Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

Well, I finally got my Bionic Puppy (Frugal Install) exactly where I like it!

How do I make a bootable USB of my Puppy so I can use it on other computers? It would also serve as a backup.
I'm sure there must be an easy way to do this...I just have not found it.

A quick-and-dirty way is to clone the drive to a USB.
Clonezilla is free to use but make sure the USB (target) capacity is equal or higher than the source.
https://clonezilla.org/downloads.php

Thanks, sonny. Is there a quick way to do it in Puppy? I'd like to keep the USB in FAT32 so I can use it on daughter's window's computer.

My pleasure, Captain.
Aye, it's like "remaster" but I never tried it.

Wow! You're quicker that my edit. I'd like to keep the USB in FAT32 so I can use it on daughter's window's computer.

You can make a USB to a USB clone as well as a USB to multiple USBs with CZ.

The other option that I use is via Windows but this is not as quick and dirty, Captain:

1. Connect the drive containing Puppy to a Windows PC

2. Download and install IMAGEUSB

https://www.osforensics.com/tools/write-usb-images.html

This free tool allows you to accomplish TWO things:

1. Save that Puppy drive into an image (ISO/IMG) ...
2. Also save a bootable USB to a bootable image (ISO/IMG)

Thanks. This is definitely more difficult than I imagined. I'll try remastering first.

CaptGeorge wrote: ↑Tue Jul 06, 2021 5:21 pm

Thanks. This is definitely more difficult than I imagined. I'll try remastering first.

Likewise, Captain!

That's in case you wish to gift your friends, family, and fellow retired sailors

If I understand correctly:

-you have a frugal install of bionic (on hd I assume)
-you want to make a usb boot of your configuration.

The really down and dirty:
-insert target usb in computer, do not mount
-menu>setup>Bootflash install Puppy to USB
-after usb has been created: copy your bionicpup64save file from the frugal install to the usb

That's all

wizard

Forgot to mention if your custom configuration includes .sfs applications you have loaded you will need to copy those to the usb and reload after you boot from the usb (one time thing).

wizard

I always have a Ventoy USB with Clonezilla, GParted, etc plugged in.
Whenever I want to clone any device, I just crank the PC up, boot from the USB, select CZ, hit some keys, then grab my clone.
That's my version of quick and dirty.
There are ways to roam and to Rome ...

CaptGeorge wrote: ↑Tue Jul 06, 2021 4:22 pm

Well, I finally got my Bionic Puppy (Frugal Install) exactly where I like it!

How do I make a bootable USB of my Puppy so I can use it on other computers? It would also serve as a backup.
I'm sure there must be an easy way to do this...I just have not found it.

Puppy has built in programs to install to USB. Look under Menu > Setup. If you mention which version of bionicpup(32 or 64) you want to install you may get better assistance. If you have the frugalpup application included, it does what you require. If it's not in your puppy you can install it from PPM. When in PPM update the package database prior to installing the package.

sonny wrote: ↑Tue Jul 06, 2021 4:40 pm

My pleasure, Captain.
Aye, it's like "remaster" but I never tried it.

Well, I must have missed something. I went through the remaster and it indicated it was creating an iso file. But when the program ended, no new iso file was found.

Captain, you must follow wizard's steps if you wish to do it from Puppy. I never did it before.
I always prefer "the manufacturer's way" (without having to log into Puppy).

I went through the entire Wizard. It just ended after it "finished".

CaptGeorge wrote: ↑Tue Jul 06, 2021 8:28 pm

I went through the entire Wizard. It just ended after it "finished".

Captain, burning or flashing and running Clonezilla is a child's play!
You only need to select BEGINNER, DEVICE TO DEVICE, press some ENTER and TAB. That's all!

https://clonezilla.org/screenshots/?in_ ... Clonezilla

CaptGeorge, I rarely remaster, and even when I do it's been years since I used the builtin version. Several years ago I discovered remaster-x, https://oldforum.puppylinux.com/viewtop ... =94033&i=1 which --as far as I can tell-- merely restructured the builtin so that you only had to input information at the beginning --taking your time to read instructions-- and was less prone to human error.

