Installation

Helping keep Puppy well documented
Post Reply
Message
Author
User avatar
puppian
Posts: 537
Joined: Tue 19 Jul 2005, 03:58
Location: PuppyLand
Contact:

Installation

#1 Post by puppian »

We now have something like this in our tree, under 'Installation' (mainly contributed by J_Rey and Anarcari :) ):

Code: Select all

Boot Methods
    * LiveCD
    * Multisession Live-CD/DVD
    * USB Flash Drive
    * Hard Disk Drive
        VFAT (Option 1)
        EXT2 (Option 2)
    * Emulation
    * Other methods
        Zip-disk
        Network
NTFS solutions
Swap file/partition
USB data storage
Puppy is so flexible that we have so many ways to install/boot it :) Is that part of the tree good enough? And have all possible installation/boot methods been covered?

Btw under hard disk drive there were something like 'LiveCD' and 'Manual' and I had changed them as they doesn't look clear enough to me :oops: Would there be better way to divide the section that you can think of?
[url=http://puppylinux.org]Puppylinux.org - Community home page of Puppy Linux[/url] hosted by Barry (creator of Puppy), created and maintained by the [url=http://puppylinux.org/user/readarticle.php?article_id=8]Puppy Linux Foundation[/url] since 2005

User avatar
Ian
Official Dog Handler
Posts: 1234
Joined: Wed 04 May 2005, 12:00
Location: Queensland

#2 Post by Ian »

I think Installation should be the second section of the documentation followed by Boot Methods.

Installation should be all about installing Puppy and Boot Methods should cover the booting problems that people can encounter, this is all in the forum.

Also booting should cover Grub and how to manually install it along with the error messages and what they mean.

The Swap section should contain details of how to create and format a Swap partition instead of a link.

User avatar
mayakovski
Posts: 124
Joined: Sun 20 Nov 2005, 00:42
Location: Comox, BC, CANADA

#3 Post by mayakovski »

Ian wrote:I think Installation should be the second section of the documentation followed by Boot Methods.

Installation should be all about installing Puppy and Boot Methods should cover the booting problems that people can encounter, this is all in the forum.

Also booting should cover Grub and how to manually install it along with the error messages and what they mean.

The Swap section should contain details of how to create and format a Swap partition instead of a link.
Looking good.

I think that the GRUB section should also cover cheatcodes such a ide=dma, etc. These can make a fair difference to the performance of Puppy, I know on my laptop turning dma on and boosting the bus speed to 66 makes a big change in the speed of Puppy.

Swap section should also cover using a swap file as well as partition.

I'll rewrite the swap info and bring it into our files.
Mayakovski
**********************
Puppy Linux | Barking Up The Right Tree

Compaq Armada 1580DMT | P150, 49MB RAM - 3.2 GB HD, Puppy 1.0.6
Compaq Deskpro EN | P3-733, 384 MB RAM - 80GB HD, Puppy 1.0.7

User avatar
Ian
Official Dog Handler
Posts: 1234
Joined: Wed 04 May 2005, 12:00
Location: Queensland

#4 Post by Ian »

Yes, good point, the swap file info is a must, I don't use them so I had completely forgotten about them.

There is another thing, when I wrote the 'Getting Puppy', now changed to 'Booting Puppy Linux', I actually just edited the Booting section, I put the 3rd option as downloading the files and installing by hand and have now pointed that to the Other Methods section.

The info concerning this is on Barrys main site and also the forum and the wiki I think, so when I get a minute I will gather it all together into one document.

Also are we supposed to attach our names to any edits or additions we make, I am used to the wiki keeping a record and didn't even give it a thought.

