INTRODUCING PUPPY LINUX
Why Choose Puppy?
Puppy boots up and runs fast in RAM memory, freeing any CD boot drive. Puppy has all the applications needed for daily use in only 60 Meg. Puppy will boot from a minimum PC with 586 CPU and 32 Meg RAM. Puppy will easily install to CD, DVD, USB, Zip or hard drive media.
Puppy minimizes USB writes to indefinitely extend the life of boot Flash devices.
What is Puppy Linux?
Puppy Linux, started by Barry Kauler, is a small, mature, fully featured Linux operating system for your PC. Puppy works well on old, second systems and is a delight on modern systems. It boots from CD, DVD, flash card, hard disk, USB key-drive or a CD/DVD-RW, saving your files on the CD-R or DVD-R. Puppy boots into a 64MB ram-disk. Puppy runs from ram memory with a complete set of applications such as web browser, word processor and chat programs. Applications start in the blink of an eye and respond to users instantly. Puppy does not use an hourglass - it does not need one.
Isn't Windows better?
Windows is better at being slow. However new your hardware, in a few months it slows down. True?
Windows and most Linux systens are slow. Too slow.
Puppy Linux is an easy free Open Source operating system
Puppy is faster at loading from CD than Windows is from hard disk. Believe it!
Puppy comes with all needed software
Puppy uses set up wizards and simplicity - everything is explained
Puppy comes with great free support via our forum, wiki and free video tutorials
People who try Puppy are amazed by the speed, ease of use and fun factor. Everyone Loves Puppy.
Run from CD - the easiest way to try and use Puppy
You don't need a hard disk to run Puppy
No hard disk installation is required either
To boot from CD
It is likely that your computers boot order is:
1. floppy
2. CD
3. Hard disk
This means you can just pop in the CD and reboot
Booting
If Boot up fails:
Press Enter - sometimes the CD has not started spinning yet
Do a soft reboot (Ctrl + Alt + Delete) Sometimes part of the memory is not cleared
Turn off and wait 30 sec - time needed to ensure memory is cleared in some older RAM
How do I Download Puppy?
Puppy is available as a ready made CD posted anywhere worldwide:
http://www.puppylinux.com/download/downpage.htm#Purchase
You can download a CD image (ISO file) for free
http://www.puppyfiles.us/
http://dotpups.de/puppy-releases/
Turning an ISO image into a Puppy self booting Linux Operating System from Windows Using Burncdcc
It is worth the download time - about 350k
Here are videos: http://rhinoweb.us/
1. Download the most current Puppy Linux iso file
2. Install BurnCDcc
3. Burn the iso image using BurnCDcc
4. Insert your new Puppy disk into to CD Drive and reboot the computer
For reliability use the slowest burn speed in burncdcc
How to Boot from CD
Newer computers are able to support booting from CD, but are often set to look for the Operating System on the hard disk first. You want to change the computer to try the CDROM instead, before the hard drive.
There are several ways to do it:
The first one is used on many laptops. Your computer can allow you to boot from the CD once (only for this time) by pressing a special key (usually ESC or F1, F2, F3, F11, F2 or F10) during the memory checks (very soon after the computer's power on).
The second method is to setup your box to permanently look for a boot CD at first, and try to boot from the hard disk only if no CD is found. Again, you have to press a key during the startup, which will allow you to enter CMOS/BIOS SETUP - it should say during the boot up sequence.
Entering CMOS BIOS for Different Motherboards
During a hard boot (when the computer is first turned on or when the reset button has been pressed) try these - getting the right time can be tricky. Press the combination or key about every 2 seconds to ensure entering the CMOS/BIOS
Emachine = Press Tab during boot
AMI, Award = Press DEL during boot
Toshiba = Press Esc during boot
Toshiba; Phoenix; Late model = Press F1 during boot
PS/1 Value Point and 330s, NEC = Press F2 during boot
Compaq = Press F10 when square in top RH corner of screen
IBM PS/2 with reference partition = Press Ins during boot
Olivetti PC Pro = Shift Ctrl Alt + Num Pad del
some PS/2s, eg. 75 and 90 = Ctrl Alt ?
Misc computers = Ctrl-Esc
some PS/2s when pointer at top right of screen=Ctrl Ins
some Dells = Press reset twice
Dell = Ctrl Alt Enter
AST Advantage, Award, Tandon = Ctrl Alt Esc
Misc computers = Ctrl Alt +
Zenith, Phoenix = Ctrl Alt Ins / Ctrl Alt S
Phoenix = Ctrl S
Tandon 386 = Ctrl Shift Esc
BIOS Boot changes:
In the BIOS usually the second set of menu options will include a set of boot possibilities. Change to CD/ DVD or USB (if available) then save (usually F10) and exit the setup function
You may need to change the boot order in your BIOS. In the BIOS look for "Advanced settings", "Boot order" or "Boot options". Set CDROM as the first device.
