Puppy/Puppeee installation on netbook

[carlsfar]

What I wish for Christmas (or earlier) is a Puppy Linux installation like some Ubuntu distros, that has a bootloader in the package.
I have used a lot of time trying to find a tutorial on how to make my netbook dual boot Win7 and Pupeee.
All the time I hit Win XP. I tried GRUB4WIN, but could not make it work. It said something like "no windows OS found"

I think more people like me (non-programmers) would use Puppy for netbooks if it came with dual-boot for Win7.

Thanks in advance

[nooby]

Carl, you maybe should tell us which Netbook you do have?

I guess from this "my netbook dual boot Win7 and Pupeee. "
that you most likely have Asus EEEPC then? or you have an Acer Aspire One? or a HP 110? or MSI? or ...

Anyway I have an Acer D250 which is 10" screen and use a N270 CPU Atom and I tried two different ways to get puppee running on it. Like you I also did the Ubuntu Wubi or the LinuxMint GRUB4WIN.

I used GRUB4WIN first and failed and deleted it. Then I found Jolicloud that had a wubi install on their Safe version. (But that was two years ago and them have more modern jolicloud now so don't apply)

That worked and I could install puppy as another entry in that menu.lst it created deep within jolicloud grub. several layers down.

But that is a huge overlay just to get puppy running so I would rather trust Shinobar's way of using grub4dos.

Now him do a backup of MBR and that is a crucial thing. That will rescue your Win7 if somethign goes wrong okay!

So it all depends on if him have done that part right. I don't know but I trust him on it.

So the problem is how to get to run his grub4dosconfig without first installing it. You can have it on a USB installed from win7 using unetbootin?
or you could follow some good instruction telling you how to do a frugal install on usb and from there do teh grub4dosconfig.

Looks like this on my Acer. check up how many partitions your netbook has. That is important. usually one partition is for recovery and then one for the OEM and then one for Win7 so usually three or two partitions.

now my grub4dos for win7

Code: Select all

# menu.lst produced by grb4dosconf
color white/blue black/cyan white/black cyan/black
timeout 5
default 0

# Frugal installed Puppy 

 title  puppeee44 
  rootnoverify (hd0,2)
  kernel /puppeee44/vmlinuz pmedia=scsihd psubdir=puppeee44 i915.modeset=1 pfix=fsck 
  initrd /puppeee44/initrd.gz


# Windows

title Windows Vista/2008/7\nBoot up Windows Vista/2008/7 if installed
  rootnoverify (hd0,1)
  chainloader /bootmgr

There are also more adventures ways to get it on there. There are an .exe file that installs it and you have to read these threads here to know if you dare to use it.

Important. The grub3dosconfig can go wrong. it did that for me first and I had to ask Shinobar to repair it. So it is not so easy.

There is a third (Fourth) way and that is described in some thread too.
Them change something in the Registry or soemthing and that allow it to make an install. I know too little but wanted to give you a start to chew on.

use the search in my signature and look for puppy exe install from windows but also for the grub4dosconfig

[carlsfar]

Thank you Nooby et al,

I found in my search the Puppy Lucid 528.exe that you just copy to the c: drive under Windows and execute.
First I saved the lupusave (or pupsave) file on sda1, which is NTFS format, but that didn't work well. Now I use sda2, which is FAT32 and that seems to work.
I'm currently exploring Linux and enjoying it

[Varmint]

I put Lucid Puppy 5.01 on my Acer Aspire One, an older ZG5 unit, which tri-boots with WinXP & Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick Meerkat). I used puppy's GPARTED utility to shrink the windows partition and add linux ext3 partitions, then installed my linux distros into them. AFTER I installed all my chosen distros I re-booted puppy from my cd, which is what I used to install from initially, and re-ran the GRUB utility. Then I shut down GRUB (and only GRUB) and opened up the drive, which on my system is /dev/sda3, navigated to /boot/grub/menu.lst and edited the entries to reflect what I wanted. The installer doesn't do this for you. Instead, when installed, you'll find your entries say something like "linux on.....etc" or "other....on sdaX" where "X" is the partition number. This line, called "title" is what I edited. Below is a copy of my menu.lst file from my own Acer netbook:

