Problems Installing PloP

[Green Ears]

hi all!

total newbie to all things tech so please bear with me.

three days ago, i didn't know anything about boot managers...three days later, i still don't!

anyways, i've been researching the subject by reading and watching tutorials, with no luck. the tutorials are either outdated, lousy, don't explain very well, skip steps, etc...unfortunately this has caused me much frustration and confusion. (of course this does not apply to the tutorials at plop.at )

this is what i am trying to accomplish and learn:

• i want to be able to boot from the usb, nothing downloaded to xp desktop (so i won't mess it up , fingers crossed!).
• download ubuntu server edition 32-bit version on a usb (to learn).
• download ubuntu operating system on a usb (to learn and to wean myself from ms).

problems:

• i download PLoP, unzip, but says I need to "contig" because the plpbt.bin is fragmented. question: how do i do this? what are all the commands? i've already defragmented the whole c: drive to no avail.
• tried under cmd "c:\windows\system32\cmd.exe and under safe mode "administration c:\windows\system32\cmd.exe. question: how do i go up from c: to administrator in the start>run>cmd?
• don't know how to set up bios to boot from usb
  

ironically, i downloaded PLoP to my usb f: drive and it loaded perfectly! (usb is fat32 formatted, i think )

any help/input/ideas/suggestions/links would be greatly appreciated!

[lev]

don't know how to set up bios to boot from usb

As soon as you turn your PC on, there's a short-lasting screen with your PC brand's logo, at the bottom of which you can read some text like
[F9] for BIOS setup
[F10] for boot menu
Exact text & keys depend on the manufacturer; sometimes part of the info is missing... The former will lead you to configuration screens where you can tweak the "boot order", that is, the priority of the devices from which the PC will try to boot *from now on* (don't forget to save changes). The latter will let you choose from which device you want to try booting *this time only*.

[Green Ears]

thanks lev for your response.

my xp keys are:

• f2- set up
• f12- boot menu

i've tried f2 to change the bios, but it is locked. how do i unlock or sign in as admin?

i've also tried f12, but all those options scare me, i'm afraid i might erase my hard drive and it keeps asking about partitioning and i know nothing on that. i just want to be able to access the ubuntu web server and ubuntu os from the usb.

[Elmar]

hi,
if you are able to boot from cd then burn the plpbt.iso file. then you are able to start the boot manager from cd and continue to boot usb.

regards
elmar

[lev]

my xp keys are:
(...)
i've also tried f12, but all those options scare me, i'm afraid i might erase my hard drive and it keeps asking about partitioning and i know nothing on that. i just want to be able to access the ubuntu web server and ubuntu os from the usb.

This should have nothing to do with any OS, why do you call them "xp keys"? Also what you describe about f12 sounds strange.

If Elmar's suggestion doesn't work, you could always come back here with the exact phrasing of the boot menu. But it really should work if the BIOS has never been touched, CDROM drive would be checked before HD.

[Green Ears]

hi,
if you are able to boot from cd then burn the plpbt.iso file. then you are able to start the boot manager from cd and continue to boot usb.

regards
elmar

hi! thank you for responding.

i've never burned any cds ever in my life and since i've had my xp (about 3 yrs), about 1 month ago i wanted to burn a cd and it won't let me. keeps saying i need to install or load a cd burner. tried figuring that out and i was never able to fix. so hence the usb route.

it seems my options are running out!

[Elmar]

do you have a floppy drive and an empty floppy disk?

[Green Ears]

my xp keys are:
(...)
i've also tried f12, but all those options scare me, i'm afraid i might erase my hard drive and it keeps asking about partitioning and i know nothing on that. i just want to be able to access the ubuntu web server and ubuntu os from the usb.

This should have nothing to do with any OS, why do you call them "xp keys"? Also what you describe about f12 sounds strange.

If Elmar's suggestion doesn't work, you could always come back here with the exact phrasing of the boot menu. But it really should work if the BIOS has never been touched, CDROM drive would be checked before HD.

maybe i should say dell dimensions keys? but it does say flash f12 for boot menu. why is that strange? do all manufacturers use the same keys to do the same functions? or are they all different?

[Green Ears]

do you have a floppy drive and an empty floppy disk?

i have a floppy drive, but no floppy. i have a cd drive and a 2 empty maxwell cds.

[Elmar]

is the cd drive a cd burner? if yes then install http://www.cdburnerxp.se/

[lev]

why is that strange?

That's OK. What is strange is that it asks anything about partitioning... So just write down what the menu says exactly and post it here, then we'll tell you if it may erase your HD (which I doubt).

