(old)Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

@rjbrewer,

What is the sequence that I do the *simple* grub install?

Do I open the Universal Installer and somewhere in that sequence I do the *grub* install, and, the text correction to *menu.lst*?
or
Do I do the grub install by just selecting it from the menu without opening the Universal Installer? Then go on to install Lupu 520 with Universal Installer, and, somewhere in there I make the text correction?

Sorry, for the stupid question. This is probably self-evident when I open the Universal Installer.

Sky Aisling wrote:@rjbrewer,

What is the sequence that I do the *simple* grub install?

Do I open the Universal Installer and somewhere in that sequence I do the *grub* install, and, the text correction to *menu.lst*?
or
Do I do the grub install by just selecting it from the menu without opening the Universal Installer? Then go on to install Lupu 520 with Universal Installer, and, somewhere in there I make the text correction?

Sorry, for the stupid question. This is probably self-evident when I open the Universal Installer.

Just to be safe I would run the install of 5.2 again.
At the end when the grub window comes up, close the window and
run grub from the menu.
You don't actually need a text correction; it's something you can do anytime if you want to make a change to the menu.lst.
I mentioned a few before and sometimes a boot parameter
can be added to the kernel line if necessary to help with booting
or shutting down.

OK, I've got it installed. I have the desktop up and it appears to be functioning normally.
However, in the boot up process:

Image 40 (from CatDude's tutorial) appears on the screen
*enter*
Message - Undefined video mode #316 - enter to see video modes available - space to continue - wait 30 sec

Seems like these shouldn't be there. Would this have anything to do with my choice of the *grub* frame buffer. errr, I didn't take the 'standard' Linux console (the 'safe' one) but instead chose the one that would show TUX on the boot up screen. Well,... I think TUX is cute.

How do I get rid of this? This system is for someone else who is brand new to using a computer and I'd like it to look as slick as possible and not confuse him. Thanks....I feel a bit silly at this point.

Sky Aisling wrote:OK, I've got it installed. I have the desktop up and it appears to be functioning normally.
However, in the boot up process:

Image 40 (from CatDude's tutorial) appears on the screen
*enter*
Message - Undefined video mode #316 - enter to see video modes available - space to continue - wait 30 sec

Seems like these shouldn't be there. Would this have anything to do with my choice of the *grub* frame buffer. errr, I didn't take the 'standard' Linux console (the 'safe' one) but instead chose the one that would show TUX on the boot up screen. Well,... I think TUX is cute.

How do I get rid of this? This system is for someone else who is brand new to using a computer and I'd like it to look as slick as possible and not confuse him. Thanks....I feel a bit silly at this point.

I'm sure it has to do with choosing framebuffer mode.
I've never done that before.
Maybe that message will go away after another reboot?

Catdude also has tutorials on making fancy boot screens.

In any case, now you can take a look at /boot/grub/menu.lst.
You can change the title line to say anything you want, it doesn't
affect booting.

Be sure to click save after making any changes.

Nope, oh sigh! the *grub* blue and black boot screen (image 40 from CatDude's tutorial) doesn't go away on reboot. I guess I have figure out how to configure *grub* to use the *frame buffer console*. Surely there is a way to change that choice?

Any clues on how I get rid of the Image 40 *grub* boot screen?

The good news is Lupu 520 in combo with Firefox 3.6.13 on Toshiba Satellite 1415-S115 is looking good! Running well.

Sky Aisling wrote:Nope, oh sigh! the *grub* blue and black boot screen (image 40 from CatDude's tutorial) doesn't go away on reboot. I guess I have figure out how to configure *grub* to use the *frame buffer console*. Surely there is a way to change that choice?

Any clues on how I get rid of the Image 40 *grub* boot screen?

The good news is Lupu 520 in combo with Firefox 3.6.13 on Toshiba Satellite 1415-S115 is looking good! Running well.

Run grub again and don't use the framebuffer.

You can skip the screen altogether by changing the timeout line
to 0 and deleting the # mark.
I don't recommend doing that; a slight pause is good if changes
need to be made at bootup time.

Beginning part of my menu.lst:
Xp is on sda1
First Puppy and grub/menu.lst is on sda2

Go to the folder /boot/grub and open the file menu.lst.

On the end of the "kernel" line, do you see the argument "vga=xyz" ?

Change it to "vga=normal".

Thank you.

rjbrewer - I re-ran *grub* configuration and choose 'standard console'. That eliminated the 'undefined video mode #316' message.

rcrsn51 - The 'kernel line' already says "vga=normal". (see screenshot)

I've re-booted several times to see if the blue/black boot screen disappeared, but, it hasn't yet.

Sky Aisling wrote:Thank you.

rjbrewer - I re-ran *grub* configuration and choose 'standard console'. That eliminated the 'undefined video mode #316' message.

rcrsn51 - The 'kernel line' already says "vga=normal". (see screenshot)

I've re-booted several times to see if the blue/black boot screen disappeared, but, it hasn't yet.

I already told you;

To make the screen disappear, you have to change the timeout line
to timeout 0 and delete the # mark.

