The following was not addressed in a previous string, so I shall try again. This concerns Puppy version 1.08, the first one which I could persuade to operate with a multisession live CDRW.
The FAQ on the PuppyOS site say that you can prepare a new active multisession CD merely by booting with the existing one (full or not) but before closing down, inserting a blank CDRW in place of that existing one. When I do that, the computer goes through the motions, asks whether I want to save, announces that it has saved (but far too soon, with no evidence of actual activity at the drive), and shuts off leaving the new disk completely blank. I also tried using a freshly prepared Puppy 1.08 CDRW, just in case the operating system had to be present on the new disk, but that didn't work either.
However, when I filled my first functioning CDRW and was warned that it was full, I was prompted to insert a fresh blank, and that was indeed recorded correctly.
I suspect the FAQ is simply wrong, but whether it is or not, presumably the code could be modified to allow saving to a blank disk, so preserving the computer's settings and files at the time of closing down, without all the results at previous closings. Can anyone confirm or deny my observation, and help?
Kenneth Gundry
Making a fresh multisession CDRW
I can confirm that saving sometimes acts as you describe, with the cupholder popping out almost instantly while Puppy proudly reports "mission accomplished." 
This has happened to me when I tried to save the configuration of a previous CD to a fresh CD burned with multisession Puppy. If I remember right, it has also happened with a multisession DVD but I don't remember the circumstances. It only happened once that I remember with a DVD though.
I never really got multisession to work on any kind of CD well enough that I could trust it, but it has worked nearly flawlessly for me on every kind of (name brand) writable DVD: -R, +R, -RW (regular and 8 cm mini disk) and +RW. It did have a problem with switching to a new mini DVD-RW when the old one got full. I don't remember what the problem was. New versions of Puppy come out so often that I find I start a new disk for testing before the old one gets full anyway. That's why I started using the mini DVD-RWs.
As for saving the session to a blank disk, I think multisession Puppy looks at every saved session when it boots. I don't know if it starts with the oldest and works through to youngest or vice versa, but either way you would have to switch disks in the middle of the boot process. At the least this would make unattended booting problematic.
This has happened to me when I tried to save the configuration of a previous CD to a fresh CD burned with multisession Puppy. If I remember right, it has also happened with a multisession DVD but I don't remember the circumstances. It only happened once that I remember with a DVD though.I never really got multisession to work on any kind of CD well enough that I could trust it, but it has worked nearly flawlessly for me on every kind of (name brand) writable DVD: -R, +R, -RW (regular and 8 cm mini disk) and +RW. It did have a problem with switching to a new mini DVD-RW when the old one got full. I don't remember what the problem was. New versions of Puppy come out so often that I find I start a new disk for testing before the old one gets full anyway. That's why I started using the mini DVD-RWs.
As for saving the session to a blank disk, I think multisession Puppy looks at every saved session when it boots. I don't know if it starts with the oldest and works through to youngest or vice versa, but either way you would have to switch disks in the middle of the boot process. At the least this would make unattended booting problematic.
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Kenneth Gundry
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- Joined: Wed 12 Oct 2005, 18:18
Many thanks. I fear what you are saying is that a multisession live CDRW is still buggy. Fortunately however I think you are mistaken about the computer's need to read ALL previously saved files at boot-up, including those on earlier live CDs. As far as I can see, both from the actual behavior and from the forum, a disk contains multiple directories, one per session and each essentially containing the changes for that session (so if you make few changes, the directory for that session is small) and on boot-up using that disk all of them are read, but when you have filled a disk, have been prompted to put in a blank, and have saved it, that new one has only one session's directory, the most recent, containing everything in all the previous directories (less things you erased). Indeed, if every session's directory were necessary, the system would rapidly become impossibly unwieldy.
What interests me, and has still not been answered, is whether the FAQ on the subject, which says you can prepare a new live disk merely by closing down the computer with a new blank in the drive, is just plain wrong (which would be disappointing, but offer someone a challenge!) or whether the problem is somehow associated with my particular computer or my particular software installation.
