Someone can help me find a bootloader?

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Nevermore · #1 Post by **Nevermore** » Tue 19 Sep 2006, 17:05

Ok i installed puppy by install option 1
everything went fine, the FS i used is FAT32 but doesn't really matter since this pc will run puppy only.
now, seems that i can't install grub on fat32, so i can either delete all and go to ext3 or reiserf, or i should find a way of getting a bootloader that works under fat FROM inside puppy..
any suggestion? (also for the config needed)
thanks

gamfa · #2 Post by **gamfa** » Tue 19 Sep 2006, 17:40

You might try Gag. I started using it a number of years ago on the advice of one of VL devs. I write lilo to the boot sector and boot that with gag. I really got tired of repairing the mbr. You can boot 6 of 7 partitions with it.

#3 Post by **Pizzasgood** » Tue 19 Sep 2006, 17:53

I think there's a program called "loadlin" or "linloader" or something with "lin" in it that can run in DOS. It's how I booted Zipslack when I was first playing with Linux.

There was also a "Win98 Puppy" that you might want to look at. You could probably take it's method of booting.

Nevermore · #4 Post by **Nevermore** » Tue 19 Sep 2006, 18:16

thanks gamfa
gag seems what i need, i will play with it and try to make it work..
btw, seems my puppy doesn't turn off my pc after i shutdown..
but old puppy did..
what can i do?

Nevermore · #5 Post by **Nevermore** » Tue 19 Sep 2006, 18:30

gamfa pity, gag seems just a bootmanager, it didn't make my disk bootable..
so i am still on troubles..
pizzas i tried loadlin some time ago, but was a pain to make it work, i don't have dos or windows on the computer, i just need that a bootloader is written on MBR and that it starts Puppy..
that's all.

gamfa · #6 Post by **gamfa** » Tue 19 Sep 2006, 19:56

If you haven't tried lilo you might give it a shot. I use the slack 10.1 version. I can post my lilo.conf that you could edit for your situation.

Billcnz · #7 Post by **Billcnz** » Tue 19 Sep 2006, 20:51

I think the best option would be to start again and create a linux partition and do a type 2 normal install so you can use grub, but if you search the forum I did read some threads on other versions of grub that will work with fat partitions like grub4dos or grub4win.

GuestToo · #8 Post by **GuestToo** » Tue 19 Sep 2006, 21:29

Grub works on a FAT12, FAT16, or FAT32 drive or partition

you can put Grub on a floppy or a CD

i have Grub installed in my mbr and the rest of the Grub files in my FAT32 partition hda1 = C:

when i install a Linux distro, i install the boot loader (Grub or Lilo) on the boot sector of the partition, not the mbr ... then i edit Grub's menu.lst to chain to the boot sector

actually, i haven't installed a Linux distro in a long time

GuestToo · #9 Post by **GuestToo** » Tue 19 Sep 2006, 21:31

i have a frugal install ... i have never installed Puppy as a "normal" option 2 install

Nevermore · #10 Post by **Nevermore** » Tue 19 Sep 2006, 23:02

guestoo i don't know
i tried to install grub from the cd but it didn't want to install..
unfortunately i can't use floppy since i didn't even put on the pc

i made a small reiserfs partition and installed grub
i copied vmlinuz and initrd.gz there
and edited grub menu to point as root to my /dev/hda1 (vfat) where is my pup001
unfortunately i keep getting error..
i dunno what to do..

GuestToo · #11 Post by **GuestToo** » Wed 20 Sep 2006, 01:28

my grub menu.lst file is in /boot/grub/menu.lst on my first partition (FAT32/vfat)

you seem to be using Puppy 1.something

menu.lst might look something like this:

Code: Select all

title Puppy
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz root=/dev/ram0 PFILE=pup001-none-262144 PHOME=hda1
initrd /image.gz

that is 4 lines, starting with:
title
rootnoverify
kernel
initrd

this assumes vmlinuz and image.gz are at the top of the file system, not in a folder (though Grub might look automatically in /boot)

it also assumes that your Puppy save file is called pup001 and that it is about 256 megs and that you do not want it to be encrypted and that you want pup001 to be on hda1

if your files are on hda2 (a primary partition) you would use (hd0,1) and hda2

if your files are on hda5 (a logical drive in an extended partition), then you would use (hd0,4) and hda5

you probably don't need the PFILE parameter, Puppy will use the largest partition it finds

Billcnz · #12 Post by **Billcnz** » Wed 20 Sep 2006, 01:45

GuestToo,
the reason I advise people they need a linux partition is because if you use Puppy's Grub Bootloader Config and try to install the grub file to a Windows partition it gives you an error:
Grubconfig: ERROR
The partition '/dev/hda1' is not linux
and even if you click OK to carry on it says grub is installed but nothing gets copied to hda1.

