Frugal Install on 256mb ram laptop

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murphythefatcat · #1 Post by **murphythefatcat** » Tue 14 Sep 2010, 01:55

Hi, folks. I have a laptop with 256mb of ram and am having trouble doing the frugal install on my Dell Inspiron 3500. Because I have only 256mb of ram, the software will not load to ram. Following the directions for frugal install, at the "boot: " , I enter puppy pfix=ram but the system errors out saying "out of memory and no killable processes". I also try puppy pfix=noram, but I get the same result. The name of the file the system is trying to load is "pup_421.sfs". This is actually a Teenpup load, so I don't know if I've got the correct command. Any ideas as to what I am doing wrong? Thanks!

rokytnji · #2 Post by **rokytnji** » Tue 14 Sep 2010, 02:10

Might want to look at posts 7,8,and 9 of thread below maybe

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... start=3840

Different puppy but it may apply on how to setup partitions and grub install.

James C · #3 Post by **James C** » Tue 14 Sep 2010, 02:10

murphythefatcat wrote:Hi, folks. I have a laptop with 256mb of ram and am having trouble doing the frugal install on my Dell Inspiron 3500. Because I have only 256mb of ram, the software will not load to ram. Following the directions for frugal install, at the "boot: " , I enter puppy pfix=ram but the system errors out saying "out of memory and no killable processes". I also try puppy pfix=noram, but I get the same result. The name of the file the system is trying to load is "pup_421.sfs". This is actually a Teenpup load, so I don't know if I've got the correct command. Any ideas as to what I am doing wrong? Thanks!

Sounds like you're using TeenPup Mini, which was based on 421.Since the iso is about 322 mb, it's probably not going to load in only 256 mb of ram.

You either need some swap........or a smaller version of Puppy.

rokytnji · #4 Post by **rokytnji** » Tue 14 Sep 2010, 02:21

as James C says. swap is needed. I needed swap partition for my Puppy Install on 256MB IBM A22.

You might like downloading this PDF instructional also for generic instructions.

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=59830

#5 Post by **BÃ©Ã¨m** » Tue 14 Sep 2010, 18:00

I don't know about teenpup, but normally if there isn't enough ram available, ram isn't used, but booting should be ok.

Besides this a swap file/partition is recommended.

Newcrest · #6 Post by **Newcrest** » Wed 15 Sep 2010, 12:06

Béèm wrote:I don't know about teenpup, but normally if there isn't enough ram available, ram isn't used, but booting should be ok.

I think that there is a bug in the newer Puppies because I struck the same problem the other day. I tried a 200+mb puplet with 256mb ram and it tried to load it to ram anyway. Anything with pfix=ram attempted to load the sfs into ram and this is different behaviour compared to older puppies.

Also I think the pfix=noram switch on Puppy 4.2.1 is broken.

I now have it not loading to ram after changing the init script.

murphythefatcat · #7 Post by **murphythefatcat** » Tue 21 Sep 2010, 12:22

rokytnji wrote:Might want to look at posts 7,8,and 9 of thread below maybe

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... start=3840

Different puppy but it may apply on how to setup partitions and grub install.

Hi, thanks for the response. However, I guess I am not technical enough, because I don't understand the posts you refer to (BTW, I am assuming you want me to count down the page to the 7th, 8th and 9th post down).

I think I need some directions on how to set up a swap partition, right?

murphythefatcat · #8 Post by **murphythefatcat** » Tue 21 Sep 2010, 12:28

rokytnji wrote:as James C says. swap is needed. I needed swap partition for my Puppy Install on 256MB IBM A22.

You might like downloading this PDF instructional also for generic instructions.

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=59830

Hi, thanks. Any chance there is another place I can get that guide? I am having trouble downloading from mediafire.

rjbrewer · #9 Post by **rjbrewer** » Tue 21 Sep 2010, 12:57

murphythefatcat wrote:
rokytnji wrote:as James C says. swap is needed. I needed swap partition for my Puppy Install on 256MB IBM A22.

You might like downloading this PDF instructional also for generic instructions.

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=59830
Hi, thanks. Any chance there is another place I can get that guide? I am having trouble downloading from mediafire.

The Teenpups are quite large and were meant to be used with a
"full install".(also called normal install).

Here are instructions for installing that will also work with Teenpup.

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 782#201565

murphythefatcat · #10 Post by **murphythefatcat** » Sun 26 Sep 2010, 17:55

rjbrewer wrote:
murphythefatcat wrote:
rokytnji wrote:as James C says. swap is needed. I needed swap partition for my Puppy Install on 256MB IBM A22.

You might like downloading this PDF instructional also for generic instructions.

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=59830
Hi, thanks. Any chance there is another place I can get that guide? I am having trouble downloading from mediafire.
The Teenpups are quite large and were meant to be used with a
"full install".(also called normal install).

Here are instructions for installing that will also work with Teenpup.

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 782#201565

Thanks, These are the instructions I have been working from, but it doesn't work because of my lack of ram. It says I need to create a swap partition, but I cannot find detailed directions on how to create a swap partition. This is what prompted me to start this discussion. Thanks!

rjbrewer · #11 Post by **rjbrewer** » Sun 26 Sep 2010, 18:22

Burn a copy of a smaller Puppy; (4.1.2 would be good).
This would allow you to boot to desktop.
Go to menu > system > gparted.
Click unallocated > new > filesystem > linux swap; having made a
500mb partition size in the box to the left.
Add, apply and close.
Remove cd and reboot > do not save.

Bruce B · #12 Post by **Bruce B** » Tue 28 Sep 2010, 03:45

Barry K writes what I call the Official Puppy.

Official Puppy has a (simple) formula to determine if or if not to copy the big .sfs file to
RAM. The 'formula' is based on the size of the official .sfs file.

Other people make their versions of Puppy and some of these versions have a much larger
.sfs file, but the maker hasn't changed the official decision making formula.

It probably worked fine on the test computer because it had sufficient RAM.

RetroTechGuy · #13 Post by **RetroTechGuy** » Tue 28 Sep 2010, 04:33

murphythefatcat wrote: Thanks, These are the instructions I have been working from, but it doesn't work because of my lack of ram. It says I need to create a swap partition, but I cannot find detailed directions on how to create a swap partition. This is what prompted me to start this discussion. Thanks!

I tested my 333MHz Compaq Armada laptop with as little as 64MB RAM, running Puppy 4.3.1 Retro. I could boot (albeit, slowly). I run it with 256MB RAM, and after setting it up, added a 512MB swapfile.

You should be able to boot and configure your system, with 256MB. I would work backwards until you find a version that works, starting at: 4.3.1, 4.21, 4.12

http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/dis ... uppylinux/

jpeps has written a tool to generate a pupswap file:

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=58615

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Frugal Install on 256mb ram laptop

Frugal Install on 256mb ram laptop

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