Changeing usefull options just because your under the illusion that
you know what looks good doesn't necessarily make for a good
or usefull operating system; especially in the case of giving it to
someone else who has to live with your choices.

You are right, rjbrewer.

I'll leave well enough alone. I did reduce the timeout a bit so it doesn't hang around for 30 secs.

The rest of system is looking and running good.

Thank you everyone. Another learning experience in the land of 'woof'.

PostPosted: Tue 07 Dec 2010, 00:34 Post subject:
This is a great guide and is rightfully under sticky, but could someone modify it to show how to install newer version 5.xx.

In my case it would be extrememely good if someone could explain how to install 5.xx onto IBM Thinkpad 570 with 192mb ram and 20GB hdd.

You see 5.xx don\t detect the hdd on startup. 4.xx has no probleme at all.

Thanx in advance

With regards

JBJ

Funny, I posted the above very long time ago, but untill now no reply on how to install puppy 5.xx to an empty hdd, when puppy 5.xx can't see the hdd. If I go retro then no probleme, its only with non-retro from 4.31 and continued through 5.xx. Just to make sure that we are talking about the same, its not a the machine, but puppy that has the problem - otherwise older or retro versions or would not work either:)
Hope a friendly soul will see it this time and try to solve it.

What exactly do you mean by "it won't detect the hard drive"?

What have you done so far and how far does it get?

rjbrewer wrote:What exactly do you mean by "it won't detect the hard drive"?

What have you done so far and how far does it get?

Actually its very simple, something has been removed from the newer versions so they don't detect the same amount of HW as the earlier versions. As I stated b4, the versions prior to 4.31, has absolutely no problems detecting the HDD and other HW. Moving to a newer kernel should not cause this problem, but for Puppy 5.xx it does.

If I use the Peppermint One or PC linux OS 2010.12 with the newest linux kernel, I have no problem. Its only on Puppy 4.31 to 5.xx - It boot fine, but the hdd is no where to be found. Not even in Gparted.

So either its is the IDE controller that is not loaded or its the HDD itself.

But i don't see it as a kernel problem, since other distro's don't have the same problem - only puppy.

Well; this thread is about doing a full install to an empty
hard drive.
Not being able to see the drive (no matter what version you are
trying to install) is a totally different issue.
I would start a thread in the hardware section to see if any other
older thinkpad users may have an answer.

rjbrewer wrote:Well; this thread is about doing a full install to an empty
hard drive.
Not being able to see the drive (no matter what version you are
trying to install) is a totally different issue.
I would start a thread in the hardware section to see if any other
older thinkpad users may have an answer.

Hi RJ, I have actually been strugling with this for more than 1 year now, and posted in many forums, incl. this forum, many of my problems with puppy comes back to needing a new versions, for which can't see the hdd.

I posted in your thread because there might be some puppy members who are experts in HDD and controller who might see my post and be able to help. I do find it relevant to installing to an empty HDD, because that is excactly what I try to do.

Here is some of my posts:

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=48637

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=57526

Plus, its not only puppy forums I have posted in. I have been all over ubuntu, peppermint, suse, mandriva, fedora, and other forums asking for help - It all ends with that I have to put Puppy on the shelf while trying out other distros, because no one has an answer on how to fix it.

I very much like to use puppy for the old laptops, because of the small footprint, but have to settle with Slitaz 3.0 or ubuntu or suse 10 or Peppermint one or PC linux os 2010.12 all for which finds the hdd without any problems and wifi works out of the box, Slitaz needed some tweaks for wifi and 3G USB modem, the rest worked fine - they just take alot of ram.

Nobody seem to find it strange that above distro's detect the HDD, but newest version of Puppy do not!

JBJ
Ps: I just want to add that I don't stop looking for answers just because I put puppy on the shelf, I crawl through the web untill I have found what I'm looking for. Even when working with other distro's, if I find something in those that work - but not in puppy, then I ask in the puppy forum and supply the solution used in the other distro to see if puppy members can convert it to be used in puppy.

catdude writes:

There is now a Flash Movie of this howto available.
It takes a while to load, because of it's size.

NOTE: The usual Username/Password combo for Puppy sites applies

Where do I find the Username/Password combo for this site?

If it's a secret can someone please send me a private message with the Username/Password.

Thank You

Sky Aisling wrote:catdude writes:

There is now a Flash Movie of this howto available.
It takes a while to load, because of it's size.

NOTE: The usual Username/Password combo for Puppy sites applies

Where do I find the Username/Password combo for this site?

If it's a secret can someone please send me a private message with the Username/Password.

Thank You

user=puppy

password=linux

Thank you, James C

My secret decoder ring flashed and opened the site with no problems.

Ok, I'm at it again...
I'm attempting to salvage a friend's ancient Fujitsu computer with a Full Install of Puppy.
Some readers might remember the marathon Frugal installation that the Pup Save Team rescued last year:
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=62583
The issue with that install is actually the same issue that I am facing with this new Full install on a different machine.
The CD/DVD ROM drive will only read commercially pressed discs. It will not read *home made* Live CD discs cut on new media. (Toshiba recognizes this issue but their fix doesn't seem to work).
The machine BIOS don't give a boot option for a USB flash drive.
WakePup2 installs a Puppy Boot USB flash drive but then hangs on a blinking cursor.

