Puppy Linux is a small distribution created by Barry Cowler. Its main task is to be similar in use to Windows, to contain everything required programs but be extremely small and simple. The distribution works great on both new and old hardware and is very fast.
Its peculiarity is that you can get a full-fledged system simply by writing a small installation image to a USB flash drive and running it in LiveCD mode. If you think that this is also possible in other distributions, then no, there is an option to save the session, which allows you to save all the data with which you worked.
Also, the distribution kit contains a very large number of utilities and tools for configuring the system, with which you can configure anything and very often you will not have to go into configuration files. The last release was in 2015 and it was Puppy Linux 6.3, codenamed Slacko, based on Slackware 14.1, but the distribution is still in development. In this tutorial, we will look at how to install Puppy Linux on HDD as a full-fledged operating system.
System requirements
Requirements to hardware puppy linux is a little surprising. It looks like it can work on just about any hardware. The system needs 64 megabytes to start random access memory and a processor with a clock speed of 333MHz.
Step 1. Download the image
First thing we need to do is download the installation image. The most recent version is available on the official website. But there are two versions available here, 6.0.5, based on Ubuntu 14.04 and 6.3, based on Slackware. We will install the latter.
Select the desired system architecture and download the image. The image weighs about 200 megabytes, so the download will be quick. Over time, there may be more Puppy Linux distributions. The point is that this distribution can be created on the basis of other distributions, and be compatible with their package base. Such distributions contain the same set of puppy utilities and they are all considered official. For example, Puppy Linux based on Ubuntu Xenial Xerus is currently in development.
Step 2. Burn the image to a USB flash drive
The developers advise using the dd utility to write to a USB flash drive. The terminal command in Linux will look like this:
dd if = ~ / slacko64.iso of = ~ / dev / sdb bs = 5M
Here / dev / sdb is the device name of your flash drive, you do not need to add any numbers there. In the Windows operating system, you can use the Windows version of this utility. Here the command will look like this:
dd if = slacko64.iso of = \\. \ f: bs = 5M
Here f: is the drive letter of your flash drive. Do not forget that you need to run the command line with administrator rights.
Step 3. BIOS setup
When the flash drive is written, restart your computer. During the BIOS splash screen, press F2, F8, Shift + F2 or Del, to open the setting. There go to the Boot tab and in the paragraph 1st Boot Device select your USB stick:
Step 4. Configuring the bootloader
At the first stage of loading the image, you can enter the kernel parameters, if there is nothing to change, just press Enter or wait:
Step 5. Boot LiveCD
Wait for the download to finish:
Step 6. System setup
Immediately after the start, such a system settings window will open, it is pointless to configure anything now, because after installation the settings will still fail:
So just close this window.
Step 7. Launching the installer
There is no installer shortcut, as we are used to, the installer is in the main menu, in the Setup section. The menu item is called universal.
Step 8. Selecting an installer
At this step, we can choose which installer to use, for a flash drive, for a flash drive with the f2fs file system or universal, we need a universal one:
Step 9. Selecting the device type
In this window, we have to select the type of device for installation. If installing to a hard drive, select Internal (IDE or SATA):
Step 10. Select a device
Select the device on which we will install the system:
Step 11. Preparing the partition
System installation is performed on one partition. If the selected device already has partitions, you can select one of them. Otherwise, click the button with the Gparted icon:
Step 12. Create the partition table
If your disk is not already mapped, open the Deices menu and click Create Partition Table:
Step 13. Creating a section
Create one new section of sufficient size. One or several gigabytes is enough for installation and full use of the entire system. You can use vfat, ntfs or ext4 and others compatible with Linux as the file system for the partition.
In the first case, you will not be able to install a complete system. The installer will create an empty file, make the necessary file system there, and only then proceed to the installation. But this option does not suit us, so we will use ext4.
Step 14. Apply changes
When finished, open the menu Edit and press Apply All Changes to save your changes.
Step 15. Boot flag
Check the box next to Boot and press Ok... Then Gparted can be closed.
Step 16. Select device # 2
Select the device again:
Step 17. Selecting a section
In the upper right corner, select the newly created disk:
Step 18. Confirmation of the section
Confirm the installation on this particular section:
Step 19. Additional disk
If you have an additional disk with puppy linux files, you can now mount it:
Step 20. Installation method
You have two installation options. Installing puppy linux as a file, recommended when installing on ntfs or vfat, as well as full installation (FULL). For this article, we will use a full installation:
Step 21. Last confirmation
Confirm that the system needs to be installed on this disk:
Step 22 Installing Puppy Linux
Wait until the files are copied to the disk partition:
Step 23. Installing the bootloader
Select Yes if you want to install the bootloader. Grub4dos will be used as the bootloader:
Step 24. Configuring the bootloader
Select the partition on which the bootloader will be installed, and also install Extra options, if it's necessary:
Step 25. Kernel parameters
Enter additional kernel parameters, if necessary, here you can also choose the name of the menu item for windows:
Step 26. Confirming Boot Loader Installation
Confirm that the bootloader needs to be installed in the MBR. Now the installation of puppy linux is complete, you just need to restart your computer.
