Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

I have never had this issue with xenialpup, tahrpup, or bionicpup. When I burn the fossapup iso to a usb stick using dd or etcher as soon as I boot up I get a menu.lst error. I have seen other posts where users are experiencing the same thing. Is there not an iso I can download that will work on my old bios computer without resorting to some of the fixes suggested? I just want to install fossapup like I did all the previous puppies I used before. It should just work.

I have a separate partition on my HD specifically for puppy.

Thanks for the help!!!!!

what is the USB stick partition formatted as? How did you prepare the usb drive?

Hello,
There seems to be a little confusion on my part with this post, not to mention its forum location, so forgive me for asking couple questions about your post:

1. You mention you have an area that you keep ALL (?) you Puppy stuff. Is that your saves, Frugal, Pets, SFSs, or what is that area containing?

2. Is your plan to run totally from your USB?

My last question is one of curiousity: Have you tried to burn a CD/DVD to boot for a comparison?

Thanks

I created a 50GB ext4 partition for my puppy install I used dd if=fossapup.iso of=/dev/sdb This is what I use for all the linux iso's I burn to usb. Never had any issues and with fossapup no issues burning to usb. I let dd do what it has to regarding formatting. Same thing when I use Etcher.

I don't think I have any blank CDs left. It's been years since using CDs. I plan to run from a USB stick and access my save folder that will reside on my 50GB puppy partition.

I have found this can be an issue with new computers.
There are settings in the bios that disable booting from a "non secure boot device". You may want to disable secure boot in the bios and try again if this is a newer computer.
Check your bios settings and make sure that Boot from usb is enabled.
Make sure that you have chosen the proper boot device on boot.

It took me a while to get it to boot the first time, figuring out all the bios boot settings.

I forgot to mention that my computer is from 2008. I have no issues booting other USB sticks and it's only fossapup. bionic, and xenialpup boot just fine. I even tried other fossapup isos. Same thing.

I get a menu.lst error

What is the error?
That should be a big clue as to what the problem is.

When you boot with the Fossapup64 9.5 USB.
Have no other USB drives plugged in.
That may also be SD cards, too.
Just the Fossapup USB one.

Fossapup64 9.5, usually will not boot, if other USB drives are plugged, into the computer.

Well, Fossapup64 9.5 is developed more for very new computers, but a 2008 computer should still be supported.
It is using a series 5 Linux kernel and the kernel, is always dropping support, for older hardware.
What hardware, is no longer supported, is a little hit and miss.

Great reply!!

It's funny that fossapup boots fine if I have it installed on a ventoy USB stick.

I guess I can still use bionicpup even though I think it is not supported by Ubuntu anymore?

The error that shows up on startup looks like it is looking for the menu.lst file.

Basically all I want to do like I have done with my other pups is create a save folder on my sda4 partition so that when I boot from my usb stick I can select my save folder and continue on my way.

The other think I noticed with fossapup is that when you boot up in ram mode and you are prompted to create a save folder, the only place you can save it to is the device that you booted from. I can't save it to sda4. I can do this with xenial, tahr, and bionic.

Thanks for your help and enlightenment!!!

Forgive me again: Why would anyone install (Frugal) on a Ventoy ISO file booting disk?

Anyone who boots an Puppy ISO file "live" using EITHER Ventoy or SG2D gets ALL Puppy abilities including those found in a Frugal boot. This INCLUDES the ability to install PETs, run SFSs, run all Apps, use the internet, and most importantly, "save sessions work" to be used upon reboot: Thus on an Ventoy boot to the ISO file there is NO need to carve out space on the USB for Frugals....none!

Please, help me understand what advantage you got by NOT using the boot of the Puppy ISO file directly, please.

I am, merely, curious???

Hello,

I think, that the direct booting of Puppy .iso is very elegant and quick solution but not for everybody. I would be happy with it, because on my hardware ran everything OOTB. But when some hardware can not run Puppy because of the kernel. Is it then easy to change kernel in the .iso?

Maybe somebody will want to play with (x)drv modules...

I'm not doing a frugal install to a ventoy stick. I just have the fossapup, bionicpup, xenial pup is as well as other Linux distros as a matter of convenience for installing distros.