[Green Ears]

is the cd drive a cd burner? if yes then install http://www.cdburnerxp.se/

tried the link you gave and it still tells me i need to add a cd burner. 

sorry for the delay, but i had numerous computer issues to correct after trying to follow tutorials. funny how it takes so little time to mess things up but so long in trying to correct them!

anyways, i was able to get into the locked bios, after spending so much time trying to crack the admin password. i don't know if i have a bios password, but whatever i did, it worked. i changed it to boot from the usb first, but now what? i've gotten so confused.

dumb questions here, but does plop have to be downloaded to the desktop? or can it be downloaded to the usb? if it can be downloaded to the usb, when you do the boot.ini change do you put the desktop drive or the usb drive? like i said earlier, when i download plop to the usb, it says it was created, no contig, just change the boot.ini.

regards!

[Green Ears]

why is that strange?

That's OK. What is strange is that it asks anything about partitioning... So just write down what the menu says exactly and post it here, then we'll tell you if it may erase your HD (which I doubt).

ooh, that's one thing i don't want to do is to partition. must this be done if i'm wanting to boot from the usb?

[Elmar]

no, you don't have to partition, but when you tell us what you see, then we can give more specific answers and don't have to guess whats the situation on your pc. when you tell us you see something with partitioning  then its very strange and we don't know where you see this and which menu you are talking about. its in your interest to explain exactly.

[Green Ears]

no, you don't have to partition, but when you tell us what you see, then we can give more specific answers and don't have to guess whats the situation on your pc. when you tell us you see something with partitioning  then its very strange and we don't know where you see this and which menu you are talking about. its in your interest to explain exactly.

hi!. o.k. first let me start with a clean slate.

please explain to me the difference between:

• plpbt-5.0.9.zip
• plpgenbtldr-0.7.zip

maybe i'm downloading the wrong one?

which one will let me:

• boot from the usb, nothing downloaded to xp hard drive, other than downloading and installing/extracting plop on the desktop and any necessary files in c drive.
• i want to be able to just access the usb by a click and ubuntu will open (os and server).

   
if i have to change bios, i have to change bios, i just don't want the new os on the hard drive.

fyi, i was able to download an install unetbootin (is this considered just an installer?) and access ubuntu, but it didn't allow me access to the ubuntu server. i would like to have easy access to both from the usb and be able to save any work, not have it erased every time i access it.

thank you!


   

[Elmar]

please explain to me the difference between:

• plpbt-5.0.9.zip
• plpgenbtldr-0.7.zip

plpbt-5.0.9.zip: this is the zip file with the iso images for cd boot, the floppy images for floppy boot, the rom file for bios implementation and the binary file to start the boot manager from other boot managers.

plpgenbtldr-0.7.zip: this is an additional software to start the boot manager from the windows boot menu. the windows boot menu is NOT the windows start menu on the bottom left of your windows!

which one will let me:

• boot from the usb, nothing downloaded to xp hard drive, other than downloading and installing/extracting plop on the desktop and any necessary files in c drive.
• i want to be able to just access the usb by a click and ubuntu will open (os and server).

just a click is with none possible. you cannot start the boot manager when windows is running and then boot another system. the boot manager starts before any operating system is running.

did you ever think about a virtual machine? with a "vm" you are able to start another operating system in your running system. virtualbox and qemu are free virtual machines.

if i have to change bios, i have to change bios, i just don't want the new os on the hard drive.

who say's that you have to install a new os to the hard disk? if you use the cd or floppy version, then you have to install nothing to the hard disk.

fyi, i was able to download an install unetbootin (is this considered just an installer?) and access ubuntu, but it didn't allow me access to the ubuntu server. i would like to have easy access to both from the usb and be able to save any work, not have it erased every time i access it.

i don't know how unebooting installs ubuntu to your usb drive. there are many ways, because linux is very flexible. however, linux is using another file system than windows. windows is not able to access linux partitions (except you install the ext2 file system driver, or linux is installed on a FAT partition). the great linux has no problems to access windows partitions. if you want to share data from both systems with the usb drive, then you have to use a FAT partition on the usb drive. then you are able to save data on the usb drive from windows. i suggest to create an extra partition on the usb drive to share the data and install linux on an ext3 partition. Ext3 is one of the preferred file systems for linux.


regards
elmar

[Green Ears]

did you ever think about a virtual machine? with a "vm" you are able to start another operating system in your running system. virtualbox and qemu are free virtual machines.

Thank you for your suggestion. I will look into it a.s.a.p.

I hope to use plop once I understand how to tinker with my p.c. with no fear.