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USB Boot not showing puppy(pfix=ram etc)

Posted: Mon Jul 12, 2021 3:47 pm
by number77

My normal way to make a boot usb is to open the iso and copy all files to usb then Grub4dos the usb.
It works fine most times but I would like to have a choice to enter puppy pfix=ram or other choices, even start in terminal mode.
How do I do that.
This is for a general boot usb to be used on any system.
Help would be appreciated.
Thanks
number77


Re: USB Boot not showing puppy(pfix=ram etc)

Posted: Mon Jul 12, 2021 4:53 pm
by TerryH

After you have created the menu.lst using grub4dos, you can edit it to add your required parameters manually.


Re: USB Boot not showing puppy(pfix=ram etc)

Posted: Mon Jul 12, 2021 5:38 pm
by number77
TerryH wrote: Mon Jul 12, 2021 4:53 pm

After you have created the menu.lst using grub4dos, you can edit it to add your required parameters manually.

Funny thing is there is no menu.1st on the usb but it does boot.
But there is a extlinux.conf


Re: USB Boot not showing puppy(pfix=ram etc)

Posted: Mon Jul 12, 2021 5:56 pm
by TerryH

Not being an expert on grub4dos, it would appear to me that you are not booting directly from the USB with grub4dos. If you are using grub4dos to boot, it sounds to me that it is contained on a different partition as the boot partition, booting the USB drive. But maybe I'm wrong and you should wait until somebody else offers assistance.


Re: USB Boot not showing puppy(pfix=ram etc)

Posted: Mon Jul 12, 2021 8:08 pm
by Feek
number77 wrote: Mon Jul 12, 2021 5:38 pm
TerryH wrote: Mon Jul 12, 2021 4:53 pm

After you have created the menu.lst using grub4dos, you can edit it to add your required parameters manually.

Funny thing is there is no menu.1st on the usb but it does boot.
But there is a extlinux.conf

If there is extlinux.conf on your usb, you've maybe installed extlinux bootloader somehow and not grub4dos.

The extlinux.conf is a configuration text file similar to menu.lst. It can be manually changed (e.g. add the boot parameters you need).

Did you look what is the content of the extlinux.conf?


Re: USB Boot not showing puppy(pfix=ram etc)

Posted: Mon Jul 12, 2021 8:20 pm
by number77
Feek wrote: Mon Jul 12, 2021 8:08 pm
number77 wrote: Mon Jul 12, 2021 5:38 pm
TerryH wrote: Mon Jul 12, 2021 4:53 pm

After you have created the menu.lst using grub4dos, you can edit it to add your required parameters manually.

Funny thing is there is no menu.1st on the usb but it does boot.
But there is a extlinux.conf

If there is extlinux.conf on your usb, you've maybe installed extlinux bootloader somehow and not grub4dos.

The extlinux.conf is a configuration text file similar to menu.lst. It can be manually changed (e.g. add the boot parameters you need).

Did you look what is the content of the extlinux.conf?

default vmlinuz initrd=initrd.gz pmedia=usbflash pfix=copy


Re: USB Boot not showing puppy(pfix=ram etc)

Posted: Mon Jul 12, 2021 8:31 pm
by Feek
number77 wrote: Mon Jul 12, 2021 8:20 pm
Feek wrote: Mon Jul 12, 2021 8:08 pm
number77 wrote: Mon Jul 12, 2021 5:38 pm

Funny thing is there is no menu.1st on the usb but it does boot.
But there is a extlinux.conf

If there is extlinux.conf on your usb, you've maybe installed extlinux bootloader somehow and not grub4dos.

The extlinux.conf is a configuration text file similar to menu.lst. It can be manually changed (e.g. add the boot parameters you need).

Did you look what is the content of the extlinux.conf?

default vmlinuz initrd=initrd.gz pmedia=usbflash pfix=copy

It seems you have one Puppy installed on your usb (I had very similar content of the extlinux.conf after using universal installer in Bionicpup64). I think you can simply change "pfix=copy" to "pfix=ram" and reboot and it should do its work.

I don't know if the parameter editing can be done during boot (as with grub4dos). In my case the extlinux booted directly, so to change something I have to change the extlinux.conf first and reboot.


Re: USB Boot not showing puppy(pfix=ram etc)

Posted: Mon Jul 12, 2021 11:33 pm
by bigpup

Try running Grub4dos Bootloader Config from a running Puppy version.
Select the USB as install device.
Tell it to search only within this device.
Fossapup64 9.5 has the latest version, but other newer Puppy versions will too.

That should install Grub4dos Boot loader and make a menu.lst with options in it.
It makes a menu.lst with normal boot entries.
A advanced menu with different boot option entries.

It is OK to boot from the same USB, you are trying to install Grub4dos on, using Grub4dos Bootloader Config.


Re: USB Boot not showing puppy(pfix=ram etc)

Posted: Tue Jul 13, 2021 7:02 am
by number77
bigpup wrote: Mon Jul 12, 2021 11:33 pm

Try running Grub4dos Bootloader Config from a running Puppy version.
Select the USB as install device.
Tell it to search only within this device.
Fossapup64 9.5 has the latest version, but other newer Puppy versions will too.

That should install Grub4dos Boot loader and make a menu.lst with options in it.
It makes a menu.lst with normal boot entries.
A advanced menu with different boot option entries.

It is OK to boot from the same USB, you are trying to install Grub4dos on, using Grub4dos Bootloader Config.

Yes that did it straight away and I now have the choices that were missing before.
Once more bigpup thank you for your help.

Thanks also to TerryH and Feek


Re: USB Boot not showing puppy(pfix=ram etc)

Posted: Sat Sep 10, 2022 10:11 pm
by Snail

I have noticed that the discussion on the Fossapup pages regarding boot only seem to mention Grub4Dos and Grub2. In the distant past, I used syslinux/extlinux but there is little mention of it here. Is there a reason to avoid the syslinux ecosystem?

The reason that I ask is that I am resuscitating an old Thinkpad T400, which has a completely empty SSD as the only internal drive. It will never run Windows again, so there is no reason to have a non-Linux filesystem on it. I would prefer not to have to have a Fat or NTFS jboot partition, just to suit Grub4Dos. On the other hand Grub2 seems insanely complex to me. I have also read that it is very heavy as well.

Using PFind, I discovered that Fossapup does have extlinux included. If it is in fact a reasonable alternative these day, I'd quite like to get some guidance on it. Although I have used it before, I am afraid that my memory fails me in recalling the details. However, this thread is probably not the right place to ask. Which section of the forum would be best to enquire in please?


Re: USB Boot not showing puppy(pfix=ram etc)

Posted: Sat Sep 10, 2022 10:52 pm
by bigpup

Beginners Help section of the forum is a good place to post your questions.

You really should start your own topic there and not post to this one.

So, I will wait for your topic to post, before I give you any response.