Kick A Puppy?

A recent thread addressed a live USB boot of Linux. This perked my interest, having a small netbook, collecting WinXP dust for the last few years. So, I decided to give Linux a go again. The platform is an MSI U100 Wind Netbook.

Intel Atom N270 Processor @ 1.6 GHz
1 GB of DDR2-667 Memory (PAE)
Intel 945GSE / ICH7-M Chipset
Integrated Intel GMA 950
160 GB 5,400 RPM Hard Drive
Bios will boot from USB

PLODR suggested LXLE and Earthling suggested Puppy. After a bit of research, I found Wary Puppy at
http://puppylinux.org/main/Long-Term-Supported WaryPuppy.htm
I chose wary-5.5.iso in the index folder and the 140MB downloaded via my DSL in less than 15 mins.
Wary seemed the best choice for my old machine although it might handle some later ones; I will explore.

PLODR also suggested using PendriveLinux to created the bootable stick from the Linux distro, so I I got it from here:
http://www.pendrivelinux.com/universal-usb-installer-easy-as-1-2-3/ and downloaded Universal-USB-Installer-1.9.6.6.exe
When run, UUI lists several linux distros it can handle, Wary is one. (thx PLODR)

Now, the hardest part was to find the flashdrive in my junkpile, acquired for some forgotten project, ages ago. Yea!, I found it, an 8GB flashdrive, plugged it into my desktop, ran UUI and quickly and got a bootable stick. Then, stuck the stick in the MSI, booted up and low and behold, there is a new "Puppy" in the house. (thx Earthling)

I would appreciate any comments and suggestions for other distros, which might work on this MSI. Anyone else want to recover a comp for kicks?

Now, to find the ethernet cable in my junkpile to get this puppy online ...

 

Try enabling the wireless adapter. I use Slacko 5.4 and wireless works OK on this ThinkPad E335.

 

I've tried these for slitz and giggles to check out Linux

cdlinux 0.9.6.1 66m precise 5.7.1 160m fatdog64-700 265m
DamnSmallLinux 55m tahr 6.0 205m
CorePlus 70m
nanolinux 1.2 15m
slitazx 4.0 35m

The precise puppy and tahrpup were the best working for me with sound, music, video and internet with my wireless.Precise comes with seamonkey browser while tahr comes with palemoon. The fatdog 64 is the latest one I've d/l'd. Haven't got it on the wireless yet though. Maybe the difference in the 32 or 64 bit driver situation for my wireless.

For a replacement for Windows I would go with precice or tahr until I try a few others. I'm always forgetting PLODR's suggestion for LXLE but will check it out next.

 

I looked at this recently
https://www.bunsenlabs.org/

I tried Crunchbang in the past and since Crunchbang has been abandoned, someone picked up the ball and is trying to resuscitate it.

If you can't find a particular distro listed in the Universal Installer, scroll to the very bottom and select Try Unlisted Linux ISO.

 

Thank you all for your offerings above. Atm earthling, the adaptors are fine on the MSI, but I recently put in a new Modem - Router and didn't get around to configuring the wireless feature. Already I have too much of a rat's nest and don't really need another cable here. So, Modem config is 1st thing on the sked after this post.

Good list Imandy. They all look like the right size for me, comparable to wary. I will will start checking those out after I make a run to a local supply outlet for some sticks to replenish my junkpile. Maybe I need more junkpiles, too.

PLODR, bunsen is a great link, 'cuz in it I found the DistroWatch Weekly link. Using its filter, seems like a wonderful tool to keep abreast of
recent stuff for Puppy and others, sans a myriad of generalized searching with the browser.

Oh yeah, "can't teach an old dog new tricks"? At my age this might be so, since the short term stuff takes alot of my time to sink in and the longterm is starting to lag, too. Its been around 40 years, since I worked with Unix, pre-DOS, and certainly before Linux. At that time AT&T was still running things, with a growing input from Berkeley. Internet didn't exist beyond Arpanet, so information was relatively sketchy and slow to access. The gist of all this is I've forgotten much of the language. A good deal of my online time is now being spent trying to catch up on
syntax, which wasn't easy back in the day. Yet, i will have some fun here, exploring what I can, using the suggestions, you guys gave me here.
Thanks again!

