Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

Hello forum
I share my experience installing frugally on a USB or HDD using Grub4Dos

USB:
First of all, start a session in FP96CE or another Linux version from another USB, the important thing is that we have Gparted and Grub4Dos

1.- Open Gparted and format the USB with EXT3 format and apply the boot flag (entire usb or make partitions)
2.- Extracted all the files from the ISO that I want to install (preferably into their own named folder)
3.- I start grub4dos and select the USB only to be read, follow the normal steps and close the application
4.- This is where we make the physical changes to menu.lst
Change the option "pmedia=usbflash" to "pmedia=usbhd", this will allow you to make a "savefolder" instead of a "savefile" and thus no longer have to program the save time which sometimes slows down the computer too much. ..
5.- I only use this other option because I have good speed transmission between my USB and my computer, I changed the option "pfix=fsck" to "pfix=fsck,nocopy" and here my computer does not copy the SFS files to me ram memory eliminating a considerable amount of time in the boot time, only for that reason I modified it like this, if they do not have good transmission speed, I recommend leaving the option as it is originally.

Finally and personally to avoid "fatigue" , I copied the same entry from my puppy installation and only changed the option "pfix=fsck" to "pfix=ram" so I started a new session or avoided loading the savefolder file

This is an example of my menu.lst form a frugal instalation in my HD

# menu.lst produced by Grub4Puppy 1.12
timeout 10
color white/black black/white
splashimage=/splash.xpm

# Frugal installed Puppy

title Puppy fossapup64 9.6 (fossapup96)
  find --set-root uuid () 9a5f2e8a-67e5-4816-b57e-b23aeb9ce93e
  kernel /fossapup96/vmlinuz  pdrv=9a5f2e8a-67e5-4816-b57e-b23aeb9ce93e pmedia=atahd psubdir=/fossapup96 pfix=nocopy,fsck
  initrd /fossapup96/initrd.gz

title Puppy fossapup64 9.6 (fossapup96) RAM mode
  find --set-root uuid () 9a5f2e8a-67e5-4816-b57e-b23aeb9ce93e
  kernel /fossapup96/vmlinuz  pdrv=9a5f2e8a-67e5-4816-b57e-b23aeb9ce93e pmedia=atahd psubdir=/fossapup96 pfix=ram
  initrd /fossapup96/initrd.gz

# Windows

# Advanced Menu
title Advanced menu
  configfile /menu-advanced.lst
  commandline

HDD:
In this case, they are relatively the same steps, just be very careful when creating partitions as they could delete some or all of the information on your hard drive (it already happened to me and it wasn't fun ).

The only thing you should keep in mind is whether you want the SFS files to be loaded at the beginning of the session or not and have the extra option of starting in ram on the screen to either solve a boot problem or start a new session...

I hope my experience helps you when creating USB or Installing Puppy on the HDD

Cheers!!

1. I CAN successfully boot into RAM only - no pupsave

@rockedge
2. You certainly can do the same procedures using another Puppy Linux.
Good, I'll try moving the FossaPup savefolder from within my Slacko-5.7.0.

Oops, that failed with savefolder and then also with savefile.
I used ROX-Filer to do the work within Slacko-5.7.0. [Copy, then delete the original].

I've deleted the copied save using Slacko, repeated the 1st boot procedure for FossaPup, all working well once more.

@Sylvander

1. I CAN successfully boot into RAM only - no pupsave

Thanks for reporting back.

This might help @rockedge in his efforts to figure this problem out.

Chelsea80

I've tested through the problem of pfix=ram switch added to grub's Linux line not working.

pfix=fsck,fsckp interferes with the action of pfix=ram
pfix=fsck also interferes with pfix=ram

it pfix=ram precedes the pfix=fsck,fsckp command switch then it is ineffective
if pfix=ram follows the pfix=fsck,fsckp command switch then it is effective

if pfix=fsck,fsckp is removed from the line then pfix=ram is effective.

vtpup wrote: Sun Mar 31, 2024 3:23 pm

it pfix=ram precedes the pfix=fsck,fsckp command switch then it is ineffective
if pfix=ram follows the pfix=fsck,fsckp command switch then it is effective

Would it be valid to write it this way :
pfix=fsck,fsckp,ram

Would it be valid to write it this way :
pfix=fsck,fsckp,ram

Yes this is the correct form.