Remaster-x remains my 'go-to' application even though (a) amethyst has published nicOS-Utility-Suite, which has remaster tools, https://forum.puppylinux.com/viewtopic ... 106&t=1694 and (b) remaster-x can no longer manage all which needs to be done, consequently requiring human intervention. I think that my human intervention routine may serve in your situation.

What all 'remaster' tools do is leave a folder somewhere. Remaster-x's folder is named /puppylivecd and would be located on your /mnt/home. That's probably also true of the builtin remaster. NicOS's version might be named something else; but similar, perhaps puppybuild or puppytemp. File browse into it and you should find all the file required to create an ISO. But the way to tell is to mount (Left-Click) your source ISO and compare contents.
Remaster-x was created before UEFI, and before the inclusion of adrv.sfs and/or ydrv.sfs in Puppys became common. So while I have the source ISO open, I Left-Press, hold then drag any missing file or folder into the puppylivecd folder and select copy. The result is a folder containing everything needed to create an ISO.
You may want to rename the folder or Right-Click>Duplicate, or just copy its contents into a folder having an appropriate name.
Depending on which Puppy you are running --it doesn't have to be the same as used to create the 'build folder'-- there are a couple of ways to obtain an iso. The easiest, when available, is Right-Click the folder and select dir2iso from the menu. 2nd easiest is to open a terminal adjacent to the folder and enter the command "dir2iso NAME" without the quotes and substituting the folder's actual name for NAME.
Other than that look at your Puppy's Menu>Multimedia sub-menu for either the ISOMaster or the Pburn CD/DVD application. It's intermediate step before burning to media is to create an ISO.

Thanks, Wizard. I couldn't make your instructions work. However, I did (finally) find my custom puppy iso file from my earlier remaster. I flashed it to usb and it booted and, appears to be working ok. I'll test it more tomorrow.

OK, glad you got a working usb. As you can tell from the replies there are many ways to accomplish it. I like the built in "menu>setup>Bootflash install Puppy to USB" because it requires no extra programs and produces a usb that boots on both EFI and BIOS configured computers. In the end no matter what method you use, you have a magic puppy usb operating system.

wizard

Thanks, Wizard. I tested my USB this morning and did a pupsave, but I don't see it on the usb. Where do I look? It may have saved to my internal HD, but not sure yet. I'm still a Puppy linux newbie even though I used Puppy version 5 years ago. I haven't kept up with it.

During your first save file operation puppy ask you for the drive location you prefer. That's when you have to choose the usb. Otherwise it probably did save it to your hd. You can locate it and delete it, puppy will ask again and you can specify where you want it to save.

wizard

To confirm where your pupsave is located, view the file /etc/rc.d/PUPSTATE, it has all sorts of relevant information regarding your puppy install. Check the file for PUPSAVE.

Here's a command to check this value from a terminal:

cat /etc/rc.d/PUPSTATE | grep PUPSAVE or cat /etc/rc.d/PUPSTATE | grep -i pupsave. Both should return the same details.

This is the result of my check:
root# cat /etc/rc.d/PUPSTATE | grep PUPSAVE
PUPSAVE='sdb2,ext4,/bionic64/bionicpup64save-jan01'
root#

Thanks Wizard and Terry.
Apparently when I remastered My Puppy it included the save files going to the HD. I'm working on the problem but just deleting the file doesn't work because the drive i mounted in My Puppy. I'm working on the problem. I'll let you know if I get it fixed.

BTW grep doesn't work on my bionic puppy, but I found the files OK.

I'm learning more about Puppy every day. I finally got a bootable USB of my custom puppy working. Thanks Guys.

I think Wizard's technique is a simple and effective solution. Clonezilla is great but I find the menus difficult to understand.

However, if you want to use the terminal, you can write and compress the USB as a disk image backup:
dd if=/dev/INPUT_DEVICE_(eg_sda) conv=sync,noerror bs=64K | gzip -c > /path/to/name_of_disk.img.gz

Then you can write the image to a usb with equal or greater capacity than the original:
cd into the directory that contains the image file, then:
gunzip -c name_of_disk.img.gz | dd of=/dev/OUTPUT_DEVICE_(eg_sdb)

( You can also use Barry's EasyOS to write the image...thats what I always do - less chance for errors, and it shows the USB write speed )