Thanks Zappdog. Bit late to do now, as I'm doing accounts/word processing etc which will take a couple of hours then ZZZZzzzzzzzzzz time.

Will do as you suggested tomorrow.

Must admit, it does look good.

Thanks for the boinc installation tip.

ON

HEY SIRIUS B
NOW THAT I'M HOME AND LOOKING IN THE PUPPY MENU,
THE PUPPY UNIVERSAL INSTALLER IS IN SETUP MENU.
IF IT WANTS YOU TO FORMAT THE HD TO EXT2 OR EXT3 FIRST
THEN IN "SYSTEM" MENU USE GPARTED PARTITION MANAGER. ITS PRETTY BASIC AND REAL FAST.
IT WILL FORMAT TO ALL DIFFERENT MICROSOFT FORMATS A LOT FASTER THAN DOS OR ANY WIN CAN.
ONE QUIRK I HAVE NOTICED WHEN RUNNING MULTIPLE HD'S WITH XP ON SOME, IS THAT WHEN A HD IS FORMATTED TO EXT2 OR EXT3, THEN WINDOWS ON OTHER HD'S WILL NOT SEE THE EXT2 - 3 HD. BUT FROM THE DRIVE MOUNTER IN PUPPY YOU SEE ALL DRIVES AND CAN READ/WRITE TO ANY OF THEM AND DRAG AND DROP ANYWHERE.
WHOOPS ( &%#$@ WINDBAG )

FOR AN EXCELLENT SUPPORT FORUM http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/index.php
THE MOST HELPFUL BUNCH OF LINUX NUTS I'VE SEEN. (OTHER THAN THE CRUNCHERS AROUND HERE)
IF I CAN'T ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS, THATS WHERE I GO LOOKING.
THE "HELP" ON THE MENU ISN'T MUCH BUT IT'LL GET YOU ONLINE, ETC.
OF COURSE I REALLY ENJOY HELPING WHEN I CAN. KEEP THOSE QUESTIONS COMING.
KEEP ME POSTED

DR.Z

Hey Zappdog, still looking good, but I had other problems which I now know how to resolve.
1: mount all drives 1st
2: format HD

Then install full version to HD. Very busy tomorrow, so will start again at the weekend. I'm not going to let this puppy defeat me - It will install

Thanks to the tips.

HEY SIRIUS B
FOR THE FORMAT AND INSTALL YOU DON'T HAVE MOUNT THE DRIVES FIRST. ONLY TO SEE WHATS ON THEM AND MANIPULATE FILES ON OTHER DRIVES. THE MAIN HD ( C DRIVE ) IS ACCESSIBLE FROM "HOME" ICON WITHOUT MOUNTING ONCE PUPPY IS INSTALLED.
YOU'LL GET IT. ITS PRETTY EASY TO TAME THE LITTLE PUPPY ONCE YOU UNDERSTAND HIM.
REMEMBER THE FIRST TIME YOU INSTALLED WINDOWS ?? ITS ABOUT THE SAME KIND OF LEARNING CURVE.

I'LL BE WATCHING FOR YOUR PROGRESS.

DR.Z

Hi Zappdog. Still experiencing problems installing onto quad. Even had a bootup problem with the live-cd on the quad. Spent all afternoon on this & still no joy, so said stuff it

Put live-cd on 3800 X2 & immediately got over 21 icons plus a taskbar. It even recognised network connection & got net access without any configuation. Now that's what I call smart

Decided to install it on a USB Flash Drive (4gb) as I did not want my HDD's on the X2 disturbed. The actual installation took minutes. Why Oh Why can't Micro-Doze do the same? Originally formatted it to ext2 but it wouldn't work, it had to be ext3. No problem!

Shut down the X2 & Andrea's rig & tried booting from the USB Drive on both - No problems. tried it on the quad - No joy. No usb would connect, so it looks like I have a problem with the rig.

Gotta admit Zappdog, Puppy sure looks good. Will continue to use it through the flash drive until I can get to grips with the problem on the quad.
From what I've seen so far, I really would like this operating on the quad, full stop.

