Idea: Adding WakeUSB floppy image to Puppy's CD menu

What features/apps/bugfixes needed in a future Puppy
Post Reply
Message
Author
User avatar
pakt
Posts: 1157
Joined: Sat 04 Jun 2005, 16:54
Location: Sweden

Idea: Adding WakeUSB floppy image to Puppy's CD menu

#1 Post by pakt »

Before I present my idea: for those of you who don't know what WakeUSB is, please look at my post WakeUSB - make old PC's boot Puppy from USB - please test

I got to thinking what a waste it is to put the WakeUSB image on a CD by itself. After all, the image only occupies the boot record and the rest of the CD is empty.

Here is where I got an idea: why not put WakeUSB on a standard Puppy CD as boot option 6. This would also allow you to use the normal Puppy CD as a boot disc for Puppies on USB flash drives. This would of course be for use on PC's that do not have the USB boot option in BIOS.

My thinking is that the following modification of isolinux.cfg might work:

Code: Select all

default 1
DISPLAY BOOT.MSG
SAY MENU: 2 No acpi  3 Choose HD  6 Boot from USB  (ENTER or wait 10sec for normal boot)
prompt 1
label 1
 kernel vmlinuz
 append root=/dev/ram0 initrd=image.gz  PFILE=pup001-none-262144
label 2
 kernel vmlinuz
 append root=/dev/ram0 initrd=image.gz acpi=off  PFILE=pup001-none-262144
label 3
 kernel vmlinuz
 append root=/dev/ram0 initrd=image.gz acpi=off  PFILE=ask
label 5
 kernel vmlinuz
 append root=/dev/ram0 initrd=image.gz  PFILE=cd
label 6
 kernel memdisk
 append initrd=wakeusb.img
timeout 100
Would this be a good idea? Any thoughts?
Top
User avatar
Pizzasgood
Posts: 6183
Joined: Wed 04 May 2005, 20:28
Location: Knoxville, TN, USA

#2 Post by Pizzasgood »

Arrgghh! That be a great idea, matey! Me ship's hold hasn't got enough space fer all these cds. Two-fer-one makes more room fer me booty! Personally, I don't give a hoot fer all this you-ess-bey business, but I know plenty of poor chaps I could pass it off on. Who knows? Maybe it'll get to grow on me after a while. Ya need variety, after all, unless want some scurvy!
[size=75]Between depriving a man of one hour from his life and depriving him of his life there exists only a difference of degree. --Muad'Dib[/size]
[img]http://www.browserloadofcoolness.com/sig.png[/img]
Top
User avatar
pakt
Posts: 1157
Joined: Sat 04 Jun 2005, 16:54
Location: Sweden

#3 Post by pakt »

Pizzasgood wrote:Arrgghh! That be a great idea, matey! Me ship's hold hasn't got enough space fer all these cds. Two-fer-one makes more room fer me booty!
Well shiver me timbers, there's one postive reaction so far :)
Pizzasgood wrote:Ya need variety, after all, unless want some scurvy!
I've heard limes are good against that. Hmm...isn't that where the nickname "limeys" for English sailors comes from ;)
Top
User avatar
Lobster
Official Crustacean
Posts: 15522
Joined: Wed 04 May 2005, 06:06
Location: Paradox Realm
Contact:
Contact Lobster

#4 Post by Lobster »

You could put everything on a DVD
http://flyakite.msfnhosting.com/

:) - however starting with a CD is probably a good idea . . .
Puppy Raspup 8.2Final 8)
Puppy Links Page http://www.smokey01.com/bruceb/puppy.html :D
Top
User avatar
pakt
Posts: 1157
Joined: Sat 04 Jun 2005, 16:54
Location: Sweden

#5 Post by pakt »

Lobster wrote:You could put everything on a DVD
'fraid you're missing the point there Lob. This is not an app we're talking about but an alternate method of booting Puppy when the PC's BIOS does not have the "Boot from USB" option.