Upon examination of the /boot/grub/menu.lst and /boot/grub/grub.cfg in F96-CE_4 it became apparent that is the problem why there were boot issues launching from ISO or burned CD/DVD when selecting RAM only mode. They both contained the incorrect pfix=ram,fsck,fsckp and not the correct parameter pfix=fsck,fsckp,ram

@Sylvander, @Chelsea80 The boot problem is fixed!

I will need to fix and repackage the F96-CE_4 ISO and upload the repaired version to the download storage areas.

in /boot/grub/menu.lst the boot stanza's should look like this:

title fossapup64 9.6 - Safe mode, no X
  kernel /vmlinuz    pmedia=cd pfix=nox,fsck,ram
  errorcheck off
  initrd /initrd.gz
  initrd /ucode.cpio /initrd.gz

title fossapup64 9.6 - RAM only - no pupsave
  kernel /vmlinuz    pmedia=cd pfix=fsck,ram
  errorcheck off
  initrd /initrd.gz
  initrd /ucode.cpio /initrd.gz

In /boot/grub/grub.cfg ->

menuentry "fossapup64 9.6 - Safe mode, no X" {
    linux /vmlinuz pmedia=cd pfix=nox,fsck,ram
    if [ -e /ucode.cpio ]; then
      initrd /ucode.cpio /initrd.gz
    else
      initrd /initrd.gz
    fi
}

menuentry "fossapup64 9.6 - RAM only - no pupsave" {
    linux /vmlinuz pmedia=cd pfix=fsck,ram 
    if [ -e /ucode.cpio ]; then
      initrd /ucode.cpio /initrd.gz
    else
      initrd /initrd.gz
    fi
}

In /boot/grub/loopback.cfg ->

menuentry "fossapup64 9.6 - Safe mode, no X" {
    linux /vmlinuz pmedia=cd pfix=nox,fsck,ram find_iso=${iso_path}
    if [ -e /ucode.cpio ]; then
      initrd /ucode.cpio /initrd.gz
    else
      initrd /initrd.gz
    fi
}

menuentry "fossapup64 9.6 - RAM only - no pupsave" {
    linux /vmlinuz pmedia=cd pfix=fsck,ram find_iso=${iso_path}
    if [ -e /ucode.cpio ]; then
      initrd /ucode.cpio /initrd.gz
    else
      initrd /initrd.gz
    fi
}

Seems like fsck and ram shouldn't conflict, has it always been that way? I don't remember that a specific order was required in older puppies, but maybe I was lucky, and/or didn't notice.

@vtpup I also thought the order of parameter options fsck and ram wasn't specific. And for a long time there has been very few reports of boot problems and the /boot directory has not been modified much since it was originally generated by woof-CE.

Now I am not sure if booting in RAM only mode from ISO or a burned CD/DVD was always broken.....because of parameter order.....or is the kernel command line not being parsed correctly? Or is this somehow recent? Though I seem to remember from a long time ago there was something......

I changed the order in the boot stanza's then created a new ISO and it boots from ISO in QEMU in RAM only mode.

@rockedge is this going to keep the old version name OR will it have a new version number; say "F96-CE_5" with the latest findings?

The order of the different boot options is more about what does each one do by using it.
How do they affect the boot process.

Example of good use of the commands:

pfix=ram, nox, fsck

ram -> tells the boot process when it gets to the point of loading the save to not load it.

nox -> tells it to do not start X server when it gets to that point in the process.

fsck tells it to run a file system check when the complete operating file system is fully loaded

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

Best way to think about using them is how the boot process operates.

1. First the boot loader turns control of booting over to the Puppy OS boot process.

2. Next the Linux kernel loads and starts to control the hardware and interface with it.

3. Then the different SFS's that are the Puppy version are loaded into memory. There is a specific order to them loading.

