New simple install & boot method - only 2 files needed.

[ETP]

New simple install & boot method - only 2 files needed.

The base files used in this proof of concept are from BarryK's Quirky Werewolf64-7.4.

In that Barry first introduced the idea of a new flag (Q_ID) who's location
on a fixed partition or stick when found at boot time, indicates the presence of both the main sfs (q.sfs) and the save file (s.sfs).

This type of frugal install allows for the Pup to load from a fast partition on a HD or SSD but then runs
entirely in ZRAM with the option to save at any point during the session and/or the option to save or not at the end of the session.

Combined with the above is the small (5MB) hybrid boot ISO technique that I used in Rapid Pup V1.
Using Barry's new code & flag means that isolinux.cfg can be greatly simplified, there being no need to specify in it
any kind of file/partition ID or label.

The 1st File: (5MB)

The hybrid boot ISO (The 1st file) may be written to any old SD card or USB stick using Window's Win32diskimager or Linux's dd command.
If using dd, the code if the ISO is in your "Downloads" folder would be:

Code: Select all

dd if=/root/Downloads/bootqww64-7.4.iso of=/dev/sdx && sync

Things to keep in mind:

If your card or stick is seen as sdc1 when plugged in, replace sdx in the above with sdc i.e. the device ID NOT the partition ID (sdc1)

dd will completely overwrite your card or USB stick: Any data on it will be lost so if you use this method you'll want to use it with a dedicated card or stick. This task takes 5 seconds.

The card or stick should be placed at the top of your BIOS boot order. Once booted, you can if you wish remove it to free off the port.

The 2nd File: (Self_extract.sfx) 412MB - (A 3 minute job)

This compressed self extracting file (sfx) should be placed on an empty dedicated 10GB Linux HD/SSD partition before left clicking it to extract the contents.
If using an SSD, format the partition as f2fs. No flags need be set.

The 1st file and the 2nd file, together with their MD5 sums, can be found here:

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id= ... sp=sharing

The following screenshot shows the desktop, the contents of in my case, the SSD partition (sdb14), the contents of the hybrid
boot ISO and the very simple one line isolinux.cfg

Press F11 to go full screen then click on link below.

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view ... 1d1WVVMUDg

Final Thoughts:

1. At least 2GB of RAM is recommended with this method as everything is loaded into ZRAM.

2. Nothing has been removed from Barry's base ISO files but Google Chrome Stable, HTOP & a faux firstrun procedure have been added.

3. If booted on a UEFI PC it must be in CSM mode with secure boot disabled.

[ETP]

Reserved for boot code info if needed.

Q1. How do I update Chrome when a new release is issued?

A1. A preset bookmark in Chrome leads to details of the latest releases. To upgrade, first use QPM (PPM) to uninstall the existing version.
Having done that, select “Get Latest Chrome Version

[musher0]

Hi ETP.

You wrote:
> The base ISO chosen for this proof of concept is BarryK's Quirky Werewolf64-7.4.

So your procedure doesn't really apply to any of the Puppies, does it?

BFN.

[ETP]

Hi ETP.

You wrote:
> The base ISO chosen for this proof of concept is BarryK's Quirky Werewolf64-7.4.

So your procedure doesn't really apply to any of the Puppies, does it?

BFN.

Hi musher0.

That is perfectly correct and why it is POC. If it finds favour however there is
nothing to prevent Barry's code being incorporated into WoofCE so that it would become an option open to devs to use in future Pups if they so choose.

[Flash]

Could it be made to work from a multisession DVD?

[musher0]

POC? Ah, ok, Proof Of Concept.

[april]

I'm just havig a look but wondered why the "Press F11" your page seemed to load for me without it.Oh I see it just loses the window frame.

[gcmartin]

Firstly, THANKS @ETP for presenting this simplified look at a Puppy boot structure.

I understand:

1. that I am to create a bootable USB/SD stick that is the boot-manager for booting the PC and
2. that I need a single 10GB (or larger) partition, anywhere, to boot the distro and save its session.
   Note: The ISO serves to create the boot-manager while the SFX creates the partition contents.

Excellent simplification and excellent packaging with much needed flexibility for developers!

[gcmartin]

If I understand @Flash's post, he asks:

if the ISO can burn to a DVD and whether the system will boot if it finds partition with the Q_ID in the present state of the isolinux.cfg?

Seems that it should work.

[ETP]

Hi @Flash & @gcmartin,

The hybrid boot ISO can indeed be burnt/written to optical media but it makes for a noisy boot.
Once booted the CD/DVD may be ejected as any save must be to the partition holding the save file sfs
on the non-removable drive.

My own preference is a SD card which gives a silent boot.
At an absolute minimum with a suitable reader you could also use an old 16MB Smartmedia card as used in the original digital cameras.

@ gcmartin

Like you I am not certain about Flash's "multisession DVD" query. The main sfs & save file/sfs must be on
a partition on non-removable media i.e. HD/SSD. Saving to a DVD is not an option but this method does operate in
a similar fashion there being no compulsion to save during the session and the option to CANCEL the save at the
end of the session.

[Flash]

No, I wondered if the multisession format could be still be used to save sessions on the DVD where the iso is. A multisession DVD allows Puppy to skip loading certain saved sessions at boot, which saving to a Save file cannot do. Saving to a Save file overwrites the files that have been changed, so the original file is difficult or impossible to recover.

