Answers to: How to boot frugally Damn Small Linux with grub?

Answer by Benny

Benny — Mon, 12 Aug 2013 08:47:51 -0400

Thanks purevw for all your support on my issue! I must say that I solved it already.

I resized & formatted a partition (first partition in sda), sda1 as ext2, moved there the whole dsl folder that was at sda2 (ext3), since that didn't work I created at root level there a "boot" folder & put in linux24 & minirt24.gz. There're 2 other folders beside that, KNOPPIX & isolinux with the usual contents in them: that was all I needed to boot normally.

The above seems to conclude the issue happily for me. The issue is SOLVED!

Comment by Benny on purevw's answer

Benny — Wed, 07 Aug 2013 11:53:04 -0400

After creating that sda1 partition (ext2), mounting the iso file (dsl-4.11.rc1.iso) at PL528 and moving the required files/folders there with rox filer I changed the menu.lst file accordingly. The result was the same: a limited console only.

The DSL section in menu.lst as I tried it is shown below:

"# 7) Linux bootable partition config begins
title Damn Small Linux 4.4

frugal in sda2 dir dsl

root (hd0,0)

rootnoverify (hd0,1)

kernel /isolinux/linux24 root=/sda1/isolinux/dsl knoppix_dir=/KNOPPIX knoppix_name=KNOPPIX

kernel /dsl/linux24 root=/dev/sda2/dsl knoppix_dir=/dsl/KNOPPIX knoppix_name=KNOPPIX frugal sata

initrd /isolinux/minirt24.gz
makeactive
boot

Linux bootable partition config ends"

I tried it also eliminating the '/sda1' part at the "root" entry with the same result.

Almost empty of ideas, now!

Note: Even though I think you already know this I'll state it for assuring my posted text remains clear enough: ALL THE BOLD & AUGMENTED LETTERS AT THIS COMMENT ENTRY ARE REALLY COMMENTED ENTRIES AT MY MENU.LST FILE>. Somehow this editor interpretes the "#" character as something else.

Answer by purevw

purevw — Mon, 05 Aug 2013 14:15:30 -0400

You can check at damnslammlinux.org, but if I remember correctly, I think they want an ext2 partition.

NTFS might have been your whole problem, as dsl may not include "fuse" for mounting / reading windows partitions. It could be that we had the file paths correct, but grub wasn't able to access NTFS.

I'm not sure about freedos. I am not that familiar with it. You would have to do a search to see if it could be installed on a Linux partition.

Comment by Benny on purevw's answer

Benny — Mon, 05 Aug 2013 12:45:40 -0400

Thanks for clarifying this issue, it seems that I evaded some complications now that I know that. Still, not copying/moving anything yet until I know that best fs to use to format that partition. Thanks very much purevw!

Comment by Benny on purevw's answer

Benny — Mon, 05 Aug 2013 12:40:42 -0400

I decided to cut some strings that are tieing me to a non-comfortable situation, already shrank my sda1 partition to 8 GB (still as ntfs). The purpose was to use it solely for DSL but after reading something at a wiki I re-imagined that partition as capable of holding both, a'dos like' OS as well as DSL. At that wiki FAT32 was suggested as the preferred fs; then it was that I remembered about "freedos"...

The above makes me think, before I continue, what's the best fs for running DSL, frugally (first concern)?

For continuing this I need to know at this stage what format that partition should? Even though is out of the main vein of this thread, is your recommendation on fs capable of booting up freedos? Remember that I'm still using grub, that wiki was about booting up DSL using loadlin! I know I can 'chainload' another bootloader from grub but if it can do the job by itself it would mean a simpler solution. I don't see why it can't be done! I mean that probable grub can boot DSL from there as well as freedos...; to be seen.

PS. At the paragraph of yours that start with "Here is an example.", is there an error when you state '(hda0,5)? Would it be that you intended to write (sda0,5)?

Answer by purevw

purevw — Sun, 04 Aug 2013 02:17:17 -0400

Actually, it might be better NOT to use the dd command. dd would write the entire iso to the partition, including the bootsector. It would be best to just copy everything from the mounted iso to the new partition.

