Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

[canbyte]

Now that I have my very non technical wife using puppy instead of Windows to get her email (three cheeers!), we have more than one slacko_save file on the cd (she uses different settings). I've found that on startup, that if the time becomes extended like when I go make coffee, the boot process freezes up. Is there any way to either stop freezing or preferably, to have puppy start using the #1 selection, which is my normal setup, after say a 4 minute wait?
Thanks in advance.

[rcrsn51]

The easiest solution might be to make two separate Puppy installs in different folders. Then make two entries in your GRUB menu using the "psubdir" argument. Set the "timeout" values as you want them.

[Les Kerf]

[canbyte]

Sorry, i left out that basic point. ... er, I goofed entirely Slacko_save files are on flash drive(s) not the cd. I'm running from single session cd only - nothing installed on hd, I'd guess that rules out rcrsn51 suggestion?? Thanks

[8-bit]

Will Slacko find the slackosave file on the plugged in flash drive when booting from the CD?
If so, it just seems that each of you would plug in your personal flash drive before booting the CD.

Also, if you booted from a Slacko CD with no saved sessions on the CD, would it pick up and use the slackosave file from the flash drive when booted?
And as an alternative, one could boot a fresh Slacko CD, do a minimal setup and on shutdown/reboot, tell it to save to the flash drive,
Then substitute your personal flash drive with slackosave file (must be named same for both of you) when you boot.

[Burn_IT]

Why not install to the flash drive and use the grub suggestion.
I also suspect that you actually may only need one copy of the base files on the flash and by diligent use of psubdir and find set in the menu get it to point to the different saves.
If you don't have boot to flash (as I don't on this machine) a PloP boot, CD or HD or Floppy will do it without having to have Puppy on it (IE for ANY bootable USB)

[Les Kerf]

Why not just get two thumb drives, His 'n Hers?

I've become rather fond of the multi-session live CD/DVD myself, Thin Slacko works great on my Acer Aspire laptop, and when doing basic stuff like checking e-mail there is really no need to save each session.
Les

[rcrsn51]

Here is something to try. Just to be safe, you should probably set this up on a second flash drive, so as not to mess up the original.

1. Download the ISO from here.

2. Burn it to make a special Slacko 533 boot CD.

3. On your flash drive make two folders named "husband" and "wife".

4. Into each folder copy the three core Slacko files - vmlinuz, initrd.gz and puppy_slacko_5.3.3.sfs.

5. Copy the corresponding savefile into each folder.

6. Boot off the CD.

[canbyte]

Wow. Thanks for all those suggestions. For now, the his 'n her flash drives look to be the easiest on my brain and not hard on my budget. I'll have a look at the other solutions as time permits and see which gets done first!

Not saving the session is something i should think more about. I thought it was necessary like Windows, rather than an option. Do you power down with the button or is there a setting somewhere?

I didn't really understand the purpose of Rscrn51's method except it seems intended to increase efficiency of operation???? The need to make a choice of using different _save files would remain as a necessary step in starting up, no?

Booting from flash, as i recall, isn't possible on this machine (Dell/ xp vintage). I didn't understand the rest of Burn_it's suggestions so maybe they could be expanded/ explained, if not for me, then for others having the same situation.
Thanks again.

[rcrsn51]

[ETP]

According to this it is
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dime521/en/SM_EN/syssetup.htm

So many choices ------ better let your wife decide (the safer option )

[Burn_IT]

Sorry I was a bit cryptic.
My old Dell doesn't support boot from USB either, BUT.... That E521 does if that is what you are using. However....

There is a boot manager called PLoP that you can boot from that WILL let you boot from USB on yours and my machine.
So you install PLop onto a device that you CAN boot - like floppy CD or hard drive. and get it to boot from USB or somewhere.


Now I do some very complex Booting, but a simple solution for you would be to install PLop boot manager onto a CD and boot from it. Then just tell it to boot from USB (any Bootable USB that is inserted not just a Puppy one). One CD which never needs to change and as many things on Bootable USB as you like.

Now the lazy bit. The later versions of Hiren's Boot CD already has PLop boot manager as one of it's boot options so you just need to download and write the CD.
As a bonus, it also has:

A Bart like pre-install XP that runs from the CD with loads of tools on there.
A load of DOS tools like memtest, disk tools, Password recovery, and such.
A mini Linux recovery installation with Linux tools.
All this on a downloadable CD.

[Les Kerf]