How to upgrade USB flash Puppy?

[zuli]

Hi, i am new in linux and i want to learn it by puppy linux and i want to ask how to upgrade puppy (My version 3.01) to higher version if available in the future, please let me know

[Flash]

First, please don't make your posts sticky. I know the forum allows you to choose that option, but if everyone did it the forum would become all but useless.

As for your question, the answer depends on how you use Puppy. If you run it from the live CD with a save file on the hard disk (the way Puppy was originally meant to be used) all you have to do is boot the new CD and it will find the save file and update whatever needs updating in the process. This is irreversible, so make a copy of your save file before booting the new Puppy, in case you don't like the results.

If you run Puppy from a multisession DVD, just burn the new bootable Puppy DVD using burniso2cd from the old one, then either save or shut down.

If you install Puppy on a hard disk, then I don't know because I've never done that.

[yorkiesnorkie]

Always backup your data and any software files first, somewhere safe, like burn a CD. The following is a rough outline of the process:

Its pretty simple to upgrade if your installed to your hard drive. You have to boot from your new cd version, and at the # prompt type the puppy pfix=ram instruction, then press return. Then after going through the usual puppy setup where it asks you about your keyboard and monitor, wait for the puppy desktop. At this point your running strictly off the CD.

Caveat, I dual boot with windows 98 SE on one partition and Puppy on an ext2 partition.

I use the menu installer to upgrade my Puppy on the ext2 partition. It has several steps to follow which are fairly straightforward. If you read them carefully you shouldn't have too many problems.

After you pick where puppy is to be installed when you run the installer you have the choice of a Frugal or Full install. I use Full. At one of the steps you'll be given the choice between upgrading and wiping your existing installation.

You choose upgrade, and be very patient, as the process takes a little while. It might seem like nothings happening but things are moving along nonetheless in the background. Eventually, a couple of more dialog boxes appear, with regard to Grub, and the MBR entry. Once completed your pretty much done.

Once your sure the installation is complete you can shut down the computer and reboot, the CD will ask if you want to save the session. I always choose no.

On reboot, remove the CD really quickly, and everything should boot from the HD nicely. You should see your grub menu right away. When you choose Puppy your files should still be there but Puppy will be upgraded. I've done this several times and its been pretty painless. Even my internet connection information was preserved.

Yorkiesnorkie

[zuli]

Thank you for the advice but i use usb key flash disk 1gb, is that work for usb key too??

[yorkiesnorkie]

Hello again,

Well, I haven't a clue about a USB stick installation. I've never done it myself. I'm not too sure if a USB stick/jumpdrive would even boot up my old laptop. Here's a case where I can only speak to my own experience. There's bound to be someone here who knows.

Just out of curiosity, why are you concerned about the "upgrade" process? Got issues with data or downloaded programs you want to keep?

Yorkiesnorkie

[ps]

I ran 2.17 off my sata hdd and was very happy with it until it started to act up (e.g. the cursor would disappear after a while).

I read in one of the forums that to upgrade all you had to do was replace the old initrd and vmlinuz files with the new ones - which I did (stupidly, I didi not keep the old ones).

Afterward, Puppy would still boot but was impossible to configure: the network card was not recognized, the usb stick could not be mounted, etc.

Then I tried what yorkie suggested but was not given the choice of upgrading.

Any other ideas outthere how upgrading of puppy on harddrive could be done?

My problem is currently unsolved and I boot from the CD.


PS

[jonyo]

In most cases, best to start fresh, unless having nothing to lose.

[GrinningLeopard]

Hello,

Isn't it possible to simply replace the two main squash FS files to upgrade a frugal install? I love to try out dingo but I'm running a CF only system, so upgrading from CD involves awkward jiggery-pockery with an USB adapter, a pair of tweezers and a large screwdriver

cheers
GL

[randcoop]

This thread seems to have died unanswered, but I'd like to try to revive it.

I have Puppy 3.01 booting from a USB flash drive. The drive contains all my extra programs and customized settings (e.g., I use XFCE, Opera, and OpenOffice). I'd hate to lose all that in an upgrade.

I have the Live CD of Puppy 4.0 and it works beautifully and I'd love to be able to upgrade my USB to that version. But I don't know how to do that, and I don't want to lose what I've built.

Is it possible to upgrade the USB drive to 4.0? If not, is there a way to create a new one and then copy settings from the 3.01 USB flash drive?

Any help is appreciated.

[yorkiesnorkie]

Hi Randcoop,

I'm still not sure how to do that. You might want to get another USB stick, or backup and re-install to the stick.

Here's what I found. I ran the full install "upgrade" to my HD and found myself without my Seamonkey Mail application, Sylpheed as the Mail application instead, and my saved mail gone. No big deal really, so I elected for the Wipe the second time around.

Puppy 4 is different enough, (and improved!) that you'll want to start fresh and add your favourite apps.