 

While you're getting around let us know if you find something good. I'm always open to trying another system.

 

Got the Modem - Router configured okay and tested out fine with the MSI Win OS. Wary sees it, but configuring for it is a struggle. Wizard
setup is a bit rudimentary, friendly, but not exactly intuitive. Its scan picks up my router, but when I run Seamonkey, I get a webpage for
Xfinity (Comcast) and nothing else to link to. I tried MG, but http://majorgeeks.com format doesn't take. So, then I found the firewall and
started to play with its settings, but no joy, yet; ran out of fuel. Rebooted Win and scanned for signals and sure enough, there is a weak
Xfinity on the list, which might be a source of gingerbread for my current effort. I'll go after that blighter at dawn

BTW Imandy, I did download LxPupPrecise-15.09.01-retro a couple nights ago, when I got Wary. I'm going to try it after I get more sticks. You
might give it a go in the meantime. About 180MB here: https://sourceforge.net/projects/lxpup/files/LxPup15.09/

 

I don't think I'd bother at all with Lx distros if I had to put each one on a stick, find the right one, plug it in and boot to it. I put Grub4DOS on my external, together with any bootable ISOs I want boot access to and can boot into any of them directly from the boot menu. Just have to F8 first to boot to the external (or flash drive)

 

Lx distros? I only downloaded one. Imandy had a bunch that don't sound like Lx. Right now, I'm just exploring all and any that will work with
my hardware. Likely I will scrap a few right off. Grub sounds like it will be useful, when I get to the compare and contrast phase. Thx fer the suggestion. Masking tape and a few drives better fit my comfort zone atm. lol

 

Checked out the specs for the LxPup. Seems I found 2 versions. 1 for netbooks with cloud based apps and one for desktops with most apps pre-configured. I'll take the desktop.

On the drives and mask tape - I keep a legal pad with the list like cruzer 8 gig, cruzer 16 gig, cru... 32g, pny 16 ect ect with what's on each. Using Yumi I can put a few on each drive. Probably will consolidate down to Linux, windows ,32 bit , 64 bit, and secure boot each on different drives.

My external now has backups/ images plus a few folders : tools isos isotools wims ADK's

I need another external. Always something.

 

Does LXPup allow persistence?

 

Sent that to the search bar. Several returns. Look in here down to GOOPlusPlus post. Says 8 gig usb for non persistence and 16 gig for . Has links to other pages about more. I haven't been there yet but will look for more about it. Seems to be something to check out for sure.

 

Looks like a 'paste' didn't make it. Sorry!

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/vi...tart=675&sid=f1cc62d452d576007f624ea21c7d1fcf

 

Thanks. Then its a no-go for me.
I need persistence so I don't have to re-do everything every time I fire up my USB stick. (I use live linux distros for my old eeepc that only came with a 4GB hd. It is too small to install anything on and the old linux works fine as long as I don't go online. I feel it is unsafe to go online with such an old distro, hence my use of sticks with modern, patched distros to surf safely.)

 

Picked up a couple more sticks, yesterday. Built two more "lives" , LxPupXenial-16.07.01-pae and precise-5.7.1 Both have 3 optional network
connection tools, one of them called Frisbee, which works quick and slick. I gave up on Wary Puppy for now, because its simple network tool
was only causing me me much frustration, trying to make the wifi linkup. Felt like I was in an endless loop of failure.
For now, I think I will play with precise as I get time to do so. Its out of the box desktop is pleasing to me and Seamonkey browser seems easy to use. I will read some more reviews and see if persistence is mentioned. My live is on a 16GB stick, just in case.

 

I tried the two on your linked page. LxPup Precise 15.09.1 and LxPupXenial 16.07.1. Both worked on a AMD 64 non uefi system but only the Xenial worked on a Intel 64 UEFI. The Xenial though seem worth the download. I switched through the different desktops and it seemed really slick and easy. It loaded probably faster than any I've booted. Maybe under a minute to the desktop. Both of them saved sessions (persistence). Would return to my settings on reboot and I left an odd package on the desktop in Xenial and on next boot it was still there.

