Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

Can't decide between two Puppies? Take them both.

The F2StickPup tool was designed for multiple Puppy distributions. It puts two partitions on your USB stick. The first is a FAT32 boot and the second, larger, partition is f2fs for the distributions.

There may not be a tool to add another Puppy to a USB stick (yet). I started with two F2StickPup installations, Vanilladpup 10 (sdb1 and sdb2) and F96_CE (sdc1 and sdc2). Note that F96_CE also uses the fossapup64 name. Boot with the Vanilladpup 10 stick and plug-in the F96_CE stick after Vanilla 10 is running. Then:

1. Copy the sdc2/pups/F96 folder to the sdb2/pups/ folder that already has the vanilladpup folder. This takes a bit of time.

2. Copy the F96 menu section of grub.cfg from sdc1 (Mine began - menuentry "Puppy fossapup64 9.6" {... ) and place it below the vanilladpup menu entry section of the grub.cfg on sdb1.

3. Change the stick uuid (like a1eb876a-223d-4683-93df-2800fdcb2da0) in the fossapup64 menuentry to the new stick uuid shown in the vanilladpup menuentry.

4. Change the pdrv= (like lin803125ea) entry in the fossapup64 menuentry to match the pdrv= line in the vanilladpup menuentry section.

5. Look in the sdb2/pups/F96/ folder for a SAVESPEC file. In that file change the SS_ID='lin803125ea' to the new stick pdrv id just like step 4. This file may not exist if no save file was created for F96.

Not too hard. You've added a new Puppy distribution to the original USB stick. Added a menuentry line in grub.cfg for the new distribution and changed the USB stick id numbers for the copied distribution to match the current USB stick.

Jinx wrote: ↑Thu Mar 23, 2023 2:28 am

Can't decide between two Puppies? Take them both.

The F2StickPup tool was designed for multiple Puppy distributions. It puts two partitions on your USB stick. The first is a FAT32 boot and the second, larger, partition is f2fs for the distributions.

There may not be a tool to add another Puppy to a USB stick (yet). I started with two F2StickPup installations, Vanilladpup 10 (sdb1 and sdb2) and F96_CE (sdc1 and sdc2). Note that F96_CE also uses the fossapup64 name. Boot with the Vanilladpup 10 stick and plug-in the F96_CE stick after Vanilla 10 is running. Then:

1. Copy the sdc2/pups/F96 folder to the sdb2/pups/ folder that already has the vanilladpup folder. This takes a bit of time.

2. Copy the F96 menu section of grub.cfg from sdc1 (Mine began - menuentry "Puppy fossapup64 9.6" {... ) and place it below the vanilladpup menu entry section of the grub.cfg on sdb1.

3. Change the stick uuid (like a1eb876a-223d-4683-93df-2800fdcb2da0) in the fossapup64 menuentry to the new stick uuid shown in the vanilladpup menuentry.

4. Change the pdrv= (like lin803125ea) entry in the fossapup64 menuentry to match the pdrv= line in the vanilladpup menuentry section.

5. Look in the sdb2/pups/F96/ folder for a SAVESPEC file. In that file change the SS_ID='lin803125ea' to the new stick pdrv id just like step 4. This file may not exist if no save file was created for F96.

Not too hard. You've added a new Puppy distribution to the original USB stick. Added a menuentry line in grub.cfg for the new distribution and changed the USB stick id numbers for the copied distribution to match the current USB stick.

Great to see another "Here's How I DO It " featured - its one of the best features of the Puppy Linux Forum/community. Thanks.

I'm also curious to find where exactly the SAVESPEC file is located (see note # 5 ). I dont have any obvious folder with that name or have I missed it ??

@Jinx

Wow, just read your thread and it sounds really promising.

I have not tried it myself however at some point will do.

I have a much larger flash drive which I have kept back only because it contains my Chromebook OS recovery image.

Many thanks and I second @Geek3579 comments

Some/many WoofCE PUPs install this when you save your session on a pristine boot. It instructs the PUPs on session management and the PUPs look for it at boot time.

My ISO boot-helpers, namely SG2D and my Ventoy, each have one, in its BOOTISOS folder. At boot time, the PUPs know where sessions are. They also know session-save locations even if this is a pristine boots for a given PUP. I dont remember which of the many PUPs I boot that created it. As I remember, some PUPs 'may' have a SAVESPEC update/create utility. I'll have to look...

My SAVESPEC contents

SS_ID='Persistence'
SS_DIR='/Sessions'
SS_MEDIA='atahd'

Great WoofCE INIT feature as it reduces all need to intercept the boot sequence to provide add'l changes to the stanzas in the boot Menu of the WoofCE PUPs. There is no need when this is present for the PUP session management to work. Thus, NO pmedia and NO psave additions or changes is required when the WoofCE boots using its shipped Menu stanzas. All session saves are found or directed by its contents.

This is one of the wonderful features built into WoofCE PUPs..."quiet as its kept".