[gcmartin]

@Flash, I may be wrong, but in reading thru this thread, I get the impression that there is boot media on a removable while the system contents (which includes the session saves) are on permanent media. Thus a 5MB boot media on either a DVD or USB should go rapidly.

@ETP, I am on step 1. This is what's occurred

Code: Select all

# dd if=/mnt/Laptop/Downloads/LInux/Puppy/ETP/New/bootqww64-7.4.iso of=/dev/sdh && sync
10240+0 records in
10240+0 records out
5242880 bytes (5.2 MB) copied, 1.89278 s, 2.8 MB/s
# sync
# fdisk /dev/sdh  -l
Disk /dev/sdh: 1.9 GiB, 2004877312 bytes, 3915776 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x1d25b5dc

Device     Boot Start   End Sectors Size Id Type
/dev/sdh1  *        0 10239   10240   5M 17 Hidden HPFS/NTFS
# 

When I try to mount this USB media, the system (my DLNAPUP) will not it. Further I get an error when gParted accesses it. gParted does NOT show the partition, nor, can I manage the remainder of this 2GB stick as it shows unallocated.

I think, judging from the UEFI support that this should be a GPT stick. But, instead, it appears as MSDOS after dd command completes.

I will try to boot it just to see if one of my other PCs will get to&thru the BM on the stick.

Update using the stick on a 2nd 64bit PC
Just tried to boot the stick without a Q_ID partition. Works, so I can only assume that the stick is OK.

Now for data partition setup and reboot.

[ETP]

@Flash,

Sorry, but there is no way that this method can be adapted to emulate a multisession DVD with its ability to
skip loading certain saved sessions at boot.

@gcmartin,

Thanks for starting to test. The code output you quoted above looks normal for a hybrid ISO.
gParted cannot make sense of a hybrid ISO which is a type of image, and the error it shows is to be expected.

If having written the ISO to a card or stick you simply hover your cursor over the drive icon for the stick
it will show "Filesystem:iso9660 size 5MB" which is sufficient proof of success.
If you wish to mount it, simply left click it to view the contents as shown in the screenshot in the original post.

Press F11 then click on link.
https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view ... 1d1WVVMUDg

UEFI support is limited to CSM mode as stated in item (3) at the end of the original post above.
A hybrid iso is a type of DOS image and GPT does not come into the equation; neither does making use of any remaining
space on the card or stick.

[april]

Having gotten this booting from a CD and the desktop up ,I am looking to find out how to connect a 3G USB modem ? Eth0 is available and a Wifi modem adaptor also but no GPRS . I could find no help on this either . Do you know how I would get my phone modem connected then?

If you are not familiar with them, the phone modem has a sim card in it which attaches itself to the tower almost immediately when powered up . Then gprs negotiates a connection of computer to modem usually as ppp0.

[ETP]

Hi april,

Sorry to say I only have experience with wired (dial up) modems.
I suggest that you also post your query in the Quirky Werewolf64 bug thread where it is likely to
get more attention and hopefully some answers.

[starhawk]

At an absolute minimum with a suitable reader you could also use an old 16MB Smartmedia card as used in the original digital cameras.

As tempted as this makes me to see if my local guru friend actually kept the 8mb SmartMedia card I gave him as useless to me (I assume he threw it out) -- this is actually a slightly dangerous idea. (I was forced to become familiar with SmartMedia, when I bought a Diamond Multimedia Rio500 MP3 player... it was the first suchh successful commercial player to use USB!)

The thing about SmartMedia is that, even though it looks like a large SD card (there's a reason for that! ) -- it isn't. SmartMedia cards are controllerless -- bare Flash NVRAM chips only -- and any sort of filesystem corruption or screwup can and will brick the card. I want to say that there's a Windows utility that can sometimes fix that, but I don't actually remember for sure.

That said, I might have to do that just to see what happens. If I brick the card, there's nothing really lost there.

[april]

Hi april,
Sorry to say I only have experience with wired (dial up) modems.
I suggest that you also post your query in the Quirky Werewolf64 bug thread where it is likely to
get more attention and hopefully some answers.

Looking at your image attached , did you get that from that loaded system -The hybrid boot ISO or is that from somewhere else . I could not find it but if I can run that program it should connect

[ETP]

Hi april,

The loaded system as shown below:

Press F11 to toggle into full screen then click on link:

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view ... 2VwVzFHUHc

[april]

MM OK you are obviously running something else entirely not the hybrid iso . So I'll stop asking .Dont know what you are doing .

[ETP]

Hi april,

I suspect that you may have gotten hold of the wrong end of the stick here and either:

a) Formed the impression that BARRYK,s original Quirky Werewolf64 ISO is needed in some way.
It is not. Everything required is contained within the hybrid boot ISO (Step1) and the sfx file (Step2).
All the elements from the original ISO plus some extras are contained within those 2 files.

or

b) Correctly completed both steps but at the time of booting from the 5MB hybrid ISO had a CD or DVD in the drive
containing Barry's original ISO which would have booted instead of the files extracted to the hard disc partition.
(Both A or B would explain why you are seeing the original all green & yellow desktop instead of the images in this thread.)


Assuming that you have completed both STEPS 1 & 2 correctly, make sure that you do not have Barry's original ISO in the drive
when you boot from the stick or card containing the 5MB hybrid boot ISO.

When you do boot to the correct desktop exit the "Puppy Network Wizard" which is for ethernet & wireless and use the
"Internet Connection Wizard" on the setup menu for your 3G.

Finally. no worries should the original unneeded ISO fall overboard.