Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

Some Solutions 4 Booting different Pups on USB.
From my latest menu and using Rufus to format the usb.

Different USBs may show up as a different drive.
This little number works as drive >>>> sdd1...
but another brand works as <<<<<<< sdc1.....so beware if copying my menu and errors come up.

:::::::

I have spent hours doing the above to make it work consistently.
I really wonder how many people download different versions of Puppy and besides all the Microsoft crap
making it so hard, we than add all the booting errors.

When I remember that Barry Kauler made Puppy boot from usb before most of the rivals got their act together
I feel we could do this better.

Of course in the old days booting off cd allowed for more consistency getting newbies a glimpse at Puppy.

::::::::

Strangely some like Cosmic Cuttlefish would not boot if placed further the menu boot order.
I kid you not. Only by chance did I move it up as occasionally it booted and then after playing with other Pups >>Failure.
Not for nothing do I repeat >>> " I kid you not. "

Number 8 Fossapup freezes, but that is probably because it is too advanced for my desktop specs.

:::::::::::

gyrog gave me part of the answer here...

viewtopic.php?p=8202#p8202

and I finally booted Slacko 64 later...

viewtopic.php?p=8565#p8565

with

title Slacko64 Oct2022 (sdc1/slacko64)
find --set-root --ignore-floppies /slacko64/initrd.gz
kernel /slacko64/vmlinuz pmedia=usbflash psubdir=slacko64 pfix=fsck
initrd /slacko64/initrd.gz

Others with problematic usbs who have cracked it can join in if they wish.

Cheers Chris.

:::::::::::;;

8 Puppies that boot from a single usb.

title DpupBuster 2021 (sdd1/dpupbuster)
find --set-root --ignore-floppies /dpupbuster/initrd.gz
kernel /dpupbuster/vmlinuz pmedia=usbflash psubdir=dpupbuster pfix=fsck
initrd /dpupbuster/initrd.gz

title UPup Cosmic Cuttlefish (sdd1/upupcosmic)
find --set-root --ignore-floppies /upupcosmic/initrd.gz
kernel /upupcosmic/vmlinuz pmedia=usbflash psubdir=upupcosmic pfix=fsck
initrd /upupcosmic/initrd.gz

title DevuanPup 2021 (sdd1/devuanpup)
find --set-root --ignore-floppies /devuanpup/initrd.gz
kernel /devuanpup/vmlinuz pmedia=usbflash psubdir=devuanpup pfix=fsck
initrd /devuanpup/initrd.gz

title Bionicpup64 2018 (sdd1/bionicpup64)
find --set-root --ignore-floppies /bionicpup64/initrd.gz
kernel /bionicpup64/vmlinuz pmedia=usbflash psubdir=bionicpup64 pfix=fsck
initrd /bionicpup64/initrd.gz

title Upup Bionic Beaver Dingo 2019 (sdd1/upupbbDingo)
find --set-root --ignore-floppies /upupbbDingo/initrd.gz
kernel /upupbbDingo/vmlinuz pmedia=usbflash psubdir=upupbbDingo pfix=fsck
initrd /upupbbDingo/initrd.gz

title Upup Ubuntu 2018 (sdd1/upupubuntu)
find --set-root --ignore-floppies /upupubuntu/initrd.gz
kernel /upupubuntu/vmlinuz pmedia=usbflash psubdir=upupubuntu pfix=fsck
initrd /upupubuntu/initrd.gz

title Radky Stretch4 2019 (sdd1/radkyStretch4)
find --set-root --ignore-floppies /radkyStretch4/initrd.gz
kernel /radkyStretch4/vmlinuz pmedia=usbflash psubdir=radkyStretch4 pfix=fsck
initrd /radkyStretch4/initrd.gz

title Fossapup (sdd1/fossapup)
find --set-root --ignore-floppies /fossapup/initrd.gz
kernel /fossapup/vmlinuz pmedia=usbflash psubdir=fossapup pfix=fsck
initrd /fossapup/initrd.gz

What boot loader are you actually using?

The sdc, sdd, sdb, sd...... in the menu entry, has nothing to do with booting.

