Puppy is a pain to install

Booting, installing, newbie
Message
Author
jacatone
Posts: 380
Joined: Mon 26 Feb 2007, 09:16

Puppy is a pain to install

#1 Post by jacatone »

Tried installing Wary 5.5 on an older XP laptop and just ended up with a black screen with a lot of code. Seems every version of PL has a different install procedure. I've never found any of the instructions in this forum of any use. Why doesn't this distro just have an easy installer like Ubuntu or Linux Mint. Such a pain.

User avatar
RetroTechGuy
Posts: 2947
Joined: Tue 15 Dec 2009, 17:20
Location: USA

Re: Puppy is a pain to install

#2 Post by RetroTechGuy »

jacatone wrote:Tried installing Wary 5.5 on an older XP laptop and just ended up with a black screen with a lot of code. Seems every version of PL has a different install procedure. I've never found any of the instructions in this forum of any use. Why doesn't this distro just have an easy installer like Ubuntu or Linux Mint. Such a pain.
What kind of install?

I run all "frugal" installs. I boot from disk a couple times, as I get things tuned up. Then I run the universal installer (from Menu >> Setup). I'm using Lupu 5.28, and I am assuming that Wary looks the same (all of the other versions of Puppy that I've used looked the same)

This, of course, doesn't install the grub -- but it tells you how to modify your grub file.

Now, with a folder containing the Puppy setup, with all the required files, I then...

http://www.icpug.org.uk/national/linnwin/contents.htm

Which uses the existing Windows bootloader, to run Linux...
[url=http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=58615]Add swapfile[/url]
[url=http://wellminded.net63.net/]WellMinded Search[/url]
[url=http://puppylinux.us/psearch.html]PuppyLinux.US Search[/url]

nooby
Posts: 10369
Joined: Sun 29 Jun 2008, 19:05
Location: SwedenEurope

#3 Post by nooby »

jacatone the recommendation AFAIK is to make a frugal install.

Maybe you tried to do full install?

Maybe the graphic card drivers are missing.
Try the Vesa option next time you boot

You should tell us more details on the grub menu.lst you use.

I trust that all installs are hard if the hard ware and the software
don't find each other. But if they do and one have done frugal install
before then it is super easy to do new installs. I do such within 5 minutes
and I am a total noob. I fail with most things in life

so if one don't know and the hardware and software don't mix well
them maybe it is very difficult but if things fit each other then it is super easy.
I use Google Search on Puppy Forum
not an ideal solution though

User avatar
MochiMoppel
Posts: 2084
Joined: Wed 26 Jan 2011, 09:06
Location: Japan

Re: Puppy is a pain to install

#4 Post by MochiMoppel »

jacatone wrote: I've never found any of the instructions in this forum of any use. Why doesn't this distro just have an easy installer like Ubuntu or Linux Mint. Such a pain.
After 300 posts and more than 6 years you still keep asking the same questions, provide no feedback and ignore all the help extended to you. You are incredibly ignorant.!

p310don
Posts: 1492
Joined: Tue 19 May 2009, 23:11
Location: Brisbane, Australia

#5 Post by p310don »

Puppy has created a big PITA for me when it comes to installation.

I usually download an ISO, mount it, copy the contents to a suitably named folder on my boot drive, edit menu.lst for grub4dos with something like this

Code: Select all

title Saluki 021 (sde1/SSDluki021frugal)
  find --set-root --ignore-floppies --ignore-cd /SSDluki021frugal/initrd.gz
  kernel /SSDluki021frugal/vmlinuz  pmedia=atahd psubdir=SSDluki021frugal pfix=fsck
  initrd /SSDluki021frugal/initrd.gz
and it works - 97.5% of the time. (2.5% is user error)

The pain in the ass is lately I've been hankering to try Mint. It does not work so nicely. Puppy is so easy to install that I have forgotten how to make mint or other less easy linuxes install frugally for testing, and using the authoritarian install programs that come with Mint et al will try and delete my grub and maybe my puppies too.

I will stick with Puppy for now, for its absolute ease of installation.

darry1966

Re: Puppy is a pain to install

#6 Post by darry1966 »

MochiMoppel wrote:
jacatone wrote: I've never found any of the instructions in this forum of any use. Why doesn't this distro just have an easy installer like Ubuntu or Linux Mint. Such a pain.
After 300 posts and more than 6 years you still keep asking the same questions, provide no feedback and ignore all the help extended to you. You are incredibly ignorant.!
Do you think calling someone ignorant is any better??????

that is an abusive comment ok his feedback and comments at times are probably may be annoying to you but that doesn't mean you have to contribute to some of the negative terrible things that are going on in the forums at the moment. just ignore him.