Menu.lst code (from Acer Aspire One Netbook):

# GRUB configuration file '/boot/grub/menu.lst'.
# generated by 'grubconfig'. Sat Jul 31 16:35:24 2010
#
# The backup copy of the MBR for drive '/dev/sda' is
# here '/boot/grub/mbr.sda.6613'. You can restore it like this.
# dd if=/boot/grub/mbr.sda.6613 of=/dev/sda bs=512 count=1
#
# Start GRUB global section
#timeout 30
color light-gray/blue black/light-gray
# End GRUB global section
#
# Linux bootable partition config begins
title Puppy Linux 5.0.1 (on /dev/sda3)
root (hd0,2)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/sda3 ro vga=normal
# Linux bootable partition config ends
#
# Linux bootable partition config begins
title Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat (on /dev/sda4)
root (hd0,3)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.35-28-generic root=UUID=b72c858b-0aee-4271-9034-d9fb6ce87708 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.35-28-generic
# Linux bootable partition config ends
#
# NTFS bootable partition config begins
title Windows (on /dev/sda2)
rootnoverify (hd0,1)
makeactive
chainloader +1
# NTFS bootable partition config ends
#
# Other bootable partition config begins
title Acer Recovery (on /dev/sda1)
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
makeactive
chainloader +1
# Other bootable partition config ends
#
title Install GRUB to Linux partition (on /dev/sda3)
root (hd0,2)
setup (hd0,2)
pause Press enter to continue.
title - For help press 'c', then type: 'help'
root (hd0)
title - For usage examples, type: 'cat /boot/grub/usage.txt'
root (hd0)

*** End of code ***

I hope this helps. I've also installed puppy on my Asus Eee 701SD, but I didn't keep windoze on it. Instead, I installed a some puppies & slackware, but I've also had other distros on it and the Acer as well, such as several flavors of BSD, Backtrack, Helix, and too many others to mention here. All of these were installed and then booted through Puppy's excellent GRUB utility. If or when you feel brave, you now have an example of what worked for someone else. Until then, enjoy the installation you have now!

73 de varmint

[nooby]

Cool you are a HAM Radio guy.

okay here is my grub4dos variation on how to get to ms Win7

# Windows

title Windows Vista/2008/7\nBoot up Windows Vista/2008/7 if installed
rootnoverify (hd0,1)
chainloader /bootmgr

explanation. The boot manager seems to be on partiton 2 or sda2 while the windows as such seems to be on sda3 on my computer.

So my lupu and puppy are on (hd0,2)

I also had problem findign win7 but after that change it just worked

[azstew]

The easiest, and I think safest way to install puppy, is to install it to an SDHC card and run it from the netbook card slot.
Select desired OS at start-up.

[carlsfar]

Hi everybody,
your responses are overwhelming
To azstew: That was how I started out and it works, but I like a more sleek working system. I am now helped along and will turn my (hardware) resources to other topics.
Cheers guys

[Varmint]

I thought I should mention this, although it has been said before:

When installing Windows and Linux/Unix alongside each other in dual/multi-boot installations, you'll find it works best if Windows is on the first partition. I don't know why, but it seems to like being first, and you'll save yourself a boatload of grief if you just do this. However....there's no reason at all why you have to have the first partition at the top of your boot list. If you refer to my previous post above where I shared my menu.lst file, you can see that Windows, although on the first partition, is actually one of the LAST entries in my menu.lst file. The recovery file, which is equivalent to having an install CD, is the last entry in this list.

The reason I did this is very simple: I don't want to boot into Windows or Acer Recovery, which is the Windows installer, by default. Now I can boot directly into Puppy by default, or Ubuntu by choice. Of course, as you can see, I've since disabled the "timeout" setting so my PC no longer boots into anything until I make a choice. This is my preference, and yours may vary. Those of you who run linux under windows may not have these options, or may have others I haven't explored.

73 de varmint

[nooby]

Varmint? Do you recover the Win7 then by using an external DVD burner or how? I mean now when you changed the HDD by doing participation on it then the recovery would not recognize it anymore? I guess you don't care about Ms Win7? I need it for my smartphones for updating and for
Bank Identification programs that only work on Win7
I have an Acer D250 without DVD. Recovery has its own NTFS partition.