Answer by purevw

purevw — Sun, 04 Aug 2013 02:03:52 -0400

No, mounting it does not serve the same purpose. knoppix is a single file in the iso, even when mounted. When booted, it becomes an entire file-system with all normal folders (/etc, /lib, /home, etc.). The dsl kernel or initrd can open knoppix during boot.

The html file in the root of the dsl iso is a simple web page that says: “Why are you still using Windows?"

Using a separate partition is by far the best way to do things, if you have a completely empty partition. It would put dsl at the root of the partition, rather than as a sub-folder of a partition. You could mount the iso and then copy everything to that partition. Do not make a folder called "dsl". Just copy all the folders from the mounted iso file to the root of the empty partition. The easiest way would be to use dd to write the iso image to the partition. It is usually better if the partition to be written to is not mounted. If your terminal is open in the folder that has the iso, then the command would be something like: dd if=dsl-4.11.rc1.iso of=/dev/sda? with the ? being the correct partition. When done, you can mount it to verify that the file structure is the same, with the only things in the root of the partition being boot, KNOPPIX, and the html file. Isolinux would be the only subfolder of boot.

Although “frugal” is not any kind of grub command, it might be a kernel parameter, so I added it back to menu.lst

Here is an example. Remember that when you change the paths, /dev/sda6 in the “kernel” line would be root (hd0,5) in the “root” line, The root line starts numbering at zero while the normal partitions are numbered starting at 1. The rest of the paths would stay the same. Just as general knowledge, “rootnoverify” tells grub where root is, but tells it not to attempt to mount it. I only use that when booting into Windows from grub. I think that “root” is the more appropriate command.

Both the root and kernel-root commands that I placed below assume that your empty partition is on the same drive as you have been using. If that is not true, then you should change root to (hd1,?) and kernel-root to /dev/sdb? Good luck.

7) Linux bootable partition config begins title Damn Small Linux 4.4.RC1 root (hd0,?) kernel /boot/isolinux/linux24 root=/dev/sda? knoppix_dir=/KNOPPIX knoppix_name=KNOPPIX ro lang=us toram frugal initrd /boot/isolinux/minirt24.gz makeactive boot Linux bootable partition config ends

The "toram and "frugal" parameters should be on te same line as "kernel"

Answer by Benny

Benny — Sat, 03 Aug 2013 20:02:42 -0400

I already made the necessary changes for device calls uniformity. I left the old entries preceded with the "#" to avoid getting confused later if things didn work well.

I've the iso file of DSL at sda5 & I can mount it to look at what's inside, does that serves the same purposes you're saying at your 7th paragraph? BTW, in theory at least, can DSL boot from a non-primary partitiion frugally? I'm asking because I remember that thing of creating a particular partition just for booting up DSL; I'm still afraid of the idea of letting any installer to play with my partition scheme. In fact, I'm seeing right now that the dsl iso files I have are dsl-4.11.rc10 & dsl-4.4.10-initrd.iso; sorry to tell you so late but I was working from memory. I think that the former is the latest version I have.

After mounting the iso file I just see 2 folders & a html file: index.html, KNOPPIX & boot folders. KNOPPIX has only KNOPPIX; boot has an isolinux folder. The contents of the last is:

sh-4.1# ls
home sda1 sr0 +mnt+home+puppy528-005+virtualbox-4.1.14.sfs sda5 +mnt+sda5+temporero+dsl-4.11.rc1.iso sdd1
sh-4.1# cd /mnt/+mnt+sda5+temporero+dsl-4.11.rc1.iso/boot/isolinux
sh-4.1# ls
boot.cat f2 german.kbd isolinux.cfg logo.16 boot.msg f3 isolinux.bin linux24 minirt24.gz
sh-4.1#

Is this useful for doing what you said? I can try separate a partition just for DSL.

Answer by purevw

purevw — Sat, 03 Aug 2013 19:21:06 -0400

OK. Great. At least we know for sure that it's /dev/sda2

I agree about the editor here.

