How to use Puppy to install a non-puppy .iso to flash drive?

Message

Sky Aisling · #1 Post by **Sky Aisling** » Wed 27 Feb 2019, 17:17

Hello, The goal is to create a live flash drive of Xubuntu Bionic Beaver 18.04 using my Tahrpup-6.05 system.

I've searched the net for how to do this, but, I am finding only instructions for installing using a Windoze OS.
I have queried the Xubuntu chat site and forum. References to Windoze apps and of course Xubuntu/Ubuntu apps abound, but, nothing referencing Puppy, that I can find.

I have down-loaded a raw cd image of Bionic Beaver and have it on sda2.

Universal Installer and Boot Flash Installer and YAPI all seem to be for Puppy installations.

What program do I use to create a working flash drive of Xubuntu 18.04 from within Tahrpup 6.0.5?

Thank you in advance for any suggestions or comments.

Sky

fredx181 · #2 Post by **fredx181** » Wed 27 Feb 2019, 18:37

Hi Sky,

If you have grub4dos bootloader setup already on the flash drive, I'd go for the manual way:
(if not yet setup, you can use the grub4dosconfig program included in Puppy)

1) create a new folder on the flash drive, let's say "xubuntu" (menu.lst example below is according to that)
2) mount (or extract) the Xubuntu ISO
3) copy the folder named "casper" to the new "xubuntu" folder on the flash drive
4) make new entry for Xubuntu in menu.lst, like this:

Code: Select all

title Xubuntu Live boot from /xubuntu/casper
 find --set-root /xubuntu/casper/vmlinuz
 kernel /xubuntu/casper/vmlinuz boot=casper live-media-path=/xubuntu/casper ignore_uuid cdrom-detect/try-usb=true
 initrd /xubuntu/casper/initrd

I just tested this booting from HDD and works, probably works on USB also.

Fred

s243a · #3 Post by **s243a** » Wed 27 Feb 2019, 18:43

You can use the following tool:
YaPI (yet another Puppy Installer) install any Puppy iso

oui · #4 Post by **oui** » Wed 27 Feb 2019, 18:52

fredx181 wrote:Hi Sky,

If you have grub4dos bootloader setup already on the flash drive, I'd go for the manual way:
(if not yet setup, you can use the grub4dosconfig program included in Puppy)

1) create a new folder on the flash drive, let's say "xubuntu" (menu.lst example below is according to that)
2) mount (or extract) the Xubuntu ISO
3) copy the folder named "casper" to the new "xubuntu" folder on the flash drive
4) make new entry for Xubuntu in menu.lst, like this:
Code: Select all
title Xubuntu Live boot from /xubuntu/casper
 find --set-root /xubuntu/casper/vmlinuz
 kernel /xubuntu/casper/vmlinuz boot=casper live-media-path=/xubuntu/casper ignore_uuid cdrom-detect/try-usb=true
 initrd /xubuntu/casper/initrd
I just tested this booting from HDD and works, probably works on USB also.

Fred

that way is easy and elegant!

since we drive with navigations app, we are absolutely not able any more without it. in the past, as my job was acquisition in Africa, as there were no street carts for central Africa, I did drive fully without both!

Thank you Fred, remembering way don't to say (*1 «why simple if there is so easy complicated way

!»

(*1 like German people says

Sky Aisling · #5 Post by **Sky Aisling** » Wed 27 Feb 2019, 19:01

Thank you fredx181

I'll give your suggestion a try and get back to you probably by end of day.

Fredx writes:

Hi Sky,

If you have grub4dos bootloader setup already on the flash drive, I'd go for the manual way:
(if not yet setup, you can use the grub4dosconfig program included in Puppy)

1) create a new folder on the flash drive, let's say "xubuntu" (menu.lst example below is according to that)
2) mount (or extract) the Xubuntu ISO
3) copy the folder named "casper" to the new "xubuntu" folder on the flash drive
4) make new entry for Xubuntu in menu.lst, like this:

Code:
title Xubuntu Live boot from /xubuntu/casper
find --set-root /xubuntu/casper/vmlinuz
kernel /xubuntu/casper/vmlinuz boot=casper live-media-path=/xubuntu/casper ignore_uuid cdrom-detect/try-usb=true
initrd /xubuntu/casper/initrd

I just tested this booting from HDD and works, probably works on USB also.