You may need to do a cold-reset or even turn your computer off, to be able to use the new settings. You should boot from the new option which you can change back to the Hard Disk later
RUNNING PUPPY FROM A BOOTABLE CD
Restart your computer with Puppy CD in your CD-ROM drive (If it does not attempt to boot from the CD, see the entering CMOS page). At the boot screen, either wait ten seconds for normal boot or type '3' to tell Puppy where or if you want your settings saved on shutdown.
The Menu
The standard release of Puppy Linux 1.0.7 displays a boot menu with 5 options (Option 6 is hidden)
Pressing "Enter" will select the first option and speed up boot time (see the isolinux.cfg in the CD image for each versions options):
Option 1 (or no input) Normal boot (default)
Option 2 Normal boot, no ACPI
Option 3 Ask which partition for pupxxx, no ACPI
Option 4 Run totally in ram-disk, no ACPI
Option 5 First boot, force multisession
Option 6 uses memdisk for the kernel image [not in the menu - hidden]
ACPI=Advanced Configuration and Power Interface
ACPI transfers responsibility for power management to the operating system
1. Is the default
2. Use if having difficulties especially with Laptops
3. If you have several hard disk partitions you can call different pup001 to boot with different parameters
4. The first three options place a file on your hard disk called pup001 This option runs in stealth mode. Your hard disk is not touched, no file is created. It also means you have to enter your keyboard, mouse and graphic details, set up your connection etc
5. Only use this if creating a CD or DVD recordable version of Puppy - That is data is save on CD or DVD - Further investigation required - do not just select. You need to set up Puppy FIRST to use this option
6. Developer option
The Initial Boot up
Upon the first boot of Puppy (or if you didn't save your settings), you are asked some questions:
* At the Select the keyboard map dialog, use arrow keys to scroll down to 'uk' (or whatever keyboard layout you wish) and press Enter.
* At this message:
Enter mouse type serial, ps/2, usb [ps/2]:
Press Enter if you have a PS/2 mouse (PS/2 is normal) or type 'serial' or 'usb' then Enter depending on your hardware.
* At this message:
Do you have a wheel/scroll type mouse? y/n [n]:
Press Enter if you don't, if you do type 'y', then press Enter.
That information, along with your other puppy settings/changes, typically is then stored on an available hard drive in one file (named pup123, where 123 is a number; e.g. pup001). They are remembered the next time you use Puppy.
You should now see a screen with icons and a taskbar (similar in appearance to Windows 98/95). At the Puppy Video Wizard dialog, follow the instructions on screen.
You're done! Now click on the Start button (bottom left) or one of the desktop icons to start using Puppy!
Notes:
* You don't need a hard disk to run Puppy. No installation is required either.
* You can choose to have Puppy Linux ask if you want to save your settings (any changes you made to Puppy after boot up) or not, by typing '3' when the CD boots.
* Enter or waiting 10 seconds = Normal boot configuration and data saved on first hard drive found
Settings are saved in one 256M file (less if there isn't enough space) called pup001 in the hard drive
* Ask where and if a home file (e.g. pup001) should be created.
The location will be expected as a standard Linux drive name. Follow the on screen instructions, i.e. type the location (e.g. hda1) and press Enter then type the file name (e.g. pup009) then press Enter. You can leave it blank to not touch the Hard Disk and only use a ram-disk (thus hard disk not required) nothing will be saved and you'll be asked your settings (keyboard / mouse / video) every time Puppy boots.
The 'pup001' is just a compressed file system within a file on the first partition of your hard drive. It won't make any changes to your existing computer's configuration.
Also, if you press '5' when the CD/DVD boots for the first time (do not use without further investigation), it will take advantage of the multi-session formatted CD/DVD.
All settings will be saved (burned) as a track to the CD/DVD. Nothing would be saved to a hard drive, so again, hard drive is not needed. Burning is done automatically on shutdown.
Not enough RAM / NTFS solutions:
You may encounter errors if you don't have enough RAM. 128 MB of RAM is required to fully load all of Puppy Linux into the ram-disk. 256 MB of RAM is required to load the OpenOffice.org suite (e.g. included with Chubby Puppy) or other considerably large programs without problems. A Linux swap partition or swap file can be used to help overcome this problem on systems with less than the minimum requirements.
If booting the Live-CD from a computer that only has Windows XP, 2000, or NT (which uses the NT File System or NTFS) installed on the hard disk, Puppy Linux won't create a "home" file (e.g. pup001) on the NTFS partition to avoid damage to existing files, but it will use an existing one.
