How to install Puppy on a Sony Viao with 64 MB of RAM?

Booting, installing, newbie
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sfeeley
Posts: 812
Joined: Sun 14 Feb 2010, 16:34

#16 Post by sfeeley »

hmmm.... moving beyond what I know (I'm a bit of an enthusiastic noob)

that said . . .
Is there any parameters I can pass to use usb/sata ?
As you say, it sounds like an addition to your menu.lst file is needed.
You might look around at:
http://puppylinux.org/wikka/BootParams

So what setup are you in exactly right now? For example, earlier you pulled the harddrive? What machine is it in now? Which machine is it having the errors in? (basically trying to figure out if the problem is with the sony viao 64mb ram, or is a "generic" install problem)
Is it in a USB-powered caddie or directly installed into the other machine? What are the specs of machine b?
Were you able to get puppy running on the live CD first?

And, if you switched the harddrive from one sort of setup in computer A to another setup in Computer B, you might need to edit menu.lst since the installer would try to match the computer you were originally using. (unfortunately, if you've already moved the harddrive, this might mean uninstalling again to be able to edit the file)

On my older machines, I always need to put in the parameter acpi=off or a varient like pci=noacpi

As I said, I hope this is helpful, even though its a beyond my paygrade

tempestuous
Posts: 5464
Joined: Fri 10 Jun 2005, 05:12
Location: Australia

#17 Post by tempestuous »

hairybiker wrote:Have installed it but when it boots it cant find the puppy_420 file and exits to a shell.
It sounds like you did a frugal installation. Like I said earlier, that's not a good idea for your RAM-challenged VAIO.
You should do a full installation instead.

hairybiker
Posts: 16
Joined: Sat 05 Feb 2011, 15:35

#18 Post by hairybiker »

OK the hdd was in my main pc for installing. I used 4lite to install and there was no option for frugal/full on the install menu just choose the hdd and press ok.

I choose SYSLINUX as the boot maybe I shouldn't have?
The booting is on the viao with the error puppy xx not found.

The 2.14 version I tried fails to boot on my main pc - so I can't install from it. Trying to locate another laptop with a normal cdrom drive to see if it will boot.

EDIT: will try the PMEDIA=satacd to see if it boots. Will have to repull the drive from the lt again.

hairybiker
Posts: 16
Joined: Sat 05 Feb 2011, 15:35

#19 Post by hairybiker »

No boot on main pc using puppy 2.12.
Removed hdd again
Installed in an acer l/t
booted from the 2.12 puppy link racepres sent me
Installed again wiped disk
installed grub
using defaults
/dev/hda1
MBR

now trying to boot from hdd (IN the acer) I get a grub error saying
EXTLINUX 3.63 etc
Could not find kernel image: linux

drive is formatted to ext2

sfeeley
Posts: 812
Joined: Sun 14 Feb 2010, 16:34

#20 Post by sfeeley »

@Tempestuous:

You know far more about these things than me. Since a full install would probably work better, is there a way that he can squeeze a couple of different full installs onto the 4gb harddrive? (I think one of the issues is that he is pulling the harddrive and using a second computer to load puppy, and I suspect that pulling the drive on this computer is probably a pain.)

-The answer is probably something like setting up several partitions and then properly setting up grub to let you choose between them--but I'm a frugal guy, and not really familiar with the specifics.

Hopefully, once he gets successfully booted into the final computer, he can figure out which of the multiple puppies actually works, and then erase the others.

@OP
there was no option for frugal/full on the install menu just choose the hdd and press ok.
Here's a good how-to on full installs using puppy 4.01. There wasn't a choice like on image 26?
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=29653
EDIT: will try the PMEDIA=satacd to see if it boots.
That might help--and you might try experimenting.

That said, I think its more likely that you might need to change how the drive is labeled in grub’s menu.lst file. Since you installed on a computer with several drives, puppy might have labeled that drive something like sdb1 (2nd drive, partition 1), but when you move computers that drive would be the first drive (sda1).
FYI Grub uses its own naming conventions whereby sda1 would be hd0,0.
Its confusing: for a tutorial on the drives naming--see
http://puppylinux.org/wikka/GRUB
and scroll down.

It would probably be a good idea to post a copy of your menu.lst file to the forum.

sfeeley
Posts: 812
Joined: Sun 14 Feb 2010, 16:34

#21 Post by sfeeley »

hmmm, I just wrote a long post that didn't go through. I'll try to summarize quickly.

Tempestous is probably right that a full install is probably best, although I'm not quite sure how to set up multiple full installs (if you want to test a few puppies to see which works best, and then delete the rest). It shouldn't be hard, its just that I am a "frugal" install guy.

There is a good tutuorial on how to do a full install here.

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=29653

You mentioned there was no choice for full or frugal install? No screen like image 26?

