Unable to install to hard drive

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pgarrow
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Joined: Sat 25 Jun 2005, 04:47

Unable to install to hard drive

#1 Post by pgarrow »

Hi:

I post this here becuase I can not reach the developer directly.


Hi Barry Kauler:

I have just spent a full day, more than eight hours, trying to get Puppy to install to my hard drive.

I have been able to burn the CD, boot and test Puppy, and I am impressed. It is very good that you are supplying a distribution of Linux that will run on older machines.

However, after trying every combination of instructions, utilities, and media, I can not get Puppy to install to my hard drive.

When trying to install from the CD ROM, the Hard drive installation script apparently fails to write the autoexec.bat file to the floppy drive.

When trying to use your "Swiss Army Knife" floppy disk it will only boot from the CD ROM and not my USB device. I think that there is some failure in the script on that floppy, even though it does find my Thumb drive. And there is no BIOS setting on my computer to allow a direct boot from a USB device.

When trying to install to FAT32 partition, there is apparently an incomplete set of files written to the Hard drive to allow it to boot.

And when trying to partition my drive using Linux partitions, apparently your script will recognize these, but will not copy files to these at all.

What I need is a solution that works,... anything.

You write on your site that you are revising the hard drive installation script. Please send me a working version.

I have a number of older machines that I would like to give away in working condition with an installation of Puppy. I would also like to test Puppy with Wine.

Thank you in advance for whatever help you can offer.

Sincerely, Phil Garrow

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Lobster
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Re: Unable to install to hard drive

#2 Post by Lobster »

pgarrow wrote:
I have just spent a full day, more than eight hours, trying to get Puppy to install to my hard drive.
:? A long time Phil

The first time I tried to get Linux on my hard disk, it took 5 weeks (8 hours a day) The last time I installed Puppy to hard disk it took 15 minutes.

m m m . . .

not much consolation.

Here is the wiki hard disk install page
http://www.goosee.com/puppy/wikka/HardDiskInstall
- it is a bit of a mess but perhaps you will eventually sort it out for us? For now I hope it provides some required information
:)
Puppy Raspup 8.2Final 8)
Puppy Links Page http://www.smokey01.com/bruceb/puppy.html :D

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Ian
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#3 Post by Ian »

If you could please supply some details about your machine including the type of processer, the BIOS, and the number and type of partitions on the hard drive it would help in assessing your problem.
Cheers.

Guest

Specifications for the machine

#4 Post by Guest »

The computer that I am trying to install Puppy on is a generic Pentium 1 233Mhz with 64MB of RAM and an 8Gig hard drive that I would like to dedicate entirely to Linux. It has an Award BIOS v4.5, a CD ROM that I can boot from, a PS2 mouse, and an ATI AGP video card. Also installed in this machine is a Network card, a USB card, and a sound card, all of which are recognized.

If I can get this project to work, I plan to install an AMD K2 550Mhz processor compatable with this Socket 7 board.

Thanks in advance for the help, Phil

Guest

Re: Unable to install to hard drive

#5 Post by Guest »

Thank you for the reply.

What I am understanding from the installation instructions I have received is that Puppy is still not a mature product. Puppy could be viable replacement for Windows 98 on an older machine, but not if it doesn't have a straight forward installer. If someone wants to write an install script that simply works automatically, with no manual drive partitioning, no manual copying of files, and no manual editing of startup files, please post a reply and I will try to install Puppy Linux again.

Regards, Phil Garrow

Lobster wrote:
pgarrow wrote:
I have just spent a full day, more than eight hours, trying to get Puppy to install to my hard drive.
:? A long time Phil

The first time I tried to get Linux on my hard disk, it took 5 weeks (8 hours a day) The last time I installed Puppy to hard disk it took 15 minutes.

m m m . . .

not much consolation.