Step 27 Reboot
Reboot the system using the appropriate button on the panel:
Step 28. Starting the system
Select the first item in the bootloader menu and wait for the download to complete:
Step 29 setup menu
After starting the system, the menu will open again in front of us initial setup... Here you can configure your language, time zone, and many more system settings.
First select the language in which you want to use the system:
Then, in the box below, select your time zone:
Step 29. Localization
To localize the system, it is not enough just to select a language, you also need to install the package with translations through the package manager, so start Puppy Package Manager from the menu.
In the list of repositories, go to puppy-noarch, then search for langpack. When the packages are found, select the langpack_en package and double click on it, then click Do It in the upper corner to start the installation:
After the installation is complete, it will remain to reboot the system. Then everything will be in Russian.
conclusions
That's all, now you know how to install puppy linux on your hard drive and are a little familiar with the features of this distribution. As you can see, this is not an ordinary linux distribution, it can be launched both in normal mode and using the LiveCD, and in both cases you get a full-fledged operating system. If you still have questions, ask in the comments!
Video of the puppy linux installation process:
Out of hundreds of free Linux distributions, have you chosen yours?
List your needs. What will you use your Linux for? What features are important to you? How would you prioritize them? What features don't you care about?
Once you have compiled your custom list of needs, compare it to different Linux implementations. Linux is configurable and gives you full control (which you would expect from open source software) over yourself. So, in theory, you can create almost any Linux distribution according to your needs. But it probably makes more sense to choose the most suitable Linux distribution out of the hundreds available.
Puppy Linux is one of the twenty most popular Linux distributions worldwide (ranked by disrowatch.com). Puppy is made for those who want from Linux:
- Includes all applications required for daily use
- Works out of the box
- Easy to use and suitable for Linux newbies and newcomers from Windows to Linux
- Works great on limited hardware
- Works seamlessly on older computers, thin clients and diskless workstations
- Installs and runs from any bootable device, including USB, hard drives, zip drives, LS 120/240 SuperDisks, CDs and DVDs as well as over the network
Unlike other distributions, Puppy is not based on any of them. It was created to meet the above goals.
Let's discuss the characteristics and, in summary, consider how it differs from other Linux distributions.
Fast and lightweight.
Puppy was specifically designed for limited hardware, including older computers, thin workstations, and diskless computers.
Puppy accomplishes this goal using several methods:
- The standard software included with Puppy covers all typical application needs with minimal resources.
- The minimum size of the operating system itself
- The whole system by default is fully loaded into memory and executed there
- Puppy boots and runs from any available device - your computer does not need to have special devices such as a hard drive or CD drive
As a result, you can take your old Pentium III, install Puppy on it and enjoy its excellent performance. Memory access is much faster than disk access. Just make sure your computer has enough memory to run Puppy from RAM.
To see how this works, read my earlier post about my experience installing Putty on a Pentium III 550MHz with 448MB of RAM. Driven by Putty, these century old hardwares run typical applications as fast as they run equivalent Celeron 2.6 GHz applications with a gigabyte of RAM running WindowsXP!
Puppy lets old computers breathe again new life and run on diskless computers and thin workstations.
Flexibility.
As with many distributions, you can get acquainted with Puppy using the "Live-CD" version and see how it will be compatible with your computer hardware. The Live-CD is a bootable CD that you can burn Puppy to after you've downloaded it from the Internet. You should use the "Create Bootable Disc" item in your CD / DVD burning software menu. (Options such as "data CD", "music or audio CD" and "video CD" do not allow you to create a bootable disc). The LiveCD version of Puppy of course also includes CD and DVD burning software. If you are on Windows and need a CD burning program, you can download the free ImgBurn software to create boot disk with Puppy.
If you don’t want to install Puppy on your hard drive (or perhaps your machine doesn’t have hard disk), you should be able to run Puppy from the LiveCD. When you want to finish using Puppy, it will give you the option to save your personal preferences, configuration parameters, and any additional software that you added to the base system, on any device that supports data logging. This, again, can be a USB stick, hard drive, and CD / DVD recordable disks.
If you start Puppy from the LiveCD, you will quickly find another advantage of starting a system loaded into memory. You can eject the CD and Puppy will continue its work. So, after downloading, you can listen to the new audio CD you bought today, or burn the data to a CD or DVD. Other Linux versions empty the CD drive after the applications have finished.
You can also use Puppy's unique ability to support multisession CD / DVDs. Any type of CD or DVD (or -) is supported, to which you can write your data as sessions using Puppy to continue writing the next time you use Puppy. Puppy includes a toolkit for burning multisession discs.
When installed on hard drives Puppy offers two alternatives: a full (or traditional) or "frugal disk" installation.
Peaceful coexistence with Windows.
