Want to install Puppy to use the whole hard drive

[moXXXXXX]

hi,
i have the CD of puppy chubby and i am trying to install it so that it takes over my entire harddrive. I have two questions at the moment:
1. How do i tell it about the keyboard i have (i have a QWERT keyboard - the very standard US one)
2. How do I make Puppy Chubby take my whole HD, that is I want it to take up and use the whole 15GB.
Cheers,
Adrian

[rarsa]

It should be quite simple:

1. If your HDD has only one partition continue with step 3
2. If your HDD has more than one partition, delete them all and continue with step 3
3. When you boot, select option 3 so it does not create or use the pup001 file
4. From the start menu select: "Start | Setup | Install Puppy to hard drive"
5. Follow the instructions in the wizard.
6. Remove the CD, reboot the computer and it should boot to Puppy

That's it.

When you boot puppy for the first time after installing, it will ask you again what kind of keyboard and mouse you have.

[moXXXXXX]

hi,
thanks for the good advice.
i felt my blood warming up before! haha. it's not healthy. i need to slow down. i am always a bit impatient when i get an idea. well now it is loading and running. thanks again. i think i am going to take a break from the tech stuff for a day or so and wanted to know if there is some documentation i can download that will take me right through puppy and chubby - explaining where it came from, how it runs, what is has, how to drive it, how to administer it, and how to get the most out of it. I've time now so if I read this I will be able to support myself, support this project, and support others coming in to the puppy play ground.
also *any* more ideas and links and things I should look at to get the most out the Bangladesh project would also be most welcome now.
i want to make sure i know absolutely everything so that i can prepare and respond perfectly.
cheers,
adrian

[raffy]

Barry's website is a good place to start, especially the news section. (You will also find there the link to the Wiki - the enthusiasts' page.)

Feel free to create the document that you described, if you could not find one, as it will be helpful for future Puppy users.

[moXXXXXX]

Ooops!
In my adventures with fdisk I seem have deleted all my partitions and, perhaps, then created some sort of linux partition.
Well now when I boot from the CD it can't find any room and the screen stops in a very liunx looking state. it stops and says that it can't find a suitable partition for the data file, let's me hit RETURN, then stops and, after about 10 seconds and some attempts at writing files to /root/.... asks for a login and password.
Any ideas? Hmmm.
Adrian

[MU]

You could create and format a partition using any Live-CD like knoppix.
Knoppix has a grafical tool called "qtparted"

Or if you have Suse or Mandrake, start installation, then the Partition-Wizards will guide you.
You don't have to run the full installation, switch off your computer after it formatted your harddrive.


Mark

[moXXXXXX]

hi,
i have just used a tool called delpart to delete all the partitions and the MBR. i wonder if i can use a dos disk or something like that to create a partition on the drive. what do you think? what sort of partition should I create given the choice? should i just create one partition (say /dev/hda1)?
thanks,
Adrian

[MU]

Yes, you could use a DOS-Disk.

Run fdisk and create a primary partition.
Then a logical drive inside it (or do you need them just in extended partitions? Don't remember...).

Then reboot with the disk, and type "format c:".

Now you can reboot with the puppy-CD, and run the installer-script from the startmenue.
The installer wants to create a ext2-partition, this is ok, as you needed the msdos-partition created with fdisk only to boot the puppy-desktop (pup001).

I personally prefer to create more than one partition, so if something goes wrong in future, I have at least one free for a rescue-system.

It depends on your space.
I personally use 5 Gig minimum for a "big Linux" like Mandrake (full installation will need 10 Gig or so).

For Puppy, you need much less, but that depends on what additional software you will install.
Anyway, you can use multiple partitions with puppy, if you have a partition for your .mp3-music, you can mount it as /mnt/linux2 from your Puppy-Desktop.

Mark

[rarsa]

Hold it hold it hold it...We are in a puppy forum. Puppy is perfectly capable of handling this situation. Why are we recomending downloading other things and going somewhere else?

I've already gave you the instructions to create a partition with puppy. Are you sure that you want to do this? then follow the instructions:

At this point I would recommend the following

- Boot with the Puppy CD and select option 3 on the puppy white screen.
- Follow the standard first time puppy questions about your keyboard and mouse.
- When puppy starts, click on the rxvt icon on the desktop to open an rxvt terminal.
- Execute the following command to start the fdisk partition manager:

Code: Select all

fdisk /dev/hda

(note: when I write "type xxx" I mean to type it as a command when prompted for a command)
- Type "o" and then ENTER. That will completelly delete your partition table.
- Type "n" and then ENTER. Answer the questions to create a small swap partition (maybe 500 MB).
- Type "t" and then ENTER. Select partition type 82, that will make it a swap partition
- Type "n" and then Enter. Accept the defaults. That will create a partition that will use the rest of the disk
- Type "t" and select type 83 for the second partition. That will make it a linux partition.
- Type "w". That will write the partition table
- Type "q". That will exit fdisk.
- Reboot the computer. This step is VERY important. Sometimes funny things happen when you modify the partition table without rebooting.
- Restart puppy
- Execute the Install to HDD wizard.