To load my wireless I have to install an XP driver and when trying this in Xenial I came across a 'make command not found' error. Tried a package of the net that has it's own installer. It checks for dependancies before loading the goods and it even said "make is missing from your system"

Found an online discussion of this maybe --
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=8871

But even aside from this Xenial impressed me. And for anyone who has a hard-wire or a compatible wireless it is a viable OS.
Plays music and video real good. Real responsive.

Thanks for the link.

 

Persistence is a feature I found with all 3 pups, I am looking at. Wary, Precise, and Xenial. At least, persistence as described here:
http://www.pendrivelinux.com/what-is-persistent-linux/
However, I haven't tested the exclusions mentioned in the "Disadvantages" section.

 

Well it is not persistence as the 'buntu distros do it, right on the USB stick.

Source: http://www.puppylinuxfaq.org/what-is-puppy-linux/41-what-makes-puppy-linux-different.html

Apparently it put folders on the PC not on the USB stick.

I had a problem with that in the past. When I scanned the Windows computer, scans would hang when it got to that folder.

Can you confirm or deny that scans within Windows stall or don't stall over the 2 folders created.

 

If that's the case something has changed since Slacko 5.7 which I use. The 2fs (persistence) file is on my USB stick.

 

EDIT - the link you are quoting from plodr contains this -

If you boot from a Live USB flash drive you can use it as described in the previous paragraph and save all your files and system settings to the same drive. You can even install software!

The saving to hard disk is only relevant when booting to a CD-R, which is what you would expect.

 

That's how I read that next paragraph, also. Its the beauty of booting and using the Live USB. After looking at other discussions, in some cases,
its best to use 1.6 GB flash for the larger distros to ensure you have enough room for the save file feature. The pups, I am trying, are small, and
I haven't done anything in my sessions to create anything to save, beyond basic configuration setup. So, I can likely get by with an 8GB for now.

Confirming the save file was seamless, during the initial setup, and it automatically saved to the stick. I suppose there is a way to change the storage to a different device, but I'm not smart enough to do that yet, and can't conceive why I would want to, unless for testing. It seems I would need to mount something to do it, which I haven't tried yet. At this point, I have no intent on using the hardrive for anything and the
MSI has no optical drive.

I saw in the link "After booting a Live Disc you may remove the disc thus freeing up the drive for other uses." This is something I wouldn't advise if using a Live USB. Else at least, reinstall the stick before shutting down.

 

USB flash is one way of doing it, but I use my external drive and can have multiple versions available. As I said before though, you will need first to install a boot manager such as Grub4DOS to the external.

 

Testing is on the way. I do have at least one spare USB stick. I picked up a 3 pack on a back to school special. I don't require 16GB, 32GB, 64GB or 128GB sticks so when they package several 8GB together, that's what I grab.

 

Can't help you with other distros, but nice job setting it up and props to PLODR and Earthling for pointing you in the right direction.

 

Tested Simplicity and while nice, LXLE Desktop is still my favorite. It doesn't set up with persistence as the Ubuntu branches do but when you go to close for the first time, it asks if you want a persistence folder. Nice! It puts it on the stick and it works.

I discovered while going through my USB Linux Live sticks yesterday, I was overflowing with different versions of LXLE Desktop. Then I also discovered a new LTS (long term support) version came out on 29 July. Yet another stick! So I decided I needed to reduce the number. I ended up formatting three of the sticks and I think I'm now down to four LXLE sticks - all different versions.

I still have to kick the tires on the latest 16.04.1. I didn't have time yesterday to do much more than test to see if it booted and I could connect to my network.

 

Also tested Simplicity. Looks good to me. I keep getting warning to update Flash, which I don't want and haven't found how to uninstall it.
So far I like Xenial the most 'cuz its got a cpu temp indicator; its hot here

 

Just finished making a 32 bit stick with Xenial Xerus, lubuntu 16.04 LTS to try on this desktop. It has an install feature, or just "try it to see if you like it" feature from the stick. Unfortunately, the latter option doesn't seem to have persistence, as I had to reset FF homepage preference, each time I did a reboot; shutdowns are quick with no apparent file saving going on. Desktop is LXDE, so nothing radical there after playing with puppy. Think I'll keep it for trouble shooting if needed, and as a possible option to say bye bye to win7 in about 4 years from now.