Yorkiesnorkie

[GrinningLeopard]

I'm using a CF card frugal install, which is very similar to an USB install. It's actually really easy to upgrade - took about half an hour but that's only because I was anal and backed up everything first. All you have to do is swap the four main files from your old version for the ones in the dingo .iso. There's a howto on the main puppy site. Be warned though, some of my personal settings were lost (not crucial, it preserved all documents and important stuff) and most of my programs needed re-installing which was fine with me since the newer versions turned out nicer anyway! Here's the link, remember to back up anything of value. Good luck.

http://www.puppylinux.com/flash-puppy.htm

It's a page or so down 'How to upgrade Flash Puppy'

[Sasafrass452]

Reading this thread brought to light a concern of mine.... As I understand it, each time I upgrade, I'll have to reinstall my favorite programs? If so, that's not what I was hoping for. Is there a way to upgrade without losing any programs or personal settings? If not, then Puppy isn't for me I'd rather be able to just upgrade, reboot, & continue using everything as it was before.

[Flash]

It's time once again to remind everyone that Puppy is still a work in progress and perhaps not quite yet ready for prime time. It is not for the faint of heart when it comes to experimenting with your computer. Do your homework. If in doubt, ask in this forum, then back up before proceeding.

[GrinningLeopard]

@Sasafrass452

It is possible, don't get me wrong, it's just not always perfect. Most of my programs were fine, it's just a few needed dependances refreshing after the upgrade due to changes in the puppy base file. When you reboot after upgrading the assistant gives you a list of the missing packages, so it's not too difficult to repair them if you wish.
Check the software portal first, chances are anything you'd miss is in there anyway.

GL

[randcoop]

I'm not faint of heart nor overly concerned about data loss. I will try the suggestions for upgrading and see what happens. Probably won't get to it for another week or so, but will post back here when I'm done, either success or failure.

[jonyo]

I'm not faint of heart nor overly concerned about data loss. I will try the suggestions for upgrading and see what happens. Probably won't get to it for another week or so, but will post back here when I'm done, either success or failure.

Scenario is you have to know what you're doing for a shot at success - ie: having things as they were. Forget the details but a temp file is created with old stuff & it's a one shot deal to sort it out. I think it is lost on reboot.

Rarsa (I think) had a real good post on it.

[randcoop]

Tried and failed, I'm sorry to say. Not sure what I did wrong, frankly. It seems a slight exaggeration to say that Puppy Universal Installer has an upgrade option. It doesn't really. What it does seem to try to do is recognize the existence of an earlier Puppy and then try to somehow leave the files from that version alone while it upgrades the system. It then gives a fairly long list of programs that will need to be re-installed and asks you to write them down on a piece of paper. Those are the files placed in the tmp folder.

Certainly not a tragedy to deal with a fresh install, especially, as someone else pointed out, since this time around there is a considerable difference between 4.0 and 3.0. But it's something that perhaps should be thought about for the future. The upgrade process (both to hard drives and to USB drives) could definitely be better.

[boscobearbank]

This thread seems to have died unanswered, but I'd like to try to revive it.

I have Puppy 3.01 booting from a USB flash drive. The drive contains all my extra programs and customized settings (e.g., I use XFCE, Opera, and OpenOffice). I'd hate to lose all that in an upgrade.

I have the Live CD of Puppy 4.0 and it works beautifully and I'd love to be able to upgrade my USB to that version. But I don't know how to do that, and I don't want to lose what I've built.

Is it possible to upgrade the USB drive to 4.0? If not, is there a way to create a new one and then copy settings from the 3.01 USB flash drive?

Any help is appreciated.

I'm not sure I've seen (what I think is) an answer to your question, so let me give it a shot. This assumes you're booting from a FAT partition on the USB flash drive. First - back up the following 3.01 files from your flash drive: vmlinuz, initrd.gz, pup_301.sfs, zdrv_301.sfs, and your pup_sav file to some place safe.
Second - copy the following files from the 4.0 Live CD to the flash drive: vmlinuz, initrd.gz, pup_4.00.sfs zdrv_400.sfs

[randcoop]

That's good as far as it goes. That problem with Puppy upgrades, I guess, is that they don't carry forward all the tweaks and files you've customized it with.

Part of the problem going from 3.0 to 4.0 is that 4.0 doesn't use GTK1, but 3.0 does. So any programs you've installed that use GTK1 won't work under the new system.

There also seems to be a problem bringing forward sfs files. It may be related to their names (the names of sfs files include the Puppy version, e.g. 301). So it may be that when you upgrade, you just need to convert those names to fit the newer version. I haven't tried that yet.

The ease of copying over the underlying files (as described in the previous post) is absolutely wonderful. But it's not really upgrading an indivdual's computer. Consider, for example, moving from Ubuntu 7.10 to 8.04. The upgrade leaves intact the home folder of the user and so all programs, settings, etc. are left alone and work with the upgraded distro. That can't happen in Puppy.

[raffy]

Maybe it helps to know that the added programs/files in pup_save.2fs are in /initrd/pup_rw. Copying the files, especially the library files, from that location will do long way to keep your installed programs working. For example, after an upgrade, when the program asks for a file, you can try to find it in your saved files.

The related technique is to run your failing program in console so you would know what file/s it is missing.