To safely create a pup001 file on an NTFS partition:
1. Boot into your Windows version
2. Download the pup001.zip file
3. Extract (i.e. unzip it and move) the pup001 file that is inside to C:\
4. Reboot the computer with the LiveCD in it and now Puppy will use the pre-existing pup001 file as your home data file!
INSTALL PROBLEMS
How do I get an install CD?
Here you have two options:
First you can download a copy. The file you need should be named puppy-mozilla-1.0.X.iso. You would then use a CD burning application to burn this file to a CD. (For Windows, HT Fireman is a good free application that will do this)
Your other option is to buy a pre-burnt CD
I put the CD in and reboot but my computer does not boot from the CD?
There are a few things that can go wrong here and this may not be a complete list.
Before doing anything drastic like changing BIOS settings try this:
* Turn your computer completely off for about 10 seconds then try it.
* If you have more than one CD drive try all of them.
* Re-burn the CD or if you already have a version of Puppy running use this application to check it.
The next thing to try would be to tell your BIOS that you would like to boot from a CD. Your system will be different from my system but this is the basic idea. Turn your computer off then back on. When your computer first turns on press the "Del", "F1", "Esc" or some other key to enter the BIOS setup. Your system could even tell you what key to press on the screen.
When you are in your BIOS setup program find the section that says boot order or boot device priority or something like that. Change this setting to check the CD drive first. This is OK because if there is no CD it just goes to the next device. A good way to set this up is for your CD to boot first then the floppy drive then the hard drive.
If your computer is really old or there is some problem then last thing to do would be to make a wake floppy. For info on how to do this look at this site.
Puppy tells me that it can't find a partition to put the pup001 file in or that it can't save my personal data?
The pup001 file contains setup information and any new software you add to Puppy, so it is important to get this sorted out.
Puppy can use any partition to store this file but if it is not a Linux partition you have to do some extra work. Namely NTFS (Windows 2000, XP) partitions.
If you have a NTFS partition that you would like to use for Puppy you simply have to boot Windows and download this file. Then copy it to the C drive. When puppy boots it should find the file and use it.
Note: If you intend to install Puppy to it's own partition on your hard drive then the pup001 file is not needed.
What kind of mouse do I have?
There are three options:
Serial - Older style (perfect for Puppy!). The end that plugs into the computer is about 1 inch by a half inch and is bigger on one side.
PS/2 - Newer style. The end that plugs into the computer is round.
USB - Newest style. Then end is about a half and inch my a quarter inch and a perfect rectangle.
What kind of keyboard do I have?
If you speak English "us" should work for you.
When installing Puppy to my hard drive using option 2 the installer says that it can't install because the partition is mounted as root.
The fast and easy way to fix this is to reboot the live CD and at the boot menu press 3 and then "Enter".
When it asks what partition to mount as root type nothing and hit "Enter". It will give an error message saying you can't save personal data, this is OK.
Then run the installer, your root is mounted in RAM so you can install Puppy to any partition you like!
How do I change the screen resolution?
When Puppy first boots there is a program that changes the size of the screen.
If you need to change the resolution after this just goto Start -> Setup -> Xvesa Video Settings.
How do I get a high speed network connection?
There is a wizard to set up an Ethernet or LAN style intranet connection (most cable modems and other high speed connections). You can find it in the menu under Start -> Setup -> Ethernet/Network Wizard.
How do I set up my dial-up connection?
It is easy, just goto Start -> Setup -> Modem Wizard to set up the modem.
When you have your modem set up goto Start -> Network -> GK Dial.
All you have to do now is click "add" the button and put your information in. Then whenever you would like to use the intranet startup GK Dial and click "Connect".
I use the live CD and I am out of room on the hard drive.
You need to increase the size of your pup001 file.
To do this goto Start -> Utilities -> Resize root File System.
For most if not all cases 256 MB more is all you need. I would recommend keeping any music or movies on a real partition on your hard drive.
LINUX COMMANDS
What is Linux?
Linux is an Open Source, free Operating System created by Linus Torvalds. Linux is a free Unix compatible system.
What is the Linux kernel?
The Linux kernel is the core of the Linux operating system. To find out which version of the Linux kernel you are running:
type uname -r in a terminal.
Linux kernel info http://www.kernel.org
How do I change screen managers
xwin JWM (default)
xwin fv95wm (pupget install)
xwin xfce (dotpup install)
(xwin = xstart on other Linux systems)
How do I reboot my Puppy?
reboot
shutdown -r now
You can also press (all at once) the control + alt + delete keys.
