[SOLVED] Is AtomicPup-2020 right for me

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fjd
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[SOLVED] Is AtomicPup-2020 right for me

#1 Post by fjd »

Hi,
I've used a Win computer since 3.1 and quite new to Linux and have managed to get my head around most Mint issues.
I have an 2011 model ASUS Eee PC: Atom N455, @1.6GHz, 2Gb ram. It will also have an SSD drive next week.

There seems to be conflicting info here. Please tell me;
1. Will AtomicPup-2020 work on this machine?
2. Can I install it on the internal drive?
If the answer to both is 'yes', will I have to install or otherwise alter the internals before it works or is it set to work immediately?

Peter Linu
Last edited by fjd on Sat 21 Mar 2020, 02:03, edited 1 time in total.

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bigpup
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#2 Post by bigpup »

Welcome to Puppy Land!

Being new to this forum.
I assume you meant to post this in the AtomicPup topic.

You need to re-post this in the AtomicPup topic.
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 42#1051942
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 40#1051940
The things they do not tell you, are usually the clue to solving the problem.
When I was a kid I wanted to be older.... This is not what I expected :shock:
YaPI(any iso installer)

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mikeslr
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#3 Post by mikeslr »

Hi fjd,

AtomicPup-2020 will almost certainly work on your computer. But, it helps to turn your computer on, :lol:

The main reason I'm replying is that one of the links bigpup provided gave instructions for burning a CD/DVD, while the specs of the ASUS Eee PC: Atom N455 indicate that it does not include a CD/DVD burner: you might not have an external one.

While most Puppies are distributed as ISOs, and ISOs can be burned to CD/DVDs, there are programs which run under Windows, and applications which run under Linux, that will "burn" an ISO directly to a USB-Stick.

Puppies are designed to run as Frugal Installs: that only means that they 'frugally use' your computer's resources. As such, they can be run from any storage medium: CDs, Hard-drives, USB-Keys currently being the most common.

So in starting out, I always recommend that newcomer's first try any Puppy from a USB-Key. AFAIK, almost every computer since shortly after the invention of USB-ports has had some way of diverting boot-up from the internal drive to a bootable USB-Stick: Pressing some key gives a "One time menu"; pressing another enters bios so that you can reset which device has 'boot-priority'. While testing you just opt for the 'one time menu'. A Puppy booted from a USB-Key makes no changes to whatever you have on your hard-drive, unless you decide to save something to it. So, there's nothing to fear. The worst that can happen is that you'll have wasted some time.

I have no reason to doubt that AtomicPup-2020 may not be the right Puppy for your computer. 8Geee does a great job. But even if that Puppy turns out not to be the very best for your computer, once you've booted into it there are newbie-friendly Graphical User Interface applications which can tell you --and you can tell us-- what is going on. With that information we can make recommendations.

The question I have at this time is 'what operating systems do you have access to?' so that, if you don't already know how to burn an ISO to a USB-Stick, we can recommend a program or application. For example, if you can boot into Windows, you could install LICK, http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... 720#462720 or https://rufus.ie/ among others. If you only have access to a Linux Operating system, Mint for example, you could use Unetbootin BUT after that you may need further instructions regarding a simple edit to the boot-loader Unetbootin will place on the USB-Stick.

On 'pre-UEFI' computers, such as yours, once you have any running Puppy, it's easy to install it to a hard-drive, or try any other Puppy.

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fjd
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#4 Post by fjd »

Thanx Mikesir,
Your info gives me some confidence in moving forward. I have plenty of computers with which to burn the OS to CD, DVD and USB and floppy disc. My question is this; is there any point at which the install asks me WHERE I would like to install? I tried the (earlier) Puppeee and it didn't seem to.

I have a very specific use for this computer. I want to play FLAC files on a radio show.
I would like to use Foobar2000 if possible. It is commonly available as an .exe or in a 'wine' wrapper for Linux. I already use it on Mint machines and it works flawlessly.
I also need a pdf viewer and a text file.
Web browser...maybe.
Anything else is nice but not a deal breaker.

Cheers,
Peter Linu
2011 ASUS Eee PC, 1011PX, 32-bit, Atom N455, 1667MHz, 2Gb RAM, 240Gb SSD - [color=red] BionicPup 32-bit [/color] frugal + USB stick install

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8Geee
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#5 Post by 8Geee »

I still don't know if you have an external CD/DVD... a yes or no would help us all a lot.

Regards
8Geee
Linux user #498913 "Some people need to reimagine their thinking."
"Zuckerberg: a large city inhabited by mentally challenged people."

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mikeslr
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#6 Post by mikeslr »

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.

----
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].

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fjd
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AtomicPup2020

#7 Post by fjd »

Yes I have one so I can and regularly do, burn ISOs.http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/images ... icon17.gif
2011 ASUS Eee PC, 1011PX, 32-bit, Atom N455, 1667MHz, 2Gb RAM, 240Gb SSD - [color=red] BionicPup 32-bit [/color] frugal + USB stick install

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8Geee
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#8 Post by 8Geee »

I double-checked my Slacko5.7 iso. I do not see any shell-script for installing wine, so presumed its a PPM download. Also looked to see if there is a special driver for the GMA3150 video chipset. Nothing there either. So this HP that the OP has should be OK for AtomicPup.

The problem is probably related to installing and first-run. Format the USB stick BEFORE installing Puppy using GParted as 2048kB ext3. Persistance means that a save file is needed AFTER the Puppy is installed to the USB stick using 512 Mb as ext3 (shows up as .3fs).

Regards
8Geee
Linux user #498913 "Some people need to reimagine their thinking."
"Zuckerberg: a large city inhabited by mentally challenged people."

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fjd
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#9 Post by fjd »

Thanx guys,
All is on hold until I get my new SSD next week.

Question: I tick 'notify me...' (below) but it only appears in my email sometimes. What's the story?
2011 ASUS Eee PC, 1011PX, 32-bit, Atom N455, 1667MHz, 2Gb RAM, 240Gb SSD - [color=red] BionicPup 32-bit [/color] frugal + USB stick install

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