I'm going to boot into my dsl CD and look at the file system, to see what is there. I'll check back here later.

Answer by purevw

purevw — Sat, 03 Aug 2013 19:19:09 -0400

After you get the output of the terminal command, verify that the name corresponds with what's in menu.lst. That will end any question if the drive is seen as /dev/sda2 or /dev/hda2

The # character means “Disregard this line” in most config files. It shouldn't be used in menu.lst unless you are just leaving comments for yourself to read later.

Let me cover a few grub basics, that I have read:

The "title" line is what you will see as a menu choice at the grub boot screen, nothing more. It does not contain commands of any kind, so short is better. DSL 4.4 is really all that is needed. Adding frugal or the path serves no purpose.

root (hd0,1) simply tells grub where to find the linux boot partition.

The kernel line tells grub the path to, and name of the kernel file. The "root" entry in the kernel line is for the device, described differently than the earlier "root" statement, /dev/sda2 (or hda2) and I believe it wants only the device and not a file path. The "knoppix_dir=" is for telling grub what directory the knoppix file-system lies in. "The knoppix_name=" is for telling grub the name, not path, of the knoppix file-system file.

(The knoppix file-system in it's self may be a problem, as it is designed for a live CD.) If you could boot into the dsl cd, you could probably copy the file-system to your hard drive, in an uncompressed form. That would give you a standard Linux file-system to work with.) dsl is meant to be booted from a CD, and then installed by the install program. It might be possible to tell it NOT to install grub, as grub already installed and working.

The initrd line tells grub the path to, and name of the initial ramdisk file.

Makeactive marks the petition as active

boot is self-explanatory

I believe “Frugal” is an install method. It really has nothing to do with grub. In a “frugal” dsl system, I believe there is an isolinux folder, which is missing on your system, unless it's in the compressed knoppix file-system.

The entire legacy grub manual can be found here: http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/manual/legacy/grub.html

Answer by Benny

Benny — Sat, 03 Aug 2013 19:12:48 -0400

Sorry to say this but menu.lst file hasn't been moved anywhere. It has been siiting in the same spot all the time. What I cjanged was the location of the files under dsl folder, been careful not to touch the other folders there. See again my previous post in relation to the bold entries.

The command you suggest me to run doesn't run like it's stated but without "sudo" it gave me:

sh-4.1# sudo fdisk -l | grep -i linux  
 sh: sudo: command not found  
 sh-4.1# fdisk -l | grep -i linux  
 /dev/sda2     *   13578       14594     8158208   83  Linux  
 /dev/sda4           12749       13578     6661120   82  Linux swap / Solaris  
 sh-4.1#

This site's editor really messes my mind! It takes a lot of time to arrange things to appear as the original. The above really resembles well the output shell window after issuing that command.

Answer by purevw

purevw — Sat, 03 Aug 2013 18:00:20 -0400

In a terminal, What is the output of: sudo fdisk -l | grep -i linux

That will tell us how the drives are seen.

Answer by purevw

purevw — Sat, 03 Aug 2013 17:59:16 -0400

Grub was already reading the menu.lst file where it was. It will look for it at /boot/grub/ not at /mnt/dsl/boot/grub/ Grub is intact and working. Better to leave the files where they are.

The # sign means "disregard this line" in most config files.

I'm looking for a better answer.

Grub error 15 simply means we got the path or disk entries wrong.

Answer by Benny

Benny — Sat, 03 Aug 2013 16:55:39 -0400

This one really didn't work. It spat at me the following:
"Error 15: file not found"

The only thing that I can think of is introducing the boot folder under dsl & putting everything in there. What do you thiink?

