How to use another partition than Bionicpup's for default data storage? (Solved)

[LLiam53]

This is my first post on this forum so:
Bionic Pup 32 19.03, full install to a 40Gb [ext4] partition of a 128Gb SSD
on a 32 bit system with AMD AM2 socket 4 core 200Mhz CPU
3 Gb installed DDR2 memory [2 + 1]
on a ASUSTek M2A-MX mainboard with American Megatrends BIOS vers 0802
Wifi internet via wlx70f11c3e9e00 USB dongel
Two other 40Gb partitions [now 'drives'] one Ext2 one Fat32

Hope this is enough for now.
After various expeditions with other Linux systems I opted for Bionic as being the best choice [lightweight = fast, flexible and simple] for my old 32 bit machine I ressurected to use as my go to for email, whats app web, chat and such, and some simple word processing.
After a short USB trial I went for the installation as above. All went swimmingly and I am very pleased with my little helper. As I have always done I partition my main drive so that the OS stays on one and I use another for all data storage. I can not find out how to approach the available space via the apps concerned [so my seamonkey email for instance] to set up the local storage. I can do everything else with the drives I have created except approach them from a program Abiword [or seamonkey]. What am I missing?

[backi]

Hi !

Can you open your desired Partition(s) "(two other 40Gb partitions [now 'drives'] one Ext2 one Fat32)"--- by clicking on one of your Desktop-Drive-Icons?....so they will be mounted...and you should have Access to it.....

[bigpup]

The partitions need to be mounted so the file system can see them.
Puppy Linux only mounts the partition it is on.

There should be an icon on the lower left of the desktop for each partition.
Left mouse click on the icon to mount the partition.
Along with mounting it will open a Rox file manager window showing what is in the partition.
You can close the Rox window and the partition will stay mounted.

To navigate in the file system to one of the partitions.
In the navigation window of a program.
Usually select file system or other locations/computer.
Go to /mnt.
All mounted partitions will be listed in /mnt

The partition Bionicpup is on and booted from will always be mounted.
In the Rox file manager the file system is the locations in this partition.
so, when looking at locations in the file system. You are looking at locations on this partition.

If you want a partition to be auto mounted at boot up.
Run Pmount program. Mount icon on desktop.
Select a listed partition by clicking on it's name.
A menu will show with option to mount partition at boot.
Select mount partition at boot.
Now when you boot that partition will be mounted.

[bigpup]

You can setup and use partitions the way you want to.
It is up to you.

Bionic Pup 32 19.03, full install to a 40Gb partition.

If you never intend to put data in the normal locations of the file system.
You are wasting around 39 GB of space on the drive.
The full install of Bionicpup is only using around 1 GB of space.
A little space is used by adding programs, setting changes, etc..... normal operations of running an operating system.
So I could see using maybe 3 GB, but that would be after adding a lot of programs to Bionicpup.

The point I am trying to make. If nothing is going to get added to what is on that 40 GB partition.
Make it a much smaller partition, so the space can be used by another partition.

full installs of Puppy Linux are OK.
But Puppy is really designed around being installed as a frugal install. Frugal is just the name, it is still the complete OS, just installed in a special way.
Some features of Puppy only work in a frugal install.
What is a frugal install
http://wikka.puppylinux.com/Frugal
.
Your computer has more than enough RAM to work well with a frugal install.
512MB of RAM is minimum required.
But 1 GB or more is best.

[LLiam53]

Thanks all for the prompt replies and thoughts:
My other partitions 'drives' are fully usable via the usual routes, so: they are mounted and I can create new directories and can store stuff there by moving it in the usual ways so drag and drop, copy and paste. That's the infuriating thing, the drives simply do not appear when I go to save anything from a program so when I do 'save as' I get whole gammit of locations offered within home and am offered 'desktop' and 'recent' in addition to 'other locations' which leads me to 'computer' and onwards, none of those locations offers me a route to my other drives... I even get offered my network drives for which I had already arranged samba share for...
When it comes to the size of the partition I am using for puppy: I decided to go for a size which, if storage on other drives was not a straightforward option [which appears to be the case] then I can suffice by creating directories for data within that partition. Should storage on other partitions be normally feasable then I intend downsizing the puppy partition, as said bigpup 5Gb will suffice then, even if that means doing a new install [takes minutes...]
I just tried dragging and dropping a folder [I created earlier as a directory, within another directory] from the 'other' drive/partition to the 'my documents' folder in 'mnt' which seems to have worked, is this what I missed? Maybe I was just lucky? Let me know...
Thanks again, LLiam53

[Moose On The Loose]

Thanks all for the prompt replies and thoughts:
[....]
whole gammit of locations offered within home and am offered 'desktop' and 'recent' in addition to 'other locations' which leads me to 'computer' and onwards, none of those

Is "FileSytem" among the locations you got offered?
If so, go to that one.
Then select "mnt"
Then the drive in question

[LLiam53]

FileSystem would have been my first 'go to', if it was available, which it is not [within what is offered when I do a 'save as']. I found 'mnt' AFTER I dragged the drive over into 'my documents' [in Home or root]. Now all other locations on my system are listed in 'mnt' [as links?] to be found via 'other locations' - 'computer'... and have dissappeared from my documents... It's all rather confusing but it appears to work.... in a similar way to windows where a location can be dragged into my docs to be available there but remains in its original location. I must sign off now... Will report progress later.. Thx LLiam53

[mikeslr]

Ditto what bigpup wrote, but with emphasis. Puppy is designed to run as a Frugal Install.
See this post as to why a Full Install is not recommended. http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... 8e#1023489.

