Booting Puppy from a live USB on both Mac and PC

Booting, installing, newbie
Post Reply
Message
Author
User avatar
XxionxX
Posts: 20
Joined: Sat 09 Apr 2011, 02:01
Location: California

Booting Puppy from a live USB on both Mac and PC

#1 Post by XxionxX »

So I just started using Puppy linux on my thumbdrive, and I love it! It's really zippy, a snap to use anywhere, and I would recommend it to anyone. I can't believe how fast it is. When I first booted it up on my dual core Intel just to give it a try, I burned a hole in my cat which happened to be sitting next to the monitor at the time. :shock:

Anyway, I was wondering if someone knew how to boot a live USB onto a Mac. I searched your forums and didn't find anything similar to my question. I want to be able to visit both PCs and Macs. My father has a Mac and I would like to be able to use Puppy linux on it (the rest of my machines are PCs).

Please and thank you!

User avatar
puppyluvr
Posts: 3470
Joined: Sun 06 Jan 2008, 23:14
Location: Chickasha Oklahoma
Contact:

#2 Post by puppyluvr »

:D Hello,
Puppy, IIRC, will boot on a newer Intel based Macs, but not the PowerPC chips... Also, I think there is a Puppy on PowerPC thread, I would look at it as well...Depending on your arch...
Close the Windows, and open your eyes, to a whole new world
I am Lead Dog of the
Puppy Linux Users Group on Facebook
Join us!

Puppy since 2.15CE...

User avatar
XxionxX
Posts: 20
Joined: Sat 09 Apr 2011, 02:01
Location: California

#3 Post by XxionxX »

Well the Mac in question has Tiger OS (not sure which version)and an Intel chipset. I tried booting it and I got nothing :( . I even tried holding down the option key, and all I got was a screen with the internal HD and an arrow :/ clicking on the arrow only got me to the regular boot sequence. The only thing I figured out when I poked around your forums is that Mac uses a EFI? bootloader instead of BIOS. Is there some file or different distro that I need to get?

User avatar
XxionxX
Posts: 20
Joined: Sat 09 Apr 2011, 02:01
Location: California

#4 Post by XxionxX »

If it matters, I used the lupu-525.iso to make my live USB.

lakedude
Posts: 78
Joined: Wed 22 Oct 2008, 03:10

#5 Post by lakedude »

AFAIK an Intel based Mac is very nearly the same thing as a PC cept for software.

See of booting from USB is setup in the BIOS, or alternately if booting from USB can be selected in a special boot menu. On a PC this is done by hitting either f12, f2 or delete during the boot sequence (it varies by machine).

User avatar
XxionxX
Posts: 20
Joined: Sat 09 Apr 2011, 02:01
Location: California

#6 Post by XxionxX »

I tried all three and I got nothing. I also tried f1 and it showed me a gray and white world drawing which I have never seen before, but I thought that it was just apple trying to tell me that they want to take over the world. :lol:

User avatar
XxionxX
Posts: 20
Joined: Sat 09 Apr 2011, 02:01
Location: California

#7 Post by XxionxX »

So... I guess puppy doesn't work on macs :( Oh well.

User avatar
rjbrewer
Posts: 4405
Joined: Tue 22 Jan 2008, 21:41
Location: merriam, kansas

#8 Post by rjbrewer »

Puppy will run in Mac Parallels;

also this:

http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... 79&t=43262

Used Puppy on cd in both cases.

Inspiron 700m, Pent.M 1.6Ghz, 1Gb ram.
Msi Wind U100, N270 1.6>2.0Ghz, 1.5Gb ram.
Eeepc 8g 701, 900Mhz, 1Gb ram.
Full installs

User avatar
XxionxX
Posts: 20
Joined: Sat 09 Apr 2011, 02:01
Location: California

#9 Post by XxionxX »

But... I don't want to install it... I just want to run it off the thumbdrive :oops:

User avatar
XxionxX
Posts: 20
Joined: Sat 09 Apr 2011, 02:01
Location: California

#10 Post by XxionxX »

So I can only use puppy on a Mac if I buy Mac Parallels? That sounds bogus.

User avatar
XxionxX
Posts: 20
Joined: Sat 09 Apr 2011, 02:01
Location: California

#11 Post by XxionxX »

What if I make a USB on my dad's Mac, will that work?

User avatar
rjbrewer
Posts: 4405
Joined: Tue 22 Jan 2008, 21:41
Location: merriam, kansas

#12 Post by rjbrewer »

XxionxX wrote:So I can only use puppy on a Mac if I buy Mac Parallels? That sounds bogus.
Nothing more bogus than a mac owner quibbling about money.

How to run parallels from external usb hard drive;

http://www.maclife.com/article/howtos/h ... _usb_drive

Inspiron 700m, Pent.M 1.6Ghz, 1Gb ram.
Msi Wind U100, N270 1.6>2.0Ghz, 1.5Gb ram.
Eeepc 8g 701, 900Mhz, 1Gb ram.
Full installs

User avatar
XxionxX
Posts: 20
Joined: Sat 09 Apr 2011, 02:01
Location: California

#13 Post by XxionxX »

....?

The Mac is not mine -_- It's my dads. And it was given to him because someone spilt coffee on it and they didn't want to try and sell it. If I had money I wouldn't be saying things like:
XxionxX wrote:So I can only use puppy on a Mac if I buy Mac Parallels? That sounds bogus.
I am sorry that I don't have money and can't spring for the paid option. I didn't know that wanting free software was a bad thing. I guess I shouldn't use any free Linux OSs then. -_-

Really? You are ripping on me because I would like to save money? I am a student, I work 2 days a week, go to school, and I don't have money for unnecessary software.