All that is, is what the drive was identified as, by the computer, you do this boot loader setup on.
That is only info in the menu entry tittle line. You can put anything in it. I change those all the time, to whatever.
The kernel line and the initrd line, are the information needed, to turn over booting control, to the Puppy OS boot process.

Now, if the boot loader menu entry has the UUID of the drive.
That UUID is specific to only that drive.
So, it specifically identifies the drive.

Example:
This is a Grub2 menu entry that uses UUID.

menuentry "Puppy fossapup64 9.0.4" {
insmod ext2
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 3bf3fb39-e2cc-410b-80dc-1379eba590fa
echo "Loading vmlinuz"
linux /fossapup/vmlinuz net.ifnames=0 pmedia=usbflash pdrv=3bf3fb39-e2cc-410b-80dc-1379eba590fa psubdir=/fossapup pfix=fsck,fsckp TZ=EST5EDT,M3.2.0,M11.1.0
echo "Loading initrd.gz"
initrd /fossapup/initrd.gz

This is the UUID of the drive:
3bf3fb39-e2cc-410b-80dc-1379eba590fa

You do understand that the links you provide are talking about booting:

eSlacko64 is an experimental puppy release to test out some experimental init ideas by @gyrog. This is to test out booting from usb/sdcard/mmc to see if waiting for the device is better than waiting for the USB susbsystem.

This is not the same init that other Puppy versions are going to have.

In general, I have found that the Frugalpup Installer, running in Puppy, is providing the best boot loader setup for any computer.
However, it is only for Puppy installs. It is not really made to make menu entries for any Linux OS.
Let it do a frugal install to a USB drive.
Run the boot loader install process, installing the boot loader to the same USB.
It can install a boot loader for computers with UEFI, Legacy Bios, or both.
I always put both types of boot loaders on it.
So far, it has booted OK, on any computer. (UEFI or Bios)
The example is a menu entry, from using Frugalpup Installers, boot loader install process.

Note:
Syslinux, Extlinux, Grub2, Grub4dos, etc...... different boot loaders, are not going to have, exactly the same boot menu entries.
These Puppy sppecific boot options can usually be used by all.
pmedia=
(says what type of drive Puppy is on and has affect on the pupmode used)
usbflash ->for USB flash drives
atahd ->for internal/external hard drive
ataflash ->for internal flash drive
cd ->for a cd/dvd drive

these are general options that can be added or make a more specific boot menu entry.
acpi=off Default on for PCs >2001, may give boot/shutdown Probs
pfix=ram Run totally in RAM ignore saved sessions
pfix=nox commandline only, do not start x
pfix=copy copy .sfs files to RAM (slower boot, faster running. Not needed for normal boot. Puppy normally loads .sfs to RAM)
pfix=nocopy do not copy .sfs to RAM (faster boot, slower running)
pfix=fsck do filesystem check on lupusave (and host partition)
pfix=clean file cleanup (simulate version upgrade)
pfix=purge more radical file cleanup (to fix broken systems)
pfix=<n> Number of save files to ignore

You do not exactly say what the boot problem is with Fossapup 64 9.5
You do what? You see what? Freezing is kind of a general term in computers.

It does have a small bug.
It will not boot if there is any other USB drives plugged in.
Only have the one USB with Fossapup64 plugged in.

bigpup:

Good day biggie.

with Fossapup 64 9.5 the mouse stops working after a minute or 2, keyboard stops working,
cannot restart x etc...and although this is a reasonable 8 gig Asus board desktop I think Fossa is too new for it.

The diferent branded usbs do show as different drives on bootup.

As i said I use Rufus in Win7.
I used Hirens for ages but Rufus seems more solid for later releases.

Just remember I am using multipups to boot for testing.

Cheers mate...Chris.

Hi Chris

Your problem seem related to FossaPUP64 and your hardware.

What does DMESG say...before your system become unresponsive?

@cthisbear :-

Chris:-

I can't look over your shoulder, obviously, so can't really see what you're seeing. However, with regard to Fossapup I can tell you what Phil told me.....and that was this; that he'd had the devil of a job getting the window compositor to behave itself, and "play ball".

I run a basic Nvidia GT710. In most Puppies, the nouveau driver does an excellent job. In Fossapup, it was the first time I'd ever HAD to use the 'official' driver.....it proved to be the only way to tame the wandering, sluggish cursor.