4. If a save is found it is then loaded at this point in the process.
If no save or the boot option pfix=ram is used save is not loaded.

At this point it is the complete operating file system loaded. (fsck is good to run at this point in the process)

Note:
You may think having the fsck as the last option in pfix= could be an issue.
But at the point of starting X server the complete file system is loaded.
So the boot process knows that if pfix=fsck is in the boot entry.
This is the time to let that option run before it goes to starting X server.

5. X server is started to provide graphics, desktop, GUI, etc.........

Boot complete.

This bug should be on the BUG report area of the forum for WoofCE developers to review.

In addition to this bug, there are other bugs involving INIT that have been recently reported.

Consider if moving is appropriate.

bigpup wrote:

Example of good use of the commands:

pfix=ram, nox,fsck

That is the exact line that is causing the kernel panic in my tests. If the ram parameter is first in a multi-parameter line, the boot will fail.

Switching it to pfix=nox,fsck,ram where ram is the last or only parameter then the system boots correctly.

Rockedge I did some tests after our last couple of posts with my older computer which has installations of Racy 5, Tahpup, and Binonic64, with savefiles and I put pfix=ram in grub's menu.lst line for each, both via a comma, and separately, and also before or after pfix=fsck, and to my surprise all of them ignored it in all combinations and persistently loaded the savefiles.

I think (haven't tested yet) but the psubdir command might be responsible for indicating there is a savefile. It may be that when I used pfix=ram in the past, I may have temporarily deleted the psubdir command. Can't remember for sure. Also Racy used to actually look for a savefile in a fairly wide pattern I think. Maybe even in one subdirectory deep?

rockedge wrote: Sun Mar 31, 2024 10:09 pm

bigpup wrote:

Example of good use of the commands:

pfix=ram, nox,fsck

That is the exact line that is causing the kernel panic in my tests. If the ram parameter is first in a multi-parameter line, the boot will fail.

Switching it to pfix=nox,fsck,ram where ram is the last or only parameter then the system boots correctly.

+1

rockedge wrote: Sun Mar 31, 2024 10:09 pm

bigpup wrote:

Example of good use of the commands:

pfix=ram, nox,fsck

That is the exact line that is causing the kernel panic in my tests. If the ram parameter is first in a multi-parameter line, the boot will fail.

Switching it to pfix=nox,fsck,ram where ram is the last or only parameter then the system boots correctly.

When I tried booting my frugal install using pfix=ram,nox,fsck

No save was loaded.

It booted to the point where you can input commands but X server has not started.

If I type xwin at the prompt on the screen.

It starts the normal manual setup for x server, but it is not providing all the needed setup screens.

It only produces the first settings screen and none of the other needed ones.

So it is not completing what is needed for X server to run normally.

You can type xorgwizard and get it running, but nothing you do in it will work.

Note:
When type xwin, do the one settings selection screen and press enter, the screen goes blank, but it does seem to be starting X server. I can hear the Puppy bark you get on a clean boot, but no display desktop only blank screen.

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

Note:
I tried using pfix=ram,nox,fsck to boot BookwormPup64 10.0.3 and it booted not using the save, stopped at a prompt, so x server was not started.

Typed xwin and it did the complete manual setup for X server and ended with a normal screen showing the working desktop.

This had several different setup screens pop up to make different settings before continuing to desktop.

Maybe the initrd.gz in F96-CE_4 is buggy and a newer one from Woof-CE is needed.

bigpup wrote: Mon Apr 01, 2024 1:19 am

When I tried booting my frugal install using pfix=ram,nox,fsck

No save was loaded.
......
The things you do not tell us, are usually the clue to fixing the problem. ...

Savefile.... save folder?

I wonder about the use of the comma.
From the beginning I used the semicolon to separate these commands.

