How to do a FULL install of Puppy, to an empty HDD (2010)

[CatDude]

Hello adam933

Welcome to the kennels mate.

Great HowTo. Thanks for working it up for us.

I have an older PC with two HDs - the first drive (C) has Win2000 on it and boots.

The second drive (F) only has data on it (NTFS format), and I'd like to use it entirely for Puppy 4.0 and have a dual boot system.

Could I use this tutorial, re-format the second drive, and install GRUB in the MBR of the first drive for dual booting.?

Any help or advice would be appreciated.

Thanks.

I reckon that you should be able to, if your confident give it a go, if your not leave it alone.
Just make sure that you format the correct drive. (i will not be held responsible if things go tits up)

Dont forget to create a SWAP partition as well on the second drive.
Depending how big your second drive is, you might want to divide up into several partitions,
you could then do a full install and also do a frugal at a later date.
You could also use a partition for your data, so that it is outside of your install (Full or Frugal)
that way if things get corrupted, you can just do a fresh install and your data is safe.

I have two drives that are split up into 20 partitions (including 2 SWAP partitions)
this allows me plenty of scope for messing about with various Puppy versions, storing data etc.

Hope this helps.

CatDude
.

[adam933]

Thanks again CD.

Gonna give it a try.

[CatDude]

Hello adam933

Thanks again CD.

Gonna give it a try.

Go for it mate.

CatDude
.

[mrd]

Great Stuff!!! Thanks for this thread and instructions!

[mrreality13]

Hi all
been using linux off and on for a few years ,Mostly ubuntu flavors.
went hunting for a small quality different distro for some older but still nice machines to expand my linux knowledge and I like this little guy and this Guide was very well done.
so
Thank You!!

[CatDude]

Hello mrreality13

Welcome to the kennels mate.

...I like this little guy and this Guide was very well done.

Thank You,
but i reckon that the person who really deserves the thanks
must surely be a certain Mr Barry Kauler for creating this "little guy".

Long live the Puppy.

CatDude
.

[shstar54]

My daughter and I just followed your wonderfully clear, and perfectly graphisized (new word..lol) instructions, and wanted to thank you for the time and effort you put into helping others install Puppy on a bland HD!!!!!!

It was an entirely NO-HEADACHE deal, and I'm relieved like you wouldn't believe.

I do, however have one tiny question, if I may be so bold!!!!

She's (my daughter) is now configuring her settings for her wireless connection, which she's had no problem with. When she boots up next, will those settings be saved? If not, is there a way to do so?

Thanks So MUCH!!!!!

[CatDude]

Hello shstar54

Welcome to the kennels.

I'm glad that you found this howto helpful, that makes the time and effort worthwhile.

As i am not an expert with wireless networks,
may i suggest that you start a new thread over in the beginners forum.

You will no doubt get better advice from someone there than what i could offer you.

All the best,
CatDude
.

[Chasdog]

Thanks CatDude - I am breathing new life into a bazillion year old Micro TransPort TREK and you had the exact answer for me.

I run Xandros and XP also. I've been trying for a few years now to get more LINUX savvy but I'm not an uber-geek.LINUX has gotten considerably more user friendly and PUPPY looks like a fun way to "mess around".

Thanks again Chasdog (Charlie P from Bend,Oregon USA)

[CatDude]

Hello Chasdog

Welcome to the kennels mate.

Thanks CatDude - I am breathing new life into a bazillion year old Micro TransPort TREK and you had the exact answer for me.

Glad this howto has been of some help to you.

.....PUPPY looks like a fun way to "mess around".

That's for sure

Enjoy your time "messing around" with the little fella, you will soon be addicted.

CatDude
.

[MatNet]

i have a big problem, the machine that i want to make to go is a 486 prossesor without USB or CD. anybody knows hoy i can to boot puppy with Diskettes. or, in the other side, install putting the old HDD in a newer pc with cd & usb.

Thanks for help

[CatDude]

Hello MatNet

Welcome to the kennels mate.

install putting the old HDD in a newer pc with cd & usb

That is probably the way to go.

Before you do though, i suggest that you start a new thread in the beginners section.
Give as much info as you can regarding the specifications of the machine concerned,
ie: Make & Model, How much RAM, size of the HDD (you can never give too much info)
and state what Puppy version you intend to install.

I am sure someone has done this sort of thing before,
so hopefully they will be able to offer advice on how to proceed.

