updated by sickgut on 13th January 2012
http://www.thepussycatforest.info
sickgut@gmail.com

Pussy Linux release notes and general README

NOTE: THE GRUB CONFIG SECTION HAS BEEN UPDATED ALSO INFO REGARDING USAEGE OF THE USB STICK IMAGE VERSION.

The best source of info and support is the Pussy Linux thread on the www.murga-linux.com forum. You can join and
start commenting and or asking questions or even help answer questions. If you would like to see improvements in
Pussy or would like to help out by adding features or just offer some feedbackon your experience with Pussy then 
goto: http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=69475

Current version: pussy-beta-preview2

Available .iso CDROM images:

pussy-base-beta-preview2.iso	228.2M	 Base OS with only basic apps.
pussy-beta-preview-server.iso	90.9M	 Server edition, no X windows desktop. SSH, telnet ftp, lighttpd working on boot.
pussy-xtra-beta-preview2.iso	648.3M   Xtra edition contains as many usefull apps as can fit on a live CDROM.

USB image in .img format:  

pussy-xtra-beta-preview2.img.zip  691M   Contains same apps as Xtra edition iso. Unzip and image to USB stick with "dd".   

Default login username is: root   Password is: pussy 

Note: the Base and Xtra edition also have working ssh, telnet, ftp and lighttpd webserver working immediately after boot.
After booting the server edition, type: cat help.txt or nano help.txt  this will display instructions relating to the server
edition.

Download the .iso version and burn it to a cd or dvd (dvd will give you faster performance) then boot from it
and you will be running the Live vesion of Pussy. 

Download the .img version and use the linux dd command to image a USB stick or other removable media. Unzip the file first.
A HDD can also be imaged but any existing bootloader will be over written, not good for dual booting systems. Syslinux is used
as the bootloader. Syslinux can be edited to boot other OSes but that is not within the scope of this documentation.
Note: when you use the linux dd command to image the USB stick, you must unmount any partitions on the USB stick first.
The syntax for using dd to image a drive is:

dd if=<filename.img> of=/dev/sdX         

Where <filename> is the USB image filename and the X in the /dev/sdX is the drive letter. Note you must specify the drive
NOT the partition on the drive (ie. /dev/sda  not  /dev/sda1) this is because the .img file contains partition info already.
The .img is an exact copy of a working Pussy USB stick in every detail and imaging a a USB stick with this file will result
in a working, booting USB stick that give the user write access and the ability to use compressed save files. Do not open
the .img file in another program and drag files accross to another partition, hoping this will work as this is not what the
.img is for. The .img file MUST be used with the dd command or an imaging program that does exactly the same thing.

Once booted, login with root as the user and pussy as the password. Type: startx  to begin your X windows session.

To use the package management, open a terminal and use:

apt-get update

then  

apt-get install packagename

Have a look on the http://packages.debian.org  site and have a look at the names of the packages etc, you can install any of
these and it will work.

Using compressed save files: In the USB version or if you have managed to install to HDD you can use the save-file option in the 
"catroll-panel" to make a compressed save file in the /live dir of the live media (this doesnt work on the CDROM version as it 
isnt writable). This must be used manually every time you save and you will most likely want to use a program like gparted to resize 
the first partition to as large as possible as this is where the save file will be saved. There are instructions in the catroll-panel
on this subject in the save-file section.

Using automatically updated live-rw save file: When Pussy boots it will scan any file or partition named as "live-rw". Pussy
will automatically find and mount the file or parition but will not search in folders or subfolders recursively looking for
a "live-rw" file. Pussy will only find the "live-rw" file if it exists on the main dir of the HDD or the "/" of the drive.
This type of save file is automatically updated whenever there is a change to the filesystem. In the catroll-panel there is
documentation on this subject and instructions that will show you how to set it up in the save-file section. 

To create a new empty live-rw save file do this:

dd if=/dev/null of=live-rw bs=1M seek=1000
mkfs.ext2 -F "live-rw"

The above example makes a 1GB save file containing an ext2 filesystem. Note that the number following the seek command is
the size of the file created in MBs. After this has been done, simply move the file to a partition on any removable media or
HDD and Pussy will automatically use it. This type of save file will work on both usb and cdrom versions.