Though, can't say if it makes a difference.

vtpup wrote: Mon Apr 01, 2024 3:37 pm

bigpup wrote: Mon Apr 01, 2024 1:19 am

When I tried booting my frugal install using pfix=ram,nox,fsck

No save was loaded.
......
The things you do not tell us, are usually the clue to fixing the problem. ...

Savefile.... save folder?

Save folder.

bigpup wrote:

Example of good use of the commands:

pfix=ram, nox,fsck

It's sensitive to whitespace, should be pfix=ram,nox,fsck.

bigpup wrote: Tue Apr 02, 2024 1:14 am

vtpup wrote: Mon Apr 01, 2024 3:37 pm

bigpup wrote: Mon Apr 01, 2024 1:19 am

When I tried booting my frugal install using pfix=ram,nox,fsck

No save was loaded.
......
The things you do not tell us, are usually the clue to fixing the problem. ...

Savefile.... save folder?

Save folder.

My tests where "pfix=ram pfix=fsck", and pfix=ram,fsck, and pfix=ram,fsck,fsckp each failed was with a savefile. Likewise changing the order to the ram switch occurring after the fsck switch in any of those forms worked.

Try yours with a savefile, to see if that behavior can be verified as specific to that type of installation.

dimkr wrote: Tue Apr 02, 2024 7:02 am

bigpup wrote:

Example of good use of the commands:

pfix=ram, nox,fsck

It's sensitive to whitespace, should be pfix=ram,nox,fsck.

Typo, not how tested here, at least.

Sorry about that typo.
I did use the command with no white-spaces.

In F96-CE_4....
Can anyone tell me HOWTO:
At shutdown/reboot, have a SAVE/NOSAVE, or SAVE=YES/NO choice?
With NOSAVE/NO as the default.

Sylvander wrote: Thu Apr 04, 2024 8:31 am

In F96-CE_4....
Can anyone tell me HOWTO:
At shutdown/reboot, have a SAVE/NOSAVE, or SAVE=YES/NO choice?
With NOSAVE/NO as the default.

First of all you need to specify pmedia=usbflash or ataflash (depending on the media you are booting from) in your boot configuration file (menu.lst for grub4dos or grub.cfg, I don't know what you are using). This will create a save icon on desktop after booting (supposing you already have a save file/folder). Then from menu:
System > Event Manager > Save session tab > Save interval 0 > also tick the Ask at shutdown box > OK. When you reboot or shutdown, a box will appear where you can select whether to save or not. The default is no saving if you do not select anything. Note that you can at any time during a session decide to save by clicking the save icon on desktop.

@amethyst

Using Pfind:
1. I do find usr/lib/grub4dos.
2. I do not find menu.lst or grub.cfg.
3. Do I need to create menu.lst?
4. At the moment there is no "Save" icon on the desktop. Will one be created?

Do not try to use Pfind to find anything.
The boot loader config file is not going to be in the operating file system.
It is going to be placed on the first partition on the drive with the other boot loader files.

You have to look on the drive partitions for the file that configures the boot menu.

Most likely it is going to be using grub.cfg file.

Need to know how you have F96-CE_4 installed?
Frugal install?
If yes what specific boot loader did you setup to boot it?
Or how exactly did you do the frugal install?
That will tell us what boot loader config file it is using to boot.

If live install to say a USB stick.
On the partition you installed to.
Look for the grub.cfg file that is not inside any directory(folder)
That will be the file to open in a text editor and change the pmedia= entry.

Sylvander wrote: Thu Apr 04, 2024 4:39 pm

@amethyst

Using Pfind:
1. I do find usr/lib/grub4dos.
2. I do not find menu.lst or grub.cfg.
3. Do I need to create menu.lst?
4. At the moment there is no "Save" icon on the desktop. Will one be created?

Did you install your Puppy or are you booting it directly from the ISO? We need to know what booting mechanism you are using (what your bootloader is). If Grub4Dos is your bootloader, the menu.lst file will be on the partition you boot from, if it is grub, grub.cfg will be somewhere on the partition you boot from. These files are created automatically when you install the bootloader. What does the screen look like that lists your Puppy/Puppys when you boot?