Windows usually comes with many computers, so many users begin their computer experience through Windows. However, they soon discover that Windows has serious weaknesses in spite of its lightness and usability. The only great step in this case is the additional installation of Linux as a second operating system. In this case, when you start your computer, you get a unique opportunity to choose which system to work with - Linux or Windows.
The advantages of Puppy are also obvious in the fact that you can run it from a Live-CD or from a USB stick, without replacing your existing system on your hard disk.
When you exit Puppy, it asks you if you want to save your configuration parameters and intermediate session data by selecting "save file" and specifying the path to a USB stick or recordable CD / DVD. you can write a file with settings to any Windows partition of your hard disk (Under Windows file Puppy's save will appear as a single large file in the root directory).
Another option for starting Puppy is to launch it from Windows. Just start Windows and unzip the Puppy file to install Puppy on Windows. Create a Puppy icon on your desktop by double clicking on which will launch Puppy. Exit Puppy and you will be back in Windows.
The GUI is launched using two graphical servers - Xorg and Xvesa. Their presence allows Puppy to provide video GUI support for the widest range of PCs.
Puppy's "helpers", which appear as interactive forms, are another ease-of-use feature that facilitates all aspects system installation and configuration.
What sets some of the most user-centric Linux distributions apart from others is their level of support. Puppy Linux was written and developed primarily by one person - Barry Kauler. Support is provided by the Puppy community, which consists of several active forums providing technical assistance and distribution advice. Puppy contains 3 MB of documentation. You can also view (s) extensive information on the system. An active community maintains Wiki, Wiki community news and IRC chat. Puppy has tutorials written in Flash and video tutorials. Also here you will find Puppy documentation in HTML and PDF formats... There is support for various languages (not only English).
The abundance of Puppy documentation makes it on par with many redistributable Linux distributions.
Adding Applications.
After booting the system, choosing the type of installation and saving options, and coexisting with Windows, a key aspect of being flexible with Puppy is how easy it is to access and install additional software.
Puppy also includes features that allow you to customize your system. Select "Remaster" from the menu to create your own customized bootable CD. Or use Puppy Unleashed to create a Live-CD of your chosen software from over 500 official packages.
What Puppy is not for.
I have touted the delights of Puppy and described its possibilities. This is Linux loved by users all over the world, and this is proven by the size of its community.
Still, sometimes you have to say that Puppy is not intended for something. This is not to say that Puppy cannot be used for any purpose. This suggests that they are not the main impetus in its development.
For starters, remember that Puppy Linux is a "little Linux". It doesn't have to include the vast amount of software libraries that "big Linux" like Fedora or RedHat contain, but you can easily turn it into one using the PETget package manager.
Puppy uses special techniques to offer users applications for daily use.
Puppy is designed as a custom system. Of course, you can install it on servers, since it has all the possibilities for this, but the goal and main direction of the project is a PC user.
For example, Puppy users always log in with the user ID "root". Comparing this to other Linux systems that insist on using a different user ID from a security and multiuser perspective. The Puppy community agrees that running the system as "root" poses no security risk. Test my own systems running on Puppy and open to the world as the ShieldsUp site! and, on the other hand, invisible to the outside world, thanks to the configured firewall.
Finally, keep in mind that Puppy Linux is evolving rapidly and each version has more and more significant improvements. You can choose any version for yourself from the ones currently available on the releases page.
The Puppy community is constantly moving towards releasing new versions. Typical applications and tools change with each release. This may not suit those looking for a "frozen" system with minimal changes.
What's your verdict?
I've covered the features of Puppy Linux in this article to showcase its potential uses. But I missed one fact of life - Puppy Linux is just fun. Having a friendly interface, easy-to-use "helpers" and built-in how-to information, it still has the ability, with your help, to turn into a full-fledged system that can be used to solve serious problems. Puppy is an adorable system that has all the features that make it eligible to participate in the evolving user community.
You can boot and test Puppy Linux using its Live-CD version without making any changes to the existing partitions on your hard disk and without worrying that the existing third-party system on the disk will be damaged. This way you can ensure that Puppy Linux is fully compatible with your hardware and that it has video control capabilities, system devices and have the interface you want.
Visit the main Puppy Linux sites located and. Or download Puppy from here or from here. Many people try to buy Puppy, but "buy" is the wrong word, as Puppy is free and available. So let us just say that usually those who just meet Puppy want to take him to their home right away.
Screenshots of Puppy Linux:
I have a rather "old" computer: an ABIT ST6 motherboard; Celeron 1100 MHz processor "overclocked" to 1463 MHz (FSB = 133 MHz); RAM 512 MB; NVIDIA graphics card GeForce FX5200 / 128M; additional controller USB 2.0 PCI GEMBIRD UPC-20-2P (since on motherboard USB 1.1 ports); network card PCI Intel 100 Mb; HDD SAMSUNG 200 GB; CD / DVD drive Optiarc AD-5170A; floppy drive; Power supply unit DELTA ELECTRONICS DPS-300KBD. I will briefly describe the process of installing Puppy-420-ru version v6, in the frugal version, on this computer, maybe this will help someone who is starting to master Puppy Linux (when writing the article, the forum materials were used).