Save partition: This works in the same way as the live-rw save file but uses a HDD or removable media partition. To set this up
create a partition or use an existing one and then label the partition with the name: live-rw
This will work with any type of partition but for gods sake dont use a FAT32 or NTFS unless you can defrag the partition from
Windows. Linux treats FAT and NTFS partitions with utter contempt and data saved to these filesystems are not organized as well
as Windows and become very fragmented and slow very quickly if you are saving alot of data. Note that the live-rw file way of
doing it works a little differently than the partition setup on disk fragmentation isnt a problem as one large file doesnt
become fragmented easily. The best filesystem types to use with a live-rw partition are the native linux EXT2, 3 or 4. Once the
partition is labeled as live-rw (gparted is a good program that lets you do this) then reboot and Pussy will automatically find
and use the partition. Do not label the partition you are booting from as live-rw, this mostly applies to HDD installs. If using
a USB version of Pussy on a 2gb or larger USB stick then using the gparted program you can create a new partition that uses the
rest of the free space and label this as live-rw. This is the easiest way to create an automatically updating save system as the
compressed save file way is only updated manually.

Cleanmode browsing: When you enter the X session in Pussy and select the WWW icon on the desktop or WWW browser menu entry you will
be presented with some files. One is the browser.zip file and the others are: cleanmode, install-browser, remove-browser and 
start-browser. The first time you see these files the start-browser will have a ! (exclamation mark) on it. This is fine, but
means that the start-browser file will not work yet. The browser can be used in 2 ways, the normal way is to click install-browser
then a few seconds later the start-browser file will change and the ! will dissapear. This means the start-browser icon can be used to
start the browser. When you click install-browser the browser is unzipped from the browser.zip file and a new folder will apear
called seamonkey. This is where the web browser program is installed. When you click remove-browser, all traces of the installed
and your entire internet cache and history is completely wiped clean but to use the browser again you will need to click install-browser
start-browser to install then use it like before you removed it. The other way to use the browser is to click on clean-mode. This
automatically installs the browser and runs it, but when you exit the browser the browser is automatically uninstalled and your
entire internet cache and browsing history will be wiped clean. This method is usefull when sharing the computer with multiple users
and you would like to keep banking and browsing hostory private. It is also usefull for laptop owners who would like no trace of
anything important incase the laptop gets stolen.
 
Swap space: Especially on low RAM systems (256mb or under) you may want to run a swapfile or partition. Pussy will automatically
detect swap partitions but not swapfiles. To create a swap partition, use the gparted program and add a small swap partition to
any drive (the fastest drive the better). When you reboot Pussy, the new swap partition will be automatically detected. Swap is
not a replacement of RAM, but helps when your RAM is used up as less critical applications data is moved to the swap space to make
room for currently running programs in RAM. This process can reduce your system to a crawl, but without swap it may not be possible
to run so many things at once. There is no correct size for swap but if you have 128MB RAM you may need double that as swap or even
more. Swap is less critical the more RAM you have. With 1GB you dont really even need swap unless your running something really really
RAM intensive or you like to surf the internet with 50 browser windows open. Even with 512MB you may find that swap is never or very
rarely used. If you have 2GB of RAM or more then you wont need swap unless your doing something special like running a Virtual Box
session and assigning alot of RAM to it. To create a swapfile and then activate it on the fly:

dd if=/dev/zero of=mrswappy bs=1M count=300
mkswap mrswappy
swapon mrswappy

The above commands can be entered into a terminal to make then start using the swap immediately. This is good if using the live CDROM
on a computer with low RAM. Swapfile can be created on any type of filesystem except within a live-rw partition.

HDD installs: Pussy is mostly a Live CDROM or USB distro but HDD installation can be done. As mentioned before, the .img 
can be imaged to a HDD and it will work but this isnt good for dual booting systems. The first step is to copy the /live
folder from the .iso to a HDD with a FAT32 or EXT2, 3 or 4 parition (NTFS works but you will not be able to save back to 
the partition with a compressed save file, you will need to use a live-rw setup from another parition type). The next setup
is to install your bootloader. You can apt-get install grub then use the terminal command: 

mount /dev/sda1 /xxx
grub-install --root-directory=/xxx /dev/sda

Note: mount /dev/sda1  is the partition you want to have the grub files installed to. /xxx is the dir that you temporarily
mount the drive to this can be any dir you like but /xxx is usually spare in Pussy. Its best that the Pussy /live dir is
copied to the same partition as the grub install partition as this will require less configuration later. The /dev/sda at
the end of the grub install line is the actual drive you are installing the bootloader to. Pussy can be booted with the 
following added to the /boot/grub/grub.cfg file (you will have to create one first):

menuentry 'Pussy live peristent' {
        set root='(hd0,1)'
	echo	'Meowing the kernel ...'
	linux	/live/vmlinuz boot=live config  persistent noautologin quickreboot noprompt swapon 
	echo	'Almost over meowing now ...'
	initrd	/live/initrd.img 
}