Going to spend tomorrow learning Puppy & also try to find out what the problem is on the quad.

HEY SIRIUS B
YYAAAHHHHOOOOO!!! ANOTHER CONVERT. LOL. THATS GREAT THAT ITS WORKING GOOD FOR YOU.
I LIKE USING A FLASH DRIVE FOR IT. YOU CAN TAKE YOUR COMPUTER WITH YOU. ONCE YOU FIGURE IT ALL OUT, YOU CAN SET IT UP THE WAY YOU LIKE IT, DESKTOP, ADDED PROGRAMS ETC AND THEN MAKE A NEW VERSION OF PUPPY ALL YOUR OWN INTO AN ISO TO PASS ON. IF YOU EXPLORE SOME OF THE PUPPY SITES YOU WILL FIND MANY DIFFERENT VERSIONS, SOME MORE SPECIALIZED LIKE GRAPHICS OR MEDIA BASED. IT IS A PRETTY SLICK LITTLE PROGRAM ISN'T IT ??
AS FOR THE QUAD, I'M IN NEW TERRITORY THERE. GLAD TO SEE IT RUNS GOOD ON THE DUOS THOUGH. IF IT IS A PROBLEM WITH THE QUAD ITSELF THEN I CAN ASUME THAT PUPPY SHOULD WORK FINE ON A QUAD.
I'M GLAD I STEERED YOU AWAY FROM THE DINGO VERSION. I HAD SOME PROBLEMS WITH IT AND HAD TO RE-INSTALL 3.01.
THERE WILL BE A NEW VERSION OF IT NEXT WEEK WITH ALL THE PROBLEMS IRONED OUT. DON'T BE CONCERNED ABOUT THE NEW VERSION MAKING 3.01 OBSOLETE, CAUSE THE "3 SERIES" WILL CONTINUE TO BE DEVOLOPED AND IMPROVED. NEXT VERSION OF IT WILL BE 3.02 SOMETIME THIS SUMMER. THE " 4 SERIES" OF DINGO WILL BE A SEPERATE PROJECT WITH SERIES NUMBERS LIKE 4.00 THEN 4.01 ETC.
LET ME KNOW WHAT THE PROBLEM WAS WITH THE QUAD WHEN YOU FIGURE IT OUT.
EXPLORE SOME OF THE PUPPY SITES LISTED IN THIS FORUM TO GET AN IDEA OF THE WHOLE CONCEPT.

DR.Z

Thanks Zappdog. I'm no stranger to Linux. Have been trying various distros ever since it was introduced - even have some originals from the early 90's somewhere in my disc collection. Just found that with quite a few distros, it really is a problem to get them installed correctly.

So far, my personal favourite is still SuSe 9.1(personal) - it installed with no problems whatsoever (didn't particularly like SuSe 10). From what I've seen of the Puppy, I think it will overtake 9.1.

I don't think it's puppy that is causing the problem on the quad. When using the live cd, on bootup, it should install into ram, but no matter what I try, it still comes up Boot Disk Failure - Insert System Disk & Press Enter - This I find really weird as it should not be happening. 2nd, it has 10 usb ports with only one in use - It won't detect any USB flash drive on any of the ports, yet it does detect the USB DVD-Drive (5¼ bays all taken up with 2x 3 HDD backpanes).

Yet that same flash drive was used to update the bois enabling the cpu to work. I'm beginning to wonder if it's the O'S (XP Pro X64) as I'm experiencing some problems that should not be happening. At 1st, thought it could be a virus but system is clean.

At the moment, thinking of shutting down (after backing up data) & rebuilding with a clean install.

Will keep you posted regarding the Puppy.

Hi Zappdog. I think I've found one of the problems. Under USB Mass Storage Device, there should be only 2 devices - DVD-Rom & Kingston Flash Drive.
But, it's showing my 3 HDD's as well & this I cannot understand as they are Sata 2 drives not USB & not showing the Kingston.

