can be booted from a floppy or cd

the easiest way to install Puppy on a usb drive is probably from Puppy, and the easiest way to get Puppy running is to burn a cd and boot it

vern72023
Posts: 158
Joined: Mon 26 Dec 2005, 05:15
Location: Jacksonville Fl

lack of CD

#5 Post by vern72023 »

I do not use any cd drives and therefore have never booted puppy fromn one
one of the main attractiiions of puppy for me has always been the ease of creating usb systems without havinbg to use a cd
I used to use the HP usb utility to create the bootable drive, then ran syslinux to add the bootloader - now however I just use puppy to do that

I run total commander under wine and that will open up any iso file for me, so i download the iso and copy the 3 files from the iso ... vmlinuz, initrd.gz, and pup_verID.sfs to the usb and have my system -

it has worked well for me from ver 1.04 right on up to the current

george
george

raffy
Posts: 4798
Joined: Wed 25 May 2005, 12:20
Location: Manila

cfg

#6 Post by raffy »

George (Vern), may I ask about more details about this direct install from ISO files to USB? Did you not use the CFG file where the boot-up instructions are stored (much like grub)?

And there must have been changes in the contents of this CFG file from version 1 to version 2?
Puppy user since Oct 2004. Want FreeOffice? [url=http://puppylinux.info/topic/freeoffice-2012-sfs]Get the sfs (English only)[/url].

vern72023
Posts: 158
Joined: Mon 26 Dec 2005, 05:15
Location: Jacksonville Fl

CFG

#7 Post by vern72023 »

Raffy hi

No I use my own syslinux.cfg this is the one that i use for my 60GB HD (it has a 4GB system partition)
I have never really got on with Grub or Lilo and have always felt comfortable with syslinux (or extlinux or PElinux etc) .
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
default 2
#DISPLAY BOOT.MSG
prompt 2
label 1
kernel vmlinuz
append root=/dev/ram0 initrd=initrd.gz PMEDIA=usbfd quiet
label 2
kernel vmlinuz
append root=/dev/ram0 initrd=initrd.gz PMEDIA=usbflash quiet
label 3
kernel vmlinuz
append root=/dev/ram0 initrd=initrd.gz PFIX=RAM
label 4
kernel vmlinuz
append root=/dev/ram0 initrd=initrd.gz PMEDIA=ataflash quiet
label 5
kernel vmlinuz
append root=/dev/ram0 initrd=initrd.gz PMEDIA=ideflash quiet
label 6
kernel linuz19 root=/dev/ram0 initrd=img19.gz ramdisk_size=14490
append PMEDIA=usbflash PSLEEP=5 PHOME=sdb1 PFILE=pup024-none-65536
timeout 100
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
opt 1 I use for booting from a Victorinox 2GB usb and opt 4 is the one i use for the cf card that acts as a hard drive on my neoware intelligent terminal
opt 6 is a fallback to the 1.09ce which is stored on the same drive but which i have not used for a while - but which i needed under 2.1 I seem to remember as that would not boot on my wife's e-machine

On my normal boot which is with a 60GB USB HD attached to the neoware (now Lenovo) intelligent terminal I have it partitioned with a 4GB FAT system , a 27GB FAT32 and a 26GB ext2 layout which enables me to work with the elements of the build directly as I do tend to modify the pup###.sfs files quite a bit since a lot of the programs which are included in the standard build are of no use to me and there are a number of programs i need that are not included - and again its a personal thing but I prefer to create my customized versions directly rather than rely on the various remastering scripts.

my normal system drive (HOME) layout is
Backup
Profiles (which contains my Seamonkey Profiles (runs under native windows / puppy)
Personal (live data files)
Stored (encrypted zip data files)
Temp (Seamonkey cache, downloads etc )

Tiny (Total Commander, ACEMoney,Atlantis, Irfanview, Treepad, Textpad, Planmaker, Foxit, PPTViewer) - (which run under native windows/Wine)
PortableOpenOffice (which runs under native windows/wine)

vmlinuz
initrd.gz
boot.msg
ldlinux.sys
syslinux.cfg
pup_save.3fs
mystuff.2fs (encrypted)
pupswap.swp
wine_210.sfs
pup_210.sfs

probably more info that you wanted but I hope it helps

george
george

Mets
Posts: 11
Joined: Sat 23 Sep 2006, 22:31

#8 Post by Mets »

Thanks everyone for your replies! I'm glad to know that this is indeed possible. I copied over the files that you mentioned and I ran syslinux on my USB drive. I also copied over boot.msg and changed isolinux.cfg to syslinux.cfg and told it to display it. I restarted my computer, and...it almost worked. The USB booted and I got the welcome screen. It then started to try to boot Puppy, and progressed through most of it, but failed with the following error:

Code: Select all

Looking for pup_save.3fs file on sda1 partition (vfat f.s)
ERROR, cannot find Puppy on idecd boot media
PUPMODE=1 PDEV=1
Exited to initial ramdisk commandline
but when I type ls, I see lots of puppy-related files...

Any idea on how to fix this? Something with syslinux perhaps? I'm not sure why it's looking for things on the CD drive :?

Mets
Posts: 11
Joined: Sat 23 Sep 2006, 22:31

#9 Post by Mets »

Actually, after doing some research (since I'm still without my Puppy), perhaps it has to do with the supposed "USB boot timeout" issue, found here:
http://www.murga.org/~puppy/viewtopic.p ... 3437750208
and here
http://www.puppyos.net/blog/index.php?e ... 914-190736

which Barry seems to be working on/intends to work on??