User avatar
puppian
Posts: 537
Joined: Tue 19 Jul 2005, 03:58
Location: PuppyLand
Contact:

#5 Post by puppian »

That's my fault :oops:
When J_Rey sent me his suggestion it's something like 'Preparing for Booting/Installing Puppy', instead of 'Installation'. I changed it because that title is quite long and would make the left navigation pane a bit difficult to read.
Anyway I have just changed it to 'Booting/Installing Puppy Linux' :) (added a foot note to that page too ;))
[url=http://puppylinux.org]Puppylinux.org - Community home page of Puppy Linux[/url] hosted by Barry (creator of Puppy), created and maintained by the [url=http://puppylinux.org/user/readarticle.php?article_id=8]Puppy Linux Foundation[/url] since 2005

User avatar
Ian
Official Dog Handler
Posts: 1234
Joined: Wed 04 May 2005, 12:00
Location: Queensland

#6 Post by Ian »

Ok, I've added a bit to the troubleshooting section about md5sum, its just sitting there at the moment and started the Manual install docs in Other Methods.

They are not showing in the left pane but I will leave the placement to someone else, at the moment I am just trying to get some useful info in there hence the roughness of my work.

User avatar
J_Rey
Posts: 273
Joined: Wed 04 May 2005, 20:08
Location: Northwest Florida, U.S.A.
Contact:

#7 Post by J_Rey »

Well, what I meant by manually installing Puppy Linux is for when someone installs Puppy without using the scripts included with Puppy to an USB flash drive or hard drive. There are lots of methods for each media.

So here is the booting/installing section of what I originally submitted to puppian (with new explanations):

Code: Select all

II. Preparing for Booting/Installing Puppy
 A. Boot Methods (lists below methods)
  1. LiveCD (burn, BIOS, reboot)
   a. Multisession (snippets from & link to multi-session.htm)
  2. USB Flash Drive
   a. From LiveCD (menu -> setup -> install to USB drive)
   b. Manual Install (FreeDOS, SYSLINUX, or via WakeUSB/WakePup)
  3. Hard Disk Drive
   a. From LiveCD (menu -> setup -> install to hard drive w/ 2 (?) options)
   b. Manual Install (repartitioning/formatting info /with warnings/, bootloader [Grub (Linux, DOS, Windows], FreeDOS with linld.com or tiny.exe, or SYSLINUX for Linux/DOS, WakePup or custom boot floppy, Permanently take over ext2/3 partition [no ramdisk], and *more*)
  4. Emulation (QEMU-Puppy, bochs, VMware, VirtualPC)
  5. Other methods (ZIP disk, network, misc)
 B. NTFS solutions (from FAQ/wiki)
 C. Swap file/partition (create swap file via DOS/Win9x or WinNT-based, repartitioning/formatting info /with warnings/)
 D. USB data storage (from FAQ)
It was based on what puppian already had there and then I revised it to fit my own ideas. As is obvious the manual install section(s) needs room for lots of expansion. I'm open for constructive criticism, we can decide together.... We have a lot of work left before these documentation pages are complete. We'll continue figuring things out as we go, like usual. :wink:

I think I'm gonna insert a bunch of links in the appropriate sections so everyone, including me, can refer to them while creating/expanding pages, then as time allows start adding some real content for inclusion. I've got more ideas/suggestions, but that's enough for now, though....

User avatar
puppian
Posts: 537
Joined: Tue 19 Jul 2005, 03:58
Location: PuppyLand
Contact:

#8 Post by puppian »

That sounds very neat J_Rey! And now I understand what manual mean :D

>Manual Install (repartitioning/formatting info /with warnings/, bootloader [Grub (Linux, DOS, Windows], FreeDOS with linld.com or tiny.exe, or SYSLINUX for Linux/DOS, WakePup or custom boot floppy, Permanently take over ext2/3 partition [no ramdisk], and *more*)
Can this be divided further? For example,

Manual Install

- repartitioning/formatting info /with warnings/

- bootloader [Grub (Linux, DOS, Windows]

- FreeDOS with linld.com or tiny.exe


...etc.