Note: if Pussy is installed to the same partition as the grub files then do not use the: set root= tag, grub will be able to 
boot Pussy without it. If you do need to specify the partition Pussy is copied to that is different to the partition that grub
is installed to then note that the parition must be set with the: set root= tag and also note that the '(hd0,1)' type method
for specifying the parition is used, not the /dev/sda1 type of method. When using the '(hd0,1)' method of specifying the 
Pussy partition then obviously its important to specify the correct parition. There are 2 numbers separated by a comma and
the first number is the actual disk and the second is the partition number. When specifying the disk number, 0 is the first
disk and specifying the parition number, 1 is the first parition. Below is a table of examples:

'(hd0,1)'    = /dev/sda1  or the first disk and the first partition
'(hd0,2)'    = /dev/sda2  or the first disk and the second parition
'(hd1,3)'    = /dev/sdb3  or the second disk and the third partition
'(hd4,1)'    = /dev/sde1  or the fifth disk and the first partition
'(hd0,0)'    = /dev/sda   or the first disk with no partition, the disk has been formatted without partition (not recommended)
  
Note: removing the persistent tag from the boot= line will stop pussy from searching for live-rw save files. 
Other linux distributions such as Puppy Linux have better working grub install setups and its quite possible to boot another
linux distro and then install grub from it, and then edit the config yourself or get the OS to autodetect the Pussy install.
Propper HDD installation support will be introduced in the next release. Dont use the toram boot tag after the boot= when
running a HDD installed Pussy as this will cause the entire partition to be copied to RAM and then it will error out when the 
RAM gets full then it will proceed to boot as normal. The toram tag should only be used with cdrom and usb Pussies but hopefully
a workaround for copy to RAM HDD booting will be discovered soon.
 
Cool features of Pussy:

OpenGL works in the X session on first boot, no need to install the Xorg_High package like in Puppy Linux.

Assaultcube will run straight from the live CD with auto detection of your video drivers. There is one click install of nvidia
drivers using the "catroll-panel".

Pussy isnt missing any technical features, all your commandline stuff works, ftp telnet text web browsing etc and a propper
framebuffer video driver works in to console. Pussy isnt just a desktop OS, it can function as a server just as well as
any other debian based distro, all your openssh-server, lighttpd, telnetd, ftpd etc works immediately and is fully configured
at boot. The framebuffer console can play movies and display images etc all without an X session. Pussies technical features
are more on par with a full Linux distro rather than a mini distro that sacrifices technical features for size.

Pussy can play any midi, mod, sid type of music file and play any video format that is currently in use.

The cleanmode feature in Pussy lets the user surf the net and leave no trace whatsoever and stops useless internet cache files
from  clogging up your system. When the cleanmode browser option is selected, a fresh install of Seamonkey is unzipped into 
a dir and then executed. When the user closes the browser, the browser dir and all other dirs that contain browsing info and
temp files are emptied. The user can also surf normally by selecting the install option then clicking start browser. This
way the web browsing info is kept and no reinstall is needed, unless the user chooses the remove browser option.

Java/ flash etc all work on first boot (flash only for the Base version).

Pussy supports a greater range of hardware when compared to Puppy, also if Pussy doesnt have a driver for some new device,
then a quick look on the Debian packages site and a apt-get command will fix that. There is no hunting around forums or need
to configure kernel sources and compile your own driver.

Access to more than 20,000 software packages with apt-get package manager and the ability to use many Windows programs using
the supplied WINE application as the ability to run any MSDOS programs via the DOSemu application.

Pussy is 100% Debian-Live. This means users can get free support from the Debian irc chat channels #debian irc.freednode.net and
#debian-live irc.debian.org. But do not mention you are running Pussy, just Debian Squeeze as the people there may not be familiar
with Pussy or may presume it isnt Debian. Pussy is just a remastered Debian, the only actual non Debian customization is the 
desktop wallpaper and the boot splash screen.
 
Pussy is extreemly efficient. Pussy can run with only 42mb of RAM. When compared to Puppy linux that needs 128MB RAM to run the 
live-cd with no swap file, its easy to see just how efficient it is. This url: http://www.pussypussypussy.info/linux/pussy-42mb-ram.png
is a screenshot taken of Pussy that shows that out of the 42MB RAM, only 24MB is being used. This snapshot was taken of Pussy while
running all the server stuff in the background: ssh, telnet, ftp and webserver. To boot into a full functioning Xorg desktop with
OpenGL 3D acceleration enabled and running all the server stuff while only using 24MB of RAM may sound completely unbelieveable but
you can try it and see for yourself.