I've wanted to install linux for a while and came upon Puppy.

Currently I'm running 64-Win7 and I have 64-Puppy/Slacko 6.3.2. ISO already imaged onto my source using Rufus.

My source is where the problem comes in. I've got an old 4GB Micro Drive plugged into a card reader direct connected inside my comp, not through a USB Port. I know about using BCDEDIT a little but am confused as to how to boot load. I can try to set manual boot load through BIOS but I am unsure which device to say I am loading from in order for it to work. And I don't know how to turn the Micro Drive with Puppy into something BCDEDIT can use and see as a device to load from (with an identifier and everything).

Any clues? Questions? Thanks a lot.

I don't think you can see the sdcard on bootup. I can't. They're i2c or gpio pins, and require their own driver software in the bios. It's a lot of pain, and very little demand for it.

You can try it by dd'ing some linux iso onto it. Don't put it on /dev/mmcblk0p1, but /dev/mmcblk0, as if it reads, you will be thrown in at the beginning of the card, and it won't boot from a partition table. Presuming that fails to boot or appear, give up.

Just get a micro sd to usb adapter and it'll work. The only thing I know that boots micro sd is raspberry pi and it's clones.

Better yet just burn a live cd. You can create a save file right on the windows partition without messing with resizing any partitions. Just use the cd to boot(you can remove cd after booting). Have Fun

^^^ + 1!!!

That I agree with, whole-heartedly. The Puppy 'save-file' contains its own dedicated Linux file-system inside it, so will work from an NTFS-formatted partition quite happily. In order to use the newer-style 'save-folder', it has to be on a partition that's already formatted for Linux use, with either ext2 or 3 or 4.

As Mill J says, boot from the CD.....then eject it, since Pup doesn't need it after that. Assuming you have a reasonable amount of RAM (really, anywhere from 1 GB upwards), Pup will load entirely into RAM, and run from there for the duration of the session (it only loads the base Puppy files; the main 'Puppy-xxxxx.sfs', the 'initrd.gz' (which sets up the 'ram-drive' that Pup runs on) and the 'vmlinuz' (the kernel). Pup will scan for a save-file/folder at boot-time, and if it finds a save-file on the Windows partition, will use it. (Don't try to be clever and stick it on the diagnostics or recovery partitions; just create the save-file on the main Windows partition. Pup searches 'two-deep'; not only partitions, but top-level folders, too.....if it's there, she will find it.)

Not to pour cold water on your plans, but if you're talking about one of the old Sinclair MicroDrives, forget it. They were worse than useless when new.....and time has not been kind to them. Stretched tape, rudimentary controllers (actually, I don't think they had a controller of any sort at all, now I come to think of it!).....and that crazy endless-loop tape transport system old Clive came up with.....*jeez, Louise*. It was a good idea (like most of his 'visions'), but manufacturing methods (and the general quality of industrial plastics in those days) just weren't up to snuff for the idea to work properly.

Or are you talking about the teeny-weeny 1" hard drives produced by IBM & Hitachi.....that run from a CompactFlash slot? Those are at least a bit more conventional, in terms of operation.

Whichever it is, you gotta use lashings of 'lateral thinking' when you're doing this kinda thing; never be afraid to think 'outside of the box'. And Puppy, almost uniquely amongst lightweight Linux distros, was originally developed to run from just about every unusual storage device ever built.....and to also run in the most unexpected ways, too!

You certainly won't find anything else quite like Puppy. Knoppix is perhaps the closest, in terms of mode of operation; but it simply hasn't got Pup's 'character'.....


Mike.

I ran a ide micro drive in one of my IBM laptops I sold. I think speed of drive was like 3800 rpm though.

anyways. I learned one needs a ide type connection on the motherboard to see it.

So scratch one cf/microdrive pcmcia card I bought and plugging into the pcmcia slot and hoping to boot from it.

I needed one of these which I bought later

Plugged it into ide connector hard drive compartment and was good to go. I guess on a sata board. One would need one of these


If usb bootable. Then one of these

That way you can use your micro drive. When done. The usb harness can multi-task across other gear.


Edit: I see you tried the above without plugging into a usb port.

I got no suggestions for booting outside of bios limitations. Other than that PLOP boot manager professes to be working on pcmcia booting while using thier bootloader.

Desktop or Laptop? Desktop boards have usb pins on the front of the mother board you can splice into. The front usb ports lead down to these.

2nd Edit: Before you ask. You will have to disconnect the 2 wires going to the usb pin on the board from the front usb port on the Desktop. Disabling one usb port.