It really depresses me to see stuff like this in the forums and to have been subjected to some abusive comments myself.

what would a newcomer to these forums think???????

Please for the sake of the open source communtity think before you post..

User avatar
saintless
Posts: 3862
Joined: Sat 11 Jun 2011, 13:43
Location: Bulgaria

Re: Puppy is a pain to install

#7 Post by saintless »

jacatone wrote:Tried installing Wary 5.5 on an older XP laptop and just ended up with a black screen with a lot of code.
I also had troubles running frugal Wary on Toshiba Satellite. I guess the problem is missing driver.
Try Lupu or Fluppy and if you ask me - forget full install and use only frugal. It is really mistake-proof way of running puppy.
I prefer to install grub from old version of GeeXBox. It takes only 8 Mb space and gives me opportunity to play videos directly from GeeXBox. It needs less resources which is important for old computers.

Cheers

rokytnji
Posts: 2262
Joined: Tue 20 Jan 2009, 15:54

#8 Post by rokytnji »

Tried installing Wary 5.5 on an older XP laptop
What kind of laptop (specs included) and what type of install (details included)
Why doesn't this distro just have an easy installer like Ubuntu or Linux Mint.
Well for starters, A frugal install is not possible with those distros. I know Slax and AntiX are some of the few capable of this and you would not find the install features friendly either in those distros probably if comparing to Mint or Ubuntu.

By the way. The software was free or am I wrong and you paid for Puppy Linux?
If so. Go to the person you bought it from and complain you want your money back.

My Old how to, when I first got into Computers, Puppy install how to.
http://yatsite.blogspot.com/2008/09/com ... ws-95.html

As you can see. I have not been using computers that long. It probably won't apply to your Windows XP install problems though. We need more details to comment on that problem.

User avatar
RetroTechGuy
Posts: 2947
Joined: Tue 15 Dec 2009, 17:20
Location: USA

#9 Post by RetroTechGuy »

rokytnji wrote:
Tried installing Wary 5.5 on an older XP laptop
What kind of laptop (specs included) and what type of install (details included)
For perspective, my XP laptop is a Dell Latitude, 1.6 GHZ, 1 GB RAM (a decade old, perhaps more).

It runs Puppy 5.20 and 5.28 just fine. I've also installed Puppy 5.2 Retro, which also works well.

I run frugal installs on everything, and use Lin 'N Win on almost everything (I haven't attempted the Lin 'N Win on my Win7 laptop -- I have it booting from the SD card in the side of the machine).
My Old how to, when I first got into Computers, Puppy install how to.
http://yatsite.blogspot.com/2008/09/com ... ws-95.html

As you can see. I have not been using computers that long. It probably won't apply to your Windows XP install problems though. We need more details to comment on that problem.
Now that critter is old. My Armada is a PII, 333MHz, 256MB RAM (max it will handle), and a 512 MB swap partition. IIRC, it has a 4GB HDD, and still runs Win98 (dual boots, using Lin 'N Win).

It ran 5.25 Retro fine (a little heavy for it), and runs 4.12 Retro quite well. ttuuxxx's 2.14 Classic runs, but the keyboard mapping is all goofed up... It does really struggle under Firefox...
[url=http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=58615]Add swapfile[/url]
[url=http://wellminded.net63.net/]WellMinded Search[/url]
[url=http://puppylinux.us/psearch.html]PuppyLinux.US Search[/url]

ICPUG
Posts: 1308
Joined: Mon 25 Jul 2005, 00:09
Location: UK

#10 Post by ICPUG »

Nice to know the old Lin'N'Win is still being used. Of course, once the process is done once it is easy to install all sorts of Pups afterwards.

One thing I would say if you have lots of trouble installing. Try the Puppy on CD first to make sure your problem is not with your hardware, particularly the video if you are getting blank screens. If your hardware is the problem then installing is going to be very hard.

Puppy used to have lots of trouble with Toshiba laptops - don't know why - but it caused Caitlin Martin, a well known Linux reviewer, to say bad things about Puppy all the time.

