Multisession Questions

Discuss anything specific to using Puppy on a multi-session disk
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ramus
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Joined: Thu 12 Jul 2012, 16:24

Multisession Questions

#1 Post by ramus »

Hi

I see it writen quite often on this subject and wondered if you could help me.

I can run puppy off a dvd - change any settings, add/remove progs, add bookmarks in browser and save the session back to my dvd is this right

If I do this and reboot do I boot into my original puppy and it uses the saved info or do I need to boot into the save ?

Assuming I need to boot into the save then can I do away with multi session and burn the save to boot from it directly ?

Is it possible to encrypt the puppy image to prevent eyes over my setup.

If the above is not possible is there an alternative way of encrypting the additions I make particularly my browser links bookmarks etc.

Apologise if I ask too many questions but I know nothing nada about linux but this does interest me......

Thank You

ramus

gcmartin

#2 Post by gcmartin »

This post by me is not one to tackle the inter-working of multi-session in CD/DVD (media) technology nor is it an in-depth description of the actual Puppy utilities that get invoked to accomplish save-sessions onto a multi-session media.

But, I will share my experience in it use.

I am a Live media (saveing my session work back to the DVD at shutdown) user. I have always been a Live media user. All of my use has been, for the most part (PXE/netbooting is an exception), LIve media.

That being understood; Puppy LInux distro has made the ability to boot, run, and operate a Linux operating system (OS) without needing to install it anywhere on a USB/HDD attached to the system. The TOTAL Puppy LInux OS runs in RAM and is totally contained on the Live media. Additionally, they have provided the ability to save your customization, tailoring and data generation that you might do.

Should I install programs or make configuration changes to the LIve system, at Shutdown, those things will be saved for the next boot.

On boot, I DO NOTHING EXCEPT INSURE THE CD/DVD IS IN THE DRIVE and my system will boot me right back to the place I was at the time of the prior shutdown.

And, should something had gone wrong wtih the last shutdown, I merely boot/reboot and type
puppy pfix=1
to get to the time before the last shutdown when the system was behaving properly. (I have had to do this ONLY 3hrice since 2006+.)

No, you do not and should not need to do anything other than just insert your DVD, making sure that you have told your system to boot that dvd.

Excepting for bootup/shutdown speeds, the Puppy system is just as speedly had you booted from USB/HDD. Thus for me, my USBs and my HDDs are, now, relegated to storage for my permanent information and media needs. Those devices do not have or need Puppy Linux (or any OS) on them for any reason. Further, should I need, Puppy provides a means for me to encrypt any data that I have.

There is NOTHING personally stored on my Puppy DVD. It just my booting OS....nothing else. All of my data is stored on permanent storage somewhere and Puppy thru its toolset will access that data that I tell it to.

Lastly, I do one last thing to guarantee that my Puppy use does not "lock" while running. I insure that every PC I boot the LIve media on, HAS A SWAP partition that is at least the size of the system's RAM. If it doesn't have on, I create one on the system's HDD. In today's world 4GB for SWAP use had little to no penalty on any of the systems I have encountered in the past 8 years.

That all there is to it ... operationally.

Hope this helps in your normal operation.

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tallboy
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#3 Post by tallboy »

gcmartin wrote: I have always been a Live media user.
Me too, and I see no reason NOT to be!
I usually save to a memory stick or an external HD connected to a USB port, or to the internal HD. They are never mounted unless I need them.

When I am finished with the session, I just turn off my PC, I don't bother using the 'shutdown'-procedure in the menu. You may take out the DVD first, I just leave it in.

ramus, when you start up your puppy, after having saved a session when closing down last time, you can follow the process on the screen. You will see that after reading the boot files and loading some drivers, puppy first look for some puppy files in the connected disk volumes (i guess in case it is a 'frugal' installation), and then load the saved files and the main sfs from the DVD.
If you prevent a save-file from loading, by doing as gcmartin described, there will be a hidden dot-file in /, named .badfolders, containing just the date/time code for the excluded folder.
If you then save the session, including the .badfolder-file, to your DVD, that folder will permanently be marked 'bad', unless you remove the .badfolder file and save your session to the DVD again. You can see the text during bootup:
loading file so-and-so,
file this-and-that marked 'bad',
loading file so-and-so...

