Flash drive Puppy settings didn't take

[RetroTechGuy]

... other times I just have to yank the USB out of its socket to shut off the system.

Yikes! It's even better to use the shutdow button on your machine if you must.
IIRC the 'reboot: power down' is okay, I have it also. But the minutes' wait to shutdown is not. Then do a reboot with pfix=fsck, a few times.

Personally, I set pfix=fsck as my default -- I don't want a corrupted save file (in the early days, I regularly had save files "eat themselves"...until I did this -- I think that it should be the default, and let the expert users remove it if they don't want it -- as a default, booting from the CD would perform the same action -- newbie friendly).

Some USB and flash media devices are fairly slow to write. If the USB port isn't being correctly identified as USB2, it will be even slower yet. This is why I usually try to run my Puppy from a HDD instead, the shutdown is faster. Otherwise, be patient and see if it completes (an actual minute or two to write the data to flash isn't too surprising, depending on the size of your save file).

[jafadmin]

Never remove the boot disk while the machine is running. Just like Windows.

If it was possible for you to boot windows from a thumbdrive, you would experience exactly the same failure if you removed that thumbdrive while booted.

If things go wonky, turn off the machine. Just like windows.

[bushrat]

@RetroTechgGuy

Personally, I set pfix=fsck as my default

sorry I have to ask this simple question, but exactly how do I do that? and what default are you referring to? and I made a PupSave backup but again, how do I deploy that if I need it?.... you see I really know nothing except for finding stuff in menus and installing something if it's in one of them, but fiddling with boot options and resetting parameters in system files? I'm still lost, so a lot of good advice from forum members just goes over my head.

[RetroTechGuy]

@RetroTechgGuy

Personally, I set pfix=fsck as my default

sorry I have to ask this simple question, but exactly how do I do that? and what default are you referring to? and I made a PupSave backup but again, how do I deploy that if I need it?.... you see I really know nothing except for finding stuff in menus and installing something if it's in one of them, but fiddling with boot options and resetting parameters in system files? I'm still lost, so a lot of good advice from forum members just goes over my head.

No problem Bushrat!

So your flashdrive has a file called "syslinux.cfg". Make a copy of that (e.g. syslinux.cfg.orig or some such), then edit syslinux.cfg (now you have a copy, in case you mess something up).

I just stuck a flash drive in, so hopefully yours will be basically the same (different generations have slightly different formats -- my flash drive has a basic Lupu 5.28 installed).

My syslinux.cfg looks like this:

Code: Select all

default puppy
display boot.msg
prompt 1
timeout 50

F1 boot.msg
F2 help.msg
F3 help2.msg

label puppy
kernel vmlinuz
append initrd=initrd.gz pmedia=usbflash pfix=fsck,nocopy

In this case, the "append" is a line continuation of sorts. At the very end, I put in "pfix-fsck,nocopy". This performs a "fsck" on the save file, and instructs Puppy to not copy the "lupu_528.sfs" into RAM.

On my hard drive installion, the setup is similar -- but not identical (since I installed "grub" on the drive, the configuration is instead in /mnt/home/boot/grub/menu.lst"). I have several installations of Puppy on this drive, so I can choose one on boot -- it looks like this (when I installed each of these, the installation process ended by telling me exactly what to stick in the menu.lst -- I slightly modified it, putting each in a subdirectory):

Code: Select all

title Puppy Linux New Sulu
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
kernel /Sulu/vmlinuz pmedia=atahd psubdir=Sulu pfix=fsck
initrd /Sulu/initrd.gz

title Puppy Linux Super Lupu 1 Rescue mode
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
kernel /Sulu/vmlinuz pmedia=atahd psubdir=Sulu pfix=fsck,ram
initrd /Sulu/initrd.gz

title Puppy Linux Old Sulu
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
kernel /SuluOld/vmlinuz pmedia=atahd psubdir=SuluOld pfix=fsck
initrd /SuluOld/initrd.gz

title Puppy Linux 528 frugal in sda1 dir puppy528
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
kernel /puppy528/vmlinuz pmedia=atahd psubdir=puppy528 pfix=fsck
initrd /puppy528/initrd.gz

Notice that the "Rescue mode" version says "ram", rather than "noram" or "nocopy" -- this will boot without using a save file, so it's all up in RAM, and the drive not mounted -- then you can perform fsck (file system check) on the boot drive -- do don't file checks on mounted systems.

[bushrat]

thank you RTG...

I'll see if I can get my head around that.

Perhaps you could explain another small thing....

