Install Puppy Via Floppies? On Old Laptop Pentium 1 era

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gigi1234
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Install Puppy Via Floppies? On Old Laptop Pentium 1 era

#1 Post by gigi1234 »

Hi Everyone,

I am trying to do something with an old Pentium 1 era laptop.

It cannot boot from the cd, although there is a swapable cd drive.

I just installed Tiny Linux via floppies, but I have no idea what to do with it now.

I have used Puppy before and like it so I was wondering if it would work on such an old machine (Pentium 1, 16 MB RAM). Is there anyway to install via floppies? Are there floppy iso's out there somewhere? Is there a particular low resource-oriented version that might be best.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

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rarsa
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#2 Post by rarsa »

it won't work on 16 MB
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muggins
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#3 Post by muggins »

maybe you should consider blueflops:

http://blueflops.sourceforge.net/

the website says:
Minimum requirements:
-i386 processor
-16 MB RAM (OK, you can use it with 8 megs and swap space if you're desperate)

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jason.b.c
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#4 Post by jason.b.c »

rarsa wrote:it won't work on 16 MB
No but Grey Cat Linux will...



http://www.icewalkers.com/Linux/Softwar ... Linux.html

Image

Download...

http://www.pcpages.com/greyclinux/
Puppy is Awesome..!!!!
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gigi1234
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#5 Post by gigi1234 »

I was hoping for something with some kind of GUI. I tried blueflops but couldn't get it to work at all.

I have installed Tiny Linux successfully. But I have no idea how to do anything with it. I just want to be able to read email.

It seems odd that Windows 95 could operate on this system but there is no Linux system with a user-friendly GUI that could do the same.

Thanks all.

I will look into the grey cat linux.

oldguy
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#6 Post by oldguy »

Surprisingly blueflops and BasicLinux were recently maintained. I would suggest trying BasicLinux. It has a gui, and uses between 3MB and 12MB of ram depending on whether you run as install or loop file. I do not think you will like GreyCat, it is really more like DOS, to put it in Windows terms, using a commandline for operations. Most floppy distributions, GreyCat, WebWolf, and
Tiny, are for very low performance systems to run from commandline. I think BasicLinux would be the best option, since you want a gui, and there are packages to extend it. It will also accept older versions of Slackware packages, and they are available through links on the BasicLinux site.

raffy
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onebone

#7 Post by raffy »

Puppy onebone-Elinks 2.01 is 28 MB and should work in 16 MB memory with swap partition of 2x that amount => 32 MB. Find it at

http://puppylinux.org/user/downloads.php?cat_id=1

Search for wakepup version 2 in this forum for booting it, or try Pup4DOS described in the wiki (http://puppylinux.org/wikka/Pup4DOS ).

Tell us how it runs!

EDIT for ezeze: That must be the Puppy Barebones 2.01r2
Last edited by raffy on Tue 29 Aug 2006, 04:05, edited 1 time in total.
Puppy user since Oct 2004. Want FreeOffice? [url=http://puppylinux.info/topic/freeoffice-2012-sfs]Get the sfs (English only)[/url].

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ezeze5000
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16 mb puppy boot

#8 Post by ezeze5000 »

I actually got puppy 2.01 to boot with 16 mb of ram (no swap)
It took a long time to boot.
Everything didn't work properly, but I was able to creat a swap partition and reboot. Puppy ran pretty good after that.

Puppy ran even better when I found some more ram to add.

I was in shock once I realised puppy actually booted.
I tried Dillo and it loaded.
Not all of the text editors would work.
Was able to use console and run the partition editor to creat a swap partition. Then I did a hard drive install. I was able to cruise the net with Dillo.
I actually had fun getting that old PC up and running well enough to cruise the net.
A friend of mine is now a puppy convert. He had an old HP and I did the install for him. He had a Lucent chip win modem, so he dials up and gets on line. I had to do a little research to find an ISP that was compatable with linux, (with a local phone number).
He is running puppy2.01. I loaded Firefox, he was already using it on his other win PC. He seems happy with his puppy.

Sorry if I was long rambling on

note: This is an old HP Vectra with a 200 mhz processor, just like the one I'm using now to post this to you.
Plus i'm dialed up on an old 3com win modem.
:oops:
Last edited by ezeze5000 on Tue 29 Aug 2006, 14:38, edited 1 time in total.
If at first you don't succeed try try again!

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Eyes-Only
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#9 Post by Eyes-Only »

Not rambling at all ezeze! Au contraire---I found that an absolutely fascinating story! Who would ever think that Puppy 2.01 would've actually run on that? I'm sitting here just totally amazed! And to think that you even got the partitioner running, a swapfile in, and can surf with dillo.

Amazing.

And I liked how you said that you were having fun. Things like this are, aren't they? When you see just how far you can stretch the limits to bring an old computer back to life like that.

Congratulations are well in order my friend! Thanks for the update!