Fred

Sky

bigpup · #6 Post by **bigpup** » Thu 28 Feb 2019, 01:07

The Linux version of Unetbootin will work in Puppy.
There web site says it can install Xubuntu.
https://unetbootin.github.io/#distros

smokey01 · #7 Post by **smokey01** » Thu 28 Feb 2019, 01:31

Sky Aisling wrote:Hello, The goal is to create a live flash drive of Xubuntu Bionic Beaver 18.04 using my Tahrpup-6.05 system.

@Sky, you could try MultiPup:
http://smokey01.com/software/multipup/M ... r24.tar.gz
A video guide. http://smokey01.com/videos/Multipup.mp4
Forum: http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 185#941185

Another good option is to use rcrsn51 isobooter.
http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=67235

Mike Walsh · #8 Post by **Mike Walsh** » Thu 28 Feb 2019, 15:12

@ Sky:-

I agree with Bigpup. UNetbootin is probably your best option for this particular excercise.

Do bear in mind, though, that if you want to run Xubuntu permanently from a flash drive, there's two options:-

a) You either configure the 'persistence' option in UNetbootin (this is a specialty item, that only works for Ubuntu & 'the flavours' (Lubuntu, Xubuntu, Kubuntu and Ubuntu Mate). Or,

b) You bite the bullet, and do what I did, years ago; do a full install of Xubuntu to a flash drive. It will work, but you gotta realise, it thinks it's on a hard drive.....so it's constantly reading from/writing to the drive in the background. Like all the time. Even allowing for the fact that endurance ratings for flash memory are a lot higher than they were when I tried this, I'd give the drive 12-15 months, tops, before it is totally worn out.

----------------------------

UNetbootin's designed to work with most mainstream distros. For doing what you want to do, I wouldn't even consider anything else.

Mike.

Sky Aisling · #9 Post by **Sky Aisling** » Thu 28 Feb 2019, 16:47

@bigpup @smokey01 @Mike Walsh @Fredx181 @oui @s243a
Thank you for weighing in everyone.

I'll check on unetbootin and MultiPup and rcrsn51's isobooter for a solution.

Grub4dos is giving an error 15.

"Booting Xubuntu-18.04 live boot
find --set-root/xunbuntu/casper/vmlimuz
Error 15 file not found"

I am thinking the parameter pmedia=usbflash is missing?

It appears that sdc1 USB port is not discovered by casper.
The default falls through to the HDD and vmlimuz is not found because it's on the usb stick and not the HDD?

We are almost there.

Sky

fredx181 · #10 Post by **fredx181** » Thu 28 Feb 2019, 18:29

Sky wrote:Grub4dos is giving an error 15.

"Booting Xubuntu-18.04 live boot
find --set-root/xunbuntu/casper/vmlimuz
Error 15 file not found"

I am thinking the parameter pmedia=usbflash is missing?

Looks like "vmlimuz" is misspelled, should be "vmlinuz"
EDIT: But looking at your screenshot Bionic-menu.lst.png, it seems right, so don't know why the error.
EDIT2: So are you sure the paths are existing and correct ? (/xubuntu/casper/...)
The parameter pmedia= is for Puppy, not for Ubuntu.

oui wrote:Thank you Fred, remembering way don't to say (*1 «why simple if there is so easy complicated way Idea !»

Well, yeah, maybe it looks complicated but the "manual" way is the golden way IMO, because it's learning you to get insight in how things work exactly, these programs like Unetbootin or Yapi may not work in all cases.

Fred

Sky Aisling · #11 Post by **Sky Aisling** » Thu 28 Feb 2019, 19:03

@Fredx181
Yes, that misspelling is mine when I recalled the error message from the splash screen. Menu.lst shows the correct spelling.

Smokey01 suggested:

Another good option is to use rcrsn51 isobooter.
http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=67235

Your manual suggestion is similar to rcrsn51's manual isobooter.

Sky Aisling · #12 Post by **Sky Aisling** » Thu 28 Feb 2019, 19:20

OK, I've downloaded Unetbootin.

How do I make it run?

EDIT:
bigpup writes:
http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... b0f44ee4f7

Download the Linux version of Unetbootin.
It is an exec file, but it needs to be given the exec permission.
In the file manager.
Right click on the Unetbootin file and select properties.
Give it exec permissions.
Now left click on the Unetbootin file to run it.