Before you flesh-out your system, I recommend that you consider starting from scratch in order to run Puppy as a Frugal Install. It's other name is co-existent. Puppies will happily share a partition with one 'Full Install' --Linux or Windows-- and as many other Puppies as you want to cram into it. But there are advantages of running a Puppy from a Linux Ext formatted as that would give you the opportunity to use a SaveFolder. A SaveFolder starts small but --as you install applications or otherwise use it-- can automatically expand to the entire available space on its partition. A SaveFolder provides almost all the advantages of both a 'Full' install and a 'Frugal' install.

Don't read more into the following that it says: With recent Puppies there is almost no significant difference in requirements or responsiveness between 32-bit and 64-bit systems. I run multiple puppies, which one usually depends on my mood. I test even more. Bionicpup 32-bit is an excellent build and has become my 'go-to' when I think of using a modern 32-bit system. It will probably be able to accomplish any task you currently want it to.

But it is becoming increasingly difficult to obtain 32-bit Web-browsers. They are being phased out by the original publishers, both mozilla (firefox, seamonkey and the fork, palemoon) and google (Chromium [its test bed] and Google-Chrome its brand, and almost every web-browser you know of as these are modified versions of Chromium). 32-bit web-browsers have to be compiled by the devs of Linux distros. Although this is still being done, indeed even by some Puppy devs, there is no guarantee that anyone will have the time and interest to do so. With graphic-rich websites increasingly insisting on your having a 'current' web-browser before allowing access, there will come a time when in order to engage in most activities on the Web you will need a 64-bit Web-browser. Not today, nor tomorrow, but in the foreseeable future.
You may want to consider switching to a 64-bit Puppy.

[mikeslr]

Linux uses symbolic links which are more powerful versions of what, under Windows, is referred to as 'Short-cuts'. But most Puppies don't automatically mount (open) partitions other than the one on which it is located.

See this post, viewtopic.php?f=151&t=444 which demonstrates the employment of symbolic links under a Frugal Install in order to avoid complications resulting from 'running entirely in RAM.

[Jafadmin]

In the Abiword "Save As" dialog, on the left, is a pane called "Places". Click on "File System", then double-click the "mnt" directory, and before you do anything else, click the '+' icon below the "Places" pane. That will add '/mnt' to your bookmarks list. Once the bookmark is created you can rename it to anthing that suits you by right-clicking it. From then on, just click that bookmark to save to any of your mounted filesystems.

Once you create that bookmark in Abiword, it should become available to the "file save" dialog in your web browser, as well.

[bigpup]

Carefully read my post again.

Partitions have to first be mounted to be seen by the file system.
All mounted partitions will be accessed by going to /mnt

In program navigation windows for navigating in the file system.
Depending on the program.
other locations->Computer->/mnt
file system->/mnt
Some start by showing /root/ so you have to use up arrow to go to / and then select /mnt

[davids45]

G'day Lliam53,
Welcome to 'our Kennel'.
I find it's hard to explain what I'm having trouble with until I've solved it.... but then I don't need to explain it .
So is the problem you're having involved with quickly locating where to open or save a file to from the dialog box in an application?

Such as in the screenshot attachment (LibreOffice in a 32-bit SlackoPup example)?

I have two data partitions, sda5 and sdb3, which I have added to the 'Places' panel in the 'Open' window. From the right panel, just click&hold on the partition or folder you'd like to always show in the left panel (e.g. sdb3) and drag it horizontally across to the left panel and let go.

If the partition you want is not findable (e.g. not mounted), are you mounting it at boot? Pmount can set this up or you can add a script to /root/Startup to mount your desired partition(s) at each Puppy boot - I do this for every Puppy for my two data partitions so each Puppy has immediate access to my data.

A problem I've occasionally had with some older Pups is the left panel is by-default cluttered with all the available partitions even though these partitions are mostly unmounted. I do not think BionicPup32 has this problem but I don't do old fashioned 'full' (fat) installs - all my Pups are fantastic frugals so perhaps that's also happening with yours?

If you're still having a problem, and/or none of us has quite understood your dilemma (well, me), try taking a few screenshots to explain where Puppy is not quite right. Look in the Graphics menu for take-a-shot or other screen grabber, and then reduce the screenshot or window-shot to less than 800 pixels max. dimension (so it can shown in your post) and attach to your next post.

Good luck with it,
David S.

[LLiam53]

Thanks again one and all for all the comments and suggestions. My initial question on how to use my other drives as storage is answered so it's reasonable to say this is now solved.
I may have achieved it in a roundabout fashion but 'mnt' is now readily available in the various 'save as' menus and I have even plonked it onto my desktop and renamed it 'Drives' as all [possible] drives are there to be found. I also redirected my [seamonkey] email local storage to one of the partitions.
What I now want to do is reduce the Puppy drive size, now if that's possible [like windows] remains to be seen, and I shall have to study the difference between full and frugal installation [I tried Frugal first time round and something prevented it from finishing [no I forget what]. Aside from all that I need to look at 32 bit restrictions which appear may be a problem soon [comment from mikesir] My hardware is 32 bit so that will be the restricting factor, unless puppy 64 bit will load onto a 32 bit system [which I doubt].
I shall come back with my experiences... LLiam53

[bigpup]

Start a new topic for any new problem.
Make the topic about one single problem.
There is no limit on number of topics you can post.
It gets hard to follow and provide help, when a topic is talking about more than one issue.