I'm no good at all these thou (I haven't tried any of them :oops: )
[url=http://puppylinux.org]Puppylinux.org - Community home page of Puppy Linux[/url] hosted by Barry (creator of Puppy), created and maintained by the [url=http://puppylinux.org/user/readarticle.php?article_id=8]Puppy Linux Foundation[/url] since 2005

kethd
Posts: 451
Joined: Thu 20 Oct 2005, 12:54
Location: Boston MA USA

#9 Post by kethd »

That original install tree looks good to me, but with these comments:

The Hard Drive install branch (that I have been working the most on) -- it is fine to call options 1/2 VFAT/EXT2 as a shorthand, but very important for browser/shoppers to understand quickly that option1 is associated with simply hosting a few special files within an alien filesystem, using it as a media host very similar to the CD etc. But option 2 is completely different, a full-live-real-changeable-straight-up-Linux-ordinary-HD type install. From what I know so far...

And Compact Flash cuts across all this, since it can be a hard drive, or PCMCIA, or USB -- and I want to learn how to make one CF load function all those ways, booting both inherently and with bootfloppy assist where needed, if I live that long...

And I just noticed that this tree is sometimes called Install and sometimes called Boot. I was thinking of it in terms of Install/Host. The tree of boot methods (including assited boots due to lack of BIOS support) is sort of parallel but more complex.

User avatar
Ian
Official Dog Handler
Posts: 1234
Joined: Wed 04 May 2005, 12:00
Location: Queensland

#10 Post by Ian »

The install and boot methods really go hand in hand, maybe a branch for each boot method from the install method or do we treat each install and corresponding boot method as a separate section and use pointers from a list of install options to the boot methods.

We could start with the install options and for each option provide the main boot method relating to that install then offer optional boot methods that are applicable to that install option.

Does any of this make sense, I am getting confused here. :-)

Time for a drink I think. :-)

User avatar
puppian
Posts: 537
Joined: Tue 19 Jul 2005, 03:58
Location: PuppyLand
Contact:

#11 Post by puppian »

Ian wrote:Time for a drink I think. :-)
Me too :lol: all these installation things are a bit too difficult for me, who is using option 1 install :)
Btw I hope I can finish the Getting Start section by the end of January, would need much coffee and tea for that :lol:
[url=http://puppylinux.org]Puppylinux.org - Community home page of Puppy Linux[/url] hosted by Barry (creator of Puppy), created and maintained by the [url=http://puppylinux.org/user/readarticle.php?article_id=8]Puppy Linux Foundation[/url] since 2005

User avatar
puppian
Posts: 537
Joined: Tue 19 Jul 2005, 03:58
Location: PuppyLand
Contact:

#12 Post by puppian »

Ian wrote:Ok, I've added a bit to the troubleshooting section about md5sum, its just sitting there at the moment and started the Manual install docs in Other Methods.

They are not showing in the left pane but I will leave the placement to someone else, at the moment I am just trying to get some useful info in there hence the roughness of my work.
I've added the md5sum info to 'Using Puppy Linux' --> 'Doing things in Puppy', as people may need to check md5sum for other files downloaded too :) That info would surely be useful for new puppies :)
Last edited by puppian on Sun 18 Dec 2005, 05:17, edited 1 time in total.
[url=http://puppylinux.org]Puppylinux.org - Community home page of Puppy Linux[/url] hosted by Barry (creator of Puppy), created and maintained by the [url=http://puppylinux.org/user/readarticle.php?article_id=8]Puppy Linux Foundation[/url] since 2005

User avatar
Ian
Official Dog Handler
Posts: 1234
Joined: Wed 04 May 2005, 12:00
Location: Queensland

#13 Post by Ian »

I've started filling in the 'Setup a network' section and will finish it before end of Jan.
Also added a bit to the start of 'Getting started'.

User avatar
Ian
Official Dog Handler
Posts: 1234
Joined: Wed 04 May 2005, 12:00
Location: Queensland

#14 Post by Ian »

I've finished the basics of setting up a network, I haven't covered a wide range as Barry has in his How To just a bit of detail about networking.

I'm putting together a section for 'Getting Online' using some of Barry's How To plus my own take on it.

Should be finished by end of Jan.

Post Reply