There are 3 boxes along the bottom LHS of my screen just after the 'terminal' button. What are they doing?
Box 1. appears to show my working windows and open files, sometimes also shows desktop with almost permanent message "saving session to savefile" - is this kosher? is it just a reminder that save operations are working in the background? it seems to be showing the message almost constantly?

This message is separate from the periodic orange message at the top of the screen 'saving Ram to pupsave' or whatever.

You can see where I'm at, still trying to figure out what anything means...




Box 2. shows desktop - no message.
Box 3. shows desktop - no message.

what's the idea behind Boxes 2 and 3?

[bushrat]

@RTG

my syslinux.cfg looks like this:

#display help/boot.msg
default xenialpup64
prompt 1
timeout 100

#F1 help/boot.msg
F2 help/help.msg
F3 help/help2.msg


ui /menu.c32
menu resolution 800 600
menu title xenialpup64 Live
menu background xenial.png
menu tabmsg Press Tab to edit entry, F2 for help, Esc for boot prompt
menu color border 37;40 #80ffffff #00000000 std
menu color sel 7;37;40 #80ffffff #20ff8000 all
menu margin 1
menu rows 20
menu tabmsgrow 26
menu cmdlinerow -2
menu passwordrow 19
menu timeoutrow 28
menu helpmsgrow 30



label xenialpup64
linux vmlinuz
initrd initrd.gz
append pmedia=cd
menu label xenialpup64
text help
Start xenialpup64 normally.
endtext


label xenialpup64-fsck
linux vmlinuz
initrd initrd.gz
append pfix=fsck pmedia=cd
menu label xenialpup64 filesystem check
text help
Start xenialpup64 normally with save filesystem check.
endtext


label xenialpup64-ram
linux vmlinuz
initrd initrd.gz
append pfix=ram pmedia=cd
menu label xenialpup64 with no savefile
text help
Start xenialpup64 with no savefile RAM only.
endtext


label xenialpup64-nox
linux vmlinuz
initrd initrd.gz
append pfix=nox pmedia=cd
menu label xenialpup64 without graphical desktop
text help
Start xenialpup64 in command-line mode (Linux console).
Graphical desktop later can be started by typing "xwin".
endtext


menu separator

label xenialpup64-nokms
linux vmlinuz
initrd initrd.gz
append pfix=ram,nox pmedia=cd
menu label For machines with severe video problems
text help
Start xenialpup64 without savefile, without KMS, and run xorgwizard
to choose video resolutions before starting graphical desktop.
endtext

so, there's lots of xenialpup instructions - one of which does have 'pfix=fsck' so which other ones do I add your instruction to?

thanks

[s243a]

@RTG
so, there's lots of xenialpup instructions - one of which does have 'pfix=fsck' so which other ones do I add your instruction to?

thanks

You don't have to if you boot via the menu item that contains the "fsck". Where it says

Code: Select all

default xenialpup64 

is the default menu item that will be loaded. The name of the menu item is where it says lable. You can simply change the default to one of them that has the boot with the fsck.

You may find the following links interesting:
http://puppylinux.org/wikka/BootParametersPuppy
http://puppylinux.org/wikka/BootParameters/
http://puppylinux.dreamhosters.com/help/BootParms.htm
boot parmaters, case wrong on wiki?

[bigpup]

There are 3 boxes along the bottom LHS of my screen just after the 'terminal' button. What are they doing?

Those are different desktops you can access.
Called virtual desktops.
Those 3 boxes are icons for each desktop.
When Puppy boots you are seeing desktop 1.

If you left click on that tray icon for desktop 2 you are now looking at desktop 2.

Desktop 3 etc.....

Here is how you use this.
Open some programs in desktop 1.

Go to desktop 2, open some different programs.

Go to desktop 3, open some programs.

Now you can left click on the tray desktop icons to go back and forth to each desktop.
Each desktop shows different programs active, but they only display on the desktop they were opened on.
Have to use this to really see what it does.

The normal icons on the desktop are going to be on each desktop.

You can make more or less virtual desktops by using menu>Desktop>JWMDesk manager>Tray
Change the virtual desktops settings

[bigpup]

About the time it seems to take to write to the save.

I will assume the USB drive is USB 2 or 3.

If you plug it into a USB 1 port, it will take a lot longer to do writes to the save.

So try a different USB port and see if the time to write changes.

Also, at shutdown the stuff that has not already been written to the save, is written, before it completes the shutdown.
If there is a lot of stuff, it can take several minutes on a slow USB port, computer, or USB drive.