Previously, on a Windows PC and Internet access, we need to do the following: download the Puppy-420-ru ISO image, burn the CD in this way, thus obtaining a Live-CD, defragment the HDD on which we are going to install Puppy- 420-ru (this is for the case when this HDD has FAT or NTFS partitions, like mine), and also upload a small mkswap file (after loading, remove the txt extension from it).
In Setup Computer BIOS install boot from CD-ROM, boot from burned Live-CD. Since my HDD had one NTFS 200 GB partition, the disk needs to be prepared accordingly. I decided to simply "cut" from the existing partition - 9 GB for the partition with the system and 1 GB for the swap partition. To do this, go to "Menu" -> "System" -> "Gparted partition manager", mark our disk. Next, select our section, click "Resize or Move", and reduce the size of the NTFS partition by 10240 MB by entering this number in the window "Free space after (MB)", press Enter, then "Edit" -> "Apply All Operations", we wait. Now select the partition we created and not yet marked up and click "Create", select the "ext3" file system type, click the "+ Add" button, again "Edit" -> "Apply All Operations", we wait. We make this section bootable - right-click on it, select "Controlling flags" and put a tick on "boot".
After completing this operation, in the same way we "cut off" 1024 MB, but already from the created ext3-partition, and we get a 1 GB partition. Here's a small digression - in Puppy-420-ru there is a problem with the system utility mkswap, and first we need to solve it. We minimize GParted, go to "Files" (shortcut on the desktop), then go up one level, look for the / sbin folder, find the mkswap link file in it, delete it, and copy the mkswap file we downloaded earlier to / sbin. Expand GParted, select the 1 GB partition, click "Create", select the "linux-swap" file system type, click the "+ Add" button, then "Edit" -> "Apply All Operations", we are waiting, the swap section has been created.
Now you need to install the GRUB boot loader on your ext3 boot partition. Go in "Menu" -> "System" ->... Follow the prompts (simple -> standart -> enter your disk, for example, / dev / sda2 -> MBR -> enter / dev / sda), wait for the / boot folder to appear on the second partition. Next, you need to edit the GRUB boot menu. We go to the / boot / grub folder, find the menu.lst file, open it, delete everything that is there, and insert the following lines:
timeout 10
color light-gray / blue black / light-gray
title Puppy Linux 420 frugal
rootnoverify (hd0,1)
kernel / puppy-ru-420 / vmlinuz pmedia = atahd psubdir = puppy-ru-420 nosmp
title Puppy Linux 420 frugal
rootnoverify (hd0,1)
kernel / puppy-ru-420 / vmlinuz pfix = ram pmedia = atahd psubdir = puppy-ru-420 nosmp
initrd /puppy-ru-420/initrd.gz
title Puppy Linux 420 frugal
rootnoverify (hd0,1)
kernel / puppy-ru-420 / vmlinuz pfix = fsck pmedia = atahd psubdir = puppy-ru-420 nosmp
initrd /puppy-ru-420/initrd.gz
title Reboot
reboot
title Shutdown
halt
the first item is the usual boot of the system (it will happen automatically after 10 seconds), the second item is the boot with a parameter to check and fix errors in the file system, the fourth and fifth items are restart and shutdown of the computer, respectively. In principle, you can add as many items to this menu as you like, I chose only those that I really use.
Install Puppy-420-ru: create the / puppy-ru-420 folder on our second ext3-partition, and copy the initrd.gz, vmlinuz and pup_420-ru-42.sfs files from the Live-CD there, also create an empty folder in this folder ATAHD file. Everything, the system is installed, we reboot ( "Menu" -> "Shut down" -> "Computer Restart"), we refuse the offer to save the session in the file. We remove the boot from the CD-ROM in the Setup BIOS, boot from the HDD, after loading you can start to master the system, at the end of the work, when you select in "Menu" -> "Turn off" shutting down the computer or restarting it, we agree to the proposals to create save file(the so-called "saved"), select the suggested size 512 MB, if not enough, then it can be easily increased in the future. Now we have the operating system Puppy-420-ru v6 installed in the frugal variant.
One of the options for installing Puppy-420-ru is described here, it is also quite possible to use and "Universal Puppy Installer" located in "Menu" -> "Settings"... For beginners, it's worth noting that "Universal Puppy Installer" does not install the GRUB bootloader, and after completing its work, you need to go to "Menu" -> "System" -> "Grub - Grub bootloader configuration" and install the bootloader, and then insert the necessary items into its menu (edit the file /boot/grub/menu.lst).
update: Small but important addition. In general, when installing Puppy Linux, it is not at all necessary to create a separate partition for it on the hard disk, you can install this system in a folder on the existing partition, and you only need to install and correctly configure the bootloader (GRUB, GRUB4DOS or some other). Creating a separate section is kind of a tradition, a classic method that I used when I talked about it in this article.
