(old)Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

I am now able to boot from my flash stick
but it stops at the C:\ prompt
I'm not sure what to do after that

I have puppy 1.0.4 mozilla

Dell Optiplex gx260 - bios A09 - win xp pro

here is a screen shot of what contents I have on my PNY Attache 512mb usb stick

A "C:\" prompt means you have booted DOS, not Puppy. I think you just need to delete the "command.com" file from the flash memory, but I'm no expert. It may take more than that to make your USB stick boot. Someone who knows more than I do will probably be along soon, to set you straight.

Oops.

I went thru the usb setup within puppy
it added syslinux.cfg
and now my usb stick won't boot anymore
It's late and i'll look at this tomorrow


default vmlinuz root=/dev/ram0 initrd=image.gz
append PSLEEP=25 PHOME=sda1 PFILE=pup100-none-262144 PKEYS=us

I only have an older version of Puppy installed to a pen drive and it contains the following files:

--linux-,---
image.gz
ldlinux.sys
pup100
syslinux.cfg
usr_cram.fs
vmlinuz

I'm not sure, but do I have to put pup100 and ldlinux.sys on my usb stick?

I have the pup100 file and can try adding and booting with that

I don't know where to get the other file though

I'm at work right now, so I'll do this when I get home

Ok, no luck

I've tried syslinux 2.11 and 3.11 - not sure if i did it right though
syslinux [-s] c: - c becuase that is what my usb reboots to - just that a c: prompt
I type in dir and see the necessary three files
something needs me to type in a command to launch the application
I can't even use the freemsdos floppy due to errors upon booting


Does anyone have any ideas of what to do from here?
I'm sure I'm not the only one with this problem
I've also tried using makeboot, syslinux, hp usb boot program
I'll be home for the next two days
to try and figure this out
once I'm successful, I'll write a how to doc on this

rafa1215 wrote:Ok, no luck

I've tried syslinux 2.11 and 3.11 - not sure if i did it right though
syslinux [-s] c: - c becuase that is what my usb reboots to - just that a c: prompt

when you syslinux, you want to specify the drive that your usb stick is at that time. It is e: for me, when I'm in windows.

I type:
syslinux e:

(although I don't actually use this, I boot off a floppy)

rafa1215 wrote: I type in dir and see the necessary three files
something needs me to type in a command to launch the application
I can't even use the freemsdos floppy due to errors upon booting

what are the three files?

are you specifying a usb boot in the bios or using a floppy?

ways i've tried to boot up puppy 1.0.4 mozilla off a usb PNY attache 512mb

stick

no live cd in drives

1.
stick status
usb stick empty - formatted with FAT
will try to boot from floppy using WAKEPUP v1.0, July 22, 2005

2.
Wakepup is requiring that I put pupxusb on the usb stick
i copied that file to the usb stick
rebooting with wakepup again

3.
wakepup is requiring that i put vmlinuz on the usb stick
i copied that file to the usb stick
rebooting with wakepup again

4.
wakepup is requiring that i put image.gz on the usb stick
i copied that file to the usb stick
rebooting with wakepup again

5.
wakepup is requiring that I put usr_cram.fs onto the usb stick
i copied that file to the usb stick
rebooting with wakepup again

6.
After placing usr_cram.fs I generate a lot of errors
at the end of the error it says that it will pause for 60 seconds
then it asks for a password
so this is where I can't go any further

here is a screenshot of what is on my usb stick so far

That's exactly what I used to see, when I posted this:

http://www.murga.org/%7Epuppy/viewtopic.php?t=1391

Read the whole thread, you're answer is in there.

Also..you what to delete all those directories and 'GTKDIFFR' that showed up. You just need these four files:

image.gz
vmlinux
usr_cram.fs
pupxusb

when it runs correctly it will make a file called pup100, this is a virtual drive with all that other stuff in it. The pup100 file you will want to back up to your main computer after you set it up real nice. I've corrupted mine numerous times. Since it runs in ram it can grow bigger than the size you have allotted for in your config file. If it is too big and writes back, it's corrupted and you have to start over. If this happens, you can just copy your pup100 backup, back over to the usb device.

Also, don't shutdown with a large share mounted, that will kill it also (in the manner described above).

I seem to be getting closer
I'm now using loadlin

here is what I type when I get to the c prompt

loadlin.exe vmlinuz initrd=image.gz root=/dev/sda1 rw

it seems to load all kinds of things but then I get errors after that

still doesn't load puppy

I'm getting there though

at the end of running loadlin here are the errors that i get

VFS: Cannot open root
device sda1 or 08:01
please append a correct "root=" boot option
Kernel panic: VFS: unable to mount root fs on 08:01

rafa1215 wrote:I seem to be getting closer
I'm now using loadlin

here is what I type when I get to the c prompt

You should really be typing anything in at the c prompt. It should all be automatic.

rafa1215 wrote: loadlin.exe vmlinuz initrd=image.gz root=/dev/sda1 rw

To use loadlin you need to specify a config file in your autoexec .bat (I actually modified the one from boot2pup. Every line that called tiny.exe I changed to:

LINLD.COM image=c:\vmlinuz initrd=c:\image.gz cl=@puppy.lin

(where c: is the same as it was in the boot2pup autoexc, you'll see what I mean if you get in there)

my puppy.lin file is a text file and looks like thiss:

root=/dev/ram0
ramdisk_size=61440
PSLEEP=20
PHOME=sda1
PFILE=pup100-none-262144
PKEYS=us

Watch that my values aren't too big for your hardware. Watch the ramdisk_size and the PFILE size (last param [it should be ok, as is, for a 512 stick]). Also remove the PKEYS if you aren't going to use a US keyboard. You can turn PSLEEP down to 5 if you have USB 2.0.

...and last but not least. Hang in there, it really does work. I was having second thoughts at first, but did get it going finally. Worst case scenario, I can post a floppy image for you.

Success!!!!

Ok, maybe it's not the way I want to boot up, but it works
I have to use the combination of a boot floppy and my usb key
The weird thing is that I can format with dos to the usb and get a c prompt
So this usb key is bootable

Another thing is that I went a different route
I tried another flavor of Linux - Damnsmalllinix
A person in their IRC chatroom walked me through the whole process
We had two choices during the format and copy files processes
usb zip drive and usb hdd - the one that worked was usb hdd

There was mention that we can substitute some of their files and replace them with the puppy files.

I'm going to try and find a way to just boot off of the usb key - there has got to be a way

Here are some screenshots of what I have

usb key and floppy disk

Maybe i can put grub on the usb stick and create an autoexec.bat and config.sys file?

Because I know the usb stick will boot to a c prompt
if i use the HP USB format tool that formats and places command.com and kernel.sys on it

There has got to be a way

Qemu Rules!!

Ok, so I still can't boot with just the usb stick
, but Qemu ran an emulated box for me on top of Windows XP

This was great because I didn't have to switch back and forth between OS's
just ALT+TAB and boom I was in either one

I tried to boot with just QEMU but it failed to load

Anyone out there have my brand on USB stick? What kind of luck did you have? details please....