Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

Hello again!
I'm attempting to load bookworm PUP32 from DVD onto a very old Fujitsu notebook presently running Windows XP.
The error message reads:
WARNING: PAE disabled. Use parameter 'forcepae' to enable at your own risk!

The problem is that I can't find a place to use that parameter.
I tried entering Grub4Dos command line and typing "kernel forcepae" but I just get another error message that reads:
1:(http://grub4dos.chenall.net/e/1) Filename must be either an absolute pathname or blocklist.

Any suggestions?
Thanks

IIRC, this goes on the "kernel" line, such as kernel /Pup32/vmlinuz --forcepae, note the double dashes (--) in the grub4dos menu.lst (little L).
Wiz

32 bit addresses allows you to access no more than 4G of ram.
If you have 8G of ram, only 4G will be seen by the operating system.

PAE is a hack that allows you to access most of the 8G of ram.
but one 4G block at a time.

If you have less than 4G of ram,
you do NOT need PAE.

A few defective 32 bit cpus were manufactured that can use PAE
but the information in the cpu says it does not have PAE capability.
forcepae is only needed for these few cpu chips that do support PAE
but report that they do not.

So, if you have 4G or less of ram, then
you do not need or want forcepae.

If you have a normal 32 bit cpu
that reports that it supports PAE,
you do not need or want forcepae.

You need forcepae only if you have more that 4G of ram,
and also your cpu reports that it does not support PAE
but you know that it does support PAE.

Wiz57 wrote: Sun Jun 23, 2024 2:11 pm

IIRC, this goes on the "kernel" line, such as kernel /Pup32/vmlinuz --forcepae, note the double dashes (--) in the grub4dos menu.lst (little L).
Wiz

Thanks Wiz. The interaction now looks like this:

grub> kernel /Pup32/vmlinuz --forcepae

Error 15:(http://grub4dos.chenall.net/e/15)
File not found
grub>

(I tried it with all lower-case, so pup32, but it gives the same reply.)

williams2 wrote: Sun Jun 23, 2024 3:25 pm

32 bit addresses allows you to access no more than 4G of ram.
If you have 8G of ram, only 4G will be seen by the operating system.

PAE is a hack that allows you to access most of the 8G of ram.
but one 4G block at a time.

If you have less than 4G of ram,
you do NOT need PAE.

A few defective 32 bit cpus were manufactured that can use PAE
but the information in the cpu says it does not have PAE capability.
forcepae is only needed for these few cpu chips that do support PAE
but report that they do not.

So, if you have 4G or less of ram, then
you do not need or want forcepae.

If you have a normal 32 bit cpu
that reports that it supports PAE,
you do not need or want forcepae.

You need forcepae only if you have more that 4G of ram,
and also your cpu reports that it does not support PAE
but you know that it does support PAE.

Thanks for explaining that williams2.
Grub tells me:
Mem: 638K/501M/0M, End: 3651FE

I presume this means 638k RAM and 501M HDD.

Update: WinXP tells me
C: 39GB (20.2GB free)
D: 16.8GB (16.7GB free)
RAM: 504MB

Andy Kay wrote: Sun Jun 23, 2024 3:31 pm

Wiz57 wrote: Sun Jun 23, 2024 2:11 pm

IIRC, this goes on the "kernel" line, such as kernel /Pup32/vmlinuz --forcepae, note the double dashes (--) in the grub4dos menu.lst (little L).
Wiz

Thanks Wiz. The interaction now looks like this:

grub> kernel /Pup32/vmlinuz --forcepae

Error 15:(http://grub4dos.chenall.net/e/15)
File not found
grub>

(I tried it with all lower-case, so pup32, but it gives the same reply.)

My example of "Pup32" was just an example...use the exact name of the directory (folder in Windows
speak) that you installed your Bookworm Pup into. Also, what williams2 says is also correct, it may
not even be needed. If how much RAM you actually have is only like 512megabytes, it may be
advisable to try an older Puppy, say something along the lines of BionicPup 32 or as I do on my
old Acer Aspire One with 1 gig or RAM, I run a customized version of S15Pup32 as well a few older
ScPup32s and ArchPup32. These have an older kernel and firmware to match this old netbooks
hardware as well as work with WinXP.
Wiz

Wiz57 wrote: Sun Jun 23, 2024 2:11 pm

My example of "Pup32" was just an example...use the exact name of the directory (folder in Windows
speak) that you installed your Bookworm Pup into. Also, what williams2 says is also correct, it may
not even be needed. If how much RAM you actually have is only like 512megabytes, it may be
advisable to try an older Puppy, say something along the lines of BionicPup 32 or as I do on my
old Acer Aspire One with 1 gig or RAM, I run a customized version of S15Pup32 as well a few older
ScPup32s and ArchPup32. These have an older kernel and firmware to match this old netbooks
hardware as well as work with WinXP.
Wiz

Hi Wiz. In the meantime I discovered that LMDE has a 32-bit option so I burned that to DVD and used it start the Fujitsu. It complained about a missing 'init' so I tried again using the compatibility mode option and it loaded! When I tried to initiate Firefox the machine sat there with the optical drive chugging away for hours and doing nothing so I don't think this is an option. Perhaps too little RAM to permit this to work properly.

As you say, from what williams2 wrote it looks like I shouldn't need the help of forcepae, so that seems like nothing more than a misleading distraction. A trap for the not-so-bright.

Thanks for your suggestions regarding an older Puppy. My brain is getting a little fried now so I may just give it a break for a while. It's getting more time-consuming that I'd anticipated. My motivation is that none of my machines will support Windows 11, so firstly I don't want to have to add a new machine to the eight so that I already own, and secondly (and more importantly) I detest the thought of all the e-waste that Microsoft is forcing onto the world because of this ridiculous imposition. Oh, and I don't want to enter the gilded Apple cage. So I will eventually persevere with my one-man protest in due course. Thanks again.

@Andy Kay

Have some laptops with single core Pentium M cpus that require forcepae. Here is an example menu.lst file (in this case for Bionic32) that works, the kernel line shows the correct syntax (no dashes).

Title Puppy upupbb 19.03 (sda2/bionic32)
  root (hd0,1)
  kernel /bionic32/vmlinuz    psubdir=/bionic32 pmedia=atahd pfix=nocopy,fsck forcepae 
  initrd /bionic32/initrd.gz

wizard

old Fujitsu notebook

Make and model, specs if you know them would help.

Firefox issues are most likely the CPU, hardware, and RAM do not have the features a modern browser now needs.

Maybe you can find a less demanding browser to use.