To make sure that there is no problem on the Kingston, I've used it on the other X2 & a single core. Both rigs booted into Puppy. no problems.

I've reinstalled USB drivers with no change. So if you or anyone else can advise on this, it will be much appreciated.

If not, will rebuild with a total clean install to see if that clears the problem.

Partial success. USB Drives show up in the bios as hard drives so had to set bios to boot up from usb hard drive. Rebooted & puppy RUNS

Decided to install on HD so inserted live cd & rebooted.
Got the following messages..................

Loading the pup_301.sfs main file...copying to ram..........Failed
Dumping last lines of /tmp/bootinit.log............
Mount: /dev/sr0 is write protected, mounting read only
Reading /mnt/dev_ro2/pup_301.scs: Input/output error

Dumping last lines of kernel log...
(3) buffer i/o error on device sr0, logical block 3462/3463/3464/3465 (4 lines)

HEY SIRIUS B
WELL YOUR RIG IS WAY ABOVE MY EXPERIENCE BUT I TALKED TO A BUDDY WITH A MUCH SMALLER BOX AND HE HAD THE SAME SORT OF TROUBLE WHEN HE FIRST SET IT UP. HE DIDN'T KNOW WHAT CAUSED IT IN THE FIRST PLACE AND ALL HE DID WAS RE-INSTALL WITH NOTHING PLUGGED INTO IT THEN ADDED THEM ALL AFTER.
NOT SURE IF THATS THE KIND OF ANSWER YOU WANTED TO HEAR BUT IT MAY END UP BEING YOUR LAST RESOURCE.
I WOULD INVESTIGATE FURTHER BEFORE GOING THE DRASTIC ROUTE. TRY UNPLUGGING ALL THE EXTRAS, THEN ADD THEM ONE AT A TIME, IF THAT METHOD IS POSSIBLE.

DR.Z

HEY SIRIUS B
I JUST SAW YOUR CD BOOT PROBLEM.
AT FIRST BOOTUP THERE WILL BE A PROMPT AT THE VERY FIRST SCREEN, WHEN IT COMES UP YOU HAVE A FEW SECONDS TO STOP IT BY TYPING IN A COMMAND THERE. TYPE IN THIS COMMAND.

puppy pfix=ram

THIS WILL LOAD THE WHOLE CD INTO RAM ONLY AND DOESN'T USE THE HD
TAKE THE TIME TO READ THE OTHER pfix COMMANDS.

Thanks Zappdog. The problem is that I don't have anything connected to the quad except an external DVD Drive.

I think the problem lies with the backplane. What I will try is to install the DVD Drive internally & remove BP2 (Backplane drive 2) & install it internally. Have backplane switched off & retry installing Puppy. It should work as there will be nothing in the way to prevent it.

Should that work, then switch everything back to the way it was & see if Puppy will run from BP2.

Also, approx 30 minutes ago, tried Puppy again on another rig with the flash drive & it failed as well. Is it possible that the files have got corrupted somehow?

HEY SIRIUS B
FIRST A QUESTION. DID YOU SAVE ANYTHING ONTO THE CD OR FLASH DRIVE AT SHUT DOWN EARLIER ? IT PROMPTS YOU TO SAVE THE SETTINGS AT SHUT DOWN. WITH THE LIVE CD AND A FLASH DRIVE YOU WANT TO USE ON ANY BOX, ALWAYS CHOOSE DO NOT SAVE.
IT WILL COME UP AGAIN AFTER THE FULL INSTALL AND THAT ONE YOU SAVE. ITS CALLED pup_save-.2fs . IT GIVES YOU THE OPTION OF RE-NAMING IT AS WELL. MINE IS SAVED AS pup_save-ZZ.2fs . THIS IS YOUR MAIN FILE FOR PREFERENCES, BOOKMARKS ETC. IF YOU HAVE A FILE BY THAT NAME ON THE LIVE CD THEN IT WAS SAVED. IF THATS THE CASE THEN BURN A FRESH LIVE CD, CAUSE THAT CD WILL BE ONLY GOOD ON SOME BOXES THAT COMPLY WITH THE SAVED pup_save-.2fs
BY BEING ABLE TO NAME THE FILE IT IS POSSIBLE TO HAVE MORE THAN ONE SAVED pup save FILE ON THE CD OR FLASH DRIVE. THAT WAY YOU COULD HAVE ONE FOR THE QUAD AND ONE FOR THE OTHERS AND THE RIGHT ONE WOULD BE BOOTED AUTOMATICALLY. THATS THE WAY ITS SUPPOSED TO WORK ANYWAY. I'VE NEVER PLAYED WITH THAT PART YET.