[bushrat]

@RTG

I already use the boot option to check filesystem before loading so I'm guessing I don't need to do any of the stuff we were discussing. No file errors reported so I'm good to go.

Now I have to confess to another issue which possibly accounts for the loss of my original flash drive settings. The incident happened again today and fortunately by accident I had mounted my old flash drive and not the new one I prepared.

I sometimes forget to use the power button on my machine and run on battery alone. But there's a downside to that. If the battery output gets to a critical low level my machine just shuts off right in the middle of everything. It simply dumps the lot and shuts down, no warning no nothing - it's OFF.

Now I've played around so much with Puppy over the last few weeks I'm sure that somewhere along the line another of these abrupt shutdowns might have occurred and might well have been the cause of a lot of my original problems. After such a shutdown Puppy will still boot from a machine restart but it might not have properly preserved its settings (I'm guessing) and reverts back to initial status? I'll be using the power button from now on, unless I can find a way to get a screen warning that things are about to go ass-up.

Despite that operating glitch all posts to date have been very useful to me I've followed them up and learned a a lot of things along the way - it's all good but I really need to get on top of Puppy's file system, without a good understanding of it i'll be struggling forever.

thanks to all again.

[bigpup]

you all appear resigned to Puppy failure occasionally?

This is all about installing Linux programs that are not specifically compiled for Puppy and even the specific Puppy version.

They can do some strange things at times.

It is just a Linux problem that we have to live with.
Too many versions of Linux and they are all slightly different from each other.

Programs have to be compiled for a specific Linux version or versions.

Some programs just install and work on a lot of Linux versions (Puppy versions)
Some do not!


Basic info on installing additional programs.

Program packages need to be compiled for Puppy for the best chance to work. Puppy has it's own way of doing things.
Program packages are available in several ways. What you are looking for is probably available in one of them.

Puppy Package Manager(PPM), that is installed with the version of Puppy Linux you have, is the best place to get new programs. It will open, showing programs that are known to work on your version of Puppy.
1. Run Puppy Package Manager.
2. Left mouse click on a listed program.
3. Follow install directions
4. Program installs.

Depending on the version of Puppy you have, the package manager will have option to get packages from repositories other then Puppy repositories. The package manager will need to be configured for them.
This is how:
Run Puppy Package Manager (PPM)
Select configure package manager.
Select the repositories you want to show.
Select update now.
After the update process, (it will take some time to update).
Close and restart PPM.
Should now see your new repositories at top of PPM window.
You then select the one you want to show in listings.
Note:
When getting packages from non-Puppy repositories, make sure you click on examine dependencies button (if offered) and download and install any identified as needed along with program package.
(newest version of PPM does this automatically)

Additional Software (PETs, n' stuff)section of this forum is the next best place to look. However, you must keep in mind that you will find programs that where originally compiled under a specific version of Puppy and they may or may not work with your version.
General rule is to read the posting for the program pet and see if there is any info that would indicate what version of Puppy it will work under.
Most of the stuff will work on a large portion of Puppies, but not 100% guaranteed.
You may find more then one version of a program. Sometimes that makes a difference.
1. Find a program you want.
2. Open the program thread.
3. find the link for downloading the program pet.
4. Left mouse click on the link
5. Follow the directions to either install or save.
(If you save the pet file you can install by viewing the pet file in Rox-Filer (file manager) and left click on it)

[bushrat]

@bigpup
thanks for a clear explanation of the menubar - that's exactly the sort of stuff newcomers need. I came to the conclusion that as you said play with it and see what happens. There's no way I'll be playing with 'root' yet.

(If you care to read my previous post you might see why I've had a bit of trouble lately.)

it's a good job I'm not paying you guys for advice, i'd be broke by now...

I think your earlier comment on Windows hints at a major difference between the systems. Windows is a lot more tolerant of idiots and provides more warnings if you're about to do something stupid, Linux presumes a level of understanding higher than Windows so less warning messages? I'd also guess that most Puppy users were already Linux users.

until the next time, thanks again.

[bushrat]

@bigpup

just saw your expo on file stuff I'm very grateful.

I think I need to digest all your stuff for a while then I'll come back. It might sound sometimes like i'm a complete tool but without going into detail I'll just say that even with all the computer science in my background I am finding Linux related stuff a challenge for now - i'll beat it eventually, i always do (at least I'll say that for myself).

[bigpup]

You are probably correct in your thinking about the sudden power loss.
That will corrupt the save, if it happened to be doing writes to it, when this happened.

Laptop battery level warning is a moving target in getting a battery monitor that will work in every possible laptop.
There are several of them in the forum.

