Need to install a pet using only the console.

[JustGreg]

Xwin fails to start with both Slacko 5.4 and Precise Puppy 5.4.2 and one gets only the console with my ASUS EeePC. The vesa driver does not work correctly with the Poulsbo GMA500 graphics chip. There is a pet with the needed kernel module.

The normal PetGet which installs pets is a graphic base program. Without X Windows, it does not run. How can one install a pet from the console? Is there a script that can be used to install from the console?

Otherwise, I will need to insert the driver module into the sfs file and make a new iso. I hopefully that I can install the driver module from console before I make the new iso. Thanks for any help on this one.

[npierce]

Assuming that you already have the .pet file (download it with wget if you don't), and you just want to grab that one module file out of it, you could try this:

1. Make a backup copy of the .pet file. This procedure will delete the .pet file.

2. Convert the .pet to a .tar.gz file. For instance, for a .pet file named "whatever.pet" in your /tmp/ directory:

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pet2tgz /tmp/whatever.pet ; echo $?

This will convert the file and output a '0' if the .pet file matches its self-contained checksum.

3. To list the contents of the file:

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tar -tzf /tmp/whatever.tar.gz | less

4. Make note of the name of the file you want to extract in the list from step 3.

5. Extract the file. For instance, for a file listed as "./whatever/usr/lib/example":

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tar -xzf /tmp/whatever.tar.gz ./whatever/usr/lib/example

This will extract the file to whatever/usr/lib/example under your current working directory. (If you want to extract all of the files, omit the "./whatever/usr/lib/example".)

6. Move the file to wherever you need it to be. In the above example, it would probably go to the /usr/lib/ directory.


(I sometimes skip steps 1 and 2, since tar will handle .pet files. But it will complain, and the error messages it spits out can lead to confusion until you get used to them. Also, if step 2 is skipped, the checksum isn't verified.)

If you look at the man page for tar, you will see that the -C and --strip-components options can allow you to extract files directly to their final destination, saving you the trouble of moving them. But until you become familiar with doing this and become aware that all .pet files aren't created equal, it is easy to mess up. For your purposes, extracting and moving is probably safer.

[JustGreg]

Thank you very much for the explanation, npiece. Happy Holidays to all. Now, off to see if the pet fixes the problem.

[npierce]

You're welcome. Good luck with your graphics chip.