IT MIGHT BE POSSIBLE THAT THE FILES ARE CORRUPTED BUT THE ONLY WAY TO BE SURE OF THAT IS TO RE-INSTALL IT FROM THE CD ONTO THE FLASH.
NOT SURE IF THAT WILL HELP BUT IT MIGHT.

DR.Z

Hey Zappdog, 75% success

Reformatted the flash drive & reinstalled Puppy. A.O.K. Installed boinc (flash drive) & it's up & running. A heck of a lot easier setting up than FC7 or Ubuntu. Only problem is that is it only running one core.

As for the previous problem, found out what was causing it. I purchased 3x Samsung Spinpoint 250gb drives at the same time as the backplane. Once installed, I formatted them to NTFS & installed the O/S on BP1 & all my films/music on BP3. BP2 was left empty. After experiencing problems with the puppy on this drive, installed some Windows programs on it & Bingo, corruption galore. The HD was faulty & it's been replaced. Formatted drive & installed programs again, everything ok. Deleted all programs & installed puppy & came across the dreaded Boot Disk Failure again, but this time I know what the cause is.

It was formatted to NTFS & I installed the puppy to an empty drive not realising that the format was different so it would not boot up. What I need to do is to format it to ext3 so that when I install Puppy it will load in the Grub bootloader. Looking through the Puppy's menu, I can't find where the format tool is, or can it be done from the live CD - Any ideas?

@ Timmygadget, when you installed the Puppy, did it detect your dual core automatically?

I only briefly installed the puppy linux and never tested Boinc so I dont know if it was using both cores sorry guys, I got it working in the windows partition of my mac but the touchpad didnt work and then I tested the live cd on the windows duo laptop and it looked fine

Thanks Timmy.

@Zappdog - Formatted BP2 to ext3 & installed Puppy. It then asked for the location of Grub. Installed Grub on the HD. Rebooted but still got the dreaded Boot Disk Failure even though it was set up in bios to boot up from that drive.

Any idea as to what I'm doing wrong?

Flash drive copy running ok, including boinc (still only running 1 core even though it has been set to run 16).

HEY SIRIUS B
GLAD TO HEAR THE FLASH IS WORKING OK. FOR FORMATTING THE BEST IS @ SYSTEM - GPARTED PARTITION MANAGER.
AS FOR RUNNING ON ONE CORE, THAT WAS ONE OF MY FIRST CONCERNS. MY BRAIN IS A BIT FUZZY THIS MORNING BUT ONE THING I THOUGHT OF WAS DURING INSTALL THERE IS ONE DIALOG BOX THAT GIVES YOU 3 CHOICES FOR WHERE YOU WANT THE BOOT UP RECORD . I CAN'T REMEMBER WHAT THE OTHER SELECTIONS ARE BUT TRY "MBR" IT SAYS IN BRACKETS "POSSIBLY UNSAFE". (MASTER BOOT RECORD) THATS THE WAY I INSTALL IT AND IT WORKS FINE, I TRIED ONE OF THE OTHER METHODS AND I HAD TROUBLE BOOTING.
I APOLOGIZE FOR NOT REMEMBERING THAT PART EARLIER.
I AM STILL NOT SURE IF PUPPY WILL RUN ON ALL 4 CYLINDERS YET. DON'T STRAIN YOURSELF TRYING. I AM GOING TO SEND AN EMAIL OFF TO BARRY (PUPPY FOUNDER) AND SEE WHAT THE STATUS IS ON THE NEW VERSION IN THE WORKS THATS MADE FOR DUOS AND QUADS. I AM SURPRISED THAT THERE IS NO TOPICS ABOUT THIS IN THE PUPPY FORUM. I THINK I'LL START A THREAD IN THERE AS WELL.
DR.Z

