What is an ISO file?
An ISO file is just a disk image. ISO files are frequently used to distribute CD or DVD images. When you download "Mind Guard Linux" distribution, what you’ll most likely download is actually an .iso file. The most common way to make use of an ISO file is to burn the ISO file to a CD, DVD Disk or USB stick (Flash Drive). You must have a CD, DVD or BD burner to write ISO files to a disc in the respective format. You will not be able to burn ISO files if you only have a standard CD, DVD, or BD drive. When you use a software burning program, you have to make sure that you select "Burn Image to Disk" or something comparable, depending on the program.
noPAE or PAE ISO which one should i use?
Physical Address Extension is a technology which allows 32 bit operating systems to use up to 64 Gb of memory (RAM), something which is normally achieved by switching to a 64 bit system.
How to burn ISO to a CD or DVD from Windows?
You can use Nero Burning ROM to record a CD from an ISO file. For more information about this program, visit the Ahead Software Web site at: http://www.softpedia.com/get/CD-DVD-Tools/Data-CD-DVD-Burning/Nero-Burning-ROM.shtml
To burn an ISO file with Nero 10, simply follow this procedure
Your Mind Guard Linux CD/DVD will now burn and once finished will be ready. You can now boot to the CD/DVD and install or run it live.
How to burn ISO to a CD or DVD from Mac?
On Mac there is no need to resort to a third party application to burn a disk image. The Disk Utility tool allows you to perform this task: Insert a blank CD or DVD
How to burn ISO to a CD or DVD from Linux?
Ubuntu has a CD burning software installed by default. It's called Brasero. Other programs like Xfburn are just as good or better. K3B is most famous CD/DVD burning software for Linux.
How to create Mind Guard Linux bootable Live USB (Flash drive) ?
- This will delete all the data on USB (Flash Drive), so before doing this, backup your files. - UNetbootin is a crossplatform tool (Linux, Windows, Mac) for creating live usb from ISO.
- Grab the UNetbootin executable.
1. After you downloaded the program, start it. You'll see the main window of the tool.
2. insert the USB flash drive into an empty USB port of your PC. (Note: This is important, because if you insert it after youÂ’ve opened the UNetbootin application, you will not be able to use the USB stick.).
3. select Mind Guard Linux image file from your hdd (hard disk) to install. Here you should click on Disk image. After you'll locate the image file, click OK.
4. Then will start the process. It's similar to that with step1 but now we don't have the first step, Downloading Files.
After completing that 4 steps, you'll see this window.
To boot to the CD/DVD turn off your computer. Turn it back on and access the boot menu and then select your CD/DVD drive. Alternativly, you can go into the BIOS and change the boot order priority to have your CD/DVD drive as first on the list.
How to change First Boot Device in BIOS or CMOS to Boot From CD or USB ?
Step 1: To be able to boot from a USB CD Drive (or any external peripheral using the USB port for that matter) it is important that your motherboard has built-in support for this function. To check for the availability of this feature, reboot the machine.
Step 2: Reboot your computer. press the Setup key. As soon as you see the manufacturerÂ’s logo pressed the key specified to enter Setup or BIOS. The most common keys are F2, F10, and ? Del. If you donÂ’t hit the key in time, Windows will load and you will have to reboot and retry. Navigate the BIOS. Once you have loaded the BIOS, you can use your keyboard to navigate the menus. Your mouse will most likely not be working. You can use the BIOS to change the basic settings for your hardware. In the BIOS settings go to the section for boot devices. Set the primary boot device as the USB port or other external device.
Step 3: Usually hardware that supports booting from USB-based devices can detect the attached device on the USB port during boot up. So under the boot settings it should be able to detect that a CD or DVD drive is connected to the USB port. Select this option and make sure to save the changes in the BIOS settings. The machine will automatically reboot.
Step 4: If however the BIOS settings has the option to boot from the USB port but cannot detect the connected device, you may need to download an updated driver from the hardware manufacturer. Launch your Web browser and navigate to the manufacturer's website.
Step 5: Select for support based on the model of your motherboard. Download and install the driver update based on the instructions provided by your hardware manufacturer.
Step 6: Repeat step 2 to step 3 to check if the device can be properly identified. Make sure that the external device is turned on (if applicable) and the cable is firmly connected to the computer and the external device.
Step 7: Make sure to load a bootable CD media in the external drive to allow for a successful booting from the USB CD Drive.
How to boot a Computer If BIOS not support with PLoP Boot Manager?