You could try this battery monitor and see how it works for you.
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=85752

[s243a]

You are probably correct in your thinking about the sudden power loss.
That will corrupt the save, if it happened to be doing writes to it, when this happened.

Laptop battery level warning is a moving target in getting a battery monitor that will work in every possible laptop.
There are several of them in the forum.

You could try this battery monitor and see how it works for you.
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=85752

One good remedy to this might be to turn off autosave. This can be done in the "puppy event manager", which is located under the system menu. Then under the save session tab set the value to 0.

This way you can ensure that you only save your session when your battery has a good charge. A button will appear on the desktop that can be pressed to save the session.

On another note, all these USB problems can be avoided by installing to hard drive, which they original poster may want to consider if they have more than one computer.

[bushrat]

@bigpup
I'll look at the battery warning stuff after I'm done with other stuff

@s234a
thanks for your comment.
One of the great things for me about Puppy is it effectively runs a ramdisk, installing on hard drive would take all the fun out of it. One thing I will eventually do though is boot Puppy from an SSD external drive rather than USB sticks which I've found are not really long term reliable?

cheers. that's it from me for today.

[s243a]

@bigpup
I'll look at the battery warning stuff after I'm done with other stuff

@s234a
thanks for your comment.
One of the great things for me about Puppy is it effectively runs a ramdisk, installing on hard drive would take all the fun out of it. One thing I will eventually do though is boot Puppy from an SSD external drive rather than USB sticks which I've found are not really long term reliable?

cheers. that's it from me for today.

You can play around with boot parmaters to try to get the same behaviour such as:

Code: Select all

pfix=copy

lie to it and tell it:

Code: Select all

pmedia=usb

and newer versions let you set the PUPMODE
http://bkhome.org/archive/puppylinux/de ... works.html

Edit: Just made some fixes. Had the wrong boot paramaters above.

[bushrat]

I've had a an epiphany with Linux Puppy, I now realise I expected too much too soon. I first thought, a couple of days and I'll have made the switch from Windows to Puppy and I'll live happily ever after...

thing is, people making the transition starting out with no knowledge of anything Linux will find themselves stubbing their toes at every Linux turn. Unrealistic expectations of one's ability to learn a very different O/S in a very short span of time can only lead to disappointment and certain frustration - at this point many would-be Linux converts drop their bundle and return to the comfortable but captive state of a Windows user.

so I'm gonna take my time, learn the fundamentals, particularly file handling. Right now I don't know where to look for anything or where to put anything and don't know why things are where they are. The sometimes cryptic file naming system is something I need to get used to. Also I need to get a handle on how to compile apps and so on.

The help afforded to new users from experienced forum members is amazing (though they sometimes overestimate new users capabilities) I'm really impressed with their assistance and it can't be easy for them either dealing with people who are starting at ground zero.

Thanks to all for their assistance. I'll no doubt be back...

[s243a]

I've had a an epiphany with Linux Puppy, I now realise I expected too much too soon. I first thought, a couple of days and I'll have made the switch from Windows to Puppy and I'll live happily ever after...

thing is, people making the transition starting out with no knowledge of anything Linux will find themselves stubbing their toes at every Linux turn. Unrealistic expectations of one's ability to learn a very different O/S in a very short span of time can only lead to disappointment and certain frustration - at this point many would-be Linux converts drop their bundle and return to the comfortable but captive state of a Windows user.

so I'm gonna take my time, learn the fundamentals, particularly file handling. Right now I don't know where to look for anything or where to put anything and don't know why things are where they are. The sometimes cryptic file naming system is something I need to get used to. Also I need to get a handle on how to compile apps and so on.

The help afforded to new users from experienced forum members is amazing (though they sometimes overestimate new users capabilities) I'm really impressed with their assistance and it can't be easy for them either dealing with people who are starting at ground zero.

Thanks to all for their assistance. I'll no doubt be back...

If you are going to keep your windows installation you could try virtualization. Fatdog64 runs well in a virtualbox. I've had issues running tahrpup in a virtualbox. It works but I needed some tricks. Note that virtualbox isn't the only virtualization solution for windows. I think that vmware might work better for puppylinux on windows but I haven't tried it. Note that if you are running virtual machines on windows you'll probably want at least 4-8gb of ram. You'll give the virtual machine running puppy about 1gb of that ram (give or take) depending on what you are doing...or at least that is my minimum but I often try to run ram intensive aps like freenet, or multiple facebook tabs j/k

[Burn_IT]

I use PMEDIA=IDEHD on mine to STOP it trying to save back to USB so often.