Amicalement / In Friendship,

Eyes-Only
"L'Peau-Rouge"

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jason.b.c
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#10 Post by jason.b.c »

oldguy wrote:Surprisingly blueflops and BasicLinux were recently maintained. I would suggest trying BasicLinux. It has a gui, and uses between 3MB and 12MB of ram depending on whether you run as install or loop file.
Since when does basic linux have a GUI....???

I have Basic Linux on the the two floppy disks that are required , It dosen't have a GUI as far as i could see..It's a CLI system...In fact it dosen't have a GUI period..So i dunno..??

:D
Puppy is Awesome..!!!!
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gigi1234
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#11 Post by gigi1234 »

I will have to check out the One-Bone Puppy.

Are there installation hints for floppy only booting somewhere?

Thanks everyone!

raffy
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wakepup

#12 Post by raffy »

It's wakepup - for onebone it's version 2 (as there is also wakepup for version 1 Puppy). See : http://www.murga.org/~puppy/viewtopic.php?t=7979

The post says that it's already in Puppy.
Puppy user since Oct 2004. Want FreeOffice? [url=http://puppylinux.info/topic/freeoffice-2012-sfs]Get the sfs (English only)[/url].

gigi1234
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#13 Post by gigi1234 »

So...I would:

Get the makepup file and make a bootable floppy.

Somehow get the rest of Puppy 2 (image???) onto my HD (does that need to be DOS-format).

Boot from the floppy and it will see the Puppy image?

Then I can install to another partition maybe?

raffy
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three files

#14 Post by raffy »

Only three files: vmlinuz, initrd.gz and pup_*.sfs have to be in the DOS hard disk. The names are short, so these will be seen in DOS.

(Some other people would have actual experience using wakepup. :oops: )

This install is called frugal (frugal in drive space, that is). If you install in another partition, it should have 3x space (that is called normal install).
Puppy user since Oct 2004. Want FreeOffice? [url=http://puppylinux.info/topic/freeoffice-2012-sfs]Get the sfs (English only)[/url].

gigi1234
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#15 Post by gigi1234 »

Okay, help!

I made a 100 FAT16 partition and put the files from the Barebones Puppy ISO on this partition: IDEHD, vmlinuz, pup_201.sfs, and initrd.gz.

I made the makepuppy boot disk and booted up with it.

It recognizes my HD and the puppy files. No matter what boot option I choose, however, I get an error:

Code: Select all

Invalid Opcode at 014A C000 0206 2344 0000 C726 0E44 0000 C28E F626 0645 7580 8A0F
And I am returned to the A:\ prompt. What does this mean? I am stumped now.

raffy
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memory or files

#16 Post by raffy »

Two possibilities: insufficient memory or corrupted files. You could test the same files in another PC to make sure they are not corrupted. Else it will be lack of memory.

Have you made a swap partition already? This helps to supplement your PC's memory. There are tiny Linuxes (already described above) that you can use to create then format the swap partition.

Ezeze's story was not clear whether he was using a CD drive in his test - that would be a better setup.
Puppy user since Oct 2004. Want FreeOffice? [url=http://puppylinux.info/topic/freeoffice-2012-sfs]Get the sfs (English only)[/url].

gigi1234
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#17 Post by gigi1234 »

Okay, well I am running only 16 MB currently, so it could be a memory issue. So I will be able to upgrade to 40 MB, then we'll see.

BTW Basic Linux does have a small GUI interface. I just checked that one out.

Maybe I'll try extracting the files again. You do have to extract them from the ISO, right?

Thanks for all your helpful responses!

laptopnewbee
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#18 Post by laptopnewbee »

gigi1234 wrote:Maybe I'll try extracting the files again. You do have to extract them from the ISO, right?
no. you burn the whole thing to a cd as an iso, and everything runs from the cd. this link may help you there:
http://www.petri.co.il/how_to_write_iso_files_to_cd.htm
gigi1234 wrote:Okay, well I am running only 16 MB currently, so it could be a memory issue. So I will be able to upgrade to 40 MB, then we'll see.
all i've heard says you need 128 meg to run puppy, but if you want to try something as a workaround try making a "linux-swap" partition with a bunch of room in it (mine is 4.15 gig) and see if it works that way.

Sage
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#19 Post by Sage »

A 4.15Gb swap partition is a sure way to waste a lot of time and kill a drive!! Try 50-100Mb, which should be more than adequate. My extensive testing with Puppy suggests that a swap of <= main memory is entirely adequate in all situations. If you still run into memory issues, best to add to the main memory rather than increase swap space, which can slow things down, confuse the OS and, in extremis, cause so much disc thrash as to destroy the HD.

raffy
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file extraction

#20 Post by raffy »

Yes, newbee, extracting files from ISO is possible. One example program in Windows that can open/change an ISO is Magic ISO (free to use for building 300 MB or less ISO).
Puppy user since Oct 2004. Want FreeOffice? [url=http://puppylinux.info/topic/freeoffice-2012-sfs]Get the sfs (English only)[/url].

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