The image I'm talking about would not add to the size of Puppy itself, just occupy about 1.5M of CD space. Apart from the text "6 Boot from USB", a Puppy user wouldn't notice any difference between this modified CD and a dog standard Puppy CD 8)
Top
User avatar
J_Rey
Posts: 273
Joined: Wed 04 May 2005, 20:08
Location: Northwest Florida, U.S.A.
Contact:
Contact J_Rey

+1/-1

#6 Post by J_Rey »

I think its a great idea, was actually thinking about this myself. Except we might have licensing/legal problems: GPL requires availablity of source code, copyrighted files are closed source and copyrighted, so might eventually be a problem if included with official CD images (ISOs). :( Unofficial releases maybe.... :twisted:
Top
User avatar
pakt
Posts: 1157
Joined: Sat 04 Jun 2005, 16:54
Location: Sweden

Re: +1/-1

#7 Post by pakt »

J_Rey wrote:I think its a great idea, was actually thinking about this myself. Except we might have licensing/legal problems: GPL requires availablity of source code, copyrighted files are closed source and copyrighted, so might eventually be a problem if included with official CD images (ISOs). :( Unofficial releases maybe.... :twisted:
You have a point there. Although I tried to use as much open source software as possible (FreeDOS - no Microsoft software at all), the actual drivers are copywrite Panasonic & Adaptec :(

I'm testing an update of WakePup right now. It will have fixed menus with choices a la isolinux.cfg letting you choose which pupxxx file to use, etc. It will run from both floppy and CD. This will have to be the "unofficial" release instead. :)

UPDATE: I've now posted the new WakePup 1.1b update. See http://www.murga.org/~puppy/viewtopic.php?t=3875

No problem running it from CD, so it will integrate nicely with the Puppy CD ;) Have fun
Last edited by pakt on Mon 21 Nov 2005, 07:24, edited 1 time in total.
Top
User avatar
Pizzasgood
Posts: 6183
Joined: Wed 04 May 2005, 20:28
Location: Knoxville, TN, USA

#8 Post by Pizzasgood »

Cool. I think I'll stick it in the next Pizzapup (most likely 1.0.7 or 1.0.8 ).
[size=75]Between depriving a man of one hour from his life and depriving him of his life there exists only a difference of degree. --Muad'Dib[/size]
[img]http://www.browserloadofcoolness.com/sig.png[/img]
Top
kethd
Posts: 451
Joined: Thu 20 Oct 2005, 12:54
Location: Boston MA USA

#9 Post by kethd »

Sounds like a good idea to me.
I want more control at boot time, standard.
(And I don't want any Live-CD to ever do anything to any internal hard drive without my explicit agreement -- each and every time I boot!)
Top
User avatar
Pizzasgood
Posts: 6183
Joined: Wed 04 May 2005, 20:28
Location: Knoxville, TN, USA

#10 Post by Pizzasgood »

Good point. When I'm digging through the boot scripts to make a login Puppy, I think I'll look at having it notify you before it creates a pupfile. Otherwise, if you pop in the disk and don't have one, it will plop a 256 MB file on your harddrive with no warning. It could have a menu warning you and giving the option to exit, or maybe even return to the boot menu.
[size=75]Between depriving a man of one hour from his life and depriving him of his life there exists only a difference of degree. --Muad'Dib[/size]
[img]http://www.browserloadofcoolness.com/sig.png[/img]
Top
kethd
Posts: 451
Joined: Thu 20 Oct 2005, 12:54
Location: Boston MA USA

#11 Post by kethd »

Pizzasgood wrote:Good point. When I'm digging through the boot scripts to make a login Puppy, I think I'll look at having it notify you before it creates a pupfile. Otherwise, if you pop in the disk and don't have one, it will plop a 256 MB file on your harddrive with no warning. It could have a menu warning you and giving the option to exit, or maybe even return to the boot menu.
That would be great! And please require actual affirmation, not just the expiration of a count-down timer... It really freaks me out as a new user of Puppy to be faced with this notices/questions etc that time out, with no obvious way to pause things so that I can try to figure out what is going on... this applies also to the initial Puppy boot splash screen. (And why some of those initial menu choices are hidden is a mystery to me...)

