⇑

pup Installation


An internet connection is required to view some links on this page.
Last updated: 18 November, 2022
Updated by: bigpup

Contents



Introduction

Puppy can be installed in many different ways. Consequently, the installer has many different choices which may be confusing to the new Puppy user. This document will attempt to clear that confusion such that you, the Puppy User can confidently install Puppy Linux to your medium of choice in the desired manner.

Target Media

Puppy can be installed to all common media. USB sticks, USB hard drives, Firewire2 hard drives, CF (Compact Flash), SD card, internal Solid State Disk (SSD) and normal old Hard Drives (HDD - either IDE or SATA).
Even CD, DVD and BlueRay™1 installation (as such) is supported. So, installation can be done on any type storage device available for computers.
CD, DVD installs have some added options when used. In the Puppy main Menu there is a program called "Remaster Puppy Live CD" where you build your own custom version of Puppy, including as many packages and programs as you like. Alternatively, if you boot with a CD that was not closed when burned, D-RW or DVD-RW8 you can save your session to the optical media and never worry about installing anything! No hard drive needed.

Live install

A live install is usually what is done on a USB flash drive (stick) or a CD/DVD.
All the Puppy files in the Puppy ISO are written to the USB stick or the CD/DVD.
The Puppy ISO has all the needed files to boot this type install and run the operating system.

Good way to try a Puppy version and see how you like it.

Frugal Install (Recommended to all)

Frugal is the name used for it, but it is still the complete Puppy operating system (OS), only installed in a special way.
All the Puppy OS is placed inside a Directory(Linux name for folder) or folder. Everything Puppy is kept inside this directory or folder.
Frugal name is about how little it uses space for the install. Frugal use of the resources on the drive.

Frugal install can be done on any device that is read/write capable. Can be placed on any partition with any type format.

By design, Puppy Linux runs in your systems Random Access Memory (RAM). Normally, a minimum of 512 MB9 (megabytes) of RAM is recommended to run Puppy but it will work with less (See 9). Don't worry, any machine built after 2003 is likely to have at least enough RAM.

Using this method, Puppy isn't actually installed on your system per se´, rather the main files to get Puppy running (the kernel or vmlinuz, an initial ram disk or initrd.gz, a main puppy system file known as the "Main SFS" usually named puppy_puppy-name_puppy-version.sfs or similar (for example-puppy_fossapup64_9.5.sfs) and perhaps a few other "SFS files" (the files ending in .sfs), depending on Puppy version, are copied to your disk for installation. This installs your Puppy. Then a bootloader can be installed.

To be able to boot a frugal install, a boot loader will also need to be installed.
Installer programs that are provided in Puppy, will install boot loaders that are designed to make proper boot menu entries for frugal install booting.
Most of these Puppy boot loader installers, will also find other than Puppy operating systems installed, and add them to the boot loader menu.
First read the installer help to make sure it can do this.

If you do a frugal install (folder or directory inside another operating system).
That operating system will already have a boot loader installed.
You can edit that boot loaders boot menu config file and add a entry for booting the frugal Puppy install.

Using this method, Puppy can be installed in almost any partition on almost any file system (eg: FAT32, NTFS, ext2, ext3, ext4). It can be installed inside an existing Installation of Windows, or other Linux such as Ubuntu or Fedora. A frugal install also works on all types of media3. Not only this, but current Puppy development and testing is also inclined towards Frugal method of Puppy installation. Due to these reasons it is advisable to all that they use this method of installation.
Some features of Puppy Linux only work in frugal installs.
Due to these reasons it is advisable that you use this method of installation.

For technical information see How Puppy Works.

Full Install

A Full installation is just like a Windows™ installation or any other Linux Installation. It requires it's own partition and it must be of a Linux type filesystem; most commonly ext2, ext3 or ext4 but others are possible. These are mostly used for internal HDDs or SSDs but can be used on external USB or FireWire HDDs. It is not advisable to install Puppy using this method as there is already a better (Frugal Installation Method) present for installation.

Booting

Booting, in simple terms, is just your computer finding the files to execute the Operating System (OS). All Operating Systems need some way to boot. Puppy supports various methods of booting. Some require the editing of the special boot code at the start of the disk (MBR) so that the special Linux files can be found (kernel - vmlinuz and initrd.gz).

The boot loader provides this control of the boot process. Finding the files needed by the operating system, to start running the computer, and proceeding with the boot process to a working operating system.

Puppy can be made to dual-boot with Windows or another Linux or multi-boot with several operating systems. There are three main programs that Puppy supports out of the box for booting. Grub4dos, Grub (legacy), Grub2, and Syslinux.


There are several boot loaders that can be used. Some are Puppy programs and are designed for how Puppy works.
Shown here so you can understand the differences.

