How to 'forcepae' with BionicPup32 8.0?

[rvqx2]

I have put Bionicpup32 on a stick and when i start it, it stops and tell me that it needs pae. Is there an iso that does not need pae? My laptop is an HP nx7010 has a 32 bit single core cpu, with 0.5 GB ram.

[mikewalsh]

I have put Bionicpup32 on a stick and when i start it, it stops and tell me that it needs pae. Is there an iso that does not need pae? My laptop is an HP nx7010 has a 32 bit single core cpu, with 0.5 GB ram.

Right. O-kay.

It would help if you could be more specific about the CPU, but I'll lay pounds to peanuts you've got a Pentium/Celeron M with the "Banias" core.

See, Intel built this CPU with 2 different cores; the first was called "Banias", the second was called "Dothan". Now, both cores support PAE.....but only the second, "Dothan", actually reports that fact to any OS when queried. For some ridiculous reason, Intel built the first one without the ability to report its instructions.....

This thread over at the TechReport forums covers a lot of the reasons around why this was so in 2004/2005.....much of which apparently hinges on the need for NX-bit support:-

https://techreport.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=83824

----------------------------------------------

Can you confirm the CPU type for us, please? Then we can take it from there..... There's two approaches to this, and it's NOT unique to Puppy. You can either install an ISO that's been built without the Page Address Extensions, OR you can 'force' it to run by adding the "forcepae" flag to the boot-loader's kernel line.

Let us know what your CPU is, and then we'll try and figure out what's the best approach for you.

Mike.

[rvqx2]

I entered in the terminal in AntiX linux: less /proc/cpuinfo. Is that enough info?

processor : 0
vendor_id : GenuineIntel
cpu family : 6
model : 9
model name : Intel(R) Pentium(R) M processor 1400MHz
stepping : 5
microcode : 0x7
cpu MHz : 600.000
cache size : 1024 KB
physical id : 0
siblings : 1
core id : 0
cpu cores : 1
apicid : 0
initial apicid : 0
fdiv_bug : no
f00f_bug : no
coma_bug : no
fpu : yes
fpu_exception : yes
cpuid level : 2
wp : yes
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr mce cx8 sep mtrr pge mca cmov clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 tm pbe bts est tm2
bugs : cpu_meltdown spectre_v1 spectre_v2 spec_store_bypass l1tf mds swapgs itlb_multihit
bogomips : 1196.04

[rvqx2]

Do you think it will work if i install Bionic pup on a modern pc and copy the hdd to my old laptop?

[mikeslr]

Do you think it will work if i install Bionic pup on a modern pc and copy the hdd to my old laptop?

No.
The problem is the laptop construction, not the installation of bionicpup.

Sorry, I don't know how to read the information AntiX provided except perhaps to guess that your computer having both an SSE flag and a SSE2 flag is newer (than if only SSE was included) and does include the pae instruction set. If so adding '-force pae' to your boot-loader's menu.lst or grub.cfg file should enable bionicpup to boot.

You didn't tell us how you installed bionicpup. The three most likely methods of installation are that one of the following was written to the Stick: syslinux.cfg, menu.lst or grub.cfg. All are text files you can edit with any text editor. See this post, viewtopic.php?p=6573&sid=764b70bf4fb33a ... bcc2#p6573

[peebee]

@rvqx2

Try adding '-force pae' to your boot-loader's menu.lst or other .cfg file first but if that doesn't work..........

p.s. there is some debate about the format of the forcepae boot switch - search the forum and try all of the suggested formats: forcepae, -forcepae, --forcepae, -- forcepae

Hopefully you did the recommended so-called "frugal install" and have on your usb 2 files:
vmlinuz & zdrv_upupbb_19.03.sfs

You do NOT have the pae flag in your processor so you could try a no-pae kernel from:
http://distro.ibiblio.org/puppylinux/huge_kernels/

e.g.
http://distro.ibiblio.org/puppylinux/huge_kernels/huge-4.9.13-xenial_noPAE.tar.bz2 may not download in some web browsers.... go to the repo above and do a "save as"

You will need to open the archive (in Puppy just click on it) and extract and rename the kernel_modules (zdrv) and vmlinuz to replace the ones from the .iso

[mikewalsh]

You do NOT have the pae flag in your processor so you could try a no-pae kernel from:
http://distro.ibiblio.org/puppylinux/huge_kernels/

Strictly speaking, the core's "logic pathways" support it.....but the instruction set doesn't (that's where the actual 'flags' reside). And since it's the instruction set that dispenses information whenever such a request comes in.....