I don't know if you're using an onboard (on-die?) GPU, or a discrete one.....but it might be an area worth investigating.

An 8 GB PC should cream even Fossapup. There's plenty of accounts around the forums of folks running it quite happily with half that amount, or even less.....

Mike.

" In Fossapup, it was the first time I'd ever HAD to use the 'official' driver.....
it proved to be the only way to tame the wandering, sluggish cursor. "

Might have hit it on the head Mike, and thanks for your reply and perhaps the answer.

Regards....Chris.

In Fossapup64 9.5
If you can manage to use it.
Quickpet->Info->Fossapup update
Reboot and save.
These updates may or may not help with your issue.

Thanks bigpup, I will try both suggestions from you and Mike.

Cheers.....Chris.

cthisbear wrote: ↑Wed Jul 14, 2021 11:57 am

I have spent hours doing the above to make it work consistently.
I really wonder how many people download different versions of Puppy and besides all the Microsoft crap
making it so hard, we than add all the booting errors.

There's a lot a resistance to new ideas that don't have an emotional leadership spark behind them, but the truth remains the truth:

If you want the best USB multiboot tool, copy YUMI. I don't know how difficult it would be to port it to Linux, but if I saw something better here I'd use it.

If I were to try what I do with YUMI in Puppy, I would manually copy all the Puppy .iso I wanted to the USB and run G4D on it.

This doesn't seem to be uncommon.

The only problem with it really is it feels like a hack and a newbie isn't going to easily understand or be drawn to the approach.

The beginning of using something new is making the approach friendly.

Actually for a Puppy solution for all modern WoofCE released PUPs, SG2D (SuperGRUB2 disk) is the absolute best. There is no effort to boot a PUP straight from the download. There is NO setup, no changes, no space considerations, no preconditioned applications to run, no Windows required, ... nothing.; merely download PUP ISO and boot to desktop: That's all!

If you haven't given it a try, you're missing something.

And, I forgot to mention, you get ALL of the same benefits doing nothing beyond a download as if you expanded after downloading the ISO to a DVD OR you expanded the ISO into a Frugal setup. And you can add as many modern PUP ISOs as you like (FATDOG too), selecting your choice at boot time.

Puppy developers did all the work in December 2019 so its there if you choose to take advantage.

I have used and tested almost ALL of the various means to set and boot PUPs. SG2D is a superior winner.

I have a SG2D USB available that contains the ISOs of FossaPUP64 and Slacko64-v8.
PM me if you have a 4GB+ USB stick and want to test for your review(s).

Too easy.

You make SG2D read like something to check out if needed. There are two reasons I wouldn't abandon YUMI for it:

YUMI is Puppy-compatible but it's not FOR Puppy. General applicability makes Puppy another dropdown selection.

Also, I almost always modify my distro folder. It's not clear what booting .iso does with a pupsave, or a new kernel or alphabet drive.

Then how new are we stuck with? 64 UEFI is okay but if Xenial is too old I'm out.

Personally, I found SG2D to be a complete waste of time for me. It wouldn't boot at ALL on this new hardware of mine.....and nobody will EVER convince me that anything GRUB2-related is a "good thing".

(*shrug...*)

Mike.

mikewalsh wrote: ↑Mon Jul 19, 2021 10:57 am

Personally, I found SG2D to be a complete waste of time for me. It wouldn't boot at ALL on this new hardware of mine.....and nobody will EVER convince me that anything GRUB2-related is a "good thing".

ISO booting with SG2D depends on existing of "boot/grub/loopback.cfg" in the ISO, that's all, if it's there it should work OK, but only newer PUPS/DOGS have it.
(just saying, not trying to convince you )

mikewalsh wrote: ↑Mon Jul 19, 2021 10:57 am

.....and nobody will EVER convince me...

Mike if you would like my help, I will. But SG2D does work and work effectively well for the modern PUPs & DOGs.

Clarity wrote: ↑Sat Jul 17, 2021 6:00 am

Actually for a Puppy solution for all modern WoofCE released PUPs,
[...]
Puppy developers did all the work in December 2019 so its there if you choose to take advantage.