I have no issues burning fossapup to its own usb stick. My issue is when I startup from the fossapup usb stick I immediately get a menu.lst error. It's as if there is an issue finding the menu.lst file no issues at all stating up from my bionicpup and xenialpup usb sticks. Just fossapup.

Like I mentioned previously all of my computers are from around 2008. They are business grade desktop Hp 8000 USFF with 4GB RAM.

Make sure the menu.lst is actually on the Fossapup USB.
Is there one there?
The menu.lst should be in /boot/grub/

Are these the files you have on the USB?
.

Maybe using the dd method is not working because the bootloader files in the FossaPup .iso are different from those in the earlier Puppies. Not sure why that would be the case, maybe to work with newer hardware or maybe someone has just tried something different for some reason.

Since you have other running Puppies, I suggest you try installing to USB by using another method.
Maybe the Puppy Installer (Universal Installer) in one of those Puppies can be used, designating the Fossa .iso as the source for the Puppy files to be installed (not sure about that, but I think so).

Alternatively you can (I am sure) do a manual frugal install
Format your USB (I suggest an ext2 partition) and set the boot flag with Gparted.
Clicking on the Fossa .iso to mount it and reveal the contained Puppy files.
Copy the required Puppy files from the .iso across to the USB
Click the .iso again to unmount it afterwards.
Install a bootloader, Grub4dos or extlinux (for ext2) or syslinux

If that does not boot, the only other thing you might need to do is install a fresh mbr (master boot record).
For that you need the small file named mbr.bin
But don't try to copy this file across, do:-
For example, if it is in /usr/share/syslinux
cat /usr/share/syslinux/mbr.bin > /dev/sdX (where "X" is the letter of the USB drive - MAKE SURE IT IS THE RIGHT ONE - you don't use a number after the letter).

Excellent suggestion! I will try that and post back!! Thanks for this suggestion!!! I really hope it works.

This is what I have on my ext2 usb drive. I still get an error on startup. Its a we error. I see wee followed by some text etc... I wish there was a way to capture this.

I have also included the contents of my menu.lst file. I used grub4dos.

# menu.lst produced by grub4dosconfig-v1.9.3
color blue/cyan yellow/blue white/black cyan/black
#splashimage=/splash.xpm
timeout 10
default 0

# Frugal installed Puppy

title Puppy fossapup64 9.5 (sdc1)
  find --set-root --ignore-floppies --ignore-cd /puppy_fossapup64_9.5.sfs
  kernel /vmlinuz     pmedia=usbflash pfix=fsck
  initrd /initrd.gz

# Windows
# this entry searches Windows on the HDD and boot it up
title Windows\nBoot up Windows if installed
  map (hd1) (hd0)
map (hd0) (hd1)
  map --hook
  errorcheck off
  find --set-root --ignore-floppies --ignore-cd  /bootmgr
  chainloader /bootmgr
  find --set-root --ignore-floppies --ignore-cd  /ntldr
  chainloader /ntldr
  find --set-root --ignore-floppies --ignore-cd   /io.sys
  chainloader /io.sys
  errorcheck on

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

This is the error I get when I try to boot from the fossapup usb:

wee 0> find --set-root /grldr
(Ox 80.0)
wee 0> /grldr
wee 13>

That is the error you get, when Grub4dos is used on a drive, that was at one time, formatted ext4 64bit.
Yes, there is a ext4 32bit and an ext4 64bit.
Puppy Gparted program, only makes 32bit ext4.
A lot of other main stream Linux OS's, make 64bit ext4 formats.

This is how to fix the USB stick, if ext4 64bit was ever used on it.
https://oldforum.puppylinux.com/viewtop ... f9#p965277

I would first try booting Bionicpup and use the Geparted program in it.
On the USB stick.
Make a new partition table (choose msdos for type)
This will remove everything on drive
Make partition(s)
Format partition(s)

Then try a new install and boot of Fossapup.

If just using Gparted, does not work, to get this boot error corrected.
Try the more detailed way, given in the above link.