The site "Electron55.ru" works
Modern Linux distributions are often too heavy (LibreOffice, for example, requires a lot of memory due to the use of Java), so you can't really roam on low-power computers. Fortunately, there are distributions that are maximally cut in size, but at the same time contain everything you need for more or less comfortable work.
Introduction
To begin with, it is worth giving a definition. A mini-distribution is a Linux distribution that can run on low-power hardware. Low-power hardware, as a rule, was released seven or more years ago and has 512 MB of memory, a 2.4 GHz processor and an integrated graphics card. Modern versions full-fledged distros on such hardware, of course, you cannot run - they are too heavy. However, the problem of what to deliver is still there. It is, of course, possible to install distributions of that time, only there will be clearly more errors there than in modern ones, and no one releases security updates for them anymore. There is an option to collect everything yourself from scratch, but this is too drastic. All that remains is the use of mini-distributions. The article will describe four mini-distributions general purpose... But first, a little digression into the history of distributive building. First, let's remember why distributions are needed at all. They were originally just a handy setup script to bundle programs together. Then (due to the emergence of dependencies between programs) package managers arose. Then came the current pillars of distribution and the desktop race. There have been numerous attempts to create a user-centric distribution. And somewhere in 2000-2002, the first Live-distribution kit appeared - Knoppix, which allows you to work without installation, and it became much easier to find out what Linux is. The most popular mini-distribution, Damn Small Linux, was developed on the basis of Knoppix. I think this brief excursion can be ended and finally move on to mini-distributions.INFO
If you are looking for a non-KDE / GNOME desktop environment, you can use Xubuntu.TinyCore
There are three variants of this distribution: Core, TinyCore and CorePlus. The first one takes 9 MB, but since this option contains only the command line, we are not interested in it. The second already contains a GUI, which with a volume of 15 MB seems amazing by modern standards. However, it lacks non-English keyboard layouts, so only CorePlus is suitable for a Russian-speaking user. All three are based on kernel 3.16. When loading, a menu will appear, which offers a choice of as many as seven window managers. The default is FLWM - and load it. After launching, the desktop appears immediately. At the bottom of it is a nice application launcher, from which you can launch the editor, control panel, application management utility, log out, install it and perform some more actions. Let's see what can be done from the application management utility. TinyCore Boot Menu When you start it for the first time, you will be prompted to search for the nearest mirror. This is the first window we see, so let's pay attention to the title too. It seems to have come from the late nineties - the window control buttons are inexpressive and do not stand out in any way. The windows have no system menu at all. But back to the content. After clicking Yes, the mirrors will be searched. At the end of it, you need to agree again, this time with the chosen mirror. This point seems superfluous - this is the second question that has no direct relation to software management. But here we clicked OK, and the application selection window appeared. The list on the left, which, in theory, should contain available applications, is pristine. You need to select the Cloud (Remote) submenu from the Apps menu and click the Browse button. A huge listing of applications will be displayed, sorted alphabetically and not categorized in any way - the latter, of course, is a huge disadvantage and sharply limits users who can work with this distribution, despite the fact that, in principle, it is not positioned as a distribution for system administrators.
TinyCore package management utility Let's try to install AbiWord. There is no search as you type - which is quite logical, since the distribution kit is designed for low-power computers. After pressing the Enter key, a suitable package will appear on the left side. By selecting it, on the left side we get information about it. However, when you try to install it, it turns out that this is not possible - most likely, the installation of applications is not designed to work in Live CD mode. In this case, however, the question arises: why even give the opportunity to run this utility without an installed system? Let's try to put this distribution kit on the hard drive. The installation procedure consists of approximately six steps: hard drive selection, file system selection, boot loader options, selection of extensions to install, and confirmation. After installing and rebooting, we tried to install AbiWord again, and again it was unsuccessful - this time the program refused to start due to the inability to find the library. 
Installing TinyCore on HDD About the distribution, we can say that, unfortunately, it is clearly not suitable for novice users. Why, it’s not even for system administrators. It can be called a constructor for someone who wants to dazzle some analogue of Parted Magic. But it is not suitable for direct use. Puppy Linux
The latest version of this distribution is based on Ubuntu 14.04, so the programs from it will work fine. But, unlike Ubuntu, the size of the ISO image of the distribution is just over 200 MB and uses its own package format and its own repositories. After launch, a nice desktop and an initial setup window will appear, in which you can select the language, time zone and monitor resolution. When choosing the Russian language, a warning appears that a package is needed for localization. You need to install it manually, but it's quite simple: on the desktop, click Install, then on the Install applications tab, select Puppy Package Manager and find the langpack_ru package. After that, you need to restart the X server.