Thanks s243a for the tip.

s243a · #13 Post by **s243a** » Thu 28 Feb 2019, 19:24

bigpup wrote:The Linux version of Unetbootin will work in Puppy.
There web site says it can install Xubuntu.
https://unetbootin.github.io/#distros

We have a thread on this with some puppy specific tweaks:
http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... b0f44ee4f7

The big difference between Unetbootin vs Yapi I believe is that Yapi uses grub4dos and yapi uses syslinux. Depending on ones computer bios one or both of these may work. I typically uses grub4dos on fat type partition and syslinux on ext type partition.

fredx181 · #14 Post by **fredx181** » Thu 28 Feb 2019, 19:31

Sky Aisling wrote:@Fredx181
Yes, that misspelling is mine when I recalled the error message from the splash screen. Menu.lst shows the correct spelling.

Smokey01 suggested:
Another good option is to use rcrsn51 isobooter.
http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=67235
Your manual suggestion is similar to rcrsn51's manual isobooter.

Yes, your menu.lst entry seems to be OK,, only thing to check is that the path is existing/correct on your flash drive: /xubuntu/casper/..., if it is, I have no idea what's the cause of the error

Fred

Sky Aisling · #15 Post by **Sky Aisling** » Thu 28 Feb 2019, 21:15

fredx181

only thing to check is that the path is existing/correct on your flash drive: /xubuntu/casper/..., if it is, I have no idea what's the cause of the error

How do I get into initrd to check the pathway?

I changed the name of the directory on the sdc1 drive from 'Xubuntu-18.04' to 'Xubuntu' then rebooted.

This gave me a new error 15 message:
"Booting Xubuntu Live boot from /Xubuntu/casper
(hd0,0)
[linux-bzImage, setup=0x4200, size=0x7d9df81
initrd /xubuntu/casper/initrd"

This error message is different from the first error-15 message.
First message references vmlinuz as the sticking point.
Second message after changing directory name appears to reference initrd as the sticking point.

How do I get into initrd to check the pathway?

In-the-meantime I am woodshedding Unetbootin, and rcsn51's manual setup and Smokey's app.

Sky Aisling · #16 Post by **Sky Aisling** » Fri 01 Mar 2019, 00:57

SOLVED!

ISObooter did the trick!
ISObooter went slick as a whistle on first try.
Thank you rcrsn51 and thank you Smokey01 for the reminder of rc's work.

I struggled with Unetbootin to recognize the USB drive.
I tried the terminal codes suggested in bigpup's tutorial, but, they wouldn't execute in my system.

So, I went to ISObooter with no hassles involved.

Thank you everyone for your patience. I learned alot today. Hope your day continues as well.

Sky

fredx181 · #17 Post by **fredx181** » Fri 01 Mar 2019, 09:24

Hi Sky, good that you solved it.
Just to answer your question:

How do I get into initrd to check the pathway?

No need to get into the initrd, I did mean that the path where the files are located (e.g. vmlinuz) must match exactly with the path in menu.lst
So if you have the path /Xubuntu/casper/vmlinuz on the flash drive (Xubuntu with capital X), then should be in menu.lst:

Code: Select all

 kernel /Xubuntu/casper/vmlinuz .... ....
 initrd /Xubuntu/casper/initrd

Fred

Sky Aisling · #18 Post by **Sky Aisling** » Fri 01 Mar 2019, 18:25

Hi Fred,

Yes, I think you were right in your hunch of what was wrong.
After I reformatted the drive and applied rcrns51's ISObooter successfully, I cleaned off all the screen shots of the menu.lst images. As I deleted the images I noticed the case status of the 'X' in Xubuntu. There was a difference.

I had only one flash drive left to play with that day before I gave up on the Grub4Dos attempt. I toyed with the idea of spending the next day driving into to town to get another drive so I could keep going with the original project. But, my 'carbon footprint obsession' took over. I decided firing up a 1,500 lb car and heading down the road wasn't worth the small bit of plastic and metal of another flash drive. So, I erased the drive and started over again with ISObooter.

Thank you for your help. Yes, I do understand that data names and pathways need to match. Me 79 year old eye balls sometimes miss the small screen details now and then.

Sky

Burn_IT · #19 Post by **Burn_IT** » Sat 02 Mar 2019, 13:30

It is very very easy to read text as what you think is there rather than what is
is really there

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