Puppy 5.2.8.x will not work on PCs with the latest Intel video chips.

If you know your hardware works with the Pup you are trying to install then I would recommend a frugal install via Lin'N'Win or the Windows Installer from Noryb that uses the same technique but is automatic.

There are others here who swear by full installs so I will leave it to them to sort out problems with full installations.

User avatar
RetroTechGuy
Posts: 2947
Joined: Tue 15 Dec 2009, 17:20
Location: USA

#11 Post by RetroTechGuy »

ICPUG wrote:Nice to know the old Lin'N'Win is still being used. Of course, once the process is done once it is easy to install all sorts of Pups afterwards.
I love the Lin 'N Win system!! It always makes me nervous mucking around with a working boot sector... (e.g. installing grub).

I do the mods entirely from Puppy (I boot from CD, "install" in a folder, then edit the files required).

I haven't tried it on my Win7 system... I was just reading up on it, and it makes me nervous... I will likely do a HDD backup (clonezilla) before trying it - then I can restore if I goof up.

The last several times I put grub on a machine, I used a Debian live boot disk to do it. I let it pretend that I'm going to install Debian (you have to actually install a minimal system), then use the grub and menu.lst that it creates, to hook in my Puppy (or other systems). I've had good luck with Debian -- I haven't had it mess up an existing bootable system...

But Lin 'N Win is trivially reversible if you want to remove the Puppy boot.
[url=http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=58615]Add swapfile[/url]
[url=http://wellminded.net63.net/]WellMinded Search[/url]
[url=http://puppylinux.us/psearch.html]PuppyLinux.US Search[/url]

rokytnji
Posts: 2262
Joined: Tue 20 Jan 2009, 15:54

#12 Post by rokytnji »

I haven't tried it on my Win7 system
I cheated on one of my Windows 7 Laptops.

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... &start=270

Found out it was easier to put a 128MB flash card to good use.

jacatone may have had a Holloween hangover when he posted. My head is killing me
from all the mixed candy and beer. So I can sympathize/empathize if that is the case.

User avatar
RetroTechGuy
Posts: 2947
Joined: Tue 15 Dec 2009, 17:20
Location: USA

#13 Post by RetroTechGuy »

rokytnji wrote:
I haven't tried it on my Win7 system
I cheated on one of my Windows 7 Laptops.

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... &start=270

Found out it was easier to put a 128MB flash card to good use.
I had a 4GB SD laying around, so that's mine (not very fast to shut down, however).

I'm thinking about trying to boot from the SD, but point to a folder on my HDD... (i.e. see if I can make the HDD "home", while booting from the SD -- should be possible, as soon as I get ambitious enough to poke at it). That would cure the slow shutdown problem.
jacatone may have had a Holloween hangover when he posted. My head is killing me
from all the mixed candy and beer. So I can sympathize/empathize if that is the case.
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: I figured to save my alky for this evening... :wink:
[url=http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=58615]Add swapfile[/url]
[url=http://wellminded.net63.net/]WellMinded Search[/url]
[url=http://puppylinux.us/psearch.html]PuppyLinux.US Search[/url]

User avatar
mikeb
Posts: 11297
Joined: Thu 23 Nov 2006, 13:56

#14 Post by mikeb »

I haven't tried it on my Win7 system... I was just reading up on it, and it makes me nervous... I will likely do a HDD backup (clonezilla) before trying it - then I can restore if I goof up.
There is a sneaky appoach that involves renaming a couple of files.... if you are interested..... idea is to be as unintrusive as lin'n'win.

Otherwise its bcdedit time...not too hairy but a little confusing I find.

mike

User avatar
RetroTechGuy
Posts: 2947
Joined: Tue 15 Dec 2009, 17:20
Location: USA

#15 Post by RetroTechGuy »

mikeb wrote:
I haven't tried it on my Win7 system... I was just reading up on it, and it makes me nervous... I will likely do a HDD backup (clonezilla) before trying it - then I can restore if I goof up.
There is a sneaky appoach that involves renaming a couple of files.... if you are interested..... idea is to be as unintrusive as lin'n'win.

Otherwise its bcdedit time...not too hairy but a little confusing I find.

mike
What made me nervous was the apparent need for a correct UUID, for it to work... (I assume M$ trying to make is as difficult as possible to run an OS other than theirs...)