I'm preparing to add that boot folder under dsl & to put in there some needed files. It will look like:

sh-4.1# cd /mnt/home/dsl
sh-4.1# ls
boot netbootme.dsk qemu dsl-base-bat.old netbootme.iso RECYCLER dsl-vhd-bat.old netbootme.usb Shortcut to EXPERIMENTO (E).lnk KNOPPIX pendrive-bat.old variousfiles
sh-4.1# cd /mnt/home/dsl/boot
sh-4.1# ls
1st-boot.bat boot.msg german.kbd isolinux.cfg logo.16 syslinux.cfg autorun.inf f2 gpxe.krn ldlinux.sys minirt24.gz boot.cat f3 isolinux.bin linux24 readme.txt

My RE-edited menu.lst file looks like:

# 7) Linux bootable partition config begins
title Damn Small Linux 4.4
'# frugal in hda2 dir dsl
root (hd0,1) '# rootnoverify (hd0,1)
kernel /mnt/home/dsl/boot/linux24 root=/mnt/home/dsl knoppix_dir=/mnt/home/dsl/KNOPPIX knoppix_name=KNOPPIX
'# kernel /dsl/linux24 root=/dev/sda2/ds knoppix_dir=/dsl/KNOPPIX knoppix_name=dsl/KNOPPIX/KNOPPIX frugal sata
initrd /mnt/home/dsl/boot/minirt24.gz
makeactive
boot
'# Linux bootable partition config ends

Hope the above enters the site's page unharmed due to site's editor complexities! Now to test it.

Comment by Benny on Benny's answer

Benny — Sat, 03 Aug 2013 16:05:56 -0400

This one really didn't work. It spat at me the following:
"Error 15: file not found"

The only thing that I can think of is introducing the boot folder under dsl & putting everything in there. What do you thiink?

I'm preparing to add that boot folder under dsl & to put in there some needed files. It will look like:

sh-4.1# cd /mnt/home/dsl
sh-4.1# ls
boot netbootme.dsk qemu dsl-base-bat.old netbootme.iso RECYCLER dsl-vhd-bat.old netbootme.usb Shortcut to EXPERIMENTO (E).lnk KNOPPIX pendrive-bat.old variousfiles
sh-4.1# cd /mnt/home/dsl/boot sh-4.1# ls
1st-boot.bat boot.msg german.kbd isolinux.cfg logo.16 syslinux.cfg autorun.inf f2 gpxe.krn ldlinux.sys minirt24.gz boot.cat f3 isolinux.bin linux24 readme.txt

My RE-edited menu.lst file looks like:

7) Linux bootable partition config begins

title Damn Small Linux 4.4

frugal in hda2 dir dsl

root (hd0,1)

rootnoverify (hd0,1)

kernel /mnt/home/dsl/boot/linux24 root=/mnt/home/dsl knoppix_dir=/mnt /home/dsl/KNOPPIX knoppix_name=KNOPPIX

kernel /dsl/linux24 root=/dev/sda2/ds knoppix_dir=/dsl/KNOPPIX knoppix_name=dsl/KNOPPIX/KNOPPIX frugal sata

initrd /mnt/home/dsl/boot/minirt24.gz
makeactive
boot

Linux bootable partition config ends

Hope the above enters the site's page unharmed due to editor complexities!

Answer by Benny

Benny — Sat, 03 Aug 2013 15:53:57 -0400

I tried all the changes you first suggested & even re-introduced sda2 instead of hda2, but at the end all I got was "knoppix filesystem missing".

I'm now going to try the "/mnt/home/dsl" thing & I'll post below what happens.

Answer by purevw

purevw — Sat, 03 Aug 2013 15:46:48 -0400

Have you ever checked out pendrivelinux.com? They specialize in creating USB flash drives with multiple operating systems on them, much as you are doing with your hard drive.

Having all those OSs on a single flash drive can be handy. Also, the way they set up everything may also help you with setting up the same thing on your hard drive. Might be worth a read.

I had a setup like that. But on mine, I also installed DBAN, which is a system to find and destroy all partitions on a computer. I activated DBAN by mistake. In the one or two seconds it took me to stop it, the damage was done. I had two operating systems to re-install and 6 terabytes of data to restore from backups. DBAN is something that you need to consider seriously before you set it as a boot option.

Answer by purevw

purevw — Sat, 03 Aug 2013 15:37:13 -0400

Yes, I believe that all references to dsl in that section of menu.lst should have the entire path: /mnt/home/dsl

Answer by Benny

Benny — Sat, 03 Aug 2013 15:17:16 -0400

I'm suppossing you're referring in both instances to the kernel line (in relation to changing the paths to dsl), am I right? But, what about the initrd entry after the kernel one?