Mets

** edit **
Well, scratch that. I tried it but no luck with the new initrd.gz file. Still getting the same problem...:(

Oddly enough, however, I was able to get Grafpup up and running using the method that you guys described above, and I am currently using it (and Opera) to edit this post, which is very cool! Although, I really don't need the extra programs in this version of Puppy nor am I a big fan of the "Ted wordprocessor". In general, it would be nice if the normal Puppy would work with USB, but this is at least a step in the right direction. If anybody still knows how to fix the most recent version of Puppy, I'd be much appreciative if they could help me out.

marksouth2000
Posts: 622
Joined: Wed 05 Apr 2006, 20:43

#10 Post by marksouth2000 »

PUPMODE needs to be set to the correct value. This happens magically if you install from the CD. Search the forum for the right value for "running from USB", it's in the region of 13.

sml
Posts: 162
Joined: Tue 10 Jan 2006, 02:56

#11 Post by sml »

This way is very easy & simple using GRUB :)

http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/art ... page=0%2C0

vern72023
Posts: 158
Joined: Mon 26 Dec 2005, 05:15
Location: Jacksonville Fl

#12 Post by vern72023 »

couple of questions
1> if you ooopen your syslinux.cfg in notepad what does the entry look like
2> what version of puppy are you having the problem with. In the 2.x series you only have to define PMEDIA and therre are a number of options for that.. In my syslinux.cfg I have given myself a number of options since this is dependant on how the BIOS sees the usb drive.

I foound that on most BIOSs usbfd, usbflash, usb work but on the VIA chioset I had to use either ataflash or ideflash

george
george

raffy
Posts: 4798
Joined: Wed 25 May 2005, 12:20
Location: Manila

media

#13 Post by raffy »

Error says:
cannot find Puppy on idecd boot media
- and idecd is not your media, so try other values as suggested.

Hey, George, thanks a lot for your detailed explanations - much appreciated. :)
Puppy user since Oct 2004. Want FreeOffice? [url=http://puppylinux.info/topic/freeoffice-2012-sfs]Get the sfs (English only)[/url].

Mets
Posts: 11
Joined: Sat 23 Sep 2006, 22:31

#14 Post by Mets »

My syslinux.cfg is the same as the isolinux.cfg that comes with the cd

Code: Select all

default puppy
display boot.msg
prompt 1
label puppy
kernel vmlinuz
append root=/dev/ram0 initrd=initrd.gz PMEDIA=idecd
timeout 50
Would I want PMEDIA=usbflash quiet or PMEDIA=usbfd quiet?

Also, how does one go about changing PUPMODE?

Mets

raffy
Posts: 4798
Joined: Wed 25 May 2005, 12:20
Location: Manila

One at a time

#15 Post by raffy »

Trying "PMEDIA=usbflash" first will be fine. When that solves the problem, maybe you need not bother about the rest.
Puppy user since Oct 2004. Want FreeOffice? [url=http://puppylinux.info/topic/freeoffice-2012-sfs]Get the sfs (English only)[/url].

Mets
Posts: 11
Joined: Sat 23 Sep 2006, 22:31

#16 Post by Mets »

Awesome, works like a charm! Thanks everybody!!

I guess just one more noob question - since I've installed Puppy on the USB drive, will it now always run in RAM or will it actually run off of the drive?

Again, thanks a million. I'm going to write up the steps we went through here and put them in a concise place so there is an easily accessible guide on directly installing Puppy to USB. Perhaps I'll even make a little install script for Windows users so they can simply run that and it will do all of the aboe for them...:)

Mets

raffy
Posts: 4798
Joined: Wed 25 May 2005, 12:20
Location: Manila

HowTo

#17 Post by raffy »

Yes, please do in the HowTo section of the forum. Thanks for that!

Well, as long as the PC is on, Puppy will be in RAM (if RAM size is adequate to load Puppy = 128 MB and up), and your USB will be needed in the slot if Puppy read pup_save.3fs at bootup from it. If you transfer the pup_save.3fs to hard disk and Puppy uses that, you can unmount/remove the boot USB flash after booting.
Puppy user since Oct 2004. Want FreeOffice? [url=http://puppylinux.info/topic/freeoffice-2012-sfs]Get the sfs (English only)[/url].

vern72023
Posts: 158
Joined: Mon 26 Dec 2005, 05:15
Location: Jacksonville Fl

#18 Post by vern72023 »

Great that it worked for you - btw one thing I have found is that if for any reason puppy does not close down properly I have found that I lose space on the usb drive - for that reason (and as good practice I keep a copy of the main files as backup and then if it does happen it is an easy matter to reformqt the usb and copy in my backup
I love that feature - complete OS restore in under 5 minutes :-)
George
george

raffy
Posts: 4798
Joined: Wed 25 May 2005, 12:20
Location: Manila

disk check

#19 Post by raffy »

I lose space on the usb drive
- yeah, and you know where that gets fixed - in scandisk in Win95/98, as the USB's file format is FAT16.

We should begin using ext2 or FreeDOS for USB. (Or I should begin to learn more about it. :) )

Or include a scandisk-type of DOS utility in Puppy (it already has mkdosfs). Or maybe it has one but am not yet aware of it. :wink:
Puppy user since Oct 2004. Want FreeOffice? [url=http://puppylinux.info/topic/freeoffice-2012-sfs]Get the sfs (English only)[/url].

vern72023
Posts: 158
Joined: Mon 26 Dec 2005, 05:15
Location: Jacksonville Fl

#20 Post by vern72023 »

i have actually had quite good results wth the inbuilt dosfschk -a -f which comes with puppy, but i used to run the xp chkdsk
i found it was quicker to just have a spare backup on hand and reformat

i am not quite ready to get off fat on the usb as my job entails the engineering of a lot of wintel solutions - my preference is linux but my expertise with MS has bought me 2 houses over the last 10 years and got me a lot of stock options so I can't really complain too much

george
george

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