Booting was an exercise in ignorance on my part, and an old BIOS, American Megatrends. The short of it is there are two levels of boot sequence. The first level is the typical HDD/CD/USB. The second level is sequencing within the top 3. Of course I didn't bother to look into the second level. With the top at USB/CD/HDD and the stick plugged in, Windows kept booting up!

Finally , I started searching the second level options. What did I find in the HDD sequence options? There was listed the flashdrive (stick); last in sequence, of course. No hint of the flashdrive showed up in the USB settings, just "generic ". So, things work great with the top level set to USB/CD/HDD and the second level HDD set to flashdrive/HDD1/HDD2. Learned something to keep in mind, the next time I try talking
someone through changing a boot sequence for a troublehoot.

Need to try the stick on the MSI laptop, That's why I chose the 386 version. It has a much simpler BIOS, too. Also. need to investigate
what the install options are; i.e. will it setup a dual boot, etc. Also, should checkout security options. So much to do in between outpatient
appointments!

 

Forgot to add to my previous post, you can find lubuntu 16.04 LTS here: http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/lubuntu/releases/16.04/release/
879 MB on the distro I got

 

That happened to me. I thought for a few years that a desktop computer was not able to boot from USB.

Like you, one day I decided to investigate all the options and discovered the ability to boot from a stick hidden amongst the hard drive choices.

I'm no longer a fan of burning CDs or DVDs to test a distro. A stick is easier, takes less space and I don't feel bad about formatting and starting over. Old CDs and DVDs end up in land fills.

 

One of my favorite things to do. Just fixed up an old Dell Inspiron for a friend and used Todo to migrate his programs over from an old XP machine.

I think I will have to start looking into Linux more

 

Last night, with nowt worth watching on TV and nothing much better to do, I booted my never used Linux Mint VM and ended up reading the Official User Guide at https://www.linuxmint.com/documentation.php. I have to admit, particularly after reading Section 35 on Software Management, that in ignoring Linux I had made a pretty big mistake some years ago. But the question, at this stage of my life, is whether I still have the energy and will to rectify it. Windows is the easy way to do computing. Linux is the correct way.

 

Tested the 32 bit Xenial Xereus lubuntu 16.04 LTS on the MSI laptop. Stick worked same as it did with my desktop. "try it" option still didn't
seem to have persistence, but makes sense, configuration wise, if one wants a single stick for troubleshooting multiple machines. So, its a keeper for me, at least for 5 years (LTS)

Ran the install only as far as I needed to check out options. Company install discussion here: http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/install-ubuntu-desktop. It did see Windows and gave the option to setup dual-boot, in addition to erase. I quit install at this point, so I can
read up a bit on partitioning, first. More partition elaboration here: http://www.tecmint.com/install-ubuntu-16-04-alongside-with-windows-10-or-8-in-dual-boot/

 

I tried the 16.04 LTS. I went with the desktop amd 64 version. 1.477 gb d/l. Used it on a new 14 g usb and in a vm also.

On the usb I instlled with rufus for a uefi and gpt selection. It does boot in secure mode. All it required was hitting f-12 for a boot device selection. So it is one for people who can't undo secure mode in bios.

All in all for the size of the iso I was disappointed it the operation from the usb or vm both. I had much better experience and use out of some other smaller pup versions than this one. Was hard to browse other devices. Network seemed to not be set up for any additional wireless devices. In a vm it would use my regular wireless but no point in it.

I did find another smaller install -slax-

Only about 270 mb. Loads quick. Has a smooth uncluttered desktop. Didn't get wireless on it yet either but it has the -dolphin- browser which instantly had all my devices showing. So that get's a point. Is supposed to be modular in that to add a package you just download it and copy it to the medium.

I installed it and a couple others using LiLo live Linux creator. It builds persistence into the drive and also I found it allows booting from windows by installing virtual box if you select that option. The virtual box folder has an option to virtualizs this key and works pretty good.

Here's the -slax- if interested

https://www.slax.org/