If Puppy Linux does not work on a Mac (That is not mine) without this software, just say so. I didn't ask to be Mac bashed, I just wanted to know if it could work. It seems like if you can do it on a PC without buying software then the same would be true for a Mac. If its not possible then so be it.

I know Macs are expensive, that's why I don't own one. Because I am poor. I just wanted an answer to my question, not some pay for option with a side of guilt. If you don't like my question, you don't have to answer. I will just ask somewhere else if you can't, or won't give me a straight answer to my question.

Besides, if I wanted to use a virtual machine then VirtualBox works just fine on both Mac and PC. Please don't push your software on me, I hate spam. Not to mention, I am not going to install that software on every Mac I come in contact with. There are like 200 at my school (But at school I just use the PCs because they are everywhere).

I don't mean to start flamewars, I just want an answer to my question. Maybe this isn't the best place to ask, because you all seem busy with other stuff.

User avatar
rjbrewer
Posts: 4405
Joined: Tue 22 Jan 2008, 21:41
Location: merriam, kansas

#14 Post by rjbrewer »

XxionxX wrote:....?

Besides, if I wanted to use a virtual machine then VirtualBox works just fine on both Mac and PC. Please don't push your software on me, I hate spam.
I don't own, use, or sell Mac stuff.

This is a Puppy forum.

If what you want to achieve is not possible with other Linux or Windows it's not likely to be possible with Puppy either.

If you know what Google is, you can find offers of "free" parallels.

When you start searching for help, be prepared to supply the
make and model number, and specs of the machine you are
using.

Inspiron 700m, Pent.M 1.6Ghz, 1Gb ram.
Msi Wind U100, N270 1.6>2.0Ghz, 1.5Gb ram.
Eeepc 8g 701, 900Mhz, 1Gb ram.
Full installs

User avatar
8-bit
Posts: 3406
Joined: Wed 04 Apr 2007, 03:37
Location: Oregon

#15 Post by 8-bit »

Will the mac boot from a puppy live cd?
That would be a good indicator of if the mac will support Puppy.

User avatar
abushcrafter
Posts: 1418
Joined: Fri 30 Oct 2009, 16:57
Location: England
Contact:

#16 Post by abushcrafter »

XxionxX wrote:What if I make a USB on my dad's Mac, will that work?
Nope. You need to find out how to boot off a USB Flash drive.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=how+to+boot+off+a+ ... +drive+mac
[url=http://www.adobe.com/flashplatform/]adobe flash is rubbish![/url]
My Quote:"Humans are stupid, though some are clever but stupid." http://www.dependent.de/media/audio/mp3/System_Syn_Heres_to_You.zip http://www.systemsyn.com/

User avatar
rjbrewer
Posts: 4405
Joined: Tue 22 Jan 2008, 21:41
Location: merriam, kansas

#17 Post by rjbrewer »

For a Puppy user, a cd or dvd is just like a usbflash; just "flatter
and rounder".

See posts by "Thadolius":

http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/runnin ... -macs.html

Inspiron 700m, Pent.M 1.6Ghz, 1Gb ram.
Msi Wind U100, N270 1.6>2.0Ghz, 1.5Gb ram.
Eeepc 8g 701, 900Mhz, 1Gb ram.
Full installs

User avatar
Aitch
Posts: 6518
Joined: Wed 04 Apr 2007, 15:57
Location: Chatham, Kent, UK

#18 Post by Aitch »

XxionxX

rjbrewer posted a link for running OSX on a Toshiba laptop...

I have a MAC friend who has almost got OSX running fully on an EEEPC, and runs puppy too!!

http://ipis-osx.wikidot.com/installing-ideneb-1-3-1000h

I've been hoping for a puppy fork to PPCMACs for ages....still hopeful

AFAIK, Intel MACs can boot from USB [though whether they boot Puppy is another matter]

see

http://www.tuaw.com/2008/12/18/mac-101- ... usb-drive/

...however, it looks like they need a firmware update

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html ... /9014.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GUID_Partition_Table

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1237

You'd need to use puppy's installer on a PC to initialise the USB flashdrive, I think [or persuade your dad to try a PC with Puppy on (EEEPC??) ]

Apparently russoodle says
FatDog64 runs wonderfully well on the 64-bit Mac :D
good luck, let us know if it works....

Aitch :)

User avatar
XxionxX
Posts: 20
Joined: Sat 09 Apr 2011, 02:01
Location: California

#19 Post by XxionxX »

Thanks for all the links guys! :D

I was able to dig through what you gave me and come up with two solutions:

1. Was to format my USB drive into a GUID Partition, and install puppy onto that (No thanks I want to be able to use this on PCs as well).

2. Was to try and boot the Mac in Target Disk Mode. But to do that you need a firewire to USB cable, and as mentioned before I have no monies :(

So for now I think I will stick to a virtual machine. Even though I would rather boot from a USB because it would be faster and easier, the most cost effective method is just to use VirtualBox.

Thanks for all the help everyone!
Good luck and prosperity for you all!

Edit: This thread in a Slax forum was very informative.

HiDeHo
Posts: 311
Joined: Wed 16 Mar 2011, 09:57

#20 Post by HiDeHo »

do you all realise that vbox runs on mac. vbox is free and works why pay for parallels unless you really want full windows integration. i still have not found out how to boot vbox from usb which would be handy.
HiDeHo is an ideas man. loves to come up with ideas that others think are good and can use
[b]if you are a sneeky computer geek check out sneekygeekers [url=http://www.sneekygeekers.com]click here[/url][/b]

Post Reply