Old Computer's haven’t always had the option to boot from USB. Thanks to the Plop bootmanager, you can make a machine like this USB bootable in a few easy steps:
- Download plpbt-5.0.14.zip from http://www.plop.at/en/bootmanager/download.html
- Extract the plpbt.iso image from zip file and store it somewhere.
- Burn the plpbt.iso image to a CD-R disc.
- Insert the plop bootmanager LiveCD in the old computer.
- If necessary change the BIOS settings to make sure the will boot from CD next time.
- Connect the Live USB drive with the PC
If all goes as planned, you should now be presented with an alternate Boot Manager similar to the one pictured above that can be used to boot your USB Flash Drive or other device. When the pc starts up from the plop bootmanager’s LiveCD, select the USB boot option and… your old pc will boot from the LiveUSB drive.
How to Create & Save the PUPSave file on the first boot ?
After you have created a bootable USB drive it is worth rebooting your computer and creating the save file before continuing. The save file is used to provide persistence within Mind Guard Linux. The advantage to this is that it can be used in the same way you would use any fully installed operating system, but without the need to actually do a full install. To use Mind Guard Linux this way you must create a save file.
How to Setup Mind Guard Linux after first boot ?
The Puppy Setup tool can be accessed by clicking on the "Setup" icon on the desktop. From the setup tool you can change your language (keyboard layout, language, timezone), choose startup options, configure your mouse and keyboard, adjust your audio settings, change your screen resolution, setup 3D graphics and setup a printer. When Puppy boots it loads in a default save file. You can add further save files for Puppy to load during boot up by clicking on the "Startup" button in the Puppy Setup screen. You can also load extra kernel modules and drivers.
A single package in Mind Guard Linux is called a PET. An SFS file (save file) is like a collection of packages (PETs) which can be loaded all at once. Simply download the SFS file and place it in /mnt/home and then click the button in the SFS-Packages tab and load the SFS file in.
How to Connect To The Internet ?
The initial setting up of the internet connection in Mind Guard Linux has always been a little bit hit and miss. There are a number of tools available for setting up an internet connection but I find it is a case of trial and error trying to find the one that is going to work for each particular release of Mind Guard Linux. To set up an internet connection either open up the Puppy Setup application and choose "Internet" or click on the "Connect" icon on the desktop.
There are a number of options to choose from. If you want to connect to an ethernet or wireless connection choose the "Wired or Wireless LAN" option. As mentioned previously there are a few options to choose from for connecting to the internet.
The Simple Network Setup in theory is the easiest way to get connected and the Network Wizard is the most difficult but more complete tool for adjusting settings. The good news is that once you have your network set up you don't have to go through the same pain again. (Unless of course you need to connect to a different network).
Flash isn't installed by default but can easily be installed by clicking on the Quickpet icon. I will cover that application more fully later on but to install Flash simply click on Quickpet, choose the "Internet" tab and click on "Flash". You will be given the option to choose from a number of different versions of Flash.
MP3s didn't provide any cause for concern and played straight away without having to install codecs.
Puppy Tahr has a lot of applications installed by default but they are in the main lightweight in nature meaning that the performance is exceptional. For productivity there is Abiword and Gnumeric. (Word processing and spreadsheets). These applications won't set your world on fire but are functional. Inkscape Lite is fairly good as a drawing package but I'm not that enamoured with MTPaint which is the closest Mind Guard Linux gets to a Microsoft Paint clone. I am quite impressed however with the Palemoon web browser. It is lightweight but has all the features I am looking for in a browser including tabs, bookmarks, decent rendering and the ability to play Flash videos. (Once Flash is installed). I am also impressed with Sylpheed which is the email client. Again it is lightweight in nature but connecting to GMail was easy and the client supports many of the basic features you would expect from an email client. There is an IRC chat client called XChat which has been pretty much a standard for IRC chat until recently. (Hexchat seems to be the client of choice for many distributions now though). For watching videos the VLC media player is available and for listening to music there is DeaDBeeF. My main complaint with DeaDBeeF is the name. Trying to work out which letters to capitalise is a nightmare. DeaDBeeF isn't going to win awards for beauty and it isn't as fully featured as Rhythmbox or Clementine but it sticks to the mantra of doing one thing and doing it well. Puppy has a lot of little applications that make it stand out. For instance there are CD Rippers and DVD rippers. There is also an application called pupRadio/pupTelly which lets you stream online radio and television programs.
There are two main ways to install applications using Mind Guard Linux. The first wy is to use the Quickpet application.
Basically the Quickpet application provides a tabbed display split into catogries
The other way to install applications is via the Install icon on the desktop. The Install application not only enables you to create installation media for Mind Guard Linux it also provides links to the Puppy Package Manager. You can also install official SFS files such as LibreOffice and Spotify from the Install application.