Kenneth Gundry
What interests me, and has still not been answered, is whether the FAQ on the subject, which says you can prepare a new live disk merely by closing down the computer with a new blank in the drive, is just plain wrong (which would be disappointing, but offer someone a challenge!) or whether the problem is somehow associated with my particular computer or my particular software installation.
Kenneth Gundry
I'm sure you're right. I wasn't very clear; I meant that Puppy only looks at the sessions on the current disk when it boots. (Could this be a clue as to why saving to a new disk fails?)Kenneth Gundry wrote:I think you are mistaken about the computer's need to read ALL previously saved files at boot-up, including those on earlier live CDs.
That must be wrong. I don't see how it could work. I'm pretty sure Barry said that you can burn a new multisession disk and then click on save. I don't recall seeing anything about saving to a blank disk. You can to do it from the command line, or with TkDVD using "Advanced options". (I've actually used that to record a session that was accessible by mounting the DVD after booting it the usual way, just to see if it would work. I described it somewhere in the Multisession forum, several months ago.) Anyway, burning a new disk then saving from the old one didn't work for me the only time I tried it.What interests me, and has still not been answered, is whether the FAQ on the subject, which says you can prepare a new live disk merely by closing down the computer with a new blank in the drive, is just plain wrong
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Kenneth Gundry
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- Joined: Wed 12 Oct 2005, 18:18
It took me a while to find the reference, but it is in fact in www.PuppyOS.com under "live CD/multisession live-DVD (and CD)", where the text has been partially but not entirely updated to reflect more recent Puppy versions that work with CDRW as well as DVD. It says there:
"Note, if the DVD is becoming a bit "iffy", you can transfer to a new DVD at any time, even though the current DVD is not yet full. Just insert a new blank DVD at shutdown, rather than the current one."
I not unnaturally assumed that applied to CDs as well, since some other paragraphs have had reference to CDs added, but either it just isn't true, or it is only true of DVDs. If someone skilled in the art could make it true of CDRWs as well, I would be very grateful.
I'm not sure what you meant by "I'm pretty sure Barry said that you can burn a new multisession disk and then click on save." I tried burning a fresh bootable multisession CDRW, obviously without all the network settings and extras that I had installed, and substituting that for the "active" CDRW at shutdown, but it didn't acquire all the stuff that was presumably present in RAM. For the present I'll just have to accept that I cannot prepare a new disk incorporating all my settings etc. but with more space, until the one I am using gets full.
Kenneth Gundry
"Note, if the DVD is becoming a bit "iffy", you can transfer to a new DVD at any time, even though the current DVD is not yet full. Just insert a new blank DVD at shutdown, rather than the current one."
I not unnaturally assumed that applied to CDs as well, since some other paragraphs have had reference to CDs added, but either it just isn't true, or it is only true of DVDs. If someone skilled in the art could make it true of CDRWs as well, I would be very grateful.
I'm not sure what you meant by "I'm pretty sure Barry said that you can burn a new multisession disk and then click on save." I tried burning a fresh bootable multisession CDRW, obviously without all the network settings and extras that I had installed, and substituting that for the "active" CDRW at shutdown, but it didn't acquire all the stuff that was presumably present in RAM. For the present I'll just have to accept that I cannot prepare a new disk incorporating all my settings etc. but with more space, until the one I am using gets full.
Kenneth Gundry
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BarryK
- Puppy Master
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With the puppy2 alpha snapshot, multisession CD or DVD has a "save" icon on"Note, if the DVD is becoming a bit "iffy", you can transfer to a new DVD at any time, even though the current DVD is not yet full. Just insert a new blank DVD at shutdown, rather than the current one."
the desktop (not just the DVD as in puppy1), so all you have to do is insert
a CD/DVD with the latest Puppy2 iso burned on it, click the "save" button and
the new CD/DVD is ready to go. Or, shutdown will achieve the same effect,
that is, save the session to whatever CD/DVD is plugged in.
...I haven't actually tried this yet, so not quite sure if it works properly.
...I've just made a note to myself to test it.