My advice is to burn an extra DVD or two, and sit down and play! Pressing F2 during startup, give you the boot options.
Re: gcmartins advice to use 'puppy pfix=1' to prevent a saved session from loading, may cause trouble in many puppies if you only have one single saved session on your DVD! In my dpups, everything lock up, and I have to shut down by pulling the power cord! It is better to use 'puppy pfix=ram' to exclude a saved file from loading in that situation. The same command will also ignore all saved files from loading, if you have several.
Running from a live DVD, I personally see no need for encryption.

You may also want to check out these very useful links:

Save directories to DVD+RW as sessions, using growisofs

Hiding previous multi-session saves on a live disc

tallboy

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Flash
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#4 Post by Flash »

Too much information, eh, Ramus? :lol: I assume that you have a computer that has a DVD burner it can boot from, or you wouldn't be asking about multisession DVDs. As long as the computer has at least 256 MB of RAM, it will boot a fresh multisession Puppy DVD. If you plan to add much in the way of programs to your multisession Puppy DVD, then the computer should probably have more RAM. 512 MB seemed to handle everything I ever wanted to do with a multisession Puppy except some compiling I tried once. That was a disaster. :(

So assuming you have at least 256 MB of RAM and a DVD burner, get yourself a rewritable DVD if you can or a write-once DVD if that's all you can get, and try multisession Puppy out.

Why do you want to encrypt your multisession DVD? Just remove it after you shut down and put it where nobody can get at it. Physical security beats encryption. :)

ramus
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu 12 Jul 2012, 16:24

#5 Post by ramus »

No never too much information, strangely gcmartins majestic english explanation is easier to follow than tallboy however respect is due to both.

I glean the following.

Puppy regards a save as an external source and draws from it.

The loading of a save can be prevented puppy pfix=1 results in a vanilla install.

Question : is it possible to burn a save to a new cd/dvd doing away with the multisession.

To prevent tragedy it is advisable to allow a swap file on a separate drive. ( Is it possible to assign swap file location. ) Presumably this would apply more to those equipped with low available memory or those working on large maybe graphics files. A situation where there was 2gb or more available would presumably be adequate for general puppy use.

Regarding the above is there a procedure to allocate how much ram is available to puppy hence reducing the need for a swap file.

I read that it is not possible to remove programs from the puppy installation ,is it possible to add/remove programs from the main start menu.

Enough for the moment

Ramus

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tallboy
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#6 Post by tallboy »

Flash wrote:Too much information, eh, Ramus? :lol:
(heavy sigh)...well, I tend to write books... :wink:
ramus wrote:strangely gcmartins majestic english explanation is easier to follow than tallboy
(even heavier sigh)..well, I don't tend to write good books... :(

ramus,
  • if you use the 'Burn iso to cd' program in the 'Multimedia' menu, you can choose if you want multisession or not on a CD, on a DVD multisession is default.
ramus wrote:I read that it is not possible to remove programs from the puppy installation
  • You can remaster the DVD, and burn a new one containing whatever you want. You will find the tools in the 'Setup' menu.
tallboy

ramus
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu 12 Jul 2012, 16:24

#7 Post by ramus »

I am sure they are well written good books that all understand, my thanks was directed at both of you ;)

ramus

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tallboy
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Location: Drøbak, Norway

#8 Post by tallboy »

What I meant when I said I tend to write books, is that my posts often end up being the length of a book....

(very,very heavy sigh!) darn, I didn't even get that right! :cry:


tallboy

Pelo

Ne pas enregistrer la session en cours

#9 Post by Pelo »

install that package : pupsave config-2.2.2
Pet sera joined later.
Message ' do you want to save 'yes-no' at shutdown.
This permit you not to fullfill your DVD uneccessarily.

Un français de France Pelo

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tallboy
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Location: Drøbak, Norway

#10 Post by tallboy »

Pelo, if you do not have anything to save to a live-DVD, you can just turn off the computer when you are finished, without using the yes/no dialog. The computer don't care, and the DVD start from the beginning next time anyway! :D

tallboy

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