HI SIRIUS B
WHOOPS I JUST DOUBLE POSTED IN THE PUPPY FORUM ABOUT QUADS. OH WELL. THATS WHAT MODERATORS ARE FOR.
THE ANSWER TO OUR PROBLEM LIES HERE
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=28383

AND ITS NOT THE ANSWER WE WANTED TO HEAR. IT LOOKS LIKE WE HAVE TO WAIT FOR PUPPY TO CATCH UP. THE WAY BARRY PUMPS OUT NEW VERSIONS, IT SHOULDN'T BE VERY LONG. AND THERE IS A DEMAND OUT THERE FOR A FOUR LEGGED PUPPY.
NOW WE JUST HAVE TO BE PATIENT.

MY PLANS FOR A HARDWARE UPGRADE HAVE BEEN PUT ON HOLD FOR A BIT LONGER. I ENDED UP HAVING TO BUY A PAINTING OF ALL THINGS. THE LAST POST HERE EXPLAINS WHY
http://unclezapaudiozap.phpbb3now.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&p=409#p409
I JUST COULDN'T PASS IT UP.
DR.Z

Hey Zapp why dont you get the quad and put ubuntu on it until puppy has a 4 core upgrade?

I'D LOVE TO BUT THAT PAINTING IS EATING UP MOST ($400) OF MY INCOME TAX RETURN,
WHICH WAS GOING TO BE FOR A QUAD.
I'LL BE LOOKIN AT NEXT MONTH TO START BUYING A FEW PARTS. IT'LL BE ONE PART AT A TIME.
OH WELL, I GOT LOTS OF BOXES TO PLAY WITH UNTIL THEN AND KEEP MYSELF AMUSED.

DR.Z

My son has my old AMD Sempron in his room but if he moves out I told him he cant take it with him, when he goes I am going to upgrade the board with a quad or buy a macmini, I haven't decided yet

Thanks Zappdog. Will continue to use Puppy via the flash drive to aid learning. Will wait for the quad version for the hard drive installation.

Not sure if it's my imagination, but I find Puppy to be extremely fast compared to other versions of Linux I've used.

Thanks for the link to the Puppy forums. Very interesting.

HEY SIRIUS B
SOMEWHERE OUT THERE IN PUPPY LAND THERE IS A PRETTY GOOD EXPLANATION OF HOW AND WHAT IT WAS CONSTRUCTED FROM. BECAUSE PUPPY IS SO TRIMMED DOWN, I THINK THAT HELPS SPEED. AND THE MAIN KERNEL IT WAS BUILT FROM WAS TUNED UP FOR SPEED. I'M NOT SURE WHY OTHERS HAVEN'T GONE THIS ROUTE. IT IS FASTER.
I TRIED ONE CALLED "DAMN SMALL LINUX" WHICH IS UNDER 50 MB BUT IT WASN'T AS FAST AS PUPPY.
IN FACT NONE OF THE 30 OR SO FLAVORS I'VE TRIED ARE AS FAST.
SO IT ISN'T YOUR IMAGINATION.
SOMEWHERE IN THIS THREAD OR THE OTHER PUPPY ONE, THERE IS A LIST OF PUPPY SITES. CHECK THEM OUT AS WELL.
I THINK THERE IS MORE DOCUMENTATION ON PUPPY THAN MOST. THE ACTUAL "HELP" SECTION IS A BIT WEAK BUT THE
FORUMS AND SITES MAKE UP FOR THAT.

LATER
DR.Z