Here is the wiki hard disk install page
http://www.goosee.com/puppy/wikka/HardDiskInstall
- it is a bit of a mess but perhaps you will eventually sort it out for us? For now I hope it provides some required information
:)

JaDy
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#6 Post by JaDy »

Felicitations & Facilitations, Rev. John G. Derrickson
Wrote fast. Goofs happen. Tell me.

Bruce B

#7 Post by Bruce B »

> If someone wants to write an install script that simply works automatically, with no manual drive partitioning, no manual copying of files, and no manual editing of startup files, please post a reply and I will try to install Puppy Linux again.

Phil, I was going to give my time to help you get this thing installed manually. But I cannot meet the criteria you specified.

I don't know if you have a swap file. If not, you would probably have problems installing Linux with major distributions also, due to the limited amount of RAM.

Maybe DSL will work because you can run it off CD-ROM and conserve RAM - perhaps sufficent enough to make an install.

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Puppy Dog
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#8 Post by Puppy Dog »

I hope you have not overlooked the versatility of the pup001 file that can be created as an option at boot.
"Best In Show"

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Puppy Dog
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#9 Post by Puppy Dog »

I hope you have not overlooked the versatility of the pup001 file that can be created as an option at boot.
"Best In Show"

Guest

I accept your offer...

#10 Post by Guest »

Bruce B wrote:> If someone wants to write an install script that simply works automatically, with no manual drive partitioning, no manual copying of files, and no manual editing of startup files, please post a reply and I will try to install Puppy Linux again.

Phil, I was going to give my time to help you get this thing installed manually. But I cannot meet the criteria you specified.

I don't know if you have a swap file. If not, you would probably have problems installing Linux with major distributions also, due to the limited amount of RAM.

Maybe DSL will work because you can run it off CD-ROM and conserve RAM - perhaps sufficent enough to make an install.

Hi Bruce:

I accept your offer of time to help me do this puppy install. Perhaps together we could draft a clear description of how to install to a minimun resource machine.

Email me at dante128@hotmail.com and we can take this discussion out of this forum, saving everyone else reading what could be a long string of mistakes on my part.

Thanks in advance, Phil Garrow

Guest

Please tell me how to do this

#11 Post by Guest »

Puppy Dog wrote:I hope you have not overlooked the versatility of the pup001 file that can be created as an option at boot.
Hi:

I have seen no reference as to how to create or use this file. Please enlighten me.

Thanks, Phil

Guest

Re: Please tell me how to do this

#12 Post by Guest »

Anonymous wrote:
Puppy Dog wrote:I hope you have not overlooked the versatility of the pup001 file that can be created as an option at boot.
Hi:
I have seen no reference as to how to create or use this file. Please enlighten me.

Thanks, Phil
There's Barry's "How Puppy works" page from Puppy's main website. Also read the HardDiskInstall Wiki page, and don't miss LinuxPartitionsAndWindowsDrives, LowRam, andViewPup001FromWindows

Bruce B

#13 Post by Bruce B »

Phil, I'll be glad to work with you privately. There are three points I wish to make about Puppy.

1) Successful *manual* type 1 hard drive installations are remarkably simple and straight forward once one understands the fundamentals. There are only four files involved plus a booting procedure.

I do all my type 1 installations manually because it is easier for me.

2) Inspite of how easy it is for me to setup Puppy, I'd still have to work out some strategy with your computer because 64 MB of RAM is borderline.

3) Puppy really is good and worth it. Very fast and flexible.

-----------------

For starters I suggest you read

http://www.goosee.com/puppy/hard-puppy.htm, especially the section 'Old Instructions' to get an overview of what we are going to attempt, with some specific changes. Some of the page is obsolete, but it will give you an overview.

----

Also, I recommend to get the system up and running that we use GRUB on a DOS boot disk. Later we can install GRUB to the hard drive.

You had some problems with the default floppy disk boot procedure. Make my disk instead, because GRUB is good and my menu system is very flexible.

You can find the boot disk kit I made here:

http://www.murga.org/%7Epuppy/viewtopic.php?t=449

I'll write you later.

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