(As a general rule the most any live CD should do without explicit permission to a hard drive is mount it read-only. I guess I could make an exception for existing files with special names that are very likely to be intended for Puppy use. But even then, there needs to be a very clear and simple way to boot Puppy and force it to completely ignore such existing files/partitions/devices. As soon as I know enough, I was hoping to create a SafePuppy -- but I really believe that the StandardPuppy should be a SafePuppy in this regard.)
Top
User avatar
Pizzasgood
Posts: 6183
Joined: Wed 04 May 2005, 20:28
Location: Knoxville, TN, USA

#12 Post by Pizzasgood »

Last night I was burning a test iso to see if it still worked after my rapidly stipping out about twelve things, and I accidently set it to have a .1 second grace period before auto booting. :roll:

Yeah, it would stop and wait for you to confirm or quit.

For a safe puppy, you would edit isolinux.cfg (in the iso with image.gz and usr_cram.fs) and change the default option. You could bypass having it ask you by changing where it says "ask" to none, I believe. Then it would just boot with no pupfile. You can also lengthen or even remove the time limit while you're in there.
[size=75]Between depriving a man of one hour from his life and depriving him of his life there exists only a difference of degree. --Muad'Dib[/size]
[img]http://www.browserloadofcoolness.com/sig.png[/img]
Top
User avatar
pakt
Posts: 1157
Joined: Sat 04 Jun 2005, 16:54
Location: Sweden

#13 Post by pakt »

Hey Pizzasgood, maybe you should call your next project "DogGone Puppy" :D
Top
User avatar
Lobster
Official Crustacean
Posts: 15522
Joined: Wed 04 May 2005, 06:06
Location: Paradox Realm
Contact:
Contact Lobster

#14 Post by Lobster »

pakt wrote: 'fraid you're missing the point there Lob. This is not an app we're talking about but an alternate method of booting Puppy when the PC's BIOS does not have the "Boot from USB" option.
:oops:

I have put in a petition to have my lobotomy reversed. I am hoping to have George Bushs brain (he has never used it) but obviously it would be better to have something of higher caliber, perhaps an ameoba. Meanwhile I hang out with smart penguins and hope to improve . . .

Does this mean that I download the ISO with this program included and when booting on a computer with no CD booting it would still boot? If so hooray!
Puppy Raspup 8.2Final 8)
Puppy Links Page http://www.smokey01.com/bruceb/puppy.html :D
Top
User avatar
pakt
Posts: 1157
Joined: Sat 04 Jun 2005, 16:54
Location: Sweden

#15 Post by pakt »

Lobster wrote:Does this mean that I download the ISO with this program included and when booting on a computer with no CD booting it would still boot? If so hooray!
Yes, that is correct, providing you have properly connected the flux capacitor. Be careful though to ground yourself or you could be in for a nasty shock...

Lobster, it sounds like you've already had that lobotomy-reversal with the unfortunate consequence of sprouting horns as well. :shock:
Top
User avatar
Lobster
Official Crustacean
Posts: 15522
Joined: Wed 04 May 2005, 06:06
Location: Paradox Realm
Contact:
Contact Lobster

#16 Post by Lobster »

Sorry, I should not belittle ameobas . . . :)
If only I could have got a piece of this . . .
http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=207

but I digress . . .

So is this an essential program to be integrated into Puppy? It is large but it seems rather important . . .
Puppy Raspup 8.2Final 8)
Puppy Links Page http://www.smokey01.com/bruceb/puppy.html :D
Top
User avatar
pakt
Posts: 1157
Joined: Sat 04 Jun 2005, 16:54
Location: Sweden

#17 Post by pakt »

Lobster wrote:So is this an essential program to be integrated into Puppy? It is large but it seems rather important . . .
This dialog remindes me of a pseudo artificial intelligence program called Eliza, way back when...

My moth to your flame? :evil:
Top
User avatar
J_Rey
Posts: 273
Joined: Wed 04 May 2005, 20:08
Location: Northwest Florida, U.S.A.
Contact:
Contact J_Rey

#18 Post by J_Rey »

Well, it looks like Barry is considering this. He added it to isolinux.cfg in Puppy 1.0.7 alpha under option 6 but didn't include wakeusb.img....
Top
Post Reply

Return to “Suggestions”