Thanks! but I am using ext2 on my fossapup usb stick. I totally reformatted this stick before using ext2.

Any idea where I should go from here?

Thanks again.

Just formatting it does not get ride of everything needed to be removed.

Make a new partition table (msdos type) will.
This will redo the mbr on the drive.

In Gparted
select Device->Create partition table.
then partition and format.

I have seen a wee error before when experimenting with USB stick installs.
Re-loading the mbr fixed it for me.
Did you do this step?
You need to locate the mbr.bin file. It is in different locations in different Puppies, maybe /usr/share/syslinux or /usr/lib/syslinux or sometimes /usr/lib/syslinux/mbr
Then use the command in my post above, using the correct full path, or you can open a terminal in the directory containing mbr.bin and then you only have to do:-
cat mbr.bin > /dev/sdX (where "X" is the letter of the USB drive)

Thanks Done.

The only way I was able to get fossapup to boot properly and it's pretty simple to do is create a Ventoy usb and then make sure the fossapup iso is on it. When I boot up it boots into fossapup. I wonder why it works this way? Might there be boot code that I can use in menu.lst or something related?

It has been my experience that making bootable flash drives with a "burning" procedure like dd is fundamentally unreliable. It may or may not work. When it doesn't work, there is no fix.

A more robust procedure has already been recommended - make a general-purpose, reusable bootable flash drive using Ventoy, SG2D, ISObooter, etc. Then put the target distro on the drive, either as an ISO or as a frugal install.

The ventoy solution works great!!

Now I have to figure out how to create my save folder on /mnt/sda4. What I want to do is boot from the ventoy usb stick and boot into my save folder on sda4. Is that possible?

When I reboot I don't see my save folder in sda4. What am I doing wrong?

the strange thing is that "the partition you are saving to" is Ventoy. Shouldn't it be sda4 ??

I think the sentence means: the partition you are saving (YOUR CHANGES IN SAVEFILE) to.

rmcellig1 wrote: ↑Tue Jun 22, 2021 8:51 pm

I have never had this issue with xenialpup, tahrpup, or bionicpup. When I burn the fossapup iso to a usb stick using dd or etcher as soon as I boot up I get a menu.lst error. I have seen other posts where users are experiencing the same thing. Is there not an iso I can download that will work on my old bios computer without resorting to some of the fixes suggested? I just want to install fossapup like I did all the previous puppies I used before. It should just work.

I have a separate partition on my HD specifically for puppy.

Thanks for the help!!!!!

Hello,

Have you tried flashing an ISO with Rufus?
It works for me almost all the time.

https://rufus.ie/en_US/

Just go ahead and use its default settings. I'm curious ...

I don't use Windows so Rufus is out. I'm not sure what is going on with Ventoy. Maybe that's just the way it is. I'm unable to create a save file if I boot from a Ventoy stick.

I'll try your other two options. SG2D, ISObooter. Are they in the puppy package manager or other repos?

Apps like Rufus and Ventoy clearly work differently for different purposes

1. Rufus extracts "one" ISO/Img format into lotsa files, then loads them into a USB media and makes it bootable
2. Ventoy collects "multiple" ISOs/Imgs (Puppy, MX, Mint, etc) in a USB media, makes the USB bootable, and displays the list of those ISOs to choose/to boot from

Self explanatory ... I guess

are you sure it's not the iso9660 formatting that is causing it?

The sanity check says:

Partition you are saving to: ventoy
The file system of ventoy partition: iso9660

That is not sane. You are trying to create a save file on the usb flash drive
which has an iso9660 file system which is read only, and can not be used to save anything.

Name of the save file: fossapup64save-50.4fs
Filesystem inside save file: ext4

That is more or less sane.
But you have chosen to use a save file, not a save folder.

Path (folder) of the save file: /mnt/sda4

The folder name probably should be something like fossa or fossapup or whatever name you want.
I'm not sure if the name should include the slash.

Size of save file: -1 MB

That is definitely not sane.

If you want a save folder on sda4, I think you should choose:

Partition to save to: sda4
Path of save folder: fossapup or whatever you want to name it.
Or maybe /fossapup I'm not sure.