Geek3579 wrote: ↑Thu Mar 23, 2023 6:37 am

I'm also curious to find where exactly the SAVESPEC file is located (see note # 5 ). I dont have any obvious folder with that name or have I missed it ??

I started with two puppy sticks created with F2StickPup. The SAVESPEC file is in the distribution folder (F96 in my case) moved to the new USB stick. If the SS_ID='partition id' is not updated, the boot will wait for 60 seconds and then complete normally.

Sometimes the F2StickPup tool is not shown in the menu but the script may still be in sys/local/frugalpup (or usr/local/frugalpup) folder.

@Jinx

There may not be a tool to add another Puppy to a USB stick (yet).

Actually there is, here's an overview:

1.run fs2stickpup (run from terminal if not in menu) to install the first ISO.
----NOTE: fs2stickpup uses the f2fs file system which is USB flash friendly, although it is not required. The same procedure can be used if the USB is created with plain StickPup.

2.run FrugalPup
--click: Puppy button
--select 2nd ISO
--click: Create Folder button
--type in the folder name
---PRESS: Enter (make sure you do this)
--click: OK (twice)

3.click : Boot button
-click: OK (twice)
-select the USB boot partition
-click OK (4 times)

The grub menu will be automatically updated, so eliminates any manual editing and you can repeat steps 2 & 3 as many times as you like.

wizard

Thanks for the information!

I've got a 64GB Kyson just waiting to try your method.

Update:

It is easier using wizard's method. Just create a directory and point and click. If you want your customizations delete the new save folder and replace it with your old save folder (or expanded savefile).

So now I have four Puppies on a 32GB USB stick using about 10% of the capacity and some spare USB sticks.

Here's the final grub.cfg:

#
set default=0
set timeout=10

set menu_color_normal='yellow/blue'
set menu_color_highlight='black/cyan'

if [ $grub_platform = 'efi' ]; then
  loadfont /boot/grub/fonts/DejaVuSansMono18.pf2
  set gfxmode=auto
  terminal_output gfxterm
fi

menuentry "F96-CE" {
  insmod f2fs
  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root a034b6bb-acdf-423d-b16b-6c1fc962706b
  echo "Loading vmlinuz"
  linux /pups/fossapup64/vmlinuz net.ifnames=0 pmedia=usbhd pdrv=lin4a4430c8 psubdir=/pups/fossapup64 pfix=fsck,fsckp TZ=CST6CDT,M3.2.0,M11.1.0
  if [ -e /pups/fossapup64/local-initrd.gz ]; then
    set local_rd=/pups/fossapup64/local-initrd.gz
  else
    set local_rd=
  fi
  if [ -e /pups/fossapup64/ucode.cpio ]; then
    set ucode_rd=/pups/fossapup64/ucode.cpio
    echo "Loading ucode.cpio and initrd.gz"
  else
    set ucode_rd=
    echo "Loading initrd.gz"
  fi
  initrd $ucode_rd /pups/fossapup64/initrd.gz $local_rd
}
menuentry "S15pup64 22.12" {
  insmod f2fs
  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root a034b6bb-acdf-423d-b16b-6c1fc962706b
  echo "Loading vmlinuz"
  linux /pups/S15/vmlinuz pmedia=usbhd pdrv=lin4a4430c8 psubdir=/pups/S15 pfix=fsck,fsckp TZ=CST6CDT,M3.2.0,M11.1.0
  if [ -e /pups/S15/local-initrd.gz ]; then
    set local_rd=/pups/S15/local-initrd.gz
  else
    set local_rd=
  fi
  if [ -e /pups/S15/ucode.cpio ]; then
    set ucode_rd=/pups/S15/ucode.cpio
    echo "Loading ucode.cpio and initrd.gz"
  else
    set ucode_rd=
    echo "Loading initrd.gz"
  fi
  initrd $ucode_rd /pups/S15/initrd.gz $local_rd
}
menuentry "Vanilladpup 10" {
  insmod f2fs
  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root a034b6bb-acdf-423d-b16b-6c1fc962706b
  echo "Loading vmlinuz"
  linux /pups/vanilla_10/vmlinuz pmedia=usbhd pdrv=lin4a4430c8 psubdir=/pups/vanilla_10 pfix=fsck,fsckp TZ=CST6CDT,M3.2.0,M11.1.0
  if [ -e /pups/vanilla_10/local-initrd.gz ]; then
    set local_rd=/pups/vanilla_10/local-initrd.gz
  else
    set local_rd=
  fi
  if [ -e /pups/vanilla_10/ucode.cpio ]; then
    set ucode_rd=/pups/vanilla_10/ucode.cpio
    echo "Loading ucode.cpio and initrd.gz"
  else
    set ucode_rd=
    echo "Loading initrd.gz"
  fi
  initrd $ucode_rd /pups/vanilla_10/initrd.gz $local_rd
}
menuentry "Bionicpup64 8.0" {
  insmod f2fs
  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root a034b6bb-acdf-423d-b16b-6c1fc962706b
  echo "Loading vmlinuz"
  linux /pups/bionicpup/vmlinuz pmedia=usbhd pdrv=lin4a4430c8 psubdir=/pups/bionicpup pfix=fsck,fsckp TZ=CST6CDT,M3.2.0,M11.1.0
  if [ -e /pups/bionicpup/local-initrd.gz ]; then
    set local_rd=/pups/bionicpup/local-initrd.gz
  else
    set local_rd=
  fi
  if [ -e /pups/bionicpup/ucode.cpio ]; then
    set ucode_rd=/pups/bionicpup/ucode.cpio
    echo "Loading ucode.cpio and initrd.gz"
  else
    set ucode_rd=
    echo "Loading initrd.gz"
  fi
  initrd $ucode_rd /pups/bionicpup/initrd.gz $local_rd
}
menuentry "---" { true; }
menuentry "Windows" {
	#search --set=root --label ESP --hint hd0,gpt0
	search --set=root --file /EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi --hint nvme0n1p1,hd0,gpt1
	chainloader /EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi
}
if [ $grub_platform = 'efi' ]; then
  menuentry "System BIOS setup" {
    fwsetup
  }
fi
menuentry "Shutdown computer" {
  halt
}
menuentry "Reboot computer" {
  reboot
}