I like the less intrusive methods (which is why I'm currently running from SD -- no "funny" editing required at all).
[url=http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=58615]Add swapfile[/url]
[url=http://wellminded.net63.net/]WellMinded Search[/url]
[url=http://puppylinux.us/psearch.html]PuppyLinux.US Search[/url]

ICPUG
Posts: 1308
Joined: Mon 25 Jul 2005, 00:09
Location: UK

#16 Post by ICPUG »

It took me ages before I updated Lin'N'Win for Windows 7. First I took ages getting a new PC with Windows 7 on it and then when I did I was as scared as you guys about messing with the new boot process.

I did have some hiccups along the way (because I didn't get my drive references right) but I didn't brick my PC. When I got it right Lin'N'Win was updated.

Now regularly using Puppy 5.2.8.005 and Lighthouse 5.0.3G - the latter being used as my Sandbox for the Internet and using Wine to run those (portable) Windows apps I cannot get on Linux or are just too complicated to install on Linux!

User avatar
sunburnt
Posts: 5090
Joined: Wed 08 Jun 2005, 23:11
Location: Arizona, U.S.A.

#17 Post by sunburnt »

I assume he`s trying to install from M$ Weeners.
If you`re using Linux and know a little about it, doing this is easy.

# But a suggestion for a Puppy installer for WinBlows users.

If the M$ boot handler can be made to boot Linux then use it.
If not then an auto. install of grub4dos that reliably will boot WinSnows.
This is probably without a doubt the biggest M$ pain in the ass.

If WinGrows will mount an ISO file as it is... ( without "help" ).
Then a Puppy installer app. can then be easily install it this way.
If ISO mounting`s a problem, then offer Puppy in a PkZip file.
.

User avatar
RetroTechGuy
Posts: 2947
Joined: Tue 15 Dec 2009, 17:20
Location: USA

#18 Post by RetroTechGuy »

sunburnt wrote:I assume he`s trying to install from M$ Weeners.
If you`re using Linux and know a little about it, doing this is easy.

# But a suggestion for a Puppy installer for WinBlows users.

If the M$ boot handler can be made to boot Linux then use it.
If not then an auto. install of grub4dos that reliably will boot WinSnows.
This is probably without a doubt the biggest M$ pain in the ass.

If WinGrows will mount an ISO file as it is... ( without "help" ).
Then a Puppy installer app. can then be easily install it this way.
If ISO mounting`s a problem, then offer Puppy in a PkZip file.
.
I always boot the CD, and see if it's even going to work, before trying to install. If it works, and I like the version of Puppy, I save a frugal savefile. One can just move that into the desired folder, when the "install" is done.
[url=http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=58615]Add swapfile[/url]
[url=http://wellminded.net63.net/]WellMinded Search[/url]
[url=http://puppylinux.us/psearch.html]PuppyLinux.US Search[/url]

User avatar
mikeb
Posts: 11297
Joined: Thu 23 Nov 2006, 13:56

#19 Post by mikeb »

The good ole puppy win32 installer can handle windows 7 ok... not sure how up to date with pups it is....an unsupported officially but worthwhile project.
Basically it does the bcdedit for you and add the puppy files all done from a windows program.

The rename boogie involves renaming bootmgr (windows bootloader) to say bootmgr_blip then adding grldr and renaming it to bootmgr , add a menu.lst which includes a chainloader call to bootmgr_blip and you're done.... to reverse just rename the files to what they were, Works ok on vista and win 7. Just the basic gist....

mike

User avatar
RetroTechGuy
Posts: 2947
Joined: Tue 15 Dec 2009, 17:20
Location: USA

#20 Post by RetroTechGuy »

mikeb wrote:The good ole puppy win32 installer can handle windows 7 ok... not sure how up to date with pups it is....an unsupported officially but worthwhile project.
Basically it does the bcdedit for you and add the puppy files all done from a windows program.

The rename boogie involves renaming bootmgr (windows bootloader) to say bootmgr_blip then adding grldr and renaming it to bootmgr , add a menu.lst which includes a chainloader call to bootmgr_blip and you're done.... to reverse just rename the files to what they were, Works ok on vista and win 7. Just the basic gist....

mike
Cute trick!...
[url=http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=58615]Add swapfile[/url]
[url=http://wellminded.net63.net/]WellMinded Search[/url]
[url=http://puppylinux.us/psearch.html]PuppyLinux.US Search[/url]

Post Reply