Running Puppy (from HD) with 32 MB RAM

Using applications, configuring, problems
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Lobster
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#16 Post by Lobster »

Ventura ran under GEM OS (there is an OpenGEM project I believe . . .) just as Pagemaker came with Windows 1 as part of Pagemaker . . . Still have that on 12
5 1/4" disks
When I saw Windows 1 even though it was slow (on a cutting edge 286), I knew this was the future . . . That future has happened. We are now at the beginning of a new future. I call it the Puppy era

:)
Last edited by Lobster on Sun 16 Oct 2005, 02:58, edited 2 times in total.
Puppy Raspup 8.2Final 8)
Puppy Links Page http://www.smokey01.com/bruceb/puppy.html :D

Sirexel
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#17 Post by Sirexel »

Bruce B wrote:My thinking (which is subject to change) has been more or less along the lines that people wanting to install Puppy on machines with not much RAM would probably be running DOS based Windows 9x. Possibly ME, but if they are - not much I can do in DOS for them without some effort.
Yes, you are right.
All old machines work with DOS, so working in an easy install from DOS is the key.

For example I have a Libretto 110 CT (mini laptop) P233MMX, 7.1

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OzzyBB
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How about a P-1 with 32 MB RAM and 810 MB hard disk?

#18 Post by OzzyBB »

Hello all,

My latest Puppy project involves an Acer P-1 computer with 32 MB RAM and 810 MB hard disk. It also has a 52X CD-ROM, a 33 Kbps internal fax-modem and a 3Com network card.

This machine had Windows 95, and I want to replace it with Puppy Linux. So far, this is what I've done:
1. boot from a Linux rescue diskette.
2. mount the hard disk and the standard Puppy CD.
3. Copy the files: image.gz, usr_cram.fs, and vmlinuz from the Puppy CD to the root directory of the hard disk.
4. Create the swap file using the command:
"dd if=/dev/zero of=/mnt/win/puppy.swp bs=1024 count=256k"
("win" was the mount point for this particular rescue disk).
5. Set the file as type swap:
"mkswap /mnt/win/puppy.swp"

The next step would be activating the swap file, but it should be done into the file /root/.etc/rc.d/rc.local, which doesn't exist yet. So, I haven't done it yet.

So far, I've managed to start the Puppy CD from a startup CD, but it won't finish loading. At certain point, it stops and the screen gets flooded with the message:
"kmod:failed to exec /sbin/modprobe -s -k binfmt -0000, errno=8"

So, I'm stuck right now. I'd really like to get it up and running in this one machine, so any help will be most welcome.

By the way, waht ever became of "Bonsai Puppy"?

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OzzyBB
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something I forgot

#19 Post by OzzyBB »

In this procedure, I was forgetting to mention, after mounting the hard disk and the CD, I deleted all the files on the hard disk, leaving only the filesystem. I'm sure I could have just as well reformatted the hard disk with an ext2 partition. But, I'm just describing what I've done, so far.

Any thoughts?

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OzzyBB
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work in progress

#20 Post by OzzyBB »

Hello all!

Today I gave it another go at installing Puppy to my Acer P-1's hard disk.

I tried my standard Puppy 1.0.5 in another computer, a 128 MB P-III Dell Optiplex. It ran fine!

However, I did download an ISO file of Barebones Puppy Linux 1.0.4, burned it, and it did start up the Acer P-1!

I did a type 1 hard disk install. Remember I had wiped out the rest of the contents of the hard disk? Well, it even created the boot diskette. So now, I have some questions&comments:

1. In my old P-1, how do I set up my hard disk to boot Puppy directly, without the need for a boot floppy? Will I need to install GRUB or Lilo?
2. During the startup process, Puppy complains it can't find a suitable filesystem for the user's data. So it promts me for a mount point, I tell it "hda1" and it just goes on and starts up. Maybe my hard disk is a bit tight on space...
3. I think the Puppy did not recognize the P-1's network card correctly. It is a D-Link model DFE-538 TX.
4. As I mentioned elsewhere, it doesn't recognize the Aztech sound chip in my lab's HP Vectra P-II machines. I'll download the modules file and see if it does the trick (in both counts).

I'll keep you people posted on my progress.

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OzzyBB
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P-1 UPDATE

#21 Post by OzzyBB »

Hello all,

I just gave it yet another shot at configuring Puppy in my P-1.

It turned out it did recognize my network card. Last time I tried, the DHCP server (in my office ADSL modem) was down, so it kept rejecting my configuration attempts, even manually. So today, I made sure every hub, switch and the ADSL box were all operating before making Puppy test the network card in my P-1 computer. It ran fine, to the point I could open a PDF file from another computer! It was slow, but it worked.

As for the sound issue, my P-1 has a SoundBlaster 16 sound card. It seems the system doesn't recognize it. Plus, Xine takes forever to load an MP3 file... I'm beginning to think about giving it another 32 MB RAM. I'm sure it'll give it a serious boost!

Also, the P-II machine still gives me no sound with Puppy. I may have mentioned it has an Aztech 2320 sound chip (as reported by Windows 98). I've read somewhere there's no ALSA system yet for Puppy. What's the latest on this regard?

PeterSieg
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Soundblaster 16 - try 'modprobe sb' ...

#22 Post by PeterSieg »

Hi.

Soundblaster 16 - try 'modprobe sb' ...

PS
Have fun :)

kcin
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#23 Post by kcin »

Hello,

I'm reading this thread for the first time... just a thought about this idea:
The idea I have is making a well organized and feature rich Puppy. Then make a partition magic image of the partition. Copy the image to CD.

After that I can set up Puppy to hard drive in MS-DOS mode using the DOS version of Partition Magic and Drive Image.

With these procedures and the right software, I should be able to set up and old computer with Puppy in DOS mode in hour or less, if I don't have snags.
... it sounds great, but... wouldn't creating an image like that have the unwanted side effect of ...when you go to install it on another machine... bypassing the hardware detection routines? It seems like it could be problematic (unless the target system was identical in all hardware) because the imaged Puppy would still think it was on the machine it was initially configured for... wouldn't it? And I'm afraid that if the video card, NIC, and/or modem ... or other hardware... were different, then it wouldn't work.

Or am I barking up the wrong tree here?

I guess it couldn't hurt to try though...

Best regards,

kcin

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