Nevermore · #13 Post by **Nevermore** » Wed 20 Sep 2006, 08:15

thanks everyone
but seems i can't make it work..
i suppose is a limitation of grub in puppylinux, first it doesn't install on vfat, second it refuses to boot if the partition i set as root is vfat..
i will keep using the cd as a bootloader, waiting if someone wants to give a look into this problem maybe in the next puppy.
Thanks

Q · #14 Post by Q » Wed 20 Sep 2006, 15:34

Nevermore wrote:thanks everyone
but seems i can't make it work..
i suppose is a limitation of grub in puppylinux, first it doesn't install on vfat, second it refuses to boot if the partition i set as root is vfat..
i will keep using the cd as a bootloader, waiting if someone wants to give a look into this problem maybe in the next puppy.
Thanks

grub is the best bootloader for puppy,so far i tried around 6 versions and never had a problem with the exception of booting from usb.
have you tried grub4dos?(btw there is a magic tool in that forum,its something called search...oops )
you don't need windows or dos installed just the 3 system files (command.com +IO.sys+msdos.sys) ,then set the time out =0 and edit your autoexec.bat to start grub.

or you can use another bootloader like linld and edit your autoexec.bat to run it @ boot.

Don't you guys notice that recently there are more than few threads that has something to do with booting PuppyLinux?!
maybe it has something to do with so many many users who had enough of Microsoft operating systems or maybe the fact is that PuppyLinux is self-contained with wide variety of applications that not only does the job but also with no bloated software or spyware\no bugs\low requirements also they are open source which not only its free but most importantly if you have the knowledge or even have deep interest you can tweak it to suit your needs unlike whatchamacallit and their monopolistic systems.

To get to the point........
I noticed (might be wrong on this) that BarryK have a special interest in booting and installing the system which came a long way since older versions but still sticking to the course of live CD even with full install it still needs a boot loader.
Don't you think its time for puppy to take over?
its very noticeable that many wants it to be the one and only OS on their machines specially those who were thrilled to ""resurrect"" their old puters that no longer good enough for M$ or even most if not 99.999% of linux's distro.

BarryK (or any of the experts and they are too many to list) would you consider developing a script to write to the MBR for example like Salx killbill edition?!

GuestToo · #15 Post by **GuestToo** » Wed 20 Sep 2006, 18:30

it's really easy to install grub

a very minimal script:

Code: Select all

#!/bin/sh

mkdir /mnt/home/boot
mkdir /mnt/home/boot/grub

cp /usr/lib/grub/i386-pc/* /mnt/home/boot/grub/
cp menu.lst /mnt/home/boot/grub/

grub << EOF
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
setup (hd0)
quit
EOF

echo 'Grub is installed'

this will install the Grub files on hda1, and will install Grub in the MBR or hda ... it assumes that /mnt/home is hda1, and that you have a nice menu.lst file to copy (probably with choices to boot from various partitions, option 1 and option 2, and with Help menus, and lots of comments so that a newbie can easily edit it later ...)

there is no error checking, and it doesn't ask if you really really want to install Grub or not, and it doesn't set the hidden/system file attributes so that Windows will not move the Grub files when it defrags the drive

pmshah · #16 Post by **pmshah** » Wed 20 Sep 2006, 19:02

Q wrote:
Nevermore wrote: that BarryK have a special interest in booting and installing the system which came a long way since older versions but still sticking to the course of live CD even with full install it still needs a boot loader.
Don't you think its time for puppy to take over?
its very noticeable that many wants it to be the one and only OS on their machines specially those who were thrilled to ""resurrect"" their old puters that no longer good enough for M$ or even most if not 99.999% of linux's distro.

BarryK (or any of the experts and they are too many to list) would you consider developing a script to write to the MBR for example like Salx killbill edition?!

Just out of interest which version of Slax KillBill has installation routine built in? This is one deficiency which has prevented me from exploring it further.

BTW all OSes need bootloader which is usually written to track zero of the concerned partition for that OS. This is the difference between a bootable & non-bootable oartition. Usually the MBR points to the specific partition & from there the OS or boot manager is picked up.

pmshah · #17 Post by **pmshah** » Wed 20 Sep 2006, 19:04

Nevermore wrote:thanks everyone
but seems i can't make it work..
i suppose is a limitation of grub in puppylinux, first it doesn't install on vfat, second it refuses to boot if the partition i set as root is vfat..
i will keep using the cd as a bootloader, waiting if someone wants to give a look into this problem maybe in the next puppy.
Thanks

Although I have not tried it I belive there is a simple Grub boot disk image available on the net which will help you filling in your present deficiency in Puppy Linux installation.

Q · #18 Post by Q » Thu 21 Sep 2006, 13:09

pmshah wrote: Just out of interest which version of Slax KillBill has installation routine built in? This is one deficiency which has prevented me from exploring it further.

the current version v 5.1.7b.
but it seems i was a bit hasty

it turns out its just lilo but what the istallation script does is wipe the drive and boots it with 0 timeout (from looking in the make lilo file on root).
Sorry about that.

pmshah wrote: BTW all OSes need bootloader which is usually written to track zero of the concerned partition for that OS. This is the difference between a bootable & non-bootable partition. Usually the MBR points to the specific partition & from there the OS or boot manager is picked up.

you are right again friend but using a third party application to write to the MBR is not what i meant.
If you remember a while ago BarryK was testing booting puppy from usb even if the bios can't boot from it and what he done was "fooling" the bios into identifying the usb as super floppy.
if that can be done and as far as i can remember it worked ,i was thinking that the same can be done if user choose full install and the script will write directly to the mbr providing that puppy is the only OS on that machine.

please correct me if I'm wrong,this issues is one of my favorite.

(old)Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

(old)Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

Someone can help me find a bootloader?

Someone can help me find a bootloader?