Noob with Asus netbook

[Peter Linu]

Hiyall,
I have tried numerous Puppy-related 'light' OSs on my Asus netbook (upgraded to (2Gb RAM). I have not found any as simple-to-use as Linux Mint 20 Xfce that is currently installed. Problem is, it's very sluggish. My needs are incredibly simple: Access music files from a desktop shortcut and play them in the Porteus' music player....that's it!
I want to try Porteus. Can I (a) create and run it on a separate partition (b) Use it from a USB 3.0 stick?

[Ed_P]

Hello Peter.

a. Yes
b. Yes

a+ Depending on the directory structure of the Mint 20 system you might be able to install Porteus to the same partition. The key to either approach is making the netbook multibootable.

[Peter Linu]

Approximately what size should the Porteus partition be?

[Peter Linu]

Should it be ext4,3 or 2?

[Ed_P]

I'd recommend 2 GB for the system partition. I've never used ext* partitions. On my USB drive I use FAT32 and on my hard drive with it's NTFS partitions I boot ISOs.

For saving files, like pictures and music and etc, I would save them on a different partition.

[Peter Linu]

Thanx for that. More or less what i assumed. Surprised however about running in FAT32 and not ext.

[ncmprhnsbl]

if you're talking a hard drive partition, ext2/3/4 is fine, especially if you want to use a changes folder.
Ed favours fat32 for usbs to minimize writing..
myself, i favour ext2, for the same reason(no journalling)with the added bonus of POSIX, allowing proper use of the rootcopy facility if wanted.. .. though, i suppose if using a changes folder, it might become fragmented over time?

[Ed_P]

Ed favours fat32 for usbs to minimize writing..

Actually because it's a format acceptable to all OSs and now days with EFI requirements.

[ncmprhnsbl]

Actually because it's a format acceptable to all OSs and now days with EFI requirements.

ah, yeah, that too, i forgot...

[Peter Linu]

Hiyall,
I spent a fair bit of time on Saturday trying to load Porteus 32 bit without success. On Sunday I brought it to a friend who is an IT pro, who does everything in terminal commands. He couldn't install it either. He mentioned that there is a further step not shown in the install. He kept the Asus there and said he will install it during the week. I am fed up dealing with half-baked IT. If this forum can't be of more assistance, I am going back to Mint.

[Peter Linu]

How embarrassing! It didn't load because the USB stick is crook.
My main OS is Mint19.3 Xfce 32 bit. I have created a separate partition for Porteus but not installed yet. Will I be able to use grub to choose which OS to load?

[Ed_P]

How embarrassing! It didn't load because the USB stick is crook.

"crook"?

I have created a separate partition for Porteus but not installed yet. Will I be able to use grub to choose which OS to load?

Sure. Grub, grub2 and grub4dos should all be able to handle it.

Something like this should work.

Code: Select all

 menuentry "Porteus" {
        search -f  /porteus/porteus-v4.0-i586.cfg  --set=root
        linux  /boot/syslinux/vmlinuz 
        initrd /boot/syslinux/initrd.xz
        }

[Peter Linu]

before or after I install Porteus?

[Peter Linu]

Apologies. 'crook' = dingo = didn't go = broken. Australian lingo.

[Ed_P]

before or after I install Porteus?

Whenever you want. The change will be added after the grub code you have to boot Mint so if Porteus is installed the new menu will work, if it's not it won't and you will use your Mint menu entry instead.

Maybe this menu code will help you.

Code: Select all

 menuentry "Porteus" {
   set bootdrv=$root
   search -f  /porteus/porteus-v4.0-i586.cfg  --set=root
   if [ $root != $bootdrv ]; then
      linux  /boot/syslinux/vmlinuz 
      initrd /boot/syslinux/initrd.xz
   else
     echo "----------------------------------------"
     echo Porteus drive NOT found.
     echo
     sleep -v -i 10
  fi
  set root=$bootdrv
}

BTW This code is for grub2, grub4dos and grub code may be slightly different.

And thank you for the "crook" explanation. I've never heard it before.