Deleting Windows when installing TrixiePup64?

[Damocles]

I have an old Dell Inspiron Mini netbook that I recently decided to put to some good use. With only 1GB of RAM it was running Windows 7 Starter and on the recommendation of a friend decided to install Linux TrixiePup64.

I made a bootable USB drive and set the thing to boot from it. All went well. I even got it to connect to the wireless network which it wouldn't do under Windows. A couple of things, though...

When I shut down and later rebooted it booted to Windows. I'd like to delete Windows completely. I don't want to run a dual boot setup and I don't want to have to boot from the USB drive as if for the very first time every time I turn the machine on.

I ran a Google search on how to do that and it came back with "you must wipe the existing partition table during the installation process, usually by selecting the "Use entire disk" option." But, I don't see that option... Is there any way of doing this once everything has loaded?

Also, on the desktop I'm getting what appears to be an every updating "taskmanager" running down the right third of the desktop; System, Processes, Resources, File Systems, Network. Since I have no immediate need or interest in any of that I'd like to be able to switch it off, if possible?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Condobloke]

WIZARD'S NOTE - NO, NO sorry for shouting, sorry Brian, see my Post below.

I dont know a thing about Trixiepup64, and I know even less about windows.

But, if this were me, I would format the entire drive (probably to ext4) and then reinstall Trixiepup64.

 

[Alexzee]

I'm not that good with Puppy Linux however our member @MikeWalsh is well skilled with this distriubution.

During the installation: the installer can give you the option to remove Windows and use the entire disk to install Trixiepup64.
OR> you could download Gparted Live and partition the entire disk like @Condobloke suggested.

GParted -- Live CD/USB/PXE/HD

gparted.org

TrixiePup64

distro.ibiblio.org

More info. about Trixiepup64 in regard to Ventoy, Rufus, Virtual Box and other things.

Github Puppy Linux Releases - Browse /TrixiePup64Wayland_release at SourceForge.net

Puppy Linux releases from Github

sourceforge.net

 

[wizardfromoz]

But, if this were me, I would format the entire drive (probably to ext4) and then reinstall Trixiepup64.

No, no, no...sorry Brian.

My post next.

 

[wizardfromoz]

@Damocles , two points here, to be made

1. Don't rely on AI for technical advice unless you know enough to know that it is likely correct (I know, that is difficult to judge)
2. Puppy is used in an entirely rare if not unique way, in that you don't install it to the hard drive.

That last being said, you can set it up so that it remembers all changes you have made so that it is the same as it was at the end of your last session.

When you open your Puppy from a USB stick, you access a Saved file which is on your hard drive, and which recreates the environment of your last session, and any changes in your new session will be saved to that.

This setup process is known as a Frugal Install.

Technically some Pups can be fully installed to your hard drive, but it is not recommended by Puppy enthusiasts.

I would urge you to wait until @MikeWalsh comes on deck, he will explain this a lot better than I, and correct any mistakes I may have made.

HTH

Chris Turner
wizardfromoz

 

[Brickwizard]

Dell Inspiron Mini netbook

This is a 2010 machine with an Intel single core 2 thread atomN455 CPU, not the fastest but ok for daily computing [mail/browsing/etc] but not good for modern HD streaming, for that type of machine it came with what was considered a large HDD of 256GB, its letdown was only 1 MB of ram
Besides Puppy it should run Lubuntu,Linux-lite,Anti-x & Q4os don't expect any of them to fly,
you may have problems with built-in Wi-Fi, at this time Dell were using mainly Broadcom B43 chipsets [we can point you to where to find them if needed.]

 

[MikeWalsh]

@Damocles :-

Hallo.....and

to Linux.org!

OK. Now, before we go any further, I'm going to make a small "disclaimer" here... Given that I'm the only full-time 'Puppy' user here, I tend to get roped-in to help with exclusively 'Puppy' issues. I have no problems with this, but I have to smile to myself when referred-to as the resident 'Puppy expert'......because honestly, I'm anything but!

I'm like everybody else here; an enthusiastic amateur & tinkerer.....but I will own up to having a dozen or so years experience with 'our Pup'. I guess this perhaps makes me some kind of an expert in the eyes of many....

Anyways; having got THAT off my chest...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~​

As m'colleague @Brickwizard says above, this is a hyper-threaded, ultra-low-power single-core CPU....with limited RAM. It's not going to set the world on fire, but we can certainly help you to get it functional, and working the way you want.

Brickwizard has given you some other lightweight alternatives above. Have a think about this, and let us know what you'd like to go with. Puppy is certainly an option here, and is what I would go with myself on these specs.....but the choice, ultimately, is yours, and yours alone.

Puppy primarily runs as what's called a 'frugal' install.....but her ace-in-the-hole is that she will boot & run from literally ANY storage media. If she can see it, she can run from it.

Puppy loads from highly-compressed SFS files (squash file system), decompressing into a virtual file-system set up in RAM.....and it's from RAM where the 'session' runs. The advantage here is that the base system files are always squeaky-clean when you boot-up; the only variations are your personal changes/customizations/installed apps, etc.....which are stored in the 'save-file/folder'. These are 'merged' into the virtual file-system in RAM by the use of the AUFS/overlayFS 'layering' type of file-system that Puppy employs.

Essentially, Puppy 'installs' into a uniquely-named directory.....and Puppy's boot-loader is customized to search TWO layers deep to find a bootable kernel. This opens up all sorts of possibilities, and permits running multiple Puppy installs from the same partition.