CatDude
.

[puppyluvr]

CatDude,
This is going to be incorperated in the 4.0 manual, if you dont mind...
Yes , 40 pics do speak volumes....

[CatDude]

Hello puppyluvr

CatDude,
This is going to be incorperated in the 4.0 manual, if you dont mind...
Yes , 40 pics do speak volumes....

I don't mind at all mate, feel free.
The reason i put it together was to help people get the gist of how to do it,
so if it is in the manual, they may find it easier to locate.

CatDude
.

[edoc]

Several Questions:

1. Why Full instead of Frugal? (I have repeatedly been told that Frugal is preferred due to the simplified upgrade method. Has that recommendation been changed? If so, why, please?)

2. Why not save after installing Puppy when you Reboot? Is not saving at that point because it was a Full install or is that also true for a Frugal install? What happens to a Frugal install if one does save after the install and prior to the first reboot?

[CatDude]

Hello edoc

Several Questions:

1. Why Full instead of Frugal? (I have repeatedly been told that Frugal is preferred due to the simplified upgrade method.

Because at the time of writng it, there had been several threads asking how to do it.
So i decided to write this in an attempt to try and make it easier for newbies to understand how it is done.

Has that recommendation been changed? If so, why, please?)

Not as far as i know.

2. Why not save after installing Puppy when you Reboot? Is not saving at that point because it was a Full install or is that also true for a Frugal install?

The reason not to save, is exactly as you suspected,
as this was a Full Install we do not require a pup_save.2fs to be created

What happens to a Frugal install if one does save after the install and prior to the first reboot?

Not sure i understand the question.
Surely one would have already done this, in order to have created a Frugal Install in the first place.
As the title of this thread say's "How to do a FULL install of Puppy, to an empty HDD"
it is expected that there is absolutely nothing on it (pup_save.2fs or otherwise).

CatDude
.

[edoc]

Thanks for your answers, it helps to clarify some details between a Full and a Frugal install.

Have you considered making a similar post illustrating a Frugal install - including one with an ext2 and an ext3 format? (There have been some suggestions that ext3 does not always work OK on all computers with Frugal.)

[CatDude]

Hello edoc

Have you considered making a similar post illustrating a Frugal install - including one with an ext2 and an ext3 format? (There have been some suggestions that ext3 does not always work OK on all computers with Frugal.)

I haven't, but i may do, if you think it would be worthwhile doing so.

When you say

including one with an ext2 and an ext3 format?

do you mean to make two seperate howto's ?

What would be the point of two ?

Surely just the one would suffice.
With an explaination on making the decision as to what format to use.
But how would the target audience (or anybody, for that matter) determine what format to actually use.?
Bearing in mind what you stated above:

(There have been some suggestions that ext3 does not always work OK on all computers with Frugal.)

Or do you mean, one howto.
But showing how to create two partitions (3 including the SWAP)
one formatted as ext2 and another formatted as ext3.
Then doing a Frugal Install to each partition. ?

CatDude
.

[edoc]

Just one with a reference to the difference between ext2 and ext3 (better journaling in ext3 in case there is a partition or other HDD problem that needs to be repaired).

I don't yet know if it is real or not but there have been a number of posts to the Forum over the years suggesting possible instability of ext3 under certain circumstances - I know that I have had problems in the past and ext3 may or may not be the culprit in my current laptop troubles.

[puppyluvr]

Hello,
@edoc,
Another advantage to a Frugal install IMO is that at boot, you can add "pfix=ram" to the grub menu to boot to a "clean" install if you muck up your Puppy...That and the ability to load and unload SFS files at will, and the ease of backup, make Frugal a winner for me..Also, by renaming your pupsave files, you can boot to different "Versions" of your Puppy at will, so that is useful for more than backing up...

As for not saving after a Full install, it would be pointless, as the Full install will not recognize it anyhow, so unless you boot from a Frugal or a LiveCD to make use of it, it is a 512mb waste of space...However, if you can spare the space, do it...Then if you boot from the LiveCD for some reason, you will already have a preconfigured pupsave to boot to...
Hope that makes sense...

@CatDude,
Instead of adding a new page to the manual, for now, I will add a link to this thread instead, as I believe it a valuable tutorial..Maybe later I can find a way to incorperate it fully....One thing tho...we need to explain the Qemu window, as that could be confusing to newbies..Easier than cropping it out...LOL
Jay...