Initial setup of Puppy Linux Let's take a look at the set of available applications and evaluate the GUI at the same time. Let's start with the latter. The default desktop is the JWM window manager. The title bar with buttons looks standard, there is no feeling of retro desktops, the system menu is also present. By default, there are three virtual desktops, using the system menu, you can move windows to any of them. The developers managed to squeeze a lot of useful applications- from spreadsheets(Gnumeric) to Firefox 24-based browser. There are even some entertainment programs. It should be noted, however, that 256 MB of memory is not enough for the distribution kit - at first, of course, it works fine, but then the brakes start. For comfortable work, therefore, you need at least 512. Let's move on to the packages. The graphical package manager somehow supports not only the Puppy Linux repositories, but also the Ubuntu repositories, however, there is no standard apt-get. That is, Puppy has not only packages available for it, but also a complete list of Ubuntu packages. When installing a package, a console window appears, which displays all the commands being executed. After installation, another window will appear with a report on the work done. It looks pretty logical, but wouldn't it be better to display a message that the installation went well somewhere in the corner? 
Puppy Linux package manager Let's try to install the distribution kit on the hard disk. To do this, click "Install", then Universal installer. The first steps of the installation are quite intuitive, but starting with partitioning, inexperienced users may have problems - it was not necessary to separate the partitioning program from the installation program. In addition, the idea of a "simple" installation is certainly interesting, but it looks strange for installation on a hard drive. The idea is that not the executable files themselves are installed, but the Squashfs images and all changes are made not to them, but to the dedicated FS directory. This allows you to install Puppy even on FAT / NTFS partitions, which is extremely useful for installing on flash and other external drives, but somewhat confuses the user, since the latter is offered, albeit a detailed, but rather incomprehensible description of the proposed options. Translation into Russian, by the way, has a huge ... number of ... dots. During shutdown, you will be prompted to select a location to save persistent data. And all would be fine, but the question arises: why is it impossible to remember the user's choice in the installation program? But for the ability to encrypt this storage, a separate plus - there are three options to choose from: no encryption, weak encryption and strong. 
The first step of installing Puppy Linux After rebooting and starting Puppy from the hard disk, for some reason, all the parameters need to be specified again, although, it would seem, they should be saved, because we did not set up the persistent storage for nothing. However, most likely, there is some kind of flaw here, because at the next shutdown they will again ask about the persistent storage. But then they won't ask. Overall, the distribution looks like a reasonable choice for users with old computer... Moreover, it is focused specifically on users, which, together with the size, looks extremely attractive. However, the distribution kit has a huge disadvantage - by default, the working user is root. SliTaz
The size of the ISO image of the latest unstable version of this distribution is 42 MB. The kernel version is 3.2.53. During loading, a language selection menu will appear - unfortunately, there is no Russian in it. After the timeout expires, they will offer another menu, in which you can already select the desired desktop option or even start without it. After launch, the desktop will appear - as such, the distribution uses OpenBox.
The second menu that appears when loading SliTaz In general, the GUI does not stand out in anything special, but it does not make the impression too old-fashioned. The developers have chosen the option of placing the panel (and, accordingly, the main menu) on top. In terms of functionality, it is approximately identical to JWM, and even surpasses it in customizability of the header line. There are not very many programs in the distribution kit, but still enough. In particular, there is a PDF reader and a music player. The default browser is some pathetic option that even JavaScript doesn't support. An alternative is the Midori browser based on the WebKit engine. Unfortunately, when trying to open some pages, this browser was automatically closed. 
Midori browser TazPkg is used as a package manager, which is a script written in ash. The format of the packages is a CPIO-archive with an attached cpio.gz file and "recipes", which include dependencies. It is not clear why it was necessary to reinvent the next bicycle - there are more than enough package managers, including lightweight ones. Installing a package looks extremely easy: # tazpkg recharge # tazpkg get-install mc Let's see how to install this distribution. In the application menu, select System Tools -> SliTaz Installer. A browser window will appear asking you to enter your username / password. This will open a web page offering to install or update the distribution. When choosing an installation, you will need to split it into sections, for this purpose you need to run GParteed. After splitting it is already possible to move on. On next page will be all other parameters. Everything is very clear and precise, the only thing missing is the choice of the time zone. 
One of the SliTaz Installation Steps After installing and rebooting (note that this does not automatically eject the disk), the login screen will appear. This login window is perhaps the most minimalistic I've seen - even the mouse pointer is missing during the login procedure. V installed system Midori browser worked like a clock, but did not respond to the mouse wheel at close range. 
The login screen in SliTaz The distribution looks very interesting (perhaps, its size / functionality ratio is close to the maximum), but the lack of the Russian language is quite a significant drawback. Also, having another package manager doesn't seem like a good thing. 4MLinux
This distribution is available in two versions: Basic and Full. Version 11.1 (based on kernel 3.14.27) Basic takes 70 MB, Full is just over 370. When trying to boot on a virtual machine with 256 MB of RAM, the Basic version refused to start. Therefore, the recommended minimum for this distribution is 512 MB. After starting, an editor window will appear, in which you need to specify the locale of the window manager (by the way, its indication does not affect anything - neither immediately after editing, nor after restarting the graphics system), and after closing it - a desktop with a bright background image and information about the system load. JWM is used as the window manager. There is a panel on top quick launch applications, the standard panel is at the bottom, and on it is the second panel, this time quick access to the settings. There are more than enough effects in this desktop, you can even enable 3D - although why they are needed in a lightweight distribution is unknown. Of the available applications, there is the NetSurf browser on its own engine, originally developed for the RISC OS. Unfortunately, Russian-language sites are not displayed correctly in it. In addition to the browser, there is also mail client Sylpheed and MPlayer. It is also possible to install, for example, Firefox or LibreOffice.