(*shrug*)

Do as Peter suggests.....try all the variations on that "forcepae", 'cos I can't remember which variant works now, either.

Mike.

[rvqx2]

I stop trying bionicpup. There are 9 lines with BionicPup32 when i start the install stick. Each line 5 different tries with `forcepae` and no idea how to do it. Pity there is not a nonpae iso for bionicpup. Luckily i have an old pupTahr 6.0.5 32bit with VLC. But it`s not good enough to roam internet.
Anyway thank you for your time.

[wizard]

@rvqx2

I'm running an old Thinkpad T41 with the Pentium M that has the same problem as yours, this is my grub4dos menu.lst entry that works on mine, the important part is the kernel line that has "forcepae".

Code: Select all

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

wizard

[cobaka]

@rvqx2

I installed uPupBB32 on a Dell 8600 laptop. Pentium M. And I when I write 'installed' I mean booting from a USB stick, not the internal HDD.
The result: failed to boot until I added --force PAE command to the bootloader. That's done using (in my case) Grub-4-DOS.
I can drag out the laptop and send the code if you need it - but you will find the answer on this forum (or the previous one).
I know that because @bigpup turned 'failure to boot' into 'now-working' laptop

cobaka

[mikewalsh]

@peebee :-

The only snag with using one of those no-PAE 'huge' kernels you linked to is that they're all pretty old now; it seems every one of them is a 3-series. Though I can't see why the Tahrpup 3.14.56 no-PAE shouldn't work fine for hardware of that vintage, TBH.

EDIT:- Now; I've found a k4.9.13 no-PAE 32-bitzer in Ally's listings at archive.org. Be a wee bit more recent, and it should work OK in UpupBB32.

I think a kernel swap would be the simplest option for the OP, no? What d'you reckon?

Mike.

[mikeslr]

The kernel MikeWalsh found on Ally's listings at archive.org may be the archived version of the no-pae kernel rockedge specifically compiled for bionicpup32. If not, you can obtain rockedge's build here, http://rockedge.org/kernels/. It uses bionicpup32's 'official' name, upupbb.

Your issue suggested that my withdrawal of CE_Slacko_5.7.2 --which used a no-pae kernel-- may have been premature. This may interest you. viewtopic.php?p=86076#p86076. But read the posts preceding it on that thread, especially regarding the availability of web-browsers, and the utility of those which are available.

[cobaka]

Repeating: I ran uPupBB-32 on a DELL 8600 Pentium "M" by modifying the menu.lst file on the 'boot' partition.

The dreaded 'big-pup' told me 'something' and here is the line from my /mnt/sda1/menu.lst:

kernel /PUP_SYS/vmlinuz psubdir=/PUP_SYS pmedia=atahd pfix=fsck -- forcepae

Note space between '--' and forcepae

I had to edit that file when I ran Grub-4-DOS, because I could not boot the P4M until the 'force' command was present.
Catch-22 situation.
Using this patch, Dell 8600 has been running now for some years. Pentium P4M + 1.6GHz clock. 2GiB RAM. Won't beat Jesse Owen around a race-track, but is good for code development.

cobaka

[mikewalsh]

kernel /PUP_SYS/vmlinuz psubdir=/PUP_SYS pmedia=atahd pfix=fsck -- forcepae

Note space between '--' and forcepae

Yah, that looks about right. I don't understand the significance of having that "--" in there anyway, but I vaguely remember somebody saying at some point over the last 18 months (when this subject last came up) that if you write it like

Code: Select all

--forcepae

.....with NO space, then the kernel will ignore it. However, if you write it

Code: Select all

-- forcepae

....WITH a space in between, then it gets read, & acted upon. It's a lot of faffing about, given that this is about the only CPU still extant that has to use this workaround anyway.....and as cobaka says, the very first time you boot this MUST be added to the boot-loader manually, or there's no way in hell that it'll EVER fire up.

You can, of course, add this to the bootloader once you're up-and-running.

Mike.

[roflkaapter]

Hello, I have not attempted with this particular distro, but on my T41 with Banias core I have found success with appending "noexec=off forcepae" to kernel command line to disable NX bit and utilize the unflagged PAE support in both Devuan and Void Linux.