The next job is to create the partitions and format them. You can use Puppy Linux to create the partitions inside the QEMU virtual environment by running the Puppy live CD inside QEMU. You can do this either from the physical CD or from the downloaded ISO image.

Running Puppy inside QEMU

To run Puppy live from the physical cdrom drive the command is

$ qemu -hda puppy.qcow -m 256 -boot d -cdrom /dev/cdrom

To run it from the downloaded ISO file Assuming it is in the current directory

$ qemu -hda puppy.qcow -m 256 -boot d -cdrom puppy-4.1.2-k2.6.25.16-seamonkey.iso

where

• -hda specifies the first hard drive in the emulated system
• -m specifies the RAM reserved for use by QEMU in kB
• -cdrom specifies the cdrom drive in the emulated system.

Press Enter when the boot screen appears. Puppy files are copied to RAM. You need to select mouse port (eg ps/2), keyboard (eg uk) and X window System driver (choose Xvesa for this). The default video mode (eg 800x600x16) should be OK. After a short wait you will see the emulated Puppy system.

Running the Gparted partition manager

Launch the partition manager.

Menu -> System -> Gparted partition manager
sda1 internal drive -> OK
Device -> Set Disklabel -> Create -> Create

Wait a little if necessary.

Click on unallocated space to select it and create a new partition:

Partition -> New

Choose

New Size (MiB): 512
Create as: Primary Partition
Filesystem: ext3

and Add the first partition.

Add the two other partitions:

New Size (MiB): 3329
Create as: Primary Partition
Filesystem: Fat16

and

New Size (MiB): 259
Create as: Primary Partition
Filesystem: linux-swap

Apply the changes:

Edit -> Apply All Operations -> Apply

Wait while the partitions are created and formatted.

All operations successfully completed -> Close

Make the first partition (/dev/sda1) bootable. This partition will later contain the Grub bootloader. Select the partition with the mouse and then

Partition -> Manage Flags -> boot -> Close
Gparted -> Quit