Frugal with LuPu

[mrbones]

I copied the initrd.gz ldlinux.sys vmlinuz to my root of a WD usb HDD. Everything boots fine until it needs to find the lupu-501.sfs, its there with the rest of the files but doesn't seem to know how to react.

It just gives an error of file not found and stalls.

would I want to just put the iso in there instead or am I missing something completely different?
Your help is appreciated.

[rcrsn51]

Please post the contents of your syslinux.cfg file on the USB drive.

Also, is the filename " lupu-501.sfs" spelled exactly that way?

[mrbones]

yes it is lupu-501.sfs, in fact I even tried to play with that by replacing it with an underscore, it didn't change the outcome.

the file reads:

Code: Select all

default puppy
display boot.msg
prompt 1
timeout 50

F1 boot.msg
F2 help.msg

label puppy
kernel vmlinuz
append initrd=initrd.gz pmedia=usbhd nosmp

seems interesting no mention of the sfs file in here... is that possibly the issue?
your help is appreciated rcrsn51 thanks for looking into this.

[Béèm]

No that's not the issue.
The sfs file is called for later in the boot process.

[Lin West]

I have a similar problem whilst booting. The lupu-501.sfs file cannot be found, and booting fails.

It is an Hard Drive install from USB, and the install application worked brilliantly on puppy 4. I wanted to upgrade to the newest puppy, but it does not seem to like it even though the lupu-501.sfs file is on the Hard Drive.

I am a Linux novice, so I am unsure how to proceed.

General information: my failed system is a Gateway Solo 2550 laptop, 198MB Ram. It is too old to boot from USB, and it will not boot Puppy from CD-Rom. I have to boot Puppy 5 from my working machine, and fresh install the OS via USB 2.0 to IDE adapter.

[tikbalang]

here's how i did it since 4.xx, using grub4dos:

1. copy contents of puppy iso to /puppy of boot partition. preserve long filenames just to be safe.

example:
/puppy/lupu-501.sfs
/puppy/initrd.gz
/puppy/vmlinuz


2. grub4dos is assumed to be working so edit /menu.lst to add:

Code: Select all

title Puppy
find --set-root --ignore-floppies /puppy/vmlinuz
kernel /puppy/vmlinuz psubdir=puppy
initrd /puppy/initrd.gz

for older pc's with shutdown problems, i use this line instead:

kernel /puppy/vmlinuz psubdir=puppy acpi=off apm=on power_off=1


3. to boot puppy from DOS, i use linld.com then these two textfiles in /pupppy:

PUPPY.BAT

Code: Select all

@echo off
linld.com image=vmlinuz initrd=initrd.gz cl=@puppy.cl %1 %2 %3

PUPPY.CL (commandline options)

Code: Select all

psubdir=puppy
acpi=off
power_off=1

to upgrade, overwrite the older puppy files with the newer contents of the lupu501 iso. i hope this method will still work in the future versions of puppy.

[tikbalang]

there is a bug in my method above: you cannot keep multiple instances of /puppy folders on different partitions.

for example there are /puppy folders each on sda1, sda5, and sda7. when you boot /puppy from sda7, it will start with vmlinuz and initrd from that partition but load .sfs files from sda1, sda5 or even hda1. i think that's how puppy searches for them by default.

solution: install each instance of puppy in a different folder (e.g, puppy431, lupu501) then give the correct psubdir value for each boot config.

[Lin West]

@Tikbalang: Your method may be too skilled for me at this point.

I don't have any DOS on the hard drive in question, so choosing and installing one is the first step. Free DOS or Open DOS?

I was able to edit /menu.lst to your specifications using WinGrub GUI, but as I don't know what I am actually doing I was not able to change the MBR.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/grub4dos/

Thank you for the assistance. I will persevere and attempt the DOS boot.

[tikbalang]

i forgot to mention that grub4dos and "boot from DOS" are two different ways start frugal puppy. choose "boot from DOS" if you already have win9x or more familiar with DOS environment. otherwise, choose grub4dos so there is less clutter on the boot partition.


@Lin West and other linux newbies like myself:

i'm assuming you still use windows. get bootice here:

http://bbs.wuyou.com/viewthread.php?tid=57675

bootice is a simple to use boot configurator. the website is in chinese but the program is in english. use bootice to install grub4dos mbr to the boot partition of your disk. then unzip grub4dos files to the root of this boot partition.

then follow steps 1 and 2 above to install frugal puppy with grub4dos.

[mrbones]

I'm running Ubuntu, so I'm assuming grub4dos wont be a key player here, I managed to get a USB install on a little 2gb USB I have but it had to format the drive, I'm trying to use my larger hdd without formating, so using the universal installer during both mentions of the MBR ect should I ensure its pointed to grub or something like that, and have all the necessary files in the root of the hdd then just manually edit the grub conf?

to clarify the other was not a frugal install just a copy to usb option.

[tikbalang]

to clarify the other was not a frugal install just a copy to usb option.

i am not familiar with ubuntu or universal installer but i agree with you. "copy to disk" is possible and my preferred way of OS installation. you do have to manually configure the bootmanager. typically, linux bootloaders will load two things: 1.) kernel image 2.) initrd file. the boot options will vary from the distro and also from the syntax of the bootloader used. learn how your bootloader works and copy boot options from a known working installation.

watch out also for file permissions and long filenames. there maybe losses when copying to a different filesystem.