[Varmint]

nooby, I have WinXP on my Acer Aspire One, and I never really deleted it on that netbook. I use puppy's GPARTED utility to shrink the NTFS (WinXP) partition, leaving a large blank space for my ext3 partition, into which I install Puppy from my USB CD/DVD drive. Of course, you don't need an external cd drive, but I use one since it's easier (for me) than doing this from a USB stick, as I always do FULL Installs instead of FRUGAL, which I detest. I save frugal installs for thumbdrives. I did full installs on my SSD drive on my other netbook as well by telling it to install to an internal ide/sata drive, but that's another story. I like about 20-30gb for my puppy install, and about 40bg each for Windwos and any other 'nix installations on my drive. You may want more (or less) than what I use. I only had about 120gb of usable space to play with, as I left (for now) the first (Acer WinXP Recovery) partition intact on my system.

Let's say you already WIPED your Win7 installation and partition (BLOODY HELL!!!)

Don't panic, just re-install it. It WILL likely use the whole drive to do this, even though it's not needed. No problem. Once installed, shut down and boot into Puppy. Use Puppy's GPARTED utility to shrink the partition down so you'll have enough for your other distros. You can only have 4 primary partitions on this drive, so remember this. The FIRST one should be windows, as it likes being first. Then, and this is where you and I may differ....use GPARTED to raise the BOOT flag on your puppy partition, which may now be sda2 (second partition). When done, close GPARTED and install puppy to sda2, or whatever partition you gave it. You'll notice I indicated ext3 partitions, although you could make ext4 partitions if you wish. I haven't tried this and don't know what happens if you do, especially with the GRUB bootloader. Note that if you're installing an earlier version of puppy like versions 2-4 you might want to use ext2 filesystems instead. Follow the prompts carefully until the installations are done, but DON'T shut down just yet. Before shutting down, go to /boot/grub/menu.lst and edit the "title" entries to reflect what you want. Refer back to my previous post if you wish, as sometimes windows won't boot with the default entries GRUB uses. If you print out my menu.lst file in the earlier post you can refer to it for an idea what your entries should look like. I have no reason yet to believe my entries won't work for Vista or Win7, but then I don't have those here, so your mileage may vary. This is about all I can think of at this point.

I should mention also at this point that it's probably not good to have more than one or two linux distros on your system, unless you simply wish to play with them to learn how they all operate. I have Slackware on this desktop unit right now as well as puppy and debian. I should also point out that, no matter how secure you think your system is, if you have puppy installed you are running as root and therefore, are fully capable of accessing the other partitions and wrecking them if you don't know what you're doing. Use puppy to learn how linux functions FIRST, then start fiddling with your other distros' partitions from puppy. Also, there are a couple exceptions to this. One is to use encrypted home directories in your other distros to minimize damage from possible breaches. The other exception that I'm aware of is to put BSD on another partition. It's particular filesystem structure is invisible from the linux distros I've used. However, you CAN access your other partitions from BSD, so you need to be aware of the risks associated with this.

Finally, I'm (obviously) no guru....I'm a USER that likes to fiddle and learn. I haven't had any infections on any of my own systems in years, and I haven't had an antivirus on any of my systems including windows in several years. I don't boot into windows often, but I DID shut off ALL services and background processes I can that allow access from the web, as well as any that are known vectors for infection, unless it's something I actually need. The general rule here is: If Gates made it, REPLACE IT with something that doesn't suck, preferably open-source stuff. If you do this you'll find your windows installation is not only faster/safer, but quite usable. I use mine for the same reasons you do, nooby, but just not as often. Let us know if there's something else we can help with, and sorry for being such a windbag here, but if you wish to keep Win7 while learning/using linux I hope this all helps.

73 de varmint

[rjbrewer]

Varmint;

I agree with you about full installs and have always used them
on hard drive, dual or multi-booting with various Windows
on the first partition and grub (legacy) on mbr.

Nooby is irrationally paranoid about his Win MBR, and
very ignorant about full installs....especially their ease of
installation and reliability compared to frugal installs.

Most netbooks don't come with a reinstall disk, so making a
recovery disk or usb is the best thing to do.....even if one
only plans to use Win and nothing else on the drive.