As I wrote, the best way to try any Puppy is to run it from a USB-Key. There's an builtin application called Universal Installer, probably on the Setup Menu, but I
never use it. A frugal install merely consists of copying the system files you'll find on the USB-Key to wherever you want to locate your Puppy and almost certainly --as your computer does not require booting via UEFI-- running grub4dos. Grub4dos' name is misleading. Grub4dos will install a bootloader and create a menu.lst which will list every operating system on the computer. On boot-up, you get to choose which operating system you want to boot into.
The
system files of AtomicPup-2020 consist of
initrd.gz, vmlinuz, and
puppy_slacko_5.7.sfs. [See note below]. With AtomicPup running from a USB-Stick, you'll notice that there are drive icons just above the taskbar. Most likely the one on the far-right will have an "x" in its right-top corner. Depending on its current(default) theme, it may look like a USB-Key. At any rate, placing your mouse on that icon will provide a tool-tip telling you its size and format. Placing the mouse-cursor on a different desktop drive icon will provide information about that partition.
Doing a Frugal install may be as simple as the following from your running Puppy:
1. Left-click the USB-Key’s desktop drive icon to open a window to it. Leave the window open.
2. Left-Click a desktop drive icon to the hard-drive/partition where you want Puppy to be located. We’ll call that partition sdaX.
3. Right-click an empty space on sdaX. From the popup-menu, select New>directory and give it a name, such as ‘atomic’. Left-Click the ‘atomic’ folder to open a window to it.
4. Place your mouse-cursor on
initrd.gz. Left-Press, hold, then drag it into the ‘atomic’ folder and select copy. Do the same with the
vmlinuz and puppy_slacko_5.7.sfs files.
5. From your running Puppy, open Menu>Setup>Grub4dos. Select sda as the location for its install and check the ‘search only this device’ box. See the last two sentences of the first paragraph above. That’s it.
But don’t do that yet. Since your computer has been used, and may still have on it, other operating systems, I’d want to know more about them and the partitions on your computer. Here’s why: Grub4dos can’t write to a partition which was formatted Linux Ext4 64-bit by other Linuxes. So you’d have to use a different boot-loader, such as the one Mint may have installed. Or do what I frequently do: place Puppies on the hard-drive but setup a small USB-Key to hold grub4dos boot-loader. Plug in that USB-Key, boot Puppies. Unplug it; boot everything else. There are other possibilities.
If in installing Mint you chose LVM –logical volume management-- you won’t be able to place Puppy on any partition under its control. It would be best to boot into Mint and resize a partition. And while you can place a Frugal Puppy on a Fat32 or ntfs formatted partition, as you’re a
newbie I’d recommend resizing one of those in order to create a Linux
Ext3 partition. Frugal Puppies use either a SaveFile or a SaveFolder to save configuration changes. application settings and to install additional applications. A SaveFile has fixed size but can be expanded. That requires a reboot. A SaveFolder expands automatically. But SaveFolders can only be created on a Linux formatted partitions. [The one created by Mint, for example, may be OK. Puppies, themselves, don’t have a problem with Linux Ext4 64-bit partitions].
Basically, I’d just would want to know what’s going on so that avoidable problems can be avoided.
Puppy’s don’t have a problem running Wine; so you won’t have a problem installing Foobar2000. Version2013 specializes in creating wine pets for use under Puppies. You’ll find the thread here:
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 128#725128. Make a note that for wine to have entries on your Menu, you’ll need the pet you obtain via links named ‘wine_extras-v2.1.pet'. I’m not certain if Atomicpup can run wine versions compiled under Tahrpup such as those of the Wine 5 series.
Check with 8Geee. It should NOT have any problem running a 32-bit wine series 4 pet compiled under racy such as the one discussed on this post.
http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... 32#1016832. Clicking the link named ‘
wine-4.0. mirrors’ will take you to this page
https://version2013.yolasite.com/page1.php#wine-4.0 from which you can download the wine-4.0_v2.1.pet by clicking the
> to it’s left.
As you know, wine itself can occupy a considerable amount of space. Although there are other ways of dealing with that, using a SaveFolder is just easier. [Foobar2000 can be run as a portable and datafiles stored anywhere].
There are tons of pdf viewers and editors, and text editors. In fact, pretty much any kind of application you want except specialized business programs specifically created to only run under Window or the Mac. [Well, Microsoft and Apple have to make money somehow].
At any rate, let us know what’s on your computer and how its partitions have been formatted.
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Puppy System Files: The system files of every Puppy are similar. You can obtain access to them from any Puppy by Left-Clicking an ISO. There will always be a vmlinuz: it’s the kernel (engine) being used. There will always be an initrd (usually .gz, sometime xz, sometime no ending): it’s the
INITIAL
RAM
DISK created in RAM with instructions as to what to do next. Every Puppy will have a set of Application files with this naming convention
Puppy_Version_Number.sfs. For example, the 64-bit Puppy which is binary compatible with Ubnutu Bionic Beaver has puppy_bionicpup64_8.0.sfs. The kernel (engine) has to be able to communicate with your computer’s hardware using
drivers and firmware. Most recent Puppies place them in a separate file
zdrv.sfs, such as zdrv_bionic64_8.0.sfs.
Drivers are ‘kernel specific’. Firmware can be used with any kernel. So some Devs place firmware in a separate
fdrv.sfs. Once you have it on your computer, you can simply Right-Click and rename it –for example-- fdrv_LxPupSc64_19.04.sfs. If a Puppy’s ISO is published with a zdrv.sfs, it’s easy to upgrade or change kernels, as and when you want to. It’s just a matter of obtaining a different vmlinuz and zdrv (and maybe fdrv) and renaming them. Some devs also publish
additional (useful but not needed)
adrv.sfs and/or
ydrv.sfs.
If present in your Puppies folder, these will be copied into RAM on bootup in addition to the other ‘system files’.
[For future reference: Puppy has applications for creating your own adrv, ydrv or any application SFS. Applications for Puppies are often available as either installable pets and as
application.SFSes. For example, AFAIK, AtomicPup can use any 32-bit
LibreOffice.sfs Unlike the z,f,a, and y SFSes, application SFSes can be loaded and unloaded without rebooting. You can unload them to preserve RAM or avoid conflicts; and test new versions without over-writing an older, functional version. If the new version works, great. If not, you can unload it and reload the old version. A new pet, on the other hand, will over-write the old version. But Frugal Puppies can avoid even that. Until you execute a Save --to your SaveFile or SaveFolder-- the new 'install' only exists in RAM. You can reboot without Saving.
Ask How. On reboot/shutdown, the new version is cleared from RAM and your old version hasn't been over-written].