You are in business!


you could also execute cfdisk from the rxvt terminal. That one is menu driven and most people prefer it.

[moXXXXXX]

i'd like to stay in puppy for. it is usually so comfortable. at the moment i can't start puppy. it still goes to the first screen, i choose option 3, it tried to mount a certain file, can't find any space or something like that, and end me at a linux screen asking for a password and login name.
what to what to do.
woof woof

[MU]

you could enter
root
[enter]

So no password.

But this will not help you much.
You will not get the desktop, if it could not create a pup001.
Only the commandline-shell, which is for experienced users only.

But maybe someone else can give you an advice, you could type
cd /sbin
ls

cd /bin
ls

cd /usr/bin
ls

cd /usr/sbin
ls

to see/try, what programs are available on the commandline.
For example there is /usr/sbin/cfdisk ,which is told to be more comfortable than the normal Linux fdisk.

Mark

[moXXXXXX]

It worked - I followed (and particular attention to pressing "o" this time)

At this point I would recommend the following

- Boot with the Puppy CD and select option 3 on the puppy white screen.
- Follow the standard first time puppy questions about your keyboard and mouse.
- When puppy starts, click on the rxvt icon on the desktop to open an rxvt terminal.
- Execute the following command to start the fdisk partition manager:Code:
fdisk /dev/hda

(note: when I write "type xxx" I mean to type it as a command when prompted for a command)
- Type "o" and then ENTER. That will completelly delete your partition table.
- Type "n" and then ENTER. Answer the questions to create a small swap partition (maybe 500 MB).
- Type "t" and then ENTER. Select partition type 82, that will make it a swap partition
- Type "n" and then Enter. Accept the defaults. That will create a partition that will use the rest of the disk
- Type "t" and select type 83 for the second partition. That will make it a linux partition.
- Type "w". That will write the partition table
- Type "q". That will exit fdisk.
- Reboot the computer. This step is VERY important. Sometimes funny things happen when you modify the partition table without rebooting.
- Restart puppy
- Execute the Install to HDD wizard.

You are in business!

And now I am in business.
I wonder. I have a 256MG SWAP partition (twice my RAM) and the other partition is for puppy to live and play. the machines i have here have quite big hard drives (10 to 15 GB). is there a benefit in giving them all a big swap partition (say 1GB) and then partitioning some of the other space for data, programs etc. any recommendations on this would be great. i think i can handle step-by-step instructions now (i will pay attention)
any ideas for how best to set up these machines (partitioning, tweaking, etc) programs ... everything would be most appreciated.

[Flash]

How best to partition your hard drive is a judgement based on how you use your computer and what you use it for, like asking how many rooms should your house have. Really, only you can answer it. The idea of partitioning is more a scheme to help you to manage your computer than anything else. It is especially useful for implementing a backup scheme.

Having said that, the swap partition actually has an operational purpose. It is nothing more than an area on your hard drive set aside for Linux (Puppy, in this case) to use in the place of actual RAM, if the computer is doing something that needs more actual RAM than it has. A computer running basic Puppy is not likely to need more than 128 MB of RAM for basic tasks like surfing the web or word processing. If that's all you use it for, the swap partition will never be used. However, setting aside 256 MB out of 10 or 15 GB, so that the OS has somewhere to continue working if the RAM fills up, is cheap insurance.

The way I have partitioned my computer is to have a 'system' partition for each OS, in my case one partition for Windows 2000 and one for Linux. Each system partition is not much bigger than necessary to hold its OS and the applications I want to run, plus a bit of room for the inevitable growth. Then I also have a partition for each user to keep his or her stuff in. The idea is that no partition is bigger than will fit on a DVD for backup purposes. So far this scheme has worked well.

[rarsa]

Flash is absolutelly correct. Partitions are a very personal decision.

In your case is a little different because, as far as I understand, you are not going to be the person using and supporting the computers 'on site'. So here are my thoughts for personal desktops. Servers are a whole new game:

Overpartitioning your disk will lead to wasted space in some partitions and lack of space in others.

For personal computers where you will have just Puppy :
- One partition for swap. 256MB seems reasonable just in case. Actually if you use that much swap regularly the computer will be trashing the HDD so much that it will be unusable. Swap memory is for emergencies.

- One partition for the OS and data to avoid over partitioning. Under Puppy you don't need one partition for 'each user' as all users run as root.

If you are planning to install more than 1 OS:
- One partition for swap. Same comments as above.

- One partition for each OS with enough space to install applications. If you consider that the full Solaris gets installed in about 8 GB then you may realize that 1 GB for puppy is more than enough.

- A partition in the rest of the disk for data. The type of partition can be ext2 if you only have linux systems or Fat32 if you want to share with windows on the same computer.

In one of the computers
In the computer where you will be playing around with puppy configuration, I recommend leave space for two more partitions. One for Pupy 1.0.5 alpha that will allow you to compile. One if you will want to unleash or remaster puppy with an image to install on all other computers. 2 GB for each of those should be more than enough.

