How to make a swap file or partition on CF card?

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keiffee0521 · #1 Post by **keiffee0521** » Fri 29 Dec 2006, 00:13

I have got a laptop with only 64 Mb Ram, and i need to set up a swap file / partition to give me more ram. The only problem is that i can not boot from a USB port. (thats where the CD drive is). i am using a 1Gb CF card as a hard disk. I have tried to using Suse to partition the card but this has not worked. Is there a way to set this up.

The make a model of the laptop is to follow........

Casio fiva 233 Mhz
64 Mb ram
1 Gb CF HDD
2 Mb Video (unknow)
Type 1 Card (pcmcia)
2 x USB Type 1
Floppy.

Any help would be nice. Also i might add im a bit of a newbe to linux i have not done much in the way of messing with the systems, other than installling.

WhoDo · #2 Post by **WhoDo** » Fri 29 Dec 2006, 01:27

keiffee0521 wrote:I have got a laptop with only 64 Mb Ram, and i need to set up a swap file / partition to give me more ram. The only problem is that i can not boot from a USB port. (thats where the CD drive is). i am using a 1Gb CF card as a hard disk. I have tried to using Suse to partition the card but this has not worked. Is there a way to set this up.

The make a model of the laptop is to follow........

Casio fiva 233 Mhz
64 Mb ram
1 Gb CF HDD
2 Mb Video (unknow)
Type 1 Card (pcmcia)
2 x USB Type 1
Floppy.

Any help would be nice. Also i might add im a bit of a newbe to linux i have not done much in the way of messing with the systems, other than installling.

Do you have another PC with a floppy drive and bootable CD drive? If so, then you can run the Puppy LiveCD on that PC and use Start-Setup-WakePup to create a bootable floppy for Puppy. That will boot your machine first and then and go looking for the CD drive containing the Puppy LiveCD to continue booting. Both the floppy and the CD should be in the new machine at bootup.

Once you have Puppy booted from the LiveCD using the above method, you can then use Start-Control Panel-Gparted to create your partitions on the CF hard disk. I'd use the Puppy 2.12zdrv LiveCD to be sure of having the right drivers, though.

Also, if you search the forum, there was a recent post about using GRUB to do the same thing - ie get access to a non-bootable CD drive to run Puppy.

Theoretically, you should even be able to use a Windows98se boot floppy to boot to RAM, then copy the Puppy files from the CD to your hard drive. Don't know if it works with a CF hard drive though.

Hope that helps.

keiffee0521 · #3 Post by **keiffee0521** » Fri 29 Dec 2006, 01:42

I have done the floppy disk and have booted puppy up on to this laptop ok. In fact thats the only way i can get puppy to work on this laptop. So it is working ok.. but just a little slow.

If i did use my other laptop, would there be a problem with any hardware that puppy would load up, or dose puppy look all the time at boot up.?

As for grub i have had no dealings with this other than letting Suse and Frdora do the config for me. I have seen some posts for Grub but i still dont really understand it.

I have been looking at a network boot option, but not sure how that would work. So then i can use my Suse 10 or even the other opterating system (if you can call it that) PC that have got a DVD/CD drive in there.

WhoDo · #4 Post by **WhoDo** » Fri 29 Dec 2006, 02:03

keiffee0521 wrote:I have done the floppy disk and have booted puppy up on to this laptop ok. In fact thats the only way i can get puppy to work on this laptop. So it is working ok.. but just a little slow.

Ok, so with Puppy booted, can you run Gparted from the Control Panel menu and see your CF hard drive? If so, you should be able to create your swap partition on that drive. I'd recommend 128Mb of swap for your machine.

If i did use my other laptop, would there be a problem with any hardware that puppy would load up, or dose puppy look all the time at boot up.?

Puppy asks every time you boot the LiveCD, UNLESS you save your settings to the CD when you exit. There should be no problems running the same LiveCD from many different machines. That's one of the reasons why Puppy was created by Barry.

As for grub i have had no dealings with this other than letting Suse and Frdora do the config for me. I have seen some posts for Grub but i still dont really understand it.

Never mind. Puppy will create a Grub menu.lst file when you install to hard drive using the NORMAL option. If you choose FRUGAL install - not recommended with only 64Mb RAM - you can use the Grub installer from the Control Panel menu.

I have been looking at a network boot option, but not sure how that would work. So then i can use my Suse 10 or even the other opterating system (if you can call it that) PC that have got a DVD/CD drive in there.

Very difficult to implement. You need to enable and access your network connection and then use a remote boot option to boot your system. Not something I'd recommend for most users, let alone newbies.

Hope that helps.

#5 Post by **Flash** » Fri 29 Dec 2006, 03:50

For what it's worth, a flash memory cell is generally considered to be good for between 100K and 1M erase/write cycles before it begins to "wear out." Using a CF card for swap memory might erase and write to the CF card a lot. It depends on what programs you're using.

Flash memory's "wearout" failure mode will probably be a gradual increase in random read errors after the memory location has been erased and written to a million times, which may take years of typical service. In most cases this would be far more desirable than the sudden catastropic crash of a hard drive with the consequent loss of all its data. If you do decide to use flash memory for swap, let us know how long it lasts -- if we're still around by then.

keiffee0521 · #6 Post by **keiffee0521** » Sat 30 Dec 2006, 23:45

point taken about the flash drive.

I have put this CF hard drive in my other laptop and booted puppy up, all runs very well on this Laptop as its a P3 with a 1Gb ram. I have used the puppy installer, that went ok.
I then rebooted. and the laptop said "please insert a boot disk".

I then booted back up into puppy live 2.12 and tried another install. This i rebooted again and the same thing. I have now tried all 7 install ways and after rebooting the system keeps asking for a bootup disk. Is there something i am doing wrong.

I did manager tyo set up a swap file of 200 Mb and the rest for puppy (800Mb), This was setup as a "Linux swap file" and a "etc3" or something for puppy, i have also tried FAT16 and 32.

Am i just being a muppet or am i just not doing the RTFM.

Many thanks and happy year to you all at Puppy andeverybody on this site

WhoDo · #7 Post by **WhoDo** » Sun 31 Dec 2006, 15:03

keiffee0521 wrote:I have put this CF hard drive in my other laptop and booted puppy up, all runs very well on this Laptop as its a P3 with a 1Gb ram. I have used the puppy installer, that went ok.
I then rebooted. and the laptop said "please insert a boot disk".

I then booted back up into puppy live 2.12 and tried another install. This i rebooted again and the same thing. I have now tried all 7 install ways and after rebooting the system keeps asking for a bootup disk. Is there something i am doing wrong.

Hmmm... sounds to me like you aren't installing the Grub bootloader to the CF drive.

Grub needs some of its files in the boot sector of the drive, and some under /boot/grub in the Puppy partition (ext3 means it is the journaled version of the standard Linux ext2 format).

Try running the Grub bootloader config from the Control Panel menu on the LiveCD.

Cheers.

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