How do I shut down my Puppy?
ctrl + alt + backspace
poweroff
How do I remove/uninstall Lilo/Grub?
If you want to remove the Lilo or Grub boot loader from your system (if you are uninstalling Linux etc) follow the procedures below:
For Windows 95/98 etc:
Use a DOS boot disk and at the command prompt type:
fdisk /mbr
For Windows XP:
Boot off the XP Installation CD and go into rescue mode. From there run the command:
fixmbr
How do I change directories?
cd - Used to change directories
Usage: cd [directory]
Example: cd /root/my-documents/
Example: cd ../ (to move back one directory)
Example: cd (to return to your home directory)
How do I copy files?
cp - Used to copy files/directories from one location to another
Usage: cp file newlocation
Example: cp /home/joey/index.html /var/www/index.html
Example: cp /home/joey/* /var/www/ (this will copy everything in /home/joey to /var/www/)
For more information, in a terminal, type cp --help
How do I rename files?
mv - Used to move or rename files
Usage: mv file location (to move)
Usage: mv filename newfilename (to rename)
Example: mv index.html /var/www/index.html (to move)
Example: mv index.html index2.html (rename)
For more information, in a terminal, type mv --help
How do I move files?
mv - Used to move or rename files
Usage: mv file location (to move)
Usage: mv filename newfilename (to rename)
Example: mv index.html /var/www/index.html (to move)
Example: mv index.html index2.html (rename)
How do I list directory contents?
ls - To list the contents of a directory
Usage: ls [flags] directory
Example: ls (To list the current directory)
Example: ls /home/joey (To list the contents of /home/joey)
Example: ls -a (To list hidden files)
Example: ls -l (To list file/directory permissions and file sizes)
Example: ls -al /home/joey (To list all files and permissions in /home/joey)
How do I delete files?
To delete a file you must first have write permission to it. There is no "Recycle Bin" in Linux so once you delete a file, it's gone for good.
When removing files, you may use an astrix (*) as a wildcard flag to remove certain files, for example if I wanted to remove all files that began with the letter j, I would run rm j*
If anyone tells you to run rm -rf / as root, DO NOT LISTEN TO THEM. Running this command will delete all the files/directories on your Linux system.
Use md5sum in Puppy console to check downloads
# md5sum emptycrust107RC.iso
How do I delete directories?
If you have ownership to the directory and the directory is empty, you can simply type rmdir directoryname to remove the directory. If the directory is not empty and you wish to simply delete it and all its contents, run rm -rf directoryname
Please be careful with the -rf flag, as it will remove everything in the specified directory including sub directories. With root access and the rm -rf command you can wipe out your entire system if you make an error.
How do I access my cdrom drive?
mount /dev/home/cdrom
How do I access my floppy drive?
mount /dev/home/fd0
How do I unzip a .tar.gz/.tgz file?
To extract .tar.gz or .tgz files, run the following command in a terminal:
tar -zxvf file.tar.gz (or file.tgz)
This will normally create a new directory based on the filename. If you want to extract a filename called file.tar (without the .gz) simply run:
tar -xvf file.tar
How do I unzip a .bz2 file?
To extract .bz2 files, run the following command in a terminal:
bunzip2 -dv file.bz2
This will normally create a new directory based on the filename.
How do I run a program?
Try: dillo, gimp, ical
How do I check HD errors?
fsck.ext2 -vfn /mnt/home/pup001
PERSONAL STATEMENT ABOUT PUPPYS FUTURE
from Barry Kauler
Many people have asked me about my future plans for Puppy, and recently about how I want to be involved with the Puppy Foundation.
The Puppy Foundation is, I think, a good idea. Puppy is growing in popularity, and some kind of umbrella coordinating organisation is needed.
For example, say that a company wants to use Puppy in a project, they can approach the Foundation and ask for help, which may be in the form of expertise. The Foundation would know of the right people for the job.
The Foundation can also be responsible for the everyday things like running the Wiki, Forum, managing donations, and promotion.
You may be interested to know that already there is interest from private companies and this year (2005) I have been offered employment by two different companies in the USA to develop projects involving Puppy. I declined both.
I am currently semi-retired, and intend to become more so, so I want to reduce any responsibilities. At the end of this year I plan to travel, maybe around Australia, and do a spot of part-time teaching next year, but not much.
So, where does that leave Puppy?
While travelling, I plan to have a laptop, and will keep working on Puppy (picture me in front of a campfire in the Australian outback (wilderness) tapping away on my laptop).
I own the two domain names puppylinux.com and puppylinux.org, and one of these can be redirected to wherever the Foundation would like to host the Puppy site.
Introducing Puppy Linux lobster@puppylinux.org
Created with Puppy 1.0.7 Feb 2006