You can also run step 2 multiple times, when you've added all the ISO's then just run step 3 once.

wizard

Hi @Jinx.

Actually @wizard is a excellent one IFF you want to be extracting ISO contents in efforts to boot the distro. His guidance is accurate! And, most of us are very clear on the benefits.

But, this community ALSO knows that to boot forum distros, there is little need to do extractions to boot. You can boot as many forum distros as you choose without any need to extract.

In the 2 methods frequently mentioned on the forum for managing ISO files specifically to allow booting directly are

• SuperGrub2Disk (SG2D)

• Ventoy

These are merely tools that boot forum ISO files OR already installed OSes.

This forum instructs specific guidelines that when ISO files are kept as presented, the forum's ISO files will boot. There is NO need to modify a forum distro or extractions of ISO contents to have ALL of the benefits the distro presents. Its the same no matter which path the distro boots from: Thus, you gain desktop, all apps work the same, shutdown session processing ("SAVES") work the same...

Should you choose to use either of the 2 methods, pay attentions to the simple housekeeping instructions provided as the instructions are specific to insure forum distros will boot as expected.

FURTHER...NOT ONLY will those work, but the things that you are currently doing could ALSO be included with what you have accomplished here. Thus, you gain the best of the 2 worlds should you choose:

1. booting directly from a forum ISO file

2. booting by extracting a forum ISO file

The community will help if need.

Hello, I can be wrong, but I think you are using a difficult way to do things.

You can use MULTIPUP, and install a dozen of puppies in one USB.

This way, installing multiple Puppy Linux distributions on a single USB stick is possible using this tool MULTIPUP.

YOU MUST...

- Download the MultiPup tool from the official website (@smokey has got them)

-Insert your USB stick into your computer and make sure it is formatted as FAT32.

-Open MultiPup and select your USB stick from the drop-down menu.

-Click the "Add" button to add a new Puppy Linux distribution.

-Browse to the location of the ISO file for the distribution you want to add and select it.

-Enter a name for the distribution and click "OK."

-Repeat steps 4-6 for each additional Puppy Linux distribution you want to add.

Once you have added all the distributions you want, click the "Install" button to install them to your USB stick.

Wait for the installation to complete, which may take a while depending on the number of distributions you added.

When the installation is complete, eject the USB stick from your computer and you should now have a bootable USB stick with multiple Puppy Linux distributions.

Note that you may need to adjust your computer's boot settings to boot from the USB stick, and some older computers may not be able to boot from a USB stick at all, I PUSH F8 while booting and no problem.

Hope it helps

Thank you very much pp4mnklinux for this info which is very useful.
Here for multipup : http://www.smokey01.com/software/utility/
Amol

@Jinx @Amol Just in case.... viewtopic.php?t=8397

Hope you find it useful.

Have a nice week.-

CHEERS

This all goes to prove there are many ways to get a cat's skin. Ventoy is nice and I use it check out other Linux distributions.

Wizard's method using FrugalPup gives a regular frugal installation on a USB stick. It has a small FAT32 boot partition and the Puppies are on an f2fs partition using the remainder of the drive. With a little tweaking, FatDog64 can be added, too. Each installation has it's own save folder so updates and added apps are automatically saved. You have easy access to the grub.cfg file to adjust the selection menu as you like.

I'm new here and haven't discovered how to give you all a thank you. It's not in the FAQ section. Any help?

@Jinx

When you get a reply that helps you or you want to thank someone for a post, click the thumbs up icon on the right side of the post

.

Thanks
wizard

@wizard

Thanks.

Update:
My browser is set to block fonts so the thumbsup emoti was invisible.