Most of the official isos offered on www.puppylinux.com are older than December 2019 though.

(Straight away they're undated. And the timeline area either hasn't been maintained or doesn't correspond to how the versions are titled for a visitor)

But since Dec 2019 it's only Fossapup, Raspup and Slacko 7.0 isn't it?
And if the ISO will be for a 32-bit PC the newest is Bionic (March 2019?)

Recently I've only tried one puppy install that wasn't 32-bit, which was FossaPup. Making a bootable USB I remember being vastly improved from Bionic, but installing it from there to an internal SSD was such a nightmare that I gave up and installed Ubuntu instead.

There are several simultaneous problems for users - everything is still changing from 32 bit to 64 bit. Also from Legacy Bios to UEFI. And from MBR to GPT.
Every PC manufacturer seems to have interpreted and presented these things differently. And Puppy and the bios must each time agree what pmedia= flag to assign the drive
With the added factor for users like me that we are wanting to make the USB key in Windows where the tools (I think, still) can't format partitions to ext2/3/4.
Both Gparted and GRUB are third-party, separate from Puppy, and seemingly most of the options offered won't boot.
(iirc) the Grub menu on Fossa had some little mention in a readme of a section in menu.lst that had to be edited manually.
It seems Linux generally is stuck in this idea that it must start from a "Live-CD" to be "tried out" (in Windows), and then install to be dual-bootable (with Windows). But we users can now get a second-hand SSD for $20 and would like the option for "Wipe drive and install puppy".

Clarity wrote: ↑Sat Jul 17, 2021 6:00 am

merely download PUP ISO and boot to desktop

If it's thought to be simple and convenient by a user downloading and burning the ISO in Windows, their Puppy will boot fine but it will be on an NTFS or FAT partition not EXT2/3/4. When something they want to do later on needs acl/posix (e.g. Samba sharing, making an encryption container) this may become a total roadblock requiring a reinstall.

PuppyandCo wrote: ↑Wed Jul 21, 2021 12:00 pm

... But since Dec 2019 it's only Fossapup, Raspup and Slacko 7.0 isn't it?...

Actually, almost every WoofCE (and all official WoofCE PUPs) come OOTB with the ability for direct boot for the ISO file.

There are only 2/3 experimental modern PUPs without the feature. Those are explained by their owners as models for evaluation.

PuppyandCo wrote: ↑Wed Jul 21, 2021 12:00 pm

...If it's thought to be simple and convenient by a user downloading and burning the ISO in Windows, their Puppy will boot fine but it will be on an NTFS or FAT partition not EXT2/3/4. When something they want to do later on needs acl/posix (e.g. Samba sharing, making an encryption container) this may become a total roadblock requiring a reinstall.

Nothing that I propose applies to this statement.

If you want to test for your evaluation, your ONLY cost is a test USB. Given a few minutes you might be a little surprised how simple this is.

PM if you really want to look.

I sometimes make flash drives with a bunch of Linuxes for friends and acquaintances on their Windows machines. I use YUMI which JASpup mentioned above - it's a great thing.
But in general, the stake should be placed on GRUB2 - this is the de facto standard in the Linux world. There are no standards in this world? But the most famous distributions use it.

Grey wrote: ↑Thu Jul 22, 2021 12:38 am

I sometimes make flash drives with a bunch of Linuxes for friends and acquaintances on their Windows machines. I use YUMI which JASpup mentioned above - it's a great thing.
But in general, the stake should be placed on GRUB2 - this is the de facto standard in the Linux world. There are no standards in this world? But the most famous distributions use it.

Pardon me if my writing is too pedestrian, but there's a YUMI and YUMI UEFI which is GRUB2.
I don't think about the latter much because there's no need to edit the bootloader it creates.
GRUB2 calls the distro bootloader (ram mode, file check, etc), and it just works.

If you want to have a bootable USB stick with multiple Puppies, Ubuntus, etc, and Windows then there is Ventoy (https://www.ventoy.net/en/index.html) which is remarkable in what it can do. In my experience, Puppies boot from it without a problem but I have not had any success creating a save file for them but that maybe that I have not tried hard enough.