NetSurf Browser Again, the developers did not use any of the common package managers, but created their own - zk, an almost five kilobyte script in ash. And all would be fine, but this manager not only does not support repositories - it does not even support dependencies, which was bad manners back in 1995. In fact, it just unpacks tar.xz archives to root and supports updating the distribution. To install, select 4MLinux -> Installer in the main menu. A console will appear, where after pressing Enter, there will be ... an error. It says that no sections were found. It is not difficult to create one, but the installation program should be designed for such cases as well. We created, re-launched the installer ... and again received an error - it is impossible to mount the partition. After the creation of the file system and the next launch, we will be offered - attention! - format the section. This, in an amicable way, was worth proposing at the stage of the second mistake. Then the question will be asked: will this distribution be the only OS on the computer? Since it is better to put such things the first time on virtual machine(which we are doing), you can safely answer "Yes". After that, a warning will appear that the boot loader will be installed. It is not Grub2 or even ordinary Grub - LILO. And this is in 2015. There is nothing left to do but agree. The next step is to check if the data is correct. Here we boldly give a positive answer. And then the installation will be done. The process takes less than a minute, then you need to reboot. 
Partition selection stage during 4MLinux installation After rebooting, you will be prompted to set a root password. Next there will be a textual login prompt, and, despite the preliminary setting of the superuser password, it starts up without a password. Even after login, no GUI is launched - it needs to be started manually using the startx command. After launch, everything looks absolutely identical to the Live CD. The distribution makes a very strange impression. The graphical part of it looks very nice, but the fact that it is impossible to run on less than 512 MB of RAM (despite the fact that the image itself takes only 70) is surprising. The set of available applications is also small - it seems that the developers instead useful programs they pushed only all kinds of effects. The management of the so-called "packages" is also puzzling at best - the 1995 Red Hat distribution, I repeat, looks even more solid in this regard. The installation also evokes thoughts of the early days of Linux: not only does the installer fail to partition disks by itself, it also uses the ancient LILO boot loader. NanoBSD
It is possible to create a stripped-down version of FreeBSD for use on systems with limited memory. The NanoBSD script will help with this. Features of the resulting images:- packages (and ports) work exactly the same original system;
- unless otherwise specified when building an image, the functionality is also identical;
- the root FS is mounted in read-only, which allows you to turn off the power without entering any commands.
Conclusion
Mini-distributions are quite useful thing. Unfortunately, as you can see in this review, only a small part of them are really suitable for the user, even despite the declared purpose. But those of them that are really convenient do not reach the level of usability of full-fledged distributions. TinyCore is not suitable for either users or administrators - it is a distribution kit for specific purposes that needs to be tweaked with handles. But the installer in this distribution is normal. 4MLinux looks like a beautiful wrapper with a very strange stuffing - not only are “packages” in the understanding of this distribution kit just tar.xz archives, but also LILO is used as a bootloader. And there is nothing to say about installation - if the installation program did not acquire a graphical frontend for eleven versions of the distribution kit, it means something. In addition, this is the only distribution in the review that could not run on 256 MB of memory. SliTaz can already be recommended to users - with a modest size (40 MB), it has a set of applications similar to that in 4MLinux. The package manager, albeit self-written, works as it should. The installation method is also interesting - through the Web-GUI. If it were not for the absence of the Russian language (including in the repositories), it could be safely advised not very much experienced users with old iron. Finally, Puppy. Despite some controversial points (for example, not very intuitive installation and the inability to easily install packages from the command line), this distribution compares favorably with the number of programs - which, in general, is not surprising, since the size of the ISO image is more than 200 MB, - and the presence of the Russian language. It is also the only distribution in the review that is somehow compatible with third-party repositories. Summing up: it all depends on how much the user will spare the time to fiddle with the installation and initial setup of the distribution kit (after all, in principle, with a very strong desire, you can use the minimal installation of the same Ubuntu). But all things being equal, Puppy looks like the most preferred option.It all started when I booted my laptop from a flash drive and got this wonderful PuppyRus-A system (PRA for short)! My delight knew no bounds - everything flies, the battery lasts 50% longer, there is everything you need to work, and all this is on a 200 Mb distribution! Having configured the system for myself, I recommended my friends to set themselves a PRA. After 3 days, I find out that out of 4 people no one has coped with this seemingly simple task! The problems were as follows
how to choose the required distribution
how to make a bootable flash drive
how to install a system and software on a flash drive
1. How to choose a distribution kit
2. How to make a bootable flash drive
To install PRA, you will need a 4-8 GB flash drive, more is unlikely to be needed. In order not to be confused with files, clear the flash drive from all contents, you can even format it. We only need a space equal to the size of the distribution image + 300-500 megabytes per file for saving settings - in total, about 1 GB on a flash drive will be used for PRA, the rest of the space can be used to store anything, i.e. the flash drive can be used for its intended purpose. File system on a fat32 or ntfs flash drive.
