Puppy Linux 22.04 for PS4 – Bolt Pup: <300MB RAM, Gaming Support, Audio Fixed: PS4 Distro Release

Bolt Pup (Puppy Linux) for PS4 based on Ubuntu 22.04 consumes less than 300MB RAM when idle, comes with fixed audio and Vulkan gaming support.

A few months ago, I had released the first Puppy Linux port for PS4. It was based on Ubuntu 20.04 (Focal). Now, I present the latest Puppy Linux for PS4 – Bolt Pup. From the ‘22.04’ in the title, it’d be clear that the new distro is based on Ubuntu 22.04 (Jammy). Moreover, this time around, we are aiming to make Puppy Linux for PS4, a gaming distro. Consider Bolt Pup a first step towards that. More on the gaming part later.

Anyways, compared to Leon Pup, Bolt Pup is obviously an updated distro with audio fixed. But, like Leon Pup, Bolt Pup too uses less than 300MB RAM, when idle.

Features

  • Window Manager – JWM
  • Mesa – 22.0.5
  • Based on Ubuntu Jammy (22.04)
  • Audio fixed
  • Gaming support with Vulkan
  • Install Ubuntu apps (.deb) with Puppy Package Manager
  • 64-bit OS
  • GUI to change language, locale, etc. easily
  • Time automatically updated from Internet

Download

Download Bolt Pup for PS4 (Mega)

Login details

  • User: root
  • Password: ps4

Screenshots

Bolt Pup for PS4: Showcase Video

This video also contains Prince of Persia 2008 gameplay. So, enjoy!

Installation: How to install Puppy Linux 22.04 (Bolt Pup)on PS4?

The installation method is same as that of Leon Pup, i.e., we can use the alternate method of installation with a few exceptions. I have listed out the requirements and the installation steps again here, for your perusal.

First, let us look at the requirements.

Requirements for installing Puppy Linux 22.04 (Bolt Pup) on PS4

Linux Machine

You can either dualboot with your current OS, or you can run Linux on a virtual machine. To learn how to run Linux on a virtual machine, click here. I recommend using Ubuntu or an Ubuntu based distro like Lubuntu or Kubuntu for this. I have had trouble doing this on Fedora. But, it is upto you.

USB drive

I recommend having an SSD for this. This will work on a mechanical hard drive connected with a SATA to USB adaptor. But, if you really want to feel the speed of the OS, an SSD is a must-have. Here are some great ones for PS4 Linux.

Note: Please be warned that the installation process will wipe the USB drive. So, backup important information beforehand.

Files

  1. Puppy Linux image (tar.xz downloaded earlier)
  2. bzImage (Download according to your model)
  3. Custom initramfs for Puppy Linux (Download here)
  4. Gparted
    • On Ubuntu, open terminal and type sudo apt-get install gparted and press Enter.
    • On Fedora, open terminal and type sudo dnf install gparted and press Enter.

USB Hub, USB Keyboard and Mouse

This goes without saying. And, here again, I would recommend getting a USB 3.0 hub.

Exploitable PS4

First, make sure that your PS4 is exploitable. Don’t know how? Check out the article here.

If you have all of these ready, let us quickly jump into the installation process.

Step 1. Prepare USB drive for PS4 Linux installation

  1. Connect USB drive to the PC or the virtual machine.
  2. Open terminal and type sudo gparted and press Enter.
  3. On gparted, choose your drive properly by going to the dropdown menu on top right. The storage capacity of the drive is given, so that you are not confused.
  4. Right click on each partition on the drive, for example, /dev/sda1 and /dev/sda2 and click Unmount.
  5. On the top pane, click on Device and click on Create Partition Table. Make sure that msdos is selected and then click on Apply.
  6. Click on Unallocated and create a new partition by clicking on the new folder icon on top left.
  7. Change the File system to fat32 and the New size to 50. Click on Add.
  8. Click on Unallocated and create a new partition by clicking on the new folder icon on top left.
  9. Change the File system to ext4, if not already that. Under Label, type anything, for example, ps4linux. The custom initramfs compiled for Puppy Linux will take any Label value.
  10. Then, click on the green tick on the top pane and click on Apply.
  11. Close gparted.

Step 2. Copy kernel and initramfs to USB drive

  1. Go to File Manager and mount the smaller FAT32 drive. This will show up as 52MB Volume on most distros.
  2. Copy bzImage and initramfs.cpio.gz to the FAT32 partition.

Step 3. Extract (install) distro to the USB drive

  1. Go to the File Manager and mount the partition named ps4linux or the label you had provided in Step 1.
  2. Open a terminal and type sudo tar -xvJpf /home/noob404/Desktop/bolt-pup-ps4linux.tar.xz -C /media/noob404/ps4linux --numeric-owner and press Enter. Please note that you might have to change the path of the tar.xz archive and the destination drive.
  3. That’s it!

Once this step is down, all you have to do is plug the USB drive to your PS4 and load your favourite Linux payload. If you are on a PS4 Pro, I recommend using the enhanced Linux payloads for PS4 Pro, all of which has been hosted on my exploit site – https://jb.ps4linux.com. Once done, you should be on Bolt Pup for PS4.

Gaming on Bolt Pup (Puppy Linux 22.04) for PS4

I am sure many of you are interested and are eager to know the steps to setup Bolt Pup for gaming on PS4. Find the steps for the same in this article.

Troubleshooting: Bolt Pup for PS4

Here is a list of the common issues you might face on Puppy Linux 22.04 for PS4 with their solution. Post about any new issues on the forum thread or leave a comment below.

Black screen at boot

This is a very common issue. To fix black screen on Puppy Linux for PS4, follow these instructions:-

  1. Unplug and replug the HDMI cable.
  2. Press Ctrl + Alt + F2 which will drop you into the TTY shell.
  3. Login with the username and password given above.
  4. Type startx and press Enter.

Conclusion

This distro, no doubt, has a lot of potential to turn into a good gaming distro. But, it will take time and your feedback. I hope we can achieve this soon.

6 Comments

  1. Hello,

    I have an issue when booting the Linux payload. I have done everything to setup the external HDD with the correct format of the partitions etc.. But when I am starting the linux payload I got an error: ***/dev/: Partition must be ext2/ext3/ext4…

    Is there a solution for this problem? I have tried more than one time but it’s not working for me 🙁

  2. Every single kernel fails to boot with the same error. This distro is undercooked just like the debian one that breaks when you change langs

  3. I success in booting from enternal HDD, but after installation (extract complete) I wrote resume-boot, the system is halted!!
    Please any solution?

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