It may be that your menu.lst file needs to be manually edited. For example, puppy may have labeled the drive sdc1 (drive three, partition 1) but when you swap computers it would be sda1 (the only drive, partition1). Other things could be trouble as well.

can you post your menu.lst file?

a good place to look to understand naming conventions in puppy and grub is
http://puppylinux.org/wikka/GRUB

For sanity sake, you should probably make sure that the install works ok on the Acer before swapping to the sony.

curious: was the 2.14 that you used from this thread?
http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=42553
its "classic pup" an updated version of 2.14 with new lightweight programs on an old kernel for old computers.

I hope this actually posts this time!

hairybiker
Posts: 16
Joined: Sat 05 Feb 2011, 15:35

#22 Post by hairybiker »

Nope no image 27 & no option like Image 7 either, remember this is 2.14 (if that is the problem)
curious: was the 2.14 that you used from this thread?
http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=42553
Yes thats the one I have booted on the Acer at the moment.
For sanity sake, you should probably make sure that the install works ok on the Acer before swapping to the sony.
That's what I thought. And the acer is easier to work on ;-)
can you post your menu.lst file?

Code: Select all

# GRUB configuration file '/boot/grub/menu.lst'.
# generated by 'grubconfig'.  Mon Feb  7 14:18:06 2011
#
# The backup copy of the MBR for drive '/dev/hda' is
# here '/boot/grub/mbr.hda.3403'.  You can restore it like this.
# dd if=/boot/grub/mbr.hda.3403 of=/dev/hda bs=512 count=1
#
# Start GRUB global section
#timeout 30
color light-gray/blue black/light-gray
# End GRUB global section
# Linux bootable partition config begins
  title Linux (on /dev/hda1)
  root (hd0,0)
  kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda1 ro vga=normal
# Linux bootable partition config ends
title Install GRUB to floppy disk (on /dev/fd0)
pause Insert a formatted floppy disk and press enter.
root (hd0,0)
setup (fd0)
pause Press enter to continue.
title Install GRUB to Linux partition (on /dev/hda1)
root (hd0,0)
setup (hd0,0)
pause Press enter to continue.
title -     For help press 'c', then type: 'help'
root (hd0)
title -     For usage examples, type: 'cat /boot/grub/usage.txt'
root (hd0)

Jim1911
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Joined: Mon 19 May 2008, 20:39
Location: Texas, USA

#23 Post by Jim1911 »

Barry's latest Wary works fine on my Sony Vaio. It also has grub4dos which recognizes your installation better than grub.097 and creates a proper menu.lst. 2.14 did not work for me either.

sfeeley
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Joined: Sun 14 Feb 2010, 16:34

#24 Post by sfeeley »

Wary might be a good choice--I just haven't tried it. And of course Barry is the puppy master

My grub for 2.14 is quite different.

Code: Select all

title puppy 214x (frugal) 
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/puppy214X/vmlinuz root=/dev/ram0 pmedia=idehd irqpoll pci=noacpi
initrd /boot/puppy214X/initrd.gz
its a frugal install. To be honest, I don't recall how or why I got to all of those parameters, since it was installed over a year ago. (also, Its a slightly earlier version -- rc3 if I recall)

One quick thing to check: you might take a look to see if the files described in the menu.lst are actually in the place that it says they are. (example, is vmlinuz actually in /boot ? or in another folder as in my case above?)

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racepres
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#25 Post by racepres »

Wary won't use my aironet [cisco pcmcia] nic on my dell.
Sticking to 4.2 Retro thanks
RP

hairybiker
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Joined: Sat 05 Feb 2011, 15:35

#26 Post by hairybiker »

OK thanks to all the help from racepres (in the background as it were) I now have a working 4.2 install.

For those interested.
Remove HDD
Put it an another laptop
boot from 4.2 cd
do a Full install
install grub
boot & test
remove the hdd
install in Viao
boot and setup video etc.

Only issue I have just now is that my video seems to be stuck at 1024x768 and I think it should be x600 but editing the xorg config isn't helping - I tried xvesa & xorg and both work.

nancy reagan
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Joined: Thu 22 Jan 2009, 14:20

toowoombalinux

#27 Post by nancy reagan »

Here is somebody to make a complete system for 64mb

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=62363

hairybiker
Posts: 16
Joined: Sat 05 Feb 2011, 15:35

#28 Post by hairybiker »

OK first post using the Viao.

Seems fine :lol:

Bar the fact I cant see the bottom of the browser screen :roll:

hairybiker
Posts: 16
Joined: Sat 05 Feb 2011, 15:35

#29 Post by hairybiker »

OK just discovered the screen is meant to be 1024x480
any ideas on how to make that happen?
Just edit the xorg.conf ?

Jim1911
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Joined: Mon 19 May 2008, 20:39
Location: Texas, USA

#30 Post by Jim1911 »

hairybiker wrote:OK just discovered the screen is meant to be 1024x480
any ideas on how to make that happen?
Just edit the xorg.conf ?
Goto Setup on Menu and use xorg video wizard.

hairybiker
Posts: 16
Joined: Sat 05 Feb 2011, 15:35

#31 Post by hairybiker »

Tried that it doesn't offer me that resolution
only 800x600 or 1024x768

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