Choose a flash drive based on speed. This will shorten the boot and save times for your future system! Use utilities to measure performance.
All work on the preparation of the flash drive will be done in Windows environment(on Linux it is also possible). We will need any program that allows us to open the ISO image ( 7-zip, UltraISO, Total commander with plugins connected, etc.). We will take everything that we need inside the source or create it ourselves. Find the folder in the source win along this path: pra03-1503middle1.iso \ boot \ grub4dos \ install \ and rewrite it to the root of the flash drive. From the ISO root, we will rewrite the files on the flash drive grldr and menu.lst... The contents of the flash drive at this stage looks like this:
Now let's make the USB flash drive bootable. Need to work with administrator rights!!! Run the file on the USB flash drive /win/grubinst_gui.exe, select your USB flash drive in the upper window (do not confuse it with hdd and be guided by the size!)
UPD: If you want to speed up booting from a flash drive, then check the boxes "No backup MBR", "Disable PrevMBR" and enter 0 in the "Timeout" field
at the bottom we press Install and we get this window:
Problems sometimes arise in this place! In some cases wingrub exits with an error. But sooner or later we will be able to get the result, in the following ways (you can suggest your own methods):
read the error message, add the suggested key in the "Extra" window and try again
didn't work in Win7, but it turned out easily in WinXP
it turned out after formatting the flash drive with the utility HP USB Disk Storage Format(found in the vastness of the network)
it helped if you put a sign on the flash drive boot in a programme gparted v Ubuntu(select the section, control flags, check the box boot).
in the environment Win you can make the flash drive active with the built-in utility diskpart from the command line or external software. Such a flash drive in Windows(disk management) will show the partition sign " active". For some reason grub sometimes on some flash drives it does not. (google and find !!).
burn the iso-image to a CD, boot from it and, working in the system, create a bootable flash drive (start-system-frustrated installation).
use the programs UltraISO or Rufus, they can format and create bootable flash drives from ISO.
UPD: Sometimes you need to enter a key in the Extra –skip-mbr-test field.
It has been noticed that most often problems are with flash drives, on which the manufacturer pre-installs its software!
Using the indicated methods, it was possible to make bootable 8 flash drives, which refused to become bootable the first time! By the way, everything that we did with a USB flash drive can be done with an SD card, but not every device supports booting from an SD card. If none of the available ways to make a bootable flash drive helped you, change the flash drive !!!.
And so, all the preparatory procedures are completed, we are trying to boot from the prepared flash drive by installing such an option in the bios of our device (for different devices there are different key combinations for entering bios, no one had any problems, look for help on the network). If, as a result of the first boot, you got on the screen a multi-colored menu with krakozyabram, placed in a frame, congratulations! You have succeeded, there is only one last step! To make the menu readable, delete the folder on the flash drive win, write down the entire folder instead boot from the source (there are fonts and all that is needed), we are overloaded, AND !!! You can flip through the cool menu!
Worse, when you didn't see anything on the first boot. Do everything that is described above again, perhaps you made a mistake at some stage, or try replacing the flash drive. there are answers to many questions related to preparing a flash drive and booting the system.
3. Fill the software on the flash drive
This is the simplest thing to do. We delete from the flash drive everything that we have written on it and overwrite all the contents of the ISO there. That's all! Now the flash drive looks like this:
We boot, select the line "loading into RAM ... ..> 500 mb" from the menu and get a clean system !!! It remains only to customize it for yourself and save. About this in the next step by step instructions -
https://youtu.be/WJ86H8qYFAE - Here is a video on how to install PuppyRus-A Linux (PRA) on a USB flash drive.
4.installation on HDD
The control gear can be installed on the hard disk as the main (only) operating system or in addition to the existing one, for example win7. Installing on a hard drive in both cases is no different from installing on a flash drive, you need to do the same steps
being in windows, unpack the iso contents to the root of the C: / drive, in this case all files and folders from the control gear and Win will be mixed, but this is a purely aesthetic inconvenience, it will not affect the system's operation in any way, in this case you do not need to edit menu.lst
run the file /win/grubinst_gui.exe under account administrator (run as) and install the grub4dos bootloader to disk as described above
Now you can reboot. You will have access to the options for downloading PRA and Win. You can get to win from 2 places during the boot process. The first time by pressing the space bar in response to the bootloader message, the second time from the control gear boot menu by selecting the "boot from HDD" item.
If the control gear is installed as the only system and you do not have the opportunity to boot under win, then all installation procedures can be done by booting from the CD created from the control gear image, then select the installation and go through the steps, choosing the necessary items in the proposed menus.
https://youtu.be/3b-AL7w-mOY - here is a video on how to install PuppyRus-A Linux (PRA) on hdd.
- here is a detailed description of another option, without installing a bootloader, with the ability to rollback.