The Puppy Package Manager is a fairly standard application. There is a list of repositories to choose from in the top left corner and below that a list of package types. In the centre is a list of categories. Selecting a category changes the list of applications in the right pane.
How to Change the Desktop Wallpaper?
Right Click > select Desktop > select Pwallpaper background image chooser
How to Organize/Move Desktop Icons ?
The first thing you should notice is that Mind Guard Linux boots insanely fast even on the oldest of computers. The screen is split into a number of different sections. At the bottom is a standard panel with a menu and quick launch icons for showing the desktop, opening the web browser and opening a terminal. Next to the quick launch icons are the virtual workspace icons. In the bottom right corner are icons for the firewall, clipboard manager, power settings, network settings, storage, audio settings and a clock. There are lots of icons on the desktop. There is one Save icon on the screen. This icon saves any changes you have made since the last savepoint to the save file.
How to Customize the Mind Guard Linux ?
Mind Guard Linux provides a whole host of tools for customizing the desktop including a wallpaper changer, theme changer, theme maker, icon changer, etc. Mind Guard Linux is like a swiss army knife of small Linux tools. For something that comes in such a small package it is truly amazing.
How To Install Mind Guard Linux to the Hard Drive ?
Warning: Formatting or Partitioning will Destroy all Data on Hard Disk.
Warning: Formatting or Partitioning will Destroy all Data on Hard Disk.
Virtual Box is an excellent software tool that allows you to run other operating systems from within your main running OS. In other words, you can run different operating systems such as Windows under Linux, Linux under Windows, Mac under Linux. Virtual Box allow you to run an operating system in a window on your desktop. Use it to run software made for other operating systems. If you do not already have a copy of Virtual Box, this can be downloaded from the website:
Once downloaded, simply follow the examples below for configuring for use with Mind Guard Linux. (The version of Virtual Box used in the examples runs under Ubuntu 12.04 LTS).
Create a New Virtual Machine
In this example I have chosen the "slacko-5.5-4G.iso" Puppy Linux Version
This is your home screen. here you will find any previous installations (Virtual Machines) listed. If this is your first "Virtual machine", then, click on the "New" button to start defining your new system. You will now be greeted with the message: "Welcome to the New Virtual Machine Wizard", with the message "This wizard will guide you through the steps that are necessary to create a new virtual machine". Click "NEXT" to continue.
Define Installation Name
This is this screen where we need to start filling in our details about our new Virtual Machine. In the example, I have used the name "PuppyLinux" for my name, Selected Operating system type as "Linux" and selected "other version" under the version heading.
Define Memory Settings
Next we need to assign some system memory to our Virtual Machine. In the example I have selected 768 MB of RAM. Once selected, click "NEXT" to continue.
Add Virtual hard Disk for Save File
Here we need to create a new Virtual hard Disk for our Puppy Save File that we will use later. Click "NEXT" to accept the default options. Click "NEXT" at the "Welcome to the Create New Virtual Disk Wizard".
Hard Disk Storage Type
Here we Select the type of virtual hard disk that we want to create. We will stick with the default "Dynamically expanding storage" option and then click "NEXT"
Virtual Disk Size and Location
Here we are creating a 1.5GB disk. Puppy is unusual as it runs in memory!, however, we are going to use a save file later for storing new apps and files. We need to provide a location where we are going to store our Virtual Disk. In the example I have used "PuppyLinux". The exact location is "/home/john/VirtualBox VMs/PuppyLinux". You can specify a different location if you wish by clicking on the small folder icon to the right of the location box.
Summary
The previous settings are now displayed, If you need to go back and amend any of the options, then you can click the "BACK" button. Otherwise. "You are going to create a new virtual hard disk with the following parameters:"
If the above settings are correct, press the Finish button. Once you press it, a new hard disk will be created.
Final Summary
This is the final summary now before the virtual machine is created. Once you press "Finish" your new virtual machine will be created.
Virtual Box Home Screen Settings
Now from this screen we need to highlight our new entry "PuppyLinux" and modify some of the entries. First click on "System" and then amend the Video memory to at least 64MB. Also add a tick in the "Enable 3d acceleration" box. Then click "OK" to continue. Now click on "Network" you can either accept the default "NAT" settings or select "Bridged Adapter". If you require your Virtual Machine to be assigned an IP address in the same range as your hosting machine choose this option.
