(old)Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

Hi

Dug up an old eeePC 701 and have got it running with Slacko 5.3.1 booting from a 2GB SD card. The original SSD drive has an old version of linux (? which one). I would like to get rid of the original from the SSD and do fresh hard disc install of puppy.

Which version of Puppy is best - Slacko seems to be doing OK

How to do a install on SSD - Tried searching but getting many mixed and varied methods (some very old). If someone can point me to a thread - much appreciated.

Are you referring to physical removal and replacement of the drive? or just to replacing what's on the drive with a new Puppy?

If it's the first, then I can tell you it's bloody easy. My netbook is an Eee 1000HEB, and it's got a single panel on the back with two screws. Pull those (you'll want Jeweler's Screwdrivers, the fiddly all metal kind sometimes sold as "precision" even though they're nowhere near it), and one more screw inside holding the drive in place. Then slide the drive back and pull it up.

Unfortunately, working with partitions and logical drives (the software end of things) can seem a little more complicated (it's not).

Boot your Pup of choice (I am a fan of Puplite, the most recent finished version of which is Puplite 5.0, found on this forum... but whatever, these instructions work with basically all Puppies) and open a program called gparted. It's in the Menu *somewhere* but I never can remember where. It will ask you to select a "device" (drive). Pick out the one that's not your SD card.

Next, you will see (probably) a number of partitions (logical drives) in the device (physical drive) which you are working within. Anything that is marked "linux-swap" LEAVE. Swap space (what in WindBlows would be called a page file, AKA "virtual memory") is nearly always helpful to have. The rest you should delete.

Once you've deleted the other partitions (with the exception of swap) you will want to create a new partition. Fill as much of the drive as you can. The format you're looking for is called "ext3". There's an ext2 (it breaks more easily) and an ext4 (Puppy doesn't dig that kinda chow) and you want to avoid those -- ext4 most of all, as Puppy doesn't know how to use it... sorta like running a Ford Aerostar on diesel, it's too much for your Pup.

Now that you've created your partition, mark it with the "boot" flag... right click on the partition entry and select "Manage Flags". Click the checkbox for "boot" and hit "OK" or "Apply" or whatever.

Now look above the area where the partitions are displayed and click the big green check mark that may or may not say APPLY CHANGES under it. That's what it does. Click past the "are you sure" box (I hate those but they're there for a reason) and wait. When it's done, close. You don't need to Save Details.

Now run the Puppy Universal Installer and you're good to go.

linbie wrote:Hi

Dug up an old eeePC 701 and have got it running with Slacko 5.3.1 booting from a 2GB SD card. The original SSD drive has an old version of linux (? which one). I would like to get rid of the original from the SSD and do fresh hard disc install of puppy.

Which version of Puppy is best - Slacko seems to be doing OK

How to do a install on SSD - Tried searching but getting many mixed and varied methods (some very old). If someone can point me to a thread - much appreciated.

Get a Puppy disk and boot it in your desktop (or boot your desktop, if that's the Puppy version you want).

Plug in an empty flash drive -- do not mount it. Note the device name as Puppy identifies it.

Install Puppy on the flash drive (via Menu >> Setup >> Puppy Universal Installer).

Make sure the flash drive is unmounted, and unplug.

Plug into your Netbook. Turn on Netbook.

Hit F12 (I believe F12 is the "select boot device" key) **** Edit (10Jan2012): I was just playing with my eee 900, and the <ESC> key is used to "select boot device" (Note: F10 or F12 are common boot select keys on many other machines)

Boot from flash drive.

Identify the SSD name, make sure it isn't mounted

Menu >> Setup >> Puppy Universal Installer -- and install to SSD drive.

---------------

Alternatively, get an external CDROM, and plug it into a USB port, boot your CD as normal.

----------------

Oh, wait! You already have it booting a 2GB flash card.

Just tell that running system to install to the SSD (similar to above). The "fresh" install will come when you boot the device, and create a new save file.

If it was already running a Linux version, there should be a folder /boot/grub/ that will let you hook in your new Puppy (I'm presuming that the SSD has already been loaded with grub).

If it was Windows XP, use Lin'N'Win to hook in the Puppy. (edit, specify Xp or older -- Lin'N'Win doesn't support Vista/Win7)

linbie wrote:

Which version of Puppy is best - Slacko seems to be doing OK

This thread might be helpful:
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=75023

starhawk wrote:Are you referring to physical removal and replacement of the drive? or just to replacing what's on the drive with a new Puppy?

If it's the first, then I can tell you it's bloody easy. My netbook is an Eee 1000HEB, and it's got a single panel on the back with two screws. Pull those (you'll want Jeweler's Screwdrivers, the fiddly all metal kind sometimes sold as "precision" even though they're nowhere near it), and one more screw inside holding the drive in place. Then slide the drive back and pull it up.

Unfortunately, working with partitions and logical drives (the software end of things) can seem a little more complicated (it's not).

Boot your Pup of choice (I am a fan of Puplite, the most recent finished version of which is Puplite 5.0, found on this forum... but whatever, these instructions work with basically all Puppies) and open a program called gparted. It's in the Menu *somewhere* but I never can remember where. It will ask you to select a "device" (drive). Pick out the one that's not your SD card.

Next, you will see (probably) a number of partitions (logical drives) in the device (physical drive) which you are working within. Anything that is marked "linux-swap" LEAVE. Swap space (what in WindBlows would be called a page file, AKA "virtual memory") is nearly always helpful to have. The rest you should delete.

Once you've deleted the other partitions (with the exception of swap) you will want to create a new partition. Fill as much of the drive as you can. The format you're looking for is called "ext3". There's an ext2 (it breaks more easily) and an ext4 (Puppy doesn't dig that kinda chow) and you want to avoid those -- ext4 most of all, as Puppy doesn't know how to use it... sorta like running a Ford Aerostar on diesel, it's too much for your Pup.

Now that you've created your partition, mark it with the "boot" flag... right click on the partition entry and select "Manage Flags". Click the checkbox for "boot" and hit "OK" or "Apply" or whatever.

Now look above the area where the partitions are displayed and click the big green check mark that may or may not say APPLY CHANGES under it. That's what it does. Click past the "are you sure" box (I hate those but they're there for a reason) and wait. When it's done, close. You don't need to Save Details.

Now run the Puppy Universal Installer and you're good to go.

Many thanks for your step by step instructions. The eeePC 701 (4G)had four partitions : System, User, Bios and "unknown". I deleted the system and user partitions and created a single new partition ext3 with boot flag. Used universal installer - and on rebooting got error 2.

Tried again as a frugal install manually copying the three main files from the SD card to the new partition and used grub4Dos to install the bootloader. Success - Slacko 5.3.1 resides on SSD and appears to be working fine,

Bravo

Thanks to everyone who posted
I have a 2GB 701
I will put Slacko on it again
drag a copy of Yap into the startup folder and have a little
portable Buddhist shrine in no time
http://puppylinux.org/wikka/BuddhistYAP

. . . or maybe I could have a softphone centre . . .
http://puppylinux.org/wikka/PuppyPhone
. . . Psip PuppyPhone available from Slickpet icon click . . .

. . . or maybe . . . [Lobster rambles off into the distance] . . .

Thanks guys