I still have the commercially pressed disc containing samples of small Linux distros provided by LinuxForum magazine as a cover disc (we used it last year. BTW, that installation is still running perfect). The old Toshiba drive takes that disc with no issues. The Puppy sample included on the disc is Puppy 431.

In last years marathon install, rcrsn51 discovered that some of the core Puppy files were in a different place than the .iso on the cover disc and that gave us some grief.

So this time, I intend to do a *Full* install following Catdude's excellent tutorial, but, in anticipation of the separated files on the sample disc, I took the .iso file provided by the sample disc and *extracted* it to a flash drive. (the machine will read data flash drives). All the files, I think, I need appear within one folder.

My first question is: Can I use the Puppy 431 running in RAM to Full install a Puppy .iso that is located in a directory? Universal Installer and Catdudes directions seem to indicate 'yes'. (Catdude's instructions follow the choice of installing from a Live CD, not a directory).
My second question is: Do the .iso(s) have to be the same? In-other-words can I use the cover disc Puppy 431 to install, say for example, Puppy-520 .iso located in a data flash drive directory?

I hope the answer is 'yes' to both questions as I am finding that many of the so-called *broken* CD/DVD drives aren't really failing. They just aren't updated to read the newer media format non-commercially burned . If this does work then the one precious pressed disc I have can install a variety of Puppies on these older machines. The discs that LinuxForum magazine uses are made by EcoDisc http://www.ecodisc.org/index.php. I also tried a disc from OSDisc.com Their discs didn't work on the old drive.

Thank you in advance for any suggestion or advice. Remember, I'm a newbie and not a geek. I need clear, simple words, just like Catdude did in his tutorial.

Hello Sky Aisling

Sky Aisling wrote:....My first question is: Can I use the Puppy 431 running in RAM to Full install a Puppy .iso that is located in a directory? Universal Installer and Catdudes directions seem to indicate 'yes'. (Catdude's instructions follow the choice of installing from a Live CD, not a directory).

You should be able to, but you will only be able to install Puppy 431,
so you may as well just tell the installer to get the files from the CD

Sky Aisling wrote:....My second question is: Do the .iso(s) have to be the same? In-other-words can I use the cover disc Puppy 431 to install, say for example, Puppy-520 .iso located in a data flash drive directory?

I'm afraid that won't work (i just tried doing it)


If i was in your position..

This is how i would go about things:

• 1. Boot up using your 431 CD
  
  2. Use GParted to set up the hard drive partitions.
  • For example:

    Code: Select all

    /dev/sda1	Primary		5GB		ext3	(set boot flag on this one)
    /dev/sda2	Primary		5GB		ext3
    /dev/sda3	Primary		512MB	linux-swap
    /dev/sda4	Extended	(remainder of drive)
    /dev/sda5	Logical		(remainder of drive)	ext3

  3. Mount /dev/sda2
  and create a directory called: lupu520
  Copy these files from the lupu-520.iso
  • initrd.gz
    lupu_520.sfs
    vmlinuz
  and put them into /dev/sda2/lupu520
  
  Unmount /dev/sda2
  
  
  4. Now install GRUB (Menu > System > Grub bootloader config)
  Something along the lines of this:
  • simple (click OK)
    standard (click OK)
    /dev/sda1 (click OK)
    MBR (click OK)
  
  5. Mount /dev/sda1
  and edit the menu.lst file. (/boot/grub/menu.lst)
  
  Replace the two entries (stanza's) for sda1 & sda2
  with these:

  Code: Select all

  # Linux bootable partition config begins
  title Lupu-520 (FULL) (on /dev/sda1)
  root (hd0,0)
  kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/sda1 ro vga=normal 
  # Linux bootable partition config ends
  
  # Linux bootable partition config begins 
  title Lupu-520 (FRUGAL) (on /dev/sda2)
  rootnoverify (hd0,1)
  kernel /lupu520/vmlinuz psubdir=lupu520
  initrd /lupu520/initrd.gz
  # Linux bootable partition config ends

  Unmount /dev/sda1
  
  
  6. Remove yor 431 CD, and reboot
  DO NOT CREATE A SAVE FILE
  
  
  7. Select to boot the FRUGAL install on /dev/sda2
  Make your usual choice of settings (keyboard, video etc), then reboot.
  This time you SHOULD CREATE A SAVE FILE
  
  
  8. Boot back into the FRUGAL install on /dev/sda2
  and then use the installer in Lupu to create a FULL install on /dev/sda1
  
  When it asks where the files are located, point it to the directory on your flash drive.
  
  Also, if it offers to install GRUB
  i would simply keep closing the dialogue boxes that appear.
  
  In other words, i would not let it,
  as you already have a working GRUB.
  
  9. Boot into the FULL install on /dev/sda1
  to check that it is OK
  
  If it is, then you could now mount /dev/sda2
  and delete the FRUGALl install (if you wish)

Hope this helps
CatDude
.