JASpup wrote: ↑Thu Jul 22, 2021 3:55 am

there's a YUMI and YUMI UEFI which is GRUB2.

I haven't visited the pendrivelinux site for a long time. Indeed, the design of the site has changed and the YUMI+UEFI version appeared - I missed this event. Thanks for the tip

Clarity wrote: ↑Sat Jul 17, 2021 6:00 am

Actually for a Puppy solution for all modern WoofCE released PUPs, SG2D (SuperGRUB2 disk) is the absolute best. There is no effort to boot a PUP straight from the download. There is NO setup, no changes, no space considerations, no preconditioned applications to run, no Windows required, ... nothing.; merely download PUP ISO and boot to desktop: That's all!

If you haven't given it a try, you're missing something.

And, I forgot to mention, you get ALL of the same benefits doing nothing beyond a download as if you expanded after downloading the ISO to a DVD OR you expanded the ISO into a Frugal setup. And you can add as many modern PUP ISOs as you like (FATDOG too), selecting your choice at boot time.

Puppy developers did all the work in December 2019 so its there if you choose to take advantage.

I have used and tested almost ALL of the various means to set and boot PUPs. SG2D is a superior winner.

I have a SG2D USB available that contains the ISOs of FossaPUP64 and Slacko64-v8.
PM me if you have a 4GB+ USB stick and want to test for your review(s).

Too easy.

This is only for 64 Puppies?

I don't use it but lots of info on supergrub 2 disk here, and it itself seems to run on just about anything. I imagine it therefore doesn't have a problem writing for any supported OS, 32 or 64 bit:

Info:
https://www.supergrubdisk.org/super-grub2-disk/

kuman11 wrote: ↑Fri Jul 23, 2021 11:37 pm

This is only for 64 Puppies?

No, you can put any WoofCE PUP ISO file of your choice on the USB and boot to PUP's desktop. You get EVERYTHING you would as if you had installed full/frugal.

PM if you have a USB stick to use for booting. It is REALLY simple to use.

Clarity wrote: ↑Sat Jul 24, 2021 7:14 am

kuman11 wrote: ↑Fri Jul 23, 2021 11:37 pm

This is only for 64 Puppies?

No, you can put any WoofCE PUP ISO file of your choice on the USB and boot to PUP's desktop. You get EVERYTHING you would as if you had installed full/frugal.

PM if you have a USB stick to use for booting. It is REALLY simple to use.

See if it would work with that:

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=3490

kuman11 wrote: ↑Sun Jul 25, 2021 4:39 am

See if it would work with that:

From all appearances you are unwilling to try my offer to help for booting modern WoofCE (since 2020) PUPs???

PM me, should you want to try.

I succumbed into buying my wife a new Win 10 Hp laptop...HP 50R83PA 15.6" FHD Laptop (256GB) [Ryzen 5],

https://www.jbhifi.com.au/products/hp-5 ... 5?view=pdp

because unlike me she finds it too hard to use different browsers.
Support for Win7 is gone, plus you have the Google shites in the mix locking you out of sites...
but hey! Windows 10 can fix that behaviour can't it????...
I run Win7 and Puppy so I can work around it but tech and her are warring planets..

Anyway, to stop her whinges I bought this lappy.
It's fast but the cripple ware sucks any joy out of it.
So out with Windows10 Debloater-master, Stop Updates 10 and 1 Open-Shell Classic-Start 2020 to inhibit the crapware.

But do you think this sucker would boot...NO!!!!!
using nearly 20 usbs of different formats, brands etc.
The only one that worked was my Win10 usb installer.
Hours and freakin' hours I have spent on it.

So I used Ventoy as a last try and got it to boot.
Two out of four pups I copied to it failed...but the other 2 reached the desktop...so a win.
I know there has been some friction here at times about Ventoy but it did the job this time
and I am nearly smiling.

My wifes' old Dell is still running after 12 years, and I have only ever updated the browsers
sometimes, cleaned it out with Puppy occasionally so that is a good run on Win 7 Lite by eXPerience...a genius.

However all Internet banking was done in Puppy.

So thanks again everyone here...I just had to post success after 2 days here and there trying to boot this disgrace.

Chris.