cant install on usb with ext3 filesystem

[jctots]

hello... im just a new user of puppy linux, and im always running puppy2 on cdrom. ive tried to install puppy2 on my usb drive with a fat16 filesystem and it works with no problems. then somebody said to me that it is better if i will install puppy on an ext3 filesystem so i partitioned my usb drive with 50% fat16 & 50% ext3.

but whem im installing on the ext3 partition, it is always unsuccesful (i have a screenshot but i cant attach files ). the contents of the partition is always empty after the install. is there anything that ive done wrong? your replies are highly appreciated.. thanks...

[Sit Heel Speak]

This is just a wild guess: right-click the white-on-blue Free Memory icon (a number followed by letter "M") at lower right, left-click "View mounted partition sizes," and see if the ext3 partition has been mounted. If not, mount it before you install Puppy to it. I believe the command in rxvt would be

mount -t ext3 /dev/sda2 /mnt/sda2

Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

[Nathan F]

No, it's just that currently the installer wants a single fat partition. See the other thread.

Nathan

[Sit Heel Speak]

Ah. I see. Thanks. I can think of only one possible advantage to the ext2 or ext3 filesystem format, and that is if the user is running a small not-Puppy distro as the underdog layer on a large USB stick. Symbolic links would thereby be allowed/preserved. But I doubt that anyone is willing to modify the installer to provide for such an arcane stunt.

[jctots]

currently the installer wants a single fat partition

hmm when im installing on a multi-partitioned usb... the wizard ask me in what partition i want to install puppy. so i think thats not the problem... anyway thanks

[Nathan F]

A recent post by Barry clarified this for me a bit.

It can be done though, and I did do it once, and built the capability into the Universal Installer, but after that did no more, so don't know if there are bugs/gotchas -- well obviously there are -- in going that route with the Installer.
But right, as you buy a flash drive already formatted fat16, leave it alone, no point in changing it.

So let me summarize, it should be possible and I was mistaken in my earlier comment. But as of right now probably still better to stick with fat. He mentioned nothing about multiple partitions and this is an area I'm still unclear on. My apologies for jumping the gun a bit.

I would say that if your goal is to further Puppy development then go ahead, but if your goal is to get a working Puppy usb stick then better to stick with one fat partition.

Nathan

[jctots]

so, if my goal is to further Puppy development... can i edit the script of the universal installer? i think the only problem is in the script. because when im trying to install at ext3, the script wants to install only to /dev/, but when installing at fat16, the script installs on /dev/sda1/. so is it possible that i can open the script and append /sda1/ on some part of it? thanks for your help..

[Nathan F]

You could do so, but it's slightly more complicated than that really. You should take into account that sda1 might not be the only usb drive on the machine, for instance my box has a universal flash card reader built in and my usb key shows up as sde1. So it might be better to give the user a chance to enter which device to use rather than just going right fo sda1.

If you're confident in your abilities then by all means go ahead. If not then I'm sure someone will get to fixing this up a little better pretty soon. Remember that the universal installer has only been around for a matter of a couple months now, so Barry is still working some inks out.

Nathan

[Ian]

I had the same problem so I just used the DOS filesystem. Puppy works ok.