As you can see, there are many decisions ahead of you

[Bruce B]

It worked - I followed (and particular attention to pressing "o" this time)
[cut and snip]
And now I am in business.
I wonder. I have a 256MG SWAP partition (twice my RAM) and the other partition is for puppy to live and play. the machines i have here have quite big hard drives (10 to 15 GB). is there a benefit in giving them all a big swap partition (say 1GB) and then partitioning some of the other space for data, programs etc. any recommendations on this would be great. i think i can handle step-by-step instructions now (i will pay attention)
any ideas for how best to set up these machines (partitioning, tweaking, etc) programs ... everything would be most appreciated.

I'd say, make the swap partition somewhat bigger than you anticipate needing. 1 GB seems more than Puppy will likely ever need.

You partition your disk according to your needs. I sorta like having many partitions for various types of data such as:

• * different operating systems
  * backups
  * data files

[Flash]

For personal computers where you will have just Puppy :...
- One partition for the OS and data to avoid over partitioning. Under Puppy you don't need one partition for 'each user' as all users run as root.
...

I would argue that, for multiple users or uses, backing up the data on the hard drive is made easier by partitioning the data according to what it is used for, rather than putting it all together.

Also, deleting a user from a computer which he no longer uses is easier if his junk is in a separate partition.

[Flash]

Deleted. (Duplicate post.)

[babbs]

rarsa/Bruce/Flash,

With my desktop, I had Windows ME on hda and Fedora Core 3 on hdc (CD is hdb), both drives 20GB. When I added the second HD to my system and installed FC3, it partitioned hdc into three partitions ("/boot", "/", and "swap"). The /boot partition is 100MB and 1GB for the swap partition (512MB RAM). When I tried to resize my WinME partition to do a Type 2 Puppy install, I did something wrong and lost WinME. Since I was already transitioning away from Windows, that loss was no loss.

With hda now being free to do what ever I wanted to do, I made 4 equal ext2 partitions. Chubby Puppy 1.0.4 currently resides on the first one and the other three are unused. (On a side note, I found it interesting that Puppy automatically found the hdc swap partition even though it was pre-existing and on a different drive from Puppy.) I plan on putting Puppy 1.0.5RC on the second hda partition for testing purposes.

My questions... Assuming that I make the move from 1.0.4 to 1.0.5 as my primary OS, and assuming that I'd like to use half of my hda for Puppy (about 10GB; the other 10GB is for future uses)... Since I like the idea of keeping the OS and data seperate, what size should my partition for the Puppy OS be, and what size should my "data" partition be? Is there a setting somewhere that I can set to have my /home automatically point to the second partition?

Thanks!
Babbs

[rarsa]

I would argue that, for multiple users...

That's not an argument as you are not saying anything that contradicts my thoughts.

Anyway, just for the fun of it I will take you on the argument, I may learn something new in the process:

First:
If you read carefully the subtitle of my paragraph it says "For Personal computers". Personal meaning the computer that it's owned and managed for and by a single person. So your argument about multiple users is no contradictory is complementary.

Second:
Do you have an argument against my toughts on overpartitioning? That's not an opinion, that's a fact.

Third:
By design puppy runs as root. Some people have tried to run Vesa/X as a restricted user with mixed results, as far as I know no one successfully.

Fourth:
On Moohoohoo's case it's even more complicated as he is planning on sending the puppy computers abroad where they will be used by an unkonwn number of users. Even if he was using another disto: Who would create a partition for each user?

Fifth:
In such a promiscuous environment I would assume that each user is responsible for it's own files as the system may have to be reimaged quite frequently. Would you live your personal files on a school, library or community center computer?

Last:
Even if you do not agree at all with my preferences and thoughs: I started by agreeing that partitioning is a very personal matter. Informed peferences cannot be argued against.

I am only pointing out what works for me along with the reasons why. I am not contradicting your preferences.

I agree that in a production multiuser environment with a predefined users you can do that (e.g. a family computer, a small office computer). That will allow people to manage their files independently adding a level of security and privacy (actually you should tell your kids that you have root access and can see everything if need be)

[rarsa]

what size should my partition for the Puppy OS be, and what size should my "data" partition be?

Those are tricky and unfair questions

The size of your Puppy OS partition should be large enough for the applications you want to install. If you are only going to use the apps that come with puppy 100 MB should be enough If you are planning to install many applications and play with compiling more, then maybe 1 GB is adequate. To put it into perspective: consider that the full Solaris gets installed in about 8 GB, a full Fedora Core takes about 6 MB.

As for the data it is even trickier. On one computer I use FC3 to play with video files and sometimes I need 10 GB just to process 1 file. On another I use Puppy to browse and compile and view videos, my pup001 is only 750 MB. So, you see the variability?

Is there a setting somewhere that I can set to have my /home automatically point to the second partition?

Yes.
Add a line similar to the following to /etc/fstab

Code: Select all

/dev/hda2    /home   auto  auto,defaults         0 0

Of course you have to replace the /dev/hda2 for whatever device you want to mount and the /home for whatever mount point you decide. Bear in mind that the /home folder has to exist.