First Start of Virtual Machine
Now we are ready to carry out our installation after our preparation work. Firstly, highlight "PuppyLinux" and select "Start" from the upper menu. You will now see a welcome screen with the following information: "Welcome to the first run wizard:" "You have started a newly created virtual machine for the first time. This wizard will help you to perform the steps necessary for installing an operating system of your choice onto this virtual machine." "Use the Next button to go to the next page of the wizard and the Back button to return to the previous page. You can also press Cancel if you want to cancel the execution of this wizard."
Select Install Media:
"Select the media which contains the setup program of the operating system you want to install. This media must be bootable, otherwise the setup program will not be able to start." This is the location where you downloaded the original "iso" image.
Select Installation Media
In this example I have chosen the "slacko-5.5-4G.iso" Puppy Linux Version
The Final Summary
You have selected the following media to boot from: Type: CD/DVD-ROM Device Source: slacko-5.5-4G.iso (164.51 MB)
If the above is correct, press the "Finish" button. Once you press it, the selected media will be temporarily mounted on the virtual machine and the machine will start execution. Please note that when you close the virtual machine, the specified media will be automatically unmounted and the boot device will be set back to the first hard disk. Depending on the type of the setup program, you may need to manually unmounted (eject) the media after the setup program reboots the virtual machine, to prevent the installation process from starting again. You can do this by selecting the corresponding Unmount... action in the Devices menu.
Initial Loading Screen
You should now see a screen similar to the one to the left indicating initial progress. Shortly you will be presented with the quick setup menu. It is here that you can specify your custom settings.
Quick Setup
This is the first screen you will see after starting your virtual machine. It is here you set your locale settings for country, time zone and keyboard. You are also given the option of activating your Puppy Linux "firewall" and setting your hostname. On the right of the setup menu, you can define your Video Settings. This will differ depending on your Video Card and display. It is recommended that you run the "VideoWizard" to automatically find your video settings. If this fails, you can specify the actual resolution. In the example, I have chosen "800 x 600". Once you are happy with your selections, click "OK" to confirm your settings. You will be asked to "Restart X" to apply any video resolution changes you have made.
Welcome Screen
Hopefully, you will see the first "Welcome to Puppy Linux Screen". You may be asked to define your internet connection here. If this is the case, simply follow the on screen instructions. If you are using a wired connection, the network should be picked up successfully on the next boot. Now click "OK" to continue with our setup.
Adding our Virtual Disk
Our next step is to add our virtual disk to our Puppy Installation. This will then allow us to save data, files and install additional applications. To configure our Virtual hard Disk, we need to use a package called "Gparted". This is a disk partitioning tool. To activate "Gparted", Click "Menu" (puppy icon in bottom left corner), then select "System" and then Select "GParted Partition Manager" In the example, our VBOX "Virtual Disk" has been found". Click "OK" to continue to the main partitioning screen.
Gparted Partition Screen
This is the main partitioning screen for "Gparted". Our first operation to carry out is to select "Device" from the top menu bar. Now we need to select the option "Create Partition Table". You will receive a warning ""Warning: This will erase all data", this is quite normal. Now we select "Apply". Now we need to highlight our "Unallocated disk", simply click on the line Once highlighted, we need to click on "New" icon from the upper menu bar. Now click on the "ADD" button. Now click on "Apply" from the upper menu. Next, confirm that you want to apply the pending operations. Simply click "Apply". You should now receive a message indicating that your actions were successful. Click "Close" to close this message. We now have an area of storage where we can save our files and applications to.
First Reboot - Initial Shutdown
To activate our save file, we first need to initiate the shutdown sequence. The options to create a save file and use our new area of storage are presented at the first shutdown of the system.
Our Puppy Linux installation will now save any changes that we have made to our new save file. The system should then reboot and you should have a fully functioning Puppy Linux installation.
Copy Installation to a USB device
If you have booted from a CD or DVD, you can if you wish copy your installation to a USB stick. This way, you can carry a mini Linux operating system around with you. The easiest way to install Puppy to your USB device is to click on the "install" icon on your "puppy" desktop. Here you will find simple instructions on how to create a bootable Puppy Linux installation. If you do follow this procedure, remember that the installation will wipe any data that is already on your USB device! After clicking on the install icon, you should see a screen similar to the one below:
From this pop up menu, you need to click on the "Click button to run the Universal Installer. (Although there are two methods for installing Puppy to a USB device, the recommended method is to use the "Universal Installer".
You should now see another pop up message box with various options. You will need to choose the option that matches your media (USB Flash Drive). Now simply follow the instructions to create your bootable image of puppy. Remember, you may need to change the BIOS settings to allow booting from a USB device. This can general be found under the "boot order" section.
For further information regarding the "Puppy Universal Installer", then you can pay a visit to the official Puppy Site Puppylinux.org/wikka/PuppyUniversalInstaller