I was about to reboot when I saw LE's thread has been updated so I haven't performed the experiment yet... I'll do it now.

Answer by purevw

purevw — Sat, 03 Aug 2013 15:04:39 -0400

In that case, I think the dsl paths in menu.lst should be modified to /mnt/home/dsl/ including the knoppix_dir= statement.

Your / directory has an selinux kernel and initrd of it's own. It also has what appears to be a complete Linux filesystem. I've no idea what installation that would be from.

Answer by Benny

Benny — Sat, 03 Aug 2013 14:38:48 -0400

The same thing happenned to me while trying to post previously (editing aspect of data), not a good thing for this site.

See below for filesystem clarification (just adding missing data):

sh-4.1# pwd
/
sh-4.1# ls
automake dev initrd lost+found opt root selinux tmp var bin etc lib mnt proc sbin sys usr
sh-4.1# cd /mnt
sh-4.1# pwd
/mnt
sh-4.1# ls
home +mnt+home+puppy528-005+virtualbox-4.1.14.sfs sda1 sda5 sdd1 sr0
sh-4.1# cd /mnt/home
sh-4.1# pwd
/mnt/home
sh-4.1# ls
boot general_downloads netbootmein puppy528-005 Slacko-5.5.4G dsl java puppy511 puppystudio VirtualBox fonts lost+found puppy525 SAVEMARK wary512_empty
sh-4.1#

I don't understand when you said above "try this" and there's a greyed text afterward (first entry of yours of the last 3 ones).

I copied+pasted the menu.lst entries as you suggested, maked sure I took out that "/" after dsl.

I now will to reboot & try it, posting afterward whatever happens...

Edit: Before I rebooted I saw your last post/edit/comment & took remedy action at once; meaning that I inserted the "/" after the "=" sign at <knoppix_dir=dsl ...=""> entry.

Answer by purevw

purevw — Sat, 03 Aug 2013 14:23:34 -0400

Oops, I had a typo. The knoppix reference should read: knoppix_dir=/dsl/KNOPPIX

I forgot to include the / before "dsl in the path

Answer by purevw

purevw — Sat, 03 Aug 2013 13:53:55 -0400

Damn. It still didn't post correctly. I'll double space everything. Just remove the blank lines:

7) Linux bootable partition config begins

title Damn Small Linux 4.4

root (hd0,1)

kernel /dsl/linux24 root=/dev/hda2/dsl/ knoppix_dir=dsl/KNOPPIX knoppix_name=KNOPPIX

initrd /dsl/minirt24.gz

makeactive

boot

Linux bootable partition config ends

Answer by purevw

purevw — Sat, 03 Aug 2013 13:52:37 -0400

Let me re-post just the dsl section. The > markers indicate a line break. The system here does not include the line breaks and they are important.

7) Linux bootable partition config begins title Damn Small Linux 4.4 root (hd0,1) kernel /dsl/linux24 root=/dev/hda2/dsl/ knoppix_dir=dsl/KNOPPIX knoppix_name=KNOPPIX initrd /dsl/minirt24.gz makeactive boot Linux bootable partition config ends

Answer by purevw

purevw — Sat, 03 Aug 2013 13:48:49 -0400

When you say:

I'm not leaving anything out starting at "home", then "boot" and "grub"

are you calling the "root" directory "home"? A "home" directory would be a sub-directory of root (example:/home) just like you have /dsl and /puppy528-005 Home is where your user files go. An Example would be: /home/Benny

Knoppix is meant to be a file-system for Live CDs. As such, it may not allow writes, even though it's on your hard drive.

