Harddisk installation with linld.com

[Guest]

As my floppy doesn't work anymore, I've tried booting puppy with linld.com using the instruction from this page:
-------------------
linld.com
puppy.lin (extract shown below - kernel parameter file)
vmlinuz (in C:\) (from puppy iso)
image.gz (in C:\) ( from puppy iso)
usr_cram.fs (in C:\) (from puppy iso)

Then I can just shutdown to MS-DOS mode and run
linld.com image=c:\vmlinuz initrd=c:\image.gz cl=@puppy.lin

Voila! One happy puppy.

My puppy.lin contains:
root=/dev/ram0
PFILE=pup001-none-262144
PHOME=hda1
# Commented out - these kernel parameters aren't needed for most people,
# just for my ancient laptop (PS/2 mouse interrupt issue)
#pci=irqmask=0x8000
#ide1=noprobe
#ide2=noprobe
#ide3=noprobe
#end puppy.par
-------------------

It's very simple and works great (thanks for the tips WiseOwl!). The problem is, besides shutting down Win98 to MSDOS mode and typing the command above everytime I want to run puppy, are there simpler ways?

For example, without booting into Win98 first, can I access MSDOS commandline just after I start my computer, maybe by pressing a key? As I have both Win98 and WinXP installed (and I use the boot menu from Microsoft, i.e., C:/boot.ini), pressing F8 won't give me the option 'Command Prompt Only' (which appears if a machine only has Win98 installed). Now pressing F8 only give me the option to boot into WinXP (Save mode)

And how can I put the command "linld.com image=c:\vmlinuz initrd=c:\image.gz cl=@puppy.lin" to a file/script so that I don't have to type the whole line everytime, but only a file name?

Also, is it possible to add puppy to my existing boot menu?

Fyi I have 2 harddisk: an old one from my old computer, with Win98 installed (D:\, I never boot to it and it's for backup only); another one has one Win98 (C:\) and 2 WinXP (different languages), plus a few other extended partitioins for data storage (E:\ to L:\).

--------
Off-topic: I've had problem accessing internet during Christmas but luckily it's solved just before 107 released and now I have faster connection The new version of puppy rocks! One great thing is that Xorg works out of the box and the refresh rate of my monitor now reach 80HZ (it was 60HZ with Xvesa). It's really a great present for the new year, thanks Barry

[puppian]

It's puppian above
I had logged in but it seems that a new software I installed in XP called PeerGuardian, an IP blocker, doesn't let me log in if I have the option 'block HTTP' checked...btw, setting up my internet connection is so easy now! The ethernet wizard of Puppy 107 works after I chosed 'Auto DHCP' One thing thou, the connection speed is much slower than in Windows or Puppy 103, that's strange...

[puppian]

And how can I put the command "linld.com image=c:\vmlinuz initrd=c:\image.gz cl=@puppy.lin" to a file/script so that I don't have to type the whole line everytime, but only a file name?

I'm answering my own question
Ans: Open a text editor, copy and paste the line of command there, save the file with an file extension .bat (e.g, puppy.bat)

I still can't find the answer to the other questions. I was able to find another working floppy disk thou

I'm going to try this to see if it works for me:
http://puppylinux.org/wikka/PupWin98

[Guest]

if you mean getting to dos mode just change msdos.sys attrib to -r -s -h and find the line where it says (boot gui=1) change to zero.

btw you can add that batch command to your win98 autoexec.bat so it will start linld after getting to dos mode automatically.

[puppian]

Thanks for the reply guest

if you mean getting to dos mode just change msdos.sys attrib to -r -s -h and find the line where it says (boot gui=1) change to zero.

When I'm in the dos mode, what should I type to boot back to Windows again?

btw you can add that batch command to your win98 autoexec.bat so it will start linld after getting to dos mode automatically.

I tried that and it works. Very useful tip

JaDy's PupWin98 works too, and I use grub.exe instead of tiny.exe following the instruction here. Now puppy boots in secconds, I can't believe it's that fast!

The drive and partition information entered in menu.lst and the .bat file to get things work is hd0,0 and hdb1, I don't know why hd1,0 doesn't work as my C:/ is on a hard disk that's set as slave, and it's where I put all the Puppy files (D:/ is the old hard disk with only one partition and is set as master). May be I had messed up something when installing Win98/XP? Nevermind, I'm a very happy puppy now

without booting into Win98 first, can I access MSDOS commandline just after I start my computer, maybe by pressing a key?

Now I know the answer. If you have microsoft's NTDLR as your boot loader to load multiple OS, you need to choose Win98 first (press up/down arrows to highlight the menu entry and press enter) and press F8 immediately. Then you'll see the "Command prompt only" option from a new menu.

[MU]

If I remember well, simply type "win" to start Windows.
If you boot into win, and start a Dos-Session, you can leave it with "exit".
Mark

[kethd]

I have seen various things about boot menus for Windows.

If you really want to be overwhelmed with options, get the "Grub for DOS" package. I just got it working. It looks like it offers every feature you can imagine, and then some...

[bombayrockers]

one more happy linld user.
I have been using the same method since wakepup with linld.exe was released. linld is more stable than tiny.exe from gujin. On the same box gujin & loadlin would not boot puppy 1.0.2, but linld came as a saviour. Only after linld I was able to port puppy 1.0.2 kernel to puppy 1.0.6 and 1.0.7

[puppian]

If I remember well, simply type "win" to start Windows.
If you boot into win, and start a Dos-Session, you can leave it with "exit".
Mark

That's exactly what I need, thank Mark!

If you really want to be overwhelmed with options, get the "Grub for DOS" package. I just got it working. It looks like it offers every feature you can imagine, and then some...

That sounds cool What features are there, can you give some examples?

one more happy linld user.
I have been using the same method since wakepup with linld.exe was released. linld is more stable than tiny.exe from gujin.

Yes linld is simple and easy, but it seems to have problem with my ethernet settings. See this thread

[kethd]

Grub for DOS

Seems to allow complex boot menus that do almost anything you could imagine. I have only used it to do the most simple thing... The README file does not seem online anywhere (except within the big zip) so here it is...

grub_for_dos-0.4.1

README.txt 58KB

[puppian]

Thanks kethd.
I haven't seen that readme file before and it's going to be useful

I got grub.exe from this link:
http://www.freeveda.org/linux/puppy/GRUB.EXE
which is mentioned in this page:
http://puppylinux.org/wikka/PupWin98

I guess it's the Grub for DOS mentioned in the readme.txt?

[kethd]

I suggest getting the whole, real, current 1.3MB download <GRUB for DOS 0.4.1> package:

http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/
GNU GRUB The homepage of the original GRUB

grub4dos.sf.net
This is the project home page at sourceforge.net


GRUB for DOS 0.4.1 (Default)

About:
GRUB for DOS is a build of the GNU GRUB boot manager for DOS, and can be run under real mode DOS. It also has many new features. For example, it can be booted through BOOT.INI of Windows (grldr) and kexec of Linux (grub.exe). The disk emulation feature is another enhancement over GNU GRUB, and can be used to run legacy DOS/Windows9x systems with floppy or hard disk images.

Homepage: http://grub4dos.jot.com/
Zip: http://grub4dos.jot.com/WikiHome/grub_for_dos-0.4.1.zip