Ok I confess - I'm a Linux newbie...and Puppy seemed like the perfect choice for a little project to bring an old PII back to life.
I can boot from CD - but attempts to get Puppy installed on the HD - nope it's not happening.
I've tried the HD install wizard - option 2 - but this is about as far as I get - the script asks for a HD; I give it the /dev/hda1 - which is the only partition on the hd - it always tells me that this is where Puppy is loaded - and I can't use it...
Where am I going wrong - and what do I need to do to get it up on the HD?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
The ole' hard drive install shenanigans...
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BarryK
- Puppy Master
- Posts: 9392
- Joined: Mon 09 May 2005, 09:23
- Location: Perth, Western Australia
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I think the script does give some advise how to work around this problem.
Pup 1.0.3 will have a boot menu, with one choice not to use the hard drive, which will also solve your problem.
The current situation is that Pup has created and is using a file name "pup001" on the hard drive, which is why you can not do anything with that h.d. partition -- that is, it's in use.
The script does, I think, explain that you can use fdisk to change the partition id to something random, so that when Pup boots, won't find the partition, then you will be able to install to it.
Pup 1.0.3 will have a boot menu, with one choice not to use the hard drive, which will also solve your problem.
The current situation is that Pup has created and is using a file name "pup001" on the hard drive, which is why you can not do anything with that h.d. partition -- that is, it's in use.
The script does, I think, explain that you can use fdisk to change the partition id to something random, so that when Pup boots, won't find the partition, then you will be able to install to it.
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Bruce B
Not that I know more than Barry, but you did say that any help would be appreciated.
It seems to me that because (1) you are attempting a type 2 install and (2) because you only have one partition that you have no data loss concerns with this install.
Presuming that you have no data loss concerns, I'd repartition the hard drive to cooperate with Puppy's personality. There are many utilities you could do this with. You may already have the necessary utilities and skill to do this. If you don't have easy to use GUI type software, and prefer GUI software, I'd recommend System Rescue CD.
http://www.sysresccd.org/
Suppose you made hda1 an ext2 partition and hda2 a small FAT32 partition. When you boot Puppy it will make PUP001 on hda2. Then hda1 is free to install the type 2. After your install is complete you can convert hda2 to a Linux swap file.
Lots of ways to do it. Point is there are some fairly simple work arounds for you to get Puppy installed.
It seems to me that because (1) you are attempting a type 2 install and (2) because you only have one partition that you have no data loss concerns with this install.
Presuming that you have no data loss concerns, I'd repartition the hard drive to cooperate with Puppy's personality. There are many utilities you could do this with. You may already have the necessary utilities and skill to do this. If you don't have easy to use GUI type software, and prefer GUI software, I'd recommend System Rescue CD.
http://www.sysresccd.org/
Suppose you made hda1 an ext2 partition and hda2 a small FAT32 partition. When you boot Puppy it will make PUP001 on hda2. Then hda1 is free to install the type 2. After your install is complete you can convert hda2 to a Linux swap file.
Lots of ways to do it. Point is there are some fairly simple work arounds for you to get Puppy installed.
thanks for the advice.
1: I've tried giving the HD a different id via fdisk - didn't work - as puppy then wouldn't load at all!
2: tried again - using a flash drive - which looked promising...but HD wizard then kept refusing to believe I'd changed the HD id back to 83 (checked it with cfdisk - which reported the id as 83). So I skipped that bit of the install - went to install grub - system hanged half way through
3: was then unable to boot up with the flash drive again...kept giving me scsi device dead error messages...
4: don't think I can use the Opera version - as I've only got 64 mb ram on the machine
5: so I'm downloading rescue cd - and see if I can sort out the partitions another way.
at least I know I'm not going to lose any data - as there isn't any to be lost!
Any other ideas?
1: I've tried giving the HD a different id via fdisk - didn't work - as puppy then wouldn't load at all!
2: tried again - using a flash drive - which looked promising...but HD wizard then kept refusing to believe I'd changed the HD id back to 83 (checked it with cfdisk - which reported the id as 83). So I skipped that bit of the install - went to install grub - system hanged half way through
3: was then unable to boot up with the flash drive again...kept giving me scsi device dead error messages...
4: don't think I can use the Opera version - as I've only got 64 mb ram on the machine
5: so I'm downloading rescue cd - and see if I can sort out the partitions another way.
at least I know I'm not going to lose any data - as there isn't any to be lost!
Any other ideas?
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Bruce B
Forgive me - but I advocate using a swap partition also with only 64 MB RAM.sior wrote:thanks for the advice.
1: I've tried giving the HD a different id via fdisk - didn't work - as puppy then wouldn't load at all!
2: tried again - using a flash drive - which looked promising...but HD wizard then kept refusing to believe I'd changed the HD id back to 83 (checked it with cfdisk - which reported the id as 83). So I skipped that bit of the install - went to install grub - system hanged half way through
3: was then unable to boot up with the flash drive again...kept giving me scsi device dead error messages...
4: don't think I can use the Opera version - as I've only got 64 mb ram on the machine
5: so I'm downloading rescue cd - and see if I can sort out the partitions another way.
at least I know I'm not going to lose any data - as there isn't any to be lost!
Any other ideas?
I think you are doing fine i.e., progressing.
I'd like to report SUCCESS ! I finally got Puppy to run from the HD...How - well - using the Rescue CD, and QTParted - I rebuilt the HD to give me 3 partitions - an ext2, Fat32, and a Swap.
Then booted puppy from CD - ran the install wizard - but skipped the options to create a floppy boot or install Grub.
I'd already created a boot disc with grub on it - and on reboot - I tested the Puppy install with that - yep - I could boot from the HD using grub on a floppy.
so finally - I dipped my toe in the water of the Puppy Grub install wizard - and all went smoothly - reboot and bingo - puppy up and running - woof woof.
Thanks to all for the helpful suggestions - I can now give the computer to my five-year-old to trash!