Try this, but read below before you make any changes:

GRUB configuration file '/boot/grub/menu.lst'. generated by 'grubconfig'. Sun Jul 3 04:15:57 2011 Start GRUB global section timeout 5 color light-gray/blue black/light-gray

End GRUB global section

1) Linux bootable partition config begins title Puppy Linux 528 root (hd0,1) kernel /puppy528-005/vmlinuz pmedia=atahd psubdir=puppy528-005 initrd /puppy528-005/initrd.gz Linux bootable partition config ends

2) Linux bootable partition config begins title Slacko-5.5.4G root (hd0,1) kernel /Slacko-5.5.4G/vmlinuz pmedia=atahd psubdir=Slacko-5.5.4G initrd /Slacko-5.5.4G/initrd.gz Linux bootable partition config ends

--->for space restrictions deleted some entries suppossed to be at this line

7) Linux bootable partition config begins title Damn Small Linux 4.4 root (hd0,1) kernel /dsl/linux24 root=/dev/hda2/dsl/ knoppix_dir=dsl/KNOPPIX knoppix_name=KNOPPIX initrd /dsl/minirt24.gz makeactive boot Linux bootable partition config ends

If you want, change only the dsl entry, since the others work as they are. Also, you might need to remove the / from the end of: root=/dev/hda2/dsl/ as I'm not positive it should be there.

Comment by Benny on purevw's answer

Benny — Sat, 03 Aug 2013 12:45:15 -0400

If I'm not wrong, I used isomaster from Puppy Linux 528.005 to do it and yes, I made an iso image on the cd instead of just copying the image unto it.

The HP has booted up in the past from the cd (Ubuntu 8.*, PL 431) as well as from that pendrive (previously just a MuVo MP3 player, 64 MB, from Creative). I haven't thought much about the format I gave it & if that drive can handle it, yet; but I'll do that later on.

About "wiping everything else" thing, hum, it just make me tremble a little.

My booting puppies are: PL528.005 (default), PL511, Wary512, Slacko-5.5.4G, PL525 & Puupy Studio. I also had PL431, TinyCore & WaryTiny but moved all of them out (uninstalled them all) for making room for Slacko (that was before expanding the parttion). Well, I've other folders there & DSL, too.

My successive <ls> command outputs follow (I'm not leaving anything out starting at "home", then "boot" and "grub"):

sh-4.1# ls boot general_downloads netbootmein puppy528-005 Slacko-5.5.4G dsl java puppy511 puppystudio VirtualBox fonts lost+found puppy525 SAVEMARK wary512_empty

sh-4.1# ls grub

sh-4.1# ls device.map jfs_stage1_5 minix_stage1_5 stage2 xfs_stage1_5 e2fs_stage1_5 mbr.sda.24332 reiserfs_stage1_5 stage2_eltorito fat_stage1_5 menu.lst stage1 usage.txt

I hope this clarifies more the situation. Thanks for your involvement!

Answer by purevw

purevw — Sat, 03 Aug 2013 12:18:04 -0400

When you say that you burned dsl onto a CD, did you actually burn the disk image to the CD, or just copy and burn the .iso file to the CD? If you look at the CD contents on the disk from a computer, does it show a folder structure, or just an .iso file?

Is your HP set to boot from CD before it looks for a hard drive? Is the CD / DVD player in the HP capable of reading burned discs? Some are not.

By “let the system install”, I mean boot from a dsl Linux CD or flash drive, and run the installer. But since you have various distros on a single partition, the installer would probably wipe out everything else when installing dsl.

There should only be one "boot" folder. If grub is finding menu.lst then don't change anything. If grub says that it can't find knoppix (assuming it means knoppix for dsl), then grub is working and finding /boot/grub/menu.lst. It's just a matter of modifying menu.lst to reflect correct locations.

Do puppy and slacko boot ok? If so, then that is a good start. What are all the folders in your "root" "/" folder (not including sub-folders)?

Don't make changes, but your root folder should look something like: /boot, /dsl, /puppy528-005, and /Slacko-5.5.4G (that's not including the distros from titles 3,4,5, and 6 of menu.lst that were not listed in your post.

I'll work on modifying your menu.lst to what I think it should look like, but it still may not be correct since I don't know your entire root folder structure yet.

