How to boot puppy from usb with ext2 filesystem? (Solved)

[gherico]

im really planning to try and learn how to compile some apps on puppy using 2 usbs which, the first would be where my puppy is. the 2nd one would be an 8gb usb that will serve as a compiling space. ive read a lot of articleS about compiling in puppy and it was said that it should be done on a linux filesystem. so i formatted my 2gb usb using gparted as ext2 and ticked that boot flag to turn it on. afterwards, i installed precise 5.6.1 using the universal installer from the menu. after pressing enter key from the terminal a lot of times, a dialog came out saying that mbr on usb should be ok, but also gave other options in which i chose default (do nothing) coz i really dont know what those other options are. rebooted, twicked the bios to boot from the usb. but nothing happens. it wont boot. i repeated it. this time, changing the partition table from msdos to bsd. still wont boot. tested it on 2 other usbs, doing it on my 2gb ram lenovo netbook & on different computers on 2 internet shops but had no luck. everything works fine on fat32 but i need linux fs. what have i done wrong?

[Galbi]

Don't know if will help in your case, but my old Celeron D didn't boot (from a usb) until I used:
http://www.plop.at/en/bootmanagers.html

You can use it from a floppy, a CD-ROM or even an entrance in Grub (legacy).

[gherico]

thanks galbi. but all computers i've tested surely can boot from usb (if its on fat filesystem). i just really know why it cant boot if its on ext2, 3 or 4. is this file system thing machine specific?

[OscarTalks]

Are these usb flash drives? Others will know more about this than me, but I think this is because you are attempting to install syslinux as the bootloader which won't work in ext2 file systems. You need to use extlinux but I don't know if this is available from the installer tools. I did this once with an SD card but I installed extlinux manually. Maybe you can try grub instead. I suppose you could boot Puppy in a fat32 partition and do all your compiling in a second mounted partition which is ext2, but it shouldn't be too difficult to get everything in a linux file system if you prefer. Some of the compiling processes will run a little slower in flash drives than they would in a HDD by the way.

LATER;- OK, I did some testing, formatted a usb flash drive as ext2 with the boot flag and then ran Puppy Universal Installer. It DOES install extlinux.sys and extlinux.conf so that is all fine. (I think perhaps it was the BootFlash installer that doesn't).

The thing is though that when the MBR thing comes up if you choose "Do Nothing" it doesn't work. It needs a master boot record thingy.

Run the Puppy Universal Installer again but this time choose "mbr.bin" from the list and it should boot. It just worked for me.

[gherico]

i remember an appearing error on boot saying "incomplete syslinux". yes, they are both flashdrives. 1 8gb kingston dt & a 2gb transcend. what i really appreciate much about puppies is that i can go anywhere without the need to always carry a netbook. just my usbs on my pocket would be enough. its like a guerilla os to me. that's why im really prefering to set things up on flashdrives rather than doing it on HDDs. one more strength i see on using linux fs in flashdrives is that i think its much safer if your using different PCs. it usually happens whenever i forget to change the bios settings to make the machine boot from the flashdriue. usually nasty antivirus apps or virus infection on windows makes the os inside the usb unusable, that is because they can read it. and yes, i was able to do a simple "hello world" on gcc using vFAT where puppy lies and a nonbootable ext3 as a compiling space. but i still wish that they are bootable linux fs. can someone share how to manually install grub or extlinux on usb?

[sunburnt]

Hi gherico;

If Puppy boots from a FAT drive, and you compile on a second ext3 drive, it should work, right?

Is the boot flag set on the USB.? Run Gparted and look at the partition`s flags.
If it`s not set the drive can`t boot, set it in Gparted and try booting again.
You`d think all of the boot managers would set the boot flag automatically. Duh...

Syslinux is for FAT partitions, Extlinux is for ext2-3-4 partitions.
Personally I like grub4dos, but both it and syslinux - extlinux work well.
Puppy can make a USB boot with grub4dos, but backup the partition first.
.

[OscarTalks]

gherico,

Apologies if my edit (of my previous post) cross-posted with your reply. Hopefully you have seen it now.

I don't think you will need grub after all.

Just view the files that have been installed onto the usb stick to see if they are syslinux or extlinux. I think they will be the latter.

If you have done all the steps mentioned (inc. boot flag) and used Puppy Universal Installer it should all work OK.

It is just that when it gets to that GUI about the mbr (which you mentioned in your first post) it does suggest that "Do Nothing" is the "Recommended choice" I know. I think this is the case with fat32 USB sticks, but if you have reformatted to ext2 then you do need to select mbr.bin instead (maybe the documentation needs amending slightly in PUI). I reckon that will solve it for you.

[gherico]

@sunburst, yes i was able to compile with that. thanks for the info. i really dont know that syslinux is for FAT. its almost solued, specialy now that oscar had successfully done it. but sorry guys, its almost 2am here in the philippines and im drowsy now. i'l do what you have done when i wake up oscar and im sure it will work. i should'nt miss that mbr.bin. very much appreciated your help. i'll mark this solved later.

[sunburnt]

From the syslinux docs.:

SYSLINUX is a boot loader for the Linux operating system which runs on an MS-DOS/Windows FAT filesystem.

And from the extlinux docs.:

EXTLINUX is a new syslinux derivative, which boots from a Linux ext2/ext3/ext4 or btrfs filesystem.

I`m not surprised extlinux works for the new btrfs format as it`s made by the same guy that made ext2-3-4.
.

[gherico]

Finally, it booted. Both flash drives.
Reinstalled using Puppy Universal Installer,
formatted drive as ext3 and choosing mbr.bin works.

The only thing is if the partition table is set to bsd, the boot flag on Gparted cant be checked. Anyways, installing puppy on a usb drive with ext3 filesystem; using extlinux, on msdos partition table works.
Solved! Thanks for the help.