The recommendation - at one time, and to some extent still is - always has been to run entirely from a flash-drive or other external storage. In practice, however, many Puppy community members run multiple Pups from a partition on an internal HDD / SSD. I currently have more than a dozen on one partition, each running from its own uniquely-named directory on my primary SATA3 SSD.

I call this "the kennels".....natch!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~​

IF you decide to go with Puppy, the advantage you have is that of already having a 'working' Puppy. This will greatly simplify matters, as it will permit the use of Puppy's own native, built-in tools.

I would recommend going with an older, smaller Puppy however. Like all recent Puppies, Trixiepup is considerably larger than older Pups, for the simple reason that everything about the distros they're built from are ALSO getting bigger as time goes by. Trixiepup will, I feel, be 'pushing it' for your limited hardware, so my recommendation here would be something like Bionicpup64.

I have a recently uploaded Bionicpup 'upgrade' ISO available, with a much newer glibc and a more recent, stable LTS kernel. I think this would work okay here.....but the ultimate choice will be yours.


Mike.

 

[Damocles]

@Damocles :-

Hallo.....and

to Linux.org!

OK. Now, before we go any further, I'm going to make a small "disclaimer" here... Given that I'm the only full-time 'Puppy' user here, I tend to get roped-in to help with exclusively 'Puppy' issues. I have no problems with this, but I have to smile to myself when referred-to as the resident 'Puppy expert'......because honestly, I'm anything but!

I'm like everybody else here; an enthusiastic amateur & tinkerer.....but I will own up to having a dozen or so years experience with 'our Pup'. I guess this perhaps makes me some kind of an expert in the eyes of many....

Anyways; having got THAT off my chest...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~​

As m'colleague @Brickwizard says above, this is a hyper-threaded, ultra-low-power single-core CPU....with limited RAM. It's not going to set the world on fire, but we can certainly help you to get it functional, and working the way you want.

Brickwizard has given you some other lightweight alternatives above. Have a think about this, and let us know what you'd like to go with. Puppy is certainly an option here, and is what I would go with myself on these specs.....but the choice, ultimately, is yours, and yours alone.

Puppy primarily runs as what's called a 'frugal' install.....but her ace-in-the-hole is that she will boot & run from literally ANY storage media. If she can see it, she can run from it.

Puppy loads from highly-compressed SFS files (squash file system), decompressing into a virtual file-system set up in RAM.....and it's from RAM where the 'session' runs. The advantage here is that the base system files are always squeaky-clean when you boot-up; the only variations are your personal changes/customizations/installed apps, etc.....which are stored in the 'save-file/folder'. These are 'merged' into the virtual file-system in RAM by the use of the AUFS/overlayFS 'layering' type of file-system that Puppy employs.

Essentially, Puppy 'installs' into a uniquely-named directory.....and Puppy's boot-loader is customized to search TWO layers deep to find a bootable kernel. This opens up all sorts of possibilities, and permits running multiple Puppy installs from the same partition.

The recommendation - at one time, and to some extent still is - always has been to run entirely from a flash-drive or other external storage. In practice, however, many Puppy community members run multiple Pups from a partition on an internal HDD / SSD. I currently have more than a dozen on one partition, each running from its own uniquely-named directory on my primary SATA3 SSD.

I call this "the kennels".....natch!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~​

IF you decide to go with Puppy, the advantage you have is that of already having a 'working' Puppy. This will greatly simplify matters, as it will permit the use of Puppy's own native, built-in tools.

I would recommend going with an older, smaller Puppy however. Like all recent Puppies, Trixiepup is considerably larger than older Pups, for the simple reason that everything about the distros they're built from are ALSO getting bigger as time goes by. Trixiepup will, I feel, be 'pushing it' for your limited hardware, so my recommendation here would be something like Bionicpup64.

I have a recently uploaded Bionicpup 'upgrade' ISO available, with a much newer glibc and a more recent, stable LTS kernel. I think this would work okay here.....but the ultimate choice will be yours.


Mike.

Thanks, Mike. I appreciate your input and advice. I'd chosen Trixiepup because a friend had recommended it as being appropriate to this Dell Mini. I'm certainly open to other possibilities and would definitely be interested in your uploaded Bionicpup upgrade ISO if you could let me know where to find it...?

 

[MikeWalsh]

@Damocles :-

No probs. You can find the tarball - this contains both the BP64 ISO and the LibreOffice 'portable' together - at my MediaFire a/c, here:-

MediaFire

MediaFire is a simple to use free service that lets you put all your photos, documents, music, and video in a single place so you can access them anywhere and share them everywhere.

www.mediafire.com

There's also a checksum included, if you're concerned about such things.

(I've been with the Texas-based MediaFire for well over a decade at this point. In all those years, they've been as good as gold.....even promptly 'fixing' a couple of small issues for me, without even being asked. You try getting Google to do that.....or even MEGA.nz. And that was when I was on the free a/c!

I've since switched to a paid subscription with MediaFire, after moving away from Big Brother (Google managed to 'lose' half my files for me, and basically tried to make out it was MY fault. Cheeky buggers.)

I need guaranteed long-term storage for all the stuff I've built for the Puppy community over the years.)

Anyways, that's where you'll find the ISO...


Mike.

 

[Alexzee]

Let us know how your installation goes.