Comment by Benny on purevw's answer

Benny — Sat, 03 Aug 2013 10:00:39 -0400

Are you saying that dsl expects to be 'isolated' in its own partition? Not enough if it's contained within its own folder as the other puppies? When you say "let the system install...", at what system you're referring to?

How to avoid sharing "home" with other distros?

In case I haven't said so before let me state this: it seems to be booting up just to a very limited console with the message "Can't find knoppix filesystem". How much from the contents of the dsl folder and as such from dsl has been booted for this message & console appearing, if any?

Edit: How can I upload an image to this site?

Comment by Benny on purevw's answer

Benny — Sat, 03 Aug 2013 09:44:06 -0400

Thank you, purevw, for your reply! It seems that I can take out of the way "noeject" since I'm pretending to boot frugally.

What I posted above is just the DSL folder contents. I think tou're right, I should've posted a complete scenario. I've 1 hd broken down in 3 partitions: sda1 & sda5 (ntfs) & sda2 (ext3). The contents of sda2 ("home" within Puppy Linux) is 6 folders of different Puppy OSs, the dsl & boot folders; there're others not relevant.

Maybe, this'll clear some of the fog. When I Ist 'installed' my DSL OS it was done at an XP VAIO (now dead) & I located it at a re-formatted MP3 player (MuVo @ ~2005). When I tried to boot DSL at this VAIO I used a copy of the MuVo, then I pretended to upgrade DSL (4.4) at an HP where I use DSL as the default OS. I've done some file movements between the 2 since AWA d/l the latest DSL & burned it to a cd (at the VAIO), which didn't boot at the HP??? These things might explain why you see some strange files there...

The "boot" folder's the grub thing. It only contains a grub folder. The lattter contains 13 items, menu.lst is one of them.

My intended installation method's frugal. I already stated my partition setup. The menu.lst contents follow:

GRUB configuration file '/boot/grub/menu.lst'.

generated by 'grubconfig'. Sun Jul 3 04:15:57 2011

Start GRUB global section

timeout 5 color light-gray/blue black/light-gray

End GRUB global section

1) Linux bootable partition config begins

title Puppy Linux 528-005 frugal in sda2 dir puppy528-005 rootnoverify (hd0,1) kernel /puppy528-005/vmlinuz pmedia=atahd psubdir=puppy528-005 pfix=noram,fsck initrd /puppy528-005/initrd.gz

Linux bootable partition config ends

2) Linux bootable partition config begins

title Slacko-5.5.4G frugal in sda2 dir Slacko-5.5.4G rootnoverify (hd0,1) kernel /Slacko-5.5.4G/vmlinuz pmedia=atahd psubdir=Slacko-5.5.4G initrd /Slacko-5.5.4G/initrd.gz

Linux bootable partition config ends

--->for space restrictions deleted some entries suppossed to be at this line

7) Linux bootable partition config begins

title Damn Small Linux frugal in hda2 dir dsl rootnoverify (hd0,1) kernel /dsl/linux24 root=/dev/sda2/dsl knoppix_dir=dsl/KNOPPIX knoppix_name=dsl/KNOPPIX/KNOPPIX frugal sata initrd /dsl/minirt24.gz makeactive boot

Linux bootable partition config ends

--->for space restrictions deleted some entries suppossed to be at this line

I've seen more than once that inside the dsl folder there should be a folder named boot, not having it is something important? Should I make it & move the corresponding files in there? How to correct the drive & partition mapping has been my aim for months.

Answer by purevw

purevw — Thu, 01 Aug 2013 17:59:20 -0400

I'll need to take back what I said about installing frugal. It does seem to be the best install method, as upgrading and adding packages is simpler.

The install seems straight forward enough. Create a 50MB partition (larger if you plan to upgrade and / or add packages), choose your bootloader (grub or lilo or none - if you plan to modify your puppy Linux grub to add DSL), and have the system install everything to that created partition. It will keep the toram command in menu.lst, as it can make the system much faster. I didn't install, but I imagine that you would also be given options for your persistent home partition (better NOT to share your "home" from other distros, although it is possible to do so), so that your settings can be saved during shutdown. Again, your partition setup would be of great help.