(old)Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

Hi,

I'm new to the linux world but it's starting to grow on me. I like the liveCD idea. But I want my own custom liveCD for instance with vmware player on it so I can run a virtual windows from the liveCD. I know about virtualbox but it is too unstable and complicated compared to vmware player which is also free.

1. Is it possible to burn a new liveCD from within a Puppy Linux liveCD after I install the programs I want to the RAM memory? If not will it work if I install puppy to a hard drive?

2. I remember reading somewhere that only Puppy Linux can do this (can save an iso file of the current setup). Is this correct?

I wanted to create a custom linux mint liveCD but I've got lost in endless complications with remastersys. I don't want a complicated process especially if it involves the terminal.

3. By the way, which is the most polished version of Puppy Linux? Precise, Slacko or Precise? Is there some skin or theme to improve the appearance? I quite like the look of linux mint cinnamon.

4. I have USB3 ports on my computer. Does puppy come with USB3 drivers pre-installed?

5. Generally speaking in linux what is the procedure to install programs? In windows I usually go to download.com and download a setup.exe file and install the program. But in linux mint I noticed a software centre. Am I supposed to find the software in software centre instead searching on the internet? I think there are no setup.exe files in linux. What is the equivalent of setup.exe?

6. If I visit a dodgy website with liveCD is there a chance my C drive might get infected? Is the liveCD a good idea for safe browsing. Is there a way to make C: or D: invisible to the liveCD?

As part of my job I visit hundreds of websites every day and usually I get two virus warnings in avast. Every few days I reinstall a C: image with Acronis but recently I bought an SSD and I think I probably should stop reinstalling C: every few days. So I thought liveCD might save me from website infections. Will it?

Thanks a lot

Welcome to the forum

edit:

1. Is it possible to burn a new liveCD from within a Puppy Linux liveCD after I install the programs I want to the RAM memory? If not will it work if I install puppy to a hard drive?

Yep, this is called remastering. Also see answer below.
See PuppyMenu > Setup > Remaster Puppy Live CD

2. I remember reading somewhere that only Puppy Linux can do this (can save an iso file of the current setup). Is this correct?

I wanted to create a custom linux mint liveCD but I've got lost in endless complications with remastersys. I don't want a complicated process especially if it involves the terminal.

Not sure, Puppy used to be more unique. Other Distros are catching on to Live boots using various methods.

3. By the way, which is the most polished version of Puppy Linux? Precise, Slacko or Precise? Is there some skin or theme to improve the
appearance? I quite like the look of linux mint cinnamon.

Precise is created by Barry (the originator of Puppy), Slacko is more of a community effort. You can add window managers to either.

See cinnamon thread-
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=75607

4. I have USB3 ports on my computer. Does puppy come with USB3 drivers pre-installed?

I think there is something on Barry's blog
http://bkhome.org/blog2/

5. Generally speaking in linux what is the procedure to install programs? In windows I usually go to download.com and download a setup.exe file and install the program. But in linux mint I noticed a software centre. Am I supposed to find the software in software centre instead searching on the internet? I think there are no setup.exe files in linux. What is the equivalent of setup.exe?
In puppy use .pet or .sfs
http://puppylinux.org/wikka/pets


6. If I visit a dodgy website with liveCD is there a chance my C drive might get infected? Is the liveCD a good idea for safe browsing. Is there a way to make C: or D: invisible to the liveCD?

If it a Read Only disc it can not be infected

Hi.

About your question 1)

darkcity is right if you mean "remaster" a Puppy iso.

He's wrong (no offense intended) if you mean reusing a physical CD to write your new iso on it. For that, you'd need a CD-/+RW which you'd erase first and then re-burn.

Regards.

None taken, we learn by mistakes ; -)

@Marcello, BTW sometimes its easier to ask one question per thread, to avoid cross conversations.

Hello.
Darkcity, thanks for your reply. After posting and receiving no answer for a while I noticed I asked too many questions. Thanks a lot for taking the time.

Yes I meant remastering a CD. I will try that soon. I'm sure it will come handy. Today I made a silly mistake. I left my acronis drive images inside a truecrypted partition and then went on to secure erase my SSD. Luckily a linux liveCD saved the day. I used linux mint because it is easiest for me. Unfortunately truecrypt wasn't on the CD but I managed to install it. However gparted was and I used it to recreate the partition. The samsung secure erase CD left the SSD with no partitioning and no formatting.

Earlier today I had another problem in windows 7. I was transferring 400GB data from an IDE USB 2.0 external hard drive to a SATA HDD and the transfer speeds were incredibly slow at around 2MB/s. I continued in the liveCD and speed was 20MB/s. The same happened again when deleting huge folders from the USB drive. Somehow the liveCD works much faster especially for the things that are very slow in Windows 7.

I guess I will be using the liveCD a lot. Let's see if I can get truecrypt and vmware on it.

5. Generally speaking in linux what is the procedure to install programs? In windows I usually go to download.com and download a setup.exe file and install the program. But in linux mint I noticed a software centre. Am I supposed to find the software in software centre instead searching on the internet? I think there are no setup.exe files in linux. What is the equivalent of setup.exe?
In puppy use .pet or .sfs
http://puppylinux.org/wikka/pets

The normal procedure is to use your distribution's package manager or "software centre" or whatever you want to call it.
Puppy does have one, but there is also a long tradition of posting packages to this forum because there was often only a small number of packages in the package manager, and they weren't necessarily up to date.

6. If I visit a dodgy website with liveCD is there a chance my C drive might get infected? Is the liveCD a good idea for safe browsing. Is there a way to make C: or D: invisible to the liveCD?

If it a Read Only disc it can not be infected

What sort of "infections" are you expecting to get? I've yet to see a real-life infection in linux...

Marcello said :
> 6. If I visit a dodgy website with liveCD is there a chance my C drive might get infected? Is the liveCD a good idea for safe browsing. Is there a way to make C: or D: invisible to the liveCD?

Answer to second part of the question : the way in Linux is to NOT mount them, or mount them only when you need to, and un-mount them again when you're finished. Then nothing can be written to them.

Answer to 1st part of the question : I agree with disciple. Since the folder hierarchy in Linux is quite elaborate, and can change from distro to distro, a Linux virus has only been made in a computer lab (this from hear-say).

That said, it is possible for a Linux system to transmit unwittlingly a nasty infected Word macro by relaying an infected Word file, for example, to Windows computers. It can't affect your Linux system, however.

If you're transferring a lot of Windows (or Wine) files or executables, it might a good idea to run the Linux version of a well-known Windows anti-virus (avast has a Linux version, for ex.), out of solidarity and respect for our fellow computer users on the other side of the divide.

Regards.

Marcello wrote:Somehow the liveCD works much faster especially for the things that are very slow in Windows 7.

Windows may (should) be running an antivirus program which will slow things down.

Marcello wrote:Let's see if I can get truecrypt ... on it.

A slight tweak is required for truecrypt to work perfectly in puppy, see here ... http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?p=614554#614554
truecrypt still works without the tweak but you have to go to "mnt" to access the unencrypted data.

out of solidarity and respect for our fellow computer users on the other side of the divide.

Solidarity and respect for the users who insist on running a vulnerable OS without using an antivirus on it?

disciple wrote:

out of solidarity and respect for our fellow computer users on the other side of the divide.

Solidarity and respect for the users who insist on running a vulnerable OS without using an antivirus on it?

Well, true knights are supposed to protect the weak and the innocent...