PCPUPPY RC6

[Trailer Trash]

Just a few questions...

1. I downloaded rc5 and it loaded and was alright until logout and new login when I either forgot my pw or ??? and now cannot use that copy.

2. I downloaded rc6 twice and both times it will not boot up. Just stops at the splash screen. ???

3. About MD5, what exactly is that? I can see it's a really long number/letter but exactly how is it used? Does it verify or does it both verify and repair? Is it used in console? Exactly how? I know how to open a console window but I do not know how to access any part of the OS or individual program for editing. Because of my ignorance here I have been unable to do anything with MD5.

I've looked at links that explain how to do this but guess what? They seem to always assume that one is currently in M$ OS and they give "DOS" instructions based on that assumption. I am in Puppy only and am using 3.01.

Can anyone tell me where EXPLICIT instructions are for console use so I can learn to MD5 my downloads?

Can anyone suggest to me a reason why my two separate downloads of PCPuppy RC6 fail to boot?

Seems like every version of Pup has some little quirk with the exception of 215CE which was damned good. But I don't want to stay with an older version.

I refuse to go back to M$. Too much heartache there. I'd rather learn a bit here. Seems like any tutorials or instructions never answer difficulties that I experience.

Could it be my AMD 2000 processor? I have a M7VIQ board with 2 gigs of DIMM2 RAM.

General Comment about Puppy derivatives here...

i've noticed that with even the nicest, smartest version there are obvious flaws usually with menu items which are not modified to reflect the make up of that version. It's almost as though someone does tons of work then omits obvious little things which are quickly noticed by the user. All these efforts are greatly appreciated but one cannot help but wonder why the "artist" stops short of perfection.

Another question...

When I make changes in programs with pkg/mgr how do I add or delete desktop icons to reflect those changes? This question is common to any of the Pups I've tried.

Tks,

tt

[Aitch]

@Trailer Trash

Can anyone tell me where EXPLICIT instructions are for console use so I can learn to MD5 my downloads?

Best I can find, as a starter

http://puppylinux.org/wikka/Md5

Sorry, can't help with the RC5/6 probs

Aitch

[Pizzasgood]

Simple answer: Go to the directory where you saved the .iso file. Open a terminal there (press ` or right-click -> Window -> Terminal Here). Run this command, substituting puppy.iso with the proper name (start typing it and hit tab to auto-complete):
md5sum puppy.iso
That will spit out a number. Compare that to the provided one. If it matches, the two files are identical.

Another way is if you download the actual md5sum file (usually ending in .md5 or .md5.txt) and run this command (with the correct name of course):
md5sum -c puppy.iso.md5.txt
That will only work if you didn't change the name of the ISO when you downloaded it.


An md5 sum can't be used to fix a file, only to verify if it is correct.



1: Just to be sure, you did type "root" first, when it says "login", and then type the password when it switches to "password", right? I only ask because I occasionally get carried away and forget the "root" part. You can always boot with puppy pfix=ram to skip loading any saved data. From there, you could mount the old save file and change the password, or just delete it and start over. I posted directions in another thread; if you need them I could dig them up.

2: Insufficient data. Do you perhaps have an old pup_save.2fs file that's confusing it? Or maybe a pup_301.sfs file from a different version of pcPuppyOS or Puppy? Even if you boot from CD, if Puppy detects one on the harddrive he'll use that instead, to speed up the boot. To stop that, it would need to be at least two directories deep or named so that it doesn't end in .sfs. Same goes for pup_save.2fs.

You can also boot with puppy pfix=ram to make Puppy ignore the harddrive.

And of course, use your newfound md5sum checking skills to ensure you didn't have two consecutive bad downloads. It may be good to check that it was also a good burn:
dd if=/dev/cdrom of=cd.iso
md5sum cd.iso
Be sure to run that in a location with 600+ MB of space! Then compare the md5sum it returns to the correct one. If it's wrong, you either had a bad burn or there was an error reading from the disk.


I can't think of any other reasons why RC6 won't work when RC5 did. I only made minor changes to the boot process, and they shouldn't matter.

[Trailer Trash]

OK thanks to your suggestions it's fixed now. I tried some pfix= commands and the one that worked to get rid of the password was pfix=purge.

Tks