Grub4dos  (does not support GPT/UEFI systems) supports booting from vfat (FAT32 or FAT16) filesystems found in Windows™ 95, 98 and ME and the NTFS filesystem introduced in Windows™ NT and also the default filesystem of Windows™ 2000, XP, Vista , 7, 8, 8.1 and the Windows™ Server family. The program grub4dosconfig takes all the hard work out of installing a boot loader and automatically detects and configures loading of all your installed OS. If you're tentative about modifying the special boot sector on your hard drive you can install grub4dos to a USB key or a floppy disk.

Grub (legacy) supports booting from vfat (FAT32 or FAT16) filesystems found in Windows™ 95, 98 and ME but not NTFS. This makes it a good choice to install for ancient4 windows machines or pure Linux machines, with no windows. The program Legacy Grub config takes the hard work out of installing the grub boot loader. Again, if you're tentative about modifying the special boot sector on your hard drive or your partition's superblock you can install grub (legacy) to a USB key or a floppy disk.

Grub2confiig (Puppy program) is a script that installs the grub2 boot loader and makes the menu automatically probing installed systems, same way as the old Grub4DosConfig, enabling multi-boot with Windows, Ubuntu and etc.. It supports both legacy MBR system and new GPT/UEFI. Also supports UEFI Secure boot, thanks to the Gyrog's MOK manager, that will install the Puppy security key.

Grub2 is usually the boot loader used by another operating system that is also installed on your computer. That operating system installed and set it up.
To still use it, you will have to edit it's grub2 boot menu config file, adding an entry for the Puppy frugal install.

Syslinux supports booting from vfat (FAT32 or FAT16) filesystems found in Windows™ 95, 98 and ME and the many Linux filesystems such as ext2, ext3 and ext4. This is used in frugal installs to USB keys in Puppy Linux. USB keys can be formatted to vfat or ext(2,3,4). Syslinux can boot hard disks and other media but that is beyond the scope of this manual.

There is also a new filesystem available in some new Puppy versions called the "Flash Friendly File System" (f2fs) which is not currently supported by the boot loaders in Puppy but can be used all the same with a small vfat or ext2 filesystem to boot the kernel with syslinux, grub4dos or grub2config, and then find the Puppy Linux files on the f2fs filesystem. If your Puppy supports f2fs you can install it to a USB flash drive or SD card and use a frugal5 or full6 type of install.

WakePup2 can also be used to boot Puppy. It is a floppy disk image that needs to be transferred to floppy disk. It can boot a CD from an ancient computer that can not boot from USB or CD in it's BIOS. Of course it can also boot the OS from the HDD. If WakePup2 is not in your Puppy then you can download it from the Puppy Package Manager (PPM).

NB: At the time of writing, Puppy's grub2config boot loader is only Puppy program that supports GPT partitioning found in new Windows™ 8 or newer machines and some other operating systems.

Installation Programs

You may be confused as to why there are so many options to install Puppy. Puppy is Open Source7 and people love to dive in and write code. It's difficult to say what works for everybody so we bundle together a few different programs for installation so that if one doesn't work the way you want then you can try a different approach. All of them may not be included in your Puppy install.

Typical installers you may find in Puppy for doing installs, but there may be others you will find in a specific Puppy.

  1. Puppy Universal Installer. (aka PUI) (does not support GPT/UEFI systems) This program covers nearly every type of installation from full to frugal and anything in between. If you want to do a full install this is the program you want. It is always included in Puppy Linux.
  2. Frugalpup Installer. This one, as the name suggests, is an excellent choice if you are after a frugal install. Also can install a boot loader for UEFI, legacy bios, or both. Provides Puppy security key for UEFI secure boot enabled.
  3. BootFlash. An installer specifically targeted at USB stick installs. You may want to try this one. Quick and easy.
  4. F2fs Usb Installer. A specialised program to help you format and install to a f2fs USB flash stick or SD card which supports frugal5 or full6 types of installs.
  5. Pburn a program for burning the Puppy ISO image to a CD/DVD.

No matter what your situation, we think that we have got you covered. Enjoy installing or not installing, as the case may be ☻, Puppy Linux!

The Puppy Linux Team

References

  1. BlueRay™ requires special proprietary libraries that are not shipped with Puppy but can be installed.
  2. FireWire™ requires that your Puppy has the kernel drivers for such a device.
  3. "ancient" Windows™ machines, for the purpose of Puppy Linux, are defined as those that run on FAT filesystems.
  4. "Open Source" software is software that is free to redistribute and free to modify under the terms of the appropriate licence.
  5. Some lap top optical drives can not save back to CD/DVD.
  6. On latest Puppies, RAM requirements cross a bit more than 512 MB if all SFS files are copied to RAM. To make Puppy not load SFS files in RAM, use this Puppy boot parameter- pfix=nocopy Read PuppyLinux Boot Parameters for more information.
    7.